Half a percent

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Steve Jones speak in New College. ( Read more... )

Slightly more recently I was back at the Cab again. ( Read more... )

Dan Dennett was speaking on Wednesday last week, and the hall was actually fuller than for Steve Jones. ( Read more... )

On Saturday I was back at the Cab for the last of the three-concerts-for-twenty-quid. ( Read more... ) The headliner was Isa & the Filthy Tongues. ( Read more... )

The other night I had a dream that the local badgers had been disporting themselves in my bed. Apparently this was because I'd forgotten to put a sheet on it. Badgers must care deeply about this.

The front of the Guardian today has a bit of a picture of Amy Winehouse at the top. It looks alarmingly like a picture of Damon Albarn in drag, I don't ever remember thinking this of Winehouse before, so either it's just the picture or I'm going mad (I'll use the eggcup, I think).

Apparently over 60% of the British coastline is on Scotland. I knew it was a lot, but I'd no idea it was that much.

Rockbox rocks . . . moderately. There are one or two points I'm not entirely happy with, but it's far less finicky about the mp3s it'll play, and I'll be able to sling all my oggs onto it at the weekend, so overall I'm very happy with it.

Mugenkyo are on tour again. They're in Edinburgh on Saturday, when I will of course be seeing the Only Ones in Glasgow, so I'm toying with the idea of seeing them on Friday in Glasgow instead.

The most notable bit of the weekend was seeing Donnla and Miles at their housewarming. Their flat is almost obnoxiously nice. I envy them greatly. The evidence of a previously-resident hifi buff was very impressive.

Thank you to grendelis for linking to this sketch, which will appeal not at all to the musos and rock fans amongst you.

On a more serious note, this is a song most of you will know, being performed a month or so back by the original artists, for the first time in 26 years. And there's an article about them here. Some very nice quoting in there - At one stage, a friend, horrified to discover the state the singer was in, urged him to get his act together. This wouldn't be surprising were it not for the fact that the friend was the late New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders [ . . . ] "Junkies nowadays are really disgusting," he huffs, genuinely outraged. "In my day, being a drug dealer was a respectable fuckin' profession."

The water board have, happily, dealt with the drainage problem. I am especially pleased about that. I've had an inflamed patch of gum, too, but it's clearing up also. Overall, today is shaping up better than yesterday.

1. I saw a deer on the verge of the M8 on Friday, only a few hundred yards from the Edinburgh bypass. And there was one in Glasgow yesterday, west of the Easterhouse exit. I'm told they hang around Colinton, but I've never seen wild deer so close to the city before.

2. No Crimea today. Apparently they couldn't get permission, but still hope to at some point. No Tyninghame picnic yesterday, either - my own bed is too precious to me at the moment.

3. So what do you get when you take archive footage of 80s teleevangelist Robert Tilton (he of the odd tics and already the star, let us not forget, of CopShootCop's excellent "Robert Tilton Handjob") and dub in extraneous noises at inopportune moments? Well, you get the Farting Preacher, of course - now available in five juicy courses.

4. While we're on the subject of streamed video, apparently not all of my friends have seen the film of Hurrah Torpedo's astounding epic performance of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". I can only suggest that if this includes you, then you should go and correct this forthwith.

5. The BBC had an interesting time making a documentary about everyone's favourite nut cult. It's on on Monday, and may very well be worth watching.

Happy birthday Iggy (a week late, but what the hell.). Interestingly, Thee Ackurssed Witchipedia claims that Pop is one of the few famous musicians to have published in an established journal of Classical scholarship, a claim I leave others to evaluate.

I caught a train down to London on Monday for a spot of work on Tuesday, and obviously picked up a ticket to see Neubauten in the evening. kixie said I should go to a place nearby (Tupelo something) to meet her, zoo_music_girl, childeric, denalyia and an Aleks. When I got there - only very slightly late after dropping the camera back at Kate's - there was someone else there who seemed familiar. I thought this was just because she looked a bit like Marianne until she turned to face me and I realised it was Hellen¹. Krys now seems to think I know everyone, which isn't true. There were upwards of several people at the gig that I've never met. Anyway, it was good to catch up with (and in one case meet) people, and the food was good too.

I've not been to Koko/Camden Palace before, although I've been past it on the street plenty. I nearly went to see In The Nursery support VNV there several years ago, but assumed that because it looks like a little place from the outside it would also be small inside and it would be sold out. Big mistake. Big place - another old theatre with more balconies than you can shake a stick at. The support - The Devastations - were already playing, I think, when we arrived, and they were fairly good, but more in an intriguing way than as something to hold me immediately. I'm going to get something by them, I think.

I had a wander while they were playing and found scy11a and drpyrojames on the first balcony, so I stopped and had a chat with them. After that I went further up, not finding anyone else, and then went all the way to the bottom again and got collared by Steve Galbraith, who seemed very cheery. I missed him and Suzie that last couple of times they were in Edinburgh, so it was especially good to see him, at least - S and sprog were at home, although apparently also fine. He claimed as much, anyway.

I went as far forward as I could - which wasn't actually all that far - for Neubauten, and the first thing I noticed when they came on was that the sound was fairly ropy. Blixa's comments were often indecipherable and the opener - Good Morning Everybody - lacked punch. It picked up a bit during the next one (Selbstportrait mit Kater, I think) but stayed woolly right through to the end. I'm told this is a general feature of Koko gigs. A shame. Aside from this they seemed on good form, although the slower songs suffered from the lack of detail. As there was a run of these in the middle of the set, certain individuals got a bit bored, or even walked out. I enjoyed myself, but it wasn't the best I've seen them. I'm told the recording of the set's very sharp, though. I went back up by James and Sarah for the last encore, and on the way out bumped into kekhmet - it was a good evening for unexpected meetings.

CJ fancied going for a swift half, so we went off to the Dev, and when that turned out to be closed we went round the corner to a place I think is called the Elephant Head for a quick drink before the last train - a nice place with some songs playing I hadn't heard in a while. I ended up running down the Camden Town escalator to avoid missing the last train, but there were actually at least another two after the one I caught.

On Wednesday I caught the ten train back to Edinburgh. In another unexpected reunion, I bumped into Miffy outside the National Library. Not too long after I got back decomposingsoul and mirumuk turned up, and after tea, coffee and hot chocolate (and two of those in the same mug in Milk's case - odd boy) I called nik_strychnine but was told he had just left. It was alright, though, because he was coming round to mine to investigate the lift I'd offered him.

So we actually left in good time, and the trip over was fairly uneventful. I got to point out a few Glasgow landmarks to people (Charlotte, mainly, I think) who'd not done Glasgow before, and the Tramway itself was easy to find, in spite of the odd discrepancies between the map on the venue's website and the one on multimap. We parked on a side road just the other side of the railway station and joined the queue.

Now, I've mentioned that I'd met Hellen unexpectedly the day before. While I was in Cambridge I knew two Helens - or, rather, a Helen and Hellen. One of the reasons it was odd to see Hellen at the London concert was that Helen (fellcat) had arranged to come up from Durham to the Glasgow one. Actually, I walked right past her in the queue because she was sitting down reading, but I did spot her from the end when she stood up. I think she was the only long-lost friend that night, although the gig scored in other ways.

I'd not been to the Tramway before. It's a converted Tram depot in Pollockshields, south of the city centre, that's been used as a venue for . . . a fair while. I didn't know (or didn't remember) that it's the site of the Hidden Garden, a project by NVA, the art organisation founded by Angus Farquhar, also of Beltane and Test Department fame, so it's already an appropriate venue even before we remember that it was the site of the Glasgow performances of Test Dept and Brith Gof's production of Y Gododdin.

Physically it's a Victorian brick shed, now divided internally. It looks battered from the outside, but is well-kept within. We went past the merch stall. which featured a bearded Japanese man who was addressed as Mr Suzuki. This was of course the great Damo Suzuki (who of course Mark E Smith is not, despite his claims otherwise), who was providing the first performance. It took a while for this to happen, during which various people turned up - Sandy, Lara, Seth, Roy, Kirstin, and the like. When the Damo Suzuki Network took the stage, the first thing I noticed was that they also had numbers on their side - Suzuki himself plus a drummer, bassist, two guitarists, a keyboard player and two saxophonists. They started playing . . . and kept playing. I'm not entirely sure whether they played one song that lasted forty-five minutes, several segued songs that added up to forty-five minutes, or whether they don't do songs in that sense at all. To be perfectly honest I couldn't make head nor tail of it. I went down the front to listen specifically to the horn players, but I couldn't understand what they were doing either - both seemed to be devotees of the squeep-gronk school of saxophony, and it didn't fit into the rest in any way I could follow. I assume this is all just Quite Advanced and was going right over my head. Ah well. They did play with energy, though. I think if it was the sort of thing I understood and liked then I'd have had a great time - I'm just not sure whether the audience members who understood it were outnumbered by the band.

After a bit they left, and the DJ was back. This was Twitch from Optimo, and was a reminder that I must pop along at some point. We got Half Life, Mutiny in Heaven, Incubus Succubus and various others in that vein.

Again, the first thing I noticed when Neubauten came on and Blixa opened his mouth was the sound - it was beautifully clear. This made a big difference, especially to the quieter songs. When Andrew was dropping polystyrene packing chips during Grundstuck, the little plinks they make on impact were very distinct. I enjoyed the Glasgow set a lot more.

According to Blixa they'd never played Scotland before. They went down very well, though. Sadly the first half of the concert didn't record properly, so no live album for me. Blixa had to explain this to the audience, and ended up telling people they shouldn't blame him, as he was only making sure that they knew. They got a huge round of applause when they left, though, so I don't think anyone was holding it against them. The people I spoke to going out were all very enthusiastic. So was I. They were great. Sandy was claiming that if he'd known they were going to be that good he'd have been buying tickets to give away - as it was, none of the drummers turned up, which was a poor showing.


[1] agent5 and gurlesque - Hellen of "change at Baker Street" fame, for those I've mentioned her to.

> How was your Easter, then?

Okay. Busy. Bluearsed fly territory for much of it. ( Read more... )

Clear your calendars. You're all coming.

Other dates:

April 22nd, Hannover (Capitol)
April 24th, London (Koko)
April 25th, Glasgow (Triptych Festival)
April 26th, Notthingham (Rock City)
April 28th, Minehead (All Tomorrrow's Parties)

These are off the mailing list - the Triptych website doesn't mention any names yet for this year's bash. It's also mentioned on their website - I'm not just making it up.

Mmm. I've just seen Charlie returning Ken's favour. Laugh? Yes, I did. Quite loudly.

What else? I've been putting posters up and giving leaflets out. Outside Neon I gave one to a young man who asked where it was and then said that he didn't want anything to do with the gay scene. He then clarified that he was, but that the scene is not for him. And then repeated it while I tried to ask in which way that was supposed to be relevant to an indie club . . . I think he might have been drinking. I know that it's a scandalous suggestion that someone you meet outside a nightclub at three in the morning might have had a couple of pints, but I really think it might have been the case.

I hit Goulag Beat and Fast last week, both of which were fun in their respective ways. The main band at Fast - the Gussets - were interesting in an early-eighties kind of way. Gav had been interested in seeing them, but admitted afterwards that he'd been expecting something more polished. I'm sure that somewhere on a post-punk compilation I have something by the band they remind me of, but I can't remember who or on which. Not the Slits - more disjointed than that, but not as far out there as the Pop Group. Regardless of which, they were early-eighties post-punk in an interesting rather than formulaic way. One of them had been at Goulag Beat the night before, and another I used to see around the Ashworth Labs twelve or thirteen years ago, and periodically since at punk concerts. I think Suzie Wiles introduced me to her once, but I remember no more than that. Mr Airbust was there with his sister Laura, which I found disturbing in the usual way I do when I'm forced to admit that a friend I'd always assumed to have been hatched in a jam jar actually has a family in the usual way after all.

Their support were the Pish Dolls. I recommend them.

I came across this page on the benefits of Basingstoke. One or two of you may notice a reference to certain friends of mine, who have been Made Aware. Oddly I had just bumped into Neal - I don't see him around very often. Must remember to get Dave's 4-track off him sometime.

Earlier today I had a chat with Kate. A visit will probably result, which will be good as I haven't been south since the Spring. My folks were over yesterday and today, too, which was good.

The IMF say that flat taxes haven't worked, according to The Absurder. No surprises there, then.

Wednesday night was the pub. The Hoose, in fact, again, where there was Addlestone's and odd conversation. Thursday afternoon was spent loitering in the Malt Shovel with Donnla, which was very fine. It's been too long. The evening I spent Chez Saunderses, but not pub afterwards as I didn't really know where people were going.

Friday evening was in the Monkey for funkyplaid's departure, with Lara, Seth, Sandy, Martin, BlAlex, Marianne, RLex and two or three others. The place was full of teenage fops, one of whon stood on my hair, but it was still a fine evening. Yesterday I missed the book launch and had a quiet night in, again due to not having a clue where people had decided to go. I think I will just kick off queries about this week . . . OK, that's done. Of course, if I'd been organised about the book launch I'd have found out where they'd be.

Today I had tea and biscuits with my folks and then chucked some crap from the garden before Mark and Lauren came round, and there were silly discussions about names of clubs (Tormenting Boris raised a few cheap laughs), a touch of Patti Smith, and then it was Saunderses again. While bundling up cuttings I had a chat with my neighbour Gordon about how long a summer it had been, and how it shouldn't be necessary to be cutting stuff back in October. It's been the longest and warmest British summer on record, apparently, and that means since sixteensomething. There was this article in the paper today, claiming that an economic report will conclude that the damage from global warming is well worth making the effort to prevent, even partially. This made me wonder what happened to Bjørn Lomborg. I haven't heard much about him for a while - or, indeed, much about or from anyone on that side of (what for want of a better word I'll call) the debate.

Today's contribution to the regular "Goths-in-the-Guardian" feature concerns their actual music coverage, for a change - the monthly music supplement has Bauhaus (with Pete apparently dangling from the ceiling) heading their top ten horror acts, with the Cramps and Alien Sex Field also featuring highly. Meanwhile, guest editor Jarvis talks to six friends, including, intriguingly, M2OH as well as Sir Nicholas of Caveshire - . . . to be appropriated by the advertising industry . . . I think that's fucked. I wouldn't allow my music to be used that way. There's a song called Red Right Hand, and a sanitary napkin company back in New Zealand wanted to use it, which was tempting . . . but that was the closest I've ever come.

Slightly later - Nick Cave [quietly, to Beth Orton] - Who are "Busted?"

There's also a small piece about Depeche mode's fandom behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain, an interview with Lee Hazlewood, and Bill Drummond on why he won't - and why we shouldn't - listen to music on the 21st of November.