Seven Sevens

During the festival of intoxication, I was tagged by Tom, who asked me to list forty-nine things, thus:

1. Seven things to do before I die
2. Seven things I cannot do
3. Seven things that attract me to (...)
4. Seven things I often say
5. Seven books (or series) that I love
6. Seven movies I watch over and over again
7. Seven people I want to join in, too.

So here goes

Seven things to do before I die:

1. Write a song that can hold a candle to Shane MacGowan's 'Dark Streets of London'
2. Impove my guitar playing to a standard that would allow comparison with Aaron Jones (of Craobh Rua - to my mind, the best accompanist of Irish dance tunes) and my tin whistle playing to a standard that would allow comparison with a Belfast whistle-player called Brian Lynch.
3. Play in a decent band again. Or even better, play in a good rock band and have a regular Irish traditional sesson of which I'm a respected regular
4. Sit in the away end at White Hart Lane with my son and watch Forest wipe the floor with Spurs in the Premiership
5. Improve my house to a standard where I can enjoy it in comfort, and listen to whatever music I want to in every room
6. Do at least one more major political / techncial project that succeeds and changes things
7. Be able to change the way I work so that I can live out of London - ideally dividing my time between Nottingham and Co Mayo.

Seven things I cannot do

1. Restrict myself to short sentances when I've got the chance to make wishes
2. Stay out of arguments
3. Drink only two pints of Guiness or Bitter in a pub
4. Stand the sound of a vacuum cleaner
5. Play as many instruments as I'd like to
6. Eat mushrooms, courgettes or aubergines (or anything you have to pronounce in an effeminate foreign-sounding way)
7. Finish reading Ulysees or the Tin Drum

Seven things that attract me to blogging

1. I don't know what I think till I see what I write
2. I find out whether anyone else thinks what I do
3. I learned that there is a much wider diversity of perfectly defensible opinions than I ever imagined - and that's a good thing by the way
4. Blogging is a good thing because it provides a new counter-measure to the appalling standard of mainstream journalism
5. I know that musicians that I've reviewed have read and commented on my blog
6. My friends who visit the blog arrive in the pub geared up with about a dozen things they want to argue with me about
7. I make new contacts, most of whom are nicer than you'd think

Seven things I often say

1. Mustn't grumble
2. Keep your nose clean
3. Keep your powder dry
4. Keep your hand on your ha'penny
5. Keep your pecker up
6. Oh look, my flat-iron has landed on your Old Kent Road
7. Never trust a fucking hippy. I mean it. I'm not joking. Never trust one of the bastards. It's like William Burroughs says: “If you’re ever doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing! His word ain’t worth shit, not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal." Except with hippies, its even worse. Never trust the pricks...

Seven books (or series) that I love:

1. Sword of Honour Trilogy
2. The LA Quartet (Ellroy)
3. Atomized
4. Brendan Behan (biog) by Ulick O'Connor
5. Cold Heaven (Brian Moore)
6. Walking on Water (Brian Clough's auto-biography)
7. Orwell - collected essays

Seven Movies I watch over and over again

1. Millers Crossing (this one tops this list by a country mile)
2. The Wrong Arm of the Law
3. Oh Brother Where Art Thou
4. Monsieur Hire (not strictly true - I don't own a copy, but I'd watch it regularly if I did)
5. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
6. Oliver (the '60s Ron Moody version)
7. The Man in the White Suit

Seven people I want to join in too

1. Shuggy
2. Rock Mother
3. Deaglan
4. Rullsenberg
5. Mat Bowles
6. Councillor Davies
7. Councillor Brown
   

So there you go. You can now pick up what is left of your lives and move on. If you can.