Journey to Mesopotamia and Back again... without the umberella.ella.

I said it would be a mad ramble. Will anyone read this? "NO" you cry? LIES, shall we get back to the 'real' world? OK. MARCH; LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT.

MUSIC:: Is it back or is this some fierce ghost I see emerging from the watery depths of the Liffey? 'Who be you my ghostly liege?', 'I am the spirit of music past, and I have come to reclaim my throne.' AND HOW WE SANG! But then, the shudder, and with that, I was awake, back in the land of the 'living' with the clip clop shoes and cool hair. Things aren't as bad though, did someone heed my word or have I just lapsed back in the heroin cocoon of mindless boredom that we are all enveloped in? [IRISH] Reasons not to be manically depressed about music right now;

JAPE: Wins Choice Award, so what? Well, its a step forward for the Egan and a testament to the Rednack legacy.
BATS: SALEM be their temporary home and Kurt Ballou [Converge]be the sound desk merchant at the helm to steer them into a new album that will surely be an image of the MEGA RITUAL we all hope it to be. Picture mouths, watering.
Jenny and the Deadites: Although they've barely had a full line up for the last year or so, and their little Aussie leader is briefly returning to the land of Fosters, their recent support slot for Bats has been the best thing I've heard in a long time. Get on it.

OK, so only three so far, but good things come in threes, and I'm in work.

THIS IS THE VOICE THAT SHOOK THE EARTH!

AND LO! He returned from the lands beyond the hills aloft a giant beast! And his number was 7 and he came to reclaim the lands of the people around him, not to enslave, but to SAVE.

JAPE WINS, CHILDREN SING

JAPE WINS, LONG PRAISE JAPE, ALLAHU AKBAR! ALLAHU AKBAR! screamed the crowds filling the streets of Dublin, overjoyed at the victory of one Richie Egan and his alias, Jape, for succeeding in securing the Choice Music award for 2009. And all we can say to this is ALLAHU AKBAR. Personally I was worried about who the award could have possibly gone to, I honestly thought that the huge sales of Lisa Hannigan and Mick Flannery would take the accolade, pulling yet another victory back for the singer songwriter massif that proclaim; WE ARE NOT DEAD, BUT DRINKING TEA AND KNITTING.Pity my good friends MJEX were minus the B L O O D R U S H.

What the fuck is going on?!

I have been absent, in my absence I was afar, beyond hills and high mountains at a temple. While in deep meditation I was suddenly disturbed by the presence of a young mountain goat at my feet. My eyes opened slowly to meet his, he looked deep in my eyes and then, with a voice as penetrating as James L Brooks the young furry creature announced; 'BEHOLD, and look WEST back to the lands from which you emerged, things are going on there, things that need your attention, you must return, NOW'. The goat was quite serious, so serious that he instructed me to mount on his back so he could carry me back to Ireland, beyond the hills, and woods and beasts of many mythos that awaited me along the way. 'But I am too big' I said, 'I will surely hurt you?'. And with that, my small friend grew to a giant beast, far bigger than any of the trees that swayed below us, and together we rode back to the emerald isle.

At least that's what I think happened.