overlap

Be careful what you wish for... I've had an eye on the weather of late, hoping today wouldn't be such a fine weather day that anything more than a floaty summer skirt and strappy sandals is overkill, and with the week we've had so far I wasn't expecting to be disappointed. Getting a certain distance away from home remains important, and the late hours of daylight don't help with that, but not leaving work early as originally intended put a further delay into things. All the same, the new asos top, the skinny jeans from Next and the boots I've had for years combined with the proceeds of last week's trip to MAC to make a look I was perfectly happy with, and which seemed appropriate to the occasion. Now, this gig was one where I missed out last time they were over this way, a bit closer to home in fact, due to buying other tickets for things that subsequently got cancelled, by which time they'd sold out and it was too late to do anything about it. The refund on one of those other tickets paid for tonight's ticket, and sure enough there have been a couple of other things this last week I might have preferred to see instead, so it's truthful to say this wasn't something I'd been impatiently looking forward to for ages and perhaps more an obligation to be met. So, late leaving, roadworks on the motorway, and then it got really good fun. I hadn't intended things to get this far, but the kind of torrential rain that's produced reports of floods on national news further slowed me down. I've mentioned before that sometimes driving is a bit more stressful, and it's simply not the case that I have any trouble driving in heels, but I'm sure aquaplaning to the left and then to the right had me sweating enough to start shifting my make up! By the time I got to the ring road of the small town I was heading for, I was already expecting to have missed the support band and the start of the headline act's set. What I wasn't counting on was the unfathomable one way system and the helpfully shifted no entry signs. Knowing I was already well behind schedule, I took a spin round the blokc a couple of times, thought 'sod it' and headed for home. Of course, having a bit more time to play with I tried a more creative piece of navigation, using an alternative route I have not used in ages. Which was my next mistake. There's an extra dose of paranoia that comes with spotting the mix of fluorescent yellow and dark blue squares on the side of a car stopped in a layby, and when one of those pulls out to follow me up the road you can add a zero on the end! Obviously they have a job to do, and on a quiet road like that late at night it will be no surprise that they pay attention even to my sedate driving style, just for something to do. In any case, no major drama as I didn't get pulled over, no major disaster for missing the gig, and a lesson or two learned. and half a bottle of wine improving my typing no end, so if you spot any typos you know they came from the vineyard and not directly from me. Which brings me back to what I was going to say, that next time I may remember to take a small amount of alcohol that makes driving off not a good idea once I've parked. If I can get parked in the first place! * Battling The Bottle is a song from Jim Bob's fine Humpty Dumpty Thing album

Labels: gigs, make up

I have never in all my years seen such parody,such mind boggilingly bad awfulness masquarading as music as I witnessed in those 3 minutes. The 60 year old singer in leathers and a full blonde poodle mane gesticulating in the most over the top fashion to a salavating audience of mostly bald men was just too 'Tap-esque' to believe. Not my words, for more than one reason. But these are the words of a singer whose work I've been a fan of for a long time, talking about a band I've been a fan of for longer than that. This amuses me no end. There are very few bands still around who I go back further with, and I can pinpoint the day I bought Magnum's single Just Like An Arrow as a notable day in my life. I can also clearly recall going to see Magnum at Hammersmith Odeon sharing a car with someone who I'd been in the Cubs with and who asked me 'what happened, you were always a bit square' - the implication being that by going to see Magnum I no longer was square. The truth is I've always been square, or awkward, or different, and I can't say I've ever lost that much sleep over it. Fast forward twenty-plus years, and I'm watching the 20th anniversary of the Wings Of Heaven album, at a show featuring that album in its entirety. Back To Earth starts us off in the familiarly bombastic fashion, and I'm especially pleased to hear Pray for the Day and Different Worlds, as I don't recall ever seeing them done live before. More than thirty-five years into working together, I don't think Bob Catley and Tony Clarkin have that much left to prove to anyone, and at 60 years of age, give or take a few months, I'm not expecting any radical changes, which is fine as they're great as they are. I'm writing this just before heading out to see the band the guy quoted above sings with. I'm not absolutely sure he'll see the funny side when I turn up in a twenty-two year old Magnum t-shirt - but I know I will! Bob Catley, leather trousers out of shot! Setlist Back To Earth When We Were Younger We All Need to Be Loved You'll Never Sleep Midnight Vigilante < Wings Of Heaven album, start to finish> Days Of No Trust Wild Swan Start Talking Love One Step Away It Must Have Been Love Different Worlds Pray For The Day Don't Wake The Lion < encore > All England's Eyes Kingdom Of Madness

Labels: gigs, Magnum

The last weekend I stayed at home all weekend was about three months ago. The last time I had two weekends at home one after the other was last July, and it doesn't need too much genius to connect this with the fact the football season runs from August to May. This weekend has seen my first trip in anger to the holy land of Ikea, helped with an understanding that finding the shortcuts around the place is an important way to save an hour or two. My wisdom didn't stretch to waiting till this morning to try following the assembly instructions though, but I got frustrated and left that alone soon enough. In between re-arranging my furniture and making a start on switching from a floor-based storage regime to something a bit more sensible, I've still got nowhere near catching up on sleep, but I do seem to be gradually inching towards a house that looks like someone lives in it rather than a junk shop storage area. It's not going to happen overnight, and nor is getting enough rest. Something tells me I need to slow down a little. Of course the good thing about self-indulgent posts like this is how it highlights just how little I have to complain about, compared with millions of people in Zimbabwe, Burma and China, to take some not very random examples.

This time last week I was almost within spitting distance of Scotland, slowly negotiating my way through the edge of Carlisle. I haven't been that far north since I was last in Glasgow a few years ago, and having made a suitably early start the getting there was pretty straightforward. I made it all the way to Charnock Richard before my first stop, and that definitely broke the back of the journey up, and it was good to be reminded what a beautiful bit of landscape that stretch around Tebay is, where the two carriageways are separated by more than a central reservation. The league tables will tell you my trip was ultimately a fruitless one, but I would have been disappointed to have missed it in the event we had pulled off a minor miracle. I've been through relegation before, and because of all the off-field business stuff this one has been pretty painless, in a football sense at least. Meanwhile, last saturday also turned out to be one of the first really warm days of the year, and the combination of boiling in the car, minor heat-stroke on an open terrace and the cumulative effects of driving nearly a thousand miles in under sixty hours by the time I got home meant my journey back was not the most comfortable. Even if it was refreshingly early on account of leaving a ground a very long way away at five rather than a venue that's merely a long way away at getting on for midnight. I've just about caught up with sleep now from those couple of days, but I reckon I've earned the rest over the next couple of months!

Labels: AFCB, football, relegation

Six days later, I'm parked up again in London. To be honest I probably would have left one of them alone if I'd had to buy both tickets at once, but once again I'm watching something I never thought I'd see. This time my wandering includes the proper tourist detour to Harrods to have a general look around, including that memorial and a good look at some staggeringly expensive and staggeringly impractical shoes. My credit card winced just to be in the same room, and I left before my eyes started to bleed at the prices. With time on my side, I proved I can link up quite a bit of London on foot now, starting via Hyde Park Corner, which looked a bit different to when I was there last watching the Tour de France Prologue. My celeb spotting radar went off as I correctly identified David Gest from behind (should I be worried about my reality TV habit yet?), then I got caught in a fantastic but brief storm around Tottenham Court Road but I got some great pictures in the fantastic light against the wet ground, and some rainbow pictures from the middle of Camden, arriving at the venue in good time after just the one slight route finding error, which was easy enough to correct. When a support band comes on with four out of the five of them wearing hats, you're either watching The Scorpions, or at risk of a duff half hour. In this case it was neither, and it turned out to be a scratch last minute replacement for the real support band; with a blues rock sound reminiscent of the Faces or the Quireboys, it was not that big a surprise to get the Quireboys' Misled, the Jagger/Richards penned Live With Me made famous by Girlschool and a few more in that vein, and in the circumstances they did pretty well - half an hour was short and sufficiently sweet. I first encountered Jason and the Scorchers by name when they supported at the last ever* Status Quo show in 1984. I bought the number 38 UK charting single Shop It Around in 1985, and for one reason and another not a lot else happened. I've got a few albums, I've seen Jason on his own a couple of times, and he's another stunningly friendly, approachable chap but I think this is the first time I've ever had a chance of making it to a full Scorchers band show. * actually not very last ever, as it turned out Warner had already been out during the support slot, generally messing about, but with a new rythm section in place, it's immediately easy to see what Warner's energy adds to Jason's onstage hyperactivity - you could be forgiven for thinking Jason is part Tigger, but in that case Warner is part whirlwind. In a venue that size they were never going to eclipse the WPA show, but they gave it a damn good go. Two hours of full-on country-punk-folk'n'roll must have cost both Warner and Jason a few pounds in sweat, and finally hearing the full rocked up versions of some songs I've lived with for over twenty years is excellent - good things do come to those who wait. Warner (left) and Jason With a curfew-busting finish just after 10.30, I got back to the car in good time to make an earlier than normal start on the road home, and by taking the more expensive route home got in just after 2.15 which is atypically early. There are pictures to follow in a couple of days, and there's a reason why this gig doesn't get a more detailed write-up, in that tomorrow I'm driving twice as far. It's going to be a long day, and it's already past my bedtime now. Wish us luck! Setlist: Absolutely Sweet Marie Cappuccino Rosie Victory Road My Heart Still Stands With You Shotgun Blues Harvest Moon Last Time Around Close Up The Road When The Angels Cry Help, There's A Fire! Ooh Las vegas Shop It Around Hot Nights In Georgia Somewhere Within Pray For Me Mama, I'm A Gypsy Now Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man Bible And A Gun Broken Whiskey Glass If the Money Talks ------- Both Sides Of The Line Great Balls Of Fire ------- White Lies (*from which the post title comes) Lost Highway Honky Tonk Blues

Labels: gigs, Jason and the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg, Warner E Hodges