#Duncan Carty

[celtfather]

Celtic Women #650

We’re highlighting some of the amazing women in Celtic music on this Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #650.

Eimear Arkins, Mary - Kate Spring Lee, Sassenach, Bonhomme Setter, Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, Mary Beth Carty, Matt & Shannon Heaton, Rover's Way, Hanneke Cassel, Celtic Woman, Katherine Nagy, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, Derina Harvey Band, Mànran

GET CELTIC MUSIC NEWS IN YOUR INBOX

The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Enjoy seven weekly news items for Celtic music and culture online. Subscribe now and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2024

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2024 episode. You have just three weeks to vote this year. Vote Now!

You can follow our playlist on Spotify to listen to those top voted tracks as they are added every 2 - 3 weeks. It also makes it easier for you to add these artists to your own playlists. You can also check out our Irish & Celtic Music Videos

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:02 - Intro: Debby Regan

0:18 - Eimear Arkins "She's At It Again / Tune For Tom (Jigs)" from Here & There Eimear Arkins: fiddle

4:00 - WELCOME

6:15 - Mary - Kate Spring Lee "Kusnacht/St.Brigid's Day" from Tunes in the Morning Mary - Kate Spring Lee: harp

12:18 - Sassenach "Siúbhán Ní Dhuibhir" from Passages Jane Critchlow: lead and harmony vocals, bodhrán, percussion Susan Palmer: harp, harmony vocals Laurence Beaudry: violin, viola, harmony vocals Marie - Claude Simard: cello, harmony vocals

15:29 - Bonhomme Setter "Slide From Grace" from Colors of Time SYLVAIN LABEGE | flute . whistle MARIE - NOËLLE HARVEY | violin . viola

20:08 - Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer "John Lover" from Twelve Months & A Day Vicki Swan: nyckelharpa, background vocals

24:37 - FEEDBACK

27:43 - Mary Beth Carty "Voilà le printemps" from Crossing the Causeway Mary Beth Carty: accordion, guitar, bass, jaw harp, bones, triangle, shakers, tambourine, cow - bells, and washboard, vocals

31:36 - Matt & Shannon Heaton "Last Days of Fourth Grade/Against the Grain/Jig for Tim (waltz and jigs)" from Whirring Wings Shannon Heaton: flute

36:45 - Rover's Way "The Journey" from The Journey Keira Young: Penny whistle, bodhran, vocals

39:19 - Hanneke Cassel "Religulous / Patience" from Dot the Dragon's Eyes Hanneke Cassel: fiddle

44:08 - Olivia Bradley “Molly Malone” from Misty Morning Shore

46:44 - THANKS

50:15 - Celtic Woman "A Stór Mo Chroí" from 20th Anniversary Tara McNeil: violin, harp, vocals Mairéad Carlin: vocals Muirgen O’Mahony: vocals Emma Warren: vocals

55:12 - Katherine Nagy "Jimmy's Dance" from Single Katherine Nagy: guitar, vocals

58:45 - Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening "Just Stop & Eat The Roses" from Cloud Horizons Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle, vocals) Amy Thatcher (accordion, synth, clogs, vocals), Josie Duncan from the Isle of Lewis (vocals, clarsach).

1:02:34 - Derina Harvey Band "Stopped or Gone" from Waves of Home Derina Harvey: guitar, vocals Jess Blenis (violin)

1:05:33 - CLOSING

1:07:50 - Mànran "Briogais" from Ùrar Kim Carnie: vocals

1:10:39 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to follow the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

Todd Wiley is the editor of the Celtic Music Magazine. Subscribe to get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. Plus, you’ll get 7 weekly news items about what’s happening with Celtic music and culture online. Best of all, you will connect with your Celtic heritage.

Please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Finally, remember. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and think about how you can make a positive impact on your environment.

Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn.

This podcast is here to build a diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. If you hear music you love, please email artists to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. Musicians depend on your generosity to keep making music. So please find a way to support them. Buy a CD, Album Pin, Shirt, Digital Download, or join their communities on Patreon.

You can find a link to all of the artists in the shownotes, along with show times, when you visit our website at celticmusicpodcast.com.

If you are a Celtic musician or in a Celtic band, then please submit your band to be played on the podcast. You don’t have to send in music or an EPK. You will get a free eBook called Celtic Musicians Guide to Digital Music and learn how to follow the podcast. It’s 100% free. Just email Email follow@bestcelticmusic and of course, listeners can learn how to subscribe to the podcast and get a free music - only episode.

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

You are amazing. It is because of your generosity that you get to hear so much great Celtic music each and every week.

Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

As a patron, you get music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, stand - alone stories, and you get a private feed to listen to the show.  All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our new and continued Celtic Legends: Bill Mandeville, Marti Meyers, Brenda, Karen DM Harris, Emma Bartholomew, Dan mcDade, Carol Baril, Miranda Nelson, Nancie Barnett, Kevin Long, Gary R Hook, Lynda MacNeil, Kelly Garrod, Annie Lorkowski, Shawn Cali

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Go to our Patreon page.

Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $25. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/ #celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a  picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

Email me at follow@bestcelticmusic.

Dan Vaughn emailed some photos: "Hello! My name is Dan Vaughn, I am 1 of 3 members of the band Sorcha and I'm reaching out to you to try to make an appearance on your podcast! We are about to launch our new EP next week titled Stomp the Floor and we're very very excited about it. I'm going to attach the tracks to this email along with some pictures. Hope to hear from you soon!"

Steve Bradley emailed a photo: "Hi Marc, Greetings from Atlanta!  Love the podcast, and like to listen while walking my dog, Augie.  Here's a pic of him today as we were listening to episode #648!  My favorite artist is of course my daughter, Olivia Bradley, and we're heading up to Calhoun tonight to hear her perform with Celtic Angels at the GEM Theatre.  Thanks for all you do in highlighting great music each week and supporting the artists who produce it!"

Check out this episode!

[dhrumil12]

KFC Introduces Video Game Console That Keeps Your Chicken Pieces Warm

KFC Introduces Video Game Console That Keeps Your Chicken Pieces Warm

KFC Introduces Video Game Console Do you recall the KFC Support, the chicken comfort , mystery formula with which the cheap food brand “evidently” hopped on the PlayStation “blast” in June? All that appears to demonstrate that they were not kidding to us. KFC Gaming , a division of Colonel Sanders’ organization, introduced on its informal communities the computer game support that it fabricated…

[selena-snape]

Sexta Generación:

¤ Lilith Moira Riddle y Julian Cameron Gray

¤ Bloom Larissa Peters y Sky Aurelius Peters

¤ Hazel Opal Peters y Magnus Roman Watson

¤ Theodore August Peters y Meredith Mavis Monroe

¤ Aaron Christopher Weasley y Verena Michelle Dyer

¤ Joshua Stephen Weasley y Esther Amalia Holt

¤ Charles Samuel Weasley y Ruby Stephanie Saffron

¤ Iris Aurelia Weasley y Marshall Everett Conrad

¤ Theophania Calliope Richardson y Corinne Roxanne Everleigh

¤ Arabella Beatrix Richardson y Henry Oliver Brooks

¤ Kai Dominick Richardson y Flynn Milo Wolf

¤ Willow Cosima Levin y Nicoletta Pomona Wilford

¤ Fern Violet Levin y Marie Honoria Ollivander

¤ Euphemia Alessandra Levin y John Florean Palmer

¤ Dorothea Giovanna Levin y Elladora Eloise Gibson

¤ Salazar Lucius Levin y Holly Avalon Barnes

¤ Eleanor Hope Levin y Savannah Genevieve Shaw

¤ Gracie Isadora Novak y Marvin Declan Sullivan

¤ Alec Aurelian Novak y Claire Piper Johan

¤ Mason Ezekiel Novak y Clementine Octavia Albion

¤ Lotor Comet Snape y Giovanni Benjamin Lestrange

¤ "Moon Demon" Darius Angelo Snape y "Dark Angel " Arianne Alysson Snape

¤ "Killer Shadow" Lazarus Ignatius Snape y "Ice Demon" Urania Calliope Snape

¤ Morterius Viktor Snape y Hisirdoux Artemas Casperan

¤ Regris Niven Snape y Acxa Valda Snape

¤ Kevin Ethan Snape y Gwendolyn Stephanie Tennyson

¤ Regulus Orion Snape y Abel Austin Khemse

¤ Cygnus Arcturus Snape y Frederic Alistair Weasley

¤ Elle Rigel Snape y Matsuda Touta

¤ Beyond Aurelian Snape y Mikami Teru

¤ Alexander Valens Snape y Magnus Sebastian King

¤ Lysander Nikolaus Snape y Vladimir Micah Masters

¤ Gwendolyn Hiroko Snape y Tanaka Misaki

¤ Ezra Yamato Snape y Luveva Rosemay Sutherlamd

¤ Ryan Yoshio Snape y Avery Daxon Sinclair

¤ Keith Akira Snape y James Oliver Griffin

¤ Yuudai Riley Snape y Danielle Edna Young

¤ Yuriko Harley Snape y Debra Kathleen McIntosh

¤ Clarice Suki Snape y Alphard Delphinus Black

¤ Mako Ethan Snape y Giovanna Naomi Hamilton

¤ Morgana Kendra Voorhees y Karin Delilah Summers

¤ Carrie Margaret Voorhees y "Sue" Susan Danica Snell

¤

¤

¤

¤ Jessica Lorna Kimble y Steven Malcom Freeman

¤ Audrey Andromeda Malfoy y Andre Perseus Bourgeois

¤ Gabriel Bastian Malfoy y Emilie Calliope Graham de Vanily

¤ Roynard Hydra Malfoy y Violet Rowena Deekers

¤ Raymond Lynx Malfoy y Cedric Atticus Diggory

¤ Draco Lucius Malfoy y Astoria Coraline Greengrass

¤ Merle Ariel Malfoy y "Jesus" Paul Finnegan Rovia

¤ Hope Leah Malfoy y

¤ Carl Thomas Malfoy y

¤ Levi Armand Malcoy y

¤ Daryl Hunter Malfoy y Rick Jonah Grimes

¤ Vitale Astaroth Sparda y Luka Nicholas Sparda

¤ Neron Asura Sparda y Kyrie Serena Kiernan

¤ Merak Emory Sparda y Portia Manon Hendrix

¤ Armand Vincent Sparda y

¤ Nicholas William Sparda y

¤ Septimus Canyon Sparda y

¤ Loretta Margot Grace y Calvin Raphael Foxglove

¤ Julius Grant Grace y Ivy Roxanne Baxley

¤ Benjamin Vidar Grace y Edgar Zachary Maddox

¤ Ophelia Nozomi Jensen y Cordelia Avery Bkwie

¤ Eileen Victoria Jensen y Silvius Dael Sinclair

¤ Thomas Lysander Jensen y Othello Natalie Reeve

¤ Nova Genesis Jackson y Allison Leah Reid

¤ Losa Iris Brooks y Briar Anais Tedford

¤ Nina Rosie Brooks y Asa August Harding

¤ Connor Cyrus Brooks y Sandra Sabine Simmons

¤ Esme Aurora Donovan y Maxine Riley Crosby

¤ Arabella Cassidy Donovan y Robert Dashiell. Davenport

¤ Arianne Odette Donovan y Terrence Gideon Graves

¤ Kendra Alessandra Donovan y Alexis Scarlett Bishop

¤ Cassandra Abigail Donovan y James Anthony West

¤ Pansy Genevieve Parkinson y Theodore Phineas Nott

¤ Avalon Forrest Parkinson

¤ Damien Emory Parkinson

¤ Ursa Alexa Corvinus Y Narcissa Hazel Ripley

¤ Nora Alyssa Corvinus y Lydia Skylar Abernathy

¤ Annabelle Danica Corvinus y Rowan Vladimir Norwood

¤ Luna Pandora Lovewood y Rolf Elijah Matthew Scamander

¤

¤

¤

¤

¤ Ronan Artemis Marcelly y Adam Timothy Reed

¤ Giovanni Octavius Marcelly y Robin Mikhaila Mckinley

¤ Ivan Alistair Marcelly y James Christopher Peters

¤ Mika Valentina Donnelly y Arthur Ethan Bowers

¤ Damien September Delaney y Melione Rowena Robinson

¤ Kira Dominika Delaney y Marlon Oliver Williams

¤ Kanna Amelia Delaney y Gael Ethan Byron

¤ Nicholas Hadrien Delaney y Madison Edith Emerson

¤ Armand Demetrius Corwin y Persephone Aspen Cormac

¤ Tatiana Aubrey Corwin y Marcella Carolinne Cervenka

¤ Pandora Evageline Corwin y Cecilia Honoria Van Frietag

¤ Natasha Piper Dresden y Donna Mary Berkshire

¤ Emily Alisha Ansel y Nana Eliza Martin

¤ Isabelle Veronica Ansel y Carmen Emilia Reyes

¤ Kenneth Paul Dollins y Ella Isabella Evans

¤ Joseph Herman Dollins y Juliet Corina Rogers

¤ Hailey Amelia Flint y Lucia Naomi Barnes

¤ Ashley Jasmine Flint y Maxwell Benjamin Norton

¤ Piper Savannah Flint y Louis Howart Daxton

¤ Chase Akira Braken y Felix Lucius Quinn

¤ Florian Narcissus Braken y Colin Leonard Frone

¤ Callum Daniel Fox y Marjorie Katie Vance

¤ Dante Ezra Fox y Leila Juniper Thomson

¤ Nathan Soren Fox y Matthias Isaac Parker

¤ Magnus Gideon Fox y Desmond Ethan McReynolds

¤ Lucian Harrison Fox y Apollo Anthony Greene

¤ Jude Eli Hudson y Theodore Declan Vesper

¤ Olive Genesis Ivanovich y David Cameron Canyon

¤ Tate Roman Ivanovich y Molly Aurora Wiley

¤ Ivory Leah Ivanovich y Diane Barbara Jennings

¤ Devon Julian Kane y Ophelia Pauline Colins

¤ Claudine Barbara Kane y Matthew Benjamin Rothchild

¤ Castiel Dominc Kane y Charlie Isaac Lauder

¤ Natasha Bella Kane y Mackenzie Riley Hills

¤ Caroline Samantha Kane y Sarah Emma Fuller

¤ Harper Eva Kane y Daniel Michael Baker

¤ Henry Jasper Kane y Duncan Joshua Evas

¤ Nathan Pietro Kane y Elijah Maxwell Crimson

¤ June Opal Kane y Felix Octavius Rhodes

¤ Jane Ophelia Kane y Angelo Dominic Lowell

¤ Aldora Corinne Prince Amora Lyra Stout

¤ Odolette Lila Prince y Thalia Cora Fulton

¤ Amon Rowan Prince y Elira Bianca Thorton

¤ Amelia Robin Prince y Nicolo Dorian Guthrie

¤ Alastor Robert Prince y Dinah Pandora Pearson

¤ Gavin Marshall Prince y Megara Eloise Lang

¤ Sean Colin Prince y Rebecca Odette Douglas

¤ Renee Tara Prince y Miles Edgar Lambert

¤ Eric Lance Snapey y Millicent Corinne Curtis

¤ Marlon Levi Snape y Lily Alyssa Yancer

¤ Luther Garth Snape y Judith Naomi Tailyour

¤ Hannah Ebony Snape y Lincoln Nathan Penfold

¤ Marie Clarice Snape y Leslie Regan Eastwood

¤ Jade Tiffany Snape y Leah Eliana Rees

¤ Grant Devin Snape y Geraldine Annalie Harfield

¤ Dean Leighton Snape y Fiona Charity Wheeler

¤ Mason Riley Oakley y Cartie April Willis

¤ Morgan Harley Oakley y Ian Paul Wenman

¤ Robert Damian Lake y Marion Corinne Turner

¤ Roy Ethan Morrinson y Griffin Rhett Essex

¤ Joy Ebony Morrinson y Kilian Lee Rowell

¤ Holden Ethan Snape y Eleanor Nadia Heron

¤ Corey Silas Snape y Jane Lydia Orchard

¤ Astrid Juliette Snape y Rhonda Hope Pataki

¤ Tate Julian Snape y James Ronan Poole

¤ Soren Jaspn Snape y Carmen Marianna Rojas

¤ Edgar Samuel Snape y Ingrid Ianthe Lauder

¤ Castiel Gabriel Dream y Cecilia Ember Bonavich

¤ Callum Paul Dream y Avalon Ginevra Carmichael

¤ Cedric Ernest Dream y Bathilda Sibyll Irvine

¤ Garett Elia Dream y Padma Orla Astor

¤ Austin Jordan Dream y Magenta Pomona Hearst

¤ Daryl Silvanus Dream y Nuru Sura Van Doren

¤ Calliope Scarlett Dream y Gemma Pomona Windsor

¤ Cordelia Maribelle Carter y Ivar Rainn Kline

¤ Howart Steven Carter y Sylvia Peyton Bechtel

¤ Lysander Casimir Carter y Enid Jivanta Galumba

¤ Pierre Milford Afton y Kylie Olivia McKeehan

¤ Rupert Stanley Afton y Andrea Jocelyn Varner

¤ Warren Philip Jefferson y Michelle Sabine Castle

¤ Ellie Audrey Jefferson y Shireen Monroe Marks

¤ Giselle Corina Leighton y Mia Velvet Bushnell

¤ Odette Marina Leighton y Nicoletta Verona Goldstein

¤ Larissa Dirina Leighton y Winry Carmina Montgomery

¤ Magnus Cassidy Edevane y Harry Leroy Baker

¤ Stella Andromeda Orville y Harold Russell Mcquiston

¤ Lucille Arabella Orville y Jace Colton Rutledge

¤ Lee Amos Evans y Zoey Makayla Camfield

¤ Cadmus Orion Evans y Trudy Nayala Lovell

¤ Florean Newton Evans y Xenia Sybil Herron

¤ Ivory Ooal Evans y Edmund Wilfred Frankham

¤ Luisa Veronica O'Kelly y Connor Evan Carson.

¤ Finn Andrew Harley y Portia Marilyn Curtis

¤ Abel Nolan Harley y Bonnie Thea Proudley

¤ Louis Xander Harley y Petunia Jamie Deakins

¤ Claire Norah Harley y Lance Chandler Western

¤ Camille Loena Harley y Myrtle Denise Golby

¤ Cora Adelaide Harley y Selma Kelsey Hicks

¤ Juliette Theodora Harley y Daisy China Kempster

¤ Cyrus Maximua Harley y Meredith Shannon Crocker

¤ Horatio Gideon Harley y Heidi Antoinette Deacon

¤ Dorothea Euphemia Harley y Terence Xavier Croucher

¤ Violetta Leopoldine Murphy y Franklin Leonidas Burton

¤ Nova Orion Murphy y Faustina Spencer Odam

¤ Comet Sky Murphy y Yvonne Wilhemina Hibberd

¤ Phoenix Bianca Murphy y Rosalie Simone Stratton

¤ Celestine Xiomara Glenwood y Rylan Waylon Mills

¤ Isla Cosima Glenwood y Neil Rowan Lee

¤ Jacqueline Glenna McCoy y Jarome Staley Orline

¤ Ann Marie McCoy y Ridley Everett Anderson

¤ Apoline Elian McCoy y Simom Edward Thompson

¤ Aubrey Lynn Orson y Braxton Hunter Young

¤ Amelia Faith Orson y Ryland Linden Allen

¤ Lucy Ella Volkov Jacob Jhon Wright

¤ Freya Leah Volkov y Rome Canyon Adams

¤ Martin Lane Volkov y Brianna Mirella Collins

¤ Monet Valentina Volkov y Callahan Anselm Morris

¤ Robinia Venus Carrington y Aragon Glorianne Watson

¤ Damon Micah Carrington y Selie Nia Rise

¤ Calla Seraphina Balckwood y Ariel Calyx Reid

¤ Adriana Norah Blackwood y Windsor Athen Foster

¤ Trevor Narcissus Blackwood y Larry Eugene Fraser

¤ Heather Kalina Moore y Lucilius Nicholas McIntosh

¤ Bernadette Alexa Moore y Ares Gabriel McLean

¤ Althea Ruby Lexington y Trinity Elizabeth Bland

¤ Camellia Iris Lexington y Damian Anthony Boswell

¤ Taylor Sidney Lexington y Fabian Dominic Bartlett

¤ Elena Vittoria Lexington y Athena Aubree Birch

¤ Oris Edward Goodwin y Ryleigh Nadia Chapman

¤ Archer Emrys Goodwin y Paisley Autumm Pannell

¤ Raphaela Esperalda Goodwin y Ryder Quentin Hamilton

¤ Ike Neron Goodwin y Bailey Stephanie Adams

¤ Lilianna Persephone Blackwood y Jared Fabian Crawford

¤ Albert Christopher Blackwood y Gemma Alyna Gibson

¤ Alfred Stella Blackwood y Nicholas Julian Munro

¤ Rose Mary Blackwood y Sebastian robert Walker

¤ Bernard Alden Blackwood y Katherine Calliope McGregor

¤ Benjen Isaiah Blackwood y Seraphina Harper Docherty

¤ Lewis Beckett Blackwood y Samirah Luna Ross

¤ Vlaire Harley Blackwood y Aurora Isabelle Gordon

[captainignatiuspigheart]

Last week was very short as I managed to squeeze two days off into it. These have largely been spent outside in my garden office sorting and tidying LEGO. It’s very time consuming and satisfying, but does leave me slightly wondering where the time has gone. With a very warm and sunny Friday and Saturday I moved my watching of Agents of SHIELD outside along with dismantling and washing the LEGO Detective’s Office set. It’s a lovely little thing, but it had become very grubby. I’m now trying to rebuild it with a tray overflowing with parts. Inevitably, it’s becoming a quicker process the more of it I’ve built. Feels kinda exponential, as if by the end it will be assembling itself… Marilyn and I have also finally begun a shared build, the LEGO Brick Bank, which has been languishing on my “to be built” shelf for some years now… It’s pretty ace, and is a fine accompaniment to season two of Elementary.  

A busy day…

Brick Bank ground floor

  In dismantling the Detective’s Office, I re-remembered that I’d built a little half-modular some years ago, but they’ve been joined together for so long I’d somewhat forgotten that it wasn’t part of the set. I snapped a few pics from it before I dismantled it, for posterity, or whatever. The concept was a coffee shop on the ground floor and a bottle shop above. I’d do almost all of it differently now, of course, but I think it did look pretty good. I was very happy to use the Indiana Jones poster tiles to good effect!

On the right is an impostor

Never finished the roof…

Good banister though

Indy!

Booze

Coffee shop action

Alcove!

We’ve started to enjoy strolling around Beeston late at night. I adore the peace and quiet (I’ve been watching bats in our garden!) and I’m in urgent need of more exercise. I’m looking at you, beer… We’ve met up with a couple of our pussy cats pals too, which has been especially lovely. Given the utter clusterfuck of Bojo’s latest update on the UK’s progress with coronavirus, I suspect I’ll be working from home, getting fat, and taking late night walks for some weeks yet.

Hopper’s Beeston

Foxy Loxy

Despite the week’s brevity, I seem to have taken part in two podcast recordings and read some books! Victory all round. 

Watching: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D season 3

Fuck me, I love this show more and more. We’re finally getting into the stuff I remember a little better. It’s getting so hard to summarise… I guess this season is properly focused on the fallout of the Inhuman explosion and on the truly epic and dark history of Hydra! First we have to recover Agent Simmons from the creepy monolith that whisked her away from Fitz’s arms at the end of season two. Turns out its part of an ancient Hydra tradition, who’ve been feeding the terrifying alien entity within on fresh young Hydra enthusiasts for centuries. Their ultimate aim is to unleash the monster on the world! The team do manage to rescue Simmons, but doing so reveals to Hydra that the doorway can indeed be bridged. There are some pretty tense moments, and Daisy/Skye gets to assemble her own team of Secret Warriors, comprised of some of the Inhumans now emerging. The first half of the season focuses on Hydra getting into the alien planet, with former agent Ward becoming the host of the Inhuman ancestor. That’s bad news for everyone… and gives us the second half, in which Ward sets about subsuming other Inhumans and advancing a plan to dominate the whole world. Bad guys with big plans! Mostly though, my heart continues to beat for FitzSimmons, and for Coulson and Agent Mae. Honestly, it’s hard to make any sense of this season if you haven’t seen the previous two, but if you have it really is a gift: long form deepening of relationships, expanding on the major MCU story threads from Civil War, and getting into the backstory of Hydra to a massive extent.

  Doing: The Improv Boost “Happiness” podcast

All round lovely fella, David Escobedo, one of our It’s A Trap: The Improvised Star Wars Show cast members, and rabid user of social media for promoting improv in all its forms, invited me to join him and a few friends for a very short podcast talking about things we feel passionate about. The challenge was to narrow it down to a specific thing to expostulate on for eight minutes. LEGO would be too broad, as would Star Wars, so it sent me down a little rabbit hole of figuring out what I do especially enjoy, rather than the general everything of science fiction and stuff. One of my gateways into SF, or at least one that has cast a lengthy shadow, is the work of the great John Wyndham. Picking The Day of the Triffids was an easy next step. That’s why I read both the abridged US edition then the UK/Penguin edition in a week. The latter is about 10% longer, and just has a little more depth. It’s startlingly apt for our current situation, and I’d recommend it for anyone who finds reassurance in someone else’s words managing to neatly sum up existential and ethical crises. Also, triffids are ace, and plainly the ancestor of all zombie fiction. 

Alas, whatever software David was using to stream Zoom into Facebook fucked us over and we lost the last five minutes. Which means you get all of Jac’s enthusing about calculus (whatever the hell that is… :-} ) but lose Vanessa’s final thoughts on our topics which neatly wedded our themes together. Essentially (I think) we’re both talking about aspects of community and how people deal with the situations they find themselves in. Enjoy!



Reading: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Having cheerfully chugged down a double dose of The Day of the Triffids I moved straight on to what’s generally regarded as his “best” novel. It’s not my most favourite, but it’s quite a read. Far future post-apocalypse, humanity is struggling to rebuild itself after what appears to be nuclear catastrophe with radioactive fallout causing widespread genetic mutation. As a result, a renewed fervour for purity and the importance of the human (and all other creatures and crops) matching the design laid down by God / government. The consequences of deviation from the norm are severe: death, destruction, banishment to the badlands. None of it’s very appealing.

Our viewpoint is David, a perfectly normal boy: somewhat lazy, chafing a little under the religious intensity of his father and the demands of being in a small farming community in the newly reclaimed lands of Labrador. Only… he’s telepathic, and that makes him a very serious deviation indeed. In the novel we find a lot more of the social awareness and interest in community and individualism that Wyndham show’s in all of his work, and it’s very thought-provoking while being beguiling easy reading. It’s quite a neat trick to cover abominations and socially-mandated murder with such a breezy and familiar writing style. Ultimately, of course, David and his friends have to go on the run from their peers and family. When his younger sister, Petra, who turns out to be an incredibly powerful telepath makes contact with someone in “Zealand”, the whole of David’s world (and ours, since he’s our only view of it) is turned upside down. Moments of bleakness and fear fight with equally delightful epiphanies and hope for true acceptance. It’s great! Read it! 

Doing: We Are What We Overcome podcast Special Episode #3 Self Care

Our fortnightly Facebook Live podcast recordings continue to catch me unawares! Mondays are not a good evening for me to have my brain in gear, but I’m trying. Last week we talked about self-care some more. It’s really important to look after yourself at the moment. Divorced of much meaningful in-person human contact, I think we’re all fraying away at the edges. We talked about some of the things that frustrate the act of self-care, and some of the tools we use to keep ourselves as sorted as we can be.

Doing: MissImp’s Virtual Improv Drop-In: Duncan Carty – Artist’s Eye for the Improv Guy

This week we got a really special and different take on improvisation and creativity from our Duncan Carty, combining artistic expression, y’know, like drawing, with how we take inspiration for our scenes and performances. It’s a very good workshop, and I implore you to get out your crayons and walls and go at it. Phew, that’s the eighth improv workshop Emily has wrangled onto our website, and it looks we’re gonna be providing them for the foreseeable future. Enjoy!  

Last Week: Sunday 10 May 2020: lots more LEGO, John Wyndham, two podcasts and general bumbling around… podcast fun with We Are What We Overcome and @improvboost talking about Day of the Triffids! #tv #podcast #improv #books https://wp.me/pbprdx-8Ed Last week was very short as I managed to squeeze two days off into it. These have largely been spent outside in my garden office sorting and tidying LEGO.

[dailyrugbytoday]

Rugby Cheetahs, USA Falcons Collide In Litmus Test

New Post has been published on https://thedailyrugby.com/rugby-cheetahs-usa-falcons-collide-in-litmus-test/

The Daily Rugby

https://thedailyrugby.com/rugby-cheetahs-usa-falcons-collide-in-litmus-test/

Rugby Cheetahs, USA Falcons Collide In Litmus Test

The USA Falcons will be seeking a morale-boosting victory over the South African provincial squad Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday as part of their preparation in the buildup to their Rugby World Cup Qualifier Series next month.

The American team is a secondary squad—consisting of only Major League Rugby players—and will be playing under the national team banner but competing as the USA Falcons throughout their two-match tour of South Africa.

2022 Free State Cheetahs vs USA National A

In November, the Falcons will have to tough it out against Hong Kong, Kenya and Portugal in Dubai for the final place in next year’s World Cup.

The team will want to test themselves against one of the best provincial teams in South Africa in the form of the Cheetahs.

Similarly, the Cheetahs will look to return to their winning ways after they slumped to a 21-14 defeat against an Emerging Ireland side a week ago. A favorable result against a Gary Gold-coached international team will serve as massive relief for Hawies Fourie’s Cheetahs, who start their inaugural European Challenge campaign in two months.

Admittedly, neither side will be boasting a full-strength lineup. The visitors will be missing all their foreign-based players, while eight first-choice Cheetahs squad members are unavailable for selection due to injury.

For all their attacking prowess, the Cheetahs are notorious for their defensive frailties and given Gold’s experience and intel of the game in South Africa, that is one facet which the American outfit will surely look to exploit to create ample scoring opportunities.

Should the home side continue playing in this way, there is every chance that the outcome of the game will hinge on which team gains supremacy at the scrum, breakdown and lineout.

Cheetahs

15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 George Lourens, 9 Branden de Kock, 8 Teboho Mohoje, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Marnus van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (c), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Subs: 16 Janus Venter, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Jeandre Rudolph, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Robert Ebersohn.

United States Falcons

15 Marcel Brache, 14 Mitch Wilson, 13 Bryce Campbell (c), 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Christian Dyer, 10 Luke Carty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 7 Cory Daniel, 6 Viliami Helu, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Keni Nasoqeqe, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 1 Jack Iscaro.

Subs: 16 Kaleb Geiger, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Angus Maclellan, 19 Siaosi Mahoni, 20 Cam Dolan, 21 Duncan van Schalkwyk, 22 Tavite Lopeti, 23 Chris Mattina.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 20/02/2021 (Lil Tjay & 6LACK, Taylor Swift, slowthai)

Okay, so we’ve got a busy week ahead of us, actually a pretty massive one to deep-dive through – and it’s immediately obvious from the second song on the chart, but for now, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo hangs on for what I believe is its sixth week at #1, and we’ve got a lot to cover.

Rundown

First of all, why’s this a big week? Well, there is an album bomb – or at least all that the UK Singles Chart allows for album bombs – and everything that could have debuted... debuted high. So in the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, we’ve got an awful lot to discuss. First of all, our drop-outs, other than debuts from last week, include “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur, “Golden” by Harry Styles, “SO DONE” by The Kid LAROI, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish, “All Girls are the Same” by the late Juice WRLD, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo and fittingly, “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter. We also have  a fair few losers, like “Bringing it Back” by Digga D and AJ Tracey down to #16 off of the top 5 debut and all of Fredo’s tracks skidding down off of the album bomb two weeks ago, like “Money Talks” with Dave at #19, “Ready” featuring Summer Walker at #37 and “Burner on Deck” with Young Adz and the late Pop Smoke at #51. We also have “34+35” by Ariana Grande not getting a remix boost at #30 (though it can get the album boost next week), “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka collapsing at #39, “Regardless” by RAYE and Rudimental at #48, “willow” by Taylor Swift at #49, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #50, “positions” by Ariana Grande at #52, “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra at #55, “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #56, “Be the One” by Rudimental featuring MORGAN, Digga D and TIKE at #58, “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #59 (I’m surprised we didn’t get “GNF (OKOKOK)” debut, by the way), “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke at #61, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles at #62, “Loading” by Central Cee collapsing at #63, “No Time for Tears” by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix doing the same at #65 (probably both victims of streaming cuts), “Apricots” by Bicep at #68, “Really Love” by KSI featuring Craig David and Digital Farm Animals at #69, “Looking for Me” by Paul Woodford, Diplo and Kareen Lomax at #70 and “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #73. What may be more interesting than our notable fallers are our notable gains and returning entries, however, as whilst only “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper returned to #64, we also have some inexplicable or just plain bad gains. “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek seemingly has a second wind at #67, along with “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #57 and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #42, but our other gains are mostly recent debuts, like “Little Bit of Love” by Tom Grennan at #45, “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Maxed Wolf at #44, “Believe Me” by Navos at #43, “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence at #33 and finally, “Friday”, Riton’s ugly Nightcrawlers remix featuring Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself into the top 10 at #10, becoming everyone’s first in that category, except the Nightcrawlers themselves getting their first top 10 since 1995, even if it’s just “Push the Feeling On” getting into the top 10 a second, separate time 26 years later... and it’s scary to think 1995 is indeed 26 years ago. Anyway, let’s start to make sense of these new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#72 – “MAZZA” – slowthai featuring A$AP Rocky

Produced by SAMO, slowthai and Kwes Darko

Now, the charts may be chaotic because of the general weakness of it all but it also allows for artists you wouldn’t really expect to do that well get #1 albums, and slowthai’s riding the waves of controversy, his well-received debut album and, you know, a genuinely very good quality of work, as his sophomore effort, TYRON, debuts at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and we’ve got three songs from Ty on this singles chart, which is the highest amount the chart actually allows, meaning this is an album bomb. Yeah, an album bomb from slowthai – that’s the one thing you can guarantee ONLY ever happens on the UK charts... well, okay, there are many things, but we’ll get to those later. I’m surprised “MAZZA” didn’t debut higher given the music video, big-name feature, being one of the catchiest on the record and the fact that it’s getting radio play, but it’s still here, so who’s to complain? This track, from the emptier A-side of “bangers” in the first half of the album, relies on a quirky synth loop and a bouncy trap beat for slowthai and Rocky to individually prove themselves on and, yeah, the song is pretty great, with a really infectious hook and mostly really smooth flows, propelled by the charisma that just so easily spreads out of every word Ty raps. The title itself is slang that basically something is “mad” – that in, crazy and fun – and that is fitting for the song, which seems to be at a disconnect between the content, beat and feature. Ty flip-flops between flexing, depression and drug addiction, whilst A$AP Rocky just delivers some flexing... but when it’s one of Rocky’s best verses in years, I’m just glad to have him spitting here finally. This is far from the most interesting track on the record but it’s definitely an empty banger cruising on energy more than anything, which is good because it has that in spades. I’d like to point out though that much like the rest of the first half of this album, it is derivative: this is a beat you could see either Rocky or Playboi Carti on, and Ty seems to be doing mostly Rocky-esque flows with a definite attempt at doing the same ad-lib-focal song structure as Carti would. This is unfortunate by now but I can see him growing out of his influence as time comes, although it is a concern when it’s clearer on your bangers than it is your retrospective tunes, which are also pretty clearly Kanye- and BROCKHAMPTON-inspired. Speaking of...

#72 – “terms” – slowthai featuring Dominic Fike and Denzel Curry

Produced by Mount Kimbie, JD. Reid and Kenny Beats

It’s crazy to see production credits from Mount Kimbie and Kenny Beats on the UK Singles Chart... but with that said, you’d expect that to end up as one of the best songs on the chart, especially with this trio of artists. Sadly, the tracks that debuted this week are not close to my favourites off of the project, but if songs like “45 SMOKE”, “push”, “nhs”, “focus”, “PLAY WITH FIRE” and my personal favourite, “i tried”, aren’t going to chart, then I guess we can deal with this to show the more introspective side of the record and slowthai as a whole... except this song is exceptionally shallow in that lane, discussing the downsides of fame in a way that feels tired and done before, even on the same album – and we’ll get to that in a bit. Dominic Fike discusses his words being “jumbled” when in reality I don’t think anything Ty has said has been confused or taken out of context. It doesn’t help that this beat has a drowned-out guitar sample that just sounds ugly below a dark, menacing 808 and trap percussion that take Dominic Fike out of his element so much that he just sounds awful on the hook. Slowthai may have a faster flow here but he’s remarkably unfocused content-wise, and Denzel Curry doesn’t deliver more than a badly-mixed Memphis rap interlude that you can barely tell is him. This is far from bad, I do like the subtle vocal samples in the chorus and slowthai’s second verse about his daily schedule is genuinely really great, but it feels like wasted potential. Fun fact: This is actually Denzel’s first ever song to chart in the UK... if you can even call it his song. We’ll see Ty more later as we get higher on the chart.

#60 – “Cover Me in Sunshine” – P!nk and Willow Sage Heart

Produced by the Struts

Okay, so this is a song by P!nk with her young child daughter... Hmm, okay, so this is a ballad relying on acoustic guitar picking and some really ugly echoed percussion as well as two voices that go from meshing not at all to meshing too well together for voices 30 years apart. I’d like to end it here because this song really isn’t interesting past the novelty factor and some strange mixing in the first verse especially but as a bland uplifting “Fight Song”-type song, I guess it works though I don’t know about you but if I were going through a global pandemic right now with no real source of income, no end in sight and constant governmental error that’s killing thousands of people nationwide, I wouldn’t want a child who was born into millionaires telling me that it’s all going to be okay... oh, yeah, we are in that situation and I don’t want to hear this at any point, especially because this is generic and frankly, not worth anyone’s time.

#54 – “Mixed Emotions” – Abra Cadabra

Produced by TR the Producer

Okay, so when I said this would be a big week I did not mean or expect that it would be a good week, as we can tell already, but Abra Cadabra is here with a “thugs-need-love-too�� track to drive that point home. Apparently a snippet of this went viral before its official release in a Valentine’s Day EP I didn’t know existed, which I honestly don’t get because there’s nothing stand-out about this song, like, at all. It’s got a guitar-based trap beat as Abra Cadabra croons in his admittedly pretty interesting, rich voice but he’s not saying anything interesting and this beat is just incompetent, with those badly-mixed swooshing sound effects that come in way too many times, and the fact that half the song is lacking percussion for no reason other than to make the beat sound busier than it is, even when it already has that ugly acoustic guitar lick playing through the whole thing in the front of the mix and... yeah, what’s the point in really critiquing this? Abra can’t even really hold much of a flow, especially in the meandering second verse, so not much of value is lost when this inevitably drops out next week.

#53 – “Big” – Rita Ora, Imanbek and David Guetta featuring Gunna

Produced by Mike Hawkins, Toby Green, Spenser, Sam Martin, David Guetta and Imanbek

This is the lead single – if you can call it that – from a trainwreck of a collaborative EP by COVID-19 super-spreader Rita Ora and everyone’s favourite Kazakh DJ, Imanbek, who seems to be chasing hits here with no real gain. You can already tell this is going to be hilariously bad, right? There are four primary artists seemingly picked out of a hat who had never collaborated prior to this EP, with two vocalists that would not mesh at all, and two producers... as well as four others to engineer this mix out so that the actual DJs and producers here become pretty much in name only. So, this is an already pointless song in all capacities, but then we find out that Ed Sheeran had a hand in writing this... this is just prepped for disaster. Fittingly, the song’s bad in a hilariously boring way. It starts with a bassy synth lead and some generic house production before Rita Ora comes in with a really unconvincing delivery that does not help to propel some genuinely bad singing in the pre-chorus and awkward songwriting. “Blame it on the city how I’m ballin’”? “Big tanks looking like Transformers”? It’s even funnier when you note that that line is where the beat cuts out (kind of) and it doesn’t rhyme with the rest of the verse at all. There’s some really bad vocal processing that makes Rita Ora sound overly digitised, much like a lot of Imanbek’s production, but also emphasises her in the mix along with the vocal mixing being generally overly loud compared to the rest of the production, which doesn’t really have a proper drop so it just goes nowhere other than a brief drum fill that comes out of nowhere and serves no real purpose. Rita Ora delivers rap clichés or at least lines I’ve heard before in the most generic possible way in the second verse, with as much charisma as Gunna’s literally phoned-in verse, mixed awfully, where the beat doesn’t even dignify his existence by just staying on the build-up and not even properly giving him the trap breakdown that it’s clearly going for. There’s this one stray kick or 808 note in that verse that goes nowhere. It’s honestly hilarious how dreadful this song is, lacking any groove or punch that it would need to become even a guilty pleasure... if you still use that term, anyway. Just fascinating. Anyway, let’s get to the top 40.

#39 – “CANCELLED” – slowthai featuring Skepta

Produced by SAMO, Kelvin Krash and Kwes Darko

Yeah, okay, so this song isn’t great either. Although I’m glad slowthai is in the top 40, it won’t be for long and it’s not because of Ty. It’s because this is a Skepta song through and through. He does the hook, has a verse and a presence on the intro and post-chorus. It’s probably good that it is as well because Skepta does the best he can with his menacing delivery over a pretty weak flute-trap beat that sounds as sleepy as Skepta’s flow on the chorus, which is even more awkward when it takes a left turn for an unnecessary post-chorus. Ty brings energy here and some pretty funny lines but is overall a non-presence on his own song, being over-shadowed by the bass knock and interrupted by Skepta’s hook at the end of his verse. Skepta brings a better verse, with some genuinely really fun flow switches but nothing content wise to make this song that’s already barely two minutes feel like it adds anything to... well, anything. The song itself is trying to prove a heavy-handed yet misguided point about cancel culture, which I don’t think even exists, and how it “kills art” when in reality anything further than stans or trolls on Twitter is probably deserved. When a book shop stops selling J.K. Rowling books, it’s not because they’re silencing or censoring art as much as they are not giving profits to a terrible person with too much time and money on their hands. Thankfully, neither of these guys are terrible people but what backlash they have had has been either from a deserved place or not from the left. There was an incident at an awards show with Katherine Ryan that didn’t get him cancelled but got Ty some brief backlash. Everybody swiftly moved on, and nothing changed except I think he delivered some kind of apology, not that I would remember because this song retcons whatever regret he has for it. He also got some backlash from the British news media – see: the right-wing – from displaying a severed head of Boris Johnson on stage, but again, if backlash “killed art”, you wouldn’t have a #1 album. As much as it wants to be a middle-finger to cancel culture, it ends up as a worthless flex track from rappers who’ve done much better. It’s not bad at all – and I’m glad the guy’s having success (I mean, after all, the album is overall good and he’s a fellow Northamptonshire resident). I just don’t think this song really works at all for what it’s trying to do.

#35 – “Siberia” – Headie One featuring Burna Boy

Produced by TheElements and AoD

This is an awfully rap-centric episode, huh? Well, this is from the deluxe edition of Headie’s album Edna, because that trend’s not going away any time soon... and I think Abra Cadabra could learn from this because this is how you do a low-key guitar trap single, with those watery, almost Blink-182-esque acoustic loops under a somewhat off-kilter trap beat as Headie mumbles in his smoother voice and faster, fun flows that do remind me too much of Gunna but overall sound pretty great. The cadences, especially in the chorus, are pretty infectious, and honestly the song could just use with some refinement in the mixing category and with Burna Boy’s verse, as whilst the singer definitely delivers the energy here, his voice is particularly muddy in this mix and his flow is more janky. With some multi-tracking or backing ad-libs, this could have definitely sounded better. The strings and electric guitar that come in at the final chorus were a welcome surprise though, and Burna Boy’s soulful delivery on the final outro verse sounds better than his actual verse, so I don’t really know what went wrong here. The content isn’t all too interesting, but I’m a sucker for geography references so the hook would have always made me chuckle and that’s before the shallow but deserved political commentary in Headie’s verse as well as Burna Boy making... perhaps insensitive references to infections in his more Young Thug-like inflections that do sound fun and more out-there as a contrast to Headie keeping it a bit tighter. Yeah, this isn’t perfect but it’s a pretty good trap banger so check it out.

#27 – “UK Hun?” – United Kingdolls

Produced by Freddy Scott and Leland

And now in stark contrast, drag queens. I don’t follow RuPaul’s Drag Race at all but I very much understand its appeal, especially now that it’s come to the UK on BBC Three, with I believe Graham Norton at the helm. This is a song from its second season that apparently takes homage from Eurovision for a song which has a title that is literally a pun. “You okay, hun?” but because it’s Britain, it’s UK. Very, very clever. At least it’s up-front right out of the gate so you can expect what will end up as pretty dumb fun... and this is immediately obvious from the intro which introduces you to the chorus: “bing, bang, bong, sing, sang, song, ding, dang, dong, UK, hun”. Okay, so this wasn’t ever going to be a prowess in songwriting, although you’d think there’d be something more here given MNEK’s involvement. Each contestant in the race gets a rap verse here over a pretty rote late 2000s dance-pop beat, with varying levels of charisma but ultimately a lot of energy from people who pretty clearly can’t sing, not that it matters when there’s the Auto-Tune slathered on top of the pre-chorus and chorus. I do feel like I’m separated from the show enough to be completely mystified by this, but really, the song’s not bad, and I can dig the upbeat synths in the chorus, even if the childlike novelty of it makes it a lot less enjoyable to me, personally. At the end of the day, it’s a sugary pop song about confidence with a pretty great fourth verse about loving yourself for who you are, so I can’t hate that. Also “gender-bender, cis-tem offender” is kind of a bar.

#25 – “We’re Good” – Dua Lipa

Produced by Scott Harris, Emily Warren and SLY

Future Nostalgia is a great album, and like all great albums, it needs a mediocre deluxe edition with snippets of leftover, unfinished tracks and remixes... no, wait, no album ever needs that. Sadly, life doesn’t go my way all of the time, so Dua released a “Moonlight Edition”, the fifth version of the album to be released as far as I know, and other than a hilarious JID collaboration in the form of “Not My Problem”, it’s not worth listening to past the first 11 tracks that were already on the standard edition. This track is the worst of them all, stripping away any of the disco groove and grandiose strings that defined the vibe of the album for a really bland, vaguely tropical trap-pop tune. The only remnant of the disco theme is the chorus referencing cocaine, which seems bizarrely out of character if anything, although it doesn’t help that Dua sounds checked-out, especially on the verses but also on the chorus which definitely takes some inspiration from emo-pop in those guitar tones but not in those awkward, first-take vocal deliveries that make the chorus flow pretty awfully. This songwriting is consistently janky too, with the overly short bridge serving no real purpose and the song itself feeling like an under-written, over-produced waste of everyone’s time. I’m surprised Dua couldn’t debut higher than #25, but at the same time I understand why people aren’t enjoying this as much as the prior singles, because this is bad.

#23 – “Commitment Issues” – Central Cee

Produced by mokuba

This guy is just releasing a bunch of singles and squandering any potential I saw in him, huh? Well, okay, this is from an upcoming album but that doesn’t make its acoustic guitar loops any more interesting or the content any more dissonant from its hard-hitting UK drill beat and his aggressive delivery. Like, there’s nothing about his flow or the instrumental that makes sense for a song where he’s apologising to his ex and trying to convince her to come back to him... at all. I’d get annoyed by a song that’s not cohesive in its content, but this one is annoyingly so, with the content never giving a reason for the dark, menacing 808 slides other than the... arguments with the woman he describes in the hook? It does kind of work with the flow there, but, like... why? Why does this exist? This isn’t convincing, it can’t be a banger because of its overly-specific break-up themes and it’s just a mess of a song, not helped by the fact he goes off trailing in the second verse about how many “hoes” he has, which is honestly kind of funny given in the first verse, he acknowledges that his ex hates those types of lyrics. Man, Central Cee was onto something with the jazz-drill on “Loading”, where did any of that go?

#12 – “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Taylor Swift and Christopher Rowe

The original “Love Story” is one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs. There’s something so sweet and Mew Mew Power about it. I don’t know if that’ll work as an adjective for anyone else but what I’m saying is it really emphasises the inner “white teenage girl in the 2000s” that many have hidden in them, with its cute banjo intro and honestly kind of funny misinterpretation of the original Romeo & Juliet text, none of which has been fixed in this new version. Out of the stuff I’ve heard from the country-pop era of Taylor’s work, it’s definitely one of the catchiest, most melodramatic choruses, probably second to my favourite from this era, “Mine”. Well, this new version has to be made so that Taylor Swift can own the rights again to her music that Scooter Braun sold after she left the Big Machine label. Honestly, I think I prefer a younger Taylor Swift in the context of such a cutesy, pretty song with all its childlike novelties – I mean, a 30-year-old Taylor Swift won’t misremember details from Shakespearean texts. Not to say that she sounds bad here because she sounds great, especially over the more refined, modern production and the incredible strings in the chorus that are emphasised in this mix. I can’t say that much of a cover that takes the original and does exactly the same thing with it, just with a more modern instrumental that honestly has a pretty epic instrumental bridge. Ultimately, this is taking a great song and making it sound better and more accessible for an audience a decade or so detached from the original “Love Story” and it sounds pretty great doing it.

#2 – “Calling My Phone” – Lil Tjay and 6LACK

Produced by Non Native, Bordeaux and G. Ry

This chart week ended up being less of a beast to tackle than I thought it was, mostly because there are a couple good fun songs sprinkled in the range of mediocrity here. Now this is the final song to discuss and... this is just as inexplicable as “drivers license”. If it weren’t for the streaming numbers, I’d be convinced this is an error and this should have been switched with the second-highest debut, as it makes no sense for Lil Tjay and 6LACK to debut at the #2 spot in the UK. For context, Lil Tjay is an Auto-Tune crooner from the Bronx, in a similar vein to a Lil Tecca or A Boogie wit da Hoodie, who I thought would completely disappear post-“Pop Out” given he seemed to be on the Lil Tecca route as most of his other singles just couldn’t stick the landing other than I guess “F.N.”. Admittedly, that might be because they were pretty bad, and I think he actually kind of ruined “Pop Out” by killing its momentum with his non-existent presence and gross Auto-Tune whine, but he seems to have gotten a lot of traction since then from a posthumous Pop Smoke record as he wastes time on “Mood Swings”, which became a pretty massive hit for Tjay and the late Pop Smoke, with a lot more longevity than I expected, even though it was my personal least favourite on that posthumous album. 6LACK is more for the alternative and hip-hop head crowd, known less for his street bangers than he is for his smooth alternative R&B collaborations with guys like J. Cole. He has mainstream attention and has tried to cross over before, but ultimately he’s probably better guest-starring on robotic Gorillaz singles with Elton John of all people... or at least that’s what I thought, because they seem to have just released a single with no real promo other than TikTok previews and a music video, and it blew up immensely almost immediately. Maybe it’s good timing given Valentine’s Day but this seems like a combination of weak charts and a genuinely organic sudden hit, pushed by a label of course but not without word of mouth and... I don’t know, I’m kind of clueless on why this is so big here, and seemingly everywhere, but I’m not complaining. Wait, no, I am complaining because I’m not a fan at all. I can go for smoother, more soulful R&B but something about this is way too jagged for it to work for me, with Tjay delivering some pretty bored, mumbled crooning over melancholy pianos and an infectious but off-beat chipmunk vocal sample that acts a refrain because nothing Lil Tjay does is catchy enough. His verse is really sloppy, as is the piano, and the percussion is kind of just gross in how it’s mixed. Thankfully, 6LACK is here for some brief relief on the second verse, as he actually has a presence with his cruising, subtle multi-tracked delivery that sounds genuinely pretty great and would be at better use with bass that isn’t mastered like this and maybe an actual chorus. In fact, I think this would work as a UK garage song with that vocal sample if you speed up the whole track and add some actual groove to it, so someone please get on that because otherwise I don’t see any reason why this is so high. It’s just lethargic R&B, really just basic and tired.

Conclusion

Yeah, this was a big week but sadly I think it is shrouded in a lot of mediocrity that I think will be gone by next week, so whilst the UK chart chaos can be fun, especially when I’ve got nothing else to do, I’m not sure if any of these songs really stick. Best of the Week goes to Taylor Swift’s re-recorded “Love Story” with a really close Honourable Mention in slowthai’s “MAZZA” featuring A$AP Rocky, just hedging out Headie One. With the worst, we have a lot to choose from but because of its high debut and hence the expected hype, I’ll give Worst of the Week to “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK, with tied Dishonourable Mentions to “Big” by Rita Ora, Imanbek and David Guetta featuring Gunna, and honestly Central Cee’s “Commitment Issues” for not working on any level, though it really easily could have gone to Dua Lipa, P!nk or Abra Cadabra. Here’s this week’s top 10:

Honestly, I have no idea what’s coming for next week other than Ariana Grande’s deluxe edition. Maybe Trippie Redd’s pop-punk album can make somewhat of a splash? I don’t know, I don’t think anything too big is coming but I’m probably wrong. I just know that a lot of this’ll be gone by next week. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank if you feel the need to do so and I’ll see you next week.

[manualstogo]

For just $3.99 Against the Wind Released on February 11, 1948: Directed by: Charles Crichton Written by: J. Elder WIlls with screenplay by Michael Pertwee, T.E.B. Clark and Paul Vincent Carroll The Actors: Robert Beatty Father Eliott Philip, Simone Signoret Mechle, Jack Warner Uncle Max, Gordon Jackson Johnny Duncan, Paul Dupuis Jacques Picquart, Gisele Preville Julie, John Slater Emile Meyer, Peter Illing Andrew, James Robertson Justice Professor Ackerman, Sybille Binder Florence Malou, Helene Hansen Marie Berlot, Gilbert Davis Commandant, Andrew Blackett Frankie, Arthur Lawrence Verreker, Eugene Deckers Marcel Van Hecke, Leo de Pokorny Balthasar, Rory MacDermot Carey, Kenneth Villiers Lewis, Kenneth Hyde Captain Parker, Olaf Olsen German officer, Philo Hauser Joseph, Martin Bradley Captain Rich, Sheila Carty Bridie Donnelly, Margot Lassner Madame Meyer, Guy Deghy German Sergeant Major, Jean Pierre Hambye Blondel, George Kersen Flour, Duncan Lewis Sergeant, Robert Wyndham doctor, Andre Morell Abbot Runtime: 1h 36m *** This item will be supplied on a quality disc and will be sent in a sleeve that is designed for posting CD's DVDs *** This item will be sent by 1st class post for quick delivery. Should you not receive your item within 12 working days of making payment, please contact us as it is unusual for any item to take this long to be delivered. Note: All my products are either my own work, licensed to me directly or supplied to me under a GPL/GNU License. No Trademarks, copyrights or rules have been violated by this item. This product complies withs rules on compilations, international media and downloadable media. All items are supplied on CD or DVD.

[full-imagination]

Freeman, Bobby Joe

DUNCAN, SC- Bobby Joe Freeman, 84, passed away on Sunday, September 22, 2019. A native of Startex, SC he was the son of the late Millard and Cartie... http://dlvr.it/RDqZTR

[45before45]

The next 3 months races

1. Surrey League:  Aim: A solid run in the B’s. Up amongst the Kieran Whites and Joes. Run strong and injury free

2. Potentially - NI Master XC. 1st v45 and beat Duncan and Neil Carty. 

3. Southern Masters - 1st v45′s and sub 9.30

4. InterArea - sub 9.20

5. UK Masters - win and sub 9.20

6. World’s - Sub 9.15 and a “good crack” 

[londontheatre]

The vicious, barbaric undercurrent in Shakespeare’s fear-filled tragedy erupts in Icarus Theatre’s kinetic and blood-thirsty production.

Unrivalled on the battlefield, Macbeth is rewarded with rank and favour by a grateful king but the war has left its scars. With each enemy Macbeth butchers, his lust for power takes a more menacing grip. Spectres slaughtered on the battlefield drip poison in his ear, and passions erupt as he ferociously seizes the throne. But, violence breeds violence, and a reign born in blood quickly spirals out of control as Macbeth’s demons return to destroy him.

Set in the 11th century and culminating in an epic battle filled with revenge, justice, and beheadings, Icarus Theatre blends the traditional and the physical to bring to life some of literature’s most vibrant language and characters.

This production centres around the idea that Macbeth himself is suffering from PTSD. Director Max Lewendel comments, War is hell, and medieval warfare even more so. There is something in the psychology of PTSD that resonates here in a very Hitchcockian kind of way. This world is a supernatural nightmare for Macbeth and I wanted to explore the idea that the horrors of what he has done and seen lurk in every shadow, in every corner.

In addition to this new psychological element, many of the traditional male roles are here cast as female characters, stressing the importance of gender parity on stage. This is a patriarchal world, but one that is being challenged by powerful women pushing forward change.

The Tragedy of Macbeth Running time 2 hours 30 minutes (including interval) Notes Ages 11+ (contains violence) Box Office Tickets are available from individual theatre box offices. http://ift.tt/2iGSZUQ.

Twitter @IcarusTheatre, #IcarusMacbeth Director Max Lewendel Set Designer Curtis C Trout Costume Designer Isabella Van Braeckel Lighting Designer Stevie Carty Sound and Music Theo Holloway Lighting Designer Stevie Carty Movement Director Caroline Mueller Fight Director Ronin Traynor Voice Coach Joel Trill Macbeth Lawrence Stubbings Lady Macbeth Miztli Rose Neville Banquo James Heatlie Macduff Rowan Winter Malcolm Charlotte Cracknell Donalbain Kaiden DuBois Duncan Andrew Hislop Actor/ASM Lindset Huebner Actor/ASM Jay Wilson

Performance Dates 31st January – 1st February INEC – 10:30am and 2:30pm (31st January), 10:30am (1st February)

http://ift.tt/2B5y6JI London Theatre 1

[celtfather]

St. Patrick's Day 2023, Part 1

Happy St Patrick’s Day. This is Part 1 of your St Paddy’s Day celebration music from the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #597. Part 2 will be out on St Patrick's Day.

Cantrip, Wild Blue Yonder, The Out of Kilters, Wolf Loescher & Mark Kenneth, The Celtic Kitchen Party, Poitín, The Elders, Mary Beth Carty, Jesse Ferguson, Mad Maudlin, Seán Heely, Rambling Sailors, The Bow Tides, Kinnfolk, The Chieftains, Tan and Sober Gentlemen, The Haar, Altan, Banshee in the Kitchen, Wakefire, Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2023

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2023 episode.  Vote Now!

Two weeks after the episode is launched, I compile your votes to update a playlist on Spotify and YouTube. These are the results of your voting. You can help these artists out by following the playlists and adding tracks you love to your playlists. Follow us on Facebook to find out who is added each week.

Listen on Spotify and YouTube.

GET CELTIC MUSIC NEWS IN YOUR INBOX

The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Subscribe and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:02 - Intro: Mary Beth Carty

0:15 - Cantrip "Duncan Johnstone" from Undark

6:28 - WELCOME

8:37 - Wild Blue Yonder "LAST RUN OF THE WHITE HORSE" from single

13:17 - The Out of Kilters "Fifty Shades of Beer" from Hot Potatoes

16:24 - Wolf Loescher & Mark Kenneth "Charlie’s Cadence (2/4 Pipe Marches)" from Loescher+Kenneth

19:59 - The Celtic Kitchen Party "The Temperance Song" from Last Call

23:33 - Poitín "The Knife In The Bread" from One For The Road

27:36 - The Elders "Red Sun" from Well Alright Then

32:34 - FEEDBACK

38:13 - Mary Beth Carty Feedback and Intro

40:03 - Mary Beth Carty "Lake Ainslie to Millburn" from Crossing the Causeway

43:54 - Jesse Ferguson "The River Driver" from The Bard of Cornwall

46:11 - Mad Maudlin "Empty Chairs" from Empty Chairs

50:14 - Seán Heely "Nights in Kerry" from Edge of the Bow

54:08 - Rambling Sailors "The Wellerman" from Tales From the White Horse

58:01 - The Bow Tides "The Baton Set" from Sailing On

1:02:04 - Kinnfolk "Loch Lomond" from The Knotted Circle

1:05:21 - THANKS

1:08:48 - The Chieftains "Ril Mhór Bhaile an Chalaidh (Great Reel of Baile an Chalaidh)" from Bear's Sonic Journals: The Foxhunt  -  Live In San Francisco 1976

1:11:10 - Tan and Sober Gentlemen "Banks Of The Roses" from Regressive Folk Music

1:13:48 - The Haar "Danny Boy" from Where Old Ghosts Meet

1:19:10 - Altan "The House Carpenter (Gypsy Davy)" from The Widening Gyre

1:23:35 - Banshee in the Kitchen "The Last Pint" from The Last Pint  -  Not

1:27:43 - Wakefire "Johnny Jump Up" from Meaning of Life

1:31:49 - CLOSING

1:33:06 - Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira "Johnny McGill" from All It Brings

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs.

Visit our website to subscribe to the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode. You’ll get access to our Best of this Year Playlist. You can subscribe to our Celtic Music Magazine and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. Plus, you’ll get 7 weekly news items about what’s happening with Celtic music and culture online. Best of all, you will connect with your Celtic heritage.

Finally, please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

WELCOME CELTOPHILE TO CELTIC MUSIC

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn. I’m a musician and podcaster out of Atlanta, Georgia. This Podcast is here to build our diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. If you hear music you love, please email artists to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

You can find a link to all of the artists in the shownotes, along with show times, when you visit our website at celticmusicpodcast.com.

Do you have the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast app? It’s 100% free. You can listen to hundreds of episodes of the podcast. Download it now.

Hey Celtic Bands, I’m looking for new music and stories in 2023. To submit your band, just complete the permission form at 4celts.com. You’ll also find information on how to submit a story behind one of your songs or tunes.

Get a free Celtic Musicians Guide to Digital Music eBook. email gift@bestcelticmusic

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

Because of Your kind and generous support, this show comes out at least four times a month. Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. It allows us to attract new listeners and to help our community grow.

As a patron, you get music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, and you get a private feed to listen to the show.  All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our Celtic Legends: Bill Mandeville, Marti Meyers, Brenda, Meghan Walker, Dan mcDade, Sharlene Peel, Paul Crowley, Morgan George, Samir Malak, Marianne Ludwig, Darby Patrick O'Flannery, Scott Benson, Hunter Melville, Carol Baril, Michael Truman Cavanaugh, Miranda Nelson, Nancie Barnett, Kevin Long, HuskerArmoury, Lynda MacNeil, Chris, robert michael kane, Tiffany Knight, Ockham's Razor, Kelly Garrod, Theresa Sullivan, Brendan Nix, Brakeing Down Security Podcast, Rian P Kegerreis, Annie Lorkowski, Johnny Berry, Hank Woodward, Shawn Cali

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Go to our Patreon page.

Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $10. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos.

In 2023, we’re going on a Celtic Invasion of County Mayo in Ireland. We’re gonna explore the area and get to know Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

#celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can take a screenshot of the podcast on your phone. You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Or how about a picture you took of a band that you saw.

How would you like to introduce an episode of the podcast? It’s super easy. Contact me for details.

Email me at celticpodcast@gmail, message me on Facebook, or contact me through Mastodon @celtfather@c.im.

Tim Hughes from Madison WI replied: "1. Usually walking the dog or jogging. 2. Celebrating my birthday on the 17th with a party. 3. Blasting Celtic music on my Bose speaker and singing Welsh with the North American Welsh Choir"

Darlene replied about St Patrick's Day: “Cooking dinner. Cooking Corn beef ,listening to you."

Sarah Preston Britto emailed: "Hi MArc  -   This year we are attending the St Patrick's Day parade in New York City."

michael winchester replied: "Unfortunately I'll be working but really like listening to the show. Makes the hours fly by. Thanks for all your hard work keeping us entertained!"

Jonathan Dowell replied: "St. Pat's?  Listening to local Celtic groups.  Celtic music accounts for about 90% of what I listen to, Mediaeval & Rennaisance making up most of the rest."

Jim Burns replied: "What are your doing for St Patrick's Day? Having friends over to celebrate, listen to music and have adult beverages". He says he'll be celebrating with "The 3 P’s  -  Parades, parties and pubs."

Rodger Hara emailed: "Hey Marc, Karl Kumli and I are doing a 2.5 hour show on KGNU in Boulder on Friday morning.  It’s during our Spring fund drive, so we’ll be doing a lot of pitching.  Karl has his ready list and I’ve attached mine fyi.

I have a show on Wednesday night and will be playing an interview with Kyf Brewer with the Barleyjuice Band from Pennsylvania and playing a few new tunes from Daori Farrell, the High Kings, Doolin’, Barleyjuice and Martin Hayes.

I hope that you have a great time and fun shows."

Eric Guarin (gwa - reen) emailed a question: "Hi Mark, over time the Podcast has included bands from literally all over playing a pretty wide variety of music. Some of it strays quite far from trad pub music - I'm not complaining, it's all great, but it does make me wonder: How do you decide what to play and if it is "Celtic" enough? Cheers,"

Check out this episode!

[bugbilly]

Blockchain Explainer - MIT Technology Review from Lynne Carty on Vimeo.

The first in a series of MIT Technology Review “Decoded” explainer videos.

Animation: Julian Glander (julianglander.com/) Sound Design: David Kamp (studiokamp.com/) Art Direction: Lynne Carty (lynnecarty.info/) and Jordan Awan (jordanawan.com/) Script: Tom Simonite Bumper Motion Graphics: Erik Carter (erikcarter.net/) VO actor: Duncan Lawrence Executive Producer: Kyanna Sutton