November 2012
1st November is officially the first day of winter if you’re Irish. For us Brits of course, it was way back in August. In the world of music, it tends to be a fairly complacent month, as we all start to get geared up for the Christmas run in, although that also starts in August now I understand. Therefore, I can bring you little news of notable releases on the immediate horizon, other than some to possibly avoid. Green Day release the second in their godawful trilogy and a couple of other former heavies pop up, in the form of Soundgarden and The Deftones, neither of whom I harbour strong expectations for. Morrissey once sang that ‘November spawned a monster’ and that surely must come in the form of Aerosmith’s fifteenth album. All that lot lean towards the harder side of rock of course, so a dreadful antidote could be OneRepublic, with their third offering (no, please don’t). With the upcoming World Diabetes Day, we can’t have too much sugary music anyway I guess. One potential positive release is the third Crystal Castles album, following the fine second one two years ago and the rubbish debut two years before that.
With the Irish getting their log fires started up, us Brits celebrate one of our famous failures – Guy Fawkes. I’m all in favour of somebody succeeding in burning down the Houses Of Parliament this year, to give us a new hero, if anybody’s up for it. Do please make sure there’s a full attendance first though. The US has Thanksgiving of course, plus The Great National Smokeout to help folk quit the habit. Take a tip from us lot, just cast all smokers out on the street from every possible venue and you will have the added bonus of decimating the bar/pub trade forever, along with the site of piled up dog-ends under the empty receptacles provided for said purpose. It’s also Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, which seems cruelly long for people who can’t remember what happened five minutes ago. My favourite is Buy Nothing Day, which occurs in the Americas, where you do exactly that, as a protest against over consumption, celebrated by people with very empty lives one presumes. Also on the fringes, it’s International Drum Month, so I will be digging out my Cozy Powell collection and playing on repeat to upset the neighbours (and me possibly).
There are no sporting events worthy of note this month, unless you are interested in Scottish badminton or a testosteroned male. The Formula One season concludes in Brazil, for all those who like watching cars whizz by very quickly; the same men who avidly polish their Audi TTs every Sunday before dinner. The final race does happen to coincide with Buy Nothing Day too, so what an awesome weekend for you to manifest your worthlessness in. If that isn’t enough, then Ricky Hatton will be hitting some old guy from the Ukraine about for fun, which brings me neatly back to Morrissey, who also penned ‘Barbarism Begins At Home’ – sweet! Wrap up.
