Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Chain-store chain-smoke



When the combined talents of Miss Eleanor Steber, HM The Queen, Mr Harry Wayne Casey, Messrs Orzabal and Smith, a heatwave, Miss Audrey Landers and Fraulein Marika Rokk together garner no interest, no comments whatsoever, one begins to realise that this blogging world is - as it surely began - indeed a very solitary exercise.

I'd like to imagine everyone is actually out there sipping fine champagne on a yacht with Dames Joan and Shirley and the Aga Khan somewhere off the Costa Smeralda, or lapping up yet another anecdote with Iris Apfel in The Carlyle Hotel in New York... Wouldn't we all?

However, in reality I assume everyone's actually either non-stop staring into their phones for the latest craptastic Tw*tter revelation about - yawn - a Swift, a West or a Kardashian, or else they're busy bragging about their latest gorgeous holiday/meal/car/prostitute [delete as appropriate] to some friend of a cousin-in-law's sister's daughter on F***book...

Hey ho.

Here's a jolly little number from Miss Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (aka the late, lamented Poly Styrene; of course):


Bind me tie me
Chain me to the wall
I want to be a slave
To you all

Oh bondage up yours, oh bondage no more!
Oh bondage up yours, oh bondage no more!

Chain-store chain-smoke
I consume you all
Chain-gang chain-mail
I don't think at all

Oh bondage up yours, oh bondage no more!
Oh bondage up yours, oh bondage no more!

Word to live by, methinks.

Remarkably, Britain is celebrating FORTY YEARS of Punk this year...
Posted by Jon at 06:12
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21 comments:

  1. Jenni20 July 2016 at 07:21

    Or we're just tired in the morning whilst reading and have nothing to add 😕 distinct lack of fabulousness in my life at the moment x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon20 July 2016 at 20:29

      Thanks, Jenni! I only hope my meagre efforts bring some light relief... Jx

      Delete
    2. Jenni21 July 2016 at 17:09

      Always 😊

      Delete
  2. Unknown20 July 2016 at 09:07

    It is bloody remiss of us to take all of your hard work for granted, Jon.
    I for one, in outback Oz, need my fix of both blogs as much as I need my daily hit of Java.
    I would be in mourning & withdrawal, possibly having to be medicated for depression without your them.
    I had to change my pants after seeing the 1958 Space Video.
    Keep up the chin, dear boy. There are many readers like me who adore your work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon20 July 2016 at 20:31

      Bless. I am overjoyed you had fun courtesy of Fraulein Rokk - and from Eleanor Steber too! Jx

      Delete
  3. bitter69uk20 July 2016 at 12:06

    I read (and appreciate) every entry you post, doll! I think it's gone quiet in general on blogger.com these days, sadly.

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    Replies
    1. Jon20 July 2016 at 20:47

      My dear, hasn't it just...? Anyway, thanks for your continued support! Jx

      PS Just added "Bitterness Personified" to my "Adored" sidebar...

      Delete
  4. Neely OHara20 July 2016 at 19:17

    Read you every day, Jon -- don't often comment, but your efforts are NOT in vain -- they're much appreciated, and my day would be a little poorer without you!

    xoxo Neely

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon20 July 2016 at 20:50

      "SPARKLE, Neely, SPARKLE!

      Thanks, sweetie - it's appreciated... Jx

      Delete
  5. joe20 July 2016 at 23:30

    Most sincerest of apologies! Between the dreadful heat daily reaching 36-37C, the senseless violence in the streets, and Donald Trump, all I can really do nowadays is stare. Your blogs are so often the highlight of my day! (well that and a wee bit of porn). Thanks for all your work!

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    Replies
    1. Jon21 July 2016 at 06:44

      "Razzle Dazzle" vs porn - now there's an epic contest :-)

      Thanks, Joe! Jx

      Delete
  6. faginlover21 July 2016 at 06:42

    Near daily reader here in Hong Kong for many years - love the blog! As essential to me as morning coffee and the news on the radio... I know I must be only one of your legions of 'people out there in the dark.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon21 July 2016 at 06:47

      "All right, Mr. Faginlover, I'm ready for my close-up..." Hong Kog, eh? I never realised how cosmopolitan this readership is! Jx

      Delete
  7. tony wood21 July 2016 at 20:32

    Thing is you could be on FB if you wanted to, I know you don't but if everyone that I do keep in touch with there had their own blogs I wouldn't be able to keep up with any of them.

    I used to check in on your blog when I went online via the desktop (as I am now) but in the last few years they way we go online has changed and now I go online via my phone or tablet - and if you don't have an app for easy access then sites get missed I'm afraid, it's like that Style Council video where Paul Weller is telling the tide not to come in… x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon21 July 2016 at 23:39

      Thing is you could be on here more if you wanted to. If everyone I wanted to keep in touch with only communicated via Facebook I wouldn't want to know them. If I want to keep in touch with real friends I contact them direct, and vice versa. I don't use my blog for communication. There is a difference.

      As for "there isn't an 'app', so therefore it does not exist", I despair.

      Ah, yes, Mr Paul Weller, who once famously said of social media: "Why not go down the pub? A guy once came up to me at a gig and asked me if I had MySpace. I said, 'This is my space, and you're invading it.'"

      Jx

      Delete
  8. tony wood23 July 2016 at 22:43

    I get that it goes both ways but I wasn't the one posting saying where is everyone.

    It's not that I (and others) only have any contact via FB but it is true that most social things are arranged via either FB or text message.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hils26 July 2016 at 19:54

    My big brother has actual fans!! I'm deeply impressed dear boy :-). Sorry that I am also one of the irregular comment leavers, but you know that it's not because I'm on f-book (as if!), it’s because I'm really lazy :-))) - plus I can always tell you to your actual face (not book). As for the great divide between those who are "in" and us refuseniks is that I don't join gangs; groups, clubs or cliques. Too much of an individualist I’m afraid. If you have to join a cult or people won't communicate with you, then bye bye.

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    Replies
    1. Jon26 July 2016 at 20:16

      We remain refuseniks, my dear, and carry on regardless :-)

      Jx

      Delete
  10. Unknown26 July 2016 at 20:12

    I like many others I enjoy your blog, but comment all too rarely, and understand your scepticism concerning other platforms. Other than its oddly Orwellian aspects of allowing total surveillance of employees opinion by their respective employers, I'm beginning to wonder whether FB has led to the corrosion of the barrier between public and private realms thereby further undermining individual as an autonomous agent; it users seem constantly to seek approval for the mundane and minute aspects of daily life from a peer group with whom they interact in a highly superficial and constrained fashion (likes rather than reflection). Also the format sucks and I can’t tell what the hell is going on!

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    1. Jon26 July 2016 at 20:24

      It does take the gilt off the cultural gingerbread, doesn't it? When standards of journalism, art and media (and even to a degree, political leadership) are largely dictated by "vox pop" rather than, as dear Hils inferred, individuality, we are in a bit of a strange place indeed... Jx

      Delete

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