Week, part 1.

[zotz]

On Monday I went shopping for little essentials like Joolz novels and toothpaste, and then spent a couple of hours making torchballs in the Beltane office. There was much off-colour commentary, mostly coming from somewhere suspiciously near (and perhaps indisinguishable from) scunthorpe. After that (already having eaten) I headed over to the Liquid Room to see the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

The audience was respectable, but there not being as many as for the last couple of bands I've seen there meant that there was at least room to breathe. This was very welcome. There was a support band who seemed suitably together but didn't set me alight, and after a short changeover the Blues Explosion themselves came on. Two guitars and a drumkit, and my god they made a racket. They were very tight and very bluesy, and really an awful lot fiercer than any other blues-rock band I've seen. Working at Cropredy means I see an awful lot of these - often one of them being The Hamsters - and it was never anything like this. Both guitarists had a lean and hungry look, while the drummer, I'd guess, had had an unexpectedly large lunch and fancied a workout. Which he got. I noticed that the Rule of Telecasters applied here also, although The Skinny One himself had two guitars of the same mysterious model with no identifying marks. One of them was missing so much laquer that even World Dom Ents might have turned their noses up at it.

The first song took off like its bollocks were on fire. Most of the subsequent ones did the same. Oddly, this didn't get boring, which after the first hour is quite a trick. They weren't all anywhere near at the same level of speed, of course, which helped. And the comedy howls of "BALOOOZEXPLOZHUN!" during any quiet moment lightened the atmosphere too. They played for about an hour, popped off for a few minutes and then came back for about another half-hour. Complete with theremin. There wasn't much chat, but there was a great deal of music, so I was happy. I'd heard a lot about these people but never seen them live before, so it was good to see what the fuss was about. Much fun, and highly recommended.

Last night I went to another Beltane meeting, at which it became apparent that the organisation is mostly going pretty well, and with only ten days to go nobody was panicking. I suppose there's still time for things to go wrong, though. Buy your tickets here, because nobody turning up would be one of those things.

After that I dropped in on original_aj and sat in the kitchen talking until probably far too late (thanks). Ideally this sort of thing would happen a lot more often.

Today I picket up a couple of Antipodeans ffrom the airport during my lunch hour, on fabalafae's behalf. Dead By Dawn's this weekend, so she was meeting people out there and arranging them transport in. Nice folk.

The widefield 'scope's being annoying. |We're not having much joy with fluorescence and I'm not sure if it's the setup or the specimens. There may be something up with the mercury arc lamp too.

Comments

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good gig. If their London gig hadn't been tonight I might have been tempted.

[zotz]

It was very fine, yes. They'll be back, though. Didn't Mr S used to crow about being on the road 200 days a year? He's probably calmed down a bit since then, but I imagine they're still out and about a fair amount.

[rdi.livejournal.com]

The Rule of Telecasters? I am aware that Telecasters rule - is there something else I should be aware of?

[zotz]

"There are lots of telecasters around, particularly in the hands of bands I like."

At the Ravonettes + 2 gig the other week, pretty much everyone was using a Tele apart from the ones with Jags.

[shaunotd.livejournal.com]

My weapon of choice also...although I doubt you'd like much that I play on it (hell, I know I don't...awful row...)

[zotz]

Hard to say. Some terrible rackets are fairly enjoyable.

[shaunotd.livejournal.com]

Not this though...only its mother could love it.

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

I googled for this rule, in case it was more widely known than just here, and it it got zero hits.

Still, you must be right, because there are almost no know pictures of Joe Strummer playing anything other than his original black Tele ( with the "Ignore Alien Order" sticker).

[zotz]

That might be because I made it up on the way home from a gig to explain a series of personal observations. Thanks for the extra datum, though - certainly bolsters it a lot.

Cropredy

[grendelis.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Cropredy. I wonder, were you standing with us (Chris Reevie et al) near the bar at the end of Thursday or Saturday evening last year while I drooled over Fred T Baker (now *there's* a bass player), and generally felt like a shy teenager?

Re: Cropredy

[zotz]

Errr . . . I don't remember, but it sounds extremely plausible. If Chris was able to drink at that moment then I was too and would most likely have been propping the bar up.

Re: Cropredy

[grendelis.livejournal.com]

Just got a TXT from Chris to say we have met. So it probably was at that gaggle last year. Why am I still amused by the smallness of this world? Made me smile/happy anyway.