not sport | Wait until next year

July 25, 2013

Lonely Son

Lonely Son comes from the 1972 album Wasted, by Vernon Wray. Wray was the brother of Link Wray (of Rumble fame) but headed down more of a country road. Wasted is pretty much impossible to get hold of, as there was only 400 copies printed, and a fairly recent reissue seems to have been rather limited in terms of pressings too. So, it is one of those rarities vinyl fetishists can fuss over. I’d suggest making a quick Google search and downloading the album as it deserves to be heard rather than hoarded. Lonely Son is the highlight, such a beautiful song, reminiscent of Townes Van Zandt in places. It is really cleverly arranged, yet sounds entirely heartfelt. Well worth a listen.

6 Comments

July 24, 2013

The Emperor’s New Book

It seems like every year I fall for it. I read about the ‘must-read’ book of the year. The newspaper reviews are gushing. The bloggers and the tweeters talk the book up as thought-provoking, eye-opening, life-changing. Amazon is a sea of five-star reviews. A critical mass builds up where coverage is overwhelmingly positive – This Is A Great Book. And the book, from the blurb alone, sounds good, the kind of book I’d like to read. So, I buy the book. I read it. And I’m disappointed. Angry even. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

July 19, 2013

Failed fragments

Mainstream literary fiction is falling to pieces.

This may not be a bad thing. Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments

July 12, 2013

Prompt Me

Friend of the blog Mike posted a fine list of blogging ideas last month. This was in response to a similar post of mine. And here I am now, inspired to write a post, from a post that was inspired by mine. And the idea I’ve been inspired by is to reflect on the nature of writing prompts. This makes this either an incredibly neat and apt post or a bit indulgent and inward-looking. Probably a bit of all of the above. Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments

July 3, 2013

Everyday Adventures

You find yourself exploring parks you’ve never really explored before, working out their boundaries and the links between each park as you make your way. You spot streetlights right in the middle of one park, which seems odd. You think people probably use these paths as handy cut-throughs from one street to another. There are the old tennis courts, some neglected, some with new play furniture built upon them. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Category: not sport