DJ Doogs on tha wheels of steel...

Yas! Finally got ma radio show up and running again! Get yer ears roond this:

http://www.livims.co.uk

Click the bit in the top left that says 'LiviMS radio player' and get an earfull of the best underground choons in sweet Livingstonia the noo.

Swiftly now my little ones - the next one will be up in a jiffy...

Dogs, big and wee...

Mone the Dogs! They're noble wee beasties with dignity and heaps of personality. I'm costantly impressed with these hairy wee characters and think that we can learn allot from them about a bunch of stuff like unconditional love. They can be scunners as well likes, but generally I think they rock.

One of my favourate stories is about an Embra squatter called Allan Shopping-Trolley and his qudrapedal companion, 'Chaos'. Imagine our dreadlocked protagonist sauntering down Princess Street yelling "Chaos! Chaaa-oooooss! Come by lad" like a sheep trials entrant.

However, I dont really understand this strange belief that big dugs are in some way 'hard'. A meaty beast on the end of a leash is seen in some circles as a statement of manlyness for some reason. But for my part, I favour the wee yappy yins. Chihuahuas (sp?) the most. Why? Nobody suspects the pansy dogs!

Allow me to explain: if you see two Rotty's or Alsatians bounding down the street you'r like, "uh-oh... better keep ma witts about me here". No one fears a hound nicely sized for treading on. Wee ankle bothering dafties hold no terror for mortal man. At least not on their own.

But I recon that weight for weigh you could get you could get 40 or 50 wee dugs fer two healthy big wans. Imagine that! A veritable sea of nippy wee furballs! Like urban pirhanas, stripping an adult human to the bone in 20 seconds or less! An army of pedigree chum chomping locusts turning urban landscapes to deserts. Civilisation overwhelmed by feline freaking flash floods.

Hang on a mo - perhaps Paris Hilton isny as daft as she looks...

Big Noise and the Jubilee...

Ive been farting about on ebay for a few days trying to buy an amp. Finally got ma hands on 150 boxed watts of sonic-terror-ray slinging equipment this morning.

Um gonnae git ma noisy freek on!

Been on ebay too long though... feels a grand bazaar of old... the meeting of the trading routes... a place to get anything in the world... a place to indulge every whim.

Seems in every empire through the ages we have equated sophistication of commerce with 'civilisation'. Just as morning napalm smells like (bidding) victory, so this reeks of Babylon.

However, I became chuffed when I read this thing about a nu-monk who was awarded $10,000 by the courts. Enjoy :)

After months of laughter and dreaming it really happened. About 40 people had all the change they could carry - over 30,000 coins in bags, coffee mugs, briefcases, backbacks. Another 50 people would be meeting us on Wall St. At 8:15 we started trickling into the public square in front of... the New York Stock Exchange. News of the redistrobution had spread, and nearly 100 folks from the alleys and projects where gathered... At 8:20 Sister Margaret and I stepped foward to proclaim the Jubilee;

"Some of us have worked on Wall Street and some of us have Slept on Wall Street... Some of us are rich people trying to escape our loneliness. Some of us are poor folk trying to escape the cold... We are broken people who need each other and God...
...Another world is possible. Another world is necessary. Another world is already here... This money belongs to... all those who have suffered most from the wreckage of the current system. May we return it with Joy, with our heads bowed in repentance, and with our hearts lifted in Jubilee."

...Ten people on balconies above the crowd threw hundred of dollars in paper money, covering the sky... The streets turned silver as [we] began pouring out their change. We decorated the place with sidewalk chalk and filled the air with bubbles. Joy was contagious. Someone bought bagels and started giving them out. People started sharing their winter clothes...

It worked... We knew it was dangerous, intentionally bringing God and Mammon face to face... and yet we are people of faith, believing that giving is more contagious than hoarding, that love can convert hatered, light can overcome darkness, and grass can pierce concrete - even on Wall St.

Lets all go to the show...

Friday nicht in Livi and Im compereing a gig.

Look like an unusual show:
Its big fer Livi - about 300 punters.
I aint seen most of the bands.
Naebody's allowed tae jump aboot (travesty!).
Its being filmed.

Then I bump intae some frinds that I aint seen fer like, two years. Yas! This is what its all about! Turns oot they're headlining (There known as DANIKA STAR. And lo... they go off like firecrackers), and where the folk responsable for me being offered this gig. We catch up, talk about their last band (Embra nu-metalers 'Shindig' - fantastic!). We faert around on camera and make some new frinds.

Singer, John pops over wi a CD the next day. Its gid. We talk about tours, rehearsals, the 'Christian' scene and sXe before he shoots off. The best bit is I know I'll catch them at a gig again, even if it takes another two years, and we'll huv mair of the same.

I love this. I love these guys. This is 'scene' at its very best.

Saint Cash vs the world...

Johnny Cash might seem an unlikely punk rock icon, but a punk rock icon he certainly is.

I watched a great documentary about him the other night on the telly (not the film - canny wait tae see it though). I've seen it before, the night before the Mysterons recorded for the first time, but it really was worth a second coming. It had his kids talking about their paw, home video footage and even included the super intense video for his NIN cover Hurt. But I think Johnny’s appeal to us Gen X-ers is deeper than his music.

We've grown up into a culture of shallow entertainment. We have seen talent being undermined by self abasement. Cynical advertising necessitates that we filter information through a mental gauntlet of questions like what do you want from me? what’s the catch? We are surrounded by such a glut of choice that we have decided to only trust feelings and maths. We have been demoted from human beings to mere consumers. In this superficial environment its natural to look for something more substantial. More satisfying. More dignified. Something that’s stood the test of time. Something with a bit of integrity. A challenge even.

Cue Mr Cash.

He wuz/is one of the greats - and I reckon all the greats are equal parts prophet and pariah. He always said exactly what he thought. Then his deadpan-baritone-delivery-system (voice), got it straight into your head. His early days made the likes of GG Allen look like columnists for amateur nihilist weekly. Then he found Jesus in a cave whilst set to self destruct on speed. He retained his dignity when he publicly fell off the holy rolercoaster. Like king David of Israel (aye - the wan wi' Goliath), he admitted he was wrong and changed his ways. And from the Mississippi past through into the age of the samplers and drum machines he remained just a bloke with a guitar - authentic. Even his dress sense seemed honest (goths aint the first punters to favour black).

Johnny Cash makes sense to allot of people who cant make sense of much else. I think he embodies the antithesis of all that is wrong with our world. This is his rebellion. This is what attracts us... and Johnny Cash was attracted by Jesus.

So I reckon Johnny is indeed an icon. But I like to think he's more like the icons of the orthodox church than the fleeting dandies in Kerrrang and the NME. A heavenly figure. A brooding angel.

A crazy ass punk rawk preacher.

Eh? What? Oh...

Hmmm.... was assessing the whole monk thing on the train to work this morning. Not to sure Im happy at the moment, likes. Broke down the whole thing as I thrapped allong the track*:

Contemplation (stopping and thinking 'actually, what am I doing?') - Im going good here... and even better since begining to write mair.

Economy of life (less is more type living) - Doing pretty well... giving up chippy's (perhaps I'll make it a lent thing) and trying to be more responsable with my stuff.

Purity (thinking right, living right) - Aye, could do better but generaly on the up. Slowly, oh so slowly, but surely, oh so surely.

Spending time with God (talking to him and reading his book) - Proper falling on my face and knackering it.

Im happy about the first three, but am again realising they're just mumbo jumbo witch doctor stuff if im not living the last one. *sigh* Looks like I've gone all Pharisee again. Time to make some changes - feel free to hassle me about how Im getting on.

* any one know any good additions to this list?