SNOW JOB

my seeds
let fireseed lay a little allegory on you
after weeks of unseasonably mild weather
seoul hit by cold biting winds
and a sudden blizzard
h n j n i
wrap up nice n warm
and go over the road to h's kindergarten
where the snow has stuck to the decking
and build a little snowman
a painstaking team effort
a lovely little fella
well sculpted
with buttons down his tummy
an hour or two l8er
fireseed pops out again to buy some holemeal
and guess what?
some destructive little sod
has only gone n smashed our little fella to pieces...
near the breadshop
i come across a shop i aint seen before
'beatles optical'
a beatle-themed optician's
with a big pic of the abbey road record sleeve
up on the wall
and one of the anthology episodes
showing on a plasma screen in the window
the fab four returning to liddypool
in grainy black n white
being greeted by the mayor and thousands of hysterical teenagers
paul lovin' every minute of it
john lookin' mighty sheepish
almost enticed me in for an eye test...
one day back in december 1980
my dad comes into my bedroom
early in the morning
tugs my leg
and says 'john lennon's been shot!'
didn't mean much to me at the time
think i just rolled over and went back to sleep
but in the days n weeks following john's demise
twas nothing on tv but beatles, beadles, beetles
all the footage
the songs
the films
that christmas i got 'beatles 1962-66'
the red album
and couldnt stop playin' it
at first the early ones stood out
the 'i feel fine's and the 'she loves ya's
it took me a bit longer to dig the more mature stuff
on sides 3 n 4
the whole thing was a revelation
a revolution in the head, no less...
before that it had been TOTP
queen 'don't stop me now'
police 'message in a bottle'
john revolver and olivia neutron-bomb
n the hits from grease
i remember being furious
when my little bro
trod on and broke my 'sandy' single
but the beetle boys were something else
got me into playing geetar
the whole songwriting thing
for a while i even formed this comical band
among the local kids
called 'the destroyers'
a few of us strumming classical geetars
and banging on saucepans n biscuit tins...
a few years and about twelve beatle albums later
discovered the byrds
in some encyclopedia of rock in the local library
'america's answer to the beatles'
well, not really
although of course everybody was influenced by the moptops
'fifth dimension'
and that whole gorgeous psychedelic folk vibe
still love that chiming stream-of-notes guitar sound
vying for tops with 'revolver's saturated guitar sound
the three-part harmonies of course
and the songs themselves
the crosby-clark-mcguinn ones
rather than the dylan covers...
by 1986
twas about time
i got into something contemporary
my rem phase
in particular the peerless 'murmur'
u2 'under a blood red sky' and 'joshua tree'
great at the time but where are they now?
more enduringly, the church
an obscure aussie band
by an amazing stroke of luck
firseed just happens to pick up a free music mag
by the name of brum beat
at the midlands arts centre
and sees a review of 'heyday'
buys 'the blurred crusade'
'starfish'
three gems
borrowing a little of that classic 60's vibe...
so there ya have it
whether ya wanted it or not
a whirlwind tour
of ripeseed's most enduring musical influences...
changing el subjecto completely
(secaturs flying over the hedge)
something exciting coming up next week, seeds
ripcord off to bangkok for a phew days
(is it gonna make a hard man humble?
or a marred ham mumble?)
sixteen years since ya fave blogger last explored the thai kingdom
heady days
a bit of tropical heat will certainly not go amiss
despite misgivings over the C02 emissions
courtesy of thai airlines n saudi crude
so watch this space for the thaiseed blog...
enough seeds, cords, chords and whatnots for today
see ya again soon on...
the fart of living
over n out
direfees
xxxxxx