Friday is Just Plain Frazzled
So, a holiday coming up (an actual one this time – no computer, no work, no nothing) and so many things to get done. I reeled them off in the van this morning when I was driving Mrs. Toad to work and she asked me if there were actually enough hours in the day to get everything done, and I had to answer in the negative. Not even if I didn’t actually sleep at all. So now it’s just a case of choosing what to neglect, which for an obsessive like me is not a comfortable decision to have to make.
So, if anyone has ever wanted to write anything for these pages, this week would be a splendid time to get in touch. Dylan can be reached at sunday@songbytoad.com – just email a post through as he has kindly offered to generally administer the site in my absence. It can be anything, from a gig review to a band recommendation, to a rant about something, to just a general ramble about something in your musical past – anything really.
Anyhow, after an enforced absence of several weeks due to holidays, Haarfests and suchlike, it is time to get back to the Wark of a Friday evening. Mrs. Toad and I haven’t been there for bloody ages, and we are both starting to get twitchy with withdrawal symptoms.
Oh, and of course, the Festival is nearly over, so if you want to take one last chance to catch some things then this is the last week you’ll have the chance. Lach’s Antihoot finishes this weekend, and they are getting in sort of a greatest hits lineup to mark the finale. And of course, the Retreat Festival is this weekend at Pilrig St. Paul’s Church in Leith. If you like music and you don’t go, you are an idiot, it is as simple as that.
So all that remains is for me to ask you to delurkify and chip in your answers to five stupid Friday questions, and then piddle away the rest of your day bickering with people because, let’s face it, you were never really going to do any work on Friday afternoon were you? Honestly? Nah, of course not.
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
3. Tune for the afternoon.
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Five bands from the Retreat Festival sampler, which can be downloaded here for free:
Enfant Bastard – Twix Party
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The Wee Rogue – I Cross My Heart
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1. Laundry, almost certainly. It looks like that massive talking rubbish heap out of Fraggle Rock at the moment.
2. Wark tea tonight.
3. Eels – That’s Not Her Way.
4. Sorting out my mailing lists for label PR. BOOOOOOO-ring!
5. eagleowl? Boom-tish!
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
Cooking, and therefore cleaning the kitchen. Yay for takeaways!
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
Retreat! Festival – yay!
Also, I’ve just started watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica, so that should provide a great deal of non-music-related fun.
3. Tune for the afternoon.
Withered Hand – Love In The Time Of Ecstasy.
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Food shopping.
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Dancing like a knob at previously mentioned festival.
1. The washing up. Can’t risk ruining the nice sturdy callouses on my fingers before the show on Saturday. Or inadvertently losing a digit on a bloody big carving knife hiding at the bottom of the basin for that matter.
2. Sunday dinner.
3. Everything in our set list probably. Twice.
4. Defrosting the freezer.
5. Post show excess- aka my own body-weight in red wine.
1. Sleeping
2. Forget Retreat and Broken Records, I’m looking forward to having a beer with Chutters.
3. Silver Columns – Way Out
4. Dunno
5. Eagleowl’s promised full-length 7½-hour version of No Conjunction
1. Cleaning the grouting between the shower tiles.
2. Arrested Development Series 2
3. Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Alternate Title
4. I have no fucking clue. Waiting until my boss starts shouting at me.
5. Friend’s 21st.
Oh, I didn’t read anyone else’s answers first. Tits.
1. Actually, I’ve spent most of the week avoiding chores, so I’ll be avoiding the chore of having to find clean clothes by washing some…
2. Whichever bits of Retreat! I make it to.
3. Hatari by tUnE-yArDs
4. Working out if coat colour and horn type have any effect on natural selection on parasite burden in wild Soay sheep. Really.
5. Match of the Day
1. Bathing.
2. Not bathing, and then wallowing in my own musk marinade.
3. The Owl and the Tanager by Sufjan Stevens.
4. Have that itching attended to.
5. Watching hour after hour of the Little League World Series on ESPN.
There’s lots of good answers so far. Matthew’s answer to 2 and AnotherDave’s 3 deserve a special mention, but Ian’s 5 is in the lead at the moment!
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
Cleaning up my spare room. I literally can’t get in there at the moment.
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
Am working, booooooo! Have Monday off though.
3. Tune for the afternoon.
It’s evening here, and the headphones are currently cranking ‘All These Things’ by Darren Hanlon. Is quite addictive.
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Am trying to write a blog post, but you distracted me.
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Completing my really boring Friday Five. Which just proves what a yawn my weekend will be.
Anyone else starting to think Dylan is a frustrated game show host?
Nice to see you, AnotherDave. To see you…
Adamski’s Tune Yards (no, I refuse) also a good answer. Particularly for a sunny Friday afternoon.
Dylan and my answers to 5 would have been much funnier if the other hadn’t given more or less the same one.
Or at least, an afternoon which was sunny until the precise moment I hit publish on that last comment. Mother Nature is oh so very sensitive to being taken for granted isn’t she.
No, if you check, you’ll see that; while our two answers to number five are on the same subject, mine is the funny one.
Too many notes, my dear Mozart, too many notes.
Nice to see you, AnotherDave. To see you…
That’s a Tank Girl reference, right?
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
Work. Decided to chillax for once.
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
9 mile run on Sunday. Well, either that or Tommy Tiernan at Teviot on Sunday night.
3. Tune for the afternoon.
Cattle and Cane by the Go-Betweens.
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Thinking about having a goddamn sandwich.
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Angry Birds.
Martin, you’re a poet. Chillax?
Yeah, chillax. Get with the now, daddio.
Apparently it’s a combination of “chilling out” and taking a laxative. So you get the chance to sit back and unwind while thoroughly evacuating your bowels.
1. I actually have nothing to do this weekend except go to gigs, making it the best of all possible weekends.
2. The exact moment when Retreat! is finished. God, it’s going to be such a boring weekend. Yawn.
3. Tiger Phone Card by Dengue Fever
4. Nothing! Although Shonagh’s talking to her sewing machine, which is creeping me out a bit, so I might go for a walk.
5. Possibly working for Fee at the KW – if Mr.& Mrs. Toad come in. How many gins? How many bottles of Pinot Noir? The excitement is palpable!
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
All of them! Going away fo the weekend
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
Drinks with my brother (haven’t seen him for ages)
3. Tune for the afternoon.
Coward of Treason Cove – Captain Sensible
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Saving the world via Excel
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Playing the ‘My bands more obscure than yours’ game with my brother and getting lubricated on Mansfield Mild in the pub
1. Cut the grass…….come on rain!!!
2. Saturday at Retreat with me mates.
3. Caitlin Rose – For the Rabbits.
4. Writing aid memoirs for my boring job.
5. Vegging on the couch on Sunday watching footie and a wee hair of the dog….or two.
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
I would say cleaning the flat but I have just received a surprise call from my mother informing me that she, my dad and my grandma are in the car ON THEIR WAY HERE I suppose that’s out of the question.
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
We can’t afford Retreat this weekend *sob* so I think we will console ourselves with cider in the sunshine and then some chilli. With lots of grated cheese. Mmmmm.
3. Tune for the afternoon.
Robin S – Show Me Love (only the original 1993 mix, mind!)
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Cleaning for the imminent family arrival, making the most of the weather, paying my bills… the list goes on.
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Watching entire boxsets of C.S.I and going to to Portobello beach to watch people busk along the promenade
1. Generally tidying the house. It’s a bit of a tip at the moment after lounge renovations, but y’know Bank Holiday weekend an’ aw’ that
2. No plans other than a big family birthday barbeque on Sunday. Despite obvious appearances, this could be good and I aim to eat my body weight in charred meat.
3. From the Mouth of Gabriel by Sufjan Stevens. Or the entire Voice of the Seven Thunders album (it all sort of runs together)
4. Writing a hideously overdue review for Bearded Magazine
5. Probably watching some of the Reading Festival on BBC3, looking for good music amongst the shit and seeing just how mud-covered some of the crowd are
Hello Tim, long time no see!
hahaha Reading Festival. I completely forgot about that. Apparently parts of it are underwater.
1. all of them, I will be doing nothing useful this weekend
2. hopefully becoming a dad, either that or watching crap tv and waiting
3. RM Hubbert – For Maria
4. Nothing, I’m on my lunch hour, that’s what lunch hours are for (that and eating sarnies)
5. Hopefully something baby related, or perhaps just watching crap tv
Ella – best place for it.
Peenko – Well if you’re doing fuck all you can pen me a nice, glowing Tapeheads review then, can’t you
I saw RM Hubbert for the first time at Haarfest, and really enjoyed his set.
hahaha Reading Festival
My thoughts exactly.
1. Chore you will avoid doing this weekend.
Hoovering most likely. Or cleaning the bathroom.
2. Biggest treat in store for the weekend.
Saturday afternoon in the pub catching up with people I haven’t seen in a while
3. Tune for the afternoon.
Hmmmm, Loch Awe – How it Began, has been in my head all morning
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet?
Accounts, feeding myself, lots and lots of other stuff…
5. Bit of really mindless entertainment you will enjoy most this weekend.
Aforementioned trip to the pub, aren’t Man Utd on the TV?!
At least if Reading is that wet, it might stop those irritating cunts who always set fire to the toilets on the last night. Doubt it though.
Don’t worry, I stopped going to Reading yeeeears ago. Watching Marilyn Manson onstage with Eminem was a personal low point. *cringe*
Phil – indeed, half five tomorrow against West Ham.
erm I don’t do reviews…. good to see you’ve been paying attention….
make sure you give Hubby’s album a listen, it’s pretty… pretty good
You talk pish about music on the internet – same damn thing.
You lot are always having a bank holiday.
You lot are always having a bank holiday.
Yeah, and we have to put up with things like winter, rain, Premier League soccer and Tories. Which you lot don’t.
Hey – we’ve had the coldest, wettest winter here in over a decade! We’re having to wear a jumper every day and I even had to buy a coat last month!
1. I’d love to avoid stripping and painting my sash windows this weekend, but it has been put off for most of the summer, and now it’s really starting to rain.
2. See above.
3. “Dirty Work” Steely Dan
4. Pulling slides together for a client meeting in Germany on Monday.
5. Either watching more episodes NewsRadio or finally getting the chance to play Red Dead Redemption.
I’d love to avoid stripping and painting my sash windows this weekend
You could always wear a set of overalls instead.
Oops – forgot..
“Ba-dam! Tsshh…“
My timing’s nearly as bad as the Arcade Fire’s!
And disappoint the neighbours? Never.
1. The dreaded literature review for my dissertation, bleh.
2. My weekend will be work, gig, sleep, repeat, so unless I build a fort from the mattresses at Pollock it’ll be Retreat!
3. Maybeshewill – Co-conspirators
4. Tidying the clothes and instruments off my bed, otherwise my girlfriend’s replacement for the weekend will have nowhere to sleep.
5. If there’s time then Madden 11′s off-season mode, it’s not exactly mindless, but it is very geeky and ultimately pointless.
Poko, I make that joke every time Mrs. Toad goes away on business, and the venomous old harridan never sees the funny side of it.
Humourless old bag.
1. Mowing the lawn
2. Sleeping in. (Saturday, not Sunday. Have to come back in to work Sunday)
3. The Get Up Kids – Ten Minutes
4. Science!
5. Catching up on Futurama. Such a funny show.
From James!’s website:
Q: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?
A: You guys wanna go ride bikes?
Brilliant!
I like the !
It makes him seem more exciting.
Punctuational camouflage, my friend. Punctuational camouflage.
3. “Dirty Work” Steely Dan
TUNE.
I’m a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah…
1. Figuring out the rest of my life.
2. Street meat at the street fair.
3. Jonathan Richman – The Beach
4. Finishing a paper that if I do not finish by Monday I will get an F in the course. Almost done.
5. Watching the new undergrads that have just descended on the city act like complete morons.
“Figuring out the rest of my life.”
That should only take until this evening’s fifth pint or so.
1. The washing. Washing now involves walking twenty minutes with a humungous black bad on my back, paying a fortune to wash everything at “warm,” then trudging all the way back again with a very warm back post dryer. It’s a nightmare, and thus to be avoided at all costs.
2. A trip to the US military academy. I kid you not.
3. Stupid Black Mirror by the stupid Arcade Fire is stuck in my head. I wish I still had Spotify. Stupid only accepting stupid European bank cards.
4. Nothing, I have a quiet spot mid centrifuge.
5. Being called Ma’am by kids at the aforementioned military academy.
1.Packing boxes… as the move is on Tuesday that’s unavoidable.
2. I am going to a movie, probably that I Am Love one.
3. Movement by Dam Mantle
4. What should you be doing at the moment instead of fannying about on the internet? Packing. It’s what I’ve been avoiding for the most part.
5. coffee coffee coffee
I think we should all call Becky Ma’am when she stops in from now on
1. The dishes. I doubt I’ll be in long enough to do them.
2. Going to see my family on Sunday (and possibility of a new bike)
3. Bruce Springsteen – Blinded by the light
4. Making the tea and doing the dishes.
5. drinking (and dancing) at a wedding reception on Saturday night
1. I have no chores to do this weekend. Have left them all at home with the significant other while I go stand in a midge infested field looking at rocks.
2. According to my field guide, being able to look at the entire geological history of NW Scotland within a few small metres. I have to disagree….
3. Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell. I swear to god I heard that song 5 times on the radio on the 7 hour journey here. What station did they have on?!?!?!
4. Probably engaging in drinking games with my intellectual peers
5. Winding up everyone on this trip about how hard next year is going to be for them….seeing as I have already done all their courses
1. All of them. I’m on holiday.
2. Beach day with a book.
3. Fillet of Bozo – Inspector Tapehead
4. I’m about to go to dinner to go to dinner.
5. The potholer54 channel on youtube.
1. Really tidying the flat
2. Broken Records and Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Rooms. Yay!
3. Kinks – Sunny Afternoon (we can but hope)
4. Driving Mrs. 17 Seconds to work.
5. Kylie’s ‘For All the Lovers’ song on repeat. the rest of the album is not much cop, but I borrowed it from work so… ; ))
Ben – good company lad! The Toad Session version or the album version?
Ben, just getting to the end of the first video. ‘Have you figured out what’s in the box yet?’
The album version. I can’t listen to stuff I worked on. Can’t be done.
Potholer is a bit hilarious. His video on the hacked e-mails is maybe the most damning thing I’ve ever heard. Honest, calm and totally scathing.
Pikey – Inchnadamph by any chance?
Gary – Why yes indeed! Have you also had to endure this trip?