Listening to: Velvet Underground – Who Loves the Sun

Good morning people. The rain is beating against the window as I write this, which is perfect because in a hour or so, a cab will arrive to take me to a train that will take to the plane on which I’ll be flying to Florida. I arrive there at 5.30pm their time. Richard Branson has promised a  whole host of in-flight entertainment, so what with that and some free vino, a pleasant trip is assured. See y’all on the other side of the pond.

Listening to:  Wizzard – I Wish it Could be Christmas Every day

Seasonal greetings boys & girls. Christmas Day in Chéz Sonique is a time for musical joyfulness, life-enhancing food & wine, good conversation, and cinematic misery. Yes indeed, if a movie concerning abject Dickensian deprivation isn’t onscreen, then it’s tale of Epic struggle followed by some degree of euphoric, albeit brief, triumph culminating in crushing defeat at the hands of inhumane oppressors out to make an example to others.
No pop-kids, I speak not of Eastenders, but of Spartacus…the 1960 Kirk Douglas – Jean Simmons one.  See above for the saddest ending in movie history. Official. Merry Christmas one and all.

Listening to: Pastor Deacon Fred – Santa Claus Did Not Die For Your Sins

I was introduced to the very wonderful words of Pastor Deacon Fred recently when I discovered his Baptist children’s poem via his very own website. Listen to it by clicking the link at the top of this post. That very poem duly took it’s place within the seasonal selections of my Sonic Santa 2 Yuletide mix, up there on the right. He also spreads his message via Twitter and Facebook. Go forth and look him up pop-kids. Many folks welcome – some definitely not.

Listening to: Amartya Rahut – Punjabi Bells

Kim Jong-Il, Supreme Commander (amongst numerous other titles) of Northern Korea died yesterday, allegedly leaving a cool $4 billion in the bank. He’ll probably be the richest man in his particular graveyard. I loved his performance in Team America: World Police. I respectfully post a favourite scene of my own.

Now watching – Bad Santa

Ok, so yesterday was my last proper day of toiling for the man this side of Christmas. This means no more Satan’s Slip-Road for a while. It’s a bit nicer-looking with added snow, but even more dangerous to traverse than usual. Now it’s just a question of time-management in the run-up to Christmas weekend. Quite a lot to get done between now and then but I’m taking it one day at a time. Also, I’m getting the results of my recent blood-test this coming Friday, and I’m fairly sure that a blood-pressure test will be involved. I need to make like a calm blue ocean for that one. Serenity Now is the key…

  Now watching – The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show

And lo, the winter sun did beam down upon Chéz Sonique, and all the people in the village did rejoice – mostly because it’s been nothing but howling winds and sideways rain here for the past week, solid. Yes, definitely getting into Christmas character now boys and girls. Listening to good old Traditional Yuletide favourites (see above), getting the decorations down from that 50 year-old suitcase on top of the wardrobe, then wishing they’d been packed away more thoughtfully last year. Money-stress, time-stress, mince pies…it’s all right there in the Bible, somewhere near the back I think.
So, boys & girls, onward into that most joyous of seasons…

Listening to: Brian Eno – The Big Ship

So today was blood-test day.  No big deal, just routine stuff. Gotta love the NHS – just walk in, take a ticket like you do at the deli, wait in line (for not that long)  then have some blood extracted, which then gets the once over by a team of highly-trained experts. No money changes hands. Perfect.  Contrast this with say, the USA, where the same procedure would probably need a couple of thousand dollars put aside and the sheer beauty of the Health Service falls into sharp contrast. Anyhoo, I get the results when I visit the relevant doc on December 23rd.

Sonic Avenger’s gift of music to the children of the world. Play loud.

Tracklisting:
01. Christmas Alphabet Medley - Spike Jones
02. Rootin’ Tootin’ Santa Claus - Pee Wee King
03. R2D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Christmas in the Stars
04. Good Time Christmas - Lou Rawls
05. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
06. Christmas Message - Marc Bolan
07. Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
08. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing - Chinese Children’s Choir
09. Let it Snow - Bitshifter
10. Bebop Santa Claus - Babs Gonzales
11. Christmas Message - Dennis Wilson
12. Blue Christmas – Porky Pig
13. Happy Birthday Jesus - Little Cindy
14. Candy Cane Children - White Stripes
15. Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas? - Staple Singers
16. A Country Christmas Message 
17. Good King Wenceslas - Woody the Woodchuck
18. A Christmas Moment – Sally Strothers
19. Silent Night - The Dickies
20. A Girl Named Mary - The Brady Bunch
21. Soulful Christmas - James Brown
22. Merry Christmas Neighbour - Cast of Bonanza
23. Frosty the Snowman - Tuba & Guitar
24. Away in a Manger - Fred Lowery
25. Sleighride - The Ronettes
26. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Ramsey Lewis Trio

Listening to: Live at Chéz Sonique Vol 2 

Half an hour of envelope-pushing audio tomfoolery from the House of Sonic. Play loud.

Tracklisting:
01. Dub Warning – Sonic Avenger
02. Armoured D – Dillinja
03. Democracy is Coming to the USA – Leonard Cohen
04. Land of Confusion – Armando
05. Intro by Ellis Dee – Justin Warfield
06. Yuri Gagarin – Line Dancers on Acid
07. Sultana – Titanic
08. Suite for Strings – Bernard Hermann
09. Ice Cold Diceman – Diceman
10. Holy Ghost – Bar-Kays
11. Just a Fucking Idiot – Future Sound of London
12. Huddle Formation – Go! Team
13. On the Run – Pink Floyd
14. Whole Lotta Love – CCS
15. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
16. Papua New Guinea Dub – Future Sound of London

Listening to: Live at Chéz Sonique Vol 3

I’ve been experiencing problems with the good folks at Soundcloud of late. They have suddenly decided to unceremoniously remove mixes hosted by them which are seen to contravene copyright laws. I’ve had Live at Chéz Sonique Vol 1 removed recently (thanks to David Bowie by all accounts) followed this week by Sonic Santa’s Christmas Collection 1. Apparently Spike Jones, (who died in 1965) was complaining about my use of his Christmas Medley to open that one.
Anyhoo, with this in mind, I’m removing all mix-tracklistings from Soundcloud, and posting them here. I will then link to them on Soundcloud.

40-something minutes of ungodly-yet-wholesome audio fun for all the family. Play loud, music-lovers…

Tracklisting: 
01. American Haiku – Sonic Avenger
02. Blown Away – A Certain Ratio
03. Heartbreaker guitar solo (excerpt) – Jimmy Page
04. Caught, Can I Get a Witness? – Public Enemy
05. Dance With the Devil – Cozy Powell
06. The Motorcade Sped On – Steinski & the Mass Media
07. March from A Clockwork Orange – Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind
08. Buffalo Gals – Malcolm McLaren & World Famous Supreme Team
09. JD’s Gafflin’ Pt 2 – Ice Cube
10. Enter the Dragon – Lalo Schifrin
11. Thought For the Day – Cesar Romero
12. Burn the Witch (Unkle remix) – Queens of the Stone Age
13. Orgasmatron – Lemmy
14. The Devil’s Answer – Atomic Rooster
15. Essex Doves – Go Home Productions
16. Seen and Not Seen – Talking Heads
17. Harbinger Pt 1 – Miss Kubelik
18. Eye No (intro) – Prince
19. The Avengers Theme – Laurie Johnson
20. Time to Go – Delia Derbyshire