You know you're living when it all becomes a blur...

  WHAT 2013 WAS ALL ABOUT

As this year is coming to an end, one day left darlings and we get to kiss this bitch of a year goodbye, I couldn't resist the urge of drawing up a list of the things that made 2013 special for yours truly. ENJOY.

1. THE GROWLERS 

Cause they have been the soundtrack of my life for the past few months and are undoubtedly my biggest recent musical crush!

2. PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL PARIS 

Cause I went for the first time to what is easily the most civilized music festival and had the time of my life! Amazing company, awesome music from the likes of Todd Terje, The Knife, Omar Souleyman, Junip, Jon Hopkins, Jagwar Ma, Hot Chip, Glass Candy, Yo La Tengo, Disclosure and Connan Mockasin and one of the best festival venues La Grande Halle de la Villette.   

 

Marylin, cause she made our nest in Montmartre special.

3. MAKING LOVE HAPPEN 

Cause I know I have done at least one right thing in my life when 2 of my closest friends that I introduced to each other and actually organized their first official date decide to tie the knot. I was the happiest 'best man' this summer, cause we all love love. 

 

4. WANDERLUST

Cause in 2014 I will be embarking on a new adventure....

5. ALL THE BEAUTIFUL BOYS 

That have colored my life with the chaos of trouble during the last few months...BIG LOVE

 

6. THE REFLEKTORS aka Arcade Fire

Cause 2013 was their year and everything they did was pure GOLD.

7. THE DEEP SEA 

Cause I have spent the better part of the last year and a half trying to save it! 

This is an amazing comic strip that accompanied a petition against deep-sea bottom trawling. It explains the story of how after the over-exploitation of demersal fish stocks we discovered new fuel intensive techniques to fish further from the coast and at greater depths whilst destroying corals and sponges that live thousands of years to catch extremely vulnerable fish that no one really wants to eat!  

8. LA GRANDE BELLEZZA

9. Our high school reunion and our matching tattoos

10. MARGARET ATWOOD

For ooooh so many reasons...

Summertime in Greeceland

Enjoy some photos of what summer looks like in paradise (Greeceland) with some tunes and quotes to go along. Hope you are all busy being lazy sunbathers on an island not so far away..

The only sign worth following all summer long.

Quintessential Greek Summer: FIGS

SEAHORSE

Look what I found in the middle of nowhere on a Greek island: A Rubik's cube transformer!

On the road

Greek Summer 

Boat Rides and Life Jackets 

A home with a view. Meet me between the music and the castle 

 Glitter in the Gutter in the sand dunes.

Sand Dune Love

Dry salt lake 

Greek Delight 

Absolute Summertime Essentials

 

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air 

 Sunset snack 

Dinner 

Scary sponge thingy 

Anchors Away

 Fisherman Blues

Summertime Essentials #2

Essentials #3

And given the beating my beautiful country has been receiving recently I must admit it was rather refreshing to read some praise from the master himself Mr Henry Miller in "The Colossus of Maroussi" (a definite must read for all you wandering romantic souls.) Miller spent 5 months in Greeceland just before the onset of the the second World War in the company of our hommes des letters such as Seferis, Katsimbalis and Ghikas. He speaks of the time just before we started getting it all wrong by buying into the American Dream. Enjoy...

"That conversation taught me immediately that the Greeks are an enthusiastic, curious-minded, passionate people. Passion-it was something I had long missed in France. Not only passion, but contradictoriness, confusion, chaos-all these sterling human qualities I rediscovered and cherished again in the person of my new-found friend. And generosity. I had almost thought it had perished from the earth."

Funny that Miller takes note of the glass of water that is automatically served the moment you sit down at any restaurant or bar throughout Greece. A lover from the North that visited my country several times was also rather taken by the way water is our constant companion throughout the day.

"The glass of water...everywhere I saw the glass of water. It became obsessional. I began to think of water as a new thing, a new vital element of life. Earth, air, fire, water. Right now water had become the cardinal element. Seeing lovers sitting there in the dark drinking water, sitting there in peace and quiet and talking in low tones, gave me a wonderful feeling about the Greek character. The dust, the heat, the poverty, the bareness, the containedness  of the people, and the water everywhere in little tumblers standing between the quiet, peaceful couples, gave me the feeling that there was something holy about the place, something nourishing and sustaining."

 

"There are so many ways of walking about and the best, in my opinion, is the Greek way, because it is aimless, anarchic, thoroughly and discordantly human."

"I liked the way they begged too. They weren't shamefaced about it. They would hold you up openly and ask for money or cigarettes as if they were entitled to it. It's a good sign when people beg that way: it means that they know how to give. The French, for example, know neither how to give nor how to ask for favors-either way they feel uneasy. They make a virtue of not molesting you. It's the wall again. A Greek has no walls around him: he gives and takes without stint."

"...the city of Athens. It is still in the throes of birth: it is awkward, confused, clumsy, unsure of itself; it has all the diseases of childhood and some of the melancholy and desolation of adolescence. But is has chosen a magnificent site in which to rear itself; in the sunlight it gleams like a jewel; at night it sparkles with a million twinkling lights which seem to be switching on and off with lightning-like speed. It is a city of startling atmospheric effects: it has not dug itself into the earth-it floats in a constantly changing light, beats with a chromatic rhythm." 

And to close a part from the introduction by none other than Mr Will Self:

"...if you believe in the brand of sympathetic literary magic that Henry Miller purveys, perhaps you will take his existential leap, go there yourself- and feel it anew. That's what he would have wanted. True avant-garde still had torsion. Delphi. The rest is noise."      

And since this post is all about summer enjoy an alternative version of  The summer hit that I am sure you have all danced to until the morning light it may lack some of the funky rhythm of Daft Punk and Pharrell but it is a personal favorite

And my favorite tune from the latest funktastic Daft Punk album

And one last one cause summer is tropical

One last one cause I want to see you HIGH

Irvine Welsh: The beauty of failing

Irvine Welsh, the voice of a generation lost, stopped by Brussels recently to read an extract from his latest book "Skagboys", a prequel to Trainspotting that follows Renton and Sick Boy down the rabbit hole, and talk about the irresistible beauty of failure. 

Irvine Welsh is easily the most prominent voice (along with Chuck Palahniuk) that marked our adolescence, put us off heroine for life and introduced us to the London punk scene as well as the nightmarish hopelessness of council-flat England. 

A bitter sweet sardonic sense of humor, a charmingly strong Scottish accent reciting barely comprehensible extracts from his latest book written in Scots dialect and a man that "always had a sense of WANDERLUST", enjoy some of his words...

"As a writer and generally in life you should never be afraid to fail. Failure is interesting, success is boring. Failure comes in so many forms. Success is just a reward for perseverance in failure. Success just makes you arrogant and complacent." 

"I like looking at the way people fuck up. The devices whereby people fuck up. Mechanisms of self-sabotage due to fear of failure."

"It is very hard to re-read your own book. A book never finishes, you just get to a point where you don't want to deal with it anymore."

"What does a writer do, he stays locked up in a room with people that don't exist."

"As a writer you need to enjoy your own company and people who do so tend to be quite weird."

"Writing is about looking at the world in a fantastical, magical way, writing is like playing on the carpet with your toy soldiers."

"the 80's are all about disillusionment and individualism. There is no notion of constant progress or belief that every generation is going to be better off."

"Acting is like going for drugs, there is a lot of standing around, waiting for something to happen."

"When you write about a character you don't need to like him. You need to be able to empathize with him, you need to be able to love him. It's like family, it's not that you like them, but you have to love them."

When asked who his favorite character from his books is, he said it was misanthropic anti-hero Bruce Robertson from "Filth" who is played by James McAvoy in this years movie adaptation. Enjoy.

And a special treat 50 Songs I love by Irvine Welsh. ENJOY! 

1. Sunshine on Leith – Proclaimers. If you’re from the green half of Edinburgh, you’ve belted this out at football games and weddings and cried as it plays at funerals.

2. If There Is Something – Roxy Music. I love the epic changes in this song. The way Ferry playfully sings the opening line in mock country twang ill-preps you for the angsty ballad it becomes.

3. Station to Station – David Bowie. No song makes me want to take any drug like this one makes me want to take cocaine.

4. The Greatest Love of All – Kevin Rowland. I love his solo album My Beauty, this track makes me want to make Kev a mug of cocoa and sit him down in front of a roaring fire.

5. Hypo Full Of Love – Alabama 3. If you don’t want to party hearing this bad boy you’ve no pulse.

6. Going Underground – The Jam. Is this the greatest rock n roll song ever written?

7. Rise – PIL. Once Bowie has got you on the cocaine, stay there with that number.

8. Your Love – Frankie Knuckles/Jamie Principal. My nipples still get hard and I want to fondle everybody I see when this comes on.

9. Comeback Girl -Republic of Loose. I think of Dublin and rainy streets and heading to a nice warm boozer every time this plays.

10. Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye. Don’t think I could live in a world without Marvin’s music.

11. What’s In Your Life – Smokey Robinson. This little known pathos-drenched track from the little known album ‘Warm Thoughts’ also happens to be Smokey’s finest moment. If you are falling for somebody, play them this record. If they don’t jump into bed with you straight afterwards, ditch them immediately, they aren’t for you.

12. Avenue B – Iggy Pop. Title track from the album of the same name is a cracker. Iggy plays the world-weary romantic hoping for love in a cold climate.

13. Seven Kinds of Wonderful – Brian Jonestown Massacre. The album Aufheben is a masterpiece, a journey of crazy, dense, complex psychedelic sound. Wrong to single out any track in such in a complete album, but I love this one.

14. Our House – Madness. This song is so brilliant and beautiful because it reminds everybody of where they came from.

15. The Repentant – Band of Holy Joy. A crazy, scary rant from the brilliant album How To Kill A Butterfly.

16. The Tyger – Billy Blake & The Vagabonds. If I told you a group of Chicago musicians, led by an English expat, had put William Blake’s poems to music you might think that’s mental. If I then told you that it was possibly the best album of the year you might think I am. But it’s true.

17. Atrocity Exhibition – Joy Division. I love this song. I throb and shiver when I hear it.

18. Hypnosis – Les Gray & Mud. Probably the best lyrics in any pop song ever.

19. I Feel Love – Donna Summer (Patrick Cowley remix). Jesus fuck this a fucking amazing track.

20. Burning Wheel – Primal Scream. If Hibs won the league I’d love this to be the song they played in celebration.

21. Street Hassle – Lou Reed. An epic walk on the wild side from Lou.

22. Superstition – Stevie Wonder. I remember on night at Edinburgh’s Pure, they played this when the lights came up and nobody would leave till it was over.

23. Lost In Music – Sister Sledge. Has there ever been a better homage to music?

24. Good Times – Chic. Nile Rogers. Genius. Enough said.

25. Europe Endless – Kraftwerk. A terrific tune. Sung in a parody of boredom that can only be rivaled by Tottenham fans singing When The Spurs Go Marching In.

26. Love Is Like Oxygen – Sweet. The version with the long acoustic guitar solo.

27. SOS – Abba. I remember being in a pub in Motherwell after a Hibs game and the biggest bar room brawl i’ve seen broke out while this was playing on the juke box.

28. Love Song – Simple Minds. I go crazy when the opening bars of this song kick in. What a fucking band the Minds.

29. Dressed For Success- Roxette. I am. I do.

30. The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen. This I associate with getting a knee trembler up the railway line off a lassie I fancied for donks. As the moon was bright I went home and played this track to celebrate.

31. Story of the Blues – Wah! This song always makes my spine tingle.

32. Mind Games – John Lennon. I would love to hear this sung by a Japanese person on karaoke.

33. Part-Time Love – Elton John. Once sang it on the Bakerloo Line off my nut and covered in every bodily fluid known to man. Cringe…

34. Dance Floor Collision Course With Love – Hibee Nation. Needsie, Henry and I’s finest hour in a year of cocaine, lager and curry at the sadly now defunct Punishment Farm studios in Brick Lane.

35. Avenues and Alleyways -Tony Christie. I love this song. It could make a Tory cabinet minister want a medallion, a hairy chest and a place on the sex offenders register.

36. A Day In The Life – Beatles. This song to me represents the end of the British post-war dream.

37. Cole’s Corner – Richard Hawley. A genius song, about Sheffield’s KB corner. We’ve all been there, I once had a deckchair under the clock at Binn’s in Edinburgh’s West End.

38. Glory, Glory to the Hibees – Hector Nicol. Fucked if I can remember the b-side to this old classic.

39. Vambo Marble Eye – SAHB. Possibly the greatest rock n’ roll band of all time.

40. Squeeze Box – Who. I was playing this track as a spotty adolescent, and my dad snuck up on me and squeezed a prominent pluke on my face. ‘That’s you pal, squeeze box.’ The scheme could be cruel. So cruel.

41. Dancing Days – Led Zeppelin. Always associate this with getting dressed up on the first warm day of the year and going out on the pull.

42. Time For Action -Secret Affair. One of my fave bands.

43. Sandstorm – Cast. Another band I love, should have been bigger.

44. Lucky Man – The Verve. Ashcroft is a genius and I love this sweeping epic. It’s been on TWO movies of my books, Acid House and Ecstasy.

45. Jackie Wilson Says – Dexys Midnight Runners. Jocky on TOTP, great humour from Kev R.

46. Roll With It – Oasis. This song is about suddenly getting mega famous, and I don’t think I’ve seen anybody handle that better, anywhere, than Noel.

47. Country House – Blur. This song is about suddenly getting mega famous and I don’t think I’ve seen anybody handle that better, anywhere, than Damon.

48. Lazy Sunday Afternoon – Small Faces. This song is about sitting on the fence and I don’t think I’ve seen anybody handle that better, anywhere, than me.

49. The Fairytale of New York – Pogues. I never get sick of this tune, even at Christmas.

50. Reason To Believe -Rod Stewart. My second Japanese karaoke favourite. Rod Stewart is the greatest soul singer Britain has produced.

ps 51. Overkill – Colin Hay. The acoustic version shits all the over the Men at Work Original.