Saturday Snapshots #442

Here's The One That You Want this Saturday morning - more Snapshots.

This quiz is is automatic - it's systematic - it's hydromatic... and you guys are like Greased Lightnin' when it comes to getting the answers.

Who are they... and how are their song connected? 

15. Gale force: snorrrrre.

14. Living in a powder keg and...

13. He's a delight... are you too?

12. I can almost remember their funny faces.

11. They won't make you happy.

10. Steinbeck... Shakespeare, Blake, Wordsworth. 

9. H2O XYs.

8. ...Wilson and Diana...

7. George, Elaine, Dave, Linda... Marty.

6. Mountain in Brazil... or Wales.

5. Lourdes, Estere and Stella.

4. It's messed up to call him a scaled shit.

3. Barry Norman said it best.

2. Pretty... Norma... Sensational band.

1. Town where it's August all year long.

Tell me more, tell me more... answers tomorrow morning.

Another Day #9: Good Friday

What's so good about it?

Don't answer that.

There is always some contention raised at Top Ten Towers about whether or not one should receive / start eating Easter Eggs on Good Friday... or wait until Sunday. Personally, I'm well past Easter Eggs - I'd rather have some nice nuts. But some people hate waiting till Sunday for their eggs. What does the hivemind think?

Cowboy Junkies - Good Friday

Elvis Perkins - Good Friday

Mental As Anything - Good Friday

Modern Romance - Good Friday

For Against - Dark Good Friday

WHY? - Good Friday

Then Comes Silence - Good Friday

The Black Crowes - Good Friday

If it's just an average Friday today, or you're having to wait till Sunday for your Easter Eggs, you may be interested to learn that Friday April 3rd 2026 is also...

Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day

"This light-hearted occasion encourages individuals to pause and assess how they actually feel about their work, not just how they think they’re supposed to feel. If the day’s agenda looks like nothing but stress, monotony, or one meeting too many, the message is simple: rethink the plan."

OK, are you going to pay my mortgage while I take time to rethink the plan?

There's a line in there which goes "You can burn it down as far as I’m concerned", which always reminds me of whenever we had a fire drill in my previous job... all those teachers (and students) stood out in the car park, praying it wasn't just a practice.

Walk to Work Day

Is it just me, or will a lot of people not be going to work today because it's a Bank Holiday? I don't think either of these days have been planned very well this year, have they?

Virginia Coalition - Walk To Work

Of course, if you are walking to work, you might be using Shanks's pony...

Pony Express Day

So if you're wondering who to blame...

Johnny Johnson & the Bandwagon - Blame It On The Pony Express

But possibly my favourite pointless suggestion for today is this one...

National Find A Rainbow Day

And I quote...

"Quite a few ways to celebrate Find a Rainbow Day can be imagined. It might be fun to grab some friends and try to find a rainbow, although this activity may be dependent on the weather."

D'oh!

Don't despair though, because there's one occasion I can absolutely get behind celebrating today...

World Party Day

"World Party Day is based on the idea that peace is not the opposite of war, merely its absence. The real opposite of war is party, and World Party Day aims to synchronise a massive, world-wide party to celebrate everything that’s good and optimistic!"

I'm not really sure I believe that the real opposite of war is party - for two reasons. Firstly, I've been to quite a few parties that ended up as wars. And secondly, I'd rather stay home and read a book.

However, this day wins because it allows us the opportunity to celebrate the work of the late, great Karl Wallinger...

I hope it's a Good Friday for you...

Modern Life Is Rubbish #6: Fahrenheit 451

Utopia - Fahrenheit 451

You may well have heard the furore (or furfor, as we used to call it - a much better word in my mind) about the school library somewhere in Greater Manchester where almost 200 books have been banned and the librarian suspended after the senior leadership team used AI to check whether the contents of the shelves were "appropriate for children".

XTC - Books Are Burning

Among those books that were deemed inappropriate...

Becoming - the autobiography of Michelle Obama - due to ‘racism and political themes’.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - because it is a ‘romantic drama about enduring love and memory loss’.

The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer - because they contain ‘mature romantic themes, sexual tension, and violence involving vampires and werewolves’. Now if you'd banned them because they were rubbish... but no, not even that. I'd rather kids were reading rubbish than not reading at all. 

McCarthy - Should The Bible Be Banned?

This all kicked off because someone complained that the school library stocked the non-fiction book  Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates - doubtless a reaction based on the title alone. The book is actually a serious examination of incel culture, and rather than being banned it should probably be a set text for young teenage lads across the country, to prevent them from ever taking the Red Pill.

Of course, there's one book that was selected as unsuitable which should come as no surprise to anyone... George Orwell's 1984. Proof, if ever proof were needed, that our AI overlords will never grasp the concept of irony.

I could rage against the machine, but what's the use? This is just the beginning...

Open your eyes and see

The world I couldn't change for you

Reach out your hand and take

The world that will belong to you

We were on our way to a better day

And the spirit was in us all

But as time went by we fell by the wayside

Maybe you'll be the last to fall

You are the only ones

There is nobody left but you

You are the chosen ones

There is nobody else to choose

Back when I was young, my hope was strong

But the time blew it all to hell

If I thought I knew what was good for you

I would have gone and done it for myself

Worlds of tomorrow

Life without sorrow

Take it because it's yours

Sons of 1984

I can still see the great panorama of hate

Being cleansed by our loving hands

But the brothers broke stride, the sisters cried

Now you have to start all over again

Bono Wednesdays #1

Made you look.

Yes, it's that bloody day again.

Let's just get through it, shall we, and back to more normal pursuits?

Whenever I think of Sonny Bono, after I've thought about his time with Cher, and how he might not have been the nicest guy for her to hang out with... my second thought is always "Lake Tahoe". Purely because I have the location of his death engraved in my memory because of the song below...

Who says pop music never teaches you anything?

Namesakes #182: April March

Today is the final day of March, tomorrow the first of April. To celebrate, here are a small number of artists (still - quite amazing that there's more than one) with both April and March in their name...

APRIL MARCH #1

Not a musician, but it would be remiss of me not to include the original April March, "The First Lady of Burlesque", a headline act across the world from 1952 till her retirement in '78 (she gave up because the stripping business had become "too blatant and sexual"). Born Velma Fern Worden, she was married eight times (and briefly engaged to Mel Torme), almost became a pro golfer, and made a comeback in 2006, aged 71. She died last year.

If none of the others take your fancy this week, I'm sure Velma will appreciate your vote.

AN APRIL MARCH #2

Next up, a Canadian shoegaze / dream pop band, active between '89 and '99, originally called The Whittingtons. Compared to  many of this week's acts, they at least play proper music... I just can't find much more info about them without doing a deep dive, and I already spent far too much time this week looking for a video of #1 performing in her heyday. (I'll save you the trouble - none seem to exist.)

An April March - Scarlett Bliss

APRIL MARCH #3

New Yorker Elinor Lanman Blake is a  writer, illustrator and animator who has worked on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the Madonna movie Who's That Girl. She also did the illustrations for a children's book written by Jack White named after his song We're Going To Be Friends.

As a musician, she goes by the name April March, first in her band the Pussywillows, and then as a solo artist. As a self-confessed Francophile, she's rather partial to a bit of Serge, and she's probably most well known for her cover of Gainsbourg's Chick Habit which featured in the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's movie Death Proof.

April March - Chick Habit

APRIL MAY MARCH #4

See what they did there? I mean, really, if it was a busier week, I wouldn't include this at all. And also, it's filed under "experimental" on the camp of bands, and that's never a recommendation.

April May March - The Badger

Trust me though, it might not be the most bizarre thing you hear this week. Because...

APRIL MARCH #5

Because... this week's WTF offering was dropped onto the camp of bands in 2020. It's a recording of some woman sitting in her car eating a granola bar, while talking to you in a breathy whisper. If that's the sort of thing that gets you engine revving, you can buy it for the low price of one American dollar. Others might prefer to go back to #1 for their titillation.

I'm hoping April's got a real job in the last six years and this isn't her only source of income.

April March - My Boyfriend

 

Have we got time for a bonus track, just to make up the numbers?

MARCH ONTO APRIL

Stretching the rules to breaking point, but at least it means we get to close today with a proper tune. This Florida-based band from the last decade "blend many different moods and tones of emo, Alternative, and pop punk." Nothing experimental, no granola bars, and they keep their clothes on the whole time.

March Onto April - Postcards From Greece

Which one makes you want to March into April... and which are just March-April Fools?