Head Space Daily Words...

There is some crazy ass cotton fluff floating around outside at the moment, loads of it in fact. It's like some kind of summer snow fall and it has been going on for a few days now. My hayfever has gone ballistic today. What are these cotton like floaters and where are they coming from?

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The raffle stand from today's school fete...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Thundercat - Heartbreaks + Setbacks

This is the most accessible track on Apocalypse, the new album by Thundercat, which could well become something of an electro-soul-jazz-funk classic. Seriously, it is well worth having a listen...

Head Space Daily Words...

I was taking a look at some of the pictures from my eldest son's recent school trip to Spain and on a couple of photos there he was, surrounded by his mates, sticking up his thumb. He was the only one doing it, so it's obviously not something that they all do and for this I take full responsibility, as Brummies love to stick their thumbs up. There are many photographs from my childhood of me stood there, wildly grinning, with my thumb or thumbs raised, as an affirmation of enjoyment. I strongly believe this is a Birmingham thing. Several of my old mates from back home are known to frequently partake in the thumbs up acknowledgement. I feel it almost verges on the masonic - a kind of regional identifier. A few years back on that BBC drama, Ashes to Ashes, Matthew Mcfadyen played a character who was from Birmingham and it was really well observed both in the accent and the mannerisms, in particular sticking his thumb up. So, there we have conclusive proof that Brummies love to stick their thumbs up...

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A proper old school doorman outside the arts club on Dover Street...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - The Opposite Of Afternoon

I bought the latest Unknown Mortal Orchestra album the other day and what a top piece of work it is too. Strongly recommended...

Head Space Daily Words...

Today was sports day at my boys’ school. I had my eldest son’s in the morning and my youngest son’s in the afternoon. Plenty of running, jumping, throwing and egg and spooning took place. A local Lewisham organisation runs these events and they always have music playing over a sound system. DJ Pied Piper ‘Do You really Like It’ stood out for it’s dreadful, yet contagious naffness - “I’m lovin’ it lovin’ it lovin’ it, I’m lovin’ it like that” - a couple of fantastic tracks from Laura Mvula’s album were played and another that stood out was the lovers rock track featured in today’s Head Space Daily Tune. The only memory I have from one of my own sports days is doing the wheelbarrow race with a friend in first school. I was the leg holder and he was the barrow, scampering along on his hands. He was a small lad and we had a technique, which involved me holding his legs fairly high up, above his knees. This must have enabled us to move more quickly. Anyway, throughout the race, my friend’s tracksuit bottoms gradually slipped down until by the end they were literally around his ankles, with his polyester BHS y-fronts being displayed in all their glory. Happy days…

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An array of water bottles lies trackside at my boys' school sports day...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Janet Kay & Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You...

The company who arrange the sports days at our boys school, always put on a sound system and this track sounded sweet in the midday sunshine. Janet Kay is listed in 100 Great Black Britons and is huge in Japan. Well I never...

Head Space Daily Words...

I went to the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V&A today. His body of work and ability to constantly reinvent himself is beyond belief. I liked the fact that he spent the first few years of his life living on Stansfield Road in Brixton, which is just round the corner from where we bought our first flat many years ago - that must make us almost related!! The exhibition itself was way too busy and the wifi audio accompaniment kept dropping in and out and shutting off completely after a relatively early stage of the tour. Having said that though it was a really comprehensive, interesting show. I have only started to truly discover Bowie over these past few years. The bulk of his most impressive work had been released by the time I was seven years old, so I can hardly claim to have been there. As you collect his albums and find out about his work, you become aware of how good and how influential it is and realise the guy took risks constantly and had total and utter conviction in what he was doing. Nothing scared him. When the more conservative section of society is bewildered by and pouring scorn on this androgynous, ginger freak, whilst da youth are completely getting it, you know that something important and culture shifting is going on. I've done most of his early albums. I think Low and the Berlin trilogy is next on the list to be explored...

Head Space Daily Image...

This is a photo I took from a publicity poster at the V&A's David Bowie Is exhibition. Apparently Bowie's left pupil became permanently dilated after getting into a fight at school at the age of fourteen...

Head Space Daily Tune...

David Bowie - Starman on Top Of The Pops

This Bowie performance of Starman on Top of The Pops from 1972 is shown at the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V&A and I think it is pretty amazing. There was a miners strike in the UK in 1972, things weren't great, then you have this amazing creative character breakthrough with this blow your mind track. What you need in hard times is a creative genius to put things into perspective...

Head Space Daily Words...

My eldest son came back from his Spain adventure yesterday. He had a blinding time. Today he went for a meeting at his new school. He is growing up FAST...

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The solitary life of a billboard man...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Luther Vandross - Never Too Much

This track was sung by someone on The Voice tonight and what a tune it is. Luther was THE 80s soul man. Stop To Love will appear on this page one day...

Head Space Daily Words...

I went swimming yesterday, to work my muscular physique and to release a few endorphins, to break the pattern of relentless work search. There was a guy in my lane with a large tattoo on his chest but it was not obvious what it was depicting. It was just a black outline of what could have been the sun, a flower, or something else, entirely different. It appeared to be unfinished and missing colour and definition. Perhaps it was a work in progress. Who knows, but whatever it was, it looked awful. Surely if you want to show off your tats, you want people to know what they are looking at, because having to stare for too long becomes a bit weird. The viewer needs instant recognition. The male chest is also a strange part of the anatomy for a tattoo. I know if I had one on mine, it would be like looking though a brillo pad - and shaving my pecs is not an option. Seeing this tattoo reminded me of a guy I went to school with, who had a symbol representing the rave group, The Shamen tattooed on one of his arms. He didn’t have the money to add any colour to it and to say the least; it looked a bit odd and was certainly of that time. I think if you are gong to have the symbol of a band tattooed on to your person, it needs to be well established as being cool, or meaning something, such as the Rolling Stones tongue, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica sunburst, a Stone Roses Lemon could apply now, or if you want to be arty, how about Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the Clash's London Calling cover? At the time though, you wouldn’t know whether there will be a lasting legacy of musical culture behind the records and the art work, which is why it is a risk getting all tatted up in something that could end up looking a touch ridiculous.  Having said that, I really hope my mate still has his Shamen tattoo…

Head Space Daily Image...

I'm not a huge fan of cats but there is something about this little fella who lives over the road from us. It's probably the way he just brazenly dashes into our house for a quick shufty or decides he's going to spend some time in our car. Feline anarchy...

Head Space Daily Tune...

David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things

It was a Hunky Dory day yesterday...

Head Space Daily Words...

This morning I was rescuing our magnolia tree from snails – the little buggers have decimated the poor thing – when the doorbell rang. It was a guy who delivers packages. Not from UPS or Parcelforce or anywhere flash – just a regular geezer who turns up with an electronic gadget for me to sign. We always have a little chat about the weather, as you do, before he gets on his way.  The number of visits I am saving our neighbours to the collection depot is racking up. No sooner had I resumed my snail collecting, than the doorbell rang again. This time, two girls in their late teens or early twenties, were smiling up at me, one slightly cowering behind the other and before I could say anything, the girl standing in front, brazenly launched into a speech – “Hello, we are Jehovah’s Witnesses and the reason we go door to door is to offer free bible classes in your home. Would you be interested?” I instantly replied “No,” to which she responded with “OK then, bye,” and I closed the door and returned to my snails. They could be doing so much more with their lives. Following a religion is fine but on such a lovely sunny day, surely you can give yourself some time off from ‘spreading the word.’ In total I extracted seventeen snails from the magnolia tree, which now looks like it has been machine gunned, judging by the number of holes in the leaves. It made me think back to a family holiday we had in a teepee in Cornwall several years ago. It was the usual, first week of August deluge and inside the tent, we were confronted by over twenty slugs sticking to the wall of the teepee, which looked deceptively bigger on the company’s website but in reality was minute. We swore to never have our summer holiday in Britain again. My musical interlude today came from a Cut Chemist mix tape, as I travelled from South East London to North West London, taking me on a journey from West Africa to North Africa. Excellent stuff. A job application was e-mailed and my youngest son’s tennis lesson attended. Oh yes, next season’s football fixtures were released today as well and to think it all started with the intensive removal of snails from a magnolia tree…

Head Space Daily Image...

I found these mean looking dudes in a clothes shop on Lee High Road last week. Don't mess...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Charles Johnson - Never Had A Love So Good

Tracks like this are worth their weight in gold. A modern soul beauty from Charles Johnson...

Head Space Daily Words...

Saturday was a day to remember. After waving off our eldest son on his school trip to Spain, the coach pulling away with two dozen smiling kids waving furiously at the windows, we went to the christening party of the son of one of our long time friends. It was a real blast from the past. We lived on the same street as our friend in the early 2000s and would often go to gatherings and parties at her house.  A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since then. Our kids are growing up fast and her eldest kids are both around twenty years old. Her eldest son plays in a band called Sharks Don’t Swim and they played an acoustic set in the back garden, which was terrific – Soundcloud playlist link attached below. It was a pleasure also to see her sister and brother in law, a proper old soulie, who is an absolute character. His father was the boxer Terry Spinks and he and his mum have many a tale to tell about the life he led. It is like an East End Raging Bull - a tragic tale of the joy of success and of dreams dashed on the rocks of despair - with involvement from the Krays, a descent into alcoholism and an acute lack of guidance that wouldn’t happen in today’s culture of celebrity. The day was rounded off with dancing to classic soul tunes in the front room.  A classic party, soon to be repeated, I hope…

Sharks Don't Swim Soundcloud Playlist...

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Our friend's son's band - Sharks Don't Swim - performing in our friend's back garden at her youngest sons's christening party. How about that sentence for the use of apostrophe 's'...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - The Love I Lost

I am an absolute sucker for this tune. Love it. My favourite track played at our friend's party. Sing it Harold...

Head Space Daily Words...

My eldest son is off to Spain tomorrow. It all starts with a twenty four hour coach journey, where a room with his mates in a seaside hotel awaits. Then a trip to Barcelona with lunch in Parc Guell, a visit to Girona, a morning spent in a wine factory and an afternoon at a water park lie in store. How fantastic. It made me think of my first trip abroad on my own with school, when we went to a French town in Normandy. We saw the landing craft on the beach at Arromanches, if my memory serves me right. We went to Mont St Michel and we also visited the Bayeux Tapestry. It was a real right of passage. I think my son is going to have the time of his life...

Head Space Daily Image...

We used to have fairly nice street lights, with bent, curly heads and some relatively ornate features - for a lamp post anyway. They have now all been systematically replaced by the black sinister all seeing lamp posts, which never go out, that you see in this picture...

Head Space Daily Tune...

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Get Better

The New Fads had a great sound but sadly disappeared without trace all too soon. I saw them supporting The Wonderstuff at Bescott Stadium in 1991. Top day out in Walsall...

Head Space Daily Words...

Today’s words are again football related but if football is not your thing, the actually story is positive and uplifting, so read on. Recently, my eldest son’s homework was to choose a famous person that you would like to walk to school with and to write down some questions you would like to ask them. Whilst most of the boys in his class were choosing famous current footballers, his walk to school person was Peter Withe, former Aston Villa centre forward and scorer of the goal that won Aston Villa the European Cup in 1982. I follow Peter Withe on Twitter and managed to contact someone connected to him, to ask if he would be willing to answer my son’s questions. Not expecting to hear anything more of it, lo and behold, this morning I received an e-mail from the man himself answering all of the questions in full detail. An interesting response, which you would never get from footballers today, because they are picked up by clubs at a very early age and pretty much taken out of the normal social cycle, is that Peter Withe spent five years training to become an electrician on the docks in Liverpool, before he became a professional football player. He is fully appreciative of the fact he was a footballer and he rounded it off with a positive message for my son, by basically telling him that he will get out of life what he puts in. Not many people would have taken the time and effort to reply to an eleven year olds questions, so massive respect to Peter Withe – you will always be a legend in our household sir…