Lo Smeegen Look at lovey words I found in R's Trajer box. He says it is Wictaorian and is a strangeling thing when time do finds a mate ...then and noo or summat ....lovey tho ennit ... 'ceptin boot kidz in a skool ............

Dearest heart

There is a wondrous thread that weaves thru all my days filling me with hope in the hours in between the darkest times and first light – then a single thought keeps me afloat when other wise I might sink or fall from flight – be not afraid – nothing is permanent - I know I shall look upon thee at least once more and soon -
A hundredth farewell is none the less harsh - chilling and hurting us - making the longing worst – mean while and waiting – I have these thoughts
Most of us have won and lost – been loved - beguiled and reviled – abandoned and bereaved – addicted to some thing and or some one - we have all been lonely lovely and sad -
You wreathed in smiles waiting to be found - saved me – together we can be raised – aspiring – time is running – kiss me again -surround me with your sweetness – lovely in light – we have known madness - have grieved for the old ones passed and the almost new – this does weigh upon us all - we shall have reason for pain but there is no need to hurt forever – no need to be more than in some way – a little better –
Speak to me of folk - I know how well you do to love them best of all – I do love thee – we shall be together and speak of how wonderful this time is - when the sun sets shall we run ? – run now my darling – run away now with me . . . . .

. . . . . these days are so filled with choices and questions – I wish to say good bye to all of it – to know you - how filled with grace in wilderness we both might be - ribald and comrades – warm as long held hands – entwined - wild as can be - searching all of the worlds for truth or lies - changelings when ever we wanted it so to be . . . . .

. . . . in this place there is a door here – a glass way – a portal to a poorly made society – lost in the sand sea there are men who hate freely – is it possible they could hate love ? – I would rather they hated me - then they might only be badly mistaken instead they are doomed– yesterday in Gaza ( during the Second beginning ) some men shot at and killed parents and children attending a school social event. – they did this because they say it is wrong for young male and female children to play together and to listen to pop music – they say they will attack School Sports Day events throughout the summer where these sins are committed. . . . .they did this in God's name . . . .

There is a wondrous thread that weaves thru all my days filling me with hope in the hours in between the darkest times and first light - Do you know how I do love thee ?

As ever I remain your devoted protector ……….


copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007

Yesterday - a map for the second beginning

This boy cumza moi ta tell his dada gonna kill im ifen he done marries a girl back ome – lies a wiv her n meks her wiv kid – mek him settle and love god but – he done wanna – he wanna shake and roll ta rapz und hopitty hips sway in the far off- I seez a “thug” fra Indus wiv skarff around his throat – eyes a bulgein like a dead fu nothin’ – I’m wide awake ….As Imaad and I ran further away from the shooting I began to realise that no one was chasing us though bullets whistled past us and made sparks as they hit the steel rail tracks or kicked up the small stones on which the tracks were laid. Eventually the sound of the rifles firing behind us grew distant and we were safe for a while. It was then I realised the men firing the rifles were not trying to hit us. They were merely having fun. Still the railway tracks lay spread before us in a tangled weave of rusting or shining steel. We ran more slowly. My heart was pounding and I was covered in a cold sweat from head to toes. I was glad to slow down. The boy moved easily over the rails. I could only follow with much less grace. The tracks extended before us for a half mile before they ran inside huge warehouses which flanked the rail yards on three sides. The fourth side of the yard was where the tracks entered the yard from every place in the country.

There , I saw it. Out of the corner of my best eye .I saw it go by. Some thing shadowy and quick. I heard some one saying "Tanke ya ..... plezeia dona taka touton mi .....tanke ya fu mi lyf ava merzey on mi a myna ....... phew ! ........ aynt roight .........te bee su scare ..........y tanke lud fo te sun on ma ...........blezz mi fren un famli ........... I feel loiyk puttin as many FULL STOPS BETWEEN the THING chasing me ............................az i can. Does the THING a chase meh does know who eye can bee und oo mite u bee ? U urd that noo singa called Babel ? I done one no ear da muzik dat is undangerooz. Momda buys it fo meh cos fink eye done know diffeuns. Babel iz part of wayz ta mek eye powless. Meh wan ear n feel stuff med of heart n art n fo peepul lyk uz. Peepul lyk uz is evry wear scared to nearly arf to deff coz we cud dizpear when walkytalky people decide evry thing fo uz. Snot az bad a dat do. No, ope is eye as kyt and spirit saws like a muzica wiv god reason in the high of summat yung and byootifu". Juss cos ent got no legs n ands dont mean I gotta lissen cliff a richard n jesus songs. Ize a young un giv us dem Muse traks und Radya ead.

Hearing things now and am I seeing the shadow of angels or ghouls out the corner of my eye? Running. I'm only out of breath, not hope. Bound to be feeling the strain now. Glad to be feeling tired out because I knew that I was. Glad to be feeling that there was some thing rational to it. I was tired, I felt tired that was very good. I supposed for the first time in my life that it was possible to be afraid of any thing or every thing. I don't know why but that seemed to me to be slightly re assuring.

Ever been in a terrifying dream and tried to get out of it. Underneath the terror you know it will end. Underneath it all you know you have never come to physical harm in a dream. This was different. I was slowly falling to pieces. Every part of me ached and I could smell the world we were in and it was beginning to stink. I knew I was awake but was not sure if I was sleeping. I know. It is with me now. Some thing is chasing me. I can tell by the look in his eyes that Imaad knows what I know. Some thing terrible is with us and it goes where I go.
I see me running while I look at Imaad skipping over rail tracks as deftly as a young buck deer. I see me from above and running and hearing men shouting behind us. I hoped each step took us further from the danger. I just hoped that what lay ahead would less be dangerous and more comfortable. I felt weak from stress. I ran around the corner of a high brick wall and found Imaad sitting waiting for me. He looked hard in my face and said one word. " Rest". I fell to my knees and tried to breathe again. Soon I was able to sit back against the wall which was warm through my shirt. It felt good to be stationery. It felt good to be with my young friend. We would go on after a little rest.
I felt an over whelming desire to sleep. But this was not the place. I knew if we stayed sitting for more than a few minutes we would both fall asleep out there in the open. Five minutes later we were on our feet and moving. The sun began to dip and the evening began to fall. The shadows began to lengthen, spreading slowly and softly across and over every thing. I hoped we might be safer in the darkness of the night when we might travel or rest undetected.

There it was again, like an old familiar tune or a fragrance from childhood days. It was the strangest feeling. It was part of my experience. It made me sad and lonely. At the edges of or beginnings of depression it made me envious in a vague way. I seemed to be missing some thing I'd once had but could not remember what it was. I felt bereft and I was overwhelmed by the sensation of time running. Time was all I had. I knew this because time passed but had not yet run out. I had little else but this time that passed reassuringly. I suddenly felt ridiculous. Here I was analysing things when I couldn't even be sure that I was using my real name. Hi, I'm .................I'm very pleased to meet with you............I call myself R .

It is 7.43a.m. The sun tips up over the edge of Stanton Reach as the GARden crew begin the days work mystic raking the sand and scrubbing the flags.There is just one day to go before the Cream Days festival again. Beyond the pipe crew shelter a man rides slowly steering his tall black charger across a market square in the pale dawn light again. His name is Matthew. One other accompanies him riding a smaller lesser creature. The few people going about their business at this early hour hurry in any directions that lead away from the riders.
( technical note : a small regenerator propcard goes down in the clean air melkers. Filters racked 1112/45 to s8yewf/22211 are switched in automatically. Qualm Alarms 12ty 9 and 234re9 are triggered again) This time we watch terrified the Second beginning will never end. The Tanium is swollen with the emotional outputs at the very heart of the Ring and it is nearly time to let you out and in on a very big secret – Imshalla …

copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007

The weather has been glorious and at the weekend I took the opportunity to get out on my favourite lake in Suffolk after pikey. I caught nine pike and a huge perch in blazing sunshine. The jack pike above was one of the smallest and was returned to water immediatley after the photo was taken, as always. Although the weather has been lovely , as I wrote last year, I am not sure we can really say it is any thing like normal or healthy for the long term prognosis on global warming. Although some people have been saying, correctly, that there has always been fluctuations in warming down the centuries this is another warmest month since records began in the seventeenth century. This ends a long lean spell of not catching fish a bit like Chelsea FC’s European cup hunt.

Tonight I am a happy man. Larry was mistaken. It never looked like a Chelsea Milan European final did it? Well it don’t now - LOL. Well Murinho you can moan and whine now with good cause and your pre match gripes will be remembered every time we taunt you with your lack lustre efforts. Sorry Chelsea you are just not European Championship winning material. Chelsea were ordinary with a few moments where we could see where the money went. Any way it’s down the pan now. I suppose that is the penalty for not being any good at taking them. Murinho's post defeat speech was very funny and deeply revealing. He is yet again convinced the better team lost. He prattled on about how "history will remember the cup winner not that Chelsea played better football than every one else". For once he is right. People will not remember Chelsea or him for playing the best football in Europe. Murinho definitely needs the Shankley Cure. Ten minutes at Anfield in the trophy room. It cures all doubters where ever they hail from. Raffa simply said he just cared about the win. The Kop choir was wonderful. We definitely sang the best as always.

Tony Blair has just circulated a self assessment of his career as Prime Minister to all New Labour MP s. I wonder if he recommends a return to any Old Labour policies. Things are so bad the suggestion wouldn’t be shouted down quite so much as it might have been a few years ago. Tonight he was described, by a colleague, as a good party leader but a poor Prime Minister. I don’t see how he can be the first and the second at the same time. First Supperists seem to have hit the nail on the head re Health Service issues in recent comments and I suggest most of your views are representative of national opinion.

There used to be four bands of care offered by Social Services. They were graded according to need. Now there are two bands. Soon there will be one and only those with the most extreme needs will be eligible for access to a social worker. Reason - cost. There are not enough resources in the service to deliver appropriate care. Social workers come in for a lot of criticism some of which is deserved but I don't hear many plaudits which is unfair. There are some skilled and deeply committed social workers but many of them are disillusioned and leaving the service because their work is not properly resourced.

Well I must not dwell on negatives we have a European Cup Final to go to in Athens four days after the EBB plays it’s first show there. I hope the ‘POOL play as well as we shall.

copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007

photo by Lamerie - manipulation by oddsocks

The photo above (my favourite) comes from a competition on FlickR run by Lamerie who took the original photo at an EBB rehearsal. All contributions are very clever and or very funny and some are utterly degrading (LOL). Thanks Lamerie and all contributors.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/pscomp/discuss/72157600083505276/#comment72157600110054589

“The spirits” traps a deaf woman, of around fifty, outside her kitchen. They won’t allow her to go in. She has no food in the kitchen. A psychiatrist arranges for food to be bought for her. The psychiatrist, who signs, is one of two responsible for the welfare of all deaf mentally ill folk in the UK. A social worker arrives to find the woman cannot access the food. She can eat it if it is prepared for her and she can eat it outside the kitchen. The woman is mentally very unwell. Effectively she has no one else to look after except for when the social worker visits and access to the psychiatrist every two months. There is little or no help for this woman. Resources provided don’t run to adequate support.

More patients will have to pay 'top-up' fees for private care because of budget cuts in the NHS and long waiting times, a group of doctors say in a report. Doctors for Reform says the idea that health care is free across the UK is now a "political mirage".The number of people working in the NHS fell by 11,000 in the last quarter of 2006, official figures reveal. Health unions said the loss across the UK, revealed in Office for National Statistics, would "inevitably have a negative impact on patient care".
James Johnson, head of the British Medical Association said NHS trusts were under pressure to balance their books, leading to posts being cut.
Warren Town, the Radiographer’s society's director of industrial relations, speaking about proposed Government pay awards said: "This is the first time that any government has staged an increase that is below the rate of inflation and is, in real terms, a cut. "A stand must be taken against the government's move to underpay the people that they claim are absolutely key to delivering NHS targets that they have set. "Morale in the NHS was bad before but this penny-pinching has sent it to rock bottom."
A New labour proposal that vulnerable people be tagged so as to be able to ascertain their whereabouts if they go missing will require far more resources than a bag of discarded ASBO tags. But that is nothing new in so far as almost no New Labour proposals ever see the kind of funding necessary to make them workable.

John Smith paid into a compulsory pension Fund all of his working life. It was a condition of employment. He discovered his employer was going broke 1 year before he retired. Gordon Brown promised he would look into it. John Smith may receive up to 50% of his pension but Brown has renagued on his promise. John Smith killed himself with carbon monoxide gas in his garage on an early spring sunny Sunday afternoon.

Millions of Iraqis have been forced to leave their homes because of the continuing violence in the country. Many of them have fled to Damascus where the Syrian government is asking why the Americans and the British are not doing more to ease the refugee problem. In a recent TV documentary it was clear that The American forces of occupation are fighting a losing battle. Soldiers spoke of there being no end in sight. A sergeant spoke of “not being trained for this” while his men sheltered behind an armoured vehicle as dozens of mortar shells rained in on them. Insurgent violence is on the increase and Iraqis who once were happy at the fall of Saddam are now hostile and resentful. The TV program showed helicopters flying wounded soldiers into hospitals every twenty minutes or so. Injuries are horrific. Major towns once held by the Americans have been lost to the insurgents in the past few days. British journalists have been unable to access areas held by the Americans. It seems that the American hold on territory is so fragile that they don’t want to us to know they are losing the battle for hearts and minds. Gone is the gung ho attitude of young American soldiers. A look of fear and bewilderment seems to have replaced the confident attitude of troops every where. A recent news cast telling how the Americans killed 46 insurgents was investigated by a British journalist who went to see for himself. The news report was found to be totally bogus and in fact the Americans lost some troops not the other way around. It seems clear that vested interests are determined to wage this war regardless of cost or outcome. I believe this war will prove to be one of the most costly mistakes the so called coalition has ever made and it will run on for years.

On a more positive note the sun is shining , summer is around the corner and Scottish Water and Thames Water seemed to have stemmed the flow of raw sewage into the Firth of Forth after two and half days. Residents have complained about the smell from the area for a long time. Rob Kirkwood who is a member of Leith Links residents association claims the the plant has an infrastructure that is basically Third World technology.

copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007

So, lot’s of praise for Jean Luc’s photos and deservedly so. I don’t think I have seen better pictures of the EBB from any where though Chrissie Hamlyn got some crackers at the last 100 Club gig which is not the easiest of venues to take photos in.
http://jeanluc104.aceblog.fr/

We are beginning to recover from the German gigs which we all enjoyed. I fear some of us older ones feel the strain for longer though I am not certain there is much difference between us. Some times the long journeys are tedious but in such good company the miles fly by. The gigs were hot and steamy and that takes its toll. Some of the venues were the furnaces that are typical small clubs jammed with folks which we all found tough going. One night Steve had a grievance against a very unprofessional crew who left a battery of lights full on above his head during the song Green Lights. Worst of all the lights were red. The last gig was a great way to end and stuffed with folk bopping to the EBB. Hey Tone here is a thought. You give up guitar playing and I'll give up slagging you off - NOT!

It looks as though Tony Bush’s reign is almost at end. Good riddance to the pumped up little upstart who changed the way a whole cabinet pronounced the word “ services”. New labour is full of such irrelevance and meaningless terminology. Gordon looks like a kid about to get his first sexual encounter but I don’t think he is man enough for the job. I have been looking back over the Blair reign and I have found lot’s of discrepancies in what was promised and that which was delivered. Even if we could remove the Iraq-atross from around Tony’s neck he still comes out of it all with a diminished profile and will be remembered by many of us as a liar and deceiver. For a man who accused the Tories of being Kings and Queens of sleaze he has done poorly while taking the art of spin to new heights. He seems on balance to be much more ordinary than I first thought. I think we might judge a governments success by looking at the improvements for quality of life of the poor , the elderly, the sick, the home less and the state of our children. We all know what UNICEF had to say about the latter. In my work with young people I see New Labour writ bold across the new policies for crime prevention etc but I see little or no improvement in the quality of their lives. I am involved in filling out more paper forms and returns than ever and how ever they add it all up, if they do at all, I see no real desire on governments part to effect meaningful change. Most of the current paper work seems to me to have only one clear outcome. That is to be able to determine where every young person on a youth service’s books is or was, at any given time. I would bet that 99% of young people I work with have never even heard of G. Orwell. We imprison more young offenders in the UK than any where else in Europe.

On October 4th 2002 The United Nations warned the UK government that their refusal to ban smacking in the home was a serious violation of the international convention to protect the rights of children. I wonder what First Supperists think about physical disciplining of children.

"States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child..."UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 19

NSPCC Director Mary Marsh said: ‘We want to contest the idea that hitting children is 'common sense, the normal thing to do. It's not - it's wrong, ineffective and can be harmful. The Government has a clear responsibility to take a lead…’"
In September 1998, the European Court ordered the United Kingdom government to pay £10,000 compensation to a boy who was repeatedly caned by his stepfather (the case of "A v UK"). This was the first case concerning parental corporal punishment to be considered by the Court. Prosecution of the stepfather in a UK court had failed on the grounds that the punishment was "reasonable chastisement". The European Court unanimously found the punishment violated Article 3 of the European Convention ("No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"). It cited the UN Convention, stating that there must be "effective deterrence" to protect children and other vulnerable individuals.
New Labour has dragged it’s feet regarding doing much about this issue and will not be remembered for it’s radical approach to such matters involving young people and parents. Remember they wanted to be able to take an offender to a cash point and fine them on the spot. They wanted to make big in roads re educating young people about using drugs. Today’s figures related to the exercise and the Talk to Frank campaign failure is another example of SPIN WON’T WIN. Come on Tony clear off and clean up on the American lecture tour circuit. Your mate Maggie did very well out of abusing this nation I seem to remember.

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/home/home.htm

copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007

Germany 2007

strange chairs seen out side an art gallery

evening over roof tops

The EBB arrived back in London from Germany via Belgium and Calais at around midnight last night. Some of us had further still to travel and Spadge our driver and road angel was ultimately headed for Oxford. Saturday was a long day for him. Thanks for all your good stuff mate. Thanks must also go to tour manager Kris Gray who booked the German dates and Connie and all our friends in Osnabruck.

some dressing room fare

Again it has to be noted that the food and hospitality offered in Germany is far superior to that offered in the UK to a band like us and all with out any fuss or bother.

eurotecture

a stones throw away

A stones throw away from the bulding pictured above is the zen garden by the Japanese Tea House in the English Garden in Munich. Finding this was a high light for me. I spent a day off wandering around this part of town. I shot some video of young guys surfing on a fast water course running nearby which produced a freak wave. I'll show some stills from it in a later post.

Not what you think

The tour has been great fun with many high lights and few lows and we are all looking forward to playing in Athens on May 19th. One high light of the last German leg was meeting up with Man. We had a few good laughs with these guys. It was good to be with genuinely nice people and share the same stage. There is also some thing different about the Man show. There is a music in it that is surprising and deep. Great to see the young guitarists George and Josh with drummer Bob and the paternal Martin Ace, on bass, still flying the Taff flag. They all came onstage at the last gig to join in on Poppy, our last song of the night. We played three gigs together in Germany and look forward to seeing the guys again at the Berg Hertzburg Festival on the 25 th July. The EBB as individuals all have favourite gigs from this tour, often the ones where the sound was good for them onstage that night. My favourites were slightly different from every one elses but we all concur on what we think were the the very best nights. For me being on the road with the guys in EBB is the best thing and working together to improve things every day.

Up coming plans include adapting the show for Athens and getting a festival show together for the German festival. We have lots of ideas about how we might enhance the live show. We will be looking at replacing some “old songs” with other “old songs” such as Death of an Electric Citizen and There’s No Vibrations for starters. It also time to up date some parts of the show we will keep. Steve and Art have been developing a slowed down version of Metal Sunday off Super Chip. We will also be looking at new songs for a new recording project. We want to have new EBB material available for the 2008 Tour.

copyright e d g a r b r o u g h t o n 2007