Choosing a piercer

Posted on 20 August 2023 by pws

How do you choose a piercer that you will like? Well, there are several ways:

geography – if you live in or near a big city, you will have very many piercers to choose from, but if you live in a small town, there may be one or perhaps none. You may have to travel, in which case, check in advance and make sure you make the journey worthwhile (eg get multiple piercings)

on-line – look on-line at websites. Any decent piercer will have some web presence, preferably a ‘proper’ website rather than just a FaceBook page. There should be examples of their work, prices, opening hours. If you like what you see, if they do something similar to what you want, go for it.

ask other people – if you see someone on the street with a piercing you like and would want, just ask them where they got it done. This has happened to me on multiple occasions. I sometimes carry my piercer’s business card as a spare, just in case.

choice – if the percing you want is unusual, not all piercers may do it. A simple e-mail stating your request will make it clear. If they don’t reply, avoid.

repeat business – if you have been somewhere before and had a good experience, go again. Tell others.

ask on-line – there are forums, social network groups etc for piercing. Ask there, but remember that the suggestion may not be genuine.

Posted in Piercings | Leave a comment

Twelve British Songs… VIII

Posted on 10 August 2023 by pws

Keith West

Excerpt from a Teenage Opera

1967

So, there was this teenage opera, whatever that means. This single was an excerpt from it.

It was the brainchild of the singer Keith West and producer Mark Wirtz, and is often just called Grocer Jack.

It features clear sections, shrill and rather cheesy kiddies vocals, big orchestrations and is about a dead shop keeper.

There was a follow up. If that had also been a big hit, the opera would have actually been written, but it wasn’t, so it wasn’t.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Penguin Café Orchestra/Penguin Café

Posted on 6 August 2023 by pws

Do you remember The Sex Pistols, and Sid Vicious in particular? His version of My Way… orchestrated by Simon Jeffes.

Jeffes was the founder of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra (PCO). This was a group of assorted people with flexible numbers who recorded a small number of albums between 1976 and 1993.

At the core was Jeffes (guitars, piano, harmonium, percussion, all sorts), Helen Liebmann (cello), Geoffrey Richardson (guitars, viola etc) and many others, including trombone, ukulele and anything else you can imagine, making an acoustic group up to maybe a dozen members.

You will for sure know some of their tunes, especially Telephone And Rubber Band and Music For A Found Harmonium:

PCO worked best in smaller, intimate venues. We saw them once at the Royal Festival Hall and friends at the back had not enjoyed the concert, being too far away and rather remote.

Of their albums, Broadcasting From Home (1984) and Union Cafe (1993) are the pick, though, if you are new to PCO, there are some live albums, especially When In Rome… (1988) that might form a better introduction. There are also some compilations.

Simon Jeffes died in 1997 at the age of 48 and The Penguin Cafe Orchestra came to an end, except for occasional reforming by some of the core members.

Until…

Pages: 1 2
Posted in Music | 1 Comment