Robin Allender

But… but is there *ANY* way this could be a woman’s fault…?

Robin Allender Robin Allender. London, UK.

It’s Bandcamp Friday if anyone fancies chowing down on some tunes. New music this year I promise!

robinallender.bandcamp.com

Kier Starmer to perform a live 'apology rap' in a move his closest allies are calling 'misguided' and 'a mistake'

BREAKING: New SNL UK line up revealed

view down on an empty street between buildings, a figure walks crossing the road and a long ray of sunlight illuminates them and the street.

Brenton Salo, Walk Through the Light, Havanna, Cuba, 2015

brentonsalo.com

Awake at 3am my brain decided to treat me to a montage of the worsts gigs I’ve ever done, good stuff 👍

Ha yes. I do sometimes find it’s getting a bit weird for weird’s sake. Like the Gwendoline Christie bit was hilarious but I wonder if it serves any purpose plot-wise (haven’t finished the series yet though I should add).

*to!

Yeah I imagine they all knew what what was happening and they switched them when they were out there, but it felt like they could have made more of that maybe? I’m loving the second series but it’s got a different vibe that took me a while to adjust too.

Yeah I like When God Shines His Light. I was actually trying to find a good example of Van being cheesy in the 80s but couldn’t because I liked them all too much. Possibly Evening Meditation, but again I love that track, and it’s also quite weird!

Oh brilliant thank you! I look forward to reading!

Ah thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah Red and Blue were big for us too. Blue always created such a puzzling narrative with the Spector strings on Long & Winding Road. Without any context it made you think they’d gone mad.

The Bernard O’Donoghue one is good too, if you’re looking for a fifth

Started reading Sam Tallent’s novel about stand-up Running the Light. Why are Americans obsessed with the idea of stand-up being this subversive, decadent art form? It’s people talking in rooms above pubs.

Like something lost inside your overcoat I’ve been listening to Chris Rea and thinking about the blues

I wrote about Chris Rea, the importance of the music you heard on the car stereo growing up, and ‘cool’ and ‘uncool’ music

open.substack.com/pub/robinall...

Watching Severance S2 at last. In the episode where they have their away weekend, wouldn’t the innies be confused/intrigued by the prospect of sleep? Aside from Irving’s naps, they’ve never experienced it before.

Poster advertising an evening with Danny McNamara from Embrace

Poster advertising an evening with John Power from Cast

Poster advertising an evening with Martin Rossiter from Gene

What’s going on

16th Century Oblique Strategies.

YouTube video by Cervavel Bruce Springsteen - I'm On Fire

youtu.be/iLtGTwIxZZs?...

The paperback edition of Small Hours and biography of John Martyn

Heading in the opposite direction... John Martyn died on this day in 2009. The subject of my 2020 book, Small Hours: The Long Night of John Martyn.

Phew!

This Roy Keane film does include the line ‘you can shove this World Cup up your bollocks’ doesn’t it? Would really be missing a trick if that wasn’t in it. I mean they should have called the film that to be fair.

Haha I owe you! Thanks all.

Little repost of my podcast with @benpester.bsky.social. Loved The Expansion Project. One for @backlisted.bsky.social fans I reckon!

Severance

Sharron Davies ranting against 15 minute cities, because of course she is.

Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph saying she wants to... kill all dogs??

Julie Burchill asking "does it matter if Grok undresses us all?" in The Spectator

Graham Linehan in the midst of his now four-day-long double down on Alex Pretti's murder being justified and fine.

Calling transphobia a 'gateway drug' to the far right undersells it. It's pure accelerant. Grimly fascinating to guess what crankery becomes any famous transphobe's secondary obsession, cos they all have one: 15 minute cities are fascism! Grok noncing is cool! ICE are good! We should kill all dogs!

Every picture of Neil Young with a pono makes him look like a ‘sovereign citizen’ from Yeovil measuring 5G near birds and cats.

DurInG the eight years Pnin had taught at Waindell College he had changed his lodgings - for one reason ot another, mainly sonic - about every semester. The accumulation of consecutive rooms in his memory now resembled those displays of grouped elbow chairs on show, and beds, and lamps, and inglenooks which, ignoring all space-time distinctions, commingle in the soft light of a furniture store beyond which it snows, and the dusk deepens, and nobody really loves anybody.

Please enjoy this opening to a chapter of Nabokov’s Pnin

The errant apostrophe in Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart is actually a badge of autodidacticism

Book cover trends