My brother Phil called by today on his way between Lancaster and York on business. His arrival at about 6pm, completely unannounced, six months to the day since I last saw him, filled me with a boyish excitement that I’d almost forgotten existed. Absolutley flipping ace to see you Phil – what a treat.
World War I Soldier Formations
There’s something intriguing about large scale interactive things like these World War I Soldier Formations
For someone to have the balls and patience to organise it is just beyond me. It’s also deeply metaphorical about art; that it only exists when experienced by people.
Flippin’ lovely…. see more here
Farewell, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson died on Christmas eve. What a man.
You still look good to me….
Weapon Of Choice – Fatboy Slim
I was just listening to the radio, humming away to myself for a few minutes whilst the phone stopped ringing for the first time today (!) and this tune came on… which reminded me to look at what I feel is the finest pop video in many, many years.
Four year old drummer to Sammy Davis Jr in about ten minutes
Lily and I do things a bit differently every Friday… we have a break from ‘story’ before bedtime, and it quite often involves surfing things on Youtube. To have all those amazing things from my childhood (and since) at my fingertips never ceases to amaze me; it won’t amaze Lily and her generation. For that, she’ll never be grateful – she never should be – this is what so much of the media should be – on demand entertainment, not pipe-fed scheduled programming, but a parent-supervised themed trip round amazing things.
We searched for a “drummer” – Lily’s quite set on getting some drums for Christmas …
First, we watched Igor, a four year old from Poland
… and from him, I was prompted to search for Buddy Rich’s epic battle with Animal fromt he Muppets
A natural progression, was to seek out another televised Buddy Rich drum battle, one that I’d heard talked about, but never seen (until Youtube!) – he and Gene Krupa going at it together on the Sammy Davis Jr show.
To calm down from the drums a bit, we finished off with a bit of Sammy Davis Jr himself, this time tap dancing to Singin in the Rain with some remarkable collars….
Friday night… a good night in.
An early Christmas Present
Katie and I went to the hospital this morning to get a picture taken.
Elvis sings the blues
Just picked up Elvis from the vets a little bit lighter than when we dropped him off… bless him.
Bike love
This poor old chap’s been caught in a compromising position….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7095134.stm
If it was one of these, we can forgive him, but still not nice for the cleaners who caught him in the act…
A visit from Rachel and Bea
Four years on, we finally got to catch up with old college friend Rachel and her daughter Bea this weekend. Great to see old mates and ponder how the hell the girls have grown up so quickly. Had a nice evening at the bonfire at the White Horse down the road, and some traditional sparkler fun.
Trains and bikes – a match made in hell
I’m on a train at the moment, a Virgin Voyager train from Watford Junction to Manchester, as it happens. I make this journey about every six weeks or so, to stay with my friend and colleague Dave Bancroft in Amersham.
To be sensible about the environment and be good to myself, I always take my bike; panniers laden with laptop and overnight stuff, and I cycle to Manchester, then on from Watford for the final 12 miles to Dave’s house. It’s quicker and easier than the car, and I get to ride my bike… win – win.
What I HAVE to write about though, is the Virgin Trains ‘policy’ on taking my bike along for the journey. The trains all have a good section in the front or rear of the train capable of taking a few bikes, I book well in advance, including a very clear request for a cycle reservation, so there shouldn’t really be any problems. Should there?
Well, on every time I’ve made this journey, there has been what approaches mayhem in simply getting on the train, and off it. Today’s return journey sums that up:
Having booked my tickets three weeks ago, and being very clearly told that I don’t need a ticket for my bike (just a reservation reference number for it), I arrived in Watford, ten minutes to spare, to be asked for my ticket. I explained that I was told that I didn’t need one, and then had to explain this to one other person (from a different company), before I was allowed through the gate. They made it very clear that the reference number was none of their business and they had to see a ticket.
When I got onto the platform, I was asked by not one, not two, but THREE separate people from Virgin trains whether I had a reservation for the bike. Each time, I showed them the reference number on the piece of paper. One of the kind people, called Dave, as it happens, helped me onto the train, with my bike.
When I got on the train, the ticket inspector checked my tickets, and I thought it wise to let him know that I had a bike in the train and would be alighting at Manchester. He asked if I had a reservation number, looked at it, then I started to lose it. I asked him what the reservation number meant; he said he didn’t know. I asked him who (on the train staff or the station staff) actually saw that there had been a reservation for a bike; he said that no-one sees this. I then asked the obvious… why did I have to make a reservation?
I honestly feel like a criminal the way they ask me, each time, whether I have a reservation for my bike. Now I know that the number itself doesn’t cross-check with anything, I’m doubly annoyed. Pah!
The Wedding Present, 26 October 2007, Manchester Academy
I’m not going to attempt a well written review of a gig here, I’ve got too much bias with a band that I’ve loved to follow, (pretty fervently for c. 21 years) to do a good, balanced review, but it’s nice to capture my thoughts on last night’s performance whilst fresh in my head.
TWP have never shied from gimmickry (12 singles in a year, for example, back in the 90s), and somehow they decided to take to the road to mark the 20th anniversary of their defining album, “George Best”. Great idea really; whole album, start to finish, in the right order. Like a dream gig in many ways for me.
To add to it all, the ten or so songs that they chose to sandwich George Best with were a well picked balance from the massive repertoire. ‘Blonde’ to come on to stage one-by-one, for example and a very well chosen ‘Kennedy’ to pick things up immediately after the George Best tracks.
Most surreal point of the evening was without doubt the full fluffy bunny costumed helper who came on stage with five big white number cards to count down the audience into the epic first four words of ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft” (play below)
I took a few snaps on my phone but they were so poor so I had a play in photoshop – the lovely thing about gigs is the colour lights….
We’re off the see the wonderful wizard of Gedge
Katie and I are off to see the Wedding Present this evening. How excited can one 37 year old little boy get?
The tour’s to mark the 20th anniversary of their best selling album ‘George Best’, which makes me think how quickly the last 20 years have flown by. The set includes them playing the whole album, in order, which’ll be nice. People won’t have to ask for requests in between the tracks.
Enjoy this little gem from 1994 in the mean time… yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah…