Steve Litchfield

Here's something off the wall. And not a little psychedelic. Also, I don't think I've reviewed a podcast before. Shiny gadgets are more my staple. But I wanted to put some thoughts down - and a recommendation - for Hawkbinge, an occasional podcast covering the complete discography of Hawkwind, the space rock band from 1970 through to the current day (with the main man, Dave Brock, now in his 80s(!), though thankfully supported by a revolving cast of younger chaps). Hawkwind as a band were always interesting to me because of their driving sound, sci-fi lyrics, and progressive/experimental leanings. And there have been many books written about their history and output. (I've even done a few mini-sites on tangential personnel and bands . Plus webmastering, in the past, for Huw Lloyd Langton , and playing Hawkwind tunes in support gigs .) But Hawkwind music has never been covered in this much detail . Andy Hood (long time Hawkwind fan) and Matt Longstaff (complete novice ...

I've lost count of the number of commercial sites I've visited, upon which I want to purchase something simple, something small - and, when I get to fill in my credit card details, they also want me to create an account on their system, complete with user name, password, full address (again) and so on. Look, I just want to buy something, OK, I won't be coming back, don't take it personally, it's just that you've only got the one thing I want. So WHY DO I HAVE TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT? And have to remember (/write-down and keep safe) one MORE username and password. Usually, I just turn back at this point and go to another site, if possible, which doesn't have the same system. What sparked this off? I wanted to use a particular piece of royalty-free ambient music in my video podcast , so I clicked through the relevant site to the 'Ask us for a quote' section. All I wanted was a price, like "$10" or "$100". Instead I was presented with a...