Christmas

Season's greetings and best wishes to everyone out there in cyberwhatever. This has been an extraordinary year in so many respects, and I feel very fortunate to be who and where I am at this moment in time. So it's only fitting to have an extraordinary video, from The Who, at the very top of their game. Keith Moon is so excited by Christmas that he finds it hard to stay in his seat.

Scenes from London life

The Memphians

I don't know when this is set for release, but I sure would love to see it.

Brian Eno Day, 1988

I can't imagine when I will ever have the 12 uninterrupted hours required to listen to this. Perhaps I'll take the day off on February 12, 2013, the 25th (!) anniversary of this original Brian Eno Day.

Steve Reich at UC Berkeley University Museum (November 7, 1970)

And as a bonus, a radio interview from the same year!

Paper and Iron

Okay, Capitalism, let's see what you've got for me this week. Happy Monday to wage slaves everywhere.

We Jam Econo

Something for the weekend: the story of legendary California band The Minutemen. I never saw them live, but I did manage to catch the successor band Firehose once or twice. If only scientists had worked out how to harness their energy...

Scenes from London life

Growing old in public

I turned 50 at the end of October. In recent years, as I pondered the relentless approach of this event, I wondered if, come the day, I would feel depressed or freaked out. When it arrived, I had quiet celebrations on a very small scale, thought about all the interesting experiences and good fortune I've enjoyed in life, offered quiet thanks for all the wonderful people I've known and the loving family and group of friends who have always been there for me. And, fulfilling an aspiration I developed over the past year, I managed to play a good gig with a talented band behind me, just two days before I crossed the threshold. There's not much video from the event, but these are the ones. We have a number of working names, but none which has stuck yet. On bass, Matt Bowers, and on drums Charlie Hoskyns. The event was a charity fundraiser guerilla art show at a disused and unheated garage/vehicle inspection centre in my local 'hood, on a cold, rainy Sunday evening. And why not? Onward!