Lot’s of dashing around over the last few days. On Thursday, I had my second visit to the BBC following my invitation to be part of the listeners advisory council.
This was rather different to the other visits I’ll be making, as it the induction event for all new members of the various council’s in the area. As such, we were asked to comment of the first 15 minutes of the local tea time news show - Points West. Interestingly enough the lead item on the show was a hopeless non-story, which gave us plenty to get our teeth into.
As you would expect the people from the BBC took the criticism with good grace. We then had a quick tour of the studio’s and the presenters, who were charming and welcoming, they dealt with the gushing admiration of some of my colleges with supreme grace.
Then it a quick walk down to Gloucester Road to hook up with a few former work mates from my time at Oxfam. Liz came up with brilliant idea that in the future a real socialist government would set up a sort of “luxury item” bank. It would allow you to have access to one luxury item which you could never afford to own, in fact if you could afford to own it, it would imply that you were earning too much money, which in the socialist paradise, would obviously not happen.
Anyway, the luxury item which Liz had chosen was a top of the range Cello. The thinking went like this, when she wanted to use the cello, she would pop down to her local Cello bank / library, collect her instrument of choice at no cost, play it to her heart’s content, before returning it for other Cello lovers to use. Simple really.
When it came to thinking up an item which I would like, I must admit that I struggled. Eventually, I came up with something. The only trouble was that It would be a difficult thing to share. I decided that I would like to have a retractable roof our house. What could be finer that waking up on a glorious sunny saturday morning, reaching across to pick up the remote control unit, pressing the button and watch the roof peel back, exposing a clear blue skyline, with the sunshine filling the room. Quite how this could be shared with my comrades in the socialist paradise, I’m not really sure, but I do think that it would be a wonderful thing. If anyone invents it, we here at tomorysworld are willing to be your guinea pigs.
On Friday I meet up with Orynthia at Spike Island, for the start of the annual open weekend at this eclectic arts centre. As ever it was a fascinating chance to see what some of our local artists are doing, it’s also a very social place to be as lot’s of our friends were out and about. To put the icing on the cake, they provided lots of free nibbles and this year saw the welcome introduction of Pieminister Pies to the catering options. Fantastic!
Then it was off to The Bell to catch with a couple of friends from Madrid, who were in town for the weekend.
Saturday saw what should be the last home game of a disappointing season for Bristol City. How surprising then that it should be one of the best games we have seen over the past 9 months. Searching for a win to keep our play-off hopes alive, our incredibly young side launched everything at Doncaster Rovers. Somehow we ended up drawing 2-2 rather than getting the win we deserved.
Yet the skill, determination and persistence of the side packed with lads in their late teen’s and early twenties was a joy to watch. If results do go our way, we could still figure in the promotion shake up, I think I’d rather see these young lads grow as team at a level where they can hop to win games, rather than being on the back foot all the time.
Tomorrow it’s Redland Fair 50’s kitsch, old books and records, strange clothing and furniture, it’s what bank holidays are made for.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Saturday, April 30, 2005
spike Island open weekend 2
If you live in or near Bristol, make sure you get along to Spike Island for the open weekend. It's also Redland Fair on Monday. Top weekend
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
The end of the book. I just finished reading The Victim by Saul Below, however it's not just me that's finished the book, no one will ever get to read this particular book again. It was a recent 2nd hand purchase for the princely sum of £2.00 and I enjoyed the book, so I certainly got value for money.
The only problem was that, many other people had evidently enjoyed the book as well. Consequently, chunks it were drifting away from the binding, like leaves from a tree on a blustery autumn day. So that's it, it will have to be thrown away, which makes me kind of sad. I have no doubt that there are already plenty of books, hanging around in our house which will never be read again, yet they can quite happily sit on our shelves in the hope that either one of us will read them, they might be leant to a friend (never to be seen again!) or taken to a charity shop.
This one is different, who knows how many pairs of hand it has passed through? Sadly the end is here.
I've started to read my next one, it's a lovely new book which hopefully has many yeas of being read in front of it - Strangers by Taichi Yamada.
On Sunday we went to The Coral and they really were great. My friend Geoff has been working with them over the last year or so, consequently I've seen them around quite a bit. They came into Imperial on a couple of occasions when I was working there and of course they played the Tsunami benefit gig's a few months ago. On Sunday they played a really good mixture of old and new songs, which went down a storm with the capacity crowd. Their new single is stupidly catchy, should be a huge hit for them.
The only problem was that, many other people had evidently enjoyed the book as well. Consequently, chunks it were drifting away from the binding, like leaves from a tree on a blustery autumn day. So that's it, it will have to be thrown away, which makes me kind of sad. I have no doubt that there are already plenty of books, hanging around in our house which will never be read again, yet they can quite happily sit on our shelves in the hope that either one of us will read them, they might be leant to a friend (never to be seen again!) or taken to a charity shop.
This one is different, who knows how many pairs of hand it has passed through? Sadly the end is here.
I've started to read my next one, it's a lovely new book which hopefully has many yeas of being read in front of it - Strangers by Taichi Yamada.
On Sunday we went to The Coral and they really were great. My friend Geoff has been working with them over the last year or so, consequently I've seen them around quite a bit. They came into Imperial on a couple of occasions when I was working there and of course they played the Tsunami benefit gig's a few months ago. On Sunday they played a really good mixture of old and new songs, which went down a storm with the capacity crowd. Their new single is stupidly catchy, should be a huge hit for them.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
In our weekend battle of the canine against the feline, I have to say that the canine came out on top, with Freeze Puppy trumping Evil Kitty, when it came to the most entertaining night out.
We had a fine time at Evil Kitty, but did not do as much dancing as we had hoped too. Top marks on the DJ front went to Andy Jenks of Alpha, who played a great selection of tunes in the upstairs bar.
Saturday night at The Cube was most entertaining. A lovely set from Francois and his band set the tone for the evening, this was followed by the very entertaining idea of videos being shown of 5 different local performers doing versions of freeze Puppy songs. Some very entertaining and curious stuff here, my favourite being Team Bricks, crazed looped vocal take on one of the puppies songs.
Then the man himself, who produced another wide ranging show of musical delights. No two songs in the same genre, this guy really is a unique performer. The fact that cakes were handed to the audience during the set obviously helped as well!
In the bar afterwards, RLF played a great set of 60’s classics to get us dancing more than we had done on Friday. Lots of friendly faces were about, making it a top night.
We had a fine time at Evil Kitty, but did not do as much dancing as we had hoped too. Top marks on the DJ front went to Andy Jenks of Alpha, who played a great selection of tunes in the upstairs bar.
Saturday night at The Cube was most entertaining. A lovely set from Francois and his band set the tone for the evening, this was followed by the very entertaining idea of videos being shown of 5 different local performers doing versions of freeze Puppy songs. Some very entertaining and curious stuff here, my favourite being Team Bricks, crazed looped vocal take on one of the puppies songs.
Then the man himself, who produced another wide ranging show of musical delights. No two songs in the same genre, this guy really is a unique performer. The fact that cakes were handed to the audience during the set obviously helped as well!
In the bar afterwards, RLF played a great set of 60’s classics to get us dancing more than we had done on Friday. Lots of friendly faces were about, making it a top night.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
A busy weekend awaits us, starting on Friday evening at Evil Kitty. It's the 2nd night for the latest club venture from our friends John Stapleton and Ian Green (and another lovely chap who's name escapes me!). It's taking place at The Arc bar, one of the nicest city centre venues and with the special guest being Andy Votel of Twisted Nerve fame, so I'm sure that we're in for a good evening.
On Saturday, I'm off to see City play Wrexham, in what now look like a pointless game for us, although it could be a vital one for Wrexham and they strive to avoid relegation. Then on Saturday evening we are off to The Cube. One of our favourite local musicians Freeze Puppy, is launching his album by playing a gig with a few friends. My old Imperial college RLF is returning from London to DJ at the event, so it should be a top night. It's difficult to describe the music which Mr Freeze Puppy makes, it's unique and really rather wonderful.
I'm going to spend most of Sunday emptying out the kitchen, as we are having some work done next week, which includes replacing the existing ceiling. It's sure to be a messy experience, thankfully my lack of DIY expertise means that I won't actually be doing the work, it's in the safe hands of our friend Matt.
On Saturday, I'm off to see City play Wrexham, in what now look like a pointless game for us, although it could be a vital one for Wrexham and they strive to avoid relegation. Then on Saturday evening we are off to The Cube. One of our favourite local musicians Freeze Puppy, is launching his album by playing a gig with a few friends. My old Imperial college RLF is returning from London to DJ at the event, so it should be a top night. It's difficult to describe the music which Mr Freeze Puppy makes, it's unique and really rather wonderful.
I'm going to spend most of Sunday emptying out the kitchen, as we are having some work done next week, which includes replacing the existing ceiling. It's sure to be a messy experience, thankfully my lack of DIY expertise means that I won't actually be doing the work, it's in the safe hands of our friend Matt.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
I've had this passed onto me by Jessica, so here goes:
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
As Vixgirl said I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 -- but from what I can tell, this is a question about which book you would memorise and, accordingly, which book your life would come to resemble.
So with that in mind, I think that I would have to go for something by the marvellous P. G. Wodehouse. I think I’d plump for Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves as it features Bertie Wooster, Jeeves (of course) and the splendidly hapless Gussie Fink-Nottle. What joy, to be locked in that wonderfully daft world.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Not exactly a crush, by I was thoroughly smitten with the enigmatic Shimamoto in Haruki Murakami’s South of the Boarder, West of the Sun. As with all of Murakami’s protagonists, she has very little to say, yet manages to cast a sublime spell over the book.
The last book you bought is?
A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell. Picked this up for £2 the other day. It’s the first book in Powell’s 12 volume series - A Dance to the Music of Time. It’s actually replacing an old copy which I foolishly lent to an old college and of course never saw again. Back in the the late 80’s I got as far number 8 in the series and one day I know that I’ll go to them and will complete series. For those that don’t know the books, it’s a wonderfully acidic look at the English ruling class. The book in question is delightful penguin 1st edition from 1962
The last book you finished is?
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. No relation to Haruki Murakami, this chap looks like becoming another fixture in my ongoing obsession with fiction from Japan. This is a very short but hypnotic journey into the dark side of Tokyo of life. As with many of his compatriots the style is detached and understated, even whilst describing some stomach churning events.
What are you currently reading?
The Victim by Saul Bellow. Another £2 pick up the other day. I tried reading Herzog by Bellow on a couple of occasions, without completing it. I read a lot about him since his recent death and thought it was time to try something else. I’ve only read 14 pages so far, it’s rather too soon to say if I’ll make it to the end of this one.
Five books you would take to a desert island?
Way too tough, this is the sort of list that would change every time I wrote it down. Anyway here is the list for today:
The Corrections By Jonathan Franzen. Plenty of time on a desert island to work my way through this masterful insight into family life. Everyone who moans about their family should read this. Fantastic
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Yet more upper class English twerps (something of a theme developing!). Still makes me laugh 25 years after I first read it, worth having just for the description of Uncle Podger attempting to hang a picture - genius.
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. The first really grown up book I read, I’m still amazed at the way in which Dostoyevsky puts you right in the mind of poor Raskolnikov. The gathering despair and paranoia is mesmerising. This really is a book to lose yourself in.
Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami. I could have chosen any of his books, they all have so much to offer. This is one of his funniest books, as he links Sci-Fi with hard boiled thriller, few others writers could pull this off.
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto. Another wonderful book from Japan, this one a classic coming of age book, which rewards repeated reading.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Joanna - Compulsive reader, brilliant writer
Pete - Reads lot’s of books I’ve never heard of and always engages my curiosity.
Tally Ho Sulky - Great insights from our native New Yorker.
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
As Vixgirl said I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 -- but from what I can tell, this is a question about which book you would memorise and, accordingly, which book your life would come to resemble.
So with that in mind, I think that I would have to go for something by the marvellous P. G. Wodehouse. I think I’d plump for Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves as it features Bertie Wooster, Jeeves (of course) and the splendidly hapless Gussie Fink-Nottle. What joy, to be locked in that wonderfully daft world.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Not exactly a crush, by I was thoroughly smitten with the enigmatic Shimamoto in Haruki Murakami’s South of the Boarder, West of the Sun. As with all of Murakami’s protagonists, she has very little to say, yet manages to cast a sublime spell over the book.
The last book you bought is?
A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell. Picked this up for £2 the other day. It’s the first book in Powell’s 12 volume series - A Dance to the Music of Time. It’s actually replacing an old copy which I foolishly lent to an old college and of course never saw again. Back in the the late 80’s I got as far number 8 in the series and one day I know that I’ll go to them and will complete series. For those that don’t know the books, it’s a wonderfully acidic look at the English ruling class. The book in question is delightful penguin 1st edition from 1962
The last book you finished is?
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. No relation to Haruki Murakami, this chap looks like becoming another fixture in my ongoing obsession with fiction from Japan. This is a very short but hypnotic journey into the dark side of Tokyo of life. As with many of his compatriots the style is detached and understated, even whilst describing some stomach churning events.
What are you currently reading?
The Victim by Saul Bellow. Another £2 pick up the other day. I tried reading Herzog by Bellow on a couple of occasions, without completing it. I read a lot about him since his recent death and thought it was time to try something else. I’ve only read 14 pages so far, it’s rather too soon to say if I’ll make it to the end of this one.
Five books you would take to a desert island?
Way too tough, this is the sort of list that would change every time I wrote it down. Anyway here is the list for today:
The Corrections By Jonathan Franzen. Plenty of time on a desert island to work my way through this masterful insight into family life. Everyone who moans about their family should read this. Fantastic
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Yet more upper class English twerps (something of a theme developing!). Still makes me laugh 25 years after I first read it, worth having just for the description of Uncle Podger attempting to hang a picture - genius.
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. The first really grown up book I read, I’m still amazed at the way in which Dostoyevsky puts you right in the mind of poor Raskolnikov. The gathering despair and paranoia is mesmerising. This really is a book to lose yourself in.
Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami. I could have chosen any of his books, they all have so much to offer. This is one of his funniest books, as he links Sci-Fi with hard boiled thriller, few others writers could pull this off.
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto. Another wonderful book from Japan, this one a classic coming of age book, which rewards repeated reading.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Joanna - Compulsive reader, brilliant writer
Pete - Reads lot’s of books I’ve never heard of and always engages my curiosity.
Tally Ho Sulky - Great insights from our native New Yorker.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
I must admit that we had a few worries in the run up to Mat & Helens wedding last weekend. They were all linked to the fact that temperatures were plunging and the reception had been arranged in a marquee, it sounded like a recipe for a very chilly evening.
Well we needn't have worried. The weather turned out to be much better than anticipated and the marquee was very pleasantly heated by Helen's very thoughtful parents.
After a slightly delayed Saturday morning departure, we arrived in the village of Pandy , where our accommodation for the evening had been booked. We just had time to change into our glad rags and have a brief look around the splendid old house which we had been booked into. Peacocks and chickens strutted around the grounds, as we nibbled on pasties and sausage rolls (nothing worse than being the owner of a rumbling tummy in packed church). The church was a classic British village one, packed to the rafters with smiling faces. The mood was further enhanced by the vicar, who possessed a marvellously deadpan sense of humour. Whilst the all important paperwork was signed we were entertained by one of Helen's friends who sang wonderful versions of "Fly me to the moon" and "My baby just cares for me" accompanied by a surprisingly jazzy organist.
After a brief pause for pictures, we all took the short stroll to Helen's parents house for the reception, which as I mentioned before was taking place in a huge marquee. The canapes and champagne flowed nicely, then the speeches began. We had to nip off during the these to collect part two of the DJ double act. Part one - Ian Green had made the journey with us, the other half of the act, local legend DJ Derek preferred to indulge his passion for coach and bus travel. Anyway the pair of them did a great set, which resulted in lots and lots dancing.
The next morning I took DJ Derek off to the nearest coach stop, before the rest of made the short journey to Hay-on-Wye, to spend many happy hours wandering around the amazing bookshops of that unique town. Talking of books, I finally managed to get to the end of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Once I got past the dreadful middle section I enjoyed it, the problem was mainly down to me, as lost my reading rhythm at the midway point. Since then I've managed to wizz through "In the Miso soup" by Ryu Murakami. Short and beautifully written, although it does contain one section of eye popping brutality, I really enjoyed this dark and unsettling short novel.
Well we needn't have worried. The weather turned out to be much better than anticipated and the marquee was very pleasantly heated by Helen's very thoughtful parents.
After a slightly delayed Saturday morning departure, we arrived in the village of Pandy , where our accommodation for the evening had been booked. We just had time to change into our glad rags and have a brief look around the splendid old house which we had been booked into. Peacocks and chickens strutted around the grounds, as we nibbled on pasties and sausage rolls (nothing worse than being the owner of a rumbling tummy in packed church). The church was a classic British village one, packed to the rafters with smiling faces. The mood was further enhanced by the vicar, who possessed a marvellously deadpan sense of humour. Whilst the all important paperwork was signed we were entertained by one of Helen's friends who sang wonderful versions of "Fly me to the moon" and "My baby just cares for me" accompanied by a surprisingly jazzy organist.
After a brief pause for pictures, we all took the short stroll to Helen's parents house for the reception, which as I mentioned before was taking place in a huge marquee. The canapes and champagne flowed nicely, then the speeches began. We had to nip off during the these to collect part two of the DJ double act. Part one - Ian Green had made the journey with us, the other half of the act, local legend DJ Derek preferred to indulge his passion for coach and bus travel. Anyway the pair of them did a great set, which resulted in lots and lots dancing.
The next morning I took DJ Derek off to the nearest coach stop, before the rest of made the short journey to Hay-on-Wye, to spend many happy hours wandering around the amazing bookshops of that unique town. Talking of books, I finally managed to get to the end of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Once I got past the dreadful middle section I enjoyed it, the problem was mainly down to me, as lost my reading rhythm at the midway point. Since then I've managed to wizz through "In the Miso soup" by Ryu Murakami. Short and beautifully written, although it does contain one section of eye popping brutality, I really enjoyed this dark and unsettling short novel.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Us at Helen & Mat's wedding
What a great wedding. I'll write more later about our lovely weekend in the shadow of The Black Mountains.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Last night’s Rufus Wainwright gig at the Colston Hall was quite an evening!
Anticipation levels in the hall were pretty high, when Rufus and his 6 piece band took to the stage, but I think few were prepared for the roller coaster evening which was ahead of us. It all started normally enough, as the band made up for the lack of an orchestra, bu playing subtle versions of some of the more exuberant recent tracks from Canada’s latest musical star.
However a few songs in, the strain started to show on the the vocal chords of Mr Wainwright, yet rather than diminish the evening, the problems added something rather special to the whole event. In the middle period of the set the poor chap had a 30 minute spell, when about 20% time the words just failed to emerge. The lips would move, but not a sound was heard. To his credit, Rufus just brazenly pushed his way through some of his difficult (to sing) songs, wincing and laughing along with the rest of us at his vocal mishaps.
The sheer force of his personality, took him beyond the limitations of his troubled vocal chords to a place where his human frailty was exposed behind his oh so confident manner.
Suddenly the voice came back, just in time for the astounding encores, where to got see more of Rufus (and his band) than one would normally expect in the demure surroundings of the Colston Hall. It was hilariously funny and musically outstanding.
We were shocked to see that when the house lights came up it was 11:20. 2 hours had flown past, if you get the chance to see him make sure that you take it.
Anticipation levels in the hall were pretty high, when Rufus and his 6 piece band took to the stage, but I think few were prepared for the roller coaster evening which was ahead of us. It all started normally enough, as the band made up for the lack of an orchestra, bu playing subtle versions of some of the more exuberant recent tracks from Canada’s latest musical star.
However a few songs in, the strain started to show on the the vocal chords of Mr Wainwright, yet rather than diminish the evening, the problems added something rather special to the whole event. In the middle period of the set the poor chap had a 30 minute spell, when about 20% time the words just failed to emerge. The lips would move, but not a sound was heard. To his credit, Rufus just brazenly pushed his way through some of his difficult (to sing) songs, wincing and laughing along with the rest of us at his vocal mishaps.
The sheer force of his personality, took him beyond the limitations of his troubled vocal chords to a place where his human frailty was exposed behind his oh so confident manner.
Suddenly the voice came back, just in time for the astounding encores, where to got see more of Rufus (and his band) than one would normally expect in the demure surroundings of the Colston Hall. It was hilariously funny and musically outstanding.
We were shocked to see that when the house lights came up it was 11:20. 2 hours had flown past, if you get the chance to see him make sure that you take it.
Friday, April 01, 2005
A while ago I mentioned that our mothers were taking a holiday together. Well, sadly it was not a huge success.
I think they both ended up thinking that the other was a little strange! My mum was amazed at the way Orynthia’s mum was so involved with Bingo and other communal activities. conversely I think that Orynthia’s mum was surprised that my mum would rather go back to the room in the evening and watch TV or read. It wasn’t a disaster and I’m sure that they are closer friends than they were before, but I can’t see the experiment being repeated somehow.
We’’ve got a busy time coming up over the next few days. This weekend orynthia has gone away to Wales on a hen weekend. I’ve got a City game to watch tomorrow. Then on Monday it’s Orynthia’s birthday, we both have the day off work, so we are going to nip over to Bath on the train for the day. There are a few interesting exhibition’s taking place which should amuse us, in the evening we are back in Bristol for a trip to the Old Vic to see
“Turn of the Screw” By Henry James. The birthday celebrations continue at The Bell on Tuesday evening. although I have another match at Ashton Gate to take in before I join Orynthia & co.
On Wednesday evening we will be the Colston Hall to see Rufus Wainwright. I’ve seen his dad in action a few times over the years, but I think that the pair of them will have rather different ideas about stage craft! In a few weeks time Martha Wainwright is in town, I’m already booked in for something that night, so I guess my Wainwright collection will remain incomplete for a while.
I think they both ended up thinking that the other was a little strange! My mum was amazed at the way Orynthia’s mum was so involved with Bingo and other communal activities. conversely I think that Orynthia’s mum was surprised that my mum would rather go back to the room in the evening and watch TV or read. It wasn’t a disaster and I’m sure that they are closer friends than they were before, but I can’t see the experiment being repeated somehow.
We’’ve got a busy time coming up over the next few days. This weekend orynthia has gone away to Wales on a hen weekend. I’ve got a City game to watch tomorrow. Then on Monday it’s Orynthia’s birthday, we both have the day off work, so we are going to nip over to Bath on the train for the day. There are a few interesting exhibition’s taking place which should amuse us, in the evening we are back in Bristol for a trip to the Old Vic to see
“Turn of the Screw” By Henry James. The birthday celebrations continue at The Bell on Tuesday evening. although I have another match at Ashton Gate to take in before I join Orynthia & co.
On Wednesday evening we will be the Colston Hall to see Rufus Wainwright. I’ve seen his dad in action a few times over the years, but I think that the pair of them will have rather different ideas about stage craft! In a few weeks time Martha Wainwright is in town, I’m already booked in for something that night, so I guess my Wainwright collection will remain incomplete for a while.
All quiet here in Redland this evening. Well I say all quiet, iTunes is grooving away, attempting to set a rhythm for more hopeless typing.
Since we’ve become fully iPod friendly loading iTunes has become something of an obsession. We take it in turn to grab a handful of CD’s from around the house and transfer them to something wonderfully flexible and free. The only problem is that I seldom get to listen to full albums anymore, the dreaded “shuffle” mode is so addictive that I really have to force myself to play an album in it’s entirety. I know that it a few years time people will be asking what an album is and their thirst for the killer tune means that attention spans become shorter and shorter.
Of course the attraction of the “shuffle” is that it lets us host our own radio station, with the best music in the world and none of the inane chatter getting in the way. Although we know all the tracks locked within that miniature world, we still gasp at the audacity of a Tom Waits track following something by The Shirelles or maybe Bobby Darin followed by Bloc Party, it all so wonderful. And yet...
If all we ever listen too is the music we already own, where will find the music which will inspire and delight us over forthcoming years? Most of the new stuff I do find comes either from evening shows on BBC Radio 2 or BBC Radio 6, occasionally some web surfing will produce a few interesting results and then I can quickly nip around the web to find a few snippets and samples of songs to tempt me in.
Yet it all seems much harder than it was in the old days, which is odd, as in theory everything is more available than it ever has been. The trouble is simple, these days we have to filter the information ourselves. Previously whole armies of people spent their time deciding what would squeeze out of the narrow conduit which bought the music to us. I’m not sure that I have the time to do it. Anyone want a job?
Since we’ve become fully iPod friendly loading iTunes has become something of an obsession. We take it in turn to grab a handful of CD’s from around the house and transfer them to something wonderfully flexible and free. The only problem is that I seldom get to listen to full albums anymore, the dreaded “shuffle” mode is so addictive that I really have to force myself to play an album in it’s entirety. I know that it a few years time people will be asking what an album is and their thirst for the killer tune means that attention spans become shorter and shorter.
Of course the attraction of the “shuffle” is that it lets us host our own radio station, with the best music in the world and none of the inane chatter getting in the way. Although we know all the tracks locked within that miniature world, we still gasp at the audacity of a Tom Waits track following something by The Shirelles or maybe Bobby Darin followed by Bloc Party, it all so wonderful. And yet...
If all we ever listen too is the music we already own, where will find the music which will inspire and delight us over forthcoming years? Most of the new stuff I do find comes either from evening shows on BBC Radio 2 or BBC Radio 6, occasionally some web surfing will produce a few interesting results and then I can quickly nip around the web to find a few snippets and samples of songs to tempt me in.
Yet it all seems much harder than it was in the old days, which is odd, as in theory everything is more available than it ever has been. The trouble is simple, these days we have to filter the information ourselves. Previously whole armies of people spent their time deciding what would squeeze out of the narrow conduit which bought the music to us. I’m not sure that I have the time to do it. Anyone want a job?
Monday, March 28, 2005
The recent death of Jim Callaghan prompted a few memories for me. The memories are not really of the former Prime Minister, but rather of a particular holiday we had in the late 1970’s.
Mum and dad had some friends who lived in Sussex, in fact they were relatives of my mums best friend. And one summer we spent a few days staying with them.
It was rather like stepping into another world. The family had obviously made a lot of money over the years, and lived in a huge house with grounds and and cattle. They weren’t farmers you understand, just people who had land (and they had plenty) and the money to own 20 or so cows, just for fun. To make them seem even more exotic, the husband had been married prior to his existing situation, and I was amazed when his ex-wife came round to have tea with his current wife! At the time, divorce was still a pretty unusual and messy thing, so the seeing the two of them sitting and chatting amicably, seemed amazingly bohemian to a simple young boy from Fishponds.
One day we went for a walk in the countryside around the house, and Jim Callaghans house was casually pointed out as we strolled past a succession of ever more amazing properties. I was stunned to think that people we knew could live in such close proximity to the Prime Minister.
Back at the house a treasure trove of delights awaited me. Whilst the admittedly splendid scenery around the house did very little to excite me, I was very much of the opinion that the only real purpose for grass was to play football on it, not something you easily do if the grass was long and covered with cow pats!
However part the families considerable wealth had been spent on a huge record and book collection, so I spent many happy hours working myway through the cream of 1970’s rock music, whilst flicking through some stunning antiquarian books. I needed little else from the holiday, yet as well the vast array of recorded music available to me, the south eastern location of the property meant that I could also pick up Radio Caroline with almost crystal clear clarity, something that was virtually impossible in Bristol.
This I decided was the life for me, although we have never owned the big house, the land or indeed the cows! Also I’ve never had a Prime Minister living around the corner. Luckily I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with books and music. Bliss.
Mum and dad had some friends who lived in Sussex, in fact they were relatives of my mums best friend. And one summer we spent a few days staying with them.
It was rather like stepping into another world. The family had obviously made a lot of money over the years, and lived in a huge house with grounds and and cattle. They weren’t farmers you understand, just people who had land (and they had plenty) and the money to own 20 or so cows, just for fun. To make them seem even more exotic, the husband had been married prior to his existing situation, and I was amazed when his ex-wife came round to have tea with his current wife! At the time, divorce was still a pretty unusual and messy thing, so the seeing the two of them sitting and chatting amicably, seemed amazingly bohemian to a simple young boy from Fishponds.
One day we went for a walk in the countryside around the house, and Jim Callaghans house was casually pointed out as we strolled past a succession of ever more amazing properties. I was stunned to think that people we knew could live in such close proximity to the Prime Minister.
Back at the house a treasure trove of delights awaited me. Whilst the admittedly splendid scenery around the house did very little to excite me, I was very much of the opinion that the only real purpose for grass was to play football on it, not something you easily do if the grass was long and covered with cow pats!
However part the families considerable wealth had been spent on a huge record and book collection, so I spent many happy hours working myway through the cream of 1970’s rock music, whilst flicking through some stunning antiquarian books. I needed little else from the holiday, yet as well the vast array of recorded music available to me, the south eastern location of the property meant that I could also pick up Radio Caroline with almost crystal clear clarity, something that was virtually impossible in Bristol.
This I decided was the life for me, although we have never owned the big house, the land or indeed the cows! Also I’ve never had a Prime Minister living around the corner. Luckily I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with books and music. Bliss.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Sunday afternoon was really very pleasant. We made the most of the short spring interlude (we're back to damp weather again now) by meeting up with a few of our friends for drinks and food at our favourite dockside location Arabi 'n' Tap. Six of us worked our way through a succession of coffee's, teas, main meals and cakes, whilst sitting on the rooftop deck enjoying the sunshine. The afternoon was not however without it's perils, Orynthia and our poor waitress suffered at the hands (or should that be bottom!) of a passing seagull. Luckily the damage was not too great and did not tarnish a lovely afternoon.
We nipped home for a couple of hours before walking up to the Orpheus cinema in Henlease, to see "A very Long engagement" which stars Audrey Tatou and is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film tells us the story of a group of French soldiers in world war 1, who were due to be executed for injuring themselves in an effort to be removed from the frontline. Jeunet sense of visual flair, gives the film some remarkable trench scenes. Over the course of the film, we focus in turn of each soldiers, learning what bought them to hideous situation. One of the soldiers situation takes centre stage as polio stricken Audrey Tatou attempts to find out the truth of what happened to her fiancée. It's an engaging yet confusing film, once again Audrey Tatou is captivating.
last night we went to see The Raveonettes at The Fleece. When I last saw them I was left feeling slightly disappointed, they seemed rather too controlled, contrived even. Well the months have been kind to them, and although they had only just flown back from SXSW in Texas, and by the look of it, left their collective wardrobe behind, they sounded great. They still use the dreaded "click-track" which means that all sorts of sounds were coming through the P.A. including the disembodied voice of Ronnie Spector at one point. Yet they managed to come across as being pretty free, and very enjoyable. Also on the bill were Dogs, who I quite enjoyed, despite the fact that without The Libertines or The Strokes having shown them the way, I can't imagine that they would be with us today. We arrived midway through Boxer rebellion, who left us both completely underwhelmed.
We nipped home for a couple of hours before walking up to the Orpheus cinema in Henlease, to see "A very Long engagement" which stars Audrey Tatou and is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film tells us the story of a group of French soldiers in world war 1, who were due to be executed for injuring themselves in an effort to be removed from the frontline. Jeunet sense of visual flair, gives the film some remarkable trench scenes. Over the course of the film, we focus in turn of each soldiers, learning what bought them to hideous situation. One of the soldiers situation takes centre stage as polio stricken Audrey Tatou attempts to find out the truth of what happened to her fiancée. It's an engaging yet confusing film, once again Audrey Tatou is captivating.
last night we went to see The Raveonettes at The Fleece. When I last saw them I was left feeling slightly disappointed, they seemed rather too controlled, contrived even. Well the months have been kind to them, and although they had only just flown back from SXSW in Texas, and by the look of it, left their collective wardrobe behind, they sounded great. They still use the dreaded "click-track" which means that all sorts of sounds were coming through the P.A. including the disembodied voice of Ronnie Spector at one point. Yet they managed to come across as being pretty free, and very enjoyable. Also on the bill were Dogs, who I quite enjoyed, despite the fact that without The Libertines or The Strokes having shown them the way, I can't imagine that they would be with us today. We arrived midway through Boxer rebellion, who left us both completely underwhelmed.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Musical contrasts have been the thing for this weekend. By the way, I really like the way American TV shows like West Wing can use a phrase like “What’s The Thing?”. When we try to use it England it never sounds quite right, yet the American accent throws the right amount of weight and suspense being that simple phrase “The Thing”. It can impart a sense of gravity and intrigue onto the most mundane of subjects.
Anyway back to the music. Friday evening saw us make a long overdue visit to that strangest of all music venues in Bristol - Seymours in The Dings for the launch gig for the release of the new CD from Bucky - All the new mistakes. Seymours really is a great little venue, the music room has a wonderful “Phoenix Nights” atmosphere, from the glittering pillars to the pictures of Cliff and Shaky on the world, everything is fantastically uncool. Anyone with the sweet tooth of a 10 year old should also check out the amazing Tuck shop element of the bar, as it contains a startling array of goodies, many of which I have never seen before.
It was a top night, with multiple collaborations going on between Bucky, War Against Sleep and My Two Toms. We picked up a copy of the aforementioned CD, and rather good it is too. You can never accuse a Bucky song of outstaying it’s welcome as most them are only around 1 minute long, but the production on the album really brings out the best in the band.
Saturday saw us making a visit to the Colston Hall for an evening of Baroque music from the English Symphony Orchestra and the Bristol Choral Society. It was great to see a full choir of 100 + singers surging through the works of Handel and Bach, with the brilliant Zadoc The Priest proving to the big tune of the night.
Anyway back to the music. Friday evening saw us make a long overdue visit to that strangest of all music venues in Bristol - Seymours in The Dings for the launch gig for the release of the new CD from Bucky - All the new mistakes. Seymours really is a great little venue, the music room has a wonderful “Phoenix Nights” atmosphere, from the glittering pillars to the pictures of Cliff and Shaky on the world, everything is fantastically uncool. Anyone with the sweet tooth of a 10 year old should also check out the amazing Tuck shop element of the bar, as it contains a startling array of goodies, many of which I have never seen before.
It was a top night, with multiple collaborations going on between Bucky, War Against Sleep and My Two Toms. We picked up a copy of the aforementioned CD, and rather good it is too. You can never accuse a Bucky song of outstaying it’s welcome as most them are only around 1 minute long, but the production on the album really brings out the best in the band.
Saturday saw us making a visit to the Colston Hall for an evening of Baroque music from the English Symphony Orchestra and the Bristol Choral Society. It was great to see a full choir of 100 + singers surging through the works of Handel and Bach, with the brilliant Zadoc The Priest proving to the big tune of the night.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Recently we've been spending time a bit of time, trying choosing where to stay when we visit Berlin and Ljubljana in September.
Over recent years we have been amazingly lucky with our choices the highlights being our apartment in Chelsea, New york, which was so "New York" it hurt. When we went to Paris in 2003, we had a brilliant stay in the midst of one of those amazing Parisian apartment buildings, where you could almost feel the presence of Jean-Paul Sartre in the air. Then we we went to wonderful Vilnius and stayed in a show home for new rich of the Baltics. Last year it was Berlin and that lovely house and garden.
We picked out a few places which look really nice for this years trip. Part of the fun in doing this is the element of the unknown. The places we stay in, are not part of some huge global hotel chain, where everything looks the same, not matter where you are. Sometimes it can be tricky working out how things work, but that is part of the fun. Hotels just don't have that element of fun about them.
Over recent years we have been amazingly lucky with our choices the highlights being our apartment in Chelsea, New york, which was so "New York" it hurt. When we went to Paris in 2003, we had a brilliant stay in the midst of one of those amazing Parisian apartment buildings, where you could almost feel the presence of Jean-Paul Sartre in the air. Then we we went to wonderful Vilnius and stayed in a show home for new rich of the Baltics. Last year it was Berlin and that lovely house and garden.
We picked out a few places which look really nice for this years trip. Part of the fun in doing this is the element of the unknown. The places we stay in, are not part of some huge global hotel chain, where everything looks the same, not matter where you are. Sometimes it can be tricky working out how things work, but that is part of the fun. Hotels just don't have that element of fun about them.
Monday, March 14, 2005
My word, it's been yonks since I wrote anything here. No real reason, other than I've not found much time to sit in front of the Mac recently.
As ever a large finger of blame can be pointed in the direction of football. A particularly pointless weekend has just passed, watched City fail to win at home again, before losing 2-0 on Sunday morning when playing for Bryan Munich.
Also been catching up with a few old films, including "In the mood for love" (fantastic), "Spirited Away" (very good) and "Betty Fisher and other stories" (very clever).
Our mums have gone away on holiday with each other! How will it turn out? We are most intrigued.
As ever a large finger of blame can be pointed in the direction of football. A particularly pointless weekend has just passed, watched City fail to win at home again, before losing 2-0 on Sunday morning when playing for Bryan Munich.
Also been catching up with a few old films, including "In the mood for love" (fantastic), "Spirited Away" (very good) and "Betty Fisher and other stories" (very clever).
Our mums have gone away on holiday with each other! How will it turn out? We are most intrigued.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
We've been doing a lot of family socializing over recent days. It's all been pretty relaxed and quite nice, could be the lull before the storm though. This weekend will see both of our respective mothers going away on holiday together. Although they have obviously known each for many years, they don't really know each other that well, they also have very different personalities, so it will interesting to hear how their week together goes. It does feel as though we are masterminding some weird sociological experiment but it really is down to them, we hope it goes well.
Other than that, we saw Sondre Lerche at the Louie last Saturday. Once again he played it as a solo show and was really very good. A tad more scuzzy than when we saw him in Cardiff last year, he had the crowd lapping up everything he gave them. On occasions I thought the chat was a little too "cute" but I seemed to be alone in that.
I've finally started reading "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell, the trouble is that I got my copy of the book back in January, so I'm lugging around the huge hard backed version, even though the much lighter paperback version has just been thrust upon an excited nation. When the paper dust jacket is removed, the book does take on a vaguely biblical look, which has provoked a few concerned looks and remarks from some of my colleagues at work. The same thing happened last week, when I wore a T-Shirt with a nice picture of a toaster emblazoned across my chest. Apparently it was the cause of some debate and discussion before someone finally asked me, what it signified? I just replied with something along the lines of "Well it's just a toaster, everyone loves toast don't they" caused more confusion, as some people were sure that I was hiding some great meaning from them. oh well, sometimes it's best not to explain too much.
Other than that, we saw Sondre Lerche at the Louie last Saturday. Once again he played it as a solo show and was really very good. A tad more scuzzy than when we saw him in Cardiff last year, he had the crowd lapping up everything he gave them. On occasions I thought the chat was a little too "cute" but I seemed to be alone in that.
I've finally started reading "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell, the trouble is that I got my copy of the book back in January, so I'm lugging around the huge hard backed version, even though the much lighter paperback version has just been thrust upon an excited nation. When the paper dust jacket is removed, the book does take on a vaguely biblical look, which has provoked a few concerned looks and remarks from some of my colleagues at work. The same thing happened last week, when I wore a T-Shirt with a nice picture of a toaster emblazoned across my chest. Apparently it was the cause of some debate and discussion before someone finally asked me, what it signified? I just replied with something along the lines of "Well it's just a toaster, everyone loves toast don't they" caused more confusion, as some people were sure that I was hiding some great meaning from them. oh well, sometimes it's best not to explain too much.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
I need to say thanks to former Imperial customer Kristen for sending me a fantastic link, all the way from snowy Philadelphia.
We share a love for the music of Sufjan Stevens, and she kindly sent me a link to this wonderful Canadian site which hosts loads of concert and session recordings from interesting bands. As I write this I'm listening to a show he played with his band in Toronto last year. As well as that gem you can find full recordings of gigs by The Shins, The Magnetic Fields, Broadcast, Fiery Furnaces and loads more.
Talking of music and things Canadian, after reading masses of great reviews I picked up the album from Arcade Fire - "Funeral", yesterday. Only had a chance to hear it a couple of times so far, but I'm liking what I'm hearing. They are playing Bristol soon, so I may get a chance to see them in the flesh. I've also been enjoying the Bloc Party album and a lot of Rufus Wainwright in preparation for his upcoming Bristol visit.
We share a love for the music of Sufjan Stevens, and she kindly sent me a link to this wonderful Canadian site which hosts loads of concert and session recordings from interesting bands. As I write this I'm listening to a show he played with his band in Toronto last year. As well as that gem you can find full recordings of gigs by The Shins, The Magnetic Fields, Broadcast, Fiery Furnaces and loads more.
Talking of music and things Canadian, after reading masses of great reviews I picked up the album from Arcade Fire - "Funeral", yesterday. Only had a chance to hear it a couple of times so far, but I'm liking what I'm hearing. They are playing Bristol soon, so I may get a chance to see them in the flesh. I've also been enjoying the Bloc Party album and a lot of Rufus Wainwright in preparation for his upcoming Bristol visit.
Shoes - I know it's not something that men are meant to talk about, but I'm getting concerned about the paucity of the display on my shoe rack.
I think that I can point the finger (or should that be toe) of blame at Elvis Costello and Nick Cave. Both of these gentlemen have recently entertained me musically and sartorially, and both have been resplendent in their fine footwear. leaving me feeling somewhat inadequate in the shoe department.
It used to so different, back in the 80's I was quite happy to spend out on an ever-increasing range of fabulous 50's themed shoes from Bonie Maronie near the bus station in town. When that fine (if slightly overpriced) shop closed, I had a barren spell for several years before discovering a shop called Robot in Covent Garden and succumbed once again to the lure of the
pointy rockabilly shoe again. In between times I dabbled with the English gentlemen look, with several pair of fine brogues - leather soles and everything. Oh how sophisticated and grown up we were.
Then suddenly years after everyone else, I decided that general daily shoes were not important, but a lovely pair of Converse trainers were, and that was that. My shoes became more and more average and non descript, which is still true to this day. It could be time to have a change of approach again and to look for shoes which I won't need to keep hidden under the table.
I think that I can point the finger (or should that be toe) of blame at Elvis Costello and Nick Cave. Both of these gentlemen have recently entertained me musically and sartorially, and both have been resplendent in their fine footwear. leaving me feeling somewhat inadequate in the shoe department.
It used to so different, back in the 80's I was quite happy to spend out on an ever-increasing range of fabulous 50's themed shoes from Bonie Maronie near the bus station in town. When that fine (if slightly overpriced) shop closed, I had a barren spell for several years before discovering a shop called Robot in Covent Garden and succumbed once again to the lure of the
pointy rockabilly shoe again. In between times I dabbled with the English gentlemen look, with several pair of fine brogues - leather soles and everything. Oh how sophisticated and grown up we were.
Then suddenly years after everyone else, I decided that general daily shoes were not important, but a lovely pair of Converse trainers were, and that was that. My shoes became more and more average and non descript, which is still true to this day. It could be time to have a change of approach again and to look for shoes which I won't need to keep hidden under the table.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Well that Nick Cave chap certainly provided us with some entertainment on Saturday evening. In the one of the the most wildly incorrect pieces of promotional material, since a Bristol city chairman promised the fans European football a few years ago, this “solo” show, proved to be anything but. Cave and three members of The Bad Seeds, bludgeoned their way through around two hours of top notch stuff.
The man himself was surprisingly relaxed, joking and taking requests from the audience, whilst keeping his poor “lyric roadie” fully occupied. Eventually the poor chap ran out of patience and emptied a huge carrier bag full of lyrics on the floor, much to the crowd and Mr cave’s amusement.
After the show I managed to find time to nip across to The Bunch of Grapes, to catch 15 mins of my friend Yuki’s blues band who I think are called Mean Red Spider (sound right as that’s an old Muddy Waters song), before heading home for some sleep.
Sunday saw another impressive victory from the Bryan Munich boys. That’s two wins on the trot and no goals conceded in either match, it’s almost like being in a proper team!
After the match we hooked up with Katja and Jon for a belated Sunday lunch at Le Monde. By the way if you are looking for unusual nappies and quite frankly who isn’t these days take a look at Katja’s website.
The man himself was surprisingly relaxed, joking and taking requests from the audience, whilst keeping his poor “lyric roadie” fully occupied. Eventually the poor chap ran out of patience and emptied a huge carrier bag full of lyrics on the floor, much to the crowd and Mr cave’s amusement.
After the show I managed to find time to nip across to The Bunch of Grapes, to catch 15 mins of my friend Yuki’s blues band who I think are called Mean Red Spider (sound right as that’s an old Muddy Waters song), before heading home for some sleep.
Sunday saw another impressive victory from the Bryan Munich boys. That’s two wins on the trot and no goals conceded in either match, it’s almost like being in a proper team!
After the match we hooked up with Katja and Jon for a belated Sunday lunch at Le Monde. By the way if you are looking for unusual nappies and quite frankly who isn’t these days take a look at Katja’s website.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Whilst the forthcoming weekend won't be as busy as last weekends madhouse, it still promises to be pretty hectic. This evening we are going to a farewell party for one of Orynthia's colleagues who is going of to Sri Lanka for a while.
Tomorrow I'm off to watch City play Blackpool, can we make it 3 wins in row, for the first time in ages? Then straight after the match, I meeting up with Orynthia and several of my old workmates from Imperial Music. It will be good to see how everyone else is getting on 6th months after that fantastic shop closed. Although everything is going really well in my new job, I do
miss the shop in all sorts of ways. As well as the music, I do miss meeting such a vast array of people everyday. I also fear that I'm going to turn into a fat old man, I really used to enjoy being on my feet all day and dashing all over the place. Now I just sit in my chair and wait for that triple chin to emerge!
Actually, I think that one of the reasons I enjoyed last weekend so much, was because I was more or less constantly on the move. I'm lucky that my legs don't really get tired in those sort of situations.
Following the post Imperial bash, a few of us are heading off to see Nick Cave at the Colston Hall, it's around 20 years since he last played in Bristol, and the memories of that night at Trinity are still fresh in my mind. Can he be as good again?
On Sunday morning it's time for the latest match for the mighty Bryan Munich, we are heading all the way out to Backwell for the match, it's our equivalent of going to some far flung part of Europe for a champions league game (without the quality obviously!).
After than the plan is a nice walk on The Downs, we were hoping for some snow but at the moment it looks as though we are going to miss out.
Ohwe've booked a holiday in Sptember, we are off to Berlin and Slovinia!
Tomorrow I'm off to watch City play Blackpool, can we make it 3 wins in row, for the first time in ages? Then straight after the match, I meeting up with Orynthia and several of my old workmates from Imperial Music. It will be good to see how everyone else is getting on 6th months after that fantastic shop closed. Although everything is going really well in my new job, I do
miss the shop in all sorts of ways. As well as the music, I do miss meeting such a vast array of people everyday. I also fear that I'm going to turn into a fat old man, I really used to enjoy being on my feet all day and dashing all over the place. Now I just sit in my chair and wait for that triple chin to emerge!
Actually, I think that one of the reasons I enjoyed last weekend so much, was because I was more or less constantly on the move. I'm lucky that my legs don't really get tired in those sort of situations.
Following the post Imperial bash, a few of us are heading off to see Nick Cave at the Colston Hall, it's around 20 years since he last played in Bristol, and the memories of that night at Trinity are still fresh in my mind. Can he be as good again?
On Sunday morning it's time for the latest match for the mighty Bryan Munich, we are heading all the way out to Backwell for the match, it's our equivalent of going to some far flung part of Europe for a champions league game (without the quality obviously!).
After than the plan is a nice walk on The Downs, we were hoping for some snow but at the moment it looks as though we are going to miss out.
Ohwe've booked a holiday in Sptember, we are off to Berlin and Slovinia!
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Well we've had an amazing time since I last wrote anything here!
As previously mentioned Orynthia and I were working as part of the production team at big Oxfam / Tsunami benefit gig last weekend. Initially we thought that we were going to be working from Thursday onwards but a late change of plan meant that we weren't actually needed on site until the Friday morning. So at 9am on Friday the adventure began.
We just helped out in anyway that we could, a lot of our time on Friday was spent ensuring that everyone had enough to eat and drink, whilst the crew were setting up the stage and Massive Attack and Portishead went through initial sound checks. It was really quite odd to be hearing the bands going their stuff with only a handful of people around, on a couple of occasions I found it really difficult to stop myself from clapping! When the bands weren't in the main room everyone came into the impromptu dining area which we had set up, the atmosphere was really relaxed, everyone was chatty and friendly - no over pampered rock stars here.
Then at around Pam we had to dismantle everything as a different event was taking place at the venue that night. After a couple of quick drinks with John and Jane, we were back at home slumped in front of the TV beforeheading off to bed at around 11:30.
On Saturday we left the house at around 9am, to buy some additional nibbles for the day, before people assembled for a large group breakfast. Friday had been busy but Saturday was very busy indeed! As the day wore on more and artists arrived - Patrick and Alex, Fuzz against Junk, The Coral and surprise guest Damon Albarn from Blur. Also vast amounts of snacks and drinks had to be moved around for the dressing room area's later in the evening. By around 4 pm things were really hectic but everyone was still friendly yet focused. Eventually the dressing rooms and storage area's were stacked, all the bands had arrived and everything was falling into place.
It was time for the last servings of food before packing away all the catering stuff for the evening. I then had to give Damon Albarn and three of his friends a lift to a local hotel, in our VERY small car, which proved to be quite entertaining! By the time I got back the Oxfam people had started to arrive, a large group of them were trying to get audience members to donate more money and to get involved in the "end poverty" campaign. It was nice to catch up with a few old friends from Oxfam in the last few minutes before the doors opened and the public came flooding in.
The gig went like a dream, all the bands were brilliant, it was fantastic to be able to hear Liz Frazer and Beth Gibbons wonderful voices ringing out loud and clear on the same evening. What a treat! The audience reaction was fantastic, especially when they did the massed backing vocals for Damons solo version of "Tender". I was still doing a bit of dashing around to make sure that the performers had everything they needed, Including nipping out at around 10pm to buy some milk for Robert Plant and Ciggies for The Coral! Orynthia went one better on Sunday when she bought a kettle for Robert Plant, for use on his forthcoming tour. So if you go to see him, look out for his kettle on stage and think of Orynthia.
We were far to tired to hang around for the after show party, so it off home and into bed at around 2am. It had been a long but glorious day.
On Sunday we all gathered again at around 2:30 pm. Despite some serious hangovers, the mood was one of joy following the undoubted success of the previous evening. That time and atmosphere was one of my happiest memories from a weekend which was overflowing with them. After yet more sound checking the tempo slowed somewhat, everything was in place, for the second evening of entertainment. Orynthia went out on her shopping mission for Mr Plant whilst I listened to lots of men getting very excited about effects pedals!
Once all the food and tables had been cleared away and the dressing rooms prepared, we then said our goodbye to head off to see The Go! Team at The Fleece. Luckily we managed to find somewhere to sit down and rest our weary legs. 1st band up - Attack and Defend were amusing in an ironic art school sort of way. Next up were The Pipettes who provided retro kitsch of the highest order before we suffered a brief and hideous interlude from a crazed MC type. Then finally along came The Go! Team for their 35 minutes of punchy and energetic fun.
Then it was a quick journey across town just in time for the Massive Attack/ Portishead finale, which was suitably awesome.
The only disappointment of the weekend was that our good friend and founder member of Fuzz Against Junk Steve Dew missed out on this amazing event, due to previous commitments. It would have great to have seen him up their on stage in front of that packed crowd. I'm sure his time will come.
You can watch it all at Crisis in Asia
As previously mentioned Orynthia and I were working as part of the production team at big Oxfam / Tsunami benefit gig last weekend. Initially we thought that we were going to be working from Thursday onwards but a late change of plan meant that we weren't actually needed on site until the Friday morning. So at 9am on Friday the adventure began.
We just helped out in anyway that we could, a lot of our time on Friday was spent ensuring that everyone had enough to eat and drink, whilst the crew were setting up the stage and Massive Attack and Portishead went through initial sound checks. It was really quite odd to be hearing the bands going their stuff with only a handful of people around, on a couple of occasions I found it really difficult to stop myself from clapping! When the bands weren't in the main room everyone came into the impromptu dining area which we had set up, the atmosphere was really relaxed, everyone was chatty and friendly - no over pampered rock stars here.
Then at around Pam we had to dismantle everything as a different event was taking place at the venue that night. After a couple of quick drinks with John and Jane, we were back at home slumped in front of the TV beforeheading off to bed at around 11:30.
On Saturday we left the house at around 9am, to buy some additional nibbles for the day, before people assembled for a large group breakfast. Friday had been busy but Saturday was very busy indeed! As the day wore on more and artists arrived - Patrick and Alex, Fuzz against Junk, The Coral and surprise guest Damon Albarn from Blur. Also vast amounts of snacks and drinks had to be moved around for the dressing room area's later in the evening. By around 4 pm things were really hectic but everyone was still friendly yet focused. Eventually the dressing rooms and storage area's were stacked, all the bands had arrived and everything was falling into place.
It was time for the last servings of food before packing away all the catering stuff for the evening. I then had to give Damon Albarn and three of his friends a lift to a local hotel, in our VERY small car, which proved to be quite entertaining! By the time I got back the Oxfam people had started to arrive, a large group of them were trying to get audience members to donate more money and to get involved in the "end poverty" campaign. It was nice to catch up with a few old friends from Oxfam in the last few minutes before the doors opened and the public came flooding in.
The gig went like a dream, all the bands were brilliant, it was fantastic to be able to hear Liz Frazer and Beth Gibbons wonderful voices ringing out loud and clear on the same evening. What a treat! The audience reaction was fantastic, especially when they did the massed backing vocals for Damons solo version of "Tender". I was still doing a bit of dashing around to make sure that the performers had everything they needed, Including nipping out at around 10pm to buy some milk for Robert Plant and Ciggies for The Coral! Orynthia went one better on Sunday when she bought a kettle for Robert Plant, for use on his forthcoming tour. So if you go to see him, look out for his kettle on stage and think of Orynthia.
We were far to tired to hang around for the after show party, so it off home and into bed at around 2am. It had been a long but glorious day.
On Sunday we all gathered again at around 2:30 pm. Despite some serious hangovers, the mood was one of joy following the undoubted success of the previous evening. That time and atmosphere was one of my happiest memories from a weekend which was overflowing with them. After yet more sound checking the tempo slowed somewhat, everything was in place, for the second evening of entertainment. Orynthia went out on her shopping mission for Mr Plant whilst I listened to lots of men getting very excited about effects pedals!
Once all the food and tables had been cleared away and the dressing rooms prepared, we then said our goodbye to head off to see The Go! Team at The Fleece. Luckily we managed to find somewhere to sit down and rest our weary legs. 1st band up - Attack and Defend were amusing in an ironic art school sort of way. Next up were The Pipettes who provided retro kitsch of the highest order before we suffered a brief and hideous interlude from a crazed MC type. Then finally along came The Go! Team for their 35 minutes of punchy and energetic fun.
Then it was a quick journey across town just in time for the Massive Attack/ Portishead finale, which was suitably awesome.
The only disappointment of the weekend was that our good friend and founder member of Fuzz Against Junk Steve Dew missed out on this amazing event, due to previous commitments. It would have great to have seen him up their on stage in front of that packed crowd. I'm sure his time will come.
You can watch it all at Crisis in Asia
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
So since I've last been here I've seen another miserable performance from BCFC, been to a 65th birthday party (no not mine!), watched Elvis Costello in imperious form and watch the highly rated film "Sideways".
Firstly the sad case of the football, Friday nights home defeat looks like it could be the hammer blow to our hopes of making the promotion play-off's. It's hard to know where to start when talking about city at the moment, the team just are not functioning at any sort of reasonable level.
Still we did have one highlight, the amazingly awful half time entertainment! Now the weather on Friday evening was pretty shocking, the wind and rain swirled around Ashton Gate with an energy that our woeful team never came close to matching. The perfect conditions then for a portly middle aged gentlemen and his two underdressed assistants to wander on to the pitch, in order to confirm his status as "Britain's top Neil Diamond tribute act" The concept of a pecking order for tribute acts such as this is a strange one indeed.
The voluminous sparkly blue shirt and flowing (but thinning) hair where funny enough to observe in this wonderfully inclement weather, then when this entourage reached the centre circle, they turned to face us, just as the backing tapes kicked in. Sadly for them the P.A. is Ashton Gate has long history of being very low quality, so as our main man was frantically gesturing for the volume to be turned up, with the microphone well away from his mouth, it came as quite a shock to hear Mr Diamonds voice coming from the speakers high above our heads. Our poor friend in the middle realised that he had been rumbled, but quickly moved the mic so that he could lip-synch his way through the next five or six minutes of excruciating embarrassment.
So in effect what does the act of "Britain's top Neil Diamond tribute act" consist of? Well as far as I could make out it's a sparkly shirt and an American accent (he did speak to the bemused crowd on a couple of occasions). I hope he was well paid for his work, in a strange sort of way it was the most entertaining thing we saw all evening.
The film "Sideways" has received almost universal price from the critics, however I must admit that initially I did not warm to it. It had the makings of a generic "mismatched buddy" film with little new to say. Yet as the film developed the quality of the script and the performances to it to another level.
As for Elvis - well he was just fantastic, one of his best shows for years in Bristol.
Firstly the sad case of the football, Friday nights home defeat looks like it could be the hammer blow to our hopes of making the promotion play-off's. It's hard to know where to start when talking about city at the moment, the team just are not functioning at any sort of reasonable level.
Still we did have one highlight, the amazingly awful half time entertainment! Now the weather on Friday evening was pretty shocking, the wind and rain swirled around Ashton Gate with an energy that our woeful team never came close to matching. The perfect conditions then for a portly middle aged gentlemen and his two underdressed assistants to wander on to the pitch, in order to confirm his status as "Britain's top Neil Diamond tribute act" The concept of a pecking order for tribute acts such as this is a strange one indeed.
The voluminous sparkly blue shirt and flowing (but thinning) hair where funny enough to observe in this wonderfully inclement weather, then when this entourage reached the centre circle, they turned to face us, just as the backing tapes kicked in. Sadly for them the P.A. is Ashton Gate has long history of being very low quality, so as our main man was frantically gesturing for the volume to be turned up, with the microphone well away from his mouth, it came as quite a shock to hear Mr Diamonds voice coming from the speakers high above our heads. Our poor friend in the middle realised that he had been rumbled, but quickly moved the mic so that he could lip-synch his way through the next five or six minutes of excruciating embarrassment.
So in effect what does the act of "Britain's top Neil Diamond tribute act" consist of? Well as far as I could make out it's a sparkly shirt and an American accent (he did speak to the bemused crowd on a couple of occasions). I hope he was well paid for his work, in a strange sort of way it was the most entertaining thing we saw all evening.
The film "Sideways" has received almost universal price from the critics, however I must admit that initially I did not warm to it. It had the makings of a generic "mismatched buddy" film with little new to say. Yet as the film developed the quality of the script and the performances to it to another level.
As for Elvis - well he was just fantastic, one of his best shows for years in Bristol.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
On Sunday evening we had a chance to enter the strange and mercurial world of Adam Green again. The last time we saw him was, oh yonks ago when he was in full Robin Hood outfit as one half of Mouldy Peaches, when they supported The Strokes at The Fleece.
This time he was headlining the same venue, under his own name. Although the place was not at the crush levels which were witnessed on the night of The Strokes gig a pretty healthy crowd turned up to see what he had in store for us. No costumes to report on this occasion, but the same dry sense of humour was well to fore, as he shimmied his way through a succession of hilariously pathetic "moves", whilst gently putting the people of Bristol in their place.
The music was simple and straightforward, ensuring that the full range of his very strange lyrics could be easily heard. In the main, the crowd loved in it, although one poor chap behind us was obviously distressed that Mr Green made a couple of mistakes regarding geographical references to this part of the world and was so manifestly un-"rock" as to be virtually cotton
wool. That is really the delight of the Adam Green live performance. You feel as though you could be watching some sort of camp, cabaret show from the 1950's a delightfully knowing and self assured performance, some of the songs aren't bad either.
Talking of music our friends Fuzz Against Junk have been added to the bill at forthcoming Tsunami benefit gigs in Bristol. Orynthia and I are actually going to be working as part of the production team for the event. We don't yet know exactly what they have planned for us, but we will be working as part of a small team from Thursday to Sunday trying to ensure that things run as smoothly as they can. Should be an interesting few days!
Less happy news is that The Metropol, the excellent venue in Bedminster which opened before Xmas has fallen foul of licensing laws and has been forced to cancel all upcoming gigs. Hopefully they will able to get the issues resolved, it's exactly the sort of place that Bristol needs.
I must also say how much I am loving the latest album from The Dears - No Cities left. It's just fantastic!
Books - Forgot to say that I finished Murakami's latest - "Kafka On The Shore" a couple of weeks ago. Thoroughly enjoyable, although not quite in the top echelon of his work. At the moment I have a couple of books on the go Francis Wheen's "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The world" and Jonathan Franzens collection of essays from a few years ago "How To Be Alone". Both of them are great reads, Wheens free wheeling attack on superstition, greed and hypocrisy takes the moral and intellectual high ground from the start, launching into a variety of targets with gusto. Franzens is a slightly more
contemplative book as he ruminates of everything from the death of the American novel, to the state the postal service. They make a good pair, so I've been reading chapters from each book in turn.
This time he was headlining the same venue, under his own name. Although the place was not at the crush levels which were witnessed on the night of The Strokes gig a pretty healthy crowd turned up to see what he had in store for us. No costumes to report on this occasion, but the same dry sense of humour was well to fore, as he shimmied his way through a succession of hilariously pathetic "moves", whilst gently putting the people of Bristol in their place.
The music was simple and straightforward, ensuring that the full range of his very strange lyrics could be easily heard. In the main, the crowd loved in it, although one poor chap behind us was obviously distressed that Mr Green made a couple of mistakes regarding geographical references to this part of the world and was so manifestly un-"rock" as to be virtually cotton
wool. That is really the delight of the Adam Green live performance. You feel as though you could be watching some sort of camp, cabaret show from the 1950's a delightfully knowing and self assured performance, some of the songs aren't bad either.
Talking of music our friends Fuzz Against Junk have been added to the bill at forthcoming Tsunami benefit gigs in Bristol. Orynthia and I are actually going to be working as part of the production team for the event. We don't yet know exactly what they have planned for us, but we will be working as part of a small team from Thursday to Sunday trying to ensure that things run as smoothly as they can. Should be an interesting few days!
Less happy news is that The Metropol, the excellent venue in Bedminster which opened before Xmas has fallen foul of licensing laws and has been forced to cancel all upcoming gigs. Hopefully they will able to get the issues resolved, it's exactly the sort of place that Bristol needs.
I must also say how much I am loving the latest album from The Dears - No Cities left. It's just fantastic!
Books - Forgot to say that I finished Murakami's latest - "Kafka On The Shore" a couple of weeks ago. Thoroughly enjoyable, although not quite in the top echelon of his work. At the moment I have a couple of books on the go Francis Wheen's "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The world" and Jonathan Franzens collection of essays from a few years ago "How To Be Alone". Both of them are great reads, Wheens free wheeling attack on superstition, greed and hypocrisy takes the moral and intellectual high ground from the start, launching into a variety of targets with gusto. Franzens is a slightly more
contemplative book as he ruminates of everything from the death of the American novel, to the state the postal service. They make a good pair, so I've been reading chapters from each book in turn.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Well, what a hectic week off that was.
Firstly we had a leisurely drive through mid and north Wales, for our visit to Snowdonia. The views became increasing more beautiful the further north we travelled. We had an overnight stay in a lovely, if slightly ramshackle B&B in Betws-Y - Coed, before driving around the mountains the next day.
The scenery was spectacular, heightened if anything by the amazing weather fluctuations. One minute rain, then fog, the next bright sunshine, then somehow all three at the same time - leading to bizarre changes in the views as we drove along the narrow and winding roads.
Wednesday saw us staying in Bristol for the day, zipping around in tourist style using our bus pass to hop on and off any bus which took our fancy.
Then on Thursday it was an early start in preparation for our flying visit to Belfast. Given the history of recent years, it's hardly surprising that Belfast has a strange feel to it. Whilst I'm sure huge strides have been made in the past 10 years, the centre of town it somewhat lacking in character. Although it has to be said that The Crown pub is absolutely fantastic, as is City Hall. We took a bus ride around the sights of Belfast which inevitably includes the Shankill and Falls Road area's. The level of division in those communities are still shocking, let's hope that the peace process can run it's full course and that people never have to live in conditions like that again. Some famous words from Johnny Rotten kept ringing through my head as drove round the more desolate parts of town "A cheap holiday in other peoples misery". Whilst things are looking up for the people at the moment it looks as though many of them still have a long way to go before they can live in a situation which most of us in the rest of the UK (or Ireland) would consider normal.
Everyone we spoke to was delightful, friendly and went out of their way to be helpful. I wish them all well for the future.
On Friday we spent our 18th wedding anniversary by having a rather decadent lunch in the luxurious surroundings of the Royal Hotel in Bristol. The meal cost twice as much as our trip to Belfast, it was a chance to put on our glad rags and live the high live for a few hours, and very nice it was too.
Firstly we had a leisurely drive through mid and north Wales, for our visit to Snowdonia. The views became increasing more beautiful the further north we travelled. We had an overnight stay in a lovely, if slightly ramshackle B&B in Betws-Y - Coed, before driving around the mountains the next day.
The scenery was spectacular, heightened if anything by the amazing weather fluctuations. One minute rain, then fog, the next bright sunshine, then somehow all three at the same time - leading to bizarre changes in the views as we drove along the narrow and winding roads.
Wednesday saw us staying in Bristol for the day, zipping around in tourist style using our bus pass to hop on and off any bus which took our fancy.
Then on Thursday it was an early start in preparation for our flying visit to Belfast. Given the history of recent years, it's hardly surprising that Belfast has a strange feel to it. Whilst I'm sure huge strides have been made in the past 10 years, the centre of town it somewhat lacking in character. Although it has to be said that The Crown pub is absolutely fantastic, as is City Hall. We took a bus ride around the sights of Belfast which inevitably includes the Shankill and Falls Road area's. The level of division in those communities are still shocking, let's hope that the peace process can run it's full course and that people never have to live in conditions like that again. Some famous words from Johnny Rotten kept ringing through my head as drove round the more desolate parts of town "A cheap holiday in other peoples misery". Whilst things are looking up for the people at the moment it looks as though many of them still have a long way to go before they can live in a situation which most of us in the rest of the UK (or Ireland) would consider normal.
Everyone we spoke to was delightful, friendly and went out of their way to be helpful. I wish them all well for the future.
On Friday we spent our 18th wedding anniversary by having a rather decadent lunch in the luxurious surroundings of the Royal Hotel in Bristol. The meal cost twice as much as our trip to Belfast, it was a chance to put on our glad rags and live the high live for a few hours, and very nice it was too.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Sunday, January 30, 2005
We're off to Snowdonia for a couple of days, before going to Belfast on Thursday. Sounds like a pretty good way to use our week off.
Last night we went to see 2046 at The Watershed. As with director Wong Kar-Wai's previous film "In The Mood For Love" it's a sumptuious visual treat. The slightlty strained plot is not always easy to follow, but when it comes to atmosphere and style few people can touch him, it's like bathing your eyes in honey.
A shock 6-0 win for Bryan Munich today, for once we had 15 players, so we could really use the rolling subs rule. It certainly paid off, now we can't wait for the next match.
Last night we went to see 2046 at The Watershed. As with director Wong Kar-Wai's previous film "In The Mood For Love" it's a sumptuious visual treat. The slightlty strained plot is not always easy to follow, but when it comes to atmosphere and style few people can touch him, it's like bathing your eyes in honey.
A shock 6-0 win for Bryan Munich today, for once we had 15 players, so we could really use the rolling subs rule. It certainly paid off, now we can't wait for the next match.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Talking of the 70's (which I was earlier), I've been thinking about my complete inability to wear anything which looked even remotely good during my school days.
It appears that kids these days know exactly what they want to wear the moment they emerge from the womb, "Take that Next baby grow away - I'll only be seen in ...(add your designer label of choice)". For me it was all so different, I was the classic kid who has his clothes bought for him by his mum. According to Orynthia, the photographic evidence from that period indicates that I was in receipt of some rather fine knitwear.
My main memory however is of complete bafflement as my schoolmates emerged butterfly like into adolescence, wearing all manner of clothing which was wider, brighter and texturally stranger than anything I could understand. In hindsight I suppose that my mother protected me from the worst excesses of the period, however to compensate for that I was subjected to a collection of clothes which were sensible to the point unreasonableness.
In the later stages of my schooling, a quiet rebellion of sorts started to rumble, within my nylon clad chest. I decided that the black sensible shoes from the Tuff factory outlet shop in Kingswood were no longer right for me. I put my foot down (no doubt clad in the black plastic shoe of my mothers choice) and said that I needed to have a pair of platforms, like every other boy in my school. Of course it was a dreadful mistake, the hideous pair of brown shoes I chose were ugly, ungainly and ultimately unwearable. Needless to say, fairly soon I was dutifully following my mum back to Kingswood for another pair of generic black shoes.
An earlier, more painfully memory around schoolboy clothing, is of my first trip to school in long trousers. This was in good old days of junior school, which is probably known as "year zero" or something in the new fangled American style school systems which we have now. I guess that I was probably one of the last 3 or 4 boys in my class who was still turning up for school, on freezing cold winter mornings wearing dark grey shorts and socks, which were nicely offset by the lovely blue of my freezing legs.
Eventually my parents took pity on me and I was taken to Hodges on Fishponds Road for a pair of full length trousers. The following Monday, I proudly marched into school feeling every inch the mature young man about town. Sadly disaster lurked just around the corner, that day my classmates and I embarked upon the making of a spectacular papier-mâché creation. I eagerly joined my young friends as we set about the task of creating a wonderful mountainous landscape.
The day ended with us standing back, admiring our handiwork, quite impressive it was too for a bunch of 8 year olds. I did what I'd been doing all day, wiped my gluey, gunky hands on my trousers! Then for the first time I looked at my previously impressive new leg wear - OH NO! They were of course covered in the detritus of our endeavours.
I returned home and was greeted by my stony faced mother, the next day I was back in the shorts. I had proved that I was not yet ready for the extra responsibility that comes with being grown up and the guardian of full length trousers. It was several weeks before, I was given the chance to test my maturity again.
It appears that kids these days know exactly what they want to wear the moment they emerge from the womb, "Take that Next baby grow away - I'll only be seen in ...(add your designer label of choice)". For me it was all so different, I was the classic kid who has his clothes bought for him by his mum. According to Orynthia, the photographic evidence from that period indicates that I was in receipt of some rather fine knitwear.
My main memory however is of complete bafflement as my schoolmates emerged butterfly like into adolescence, wearing all manner of clothing which was wider, brighter and texturally stranger than anything I could understand. In hindsight I suppose that my mother protected me from the worst excesses of the period, however to compensate for that I was subjected to a collection of clothes which were sensible to the point unreasonableness.
In the later stages of my schooling, a quiet rebellion of sorts started to rumble, within my nylon clad chest. I decided that the black sensible shoes from the Tuff factory outlet shop in Kingswood were no longer right for me. I put my foot down (no doubt clad in the black plastic shoe of my mothers choice) and said that I needed to have a pair of platforms, like every other boy in my school. Of course it was a dreadful mistake, the hideous pair of brown shoes I chose were ugly, ungainly and ultimately unwearable. Needless to say, fairly soon I was dutifully following my mum back to Kingswood for another pair of generic black shoes.
An earlier, more painfully memory around schoolboy clothing, is of my first trip to school in long trousers. This was in good old days of junior school, which is probably known as "year zero" or something in the new fangled American style school systems which we have now. I guess that I was probably one of the last 3 or 4 boys in my class who was still turning up for school, on freezing cold winter mornings wearing dark grey shorts and socks, which were nicely offset by the lovely blue of my freezing legs.
Eventually my parents took pity on me and I was taken to Hodges on Fishponds Road for a pair of full length trousers. The following Monday, I proudly marched into school feeling every inch the mature young man about town. Sadly disaster lurked just around the corner, that day my classmates and I embarked upon the making of a spectacular papier-mâché creation. I eagerly joined my young friends as we set about the task of creating a wonderful mountainous landscape.
The day ended with us standing back, admiring our handiwork, quite impressive it was too for a bunch of 8 year olds. I did what I'd been doing all day, wiped my gluey, gunky hands on my trousers! Then for the first time I looked at my previously impressive new leg wear - OH NO! They were of course covered in the detritus of our endeavours.
I returned home and was greeted by my stony faced mother, the next day I was back in the shorts. I had proved that I was not yet ready for the extra responsibility that comes with being grown up and the guardian of full length trousers. It was several weeks before, I was given the chance to test my maturity again.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
So last nights American Music Club gig left me none the wiser about the adoration which is often heaped upon the band. Occasionally the quality of the songs really did shine through, but in the main too many of the songs just sounded too clunky and unfocussed, the lyrical quality being lost in the average musical clothes which they were dressed in. I’m glad we went, but I don’t think that we will rush to see them again.
We just caught up with last nights showing of The Rotters Club which started on BBC2 last night. It looks like a perfect recreation of a time in my life which I well remember. Gently funny, yet prepared to show the horror of some of the events of the time, it was an impressive and enjoyable first show. Loved the brilliant review of “Tales From Topographic Oceans” by the Philip Chase character. Ah the happy days of my first flirtations with the world of prog rock.
For a while my musical world consisted purely of the likes of Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis and Yes. I well remember the smug disdain my friends and I had for anyone who did not enjoy 20 minute songs about some sort of crazy hippy nonsense. Of course within a few years everything had turned full circle and we shook our heads in stunned amazement at our gullibility.
We just caught up with last nights showing of The Rotters Club which started on BBC2 last night. It looks like a perfect recreation of a time in my life which I well remember. Gently funny, yet prepared to show the horror of some of the events of the time, it was an impressive and enjoyable first show. Loved the brilliant review of “Tales From Topographic Oceans” by the Philip Chase character. Ah the happy days of my first flirtations with the world of prog rock.
For a while my musical world consisted purely of the likes of Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis and Yes. I well remember the smug disdain my friends and I had for anyone who did not enjoy 20 minute songs about some sort of crazy hippy nonsense. Of course within a few years everything had turned full circle and we shook our heads in stunned amazement at our gullibility.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Well it’s been very exciting here over the past couple of days. We bought ourselves a lovely shiny new iMac on Sunday. So now we spend most of our time saying things like “wow, it’s so fast” Indeed it is!
It also means that we finally get to use out ipod with avengence, car journeys will never be the same again.
Tomorrow evening we are going to see American Music Club, must confess that it’s not a band that either of us know much about. Several of our friends are big fans and during the course of Friday evening they (and a few bottles of wine) persuaded us that it was high time we knew about them.
Friday turned into a very long, tipsy and enjoyable evening. A few of us gathered at the excellent Sergio’s to help Babs celebrate her birthday. After a lovely relaxed meal, most of the gang walked back up the hill to our place. The next thing we knew it was 3.30 in the morning. Saturday morning was not good!
Next week we both have the week off work, rather than go on any major trip, we are going to spend some time in Bristol and take a couple of day trips. One of those will be to Belfast. Thanks to Easyjet the pair of us can get there and back again for only £38.00 - at that price it would be rude not to go.
It also means that we finally get to use out ipod with avengence, car journeys will never be the same again.
Tomorrow evening we are going to see American Music Club, must confess that it’s not a band that either of us know much about. Several of our friends are big fans and during the course of Friday evening they (and a few bottles of wine) persuaded us that it was high time we knew about them.
Friday turned into a very long, tipsy and enjoyable evening. A few of us gathered at the excellent Sergio’s to help Babs celebrate her birthday. After a lovely relaxed meal, most of the gang walked back up the hill to our place. The next thing we knew it was 3.30 in the morning. Saturday morning was not good!
Next week we both have the week off work, rather than go on any major trip, we are going to spend some time in Bristol and take a couple of day trips. One of those will be to Belfast. Thanks to Easyjet the pair of us can get there and back again for only £38.00 - at that price it would be rude not to go.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
You can't say that watching Vera Drake is an easy night out. Sure there are quite few laughs in the early stages of the film, as we grow to understand the life of a straightforward looking working class family in London, in the early 1950's. Everything seems set for another "life was hard, but look at the simple pleasures they enjoyed" type wander along a happy nostalgic byway.
Of course that is not what we get. The fabric of the family is ripped apart and all they hold dear is shattered, very slowly and painfully as we watch. The performances are beyond exceptional, much has been written about Imelda Staunton and her performance, everything is true. The way she shrinks and crumbles before you, is so brilliantly portrayed that it left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable and voyeuristic. Much of the strength of the later stages of the film comes from the almost oppressive levels of silence. No words or music to distract you, just watching people realise the consequences of what has gone before, it's amazingly powerful stuff.
When the credits started to roll, nobody in the packed auditorium moved for quite a while. A stunned silence fell over the auditorium, a lady behind me joked to her friend that the film had left her feeling depressed and that she wanted a happy ending. Her friend quickly replied, saying the happy ending is that women no longer have to live under those conditions.
Of course that is not what we get. The fabric of the family is ripped apart and all they hold dear is shattered, very slowly and painfully as we watch. The performances are beyond exceptional, much has been written about Imelda Staunton and her performance, everything is true. The way she shrinks and crumbles before you, is so brilliantly portrayed that it left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable and voyeuristic. Much of the strength of the later stages of the film comes from the almost oppressive levels of silence. No words or music to distract you, just watching people realise the consequences of what has gone before, it's amazingly powerful stuff.
When the credits started to roll, nobody in the packed auditorium moved for quite a while. A stunned silence fell over the auditorium, a lady behind me joked to her friend that the film had left her feeling depressed and that she wanted a happy ending. Her friend quickly replied, saying the happy ending is that women no longer have to live under those conditions.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
On Sunday evening we went to see the revitalised Trashcan Sinatras at The Fleece. After a promising start in the early 90's, they suffered a series of misfortunes which culminated in them being declared bankrupt. Unsurprisingly the few dribbles of music which did emerge in recent years, had lost much of the spark and free flowing glorious melodies which marked them out as a special band.
The gig saw them picking the top tunes from their albums, avoiding in the main the rather more languid approach of some of their work. The crowd was full of men of a certain age and for some reason I found it slightly distressing to see a couple of chaps sporting rugby shirts. I really find the wearing of sportswear for anything other than sport to be totally inexcusable. Stupid I know, but it's my own special prejudice. Then again, it was quite easy to divert my gaze from these sartorially challenged fellows and watch Orynthia beaming from ear to ear, as one of her favourite bands came back to form.
Tonight we are off to the Watershed to see the filmVera Drake. it's rare for a film with such a potentially controversial point of view to receive such widespread acclaim. We popped into the newly expanded Watershed cafe/bar area before Sundays gig, very nice it is too. They have somehow managed to increase the previously tiny no-smoking area quite dramatically. All that we need now is for the refurbishment of cinema 1 & cinema 2 to be completed and all will be well in the world. Well actually that will be the Arnolfini reopens after it's major refit, never could understand why the two best arts places in Bristol had to be partially or totally closed at the same time.
The gig saw them picking the top tunes from their albums, avoiding in the main the rather more languid approach of some of their work. The crowd was full of men of a certain age and for some reason I found it slightly distressing to see a couple of chaps sporting rugby shirts. I really find the wearing of sportswear for anything other than sport to be totally inexcusable. Stupid I know, but it's my own special prejudice. Then again, it was quite easy to divert my gaze from these sartorially challenged fellows and watch Orynthia beaming from ear to ear, as one of her favourite bands came back to form.
Tonight we are off to the Watershed to see the filmVera Drake. it's rare for a film with such a potentially controversial point of view to receive such widespread acclaim. We popped into the newly expanded Watershed cafe/bar area before Sundays gig, very nice it is too. They have somehow managed to increase the previously tiny no-smoking area quite dramatically. All that we need now is for the refurbishment of cinema 1 & cinema 2 to be completed and all will be well in the world. Well actually that will be the Arnolfini reopens after it's major refit, never could understand why the two best arts places in Bristol had to be partially or totally closed at the same time.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
So the first official word of the Bristol Oxfam Tsunami benefit night has been released go to Crisis in Asia for the initial news. It should be a pretty amazing night – Massive Attack and Portished will be both be playing and indeed collaborating!
There are loads more brilliant performers who names will announced during the run up to the gig, which takes place on February 19th at the Bristol Carling Academy.
If you can’t make it to Bristol for this extraordinary evening you should still be able to see and hear all the action via a live web broadcast.
Gigs are also taking place at The Thekla and The Louisiana on the same night for the same cause, featuring more of Bristol’s finest. If all that wasn’t enough, Saturday 12th will see many of Bristol’s top DJ’s – Boca 45, Geoff Barrow, Daddy G, John Stapleton, Queen Bee and Stereo 8 joining forces to present what should be another brilliant night at the Carling Academy (along with live sets from top Bristol Hop-Hop crew Aspects and the always entertaining Babyhead).
There are loads more brilliant performers who names will announced during the run up to the gig, which takes place on February 19th at the Bristol Carling Academy.
If you can’t make it to Bristol for this extraordinary evening you should still be able to see and hear all the action via a live web broadcast.
Gigs are also taking place at The Thekla and The Louisiana on the same night for the same cause, featuring more of Bristol’s finest. If all that wasn’t enough, Saturday 12th will see many of Bristol’s top DJ’s – Boca 45, Geoff Barrow, Daddy G, John Stapleton, Queen Bee and Stereo 8 joining forces to present what should be another brilliant night at the Carling Academy (along with live sets from top Bristol Hop-Hop crew Aspects and the always entertaining Babyhead).
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Ice on the windscreen this morning, could it signal the start of a colder period of weather? I really enjoy waking up and looking out on a frost covered garden - better still if it's snow. Sadly in Bristol we are blessed with an extremely mild and temperate climate. What a shame.
Nothing quite beats the fun of adding layer upon layer of clothing, before opening the door and plunging into the icy blast. Part of the fun is definitely the dressing up, I must admit to being a bit of a coat junkie and the colder weather is the perfect opportunity to indulge the habit. I've got a couple of overcoats with varying levels of density. My favourite option though is the classic American hunting jacket which I picked up in a Greenwich Village 2nd hand store back in the early 90's.
It weighs about the same as Orynthia and I put together, so it has to be really cold to justify the strain on the shoulders. Should the temperature drop to the required level, this beast of a coat comes into it's own. It comes with a multitude of pockets, including one which appears to around the whole back of the jacket, and is accessible from both hips. At first Orynthia used to joke that it was a hugging pocket, indeed if the huggers arms are long enough to work around those extra layers which have to added to my normally svelte body it would be a lovely thing. Sadly Orynthia's arms proved to little on the short side for a full blooded hug, especially whilst wearing her extra thick winter coat. Then someone told us that lovely voluminous pocket was actually a place for the hunter to keep his catch for the day! Suddenly Orynthia was not so keen to hug me anyway!
I'm at about the halfway point in Kafka On The Shore, the latest Haruki Murakami and it's the proceeding along very nicely. As is often the way with Murakami (and an increasing number of novelists these days) we are lead through the novel by a dual narrative, as we hear the story of two seemingly unconnected people. Inevitably their paths are starting to cross, as they do more questions arise. Some of these issues may get resolved, but Murakami normally likes to leave a few threads hanging in the breeze.
Nothing quite beats the fun of adding layer upon layer of clothing, before opening the door and plunging into the icy blast. Part of the fun is definitely the dressing up, I must admit to being a bit of a coat junkie and the colder weather is the perfect opportunity to indulge the habit. I've got a couple of overcoats with varying levels of density. My favourite option though is the classic American hunting jacket which I picked up in a Greenwich Village 2nd hand store back in the early 90's.
It weighs about the same as Orynthia and I put together, so it has to be really cold to justify the strain on the shoulders. Should the temperature drop to the required level, this beast of a coat comes into it's own. It comes with a multitude of pockets, including one which appears to around the whole back of the jacket, and is accessible from both hips. At first Orynthia used to joke that it was a hugging pocket, indeed if the huggers arms are long enough to work around those extra layers which have to added to my normally svelte body it would be a lovely thing. Sadly Orynthia's arms proved to little on the short side for a full blooded hug, especially whilst wearing her extra thick winter coat. Then someone told us that lovely voluminous pocket was actually a place for the hunter to keep his catch for the day! Suddenly Orynthia was not so keen to hug me anyway!
I'm at about the halfway point in Kafka On The Shore, the latest Haruki Murakami and it's the proceeding along very nicely. As is often the way with Murakami (and an increasing number of novelists these days) we are lead through the novel by a dual narrative, as we hear the story of two seemingly unconnected people. Inevitably their paths are starting to cross, as they do more questions arise. Some of these issues may get resolved, but Murakami normally likes to leave a few threads hanging in the breeze.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Last night I spent an interesting hour or so at the BBC here in Bristol, when I was invited to attend a selection meeting for the BBC Bristol listeners committee. A small group of us gathered to discuss our opinions of various shows which the people at the Whiteladies Road put together.
As the group came together in a reception room, there was that deliciously strange atmosphere that I last experienced on the assessment day for my new job. I may be a bit strange, but I quite enjoy the nervous tension that such gatherings generate. In last nights case most of us spent around 10 minutes in each others company with hardly a word being exchanged. It's always fun trying to guess what sort of personality traits people are going to have from the way they look. Obviously any of them looking at me would have been thinking - well he looks sophisticated, well educated, witty and charming. How disappointed they would have been when I opened my mouth!
When the meeting started the group proved to be a lively bunch, most of my guesses about the respective characters were, as ever hopelessly adrift. My favourite comments came from a woman who lives in a small town quite a way from Bristol, she explained that previously her impression of Bristol was that it was a big, chaotic place which was really best avoided. Recently however some of her family members had moved here and she thought that she had needed to know a bit more about the mysterious place. Consequently she has been listening to Radio Bristol over recent months and found that ratherthan the dark forbidding place she had imagined, Bristol is full of wonderfully varied and interesting places and people. She now finds herself coming into the city to see things which have caught her attention, a pretty good advert for the good that radio can do, when it comes to changing peoples perception of things.
As the group came together in a reception room, there was that deliciously strange atmosphere that I last experienced on the assessment day for my new job. I may be a bit strange, but I quite enjoy the nervous tension that such gatherings generate. In last nights case most of us spent around 10 minutes in each others company with hardly a word being exchanged. It's always fun trying to guess what sort of personality traits people are going to have from the way they look. Obviously any of them looking at me would have been thinking - well he looks sophisticated, well educated, witty and charming. How disappointed they would have been when I opened my mouth!
When the meeting started the group proved to be a lively bunch, most of my guesses about the respective characters were, as ever hopelessly adrift. My favourite comments came from a woman who lives in a small town quite a way from Bristol, she explained that previously her impression of Bristol was that it was a big, chaotic place which was really best avoided. Recently however some of her family members had moved here and she thought that she had needed to know a bit more about the mysterious place. Consequently she has been listening to Radio Bristol over recent months and found that ratherthan the dark forbidding place she had imagined, Bristol is full of wonderfully varied and interesting places and people. She now finds herself coming into the city to see things which have caught her attention, a pretty good advert for the good that radio can do, when it comes to changing peoples perception of things.
Monday, January 10, 2005
So what's been going on around here then? Well Just the usual dashing about really, we popped down to Devon on Saturday to see my dad. As ever when weare planning a trip to that part of the world, something goes awry with the weather, so it came as no surprise to see the weather forecasts predicting doom and gloom, with the occasional side helping of plague and pestilence thrown in for good measure.
As it happens thinks weren't as bad as expected, the heavy winds and rain of Friday evening left us relatively unscathed in this part of the world, leading to trouble free journeys both ways. Whilst at my Dad's we amused ourselves by watching the crazy antics of thesheep in the field on the other side of the valley as they ran around in ever decreasing circles. Who needs TV?
Later, we joined in the general excitement in the Devon area, as non league Exeter City managed to hold Manchester United to a draw at Old Trafford. The Radio Devon live coverage was only on good old crackly medium wave, so for the last 20 minutes of the game poor dad was getting himself into increasing bizarre positions as he tried to manipulate the aerial into a location where the ever decreasing signal would hold. Memories of night time radio listening came rushing back from my teenage years, as the commentary reception ebbed and flowed, whist all the time the wonderfully exotic sounds of Bhangra would be battling for supremacy. We just about managed to hear the end of the game, what a wonderful performance by Exeter!
Talking of radio, Sunday marked the end of the temporary broadcasts by the team at Caroline Rocks. I've really enjoyed having a different source of musical entertainment and the occasional technical glitches just made it even more fun. The weekend broadcasts from Adrian and Geoff of the group Portishead saw them confirm their participation in the forthcoming tsunami relief fund benefit gig. This is the gig which I mentioned previously and if all goes to plan a host of great names are also due to take part. Hopefully it should raise lots and lots of money for this most worthwhile of causes.
As it happens thinks weren't as bad as expected, the heavy winds and rain of Friday evening left us relatively unscathed in this part of the world, leading to trouble free journeys both ways. Whilst at my Dad's we amused ourselves by watching the crazy antics of thesheep in the field on the other side of the valley as they ran around in ever decreasing circles. Who needs TV?
Later, we joined in the general excitement in the Devon area, as non league Exeter City managed to hold Manchester United to a draw at Old Trafford. The Radio Devon live coverage was only on good old crackly medium wave, so for the last 20 minutes of the game poor dad was getting himself into increasing bizarre positions as he tried to manipulate the aerial into a location where the ever decreasing signal would hold. Memories of night time radio listening came rushing back from my teenage years, as the commentary reception ebbed and flowed, whist all the time the wonderfully exotic sounds of Bhangra would be battling for supremacy. We just about managed to hear the end of the game, what a wonderful performance by Exeter!
Talking of radio, Sunday marked the end of the temporary broadcasts by the team at Caroline Rocks. I've really enjoyed having a different source of musical entertainment and the occasional technical glitches just made it even more fun. The weekend broadcasts from Adrian and Geoff of the group Portishead saw them confirm their participation in the forthcoming tsunami relief fund benefit gig. This is the gig which I mentioned previously and if all goes to plan a host of great names are also due to take part. Hopefully it should raise lots and lots of money for this most worthwhile of causes.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Two things to be very pleased about if you live in Bristol.
1) Arbi ‘n’ Tap – Fantastic floating café type place moored just across from The Watershed. Wonderful tea and coffee (including coffee made with condensed milk!), fantastic cakes and all manner of quirky and delightful furnishings and fittings (many of which you can buy).
2) The reopened Sergio’s restaurant. Now conveniently located only a short walk from our house. Amazingly tasty and inventive, yet unpretentious it’s the perfect local restaurant and better still it’s a B.Y.O.
1) Arbi ‘n’ Tap – Fantastic floating café type place moored just across from The Watershed. Wonderful tea and coffee (including coffee made with condensed milk!), fantastic cakes and all manner of quirky and delightful furnishings and fittings (many of which you can buy).
2) The reopened Sergio’s restaurant. Now conveniently located only a short walk from our house. Amazingly tasty and inventive, yet unpretentious it’s the perfect local restaurant and better still it’s a B.Y.O.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Well the whole Xmas / New Year shebang is almost over; soon it will be time to get on with real life again.
Sadly much of the period has been dominated by the truly stunning and hideous news from South East Asia. We spent an anxious hour or so trying to establish whether Orynthia’s relatives in Burma would be affected. Luckily for them, although sadly not for so many thousands of others in the region, the news was good.
We have had a reasonably quiet time of it, which has been quite nice. It was a sure sign of the advancing years of my friends and I, when it emerged that all of us chatting in the Nova Scotia before BCFC’s new years day match had spent the preceding evening either at home or at a friends house. The days of wild nights on the town appear to be over. As midnight approached Orynthia and I were actually getting soundly thrashed at Scrabble by Orynthia’s mum – how rock n’ roll!
So after the turmoil of 2004, what do we have to look forward to in 2005? Well first up is the long awaited new novel from Haruki Murakami – Kafka On The Shore, which will be with us on January 6th. His only worthy UK challenger, David Mitchell has the paperback version of his latest work – Cloud Atlas, published on February 21st. Lot’s of live music to look forward to over the next 6 or 7 weeks, Adam Green, Sondre Lerche, The Go! Team, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Trashcan Sinatras to name a few. There could also be a very special Bristol event to raise money for the disaster relief fund, but the plans are still sketchy at the moment, so I can’t say too much.
Talking of things musical, during this festive period the good people of Bristol have been enjoying the treat of having an alternative radio station again. Radio Caroline or Caroline Rocks as it is now known had been broadcasting on 87.7FM. People who aren’t lucky enough to live here can always listen via the net at the Caroline Rocks website. In fact if you tune in this Monday evening at around 10:30 you will be able to hear a live set from top local lads Aspen Woods.
Oh and I’ve added another blog to bookmarks – Cage Of Monkeys, well worth taking a look at if you are interested in music.
Sadly much of the period has been dominated by the truly stunning and hideous news from South East Asia. We spent an anxious hour or so trying to establish whether Orynthia’s relatives in Burma would be affected. Luckily for them, although sadly not for so many thousands of others in the region, the news was good.
We have had a reasonably quiet time of it, which has been quite nice. It was a sure sign of the advancing years of my friends and I, when it emerged that all of us chatting in the Nova Scotia before BCFC’s new years day match had spent the preceding evening either at home or at a friends house. The days of wild nights on the town appear to be over. As midnight approached Orynthia and I were actually getting soundly thrashed at Scrabble by Orynthia’s mum – how rock n’ roll!
So after the turmoil of 2004, what do we have to look forward to in 2005? Well first up is the long awaited new novel from Haruki Murakami – Kafka On The Shore, which will be with us on January 6th. His only worthy UK challenger, David Mitchell has the paperback version of his latest work – Cloud Atlas, published on February 21st. Lot’s of live music to look forward to over the next 6 or 7 weeks, Adam Green, Sondre Lerche, The Go! Team, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Trashcan Sinatras to name a few. There could also be a very special Bristol event to raise money for the disaster relief fund, but the plans are still sketchy at the moment, so I can’t say too much.
Talking of things musical, during this festive period the good people of Bristol have been enjoying the treat of having an alternative radio station again. Radio Caroline or Caroline Rocks as it is now known had been broadcasting on 87.7FM. People who aren’t lucky enough to live here can always listen via the net at the Caroline Rocks website. In fact if you tune in this Monday evening at around 10:30 you will be able to hear a live set from top local lads Aspen Woods.
Oh and I’ve added another blog to bookmarks – Cage Of Monkeys, well worth taking a look at if you are interested in music.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Yesterday at work, I took a bit of chance by sending the following email to my new workmates;
Hi gang,
Some of you will know that it's my birthday tomorrow (it's going to be pretty weird not to be a teenager anymore, but I'm sure I'll get used to it), sadly I won't be in work to celebrate with you all!
Consequently, today has become my unofficial birthday in this, our exciting new workplace. Traditionally this would be the time for me to bring in mountains of cakes and other delicious sweet and sticky things for us all to make pigs of ourselves. However, I may not be alone in feeling that I may have already topped the EEC quota for mince pies and other pastry and sugar rich delights. The clincher for me was seeing the team from The Guinness Book of Records in the car park yesterday (only 1 more box and we've beaten a 60 year old record apparently).
So, in the biggest breach of office protocol since David Blunkett helped that visa request on it's way, I've decided to forego the traditional gut busting, spot inducing delights and bring in a variety of fruit for you all to nibble on. I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone, I'm sure that normal service will be resumed at the next birthday.
Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness over Christmas and the new year,
Tom
PS. Fruit is not a toy and can potentially be dangerous, so please keep the Banana skins away from Mark!
Hi gang,
Some of you will know that it's my birthday tomorrow (it's going to be pretty weird not to be a teenager anymore, but I'm sure I'll get used to it), sadly I won't be in work to celebrate with you all!
Consequently, today has become my unofficial birthday in this, our exciting new workplace. Traditionally this would be the time for me to bring in mountains of cakes and other delicious sweet and sticky things for us all to make pigs of ourselves. However, I may not be alone in feeling that I may have already topped the EEC quota for mince pies and other pastry and sugar rich delights. The clincher for me was seeing the team from The Guinness Book of Records in the car park yesterday (only 1 more box and we've beaten a 60 year old record apparently).
So, in the biggest breach of office protocol since David Blunkett helped that visa request on it's way, I've decided to forego the traditional gut busting, spot inducing delights and bring in a variety of fruit for you all to nibble on. I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone, I'm sure that normal service will be resumed at the next birthday.
Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness over Christmas and the new year,
Tom
PS. Fruit is not a toy and can potentially be dangerous, so please keep the Banana skins away from Mark!
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Right now, I have to say that I'm in New Yorker heaven. The winter fiction double issue came thudding through the letterbox late last week, ensuring many hours of engaging reading over the Xmas period. Over the years, I've had many periods happy engagement with magazines and periodicals, however I'm struggling to think of any others which have so consistently enthralled me.
My first memories of a regular reading habit was not with any of the classic children's Comics, it was the local weekly sports paper "The Green'un". Every Saturday evening I would wait with mounting impatience for the driver to drop the paper off at our local newsagent. Once the paper had arrived my dad would hand over the cash and before we were out of the door, I would be eagerly scanning the match reports, which dominated the front page. For the next couple of hours, I would be lost to the fascinating world sports news. My mother swears that I learnt to read from this suggest journal, I sure that the hours spent pouring over the football league tables helped my knowledge of maths as well. I was plotting prospective variations in my team’s point’s totals and working out goal differences at a very early age. The summer gave me even more chances for mathematical fun, with all those lovely cricket averages to check.
The next regular read was again football focused. Shoot, was a weekly football magazine, which gave me all the information I needed to keep update with the world of football. The regular highlight of the year with Shoot was the fantastic pop out cardboard league table, which came free in August to mark the start of the forthcoming season. The idea was that after each round of games, you could spend hours moving you little cardboard team names, within the framework of their respective leagues. Of course in reality, this just resulted in Bristol City making rapid progress to the top my league, rather than their more traditional role of mid-table obscurity.
Cricket provided the next major magazine obsession, with two different magazines. The Cricketer was a very ground up journal which, gave me a comprehensive overview of the world game. Rather stranger was my subscription to the quarterly journal of the cricket statistician association. For some reason, I became obsessed with knowing every conceivable statistic associated with this amazingly numerically focused game.
In my later teenage years and onwards, NME and The Face dominated my reading world. Both eventually fell from grace, firstly The Face became swallowed by it’s own pretensions, the NME on the other hand gave up on any semblance of pretension or thought and turned into picture filled scandal sheet it is today.
My time as a young fogey coincided nicely with the launch of The Oldie magazine. Great fun for a few years, it finally became too curmudgeonly for it’s own good and I jumped ship.
Through it all the New Yorker has ruled supreme, brilliant factual journalism, outstanding fiction, wonderfully witty cartoons and articles, all topped of by those fantastic covers. Where would I be without it?
My first memories of a regular reading habit was not with any of the classic children's Comics, it was the local weekly sports paper "The Green'un". Every Saturday evening I would wait with mounting impatience for the driver to drop the paper off at our local newsagent. Once the paper had arrived my dad would hand over the cash and before we were out of the door, I would be eagerly scanning the match reports, which dominated the front page. For the next couple of hours, I would be lost to the fascinating world sports news. My mother swears that I learnt to read from this suggest journal, I sure that the hours spent pouring over the football league tables helped my knowledge of maths as well. I was plotting prospective variations in my team’s point’s totals and working out goal differences at a very early age. The summer gave me even more chances for mathematical fun, with all those lovely cricket averages to check.
The next regular read was again football focused. Shoot, was a weekly football magazine, which gave me all the information I needed to keep update with the world of football. The regular highlight of the year with Shoot was the fantastic pop out cardboard league table, which came free in August to mark the start of the forthcoming season. The idea was that after each round of games, you could spend hours moving you little cardboard team names, within the framework of their respective leagues. Of course in reality, this just resulted in Bristol City making rapid progress to the top my league, rather than their more traditional role of mid-table obscurity.
Cricket provided the next major magazine obsession, with two different magazines. The Cricketer was a very ground up journal which, gave me a comprehensive overview of the world game. Rather stranger was my subscription to the quarterly journal of the cricket statistician association. For some reason, I became obsessed with knowing every conceivable statistic associated with this amazingly numerically focused game.
In my later teenage years and onwards, NME and The Face dominated my reading world. Both eventually fell from grace, firstly The Face became swallowed by it’s own pretensions, the NME on the other hand gave up on any semblance of pretension or thought and turned into picture filled scandal sheet it is today.
My time as a young fogey coincided nicely with the launch of The Oldie magazine. Great fun for a few years, it finally became too curmudgeonly for it’s own good and I jumped ship.
Through it all the New Yorker has ruled supreme, brilliant factual journalism, outstanding fiction, wonderfully witty cartoons and articles, all topped of by those fantastic covers. Where would I be without it?
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Here we are in the last few days before Xmas, what a treat to wake up to an
unexpected covering of snow on Sunday morning. It managed to hang around for
quite a long time, without making too much of a menace of itself.
We had a top time at the Invada party on Friday, lot's of friends were out
and about. Enjoyed my first sighting of Aspen Woods, their brooding,
atmospheric music was compelling stuff. It's difficult to be subjective when
quite a few of your friends are in the band, but this lot have bags of
potential.
Ian Green played a short set, which seemed a little more focused than his
recent support gig with Gravenhurst. Gonga made their normal powerful
impact, despite the fact that singer Joe was not functioning at 100%. The
Metropol itself could be a great addition to the live music scene in
Bristol. Nicely sized and spaced, it even has more posts holding up the
ceiling than even The Fleece - quite an achievement.
Despite the icy weather we managed to squeeze in a game of football last
night. Our normal pitch was deemed to be too dangerous to use, and the sight
of one poor chap being carried away in obvious pain as we arrived, due to a
nasty slip, made us all aware that this was not the time to be flying around
making last ditch tackles. Consequently the game was less manic than normal,
I'd like to think that it would have suited my rather sedentary playing
style, sad to say my lack of basic skill was exposed even more than usual by
the lighting fast surface! Two causes for celebrations amongst my team
mates, Scott won the DJ of year award in Venue magazine and Geoff became a
dad yesterday. Good to know that we are good at something.
unexpected covering of snow on Sunday morning. It managed to hang around for
quite a long time, without making too much of a menace of itself.
We had a top time at the Invada party on Friday, lot's of friends were out
and about. Enjoyed my first sighting of Aspen Woods, their brooding,
atmospheric music was compelling stuff. It's difficult to be subjective when
quite a few of your friends are in the band, but this lot have bags of
potential.
Ian Green played a short set, which seemed a little more focused than his
recent support gig with Gravenhurst. Gonga made their normal powerful
impact, despite the fact that singer Joe was not functioning at 100%. The
Metropol itself could be a great addition to the live music scene in
Bristol. Nicely sized and spaced, it even has more posts holding up the
ceiling than even The Fleece - quite an achievement.
Despite the icy weather we managed to squeeze in a game of football last
night. Our normal pitch was deemed to be too dangerous to use, and the sight
of one poor chap being carried away in obvious pain as we arrived, due to a
nasty slip, made us all aware that this was not the time to be flying around
making last ditch tackles. Consequently the game was less manic than normal,
I'd like to think that it would have suited my rather sedentary playing
style, sad to say my lack of basic skill was exposed even more than usual by
the lighting fast surface! Two causes for celebrations amongst my team
mates, Scott won the DJ of year award in Venue magazine and Geoff became a
dad yesterday. Good to know that we are good at something.
Friday, December 17, 2004
We’ve been out to a couple of excellent things over recent evenings. On Wednesday we finally went to a performance at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, where we saw a lovely performance of The Secret Garden. Although it’s a show, which is primarily aimed at children, we both found much to enjoy, maybe we are not as old as we think we are?
Last night we had another first time visit, this time it was to cinema 3 at The Watershed. Very impressed with the room, it’s a welcome addition to the facilities at this splendid place. We saw “Garden State”, what a great film! It’s a wonderfully understated piece, on being out of step with those around you. Subtly humorous and quietly wise, it was a real joy from start to finish. For a variety of reasons we haven’t seen as many films as usual this year, this one has to up there with the best of the bunch.
My knowledge of Zach Braff before seeing this film was pretty limited, I only caught a couple of episodes of Scrubs and to be honest I found him and the show pretty annoying. However after seeing this film, he has shot up in my estimation. How do these young guys get to write and direct (let alone star) in such wonderful things? The answer is obviously down to talent –pure and simple.
Another thing that made me love the film was the often inspired soundtrack. As anyone who used to shop in Imperial will know, the staff were always encouraged to attach post-it notes to CD’s, hoping to encourage customers to take a chance on our recommendations on stuff they may not have known about. I would always attach a particular one to the first album by The Shins – Oh, Inverted World. It said simply “Is “New Slang” the greatest song ever written?” It provoked quite a few comments from customers and fellow staff members, so I was delighted to hear it being used as the track that the Natalie Portman character plays to Zach Braff as the song that will change his life. With it’s fantastic melody line, how could it fail? How wonderful to hear a tune such as that, coming out loud and clear from that expensive new cinema sound system. Perfection.
Tonight we are off to the Invada Xmas party, where our friend Ian Green is playing, also looking forward to catching Aspen Woods, who feature another couple of mates in their line up. Headlining the whole thing are local riff kings Gonga, it will be interesting to see how much of their set Orynthia can cope with!
Last night we had another first time visit, this time it was to cinema 3 at The Watershed. Very impressed with the room, it’s a welcome addition to the facilities at this splendid place. We saw “Garden State”, what a great film! It’s a wonderfully understated piece, on being out of step with those around you. Subtly humorous and quietly wise, it was a real joy from start to finish. For a variety of reasons we haven’t seen as many films as usual this year, this one has to up there with the best of the bunch.
My knowledge of Zach Braff before seeing this film was pretty limited, I only caught a couple of episodes of Scrubs and to be honest I found him and the show pretty annoying. However after seeing this film, he has shot up in my estimation. How do these young guys get to write and direct (let alone star) in such wonderful things? The answer is obviously down to talent –pure and simple.
Another thing that made me love the film was the often inspired soundtrack. As anyone who used to shop in Imperial will know, the staff were always encouraged to attach post-it notes to CD’s, hoping to encourage customers to take a chance on our recommendations on stuff they may not have known about. I would always attach a particular one to the first album by The Shins – Oh, Inverted World. It said simply “Is “New Slang” the greatest song ever written?” It provoked quite a few comments from customers and fellow staff members, so I was delighted to hear it being used as the track that the Natalie Portman character plays to Zach Braff as the song that will change his life. With it’s fantastic melody line, how could it fail? How wonderful to hear a tune such as that, coming out loud and clear from that expensive new cinema sound system. Perfection.
Tonight we are off to the Invada Xmas party, where our friend Ian Green is playing, also looking forward to catching Aspen Woods, who feature another couple of mates in their line up. Headlining the whole thing are local riff kings Gonga, it will be interesting to see how much of their set Orynthia can cope with!
Monday, December 13, 2004
So the social whirl of Xmas is well and truly with us. Over the last week, I’ve had three very different social functions to attend.
Firstly, last Monday saw the Oxfam gathering on Carmen Miranda’s on Chandos Road. It was a nice chance to say a proper goodbye to managers Ray & Liz plus the vast multitude of volunteers, who keep the place open. I’m still amazed at the number of people who give their time, I was still meeting people who were new to me on Monday, after a couple of months helping out in the shop. As is often the case with these sorts of events, the food was merely average, but the company was great. They are a really good crowd; hopefully I’ll manage to keep in touch with some of them.
Next up was the festive gathering of the Monday (and occasional Sundays) football gang. Numbers were a bit depleted, for various reasons, but it turned into another enjoyable evening out. Most of the chaps I play with are involved in music or TV, with some fascinating tails to tell. We had a long and free ranging debate about the current state of both industries, whilst enjoying the obligatory food of any football team night out – curry. It was also a good chance to catch up with a bit of detail on each other’s background; most of conversations when we see each are, inevitably dominated by football. So it was interesting to hear that one of my team-mates is a B.A.F.T.A judge. Whilst another had interesting schoolboy memories of one of my wife’s relatives! Sadly this additional team bonding exercise could not stop us was slipping to another defeat on Sunday. We lost 2-1, in a match that we really should have got something from.
Saturday saw one of the traditional pre-cursers of Xmas, Teresa’s birthday gathering. On this occasion, the humorous country band “Wilma”, featuring her boyfriend Steve were playing a gig at The Old Fox on Gloucester Road. Despite the relative proximity of the pub to our house, The Old Fox is not a place which I have visited for around 20 years, my only knowledge of the place these days, was from seeing the massed ranks of gleaming motor bikes standing proudly outside of an evening. The prospect of a country band playing a bikers pub was interesting to say the least and initially, Teresa and her friends stayed well to the back of the pub, trying hard not to get in the way of the eager pool players and the steady stream of punters trying to get to the toilets. As they evening wore on and drink went down, the approval for the band rose throughout the pub, turning the potentially tricky fixture into a good away win for the boys from Wilma.
We ended the weekend with a trip to Bath to see the lovely Jeremy Hardy chatting away for a couple of hours. Really rather splendid.
Orynthia’s mum should be coming out of hospital today and over the weekend my sister called my mum and spoke to her for the first time in three years! So for once things with our respective families are looking pretty good!!
Firstly, last Monday saw the Oxfam gathering on Carmen Miranda’s on Chandos Road. It was a nice chance to say a proper goodbye to managers Ray & Liz plus the vast multitude of volunteers, who keep the place open. I’m still amazed at the number of people who give their time, I was still meeting people who were new to me on Monday, after a couple of months helping out in the shop. As is often the case with these sorts of events, the food was merely average, but the company was great. They are a really good crowd; hopefully I’ll manage to keep in touch with some of them.
Next up was the festive gathering of the Monday (and occasional Sundays) football gang. Numbers were a bit depleted, for various reasons, but it turned into another enjoyable evening out. Most of the chaps I play with are involved in music or TV, with some fascinating tails to tell. We had a long and free ranging debate about the current state of both industries, whilst enjoying the obligatory food of any football team night out – curry. It was also a good chance to catch up with a bit of detail on each other’s background; most of conversations when we see each are, inevitably dominated by football. So it was interesting to hear that one of my team-mates is a B.A.F.T.A judge. Whilst another had interesting schoolboy memories of one of my wife’s relatives! Sadly this additional team bonding exercise could not stop us was slipping to another defeat on Sunday. We lost 2-1, in a match that we really should have got something from.
Saturday saw one of the traditional pre-cursers of Xmas, Teresa’s birthday gathering. On this occasion, the humorous country band “Wilma”, featuring her boyfriend Steve were playing a gig at The Old Fox on Gloucester Road. Despite the relative proximity of the pub to our house, The Old Fox is not a place which I have visited for around 20 years, my only knowledge of the place these days, was from seeing the massed ranks of gleaming motor bikes standing proudly outside of an evening. The prospect of a country band playing a bikers pub was interesting to say the least and initially, Teresa and her friends stayed well to the back of the pub, trying hard not to get in the way of the eager pool players and the steady stream of punters trying to get to the toilets. As they evening wore on and drink went down, the approval for the band rose throughout the pub, turning the potentially tricky fixture into a good away win for the boys from Wilma.
We ended the weekend with a trip to Bath to see the lovely Jeremy Hardy chatting away for a couple of hours. Really rather splendid.
Orynthia’s mum should be coming out of hospital today and over the weekend my sister called my mum and spoke to her for the first time in three years! So for once things with our respective families are looking pretty good!!
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Hard to believe but another good gig has been announced for next February. I’m most excited about the news that The Go! Team will be playing at The Fleece on Feb 20th. In addition to that, we also have gigs from Elvis Costello, Nick Cave and Adam Green booked in. We are also hoping to go to London for a week around the start of the month, so it’s going to be pretty busy.
I’m still getting used to driving to and from work. Most of the journey is pretty quick, but the last 1/4 mile on the outbound journey takes about as long as the previous 3 miles, which is pretty frustrating. The last time I did regular commuting by car was just before we got married, almost 18 years ago. I had sold my car, to help fund the purchase of our flat and was making the seemingly endless journey to Trowbridge in Orynthia’s little Fiat 126. That poor car would shake and rattle it’s way through the little villages of Somerset and Wiltshire, though thankfully it never rolled! The humble little car did it’s best for me, but it could hardly be called an easy ride.
At work, our group of 18 new recruits is gelling nicely. We all feel slightly daunted by the amount of information we are taking on but everyone is really supportive of each other, which is great to see. As with all new ventures, it’s easy feel as though you don’t have a clue about what is going on and indeed for some issues that will be true for a while. In a few months time, I’m sure that we will be amazed at the knowledge we have absorbed.
I’m still getting used to driving to and from work. Most of the journey is pretty quick, but the last 1/4 mile on the outbound journey takes about as long as the previous 3 miles, which is pretty frustrating. The last time I did regular commuting by car was just before we got married, almost 18 years ago. I had sold my car, to help fund the purchase of our flat and was making the seemingly endless journey to Trowbridge in Orynthia’s little Fiat 126. That poor car would shake and rattle it’s way through the little villages of Somerset and Wiltshire, though thankfully it never rolled! The humble little car did it’s best for me, but it could hardly be called an easy ride.
At work, our group of 18 new recruits is gelling nicely. We all feel slightly daunted by the amount of information we are taking on but everyone is really supportive of each other, which is great to see. As with all new ventures, it’s easy feel as though you don’t have a clue about what is going on and indeed for some issues that will be true for a while. In a few months time, I’m sure that we will be amazed at the knowledge we have absorbed.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Well, here I am, back in the world of gainful (paid!) employment. As ever with first days, a lot of information was passed across, some of which will hopefully have stuck. It’s actually quite a strange situation as 18 of us started today. It’s going to be quite a challenge for the small existing team over the next few months, as I imagine we are all going to be asking lots of questions. Still they were all very friendly, so the omens are good.
Lunchtime is one thing, which is going to be strange for me. Over the past 20 years I’ve been used to working in or near to the centre of town. This gave me loads of scope for interesting options when it came to filling my break time. I know that often that would just mean a piece of cake, a coffee and a good book in a local café, but it could also be wandering around the old dock area, checking out the record and book shops, going to a gallery or sometimes the luxury of a lunchtime concert. Sadly, my new place of work is in the middle of nowhere, so nothing to walk to at lunchtime and a with a canteen serving scrummy looking food at subsidised prices, if I ‘m not careful, I could see the pounds pilling on!
Our Sunday team were on the end of a pretty comprehensive 7-2 thrashing yesterday morning. Strangely though, I rather enjoyed the game. I was playing in central defence and saw lots (and lots!) of the ball, as the opposition laid siege to our goal for huge chunks of the match. Although they had a much higher average age than us, they used the ball really well and at times had us chasing shadows. This gave me plenty of chances to throw myself into tackles, some of which I even managed to win!
On Saturday evening we made our second visit in a fortnight to the Showcase Cinema. Last week we went to see the Bobby Darin bio-pic Beyond The Sea (Orynthia has always been a fan his work), This week we took my mum to see the excellent Ladies In Lavender, which features the brilliant duo of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
Orynthia’s mum is making progress in hospital, although she has been having problems with her eating since the operation. The general signs are good, but the sooner she can start to get some proper nourishment into her the better she (and we) will feel.
Lunchtime is one thing, which is going to be strange for me. Over the past 20 years I’ve been used to working in or near to the centre of town. This gave me loads of scope for interesting options when it came to filling my break time. I know that often that would just mean a piece of cake, a coffee and a good book in a local café, but it could also be wandering around the old dock area, checking out the record and book shops, going to a gallery or sometimes the luxury of a lunchtime concert. Sadly, my new place of work is in the middle of nowhere, so nothing to walk to at lunchtime and a with a canteen serving scrummy looking food at subsidised prices, if I ‘m not careful, I could see the pounds pilling on!
Our Sunday team were on the end of a pretty comprehensive 7-2 thrashing yesterday morning. Strangely though, I rather enjoyed the game. I was playing in central defence and saw lots (and lots!) of the ball, as the opposition laid siege to our goal for huge chunks of the match. Although they had a much higher average age than us, they used the ball really well and at times had us chasing shadows. This gave me plenty of chances to throw myself into tackles, some of which I even managed to win!
On Saturday evening we made our second visit in a fortnight to the Showcase Cinema. Last week we went to see the Bobby Darin bio-pic Beyond The Sea (Orynthia has always been a fan his work), This week we took my mum to see the excellent Ladies In Lavender, which features the brilliant duo of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
Orynthia’s mum is making progress in hospital, although she has been having problems with her eating since the operation. The general signs are good, but the sooner she can start to get some proper nourishment into her the better she (and we) will feel.
Friday, December 03, 2004
It looks as though everything went well for Orynthia’s mum yesterday. She had a double heart bypass, along with some valve work. We were with her in the hospital yesterday morning as she was being sedated; she looked so small on that huge bed.
They were going to use a replacement valve from a cow on her, as she was drifting away she had us in stitches as she mumbled about having a cow valve and what would happen if she started mooing when she came round. We also had to promise that we would not try to milk her! In a lovely silly way, it took all the tension out of the day.
We have certainly spent enough time in hospitals during 2004, let’s hope that 2005 is a bit more peaceful for our families.
I’m off to Oxfam now for my last shift before starting the new job on Monday.
They were going to use a replacement valve from a cow on her, as she was drifting away she had us in stitches as she mumbled about having a cow valve and what would happen if she started mooing when she came round. We also had to promise that we would not try to milk her! In a lovely silly way, it took all the tension out of the day.
We have certainly spent enough time in hospitals during 2004, let’s hope that 2005 is a bit more peaceful for our families.
I’m off to Oxfam now for my last shift before starting the new job on Monday.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
There is much futility involved in the life of a football fan, especially when you support an average team, playing at a below average level.
You waste lots of time and money, watching poor football, in cold and miserable conditions. Yet occasionally that moment comes along when something wonderfully exciting and enthralling takes you and your fellow sufferers to something approaching nirvana, or as close as we will ever get to it. Those moments live long in the memory. Most of the time we take our pleasures from the small insignificant amusements, which come our way. We all realise the futility of what we are doing, yet somehow that almost becomes the point of doing it, today was a marvellous case in point for me.
For the first time since my leisure period began a couple of months ago, Bristol City reserves were playing a midweek home match, giving me the chance to sample the deliciously ridiculous atmosphere of a meaningless match. The crowd, such as it was, mainly consisted of gentlemen of a certain age, taking enormous pleasure from berating the match officials after every slightly dubious decision, whilst trying to encourage the very young team on display. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The conversations were thick with references to players and events of a previous, simpler age. Good players were revered, whilst the mention of some of our lesser talents would bring forward gales of laughter. It was great to be part of one huge collective memory, where individual identities almost ceased to matter, the club and it’s fortunes (or misfortunes) were the thing that mattered. Along with a couple of friends, I chatted with several people I have never met before, discussing events from 35 years ago, in much the same way that you would do with a family member, when knowledge of issues is taken as read.
What a brilliant way to spend a cold afternoon. The match itself served as a mere facilitator for this splendid social club. The final score was 1-1, not that that mattered to anyone.
You waste lots of time and money, watching poor football, in cold and miserable conditions. Yet occasionally that moment comes along when something wonderfully exciting and enthralling takes you and your fellow sufferers to something approaching nirvana, or as close as we will ever get to it. Those moments live long in the memory. Most of the time we take our pleasures from the small insignificant amusements, which come our way. We all realise the futility of what we are doing, yet somehow that almost becomes the point of doing it, today was a marvellous case in point for me.
For the first time since my leisure period began a couple of months ago, Bristol City reserves were playing a midweek home match, giving me the chance to sample the deliciously ridiculous atmosphere of a meaningless match. The crowd, such as it was, mainly consisted of gentlemen of a certain age, taking enormous pleasure from berating the match officials after every slightly dubious decision, whilst trying to encourage the very young team on display. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The conversations were thick with references to players and events of a previous, simpler age. Good players were revered, whilst the mention of some of our lesser talents would bring forward gales of laughter. It was great to be part of one huge collective memory, where individual identities almost ceased to matter, the club and it’s fortunes (or misfortunes) were the thing that mattered. Along with a couple of friends, I chatted with several people I have never met before, discussing events from 35 years ago, in much the same way that you would do with a family member, when knowledge of issues is taken as read.
What a brilliant way to spend a cold afternoon. The match itself served as a mere facilitator for this splendid social club. The final score was 1-1, not that that mattered to anyone.