379 to 50: #30 “Virginia Plain” by Roxy Music

The glam pop genius of Roxy Music and “Virginia Plain”, their number 4 single from 1972, moves us into the top 30 of my favourite songs rundown.

USA 2011 Chapter 12 – Washington DC: Kermit, karaoke and coffee shops

As originally posted on my Tumblr site while travelling around the USA in 2011…

“Don’t use words like nice”. This is some undoubtedly sage advice I still recall from an unhinged and disturbing but nonetheless excellent and engaging English teacher during my now distant schooldays. And yet “nice” or perhaps its more acceptable cousin “pleasant” is the ideal term to describe Washington DC. A purpose built capital city obviously boasting iconic landmarks, it feels a bit like someone has taken Westminster, Hyde Park and the museums area of South Kensington, put them all together and then stretched them out. This results in a huge mass of government buildings, museums, green space and tourists, which is all well and good and “nice” but not particularly exciting.