Amateur Randomness

I make music, I make food, I take pictures, I travel...I procrastinate and rarely finish a project, I love to learn new things, yet never master any of them..welcome to Amateur Randomness...

[richienoble-blog]

Day at the Guggenheim

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One night at San Mamés.. Recently redesigned and rebuilt, freshly inaugurated in September 2013, one of the must see stadiums, built in the heart of Bilbao for a team who are an emblem of local and Basque pride..

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Somewhere in Portland, there’s a very old building, and that very old building has a very, very old basement. An incredible basement, a video-game-level basement, a set-decorator’s dream basement.

[minimalmac]

And that’s how it begins. This is well worth the click and reading through for the payoff.

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In celebration of the 'One Hit Wonder' and the acceptance of the substandard...

So I was listening to 'Maniac' by Michael Sembello and a friend of mine started the usual 'one hit wonder' comments, and it led me to thinking, why do we chastise and mock the one hit wonder?

Sure there's novelty records and the like, their to cash in on the fad du jour (Mr Blobby anyone?), but that aside in no other walk of life do we so readily criticise those who have achieved success and mass popularity just the once....won just the one gold medal....failure, didn't follow up that nobel prize huh....not interested....would never happen but..oh you ONLY had the ONE hit record, hey there's a reason to mock, and then you delve a little deeper sure lets mock Michael Sembello, it's not like he achieved anything else, not like he was a core musician on Stevie Wonders' seminal 'Songs In The Key Of Life' or wrote for Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson to name but three, or it's not like he may have scored a blockbuster movie like say Gremlins or Independence Day, no lets just tag him as one hit wonder...and then you do wonder how many of these other 'musical failures' have such an illustrious back story...and why do we so readily wait to knock them down......thoughts on the back of a postcard.....

The same evening discussion turned to talent, and I know appreciation of talent is subjective, but irrespective of taste and preference, there surely has to be a general appreciation of talent, and during this I always tend to refer back to three things

1. Taylor Swift

Like her or not she consistently shifts units, and I have a great appreciation for her catalogue, not necessarily due to her (though I believe she deserves much more credit than she gets), but she (and her record company) have the savvy and the acumen to build an amazingly talented team around her, co-writers, musicians, engineers and producers (more on producers shortly)

2. Britney Spears' Toxic

For me the perfect pop song, well written, well balanced, catchy, well mixed and produced, and having seen classical and bluegrass versions of it, it's clever writing transcends genres and always stands up as a piece of music (hell I've even been known to perform an acoustic version of it myself, falsetto vocals an all!)

3. 80's rock musicians

This is generally my clincher, the general comments when you get to talking about such musicians, your Bon Jovi, Van Halen etc etc....the first words people tend to utter are Cheese, Pompous, Too Much.....but the bottom line is these kids can play....better guitarist in terms of technique than Eddie Van Halen, hard to find, better collective of stadium pop rock than Bon Jovi...come on you were pogoing to Living On A Prayer last weekend weren't you...Of course such exuberance is frowned upon these days as young artists search for that ever elusive 'credibility'

So I always (referring back to point one) take great production, actually being able to hear all the elements of the song, all the instruments, the interplay the hooks, and great players, those who know when to fly, when to stop, how their craft compliments the piece to be the essence of talent when it comes to music. The honesty of being the best you can be, gives you more credibility than a lot of the 'cool' bands of the day could hold a torch to.

Now we listen to records deliberately made to sound 'bad' to sound authentic, employing poor recording methods in the search of 'loudness', and poor players who have 'passion' and 'energy'

Give me pop, give me rock, give me classical, but give me craft, give me 'talent', give me honesty, and I'll give you a good record..

Most importantly, agree or disagree, give me feedback :)

[richienoble-blog]

Out of the darkness....comes light, two of the most inspirational, dignified and determined people you are ever likely to come across, one step closer to Justice....

[richienoble-blog]

Truth and Justice.... #jft96

There are many, many people much better qualified to speak on this than me, I was a twelve year old boy, it was all about the game, for the thousands that went to Hillsborough in support of this great club we all love, it was all about the game....23 years of injustice, lies and cover up, have made about anything but the game, but today, the day has finally come...

The Hillsborough panel report will be unveiled for all to see, and the truth, as they say, is out there, I only hope it allows us all to find peace, to find answers, to find justice...

Remember to always educate, there are many misguided people out there who will always believe what they are told by mass media, this could have been any football supporters, anywhere, and must never be allowed to happen again.

I'm proud to be from Liverpool and all that that entails, there's been a variety of 'interesting' portrayals of us, especially in the light of the continuing fight for justice, I hope those that served to mock, belittle and deride, take the new findings on board and those with 'celebrity' status use it for some good and allow bereaved families the basic human right of justice and a semblance of closure, so that they can finally greave openly without doubt, without the black cloud of a cover up, and that they seek strength in the large numbers around them who share their fight and stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and have for 23 years.....

and finally..Billy Bragg, Alexei Sayle say it's better than most

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBh2oAvsSSc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q26wgbOMBI4&feature=related

John Alfred Anderson (62)

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God bless you all

[richienoble-blog]

looking down on Edinburgh

[somuchfunithurts]

Visit Original Link

Fred Armisen on Alec Baldwin’s Here’s The Thing

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Venison Wallace?!?

Not the name of Scotland's newest sporting hero, but the latest Scottish food find....

Now I don't want to get in the habit of blogging my every meal, however....a cool Innis and Gunn Blonde Beer along with an amazing Venison Wallace pie from 'The Wee Pie Company'.  This award winning pie consisting of Venison Steak marinaded in red wine and herbs sat on a bed of haggis in a delicate crispy pastry shell is a joy to behold , and is seriously recommended as an upgrade to your regular pie.....available from Stockbridge Market and other places, you can find more about them here

http://www.theweepiecompany.co.uk/

[richienoble-blog]

The Comprehensive Guide to Regional Sandwiches of the United States John Farrier, neatorama.com

Seri­ous Eats com­piled a mouth-watering list of 48 sand­wich­es that can be found in dif­fer­ent regions of the Unit­ed States. I'm espe­cial­ly intrigued by this New York City con­coc­tion called a "bagel and lox." Its essen­tial ingre­di­ents a…

Told you I love my food, maybe I could try a sandwich a week for almost the next year?!?

[richienoble-blog]

So food is my other passion, and todays treat is local Scottish Crab, from the farmer's market in Stockbridge, coupled with fresh pasta, some garlic, onions, and chilli powder...a crisp Blue Moon beer to go with it...and all for less than £6.00, who says you cant eat well and cheap....

[richienoble-blog]

Young protégée...

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Visit Original Link

So I write songs as part of a collaborative effort under the name 'Leopard and Crow' and wanted to portray something darkly sweet, a bittersweet 'film-noir' audio, if you will, inspired by 40's New York, coupled with our inescapable britishness..it utilises the vocal talents of Karl Harrison and Gina Muego, and needs to have it's mastering and mixing improved...but it's here nonetheless...

[notimefortwatbagels]

Iron Man vs Irn Min

So… this happened.

His special move is dropping out of the sky and nutting people.

Reblog if you’re Scottish, like Irn Bru, like Avengers…

Ach just reblog, you know you want to ;P

[richienoble-blog]

Next advert...Irn Min and Fanny?

[scotianostra]

Caledonia

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Amazing..had to share this....

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Random girl at Edinburgh Festival Fireworks, Full Moon in background