Simply Teesside!

Bad news about Prince Philip eh?  My thoughts go out to the Queen, Charles, Andrew et al at this difficult time. 

Only joking!  It's times like this I am reminded of the extremes of unfairness in the UK not to mention the merits of Britain becoming a republic.  I just don't buy this what the royal family do for the UK economy thing and as for life expectancy it is my guess that the immediate royal family can expect to live around the 100 mark whilst the average for the best area in Middlesbrough (Nunthorpe) was (assume still is) 82.  I won't even go the headline grabbing statistic that if you live in Middlehaven you will do well to get past 64 or 65.

Would like to think that if somebody in Middlesbrough turned up at casualty at James Cook they might get this treatment even if they were 90 but who knows (Mark?).  Then again I don't suppose there are many 90 year old's around Teesside to test it.

On a serious note though the local Teesside music scene has had an outstanding year.  Possibly the best I can remember.  The Chapman Family and The Young Rebel Set experience success on the national stage and I'm buggered if I know why Cattle and Cane haven't.

The quality of The Kids Are Solid Gold shows has continued to be astonishingly (really) high and  Rikki Doolan has relentlessly put on (mostly) quality shows at Dr Browns (every Thursday and Sunday) and The Crown (first Saturday every month).  He's also bravely, or more likely, recklessly took his roadshow out to the estates of East Middlesbrough to the "you're a foreigner" type pubs such as The Fountain in Ormesby and The Park End.  Thankfully Gary R and I lived to tell the tale of the night at the Park End.  Rikki even put Gary on a few times.  Looking forward to the album.

Hail Rikki Doolan, long may his magic touch continue.

Also must mention to Rock Garden Reunion people.  Steve Harland's shows have been well attended and he's been prolific in his pursuit of keeping the interest going on f*c****k.  Special thanks for putting on my old friend Richard's post punk band, Drop.

Amongst my favourite local bands this year have been The High Horses, Ginogs County and Rikki and The Porters.

  I finally got The Chapman Family up to and including Intro.  Sadly they weren't so impressive at Stockton Riveside Festival and their new line-up show at the Georgian Theatre in November but if they do nothing else from now on in at least they did Anxiety. Hail!

Dressed Like Wolves and By Toutatis  were impressive - looking forward to seeing much more of them in the new year and I'm hopefully going to see Pellethead next week.  All hail!

Dressed Like Wolves

But in a very tight race I'm going to give my local band of the year award to old-timers Shrug. Some of their vast recorded work doesn't always do them justice but this year they were immense live, both supporting John Otway at the Georgian Theatre (photo below) in October and at the history of Shrug exhibition (great in itself) just last week.  

Unsurprisingly I also think their latest ep is about as swish as anything they've ever done.

Almost last word for 2 great films I enthused about this year, the universally aclaimed Sound It Out and the (so far) not so recognized Cement Factory.

Finally, bringing it right up date - here's a vid I took of Vin Garbutt from The Normanby last Tuesday.  It's an oldie but more relevant today than ever. 

 

Merry Christmas everybody.

Music - 1979 - My greatest year.

1979 was a great year for music, probably my best.  The first 2 Fall albums, Joy Division, Echo And The Bunnymen, Metal Box, Swell Maps first album (I loved it anyway), The Raincoats first album, Cut by The Slits, Cabaret Voltaire, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (before they became shit), A Certain Ratio, Setting Sons by The Jam, Talking Heads, 154 by Wire, Futurama et seq, et seq et seq....

I remember doing a C90 tape of my favourite songs of the year and playing it for some friends at Christmas.  How good must that tape have been?  What great stuff must I have had to leave off?

Since then I've enjoyed listening to all types of music, some of it great (The Smiths, Steve Earle, various African albums spring to mind) but nothing has touched 1979. 

A lot of it is maybe down to Old Father Time.  I was 17/18 in 1979, full of youthful energy, excitement and optimism.  It was before I got married and had a family.  I hadn't been ground down by my mundane working life.  It was before I became cynical old man.

Some of that maybe true.  It was 32 years ago.  I battle on a daily basis with the mundanity of my work, I can be cynical (who could fail in this day and age) and youthful energy?  Ha ha!

But that was then and this is now and I certainly never saw it coming. Although not as good as 1979 I award 2011 the silver medal in my best musical years. Way ahead of other vintage years (1980, 1977 and 1978 (I think in that order).  I have documented much (but not all) of it and posted lots of photos here and LJ, it's been a blast. I honestly can't remember enjoying music and associated (especially local) culture as much as this year, possibly even 1979 included.  Old man's appreciation?  Who cares and the best thing is, health permitting I'm going to do it all again next year (tickets already bagged for Explosions In The Sky, The Leisure Society, Fanfarlo, No Direction Home, Wagner and EOTR).

So, over the few remaining days of this year I'm going to look back over the year and document what has been inspirational, what has been great and what has simply been good in 2011 or maybe I should just do a compilation tape? 

Mmmm.... tempting.

Shopping done and if I've forgotten anything I'll have to do without because I'm not going out to the shops again ever! I'll certainly be keeping well clear tomorrow - Shamila and I are going out for our 50th and almost certainly final walk of the year. We'll have a look at the weather before we decide where. 

Had a few offers for Christmas Day but I've decided to have a bah humbug Christmas on my own. Only joking, about the bah humbug bit anyway .  I’ll be dropping Shamila at her parents around  noon before heading off home.  I’ve arranged to meet up with one of my neighbours, Mark (not to be confused with Marks G and H) at 12.30 to go to The Eagle for a couple of pints.  The Eagle was of course my Dad’s second home so I’ll have a spiritual drink with him as well.   

For Christmas lunch I’ve bought a nice piece of fillet steak which I’ll cook as rare as I dare.  I’m going to have it with a  potato bake (courtesy of Shamila), mushrooms, peas and sweetcorn washed down with a bottle of Gran Reserva.   

After an afternoon kip I’m going to entertain myself with an 89 song iPod playlist (concept copyright owned by Gary R) and then maybe a film.   

Don’t be feeling sorry for me, I’m expecting it to be personal heaven.

You Are My Boro!

I'm absolutely knackered.  Didn't sleep great and had a long hard day at work.  Only doing a short day tomorrow, followed by a team Christmas meal/drink in Stockton and then I've got to grab a taxi to get over to The Normanby for 7pm forVin Garbutt's annual concert.

Must put better/a system in place for socialising next year after several clashes/cock-ups in the last 12 months. Most Notably

• January - Bought ticket for I Am Kloot in York and had arranged to go to Shamila's mates 50th Birthday party.
• May - Got ticket for Frank Turner at Arc and then realised Curtis Eller was playing at The Westgarth the same night.  At least I got to see him when he played at The Sun in November.
• November - Steve Earle - The Sage/Our Lives - Westgarth.

Must do better or maybe I should just commit to less?

One thing I've hardly mentioned much year is my beloved team.  For all my contempt and disillusionment for professional football in general they are never far from my thoughts.  As most of you will be aware we are third in the league, punching way above our weight which is great but if only the league was based on the last calendar year? 

We are and always will be........!

Don't know about you but I feel like I hurtling towards 2012 at break neck speed.  My life has definitely sped up since I cut my working week to 4 days.  Don't know whether any of my old friends remember but back in the early eighties when unemployment was rampant, I suggested that everybody should work 4 days a week instead of 5 as an antidote to unemployment.  I argued that as well as sharing the work available it would mean we all would have more leisure time which in my simplistic mind would create more jobs etc. etc.

Most people loved the idea of only working 4 days but of course we'd have to take a pay cut which they didn't like.  I didn't mind I was still living with my mam, I could afford to take the hit.  Needless to say my idea was generally poo pooed.

But guess what, writing in The Times yesterday, billionaire tax dodger Richard Branson thinks "a "Four-day week could help to solve our unemployment problem".  He's going to have a word with Cam as well so watch this space.  Unfortunately can't link to the article (I read the paper copy) because of Murdoch's subscription regime but you can get the drift here.

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.  30 years on from my original suggestion it's great for me.  I'm by no means wealthy, on the contrary, but I live an inexpensive lifestyle and once again I find myself in the fortunate position that I can afford the hit.  A lot of people can't get by on what they earn now though so although it might help the unemployment situation I can't see it helping pay their bills.

Whilst on my last blogging break George Monibot wrote an article about in 7 November's Guardian about the top 1% of earners being wealth destroyers (just been reminded about it by Louder Than War).  I particularly like the reference to studies of  Nobel economics prize winner, Daniel Kahnerman who confirmed what we all knew anyway that stockbrokers earn huge bonuses on the back of results that anybody could achieve by rolling dice (I bloody knew it, Luke Rhineheart was right all along!).

He quotes some interesting stats about unfairness and inequality.

"Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.

In the UK, the money earned by the poorest tenth fell by 12% between 1999 and 2009, while the money made by the richest 10th rose by 37%. The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, climbed in this country from 26 in 1979 to 40 in 2009."

Will be interesting to see how this one pans out as well.

Apologies for anybody who is waiting for my end of year run through (ha ha, only joking).  More tomorrow.
 

Been wasting time tonight leaving me not enough time to do a proper post.  Just to say first bands named for End Of The Road 2012 have been announced and having bought my early bird ticket (smug bastard, I hear you say) I can just sit back and watch the line-up fall into place.

Grizzly Bear, Tindersticks, First Aid Kit and the mighty Justin Townes Earle already.  Happy days! 

Also looking forward to first No Direction Home Festival announcement. Will keep you posted or you can check for yourself - whatever.

Here's one of my favourites from EOTR 2011.  Don't be put off by 14.27, it's only 10.40.

PS - Viewing stats back to normal.  Today - 26 UK, 13 US and 2 Germany = 41.

Thanks for taking the time.

I feel I've posted less this year but I've just had a count up of my 2011 posts (Livejournal and Blogspot) and I'm up to 106 for the year which is worthwhile enough to keep the fun burning into my 7th year (always count LJ and BS as continuing).  If I can get up to about 120 for the year it will average out at about a post ever 3 days.  A very respectable performance I'm sure you will agree..

God knows why I started and I shudder to think how much time I've wasted over the years.  I sometimes feel like I'm just writing it for my own benefit but as Steve McLaren used to say "we move on".

Going to do an end of year thing which is customary amongst us bloggers.  Not sure what yet but might start tomorrow.

In Praise Of Johnny Seven

Who remembers Johnny Seven One Man Army?  I only knew it as Johnny Seven but my research today put me right.  It was the ultimate toy.  Playing war games was a familiar pastime for boys back in the late sixties and the Johnny Seven was light years of any other toy or pretend weapon.  I dreamt of having one but knew realistically I'd never own one. The only person I knew who had one was Gary Harrison, who lived over the road from us. He was the envy of all the other kids in our road.

Those days are obviously long gone but my memory has been jogged a couple of times over the years.  I remember a great Vic and Bob sketch from the mid-nineties where Bob posing as Lovejoy name checks the great gun as well as talking about going "oggy raiding" - simply Teesside!
And I was reminded again at Friday night's latest Rock Garden re-union show.  The Rezillos supported by a local "back in the day" band, strangely called Johnny Seven at The Georgian Theatre.  I don't remember them to be honest although my memory is not what it was.

In truth I didn't have high expectations. Ste fancied going and we bought our tickets back in August.  It seemed like an ok idea with 3 months to go before the concert and when it sold out in September I wondered if it was going to be Acne Rabble all over again, only this time I had a ticket.  I suggested to Ste that we should try and cash them in.  Probably best we didn't, I'm not sure I would have been comfortable being outed on the local scene as a ticket tout.  Anyway, probably like the Sex Pistols show I think anybody who really wanted to see The Rezillos managed to get there

Johnny Seven, kitted themselves out for the occasion in suits and ties, (ala cup final stylee?) and played an extremely tight (can't believe they could have been that proficient "back in the day") set of what I presume were their songs back in the day.  "Where Have All The Skinheads Gone" referring to them (I think) as "those naughty skinheads!" and "Fashion" which of course pre-dated the Bowie song of the same name.  I think I heard something about "you bought your clothes in '73".  Ouch, brought it home how old most of us there had grown.  They finished with a rousing version of Folsom Prison Blues.  I doubt if they would have got away with it at The Teessider even if they'd been capable to play it.  They won me over, it was very good fun. 

Looking good for "around" 50 year olds I'm sure you will agree?

It is well documented that The Rock Garden was a fearsome venue to play.  Ste told a story about a support band once getting a table thrown at them and I've talked about the violence from time to time at Goffa's, both  here and in my previous life at Livejournal.   Times change though and Teesside's musical fraternity is extremely easy to please nowadays. The worst response a band ever gets is  polite applause.  Steve Harland, the co-promoter told me that The Rezillos received a dreadful response at a punk festival in Durham a couple of months ago.   That was never going to happen at Stockton

The crowd lapped it up and the band loved it. The band looked fit and well playing pretty much all the songs off their only proper album, Can't Stand The Rezillos, including my favourite, It Gets Me (give it a go, it really is very good).

There's no point me giving my opinion on The Rezillos music because it just isn't really my thing circa 2011, although being from Teesside I offered my polite applause.  That said, I enjoyed the night, Ste and the Bells were very good company.  We reminisced about "the faces" of the Rock Garden "dead and alive" although modesty forbid me putting myself forward.  Of course I jest but I wonder how many people attending on Friday had performed 3 times at The Rock Garden?  Have I mentioned before?

What was I on about?  Oh yeah, Johnny Seven. - It was an expensive toy and how rich was Gary Harrison that he could afford one?  So as you do, I google it.

Sadly I couldn't find out how much they were "back in the day" but Jeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How much today?

In a bit of a rush tonight.  Going out to see Forest Fire at Westgarth.  Should be a top show.  In an effort to keep the fun going here's a quick joke that Mark G shared with me a couple of weeks ago.

In the last 10 years we have lost

Johnny Cash,
Steve Jobs,
Bob Hope and
Jimmy Saville.

So now we have no cash, no jobs, no hope and no fucker to fix it.

No?  Well it tickled my fancy.

Today's activities and more

Only good news today.  Really enjoyed Mary Dejevsky's uplifting (to me anyway) article in today's Independent about the UK's obsession with growth as a measure of "our" success.  Her comment about the effect of the economic boom of the Blair years on the living standards acrooss the board particularly resonates with me.

I've been off work since Wednesday which has been bloody marvellous and I've been living the dream of the domestic god.  You know, going to Morrisons, housework, ironing, pottering around the house and all that.  Received a call at the door this morning from a couple Jehovah's Witnesses who shared with me their joy at the current woes of the world.  They appeared to  be genuinely at peace as they predicted the impending disasters resulting in the end of the world as we know it as they showed me drawings of how idyllic life will be for the survivors.  I almost want to believe them as long as me, my family and my friends are amongst the survivors.

Could have been there some time (I'm rubbish at ending conversations) but my next door but one neighbour Edie (aged 80) saw us talking and took it upon herself to rescue me by ringing my telephone.  My (not entirely) unwelcome visitors took their cue thanking me for my time and left. I'd like to think I was about to send them packing anyway but they saved me the bother.  Great sport!

Shamila and I are walking tomorrow, our 49th walk of the year.  We're going to walk from her house to Compen Bewley, onto Greatham (a suburb of Hartlepool) and basically back, about 8 miles in total.  Hopefully we'll make it to 50 walks sometime over the next week or so and then a few weeks rest before doing it all again next year.

Tomorrow night - going to the final Kids Are Solid Gold show of the year at The Westgarth, Forest Fire from Brooklyn.  I've been listening to some snippits from their new album and it should be a splendid evening.

And on that cheery note all that remains for me to say is ........................here's a picture of me and The Monk (actually the one in the link is the Horseman but I'm sure  you get the drift)  taken by Shamila last week.

So what's the word then?  I'm back after taking November off to grow a moustache.

I admit it's not pretty but it was in aid of a good cause.  Don't worry I'm not hankering after any sponsor money or anything.  It was all done through work and as you all know I don't mix business with pleasure.

Been up to loads actually.  Keswick, Bilbao.  Curtis Eller, Billy Bragg, Siskiyou, King Creosote, Chapman Family and yesterday I was on strike.

Totally depressing times in the real world though eh?   Polly Toynbee calls it "class war, generation war, war against women, war between the regions".  I haven't got much to add as the Tories divide and conquer machine moves into overdrive.  

I could go on but for once but I'm not going to nor am I for the forseeable future.  Fuck it, until further notice it's going to be fun fun fun all the way!

Here's a few photos I've taken over the last week.

   

Not really a proper post.  Just wanted to push that Inspector Tapehead album cover a little further down the page.  You can click on the photos of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Cambodian Space Project covers to reach give them a bit of a go.

Definitely something funny going on with my viewing stats.  My blog  supposedly received 575 views yesterday and in the last week 893 of which 709 were from the USA!  Definitely something fishy and possibly sinister going on.

Any ideas?

On the off chance that there really are people in the USA tuning in please feel free to leave to leave a comment or two.

Signing off

Paranoid from the Boro!

Rock Garden Revisited John Otway/Shrug/Bob Fischer

Work today after a great week-end off.  I've had worse Monday's.

Thursday night went well and Linda and James accompanied me to The Sessions to watch Gary.  He was a bit subdued by his standards to be honest.  The other artists (can't remember names were average at best) but as ever Gary was great company.

Went for a decent walk Saturday with Shamila around Thorpe Thewels, Whitton and Stillington and later went to the latest Rock Garden re-visited show at the Georgian Theatre Stockton. 

To be honest the punk revival isn't my thing.  I've been over my association with the Rock Garden (think on LJ) before so I'll spare you on this occasion and although I admire the promotional work of Steve Harland and friends I do not feel a jot of nostalgia for either punk rock or the Rock Garden.  I went to one of their previous shows, Subway Sect/Drop earlier this year and hardly recognised anybody outside my circle of friends.  Shame all the old punks haven't worn as well as me.  Ha ha!

Anyway, Ste fancied this one and as I've dragged him to a few recently and it wasn't Punishment Of Luxury, Spear Of Destiny or 999, why not.  At least John Otway is still a working musician.

Otway was never a punk.  He had his first hit in 1977 and because it was 1977 and as he wasn't easily identifiable as heavy metal or  prog rock he was labelled  punk/new wave.  His hit, with his then sidekick, Wild Willy Barrett was Cor Baby That's Really Free.  I seem to remember him later releasing a version of Green Green Grass Of Home'  It was a long time ago but I don't remember being very keen.

As I say he's had a musical career though and apparently even had another hit in 2002 with a song called Bunsen Burner, based on Disco Inferno by The Trammps coupled with a version of House Of The Rising Sun.

There was a reasonable turnout, about 140 according to Steve and a fair few of them seemed to know the drill as Otway knocked out staccato versions of his hits plus cover versions of Crazy Horses, Blockbuster and You Aint Seen Nothing Yet.  He didn't do Green  Green Grass Of Home though, so here it is.  It all pretty much sounded like that to be honest.

Still not my cup of tea musically and bah humbug, I found the comedy all a bit staged and pedestrian but the fair people of Teesside lapped it up so who am I to pick nits?  John Otway seemed happy being brought back for 2 encores but I suspect he knew that's the way it was going to pan out.

Bob Fischer and Shrug?

I remember John Power from Cast referred to Bob Fischer as a "bit of a local hero" when Bob admirably replaced Power's bass player at short notice at Stockton Riverside Festival a few years ago.  BBC Tees presenter, champion of new music, writer (look at the reviews, wow!), and one time contributor of (maybe he still is - I no longer read it) Boro fanzine "Fly Me To The Moon".  Not sure about hero, I don't know the him but  he's very funny on the radio and here on stage and makes a great a great contribution to alternative music.

Ably assisted by Miniature G (also one time FMTTM contributor) on backing vocals and bongos and a lad who used to be in a post punk band from Leeds, Bob whipped through a very nice set of amusing folk/doo wop numbers culminating with memorable (to me anyway) versions of Laurel (Bishop Auckland's finest) and Hardy's "The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine" and "Whispering Grass" (immense vocals by Miniature G) .   Now that's what I call nostalgia 2011!

Shrug were bloody marvellous actually.  The best I can ever remember. Now a 7 piece including violin on the impressive Captain Cook inspired Legasea from their new Too Many Cooks EP which you can listen to streaming here and if that's not enough you can give their their whole archive by (funnily enough) clicking on the archive graphic.

Lead vocalist Rob Nicholls charged around the stage making lots of dramatic gestures towards the audience as per usual with a constant change of clothes, wigs, masks and props. I can't comment much on earlier versions of Shrug but the 2011 vintage really is (I think the modern phrase is) tight as.  Held together by a great drum/bass back line.  The guitars crash wonderfully and the keyboard provides simple (is best) sparse melodies.

Rob loves The Fall and there are similarities with the sound but his songs are clever and good humoured and his repartee with the audience is  informal and friendly (local show for local people).  Actually about as far away from Mark Smith as you could get.  Rob probably thinks of it as musical theatre and he's right on the button.  Great stuff, looking forward to seeing them again already. 

Damn Statistics

As personal friends know I've never been one to court popularity for my blog and I don't normally read anything into it on the odd occasion when more people tune in.  

Not sure if something sinister is going on but I've just checked my stats and on 3 October my blog had 600 viewings. I'm normally lucky if I get 50!  I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that my post of 3 October was a political post. 

Don't know whether to be chuffed or scared.  It was clearly a one off because I'm now down to my usual 25 or so (as ever thank you all).

You're A Foreigner!

Currently sharing my house with this beast!

Awe...Don't knock it, at least he's company!

Art or Fart? 2 and 3

What do you think of these paintings from The Tate Modern in London?

This is bullshit, if this art so are my living room curtains!

...and what about?

I'd have this on my my wall.  I don't think it's too bad.

End Of The Road Festival 2011 - My Last Post About Probably

Just received 2011: A Space Odyssey by The Cambodian Space Project from Amazon Marketplace and that brings to a close my EOTR Festival purchases for 2011.


The complete list is

Walk Into The Sea and I’m An Old Believer - Slow Down Molasses

2011: A Space Odyssey – Cambodian Space Project

Grand Union EP and Homemade Tour EP – Skinny Lister

If The Ocean Gets Rough and Where The Humans Eat – Willy Mason

Clap You Hands Say Yeah and Some Loud Thunder – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Into The Murky Water – The Leisure Society

Last of the Country Gentlemen – Josh T Pearson

Get Well Soon - Sarabeth Tuceck

Tassili – Tinariwen

Dead Flowers – Caitlin Rose

The Flying Club Cup - Beirut

More than enough to be honest but hey ho.

And if anybody wants to know what the fuss I made was all about, or even if you want to read a proper review take your pick from the great, the good, the not so good and my friend Richard.

Folk Radio

The Guardian

Wired

FT

The Independent 

Louder Than War

My Friend Richard (you will need to scroll down to September 2011 posts)

 A view from The Woods Stage, Saturday Night

Come In Dr Fox your time is up!

Though I loathe the Conservative Party with all my heart I can't deny a grudging admiration for the transition made by Dr Liam Fox from Pop Idol Judge to Defence Secretary for the government. 

Oh well, I guess it's back to Satellite Radio for Foxy.  Still not too bad though.

The Acceptable Face of Rock'n'Roll

The very wonderful Slow Down Molasses

Punt Sessions - Slow Down, Molasses from Nick Seagrave on Vimeo.

and

Fucking Up

What's Got My Goat?

So Foxy got off.  Some campaign eh? 

Needless to say, couldn't really give a toss.  I've wasted far too much time watching/listening to this story in the news.  Obviously, feel sorry for poor girl that got murdered and her family. The fact that I would have to look her name up on the Internet says it all. But that's justice.

Interested in the story about the change in the unfair dismissal law though and the fact that you now have to be employed by a company for 2 years before you can make a claim for unfair dismissal.  They reckon the change will save business almost £6m per year, whoopee do!  If you have been employed for 2 years and want to claim unfair dismissal you'll have to pay a fee which you will only get back if you win.  Happy days for unscrupulous employers and lazy managers.

I had first hand knowledge of unfair dismissal law when my son was sacked by the Sporting Lodge (not sure I've seen a more pathetic corporate web-site by the way) Hotel.   I'm not going to bore you with details of the case but the tribunal proved the managers of the hotel lied, produced retrospective documents, didn't take statements off any independent witnesses and basically didn't follow employment law.  Thankfully their cover up was so woefully inept their evidence was ripped to shreds by the independent tribunal and the fact that the 4 managers who gave evidence against my son are still working for the the Sporting Lodge speaks volumes about the company.

My son had been working for the hotel for only 18 months so under the new law he wouldn't have been able to challenge his dismissal and would have had the blemish of "sacked for misconduct" on his employment record.  Justice was done in my son's case but it won't be for many others in the future.

The Tory press talk about it as an attack on trade unions.  That's bullshit, my son wasn't a member of a trade union.  He was seen by the management of The Sporting Lodge as an easy target. 

Wrong!

By the way keep your eyes open for Sporting Lodge seeking free publicity on "Love Middlesbrough" group and the like on F***book and for my subsequent comments.  Happy for Sporting Lodge to see me in court, if they want, I've kept all the paperwork.

And I offer this little snippet without further comment (for now) - "Minimum wage harming job opportunities for young".  Scrapping the National Minimum Wage is not yet government policy but watch this space.

 

New Section - Art or Fart?

Just found this on Youtube.  EOTR again I'm afraid.  I was at the Piano Stage on the last day watching 3 members of The Mountaineering Club playing a couple of songs when a poet got up and joined them. They decided to have a bit of an improv jam and the poet, Richard Watkins asked me to film it on his camera.   Not really into poetry but I think it's ok.  What do you think?

 What the hell, here's the other one he uploaded.

Celeb Watch

Btw, meant to say, whilst in London I spotted Simon Heffer looking the stuffy pompous twat he is in Kensington (can't believe he's only a year older than me) and Clare Short in Earls Court.

Sunday Bloody Sunday (for real this time)

Back to work tomorrow.  It seems ages since my last post and I've done quite a bit this week.  Shamila and I went to London Monday to Thursday.  We went for our (becoming) customary picnic up Eston Hills for her birthday on Friday and I went to Ste's 50th birthday party followed by a late night visit to Bandstand at The Crown.  Saw a couple of bands, The Janice Graham Band and The Christophers but the highlight was Rikki Doolan's finale party piece of  Psycho Killer. ,  Needless say still feeling a bit delicate.

I enjoyed London.  We stayed in Earls Court which was a pretty good base  for what we had planned and especially what we ended up doing.  Shamila wanted to visit The Tate Modern, The V&A Museum, view the general tourist attractions and do some shopping in Oxford Street.  I was happy with all but the latter but it all turned out ok because Shamila soon got sick of Oxford Street and decided to give Kensington High Street a go leaving me to chill out reading, listening to music on my iPod and sleeping in Kensington Park.  Result!

It was interesting being in London the same time of the Labour Party Conference which I followed from the TV News, The Times, The i and the free Evening Standard.  Ed Miliband didn't go down too well did he? It seemed that way to me anyway.  I applaud a lot of what he said but then again I suppose I would.  I particularly liked the spirit of his idea to punish  "predatory businesses" but it's all dreamland stuff.  Big business quickly turned it round on him asking him to explain what he meant by "predatory businesses" and what he proposed to do about it and they were right.  Own goal!  I fear Labour might be in opposition for a long time. 

Looking around London there weren't many, if any signs of an economic downturn.  Loads of development and building work going on.  EG, some (turns out 199) new 1and 2 bedroom apartments being built near The Tate Modern a snip at £1m to £5m each!

Who on earth buys these properties? I could speculate about Russian Oligarchs, foreign businessmen, Arab royalty, "predatory businessmen", Premier League footballers et al.  People not paying much UK tax anyway but then again what would I know?   What I do know though is that it's unlikely I'll earn enough in the whole of my life to buy even one of the "cheapies". Jeez, another world isn't even in it!  That said, they can have it for me, if they're daft enough.  Nice to spend a few days there but happy to leave.  I took a few photos and might post a few up later.

So what's on this week? Double header on Thursday - meeting up with some old work colleagues for tea and a couple of drinks and then going to see Gary R at The Sessions in The Boro. Obviously no work Friday and then going to see John Otway at The Georgian Theatre on Saturday.

Cheers

Sunday Bloody Sunday (for once not)

Turned my TV on after a couple of days at Shamila's and apparently I've got all the Sky Sports channels free for the
week-end.  Not sure who to thank as my (cheap) TV package is with Virgin Media.  So cheers to either/both of disgraced apparently non UK tax paying Aussie media mogul or clean cut British apparently non UK tax paying entrepreneur.

Watched the back end of QPR versus Aston Villa.  It was crap.  Football is just soulless to me nowadays unless Boro are playing.  Now watching  20/20 cricket England versus West Indies.  Although there's something a little upsetting about West Indies cricket team being so shit (apparently their best players are playing in the Indian Premier League),  I still love the watching the game.
 
Anyway, even better is I'm off work next week and Shamila and I are off to London for a few days.  I've left all arrangements to Shamila but  I think we're staying in the Kensington area.  I've been to London loads of times with work and a few times to watch Boro but not very often for a holiday (if you can call it a holiday if you're just going for a few nights).  Whatever, I'm still looking forward to it.

Taking my laptop so I may get chance to post.

Cheers

Update at 20.37 England 46-4 chasing 114.  Clearly a cricket pundit, I aint!

Jeez 88 all out at 21.16.  Maybe I should re-write the post!

Emmy The Great - Georgian Theatre

Emmy The Great was ......  I think I'll just let the photos speak tonight.

As good as a rest

Time for a makeover on my iPod.  My top tunes according  to iTunes, Top of the Pops stylee,

10 – Leslie – King Creosote

9 – The Flying Club Cup – Beirut (album)

8 – Cowardly Custard – King Creosote

7 – Terrible Love – The National

6 – Bright Bright Bright – Dark Dark Dark

5 - Mysore Se Ayi – Raghu Dixit

4 – Smart Flesh – Low Anthem (album)

3 – Sisi – Washington Irving

2 – Abbey Gallup – Washington Irving

1 - Good News – Withered Hand (album)

Washington Irving are simply the best and

 The Low Anthem - Gateshead Old Town Hall

Of course there was much more to my End Of The Road than that.  Such as the wonderful pop sounds of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the reincarnation of Johnny Cash, Willy Mason and Polka/Sea Shanty/Folk cross over (always a winner for me) Skinny Lister. - What the hell, here's the photos in that order!

Might post some more photos later on (=probably not) but that's it for now.  I loved it, but I always do.
That was my End Of The Road.  And that's how I treat it nowadays.  Like the football season, my season ends with Larmer Tree Gardens and we are now at The Start Of The Road again.  This week-end sees the return of The Kids Are Solid Gold and Treetop Flyers at The Westgarth on Friday and one that got away at EOTR, Emmy The Great at the Georgian Theatre, Stockton on Saturday.  See you at either, both or neither.

Here's to a great 2011-12 season

EOTR 3 - Lets Here It For The Girls!

When I was young I used to adore girls in bands,  Pauline Murray, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith et al and nothing's changed really although I'd like to think it's no longer about lust (honest guv')! 

I've enthused about Allo Darlin a few times on GFTB before after seeing them at EOTR 2010.  I'm pretty sure I've also posted a video on FB and I know I've encouraged TKASG to check them out and they were great again on Saturday afternoon in the Big Top.

Seemingly nervous at first, lovely ukulele playing Aussie, Elizabeth Morris led Allo Darlin' through a euphoric set of songs from their album including Silver Dollars (from Sound It Out fame) plus a few new ones.  Allo Darlin' are simply the best pop band around at the moment.

The Secret Sisters from Alabama were also lovely and they refreshingly played a set of country standards by The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and George Jones as well as a couple of their own which stood up well.  Not sure if it would have been as good if the ratio had been the other way round.

 

As nice as Elizabeth Morris and The Secret Sisters were I got the impression that Beth Jeans Houghton and Caitlin' Rose are not so nice.  Sharp-tongued and quick witted I think they'd chew you up and spit you out if you had the courage to mess with them.

One time Kids Are Solid Gold regular and newly signed to Mute Records, Beth Jeans opened The Garden Stage on Saturday afternoon.  Fresh from an extended visit to LA, Beth looked mean and confident sporting homemade tattoos on the insides of her arm that wouldn't have looked out of place in Berwick Hills.  God bless her for making me feel so at home.

Her sound was much leaner than I remembered and the better for it.  She was confident enough in her new songs not to fall back on her back catalogue and I only recognised I Will Return I Promise.  Really looking forward to her album coming out in January.

I love Caitlin Rose from Nashville.  I wouldn't like to meet her in a back alley or get in a round with her for that matter.  She set her stall out by dismissing a cute little girl stood next to me who shouted out her name was also Caitlin.  She made it clear she didn't give a shit. 

Apparently known for her smoking habit, I'm not sure how much longer her sweet sounding voice will hold out so we'd better enjoy it while we can.  Caitlin, now at the ripe old age of 23 played with confidence bordering on arrogance.  I do like spirit in young people especially when their songs are as good as Caitlin's.

 

Yet more to come.

   



Come In Mr Bell Your Time Is Up!

It's not often I applaud the Daily Mail but they can have this one!

About bloody time.  It will be interesting to hear what the local Labour constituency has to say.  Here's a few from the Evening Gazette 1, 2 and 3  as well.

EOTR 2 - My A Listers

First of all apologies for not replying to comments.  I am having problems posting comments using my Blogger account.  There does seem to be an answer but it looks a bit of a faff.  In the past I've used my old Livejournal account but even that is sometimes creaky.  I'll do my best but don't be surprised if I post some of my replies anonymously.

I've been back 2 days but my thoughts continue to be in North Dorset.  At least I can rest knowing that health permitting I  will definitely be returning next year.  Artists for 2012 won't be booked until the new year and I will be looking forward to see who the headliners are.  Not that the vast majority of the headliners have done it for me really.  The first year was probably the best.  Explosions In The Sky, The Fleet Foxes and The Hold Steady.  Last year I really didn't care for Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse or Wilco and this year I watched half an hour of Beirut and about 20 minutes each of Mogwai and Joanna Newsom. 

More interesting bands can generally be found further down the bill and this year was no exception.  The band I most wanted to see was Tinariwen.  I'd been tracking them for a couple of years.  I missed them play Middlesbrough in May 2007 (it was at the back end of my 20 year live music abstinence) and they didn't leave me disappointed.

Tinariwen are from Mali, like a lot of my favourite African artists such as Salif Keita and the late Ali Farka Toure. Critically acclaimed and loved by the great and the good of rock (see the Wikipedia link above) and americana (by look of the various EOTR bands grooving back stage on Sunday) they wooed and dare I say surprised the Woods Stage audience on Sunday afternoon with their tuneful

trance like assouf or desert blues.  Perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon Tinariwen had the crowd swaying, tramping and helping out with the percussion with rhythmic handclapping.  Non-English speaking the band limited their inter song chat to "thank you so much" and "is ok?"  A master stroke by EOTR.

Going back to my Friday night and the Beirut/Fall dilemma - when it came to the crunch it had to be..

and to my surprise they were brilliant.  I haven't heard any of their recent stuff and didn't recognise any of the songs but the music was quite predictably like fast rock'n'roll/rockabilly.  The Guardian reviewer mentioned "Hawkwind tendency" and commented "The Fall had dedicated fans upfront, but behind them the crowd thinned quickly".  Hardly an insight,  actually I was surprised so many stayed for so long.

As a member of "the dedicated fans upfront" and personal I got a birds eye view of Mark Smith's manic orchestrations.  Not just telling the band when to start and finish the songs but fiddling about with the controls of the amps, putting additional microphones in the bass drum and he kept going over to thump on Elena Poulou (his wife)'s keyboard.  He wandered around the stage chewing on his gums like the old 53 year old man he is, kicking and falling over microphone stands like the old drunk he is.  Or is he?  I'm not convinced, maybe it was just a good night but the music was well controlled enough for me.

And here's a photo of the gallant loser's of Friday night's battle of the bands.

EOTR 1

Wow, that was something special.  Early thoughts are that it was easily the best of my 3 EOTR's.  As ever, wonderful setting, great weather, good food and lots of memorable music.  Over the next few posts I'll post some some words and photos to describe my time there. 

I was pretty well organised before I went and gave pretty much everybody a spin before I went and didn't miss much that I planned to see but inevitably there are always regrets about bands you should/could have seen but when I considered what I missed and why I don't think I did too bad.

• Emmy The Great - I wanted to see her but she clashed with one of my must sees, Slow Down Molasses. Anyway she's on The Georgian Theatre on 24 September so I've got another chance to see her and I might just do that.
• Lanterns On The Lake - As above, a 3 way battle from hell.
• Laura Marling - Could have caught some of her show after the wonderful performance by our (almost) very own Leisure Society.
• A couple of the bands I saw said Big Deal (clashed with Tinariwen) and Wild Nothing (clashed with Josh T Pearson) were very good.
• Richard said Best Coast and Timber Timbre were brill and numerous people said
• The Mountaineering Club were excellent but they clashed with Sarabeth Tucker.  Actually I caught them doing  a little improv number with a London poet on the piano stage on Sunday.  More about that later.

And then there were the artists I wished I'd seen a bit more of - The Walkmen - They were one of my naps but I left their set half way through.   I should have either stayed or not gone at all because going to watch them meant I only got to see a couple of songs by She Keeps Bees.

Inexplicably I left the Joanna Newsom show after about  4 songs. In my defence I was cold, wet, too far back to get a decent view and on my 4th night at the festival I didn't have enough energy left to fight my way to the front. 

Don't be feeling too sorry for me mind because I've already bought tickets for next year (yes plural- Shamila's coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and you wusses that aren't up for the 650 mile round trip to Larmer Tree Gardens are welcome to join me and Robin Hood at the new No Direction Home Festival, 8, 9 and 10 June 2012.

Haven't had time to post last few days as I've been busy getting ready for End Of The Road Festival tomorrow.  All packing done, just need to fill up with petrol, last minute visit to Morrisons pick up my stuff (lots) and off we pop.

I wouldn't normally be so well organised but I want to get down early to see Among Brothers at 6PM in the Tipi Tent.  Even with an early start it is likely to be a close call by the time I've put my tent up/unpacked etc. 

Have given all the bands barring last minute drop outs at least a cursory play and have narrowed it     down 3 must sees.  Long time Goffa From The Block faves, Tinariwen,  Slow down Molasses and The Walkmen.  Lots more to see as well with further liasons with Allo Darlin', Caitlin Rose and the (hopefully) rejuvenated Beth Jeans Houghton.  Amongst others also looking forward to the bonkers looking Cambodian Space Project and the not so bonkers looking Secret Sisters (swoon).

So many bands..... beautiful setting.  Don't want to appear a wuss but all I need is for it to stay dry and my tent not to get burgled!

Cheers

Snatched Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat

Alas the eBay think didn't come off.  He might have been a genuine seller but there was just something fishy about it all.  He was just a bit too evasive for me and made excuses why I couldn't pick the ticket up from him.  It went for £206 anyway, a bit too much even for such a wealthy man as I. 

However,  thanks to seemingly reliable online selling agent Viagogo  and only £30 over the odds, I'll see those who care to join me at Larmer Tree Gardens on 1 September 2011.  Now the anxious wait for the ticket to arrive but it looks like there's going to be a happy ending to this chapter!

My End Of The Road

It's not looking good to  be honest.  Not sure whether I mentioned here but I've faffed up big time this year.  I waited too long to but my ticket and they sold out (at the end of June I think) and for the last month I've been looking on The Ticket Trust site for any returns to no avail and now I'm looking on eBay.  I'm actually winning an auction at the moment that finishes late afternoon tomorrow so if you're doing nothing (Thursday) at 5.30 in the afternoon pour yourself a glass of wine and tune into eBay to most likely see me get outbid at the last minute if not before.

I had plenty of irons in the fire but not many are left in there and  if I don't manage to get hold of  a ticket by Monday at the latest I'm going to have to accept defeat.  It will be a real shame because although I'll be going on my own again I know quite a few people that are going.  There's a crew of 6 going from our very own Westgarth Club, Barnard Castle exile Richard, who I met last there last year, and a friend of Sylvia's called Graham who I met at the Stockton Festival.  

Talking of the Stockton Festival or Weekender it all turned out alright in the end.  The weather was a bit bad on the Saturday but it was ok and plenty of people turned out which to be honest was  great.

Highlights? I enjoyed Django Django, retro pop stars Cast and the wonderful and wacky Jack Daniels swigging siblings Kitty Daisy and Lewis.

Biggest disappointment was Saint Saviour who I was really looking forward to seeing after her performance in the Sound It Out documentary.  To be fair she really got the arse end of the dreary weather and she was just like the weather.  Of the big guns Newton Faulkner just came across as a mixture between bonkers posh chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and bonkers experimental chef Heston Blumenthal., nice touch coming on with a mug of tea though but.  Not so good touch with finishing with solo version of Bohemian Rhapsody.  Just because it's clever doesn't make it good in my book.

 I wasn't impressed by Seasick Steve's decision to keep repeating the same song and left to catch the last bus home after about 25 minutes (seemed longer) of his set.  He did seem like a bloody good bloke though and I'd like to say something nice about Maximo Park but I left their set early as well.

The presictable highlight of the week-end was The Kids Are Solid Gold After Show Party at The Georgian Theatre where we treated to a wonderful late night by current favourites Washington Irving.  If you haven't seen or heard them you must (both) and a cheeky little Leeds (the acceptable face of) rock'n'roll) band, Bear Driver.  You can listen and even obtain a couple of freebies here.

I'll post some photos tomorrow.