10 of 12 in a monthly music diatribe from a 64 year-old hippy
OneJemTunes is a monthly foray into my world of music. Published monthly throughout 2023, there’s everything here including downloads, gigs I’ve been to, JemJams listings, birthdays and passings and much more.
And as 2023 is the year I could finally sing the line ‘…when I’m 64…’ and be there, the music world is my proverbial oyster (not that it’s not always been of course – because it has). And still is. Music is one of my passions and as writing is another – it’s a no-brainer to combine the two.
OneJemTunes 23 #10 is mostly about September 2023 (although there’s a bit of looking into and forward to October as well).
Comings and goings – a regular feature throughout the year. On the one hand sadly recording those we’ve lost, but on the other – looking forward to birthdays of those we still have.
On 1st September we lost American singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett aged 72, principally associated with the ‘tropical rock’ genre. He was all about ‘island escapism’ – a life-long passion, epitomised in this quote:
“It’s pure escapism is all it is…I’m not the first one to do it, nor shall I probably be the last. But I think it’s really a part of the human condition that you’ve got to have some fun. You’ve got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out. I try to make it at least 50/50 fun to work and so far it’s worked out.”
Ten birthdays for the 10th month of the year already gone or coming up are – Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash bassist) [1st/76], Phil Oakey (Human League) [2nd/68], Sting (Police) [2nd/72], Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats) [5th/71], Thom Yorke (Radiohead) [7th/54], Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet) [10th/61], Billy Cox (Bassist with the Jimi Hendrix Experience) [18th/81], Ric Lee (Ten Years After drummer) [20th/77], Simon le Bon (Duran Duran) [27th/64], and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) [31st/59].
September downloads and other additions added to my JemTunes music collection:
- Albany Down – Born in the Ashes (2023) [standout track – Let your love shine]
- Royal Blood – Back to the water below (2023) [standout track – Triggers]
- The Bites – Squeeze (2023) [standout track – Do me a favour]
- You’ve got everything now [Mojo cover CD] (standout track – The Wedding Present: My favourite dress)
- Pretenders – Relentless (2023) [standout track – Losing my sense of taste]
- Public Service Broadcasting – This new noise (2023) [standout track – An unusual man]
- The Record Company – 4th album (2023) [standout track – I found heaven (in my darkest days))
- Paul Rodgers – Midnight Rose (2023) [standout track – Melting]
- Blackstone Cherry – Screaming at the sky (2023) [standout track – Not afraid]
Jem’s daily music lists of 10 – is something I’ve been doing since around the start of the 2019 pandemic and the first UK lockdown. So grateful those dark days are behind us now – but I took a liking to the idea, so haven’t yet stopped. I’m currently on list No. 1286. Quite simply it’s a list of 10 songs (or other music-related things) on different themes published daily on my main FaceBook page. During September 2023, those were…
- 100 rock albums that defined the 1980s (1-6/9)
- 20 Instrumentals (7 & 8)
- 20 very long album tracks (9 & 10)
- NME No.1 singles of the 1960s (11-29/9)
- 10 getting marrieds songs (30th)
JemJams (one of my FaceBook pages) is about posting a new jam every 6 days. JemJams has its roots in something called ‘This is my jam.com’; a website/blogsite to which contributors worldwide added a track of their choosing once every 6 days. No words – no dialogue – no comments. Just the music. ‘This is my jam’ went offline in September 2015. But – as it was such a good idea and something which means a lot to me, JemJams has carried on the task (albeit from just one person) ever since. Here are JemJams 444 to 448.
- 444: Queens of the Stone Age – Straitjacket fitting (posted on 5/9)
- 445: Pontus Snibb – Love Letter (posted on 11/9)
- 446: The Dust Coda – Free all the dancers (posted on 17/9)
- 447: The Black Keys – Burn the damn thing down (posted on 23/9), and
- 448: Greta van Fleet – Farewell for now (posted on 29/9)
Upcoming gigs. Been a bit of a hiatus there for a while – but I’m making up big-time in October and November. Coming in October are Tigercub (cover pic) on the 20th and Skindred on the 27th (both at Brighton’s ‘Chalk’). Reviews of both in One JemTunes #11, due out around 6th November.
jem tunes 