Motorblog Checking The Smorgasboard: Had a very early blood test appointment at the Hospital this am and 2 seats away from me this guy sneezes and blows his nose. Agreed he had a handkerchief, which is rare these days as kids usually just hawk it back and swallow, but why did he have to sit there for 45 seconds inspecting the pebbledash? Shame I didn't check his face, it might have been Philthy Animal Taylor?

Motorblog Doom And Gloom: Mick Farren's bee debate continues alongside prospective doom and gloom speculation for December 21st, 2012 on http://www.doc40.blogspot.com
And although these are NOW concerns, none are more NOW than our Message Board misery from MHB 1608 Frank Morello who lost his Motorhead collection in a home fire. And if Frank's MHB # hasn't, I can tell you he's been a Motorheadbanger since February 3rd, 1996, so his collection must have been quite extensive as such a long-time fan.
Without repeating my Message Board words to Frank here, most of us can imagine how he feels, losing your home is bad enough, personal possessions even worse. Fire is an awful thing, but at least none of his family perished in the tragedy, and this is the part that counts the most.

Motorblog Feeling Loath: to write any Blogs for fear of you guys missing the info on these knockout vinyl releases below, but at the same time find I'm pinching myself wondering why said vinyl has crept back into my life when once I believed it dead and buried for good.
With the advent of CD I hastily sold the majority of my vinyl whilst the price was good and yes, have, on more than one occasion, regretted the move severely.
But I kept some of it, and in tandem also ensured the hi-fi with a record-playing facility was always available, so maybe I wasn't too convinced after all?
And now we seem to be going in much the same direction with VHS video, and as Blogged last week, even our original DVD's seem to have a rope gradually tightening around their neck in favour of HD DVD!
Well, some folks out there can still play the old 78 rpm records, and I have several friends who own Juke Boxes that play the vinyl 45's; so regardless of trend and fashion, maybe none of it will ever fade away completely?
Both of these vinyl releases below stem from Germany, and there it seems vinyl has never truly died. Virtually every CD release gets 1,000 also pressed in vinyl, and this increases pro-rata with the popularity of the band. And the reason the German's will not let vinyl die is quite simply because whatever your opinion, it does have quite an amazing sound that even the CD can and will never quite capture. It also has the fabulous 12" sleeve art and, for those such as I whom enjoy savouring a wide variety of fragrances, vinyl has a wonderful odour all of its own in comparison to the all-too sterile CD - which can only be paralleled, perhaps, to the devine smell of a steam locomotive vs the diesel.

Motorblog 'A German Underground Tribute To Motorhead': After the search into Motorhead's tribute releases in the April issue another worthy 10" white vinyl record has come to my notice which is very collectable. Titled as above, it features 3 tracks: 'No Class' by the V8 Wankers, 'Bomber' by The Egyptian Gay Lovers and 'Overkill' by So Fucking What. With such colourful band names this one is a must, so check out http://www.masterrockrecords.com or email Dirk Sasse: gun_shot_records@web.de Released on December 28th, 2006 this is a Limited Edition run of only 500 copies, and even though it will be featured in the August fanzine, better get an early copy...

Vinyl Junkies / Motorhead collector's see The Head Cat Blog 2 below...

Motorblog The Bee's Knees: With Mick Farren reporting in the LA City Beat about the lack of bees in America, (see http://www.doc40.blogspot.com ), there doesn't seem to be the same problem here in the UK?
At the top of the garden we have a 25 ft pear tree currently laden with blosssom and fairly humming with bees during the best 'sun-kissed' times of the day, which at present, is most of it due to its size and location. The words 'sun-kissed' were chosen after reading a between-the-wars beekeeping library book several years ago now, which told how bee's move around the garden following the nectar warmed by the sun's East to West travel.
So is this extreme lack of bee's Mick Farren is chuntering on about exclusive to the USA? Is it something Chris Carter might like to look at as a worthy storyline for Mulder, Scully, Riaz and Doggett to investigate as an X-Files episode?
I sincerely hope so as I am quite a big fan, and both Farren and Burridge would like some answers!
The Truth Is Out There - Somewhere.

Motorblog Head Cat 45 Now Availabale: No Balls Records have recently released a 7" 45rpm single of two songs by The Head Cat - 'Tell Me How' and 'Take Your Time.' In a Limited Edition sleeve and pressed on clear vinyl, this is something of a must for Motorheadbangers as a Collector's Item whether they can still play such an artefact or not.
For more information / to get your copy click http://www.no-balls-records.com or eMail stefan@no-balls-records.com This is something of a cracker and cannot wait until our August fanzine, so here we are right now. Do we bring you the best offers or what?

Motorblog Tis Only He Who Wears The Shoe: Mother passed away in 1981 and Father spent the following 21 years wishing he could join her, and finally did.
Next week I have my final hour of (essential) physio after the op, yet even three weeks ago I told them there were a few of the stretches and exercises I wouldn't do as it played up my sciattica. They told me just to do what I felt capable of, yet every week one of them asks me why I don't do certain parts? I tell them and they kind of smile wanly and, much like they are dealing with people who have gone through open heart surgery every day but haven't gone through it themselves, so too can they only imagine what chronic sciattica is like.
So what has this got to do with my parents?
Well, my father mourned my mother throughout those long years, and out on his walks to the cemetary from time to time, he bumped into our (now also deceased) local gamekeeper, Arthur 'Arty' Clothier. Arty always looked something of a rag-bag fellow dressed summer and winter in Wellington boots, a shabby suit, glasses, and a flat cap pulled down to rest on them; but he was a very colourful and prophetic character. Father told him once, (Arty was also married and his kids went to school with me), about how difficult it was trying to cope with losing a wife / husband / partner and that sadly, no one would know what it was like until it unfortunately happened to them. Arty nodded at Father and said: "Tis only he who wears the shoe who knows where it do pinch."
And that is what I said to one of the physio women yesterday regarding our rehab and my sciattica; and Arty's words pretty much sum up anything we might be suffering rather aptly.

Motorblog Reason Behind Their Madness: Our local Asda store has the whole of one side of an aisle chock-a-bloc full of cheap DVD's. £5, £3 and even £1 each they are attractive and there are some great movies up for grabs; and I expect some of the other major shops like HMV are kicking them out just as cheaply. And they are going out the doors by the trolley-full!
Why?
Well, even though it only seems like 5 minutes ago since DVD replaced video, they are now out-of-date.
Yep, absolutely and completely out-of-date!
Why again?
HD.
Very soon, well, 2012 isn't it, (?) we're going to have to own an HD TV or we don't get any TV full stop!
That's clever marketing isn't it, talk about grab you by the balls, talk about not having a choice any more; talk about George Orwell being right (again!) and we won't go near the July 1st smoking ban (again) either.
So to match your HD (High Definition) TV pictures and sound, you're going to need HD DVD's to match - hence the reason they're kicking out the 'old stock cheaply' right now.
They haven't told us outright quite yet that HD DVD's are going to cost £20 odd each have they?
No.
Well, they'll drop in price eventually I suppose, but the whole thing is yet another reflection of this recent world of ours where we don't get the opportunity to make choices any longer, we are just told what will happen and are expected to fall in line whether we like it or not.
George Orwell indeed.
Motorhead's first HD DVD will be 'Stage Fright.'

Motorblog Never Went To Bed With An Ugly Woman: Human nature dictates the more we do something the better we get at it, so 'Hard,' American Dog's 7th el pea, was obviously written and recorded with the wide and varied experiences of their previous 6; and it's very much their own 'Sgt. Pepper,' (so far); a knockout album! This comment, however, takes nothing away from the Dog's preceeding albums, as I said, everything is 'the best we can do' when we do it, but we better those 'bests' with our experiences in life as we move on.
But on 'Hard,' they did no more than get together to find some more new riffs as usual, but man, their riff-bag must have had some magic sprinkled inside it for this collection of songs, and they have also brought some acoustic guitars and keyboards into their picture here, and it works a treat, juxtaposing (I like that word) the acoustic with the electric, perfectly.
And even I made myself a little dint on the 'Rock 'n' Roll Dog' track. I've known (bass and vocals/lyricist) Michael Hannon for years as MHB 1636, and one email I said: "We have this saying here in England: "Never been to bed with an ugly woman, but I've woken up with quite a few," it'd fit the American Dog image well as a song or a lyric;' and Michael fitted it in on that track - knockout!
And not just that song for that reason, every track on this album is outstanding, bar none; yet the final song, aptly titled 'Magnificent Bastard,' is, well, an absolute magnificent bastard of a song with a magnificent bastard of a riff, (as far as I'm concerned it's one of my Top 10 all-time fave riffs!), and this is obviously the reason it was given the magnificent bastard title!
But hey, don't just sit there gibbering reading me rattling on about 'Hard,' log on to http://www.americandog.us and order your own Magnificent Bastard of a copy!

Motorblog Old Age What? After spending more than a few idle moments wondering if and when I'm ever going to cross this fabled line into old age, I've reached a conclusion. Old age has its uniform by which we are identified, and that, as far as I'm concerned, is on the other side of the line, and it's a long way off.
And this fabled line we may or may not cross, is this.
On the one side of it you're doing what you always did by wearing the jeans and a T-shirt. On the other, you're wearing a conventional shirt and tie and Marks & Spencer slacks.
And the reason most guys usually cross this imaginary line into old age where the jeans and T-shirt are exchanged for that conventional shirt, the tie and the M & S slacks, is this. If we keep wearing the favourite jeans and T-shirt we become known as 'the oldest swinger in town,' so we buy the M & S togs so that we blend into the anonymity and conformity of old age; to look, well, quite simply, old.
But right here and right now at 55 years of age, I can't see me doing that, so they'll definitely be calling me the oldest swinger in town.
Well, I can handle that, because when they say it, they never say it to your face.

Motorblog Get Your Act Together: Was the title of the Saxon/Harvey Goldsmith TV documentary aired last Tuesday evening. With Saxon's career failing, top promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, was brought in to pull them out of the nosedive.
My friend, Eric, told me it had been edited to make the band look bad, edited that the rest of the band and manager were made to just smile and let Biff do the talking. Plainly, Biff didn't like the idea of anyone changing Saxon, burned, and probably burned badly on too many occasions in the past, he had the idea 'if it ain't broke, why try and fix it?'
For me, Harvey did what their manager should have done but was probably afraid to. With Biff's attitude, not that it was Rotweiller all the time, I cannot see any manager getting anywhere with him once his mind was set; so, why have a manager? With the control Biff semed to have, being a manager for Saxon seemed to be little more than having a whipping-boy to blame when things went wrong. At the Classic Rock Awards the manager did nothing but look lost and incompetant. Harvey arranged rock radio interviews for Biff, Mr. Manager could and should have done that!
The only thing I felt sorry for Saxon about was the 'air-guitar-football-pitch-fiasco;' with the half-time result as it was Harvey should have baled out and cancelled, it was no more than an exercise in gross humiliation. Agreed, the idea was to get X-thousand football fans to hear Saxon's new single and maybe get them to buy tickets for their Sheffield 'Homecoming Show,' but one should know when to be tactful, and on that occasion, Harvey didn't!
Overviewing, the programme didn't really do Saxon any favours. Their penny-pinching recording studio in the middle of nowhere, as Harvey said, can hardly be inspirational. Saxon are a great band, good grief, they came-to-fame on The Bomber Tour for goodness sake, but they seem to be the parallel of what would have happened to Motorhead had Lemmy not migrated to Los Angeles. Fair play, Saxon are doing their thing, making ends meet, and they don't have to clock in at the local factory - but only just.

Motorblog The Great Hot X Bun Debate: made 2 UK National newspapers yesterday, the Star was one as I read it myself. Of course, the hospital denied any cultural or religious reasons behind the Good Friday Bun Famine, but instead, the head cook limp-wristedly took the rap with "I forget to bake them!"

Motorblog EBay Fiddle: It's one of the commonest occurences when bidding on EBay. The item starts at maybe 99 pence, then, as the closing hours grow closer bids come streaming in and the price gets hiked up to £30 or £40.
This happened to me on a Motorhead item recently, when it reached £37 I baled out of the bidding.
Of course, someone else won the item, or so I believed?
Two days later I get an eMail from the seller saying the top bidder coudn't pay and would I like the item anyway?
Take a hike, buster!
What was happening was, our seller had asked a friend of his to bid and hike up the price.
But then, by baling out, I caught them with their trousers down.
They thought I'd bid again, but I smelled a rat and didn't.
So, take care when bidding for stuff, and if each time you bid someone comes in over you, bale out and give 'em he finger. The item will come up again some day, patience is a virtue, especially to the CD collector.

Motorblog Hot X Buns Part 2: Interesting to note, yet not due to my diatribe below, the lack of Hot X Buns at our local Hospital made the front page of today's Bournemouth Daily Echo newspaper. The decision was obviously reconsidered over the Easter Weekend by the hierarchy after the furore caused by hospital staff, and the buns, (usually given out on Good Friday), were reinstated and given to patients on Easter Sunday.
The storm in a teacup now over, a normal cup of tea with a Hot X Bun was then enjoyed.
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news

Motorblog Hot X Buns Indeed: Just read Mick Farren's http://doc40.blogspot.com/ and he mentioned "back in the UK they will be having Hot X Buns" and it's obviously one aspect of living in LA he's missing.
But my wife, Jane, arrived home from shift at our local Hospital yesterday to say that, (after 17 years of working there, and it happened every Good Friday, until now), the patient's are no longer going to get their Hot X Buns.
It was tradition!
It was what happened!
When one of her colleagues asked "Where are the Hot X Buns?" she was informed: "The Hospital Trust has decided not to provide them as it might upset or offend patients of other ethnic backgrounds / religions."
Excuse me?
I'm pretty open-minded about everything, but this is OUR country!
What ever happened to When in Rome, do as the Roman's do?
They need not eat the darned Hot X Buns if they find them offensive, so why should their choice of living in the UK and using the hospitals stop others, whose tradition it is, from doing so?
Even though religions vary, God must be pretty much the same geezer, mustn't he?
When we visit or migrate to other countries, we are expected to embrace their traditions and culture, so why do we have to change ours to accomodate them?

Mick Farren also quoted an excellent site if you enjoy looking at pulp fiction and paperback book covers from the past: http://www.vintagepbks.com/

Motorblog Tat-Too Confused? It's not difficult to confuse me sometimes, I admit, and after having a good look through 'Motorhead Forever' on the band's http://www.imotorhead.com website I'm wondering why our tattoo'd MHB's send me their tattoo photos for publication in the MHB's World fanzine? On the 'Motorhead Forever' pages they are shown in full colour, yet in the fanzine we can only manage to do so in black and white.
No doubt it is the pride, and tattoo'd people, especially tattoo'd Motorheadbangers, are very proud of the artwork portrayed on their bodies and are happy having them shown via any medium available. Every photo featured in 'Motorhead Forever' is quite something, and anyone who has been a Motorhead fan for some length of time will be familiar with those belonging to Thomas Huls - who's been featured in the band's 'God Save The Queen' video, amongst others, showing off his Motorhead body art. They are a credit to those to whom they adorn, so when you're leafing through those on 'Motorhead Forever,' take a look, not only at Thomas', but also those belonging to Peter Wagner and Kerry O'Neil, they are quite something, too - but there again, aren't they all!

Motorblog Tribute Appreciated: Pleasing so many MHB's enjoyed the feature on the Motorhead Tribute albums in the April fanzine. "I didn't know there were so many!" some said, and "There's another one you missed called..." and so on. This is great, this is what a Fan Club and Motorheadbangers is all about - interaction between us - knockout!

Motorblog A Square Dart Board! Well, it was April 1st yesterday, and one of the Sunday papers had a photo of darts champ, Phil Taylor, alongside a square dart board! It told of how the round boards are out of date and the top UK dart's organisations are about to introduce the new square boards into future contests. Nice one!