Nirvana live at the London Astoria Lame Fest, Sunday 3 December 1989: Gig ticket-inspired memories from my first ever grunge gig… plus my surprise discovery 36 years later that there exists a photograph with both Kurt Cobain and me in the same frame.
What is the most powerful legacy – the most “you” thing – that you could leave to the world?
Your life’s journey in music can and should be one of endless discovery.
The Cure’s Robert Smith and thoughts of lost worlds. If you are lucky enough to live long enough, the world you cherish will become a lost world to you.
Is constantly giving our all – always seeing 100% as the bare minimum – the wisest or most sustainable approach to life and to work?
The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night is an eternally fresh delight of a film – and it is also somehow sixty years old today.
Beastie Boys: A close encounter in 1994 – exactly 30 years ago. Memories that feel simultaneously like yesterday and from another lifetime.
Unlikely but true: 1980s UK TV type Jeremy Beadle helped organise and promote the 1972 Bickershaw festival, featuring the Grateful Dead, Hawkwind, Donovan and more.
When you are on a winning streak, there will inevitably come a moment when you are not. Once you’re out of that white-hot space, how do you adapt to life on the other side?
Belated cybermen, unexpected badgers and grunge memories! A few personal highlights from December 2023, captured in tiny wee snapshots.
MJCarty 