Don't Stop

There’s a reporter and camera at the scene of an incident or accident and the “crew” on site is inevitably said to be “working around the clock” at whatever restorative work is necessary. It’s always a crew and they’re never merely doing their best, doing all they can or working hard; they are always working around the clock. This is a strict rule.

Bookburning

A pamphlet all about kids’ safety came home from the school the other day. They’re all over the safety now.  They’ll do anything for safety except break the cartel that puts four stone of books into the back pack of every kid from first class upwards every year. Evidently it’s in the interests of the safety and well being of kids from the age of six to be hauling around a bag that an adult would struggle with. Character building, don’t you know.

The well being of the teachers would seemingly be unduly compromised by asking them to dispense with the books and spend a bit of time preparing their lessons like they do everywhere else.

Keep your teachers’ down time safe kids, throw that up on your back till next June. You’re young, you’re well able for it and they're so worth it.

Oh Yes He Would

Oh the laughs we used to have at the Americans , five or six of them standing pitchside in matching jackets with their massive mikes and massive headsets dissecting the defensive play of the Denver Broncos, looking like eejits. Paddy would never do that. Right Paddy?

Friend and Foe

Conor Pope, the consumer advocate and someone who I, for a long time now, believed was on our side said this the other day on the radio “Bank of Ireland are trying to migrate customers into the online sphere”. Trust no one in this war against bullshit.

The Next Step

Just in case you are not depressed enough I would encourage you to spend a few minutes going through the comments section at the bottom of any news story on thejournal.ie.

These people are amongst us, there are two dozen of them on this bus. We don’t need the troika anymore, we need the troika with Uzis. We’ve moved on.

Mandolin Midfield

Are you sure Charlie Adam has never been in The Pogues?

Judas

Last night I watched two hours of home movie footage. It wasn't of some gurgling baby, an under 10 football match or unbearable wedding ceremony. It was the home movies of Mickey Jones from Bob Dylan's 1966 World Tour. Mickey was the drummer in Dylan's band at the time and he carried an 8mm camera that he used to record pretty much everything, it seems. Mickey narrated all the shots filling us in on the locations, the context and the personnel. It was fucking brilliant. I would rather boil my head than look at two whole hours of someone's home movie footage, but not Mickey Jones's. Mickey can show me his anytime.

Which leads to the most famous heckle in history. I listened carefully to Mickey give his account of the "Judas" shout at the Manchester Free Trade Hall on that very same world tour and wondered where is the heckler now. What's he doing right now and has any documentary film maker, such as Joel Gilbert,  ever tried to track him down? He couldn't have known the impact his yell would have, that we would still be discussing it forty six years later. One shout which lasted a second all those years ago. I'd love to know what became of him, whether he still feels the same at this remove, has he ever warmed to Dylan's electric stuff in the intervening years? It would be a great, great programme. I think it would be right up the alley of the fella who produced Searching for Sugarman and Man on Wire.

I hereby call on him to get the ball rolling. Otherwise I'll have a crack myself.