The Crotchety Man blog gained another follower last week. There's nothing remarkable in that - it happens from time to time and the current total of 71 is hardly something to get excited about. I usually check out the Gravatar and the Home page of new recruits to my personal campaign to promote good music.…Read more Glass Towns
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Rising Sun
There was no sunrise here this morning. Thick black clouds covered the sky and a miserable rain fell, steadily soaking the dark streets and the gloom-shrouded gardens of our village. The mood at Crotchety Mansions was sombre. The cloud-penetrating radar screen was similarly dark other than for a few small bright specks. Yearning for light,…Read more Rising Sun
Birdwatcher – Episode 1
Fyfe Anthony Dangerfield Hutchins was born in 1980 in Mosley, a suburb of Birmingham in the heart of the UK's West Midlands conurbation. His family moved to the leafier and somewhat less cosmopolitan town of Bromsgrove when he was eight. The Crotchety Brain knows he is a classically trained pianist and avid birdwatcher but, sadly,…Read more Birdwatcher – Episode 1
Through the Windowpane
Sometimes it's good to wind back the tape and listen to an old favourite. Guillemots' first album, Through the Windowpane, has been mentioned, briefly, in these pages already in both Track of the Week and Band of the Year posts, but until now it hasn't featured as an Album of the Month. So let's press the…Read more Through the Windowpane
Pain Killer (Summer Rain)
It's been a typical British summer this year. Anchored in the Atlantic Ocean just off the western edge of mainland Europe these islands get weather that is politely called 'changeable'. In Ireland they have a saying: if you can see the hills, rain is coming; if not ... it's raining already. A little farther east,…Read more Pain Killer (Summer Rain)
Hall of Fame
Delving blindfold into the laundry basket of titles earmarked for Track of the Week today the hand of fate picked out Hall of Fame by The Script. Sometimes choosing a song is the difficult bit; this time it's what to write. You see, there's not much to say about this single except that it's a straightforward…Read more Hall of Fame
Oczy Mlody
The title of this post is not quite gibberish. The words are Polish. Individually they mean 'eyes' and 'young'. Unfortunately, 'oczy' is feminine plural and 'mlody' is masculine singular. And, to make matters worse, the words are in the wrong order for the phrase 'young eyes'. Not that this bothers The Flaming Lips who chose…Read more Oczy Mlody
Oh Woman, Oh Man
Inspiration comes from many places, some familiar, others less so. It lurks in bushes where it can't be seen and it hides in plain sight among the ordinary, every day objects of our humdrum lives. We may have passed this way many times before but our blinkered eyes missed the beauty of the city park and gazed past…Read more Oh Woman, Oh Man
Little Fictions
There has been a lot of talk recently about "fake news" and its equally alarming cousin, "alternative facts". Some say those alternative facts are nothing to worry about; they are just white lies, little fictions that reveal a deeper truth. Pictures of the crowd at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration may have shown fewer people than at…Read more Little Fictions
Annie, Let’s Not Wait
There's a big difference between 'awesome' and 'awful'. And that's strange. Both words derive from 'awe', which originally just meant 'fear'. So 'awesome' should mean 'instils a certain trepidation' while 'awful' should have the more emphatic meaning, 'terrifying'. The use of 'awe' in the Bible to describe the mortal response to God's presence is thought to have…Read more Annie, Let’s Not Wait
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