Tuesday 31 March 2009

Talking of Government............

............well we weren't but hang in there!

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the M4. Nothing has moved for half an hour when suddenly a man knocks on the
driver's window. The driver rolls it down and asks, 'What's going on?'

Man replies, 'Terrorists down the road have kidnapped Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, David Miliband and Jack Straw. They're asking for a £10 million ransom or they're going to douse them with petrol and set them on fire. We're going from car to car, taking up a collection.'

Driver asks, 'How much is everyone giving then?'

'About a gallon.'

Bad nights suck!

Had a bad night last night, couldn't get to sleep for ages, lots of things fizzing around in my brain. Slept through my alarm and so Sam was late for school and I was late for work.
Needless to say I am a little bit tired now but at least I made it in to work.
Might try for an early one tonight.
*grumble grumble*

Monday 30 March 2009

Last.FM listening post!

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:






Top weekly artists:






Overall top tracks:






Overall top artists:




Sunday 29 March 2009

Visiting Sophie, Shane and Scarlett

Went over to see Sophie and Shane to pick up Sam (and so that I could have a little time with Scarlett!)

Had a great time and it was fun feeding Scarlett for the first time


Saturday 28 March 2009

Amberian Dawn & Pythia @ The Underworld

Following our meeting and eating (and drinking), Roger, Rae, Toni and I went downstairs to The Underworld to see Amberian Dawn and Pythia.

PYTHIA
Pythia are fronted by Medaeval Babes & Celtic Legend songstress Emily Ovenden. Other than one track on Myspace I had never heard anything by them before but they were really good. Can't wait to get the CD that they have just completed and also go and see them live again.






See all the Pythia photos here:
280309PythiaTheUnderworld#


AMBERIAN DAWN
I really like Amberian Dawn, operatic vocals on top of speed metal riffage! They really delivered live and put on a good show and all really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The also had one of my favourite things,a comedy bass player who threw some amazing faces!






See all the Amberian Dawn photos here: 280309AmberianDawnTheUnderworld#

Meeting up with friends

Toni and I dropped Sam off at Sophie's before heading off to Camden to meet up with friends for a meal and a gig.

Just before we left:


On the train:



Once we got to Camden we were going to have a mooch but the heavens opened so we headed to Wagamama to take shelter and wait for the rest of the gang. Roger, Rae, Rhonda and Sarah weren't far behind us and we enjoyed a very nice meal.

Rae and Roger:


Toni:


Me:


Following food we trotted off to the World's End for some liquid refreshment prior to going to the gig.

Rae & Roger:


Sarah & Rhonda


Roger, Rae, Toni & I:

Friday 27 March 2009

Lily Allen @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

Toni and I ventured into deepest darkest Shepherds Bush to see Lily Allen. As were were on limited funds we looked for somewhere cheap to eat and found a delightful little noodle bar where we enjoyed a really nice variety of dishes for bugger all money, RESULT!

And now for the bad news..... following on from our meal we wandered off to the Empire. I guess you could have seen it as an omen, as we got through the doors to the main hall the strap on my bag broke (with the metal bit on the end flying back and catching Toni on the head), not a great start.

Not sure it was the blow to the head that did this:


My poor bag............. :o(


We bought a couple of drinks and then watched La Roux take the stage. This band have been tipped as one of the next big things for 2009 but I can't for the life of me think why. The sound system wasn't great but they sounded like a very poor 80s electronica band and the vocalist was nothing special.

After a brief wait (and amusing ourselves listening to some testosterone fuelled moron showing off to the girl he was with) we managed to get through five Lily Allen numbers before leaving. The sound was really dire and as Lily Allen's strong point is her clever lyrics it kind of defeated the object when she was drowned out in the mix by the rest of the band. I have to say I was bitterly disappointed. I am sure that she is really good live but the sound was so bad that it just didn't come across. On the plus side it did mean that we got home early for once!

Just for the record, here's a couple of pics taken way back as I couldn't be bothered to fight my way nearer to get some.



Thursday 26 March 2009

Devilish Presley @ The Gaff

Sam and I took off for London this evening to see the awesome Devilish Presley playing at The Gaff (The Nag's Head on Holloway Road)

It's a great little venue that just oozes rock n roll!





And so we now move on to the bands performing tonight.

GLOBAL NOISE ATTACK
Wow! What a way to start a gig. One guitarist onstage playing along to a DAT of music and a singer who came in from behind us, showing his behind! These guys were so much fun to watch, it was all very tongue in cheek backed up with some great songs. Go and see this band, you won't regret it!






See all the pics here: 260309GlobalNoiseAttack

MEMPHIS MAFIA BAND
The Memphis Mafia Band weren't really my cup of tea but they were OK. If anything they were a bit of a disappointment after Global Noise Attack's fun show. More of a band to have a drink and chill out to but I wanted FUN!





See all the pics here: 260309MemphisMafiaBand

DEVILISH PRESLEY
And last but by no means least came Devilish Presley, a sonic wall of glam glitter punk rock which was just FUN from start to finish. I want to see this band AGAIN and AGAIN and would love to see them team up with SPiT LiKE THiS!






See all the pics here: 260309DevilishPresley

Copyright! Copywrong!

Matt Rowe, guitarist for Hollywood Doll, has just discovered (thanks to a tip off from me) that someone is planning on releasing an EP (that they are already allowing people to pay for in advance) that has one of his songs on it. The blog entry on this person's Myspace page says musical credit to Matt Rowe. Here's the rub though, he knew nothing about. He hadn't even been asked if the song could be used, let alone given his person for it to be used. Needless to say he is a little pissed off!

Ironically I had already spoke to this person about copyright of songs and using them without permission, seems they weren't listening. I can only assume that, as Matt hasn't given his permission for his song to be used, the other 4 tracks that are listed are also in danger of being used without permission.

No doubt the person selling advance copies had no intention of giving Matt any financial reward for using his song so she makes the cash off of his work and he gets fuck all!

Copyright is copyright, don't do your own thing and make it copywrong!

Girls Aloud - Untouchable (in shiny outfits)

Kind of reminds me a bit of Barbarella! Great song, great outfits, great video!

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Antisocial mastication!

Time for a little rant about one of my pet hates, antisocial mastication!
Whilst I have no objection to gum chewing, I am a fan myself, I absolutely hate it when people chew it like they are a cow. The whole massive open mouth movements accompanied by a loud, slurping, chomping sound really gets my heckles up. Out in the open air it isn't so bad as you only have to cope with the visual element (which is unattractive enough) but in a confined space, like a train or office, it is totally intolerable. If I can hear it across the other side of room then what must it sound like up close?

It's not big and not clever and the people who do it surely must be aware of the noise they are making? I have noticed that sometimes people wearing headphones are even worse, not sure if the noise just drowns their incessant chomping and slurping and they are blissfully unaware or if they make it louder just so that they know that they are still chewing (kind of like blokes touching their privates all the time just to check if they are still there)!

Contrary to what these people might think, it IS a problem. If someone politely asks you to stop it then please take it on board that perhaps it IS a problem and you should modify your chewing habits. We should not have to put up with this antisocial mastication so CUT IT OUT!

Happy Birthday Zoë

Happy Birthday Zoë

Hope you have a great day and get lots of nice presents!

Love Keith, Sophie & Sam
x

Happy Birthday Tia

Happy Birthday Tia

Hope you have a great day

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Back at the gym again

Hands up who thought my fitness exploits would be over once the Vertical Rush was over? OK own up, who said that? LOL

Well Sam and I were back again tonight and it was business as usual and another hard workout but it did feel so good. We are definiely going to keep it up!

Monday 23 March 2009

Last.FM listening post!

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:






Top weekly artists:






Overall top tracks:






Overall top artists:




Sunday 22 March 2009

And then there were none!

Totally unbelievable. We had two people definitely confirmed to come and audition tonight. One called me an hour before she was due to arrive and said that she wasn't going to come as she didn't feel ready to be in a band yet and then just to completely round things off the other girl failed to turn up (and gave no explanation or apology).

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

On the plus side we did get some good rehearsal time in and we were all very positive about how things had gone (aside from the fact that we have auditioned NO singers!)