Blessed Samhain

I am not a fan of the commercial aspect of this time of year. The abomination that is modern Halloween and it's associated trappings just leaves me cold.

I will however say this to my friends

Chilling, photo processing, Vampire Diaries

Following on from such an awesome night last night today was definitely a chilling day. We had planned to go to London for more giggage but were just feeling too tired to go.

I spent a lot of the day processing my photos from the night before for my blog and uploading videos while we watched the first 5 episodes of Season 3 of The Vampire Diaries. I have to say that it still remains a damn good show and probably just pips True Blood Season 4 for best vampire TV show honours.

White Mischief Halloween Ball @ The Scala

Tonight was a night for dressing up and enjoying White Mischief's Halloween Ball, Ghost In The Machine, a steampunk extravaganza held at The Scala in King's Cross. Toni and I met up with the rest of Orpheum outside the venue (along with associated partners). Some of the costumes on display were absolutely fantastic.

The evening kicked off with our compere PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL who popped up between acts for a bit of steampunk hip hop, comedy and introductions

The acts started off with SISTER DARLING treating us to some amusing songs

PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL hit the stage again for some skits and more of his steampunk hip hop songs



Next up was burlesque dancer MILLICENT BANKS

...and then came the first of the bands....


THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING
Punk rock steampunk just can't be beat. TMTWNBBFN were totally awesome. Bouncy fun and lyrics full of steampunk comedy. Big thumbs up for playing a saw with a bow too!

See all THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING pics here: 291011TheMenThatWillNotBeBlamedForNothingTheScala


More between act entertainment followed with THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE

Another burlesque routine followed, this time in the form of LILI LA SCALA (quite apt really)

Falling from the skies was JACKIE LE with a great aerial performance

One last set of raps from PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL ans then it was time for the last two bands



HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND
This was probably one of the most bizarre acts I've seen at a gig like this although the Halloween costumes were a nice touch. Hackney Colliery Band are a nine piece brass ensemble who cover popular songs! They were an interesting band to watch and listen to but I felt the set should have been a few songs shorter!

Under The Bridge, nuff said!


See all the HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND pics here:291011HackneyCollieryBandTheScala

Our last act was the Covent Garden Chainsaw Juggler who took one audience member very much by surprise!


ABNEY PARK
Finally we came to the reason why most of us were here. The mighty ABNEY PARK returned and blew us all away with an amazing set.

See all the ABNEY PARK pics here: 291011AbneyParkTheScala


After the gig it was time for more drinkies and Toni and I went and had a chat with Kristina fro Abney Park and discussed the upcoming Whitby trip. It was a fantastic night and we'll definitely be looking at attending more White Mischief events in the future!

Visiting Gail and chilling with kebabs and Merlin

After work I headed out to Denmark Hill to go and see Gail at King's College Hospital. I got there before Toni and it was nice to spend some time just chatting to Gail about various things. She was looking much better than she did when she was taken ill last Sunday. We were soon joined by Toni and Michelle and we all had a bit of a laugh with conduct unbecoming of a hospital visit LOL.

Once visiting time was over we dropped Michelle back home and then picked up kebabs and chilled out watching Merlin. I was very chilled as I fell asleep almost straight away!

Orpheum rehearsal

After a grrr day it was back to Toni's for a bite to eat and to pick up my bass and then off to Kentish Town to meet Orpheum. After a drink and some general strategy talk it was time to hit the studio. Had a very productive rehearsal despite Erin being absent due to sickness. We are now starting to run through songs to highlight out weaknesses as we want to tighten things up with a view to starting to hit the gig circuit early in 2012.

Things are starting to sound really good and the creative exchange that goes on between us all is fantastic when working through new ideas.

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:

Crap day, lots of bad news, Chinese and chess

Today was not a particularly good day. Work was very stressy. Lots of things not going as planned and causing more grief. We are going to have to wrestle these things to the ground and bring them under control ASAP or things will get progressively worse. I was starting to enjoy not blogging about work and then it all goes wrong again LOL. Let's hope this is a short blip and nothing long term!

It was also a day for lots of bad news. We'll start with the car. It went in for a service (having just passed it's MOT). Sadly things did not go well. It had to be done prior to our November trip to Whitby Goth Weekend but the estimated bill of £595 was a hard one to swallow. The only saving grace is that not all the work has to be done immediately and some can wait until after our WGW trip which will at least spread the cost.

Second lot of bad news is about Gail. She was transferred to Kings yesterday which is the best hospital for her. The bad news is that rather than be out in a few days it is now going to be a number of weeks before she is likely to be well enough to go back home. This was really not what we wanted to hear :o(

The day ended back at Toni's with some Chinese food and me losing to Aaron at chess. I haven't played for ages and it was great fun. I forgot how easy it is to lose if you make a stupid mistake. Sadly I made two and so it was game over quite quickly after that. Hopefully I'll get the better of him at some point in the future when we have a return match!

Chilling with Sophie and Sam, Walking Dead and fixing software

It was back to SWF tonight with the plan of doing absolutely naff all!
Got in and shared my dinner with Scarlett and Kenzie (their idea, not mine). When I say share I mean they grabbed chips off of my plate LOL. It was quite cute though and they did at least leave me some.

We watched WWE Smackdown and then chuckled to a few Ivor Biggun ditties. Sophie fell alseep so Sam and I decided to watch the next episode of new Walking Dead series. If you are into zombie fun then this is definitely a series to check out. Season 2 is very good so far and promises to get even better.

I then ended up spending until 2am fixing some newsletter software that had a corrupted database. Despite my view it was deemed urgent that this little beast was returned to full working order. By the time I had finished I am please to say that it was.

From the good to the bad....

Today started off well with a nice leisurely rise and yummy breakfast. We didn't plan to do anything, just chilled out and relaxed.

Sadly later on in the evening we had to go to Darenth Valley Hospital as Gail was taken ill. Normally she would have gone straight to Kings but instead she ended up at Darenth were they didn't have the facilities to do a normal dialysis for Gail so had to use alternative methods. It was a little traumatic and hospitals aren't my favourite place at the best of times. Gail did manage to maintain her wicked sense of humour most of the time though which was good. She also managed to collar me with one of her little chats which she and Toni's nan both like to do from time to time! For goodness sake woman, there is a time and a place! LMFAO

The Mission @ Brixton Academy

Today was a day of most epic proportions!

I started off with a full English before heading off to Liverpool Street station to meet the most excellent Jamie William Spracken. We started off with a drink in The Wren in before heading off to Brixton. Thanks to the wonders of Transport For London the tubes to Brixton were buggered so we had to go to Stockwell and then walk to Brixton. We bumped into a couple of goths on the train who followed us to Brixton as we had an old school map!

Our new found friends were headed to the Duke Of Edinburgh pub so we taqgged along as we had nowhere else to go. Turned out we were gatecrashing a Fields Of The Nephilim forum meet up. When we realised this we donned our Nephilim disguises with Jamie becoming "Blue Water 52" and I was "Moonchild_1".

Here's the fabulous "Blue Water 52" Mr Spracken:

...and our new chums:

A couple of drinks (and one stolen Chocolate Bar Of The Nephilim) later and it was next stop Brixton Academy. Much hilarity was had as we enjoyed fine japes in the insanely long queue which went all the way round the building. Sadly the policy of the Academy is to put bands on early so by the time we got in things had already started. Bumped into Steve Pegrum (from Hollywood Doll). Which leads us nicely on to the bands................


GENE LOVES JEZEBEL
Oh my word, GLJ are back and sounding good. It was such a shame that most people missed the start of their set and due to time restrictions they didn't get to do a really long set. What they did play though was superb and I am very tempted to do the April 2012 Whitby Goth Weekend to see them properly.

See all the GENE LOVES JEZEBEL pics here: 221011GeneLovesJezebelBrixtonAcademy


FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM
Having gaterashed the pre-gig party we were definitely in the mood for Fields Of The Nephilim. Leaving aside the debate of whether this really was Fields or not, we were treated to some rousing renditions of Nephilim classics such as Moon Child, Preacher Man and Last Exit For The Lost. It was a damn fine set and so good to hear the old tunes dusted off again. Quite hard to take pics with the lighting and a constant stream of smoke but I had a go:

See all the FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM pics here: 221011FieldsOfTheNephilimBrixtonAcademy

Having seen the two bands I really wanted to see already I was a little nervous about what was to follow. I had been completely underwhelmed by Wayne Hussye's recent performance at WGW and so it was a real delight to had my worries washed away with the entrance of:


THE MISSION
Tonight was like a greatest hits package and boy did it sound good. Hussey, Adams and Hinkler all back together again! 25 years ago this all started and the songs still sound awesome today. I'll even forgive Wayne his little dig at Sisters Of Mercy as this was definitely his night and he did us all proud and was having a great time. There is talk of them touring again in 2012 and even doing more shows with Fields Of The Nephilim too which sounded promising. BIG thumbs up from me, an awesome set and great sound. We were even treated to guest appearance from Mark Gemini Thwaite (a former Mission guitarist) for a few numbers.

See all THE MISSION pics here: 221011TheMissionBrixtonAcademy

This was a fantastic night and all the bands really impressed me and left me feeling very very happy when it was time to go.