So... here we are again, New Years Eve.  Not sure where that year went.

I did my music review last week, so what else did I get up in 2012?  Well in truth not much really.  Me and Sham went to Egypt and Jordan (fantastic) and Sunny Beach, Bulgaria (disastrous).  It goes without saying I haven't blogged much.  I've got no excuse, I've thought about posting a few times but then lost the moment.  You know what it's like.

Watched far too much television which made a big contribution to my inertia.  Watched some mainly credible (in my eyes) TV box sets and some real garbage. 

Not sure whether The Big Bang Theory is credible or not to be honest but it's definitely been my guilty pleasure this year.  The science is great and Sheldon and Amy are wonderfully eccentric and funny but there's an unpleasant undertone/nastiness to some of the humour that leaves me feeling a little uncomfortable.  I still watch though so by my usual measure I'll see you in hell.

Watched the whole 8 series of 24 (8 x 24 = 192 episodes) plus a 2 hour special - it was mostly gripping and The Sopranos which mainly took my breath away.  It was just the best.   I've long since given up Coronation Street but I caught bits and pieces of other soaps (I'm blaming Shamila) and lots of other crap, E4 etc.

Shamila and I have continued to walk and we'd done 50 walks by the end of October.  Definitely my exercise of choice. 

And that's mainly it.

So 2013?  Well hopefully better than 2012.  As I said my odd years tend to be better than my even years so fingers crossed.  In today's i they listed the top 10 resolutions according to a seasonal survey (which probably means they did a 5 bar gates poll around the office).  Anyway, it went as follows,

1.  Read more books
2.  Save more money
3.  Lose weight
4.  Re-decorate
5.  Take better photos
6.  I want to go travelling
7.  I want to sell old stuff I don't want on eBay
8.  Buy a tablet
9.  Organise photos - print/delete/save etc.
10.Do something for charity.

not bad.  So why not?  I'll give that lot a go.  Maybe I'll even let you know how I get on.

Happy New Year


 

  

Teesside

  

 

 

So this is Christmas?

Seasons Greetings all.

 It's certainly been a while and I'm not expecting any views for a while but somebody may eventually stumble along.

It's not been a good year to be honest but then again my even years never are.  Here's hoping for 2013.

It hasn't all been bad though .  Lot's of music which has been patchy to say the least but Beirut were immense, as were Explosions In The Sky.  No Direction Home was great without any individual act really standing out and part 2 of Wagner's The Ring was a wonderful spectacle.  I enjoyed a rousing performance by Elliott Brood at The Cluny 2 and BJH at The Westgarth and NDH.  Joshua James came along at the right time to raise my spirits but the best of all was saved till last and North Carolina's Crooked Fingers at the The Kids Are Solid Gold Christmas Party.  They were the stand out band on a memorable Westgarth night and for me the best band I saw all year.  Can't wait to see them again.

My Stockton Riverside Festival was spoilt by illness which lingered on for far too long. The Pogues headlined on Saturday (can't remember much) and I missed James on Sunday.

The local scene was pretty good this year, especially Shrug and Pellethead (free downloads - Pellethead, not Shrug).  Special mention for General Sherman who I think might do ok next year and the monthly Above The Parapet event at our favourite Working Men's Club and finally the pub kept me going.  Weatherspoon's are normally soulless god forsaken abodes but the spirit of The Empire looms large at The Swotters Carr.  It always feels right.

Cheers







 

Killer butterfly

A Sad Day

The red button's ok but I would just like to say farewell to a dear old friend.

302, 340, 102, 160 I loved you all.  Farewell and RIP.

Ceefax is no more.

Guilty Pleasure Spesh

Go on, give it a go!  What harm can it do?

Last Festival of the Summer

A great man (can't remember his name) once said "music was my first love and it will be my last",  very profound I'm sure you will agree.  Shame it was such a shit song (no comments arguing the contrary please).

And for a very long time I would have yeah, that's me but this summer I've rediscovered my real first love, cricket.

I watched, played and coached cricket for a huge chunk of every summer for most of my life until around the time I started writing my original blog at Livejournal.  In fact part of the reason I started blogging was because of the void left in my life when I stopped coaching the juniors at Thornaby Cricket Club.

I packed in for a number of personal reasons but the truth was I just wanted to do some other stuff.  Just have a flick back through the summer months of my blogs to see what I've been up to.  I might even have a look myself if only to confirm how little I've talked about cricket 

I've just lost touch with the sport,  I would have watched it on the goggle box if live cricket hadn't sold (out) to Sky. 

I've had a quiet couple of months and never being one to mope round I've found myself drawn to the real beautiful game.  It started with me playing in Pally Park with my Spanish nephews at the end of July and then taking one of them to formal cricket practise at Middlesbrough Cricket Club.  I've now got drawn into the real life soap opera drama of following Thornaby CC's NYSD Premier League relegation dogfight.  Actually more like a whimper but a couple of them are ex Co-Op lads so it will  be over when it's over.

Of course it's been a lousy summer for cricket but on Tuesday I went to watch day 1 (of 4) of Yorkshire v Gloucestershire at the 126th Scarborough Cricket Festival. Amazingly in a summer in which Yorkshire have apparently lost almost 24 days out of 55 to bad weather they played all day, uninterrupted.  Needless to say it's been rained off Wednesday and Thursday but hey ho.

And the Scarborough Cricket Festival was my last festival of the Summer.  I went to No Direction Home, Stockton Calling, A Place in the Sun and The Stockton Weekender.

This week-end I should have been at my beloved End of the Road Festival but I decided with a heavy heart to sell my ticket on eBay about 6 weeks ago, losing a few shillings along the way.  As usual I was heading down on my own and although the solitude of being on my own for 4 days didn't phase me (it never does) in the end I just couldn't face the monstrous six and a half hour journeys there and back.  Fingers crossed for the weather and I hope everybody (it's sold out) has a great time.  Maybe next year (but probably not). 

Above - Gloucestershire batting vs Yorkshire

Below - The greatest living Yorkshireman. looking dapper and well.

 

Rock Garden Reunion - Penetration - Georgian Theatre 11/8

I bought my ticket in January and it was sold out by February.  No mean feat even if the tickets were only a bargain bucket £8.

From what I've read the general feeling about the  RG Reunion shows admirably promoted by the genial Steve Harland, Dave Griffiths and Gary McGhee is the amount of shared love in the air.  Can only assume that these are the opinions of people who thought there was love in the air at the RG back in the day.

I like to think I'm a pretty non-judgmental fair minded kind of fellar but I've never warmed to drunken tatoo adorned ear-ringed baldies barging past me silently daring me to challenge them for spilling drink over me. Probably all in my mind but I wasn't going to check out my paranoia.  They were probably harmless and in fairness there weren't any fights or bottles thrown at the support band, the rather splendid Year of Birds but let's just say it wasn't The Kids Are Solid Gold.

Ste asked why I didn't take any photos?  The answer lies below, Pauline Murray looking like a goddess.  I see no reason to bastardise the memory for people that weren't there.

Apart from the outstanding beauty of PM, I rather liked Penetration who were a little bit different from the rama lama punk bands.  They did great cover versions of Nostalgia by The Buzzcocks and Patti Smith's, Free Money and had a few decent original tunes, Don't Dictate, Lovers of Outrage and what could have been a contender for my guilty pleasure series, Life's a Gamble.  They died a death after their first album descending into their true heavy metal roots.

Circa 2012?  See above really although much too loud.  I sometimes wonder if these reunion bands hide behind the volume but it's probably just me hiding behind my tinnitus.  I could barely hear the still fine looking (by mortal standards) and sounding Pauline Murray above the crashing guitars and drums.

The crowd lapped them up and although Year of Birds might have been agrieved by the appathy from the audience at least they didn't have glasses of piss thrown at them.  There was no such thing as audience indifference back in the day.

Here's a proper review if you're interested.

Olympic Fallout 2 - From the Sublime to the Ridiculous!

Bloody Hell,  is anybody else depressed?  Not only have the sublime Olympics finished but it has just dawned on me that the ridiculous spectacle of the Premier League is nearly upon us.

And on that bombshell I'm off to bed I've got to go and do some tax tomorrow.

PS - Here's one I offer without excuse to try and lift us from our post olympic blues.  Ninja from the fantastic Go Team! taken at last week's Stockton Festival. 

Olympic Fallout

How great has it been that our political pathetique’s squabbles have been kept off the front pages for a couple of weeks? Obvously Cam and Bozza are claiming credit for the games and probably fair pay to them. Maybe Blurgh, Kings Kenny and Becks deserve a mention as well. I also noticed Harriet Harmen took the opportunity to tell us how great she was for the part she played in making the decision to bid for the games although I was more interested in her admission that Labour got it wrong over gambling regulation. “If we knew then what we know now?”? Fuck, why didn’t she just to East Middlesbrough with one of our local mp's to see the social problems caused by gambling. We all knew! At least they've binned the idea of the super casino's haven't they?

No - Looks like Labour's u-turn is a bit too late for the Boro. In answer to the Northern Echo - no a Super Casino is not good for Middlesbrough. For once I am not looking forward to seeing how this one pans out.

The Olympics

There’s that end of summer holidays around tonight don’t you think?

I think it’s been said already by a number of commentators but what are we all going to do tomorrow?  I’ve loved the last 16 days, following everything from getting up on in the morning until going to bed wherever I’ve been, thanks partly to the power if my  iPhone but mainly to the wall to wall TV coverage.  It’s felt great to be British for the first time in a very long time.

 I fretted along with everybody else  during early days when it looked like it was all going to turn pear shaped (medals wise anyway) and basked in the reflected glory of every one of the 29 golds as they rolled in.  From Mo Farrah and Jessica Ennis to the Taekwondo and that most hardly of sports, the dressage. 

Some of my personal top bits -

Not  fan of boxing but if men can knock ten bells out of each I don't see why women shouldn't be allowed to and I never tired of seeing and listening to Nicola Adams being interviewed.

It was one of those you had to be there moments but my 8 year old Spanish nephew gave me  10 points start when GB played Spain in the basketball. It was the basketball equivalent of England vs The Faroe Islands at football (GB being The Faroe's).  My collaborator brother and 2 nephews watched with horror as GB came to within 1 point of the eventual silver medallist's.  Nevertheless a 9 point victory for GB with my handicap.

Obviously our 29 golds, 17 silver and 19 bronze.  I never tire of looking at the medal table.  We were only beaten by the 2 most powerful nations on the earth.

Ingleby Barwick's Kat Copeland winning gold in the rowing.

The Spice Girls and Beady Eye (who ???)in the finale!  Only joking.

I know a bit off the wall but I really enjoyed the drama of Steve Cram's protege, Morpeth's Laura Weightman path to the 1500m final.  She was never going to win the final but I enjoyed her semi-final performance just as much as I enjoyed Usain Bolt's wins.  To be fair I'd never even heard of him before these Olympics, I stopped watching track and field after Coe and Ovett retired.

The BBC.  Hope our politicians realise how great it is before it becomes was.

Loved London 2012.  Now looking forward to the legacy bit.  Fingers crossed.

Alledged Comedian vs Joke Popstar

Is Cameron the most stupid Prime Minister ever?  Talk about leading with your chin. 
However, for anyone enjoying the Labour Party's jeers be aware that these tax avoidance schemes have been in the news since not long after Labour came to power in 1997 and they didn't try too hard to stop them when they were in power. 

I love a good story though and to be honest I was happy enough when Cam outed fake leftie Jimmy Carr was exposed for being the selfish hypocritical shit he clearly is but the report of the greedy bastard's pathetic apology when he realised his career was going down the pan was just the icing on the cake. 

It got even better when Cam (presumably now having been told by his advisers to shush) refused to condemn Fake Twat's, Gary Barlow for seemingly doing exactly the same thing.  Priceless!

Of course The front page of the Mirror is right it is a bit more serious than a one trick pony comedian and a fat pop star caught with their hands in the sweet jar but at least it's got the issue on all the front pages.

As far as Cam?  First of all cheers for story.  Secondly, methinks he's seriously misjudged the public mood in these "we're all in it together" times.  His attack on Carr was obviously politically motivated given the ex-popular comedian's supposed left leanings.  However, he doesn't/didn't realise that the overwhelming majority of people are repulsed by anybody playing the system to avoid paying their share, whatever their political persuasion in these most miserable times.

PS  Nice read in yesterday's Guardian by fellow blogger, Robert Skidelsky - Return to capitalism 'red in tooth and claw' spells economic madness.

Happy days!  

Boro Lads on Tour - Spence Brothers, The Next Generation

Here's a photo of my sons (1st and 3rd left) and their friends taken in Paris last week. A bit of a step up from their original plan of a week-end at Primrose Valley to watch the England vs France match. 

I am unable to shed any light or explain their attire but please excuse my self-indulgent warm glow.

No Direction Home 1

Can’t believe how fast the last week’s gone.  This time last Sunday I was watching Richard Hawley on the Lake Stage at NDH.  And for those of you who were there how cool was that (I mean the festival not Richard Hawley,who was ok)?  For those of you that missed it?  Well....  gloating is not in my nature so I’ll say no more. 

And amazingly the weather held up.  I’d spent Thursday night in Sheffield where it rained solid from 4PM until 1AM and being a camping wuss my cunning plan was that if it was too wet camp I would sleep in my car and if it got too bad I would just go home.

I needn’t have worried, I got my tent up in between showers which although continued on and off through Friday and Saturday it was never that bad and Sunday was completely dry.

Much had been made about it being a mini End of the Road and apart from it being only a 2 hour drive (for me) as opposed to 6 ½ to Dorset (hurrah) I wouldn’t argue with that.  There were a lot of the same food outlets and many of the non-musical activities were similar.  It was a beautiful setting (again ditto EOTR) at the Northern end of Sherwood Forest and the festival even boasted the legendary cider bus!  But the most obvious similarity (and no complaints from me by the way) was the music.

I was going to make a thing about the performances of the Geordie girls before thankfully realising that I’d done a similar thing when reviewing EOTR 2011.  The Unthanks, The Cornshed Sisters,  Beth Jeans (no excuse for my familiarity) and Lanterns on the Lake all played both festivals.  

Beth Jeans Houghton with a special mention for her backing band the Hooves of Destiny get better every time I see them.  The Hooves bring much more to the party than I'd previously realised with their rousing melodies and searing backing vocals.  I do love bands that all sing. 

One review I read that Beth’s banter with the band and the crowd was annoying to people at the back.  Jeez?  Well move forward.  Top class light entertainment.  My fave songs of a mighty fine set were  "Your Holes" (give it a go), deffo not wasted as a b-side Beth (as you said when you played Boro), Elvis', "Your the Devil in Disguise" and annoyingly hidden track of her album, "Fuck Off".

I'd seen Lanterns on the Lake at The Sage earlier in the year supporting post rockers Explosions in the Sky.  I thought they were fairly uninspiring but they are the better for getting to know. Not a million miles away from Explosions in the Sky only with vocals.   Can't think of any particular stand out songs but I've ordered the album, so maybe one for me to go on about later.

As I say, I saw both the The Unthanks and The Cornshed Sisters at EOTR 2011.  The Unthanks are much loved by the folk fraternity and to be fair (can't believe I've just used that phrase) they have some interesting ideas.  They brought out an album of Robert Wyatt and Antony and the Johnsons songs last and were backed at NDH by The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band (yes, of Terry Wogan fame).  It could have been good but do you know, it just wasn't. I know I'll be pilloried in some quaters for saying it  butit was all a bit samey for me, with songs about bonny lads and men going down the pit (there might have been more to it but to be honest I switched off).  It was not a coincidence that the biggest cheer was saved for "Floral Dance" (see near crowd frenzy below). 

Sunderland's (think rather than Newcastle) 4 part harmony Cornshed Sisters by contrast played a fine set at the more intimate tent covered second stage, The Electric Dustbowl.  I thought they weren't as obvious as The Unthanks with songs such as Dresden which seemed to compare love to the bombing of "Dresden" and a top version of "When Doves Cry".  Lovely stuff.

Do The Hucklebuck

Really must get of this computer.  Was going to post this one on Face Ache but made the right choice just before I pressed send (phew!). 1.44 of joy. 

Needless to say I didn't admit to liking this one at the Rock Garden but didn't the Fall cover this on a Peel Seesion?

Found it! 

That's me done.

Some of you may have noticed my foray into enemy territory last night with my guilty pleasures series.  I know I should link it to my blog and I did, sort of.  I really should be getting ready for the week-end and I will shortly but just to keep the run of posts going here's another one that sounds suspiciously great now.

The best Roxy Music single they never recorded and easily better than anything they did record, not that I would ever let politics taint my view  (sorry, just can't listen to them without an image of Bryan Ferry's smarmy mush forming in my mind). Oh go on then, yes I would.  Fair cop guv!

I know we all love it now but I remember being ridiculed by the cool dudes at Springfield for hailing this one. 

And another thing....

Queenie "I am deeply humbled"

Murdoch "The most humble day of my life"

I'm no expert in English but I don't think a day can be humble can it?  So that's what they must mean about the Queen's English?

Queenie - Cheers I am exceedingly humbled that you care so much. 
That's ok English isn't it? I bloody knew they weren't wrong when they awarded me that CSE English certificate.

Alternatively it's likely just as much bullshit as Murdoch's obvious insincerity.

Politics - Number 1

So what did you make of the jubilee then? 

I've had my fill of Royals at least until the next time I get an extra day off (probably never).  Needless to say the extra day off caused much consternation amongst the Tory press giving them another opportunity to vent their spleen against public sector workers.  The "5 day week-end thing" is probably the biggest give away.  This lot (purposely vague and woolly) won't be satisfied until nobody apart from them (again purposely vague) gets week-ends off.  Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if the next clammer is to have public sector workers pay restricted to 5/7 to account for the fact they don't work week-ends.

I'm already being subjected to a pay freeze for two years, not that I've had a pay rise anywhere near inflation for over 10 years leaving me on a pathetic embarrassingly low salary for the job I am expected to do.  With the expectation of regional pay being brought in I don't think I'll ever get a pay rise again which means the so called "gold-plated" pension I am now being forced to pay extra for will also become risible.

Don't get me wrong I know the funding for public pensions is unsustainable and I've been warning people about the changing ratio of workers to pensioners for 20 years but I don't think it's fair or right that so much of this should fall on my shoulders.

The race to the bottom was started by New Labour before passing the batton on to the Tories to go in for the kill.  As far as I'm concerned they're all in this together.

Cheers Blurgh!!

Still finding my way on the new Blogger design so you'll have to bear with me for a bit although still not sure anybody has realised I've started posting again.

I've started posting all my recent musical purchases.  Until the last couple of months this would have been impossible due to volumes but for now my spending is reasonably under control  so here we go. Mind,  I normally budget up to £100 for festival purchases so the policy might last until after next week ends NDH. 

Still working my way through the Spotify playlist and I'm making a shortlist of must see artists and establishing clashes from hell (e.g. Woodpigeon vs Beth Jeans Houghton).

More later but in the mean time here are a few photos.

 Sunset over the Red Sea

Petra

In the middle of a sandstorm in Luxor

Just like the old days, still more filler than thriller.

No Direction Home

 Yeah... it's been a sparse year musically.  It was probably a bit much to expect the highs of the last few years to continue but Larry and the Flask (as mentioned last night) and The Imagineers at Stockton Calling (I implore you to check the link) aside rock'n'roll (in the broadest sense) has left me cold.

I've been trying to keep up with my old friend Richard's Linear Obsessional recordings (not rock'n'roll in any sense) and I particularly recommend South Gare by Chris Whitehead (well I would wouldn't I) and Music For Barges by The Original Beekeepers and I enjoyed a modern classical show at The Sage (can only purposely mis-quote Billy Joel again - "it's all rock'n'roll to me").

Hopefully Things will improve next weekend at No Direction Home.  I've been tuning into a Spotify playlist (sorry don't know how to link) and have very high hopes.  Aside of the the live music they're also showing Sound it Out with a Q&A with director/producer Jeanie Finlay and although not advertised I have heard fry reliable source that they are showing Charlie Chaplin's, Modern Times  with a live soundtrack from GFTB faves, Woodpigeon and friends.

Here's hoping for a dry weekend!

Replies to Comments

Just replied to some comments.  As ever thanks, and apologies for delay in replying and while I'm here I rather care for this.  They're on at the Flying Boating Stage next Friday at 18.45 if you'd care to join me.

Denmark's finest, Dad Rocks!

Back From The Brink!

Mmmm. a new look for blogger.  Of course that will only mean something to people in the biz.  As ever there's I always feel quite liberated posting after a break because I know there will be next to nobody reading it.  It'll pick up though and if I can string half a dozen posts together there might be well... half a dozen people tuning in.

I've got no excuse though.  I broke up from work for my jubilee celebrations last WWednesday and I don't go back until 12 June.  I'm travelling down to Sheffield on Thursday en route to No Direction Home on Friday so I'll see if I can string a few posts together before then.  I can't help feeling it's another one of those now or never moments.

I did mean to post last week-end.  I was at TKASG at The Westgarth on Friday 25 May for a typically solid if uninspiring show made up The Fossil Collective, The Daydream Club, Lilliput and By Toutatis (links 'cos' I can) and then went to an much better show on Sunday at Liberty's by  punk/folk/country cross-over  Larry and His Flask from Oregon USA.  It was the sort of thing that wouldn't be out of place at TKASG actually but sadly as ever me and Gary W aside not a card carrying member of TKASG core audience was anywhere to be seen and vice versa actually.  Saw quite a few people I've seen at the Joint Effort shows but you never see them at The Westgarth.  The promoters must despair.  No doubt people will meekly cry "school night blah blah blah..." but quite frankly the Boro gets the culture (lack of much) it deserves.

The reason I meant to post last week was because I thought it would be a good idea to re-launch my blog with a couple of Eurovision guilty pleasures.  Did anybody see the show by the way?

I know I'm leaving myself open to ridicule here but as far as I'm concerned it still is the Champions League of Music and forget all the stuff about politics the best song usually wins and the worst comes last.  Poor old Engelbert never had a prayer with such a pathetic song.  Not my thing but I could see why Sweden won.  I liked Serbia (came third) and if anybody had a right to complain about the voting it was Romania who didn't finish much higher than the UK.

I know Eurovision is not everybody's cup of tea but it was more relevant to me than Chelsea v Bayern Munich any day of the week.  Only joking!  Or am I?

Alas it's too late to post my couplet of guilty pleasures on FaceSitter where everything has to be cutting edge but at GFTB we're not so stuffy so here they are.

Cheers

 

GP Number 3

In 1974 people were either watching Sassafras on the Whistle Test (they're all crawling out the woodwork now) or like me you were into this.  I still think it's bloody marvellous.

Guilty Pleasure Number 2

I've been in denial about this one for 35 years. 

Guilty Pleasures

So what's the word?

Went on a great walk today.  For the third week running we went up the hills of the North York Moors.  Not sure there's anything much better, circa March 2012, once you get to the top anyway. Boro got beat
3-0.  Hey ho, as long as Chris makes it home safely and Shamila and I played the lottery (desperate measure for desperate times)..

But on the upside I'm off work next week.  I told them I might go in the back end of the week  (yeah righto as if....).  All in all feeling I'm feeling pretty irie.

Although  Face**** continues to irritate me .  If only it wasn't so interesting and informative.  Of course I jest and Rikki Doolan's announcement that he's packing in The Sessions (last one next Thursday) and Bandstand will reduce it's relevance to me further.  Hardly a guilty pleasure but I tune in everyday nonetheless.

It did get me thinking about guilty pleasures as a concept though.  Over the last few weeks friends and associates have revealed on FB their love for songs by the likes E.L.O., 10CC, Marillion, Yes, Led Zeppelin to name but a few.  I'm assuming they are revealing their guilty pleasures.  Even so, you'd have thought punk never happened.  I'm just waiting for somebody tell me that Status Quo were actually not too bad really.

So.............. if they are their guilty pleasures what are mine?

If it's ok to admit liking the above I certainly feel no shame in admitting my fondness of The Big Bang Theory on E4 or for my following the 35 year old re-runs of Top of the Pops on BBC4 (where watch the likes of E.L.O, Marillion, Yes, Led Zep and the Quo).

So until I get sick I present my guilty pleasures and to kick it all off I did have something else in mind but I did always had a soft spot of his one.

An Epiphany

Hello All,

Some of you might have noticed I haven't posted much recently.   I've lapsed a number of times over the years (usually down to bone idleness or personal crisees) but this time I actually made the conscious decision but for posting the occasional photograph to go into semi-retirement.  So don't call me a lazy bastard this time ok?

I'd never heard the word epiphany (don't feel ashamed if you had to look it up, I wasn't quite sure either) used in every day speak until about 6 weeks ago when our Russ used it but I suppose I've had one today.  It hasn't been particularly fun-packed.  In fact, after a great walk this morning (9 1/2 miles - Billingham Park Circular 9 1/2 miles) and Boro getting beat 2-0 by Leeds I've done bugger all.  Apart from.......................

1.  Started getting a bit down.  I've' got a tough couple of weeks ahead of me.  It will be the 4th anniversary of my father's death on Tuesday and then  it will be the 2nd anniversary of my mother's in a couple of weeks time. I know life goes on but it's also ok to be sad.

2. Logged onto F***book and I was faced with a video of The Lurkers -  I Don't Want to Tell Her or something like that,  posted by one of the groups I am was a member of.  One fucking (no apologies for expletive) depressing shit link too many.   Note to self - must weed  non-real Facef*** friends out. 

3.  Received a really nice phone call from my cousin to inform me his daughter had given birth to a baby daughter.  I'm sure it was one call of many but it was still nice to hear such great news personally.  Congratulations to new grandad Stephen.

4.  Decided to sell my minidisc player which I bought a few years ago off eBay when I was a live show trader (bootlegger in old money) which I use to do in my pre-blog life. Anyway this led to me to testing it out. 

Fortunately there was a disc in the player and guess what it was?  Only a recording of the broadcast I did for Resonance FM  for AV08 almost 4 years ago to the day  so I thought I'd give it a spin..  Believe it or not it's the first time I've listened to it in it's entirity and I know it's vulgar to boast but for those who heard it at the time how good was it?  Definitely a very personal perspective though eh? - ha ha well it was my show.

Anyway, I thought I'd try and find a copy of the show on the Internet so that I could indulge my new readers (about 4).  Alas......

However,  I found a few interesting (to me) links.  It turns out  the last day of AV08 was 8 March and they played my show at 8pm.  Good to see I went out at prime-time again (up against the National Lottery).  I seem to remember the first time they played it was a Monday night up (up against Coronation Street).  No wonder nobody listened!

Of course I jest.  Anyway my search also led to finding out my show won an award (indirectly anyway) -  I never knew that.  They probably didn't tell me because they knew I would have expected to go and pick up the award myself.

Needless to say, if there is a link to the show out there I will be very grateful if somebody can direct me.

So.... I guess I'm back.

PS

5  Ironed a shirt and trousers jeans for work tomorrow.  Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

The Wonderful and Weirdly Normal Beth Jeans Houghton - The Westgarth 19 February 2012

The Leisure Society - The Cluny, Newcastle - 17 February 2012

Some of what I've been up to so far this year

My lack of posting recently has been mainly down to technical problems with Blogger rather than my usual laziness.  I'm aware people have made comments to some of (not so) recent posts - alas I can't read them, I will keep trying though and (for what it's worth) respond.

So what have I been up to?

Not a lot really.  Been to the Sessions a few times.  Saw a new young and surprisingly refreshing punk band, Mikey's Smile.  The muso's have had the local rock music scene their own way for far too long.  Hopefully see much more of them as the year go on.

Went to see post rockers Explosions In The Sky at the Sage supported by  Newcastle's Lanterns on the Lake.  It was double bubble for me.  I've been waiting to see Explosions In The Sky again since I saw them at my first EOTR in 2009 and I've missed Lanterns of the Lake a couple of times now.
Explosions in the Sky have some elements that normally turn me off.  No vocalist, the songs merge into each other, up to 3 guitarists (excluding bass) at any one time but they also bring things to the party.  They're from Texas, USA and there's a lot of "indie" in their approach.  I like the way they don't swap their guitars at the end of every song (sometimes even mid-song) like a lot of other bands that have made "it" (Wilco and Mogwai instantly spring to mind).  They smash their guitars against the stage (for real) and one of them had to keep re-fastening his strap on with gaffa tape.  It was a show of wonderful intensity and breathtaking harmonic melodies.

Lanterns on the Lake were good as well.   Not a million miles from Explosions at times and definitely worth another look.  Unless there's an unlucky clash if I don't see them before I should see them again at No Direction Home.

Also saw (ex?) Futureheads, Hyde and Beast at The Westgarth.  3 guitarists (excluding bass) and exactly why I don't normally like a band with that line-up, it's just too fussy for me.  Ste pointed out that one of their songs was just like Hot Love.  I thought so as well apart from there's only one guitar on the T.Rex beaut. 

It wasn't for me, it was too much like pre-punk Old Grey Whistle Test.  Then again everybody else I was with really liked them.  What would I know?

Cheers

End Of An Era

There’s another week-end over. Well almost anyway, another couple of hours to go before I pop off to bed.

It started on Friday with yet another funeral, my Uncle Jack’s.   It is as my cousin Stephen said, “the end of an era”,  the last of the generation in both his and my family.  

Jack had a fair day for it though, the roads were clear but all the surrounding fields and villages were covered in snow from the top of Birk Brow all the way to Bridlington.  Blue skies all the way.  I’d made embryonic arrangements to go over with my cousin Brenda but she made her own arrangements.  No offence to Brenda but the journey was the better for my being alone.

Haven’t got many personal memories of Jack to be honest - he moved away from Teesside to do his national service in the Army and then joining the Royal Air Force before finally settling in Bridlington.  Although he used to come back to Middlesbrough fairly often we never saw him.

I’ve done my family duty anyway; my brothers and I were always brought up to do the right thing.  Our (always) dignified parents would have gone had they still been here so I was representing them.  I think I’ll just leave it at that.

Only a short week at work next week, Monday to Wednesday so that’s not so bad and 2 top bands at the end of the week.  The Leisure Society at the Cluny on Friday and then Beth Jeans Houghton at The Westgarth on Sunday.  They were 2 of my highlights at EOTR 2011 and I’m expecting great things.

Up the Boro and don’t drink and drive!   

First Walk Of The Year

A 6 mile walk up the promenade at Seaton Carew.

Glorious!

Happy New Year

Hope you enjoyed "Not For The First Time" in my last post and not for the first time I've promised and not delivered.

Was planning on doing a grand review of 2011 in the last week but .......hey ho it's now 2012.

So....... very quickly -

2011

Best Single
Abbey Gallup - Washington Irving

Best Album
Staring At The X - Forest Fire

Joint - Best Live Act
Tinariwen - EOTR
Dark Dark Dark - The Westgarth
Curtis Eller - The Sun Inn
Low Anthem - Gateshead Old Town Hall

Best Song
Feathers - Slow Down Molasses

Best Slow Burn
Withered Hand

The Ones That Got Away (oldies I never realised were so great)
Changing Of The Guard - Bob Dylan
Do You Like Rock Music (album) - British Sea Power
Clap Your Hand Say Yeah (album) - Clap Your Hand Say Yeah
Go Where You Wanna Go - Mamas And Papas
Mama's Eyes and Can't Hardly Wait - Justin Townes Earle

Notable comebacks
Wire, The Fall, Drop and Teesside Record Shops (at the beginning of 2011 there was 1 - now there are 3).

Best comeback
Thankfully shorter albums. e.g. Staring At The X - 34 minutes, Keep Away From The Dead (Siskiyou)- 33 minutes and Walk Into The Sea (Slow Down Molasses) - 36 minutes, Days Into Years (Elliott Brood) - 39 minutes.

Best Feelgood Moments
The first time I saw the Sound It Out DVD
Every time I saw Washington Irving
Slow Down Molasses - Live Tipi Tent EOTR

Biggest regret
Going to see Steve Earle at Sage instead of Other Lives at The Westgarth.

Coolest Artist of The Year
Justin Townes Earle

Welcome to 2012!