I'm not the one to tell this old world how to get along...

Why do people of a certain vintage bang on about change?
‘Things aren’t like they were when we were kids’

Of course they’re bloody not! There’s a whole bunch of different people around for a start and, with the benefit of hindsight, they can all look back at the major screw-ups of the previous generation, and avoid recurrence.
Think about it – No Hitler or Eichmann; No Polio or Thalidomide; No Hiroshima or Auschwitz – could be the missing verse to Lennon’s Imagine.

I’m being silly, I know, but every time I hear this I have to fight back the laughter.
Despite the humour of it all, and I’m thinking of the 1948 Show’s ‘Four Yorkshiremen Sketch’, things are clearly never going to be the same.
Tomorrow won’t be like today. Everything changes in one way or another.
Even where life is so mundane or full of drudgery that it appears to be motionless, it is all purely relative.
It is only the close focus, foreshortened view of the narrow-minded that makes life stand still.
Einstein told us all about relativity and I can find no just reason to doubt him.

As I get older, I think more about things I did as a child, but childhood memories are a strange thing.
Remember how long and hot the summers were.
How the holidays seemed to last forever.
How rich and deep the snow was.
How filled with excitement Birthdays were and how full of joy Christmas was.

I’m sure if we all look back we can find some memory of our childhood that paints the picture in a brighter hue than it actually deserves.

Sure, I recall endless days playing football during the summer holidays; great adventures in the disused quarry; sledging for days on end or making slides in the snow.
Whatever the current sporting event was, that was what we did. Regardless of whether it was football, cricket, rugby or tennis, summers were filled with sport.
Even the rainy days were filled with such delights as Twister, Subbuteo, Action Man and the latest T-Rex or Slade albums.

It’s easy to forget the miserable old witch who was waiting behind her hedge, ready to do a Sweeny Todd on the football as soon as it came within a yard of her garden.

It’s easy to forget the grumpy old git who put salt on our slides just as the ice got to its fastest.

It’s easy to forget the nosey neighbour who grassed you up because she knew you were forbidden to play in the quarry.

All of this looks different now through adult eyes but one thing I still have difficulty forgetting is the news.
For some bizarre reason the news generated a certain amount of excitement in me particularly at the time of an Apollo mission or at the time of an election.
As I said – Bizarre with a very big capital B

I recall stories that I didn’t really understand about civil unrest in Africa; war in Korea; Terrorism; Lebanon; Israel and the West Bank. Stories about starvation and drought. Stories about volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.

How sad it is, that a full generation on, with the benefit of hindsight and all the great advances in science and technology, we have learnt absolutely nothing.
We still have the religious fanatics and dictators; the killer diseases and viruses; more (un)natural disasters than we can think of and, in the Smart Car, we’ve even found a 21st century equivalent of the Messerschmitt bubble car.

I wonder what the memories are that my kids will carry into adulthood.
I wonder if, like me, there will come a point in their lives, where they realise it’s not the growing old that the kills you but the knowledge that ‘back then’ was just as crap as it is now and that fifty years from now it will be just as crap as it was back then.

This old world had better change...

From one of his stints at Ronnie Scotts, and a good one for fans of the new style Roddy looking for a link to the old...

Roddy Frame - Spanish Horses - Live At Ronnie Scotts
http://rapidshare.com/files/102806814/Spanish_Horses_-_Live_At_Ronnie_Scott_s.rar

My First taste of the wonder that is Josh Ritter - Thin Blue Flame is purely awesome...
Josh Ritter – KCRW session
http://rapidshare.com/files/93541882/KCRW_Morning_Becomes_Eclectic_Session__May_5__2006.rar

Recent recording and, in my opinion, not the best collection of songs he has put on an album.
Ian McNabb - How We Live
http://rapidshare.com/files/102838079/How_We_Live.rar
To redress the balance
Ian McNabb – Party Political Broadcast
http://rapidshare.com/files/99627790/A_Party_Political_Broadcast_On_Behalf_Of.rar

To prove blues isn't necessarily old hat, a recent recording by Blues Band stalwarts...
Paul Jones & Dave Kelly – Live At The Ram Jam Club
http://rapidshare.com/files/99682460/Live_At_The_Ram_Jam_Club_Volume_Two.rar

Dodgy quality recording of Del Amitri but worth it for the Steve Earle, Loving Spoonful and Beatles covers...
Del Amitri – Barrowlands
http://rapidshare.com/files/89509037/Barrowlands.rar
and, by way of comparison, recent solo effort by Justin Currie...
Justin Currie - What Is Love For?
http://rapidshare.com/files/102803549/Justin_Currie.rar

Superb official bootleg recording by Frank Reader & co...
Trashcan Sinatras - Fez
http://rapidshare.com/files/102818126/Fez.rar

A couple of interesting things I stumbled upon today...
Eugene McGuinness - The Early Learnings Of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/102822008/The_Early_Learnings_Of.._.rar
Iain Archer - Iain Archer
http://rapidshare.com/files/102829498/Iain_Archer.rar

Nothing much to say about this other than I think it's good...
Aberfeldy - Do Whatever Turns You On
http://rapidshare.com/files/102844381/Do_Whatever_Turns_You_On.rar

A great live recording in a more original stance, mixing the music of Jackie Leven and the writing of author Ian Rankin...
Jackie Leven - Jackie Leven Said...
http://rapidshare.com/files/102854323/Jackie_Leven_Said_.._.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102863683/Jackie_Leven_Said.rar

Lastly, to return to where we started, to the four yourshiremen lamenting the hardship of days gone by...
Monty Python - Four Yorkhiremen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

Enjoy til next time

Hooli