To mark the 70th birthday of Bruce Springsteen, who was born in the USA on this day in 1949, a timely reminder of the time I duetted with him (sort of) at a packed Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, way back in 2008.
Happy birthday, Boss!
Frank Key
I was sad to learn of the death last week of my online acquaintance and occasional correspondent Frank Key, the absurdist genius behind the clotted nonsense that was hootingyard.org.
Among the phenomenal amount of nonsense Frank put out there, he was aware that my personal favourite was a piece about a rose garden, which he once read out on his Resonance FM radio show.
See also: My review of Frank’s medium opus, Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives.
Got this covered
BBC: Brexit: Operation Yellowhammer no-deal document published
Riots on the streets, food price rises and reduced medical supplies are real risks of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, a government document has said.
I’ll freely admit I've been concerned the government, in its insane rush to implement any form of Brexit, had been completely ignoring the risks of a no-deal. But now I read they had an entire six-page report assessing the risks. The BBC doesn’t say whether the report is single- or double-spaced, but, either way, six pages… Wow!
Looks as if they’ve got this covered after all. (Assuming they’ve read the report and taken appropriate action, obviously.)
Edwyn Collins
…and his band, performing at Hebden Bridge Trades Club last night (note Brian Wilson from out of The Beach Boys (white shirt) on bass guitar):
…apparently, Edwyn has never met a girl like me before.
Compare and Contrast
Overheard on the train to Liverpool this morning
You can get cheapo Chinese knock-off vintage games consoles with hundreds of games on them these days, but, after playing them for five minutes, you realise all the old games were shite.
Serendipditty
It always amuses me to see Pam Ayres filed (correctly, alphabetically) next to W.H. Auden in the poetry sections of bookshops.
Art concept
For some years now, I’ve harboured an artistic concept for a piece of Concept Art (capital C, capital A):
As you might know, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which marks the boundary of the Eurasian and North American geological plates, runs through the middle of Iceland. It looks like this:
As you might also know, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is gradually spreading at a rate of about one inch per year as the Atlantic Ocean widens.
It occurs to me some enterprising Artiste Conceptuel might construct an artwork on either side of this ever-widening divide. I have in mind a pair of massive sculptures of human hands, between which would be suspended a humongous Christmas cracker. As the two geological plates continued to move in opposite directions, the Christmas cracker would, over years and perhaps decades, become increasingly taut, and, at some point, would suddenly split in two with a loud CRACK!, just like a real Christmas cracker, to eject a humongous plastic novelty, an enormous paper hat, and a large parchment scroll bearing a dreadful joke.
The only thing I’m not sure about is what on earth to call this marvellous installation. The Rift That Keeps On Giving, perhaps.
When I do it, it’s called ‘a red line’…
…When you do it, it’s called ‘refusing to negotiate’.
Vermin
This just in from the official Leave.EU Twitter account:
I guess that tells us all we need to know.