Song of the Week #189

One sleep until I'm off to Melbourne to see the Mighty Collingwood Magpies play! Can't wait. From the itinerary and associated documentation provided by DJs COJ and AB it looks like we'll have a blast! Look out for us cutting a hot lap of The Tan on Sunday morning.

 

Speaking of running, I've got the Canberra 1/2 Marathon next weekend (13miles/21km). It's a long, long time since I've done a running race without a swim and a ride prior! I had my last long run today. 14km from our place down to Lake Burley Griffin where Alison was kind enough to pick me up. It was a glorious day here in the National Capital – sunny and a light breeze. I've invested in "quad guards" to try and keep my ITB in check. Basically they are compression sleeves that you wear on your quads. Who knows why they work but if today's run and last night's mountain biking escapades are anything to go by then they were worth the expense.

 

Jim Marshall died yesterday (not a relative). He was the founder of Marshall Amplification and possibly one of the most influential people in music in the last 50 years. I got my first Marshall amp in about 1995 and a bigger one a few years later. I always thought it was kind of cool to have my name on my gear! RIP Jim.

 

Here's a couple of clips featuring Jim's iconic amplifiers.

 

Spinal Tap – These Go To 11

 

Jimi Hendrix – Killing Floor

 

AC/DC – Back In Black

 

While we're on Marshall amps, how's this for a home entertainment system? It belongs to Lita Ford (ex-Runaways). Might talk to Alison about re-modelling our lounge room.

 

Lita who I hear you say. Check this out all you closet metal fans.

Lita Ford – Dancing On The Edge(live)

One of my favourite bands is in Canberra this weekend. Of course I'll be in Melbourne! Such is life. I was introduced to Battlefield Band in 1988 and I've been listening to them ever since. They have an ever changing lineup but the tunes are always fantastic. This is a personal favourite of mine. If you only listened to one song this week then choose this – and wait for the bagpipes to kick in as it's a real treat.

Battlefield Band – The Rovin' Dies Hard

Angus' passion is rugby – that's not news! In the last few weeks he's played in a couple of tournaments as well as two practice matches. And on Wednesday he spent the whole day refereeing at a primary schools carnival. That's not a bad effort when the season hasn't started yet. The primary school carnival is named after one of Australia's best ever players, Matt Giteau. Angus has a signed life size poster of Matt on his wall. When I mentioned on Twitter that Angus had reffed all day Matt Giteau sent him a note of thanks – that gave Angus a massive smile I can tell you.

DJ H has been trying to see if he can guess any of the tunes I might play each week. I don't try to be deliberately obtuse but there's usually no rhyme or reason to the selection other than they pop into my head during the week. I reckon he might have suspected that this next one might get an airing though!!

Marillion – Easter

This week I was introduced to the band Sabaton by MC McG. They are a Swedish band who sing mostly about war from a historical perspective. Makes a change from dragons, wenches, beer and fast cars I guess. They are very much in the melodic power metal genre which is OK in limited doses. They sing in English and I've been playing their latest album all week at work – not bad at all. You can see for yourself. It's an expensive looking music video too so I reckon their record company has faith in them to continue to do well.

Sabaton – Screaming Eagles

I'm going to finish up with a song for my young niece Meg this week. She fell through a glass door recently (apparently the result of being in a bad mood). She's OK luckily but I reckon it would've been pretty scary for all involved. Get well soon Meg.

Simple Minds – Alive And Kicking

Peace, love, understanding and a Collingwood win,

DJ Rob