clivemurray.com

We wake up today in a different place. A world in which the USA has elected a Democrat Party president for the first time this millennium. A world in which the USA has elected a black president for the first time ever. A world in which I now feel a little less exasperated and scared.

Congratulations, America, and welcome back.

–c.

No, really. Aside from the fact that I just cannot understand why it’s such a problem, can we move on from the Brand/Ross thing?

Jesus Crispy Deep-Fried Fucking Christ. GET OVER IT.

–c.

It’s finally happening. If you’re anything like me – and I know I am – then you’ve been noticing the rumour-mill reaching fever-pitch lately concerning the long-mooted release of the fabled new Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy.

Well, friends neighbours and Evil Dave, set your alarms for November 23rd. It’s finally coming.

NB: Please do not expect this album to continue exactly where Use Your Illusion left off. A friend *ahem* let me hear some *ahem* leaked demos of some of the tracks, and this is a different musical proposition than last we heard from Team Axl, but I tell you this: what I’ve heard is no less than fucking awesome.

Pass it on.
–c.

UPDATE: You can listen to the title track streaming here. Get on it.

I had an idea. Since the presidency of the USA has such far-reaching implications and affects the lives of people of pretty much damn near every nation on the globe, those outside the USA should be allowed to vote too. Non-nationals votes should perhaps only count for, say, a quarter of a national vote – so it would take 4 votes from outside the USA to balance out one from inside it.

Having now written it down, I’m pretty sure this is an awful idea, and at best fundamentally flawed, but it’s the best I can come up with at the moment. Frankly I’d go with anything that keeps McCain and Palin away from the fucking controls. To anything. I wouldn’t trust them to make a ham and cheese toastie, never mind run the most powerful nation on the planet for 4 years.

*shudder*

–c.

Booking the most needed holiday of your life in Crete after working yourself almost into the ground for two months: £620

Adding on transfers so you can take it easy between the airport and the resort: £50

Travel insurance (which has some significant exclusions): £20

Finding out, in the middle of packing your bags, 5 hours before the flight that the tour operator has gone into administration and your holiday is cancelled with no hope of reprieve: Speechless.

Dear United States of America,

Please please please don’t elect McCain. We used to quite like you lot.

But these republicunts have got to go.

Thanks,
–c.

Here is the news, so pin them back:

1. If you thought that Scrabulous would win, and be allowed to stay on Facebook, you are an idiot. I mean, really.
2. If you are Hasbro/Mattel, and you didn’t just buy Scrabulous out and rebrand it, you are also an idiot.

Now can we move on?

–c.

I’ve been down lately, due to my lack of a band. Little Monkeys/Crashstars has finally collapsed properly – the last gasp re-union Beach Concert was obviously not to be, and I’m fucking done with it now. The one thing I’ll say about that – and this is a direct appeal to Jon E. Crash himself – is that we still have a half finished amazing sounding album, and one day we need to finish that. Not this year or next, fair enough, but it must be done one day. That is all.

And the covers band has stalled before it even left the rehearsal room due to lack of being bothered from another quarter, and meh. Whatever. And I am getting fucking sick of this fucking attitude across the board.

So. What am I going to do about it? Bitch and moan? Nothing? Call everyone fuckers and complain about my lot?

Fuck that noise. I am going to take the positives from all this and do something new. Something on my fucking own, that no-one can fuck up for me.

The one positive thing that came out of the JackBarrel covers attempt was that I discovered I can sing lead vocals. Not amazingly, and I’m totally inexperienced at it, but I can do it. So I hereby announce that my next recording project is going to be an album or EP of original vocal rock songs written, played and sung by me.

It will be called “If You Want It Done Right” (or similar) because ultimately I have come to realise that this is the only way anything will get done: I have to fucking do it myself.

So. Bollocks to everyone else (Jon, you’re mainly excused from that as the recent collapses weren’t your fault), I’m going solo. It will probably be under my glam stagename Tommi Starr, and it certainly won’t see light of day until at the very earliest middle of next year, but there it is.

So what do you think about that?
–TS