Shaving

What is it about shaving that I hate so much? Is it the overpriced blades, the extra blade added every year to the cutting edge (ho, ho, ho) razors - Mach 56 turbo, get your friend to hold it with you - or the fact that you stand in a cold bathroom shirtless for five minutes trying to ensure you don't nick yourself? Every holiday I avoid shaving with enthusiasm.

Saddam

I was just about to post my thoughts on the execution of Saddam when I read John D's blog. He says everything I was going to say so I see little point in saying the same things using slightly different words - just read John's thoughts which I agree wholeheartedly with.

A Belated Happy Christmas ...

... to both my readers.

And a fond farewell to the Godfather of Soul, Mr James Brown. Let's see you Get On Up now.

BBC Team of the Year

Congratulations to St Helens who were voted as team of the year tonight. I must admit I thought the Ryder Cup team would win it but justice was done in the end! Let's hope it encourages the BBC to beef up its coverage of rugby league in general. Oh hang on ...

















To top it off, Daniel Anderson got Coach of the Year as well.

Yet More ...

Thanks to 'TwoPints' for these two photos.

Bragg Pics

Bill rocks out!

Burnley part Two ...

Paul (on the right) got talking to two of the ‘crew’ Bren (on the left) and Dave (middle)whom he had met before (of course!). They are Bill’s personal security but really they are just two incredibly fanatical Bragg fans – Bill’s Ultras. They go on tour with Bill, paying for their own accommodation and doing bits of this and that.

Two really nice blokes and not what you would expect your typical Bragg fan to look like at all.

Dave and Paul.

Bren must be the world’s authority on Bragg stuff and has a huge collection of discs and other memorabilia at home. He even had a picture of Bill tattooed on his thigh!

BB had asked to lean on the back of Bren's jacket so he could sign a t-shirt for someone and when Bren checked, Bill had written Take Down The Union Jack (a Bragg song, for those not familiar) across his flag.

We stayed to have a chat with Bill and ended up going for a drink to Wetherspoons with Bren, Dave and Mark. A late night but well worth it.

One surprise for me was the complete lack of a BNP presence outside or in. I had expected a token protest in Burnley of all places, but nothing was forthcoming. Of course BB’s audience is predominantly of his thinking and he’s not really the type to attract too many ‘neutrals’ who could be converted but that doesn’t diminish his message. If only one or two people decide to confront fascist behaviour as a result of being convinced a bit more then it must be worth it.

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.