You can always rely on Tom to find something funny to brighten up your lunchtime....

Stereo MPs [via Meg];brilliant!

I have been resurrecting my mum's old Palm V tonight. She upgraded her Mac OS and it doesn't support Palm Desktop properly... so I get the toy! Had fun loading everything onto it, including Mo's Avantgo Channel. Cool. The best bit was the free-ware Monkey Tone Composer; Rodney was well chuffed with his Indiana Jones mobile tune ;) I opted for Funky Town and Take On Me. Yeah, sad 80's child that I am... ;)

I got my Blogger t-shirt today.

My friend Daniel has joined the blogging revolution..... :)

Been taking pictures again - here's the latest..

Saw my ickle second cousin earlier. I last saw him in January 2000. He's 20 months. You do the maths.. He's turned into this cherubic blonde-curled little angel. I really must get a picture :) He's over visiting with his mum and dad from New Zealand. Awww!

Look to the skies.....

Watch what you write. Zey are vatching.

Oh, and I forgot to say what I had for lunch. Sounds gross, tastes DELICIOUS. Not for the faint-hearted dieting cholesterol-watchers, though - french fries covered in melted cheese and salsa. Mmmmmmmm. Try it yourself.. Where did I have it? The Turf Tavern (made infamous by its appearance Inspector Morse). It was down one of those really narrow lanes that criss-cross Oxford, not too far from the Bodleian and Radcliffe Camera.

Mmmmmm. Nice sunny day, spent with my ickle sister - walking around Oxford's rather beautiful colleges, feeding the ducks, laughing at the people punting (with varying measures of success!) along the river, sitting in the pub with students just out of finals, pissed and happy in their gowns (covered with flour).

N O W A N D T H E N

Last night I caught some of BBC1's triumph of the night - Top of the Pops 1981 Reunion show. Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' is one of my favourite songs of all time, so it was good to see ickle Marc Almond strutting his stuff (albeit now with a mouth full of metal and rocks!). Midge Ure's retake on Vienna was amusing, but none so good as ABC's 'Look of Love', which I feel was the performance of the night. What a suit !

I was only - erm - ickle in 1981, but I do remember these songs as a background hum to yoof culture at the time. Today kids get it easy (though they get no decent music); the market acknowledges them as a prime force in the music business [coffers], and behaves accordingly (NOT a good thing in my opinion, but there we are!). But back then, things were different. Now the market is saturated with "made to order crap" - then we had "Shaddupa Ya Face" and "The Birdie Song" as entertainment, rubbing shoulders with the greats (Ultravox, Shakin' Stevens(!), The Jackson Five etc). Music was less "aimed" at kids (at least until the advent of Stock, Aitken and Waterman), but seized by disgruntled teenagers looking for something to wind their parents up with. You kinda get that now with Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Mr Marshall Mathers himself, but it's more vicious and more calculating - they know the kids are out there looking for trouble. Back then you were being outrageous (as far as your parents were concerned) if you dressed up with a silly hat and ribbons and a fetching white stripe a la Adam Ant!

What's suffered in this transition is the musician. Okay, so musically Depeche Mode weren't exactly groundbreaking (don't hit me Daniel!) but in their own way they were very good at what they did. Apart from a minority of manufactured acts, people who stood on that TOTP stage each week could sing, or play an instrument. When we were kids, we could play air-guitar along with most of the acts we saw, and acknowledge that they had a certain talent. Now that pop music 'stars' are the 'new royalty', all the kids get to look up to today is 3 (or 4, or 5) youngsters (barely older than themselves) struttin' their stuff, singing (usually slightly off-key - have you noticed?!), and disappear as soon as they've had their allocated number of hits. Meanwhile, the kids are stripped of their pocket money for a few cheap plastic look-a-like dolls and a few singles they'll cringe at when they're older, and no understanding of how good 'real' pop music can be. And the real musicians' CDs sit in "specialist" or "alternative" sections of the CD store. What's so alternative about a bloody good tune?!

I'd much rather have a 12" LP single of Paul Hardcastle's The Wizard (a former TOTP theme tune) than a CD single of Boyzone to embarrass me when I have kids.. "ooooooh mum how could you listen to this?!". But then again I listen to my mum's childhood "pop" music now - Herman's Hermits, The Spinners, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles.... so maybe Boyzone will become 'cool' with age and a 2030's retro slant?!

It seems that Manufactured Music in the pop world has come full circle - and that song-writers are again churning out various hits for people who wouldn't be able to sing you a C sharp to order if their life depended on it - but they're cute and that's what matters in the end.

Ok, rant over...

[incidently, for an eye-opening book about the music industry, especially how the songwriter/performer thing has evolved, try Simon Napier Bell's "Black Vinyl, White Powder" on for size].

Thank goodness for bank holidays.. I get extra sleep hours for the sleep-bank :)

Jaysus, this is good.

'nuff said

I like this site from baresquare a lot [via iamcal].

I've just spent the last hour with my arms in the pond, saving the newt eggs from being thrown out with the blanket weed. As they're about 2mm in diameter, it takes a while....

Got a recent picture of my baby neice, Jasmine.... awww !



What's spooky is that she looks the spitting image of her mum when she was the same age ;)

Check out this photo from my friend Peter's diary, of the tour band. What a cool way to spend April/May 2001. Dudes, the lot of them :)

[photo L-R: Sebastian Steinberg (ex Soul Coughing), Johnny Marr (ex The Smiths), Lisa Germano, Neil Finn (ex Crowded House), Dave Hill (from Arnold), and Shon Sullivan (Goldenboy).]

Sunny hot day, good friends, wine, large prawns, salmon, garden, garlic, sparkling water, frogs, newts, warm cats, radio requests, shorts, humidity, tomato juice, laziness, newspapers, TV, The Smiths, chili oil, barbeque, pasta, herbs, ice cream.

Mmmmmmm. That was my day, and a darn good one it was too.

How was yours?

I have a bad hangover. I went out for "one drink" last night - that turned into somewhere between 6 and 9 G&T's. I can't remember. Neither can my colleagues (we went out on the pretence of my boss's birthday). We had long conversations about life, death, religion, etc etc. Those conversations you choose to forget about Monday morning. Thank god it's a bank holiday.....

Watched Being John Malkovitch tonight. Great film. Yeah, I know I am probably the last person to actually see it (you're talking to someone who hasn't even seen Gladiator yet!), but I really enjoyed it. I am slowly working my way through the video shop's collection of "movies out in the last 6 months I never got to see first time round".

I don't know why I am typing this, as Blogspot is still down. I guess it's a) cathartic, b) addictive and c) delays the inevitable going-to-sleep-routine..

I found out something the last week - it's actually scary how many actual friends of mine read this thing... I always thought it was random people in Outer Mongolia or something. But 2 good friends have said stuff to me this week that could only have come from reading this reasonably regularly.

One of them has guessed what the 'lie' was.

Any more guesses?

This really grossed me out. I know America is hot on freedom of information, but really....

Ben Folds Five rocks! Back in november last year, I downloaded about 1 Gb of BF5 demos and live shows onto my computer. Struggling for something to listen to (I forgot my CDs today), I did a search on my hard drive for MP3s. Your life surely cannot be complete without listening to BF5 cover "Champagne Supernova" (Oasis) with a hick country swing. Marvellous! Or what about "Song for the Dumped" sung in Japanese?

Yeah, I am gutted they broke up. Ben Folds is releasing a new (solo) album this summer, and is appearing at various summer festivals in the UK - will be interesting to hear the new 'sound'.

I was doing a search for a bit of code, and stumbled across this little gem. If you leave the "m*cr*s*ft.c*m" in there and press "search", the results are heartwarming and very, very funny.... ;)

Good start to an average day...

Despite swearing blind I'd have a "quiet one" tonight, I ended up going out. I got my day's muddled up - and double booked myself - doh! So I just dragged one of my friends (Rodney) to see Irish folk-band Lunaca @ the Borderline with Ian. They were superb; never seen people's fingers move so fast over the violin/flute/whistle in my life, tight as anything and superb musicians.

Then a long trip home on the nightbus.

*Yawn*

Have been enjoying Songs from the Front Lawn immensely this evening. Some of Don McGlashan's musical exploits prior to The Muttonbirds, quirky songs ('How ya doin'") rub shoulders with ballads ('Andy') and stunning musical moments. Beautiful.

Via lukelog, try this online life purity test. I am 20% pure (80% internet-corrupt).

No, I don't know what it means either. Except that I spend WAY too much time online... ;)

The future sound of.... >>somewhere near you very soon<<. Usually one to hang around in the foyer during the support act, I surprised myself this last 4 weeks, and saw Neil's support act more than 12 times. I was suitably impressed. For Australia's answer to David Gray (with far more vocal power and no irritating head movements), check out Alex Lloyd. He's also a real sweetie. Bless!


Alex Lloyd, Cambridge, 26th April 2001

I have just been going through a few photos I took whilst travelling. This one (below), grabbed me again - just like it did when I took it in Birmingham on Saturday 12/5 - sitting on the terrace, looking up into the blue sky.

Simple yet effective.

This and other stuff from Pixelflo is very cool.

Via Meg by way of Davo; try and spot the lie below:

1. I have tried and succeeded at firebreathing.
   
   
2. I sang on the Vangelis-penned soundtrack of '1492'
   
   
3. I hate gear-stick cars.
   
   
4. I have jumped out of a plane twice.
   
   
5. I have never been to Spain.
   
   
6. I love peas.
   
   
7. I can't touch my toes when standing up.
   
   
8. One of my distant great-great-great-uncles invented the tank.
   
   
9. An ancestor of mine was deported to America for being insane.
   
   
10. A friend of mine snogged Aled Jones.
    
    

Your random guesses, please...

It's weird how your opinions of people change so subtly and without you even realising it...

Erin Brokovitch is a great film. Just watched it with my best mate David; I haven't seen him in a month whilst I was away. Nothing better than kicking off your shoes, sinking a couple of bottles (ouch!) of Noble Road 1999 Shiraz, and munching on a chinese takeout in the garden. Mmmmmmm. We caught up on gossip, ate icecream and cuddled the cats. No better way to spend an evening...

Life is full of opposites.

The regrettable state of our politicians in this country has only one benefit; plenty of material for cartoonists. My favourite has to be The Daily Telegraph's Matt cartoon - see below.

I had a really odd dream last night. Well, it was more of a composite of 'scenes'.

In the first instance, I was trying to hide Stella McCartney from evil press photographers in a London hotel; they were put off the scent when we ordered large amounts of pizza to the room. Then I was in a large field playing interstellar baseball with someone's son (bouncing the ball off the rings of Saturn before declaring a home run). Hungry, we had a marinaded-goat barbeque, washed down with frozen cocktails; except instead of freezing the cocktails, we put on drysuits and sat in near-freezing water (underneath the water) to drink them. The best part of the dream is that I was taking pictures of the whole incident with one of those cute Sony Pocketbook laptops with the integral camera, though I did get shouted at for living life through a lens..

I must stop eating belgian chocolates before bedtime..

I haven't even tried to work out what it all MEANS - if anyone wants to have a go, feel free and please let me know. Cos I'll be b*ggered if I have a clue !

I had such a great day today.

I didn't get up til 11.30, I got dressed at about 3, wandered around the garden, watched satellite TV (vintage Bush Tucker Man, if you're interested), had my ex-flatmate round for a natter and then a thai dinner at the local , and am about to crawl into bed.

Sounds totally un-eventful and un-constructive and - dare I say it - boring? Maybe.

But after 4 weeks of solid travelling, it was bloody fantastic.

Don't get me wrong - I loved Neil's tour. But I today enjoyed staying in one place for more than an hour, doing normal stuff, being able to move around my own house, without houseguests or hosts to worry about. My body-clock is still f*cked, but I'll deal with that in time.

I guess the post-tour DT's haven't hit yet (and I get them bad), but I'll enjoy the normality while it's still a novelty....

.... though having to go into work for 5 days in a row come Monday is going to kill me...

At last. I am blogging this a while after the event, but Rodney finally did something with lifeasithappens.com. I remember sitting on the stairs at work telling him to buy it else I would... ;)

Listening to Neil Finn singing "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths) with Johnny Marr himself. You can view the broadcast yourself right here. It's worth it... and if you can get broadband, it's phenomenal quality. There's also a new NF song "Sweet Secret" 59 minutes into the show. One of the most awesome atmospheres of any show I have been to, ever. It doesn't quite come over in the picture, but the music is pretty intense.

Didn't I say I was going to go to sleep about 2 hours ago?!

Some people are such f***wits. I encountered a lot of f***wittage today. Damn.

Here's a worthy cause: Walk for Life. 17th June. London. It's for chaaaaaaaaarideeeee (mate) and you know you want to...

Just back from Amsterdam, surely a marathon this past week; it's 6am and I have to be on a Eurostar to London in under 12 hours; via Bruges to pick up some chocolates (bien sur!).

Tour is over on friday - was quite emotional today though, as for many this was the last show. Hugs all round from Johnny and Neil - lovely chaps they are.

Off to bed to snatch a few hours sleep that I can - it's light outside but I don't think it will be a problem closing my eyeszzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

A few words from Belgium typed very slowly due to a non-qwerty keyboard (try AZERTY on for size!). Had a great drive down to Cologne yesterday, first time I have driven a gearstick car for 18 months so that was hairy (fighting the lorries and the lack of speed limit on the autobahn). Got back at 4am; visiting my friend Filip's office on the way back - a reprographics printing factory. Slightly surreal at that time of the morning, but very interesting to see the other end of the process (my office does all the design work).

Pre-gig; we wandered up to the Dom in the centre of Cologne and admired the 13th Century stained glass. It's an impressive structure to say the least! Then we negotiated the trams back to see the soundcheck. Luckily we weren't kicked out again with the rest of the punters, as it was raining cats and dogs outside....

The concert itself was awesome - Johnny Marr was back and back in style. Lisa Germano sang her own song 'Wood Floors" (check her out now, she has the voice of an angel) and 'Goldenboy' Sullivan sang Babydoll again, much to the delight of Jackie and I. Neil suggested the introduction of season tickets for regulars - darn good idea!!!

Before you say "why the hell have you travelled to Europe to see this Neil again?", I asked myself that too. But last night was why. A small, intimate club - squashed up against the stage with an English airforce pilot, a friend or several, a truly cosmopolitan audience 2 feet from the band - such atmosphere and electricity and a bloody great time!

I really should be getting dressed and packing right now, but I haven't quite made it that far.... I also really need to write this; if only to get it out of my system.

I was in Birmingham yesterday, a quick 2 hours down the M6 from Manchester. I haven't been to Brum for at least 8 years, if not more - and remember it by the slow crawl to university; along the motorway, past the RAC building at Junction 8, past the railway yards and electricity substations; the trappings of urban life. There were no colours; just a dull grey dust on everything. So I wasn't expecting much.

When I was a child, I was stuffed with knowledge about classical music; famous composers, conductors, acoustics and suchlike - we'd go and see a concert and it would be an information-fest of musical history ("look at that man with the silly hair, he's Simon Rattle, an amazing conductor" - words I clearly remember!). When the Birmingham Symphony Hall was first designed, we were still living with my step-dad, who explained to my sister and I about how they'd designed the new hall to have perfect acoustics. By the time it was completed in 1991, we'd moved house and didn't live with him any more. So it was spooky to finally visit a public space I'd heard so much and learnt so much about.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is the hall beautiful and sounds sublime, but Birmingham is a stunning city. Getting there about 6 hours before the show, a quick stroll down to the shopping precinct was in order. Past several fountains, statues, grand civic buildings. Much open public space, with people spilling out of bars and restaurants, sitting on the grass, feet in the fountain. Blue, blue sky and hot sunshine.

Taking refuge from the heat in a bar to watch the FA Cup final (GREAT RESULT!) - speaking to perfect strangers like we'd known them for years. Finding out my friend's christian names are "Michael Owen" (I kid you not!). Eating the most TERRIBLE food. Walking by the canal - chain-pubs and bars and restaurants teeming with affluence and girls in tight tops hanging onto boys with shades and football shirts.

The concert was amazing; despite a ticket screwup meant that I was sitting directly in front of the speakers, the sound was perfect and sublime.

It was a lovely, happy, sunny day.

Beneath this sunny exterior stirred evil and sadness.

Walking from the car at lunchtime; across a crowded square littered with sunbathing couples - a policeman and then a paramedic sprinted past the statues and the greenery - to the aid of a young girl - just 16 - and the assistance of members of the general public, who had detained a man who calmly walked up to the young girl, and stabbed her in the chest in broad daylight, in front of at least 50 witnesses. She died later in hospital.

Three hours later, the police tape had gone; people sat on the benches where she had lain, oblvious to the dramas and tragedy of the day. As if it had never happened; children running and shrieking, couples walking hand in hand along the brick paths to see a concert, or have a drink.

Beneath a sunny exterior lies madness.

Momentarily lit in bright sunshine, the metaphorical grey dust of Birmingham settled on the city.

Makes you think.

Whistlestop tour of the UK again, back in my own bed (briefly) tonight, off to Germany, Belgium and Holland tomorrow. It's all go!

Great Manchester gig - Phil Selway and Ed O'Brien of Radiohead turned up on stage, joining Johnny Marr and of course, Neil Finn. From all accounts the party lasted WELL into the wee hours :) Some tired looking people today @ Birmingham...

Tired. Need sleep. Bed. Bye :)

Just back from the Borderline - one of the most amazing gigs I have ever been to in my life. Standing pressed against the low stage, with Johnny Marr a couple of feet in front of me, Neil a couple of feet the other direction, and an empty set list.... 'Red Red Wine' making an appearance, as did 'There is a Light' - phenomenal atmosphere and I am STILL grinning from ear to ear. Oh, and I met James from Manic Street Preachers too - nearly broke my hand shaking it - lovely chap ;0)

Great light show on the way back home, a huge lightning display as we drove through the pouring rain; round Hyde Park, through the park, past Buckingham Palace, down through my old stomping ground (Pimlico), past my primary school, down along the river past Battersea Park, along the Kings Road.... all the sights of London lit up by almost flourescent flashes of sheet and forked lighting, the thunder cracking around us as the rain poured incessantly between the wildly swishing wipers of the car windscreen.

This is very funny!

I am such a linkslut. A disproportionate amount of pleasure today from the fact that Radio 2 linked to a site I built and maintain - without asking! In fact I don't even know how they found it!

I am currently operating under a very lucky star. I entered 3 competitions to see Neil Finn perform. The Independant competition to win tickets to Dublin (I went), a Radio 2 contest to go see a studio recording last saturday (awesome), and today I get to go see Neil again - courtesy of Virgin Radio for a guest-list only show @ the Borderline. Yes, I did buy a lottery ticket today :)

Blogger has been down all morning, so I haven't had a chance to ramble today. Instead I went surfing - for the first time in a while. Choice links include Chocolate Stamps and bigger brains through music.

Again, I am off on my travels as from tomorrow, so it will be a bit quiet here.

I am just SO tired. Not eyes-closing tired, but all-over-want-to-lie-down sort of tired, where you just want to crawl into a hole and hibernate for a month. Sitting here at work, wishing I were elsewhere. A warm beach would be nice...

I think a lot of it is because I had houseguests all week; although I love people, I need my own space and haven't had it for a fortnight now. My heart is racing and I am slightly out of breath - I don't want to be sitting here in a warm room surrounded by people and noise. That beach is sounding even better..... G&T in hand, good book, silence except for crashing waves.

Ironically, I could have had that in 3 weeks. I had a choice; one week in the Turks and Caicos islands, or 4 weeks touring the UK listening to gigs. I chose the latter. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret my decision for a minute. It just seems ironic that all I want to recover from what I chose, is what I passed up...

.. I think I need to check some old lottery tickets again.... ;)

You can tell my room needs tidying - I've redesigned my weblog template.

The accumulated unpacking and re-packing of the last fortnight has taken its toll on my normally-neat room, and it has become a large filing cabinet. Nothing "messy" per se, just piles and piles of STUFF that needs to be sorted. Including the phone bill. I might just ignore that for a few more days; I know how much its for and my chequebook has already run away.

But I do like this (subtle) redesign, and hope that it goes some way to pacify the room-monster that seems to be messing up stuff as soon as I walk out the door.

Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?!

Sore throat. Achy bones. Hot head. Sniffles.

Well, I have to have SOME kind of excuse to still be in my PJ's at 12.34pm.

Thank goodness for Bank Holidays...

The last few days have been a blur; I should really be in bed right now. Still on a high from seeing Neil Finn tonight (again) - Davo was there too but I didn't meet him. Was standing @ the front, directly facing Johnny Marr - what a great man he is. Neil was on the happy juice I'm sure - like Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout, jumping up and down half the time. There was then a surreal "Johnny kisses the band members" session, and an unprintable comment by Neil... which set him grinning like a lunatic for about 10 minutes (hard to do whilst singing).

Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit the Maida Vale BBC studios to see Neil perform on the Richard Allinson show (Radio 2). Only about 25 people in the studio, so it was very intimate and special - "pinch me, I'm dreaming" were some of the comments made! Covers of "Hey Joe" and play/sing-alongs to Fine Young Cannibals and a couple other songs (off-air) made for an entertaining day. Disconcerting when I had a mic thrown in my face and had to say something live on air, but did get a laugh out of it !!

7(+1) gigs to go. :) And definitely not counting. I don't want it to end!

Well, I met the one and only Johnny Marr last night. And what a total honey he is! A really lovely, down-to-earth bloke. Awwww!!

Many apologies for the lack of posts and down-time - have been away and not had net access a while to sort it out. Had a ball, been round the UK, met people, sang, danced... cool.