Issue 66

.. in the first century BC and capture by pirates might have been described as ‘an occupational hazard for Roman aristocrats* . Among their more celebrated captives was Julius Caesar who, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, indignantly claimed he was worth fifty. He also told his captors that that he would…

..A Fate Worse Than Death, or simply provocative and silly like Mama, Did Jesus Wear Makeup?, but there’s no discernible trend as far as I know – apart from avoiding the bleeding obvious, of course. Perhaps perversely, (or of course perversely), while I’m quite comfortable playing certain songs for years at a time, I’m not…

..he was as funny as another stand-up comedian he despised. I can see how that might be considered as fundamentally shallow, but if Seinfeld the stand-up comedian is actually Seinfeld the man’s complementary personality, you can see how it can become a very personal issue. Then there’s the (locally) celebrated example of The Vines’ singer,…

.. nylon-string guitar for instance sounds unnervingly ambivalent and jangly as a result, especially in the top three strings. Not to mention that my right ear is so shot to pieces that I prefer to wear an ear plug rather than a hearing aid when I’m playing or listening to even slightly amplified music, as…