THE GARDEN OF IZZIE KLINGELS
September 28, 2008
I’ve never met Izzie Klingels but I have a great fondness for Garden. In fact if it wasn’t for dear Izzie I wouldn’t even be aware of Garden. It was she who brought me ‘into the garden’….I’m listening to Agnes Bernelle as I write this , she’s spinning around on my record deck and it seems appropriate that I should be listening to her when writing of Izzie…
I am , I suppose , what might be best described as a sad old man with no friends….that’s not self pity just simple plain fact. I live on my own and sleep on the floor of a one room flat here in Dublin. I have better things to do with my money than buy a bed and apart from that I have not got the room for one and so I sleep on the floor…..and I sleep like an innocent……
When I get out of bed every morning , which is to say when I get up off the floor and have my morning coffee I find that I have nothing to do so I wander out my front door and head for the record shops of Dublin.. If it wasn’t for the record shops I would go mad…. I put one foot in front of the other and eventually end up in one of the few vinyl emporiums left in this city. I’m an old time record collector….My hair is grey and as the song has it ,” I ache in the places where I used to play”. My clothes are all worn and shabby as all my spare money goes on vinyl and I am I suppose well known in these shops…..and I’m always on my own. But then again , who needs friends when you’ve got the vinyl ? But who cares about any of this…
To get to what I wanted to tell you…There is a shop in Dublin called Road Records which specalises in independant (!!) record labels and I was in there one day about a year ago ( I’m in there every day of course ). It’s a small shop which sells a lot of unremarkable modern music. And it sells this to unremarkable people. People who live in modern apartment blocks on the river. You know the sort I mean. No lost rebels here . No rebels without a cause or otherwise. The economy is doing well (even with the recession) and so are they….they all want to be just like daddy ( and they are , they are ).
Well , like I say , I was in there one day looking for something special. I was leafing through the shelves of Indie (!!!!!) vinyl as I had done a thousand times when I came acrosss this 12 inch ep by someone called Garden. It was the cover that caught my attention of course. I held it in my hand. I turned it around and looked at it from different angles. I put it down and then picked it up……and then I looked at it again.
I bought the record needless to say. Four hippy/psych type songs that might have been THE hippy anthem if the record had been made 40 years ago. It’s a gem. A classic of the first order. Four wonderfull songs with titles like , Yew Tree and Dandelions…..
” I am the yew tree
I am the yew tree
I am the yew tree
yes.”
I play it over and over. And when I’m not actually playing it I’m holding it in my hand , wondering who that girl is. She has her back to us and yet seems somehow sad…… She’s the child , the brainchild of Izzie Klingels. She came out of Izzie Klingels head. How long was she there ? And how did she get there in the first place ? When Izzie was going about her business , standing in the supermarket checkout , chatting with her facebook friends , was this little girl locked up in her head all the time. And late at night when Izzie was asleep and all was dark and quiet was the little girl gently tapping , tapping … “Let me out , let me out “
And why Izzie , why do you abandon your children in indie record shops. There is a myspace and web site but these tell us nothing. Why have you sent this sad garden child out into such a cruel cruel world ?
Victorian Chair
May 26, 2008
I have been out of action for a few weeks due to the fact that I’ve just moved to a new flat. When I wake in the morning now all I have to do is turn left out my door and walk a few yards and I’m on the river Liffey or if I turn right and take a ten minute walk I’m on Sandymount Strand.
Moving home can be quite stressful and I have not been able to do my blog for a month now so this is just an excuse to get back to my blog again……so as Arnie would say , “I’m Back”….. I’ll take a drive up to the beach sometime after midnight tonight and watch the tide come in……maybe it will give me inspiration ….
I had no furniture when I moved into this flat so I went to an auction and got myself a Victorian chair and a few other bits and pieces. I’ll try uploading a photo of it in a few days but it’s an unremarkable bit of furniture. Or perhaps I’ll post something about auction houses. ……..or car boot sales (which I go to ever week). Maybe something will happen to me , maybe ……..
Sausages Journalism Culture Blogging.
March 19, 2008
If your in the business of making sausages (or anything practical like that) then here is a great opportunity for you. For a modest fee The Academy will turn you into a journalist. Apart from the increase in salary that this will afford you there are other benefits which you may not be aware of.
For instance , as a journalist you may claim to be a champion of truth . You don’t have to be a good journalist to make this claim nor do you have to have even the vaguest interest in truth. You can also create the illusion that you are intelligent and most people will accept it as fact regardless of how stupid you might be. You can , in short , pass yourself off as a cultured chap with all that that implies. You can even sell your soul and still be applauded for it. Now if you decide not to be a journalist but to remain at the sausage factory then its a different matter altogether. In the latter case you may find yourself being labeled a ‘racist’ or ‘homophobic’ without you even having expressed an opinion on these matters.
Of course you don’t have to take up journalism. You could just as well take a crash course in poetry or film making. Any of these options will transform your situation…
You could of course bypass The Academy , keep the money in your pocket and just learn the ‘lingo’. You could practice in front of the mirror. Just stand in front of a mirror and keep repeating the stock phrases such as ‘multiculturism’ or ‘the right to choose’ or anything else that comes into your head. You don’t have to actually understand anything about these things as no one will notice or even care. But it’s important that you look yourself in the eye without blinking or fidgeting or anything like that. Hence the need to practice in front of the mirror.
Now if your one of those people who find themselves becoming sexually aroused in the company of young people then I definitely recommend becoming a poet……as a sausage maker you’ll only get your head kicked in but if you can string a few words together your on the horses back…
You might even decide to take up the blogging. But you won’t win any points in the Irish Blog Awards as a sausage maker. There are , by the way , no Irish sausage blogs….this in spite of the fact that there is something very appealing about a sausage. A sausage is a sausage. There is something very honest about it. It is , what it says on the label. You can rely on a sausage…And a man who makes sausages is a man deserving of honour.
Hit My Ugly Blog Hit Me Hit Me Hit Me
February 17, 2008
I’ve just had quite a few hits on my blog as a result of someone describing my blog as ugly. They left a link to my blog so I traced it back to “Geeks Are Sexy“. Now I wasn’t worried that someone didn’t like the look of my blog , after all it’s better than not being noticed. In fact they chose to use a link back to a cartoon I had posted from “Cartoon Stock” so everyone gets to smile when the actually reach my blog so the ‘feel good’ factor hopefully will come into play here.
A few day’s prior to this a blogger put a link to my blog on “De.lic.ous” because he was not impressed by the fact that I had shown sympathy for the Moors Murder Ian Brady which of course had the effect of leading even more people to my blog. According to Problogger you can make up to $10,000 a day , yep , I did say $10,000 per day by just being ugly. But don’t start getting idea’s……. It’s hard to fake it. Your either naturally ugly or your not. ….’and now you’ll have to excuse me while I go check those stats again.
The Happy Surfer . Mangle the World Wild Web. Randon Search.
January 19, 2008
I exist , I’m a real person….I’m out there , a small part of this universe….and I know this because I found myself on Mangle…
For random surfing of the W.W.W. got to Mangle. If your stuck for something to write about go to Mangle. For a dictionary definition of the word look here…...http://m-w.com/dictionary/mangle .
To find the Mangle site itself go to …..http://www.mangle.ca/archive.php
and click on the BLACK CAT.
Martin Amis . Ronan Bennett. Words Words Words. ( I must be talking to my friends).
December 8, 2007
blogspot.com/2007/12/shame-on-us.html
“He had an open mind , as open as a trap”
I have just been reading an article about …..well , I’m not really sure what it’s about. But what I am quite sure of is that the spirit of the good old SS is alive and kicking …..and kicking with a vengeance. It seems that whereas Hitler and Co. used the word ‘Jew’ to stifle all debate our modern day dictators , the politically correct brigade , use the words ‘Racist’ or ‘Homophobic’. And like Hitler they have the power….
There was a time I might have argued the point with the Bennett’s of this world but faced with so much certainty not to mention arrogance I just don’t know how to respond. I have long since come to the conclusion that all this has much in common with rape…more to do with power than anything else. And like I say , the PC brigade have all the power.
Mr. Bennett is one of those people who would be happy to tell the great unwashed that they are racist , or better still homophobic and racist , and having disfranchised them to the point that they ,after ten years or more under the boot of the PC brigade , in sheer desperation , turn to the BNP will then say , “See , I told you so”…..
Oh yes , the exercise of power……it’s rarely a pleasant sight.
“…..and stick to people who look like they’re from the Middle East” (itself further proof, if such were needed, of the racist nature of Islamophobia)”
That word ‘phobia’ covers a multitude of sins……and saves a lot of unnecessary debate. It’s marvelous what you can do with words….
The thick neck and the leather boot……at least you knew who the enemy was…….
Better to say nothing. Just keep the mouth shut and the head down. Oh yes , I’m learning fast……….’besides , this is not so much a debate , more a case of public masturbation……..”Look at me Ma , Look at me………I’m top of the World.”.
CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: Shame on us
The Intelligent Womans Blog aka The Mad Knitter. Eric Clapton.
December 5, 2007
Every so often I like to mention a blog that grabs my attention and pass the word along. MY KNITTING MACHINES AND ME is one of those blogs. I stumbled across it some time ago , why I don’t know as I have little , or rather no interest in knitting. But for some strange reason or other I found myself reading it …….there’s something very therapeutic about the sound of needles clicking. Or just the idea of needles clicking…..
I have no reason to believe that this lady is in fact mad….but I like to think of her as being just a little bit strange…….when she’s not knitting she sometimes plays the guitar..( and why not ?).
As Humphrey Bogart said in “The Desperate Hours “..”Clickity , clickity , click..”
Apart from this video she has some more videos on knitting and other stuff on LIVEVIDEO.
blogging WordPress Social Club Bar Revisited
November 24, 2007
This is my second time to publish this cartoon but I like it so why not. I actually bought this ( it’s use that is ) from Cartoon Stock. If you want a cartoon for your blog have a look at their site.
Change of Blog URL
June 6, 2007
I have just now changed my blog from , sillyoldtwit.wordpress.com to sillyoldtwit.com. As I’m really not sure what I am doing here this may lead to some temporary glitches. So please , if you have a problem finding me just try again. It should sort itself out within about two week after which you will be able to get me at
sillyoldtwit.com.
If you have any general comments about my blog or anything that you think might improve it please let me know.
PS. In the last 24 hours I have posted a couple of posts but they have not , for some reason or other , actually published on my blog so please just call back again soon and these glitches will be sorted out by then.
Way back , back in the old days , the nineteen sixties to be exact I used to walk around with my hands in my pocket. Sometimes I would stand up and sometimes I’d just sit down. I would look to the left and the right. I was always looking. You had to be on your guard. They were everywhere.
But they have always been there , pretending they are on your side but you knew deep down inside that they are only looking after number one. In my young days they were called hippies. I never liked them. I remember looking at them and thinking , “They are from the same class as the old guard they claim they want to overthrow”. They attended the same colleges and universities. They said that these institutes of learning had to be torn down…. but they already had their degree in their pocket. They talked about free love and bringing down the barriers but they had a contempt for the working class …..they were the Me generation.
I used to sit in the dining room. I had a record deck , the kind that you used to plug into the back of an old valve radio to make the sound come out and I would sit for hours listening to Elvis Presley while watching the RCA label spinning round and round. They didn’t like Elvis. They tended to sneer at anyone who did. It was a class thing and behind all their progressive posturing they were very conscious of their class. They criticized their own parents but sounded remarkably like them for all that.
They smoked pot and experimented with sex …..free love , they used the word free quite a lot but like I said nobody was fooled. I used to think …”Give it a few years and they will all be back to working for Daddy….” And they were. This is the generation that gave the world Global Capitalism.
Another time and another place. And here they are again. But the’re not called hippies any more. Today they call themselves Bloggers. And this time round they are still peddling that word ‘free’. The free exchange of information and the new open networks…..a brave new world that’s going to make the old ways redundant. But we have heard it all before. And the universities they came out of are the same institutions that gave us George Bush and Enron. Look them up some time on Boing Boing and Information Aesthetics. They even sound like Corporations and they didn’t get to where they are by being rebels….there are no free spirits here , they all walked the line. Like father like son.
And as a friend of mine used to say , ” At least with Hitler you knew where you stood”. They are in control. They own the network. They will tell you over and over again that it’s a democratic media , the Internet. You can be just like them or so they would have you believe but make no mistake , they ARE in control.
Who was it who said , ” the liberal opposition and part of the regime”? Whoever it was he was a wise man. As my mother used to say , “Walk softly and carry a big stick …..and watch your back”. And you would need eyes in the back of your head with the likes of these people. As the Americans are fond of saying , “follow the money”. You wont find any of these people among the broken and destitute littering our city streets. No suffering for their art here. They listen to their pop idols in the stadium just like any other Nero. They have taken to Soccer football just as the working class are being priced out. They will sell out their blogs some day too , when the price is right.
“Who’s afraid of Cory Doctorow “? Copyright and trade policies!! You can’t tell a book by the cover but you can take a damn good guess .So what’s he really selling?. He’s selling Cory Doctorow Inc.
Dispatches from Blogistan or Triumph of the Will. You pay your money and make your choice. Red Bull or Jack Daniel’s. “Words , Words, Words”. And the truth?.
….Well the truth is that Elvis is dead and business is business
ps. just read this in Dispatches from Blogistan. “We’re figuring out how to get the masses involved (in blogging) without mob rule”(Craig Newmark/craiglist.com). (note the ‘we’). You have to read it twice but take the smile off your face first.
COMMING SOON TO THIS BLOG: IAN BRADY , MICHAEL COLLINS AND THE GENTLE ART OF QUEUING.
