I went and checked in with my local bookseller today. I think she used to work for Harper Collins - she's a good egg. In fact, she's 'one of us' - one of the ones who care. She can't subsidise the books in her store like a supermarket or give away 3 for 2 like the chains do, but she still gives a damn. As a customer determined to do the right thing, it's rough going in there sometimes. I can always find things I want but my mind will total up the amount things I can get on amazon for the same outlay - but, I know that if I don't spend some cash in there, she will eventually close down, so what I do is buy my big guns product from amazon and grab the cool stuff in her store (such as Home From the Vinyl Cafe) because she makes the effort to actually stock this good shit by researching it and offering it to us.
I think that's a reasonable compromise and you should do the same. If you're a writer who's hoping to get published one day, these people can help you! Amazon don't give a flying one and if you can't see that, you don't deserve to be published.
Once upon a time, in Chester, there used to be a record store called Penny Lane where they sold everything you could ever want along with the coolest Japanese and US imports. Now long since closed due to a lack of interest, where is a band supposed to foster it's grassroots network? MySpace is pretty good for that sort of thing, but when your faced with 15 bands offering everything on a plate vs a sacred finding in the coolest of packaging that you might just be able to afford if you skip lunch for a couple of days, it's a no-brainer. I can remember down to fine detail who I was with and what albums I passed over to buy the first Faster Pussycat album but I don't think I'm even listening to the stuff I found online last week.
I guess if you're under 20, you can claim 'fuck it - it was like this when I found it' but it's not right and even if you are under 2o, I still reckon you're not listening to the 'brilliant' thing you found last week. It's a hard game to play and there are no right answers... I was just pointing it out that's all.
So what's big on the Lung front today? We're officially a third of the way through the first installment of Too Hot For Dogs. The first issue - if you've been paying attention - will indeed be called "An Immaculate Misconception" with issue two taking over the original title of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen". Now I can see the first half as visual content, I can see where I need to turn with it and shall now be introducing some other media into the equation to make it work... to make it rock! I know it's good because I'm still really excited about it - you don't want to know how many years this has almost made it this far!
I spoke to Ian again today - he has some great ideas. I miss hanging out with him loads because we used to bounce around so much crap, we must have had about three saleable ideas a day that we later just forgot about when we worked together. Anyway, today we had a few laughs about something we once shared and in a passing comment, he mentioned it would make a great sit-com. We bounced it around again and the idea ploughed its way to the front of my brain and took over for a while and thus, we must add another project to the list - it will either be called 'Production' or 'Dreamers' - with the former being more realistic and the latter being more commercially viable, I might sit on it for a few days, but somehow I don't think 'Production Dreamers' really cuts the grain. You watch - it will end up being called something completely different eventually.
Anyway - if you're interested in seeing what he's up to, check out his blog over at vinceandlizzy - and don't forget to leave a sarcastic comment about getting the hell on with it.
Maybe that will blow the cobwebs out of his brain... but probably not. Better people have tried but he might sit up and take notice if you ask him to do a Vince or Lizzy image for a one off t-shirt if you throw a tenner in his general direction.
Hot from iTunes today for is the new Lenny Kravitz album - Love Revolution (there I go downloading music again!). It's a scorcher. Very laid back and a real trip back to Let Love Rule. Four thumbs in the air for that one. Review over at Burn will probably land tomorrow.
Another post in an hour or so... work to do...
Clip of the Day: The Losers | Warrior Soul
