Wednesday, 25 February 2009

After that little interlude...

Right, after my post about the god that Bob Marley is, I have decided to write a bit about my adventure with Iain to the record sale that was in town on Saturday. Right first off I must say the night before me, Iain and Iain's mate Alex went skating around town for a good 4 hours in the middle of the night and it was really the most liberating thing I have done in a long time. The streets were empty and we skated until we literally couldn't skate anymore. Armed with long boards and my trusty skate board we hit the town at about midnight and skated until about 4am. We went to some pretty wicked spots such as the Cathedral, a few car parks and around the outskirts of the town centre which all had good spots for street and to catch a bit of speed. We even bumped into some old school punkers who we spoke to for a good 15 minutes about random stuff. Top dollar!

Anyway, after a long skate a few hours before, we marched into town and to the pub to watch some football and eat some lunch and of course get a few ciders as it was a surprisingly sunny day. After lunch was consumed and bottles of cider were drunk me and Iain (Alex had departed that morning and had ventured back to Cardiff) ventured off to find the record sale. We went to an old town hall by the looks of things and went on a hunt to find some cool records. There were loads of old school reggae, ska and punk vinyl’s which any self respecting fan should try to purchase in their life (mine being the Dead Kennedy hit "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" which I picked up for £2). There were many other vinyl’s I would have loved to have got my hands on (such as The Clash, Madness and various Trojan records) but with little money in my pocket I settled for the DK record. I am very pleased with myself thus this blog post. Next time the record sale is on I will buy more and even take a few pics to post as it really does interest me.

AND lastly, Lent. What are people giving up? I myself am giving up my name kind of, apparently I am no longer Tom but Thomas (joy!), and also giving up money. I hate the stuff as it just tempts me to spend it. So no more “Tom” or money for me (unless I need food).

Peace, love and respect, as always.

-- Tom RDD

Bit behind the times...

I am one the millions of people who love the sweet reggae tunes of Mr. Bob Marley. Recently I have been listening to a LOT of his music. I just love how his music is about peace, love and respect. And it makes me happy that his music has touched so many people. So I thought I would share with you my personal favourite song:





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Monday, 16 February 2009

Frightened of this thing I've become...

It seems I only write on here when something is on my mind and it is rarely a positive thought that graces my mind when I think to write on here. It's amazing what comes to your mind on a lonely night.

Today I am talking about changing into something that you never thought you would be. Is this a bad thing? Well that depends on your perception on "good" and "bad". I myself think I am going through slight changes day by day with some being good and others being bad. I've opened my mind to more music, good, yet I have become more detached with my family, bad. The later I am trying to change because my family mean a lot to me. It doesn't help that my sister moved to Canada next week but I would like to think I have tried my best to convey how much I care for her and given her and my soon to be brother in-law my best wishes coated with love and brotherly protection. I am of course rather envious of their adventure as I wish I could do something like that and I plan to when I leave university. Maybe New York? Maybe Sydney? Who knows. It's years ahead and as I'm trying to live in here and now it seems rude to break my pact with the New Year's resolution gods.

Anyway, my summary for today: Change is as natural as the setting sun. It happens every day, sometimes we like these changes and sometimes we hate them. Some changes over the last few months still hurt me but I have tried my best to move on. In my opinion the things that are the most important during these times are those closest to you. I know I can rely on my closest friends to pick me up when I'm down. I should really tell them one of these days...

Peace, love and respect. as always.

-- Tom RDD

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Death of a genre...

Right this is a slightly depressing post, well for me anyway. Today I found out that one of my favourite bands are splitting up. This might seem slightly pathetic to some but this band are a local band I practically spent my teen years watching and listening to and therefore in an odd way the band means a lot to me. The band is called Once Over and I'm sure if you live anywhere near Brighton and know your punk music you will have heard of them.

I started to get into ska and punk music when I was about 13 through school and was then ridiculed by the people who introduced me to it because I wasn't considered part of the "cool kids". To get more involved in the local music scene and gain more knowledge of this genre that fascinated me so much me and a few friends would go to the legendary Brighton Punk Rocks and Once Over were one of the first bands I saw play. I was also lucky enough to see two other Brighton ska bands that have since departed the local music scene (Ska Gal and Out of Luck). Anyway I spent a great deal of my teenage years watching and listening to Once Over and I consider them to be one of my favourite bands and I loose count of how many times I have them live and I can practically recite every song word for word. Therefore it with slight sadness I wish them the best of luck with their individual futures and I plan on travelling almost 200 miles to see their last ever show in Brighton on the 22nd of February. Things change and things move on but I believe this is yet another huge blow to the Brighton ska scene. My utmost respect goes to guys from Once Over. Check them out if you will:

www.myspace.com/onceover

peace, love and respect. always.

-- Tom RDD

Cake Or Death?

Just a short video of one of my favourite stand up commedians at the moment, Mr. Eddie Izzard. He is touring later this year and I would strongly suggest you check his other material out. Below is a short video clip of his "Dress To Kill" tour and it features one of his more well know sketches. Enjoy




Peace, love and respect. always.

-- Tom RDD

Sunday, 1 February 2009

Mumbo Jumbo

After a brisk morning "workout" of playing football for an hour I am back to writing on here. Huzzah! I hear you cry, but what shall I write about? well I recently wrote about me writing a story and well here is an extract from the opening:

"I wish I could say I was a perfect sixteen year old with a perfect family, with a perfect life. Well nobody’s life is perfect and it seems mine’s far from it. In years to come I will probably look back and laugh at how little I know about life’s experiences but as a sixteen year old living in the here and now it seems nothing ever goes my way"

There you have it. An extract of a story I started writing when I was 16. The reason I like this opening is because of one of lines ("in years to come I will probably look back and laugh at how little I know about life’s experiences") I think that line can pretty much be put into any context and applied to any age. Of course when we are teenagers we feel the need to rebel and most of us probably feel a certain degree of alienation and experience hard times, but when I look back onto my life and think about all the "hard" things I went through none of them seem so bad anymore. of course things like family circumstance never loose their sting no matter how old you get but overall the things I used to worry about probably wouldn't even phase me now.

And this leads me onto my topic of today. Regrets. Most people will regret someting they've said or done in their lives. However, I do not regret a thing and I don't think people, if they are happy with their lives, should regret anything. The things we have said and done make us who we are today and although I am far from perfect I think the person I am today is a pretty good person, not to blow one's own trumpet. But looking back into the past I honestly wouldn't change a thing because that would compromise what I have now, and for better or worse, I like now.

peace, love and respect. as always.

-- Tom RDD