If it was up to me I'd spend several days a month in another country, as these trips always provide some much needed fresh input into a mind that, at times can get seriously bogged down by the ongoing day-to-day grind, and spendin' the past couple o' days in Glasgow was a good reminder that I need to do this kind o' thing much more often.
As opposed to Edinburgh, Glasgow is hardly a tourist attraction, more the kind o' city where people actually live and work. Visually it's as diverse as can be, you really have to adjust to the fact that within' one block on just about every street, one can encounter at least a dozen completely opposite types of architecture that hardly ever compliment each other. But if you keep an eye out there's a lot to enjoy. Didn't really have the time to visit the various musea, but the Glasgow Museum Of Modern Art (GOMA) had a small but well rounded collection that is well worth a visit. We spend Saturday afternoon in the company of Avy and Lindsay, who showed us around the Barras flea-market and the wonderful West-End. Despite Lindsay's misgivings about the state of recordshops in Glasgow, it actually had just the type o' shops I was lookin' for. No fancy collector-scum kind o' deals, just old-fashioned 2nd hand shops with prices way below London/other Major City levels. L viewed all that was on offer as rubbish, but how I whish people were sellin' that kind o' rubbish over here in Holland!
Our stay ended with a nice meal at a place called 'The Piping Centre', in the company of our hosts, where I was able to fulfill my long standing desire to taste Haggis. Being semi-vegetarian, I always make an exception for these regional dishes that people warn you about. As it was, it tasted just fine and hardly resembled the road-kill pigeon I was told it would...
There's at least a dozen city's goin' through my head right now that I wanna go to next, but as it is I'll have to take on an extra paper-route before I can even start thinkin' about another trip.
Muchos gracias to Avy and Lindsay for takin' the time to show us around, we owe you one...

Handsome Dick Manitoba has moved from his weekend slot in the Underground Garage to a FULL-TIME one! ..... He can now be heard, EVERY WEEKDAY, Monday through Friday, at 8 pm (8pm to 12 midnight) Eastern time ..... that would be 5pm to 9pm on the left coast! Sirius Satellite Radio/Channel 25/The Underground Garage. Joan Jett moves into a weekend slot.

Where have all the fanzines gone?...

Perspective is a great leveller and while it's not always possible to maintain such a dimension then it's important to try and regain some kind of equilibrium. My lambasting of my pathetic day to day chops being affected by the megalomania of relative nonentities is getting to be a pretty easy target. The world doesn't owe me a living but it's kind of a pisser when my fate is in the hands of people that I wouldn't trust to clean the lavvies. No disrespect to lavvie cleaners intended.

I heard this week that my friend, Theresa Brilli (Wilson) was taken by cancer and to be honest, I didn't know she was ill. As bolts from the blue go - it was somewhat un-nerving. It made me consider my own situation where I can sit here and vent. I can take on what I consider to be the injustices of existence and realise that I have a lot to be (relatively) thankful for. My "struggle" pales into total and utter insignificance compared to that of Theresa's family. She was a unique character, the kind of which are all too rare.

Yesterday, we were hanging out in Glasgow with Jeroen and Alice and today Amy Allison arrived to master her record. Being able to do that is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. In my bleaker moments, when I'm waiting and/or expecting for the hammer to come on down, it would perhaps do some good to be able to take in the bigger picture. The one where (maybe) all the apples didn't fall on me (after all). I think I ought to at least try to do that.

'bye T. I hope you're doin' alright in that next instalment.

FV Music continues to provide great music to the good people of Ljubljana in the form of the three noisenik combo from Columbus, Ohio GRAFTON, this coming Wednesday (30th).