#I like that it starts at glasgow central

[whybedennydifferent]

is anyone watching nightsleeper

[sgiandubh]

From barf bag to pity party

The whole 'Kick in the hornets' nest' involuntary series was started by this Anon, received by the de facto leader of the Disgruntled Tumblrettes yesterday evening (in Europe):

The next morning, another Anon chimed in, on the same page, with what prompted the First Kick: S has a child with 'a woman', but God forbid, not with C 🤣🤣🤣.

And then, one of their group felt the need (then the clearly irritated urge) to come back and comment on the above Anon. No less than 5 (five!) long and plethoric comments were written, prompting my Second and Third Kicks - as you all know, the woman practically begged for them.

I feel it's time to show some mercy and draw the line here.

This blog is read (and trusted) by many. Comments were received. Very interesting, matter-of-fact submissions, to say the least. You know: FACTS (🤣🤣🤣). People who have rich and full and loving lives, people who travel. People who don't even agree on many things, yet spontaneously concurred on what things very probably looked like, on that Palm Sunday morning.

Exhibit 1: Mom and Traveler #1 (a mom I am not - but I was a child, unbelievable as it might sound, and I absolutely confirm every single bit of it)

I am not yet ridden with dementia, and I remember very well waking everyone up at ungodly hours and refusing my mandatory afternoon siesta (a very bad habit we have in Southern Europe). I wish I would still have that same insane energy now. I also wish I would have kept my 3 year old fashion model food quirks - but that is another story.

However, I am a dog slave (not owner) and as such, I am taking Baby out for his short (but excruciating) morning routine at 7:30 AM. Come rain or shine. Beg him to finish his business with grace and dignity. He never listens. Labs are a charming, addictive handful and my Greek boy is no exception:

Exhibit 2: Mom and Traveler #2. Who happened to be in GLA on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024 (for the thick people at the back!):

All that trip was abundantly documented on her own page. I am reasonably sure she might be reblogging this with her own pics from that day.

And now, for the real questions at stake:

Why make such an unbelievable fuss over an Anon with no pic, that I was reluctant to publish myself?

Why have a cosmic meltdown, in public nonetheless, if you do think this is such a pile of unbelievable nonsense crap? (*imagine the freakout in DMs, if this made the headlines!)

How many times has/have S (or C, or SC) been seen by Antis in GLA in similar postures, without a word being uttered in public?

Why would such an occurrence be An Event, outside of this (help me, I have no words) fandom?

Why insist with your crappy arguments, when it is plain to see you have got all your facts dreadfully wrong?

Why mention 'central Glasgow', when it is public lore (and included in Waypoints!) that S does not live there anymore? (* I blacked out the exact reference, which makes total sense - the least thing I would like to see happening is freaks like you stalking them)

One last time, you insist - comments 6 and 7 (wow, girl!):

First comment is a lie and if you read my Anon (and you know you all did and discussed it to oblivion) you'll have also read this:

Which part of 'he didn't approach' you don't get, in plain English, madam? I am lousy at drawing, but hey - for the cause (open in separate page, questionable humor included):

Second comment, I won't even get into it. God only knows what the hell you meant. I am Romanian and we tend to be a very sarcastic bunch - especially the Southerners.

You posted those at about 2:45 AM, local time (if you are, indeed, a Scot). That's 4:45 AM my time.

I am a lifelong sufferer of insomnia. You, madam, you are mad wae it, as they say in Glasgow.

Don't drink and post, seriously. It makes for a very #sorry hangover show.

And with this, I am done with you. All of you, in that corner. You showed me more than enough. You know there is substance to that Anon, despite the lack of a picture - hence the collective freakout.

From barf bag to pity party. Who knew?

[Later edit:] re-reading the sixth comment, I think she wants to imply it was the 'other child' - I was literally blind with sleep when I first saw it. Well, there is no evidence of whatever she is trying to explain (has she contacted The Climber? between midnight and 2 AM, local time?). Also, a 5 year old child is not a toddler anymore: kids are considered toddlers up to 3, only. That boy, as we all know (and I am sorry we do), has dark hair - where is the resemblance Anon noticed?

Desperate, grasping at straws, lying through her teeth and mad wae it, all the way.

@pamalissou, thanks for bringing us a third mom's POV in your reblog.

[queer-crip-grows]

Right-to-buy council houses without specifically only releasing housing that already had a replacement built was of the most notable ways of the *many* that Thatcher et al screwed the UK.

I’d love to have a law put in place that landlords either have to sign contracts to provide housing under council house-type contracts with rent controls to people on housing benefit etc, or sell to the local council at compulsory purchase prices.

Same for all the houses not being lived in - use to house people under contractual controls, or have to sell to the council housing central fund.

Personally I’d start converting all the office units that are no longer needed because so many people are working remotely now into housing too.

Same for the huge city centre shops - I’m not sure if the pattern repeats elsewhere, but I live near Glasgow and the city centre has basically died since Covid. No one is renting the huge retail stores and the place is full of unhoused folk, which is a fucking scandal. So convert them into housing; let the buildings see use, and let those folks get off the streets. Pets and kids specifically allowed too - get families out of one-room shelters and into proper homes of their own.

I’ve heard that there would be issues putting in water infrastructure, but given the place is literally crumbling already and usage in so many areas is so low that having workers digging up the streets to install water lines wouldn’t cause enormous disruption, the time to do this is *now*. Build rainwater catchment and purification systems on roofs too - we get so much rain in the UK it’s kind of ridiculous not to use it! Some of that could go directly to drip irrigation in gardens, but plenty could go right into the houses/flats too. And of course this would provide tons of jobs in construction, architecture, planning etc etc.

Install gardens and green spaces around the place while you are doing this - offer some at low rent, or to buy cheaply, to market gardeners, but specifically put spaces in for communal gardens with the idea of offering allotments and encouraging people to grow their own food.

Put solar panels on every roof and integrate spaces for smaller wind turbines amongst the houses too. Huge storage batteries in basements to make the new blocks as low-footprint and self-sufficient as possible power-wise.

It would be a *fantastic* opportunity to create genuinely accessible housing - office buildings and shops already have lifts and wide corridors ideal for wheelchairs and other mobility devices, so keep that in the design when creating housing. There is a hidden epidemic of houselessness amongst disabled people and older folk with mobility needs, so create low-rent council housing that specifically fits those needs there.

It would regenerate the areas - all the smaller shopfronts not suitable for housing conversion would fill up with people offering the things people in residential neighbourhoods need, with a guaranteed payer base. People on low incomes *use* all of their incomes on necessities, so small businesses selling those necessities will do well. Offer small businesses low rents to provide those necessities. Any that don’t fill up, offer to charities and use for council staff offering the aid and advice people transitioning into housing actually *need*.

Carers are generally low-paid - so this would be an opportunity to offer them cheap housing close to a huge client base in the new accessible housing. No need for low-paid, mostly-female workers to dash constantly between clients in cars. They could walk to work and walk in between clients, who would also no longer be trapped in inaccessible homes, so people who are not actually bedbound would hopefully be less housebound.

Put rooms in the blocks for communal and co-op activities to reduce isolation - with the lifts and wide corridors, even people who are functionally housebound are likely to be able to make it to a room in their own building, and even quite young children could get to those places safely on their own if their parents are working. Wraparound childcare, paid and informal, near where folks actually live.

City centre areas that are now largely dead other than unhoused people, with limited and decreasing zero economic activity taking place and a decreasing incentive for businesses to set up there rather than in out-of-town retail parks people need to drive to, would become vibrant communities with every incentive for businesses to set up there, particularly for the small businesses that still employ the majority of people.

It wouldn’t take a lot to extend this model to transform those out-of-town business parks that are currently largely empty either; nothing says the businesses that are still there would need to move, and they would have a huge new pool of potential employees living within easily walkable distance, though there would need to be oversight to make sure places like Amazon didn’t attempt to buy them up and turn them into company housing. There would need to be a little more investment to provide green transport links like electric buses and trains so that it would be easier for small businesses to move in to provide services, but given the tax income that would result and the reduction in pollution the investment would probably pay itself back within a decade or so.

[acapelladitty]

Reposting this because the original has been formatted to hell and back, but a Scottish take on Oswald Cobblepot could be a truly ridiculous amount of fun 🐧👀

I can easily picture a wee Oswald living a very comfortable life in one of the more affluent areas of Edinburgh before financial ruin hits his family and forces him and his parents to move to central Glasgow (somewhere like Govan) where poverty is rife and life is very difficult for Oswald with his ‘posh’ accent, round body and sharp nose.

Bullying is common place and despite excelling in school he is soon faced with the fact that his new circumstances in life will prevent him from access to the higher education which he more than deserves. 

Things finally come to a head when his father is killed in a shipyard accident (who lets a tailor from Edinburgh work in a shipyard without proper training?) and his mother is unable to deal with her new life alone and throws herself into the Clyde just as Oswald reaches adulthood at around 18/19.

Soured and vengeful, Oswald sheds his accent and instead chooses to make a name for himself in the Scottish gangland scene. Starting off small with various underground gambling rings and drug peddling, "Ozzie” finds that his smarts and personality cause him to rise fast as a new player in the game. 

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, he is ruthless in his acquisition of power while remaining 'benevolent’ enough to inspire loyalty and it does not take him long to develop contacts everywhere from the Orkney Islands to London. The nickname ‘Penguin’ comes from a mixture of his appearance and his Edinburgh heritage since one of the first ‘charitable’ acts he conducted to build support for himself was to donate vast amounts of money to the Edinburgh Zoo (his mothers favourite place), which is famous for its daily penguin displays.

He is not foolish enough to risk open war against the other players in the criminal world but there is no doubt among the kingpins of crime in the United Kingdom that Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot runs things in Scotland. How he ends up in Gotham? Well, that's an entirely different story.

[thebandbis]

Happy Saturday! We still have two more albums to talk about with #30yearsofbis so let's get intimate this evening with Slight Disconnects. More detailed bis deets in the comments from Mr Sci Fi Steven

We didn't really exist during the early 2010's - the odd show here and there but lots of LIFE was happening and the band hadn't been anything approaching an actual job for quite some time. For our 20th anniversary, we put together a 2 CD compilation and recorded a new track Keep Your Darkness with the Data Panik/live bis line up but it didn't feel quite right. Similarly, we had a great song called Boredom Could Be Good For You that we couldn't get right either. I think we'd forgotten how to make records and it didn't seem particularly likely that we'd ever get round to doing a "proper" album again. As always, there were bits and pieces of songs and ideas floating about but no real purpose to see them through, but I bumped into Ian from the then recently born Last Night From Glasgow label at a record fair and he very quickly managed to convince me that making an album was not only something we should do but something the label would be delighted to help with. When it eventually emerged in early 2019, it was the first time we'd felt any buzz about the band for the best part of 2 decades so we'll always be grateful to LNFG for kicking our arses out of retirement. Whilst we've rarely scaled any commercial heights since our "comeback", without the push the label gave us we'd maybe not have got to the 30th anniversary in such relatively rude health.

Anyway, the album. Firstly - the budget = ZERO. Compared to the slickness we'd perfected on Social Dancing/Return To Central, this boy is RAW as sin. Sound of a Heartbreak is distorto-pop and, judging from the reaction at the St Luke's gig, a very fine example. Someone said it sounded like The Cult and I thank them for that. It contains a section in 5/4 (only the second time in bis catalogue history that we break 4/4 - the other is a ¾ section waaay back in Sci-Fi Superstar), an Ants Invasion/Fall chanty bit and ends up precisely in English Roundabout XTC territory but has become a mainstay in the live set and yes, if released in 1997 may have been an actual hit. I wished I'd dialled down the METAL sound of my guitar in the outro though - to be fair we were trying not only to remember how to make records but how to do them at home with no money.

I love I Wanna Go Out With Someone Else (working title Bells as it had more than a slight shade of Sleigh Bells about it) but feel it never connected for some reason so was quietly retired from the set when its release as a single provided entirely zero reaction. Our best Grand Royal/Beastie Boys one since Theme From Tokyo for me but hey, maybe it needed the BIG studio to bring it into commercial territory. Dracula provides some lovely familiar Devo territory (oh aye, I guess it's in 6/4 or something), a bit Clockwork Punk. We should play this more. Keeps our never-ending vampire theme going. I'm going to call a song Commodore 6/4 on the back of hearing this again. Home Economics is windy and wobbly and from this distance, strikes me as another lost hit. Although a hit from 1979-1981. Me and John having a Fripp-fight in the middle is entertaining and we should have asked Lora Logic to do some sax stabs on this. We Dream of Canada is more in Return To Central territory than anything else here so far. We are certainly firmly entrenched in the sounds of 1980 though, hadn't really realised quite how sonically it's lodged in that era. Most of the drum machine samples on this album are definitely of 80's descent and this one adds our banks of Juno 106's and JX-3P's to the mix. Can you be TOO 80's? Possibly.

This Slight Disconnect starts the second half of this very snappy 30-minute New Wave album. Definitely with borrowed bits from (forgotten?) bands of the 2000's - Clor and Baddies specifically. Also, I doubt anymore has ever noticed that the cowbell is stolen directly from The The's Infected. I think this rips off most other records than we normally do - we've become more confident to be bis again - but it's a fun snappy wee number. Hot Dog at the Rock Cafe is the one that people disliked the most but also LOVED the most. It certainly posts the way forward to Systems Music and is more 1989 than 1979. Lyrically too it's in SM4HD territory, pre-Covid nostalgia this time but it's quite possibly the only song in pop history that's about the town of Dunoon (extremely happy to be corrected on this). There is No Point... had been kicking about for a long time but finally found its voice in this form. The most actual PUNK tune on the album, great vocal from Manda here. It's a proper old-school bis throwback job and is both great fun and actually funny. Michael M did us a tremendous video made of old public service short films that captures the essence of this weird little tune. Features an Eno reference, far removed from all the Eno references of Return To Central though.

Combination Rock is mostly John and is my favourite tune on the record. I'm getting XTC/Futureheads/Field Music. We can't play it live because it's too high for any human male to sing. Which is a shame. We then end on Manda's tribute to our tour manager/best pal Stuart Mason who was taken far too young. I wish we had the time/cash to have ramped up the production of this and realised too late that we had stolen an entire section of Playgirl by Ladytron (knew it was naggingly familiar but couldn't quite place it). For me, these songs are as good as anything we'd done but yeah - we were trying to relearn our craft so it's more flawed and vulnerable than what we'd come up with next.

TRIVIA - The Rock Cafe is a real cafe in Dunoon. "The housing was temporary" line refers to the American naval base that was based at the Holy Loch near Dunoon when me and John were wee - I always thought the flats that were built for the American workers and their families were knocked down when the base left, but they're still there. Apologies for the factual inaccuracies.

The guitar melody from The Big Sunshine is stolen from a mad Drum n Bass tune I made in about 1998. We do often dig into the archives for reassessment and this riff was plucked out. The irony of The Big Sunshine is that Stuart would probably have hated it - ear bleeding thrashy punk was much more his style.

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Jeff Buckley in the U.K.

Jim Irvin, 'From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye' (Post Hill), May 2018

Excerpted from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye by Jeff's former manager Dave Lory and former MOJO man Jim Irvin (Post Hill Press).

JEFF BUCKLEY loved British music; the nervous energy in British punk, the wired consciousness of the Clash, the way Siouxsie and the Banshees went from gun-metal moodiness to skies full of fireworks.

He adored the Cocteau Twins, of course, especially Liz Fraser's "impossible voice". He loved how the Smiths called to outsiders and nerds. He loved the textures of Johnny Marr's supple guitar and the mordant presence of Steve Jones's guitar in the Sex Pistols.

Jeff, whose own nervous energy was considerable, became even more wired whenever we went to the UK; he was stimulated by its variety. He also appreciated its compactness – the lack of eight-hour drives between cities was refreshing.

Sony had passed on Live at Sin-é in Europe. We were understandably disappointed, but there was a solution close at hand: Steve Abbott, known to everyone as Abbo, who ran the eccentric indie record label Big Cat and had picked up on many of the promising un-signed bands playing in New York: Pavement, Mercury Rev, Luscious Jackson. He had approached Jeff after Gods & Monsters and Sin-é shows and asked him if he'd like to record with Big Cat, but then Sony stepped in. Jeff felt that he owed Abbo a record, so when Columbia UK passed on Live at Sin-é and Michele Anthony instigated a funding deal with Big Cat, it seemed the perfect opportunity for them to become involved. Abbo jumped at the chance.

Big Cat's small team – Abbo, co-owner Linda Obadiah, Frank Neidlich in marketing, and Jacqui Rice in press – did such a good job that the week it was released in Europe, Live at Sin-é sold over four thousand copies, which was amazing for a complete unknown.

After a Sony conference, where it was clear that a lot of the affiliates were bemused by him, Jeff had a warm-up show at Whelan's in Dublin. By the time he came on, the crowd, several drinks into its evening, had become a little boisterous. Jeff said hello softly, as usual, but no one was really paying attention. Jeff just stood there, waiting. People started to quieten down and watch to see what he would do. There was a pint of his favourite beer, Guinness, sitting on the stool next to him. Jeff lifted the glass to his lips and downed it in one hit. Everyone on the room cheered, and he began the Irish show with the crowd completely on his side.

The audience was more blasé the next night at his London debut at The Borderline, a Western-themed venue under a dubious Mexican diner in Soho, right in the heart of London, a group of local reps for hip American indie labels like Sub Pop and Merge yacking away rather disrespectfully at the bar. In the age of grunge, a lone guy with a guitar softly singing Edith Piaf covers was baffling for some.

"It was an epiphany for me," says Sara Silver, Sony's European head of marketing. "There are some shows where it just feels like you're a voyeur, looking into someone's soul. This was one of those. He was charismatic, but also haunting, and I think because of my particular situation at the time, still suffering from the [loss of my husband], he resonated hugely. This haunting sound was a powerful force, and it was my job to work out how we took it to the world."

A gig the next night in Glasgow meant an early-morning flight back to Heathrow the following morning to catch a session with GLR, London's local BBC station, a slot designed to alert people to the next couple of gigs at the Garage in Islington and at Bunjies, a cute little basement folk club in Central London that dated back to the early 1960s and made Sin-é seem generously proportioned.

Abbo was accompanying Jeff on this run.

"We'd meet regularly at a bar called Tom & Jerry's in New York, hang out and drink Guinness together," Abbo says, "I suppose I became a friend of his, and he didn't seem to have many real friends. I'd only discovered I liked the blues since living in New York, so it was great hanging with him, because he was a huge blues and jazz fan and if there was a guitar around he had to pick it up and show off. He knew every Robert Johnson song, every Muddy Waters tune, Bessie Smith; he introduced me to the physicality of the blues, watching it at close quarters. Everybody talks about his voice, but he was a brilliant guitarist. The guitar was an extension of his body.

"Tim Buckley hadn't really entered my line of vision growing up listening to black music. Singer-songwriters with fluffy hairstyles were not currency on my council estate in Luton! We were in Tom & Jerry's and someone said to Jeff, 'I've been listening to your dad,' and I said, 'Who's your dad?' and he said, 'Tim Buckley.' I knew the name from record shopping; I'd seen the sleeves in the racks, but that's it. But when he came over to Britain there were loads of Tim Buckley fans. And it was a real problem early on, because he really didn't like talking about him."

The traffic from the airport to the GLR studios just off Baker Street was awful. A road accident had slowed everything to a standstill. Jeff's slot on the mid-morning show was fast approaching. "Of course, this was before mobile phones, so I had no way of communicating with the radio station that we were stuck in traffic," says Abbo. "For the last few days on this tour, everyone who'd interviewed Jeff had been asking about his dad. How did Tim write 'Song To The Siren'? Was there stuff in his lyrics that he might have related to? Things Jeff couldn't answer.

"We were listening to GLR while we waited in traffic and the presenter kept saying, 'We're supposed to have this artist, Tim Buckley's son, turning up, but he's late....Will he or won't he turn up?' This went on and on. She must have said 'Tim Buckley's son' about four times and didn't mention Jeff once. Suddenly, he just kicked my car radio in with his big DMs [Doc Martens], just smashed the fascia and then sat back sulking all the way there. I could get another radio, of course, but I was mostly worried he wasn't going to do the performance. 

"We finally arrived about forty minutes late and they were all so rude to us, and yet they knew what the problem was, as they were broadcasting traffic updates and warnings of delays themselves. If I were him, I'd have walked out. The female presenter was a typical local radio DJ, a bit gushy and knew nothing about him and his music. I had a word with the station manager to ask her to stop mentioning Tim Buckley, and he handed her a note to that effect. Jeff just sat there silently and she said, 'What are you going to play?' and Jeff said, 'A song.' I'm thinking, 'Oh god, here we go.' And he started to play "Grace." He did this long guitar introduction, went on for about a minute, like he needed to calm himself down before he got to the actual start of the song, and then he launched into the most electrifying performance. The best I ever heard him do it.

"There were about six phones in the control room, and they all started lighting up. 'Who is this? Who is this? It's amazing!' And all the time, Jeff's getting more and more into it. The presenter went from being this standoffish woman to...I swear she would have thrown herself on him given half a chance, the second he finished singing. You could see she was totally enthralled."

Presenter: "You looked quite exhausted at the end of the song."

Jeff: "I was getting a lot of anger out. Something happened on the way here..."

"The phones didn't stop throughout the next song. The station manager said that in all his twelve years at the station, he'd never seen a reaction like it."

Abbo thinks this performance sparked Jeff's breakthrough. There were certainly plenty of people in line outside the Garage in North London that night. Inside, the first stars were taking note. Chrissie Hynde and Jon McEnroe were in the audience. Chrissie had been a big fan and a friend of Tim's, had actually interviewed him while she was briefly a music journalist with the NME, and she was obviously curious to see how his offspring compared. They struck up a conversation after the show and she clearly said the right thing, because he went off with her to jam with the Pretenders in a nearby rehearsal room. I wasn't carrying anything heavy because of a recent lung collapse, and I didn't want Jeff to pull any important muscles, so I asked McEnroe if he wouldn't mind. He happily hauled Jeff's amp downstairs to the car. The Pretenders' jam with special guests Buckley and Mac went on all night.

Bunjies, as I've said, was tiny, a basement folk club and coffee bar on West Street in Soho, along from the Ivy, with gingham tablecloths and melted candles in wine bottles on the tables and a performance area tucked into a couple of arches in what must have been a wine cellar at one point. It looked unchanged since it had begun in the early 1960s, and had seen a couple of folk booms come and go. It was more of a cafe with an open-mic policy by this point, which felt like a good place for Jeff. There wasn't really any need for amplification, so when we arrived for a sound check there was very little to do but see where Jeff was going to stand in the cramped space and gauge how his voice reflected off the nicotine-stained ceilings. While Jeff did that, I went outside for some fresh air and was stunned to see a line of people already waiting to get into the show.

I took a look at the guest list and realised we'd be lucky to fit twenty of this assembling crowd in the tiny space. Every time I looked up, the line was getting further down West Street. I went back into the venue and found Jeff talking to Emma Banks, the agent. He was saying how great the venue was and that he'd like to do something like hand out flowers to everyone before he went on.

"Jesus, you won't believe what's happening out there," I said to them. "The line goes about four blocks. There's no way these people are going to get in. Is there any way we can do two sets?" Jeff was happy to. Emma spoke to the club owner and was told they had some regular club night happening later on. She came back and said, "They can't do it but I've had an idea!" She disappeared up the steps onto the street, and I spoke to Jeff.

"What flowers would you like?"

"White roses," he said.

"I'll get them," I said, and went back up to the street, where the line had grown even longer.

I walked around looking for a florist and bumped into Emma. "I've booked Andy's Forge," she said. "It's a little place just around the corner in Denmark Street. He can go on at 10:30."

I bought as many white roses as I could find. Jeff handed them to people waiting outside and those lucky enough to get into the club, as he squeezed himself into the corner that passed for a stage. He sang upward, listening to his voice reflect off the curved ceiling into this hot, crowded, and attentive space. There must have been a hundred people stuffed in there.

When the show was over, Jeff walked up the steps to the huddle of patient people that Emma had gathered, plus anyone from the first show who wanted to tag along, and led this crowd like the Pied Piper toward Andy's Forge. Abbo was alongside me. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" I said.

"Never!" he said. And we laughed liked idiots at the wonderful absurdity of hanging out with Jeff.

© Jim Irvin, 2018

[lisbetadair]

After the success of the first advice post for writing about Scottish characters, I thought I would expand on this with some further points, so here are some useful words and phrase to pepper your dialogue with that will sound authentic to Scottish readers.

I am a Scot, and I live in Scotland, but I'm not an absolute authority on Scottish-English or Scots language, and I don't claim to be. Scottish language and culture is not homogenous, and different areas will have localisations that are unique to them.

I've tried to create a further list here that I think reflects common Scottish-English words that are used and would be understood across the country, and discuss some of the cultural differences that make Scotland a unique part of the United Kingdom.

Squint: In British English, squint is a verb that means to partly close one's eyes to see more clearly or a noun that referrs to an eye that looks in a different direction to its counterpart. In Scottish English, both those uses are valid, but there is a third use, which is squint as an adjective to mean askew, or not level.

i.e. "That picture's squint."

The Clyde Arc Bridge in Glasgow is unofficially known as the squinty bridge because it's span is not perpendicular to the riverfront and it crosses the river diagonally.

Crabbit: This is a Scots synonym for grumpy.

i.e "He's just crabbit because he woke up too early."

The back of [hour]: This is a time window that can be interpreted as anything between o'clock and half past but which I think the majority interpret as being between o'clock and quarter past. Perfect for your disorganised Scottish character who can't commit!

i.e. "I'll catch up with you at the back of seven."

How?

Used in place of why, and definitely most common in the areas around Glasgow and the central belt. This may be a shortening of "how come?" or "how so?" and is generally used in the same way to request clarification.

i.e. "I'm not speaking to Simon." "How no?" [in place of "Why not?"]

Scunnered

This means exhausted and tired, and encompasses the mental and physical feeling at the same time.

"I've been arguing with them on the phone all day. I'm scunnered."

The Now

Equivalent to "now" or "right at this moment"

i.e. "Are we doing it the now?""

Can of juice

Other places might call this a can of pop, or a can of soda. It means any canned, carbonated beverage.

My head's mince

This roughly translates to "I have exhausted my mental capacity for thought" and means that this person is struggling to think clearly for some reason, usually due to extreme tiredness.

Education in Scotland

The school curriculum is a devolved matter, which means that Scottish people, educated in Scotland most often will follow a curriculum which is unique to the area that they reside in (following guidance from the Scottish Government).

A detailed description of this can be found on Wikipedia.

Scottish schools start at the age of 4-5 in Primary One (P1) in a primary school, which finishes in P7, around the age of 11. After this, children go to what is known as a secondary school which run from S1 to S6; although they can leave in S5 as final school qualifications in Scotland (Highers) are a single year course.

A detailed discussion is outside the scope of this short Tumblr post, which is just trying to act as a reminder that your Scottish characters, if they grew up in Scotland, did not do GCSEs or the like.

Halloween

Halloween has been an event in Scotland for as long as I remember, and as long as my mother can remember; however, in other parts of the United Kingdom, Halloween hasn't been observed until recently. I know from personal experience, as my mother moved to England in her twenties, and noted that it wasn't observed in the Northern town she'd moved to. That Halloween is an American import is complaint I've heard from English people not uncommonly, but for Scottish people it has been a longstanding part of the cultural landscape. In recent years, American cultural imperialism has eroded some of the traditions and terminology, in that turnip lanterns have been replaced by carved pumpkins and it's referred to as "trick or treating" rather than "guising". One notable exception is that children are expected to say a "party piece" such as a joke in order to earn their treat.

[shincallie]

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌We never made it to Glasgow

----------𖥔﹒𖤐 -- .✮⋆˙--------

Butterflies .

3 October 2018

Seoul - Nam-Chung st.

5:45 in the morning.

His alarm ringed for fifth time.he rubbed his eyes tiredly and stared at the phone screen. there was nothing new, just everyday dilemma of getting out of the bed or sleeping through all his alarms and letting go of his whole life.he didn't have a reason to but he just turned off the alarm and sat in his bed. He doesn't even sleep well at night, so when the alarm rings he's already awake. he walked to the bathroom and washed his tired face with cold water,trying not to look at the mirror.it disgusted him,like watching someone take out another person gut,Don't get me wrong. He has done so many surgeries, pulling out so many hearts and livers,but this one was different. He looked in the mirror and felt the surgery blade over his own skin,ripping him apart and let him bleed till he loos his senses.but he was awake enough to see his own liver and heart getting ripped out of his body and just place back again over and over.in Europe, doctors reported 40 , 50 million surgery over a year but he thought it should be problem a lot more than that.most of the people didn't visit a doctor cause they don't know what's the problem.cardiac arrest? Brain stroke?tumour? no...definitely none of them.so they put back their heart and guts and livers in thair mouth and swallow them back down, then they continue their life , they go to work , school , shopping , etc. he washed his face again and get out of the bathroom,he grabbad his backpack and wear his blue converses.he took a bite from his cherry jam sandwich before walking out of his apartment.the weather was cold and the sky was more bluer than usual. ravens were flying over the sky.he sit in the bus station and cursed under his breath to be forced to go out in this time.you had 20 minutes with bus till hospital.he saw an orange cat near to the hospital, he smiled and gave him his last piece of sandwiches before entering to hospital. " oh shit. " he cursed as he realised he's late again about 10 minutes. " Oi , what where you doing till now ? " taehyun asked with a smirk,leaning against the receptionist counter. Yeonjun rolled his eyes." What did you expect me to do at 5 in the morning? " " hitting on girls? " . " girls , you mean female ravens right? Cause it was fucking 5 AM kang. " yeah , you're right ....from what i know , you have the DNA of a bat , so you don't sleep at night " Yeonjun's eyes got wider. " you're a criminal taehyun. You made a dangerous virus right now." Taehyun smirked. " and now you're a living virus. " yeonjun point out to taehyun with his index finger. " i prefer living masterpiece. " taehyun laughed out loud. " anyway, i was your creator. " yeonjun wrinkled his nose . " did you know the latest report of doctors day drinking whitex is so good for our lungs? And even for clear skin...you can drink a cup of it with your breakfast now tae. I bet that's the answer." Taehyun wanted to say something that suddenly doctor lee came in. He gave both of them a serious expression like always. " good morning young residents. If i'm not interrupting your morning conversation your shift has been started." Yeonjun and taehyun both bowed quickly. " morning doctors lee. We apologise for it." His serious expression didn't change. He said while walking out of the room." I won't let anyone in without eating breakfast. You only have 10 minutes. " "yes sir. " then he left. Taehyun sighed. " i can't even tell he like us or not." "Just go and eat your breakfast kang." Yeonjun said while grabbing taehyun and dragging him out of the room.

Seoul central hospital

2:300 at noon .

Yeonjun ran his fingers through his dark red hair, it was his habit when he got fed up. Finishing each day becoming harder each time.he didn't have any idea of how other got to do it so smoothly. Yeonjun's hair was a dark red colour,but if you looked more closely you could see the light and dark brown cracks between red strands. Sometimes taehyun called him bearnut because of that and yeonjun wanted to punch him in the face everytime. He look down at the wooden bowl in front of him,filling with white rice, colourful vegetables were all over it,it reminded him of when snow started to melt and leaves and grasses started to grow green again.there was also pieces of meats though it wasn't an annoying thought, he shook his head frequently, trying to wipe away all his thoughts. Come on choi yeonjun, at least turn off your brain when you're eating. You know it doesn't work like an LED light that if work more will burn and you can buy a new one,replace it.no yeonjun, you can't do that with your brain , unfortunately.he picked up his chopsticks and wanted to start to eat till he heard his own name calling by a woman. "Yeonjun-ah ! Yeonjun-ah ! " it was Chaeryeong. She had her hair in a ponytail, she was always so clean and organised. Yeonjun frowned slightly. " what's wrong ryoung? If you keep running like that you'll turn yourself to a cherry jam." Chaeryeong tried to catch her breath.her hair was all over her face." Yeonjun-ah...i saw...a strange ...patient ." Yeonjun frowned more." What do you mean strange? " Chaeyoung grabbad his wrist." Come with me." And they both started to head toward the room B14. let's be honest, yeonjun has see lots of worst case of patients, but this was REALLY different. The long hair that reach her waist shown that she's a girl.she was covered in blood,motionless, breathless. Yeonjun pulled down the white sheets and the countless deep scars got exposed." Goddammit, what the hell happened to her? " yeonjun whispered under his breath.the scars were so deep you could see the flesh beneath them.the worst of all was her eyes. One of her eyes were dragged out you could see the thin capillaries behind it.he shivered for a moment. Then asked . " ryoung...what happened to her? Chaeryeong took a deep breath." She was Cardiac arrested when they took her here. they found her in a art gallery. " " What's her name? " . Chaeryeong tucked her hair behind her ear. " anri...ogasawara anri. She's Japanese and a colleague,in art university. She was doing research for her essay on art galleries." " does she had any special illnesses? " Chaeryeong shook her head. " no. I couldn't find anything." Yeonjun frowned heavily." Then how the hell a young healthy 20 years old girl had Cardiac arrest? If we ignore her eyes and scars of course. " Chaeryeong sighed." I Don't known police said her death was suicide. But there's no sign of overdose or cutting veins or....i Don't know...you know what i mean." "Yeah." "Doctor lee said it was because of a very strong panic attack, from a very stron rush of fear." "Fear of what?" this time Chaeryeong frowned." no one knows yeon.police said when they find her she was all alone in gallery.the owner of the gallery said it was their day off,so they just opened because of anri." yeonjun only started at body in silence.

Suansoong st

6:00 at evening.

The golden hour was almost one of the rush hour of the day. you could see any kind of person on the street.he put his hand in his pocket.he took a look at his reflection in the nearby window.he was wearing all black again.he passed aside of kids who were riding their bicycles,he looked at the tired expression of the girl in the bus station who was waiting for the bus to arrive, he smiled at the little girl who was talking to her doll and stand next to the busker who was playing violin.he thought maybe he's trying to say something but he can't put it into words,so he uses his violin instead. Maybe the frequency of those words weren't as same as those frequency humans can hear,Yeonjun's woreds were the same as them.maybe the violin's bow was the knife he could put on his artery instead. He took a deep breath and let the cold wind dance through his red hair,he thought about that , about how many violin's bow,paintbrush,pen and piano's keyboards was in people's hands so they won't pick the gun and place it on their temples.he sighed again and walk into the cafe,he sat on the table near to the window and stared at outside."how's going bearnut?" Yeonjun turns around and stared at taehyun smirking face." not bad,celery." taehyun laughed."that was new." " i'm creative kind" taehyun shook his head and sat in front of yeonjun,pulling out his cigarette packet and light one.yeonjun stared at him."did you know that celeries doesn't smoke? " "you bought a lighter for me on my birthday yourself." "yeah that was a mistake; cause i didn't wanted my best friend smoke with his girlfriend lighter instead." "I Don't have a girlfriend yeon." "I'm aware,no one will get along with your annoying ass." Taehyun couldn't help but laugh." You're something else." And took a drag from his cigarette."did you saw that girl in the hospital today?" taehyun nodded." yeah,that was pretty strange.who believe that a young healthy girl will have Cardiac arrest without a particular reason? " "exactly. I say the same." Yeonjun stared at him again,in Yeonjun's eyes,taehyun was a living reason that paradoxes can be extremely beautiful.he had day and night in him at the same time.taehyun extinguished his cigarette."well...Doctor lee said it wasn't the first time." "what do you mean?" "He said he seen the femiliar cases before...but you know the government,they don't do a single thing that doesn't have money or something for them in it....so they just kept letting them go.." yeonjun didn't said anything.

Nam-chung st

9:48 at night.

The night was cold,the sky was filled with dark clouds. Chaeryeong's seasonal depression's gonna start and they would pick up chocolates plastics from everywhere.ge sighed and stared down at his blue converses.he didn't like colors.so he wore black most of the times,mayb because he think black is the last shade of every color,so somehow when you wear black you wear all the colors together.he told everyone that one day he was drunk and he change his mind,so he went and bout a pair of blue converses.but he knows it so well it wasn't like that at all.he pull out his keys and wanted to open the door till he felt a soft things against his feet.he looked down and smiled widely."oliver!"the black cat nuzzled himself more against Yeonjun's leg. " little oliver?...where are you?...come here i got food for you." yeonjun turned toward the voice.it was Chaeyoung.he smiled."hey strawberry...you're feeding cats again?" Chaeyoung picked up the cat in her arms.her bangs were fell over her eyes,her mole was still there,on her chin under his full lips."you're early tonight." Chaeyoung said." You stay till midnight most of the Saturdays. " "yeah,tonight was taehyun's shift." Yeonjun's eyes fell over on Chaeyoung's hand and noticed the band-aid on it.he frowned" what happened to your hand?" Chaeyoung laughed shortly."nothing really...it's just a new tatto." Chaeyoung had strange and sometime cute tattos all over her hands and arms."well...why you hide it then?" Yeonjun asked.chaeyoung sighed and pull out his cigarette packet and her pink lighter."people say i shouldn't get more weird tattoos over me , it makes me look like psycho patients." She sighed heavily this time." I really don't give a fuck about what they think but someday i'm really tired to deal with bullshits and y'know .....hiding is always the best choice for tired people."yeonjun was silent the whole time,he suddenly asked."please...let me see it." Chaeyoung blink a few more time before removing the band-aid.the tattoo was a picture of two strawberries in pieces, they were red but their leaves were black.yeonjun smiled and tap on the strawberry tattoo on chae's hand." It's amazing chae...you shouldn't hide it." Chaeyoung sighed again."people don't think like you." Yeonjun smiled."come on chae...it's not like everyone would understand the depth of the beauty. sometimes only a few people will find out. Did you ever heard about Western orchid? " Chaeyoung raised her eyebrows "Western orchid ?" "Hmm...they call it Rhizanthella. It blooms under the ground,so most of the people mistaken them with roots and dried grasses...only a few people will dig into the soil to find out the beautiful bloody pink blossom of Rhizanthella....if they don't understand it,it won't make it any less pretty." Yeonjun smiled softly again."so strawberry....it's not bad at all to have something different than others...actually,i count it as a super good option." Chaeyoung smiled deeply."you're weirdo..." "i know. .."

[weaversweek]

My Year in Mix 1997 - Career highlights

My Year in Mix: 1997, twelve posts to cover all the important aspects of popular music from this year.

Part two: Long-service awards and career highs. Acts that had been around forever, and achieved a massive commercial breakthrough this year.

"Say what you want" - Texas. Glasgow's acoustic rockers finally broke through, thanks to some smooth, soulful, ear-friendly singles. And the incessant yapping of superfan Cliff Evans.

Their album "White on Blonde" was ubiquitous throughout 1997, four hit singles fell onto the radio like old friends. Not sure they've lasted terribly well, when was the last time you heard some of the other hits?

Here's the band on Conan O'Brien's show.

"Summertime" - The Sundays. Growing up takes time; five years for Harriet and David to record the album at their home studio, looking after their child.

Bright and breezy, like skipping through the meadows on a late summer's day.

A live performance in London.

"Tubthumping" - Chumbawumba. Respected chart commentator James Masterton wrote,

Imagine a record like "Tiger feet" and "Hi-ho silver lining" for the 1990s, imagine a song with a chanting chorus of "I get knocked down/but I get up again", imagine a record devoid of all anti-political posturing and devoted instead to the joy of drinking as much as possible for as long as possible. Longtime hardcore fans of the band (of which there are many) will potentially be disgusted at the way their idols have suddenly turned commercial, the rest of us will just enjoy what is far away one of the best, most original and fun singles of the year and one which you can guarantee will be played at roadshows and Christmas parties from now until the end of the next millennium.

International megastardom followed, with a well-received followup. And then they enlivened the BPI awards by giving John Prescott an early bath.

Jay Leno's show hosted this all-live performance, which contains some slightly rude language.

"The drugs don't work" - The Verve. Psychadelic shoegazers eased their sound towards alt-rock, with Richard Ashcroft's voice still the best feature.

Not the sort of song I'd normally pick, but The Verve were absolutely huge in 1997 and in no other year. And sometimes a song about failed psychoactives fits the mood, released at the start of September - a week when the whole country went completely and utterly doolally.

From Jools Holland's "Later" show.

"Something about the way you look tonight" - Elton John. After his career resurgence ("Sacrifice", "The Lion King"), everyone expected the new Elton song to do decent numbers. Top ten possibly, and certain to give his album "The Real Picture" a good shelf life.

Nobody expected it to sell five million copies. Five million copies, more than any other song before or since. The success was propelled in part by the b-side, which Elton performed at a hastily-arranged gig in central London, and which hasn't stood the test of time very well.

Back to Conan O'Brien for the A-side.

[jacksonjb]

Production Update: Planning the Party Scene

One of the most important scenes for my music video that I wanted to film was a party scene. I planned to use one of my school's photography rooms in order to set it up with party decorations such as strobe lights, banners, ticker tape, and snacks and drinks to make it look authentic. I had a number of gear in mind that I wanted to use too, including dolly tracks, gimbals and more. I planned this shoot out for multiple months since it was, in my eyes, one of the most crucial and potentially very well made scenes of my music video. Below is all my planning and preparation for the party shoot.

Inspiration

To begin with, I began with my sources of inspiration. A close friend of mine, and also my lead actor in my music video suggested I check out Trainspotting, particularly the scene in which the main character goes to a local underground disco party, complete with signature Glasgow grunge and 90's edge. It was a great suggestion, as it technically encapsulated the feeling of what I wanted my own party scene to look like.

Pre-Shoot Preparation

IMPORANT: PARTY SCENE COVERAGE

Below are my assorted notes from my planning page.

Camera gliding past people talking, with cups, glancing at camera

Sweeping shots of crowds, lights, people talking jumping having fun etc

Maybe the whole thing could be POV ? Camera swiveling, panning around like looking around.

How many people needed: possibly 10+

Jihane

Bailey

Kiri

Cameron

Raphaelle

Sakura

Christiana

Gus

Talk to Jihane for more people - her friends also

Ethan

Liam

Maybe some Y12's

Gear and Props

red cups

ticker tape, party banners

various party decor

snacks and drinks for cast

Dolly tracks, to have been set up earlier

Apature lights

GH5 camera

Timeline

1:21: pushing into the party - on dolly

1:23: Axel cut pushing in still, looking around - camera looking left to right [Bailey POV]

1:25: Bailey against the wall, 'why you wanna take me to this party and breathe'  Turns head towards camera 'I'm dying to leave' - light glints in his eye, profile shot

1:30: every time we grind you know we severed lines, gliding past people, camera eye contact, flash cut of wire cut

1:33: panning around party

1:36:  'where have all those flowers gone'

1:40: Bailey in background, people in shallow focus foreground, bailey; 'long time passing

1:42: Bailey looking at camera, people around him dancing, push in - mid shot, bailey perfectly still in the middle, people around him in slow mo. Take two shots of this, one where bailey is not saying anything but in the middle, and another where people to his side are jumping up and down dancing. Make sure there is ample room so it divides bailey and is easy to cut with the black background allowing this. If this doesn’t work, keep the second take and no slow mo.

1:45: above cont.

BREAK: Camera spinning around bailey while at party for coverage

2:17: match cut pulling away from bailey - behind him!

2:24: gliding around the party, very slow, methodical, somber faces on people

2:30: bailey with people around him centrally framed, looking up slowly/looking down on a diagonal

2:35: flashing strobe lights, going around party faster, close up of bailey's face

Pre-Shoot

Before my shoot, I had a lot to get ready in terms of preparing my set.

It looked like this before I did anything, and so I needed to clean it up and start arranging the space to fit with the layout I had in mind.

I had a tidy up of the room, and sketched up a birds eye diagram of the layout of the set, so I would know exactly where the camera, lighting and cast would be in the room.

After making a small sketch of the birds-eye view layout with the set, complete with the equipment, I had a little bit more to get ready still, as well as a few more ideas I had only after making a plan.

I had the idea to use a frame to set up a door within the party, something which would help give the impression of a closed-in space, confining the set and making it seem a lot bigger than it really is after I put all my actors and extras in it. I also set up my lighting and dolly track so I can get the shots I planned, most of which were various push-ins and sweeping shots around the party.

The Shoot

Overall, the shoot went very well. It was super smooth given my extensive planning and preparation and, despite having a few people pull out on short notice, the crowd of extras I had performed fantastically.

There were however a few potential safety hazards that I made sure to be aware of. Given the strobe lighting there was the potential of a member of my cast so suffer a seizure, which fortunately didn't happen, but still I made sure that everyone including myself would get periodic breaks to rest eyes and take a break from the intensity of the shoot. On top of this, my main actor unfortunately suffered a minor injury due to some gear as we were packing up, but luckily we had first aid gear on stand by to ensure everything was alright.

As a whole, I was really happy with how it went, it took a lot of planning and organisation to get to the final stages of this but by the end it proved to be a pretty important part of my music video. It also happened to be the end of my entire music video shoot! All that was left to do was edit my film.

[nicolecon-industryandenterprise]

PLACEMENT DAY 1

20/2/24 - 11am-4pm (5hrs)

today was my first day off official placement with Kirsty from Punts Pots, so here’s how it went!

I set off about 9.30am to make sure I’d be at Crownpoint Studios early. Just as before, it took me about an hour to travel to the studio.

Giffnock > Glasgow Central > Bridgeton

I arrived at the studio just before 11 and waited for Kirsty as she was running slightly late with posting parcels and picking up plants.

Once in the studio, Kirsty got me started with my first task. With Kirsty moving premises soon, she has to take stock to make sure when moving, all of her pots make it safely and in one piece.

Kirsty asked me to count how many pots she had in each size and create an excel document for her so that’s what I done!

here’s the document I created and emailed over to Kirsty:

This task took me about an hour and a half then placing the pots back on their designated place took an additional 30mins.

After I was done Kirsty had to head out to grab some supplies for a task she had in mind for me so, she suggested I took the time she was gone for lunch, which is exactly what I done.

After eating Kirsty still wasn’t back so I took some time to explore the space.

Punts Pots shares a space with two other artists, none of which were there today so I had a peak around. It seems like one artist is mainly sculptural and the other works on large scale paintings that can be found scattered around the space.

After lunch Kirsty had another organisation task for me.

With her main business being painting custom pots for people, there is a lot of paint living in the studio but they aren’t all organised in the easiest way to access so I was set the task of cleaning out some drawers and reorganising her paint pots.

Most of the paint Kirsty uses is sample pots of wall paint so it was rather easy to organise.

Kirsty also gave me the tip to store the pots upside down so the colour is visible as soon as she opens the drawer which was really interesting!

So here’s how that turned out:

For the rest of the day Kirsty had some phone calls to make and a pot to work on so she apologised for the tedious tasks but she asked me to clean the handles of the collection of paintbrushes she uses for events. She needed them clean for the upcoming event on March 1st.

While sitting cleaning the brushes I got to be a fly on the wall for some important calls Kirsty was taking.

I got to listen to her discuss and plan Easter events with two other small businesses as well as listen in on her helping someone with their financial situation going into a large job as a small business.

All of this was really interesting to hear.

After she was done, she started working on the base coat for the commission she needed to paint and we just chatted about her struggles as a small business but also as a one woman ran small business. We spoke about the sexism she’s currently experiencing when trying to haggle with the landlord of her new space she’ll be moving into soon.

While disappointing, it was really interesting to hear from someone who’s been doing this for years and still isn’t taken seriously.

Venturing into the art world as a female artist is exciting but it’s really useful to hear these kinds of experiences to remind myself that the world isn’t as progressive as it seems.

We also took this time to discuss a potential rotation moving forward for placement.

Before we knew it, 4pm hit and it was time to head home.

Kirsty thanked me for today and we both shared excitement for the continuation of this placement.

So, I set off back to the station and made my way home in the rush hour busyness.

Bridgeton > Glasgow Central > Giffnock.

So, how am I feeling after my first official day at placement?

This placement was definitely a long time coming and while the organisation of the placement and being rejected a few times was disheartening, I definitely left today feeling like everything happened for a reason I ended up in the exact right placement for me.

While the tasks were all organisational and cleaning, I still really enjoyed helping Kirsty out and getting things done that would improve her quality of life in her studio space.

We get on well and she’s very straight forward which is something I like.

Overall, I’m really happy with the placement I chose and where it might take me!

It feels like I’m finally getting my foot in the door of the Glasgow creative scene.

[freddiemercurydaily]

12 November In 1973 - Queen performed @ Leeds Town Hall, UK. They were supporting ‘Mott The Hoople.’ This is the first show of Queen's first UK tour.

Queen began their career as a bona fide touring rock group on November 12, 1973, when they opened for Mott The Hoople at Leeds Town Hall. Jack Nelson of Trident persuaded Mott The Hoople's manager Bob Hirschmann to allow Queen to be the support act for their tour. Hirschmann initially hesitated but eventually agreed.

It had been nearly a decade since all four members had first considered life in a pop group and started out in their respective teenage bands, The Opposition (John Deacon) The Reaction (Roger Taylor) 1984 (Brian May) and The Hectics (Freddie Mercury). They had, individually and collectively, worked towards November 12, 1973, with incredible perseverance. There had been adversity and fiasco, providence and frolic, but, now, on the brink of real opportunity, their determination was fantastic.

The audience up and down the UK, from The Central in Chatham, to the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, adored Queen. Their set had been designed to elicit instant appeal. It was 45 minutes long and usually contained just six of their own songs, the final number given over to a rock’n’roll medley which they elongated or abridged depending on the crowd’s response. Freddie Mercury, this unknown spidery figure in silk and Lycra, stalked the stage and dropped every ounce of himself into the performance. The band were tight ,driving new life into songs they had been playing for years. The music press, understandably perhaps, considered it far too brazen and pantomime, but the word of mouth when Mott The Hoople fans were back at school, college or work the next day was that Queen were the business.

During the tour the band sometimes complained that they were not getting enough coverage in the press and Chris Poole, Tony Brainsby’s assistant, had to placate them. “I had a good time with them but they were not an easy band,” Poole stressed. ‘On the Mott The Hoople tour they were quite annoyed because they didn’t get as much press as they figured they should have got. They may have been a support group, but they already had the mentality of stars!

Source: Queen The Early Years by Mark Hodkinson

Queen all got on very well with Mott. You couldn’t get more down to earth than Ian Hunter (the lead singer) and he loved them. They all became very close on that tour. The idea of a band called “Queen” may have upset a lot of people at the time they first gained some profile, but once people got to know them they were won round. In principle Queen were very well mannered and easy to like. Freddie, especially, knew how to have fun with everybody.

Extraction from Mick Rock’s book “Classic Queen”

Queen would get plenty of valuable experience while out on tour for a couple months.

Brian May later reflected on the period: "On tour as support to Mott The Hoople, I was always conscious that we were in the presence of something great, something highly evolved, close to the centre of the Spirit of Rock 'n' Roll, something to breathe in and learn from." In a 1998 radio spot, he expanded: "Mott The Hoople was really our first experience of life on the road, and a pretty blinding experience it was, I must say. It's always remained close to my heart, 'cause we grew up on that tour. We had to. It was just insanity. And to survive you had to adapt; you had to become a rock 'n' roll kind of animal and in the good sense of the word, you know. And, yeah, it was phenomenal.”

Freddie said, “Being support is one of the most traumatic experiences of my life."

[onewingedluci]

my chemical morb-mance

honestly i’d just like to make a rundown of how CURSED the mcr glasgow show was because i constantly think about it

1. i set my alarm for like half 2 to get up and get ready, i woke up an hour before the bus and i live 45 ish minutes away from the bus depot so had to half get ready and do the rest of my makeup in my mums car

2. the bus heating wasn’t working so i was freezing my tits off by the time i got to glasgow

3. four corners mcdonald’s was shut for renovations

4. when i got to the venue, i met @crvptidcore and honestly from there on out it’s a weird day, we got numbers and red made sure they got 69, i think i was 66

5. the nearest bathroom to the hydro venue is the secc, and i think there was some kind of conference going on so anytime you went to the toilet there was people in suits and shit staring at the big emo crowd

6. the amount of deliveries people got, i was constantly debating getting some buckfast delivered for the banter

7. someone had a binley mega chippy sign

8. we kept referencing morbius ( if you go on the MCRGLASGOW tag on twitter you’ll see the tweets) and ended up making a morbin’ time sign to hold up during the gig

9. we ended up using posca pen to write stuff on our hands and knuckles, and then painted our nails with it, red had ween on one hand and i think i had shit cunt because why not

10. i can’t remember his name but there was a guy from rocksound there who came up and interviewed us and i’m pretty sure i said the music ‘really speaks to me emotionally’ because i had been in the sun for hours and my brain was starting to melt

11. the line for the merch was long at, and red got a whole like pile of merch, i got two shirts even tho i was like broke ahahaha

12. we ended up getting minecraft trading cards and minion stickers which i still have on my power bank

13. i learned about unholyverse in the queue from red and honestly i don’t know if i’m thankful or not because they made me cry at like 2am reading them

14. one of the door guys actually looked terrified as we were starting to pile in the doors

15. someone in the queue was double barrelling elf bars which i would have done but i was like rationing mine

16. i ended up on frank and mikey’s side of the stage and it was just full of crackhead energy, i’m pretty sure i had a full blown conversation with someone about roller derby but everything that happened that day feels like a fever dream

17. during the gig, frank fell on his arse which was great

18. gerard said ‘do you want to hear my emo batman’ and then proceeded to say ‘joker it’s time to drink my piss’ and i think half of the crowd were dying laughing and the other half were like ???

19. someone threw their shirt at gerard and he started screaming fuck yeah you’re the man now

20. the iconic ‘LOOK AT THIS’ rat clip

21. obv motor oil gerard in general was wild, plus he kept mentioning he was 👹 STICKY 👹

22. i think someone near me just started screaming as soon as they saw mikey and honestly same

23. ray just looked majestic, his hair was everywhere and he looked just happy to be there

24. frank wrung his sweat after the show into a cup and i’m pretty sure i saw people arguing over the clip on twitter thinking it was green tea

25. i got COVID from the show lol it was covid central , thankfully i was okay but i did feel rough lol

all in all, it was the best show i’ve ever been to and i want to commentate the day with a morbin time tattoo

[calamitys-child]

How long did you have to wait for your referral to go through to the GIC? I’ve been on a waiting list since 2020 and heard nothing back.

So my timeline in essence has been like. A little chaotic, I have adhd and was in a pandemic so i dont have the greatest grasp on how time passes, and obviously people not in central Scotland may experience things very differently but.

February 2018 - Self referral to Sandyford clinic in Glasgow pretty much the instant I was 18 and financially independent

2018-2020 - got thoroughly ignored by Sandyford

~April 2020 - got made redundant due to The Covid, my bosses tried to fuck me over by not paying severance but someone else at the company pointed out that meant they owed me over a grand in back holiday pay. Immediately had a lockdown breakdown and spent all of that going private, rendering myself Very Skint

July 2020 - first appointment with private clinic YourGP in Edinburgh, got my first letter of diagnosis here. Costs ~£350 per appointment iirc and you need three appointments before you can start T or anything

July - December 2020 - those happened. Two diagnostic appointments, one of which was a therapist/psych screening, and a prescription appointment during which they lost the psych letter and had to delay prescribing. Medical Competence :)

December 4th 2020 - started half dose (1 pump daily) testogel. I went for gel because it was the cheapest option (~£35/bottle plus £20 prescription fee, I'd pick up two bottles at a time so it was ~£90 every couple months) and because I could self administer it, because. It was 2020 and every nurse in the world was so fucking busy. However my plan was to switch to sustanon when I was able to access a GP more reliably

~ March 2021 - started full dose testogel (2 pumps daily). This was also roughly when Sandyford finally picked me up so I no longer had to pay my prescription fee. Legally changed my name

October 2021 - asked Sandyford to change me from testogel to sustanon, and to refer me to the Chalmers clinic in Edinburgh as I'd moved back to Edinburgh now

EVERY SINGLE WEEK between December 2021 and April 2022 - emailed Sandyford saying "Hiya! Neither myself nor my GP have yet received the prescription and referral I was due to receive last October. Can you please confirm you are sending us this information? Thank you for your help!". Got ignored every single time until ~April 12th ish when they finally called my GP

April 22nd 2022 - finally started sustanon, 1ml every 3 weeks. Was given a list of potential top surgery providers to look into

July 26th 2022 - first appointment with Chalmers. Reviewed 3 months bloods - my T levels are slightly low but it could be due to not being bang on the 3 months mark, so we're gonna wait another 3 months to see if this evens out or if I would do better on nebido. Wrote up surgery referral letter and I just need to call and confirm with my final decision on which surgery team I want

July 27th 2022 - I have been on hold for forty six minutes with increasing fits of nervous laughter at the fact the main top surgery team people in Scotland get referred to is. Man Chester.

From here - it'll probably be about 2 years till my surgery at this point given wait times

I hope this is a vaguely helpful overview, if you've any questions about any of it in more detail just shout - im happy to answer pretty much anything asked in good faith and will just politely say no if it's something I don't want to discuss publicly:)

[kylo-wrecked]

okay big ramble time:

my second viewing of the batman has brought my love for gotham city and its characters back from the grave i buried it in almost a decade ago* and i am fighting the desire to make a multi-muse blog or throw myself into the boiling pits of various 1x1 rp sites and start another eleven threads i will not have time to write.

WHY.

additional thoughts floating around in my mind-maze:

the filmmaking here... it's Just Such a Mood. The Right Mood, and its politics Align with The Character and The Pysche of Batman. (Nolan's trilogy may make better 'films' in a sense, but i've always felt that the tone is a bit off, the politics are skewed, and: Gotham is a suspiciously clean Chicago, Bale's Batman is way too comfortable in his Bruce Wayne persona: he is rarely ever at odds with the Bruce mask and Upholds and Enforces the Status Quo, which could have been interesting for the character if it were ever explored and resolved with nuance, but this is just who Nolan & Co.'s Batman is at face value - arguably that might be the point, insert Chaos King Joker as challenger, pero - Bale es un payaso y no me gusta nunca nada).

everything about Robert Pattinson's batman/bruce reminds me of my once-upon-a-headcanon, from his oil-slick eye makeup to his Not Showing Up in Public Like an Actual Billionaire (and Not Waving His Cock and Wallet Around). he's quiet, he is a detective, he is tragically weird and alone, compulsive and obsessive, but he ultimately realizes that being Mr. Vengeance is Not Enough.

BRUCE HAS TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT HIS DEAD PARENTS WERE NOT PERFECT OMG THANK GOD, THANK YOU MOVIE, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING THE VIEWER TO MAKE UP THEIR OWN MINDS AS TO WHETHER THOMAS WAYNE WAS A HUMAN MAN WHO WANTED TO DO GOOD AND MADE SOME MISTAKES (HOW VERY PROTO-BATMAN OF HIM) OR ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE DADDY and MARTHA IS AN ARKHAM, what A RICH and TERRIBLE HISTORY with ROOTS THAT GO DEEP, that BRUCE *MUST* RESOLVE, like NO, ZOE KRAVITZ AS YEAR ONE CATWOMAN WHO I WILL PERSONALLY RUN AWAY WITH, he CANNOT LEAVE, he is TIED TO THE CITY. FOREVER.

this is a gothic story, ya'll.

the aesthetics of this movie are blade runner vs. early 80s new york vs. victorian glasgow feat. The Crow. so, perfect. (they did film in Illinois, and Chicago is renowned for the L, but try telling me that the claustrophobic subways and crusty green elevated platforms didn't absolutely smack of gravesend and other areas in south brooklyn, bushwick, washington heights, or cypress hills in certain scenes, and i will gladly turn off my listening skills — the L is too central, the trains in liverpool are actually nice. gotham city has the mta.)

i will forgive the riddler for assuming that bruce wayne opens his own mail. or that he opens mail at all. that was his fatal mistake. it's just funny.

i will also forgive Mr. J for showing up in the film's final moments because a. it leaves viewers with questions, not ham-handed answers. b. character design. killer klowns from outer space meets yo my dude actually fell in a vat of acid. i will take it, thank you.

i cannot forgive the hilariously long, overly-scripted, "reveals all in a ludicrously timely fashion" voice-mail but it only took up two and a half minutes of blessed screen-time. it's a far cry from TDK's "commissioner gordon is dead – and now he's back, having tricked no one" juncture, which gave audiences absolutely nothing. plus, it didn't take me out of the story for the rest of the movie's duration.

the bat-suit symbol is actually PART of batman's weaponry. beautiful, sense-making design. i weep.

i weep for the flying squirrel apparatus. bruce clearly came up with this on his own. no high-paid wayne enterprise personnel were involved or loaned him government weapons. (no hate @ lucius fox, but this Whole Thing works so much better for this particular story).

FINE, IT'S TRUE. i just want to be batman. i put it on my kindergarten application under "what do you want to be when you grow up?" and i'm still waiting on that call. reality be raked across the coals and damned. THIS MOVIE HAS AWOKEN THAT PART OF ME LIKE A LONG-SLEEPING DRAGON WHO MUST HOARD NOW.

___

*the new 52 was a grave and serious turn-off for me but the truth is i still follow what goes on in the comics. okay i also watch the harley quinn show. don't @ me, i'm in a happy place.

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Jeff Buckley in the U.K.

JEFF BUCKLEY loved British music; the nervous energy in British punk, the wired consciousness of the Clash, the way Siouxsie and the Banshees went from gun-metal moodiness to skies full of fireworks.

He adored the Cocteau Twins, of course, especially Liz Fraser's "impossible voice". He loved how the Smiths called to outsiders and nerds. He loved the textures of Johnny Marr's supple guitar and the mordant presence of Steve Jones's guitar in the Sex Pistols.

Jeff, whose own nervous energy was considerable, became even more wired whenever we went to the UK; he was stimulated by its variety. He also appreciated its compactness – the lack of eight-hour drives between cities was refreshing.

Sony had passed on Live at Sin-é in Europe. We were understandably disappointed, but there was a solution close at hand: Steve Abbott, known to everyone as Abbo, who ran the eccentric indie record label Big Cat and had picked up on many of the promising un-signed bands playing in New York: Pavement, Mercury Rev, Luscious Jackson. He had approached Jeff after Gods & Monsters and Sin-é shows and asked him if he'd like to record with Big Cat, but then Sony stepped in. Jeff felt that he owed Abbo a record, so when Columbia UK passed on Live at Sin-é and Michele Anthony instigated a funding deal with Big Cat, it seemed the perfect opportunity for them to become involved. Abbo jumped at the chance.

Big Cat's small team – Abbo, co-owner Linda Obadiah, Frank Neidlich in marketing, and Jacqui Rice in press – did such a good job that the week it was released in Europe, Live at Sin-é sold over four thousand copies, which was amazing for a complete unknown.

After a Sony conference, where it was clear that a lot of the affiliates were bemused by him, Jeff had a warm-up show at Whelan's in Dublin. By the time he came on, the crowd, several drinks into its evening, had become a little boisterous. Jeff said hello softly, as usual, but no one was really paying attention. Jeff just stood there, waiting. People started to quieten down and watch to see what he would do. There was a pint of his favourite beer, Guinness, sitting on the stool next to him. Jeff lifted the glass to his lips and downed it in one hit. Everyone on the room cheered, and he began the Irish show with the crowd completely on his side.

The audience was more blasé the next night at his London debut at The Borderline, a Western-themed venue under a dubious Mexican diner in Soho, right in the heart of London, a group of local reps for hip American indie labels like Sub Pop and Merge yacking away rather disrespectfully at the bar. In the age of grunge, a lone guy with a guitar softly singing Edith Piaf covers was baffling for some.

"It was an epiphany for me," says Sara Silver, Sony's European head of marketing. "There are some shows where it just feels like you're a voyeur, looking into someone's soul. This was one of those. He was charismatic, but also haunting, and I think because of my particular situation at the time, still suffering from the [loss of my husband], he resonated hugely. This haunting sound was a powerful force, and it was my job to work out how we took it to the world."

A gig the next night in Glasgow meant an early-morning flight back to Heathrow the following morning to catch a session with GLR, London's local BBC station, a slot designed to alert people to the next couple of gigs at the Garage in Islington and at Bunjies, a cute little basement folk club in Central London that dated back to the early 1960s and made Sin-é seem generously proportioned.

Abbo was accompanying Jeff on this run.

"We'd meet regularly at a bar called Tom & Jerry's in New York, hang out and drink Guinness together," Abbo says, "I suppose I became a friend of his, and he didn't seem to have many real friends. I'd only discovered I liked the blues since living in New York, so it was great hanging with him, because he was a huge blues and jazz fan and if there was a guitar around he had to pick it up and show off. He knew every Robert Johnson song, every Muddy Waters tune, Bessie Smith; he introduced me to the physicality of the blues, watching it at close quarters. Everybody talks about his voice, but he was a brilliant guitarist. The guitar was an extension of his body.

"Tim Buckley hadn't really entered my line of vision growing up listening to black music. Singer-songwriters with fluffy hairstyles were not currency on my council estate in Luton! We were in Tom & Jerry's and someone said to Jeff, 'I've been listening to your dad,' and I said, 'Who's your dad?' and he said, 'Tim Buckley.' I knew the name from record shopping; I'd seen the sleeves in the racks, but that's it. But when he came over to Britain there were loads of Tim Buckley fans. And it was a real problem early on, because he really didn't like talking about him."

The traffic from the airport to the GLR studios just off Baker Street was awful. A road accident had slowed everything to a standstill. Jeff's slot on the mid-morning show was fast approaching. "Of course, this was before mobile phones, so I had no way of communicating with the radio station that we were stuck in traffic," says Abbo. "For the last few days on this tour, everyone who'd interviewed Jeff had been asking about his dad. How did Tim write 'Song To The Siren'? Was there stuff in his lyrics that he might have related to? Things Jeff couldn't answer.

"We were listening to GLR while we waited in traffic and the presenter kept saying, 'We're supposed to have this artist, Tim Buckley's son, turning up, but he's late....Will he or won't he turn up?' This went on and on. She must have said 'Tim Buckley's son' about four times and didn't mention Jeff once. Suddenly, he just kicked my car radio in with his big DMs [Doc Martens], just smashed the fascia and then sat back sulking all the way there. I could get another radio, of course, but I was mostly worried he wasn't going to do the performance. 

"We finally arrived about forty minutes late and they were all so rude to us, and yet they knew what the problem was, as they were broadcasting traffic updates and warnings of delays themselves. If I were him, I'd have walked out. The female presenter was a typical local radio DJ, a bit gushy and knew nothing about him and his music. I had a word with the station manager to ask her to stop mentioning Tim Buckley, and he handed her a note to that effect. Jeff just sat there silently and she said, 'What are you going to play?' and Jeff said, 'A song.' I'm thinking, 'Oh god, here we go.' And he started to play "Grace." He did this long guitar introduction, went on for about a minute, like he needed to calm himself down before he got to the actual start of the song, and then he launched into the most electrifying performance. The best I ever heard him do it.

"There were about six phones in the control room, and they all started lighting up. 'Who is this? Who is this? It's amazing!' And all the time, Jeff's getting more and more into it. The presenter went from being this standoffish woman to...I swear she would have thrown herself on him given half a chance, the second he finished singing. You could see she was totally enthralled."

Presenter: "You looked quite exhausted at the end of the song."

Jeff: "I was getting a lot of anger out. Something happened on the way here..."

"The phones didn't stop throughout the next song. The station manager said that in all his twelve years at the station, he'd never seen a reaction like it."

Abbo thinks this performance sparked Jeff's breakthrough. There were certainly plenty of people in line outside the Garage in North London that night. Inside, the first stars were taking note. Chrissie Hynde and Jon McEnroe were in the audience. Chrissie had been a big fan and a friend of Tim's, had actually interviewed him while she was briefly a music journalist with the NME, and she was obviously curious to see how his offspring compared. They struck up a conversation after the show and she clearly said the right thing, because he went off with her to jam with the Pretenders in a nearby rehearsal room. I wasn't carrying anything heavy because of a recent lung collapse, and I didn't want Jeff to pull any important muscles, so I asked McEnroe if he wouldn't mind. He happily hauled Jeff's amp downstairs to the car. The Pretenders' jam with special guests Buckley and Mac went on all night.

Bunjies, as I've said, was tiny, a basement folk club and coffee bar on West Street in Soho, along from the Ivy, with gingham tablecloths and melted candles in wine bottles on the tables and a performance area tucked into a couple of arches in what must have been a wine cellar at one point. It looked unchanged since it had begun in the early 1960s, and had seen a couple of folk booms come and go. It was more of a cafe with an open-mic policy by this point, which felt like a good place for Jeff. There wasn't really any need for amplification, so when we arrived for a sound check there was very little to do but see where Jeff was going to stand in the cramped space and gauge how his voice reflected off the nicotine-stained ceilings. While Jeff did that, I went outside for some fresh air and was stunned to see a line of people already waiting to get into the show.

I took a look at the guest list and realised we'd be lucky to fit twenty of this assembling crowd in the tiny space. Every time I looked up, the line was getting further down West Street. I went back into the venue and found Jeff talking to Emma Banks, the agent. He was saying how great the venue was and that he'd like to do something like hand out flowers to everyone before he went on.

"Jesus, you won't believe what's happening out there," I said to them. "The line goes about four blocks. There's no way these people are going to get in. Is there any way we can do two sets?" Jeff was happy to. Emma spoke to the club owner and was told they had some regular club night happening later on. She came back and said, "They can't do it but I've had an idea!" She disappeared up the steps onto the street, and I spoke to Jeff.

"What flowers would you like?"

"White roses," he said.

"I'll get them," I said, and went back up to the street, where the line had grown even longer.

I walked around looking for a florist and bumped into Emma. "I've booked Andy's Forge," she said. "It's a little place just around the corner in Denmark Street. He can go on at 10:30."

I bought as many white roses as I could find. Jeff handed them to people waiting outside and those lucky enough to get into the club, as he squeezed himself into the corner that passed for a stage. He sang upward, listening to his voice reflect off the curved ceiling into this hot, crowded, and attentive space. There must have been a hundred people stuffed in there.

When the show was over, Jeff walked up the steps to the huddle of patient people that Emma had gathered, plus anyone from the first show who wanted to tag along, and led this crowd like the Pied Piper toward Andy's Forge. Abbo was alongside me. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" I said.

"Never!" he said. And we laughed liked idiots at the wonderful absurdity of hanging out with Jeff.

Jim Irvin, 'From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye' (Post Hill), May 2018

Excerpted from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye by Jeff's former manager Dave Lory and former MOJO man Jim Irvin (Post Hill Press).