A Tuneful 2014

It is a truly fine time to be alive and enjoying music: Judas Priest had a new album in July, and AC/DC have a new album next month. Rock 'n' roll & heavy metal all the way.
Today is the halfway point between the two, for me, most significant releases of the year: Weezer a couple of weeks ago and Pink Floyd in a couple of week's time. Hmm, yes, it does feel weird to write about a new Pink Floyd album; after having obsessed about their majesty for so long, to have them release an album in my memory is quite magical. 'They' say it'll just be unreleased & rehashed stuff from The Division Bell, but I love that album and am quite enamoured with David Gilmour, so I'm completely fine with that.
Interestingly, on the subject of The Division Bell, that album - Pink Floyd's last - came out twenty years ago, in the same year as Weezer's first album (Weezer). If that wasn't coincidental enough, Weezer's latest album (Everything Will be Alright in the End) mentions Professor Stephen Hawking in a song, twenty years after Stephen Hawking soundbites were used on The Division Bell.
Further factoid! Having listened to EWBAITE (I believe that's the accepted abbreviation technique, though it's rather rendered useless by this long-winded parenthesis) everyday since its release, one song that seemed a little incongruous is I've Had it Up to Here; everytime it played I've had a little voice in my head telling me that it sounds a little like The Darkness. Then, idly browsing the track listing, I was astonished to see that it was co-written by Justin Hawkings. That would explain it.
Talking of Justin Hawkings, whenever people are talking of close-encounteres with celebrities, I am forced to admit that the only time I have ever soared to the dizzy heights of mingling with the stars was when I serviced Justin Hawkings' Chopper, all those years ago. I should probably clarify that it was a Raleigh Chopper and not anything else any possible readers' mucky minds might have  thought up.
Ah, actually, I did have one more encounter with the famous: years ago, before I could reach the pull-flush in the outhouse, I got a "G'day!" from Rolf Harris at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. Made my day. How the mighty have fallen...

- jawj