Tom Cox's Blog, page 8

Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind Spoken Word Tour Dates

8th October, 2015
Totnes Bookshop, 42 High Street, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5RY: 7pm (free).

9th October, 2015
West End Lane Books (at library near shop: address tbc): 7.30pm. Tickets £5, available by contacting the shop here.

10th October, 2015
Bookseller Crow On The Hill, 50 Westow Street, London SE19 3AF: 6.30pm (with music from The Left Outsides). Tickets £3, available by contacting the shop 

Some Stuff I've Been Listening To Recently (September, 2015)

Crazy Horse: At Crooked Lake (1972)
If you've heard and enjoyed Crazy Horse's eponymous first album and bought into the myth that it's the only great thing they ever did without Neil Young, scrub that from your mind right now with extra strong detergent. This, their third LP, is better. Better than anything they did with Neil Young. Better than the best Poco album. Better than The Eagles being

Cat Horoscopes

Aries

This week you will see a ghost but nobody will notice when you look startled about it as you look like that a lot of the time already anyway. Later, a serendipitous series of events - all vole-related - will take you on a lengthy journey (247 yards). You will then wander back in your own time.



Taurus

Beware of not getting your rest. Less than eighteen hours of sleep can have a

The Bumblebees Who Had Sex On My Flares (And Other Recent Bee Encounters)

“Bees?” said the lady near the door as I entered Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum. “I read non-verbals very well,” she added. I’d guess only about five percent of the foot traffic through the museum’s doors this Saturday morning was for the bee identification course in one of the museum's upstairs meeting rooms, but perhaps I just had a bee look about me. It wouldn’t be surprising, as

Advice For New Owners Of A Formerly Homeless Cat

GETTING YOUR HOMELESS CAT ACCUSTOMED TO HIS NEW ENVIRONMENT
The first week or two with a homeless cat are always the
hardest. Despite having food and shelter, your homeless
cat might crave the struggling life he came from, purely
out of habit. This is completely normal. Look for little
signs, such as your homeless cat stealing cigarettes or
sitting inside old cheap bags near the exit of your

A Countryside Dweller's Guide To Hair

I’m currently growing my hair for the first time since 2001. Some people think growing your hair is merely about not getting your hair cut but it’s actually about buying your hair treats and speaking softly to your hair when it’s angry. Recently, for example, I have bought my hair an original vinyl copy of the third Crazy Horse album and the new Anne Tyler novel, and my hair has seemed quietly

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Hair... But Were Too Afraid To Ask

I’m currently growing my hair for the first time since 2001. Some people think growing your hair is merely about not getting your hair cut but it’s actually about buying your hair treats and speaking softly to your hair when it’s angry. Recently, for example, I have bought my hair an original vinyl copy of the third Crazy Horse album and the new Anne Tyler novel, and my hair has seemed quietly

My latest radio show

Message From The Country - Show 11 (21.8.2015) by Tom Cox on Mixcloud

Never Factoring In

"I'll have a nice read of my book on the train," you think, never factoring in the girl behind you shouting into a phone at someone named Libby.

"I will sign this lucrative record deal," you think, never factoring in the fact that the record label will ultimately blame you, not themselves, for your lack of commercial success and that Declan in A&R is not your friend.

"I will take the piss out

Dartmoor Walking Notes: Piles Copse, 12.8.2015

You know the way it works: you get into Fairport Convention’s 1969 album ‘Liege And Lief’, then someone annoying like me who owns too many records tells you about ‘On The Shore’, the second album by the little-known acid folk band The Trees, which came out the following year. “Oh, of course Fairport Convention are great,” they tell you a bit smugly. “But in a way The Trees are even better,