Phil, my brother, and I used to watch this video COUNTLESS times after we recorded it from the Old Grey Whistle Test… I can’t believe that it’s 20 years ago! It’s worth waiting for the footage of them on a 1980 old grey whistle test recording of ‘Cheap Sunglasses’, to understand what an amazing three piece band ZZ Top were. Fantastic. Thank the good lord for Youtube.
A bit of photo archive stuff… yesteryear’s pics
Since I got a Pro Account on Flickr, meaning bags of photo storage, I thought I’d upload a few from the archive… more as a back up than anything else….
Our Honeymoon in India was taken on slide film but I never got round to scanning them properly… these few were done on the cheap on a not very good slide scanner, but they’re a nice reminder.
Also found these old photos of Elvis as a puppy, which someone took on a digital camera for us way before we got a digital camera, in 2001. He’s such a cutie.
World War I Soldier Formations
There’s something intriguing about large scale interactive things like these World War I Soldier Formations
For someone to have the balls and patience to organise it is just beyond me. It’s also deeply metaphorical about art; that it only exists when experienced by people.
Flippin’ lovely…. see more here
National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Round 5, Derby
Got a bit of a kicking today in the final round of the national trophy. I don’t mind saying that I’ve struggled to train properly since the new year, and I’ve been hanging on a bit to fitness rather than pushing myself.
It showed today at Derby College, where I didn’t really get the best from the sticky, muddy conditions. Where I might normally have found grip, I spun, and where I might have ploughed on with a bit of momentum, I foundered. In short, I didn’t have the best ride; like last year on the same course, I was lapped with only 50 minutes of racing covered, and finished a bit uninspired in 28th position. It’s a tough sport and you can’t get by on luck and a bit of residual strength… lesson learnt.
On the plus side, it was a good day for my Wheelbase team mates, where Rob Jebb finished third overall on the day and overall in the Trophy series. Lewis Craven was 5th in the series (I think, at the time of writing), and finished a good 7th on the day.
I was also 25th overall in the national trophy series, which is something to be proud of.
Another season over, and a chance to stop training and start just riding and running when I feel like it!
Rabbit County – a remix
I made this absolutely AGES ago (it seems) as a remix of the beautiful and tender ‘Rabbit County’, by Oddfellows Casino. I LOVE the whole album ‘Winter Creatures’ and heartily recommend it (CD can be purchased here for only a tenner)
[audio:http://www.minnellium.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/05_rabbit_county_02_electro2.mp3]The very same Oddfellows Casino just brought it to my attention that I never got round to playing it to them, so here it is. It’s the only tune I think I’ve ever made that features the voice my daughter (but you’ll need to listen all the way through and listen hard!!).
Find out more about this wonderful and relatively unsung band here:
British Cyclocross Championships 2008
An enjoyable and ultimately satisfying day… could’ve done better, have done much worse!
I finished 30th in the British Cyclocross Championships today at Sutton Park near Birmingham, and with it helped Team Wheelbase / Gore Bike Wear to their first ever team championship win. It was a nice feeling to go straight to the podium after the finish for our gold medals and be faced with a huge applauding crowd… and then even be pestered for my autograph by a young boy when we climbed down from it (!!?)
The race itself was a fast but technical and ultimately a tough course. The secret to its challenge was the unrelenting and frequent turns which in turn meant frequent and unrelenting accelerations… my thighs held together but it was strange to see a course that held my heart rate above 170 bpm for the whole race and saw an average heart rate of 175 bpm for the hour.
Yes, I’d have liked it much muddier, and yes, I’d like to have had to dismount the bike more than one short ten yard stretch per lap, but I can’t deny it was a good test and a challenging course. (Google Earth map of it here).
The really negative thing for me was losing four places in the last 400 metres, when I unshipped my chain carrying the bike over a set of planks. To have got to that point without any mechanical mishap or riding mistakes then do that was nothing short of irritating. Still… it could have been a snapped chain and more like ten places!
Happy New Year from Eastbourne
For the second year running, we went to stay with our ace and very welcoming mates Rachel and Jon in Eastbourne for New Year. Managed a lovely run with Jon (opens in Google Earth) on New Year’s Eve along the cliffs near Beachy Head, and a great walk on the beach on New Year’s day.
Their new dog, Buzz, is just gorgeous.
Christmas Day 2007
Lovely Christmas Day at Sally and Simon’s house in Chorlton.
Photos Here, including a bit of bike ride action with Olly and Lily, and some pics of Boxing Day here
Farewell, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson died on Christmas eve. What a man.
You still look good to me….
Weapon Of Choice – Fatboy Slim
I was just listening to the radio, humming away to myself for a few minutes whilst the phone stopped ringing for the first time today (!) and this tune came on… which reminded me to look at what I feel is the finest pop video in many, many years.
Four year old drummer to Sammy Davis Jr in about ten minutes
Lily and I do things a bit differently every Friday… we have a break from ‘story’ before bedtime, and it quite often involves surfing things on Youtube. To have all those amazing things from my childhood (and since) at my fingertips never ceases to amaze me; it won’t amaze Lily and her generation. For that, she’ll never be grateful – she never should be – this is what so much of the media should be – on demand entertainment, not pipe-fed scheduled programming, but a parent-supervised themed trip round amazing things.
We searched for a “drummer” – Lily’s quite set on getting some drums for Christmas …
First, we watched Igor, a four year old from Poland
… and from him, I was prompted to search for Buddy Rich’s epic battle with Animal fromt he Muppets
A natural progression, was to seek out another televised Buddy Rich drum battle, one that I’d heard talked about, but never seen (until Youtube!) – he and Gene Krupa going at it together on the Sammy Davis Jr show.
To calm down from the drums a bit, we finished off with a bit of Sammy Davis Jr himself, this time tap dancing to Singin in the Rain with some remarkable collars….
Friday night… a good night in.
Why fox hunting was banned
This reminds us all why fox hunting was abolished for its barbarism.
