Yes, the whole family is currently here at Toad Hall, inspecting the place and making sure that we are running our relationship in a satisfactory manner.  I have had advice on everything from which chores to do in order to make Mrs. Toad happy when she gets back from God Bless America (about an hour ago) to how to order my working day now I am a gentleman of leisure.  Oh what jolly fun it’s been.

Mrs. Toad got back to a demand from a debt collection agency for the sum of forty pounds, which included the statement “this amount includes an adminisration fee of forty pounds”.  What a great business to be in!  You send people letters claiming that the very act of sending them a letter obliges them to reimburse you for sending it.  I am in the wrong fucking business.

I sat and played my folks some old Smithsonian Folkways stuff the other night actually, which was rather fun.  I played them some Sam Amidon as well, and some Alela Diane and some Jackson C. Frank and some stuff from the gorgeous FOUND Toad Session.  I am not sure that being sat down and told to listen to a series of songs I am convinced they Must Like is quite what they came here for, but hey.  If they’re going to lecture me about domestic duties, I am going to force them to listen to music all night.

And once again it is Friday, de-lurking day and King’s Wark for our tea day, so all is well with the universe.  Oh, and Mrs. Toad is home as well, which is very good news.  I do miss the bad tempered old bag when she goes away.  So please come out of hiding and answer five silly questions before wasting the rest of your Friday afternoon talking shit, when you really should be at work being productive.

1. Biggest pretence about your life you still maintain in front of your folks.
2. Most unreasonable thing you make them tolerate when they visit you.
3. Time before the novelty wears off.
4. Most preposterous debt collection conversation you’ve had.
5. Who do you write like?

Five songs from when I lived at home:

Kim Carnes – Mistaken Identity

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Culture Club – It’s a Miracle

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Alison Moyet – Love Resurrection

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Hazel O’Connor – Will You

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Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time

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I know I hammer on about guilty pleasure on this blog a lot mostly, I would imagine, because I am an incredible snob and so some of the things I used to listen to horrify me.  If you think I judge you by the shit you listen to, just think how twisted and confused that mockery must become when turned inward upon the giant Hydra of Hypocrisy which dwells inside me.

Fuck it though, I am not going on about that today, but that is the reason for the songs I have chosen, so before you start sniggering just think how hard this has been for me and try and show some compassion, you horrible people.

Recently I have been getting into a lot of software trouble with Final Cut Pro and various web streaming technologies, which is most, most frustrating.  I fixed everything by doing what you are supposed to do in these situations: head to the internet and read forums where someone, somewhere has almost certainly had the same problem in the past and see how they themselves fixed it.

I still find that kind of daunting though, I have to confess.  The idea of all the poking about in config files, which they tend to recommend, scares me just a little bit, as if deleting the wrong file would suddenly make the whole fucking computer go on fire or something.  It reminds me of my parents and their increasing disconnect with technology, actually. They simply do not have any of the instincts to fix simple things in ‘preferences’ or to go and find a file which their internet browser may have downloaded to a strange location or something like that.  I fear, in my wariness of getting too deep into config and system files, that I too may be just on the verge of letting technology escape me just a little.  Not that I was ever a computer whizz to begin with of course.

Anyhow, this site has a number of regular commenters, for whom I am deeply grateful because it gives the place an aura of authority which I myself would never achieve on my own.  However, for those of you thinking about making your first comment (and I know there are a lot of you) it must seem a bit cliquey, so on Friday I open my arms to the lurkers out there and suggest you take this chance to say hello for the first time.  It’s the perfect opportunity of course, because not one lick of sense will be talked on this site all day, so no matter how silly your contribution, you can guarantee it won’t be the silliest.

That will be Bart.

1. Technology which is getting away from you a bit.
2. How techie are your parents?
3. Favourite low-tech item in regular use in your house.
4. Best really fucking complicated invention.
5. Best really fucking simple and extremely bloody obvious invention.

Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time

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Alison Moyet – Steal Me Blind

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Elton John – I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues

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Meat Loaf – Dead Ringer For Love

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Huey Lewis & the News – The Power of Love It is a simple and unarguable truth that anyone worth their salt loves Back to the Future.  And anyone who loves Back to the Future must have at least a sneaking soft spot for this song.

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You have to love this one.  I get contacted from time to time by publicity companies wanting to send me bits and pieces.  I often think it’s a bit of a waste actually, because it’s so hit and miss and seems a waste of a precious freebie.  Ah well, their decision I guess, it’s not like it’s in any way difficult to find out what kind of music I like.  I mean, there are times I think that blogs are really just a mass of free market research.

Anyhow, I was contacted yesterday by an nice lass called Natasha from Joanna Burns PR asking the standard questions about an address to send things through to.  Interest piqued,  I clicked on the link to the homepage and nearly spat coffee halfway across the office – just look at their clients!  Celine Dion, Lemar, Delta Goodrem, Santana..?  What in god’s name are they thinking?  Look at that Sergey chap, really honestly do, it’s just hilarious.  Did they know what prompting me to write about Celine Dion, or indeed any of these poor bastards was liable to result in?

I was nice about it, I really was, politely suggesting that perhaps their efforts might be better spent pursuing other avenues.  It’s just possible that there might not be the natural synergy between our respective goals that they might think.  Anyhow, Natasha was genuinely nice about it and said that, although it wasn’t an obvious fit, they had some new projects in the new year approaching that might be of interest and not to worry, I wouldn’t be flooded with an avalanche of cheese.

So I now wait with bated breath.  I’ll honestly give something a fair listen if they send it, and fair play if they want to branch into the indie sphere, but looking at that front page really really did make me laugh, and I felt I just had to share the joy.

Some hits from Joanna Burns PR – see, I really am making an effort:

Jeff Finlin – Sugar Blue Too
Leonard Cohen – Sisters of Mercy
Leonard Cohen – Last Year’s Man
Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time
Jackson Five – Lookin’ Through the Windows