https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIiLvrw4Kas
Some out there Kingston, Jamaica-made madness from Puppy Disco called Last Of The Mohicans as heard on last week’s Tom Ravenscroft radio show. One to play loud when you realise it’s far too late to get the hose out to water the garden. Ends with a minutes worth of tripped out Manuel Göttsching-ness. Rough!
We’ve just got back from a few days in Killiney (pronounced kill-eye-knee) just outside Dublin. It’s sometimes compared to the Bay of Naples in Italy as it’s got Italian road names as well as many tropical plants (succulents and towering cordylines abound,) mad eh? 
The weather was a mixed affair but every day did have its fair share of sunshine (and equal parts of rain and wind too!)
While we were out and about we passed a couple of music-related gaffs, one a castle owned by Enya (very much like David Essex’s in Stardust) and the grand gated property of U2’s Bono. The above is a pic of his (or possibly his neighbour’s) back garden. I pity the poor gardener who has to put up with this symetrical style of horticulture but saying that, we love how the beehives are positioned at the end, very OCD.
One day we visited and sat on the very ancient Druid’s Judgement Seat (complete with antiquated blue circle cement from the time of construction still visible.) Though nearby (which we unfortunately didn’t get to see) was a proper ancient monument from around 2500 BC the Ballybrack Dolmen, and one slap bang in the middle of a coucil estate. Bonkers!
Also a couple of pints were downed in the pub where Bono took Barack and Michelle Obama in nearby Dalkey and we sadly missed out on a boat trip to the deserted (apart from some goats and birds) Dalkey Island by the delightfully named “Ken the Ferryman” as he was mid-sea at the time of calling (pic below – he’s the dot in the middle.)
If you ever end up out there, ignore the weather forecast and bring a pack-a-mac and some suntan lotion with you as you’ll probably need both of them in one day.
This morning I popped into a local greasy spoon for a bacon sarnie and noticed up on the wall a collection of “hilarious” signs (“you don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps” “don’t ask for credit as a smack in the mouth usually offends” etc etc) and saw this one above. Did people really laugh at these in the 1970’s? I somehow doubt it.
Anyway there are no complaints in the Sunflower size department. The Mongolian Giant Sunflowers we bought on ebay earlier this year are certainly living up to their name. As the blurb said on the ad, “These sunflowers are monsters which grow up to 15 feet tall with enormous heads of up to 20 inches in diameter.”
Below is what they started out like in March. We love anything here that is advertised as “Giant”, “Special edition” or “Rare”. Big up the Sunflower!
Big thanks to The Head Gardener aka Shane Q from the excellent long-running radio show The Garden Of Earthly Delights (for who Weeds’ own Madtone did a session for a few years ago) for getting in touch and sending some tunes. We’ve just heard that the show will return soon, broadcasting from a new studio in a converted toilet block in Milton Keynes (how good is that?)
If you want to know of the sort of stuff that’s played on the show before then, there’s mixes galore here, here and here and there’s even one aptly named “Melvin, gardening on a Summers evening.” It’s a show well up out street!
Shane has sent us Ten of his favourite On-U Sound tunes and there’s some crackers here. Here we go…
1: Bim Sherman: Nightmare
2: Audio Active: Free The Marijuana
3: African Headcharge: Hold Some More
4: Gary Clail & The On-U Sound System: Privatise The Air
5: Dr Pablo & Dub Syndicate: Dr. Who
6: Andy Fairley: Jack The Biscuit
7: Creation Rebel: Creation Rebel
8: Little Axe: Hammerhead
9: African Headcharge: Somebody Touch I
10: Singers & Players: Water The Garden
Big thanks again to Shane and we will be listening when the show returns!
We’ve been away for a few days at Camber Sands and visited some charity shops in nearby Rye hoping to find some second-hand shop cut-price specials. There wasn’t much apart from some expensive reggae, beatles non-bargains and quite a bit of overpriced rock n’roll but there was this by The Chi-lites for a mere quid as rediscovered on the Norwood Soul Patrol Rinse FM show a few months ago.
A big thanks to Steve Barker, Fenny and Jim from the excellent On The Wire on BBC Radio Lancashire for including the track A Dahlia state of mind by Madtone on their 6th August show. It’s the final track at 1hr 57mins in.
As ever the show is a quality two hours including tunes by Twilight Circus with Big Youth, King Tubby, Dub Dynasty, The Frightnrs, Noura Mint Seym-Ali, Prince Buster and a whole lot more. It’s on every Saturday at Midnight available live here or on play again here. One well worth tuning into!
By the way there’s a great RA exchange interview (here) with Stevie B that’s well interesting and was a bit of pre-holiday listening here at Weeds HQ the other week.
Weeds up to me knees 