Paul Harry Allen
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Lounge Sessions
    • The Lost Letters of Cathy G
    • The Blade of Barrington
    • Retro Delights
    • The Accidental Dog Detective
    • Upcoming Performances
  • Podcasts
  • Gallery
    • Video
    • Images
  • Blog
  • Contact

No Apology Necessary, No Excuse Needed

10/8/2019

1 Comment

 
I'm sure that people are baffled that I don't know what a step class is, but I can tell you what album Taxman is on, and who designed the cover. I'm incredibly impractical, yet naturally know what tune will fill the floor or people's lungs with song. There is no happier phrase than 'I haven't heard this in years,' whether said or heard. Don't ever expect me to solve a maths problem, although do expect me to tell you all the bands that Steve Winwood was in, as well as what song was on John Lennon's answerphone.
Picture
Picture
I guess it's about what you can bring to the party in life and my passion for theses platters has further fuelled my desire to fill my glass of knowledge to the brim, and indeed not let any spill. Being a clumsy bugger, you would suspect that not all of it remains in the glass, but my hands are for once sensible, as how else would I know the band history behind Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, or even the story of how Captain Beefheart got their name?
I may have digressed a little, but essentially as I continue to refuel my passion, be it via dusty gem's plucked out of a box or the needle hitting a familiar favourite, it does nothing more than turn me into an anorak., of which I am immensely proud.

If you have a passion that no one understands, then congratulations (unless of course you're a serial killer) as you know what causes the endorphins to rush through the lesser travelled path. So come fellow anoraks, let us clutch at our toggles and raise high our flasks of tea.  ​
1 Comment

Feel Free To Choose

20/7/2019

2 Comments

 
It's a strange concept when we're told things are free. Firstly, we're led to believe that the best things in life are free, only to find out that these 'things' should be given to the birds and bees as it's money that people want. The problem is that money shouldn't be cared for as it can't buy you love, and everybody tells you so. Then of course there's the free lunch, which is naturally weird because as soon as you hear about it, you're told it doesn't exist. I could never figure out if it was like the Yeti. And if these 'free lunches' do happen under the premise of an assumed debt, what favour are my parents going to claim for the endless Nobbly Bobblies I devoured at Barry Island?

So what, in this 'Best things' category is truly free? To begin with, you're free, to do what you want, any old time. If I was to be serious for a minute, I would simply say that you just need to make yourself aware that these 'things' are out there, and with the right frame of mind, they'll stumble your way.


You'll be surprised what does. On holiday in Dorset, I regularly 'helped myself' to some fresh apples from a box marked with the same sentence. That same holiday, I got to 'Hitch Hike' for the first time, when a incredibly kind man answered my thumb (I believe that's the right term). This fine fellow was nice enough to bundle me and my girlfriend in his car and drive past his door to drop us off at our door. Not only did it relive our legs, but saved us from the storm that had started brewing.

More recently, I've been scouring the charity shops for photo frames. As you'll find out, along with the records, I also collect photographs of families I've never met. I love them as a little snapshot of time and, as I was rummaging through a box of heroin – sorry I should say, mixed bric a brac, I pulled out a frame. This frame fitted exactly a photograph I have been wanting to frame for quite some time. That probably sounds odd to the Ikea generation, but this frame was older than me, and the photo in question had been cut especially to fit this type of frame. It was free because I just put in my carrier bag. No, it was in a box marked 'free,' its price sticker crudely reduced to try and entice someone into taking it home. Nobody did, until I came along, as I was the right person to have it. 

Even if you don't like to Womble a bargain or amble though the countryside, you obviously like to read. I'm assuming this as you got this far. Then keep your eyes open for the fairies. I was walking through central London recently and on the top of the button box for a pedestrian crossing, sat a book. It wasn't forgotten or misplaced, it was there as a gift, wrapped in ribbon and looking inviting. I glanced around to see if anyone had spotted it, looked again to see if it still existed, (I'd expected it to turn into a milkshake carton) and so I picked it up, eagerly eyeing the front until I could stop and study it more. It was donated by the Book fairies, a lovely group of random individuals who simply pass things on. I had no intention of reading this, but as I'd found it, I was obviously meant to, and like a kind fairy, passed it on.​

So take off your headphones, discard any attention to your phone and have a look what you can see There's more to life than just a free voucher.​
Picture
2 Comments

    Archives

    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019

    Categories

    All
    Audio
    Authors
    Bands
    Bargain
    Barry Island
    Book Fairies
    Books
    C90
    Captain Beefheart
    Cassette
    Charity Shops
    Collecting
    Comedian
    Comedy
    Crate Digger
    Crosby
    Damsel In Distress
    David Bowie
    Dorset
    Edinburgh Comedy Festival
    Edinburgh Festival
    El Slammer
    Finnegan's Wake
    Free
    Free Stuff
    Free Things
    Garage Punk
    George Harrison
    Glastonbury
    Good Deed
    Hamlet
    Hitch Hike
    Home Taping
    Island Records
    Joe Wilkinson
    John Lennon
    John Peel
    Kindness
    Knight In Shining Armour
    Laughing Horse Free Festival
    Library
    Life Of A Comedian
    Literature
    Lost Audition Tape
    Maracas
    Mixtape
    Music
    Music Anorak
    Music Lover
    Nash And Young
    Novel
    Off Stage
    Paperback
    Psychedelic Garage Punk
    Pulp
    Punk
    Reading
    Real Life
    Record Collection
    Record Player
    Records
    Recycled
    Recycling
    Rock N Roll
    Shazia Mirza
    Steve Winwood
    Stills
    Stories
    Storytelling
    Stylus
    Swashbuckling
    Tambourine
    Tape
    The Beatles
    The Meadows
    The Slammers
    Thrift Store
    Tom Waits
    Unwanted Treasures
    Vinyl
    Vinyl Junkie
    Vinyl Lover
    Welsh
    Woodstock
    Words
    Writing
    Written Word

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Lounge Sessions
    • The Lost Letters of Cathy G
    • The Blade of Barrington
    • Retro Delights
    • The Accidental Dog Detective
    • Upcoming Performances
  • Podcasts
  • Gallery
    • Video
    • Images
  • Blog
  • Contact