Well, my young lad turned 9 this weekend, and we went to get him a bicycle at the same place I got mine and my daughter's. You wouldn't believe the price of them these days, you could have a decent holiday for the same money. Sheesh. Anyhow, it's been a busy weekend. Missus took kids to footy game and dumped them on Granny so she could go shopping, and I took the afternoon off to cycle along the Leeds-Liverpool canal. Not a huge trip by any standards, 24 mile round-trip, but I really felt it this morning. That's winter for you, can't get out as often as I'd like. Moz-wise, the tour is approaching, and I'm looking forward to hosting a few luminaries at Casa Skinny. I see Moz is up to his old tricks of releasing excellent songs as b-sides, good on him. I would have loved to have gone to the last couple of S&Gs but work just hasn't permitted it recently, I seem to be away from home so much, which can be a pain. Anyway, to all and sundry, best wishes, especially the legendary Deano, who pulls out the stops when the fans need it most - good on you.

Best Wishes,

Sk./Peter

First time in years I've had the house to myself over the weekend, so got my brother and some friends round. Steve helpfully brought the Smiths music books I had lent him 10 years ago - I'd forgotten about them, so nice to have them back - The first album and The World Won't Listen - very nice too. Watched A Taste Of Honey yesterday for the first time - you can sit down and write a booklet about all the lyrical references - one that sticks out in my mind is when Jo's boyfriend walks her home and says "I dreamt about you last night - fell out of bed twice!"...there's so many. Went out for a walk on Penistone hill today, which was great - I love this place, and the hills around it, there's so much beatiful landscape, and it's a joy to be alive and to walk around.

Best Wishes everyone,

Sk./Peter

Well, it's been a while since I updated this shambles of a blog. What can I tell you? Not much, really. Winter has hit the moors, and it's difficult to get out on the bike without the lungs freezing, so I'm feeling a tad slobbish. Playing some fine sounds at the 1in12 tomorrow, so really looking forward to that, and Aly's Panic night next week should be a beaut. Various reviews of "Ringleaders" wing their way, and I'm like a dog of Pavlov. Just hope Sir Moz will come back to Bradford, how sweet that would be, and if he does, I promise a great club night at the 1in12.

Best Wishes to you all,

Peter

Busy, busy times.

Aly's Panic night was splendid, even if I did get a little carried away. Slept well, mind. Very lucky to get a question on Julia's site answered, so pleased to commune with the quiff-ed one. Looking forward to S&G now, at start of December.

Domestically, we took part in a local ceremony named "Scroggling the Holly" on Sunday - if you ask me it's a new answer to getting tourists on the main street - and it worked. Heaving.

A bit pissed off that I can't get out on the bike as often as I'd like, the cold wind burns my lungs on these hills, so it looks like that odd skiing contraption in the garage.

Anyway, good news on the Moz front with the song titles coming out - some would say classic titles - I suspect the journalists don't need more ammunition.

Enough rambling,

Bye for now,

Sk./Peter

Looking forward to Ringleader...I think that after such a protracted hiatus (with Quarry) Morrissey had so much to get out of his system. He also used the surrounding hoo-ha to thank and pay tribute to some of his formative influences, such as bringing back the New York Dolls, recording Patti Smith and helping out James Maker. With those longings out of the way, I think we can look forward to a more settled and complete album than Quarry. The omens look good, with all the right signals coming from Tony Visconti and Boz. And Moz himself via Julia, of course.

On a personal note, I'm living the lyrics of Frankly Mr. Shankly at the moment. Hey ho. Getting fit again after the recent illness, and a long bike ride on Saturday shattered me. Maybe it's the cold air bursting my lungs, or the fact that my muscles were not used to the exertion, but I was out for the count on Saturday, when I should have been out with the kids enjoying the fireworks.

Re-stringed the guitar yesterday, and, it's a funny thing, the first thing I always do after this is to slam the capo on the 4th fret and play Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself - one of the best, in my view. Ended up bringing the guitar into the kitchen and saying to the kids "Look, I can play the break from Dream Brother!". They didn't care, and frankly I don't blame them. I can dream.

Sk./Peter

Nice place St. Tropez is too. Gassin, Grimaud, Ramatuelle, all very splendid indeed. The wine is excellent. Life on the beach is very acceptable. I could get used to it.

Viva Moz!

Sk.

When the kids were watching telly yesterday (having just got back from seeing the new Wallace & Gromit film - and it is brilliant), they saw something about Blackpool and said they had never been, which they had not. So, early this morning, we packed up and buggered off. God, does that place hoover up the notes from the wallet. Up the tower, into the Dr. Who exhibition, lunch, Winter Gardens record fair (picked up a U.S Kill Uncle with Tony The Pony on), central pier, and £150 out of pocket. Blimey.

Sk.

I've resisted long enough, so I bought an iPod, mini , mind (6gb). What a piece of wonderment. Anyway I've been dragging CDs off the shelf to bung on, and I found a CD I hadn't played in ages - The Sundays - Reading Writing & Arithmetic (I once read that the firts word should be proounced as in the town, and the joke was lost). Anyway - is it me, or do others agree it's a splendid bit of work? By the way, is there a way of easily dragging songs onto an iPod without having to go through iTunes. I'm a newcomer, but I find it a bit cumbersome. I just want to drag them out of one folder and drop them into the machine - is there a way to make it this easy? Anyroad up, bye for now,

Sk./Peter

Some time ago I asked Dean if he would send chords to his songs, and he did. He's a very nice chap, and one day, if I get over there, I will explore Peeksill for myself. Have you heard Buckley's Hallelujah/I Know It's Over? Wonderment.

Sk.

Off work due to a painful illness which could take some time and hospitalisation. Not happy. The time to myself has made me think of things I really want to do, such as jack in work and do something I've wanted to do for a long time, so I'm taking steps to do that and maybe see parts of the world I want to see and be my own boss. Enough morbidity. Musically I've been thinking about putting up a site with chords from all Morrissey's solo output, I've done a lot of the work already, it's just a question of going the extra mile, which to be honest, at the moment, I don't feel like doing, but that may change. Been listening to Jeff Buckley again, always puts me in awe of his amazing talent. Also Terrorvision, oddly; local band who I hated when they were "successful"; My friends' band played with them at the sadly defunct Queens Hall, and Terrorvision were haughty and sneering, and I hated them for it. Listening now, I can see where they were coming from. I remember them when they were called the Spoilt Bratz and played at the Brownroyd (R.I.P) and they did a really shitty ad hoc Napalm Death style thing. How times change. Thinking about the new Morrissey album, I read some comments about how it might be rockier, and this would be welcome - at least from this correspondent. Southpaw Grammar contained the song "Southpaw", which, along with "I Keep Mine Hidden" is where Morrissey lays himself bare and says "This is me" in a style not seen in other songs. I once thought that musicians and lyricists got into music because they wanted to say something, and once that had passed, it was downhill, because they then scrabble around for inspiration after the visceral respnse has passed. I now know that inspiration is a fluid thing, and times change, and bring with them further catharsis. Anyway, that's too many big words in one night. Goodnight and thank you.

Sk./Peter