One of the bands that was on the edge of my awareness when I was a teenager was Toad the Wet Sprocket. I had a few albums on cassette and MiniDisc, and most of those got lost in one of the house moves over the last ten years.

My favourite was their fifth, Coil, which had a lot going for it. I don’t even have a copy of it any more. That’s a real shame, as I remember loving it. (I think my yearbook quote on leaving school was taken from a track on it, too. It was very earnest.)

“Crazy Life” is a nice slice of cheerful guitar, and its opening riff has ended up being one of my flat-picking warmups. It’s very satisfying in its simplicity, and I’ve been known to play it over and over again, letting my fingers do their thing while my brain does something else. There’s something about the rhythm and the simple melody that emerges that I find very relaxing.

I think the song also featured on the soundtrack to Empire Records. I really should find a copy of that film, too.

“Crazy Life” [YouTube]

“Crazy Life” [Spotify]

(PAW2009 25/52)

Late, today. I got a bit distracted by events.

We were at a wedding on Friday, our first with the wee man in tow. It went alright, I think, and the day as a whole was great. The bride and groom were driven off from the church in a Riley Elf belonging to a friend. I had a look around it during the afternoon. There’s a lot more room in that wee car than you’d think, and it was a well-looked after example.

I think that’ll be our last wedding until my brother’s in the autumn.

Last week, in a roundabout way, Jonny reminded me of a little EP called Bathroom Floor.

Before he made his name as Duke Special, Ulster lad Pete Wilson performed under a few different names, one of which was Booley. This record is of that era, a bit of rocky pop between his earlier electronic- and synth-heavy tunes and the present music hall style.

“Alright” is the anthem, the track that stands out for me. With a teenager’s yet-innocent (but not altogether naive) ranting against all the Northern Ireland rhetoric of the late 90s, I find there’s something stirring about it.

Even ten years ago, Wilson could write a song. The other really stand out tune on Bathroom Floor is “God On Your Side”, which is even more topical now than then. It’s chilling.

The EP had its track list rejigged and added to, and was re-released as a full album. Unfortunately, I can’t find either to stream anywhere online.

(While I’m here, anyone remember DBA?)

(PAW2009 24/52)

Just a few this time round. I’ve been doing much less random surfing around lately. I wonder why?

• Via Gizmodo, the iPhone stencil kit, for UI designers and cool-bits-of-metal geeks everywhere. Did I order one? Not saying...
• How to Use Twitter for Marketing and PR. Yes and no. It has its place and can be a useful tool.
• Unrelated (really!), the Skainos project now has a Twitter feed.
• Interesting idea: Decisions For Heroes is an Irish-made web-app for rescue teams. It's for measuring all kinds of performance and outcomes to ultimately save lives. It's an example of the kinds of really cool yet completely unexpected things being done with communications tech.
• Via Ian Robinson's Twitter feed, it's How to be a prospective father.
• Finally, from the Guardian today, Charles Arthur calls shenanigans on music industry claims about the amount of revenue lost to piracy, with a reference to Ben Goldacre in the same publication. One of the key points is recognition of the fallacious, but oft-assumed, idea that a downloaded item is equal to a lost sale. That's just not true.

There you have it. A few more things to keep you diverted on a Thursday lunchtime.