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Pope Wrong Shock Horror
Who’d have thought it? Er… isn’t he supposed to be infallible? You can’t get the staff these days, can you?
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Inside Today…
If you wake up to Radio 4, then you will enjoy this. If you don’t, you’ll have no idea what is so amusing about this film…
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£5 worse off
I bought some supplies in a nationally known store the other day. I won’t identify the store, but the words “Marks” and “Spencer” appear prominently in their name. The cashier waved the goods across the barcode reader, and then asked me for £24.13. Unusually for me, I had actual cash money on my person, so…
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Woolfpole: Charles Lambert on Normblog
Chez Topsyturvydom, we are very pleased to see Charles Lambert occupying the guest slot over at the mighty Normblog. Charles has chosen Christopher Isherwood’s little known book The Memorial, which I must admit I don’t know. I would be curious to read it though, as Charles has whetted my appetite with this description: “It’s an…
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Is that all right for yourself?
My car is being repaired. The insurance company phoned to say it should be ready on Friday. You might predict that such an exchange would go: Company person: Mr Spence? Just phoning to say your car should be ready on Friday.Me: OK, thanks.In fact, it goes like this:Emily (for it is she): Hello, this is…
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1000 years of popular music – in a black cab
It’s a somewhat sobering fact to reflect that I have been a Richard Thompson fan for forty years now. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen him play, but I always come back for more brilliant guitar work, darkly disturbing songs, and a surprisingly well-developed stage patter. His voice has deepened and…
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Orlando Lopez
News of another death in music today. Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez, the bassist for the Buena Vista Social Club died in Havana. It was a joy to see these superb musicians in concert in Liverpool a few years ago. Sadly, Lopez is not the first of that group to die. I feel privileged to have caught…
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Blossom Dearie
Sad to hear today of the death of Blossom Dearie, whose work I have admired for years. She was still working in her late seventies in a New York club. A very evocative voice, by no means technically brilliant, but somehow appropriate for the songs she chose- and her piano accompaniment was always brilliantly judged.…
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Little Monsters in paperback
So now there is no excuse for not buying this extraordinary first novel by Charles Lambert. Go on – you know you want to.