13 September 2012
So I’ve now recovered sufficiently from my Edinburgh trip to write a few words and post some photos.
Edinburgh is a wonderful city, and it’s supercharged when the Fringe is on. I ended up playing the Kittens and Häagen-Dazs open mic at Pulp Fiction books, had slots on two days at the variety show Well It’s Woody, for which I got a mention in a review (Seamless cabaret night with a programme to savour …), and also played a fairly impromptu gig at a café (where I was wowed by the spiced Mexican coffee). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Edinburgh festival fringe
Posted in Diana Mini, Gig, Holga 120FN, Polaroid 600, Travel | Comments Off on No sleep till Tebay
21 August 2012
So … a few low-key gigs/open mics in Edinburgh … First the inruigingly named Kittens and Häagen-Dazs at Pulp Fiction bookshop on Thurs. Then on Friday an appearance at the Forest Café open mic, followed by a guest slot in ‘Well, It’s Woody’ at Fingers Piano Bar (to complete the wood-based theme of the day).
Looking forward to seeing lots of other great stuff, and catching a glimpse of that castle I visited on what seemed like endless occasions as a kid … well it was that and curtain shops.
I’ll be taking a number of cameras so expect some pics on here soon. In fact, I’ll have the polaroid so there may even be some almost-instant updates.
Tags: Edinburgh festival fringe
Posted in Gig, Travel | Comments Off on Kittens, wood and curtains in Edinburgh
3 August 2012
How to teleport a hammer, by Miriam Sturdee.
Here in Moogieland we’ve been getting quite caught up in the excitement of the games, even going so far as to find out what trap shooting is.
In honour of the Olympian efforts of the world’s finest athletes, Moogieman performed a prose-poem at the Catweazle Club last night. Not about London 2012, however, but instead the 2013 Paranormal Olympics that took place in Encarnation, Paraguay.
The run up to the 2013 Paranormal Olympics did not take place in propitious circumstances. There was a state of high tension. The depression to end depressions had sliced and diced nations and societies in more ways than anyone could count; international relations were strained to breaking point. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: occult, Olympics, Paraguay, paranomal, parapsychology, parascience, psionics
Posted in Sport, Writing | Comments Off on Moogie does the Olympics
22 June 2012
In case you were wondering, and don’t follow my facebook page, it all passed off smoothly. Except Charlbury festival was postponed due to flooding so it turned out to be 6 gigs in 6 days (2 short). The songwriting workshop on Friday was also postponed but I ended up providing some musical entertainment for the 4 Tenors poetry event at the Turl Street Kitchen. Photographic evidence is available on Flickr.
Tags: endurance
Posted in Gig | Comments Off on Oh, yeah, the Moogathon … how did that go?
20 June 2012
Well, not quite hot off the press as I started distributing them a couple of weeks ago.
The contest of the month is back. A fictional contest that is, in this case between Pythagoras and the Babylonians. It’s not actually a contest people can win as I have a bit of an aversion to those, having never won Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: mathematics, Moogie News, samizdat
Posted in Mathematics, Newsletter, Writing | Comments Off on May–June Moogie News hot off the press
8 June 2012
Moogieman will be attempting to play a gig/open mic slot every day next week from Sunday 10 June, accompanied by Vincent Lynch on drums for most of them.
The schedule is:
Sun – Harcourt Open Arms Mic
Mon – George’s Jamboree at the Jam Factory with Vincent Lynch on drums
Tues – James Street Tavern open mic
Weds – Holly Bush, Live and Acoustical – full set with Vincent Lynch
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: endurance contest, musical marathon
Posted in Gig, Oxford | Comments Off on Next week is the moogathon
21 May 2012
The NHS is the third largest organisation in the world, behind the Chinese Red Army and the Indian State Railway. I’ve often heard this impressive statistic cited. In fact I’ve said it myself on more than one occasion.
As you’ve no doubt guessed from the title of the article, IT ISN’T TRUE. It may have been once but the world is a fast changing place. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Radio, Statistics | Comments Off on Things you thought you knew, overturned in an instant
27 April 2012
After a 6-year hiatus the International Obfuscated C Code Contest is back. Winners of the 20th contest, opened in 2011, were recently announced.
The contest invites submissions for code in the C programming language that is deliberately obscured or uses creative tricks Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ASCII art, code, code competition, computer programming, computing history, international, obfuscated C, The Apostate Priest Of The PDP-11
Posted in Programming, Song | Comments Off on How did I miss this? The IOCCC is back!
23 March 2012
The 4th issue of Moogie News is hot off the press. Well, photocopier as this A6 samizdat publication is hand written and drawn. Unfortunately we’re running out of space to include more than a few event listings and the flatpack merchandise promotion. Even the contest of the month (only introduced last month) had to be Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Moogie News, round-up, samizdat
Posted in Newsletter, Writing | Comments Off on March–April Moogie News now out
13 March 2012
Some of us singer-songwriter types like to liken ourselves to troubadours. Some of us even call ourselves troubadours. This Saturday Moogieman, along with local performers Ric Wade and Roxy Brennan, and the enchanting chanteuse from New York Cal Folger Day will be taking on this designation (or in the case of the female performers, ‘trobairitz’) for James Bell’s monthly night at the Isis Tavern, by Iffley Lock.
But who were the troubadours, and what about the more obscure trobairitz? Since the gig was first advertised I’ve been surprised by how many people were unfamiliar with the term ‘troubadour’, though most were able to guess that trobairitz was the female version. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Medieval history
Posted in Gig, History, Songwriting | Comments Off on Who were the troubadours, and what about the trobairitz?
