Topics

Evenin' All!

It is with the upmost pleasure that I present for your listening pleasure the debut album by some very fine friends of mine, Hardwired.

https://hardwiredworld.bandcamp.com/releases

Vocals are by our very own Gig Buddy^TM of these here parts. There is more on the way in the very near future.

Thanks for listening.

[https://mydonate.bt.com/events/saundersfootfundraisingswim]

Not been around for a while, lots of reasons, some valid and some personal. That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

So, now on with the business at hand.

New Years Day 2014, I'll be taking part in the Saundersfoot New Year's Day Swim to raise money for Herefordshire RDA (Riding for the Disabled) Equine Therapy Centre. There is a bit of back ground in the MyDonate link below about my son, the RDA and how they have helped him.

If you feel you can support in some way please follow the link and have a read. If possible please include the Gift Aid. It makes a huge difference. 

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/saundersfootfundraisingswim

Toodle Pip.

Right. As the title of the topic says: Frost* Christmas 2011 AGM Post Gig Curry Puty-Namey-Downy-Thread.

It has been mentioned in a few other threads that there maybe someway of organising a post gig curry. This was to ensure the debarcle of 2008 was not repeated. In short Keith deciding he "needed" a curry, promptly followed by a bunch of Frost*ies following him around Kingston. No curry was consumed. We couldn't believe the lack of Hot Spiced Food Establishments in Kingston. Only to awaken the following morning to find the street outside the hotel (Travelodge Chessington Tolworth) lined with late night food outlets of foreign origin.

James (LivingForever) did, I believe, offer to try to find a curry house willing to stop open late. What with local knowledge and the fact it was his idea. (Thanks for volunteering James.       )

Ok then... how's about we all meet for beers at the Peel from, um... opening time!

And then post-gig I suggest I try the nearest curry house, and I will see if I can get them to stay open for us.

Can anyone who's interested in post-gig curry send me a PM so I can get numbers?

Cheers

James

For this he needs firm numbers. Nowhere is going to stop open for 4 or 5 people, the last count.

So, put your name down on here if post gig curry is your thing. No promises that this will happen, it's all dependant on numbers. And James. (Lets be nice to him, he's got Man-Flu. Unless Karin has killed him for ringing his Man-Flu bell too much)

MAN-FLU BELL

Just passing along some Friday junk:

Virtual Stapler


Crash

I'm back after a month without a computer / internet access. Did I miss anything??

"They" say things break in threes. Within a week I managed to snap the windscreen wiper mech off the car, kill my mac to death (video part of the logic board) and the wife ripped the shower rail off the bathroom wall whilst cleaning the bath.

The first and third were easily and comparatively cheaply fixed. The Mac? Ouch!

This was brought to you by way of a dead iMac G5, a depleted bank balance, and a very shiny new iMac.

It's very nice.

//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbndgwfG22k

I'm not sure if it's been said, but good luck chaps in "the retaking of the colonies"  

To all our American Frost*ies and anyone else lucky enough to be going to "Frost*fest", have a good one.

I'm rather jealous if truth be told. Although in fairness, I did go to the last 3 shows.  

[Diary of a Madman by Derek Oliver]

Long story short.

A few weeks ago I was nostellgic browsing on Last.Fm when I "re-found" a late 80's band called Diving For Pearls. A few clicks later the CD is on it's way from Amazon. It arrives complete with a Remastered sticker and a booklet with a bit of history. The company behind the remastering and re-release is called //http://www.rockcandyrecords.com. Interwebby that and it turns out it's run by Derek Oliver and Dante Bunutto, almost famous as 80's rock journo's.

Click-ity-click and I find this:

Diary of a Madman by Derek Oliver
December 10th, 2008

Been in email correspondence with a good man who runs a small 'mom and pop' record store down in the picturesque seaside town of Whitstable, Kent. Whenever I'm that way or visiting friends in the area I always make a point of stopping off to pay him a visit. The shop is called 'Rock Bottom' (no prizes for guessing where that title came from) and its one of the few old style stores around stocking a tasty selection of used vinyl (always dear to my heart of course), CD's and various bits of memorabilia. More importantly Mike, for it is he, is an extremely knowledgeable AOR-head with an additional love of good neo-prog. He recently turned me onto a band called Frost – a new name to me - but featuring a couple of folk that, as it turns out, I actually knew, namely bassist Jon Jowitt and guitarist/fast rising producer John Mitchell. I met JM a couple of years back whilst looking for a producer to oversee the Lethargy album, and visited his studio in Reading called Outhouse. John is hugely talented – it won't be long before he produces something that hits the radar big time. He's already done stuff with Funeral For A Friend and Enter Shikari, amongst many others so keep an eye on him.

Jon Jowitt is also highly accomplished and a former member of IQ no less, a band that I used to knock around with back in the early Kerrang! days. Actually my first encounter with IQ was pretty hostile – I was writing for the Melody Maker and reviewed their debut self financed album 'Tales From The Lush Attic' handing it a spectacular pasting. They came around to see me – five angry young middle class prog heads all with decent haircuts. Mike Holmes, the leader also cornered me one Saturday in my favourite record store in Notting Hill Gate, a man with a righteous grudge and a bag full of second hand records threatening to do me over. Thankfully common sense prevailed ie I'm 6' tall and built like a Russian discuss thrower whilst Mike was somewhat less imposing and keen to avoid physical sparring. By way of an olive branch they asked me to come see a show, something that I dutifully agreed to. At the time there was a widely publicised neo-prog scene erupting out of nowhere spearheaded of course by Marillion with bands like Pallas and Twelfth Night following up from the rear. IQ were right in the thick of it and the show was a glorious celebration of all things prog with the audience contributing as much to the experience as the band. I started to understand what they were all about.

They invited me to a band party at a house in Harlesden, which is a location as far removed from the prog rock ethos as you could possibly imagine. I'm not a party man myself but the rooms were so full of interesting characters and curious associates that I still think it was one of the best evenings that I've ever had. It was like stepping into a house commandeered by mad, surreal mentalists like Vivian Stanshall, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, Salvador Dali, Spike Milligan, Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke. Mike Holmes was madder than the lot – an existentialist par excellence. I enjoyed his company immensely and we forged a good friendship that was rekindled last year with an invite to attend the bands annual Christmas show.

But back to my man in Whitstable...this particular Mike is struggling to keep his operation in full flight. The music retail sector - as they like to say in Music Week, the trade magazine - has been taking a pounding recently resulting in the virtual decimation of every independently owned record store in the UK. Indeed it's much the same story in the USA where music retail has collapsed – I was in New York a year ago and the great bastion of the US record scene Tower Records closed its doors for good. That sent shock waves around the music business and an arrow through my heart. The little man has no chance but I will continue to patronise Rock Bottom and any other similar set up. I encourage you to do the same and if you are ever in Whitstable, and you should be at least once in your life, then do please pay him a visit.

Had a good conversation this morning with Paul Elliott a long time friend and colleague – he is now a writer for such well-groomed tomes as Classic Rock and Mojo amongst others. He'd 'lost' his essay on the making of UFO's ground breaking double live album 'Strangers In The Night', a work that I'd commissioned for the recent Rock Candy/EMI CD reissue. Fortunately I still had the text. Paul's a devoted AOR lover – I caught him a year or so ago with a copy of Desmond Child & Rouge's debut album tucked under his arm at a Rush show. It was a curious accessory considering the nature of the evening's entertainment and one made even more unfathomable when he started a fight with some bloke who kept standing up  in front of him blocking his view. Blood was, I'm pleased to report, not drawn.

Frost*. It's bloody everywhere.  

Found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytRuMVAvc08

Is this Gabriel at his best? Bloody close.

Popped into Zavvi today. (No Frost* or It Bites )

BUT for all you Python fans, THE BIG BOX SET.

All 4 films, Life of Brian, Holy Grail, Meaning of Life, And Now for Something Completely Different, Live from the Hollywood Bowl, plus all 4 complete TV series.

Was £129.99 Now £34.99.

Bargain. So I did. Then Wife tells me I can't open it till after Xmas, because:

"Someone is buying you that for Xmas" :?  :?  :?  :?  :?

I'm buying my own Xmas presents from other people.  :?  :?  :?  :?  :?

I'm looking at Digital SLRs. I'm very tempted by the Canon EOS 450D. Also, I'm unsure of which lens size(s) to go for. 18-55mm and a 55-200mm zoom??

Pearls of wisdom, please.