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| Not for bovine consumption |
The trouble with finding reference tracks is that it doesn't take you long before you're listening to previously unheard of classics such as Ganja Farmer and Police in Helicopter (looking for marijuana). I don't really want to practise that culture so much; I just don't think laid-back rastafarianism is going to work out for me.
I'm trying to learn how to do the bubble thing, freestyle over the top of the beat and hold a tune while being resolute with my 2 and 4 stabs. Some would say you've got to chill to get the feel of it, and the only way to do that is to properly chill, if you catch my drift. I might push the boat out and buy an extra can of Lilt, but that's as far as it goes.
It's difficult to be focused and relaxed at the same time. That's the thing with reggae - if it's not natural to you and you struggle to feel it, you have to be mindful of the beat and the cross-rhythms all the time. It does require a kind of tightness to the rhythm and the timing. However, it also requires a sunshine-soaked freedom to kick back and feel the music move you. I noticed today too that a lot of the chord progressions are jazz-themed. Who doesn't love a jazz-themed chord progression?
Anyhow, enough of the tech talk. What's been going on in the world? Well, you know how a headline is supposed to both grab your attention and concisely give you all the facts all at the same time?
Flatulent Cows Start Fire at German Dairy Farm
BERLIN (Reuters) - Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Monday, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said.
High levels of the gas had built up in the structure in the central German town of Rasdorf, then "a static electric charge caused the gas to explode with flashes of flames," the force said in a statement.
One cow was treated for burns, a police spokesman added.
What a story. The last little detail is my favourite - I'm not sure why we need to know that one cow had to be treated for burns. I pictured her shaking a sorry head in the back of an ambulance while paramedics wrapped her in a foil blanket:
"I said it, I blooming said it, didn't I? didn't I say it? 'Go outside,' I said, 'if you're going to be doing that,' but hoho no! Someone had to go trumpin' away like there was no tomorrow."
I also think there's something intrinsically funny about a small explosion of cows - though I am grateful that most of them were OK.
Well folks, there is a tomorrow of course, and it's got Tuesday written all over it. I quite like the idea of being focused and relaxed at the same time. Maybe I'll master the technique and have a kind of Reggae Reggae Tuesday. When my boss asks me for those patch release notes I've been working on for two weeks, maybe I'll take a swig of the old Lilt and suggest we all just take it easy as the release notes will be arrivin' in their own sweet time.
In hindsight, I think I'd better lay off the Lilt.
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