Sheffield Shorts: When Ramases met Ursula K Le Guin for a game of padel in Buxton

I’ve written extensively about Ramases, the Malin-Bridge raised heating engineer who became Ramases, the shaven-headed reincarnation of a pharaoh. Ramases (real-name Barrington Frost), like all such similar folk in the 1970s, recruited 10CC as his backing band, Roger Dean as his illustrator, and put out some gently mystical prog pop psych records - that very few people bought.

On my birthday, I was gifted a reissue of his Space Hymns record (a repress from the 2010s, the gifter is a generous fellow but not £450, original Vertigo label generous - plus he’d have to find one).

I haven’t listened to it yet (having of course heard it over the years). I can’t get beyond the sleeve - it feels like that is so audacious that anything on the actual earthly vinyl wouldn’t live up to the fold out which transforms a rocket-fulled church spire in Droitwich into a giant image of Ramases and Selket. No wonder it’s a cult treasure of which Psych-Sheff should be proud. It’s been a great summer of new vinyl from CMAT’s astonishing Eurocountry to the perfect pop of Wolf Alice and the angry funny Half Man Half Biscuit, but unlike those records on constant rotation, Ramases hasn’t had a sniff. Probably because the sleeve is unlike any other I’ve got in my collection (Ogdens-aside) - creativity, magic, psychedelics and a fantastic story at its heart.

I’ve been a long-term fan of Backlisted, the podcast that brings fresh life into old books. It seems America is catching up - two New York live events coming up in October. The episode last week on Ursula K Le Guin and the Tombs of Atuan is a case in point - I really need to read her trilogy of books after hearing Frank Cotterel Boyce get emotional about the cost of power. Even better is the audio of Le Guin’s 2014 National Book Awards acceptance speech - a sweet-voiced octogenarian letting rip.

“I rejoice in sharing this with all the writers who were excluded from awards for so long … writers of the imagination … who for the last 50 years watched the beautiful awards go to the so-called realists. I think hard times are coming when we will be seeking the voices of writers who offer alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies.”

Quite.

I love Adam Buxton, but I think I’ve heard more of his dulcet tones this summer than I have from anyone else this summer - and my kids talk a lot. From his audio book I Love You Byeeeee layering on oodles of sweet nostalgia for his (and my) formative years watching the Adam & Joe Show to hearing him voice the audio commentary for the fantastic Stanley Donwood exhibition at the Ashmolean, This Is What You Get - walking the line between Buckles and Smuggles. This week, he’s interviewed David Byrne too. I fear I may be approaching Peak Buxton.

Sheffield continues to innovate across art, culture, music and sport. My What’s App this summer has gone crazy with a bunch of Padel junkies desperately on the hunt for a fix of court, or, occasionally, transferring £6 to strangers for a chance of some doubles action. The sport was only introduced last year, and I’ve been having to drive across the city to Abbeydale, to get my fix and try to learn the ropes. I thought I was doing okay until I saw Cameron Dawson and Joe Root on an adjoining court. Anyway, the fantastic Courtside has now opened in Hillsborough Park, quickly obliterating objections to the loss of important and free municpal space by offering Padel, tennis and, yes, crazy golf, to the S6 massive.

Problem is, the courts get booked quicker than Radiohead tickets. Hence my What’s App gpoing into overdrive, as we attempt to lock down space at improbable hours for that sporting fix. New courts appear to be appearing all over the city too - Kelham next week. And I’m taking part in a 24-hour padel marathon next week (the first in the UK!) to play with new friends like Northern Wine Guy to raise funds for the Weston Park Cancer Charity, at something unholy like 4 in the morning. What’s going on???