Three A.M.

Insomnia! I gots it! Who needs it? Why do I wake up worrying about shit I barely give a thought to the rest of the day? Also - I dialog. I play through scenes of stress - both past and future - giving myself the best lines. When I realise I'm "looping", I fumble with my iPod Touch (one great thing about living in the future) and dial up an old radio show on an internet. Jack Benny, Duffy's Tavern, Dragnet - three great things about living in the past. I used to listen to sleepy ambient music, but like any drug it lost its potency.

If I'm still awake I get up, take a piss, pet the house dog - always restorative - have an Old Person's Beverage and check my email and FMF©. Nothing of note accomplished, I shuffle back to bed, the world much as it was.

Everything is nuts when you think about it.

Sunday Extra

I can't get out right now because the Feds are parked across the driveway, so here's a trio of swell live albums from everyone's favorite cosmic cowboy. Dig!

Cody's Sunday Something

"Hi guys! Cody here, taking time out from my Stretchercize© routine to relax poolside with the Reverend Al Green! Gramps used to play his records all the time. I don't know if you know what a record is, but it's this big bit of like plastic? You got it for free inside a picture of the artist. And you had to play it on a big old record player, which was like furniture? Imagine taking that on the subway! Or to the park? LOL!"

"Today of course science has given us ear buds and music's like made of air or something! So when I feel nostalgic I listen to Al Green's Definitely [uh-huh - Ed.] Greatest Hits. Anyway, this is Cody, sayin' ... keep relaxin'!"

Can't disagree with Cody's choice this week. Green was so great a singer he didn't need a song. Class out th' ass.

Sat'dy Slapdown - Return Of Th' Cagefight!

Our Knitwear & Hosiery Correspondent B.B. reminded me in a comment that we haven't had a Saturday Cagefight on a Saturday for ... uh ... I forget. So here's one.

We're pitting ethereal Romany songstress Vashti Bunyan against dwarfish minions from Hades Thę Blüė Ōystër Cúlts in what promises to be a savage bloodbath of balladry!

Vashti Bunyan's debut album Just Another Diamond Day - which I had on white label vinyl back when stuff like that meant something to me - is a jewel-like, gossamer thing, too delicate to cast a shadow. Vashti now lives in Lothlorien, making dreamcatchers from elf ectoplasm.

Cover: FMF© Artistic Dept.

In spite of their restricted growth and Juilliard Conservatory Of Music education [citation needed - Ed.] these nice Catholic boys from Palm Springs [you're just making this shit up, aren't you? - Ed.] made quite the onstage impression with their electric guitars and powerful amplification! Stairway To The Stars AKA Captured Live demonstrates their commitment to the Illuminati agenda.

So - who will emerge the victor from this titanic struggle? Only four or five guys can decide! Some fun, huh?

Smoke And Mirrors

A hit album for Dolly Parton in 2014, and the title track tells you why. That husky voice breaks in over an irresistible beat, and when the fiddle saws up a hoedown you're grinning like a fool. The woman is a star; an epic songwriter and charismatic performer with a recording history second to none. But there's a possibility Blue Smoke may have slipped under your radar, as it did mine for a couple of years. The cheezy Walmart rack-fill cover art [below right - Ed.] said just more Dolly product, file and forget. A mistake. It's as full of spirit and honesty and joy in making music as anything she recorded. Anything anyone recorded.

The Walmart edition had extra tracks - if you gots 'em, I'd be grateful. In the UK, it was bundled with a worthwhile Greatest Hits disc, included here.