Member: nickhoonaloon

Hello Nick, Sorry I have taken so long to reply. Hope the weather in York was better than we have been having this last week.

I haven't done any walking for a while and hope to get back into it soon, though it's not much fun round here when the ground is waterlogged. I'm not up on the Ramblers internal politics so can't comment.

posted by Stilestrider at 2:41 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2009

Hello, Interesting to see your Library and to read your profile. I am a member of the Ramblers too. Happy walking and reading!

posted by Stilestrider at 2:28 am (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

Hello Nick,

I would like to make few comments on your review of Maugham's "Cakes and Ale". Of course you are at perfect liberty not to like to book and if you don't find it a plesant reading or it gives you nothing to enrich your personality, there is nothing wrong with that. I won't comment on that. Some of your statements, however, are downright wrong.

Maugham wrote this book not "out of retirement", but at the height of his activity as a writer, namely the late 1920s when he was writing novels, short stories and plays at the same time. He also didn't write the book for money. That's pretty sure because he could have made much more writing plays. That's indeed what he did, some 20 years before "Cakes and Ale". By the time he wrote this satire (not parody, which is something completely different) he was very rich indeed he had bought his villa on the Riviera few years before that and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle there.

Take care,
Alexander

posted by Waldstein at 6:59 am (EST) on Sep 11, 2009

My top-of-the-mind response is "Modern Music", but "Maid in Heaven" is in contention, too.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 7:11 am (EST) on May 26, 2009

Hey Nick,

I was interested to read your comments regarding my grandmother Isabel Brown's book "Red Roses For Isabel. I hold much the same view you expressed, that it was her actions rather than her beliefs that are important. I only wish I could have got to know her better before her death, to ask the questions I have now.

It's nice to know that her books are out there and people are reading about this formidable woman.

Cheers

Hedley Brown

posted by vinylhed at 5:27 pm (EST) on May 16, 2009

Hey Nick,

if you are mostly reasonable you are doing better than most :)

Anyway cheers for this Nick I will be sure to keep my eyes opens and let you know if anything catches my eye.

Yes I just read the political poems there, I think it is the first time I have been quoted anywhere :P

All the best Nick,

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 8:54 am (EST) on May 16, 2009

Hey Nick,

sorry to leave you hanging I haven't had time to go on LT for a little while. I assumed you wouldn't take offense as you seem like quite a reasonable person :)

Anyway I had a look through and there is nothing I am massively interested in to be honest. They look like good vinyls and well kept though I am not mad about the artists or indeed there are some I am not familiar with.

You are right about the Mighty Diamonds, they are not to everybody's taste. I have to go to these things to scratch more reggae legends off the "go and see" list.

I will try and stay abreast of any new things on ebay but you might keep me posted as regards some other vinyls. If you cant it is no biggy I can keep looking through them.

Thanks again Nick :)

All the best,

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 6:51 am (EST) on May 4, 2009

Yep.
In my case, I mis-heard Hendrix as singing " 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy."
(It's pretty well documented that he DID sing it that way on occasion, too...
see http://www.kissthisguy.com/jimi.php )

This is actually a known phenomenon - if you're not already familiar, may I point you to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen

There are several books that collect these mis-heard lyrics, too: see [[Gavin Edwards]]

- Bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 1:43 pm (EST) on Apr 19, 2009

Hey Nick,

thank you very much, that is a very gracious offer. Maybe if you do decide to put anything up specifically reggae related you could throw a link my way.

Incidentally I was supposed to go see the Mighty Diamonds on the 1st April but it was pushed back to the 3rd of June. Nonetheless looking forward to that one.

Cheers Nick.

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 8:42 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

>What was he like in person?

Gentle, and VERY quiet - quiet to the point that our recording was just about unusable. (We were shockingly young-and-inexperienced interviewers, too, which didn't help.) Somewhere I might have a photograph of him in his hotel room (just one of the zillions of photos I should scan...).

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 5:09 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

Hey! I'm a closet Bill Nelson fan.

I did college radio in the 70s: as a consequence, I saw Be-Bop D twice - and actually interviewed Nelson...

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 7:29 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2009

Dear Nick,

How are you? A belated merry Christmas - and happy new year! How did your little one enjoy it all?

My own writing is a more and more pressing longing, without much actuality. Finding structured time for it is a New Year's goal. I imagine classes are very good for setting a priority on it, and really helping you set aside the time. How much they help with technique, I don't know. - I assume it varies wildly! But writing is the key to writing, I think, so you could prosper with or without them. Just as appeals to you.

I also have been so absent from LT that, on finally making a post, someone's just said they thought I'd abandoned the site. A pity. But the outside world does seem to eat a day's hours ravenously.

Congratulations were on my book collection topping 1500. Nothing greater, but not an un-enjoyable thing.

I just saw reprints of The Shadow and like older pulp stories, and thought of you.

If you do take up writing, or classes, let me know you get on! Being asked is a good prompt for me, to act on what I've been dreaming about.

Take care,

Julie

posted by Eurydice at 2:58 am (EST) on Jan 12, 2009

Thanks for the message! I can get Morning Star in my local newsagent and do read it from time to time - it's a good alternative viewpoint, and I like that the CPGB involvement is not too heavy-handed. Feels like information, not indoctrination. The others are mostly new to me, so I'll check them out. Democracy Now! is fantastic, I used to listen to it every morning when I lived in New York. Even volunteered there to work behind the scenes for a few shows.

Anyway, thanks for the reply, and for posting to my profile - I'm not very active in the groups so might not have seen your reply for a while otherwise!

posted by AndrewBlackman at 12:42 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2009

>Just a quick note to wish you Happy Xmas/New Year

And the same to you.

- Bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 2:09 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2008

Yes, they are pretty tireless performers. Black Uhuru seem to be the epitome of the sound Sly and Robbie brought to reggae. I enjoy most of it although I find as the 80s progressed the music for me got weaker. Michael Rose has an amazing voice however, one which has not diminished with age.

Went to see the Skatalites there a couple of weeks back. Really good concert although many of the originals are dead. Cedric Im Brooks was there- was a pleasure to see him.

Happy Christmas and New Year,

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 10:27 pm (EST) on Dec 23, 2008

If your books don't have ISBNs, then add another search option. I use the British Library, as it's a copyright library, which means that they should have a copy copy of everything published in the UK.

Cheers,
Alex

posted by quodlibet at 7:59 pm (EST) on Dec 8, 2008

Hey Nick,

I did indeed go to see Sly and Robbie. I was I must admit a little bit disappointed as they had no lead vocalist. The last time I was at Sly and Robbie a few years back Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) with them; now that was a truly excellent concert. The Easy Star All Stars were excellent as I expected. It is of course always great to see living legends in the flesh. I read a startling fact about Sly and Robbie recently which is that they have played on or produced over 200,000 songs making them perhaps the most prolific artists in history.

If you do get to Ireland at some time be sure to drop me a line as I am fairly certain that I wont be going anywhere. I may be starting a PhD soon enough so if that comes through I will be here for the next few years at least :)

Pleasure as always Nick,

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 7:33 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2008

Hey Nick,

if you make it over some time I would be happy to give you mt patented history tour around Dublin :)

Look forward to seeing the info if you get a chance to forward it. No hassle if you don't.

Going to see Sly and Robbie this month; should be a cracker. They are playing a small venue over here with The Easy Star All Stars who did a recent cover/tribute to Dark Side of the Moon called Dub Side of the Moon. Don;t know if you caught that. Worth a look anyway and a listen of course.

All the best,

Tony.

posted by FourSeasons at 6:48 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

Hi Nick,

I would love to see you over here some time. It is only a short hop. There is a great deal I would love to see over in the UK too (especially archaeology) but I have only been once for a day and most of that was spent on a bus.

Thank you for the kind congratulations. I was quite happy with the finished thesis. I think I will take a bit of flack for not having it reviewed by a supervisor before I submitted it but I am totally disillusioned by academia these days anyway.

On the festival, which sounds like a grand affair I have to say that it has only recently occurred to me that even the mainstream of reggae is somewhat obscure for most. The obscure reggae must be known to even fewer again. As it was said never have so many people known so little about so much; I figure you can apply that to anything.. Never heard of the bands, though I would love to have the time to investigate a bit more.

Anyway Nick, Come to Ireland :)

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 6:39 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2008

Hey Nick,

no need to apologise at all; I know we all drop in and out. It sounds as if you are in a setting of great beauty there. I love the mines; the closest equivalent to me is probably in the Wicklow mountains.There is an old miner's village at the foot of the upper lake in Glendalough. I don't know if you have dropped in on your neighbours across the water but there is some quite astonishing scenery in that part of Ireland; known as 'The Garden'. Quite dangerous to stray off the beaten track however as many of the mines are still open but lie in thick goarse bushes.

The bands sound very interesting, though I must say I have never heard of a single one. Sounds like something worth looking into. I remain pretty much devoted to reggae straight out of Jamaica. I don't really pick up on the English scene until Matumbi and Steel Pulse arrive.

Pleasure as always Nick,

talk to you soon.

posted by FourSeasons at 5:42 am (EST) on Jul 31, 2008

Nice to hear from you Nick. Of course you are right, as Einstein said "man is too concerned with the trivialities of life". I will unfortunately be missing an absolutely cracking gig because I have to work. This Thursday Johnny Clarke and Horace Andy are playing and I am fairly cut up about not being able to go. I am not sure I will ever have the chance to see Johnny Clarke again. Oh well, I will get over it.

On the politics I have been discussing for a while with an American lady the upcoming election in the US. We were discussing a defector from the Democratic Party, who was supposed to be the libertarian candidate in the election called Mike gravel. I myself am Irish but have more of an interest in foreign relations than domestic. On the domestic side my tendency is to vote independent with a local candidate. I see the choice between major parties as merely representing what lobby group will be better represented for the next five years or so. Thanks to our 'constitutional irregularities' as SKY News have been calling it we were given a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Our NO vote is being represented as the collapse of European Civilisation :)

posted by FourSeasons at 4:42 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2008

Nick,

I'm so sorry. I can't believe it's been two weeks! My downfall, as usual, was reading your comment right before I had to walk out the door. I thought about a response, without realizing later I hadn't also typed it.

Congratulations on your son! That's wonderful news! I hope you are enjoying him as much as I have seen with my sister's children, whatever sleep and optional-involvement havoc he may be wreaking. :) :) :)

The writing, for a long time, has not been going at all. But I've decided, just recently, that that's sheer laziness and avoidance of something I may fail in. So, I'm trying to get myself into a scheduled habit. Thanks for another prod, in asking.

Take care. All blessings on you and Anne-Marie and Adam; and I will enjoy seeing you, when you do happen in, here and there. (Even I can no longer sustain "indefatigable" posting!)

Julie

posted by Eurydice at 6:13 pm (EST) on May 30, 2008

I hope you are feeling better. You may be surprised to learn that Dubois isn't very well known here. Most people who know him best as a founder of the NAACP and a foil to the conservatve leadership of Booker T. Washington. The post WWII civil rights leadership was obsessed with purging the movement of anything and anybody that might taint it as un-American. Du Bois therefore was rarely mentioned. You might also be interested in Paul Robeson. I have few books about him, but I haven't cataloged them yet.

posted by odkins at 9:00 pm (EST) on May 28, 2008

How did you get interested in DuBois?

posted by odkins at 11:36 am (EST) on May 25, 2008

Very sorry to hear that, naturally that took priority over everything else.

Some of Max Romeo's earliest stuff i.e. late 60s was done with Perry, I am not sure did he change after that but I do not like his late 60s recordings.

Probably my favourite thing about Max Romeo is the sound that comes from the guitar. Some of the crispest I have heard.

posted by FourSeasons at 8:47 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2008

Thanks Nick - heading over to Anglophiles to read about your Bentley discoveries...

Twacorbies (Sean)

posted by twacorbies at 1:55 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2008

Funny you should mention Culture. I had my ticket to see them and was really looking forward to it, then two days before the gig Joseph Hill died. They came anyway and played; his son performed, which was remarkably brave and he put on an excellent show. There was a sombre mood at that gig. Nonetheless was one of the better ones I have been to.

posted by FourSeasons at 7:31 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

I was once apartment sitting for a friend who owned a slew of the old universal horror classics and watched them one after another. Great fun. They sure get daffy as their respective series progress.

posted by twacorbies at 12:22 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2008

Yes, Max Romeo was very good. I would definitely recommend you giving a listen. He was produced by Perry the same time as Bob was. His song Chase the Devil was sampled by the Prodigy on their track Fire; probably what he is best known for. Anyway, overall it was a good concert.

I will recommend Max Romeo to you as up their with Burning Spear, Culture and Steelp Pulse (in my opinion one of the only British Reggae bands to excel to the quality of the Jamaican sound).

Hope to chat again soon

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 6:48 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2008

Sorry I neglected Librarything and SEXTON BLAKE a bit as I became a member of GADetection and wrote 4 review for their Wiki. The group is fixed on classic detective fiction. I like that too but not exclusively. I'm sure I'll return to SB and his likes for a change. No, I don't know many prewar SBs. 3 or 4 collections I have, mostly unread, and 4 titles of the late '30s bound together. One of them is a Quiroule. Yes it's good.
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 10:49 am (EST) on Mar 4, 2008

I'll keep checking in then. Weirdly low, low budgets usually lead to shows way weirder than ones with huge bank rolls for special effects. Really, a siamese cat taking over your mind is infinitely more terrifying than a giant robot (and more entertaining).

posted by twacorbies at 9:19 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2008

Hi Nick,
when we both deleted our Hunters and entered them again, do you think that would help? Sorry again to have caused so much trouble.
Yesterday I started reading "Death of a Star" by the Coles from 1932 or so and I like it very much. I usually switch between SB and the authors around "The Thriller" of the 30s and straight detective novels preferably the 'humdrums' Wills Crofts, Christopher Bush, John Rhode / Miles Burton, GDH & M Cole etc. For me they are not humdrum at all. But there certainlay is a marked contrast between the two genres.
I listed the titles you reviewed positively and keep looking out for them at Ebay.
All the best for you and your family
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 1:35 am (EST) on Jan 25, 2008

Hello and welcome to 40 Something Library Thingers..:)

posted by MDLady at 10:06 am (EST) on Jan 7, 2008

Yes, absolutely I am agreeing with that 100 per cent. I was actually trying to convince people to come with me but it was just me and my mate who is a lover of reggae too. It was a great gig anyway.

Happy New Year and all that stuff :D

posted by FourSeasons at 10:20 am (EST) on Jan 4, 2008

Thanks for cleaning up the mess. I read Mark Hodder's essay actually before I read any SBs, it tempted me to try them. And I don't regret it. Recently I bought the collection "SB wins" with an introduction by Jack Adrian. The intro is eally good but I can't agree with "There's no getting away from the fact that the Blake of the early 1950s was a shadow of its former self". It depends on how you read them, what you expect from them.
A Happy New Year
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 9:58 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2007

Hi Nick,
this morning I added a review of a JOHN HUNTER story (THE SECRET MAN) to Librarything. And as there are several authors with the same name I had the unhappy idea to try to seperate them. Somehow I made mistakes there. The result is that your three HUNTER-titles appear as mine. Unfortunately I'm not able to make it undone. Could you with your experience set it right again? I'm so sorry I meddled with it and would be very grateful if you could help.
A Happy New Year
Juergen (HANSEMANN)

posted by Hansemann at 3:17 am (EST) on Dec 30, 2007

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your kind comments about my reviews.I do try to be to the point as I think folk sometimes do not bother to read fairly long reviews.I know that I tend to have a rather short attention span.
Hope that you have a good Christmas and I look forward to speaking to you again in the New Year.

posted by devenish at 11:19 am (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

With a new child, your fun is cut out for you. Congratulations!

Best,
Loretta

posted by lorsomething at 11:14 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2007

Black Uhuru and The Abyssinians. Pure Class. Got a t shirt signed by Bernard Collins, now one of my most prized possessions along with two Noam Chomsky books I got signed and a Bob Marley ticket from 1980 signed by Tyrone Downie.

posted by FourSeasons at 6:57 pm (EST) on Dec 13, 2007

currently viewing the world through a haze of exhaustion, but are basically very happy indeed.

Isn't it great?

We're plugging along. Our eldest turns 16 next week, our youngest turns 11 next month.
(In theory, "16" means she's old enough to drive; but we aren't actively encouraging this, not yet. It's a good thing I'm already gray.)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 6:07 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2007

You can see how other folks get links working by going to a page with links, right clicking, and selecting View Source. Then, just search through the code for the right spot. Here's a simple example of a link to a really nice website.

If you add an < to the beginning and an > to the end, the code for the link looks like this:
a href="http://www.librarything.com" target="blank">really nice website

posted by NativeRoses at 2:27 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2007

Congratulations! The custom here is to slap you on the back and (...formerly) to hand you a cigar. Consider yourself back-slapped, and welcome to the club. You'll be in for the ride of your life.

So go take a nap - the first years of parenthood are an experiment in sleep-deprivation, you should be stocking up now while you have a chance. Geat news.

- Bob & Maggie.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 3:24 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007