Had an early morning drive yesterday into Norwich to go for breakfast at No 33 in Exchange Street. It's so popular that you have to get there early. We arrived 15 minutes before it opened and were second in the queue. It's one of those places that caters for all age groups and the food is unusual. It may have been breakfast but I had the Chorizo Hash - more of a lunch dish. It was certainly wholesome.
The early morning sun came out and the St Giles area of Norwich sparkled. A number of buildings have been spruced up and as you walk along you can see the City Hall clock in front of you. The former Loch Fyne restaurant is soon to become a Prime Steak venue. It will be interesting to see how it goes. The restaurant is away from the city centre although only about a minute's walk away but Loch Fyne never seemed to have many customers. I ate there a couple of times but wasn't impressed.
I caught the bus home and it was interesting to see that everyone on board and also most of the people in shops were wearing face coverings. Now that it's no longer compulsory, most people are voluntarily continuing to wear them. I think its mainly because they now have a choice and are almost making a statement: "I want to keep myself and others as safe as possible so I'm going to continue wearing a mask."
I got a tad angry the other day when a NHS worker on television was talking about the possibility of losing their job because they were refusing to be vaccinated. "I love my job, I don't want to lose it but I have to retain the right to make my own decisions on this matter," she said (or words similar). I am fully supportive of people being able to make their own choice in life but not when they are making that choice to the detriment of the majority of people, some of whom they might be putting at risk. Vaccinations are a proven barrier against COVID, so to not be vaccinated is just irresponsible (or am I wrong there?). I'm sure all those voluntarily wearing masks yesterday would agree with me.
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And so to music. Interestingly the first bit also brings English grammar into play as well. There's a duo from Norwich who have found national recognition. They have just released their third album (I never know what to call these nowadays. We used to use the term LP for Long Player and then CD for Compact Disc and then Vinyl. But what do we call them now that most are downloaded? I will stick with the word album). Their last offering got into the top 30. The new one is ok although not really my kind of music.
The interesting thing for me is their name - Let's East Grandma. In this case punctuation saves lives as I will illustrate. Let's Eat Grandma is the direction of a cannibal. Pop in a comma as in Let's Eat, Grandma and it's just a direction to a relative to have some food.
I have always been interested in words from the time that I could first read and write. There are words where a hyphen can give them the opposite meaning. Resign means to step away from something whilst re-sign means to stay in something. Then there are interesting words which, instead of meaning the opposite as you might expect, mean the same. Flammable has the same meaning as inflammable. Any other examples will be greatly appreciated for my collection.
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Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young has withdrawn all his music from Spotify because he doesn't like the content of their most listened to podcast. Young's beef is with Joe Rogan who Young claims is spreading misinformation as he allegedly promotes falsehoods about coronavirus vaccines. I haven't listened to Mr Rogan's podcast neither do I wish to. I didn't even know who he was until I looked him up on the Internet. Apparently he's an American podcaster, conspiracy theorist, commentator, comedian, actor, and television presenter, which probably means he's a 24-carat bore. Of course if you are a conspiracy theorist you have to go around looking for conspiracy theories and in steps the old vaccination programme to give grist to his particular mill.
Whether Young is right to deny millions of listeners access to his music because of something that they have nothing to do with is another matter. The Canadian has a reputation for being rather spikey but he is obsessive with his own music legacy and for that I salute him. He does have previous with downloading sites, however. For a long time you couldn't find his stuff on social media sites as he complained ad nauseam about the lack of quality of their sound reproduction. That came at a time that he was trying to flog his own supposedly top quality sound player that he called the Pono which is apparently an Hawaiian word meaning Proper. I can't imagine many people went around saying "I've got a proper player."
I don't think Pono caught on and now many of the sites, such as Apple Music, offer what they refer to as lossless sound. Neil Young didn't do himself any favours either by recording an album in an old style music booth where the sound quality was deliberately bad and it sounded like a record with a multitude of scratches.
For a long time you couldn't find two of my favourite all time groups on any of the music sites including The Beatles and King Crimson. Both are now there.
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The artists I admire are those who truly love their fans. As many will know my favourite all time artist is Harry Chapin. He always valued his fans and made them feel part of his life. There are many current artists who fit this bill but two I would like to highlight are both singer songwriters. They are both British and they both relate and respond to their fans.
The first is somebody I got to know a little when we worked together on a biography. John Howard's original name was Howard Jones but that conflicted with another artist so he changed to John Howard. John goes back to the 1970s when he was likened to Elton John before having record deals cancelled. Today his output is huge. If you've never heard John Howard seek him out but be careful. If you put his name into Spotify etc it might well come up with a gospel singer who has no connection and is somebody completely different.
The second singer is Ana Silvera. Ana regularly reacts to her fans and makes everyone feel special and special is a word to describe her music. She has a stunning voice, writes superb songs and has a new album out shortly. The breadth of her music is also quite amazing along with the quality of her output, much of which defies description. I will write more about Ana at a later date but for now check her out.
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I must also give a mention for a little known American-based music magazine which has just celebrated two decades of publication. Under The Radar only comes out a couple of times or so a year but it's a very interesting read. I pick it up online by subscribing to Readly which gives you access to hundreds if not thousands of magazines across many genres.
Under the Radar is a mix of interviews and pieces on individuals and bands just a little removed from the mainstream. Many, however, featured in the early days have gone on to have big careers but still feature in the magazine.
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Finally today I see that my eldest son's neighbour is undertaking a national tour but, unfortunately, not coming anywhere near Norwich. David Ford is well worth catching if you live anywhere near where he is appearing. Next time I'm down in Eastbourne I might just berate him for not playing in Norfolk.