Tag Archive: ivor cutler


MorrisseyWhat is up with Morrissey?

Recently he has cancelled more gigs than he’s played, is without a record contract and now comes news that his autobiography is not, after all, going to be published by Penguin.

Apparently, the book was due to hit the stores on September 16th,  a fact that frankly I find hard to believe as there are no review copies and there has been relatively very little hype.

All we have to prove that some writing exists (part of 600 pages) is a story The Bleak Moor Lies  which appeared  in The Dark Monarch: Magic & Modernity In British Art edited by Michael Bracewell, Martin Clark and Alun Rowlands (Tate Publishing). Continue reading

MAYDAY MAYDAY

GOOD TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Thanks to good telecommunications we know much more about the amount of suffering going on in the world.
Ivor Cutler.

What do we do with all this massive, open information?

Are we on a superhighway, or a road to nowhere?

Facts tell us who, when and where – isn’t it the WHY we should be trying to figure out?

Answers on a postcard, please!

REDUCTION IN BLOG VIEWS

Even a flashy splatter rainbow image like this won't increase my views.

Even a flashy splatter rainbow image like this won’t increase my views.

Site Stats fluctuate all the time but I doubt that I am alone in noticing how the number of views of my blog posts has plummeted over the past week or so. In fact I know I am not alone because other bloggers have raised the issue on the WordPress forums.

Responses from the WP team suggest possible reasons are:

The first two do not apply to this blog but the third sounds like a probable reason. Google’s old interface meant that you saw where the image was imbedded but this is no longer the case. I used to get a lot of hits simply because people were searching for a picture and chanced upon my blog. My most popular post, for example, is still a short poem by Ivor Cutler that generated a lot of traffic simply because I used a photograph of a brick wall. (Why so many surfers are looking for photos of bricks and mortar is an intriguing mystery in itself!)

It’s a shock it see my stats looking so sad but , upon reflection,  think this is quite a postive thing. It means that more people are viewing posts because they want to read what I’ve written rather than stumbling upon me by chance.

It also means I have to attract readers by good writing rather than depending on flashy images. That’s the challenge I have to rise to.

THE BEATLES’ MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR REVISITED  BBC Two.

Fabs MysteryOn this Arena special, it was good to get another chance to see the complete TV film of The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. A  documentary, containing interviews and behind the scenes footage, was also illuminating in helping to put the film in a social and historical context.

The last time I saw the film in its entirety was when it was first broadcast (in black and white) on Boxing Day in 1967. I was just eight  years old at the time so had only a vague memory of it.

I was too young to pick up on all the LSD inspired images but old enough to realise that it had what one of the film’s extras describes as “disconnected shots of weird things”.

What I do vividly recall is the scene with a stripper while The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band are singing Death Cab For Cutie. The sight of bare breasts on a prime time TV slot at Christmas made a big impact on me.  My parents, who were also watching, were less impressed!

This is why I can endorse Ian Macdonald’s view, in his book Revolution In The Head, that: “Magical Mystery Tour marks the breakdown of the cross-generational consensus ………this is where parents began to part company with their sons and daughters over the group, rightly suspecting a drug-induced persuasion setting in” Continue reading

100,000 HITS

Within the world-wide Blogosphere 100,000 hits since I started this blog on 25th May 2007 is a pretty modest number but I’m quietly pleased to clock up this milestone just the same.

Although I don’t write with any target audience in mind  I do find myself dallying over the Blog Stats in a not so healthy manner and I cannot deny that I’m bothered when the graph plummets dramatically.

It’s interesting to see what posts get the most hits and to speculate on why surfers are drawn in. Here’s my current top ten with my thoughts on why they are the most popular:

1. IF YOU ARE MORTAR

I struck blog-gold with this, my 4th ever post. This accounts for a quarter of all visitors.  I’d like to think there were 25,000 Ivor Cutler fans out there in Cyberspace but I realise that most of the hits are from those searching for an image of a brick wall! (don’t ask me why). The wall image accompanied by the word ‘loneliness’ is presumably intriguing enough to click on. I hope most stuck around to read the short poem. I tried to repeat the success another post with a brick wall picture but this got only 19  hits!

2. SLEEPING WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON

A deliberately suggestive title and a sexy image of Ms Johannsson are the obvious bait to this review of her Tom Waits covers album.

3.  NO DIRECTION DINOSAURS

Surprised that so many clicked on this review of Martin Scorsese’s tedious concert movie of the Rolling Stones. Maybe they were searching for other dinosaurs.

4. THE THOUGHT-FOX

Again I don’t think this attracts poetry lovers. Probably most are looking for Fox Tv rather than Ted Hughes in which case I hope I’ve raised their cultural level ever so slightly.

5. LOVE LYRICS AND MENTAL HEALTH

I like this quote from Frank Zappa – when I started blogging most of the first entries were straight quotes and an image. Again the title is probably intriguing.

6. SIZE MATTERS TO HALLE BERRY

Forgive me for I have sinned . I confess to having lascivious thoughts about Halle Berry’s perfectly toned body – I can  take some  comfort in the knowledge that there other sinners out there in web-land.

7.  AN AFTERTASTE OF THE FAST FOOD NATION

Not a great movie but hopefully interest lies in seeking out a fast-free diet and lifestyle. The message of the movie was enough to inspire my daughter to follow my example and become a vegetarian – she hasn’t wavered since.

8.  SHALL WE DANCE?

Another of my filler posts with a quote I like coupled with a memory of Ballet Rambert’s magnificent ‘Ghost Dances.

9.  MISS ITALIA VIEWED FROM BEHIND

More proof that sex sells and the prospect of admiring the backside of a beauty queen has proved an irresistable temptation for many.

10. NATURAL GROUPER THERAPY

I was asked to cease and desist by someone who helps run a grouper therapy website promoting mega-strength fishing tackle !  I politely asked how my post could be viewed as affecting their online trade but received no reply so the title stands. I have a fantasy that hordes of misdirected fishermen are getting turned on to the etherial beauty of Liz Harris’ music.

If you have read this far and/or have ever visited my humble blog in the past – thank you for being one in 100,000.