asides Blog

One line thoughts of the day.

Good luck to all of you trying to get hold of Kate Bush tickets when they go on sale today. No, I’m not joining the feeding frenzy myself; I find the things like this far too stressful. Instead I will continue to support the grass-roots music scene.

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

Am I correct in assuming that I’m not missing anything vital in my life from having not read any late-period Robert Heinlein?

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Tim Hall | 6 Comments

I am currently listening to some 70s reissues I’ve been sent as promos and deciding they’re not worthy of a full review. These are records that have been out-of-print for many years, and time has not been kind to them. They end up reminding me of mid-afternoon filler acts at The Cambridge Rock Festival.

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments

Moments after I mentioned on Twitter that I was seeing very little spam in my inbox compared to a couple of years ago, my inbox started getting flooded with “Undeliverable mail” return messages because some *&$% spammer has been spoofing one of my addresses. Suffice to say that if you get spam from Russian ladies using the address umlaut@kalyr.co.uk, it’s not from me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Tim Hall | 1 Comment

Yet again the BBC committee who decide these things have managed to unite everyone in the country who actually cares about music in thinking the British Eurovision entry is complete bobbins.

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

“Someone please take my bottomless bowl of popcorn? I’ve eaten so much I think I’m going to be sick” – Bitcoin-hating Charlie Stross on the collapse of Mt Gox. The whole thing reads like the plot of Stross’ novel “Halting State”.

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

My local rock venue is advertising a gig by “The Oasis Experience”. I can’t help feeling that they are effectively a tribute band of a tribute band. Has pop now eaten itself?

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

An aspect of Scottish independence that nobody has thought of. Can you say “GRENDEL!”? I thought you could….

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

As the NME continues its slide into irrelevance, it is now selling far fewer copies that Classic Rock or Metal Hammer. It’s well past the point where we need to start questioning the extent to which its anti-rock world-view is still dominant. Why, for example, is the BBC’s “Later with Jools Holland” still dominated by NME-style bands?

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Tim Hall | 2 Comments

The last three gigs I’ve been to have featured, in turn, a bassoon, a grand piano and a cello. Someone ought to form a band with just those three instruments. Plus a theremin.

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off