feetnotes

courtesy of the independent (the heinzes newspaper):

http://www.wychwoodfestival.co.uk/independent/

- of possible interest to eclectic electric folk (and rockers) as have reasonably good download speeds...

nirvana - the real nirvana -'s "tiny goddess" was more than just a turntable hit - a single that was chosen as a favourite by a dj or three and it gained popularity with at least a part of their audience, but didn't quite make it to the top of the charts; in "tiny goddess"es case, it was chosen as one of the last discs of the week on radio london by john peel (if i remember correctly, johnnie walker also played it most enthusiastically), and i think made it into their top thirty: but it was not picked up by auntie beeb's new radio one, and without continuing airplay slipped slowly away into undeserved obscurity.

if they are remembered today, it's primarily for their charting second and third singles, "pentecost hotel" and "rainbow chaser" (which was probably the most effective over-enthusiastic use of the new technique of phasing ever *g* - but not really typical of the group). the more beautiful "all of us" was - like "tiny goddess" - perhaps too understated, too restrained, and too musical, to appeal to radio one's controllers, who'd signalled precisely the style of empty-headed commercial pop music they were building their station around, with the single they chose to launch with.

nirvana's two lps for island were not commercially successful, and chris blackwell dropped them (their third album eventually surfaced on pye [pye international, iirc, for some reason] with a less than entirely complimentary reference to him...); "the story of simon simopath" was not helped greatly by its amateurish (though striking) cover art, and that for their second was monochromatically subdued; and after a brief period of availability as deletions, they became quite pricey "collectors' items"; but they have been transferred to cd: imcd 301/980001-0 (both the stereo and the mono mixes, which differ significantly, plus single b-sides and a previously unreleased track) for "the story of simon simopath", and imcd302/980001-1 (plus a late single a-side and b-sides) for "all of us".

so; two albums well worth investigating if you don't already know them, and at an affordable price, now they're remastered to cd; not all the tracks are brilliant (nor are they all baroque pop; "requiem for john coltrane" was quite a surprise, when i played that single b-side forty-odd years ago *g*), but there was no-one else quite like them, and their best was superb.

the beeb's radio news round-up/headlines've been darkly foreboding, regarding the state of the "thatcher", or pound coin (sterling): apparently, coin-testers sampling the intake of vending-machines have reported that one coin in twenty is a dud, fake or forgery.
the beeb's take on this is that one in twenty pound coins in circulation may be forgeries.

but half a mo', auntie beeb - is this quite the right way to spin this particular golden thread?

should you be so unfortunate as to notice a dud pound coin in your change [a] too late to refuse it, what can you do with it?

legally, you are required to surrender forged notes and coins to the bank of england (normally via your own, or another, bank or post office); the bank's receptionist or teller should thank you for your public-spiritedness, though this is optional, and accept your private-enterprise thatcher.
which leaves you out of pocket or purse one pound - or more, depending.

alternatively, though not legally, you may attempt to pass it on in turn, by spending it. however, should they discover your malfeasance, your victims and, for some reason, hmq lizzie II, her ministers and officials, including the police also take a dim view of this, and it was historically an offence - one which sir isaac newton found to be of great gravity - and subject to the death penalty.

not only might feeding slot-machines and one-armed bandits with them seem somewhat safer, therefore, and less liable to immediate execution of sentence, but it's also potentially quite lucrative, if that which is obtained from the may be sold on for significantly more than the cost of the forgeries..



the more likely correct interpretation of the statistic is surely

"at least 95% of all pound coins in circulation genuine"



[a] - they're generally made of lead, which doesn't take so sharp an image, so they tend to be a bit "blurry" in detail; and the brassy colour is but a very thin skin: so a scratch will reveal the initially grey-silvery base metal below (though this oxidises to the duller grey of litharge)

the registered bee population of the uk has fallen between 10 and 15%
no-one appears to know how serious this is, or even whether it is.*

but i can't help wondering how a bee registers...



* - see news story on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7951009.stm

jackie lee, who had two uk hits singing under the byline of "jacky" [a], and a very near miss/minor hit (it made the radio london fab forty in '67) as "emma rede" [b], narrowly failed to chart at the end of the year before that under her own name with "the town i live in", which could be the only other released single - and perhaps the only other song of any note [d] -

to have included the word, "etcetera" in its lyrics.

[a] - "white horses" and "rupert (rupert the bear)"
[b] - "just like a man"
[c] - columbia DB8052 11/66
[d] - sorry

sub-section X-ET

seeing ST took such great pains to turn 'em into their galaxy's cartoon cut-out jews, how come there's never been

The Ferenghi Merchant of Venice

well, not quite yet, i know; but obama's inauguration has already broken one record, despite not actually having commenced, let alone been acomplished; for the preparations for it apparently include:

the longest line of portaloos ever assembled in the us of a