Thursday, September 14, 2006

Last weekends Grumpy Man went well, in a change from the normal, quiet up to 10:30 then busy routine, the place was pleasantly busy from just after 8pm. I played my normal mix of stuff Tindersticks, Nick Cave, Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura, Absentee, Dinah Washington, Velvet Underground, John Cale and the like happy to say that no dancing took place.

On Tuesday I went to see a painful Bristol City performance, we won 2-1 against Orient but, boy did we make hard work of it. I managed to turn up at the ground with last seasons season ticket! First time I've ever done that, so I had the shock of paying £21 to get in. Luckily I'll get the money back this week, if I had to pay that every week I'm not sure that I would make the effort. Still we won the match, even if the last 20 mins had a few of us looking for fresh pairs of paints - if you get my drift!

This weekend we are off to see the wonderful Charlie Parr. Charlie is a fantastic singer songwriter from a country blues background. I love watching his huge hands flying around the guitar, he really attacks the tunes making it an exhilarating experience. He has a voice which is perfectly suited to the often confused and world weary songs which he sings. His latest album - Rooster, contains one of my favourite songs of recent years. The song is called Bethlehem, and achingly portrays the sadness of an ordinary father in the time of King Herod's purge of children. It's understated and devastating, a wonderful piece of work.

Last week we went to see The Chimes, a local band featuring 3 former members of the sadly missed Munter. The Chimes are a harder edged proposition than Munter were and are starting to build a set of really good songs.

Other than that we have been getting increasingly excited about the New York trip, loads of gigs lined up!!

On the subject of New York, we watched an excellent programme about the place on BBC4 the other night. The journalist Adam Gopnik presented a excellent history of the recent changes in the city, from the wild days of the 70's to cleaned up town that is New York today. Lot's of amazing footage of rubbish strewn streets with burnt out buildings, contrasting with the real estate heaven of today. Has some of the artistic thrust of the city been lost along the way as the general quality of life has improved? Well Gopnik thought so, is this a price worth paying? Well refreshingly, he didn't know. I'll see what I think in a couple of weeks time.

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