overlap

After a couple of weeks enjoying the many splendours of the hills of nearby continental europe, I am now back on the streets again, as Saxon would have it. This ought to be approaching the end of six months of several varieties of trouble, and yet even now I'm not absolutely sure of exactly when my job ends, imminent though that is supposed to be. In between the research prior to my various travels and the clearing out the debris on my return, there hasn't really been a lot of time to keep up with the nuts and bolts of life. And while I'm sure I've been doing the right thing to make the most of the fleetingly brief opportunities as they have presented themselves, I'm just about ready for a month of nothing but signing on, cleaning the house and irregular hours of sleep. Just as Saxon bring me back to the most trad of trad metal, there's a warm familiar feeling in some things that have just always been there. On which note I'm saddened that my absence means I've come back to find that Bobby Robson and John Hughes are no longer with us, and just today Les Paul has taken his final bow. Robson's success in the FA and UEFA cups was a major achievement at the time, while Hughes' work on Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club in particular evokes another, differently significant time of my life. As for Les Paul, there's a whole musical landscape that might not even exist without his influence. Which brings us right back to the reliance on the familiar, and in the last couple of days I'm delighted to find the recognisable in what is new to me: I've enjoyed a lot of novelty/comedy bands, and while I love Bad News and Hayseed Dixie, the likes of the Ukelele Orchestra Of Great Britain definitely take one joke and spin it out for way too long. Dressing like an Australian rock chick's nightmare and sounding like an unholy mix of Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake, Saxon and Poison, Steel Panther just shouldn't work. And then you listen to the lyrics and its John Hughes' 1986 all over again, just with the comedic profanity of South Park ladled all over it. Just what I needed, to nick yet another song title from somewhere else!