Christmas shopping — Bah! and Humbug!
Published: December 15, 2022
It’s that time of the year — again! Christmas Shopping. Manic crowds, on-line snarl-ups, card abuse, last minute gift panic — who needs it?
Blue Ring Records is here to help you avoid some of that shit and, if you make the right choices, may elevate your status in the ‘left-of-centre’ acquaintance/family member stakes. You may even get treated with little respect in future; ie: people might keep their distance from you a little more that usual.
Anyway, here we go:
My first offering is for the ‘reading’ friend, the book-grub, especially if that grubby friend likes pulp-type hard-boiled detective fiction with more than a modicum of craziness, you could go no further than purchasing for that friend the “Dirty Work” trilogy by Brett Sody.
I will just give you the link to the place where you can buy these things because they are explained there without my having to do so here. Suffice to say they are a bit bent, as far as detective fiction goes, and an engrossing read. Don’t fuk around with just getting one of the series, buy the trilogy because the three books hang together like geese on a greasy string.
Link: https://www.brettsody.com
Then there’s the music lovers for whom you may need to to cater. For. How about vinyl? Yes! A big, flat, black plastic button with one hole in the middle and a lot of grooves on either side that conceal and reveal noise when prodded with a needle. And if you purchase The Love Mussels vinyl records as a gift you will be giving a collection of superb indie, grungy rock music that will make the stylus rush to the centre of the record at thirty-three and a third revolutions per minute and beg for more. You can buy one or two Love Mussel vinyl albums: the 2020 release “It’s All Relative — Redux” or the newly released “Love Mussels Save the World”. Christ, if you’ve had your share dividends and franking credits in the mail buy both of the fukkers!
Here is the link to the site where you can purchase either of these musical gems and explanations therein/on, including promo video videos, will help you make your decision.
Link: https://thelovemussels.bandcamp.com/album/the-love-mussels-save-the-world-3
You could, if you are musically differently inclined, buy a Holy Men CD which is a somewhat awkward collection of country-ish songs recorded by the Holy Men a few years ago but available for a reasonably low price of $15. To purchase one of these future ‘remainder-bin’ discs you would need to send me an email: denis@blueringrecords.com, and I will facilitate the sale and delivery as The Holy Men — being as poor as holy men should be — have no fancy resources for online commercial interactions. We are not complete Luddites, though; we do have Internet banking for the simple transference of dough. And money.
Page link: https://blueringrecords.com/our-artists/the-holy-men/
And what about the music fan who enjoys country type of music but not the Yeehaw!, thigh-slapping, redneck stuff but good country music by a highly regarded and very talented country artist Amber Joy Poulton? If you go to this site you will find information on how to buy any of the number of CDs she has released. And some other shit, as well but try the latest CD release, “Pretty Pennies” — it’s quite good.
Link: http://www.amberjoypoulton.com.au
You could buy some of my books but they are only e-books on Amazon Kindle. Still, for a for a very low price you can get a few laughs as well as the possibility of an interesting music-type story: A Tale from the Tin Igloo. Other literary gems include: A Handbook for Making a Complete Hash of Things, Tall Tales from the Front Veranda and the Mr Pointy – the World’s Smartest Dog stories. They should be easy to find under Denis Surmon, c/- Amazon Kindle or something. Leave the money in a secure place on the front verandah; not in the letterbox — redbacks in there.
As a coda I might mention that I like, very much, Humbugs. And liquorice. The good stuff. Black Knight is about the best these days. (https://www.kiwishoponline.com.au/eshop/Black-Knight-Licorice-Medley-500g.html)