October Skies

A little later than usual, after all of this week’s music posts it is now time for my review of last month on my blog. It’s been a busy week for me, and I deliberately delayed this to avoid it getting swamped in a mass of music. Last month wasn’t all that different, though, as there were five music posts and a couple of others which also included a tune! Our October skies were often dull and grey, but I tried to bring you some joy and sunshine, as I hope this reminder will show.

In total I posted ten times in October. As is usually the case (though not this month!) the first of the month was my review of what had gone before. This was entitled September Fields and, as always, I gave you clickable links to all of September’s posts. The title was borrowed from a song by the amazing Frazey Ford – it’s worth revisiting the post just to hear that again!

There having been four Tuesdays in October there were, of course, four Tuesday Tunes posts. These were:

Tuesday Tunes 75: Autumn, which featured music from The Small Faces, The Kinks, Simon And Garfunkel, Justin Hayward, Maggie Reilly and Vivaldi. I also slipped in another version of her song by Frazey Ford: she is just so very good!

This was followed by Tuesday Tunes 76: Fashion, which had been prompted by a video I saw ranting against the utter stupidity of the world of fashion. It seemed ripe for plucking – so I did. The music was by David Bowie, Lady Gaga, The Kinks (again!), ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, Flight Of The Conchords, and Aerosmith.

For Tuesday Tunes 77: Happy Again I revisited a theme which I had previously covered more than a year before. But this was a completely new selection of tunes, rather than just a copy of the previous post: the music this time came from Bryan Adams (whose new song and video simply ooze happiness, and were the prompt for the theme), The Dave Clark Five, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sheryl Crow, and Bobby McFerrin. A collection of happy tunes, indeed!

The final one for the month was Tuesday Tunes 78: Tuesday, in which I started the idea of featuring the days of the week as my theme. I immediately deviated from this for the first November post, but will be coming back to it for some of the next four weeks until December comes along, when everything here changes. The music was provided by The Rolling Stones (again!), Melanie, Cat Stevens/Yusuf, Primal Scream, The Pogues, The Moody Blues, and Cowboy Junkies.

To ring the changes a bit there was a one-off post, a new one in one of my occasional series, which I think was long overdue. A couple of the other occasionals are also due for a revisit, and I hope to get around to them soon. This one was Saturday Smiles 4: Stand Up, which gave you lots of hilarity from Michael McIntyre, Milton Jones, Rhod Gilbert, Joe Lyceum, Sean Lock, and Greg Davies. Many laughs to be had from some great stand up routines, and I had a lot of fun compiling this one.

It is funny how some posts drop into your lap, and then take on a life of their own. One such was I’m Still Trying To Take It Easy, which was prompted by my Timehop app, reminding me of a post I originally wrote two years ago. This got my update and republish treatment, and for some reason took off to be my most liked post of the month, by some distance. It says a lot about me, and features a lovely version of my ‘theme tune’ by Jackson Browne and Sharon Shannon. There is also an uncredited mandolin player in the video, and I put out a plea for anyone who might know who this was to let me know. That request was answered by the lovely Clare, and I now know that the mandolin player was Mary Shannon, Sharon’s sister. A talented family! And a quick word about Clare: she doesn’t post all that often but when she does her writing is always a joy to read, and I recommend her to you.

October also saw a couple of posts from me on mental health which, as I have often said, is a topic which is important to me and to which I will always return. These were both annual visits for me. The first was World Mental Health Day 2021 – this takes place on 10th October each year, and I always like to share something for the occasion. The other was my annual rant against the stigmatisation of mental health issues which comes from the insensitivity of some of the costumes which can be bought for Halloween. The post was For Halloween 2021– enough said!

Not wanting to appear a curmudgeon (though I probably am!) I rounded off the month with another annual event, my selection of tunes for Halloween. This was Happy Halloween, which saw the return of some favourites, several new ones, and a whole set of links to tunes I had previously included: it was a big post! The music was from the late, great, Warren Zevon, Michael Jackson, Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett, Jethro Tull, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Meat Loaf, Merry Hell, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and I closed with an absolutely stunning song from the German pagan folk band Faun (singing in English this time). Added to another five links this was, as I said, a mega piece, but again it was a lot of fun!

So, that was my October. I hope you found something to enjoy in there. As always, I leave you with the song whose title I purloined for this post. It’s another good one!

A very poignant song which, from the comments left on YouTube, means a lot to many people. It leaves me in a reflective mood.

Until next time, then. I hope to see you again soon, as there is plenty more to come this month. Take care 😊