Ren Harvieu creates Glee

Gig 14 of the year was Ren Harvieu, an incredibly bargain £6 from the Glee club, with no pesky booking fees etc from what I can recall. Another new singer who came to light on the back of Rad & Mac's cracking show.

Support for the night, having legged across the city juggling needing to find an open cash point with needing a leak was provided by Fossil Collective. A pretty good band from what I can remember for a support. Lead singer with loads of charisma and a light beard, with the rest of the band having successively bigger beards. One importantly must have grown his beard due to his incredible likeness to Jimmy Carr, which mainly meant I spent the performance thinking how much he looked like Jimmy Carr with a beard. The bearded Jimmy Carr had a plethora of random instruments, including a mini keyboard you blow down and a mini guitar, all added nicely to the tunes. The other band member of note being the keyboard player (beard and sweat band round head) and the group rounded off by bass player (with beard) playing double bass, which being electric only had the strings rather than the wooden bit. Good band I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Overall - Fossil collective - Nice Harmonies, strumming guitar, good beard action.

Ren came on from behind the set doing a cover of Roy Orbison's Crying I think, seductively slinking on to grab the G of GLEE and then proceeded to rattle through a short set. The main thing about Ren seems to be the pipes, fantastic vocals, live she will run anyone very close, the power that came out of all of the songs was phenominal. Which given the GLEE club's brilliant policy of unrestricted all seating (perfect for a single chap to sneak in between polite people who leave a gap) meant I had Ren's voice from 1 row back.

The other things that I noticed were the crutch which came onstage (she has had a real issue, potentially never to walk again), the nice white pumps - which didn't really fit with the little black dress (back related?) and the fact that Ren looks exactly like one of my mates wives, well a younger version.

Value for money and a half watching Ren, and an album to purchase in due course.

Stand out track - Through the night for me, unsurprisingly a single, as below!

The Civil Wars in Brum

The Civil Wars were my 10th gig of 2012, which is no mean feat given its only 14 March, and I have been just about surviving busy season.

The decision to see the Civil Wars was a last minute one, hearing them interviewed on Radcliffe and Maconie, on their magnificent 6 Music show was such an ear changing experience that I wrote down the name of the band (obviously not whilst driving) to investigate later, a trawl round the internet later found a live album for free download, and also the free single download for the small price of my email address......and a gig the following night in Birmingham so quickly the ticket was purchased and was raring to go.

Listening to the live album (available on the website and from Eddie's attic, a live music venue and Rooftop Grill in Georgia if the internet's to be believed, and very proud of the Civil Wars) what I was struck by was how much fun the Civil Wars seemed to have, it was all little jokes and interaction with the audience, a great night beckoned.

Getting to the venue, I've not seen the Digbeth Institute so packed in recent visits, in fact not since pre HMV revamp when I saw Elastica in their pomp and Mrs P spent the gig stood on a couple of pint pots to see. So it seemed that they had a bit of a following, dead easy to get to the bar, Civil Wars fans are certainly not hardened drinkers, and red stripe in hand I went to listen to the support act, Matthew & Atlas. Who 'filters his textured and dreamy take on Americana through a distinctly English folk sensibility, and - with his bruised and raw vocal to the fore - tells stories that sound like they’ve been handed down through the ages.' according to facebook and I must say he did what it said on the tin, quite delicately, quietly and politely. I clapped accordingly in the right intervals and wondered how Birmingham were doing against Leicester City (losing if you are interested, despite taking the lead from the penalty spot).

They then set up for the Civil Wars.......the crowd got very excited..........the stage was set, guitar stand, small keyboard, 2 mic stands, bit of smoke, red lighting and then on they came and THE CROWD WENT WILD, it was the riotous applause for the end of a gig and said Civil Warers were, I reckon, slightly surprised by this massively partisan crowd.

They got stuck into a few numbers, they were beautiful, the crowd went wild, Joy Williams positively beamed, but said very little, John Paul White smiled played his acoustic guitar and crooned away, but again said very little....and the crowd went wild.

They settled into their stride then, we were introduced to Joy's bouncy dress, and were reminded that the next song would be the cheerful one, the only cheerful one so better be ready as its not that long...and the crowd went wild. I had a right screamer and whooper behind me.

Given it was just the 2 of them the sound coming was full, booming whilst heavily sad country tinged, every note such perfect and Joy used little tricks such as retreating from the mic to add poignancy

The crowd got a little playful, around the pronunciation of Birmingham with JPW and a bit of banter between JPW and a Geordie at the front, so amused was JPW with the banter he dedicated the next song to him, unfortunately it was a song about yearning unrequited love for the central character, which set JPW, Joy and the crowd into great mirth.

Throughout it was clear that these debut album, self financed Grammy winners (for that is they) really appreciated the feedback from the crowd, it was great to be part of the interaction, playfulness and banter that was shared.

We were treated to the first airing (apart from the others on the tour) of their cover of Sour times by Portishead, which was an excellent interpretation, with the harmonising of the voices together being quite haunting over the acoustic guitar, and the then the gig drew to a close.......the audience went berserk to bring on the encore and out came the band, typical quips continued such as 'were you guys on the balcony doing all that stomping, bet you guys below were worried' and 'hope you guys enjoyed Matthew & Atlas, he kind of let us down as the warm up act's supposed to suck'

The encore included a cover of Michael Jacksons 'Billie Jean' an obvious crowd favourite as when requested what they wanted the audience all screamed for it and showing typical Brum hospitality, when offered a pint after the gig Joy politely declined showing off her preggers bump......which will sadly put off a return to Brum in the near future I would imagine.

To sum up, a cracking gig, Radcliffe and Maconie had commented how their voices seemed to be 2 halves of one voice which really seemed to be the case live, and I've not seen a band so obviously enjoying themselves and with such chemistry between them for donkey's years. Plus the banter between songs was Jarvis Cocker like in its appeal.

For a chance find on searching the web, I was very pleased indeed, buy the album and see them live!!!!

Things to do after you're 40

Having spent a considerable amount of time in the run up to, during and shortly after my 40th birthday being a bit fed up with entering my 5th decade I have come out the other side, and whilst last year was memorable for achieving the goal of running a marathon, I have come up with a new challenge for 2012, seeing 40 gigs before the year is out.

Why this challenge, well I was inspired by the blogger 'the Vinyl Villain' who started blogging about his plan to start seeing more bands by seeing a band a week, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience.

So I started thinking to myself how much fun this would be, and have now found myself 10 gigs in in 2012 already and needing to capture a few thoughts for posterity, and so I shall write up a brief review of them as I go....

I am a marathon runner

It's now Monday afternoon, and my legs are beginning to seize up as todays dose of Ibuprofen wares off. While the marathon is (painfully) fresh in my memory I thought I would jot down the gory details, and also to reflect on what I will take away (which seems to be this years buzz word).

So I completed the marathon, and it was bloody hard. The weather yesterday was glorious, for everyone spectating. The view from the runner was that I could have done with a little more of the glorious weather being saved for when I had the opportunity to enjoy it, the bank holiday weekends spring to mind.

The experience was really interesting, went down to London early on Saturday, registered at Excel and went round their exhibition of all things running related, this got me all the more excited for the following day's event, listening to motivational speakers galore. Afternoon was a bit of pottering round London, enjoying international record store day and cursing my blackberries slow internet access as I followed Birmingham's excellent victory over Sunderland. In the evening I got together my final preparations, realised it was going to be sunny and so had to decide whether to wear my running vest or my running top, rather than both. Top won out as the vest was a little snug and when I tried it on the outcome was a little camp for my liking. It was probably a good job as writing my name on my running vest with a permanent marker left the vest with a decidedly hallucinogenic effect when trying it on, and then when I tried to wash the smell off it turned out that the permanent pen was anything but (the Hilton sink had a very black tide mark as a result). So the decision was set, I was running in an old Blues shirt, I had a good meal of Pizza to stock up on carbs and went to bed suitably nervous but excited.

And then yesterday, the day of the Marathon, everyone in London seemed to be wandering around with red virgin plastic bags, and we congregated at the starting point. Due to my pessimism when signing up 6 months ago, my starting position on the grid was at the back, right at the back, I started running next to Brian the snail from the magic roundabout, a fire engine and an 8 foot tall pink nurse called Rob.

9:45 came and off we set, I knew that it was warm, so I set a pace for myself with my lovely new Nike plus watch that was slower than my half marathon paces, to try to take this into account and spent a few miles taking in the atmosphere, I could feel it getting hotter, but I kept thinking that was fine as I had put in the miles in training, was taking it relatively easy and drinking at each drinks station. However at about 10 miles I realised that perhaps the heat was going to be quite a big factor for someone carrying a decent amount of timber! I had been sweating quite a bit, and the joy of sweat laced with suntan cream stinging my eyes must have made me look like I had begun crying very early in the race, but I carried on, and getting to tower bridge at half way was a real boost - having to run less than I had run already is normally a massive psychological boost for me, but in this instance it was not the greatest, as I just felt knackered. In fact I felt really empty, as if I had burnt up all the fuel in my body, so I had a little panic for half a mile, and came up with a plan.

I then started running at the side of the course and grabbed any good sources of nourishment offered from the crowd that I could. I have never been so over the moon to see a small child handing out jelly babies or an old dear with her bowl of opal fruits. Funnily enough this, coupled with the handing out of 'lucozade gel packs' (basically this seems to be refresher sweets in gel format) gave me a renewed lease of life and I continued for another few miles, having slowed my pace accordingly.

Until mile 17, I turned a bend and felt a squelch in my foot, which I knew from experience was a blow out (or great big blister exploding). So I was now knackered and in pain, and decided to slow the pace down, well I didn't, my body suggested I might want to. I passed a young lad handing out jaffa cakes, and was reminded of a recent Dave Gorman piece on his radio about what was the right way to eat them, (separating the orange bit and letting it dissolve, or full moon, half moon, total eclipse) the answer I found was ram it into my mouth as quickly as possible, barely stopping to chew.

I was now playing mind games with myself, as the need to walk a bit in between running kicked in at about 19 miles, games like walk this song and then start running, or walk until a mile marker and then run the next mile, it was challenging to say the least. In addition I had some merry battles with the 8 foot tall nurse Rob, a couple of Rhino's, a chap covered in poppies, a tiger and a bloke dressed in pink with a tutu and a bucket. It may sound stupid, but when walking and passed by any of the above it does spur one into action, slow action I will grant you, but action non the less.

And then I was in the final 3 miles, which I ran all of, and it was tough, my mind flicked to loads of different things, but quite often to the huge amount of sponsorship from people and how I wanted to do people proud in that respect, I reckon so far I am at about £2.5k in sponsorship money which exceeded what the Miscarriage association expected, and which has made me feel really humbled by the support.

Into the last mile, then 800 yards, 600 yards, 400 yards, turn the corner, game face on, 385 yards, smiling at the first official photographer, 200 yards, arms aloft for the next 100 yards and in arms raised triumphantly (having checked that on either side there was noone who would make me look stupid in my official photo, I am not ashamed to admit that I ran significantly faster on that element of the run because of the bloke wholly atired in pink with a pink bucket and tu tu mincing down the mall, and the chance that he would be in my official photo.) My time, 5 hours and 8 minutes, the longest 5 hours and 8 minutes of my life, and most painful.

and it was over, I was handed my medal, got my bag, slumped to the ground and then ate everything edible that they provided. I called Claire (Mrs P) and got an excited Dylan and Evie shouting 'well done daddy down the phone' (they had watched the coverage running round the lounge in circuits Dylan being me, Evie being Auntie Lynny (my sister who some of you know who also ran, and ran a good steady pace throughout, she ran the perfect marathon in my opinion! )

Me and Lyn went to her charity get together after, had some pasta and a well received sports massage, well received by me, I think that the masseur would have been less than enamoured to have a less than fragrant brummie struggling to get onto the massage table. Onto the train to come home, which was a little painful (steps at Euston anyone) I cracked open a warm can of London Pride - not my drink of choice, but one of the nicest alcoholic drinks I can ever remember after my recent abstinence.

I dutifully updated my facebook page to let my friends know I was alive and then was inundated and personally overwhelmed by the response, so many people said such nice things that I began walking very tall (although with more of a John Wayne gait due to blisters and stiffness) and wishing that I could have had those people around the course for the last 13 or so miles for support. This has continued, today at work everyone had stopped and asked me how things went, lots of praise, and the inevitable question, have you been bitten by the bug, and the answer to that is no. Thats it, its been a long road since I started training (2 years) and 16 weeks of full on training, giving up time with the family (and drinking) so I have achieved my ambition, raised a money for charity and have a warm glow.

So I am a marathon runner, and always will be.

Thanks for all of your support, it really has meant a lot to me.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/neilphilpott

Cheers

Neil

Oh my god - its close to running time!

Its not long now till the big day, its only 23 days away which is pretty scary. The training is going well 19.3 miles at the weekend to be precise which was a long way. Its got to the stage where I am having to have a think about the food I eat the day before a big run as a nice portion of Egg Fu Yung and chips didn't fill me with the required 'fuel' (a running term) to spring round the course. Luckily Pasta is one of my favourites and its rare that I justify having a big bowl of Macaroni Cheese as one of my five a day. The other fuel I found worked very well for 19 miles was one of the pink neurofen pills my wife was given when having our second child, the miles just fly.

I get asked a lot whether I will run the full distance before hand and all the advice is not to, just to ensure you have done between 19 and 20 miles before the day and trail off, so thats positive, and also whats my expected time, I don't know but I was dead on 3 hours for the 19 miles if thats any guide, (I can't believe I ran for 3 hours without stopping).

I have encountered my first injury, significant blisters, although interestingly I got the blisters on my heels from standing around all day at Cheltenham last Friday, I am not sure why I didn't realise until I woke up the following morning, probably due to the medicinal properties of the wonderful Guinness.

Its been a challenge going through busy season whilst maintaining this rigourous regime, and inconveniently Birmingham City have decided to win a load of cup games to increase my viewing pleasure most weekends. I did find that it all caught up with me a few weeks back and I spent all Sunday in bed feeling like I had the worst hangover in years when in actual fact I hadn't touched a drop.

A particularly demoralising experience over the last month has been seeing Sir Rannalph Fiennes speaking (twice), now Sir Rannalph is an excellent Orator, but when you get to hear how he ran 7 marathons, in 7 days on 7 continents 6 months after major heart surgery you feel like the moaning about this training regime is misplaced, and despite his rousing comments I will not be planning to enter any more endurance events after this one.

An amazing aspect of the running is that I have still managed not to have any alcohol in 2011, well I say I haven't there are some caveats I have given myself, a glass of champagne with Noddy Holder, a fine glass of Carling with my Dad at Wembley to celebrate winning the Carling Cup, my GADM project leaving do (quite a lot of Peroni and a couple of Baileys and ice which I was mercilessly ribbed about) and Cheltenham's fine Guinness.

I'm coming up for my 40th year this year and as many will do, you look to experience lots of different things before you are 40, running the marathon will be one for me, but on a much lesser scale towards the end of my run on Saturday a couple of weeks ago I experienced clearing my nose like a professional football player for the first time, which was a strangely uplifting experience after all those miles, however probably not for the little old couple who I hadn't noticed wandering along on the other side of the street and witnessed the full effect.

Another interesting fact I have found is that the streets seemed only to be populated at pre 7:00am with old men walking to buy newspapers, I see loads of them, and noone looked younger than 60, a whole different world.

Well into Training, sponsorship to the ready

Thank you for your sponsorship for my running of the London Marathon, I didn't want to just take your money and run, as it were, so thought it may be helpful to provide you with an update on training so far so that you can see that i) I am taking this seriously and deserve your sponsorship and ii) you can continue to give me support when my enthusiasm may wane in the coming few months (75 days to go and counting!)

The good news is that I appear to be on track with most things, I spent a day in London meeting the experts on Saturday to hear top tips of past runners, Olympic runners, organisers, charity officials etc. Also I got the opportunity to run around in my socks in a gym while my running style was assessed and the lovely people from Adidas sold me some very reasonable (their words) lime green trainers (to be fair they will also give £40 to charity if I cross the line in them, finish line I presume not start).
Being on track is challenging, it seems to mean:

i) running at least 3 times a week (check, been doing that since Christmas),
ii) building up your distance running (check, been doing that too - on Sunday I ran a half marathon round Sutton, on my own and was below 2 hours comfortably which was something I never thought I would say)
iii) getting sponsorship as you go along, with gift aid ticked (check)
iv) Telling everyone you will be doing the run (check - you will by now know I am becoming a marathon bore)

Some of the other joyous things I have learned so far whilst running are

i) heat does indeed leak out of your head on a cold day, especially if you have not hair - a little blue hat is essential
ii) sunrise over Sutton in January happens between 6:30 and 7:00 on the 30 Jan and is quite picturesque (I saw this on my way home on my Sunday run which started very early)
iii) the Chester Road is really long and straight and dumps you in Pipe Hayes, 4 miles from home, if you do not pay attention to where you are running (witness my longest, unplanned, 18 mile run last week)
iv) if you tell people you are running the Marathon, all your Christmas presents will be made out of special material to stop chaffing (they will include hat, snood, bottle, gloves, florescent jacket, top, ipod holder, sport headphones, lycra type trousers (lovely) and special socks)
v) you need to wear the items you have been bought for Christmas to prevent nipples hurting like anything in the shower after a run
vi) I can give up alcohol for more than a couple of days (I have only had 1 drink this year, being a glass of Champagne with Noddy Holder - well it would be rude not to)

The realisation of the task of a Marathon

Hello, its just about sinking in now, in 183 days I will be running 26.2 miles, why you may ask would I want to do this??

Well I love achievements, and have always wanted to run a marathon, ever since I was little. BUT I thought my time had passed, 37 and knackered chasing Dylan round the Garden did not suggest this was the way forward.

However a few drinks, and I agreed to sign up to the Birmingham Half Marathon last year, and I told loads of people, so peer pressure and ipod & nike's collaboration meant I spent 6 months training and did the half marathon in under 2 hours (37 seconds under 2 hours).

I felt this was a massive achievement, raised a lot of money for charity (people did not believe I could finish) and continued my running, and have a place in the London Marathon next April.

This is really going to be a massive challenge, look at my profile picture, I look knackered and I haven't even managed half the 26 miles at the time. As this is going to be a massive challenge I want to raise some money for a worthy cause, I don't plan to do this again!

My charity is the Miscarriage Association, who help people at one of the most challenging times in life (said talking from experience) so please give generously.

I have included a link to a video montage of Team Philpott messages to give you something to hold over me as blackmail in due course which may raise a smile.

Finally, please feel free (please do) to ask me how my trainings going, I respond well to peer pressure and its bloody cold running in winter so I need the encouragement.

Cheers
Neil

I spy with my Beady Eye

The first of 2 long bank holiday weekends and by Easter Sunday I am suitably chilled and up to see Beady Eye, or diet oasis (without Noel). Arriving in Wolverhampton not having managed to do my homework with the album, I wondered what Liam Gallagher would have in store, wandering towards the gig you could tell it was going to be a big one as the streets were filled with a beered up mod army, with amounts of hair on show that made me feel folically challenged for a change rather than simply old.

Getting into the gig I was very chuffed to find that I had booked a balcony seat, front and centre to see the gig, and even better the bar upstairs was one deep in queue and the bar maid asked me over the chap in fronts shoulder before I even had chance to get ready for a pint of Fosters. After 4 months enforced abstinence the beer was suitably lovely.

Settled in for the support, Steve Craddock from Ocean Colour Scene, he was ok, nowt to write home about until he got enthused about the last song which was a pretty good tune. What he didn't explain was the 10 years old kid sat next to the keyboard player not playing the sleigh bells in time, I sat their all Dad wondering if he had ear protectors on.

The build up to Beady Eye was very well done, a building of mod anthems, the Jam's that's entertainment, Sex Pistols God Save the Queen, and finally the Stone Roses I am the resurrection which whipped up the crowd into a frenzy, beery chants of Liam, Liam broke out, a huge intro tune followed by Liam and band walking on. At that point the crowd erupted in beer, loads of beer flew, and what made it more of a spectacle was that Wolves Civic Hall were serving beer in 3 pint pots.

The first 3 songs were very tight, banging songs, with Liam doing exactly what the crowd wanted and expected, having perfect attitude whilst standing immaculately in a Parker looking cool as fuck. Gem and Andy Bell flanked Liam looking quite assured and the tunes really bashed out of the speakers, and you could see this was going to be a first class gig.

A highlight Was the song Bring the Light with it's driving chorus of 'baby come on' and the piano being thumped out like it's supporting Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis. The piece de resistance was the backing film for it was impressive with 3 dancers looking like the 3 degrees bouncing round, cracking.

As the gig rolled on, it flew by, each song crafted either to sound like an Oasis song, or a song stolen from a classic band, Beatles, Stones, Who etc. But it really worked, and the band knew it, Liam seemed suitably impressed with the crowd, saying something that was met with cheers before the encore and then at the end, but for the final song he did climb down into the audience before leaving stage right, pretty cool.

All in all, a quality gig, with a really Hugh atmosphere. I only remember the Garbage gig there coming close ever (being their second gig in the uk when arriving for their debut album tour which was electric). Seeing Liam up close like this, without a football fields worth of people like Knebworth or V festival was great. Who cares this was Oasis light, I am quite a big fan of diet coke.

2011 & thoughts to come

The Manics in Derby

This week a concert rolled round that I had been curiously looking forward to more than I had been expecting, going to see the Manics in Derby. I was looking forward to the gig because of the line up, Manics back on form, cracking new album coupled with support from British Sea Power, a good band in their own right - waving flags and No Lucifer were a couple of my favourite tunes last year (in no small part down to the 'Easy, Easy, Easy,' chorus for No Lucifer).

div>

The evening panned out slightly differently to what I was expecting - firstly I set off to Derby late, a cardinal sin but never mind, only to find that Derby has a shocking one way system, and all street parking near where the Sat Nav said I wanted to be was full. Add this up with major roadworks meant that I was trolling round for a good 20 mins trying to find a car park, very poor, including driving the wrong way into some underground markets due to dodgy signage (not my driving probably). So this was a down, but then on an up, the venue was not what I was expecting, a quality non sticky carpeted big venue with balcony etc. A nicer version of the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton - and closer so back on an up.

But then a down - I walked into the Venue to the last Chord of British Sea Power good night! a downer again.

Half an hour later the Manics came on, this was the closest I have been in the flesh and it was an experience, James Dean Bradfield - sensible chap, looks like a good man to go for a beer with, Black Shirt, rolled up sleeves, jeans - yes a good sensible clothing look for the middle aged man with a bit of tummy (said from experience) and next to him Nicky Wire.

Now Nicky Wire was fascinating, long gangly legs, that gangled throughout. Hair which to his own admission looked like Robin Askwith from the Confessions series of films, wearing an old school tie, and camp sailors hat, lots of glamour really - and his head is huge compared to his body. Iconic.

The set was excellent - I've been a bit sniffy about the manics over the years, bought 4 albums, but always considered them one of Mrs P's bands (like the Beautiful South). However they have really added some quality new songs recently, really up there. The duet with Nina Perrson from the Cardigans (You're love alone)

also the new single (It's not war, just the end of love)


are both in my opinion right up there with any songs that they did at the pomp of Britpop.

So overall the gig finished on a real high, as expected, but not for the reason I was expecting.

The other thing about the Manics that makes me smile is my copy of their album this is my thruth tell me yours.

It makes me smile because the wobbly red line indicating the spelling mistake was obviously ignored in my early copy of the album purchased at Reddingtons Rare Records. 7/10 must try harder.

REM in NYC

Looking back at the concerts I've seen over the years can be quite interesting, but this week 7 years ago was quite impressive. I had managed to wangle through work a jolly, and a massive jolly at that, I had been asked to Chicago, with work, i was second replacement so very jammy, to meet with parent company for a couple of days. The work trip was grand, lots of nice huge steaks and I learned that the followers of Green Bay Packers are called the Cheese Heads, a very glamourous Nick name but they do wear big triangular foam cheese hats to the games so fair play to them. My work was over by the Friday and having hub bed through New York this meant I could get 24 hours in the big apple which was very hard to turn down.

I stopped in a nice little hotel and looked out of the window in the morning with the hustle and bustle of NYC. It was time to get out and do stuff, whenever in a city in the US I will always grab the free papers, to find out what's going on, the local quality record shops etc and local culture. Having grabbed these I settled myself in a coffee shop, to watch the world passing by and get my thoughts together. Breakfast was suitably NY I felt having bagels and black coffee, years before I became addicted to star bucks venti black americanos. I did feel top of the world. Sitting there I read the free papers and found out a quality B Movie which was coming out in the US -Bubba HoTep,

this film caught my imagination as film that stars an aged Elvis Presley (post faked death) in an old folks home battling against a zombie just sounded exotically relevant to my trip and I logged the film away to check out later (and it did turn out to be a classic).

From here it was off to various locations, I have no idea the order, but I walked everywhere, seeing everything, with particular highlights being seeing the Dakota Building where Lennon was murdered on my birthday, and the Strawberry Fields memorial garden lots of random tourists sat around quietly, the MOMA (museum of modern art) as Mrs P's sophistication has rubbed off a little, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Chelsea Hotel where Nancy Was killed by Sid, where the twin towers used to be (to be fair just looked like a building site to me, and various record shops. Time Square was excellent, so much Neon and brands flashing everywhere, a pop into the MTV store was fun.

On the way back to my hotel I wandered past Maddison Square Gardens and decided to have a look in, having heard of this venue many times, and my luck was in, double luck in fact, REM were playing, result, but so was the fact that they had not sold out, so I bought a ticket and was back ready to watch later.

They were great, as were Sparklehorse the supper. Michael Stipe was in blue face phase, and I had a couple of young American lasses sat beside me who seemed to be impressed with my English Accent, I must have hid the Brummie well that day.

Do I remember much more, well no, but it was cracking to have had such a 24 hours before heading back to Blighty.......and there is talk of another Jolly to come, once every 7 years, bonus.

I suppose my lack of gig memory is largely due to my not having followed REM when they were cult etc, but where REM have evolved for me is from a band who did a cracking song when I was at school (Shiny Happy People) borrowing one of the B-52's who I did like a lot, and then decided that that song was not grand so they would distance themselves and not play it. It always annoyed me that they were seen as this incredibly cool band and the B-52's a bit of a novelty, to be fair perfectly justified, but then I have listened as the whole world has over the years and have come to appreciate some absolutely cracking tunes, Crush with Eyeliner is top drawer, and the end of the world at the gig to round things off (at what Stipe considered was his hometown gig) was particularly amazing.......

The Charlatans at V Festival 2010

The Charlatans are a band I have had quite an interesting relationship with over the years, and are now filed under the status of one of my top 10 favourite bands, but that is a status they have not held for too many years. My first awareness of the Charlatans was at school and the purchase of the 7 inch single of 'the only one I know' . This now holds a special place in my affection being the first genuinely indie song that I had ever bought. The song was so different due to the driving organ sound throughout, it instantly grabbed my attention, and is probably the reason why I have held The Charlatans in such high regard ever since as there are close links with the organs coming from The Stax stable of records.

The 7 inch did not instantly embed itself as a classic, I always loved it, but I loved every 7 inch (in fact every bit of vinyl purchased) with a passion. It got played a lot, made the trip to uni with me, got copied onto lots of mix tapes but was just in amongst the crowd. In fact in do have a bit of a blind spot between there's no other way by blur and this single and have to concentrate not to mix them up.

Then the Charlatans were lost to me for a number of years until the collection Melting Pot and the eruption of Britpop which they jumped on the tails of. Melting Pot was a cracking collection, introducing wierdo and can't get out of bed plus the Britpop staples of How high and North Country Boy set The Charlatans up there as one of my faves of the era, but no better than the Mansuns and Casts of this world.

So they then got themselves elevated by the simple fact that they have stayed around, created quality albums and reinvented themselves. I think the transition to legendary status came when they released the Wonderland album. This was a revelation as Tim Burgess sang the album in falsetto, and the tunes really stood up to the treatment.


On release, as I was heavily into the NME on a weekly basis they gave it favourable comments, normally the ex Britpop releases were passed over with a brief 7/10 if lucky and I seem to remember it getting compared to Curtis Mayfield -high praise indeed. But this was a style kept for one album, before evolving again and again on subsequent albums. They have not stopped still, a fact that shone through in their set at V this year, songs from a load of different albums all greeted with great affection, See Blackened Blue Eyes for an example of the quality recent output.

In fact the Charlatans were in the forefront of giving away their album free to the public but by the cooler medium of Xfm radio station rather than the daily mail, they did however get overshadowed by the whole Radiohead, In Rainbows phenomena (pay what you want for the biggest release of the year)

The final reason for their elevation to (borrowing a phrase from the NME) Godlike genius was I found out that the bulk of the band are Brummies, and Tim Burgess now living in LA means Manchester can't claim this chameleon of bands really any more, so they are a home town band!

So why was V 2010 special, yes the set was good, and the perfect way to finish the Festival in the Union tent (despite the band huddle after three songs for a quick blocking from Tim I imagine)' but that was not the reason, the reason was my meeting the band, in the signing tent, getting signed cd and poster, shaking hands with the band, getting my photo taken, and the official picture of me and Tim Burgess being shown on the NME website, a thrill in itself given my history with that publication.

Even the queuing was an experience, as having come from seeing Lissie (quality tunes and pipes and was on the front row) I went to queue for the signing tent, but I was a little early and the queue had some Lissie fans in front, I thought i might meet Lissie for a minute, but the 2 die hard Charlatan fans in front of me, who had been queuing for hours already made it clear that anyone over the age of 19 was not allowed to see Lissie, so I stayed put and was very pleased to have done so. As I stood watching Paul Wellers set from the side of the main stage waiting for the Charlatans I got more and more excited until then it was time, I made the day of the chap in front of me, being his official photographer, I think he was more excited as the photos he took for me were a tad blurry, but igit to meet all the band and was suitably star struck just being able to shake hands and say thanks to everyone in the band. At least I recovered enough by the time I met Tim Burgess (last on the line) to say how much I love the band and to get him to shake my hand for the official picture with the nme.

Superb, superb, superb physical product (signed up at the lake cd) which is now framed on my wall. Happy days.

(and I did feel sorry for Lissie, due to the popularity of the Charlatans, only 8 people met her in her signing, but I'm sure they all had a good long chat!)

James Brown's I Feel Good - for the sick

James Brown was an iconic larger than life individual, the Godfather of Soul, which meant that it was only him, Elvis and Michael Jackson who had their own iconic names in my life. Unless you counted Sir William of Idol which Billy had been christened by Smash Hits magazine. My first experiences of James Brown came from the Blues Brothers - a superb cult movie with a soundtrack that provided me with a love of stax soul music that endures to this day and probably more importantly from the cd that I had bought for me, James Brown's the best of. This was an important cd as, arriving in 1987 it was one of the very first I got to play on my lovely new cd player, (funded ironically by my Dad despite my telling him for at least 12 months that cd's were inferior to vinyl and I would never be getting a cd player, I have no idea why Dad succumbed to my wining to get one subsequently, I would have made have given him a load of grief. I think it arrived for doing my GCSE's but I'm not too sure).

It was interesting how I came to get James Brown's greatest hits, because I didn't have to buy it myself, Mom bought it under my direction, because......... I was poorly, and as it came out in 1987 I guess I was 15 at the time and stuck at home with a temperature feeling sick. This was a very rare occasion, I don't remember many instances of being at home being poorly, missing an early Rich Bennett birthday party, getting a day off school by spinning round and round in the hall until I felt sick, amazingly, one time when I received Muffit the Daggit from Battlestar Galactica and this instance. I probably was ill quite a lot as every child was on reflection, but those were memorable, as was the day I got The Best of James Brown. Actually it was quite amazing to be bought a cd, because they cost a fortune in 1987, at £13 which seemed to be the going rate they cost the same as a couple of lp's but a quarter of my season ticket down the blues and a lot more than toys, and Mom and Dad were sensible in lavishing gifts on us as money was quite scarce.

The disk was well spun, partly because it was one of the few I had but also because James Brown's tunes were very accessible to the young Neil whose music taste was quite limited - I feel good and sex machine were crackers to bounce around to as was Living in America - which was already a firm favourite as it featured on the Rocky 4 soundtrack. Now this was an iconic movie, and one I had bought the soundtrack of on lp. I went to see this at the odeon cinema in Sutton, without parents, which was great, and the cinema seemed to be filled with people from school. It was the scene of one of my coolest moments when I was sat some way back and launched (what was either a minstrel or a little round mint, the sort that you get from a curry house) a sweet forward in the daylight and it bounced with a satisfying 'thunk' off the head of one of the square boys from my class. It was a great bounce, no doubt embellished in my memory, but it bounced up in the air in my memory and the whole school saw and admired it, with me taking a bow. But in actual fact I was probably limited to accidentally hitting the lad, feeling embarrassed and sinking into my seat looking behind me to deflect the blame to the naughty kids at the back, but I like my memorys version better, as I was cool for a second.



With such a love of the record, it seems strange that when I went to V99 with Mrs P some years later, and the legendary James Brown was headlining the second stage I didn't push myself to the front. But I was caught in the grip of Britpop and the manics were on the main stage so I tried to do both, which meant loitering at the back of James Browns audience, which was massive unsurprisingly, waiting to hear a loved tune before heading to hear the manics singing a design for life. But this plan did not work, I didn't know that James Brown's show consisted of lots of acting and introductions before he took to the stage, so much that we got bored of the intros, and left, to see the Manics, who I can't remember anything about at all, and JB is now dead so I won't get to see him, Pish. I am sure he was ace eventually, the NME said so in ironic terms.

Amazing what memories the cd brings back. This was also in hind sight the first cd that I took full advantage of the skip function and program function to create ...... A playlist....... as songs, get up, papas got a brand new bag, gonna have a funky good time, gravity, America and i got you I feel good definitely got loads more spins that the others, but actually looking at the reverse of the CD, all of the tracks resonate really well, I may listen again in the way to the office now......

My Life Story meets Ronnie Scotts

The Golden Mile is a great cd, the second album by My Life Story a band riding on the cusp of britpop and not really crossing over to any great extent. I read about them, as I did with many bands in NME and remember seeing them live in the white room, a cracking music show fronted by Mark Radcliffe. The next day they were coming to Brum to promote the single on a mini tour and doing things differently by playing the far more prestigious Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club rather than the flapper and firkin. The venue was more appropriate for My Life Story as they had an air of the theatrical about them, strings the normal and single to be promoted (twelve reasons) a really theatrical production.

I loved it when bands I liked appeared at Ronnies but previously this had been limited to 80's revival gigs (when 80's revival gigs were not trendy at all and hence played these little venues, witness Howard Jones and Toyah both of whom had a profound impact on my love of music). I loved it particularly because at my work it was a very closely guarded secret that we had corporate membership to Ronnies, so closely guarded it seemed just to be me who knew. The membership entitled people to phone up and get 8 free tickets and the days before email this was not publicized around the office. I must have had the secret passed onto me on a drunken night, in some initiation, but rather than take clients and entertain them (presumably the reason for the membership) I would entertain family and friends as i did not have too much spare cash then (the wage of £9k didn't stretch to too many gigs). In fact the membership was so secret that when I passed on the fact to another person and they tried to book, they were asked whether they had had the booking approved, 'no who should they get it approved by' was the response, and the answer was me. I was seen as the key person behind my company when in actual fact I was the lowest of the low, oh the power!

Ronnies was a Great venue, dark with cabaret tables or benches serving food whilst the gig was on, really civilized. I am not too sure what it looks like now as when Ronnie Scotts ran into financial difficulties, it became The Rocket Club, a lap dancing club that must be doing ok as it is still there today, I wonder if they still serve meals in baskets in between dances?

The gig itself was great as I met the enigmatic Jake Shillingford, the first time I had met anyone who I considered cool. I have met many since and struggle to get more words out than just 'hello, I think you are great and I love your music'. Today was the same but I got my first autograph, on the picture from the NME so I must have been prepared and planning to meet them, 'best wishes Jake.' I also had the excitement of standing at the urinal next to one of the support act which again was quite exciting, he had nice shoes I recall, zebra skin effect. But both of these meetings (in the loosest sense of the word) led me to realise that these glamourous individuals on vinyl cd and tele were in fact very normal people whose clothes up front were a lot less glamourous than when seen from the audience or on tv. Probably due to sweating into a suit, something I know from hot days in the office is not very glam at all.



But I do remember loving them and the gig, the sound was so different to the bulk of britpop, and felt really theatrical, like Mark Almond crossed with Jarvis Cocker. I have to admit I loved the gig more than seeing Oasis at Knebworth which happened within 7 days. Obviously I never told anyone at the time, (uncool) but probably reflected in the fact that whilst I own all of oasis's albums, I own all of My Life Storys albums, plus all of the various singles, in multiple formats, (they really did stretch out the bsides with different interpretations of the same song) and recently bought Jakes next bands debut album Exileinside (a good ebay purchase for £1)

The physical product of the album did create a conundrum that I have faced a number of times with 2sides of my personailty vying for supremacy. The album came as a limited edition little book version with a nice picture of the 11 members (yes count them 11) of the band in the centre, (not surprising the neve made it big with cash being split 11 ways). So

Question - do I buy the limited edition (a Great edition to my music collection) but one that was outsized and did not fit on my cd shelves, forever to sit in a little pile with the Pixies greatest hits and Spiritualised ladies and gentlemen in the stupid pill box

or do I get the regular shaped boring disc that will fit pleasingly to the eye on the cd racks, and meet my slight case of OCD.

Well it tends to be limited editions every time, and a special shelf has been built for the outsized Duran Duran albums complete with separate DVD and book et al, although are the extras bits ever listened to, watched or read?.........

On this week 1 - Roundhay Park free Britpop Festival

In 1995 I was gripped in the fever of Britpop, in love with Suede but desperate to get hold of anything that I was told by Q, NME, Melody Maker and Select was part of the Stuart Maconie named Britpop scene. Every week with my new found wage resulted in a trip to HMV in Sutton or a trail round the record shops in Brum, particularly Reddingtons Rare Records who provided all CDs at half price on a Saturday and had shelved packed with promos (an album always felt much more special if itched gold writing embossed saying it was not for resale) and imports from the states.

In 1995 an adventure was to follow though, a road trip to see the free Britpop festival in Leeds. I am not really sure how it arose but me and Mrs P had tickets along with my ex and her new fella from uni in Sheffield (nice chap with good long indie hair I seem to recall). Getting there is resigned to history but must have been a bit of a challenge arriving in my beige metro (I can't believe that I drove a beige metro for a good 3 years everything about that car was shit) but I remember walking into the park quite clearly very excited for what seemed miles and into a cracking natural amphitheatre. I believe that the festival had 2 stages but being a festival virgin I was only interested in the main stage because it featured no less than Salad (like a granite statue) Powder (sh sh sh shave me) Marion (heroine fuelled) Menswear (breathe deeper, day dreamer criminally underated and lost to the hype myth) sleeper (just my inbetweeeeener) culminating in the headliners Pulp. Seeing Jarvis up there in front of many thousand fans, with them in the palm of his hand was superb and probably fuelled my love of all things Britpop one hundredfold. I love to see a headliner with the audience in the palm of his hand, chatting nonchellantly through the set, it's a rare gift that very few manage.

It's funny what memories stay with you, do I remember the sun setting over the field, or perhaps the dancing with Mrs P to a bit of Razamatazz, no, what I do remember is eating noodles from the vans that stood around the side of the field.

Looking back this was an amazing free experience, and one that I rate Heinekan highly for as a result. Do I think that a free festival with back to back performances of my favourite bands who were the next big things is likely again? - well no, but luckily festivals were not on every weekend as they are now and somehow I managed to get a ticket. Superb, but in actual fact, probably well worthwhile for the bands as I feel I may well have repaid them for their performances as I own every album they have done and a great many cd singles (in multiple) formats.

Great tunes

Pulp's cruelly missed Razamatazz

and

Powders sing along Shave me

Dirty Dancing at the drive in

I didn't really know what to expect having signed up to watch Dirty Dancing at Weston Park in the drive in yesterday. Drive in movies were something American from the movies and the RAC who sponsored the event did not conjour up the same images that grease used to when I was a kid. But having convinced Mrs P that this was a good use of Friday night and got Mom in to baby sit we hared over to Weston Park. The setting was lovely, we drove into the grounds an hour before the show and there were deer roaming around, many doing a great impression of bambi. When we arrived we found loads of enthusiastic staff showing us the ropes, giving out free gifts and handing over headsets which we could use or tune the radio in. First mistake of the night had been having some tea because the RAC provided us with vouchers for a free tea from Gourmet Burger. Cracking Chips and a nice burger with a massive lettuce leaf which would have been nicer if not resting on a BLT sarnie. Then the pre match entertainment, a quiz, with the MC resplendent with roving mike running around asking questions of the audience shouting with arms aloft in return for skaletrics sets themed on Top Gear. The questions ticked through and Mrs P had all the Dirty Dancing answers down but we did not get near a win until the penultimate question. What is the closing song from the Italian Job (subject of tomorrows film) - easy as number 1 son is obsessed by the mini car movie, up shot my hand as quick as a flash and the MC was staring straight at me, as he came towards me I had a moment of geek nervousness - was it a trick, could it be 'on days like these' I remember that song and was that the closing titles, I began to panic but luckily the MC went to the lad in the mini before he got to me, he would surely know the answer but mumbled something with society, the MC gave him a second, said no, and headed on, up shot my hand, he came to me, and into the Mic I said , 'I think it's the self preservation society' correct! And the exchange for a fantastic Childs toy (massive box worth £100 per Amazon) happened, I did feel like a champion having won my boy his Christmas pressie.

The sun came down and the movie commenced, lots of honking of horns and then we settled down to what I hate to admit being a bloke but a classic film. I have probably seen it a couple of times with Mrs P but in that arena watching the big screen in the open air, soundtrack blasting from the speakers was cracking, even better with the window open and a bit of fresh air. Within 5 minutes I had been reminded why I bought the soundtrack too as we had had ' do you love me' followed by another cracker. But I must admit my favourite bit was the classic 80's montage moment when backed by wipeout - a cracker of a tune, the heroine of the feature learned how to wiggle her steps across a little white bridge getting better and better.



Free popcorn was provided and the show finished to rapturous applause from the crowd. An incredibly orderly exit sorted by the happy RAC marshals and their young children in orange coats followed and me and Mrs P left having had a fantastic evening. It felt like we had discovered a little gem that no one else knew about, an amazing evening for £15.

It was interesting that this movie compared to the others I loved in the 80's (Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Lost Boys) hasn't dated, probably because it is set in the 60's and is still set in the 60's.

Cracking

Listening to this brings that memory flooding straight back Do You Love Me ........ and a cracking soundtrack album no home should be without.

Salt -n- Pepa and lashings of hard work

In the Virgin trains magazine today was a lot of retro reminiscing about the 80's which is flavour of the month at the moment due to the joyous A team remake (a highlight of my year used to be returning from a 4 week summer holiday to watch 4 episodes of the A team taped on Dad's £700 video recorder. It seems amazing how important this was and how much anticipation me and my sister had for this event. It was summed up in the year when the timer recording did not work properly and how gutted we felt) and other sundry things. Interestingly it wasn't the Ateam or Karate kid movies or even the Live action Danger Mouse theatrical performance (is there any brand out there that will die?) that caught my eye, but the news that Salt n Pepa were reforming to perform at a London Festival.

Now I have fond memories of Salt n Pepa and am instantly transported to the purchase of the greatest hits as a youngster, a bargain cd purchase, played on a CD Walkman whilst undertaking manual labour for my Gran and Grandad. I didn't do a lot of the manual labour but one summers day I had the joys of earning some spends whilst back from Uni by clearing a road that had overgrown the access to a gateway that was to be used again. The over grown gate was covered in nettles and brambles and it was very hot, I ended up hot sweaty scratched and stung. With the greatest hits blasting away (and the threat of batteries running out at any moment) I seemed to labour for hours to the tunes of Push it, shake your thang, let's talk about sex and all (funnily enough I would never have told my Gran I was listening to a song with the word sex in the title).

A great sense of achievement was gained from this labour and in hindsight it was something I should have done loads more of in my youth to spend more time with Gran and Grandad but my visits were limited to this........ and adventures on 'the ride on mower' - a fantastic hulk of a machine, petrol driven and probably about as fast as my first car. I remember making up quite complex games speeding round and round in circles based on Formula 1 to keep myself interested, and particularly listening to the inevitable first relegation of Birmingham City to the old 3rd division on the day of the Bradford City fire tragedy.

But I do have a soft spot for Salt n Pepa, their poppy brand of rap really hit the spot and Push it was an inspired song that filled many a Rugby Club disco. I am sure they felt pretty radical at the time but having read their wiki page it makes me smile to think these radicals were called Cheryl and Sandra which I will happy refer to them in the future.

The Communards - Celebrity lookalike !

The Communards are what one might call a guilty pleasure, had I not over the last few years come to recognise that I have a particularly eclectic set of musical tastes and that should I need to run through the list of records that I had purchased, then something such as the Communards would be seen as particularly cool when sat next to my Sam Fox LP, remix LP 12' singles and picture discs.

The Communards, and this particular tune, struck a chord with me back at school, when I distinctly remember myself and a friend, interestingly the only other person from my school who supported the same football team as me - Birmingham City - singing this tune at ridiculously high pitched range whilst twirling round with arms outstretched faces looking heavenward and eyes closed. Well my eyes were closed, not sure whether Alison's were (his name wasn't Alison but he had bought his sisters lunch box to school earlier and the nickname had stuck much to his disgust).

This form of dancing has surfaced many time subsequently, however only when under the influence, and often to far cooler tunes - The Stone Roses at Indie Discos (Ramshackle in town a good example) had the same effect a few times. It is quite an art to master when spinning round with a beer in hand, eyes closed without the expected bumping spilling outcome, which inevitably did arise, with a comment along the lines of 'watch out baldy' I would imagine.

The phrase 'watch out Baldy' brings out another link I have had later in life with the Communards, or Jimmy Somerville in particular. Now I am not sure that there is anything more than being folically challenged in this but. When at work the celebrity look alikes were dished out, Jimmy Somerville was mine, as was Phil Mitchell, and Grant, and Phil Collins and sundry other 'celebrities' who had no hair. But Jimmy Somerville stuck for a little while and this song cropped up being sung again, but without the swirling dance moves in the office. Although Karaoke was always a favourite..... and now you come to mention it.......

On the 12', purchased from a very reputable car boot sale, is another cracking extra long remix of

You are my world 87

followed by b-sides resplendent in piano

Judgement Day

and the live recording from the BBC of Czardas a traditional hungarian folk dance, which if you listen to it, you will recognise it and consider, briefly, crouching down and flinging legs out, before realising this is not the way forward.

Czardas

Overall great value for money for the 50p outlay (I didn't even haggle)

The final thing to say about the tune is that it is one that does surface every now and then when I am thinking about Mrs P, I may have lost my hair, but there is a romantic soul deep down...

Transvision 12 inch memories

The weekend held the catch up with a number of friends & acquaintances that I have not seen in some instances for the 20 years since leaving school. The topics discussed started with where people lived (a number surprisingly still in the locale) and whether people had kids (it seems second generations of kids have been playing together without anyone knowing) and finding out what people do for a living, a surprising amount in IT and surprising people to have gone into the teaching profession.

When a few more beers had been quoffed, to top up the one for dutch courage before going out the discussions got into good old fashioned reminiscing.... about all manner of things, a particular favourite being how in assembly people would borrow hymn books and then launch them over the balcony at the back of the hall, making life difficult for the Jehovah's witnesses (not allowed to sit with us) who had to dodge them and random shoes. Plus the fact that at every assembly the same gag was played on the unsuspecting individual sitting at the end of the row, by sliding the seats along one place (they were linked together) during the hymn when standing, sitting down resulted in a member of class falling flat on his backside - this happened so many times and we never got into any grief about it - probably because the teachers found the site funny too. This reminiscing really brought me out in fits of giggles - I had been transported back 20 years.

We did get to the topic of music once however, a really good friend of mine reminded me of our trip to see Transvision Vamp, and the legendary Wendy James. This was at the Aston Villa leisure centre - a real hole of a venue, better suited to basket ball than seeing the years heart throb belting out hits such as Revolution Baby, I want your love and the only one.

The video for the only one nicely summed up the feel of the concerts if not the level of sweat

A couple of things stand out from this concert (the middle of 3 visits to the Villa leisure centre to see Wendy and the Gang, the third being in support of the 3rd album never released in the UK 'Little Magnets versus the Bubble of Babble' and a concert that I could not entice anyone to come with me - oh how times changed in that 2 year career).

The first was I drove, in my beat up mini, that overheated all the time, with my newly installed cassette tape player that I had spent all weekend installing and was very proud of, but found that it played tapes slowly which was not too flash.

The second was that this was my first gig when I was thrust into the mosh pit from the start of the gig to the end, I have never been in a hotter place. Jeff, Fitz and I were soaking and on returning to the car steamed it up in shocking fashion, but I did encounter a catastrophe which haunted me for quite some time. I invested at the beginning of the gig in some over priced merchandise, a cracking tour programme, which I now realise was a single sheet folded.

Now the issue I had was I purchased this (piece of paper that cost as much as an album!) before Wendy came on stage, and I went in Jeans and T Shirt, so naturally when I went moshing, to hold onto it I shoved it up my T Shirt and ended up with a wonderful purple paper mache blob, with one small salvagable image (bottom left tiny pic flicking hair - I can still remember after 21 years!).

This didn't stop my enthusiasm for the band but spurred me on to buy every 12' they ever produced, in fact everything they ever released on Vinyl, and this was the era of great 12' mixes.

So the first 12' I bought from Wendy and still cherish was I Want your love, with

I want your love (I don't want your money) Mix

and B sides

Evolution Evie and

Sweet Thing

These were the start of a lot of 12 inches and lots of memories to return to in time.....

Welcome to the Monkey House - 20 years since school

Todays entry reminisces on a song that I have only purchased through the joys of Ebay but brings the pleasures of the last year of school racing back. Why's that in mind, because on Saturday I am off to a reunion in a pub to celebrate 20 years since I left 6th form.

This pub, the Station was the pub where we would congregate in the beer garden, no matter what the weather as many were under age. Buy bottles of grolsch with flash tops for a pound and generally try to chat to any girls we new. The pub was always rammed and a great venue to rush to after working at Asda on the tills for £3 per hour, I felt rich with that wage.

The tune 'Welcome to the Monkey House' was a staple in all the parties that year, (it was released in 1984 so no doubt had been a staple for a few years), at Shenstone, Spartans or the Rugby Club and would immediately result in everyone bouncing about in the middle of the dance floor bumping into one another. Every weekend had a party, celebrating a birthday of someone or other, it didn't matter who so long as you got an invite, which everyone seemed to. I seem to recall at the time dodgy kids from other schools all attending but the level of violence and drugs was nil, all alcohol experimentation, a particular favourite being the Purple Nasty, snake bite and pernod and black, so the worst you had was a vomiting mate waiting for parents to take him home.

But going back to the tune, it was an incredible buzz to hear the first few bars and would immediately result in a 'here hold this' to which ever young lady was being chatted to and a sprint to the dance floor. From what I recall the dance moves were not too hard, they consisted of bouncing up and down whilst moving in and out of a circle, in fact a mixture between baggy trousers and New York New York (which ended said parties).

I didn't know anything about the artist at the time, and now from what I can gather the band was the starting point for Paul Caplin, he signed to emi and supported Duran Duran but he didn't enjoy the constraints. He was then part of Haysi Fantayzee (in the background whilst his girlfriend was in the foreground) before ditching music to get into computing in a really successful way. He won an Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year award and is allegedly looking to get funding for more development, quite a left turn in career.

The B side is interesting, but not a patch on on the single which does not seem to have charted so no wonder I never managed to buy it in Woolies, Boots, Smiths or HMV.

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse

B Side - Game Over Player 1