Hi all,
Well hopefully a full update here. First off, this week The Clan play
Saturday 3rd May
Marigolds
Darwen
Lancs
** N.B. – Opens 10:30pm, we play after midnight **
Nothing on Friday yet but hopefully address that this week. Any update will follow on Web site, FB and Twitter.
So last week we played the Ship in St Helens. Not a bad gig at all, hopefully a return on the Cards. In fact I will be having a bit of a drive for gigs this week.
So what else, well recently I had a few days break on the Canals. What a great way to relax and see the beautiful British Countryside, no need to worry about time, brilliant. The weather was kind to us but it wouldn’t really have mattered. In reality you don’t travel that far but again it’s irrelevant.
I feel like travelling a bit more at the moment but don’t have the time really. Need to reduce my food intake as well, seems to have increased recently, not sure why. Needs addressing.
Still waiting to hear if the band is to play Cambridge Rock Festival this year. Looking unlikely but we would love to return. Fingers crossed. No news is good news as they say.
The “new” Rock for You EP has been doing ok both at gigs and from the download sites and also had some good comments in the rock media. Quite pleased with that.
Not going to make us a household name but as long as some people like it that is good enough for me.
I tried out my Tokai “Les Paul” guitar at the Hoggs ‘n’ Heifers the other week but true to form I picked up my Strat again after about three numbers. I don’t know, I don’t get on with the Les Paul shape and soundwise it just didn’t have what I expected. I had an actual Gibson for 10 years and that was the same really, which is why I eventually sold it. I doubt I will do anything further live with the Tokai if I am being honest. Shame as it looks the part for certain songs. Maybe it would be better with a higher output pick-up. I will think about that for a while.
Had a bit of a sort out generally the other day and it was amazing how much stuff has accumulated over the years. Managed to dispose of some of it and probably still a fair bit that can be let go either to the tip or sold. The amount of cables in boxes was unbelievable. Most of them out of date now (does anyone still use SCART leads?) As for CDs? Once they are added to the MP3 players do they ever get used again? I now have boxes full in the attic. Most new albums are bought as downloads apart from a few obscure ones but even they are surplus when loaded into tunes.
Would anyone buy the CDs? I doubt it. Maybe I should do a car boot sale, could be fun, quite a few vinyl albums and pre-recorded cassettes up there as well?
Anyway one of the offshoots from all the sorting is that my office/studio has been revamped although it is still a work in progress. Hopefully it won’t be too long until it is operational to record again as I have a lot of ideas in my mind.
Is it just me or is Football really on TV 24 hours a day? I don’t mind the odd live match but it does seem that any old game is worthy of broadcasting these days and people will watch it. I am sure many people would watch 4th division Canadian Football if it was on and still think it was important. It’s really not.
The only things I have been watching recently are “Suits” on Dave and “Breaking Bad” on Netflix.
I am even tending to avoid the News, as most of it is irrelevant or sensationalist and has little or no impact on me. Obviously tragedies are reported and they are very sad of course but as far as the news is concerned they are 7-day wonders until the next one comes along. I suppose it is their business but I find it quite callous.
Rants
Well if you thought I had already had these above then I must now officially be a grumpy old man.
So what is winding me up at the moment, well as you know I do try to stay calm and not let things bother me but ….
People who throw litter from cars, not the just the odd sweet paper but carrier or paper bags full. Generally it is fast food packaging. I don’t get this, they have it in the car so why not just keep it there until they get home or find a bin. It’s not really that difficult.
Bit like spitting really, what is that all about? Unless you are ill or have swallowed a fly is it really necessary? I don’t think so.
I think the issue is really that there are a group of people who no longer have respect for anyone else, it’s all about just doing what they want to do when they want. Well sadly life/civilised society doesn’t work that way and people who think it does will learn their lesson the hard way although no doubt blame everyone else except themselves.
Loyalty cards, seems like every single business has one these days, you need a separate bag to carry them all. What do most of them get you, very little in reality but we go along with it for the chance of a free coffee or a couple of quid off the weekly shop. It’s simple really we all know that the costs in the shops are set to allow for these “rewards” to be provided but we still think we are getting something back. We are not of course, we have already paid for the reward but I assume it makes us feel better? What do the companies get, well, free targeted marketing via Email, telephones and shock horror, possibly even by post.
So really if these are the only things bothering me I reckon I am in a fairly good place. All minor things and as I have said before the most important thing we can have is our health. Family and good friends are close behind. Nothing else really matters.
Music
Back to my roots this week – T.Rex. I managed to acquire the music from the T.Rex Born to Boogie Film on CD, which saved me transferring it from the DVD to MP3 myself. Good stuff if you skip over the non-music silly film bits. The afternoon concert, which was not used for the film, is pretty decent as well.
I am also expecting a 1971 concert CD called the Electric Boogie to arrive this week. It has a few of the earlier Tyrannosaurus ex tracks on it such as Elemental Child, which I haven’t heard live.
It was suggested to me that I go to see the 20th century Boy musical about Marc Bolan, which is meant to be good, but I don’t think it is my cup of tea. I know the Bolan story very well and I am not a fan of musicals anyway especially where they take a string of unrelated hits and try to put them together around a flimsy storyline e.g. We will rock you, mama Mia and the Rod Stewart one. My opinion is if you want to hear the music live and the band no longer performs then I suppose it is better to see a good tribute band.
As far as I am concerned I will stick to the original T.Rex Albums and Videos of the real thing.
So this week my current listening is T.Rex – Born to Boogie Soundtrack
Until next week – Keep rockin’
Craig