Wednesday 27 May 2009

On not being Fifty

Last year I had a smashing, amazing birthday party (well I enjoyed it anyway), as it was one of those with a zero at the end. Attendees included Hearns, Millers, Crooks, Harrieses, Deardens, Brown, Herbert, Speedwell, Cousinses, Turtle, Gray, Parrs, Bracegirdles, Chubbs and Proudfoots. And many others.

And I got lots and lots of lovely killer presents, too many to mention, really. Lots of books of course (I'm still reading them) and booktokens, a shiny new camera, and a CD from Mr Miller that I very much appreciated. Ian Dury's New Boots and Panties, including the original demo tape version of many of the tracks. Since it is a fave of mine, that was pretty good. I want to write at more length about the differences between the two versions another time.

But it is now a year later. For Bilbo, 112. A quiet birthday, then. One main present, from the family. But like the Dury last year, a perfect choice.

The Liberty of Norton Folgate - is getting lots of rave reviews. Some saying things like it's Madness's best album so far. It certainly is great fun - a cod Dickensian whirligig theme album based upon a tiny area of Spitalfields. I keep playing it and humming it (not a pretty sound). See http://www.youtube.com/user/MadtubeMTV.

No comments: