Another so soon?
Will wonders never cease?
As you know the next gig is still a couple of weeks away – how will you be able to contain yourselves? Actually we are in the same boat. It seems quite a while since my Cat, Strat and Marshall cranked out some sounds.
In the meantime I had to satisfy my cravings with a dose of Bernie Tormé live. It was Bernie doing what he does throughout a rather good set list mixing old and new. It was the first night of the tour so a few minor mistakes but nothing serious. The only oddity being a couple of intrusions to the show caused by the fact that Jasper Carrot was performing next door/upstairs? I won’t go into here but to be honest I can’t believe that this is the first time a band playing in this rock club has not had to comply with the venue next door’s requirements.
I went to the dentist as mentioned, all clear. Only downside was the driver window in my car decided to drop into the door on the way there requiring the car to go in for the day and an unexpected bill to pay at the end of it. Cars eh? I couldn’t be without one though.
Apart from have a few meals out not a lot happened over the weekend. Did a few jobs around the house – oh yes – for those who have been on tenterhooks, replacing the thermostats did fix the tumble dryer.
Managed to catch “Back to the Future II” on TV – probably the weakest of the Back to the future trilogy but I still enjoyed it as I don’t think it gets shown as much as the others. Time travel is very complex.
Speaking of time travel I have tried to provide a picture of the Daleks I mentioned last week. Hopefully it is accessible; I don’t think Mike will mind, after all he did post it on Facebook.
The nights are drawing in so of course it’s time for the clocks to go back this coming weekend. I am not too worried about the dark, just glad to have an extra hour in bed. Technically it is the longest day of the year (25 hours) of course.
I suppose the fireworks will be starting this weekend even though it is not Nov 5th for a couple of weeks. Mind you as someone pointed out the other day, Halloween seems to have overtaken November 5th in terms of popularity. Certainly the shops see it as an extra cash injection judging by the overpriced tatty rubbish most of them seem to be selling. I often wonder what happens to all this stuff when it is unsold.
Rants
Well nothing has really wound me up per se other than the usual TV stuff which is designed to invoke a reaction of course. Just have to keep reminding yourself it is deliberately edited in such a way to do this – the TV companies call it entertainment. Unfortunately anyone that appears on such programmes is either too stupid to realise this or really doesn’t care how they are portrayed as long as they are on Tele.
Well I am going to sound old here and I am sure many of you will disagree, which you are perfectly entitled to do, but I can’t help it. I really do not like seeing women drinking from pint glasses, yes I know they are entitled to but it doesn’t work for me.
Cycle lanes – A lot of cities and councils have invested heavily in these and I can see that perhaps encouraging cycling rather than driving may be a good idea. However from my own observations it appears that the majority of cyclists don’t actually use them. Instead they prefer to ride on the road, the pavement, anywhere but the cycle lane? Is this because essentially a cyclist likes the freedom to be able to go wherever they want at will rather than being channelled along specific routes? I don’t know but not convinced the investments are providing the expected benefits.
Music
Nothing really changed since last week, obviously a lot of Bernie Tormé has been revisited and I am still familiarising myself with the “Into the storm” album from Axel Rudi Pell
Rather strangely I did find myself listening to Abba’s greatest hits during a long car journey, mainly because it is the first thing alphabetically on my IPod. I think I have said it before, the production and harmonies on their songs do elevate them considerably above run of the mill pop songs.
Some Classic Rainbow also got played this week, the early Dio incarnation. Still can’t fault it really but I am biased.
So I can’t really report or recommend anything specific. I have virtually stopped listening to Planet rock radio and radio in general at the moment so I am not sure which bands they have chosen to push (presumably with financial incentives) currently.
Not sure why I never received the new U2 album as a free download to my ITunes but glad I didn’t. Bit of a cheek I though forcing their album on people. They might think they are the best band in the world and I know there are many that might agree with them but there are also many more that don’t.
So all I will recommend is to go out and catch a live band, preferably one playing some original music.
Keep Music live
Until next time, keep rockin’
Craig