If It's Sunday it must be Burnley

Well, what a fantastic evening we had last night in Burnley (how often can you say that?). We got there at 7:30pm to find that Burnley Mechanics Club has two bars serving real ale - Archers Porter and another one I can't remember, even though I was drinking it. We got a couple of beers and wandered round looking at the stalls of anti-fascist material and Bragg merchandise.




Paul being the ligger he is, soon made contact with Billy’s manager whom he had met a few times before and got a promise to go backstage afterwards. At this stage I was racking my brains to remember who the support act was when Paul told me there had been an announcement whilst I was at the bar reminding us that Mr B was doing two hour-long sets tonight. I had forgotten this, despite having posted the self-same information on this blog only a few days earlier. Those of a certain age will no doubt sympathise.

As you were allowed to take your drinks with you we went straight upstairs and managed to walk straight to the front and rest our drinks on the stage. The backdrop was the anti-fascist Stop the BNP one with the Spanish Civil War Republican slogan No Pasaran (They shall not pass) (pic). The bloke next to us was following the early part of the tour, having done York and Holmfirth – Mark (or Twopints as BB called him) was a top fella too.














About 15 minutes later Bill strolled on and kicked off with To Have and To Have Not.



First Set List


To Have and to Have Not
All you Fascists are Bound to Lose
Farm Boy (new song)
Like Soldiers Do (slow version)
She's got a New Spell
England Half English
Must I Paint You a Picture
Sing their Souls Back Home (new song)
The Saturday Boy
Greetings to the New Brunette


All interspersed with rants, raps and humorous observations on talking cats on YouTube.

By the time I got back from the bar at the break (2 pints in preparation for the climax!) BB had just started the second set with Sexuality.

Second Set List

Sexuality
>The Price I Pay
>Harama Valley (for 86 year old Ethel, who sent Billy an old Labour party songbook)
King James Version
The Carpenters' "Superstar" and Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" (his busking choices for the evening)
Milkman of Human Kindness
Johnny Clash - "the Old Clash Fan Fight Song"
I Keep Faith
Levi Stubbs' Tears
Power in a Union

Encore:
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
A New England


Bill announced that he would be in the foyer shortly to sign whatever people wanted. Paul had brought along 6 or 7 CDs for signing and gave me three of them so he wouldn’t be too embarrassed! I bought a Brewing Up With Billy Bragg mug which I got signed.







and also got my ticket stub signed


















and I bought an International Brigade t-shirt, being an old idealist myself.


















More in part two ...

Echo and the Bunnymen

They were my favourite group when at Uni - I even had the Mac hairstyle. Ah, good times.

Indigo Girls

I absolutely love this song. They are probably far too hippyish and earnest for many but there's just something about it.

Mark E

... and talking of the venerable Mr Smith this pic, shamelessly nicked from someone else's blog, made me laugh.

That's number two son's Christmas pressie sorted then.

Jools

Watching Later ... tonight (it's still on, I just got bored) two things struck me.

1. (and my elder son will hate me for this) 80% of Red Hot Chili Peppers' songs are the same song. They don't just sound like each other - they are the same song. Some of the other 20% are ok though and I can see why he likes them, given his age and his chosen instruments, drums and bass (but not in a jungle context); and

2. Tom Chaplin (left) of Keane looks just like I imagine Mark E Smith looked like at the age of 8.
Admittedly that photo doesn't do my theory justice but if you had seen him tonight you would have more of an idea.

Beware Tom, this lies ahead.

Kramer Spoof

Thanks to Sadfish on the RLFans Messageboards for finding this National Lampoon spoof of Michael Richards' recent ... ahem ... difficulties.

Big Nosed Bard of Barking

I'm off to see Billy Bragg again on Sunday in Burnley - part of his continuing Hope Not Hate tour raising awareness of the threat of racism and the rise of the BNP in the UK. This will be especially appropriate in Burnley - see Searchlight for more.

According to his website, "Billy will be performing solo on the tour, with each show split into two sets. The first will concentrate on songs from his just-released ‘Billy Bragg Volume 2’ box set while the second half will include a preview of songs Billy is recording for his new album next year." Sounds good to me - he's always excellent value.

All tour dates.

For some free, and legal, recordings of some of Mr B's gigs go here.

Scout Camp

I took the younger son to Scout Camp the other week for a 'Lads and Dads' weekend. For something I wasn't particularly looking forward to it turned out to be quite a good laugh - mainly due to staying up late on the Friday night drinking with the other Dads until 3am.
{l to r: Paul, Clem, Dave, Alan (Scout Leader), Andrew, Paul (obscured)}



It was good to get to talk to the others as I don't really know them that well - they were a good bunch of lads.
I've got a lot of admiration for Alan, the leader, and Helen, his wife. They put in a lot of time voluntarily and put up with cheeky young kids who probably don't really appreciate what they do.










Above: Clem finds something funny



Left: Christy (younger son) tries his skills with an air rifle.





We had to leave midway through Saturday afternoon as Christy was going to see Muse in Manchester. I thought that was a good option before the weekend, especially as it was cold, wet and windy, but I would actually like to have stayed all the time. Not sure I could have taken another 3am boozy session though! The lads tried shooting and archery as well as a bit of walking and plenty of running round screaming their heads off. I'm sure I'll be back. It was at Great Tower in the Lakes, near Newby Bridge.

HMHB Lyric of the Day

"I left my Chomsky at the Waterstones book launch,
Umberto Eco, Iranian crepes,
Great Uncle Corduroy invited us down to his gite,
Fresh bread, Kaleidoscope, Kinder Scout and Mam Tor"

'Split Single With Happy Lounge Labelmates' from the CD Four Lads who Shook The Wirral.

Coxon at 53 Degrees

As promised a blurred (no pun intended) picture of Mr C and a sketchy report.

The evening started well but that was thanks to a couple of decent beers in Bitter Suite opposite the venue. We got into the gig about 5 mins before the band came on, having completely missed the support act. Switches. When I was younger I used to religiously watch every support band and wore it as a badge of honour. God, I've seen some garbage down the years. Probably the worst was a band whose name I have fortunately forgotten who supported Wilko Johnson at St Helens Citadel. The guitarist wore a bin liner, presumably as an oblique reference to the rubbish being pumped out. Nowadays the lure of a decent pint or two is greater than the possibility of seeing the next big thing. Anyway, I digress.
The gig started fairly slowly and it was a surprise to hear Spectacular as the second song in. The audience were a bit dead to be honest but it did pick up after about halfway. He is such a muso and I think he forgets he has an audience sometimes as he gets lost in his guitar work. There was a six song encore, including a raucous version of The Jam's All Mod Cons that livened proceedings up a bit and just about rescued the night. I don't think that, for a purpose built venue, the sound is great at 53 Degrees. The highlight of the evening was seeing a Stephen Merchant lookalike but I didn't get close enough to see if he was looking at a nude lady pen.

HMHB Lyric of the Day

"I've got three from each section on the fixed odds coupon but I still don't want to got to Cuba,
'Cos Cuba's the new destination, Cuba's the new Iceland, and it'll be full of Italia Conti rejects, so no, I don't want to go to Cuba, I'd much rather go to Dorset with its wonderful Bulbarrow Hill"

'Third Track Main Camera Four Minutes' from the CD Trouble Over Bridgwater

Coxon

Off to see the sainted Graham on Friday. It looks like being a top night for lovers of guitar-based rock (copyright Sounds circa 1975). Watch this space for a report and hopefully very poor quality pictures taken on a shoddy mobile phone. You know you want it.

Grand Final 2006

Had a great evening on Saturday at the RL Grand Final. Obviously it was perfect with Saints winning convincingly but the atmosphere was the best for any Grand Final I have been to, and all credit to the Hull fans for that. The only downer was the 80 minutes it took to get off the car park afterwards.

The players (above top) celebrated in style, as did Christy (above below) !


Eamon MacManus and Daniel Anderson show off the trophy.

United 93

I watched this on DVD tonight and thought it was well made, sensitive and without undue sentiment. God forgive me though, and I feel like my fellow blogger John D (a bad man who is probably going to hell) but I couldn't help but be reminded at every turn, of the movie Airplane. I know it's insensitive but it looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue.

HMHB Lyric of the Day

A blast from the past - hopefully a more regular item now:

"You come on like a dream, Julian Bream. lips like David Vine"

Tonight Matthew, I'm Going to be with Jesus from the CD Voyage to the Bottom of the Road

The Departed

Went to see Scorsese's latest offering tonight and I was mightily impressed - well, up until the last 15 minutes or so where it seemed to lose its way a little. I'll not spoil it for anyone who will be going to see it (as if anyone reads this stuff) but it is stil worth watching. 7 out of 10 for me.

England International Football

It's crap, isn't it?

Yet more Wogan

Whilst not necessarily on a one-man crusade against Terry Wogan I did think it was less than wise to read out a listener's 'funny' email about the programme What Not To Wear which described Susannah as 'having spent too long under the sunbed; the 'joke' being that Trinny and Susannah no longer present the show and the reference was to Mica Paris who is one of the new presenters. To me that is not so far away from describing her as having a touch of the tarbrush.

More Radio 2

I'm on a roll now ... Stuart Maconie, standing in for Ken Bruce played Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) by A Flock of Seagulls.

Quite a rare occurrence I imagine but slap me sideways only a couple of hours later on the Jeremy Vine Show, not only did the group feature again but with the same song. Is there a secret 'crap '80s groups' playlist we are not privy to? I await with earplugs the impending playing of The Fixx, Modern English, Swans Way and Kissing The Pink.

Footless Tights with Skirts ...

...Why?

Radio 2

I like Radio 2. Obviously not everything is to my taste (The Organist Entertains, anyone?) but it offers a wide selection of shows to cater for most music lovers. Country, Folk, Blues, Reggae, Rock'n'Roll, Showtunes - all have their own show and their documentaries are usually worth a listen.

I'm not a big fan of Wogan - listening to Sarah Kennedy then Wogan is like being subjected to the talking book version of the Daily Mail - but my partner likes him. This morning on the news bulletin on his show there was a report on last night's MOBO awards summarising the main winners. Immediately afterwards Wogan came on and said "What the hell have the MOBO awards got to do with Radio 2?". What an ingnorant bigot. Most of the music played on the radio could be loosely described as 'of black origin'. At least Stuart Maconie is on now.

Teenagers eh?

"Pull your shorts up, son!"

Number One son on holiday in Turkey.

Bristol

Whilst the kids were on holiday with The Other Two (details available on request) we took ourselves off to Bristol for a weekend. We wanted to go somewhere we had not fully experienced before and Bristol fitted the bill. We are really glad we went. Bristol is a fabulous city with so much to experience. Its history is immense and it offers a lot in the way of gastronomical delights. Before we went we booked a meal at a restaurant called The Fishworks which was excellent. I tried skate wings for the first time and really enjoyed them, and the mussels were fantastic too. We also ate at a great tapas bar, whose name escapes me, but the real find of the weekend was a microbrewery/bar called Zero Degrees that brews five beers on the premises: a pilsner, a wheat ale, a pale ale, a dark lager and a seasonal brew, which whilst we were there was a superb mango beer. They also produce 5 litre kegs for takeaways so I struggled home with a keg of wheat ale in my backpack. Needless to say it didn't last the week.

We need another weekend there to do it anything like justice!

Madrid

Caroline and I are going to Madrid for a short break in November to see some old friends. This will be the first time I have been to Spain and not stayed in the usual coastal holiday destinations. I am really looking forward to seeing the 'real Spain' and will probably spend the next 6 or 7 weeks researching things I want to see and do. At the end of this I will have a list that will require 2 months to work through rather than the two days we have but, hey, that's part of the fun isn't it?

Turkey

We went on holiday to Turkey for a week just over two weeks ago (for those of you struggling to catch up, we have been back about 10 days). It was a place I have never been to before. I had read people's opinions (mixed) but what swayed me was that everyone I spoke to who had been recommended it unreservedly. I am now one of those people.

The people are very friendly - yes, they want your money and hustle you a bit, but a polite "No Thanks" almost always suffices. It is still very cheap to eat and drink out. We were in an apartment but it wasn't worth the hassle of cooking as a five course meal, with chicken or steak or fish, can be had for about £8. And it's not Brake Brothers special either.

The amusing thing is the fake goods - football shirts, t-shirts, jeans, perfume, handbags - you name it and you can get a copy of it in Turkey. We went to a market and every fifth stall started the cycle again: boxers, t-shirts, jeans, gameboy games, perfume etc ad nauseam. 25 pairs of Calvin Klein/Tommy Hilfiger/ Hugo Boss boxers for £10? No problem sir!

I had a shave, neck massage, facial scrub, face mask, ear and nose hair removal and hair gelling for about £8 and a day long boat trip for the 6 of us, including breakfast, lunch, all drinks and five or six stops at bays and villages cost us £45.

I would recommend it without hesitation.

Wyatting

I bought the latest issue of Uncut today. It's probably my favourite magazine. They have an article about a 'social phenomenon' known as 'Wyatting' (first outed in Carl Neville's blog , and subsequently in The Guardian). Named after Robert Wyatt's 1991 avant-garde jazz LP Dondestan the practice basically involves taking advantage of MP3 jukeboxes to put on obscure, painful and generally annoying tracks guaranteed to clear a pub.

This sounds very post-modern but, dear readers, I can reveal that I took part in early incarnations of Wyatting. Whilst at Leeds University in the early '80s we used to go into a pub (The Swan With Two Necks as I recall) and just before leaving would make three selections on the jukebox (vinyl of course), all of which were the B-side to Reward by the Teardrop Explodes - a difficult little ditty called Strange House in the Snow, which lasted nearly 5 minutes ( a rarity for those of us brought up on punk). Julian Cope appears to be ranting over deranged piano whilst Japanese girls yap away in the background. Guaranteed to be a sure-fire hit with the Bobby Batleys and Happy Harry Hunslets.

Shakira

5 Things, apart from lie, that Shakira's hips don't do

1. poach eggs
2. long division
3. listen to Chris Moyles
   
4. understand the Schleswig-Holstein Question
   
5. The Du
   

Excuse

I just don't seem to have got the hang of this blog thing - I go at it like a bull at a gate at times yet leave it months without putting anything new up. Oh well.

My excuse for my latest period of inactivity is that my Dad died of leukaemia about 6 weeks ago. As is always the case I'm sure, there were so many things I wish I had done or said while he was still alive but at least I got the chance to tell him I loved him before he died.

Tony introduced me to St Helens RLFC when I was still a nipper and up until this season we went to the games together, along with my two boys. I miss talking about the game with him and I suppose I will do for the rest of my life. I wish he could have seen them lift the Challenge Cup a couple of weeks ago.

Billy Bragg

I went to see Billy Bragg a couple of weeks ago in Liverpool. He's always good value. This tour was under the banner of Hope Not Hate and was aimed at raising awareness of the threat of the BNP in the local elections. Unfortunately, as the results subsequently showed, the voters in his home town of Barking did not heed his call and elected 11 BNP councillors. The party appeals to people's baser instincts and preys on their fears by portraying immigrants and ethnic minorities as bogeymen stealing jobs and benefits from 'true' English people.They appear to have managed to divert attention away from their inherently racist policies and attitudes.

Support was from Seth Lakeman. I was disapointed not to hear more from him as we only got to the venue in time to hear the last three or four numbers but what I did hear was excellent.

The venue at the Academy is a great one and Billy seemed really fired up on the night. As usual he interpersed songs with a lot of chat andsome funny stories - he really is a natural comic. Some of the set was just Billy and his guitar with Ian MacLagen on keyboards for the rest. He played a good mix of old, new and cover versions (including one of the Faces song 'Debris'). For the second encore he came back on and stormed through the complete Spy vs Spy mini album, finishing with A New England - absolutely brilliant.

There are many Billy Bragg live recordings available at a free (and legal!) website called www.archiv.org, which I can thoroughly recommend.

Five Words you Might Have Used ...

... instead of 'literally' :

1. completely
2. kind of
3. almost
4. not at all
5. figuratively

Preston Beer Festival

As usual a 'bit' behind on this whirl of social events that makes up my life. The end of March saw the annual Preston Beer Festival held at St Walburge's Church Hall. This is one of my favourite festivals, not least because I can walk there and stagger back. I usually try to get to two sessions, on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon but this year I was unable to make the Thursday due to childcare commitments. Mind, even if I had been able to go I would have hopped over to Wigan to the Beer Festival there which was inconveniently taking place over the same time period.

The Friday evening at Preston is notoriously busy, with it generally being 'one out one in' so I have avoided Fridays for the last few years. This year our representation was down on the usual with just me, Caroline and Tosspot Tim (pictured):

















For some reason I was slightly disappointed with the Festival this year (and not solely due to the presence of Tim). This may have been because two or three of the interesting sounding beers (Bryson's Wammelors Wheat being one) which were in the programme were not available. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the afternoon - I certainly did.

My top beer of the Festival was Edinburgh Gold from Stewarts Brewery (in Edinburgh surprisingly) which was 'refreshing, balanced and full of flavour ... combining a continental hop aroma with moderate bitterness'. Honourable mentions to Spring Ram from Okells Brewery on the Isle of Man, Lino Ritchie from Fyfe Brewery, which had hints of blackcurrant, and No Angel from Clarks in Wakefield.

After leaving the hall at about 6:30pm we made a trip to a newly opened pub, Bitter Suite situated where Strettles Bar used to be. It is run by the lady who used to run the New Britannia in town and had five or six guest ales on. The pub is not tied to any brewery but has links to Thwaites who seem to supply the German draught lagers (Warsteiner and Kaltenberg if I recall correctly). I can recommend the place and as a bonus it could not be more handily situated for a pre-gig drink if you are attending something at 53 Degrees at Preston University. The Levellers were playing the same night and although I was supposed to be going a mix up over tickets meant I didn't in the end. The next night Caroline and I went to see Stiff Little Fingers there so popped in for a couple of beers first. It was amusing to see the forty-something punks in their costumes. I was slightly disappointed (the buzz phrase for the weekend it seems) with SLF - I thought they were going through the motions a bit. This may have had something to do with a pint of beer being chucked at Jake Burns halfway through the first number (Tin Soldiers). He had a right paddy (if you'll pardon the pun) - I don't know what his beef was as most of it seemed to go over me as I was strategically positioned on the front barrier.

Nice shirts though (ahem).

Tracklisting for the Imaginary New Morrissey Album

Collated from www.stereogum.com:

1. My Teachers Were My Torture

2. My Enemies Are All I Have Left

3. Newsreader In Peril

4. Step Over to My Side of Melancholy

5. We're Waiting For Your Answer, Tony

6. Cherish Is A Word I Use To Bury You

7. Half-Cocked in Hackney

8. Ignorance is a Luxury

9. Oslo is Never the Answer

10. The President Must Die and You're Not So Great Either

5ives

Inspired by www.5ives.com I thought I would post the occasional list of 5 things - either my own or nicked from there.

A boring one to start - 5 Top Cities Visited:

1. New York
2. Glasgow
3. Manchester
4. Edinburgh
5. Oxford

... and a nicked one - 5 Fake Dickens Characters:

1. Henrietta Troubleknickers
2. Jackson Splotch
3. Prof. Wiggenstodgy
4. Pennyfarthing Mushroomwater
5. Felch Cracksbottom

Liverpool Beer Festival

The Beer of the Festival (possibly)



I had a great afternoon at the Liverpool Beer Festival yesterday. A great setting in the crypt of the RC Cathedral and some excellent beer and food.

I got the train over at about 10am - the others went an hour earlier but I thought that was just too early. They wanted to see the model of the original plans for the cathedral at the Walker Art Gallery but when they got there it was not on display. Another good decision by MickeyMo! I met up with the two Steves, Ronan and John and we wandered up to the crypt taking in the bombed out church and the RC cathedral (where I made my last confession 27 years ago!).





John and Ronan had gone to queue up and we joined the queue about 11:45 (see pic)








The doors opened at 12:00 and we got in and grabbeda table by one of the windows. There was a fine selection of beers available with a commendable concentration of local brews from Liverpool, Prescot, Southport, Ellesmere Port and Rainford. Unfortunately, due to the uncertainty until quite late about whether the festival would go ahead there were no commemorative glasses this year but we did get vouchers for a half of a Cains brew and a half of Wapping Gold (another Liverpool brew).


The view from our table (right)













One thing certainly worth mentioning is the large pork pie on offer at the food table. I bought one at £2.50 and had it cut into five. I took it back to our table and it lasted about 5 seconds. It was closely followed by two more - a testament to their quality!



John ('the Mountain Goat')












The quality of the beers was excellent and I can recommend a few good uns. Top of the session for me were Natterjack from Southport and Drunken Duck from George Wright in Rainford (nr St Helens).




Ronan and Steve (2) deciding what to have next.











Steve (1) doing the same


I also met a mate I was at school with (junior and secondary) whom I see intermittently at Saints games. We had a good drunken natter.




Me and Phil Rignall (left)













While we were chatting one of the Mums from the RL club I coach at came over to introduce herself.




Phil and Cath (left)












Cath (right)















Steve 2 had the idea that eating Hula Hoops between beers would cleanse your palate. Hmmm ....











Discussions about the merits of Steve 2's beer.
















Me, feeling very mellow after about 3 hours imbibing.



























2 monks who seem to have wandered in by mistake.

John doing his Eric Morecambe impression.

Towards the end some fellas that the others had met last year brought some food over for us to try - there was a tremendous game terrine that one of them had made that didn't last very long.




The Providers of Quality Game Terrine. Meandering back to the Station

I'm glad in a way that the session only lasted 4 hours - any more and I would have regretted drinking so much but the time was enought to allow me to sample a good selection of brews, half of them local Merseyside beers. On to the station to get the train to St Helens where Saints were hosting Castleford in Super League XI. But that's for a different post.

Saints v Harlequins (pt 2)

Ickle Rabban (Luke) refusing to show his face - LittleMo2 looks suitably confused

And so to the game. Saints started with a couple of errors but nothing that the Londoners could capitalise on and it wasn't long before debutant Jason Cayless, sporting Rio Ferdinand-style locks, took a flat ball from Keiron Cunningham and crashed over under the sticks. Jamie Lyon added the easy two. Not long after Saints succumbed to an old weakness - the high ball to the left wing. This time, with the 'Barrow Arrow' (copyright Ron Hoofe) on the right it was new boy Francis Meli who misjudged the ball and allowed Tyrone Smith to score. The conversion made it 6 apiece. Not long after Paul Wellens took a pass from the impressive James Graham and spun out of the tackles of three Harlequins players to go over. Lyon's conversion made it 12-6. When Wellens went under the sticks after some fine handling and Lyon converted it looked like the floodgates would open and Harlequins would go under. 18-6. Just before half time your correspondent had the splendid idea of popping off to the bogs and the bar to 'beat the half time rush'. I was successful in that aspect but unfortunately missed the best move of the match in the process. Sean Long kicked to the corner for Jamie Lyon to chase. It looked as if the ball was going to bounce out of play a couple of yards from the line but with an incredible piece of skill Lyon got both hands on the ball and flicked it inside into Gardner's hands before it went dead and left Ade with an easy 4 points. Lyon duly converted and Saints went in 24-6 to the good. LittleMo2 and LittleMo1 at half time

Half time was passed with a conversation with 'Saint Rabban' (Paul) and before we knew it the second half was upon us. Harlequins needed an early score to stay in contention and it duly arrived when Ade Gardner took a chance on an interception from Leuluai's pass. If he had taken it he would have been under the sticks 80 metres away but he missed it, allowing Ricky Sherriffe to go over unopposed in the corner. With 25 minutes left Wellens took a great pass from Cayless around halfway and stepped the last line of defence to complete his hat trick. Long then set up Hooper to stroll in under the posts before Lyon completed the Saints scoring picking up a loose Harlequins pass on halfway and outpacing the defence, finishing with a cool hand-off on (I think) Haumono. This was the only kick Lyon missed all afternoon. Quins got a late consolation when Sykes went over following a nicely angled run from Purdham. Full time finished 40-16 in favour of Saints.

My man of the match was Paul Wellens for his positional awareness and support play. Jamie Lyon picked up where he left off last season and Pryce and Cayless had sound debuts. With Paul Sculthorpe and Vinnie Anderson set to return this Friday against Cas things are definitely looking promising. The only downside is injuries to Paul Anderson and Jon Wilkin.

LittleMo2's Liam Gallagher impersonation (Oasis not Shameless version)

Back to Euston in good time to take advantage of the bar in the First Class Lounge, only to find it closes at 3pm on a Saturday. Oh well, a good excuse to visit the Head of Steam and introduce the young uns to a decent boozer before purchasing a couple of bottles of beer from M & S for the journey home, which was much enlivened by the score updates from France where the Pie Eaters got beaten by the new boys, Les Catalans. Allez La France! Slight delays on the journey but nothing too serious and even the boys seemed too tired to argue or bicker so a fairly quiet return with a good few Saints fans also in attendance.
The Card Sharks

A great day out and meeting Saint Rabban and Ickle Rabban was a definite bonus. Roll on Friday when I will be at Knowsley Road following my attendance at the Liverpool Beer Festival in the afternoon. I will let you know how much of either I remember shortly.

Colin Welland

Click on the image to enlarge.

Saints v Harlequins (pt1)

A thoroughly enjoyable day out in London. LittleMo1 and LittleMo2 came along and we joined a surprising number of other Saints fans in First Class from Preston, courtesy of Mr Branson. After spending much of the journey separating the two youngsters and trying to stop them winding each other up it was a relief to pull into Euston to start negotiating the London Transport system. To be fair everything went well travel-wise and we got to Twickenham Station around 1:15pm. Hunger was kicking in so we queued up at the nearest chippy for the driest chips I have ever eaten. They tasted as if they were made from reconstituted potato and I wished I had taken Peter Kay's advice and got summat moist on them.

The Stoop is a great ground for watching rugby and I was impressed with the staff in the East Stand Bar who were many and speedy. Ok, £6 for a pint of bitter and a pint of Guinness is a bit on the pricey side, but at least it was a cask ale. There were also a number of staff walking round with beer dispensers for those not wishing to venture as far as the bar. There was a good turnout from the Saints fans and the North Stand was more or less full, with pockets of supporters elsewhere around the ground 3 -4,000 I reckon.
Saints warming up before the game

Day Out at Harlequins

Meeting Saint Rabban at last!

Boffin

I just watched Balderdash and Piffle on Teleport Replay and they were discussing the word Boffin. Someone caled Armando Pacono Rabano (or similar) who seemed to be from the Anglo-Italian side of Brian Sewell's family, claimed to be a boffin because he knew rather a lot ... about history.

Balls.

Everyone knows that there are three characteristics of a boffin:

1. He must have a 'high forehead' (technically, Tefal Man Syndrome);

2. He must wear a white coat; and

3. He must be involved in science in some way.

History? Pah! The archetypal boffin is Profesor Patpending from Wacky Races. (ok his coat is beiger than Terry Wogan's trousers but that's not the point, honest)

Sponsoring the Moshpits

Went to see Half Man Half Biscuit again last night, this time at The Mill in Preston. It's a completely different venue to the last time at The Academy in Liverpool - probably a quarter of the capacity - but it was very busy last night. As usual the set was very varied with the surprise oldie being Sealclubbing. Unfortunately the cover version was the same as Liverpool - I Think We're Alone Now - introduced with a curt "Tommy James and the Shondells" to distance it from the Tiffany version presumably! We also got an airing of It's Cliched to be Cynical at Christmas which was seasonal. It's a while since I've been in the moshpit but there were about 15 of us bobbing away, with a combined age of about 2,100 years. Plenty of greying or bald heads on show. And you have to be a special sort of fan to buy some white oven gloves and write 'Joy Division' on them in marker pen as the guy behind me had done!

Incidentally the Pringles at the 24 Hour Garage were an outrageous £14.20 this time.

Probably not quite as good as Liverpool but excellent nonetheless.

Set list as follows:

Restless Legs
Sealclubbing
For What is Chatteris?
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Third Track Main Camera
Monmore Hare's Running
CORGI Registered Friends
99% of Gargoyles
Foot Up in Europe
Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal
Uffington Wassail
Vatican Broadside
San Antonio Foam Party
Albert Hammond Bootleg
Twenty-Four Hour Garage People
PRS Yearbook
Look Dad No Tunes
Running Order Squabble Fest
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
Four Skinny Indie Kids
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Lark Ascending
Twenty Seven Yards of Dental Floss
Fred Titmus
I Think We're Alone Now
We Built This Village on a Trad Arr Tune
Trumpton Riots

Encore

It's Cliched to be Cynical at Christmas
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Everything's AOR

Listening Post

And this week I have been mainly listening to …

GORILLAZ – Demon Days
PAUL WELLER – As Is Now
PATTI SMITH – Horses and Horses (live)
THE JAM – All Mod Cons
RICHARD HAWLEY – Cole’s Corner
THE NIGHTINGALES – In The Good Old Country Way
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES – Peel Sessions 1 and 2
THE DAMNED – Damned Damned Damned
Some GO PRODUCTION Mash Ups (go to www.goproductions.co.uk)

HMHB Lyric of the Day

… and thanks to ‘Stainto’ for the HMHB Lyric of the Day:

“My grandfather's clock was too big for the shelf, so I sold it and opened up a store....selling Joy Division Oven Gloves!”

‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ from Achtung Bono.

More Gigs

Just to round up the recent gigs I’ve been to I saw the blessed Half Man Half Biscuit at their (almost) hometown gig at Liverpool Academy. I’ve seen them seven or eight times and I think this is the best I have been to. The place was packed and I reckon a third of them must have been on the guest list. It’s the first gig I’ve been to in ages where the touts were genuinely wanting to buy rather than having loads to sell. We missed the support as we were in the pub and managed to get quite close to the stage. The set list was as follows:

The Light at the End of The Tunnel
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
CORGI Registered Friends
Running Order Squabble Fest
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Restless Legs
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
For What Is Chattteris …
Monmore Hare’s Running
Them’s The Vagaries
99% of Gargoyles
Hallelujah/Vatican Broadside
CAMRA Man
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
PRS Yearbook
Paintball’s Coming Home
Wrong Grave for 23 Years
All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
Them’s the Vagaries
Letters Sent
The Len Ganley Stance
Footprints
Look Dad, No Tunes
I Think We’re Alone Now
We Built this City on a Trad. Arr. Tune
Everything’s AOR
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
A Country Practice

Encores:

Venus In Flares
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Trumpton Riots

And yes, that was a cover of the Tiffany song ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’.

I’m seeing them this Thursday as well, this time in a much smaller venue – The Mill in Preston. It’s walking distance from home; even better!

A couple of weeks ago I went to see The Damned and Wreckless Eric at the Mill – veterans of Stiff Records in the late ‘70s. Eric was on when we arrived and I don’t think I’ve ever heard one man get so much noise out of one guitar! I’ve always liked his stuff and he was a great performer – funny too. The Damned were incredibly tight and put on a really good show with most of the hits. They are real crowd pleasers and got a great reaction. I’d forgotten what a good guitarist Sensible is.

In October it was The Fall at The Mill, supported by John Cooper Clarke. As expected it was all recent stuff from MES and they only played about 50 minutes in total. The set list was:

Theme From Sparta FC
Pacifying Joint
Clasp Hands
Ride Away
Assume
Wrong Place Right Time - I Can Hear The Grass Grow
What About Us
Midnight In Aspen
Mountain Energei
Touch Sensitive
Bo D
Blindness


Again, the band were really tight but it was spoilt a bit by one arsehole in the crowd trying to touch MES all gig. A workmanlike performance rather than anything spectacular although as MES constantly looks on the verge of doing something weird and wonderful it is never dull.

Ian Brown

The following day I went to see Ian Brown in Manchester and after Paul Weller he would have a lot to live up to. We drove over to friends in Stalybridge and got the train into town, but not before a couple of pints at the excellent Buffet Bar on the station. We sampled a few of Manchester’s watering holes but we seemed to be jinxed all day – whenever we ordered pints of cloudy beer we hit problems. The Kronenbourg Blanc in Wetherspoon’s was coming out of the pump at the rate of a pint every three hours and was eventually declared “off”. The Edelweiss Austrian Wheat Beer in All Bar One (or Allbarone [in an Italian accent] as one acquaintance thought it was) was similarly unavailable and the Hoegaarden in another pub (The Wellington?) went off after a pint and a half had been pulled. We also paid a visit to the German market where we sampled hog roast, spicy sausages and banana and chocolate pancakes.

I’m not a fan of the MEN Arena – I much prefer more intimate venues. We got there just in time to see one of the support acts; a street magician named Dynamo. Now I don’t know which bright spark decided that someone doing close up magic tricks in a massive warehouse like the MEN was a good idea but even with the two big screens it was impossible to see what was going on. The poor fella lasted about five minutes before being booed off. Ian Brown opened with Elizabeth My Dear then I Wanna Be Adored which in my opinion was a mistake as his own material doesn’t really stand up next to The Stone Roses stuff. His voice, which I expected to be quite weak live, was actually ok but I felt the show flagged a bit. The hometown crowd went wild all the way through but for me it fell flat as the weak Carlsberg I drank. I will stick with my memory of seeing him with the Roses playing in the foyer of the Preston Guild Hall in 1989.

Paul Weller

Well, I have shamefully neglected my blog for two and a half months so it’s probably time to make a new entry and then forget it for another six months. On Friday I went to see Paul Weller in Blackpool with Caroline. The support was The Ordinary Boys and I was keen to catch them as I thought their album was half decent. I can tell you that the last song they played was good. I can’t comment on the rest, as they were just finishing as we got there at about 8pm. They must have been on at 7:30pm – not a situation I am used to at gigs. I imagined we would have a long wait for Weller to appear but at 8:25pm he strolled on to a rapturous reception. I’ve not seen him live since the live debut of The Style Council in about ’82 or ’83 at a CND Rally in Brixton so I was looking forward to this and to be honest I was totally blown away – the boy played an absolute blinder. He was on for 2 hours and 20 minutes with barely a duff tune in all that time. He really seemed in a good mood, contrary to his ‘miserable bugger’ persona and the whole band seemed to really enjoy themselves. I will post the set list later but we got a good mix of Jam, Style Council and solo stuff with the highlights for me being In The Crowd, Changingman, Gilded Splinters, Come On/Let’s Go, That’s Entertainment, Wild Wood and a storming Town Called Malice to finish. It ranks as one of the best gigs I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a fair few in my years. Additionally he looks brilliant – he has aged particularly well and his voice has that gravely feel that too many fags has done. Fortunately it suits his songs. Thoroughly recommended.

Half Man Half Biscuit Lyric of the Day

The new HMHB CD came out this week so expect a few nuggets from it in the near future.


"In the kingdom of the blind, they say the one-eyed man is king.
In the kingdom of the bland it's 9 o'clock on ITV."

'Corgi Registered Friends' from Achtung Bono!

Holidays pt 2

After leaving Bowness we headed up to the North East for a spot of house-sitting for some old college friends. Steve and Paula live in a fantastic house in the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as Cornhill) next to a farm. It was ideal as there is a massive garden and the kids played cricket and football at every opportunity. Steve and family were off to Scotland for a week's camping leaving us in charge of the animals (two cats, some hens and some ducks). Fresh eggs every morning were a luxury I could get used to.

as soon as we got there on the Friday I took the boys down to the cricket club at which Steve coaches. It's a lovely setting in the village of Etal and it got better with a trip to the local pub, The Black Bull, which is the only thatched pub in Northumberland apparently, for a pint of Deuchars IPA - exceptional.

We waved off our hosts and Saturday was spent shopping and stocking up for the week, and finding our way around the place. Fortunately Steve is fully Sky-ed up so I was able to watch the Saints v London game in the evening.

The next day we went to a local Sheep Dog Trials at Kirknewton, which was interesting but the kids soon got bored. There were a few stalls and pastimes and the lads had a go at Archery, but as Dan said "It's a bit like the Craggy Island Fun Day". All that was missing was the Cat-a-Go-Round, with a cat on a turntable. The best part was being introduced to the local ice cream made by Doddingtons - the vanilla is great but the Double Ginger is out of this world.

Later in the week we went on a walk up a local hill, Yeavering Bell, which has the ruins of a Saxon fort at the top. The kids whinged about the walk as usual but all were proud to have made it up there. They enjoyed the descent more.

We also took a trip to Bamburgh and looked round the castle and played on the beach (rugby this time) before heading into Seahouses for fish and chips.

On the Saturday Ian and Leslie (from the first part of the holiday - are you keeping up?) came up with the two lads and we played cricket and watched the Challenge Cup final. We returned the compliment on the way home on Monday, calling to see them in Whitley Bay before returning home pretty tired.

We had a great time over the two weeks but it didn't prepare us for the disappointment of having to return to work!

Holidays

We started off with a few days in Bowness which was just what we needed. We played a lot of cricket and managed to get in a couple of walks - nothing too strenuous as the kids whinge too easily! On the first day we met a family from Newcastle who got involved in the game of cricket we were playing after which they came back to ours to watch the conclusion of the third Ashes test from Old Trafford. They had actually gone to Old Trafford that morning but along with thousands of others had been unable to gain access to the ground. We met up with them again at Fellfoot Park on a glorious Wednesday when the sun was beating down. Surprise, surprise, more cricket was played. We went out for a meal with them on the Thursday and had a few beers back at the house. We also met up with them when we were in the North East on the next leg of the holiday(more on that later). Hi to Ian and Lesley and their two boys Matty and Benjamin.

We were really fortunate with the weather in Bowness and had just one shower of rain, on the Thursday evening. The conditions were good for walking, although it was a little warm when we walked to Sawrey and I was grateful for the pint of Hawkshead Bitter half way round!

We had promised the kids a trip to the cinema during the week but we kept that busy with other things that we just didn't have the time or inclination to go.

A great start to our holidays and it was going to get even better as we ventured up to Northumberland.

To be continued ...

Long Time No See

It's over a month since I posted here - I wondered how long it would take for lethargy to set in. To be fair I have been on holiday for much of that time so there is a bit of an excuse but I still need to knuckle down if I am going to carry on with this.