
ArchivesSpring-Autumn 2009Autumn 2008 June 2008 January - May 2008 Winter 2007 Autumn 2007 Summer 2007 Spring 2007 Winter 2006 Autumn 2006 March-July 2006 Winter 2005 Autumn 2005 Summer 2005 January-March 2005 Winter 2004 Autumn 2004 Summer 2004 May 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 Other stuffHomePoetry Challenge A Past Gone Mad Listen To This Poetry Corner All About Me Reverend Jim Terror on the Cam Widow's Pens Rad's Renderings Peter's Pit FatFakir Gear |
Ostapazuzalum, that was the magic wordSaturday 5th JuneBorag Thungg, Earthlets. It's been a while. at least this time I have a reasonable excuse. The untimely death of me mother kind of put a stop to most thoughts of fun and jollity, and even to updating this crappy website. Of course, death is inevitable - along with taxis it was one of Benjamin Franklin's two certainties (Mind, the cab companies of the 1700s must have been much more reliable than their modern counterparts because it's been my experience that there's no certainty about when a taxi may arrive...) - but it's never welcome and in this case was slightly unexpected as me mum had been making a decent recovery. Unfortunately, she had a setback, then stopped eating and finally caught pneumonia, which finished her off. I was with her at the end and she didn't seem to be in any pain, just slowly slipped away, which is how it happens with pneumonia. Have to say, I was a bit all over the place post-death but have been a bit more together since the funeral. Not that I've ever really been that together, obviously.... Anyway, amongst the more depressing stuff, there's also been some slightly less depressing stuff. Mostly watching my little smashers, Crewe Alexandra, who rounded off three seasons of disappointing under-performance by finishing in their lowest league position in almost 30 years. The season as a whole was one of consistent inconsistency. Having ditched Gudjon Thordarson after 10 league games, the board turned back to Dario to bring some stability to the ship. Which, to be fair, he did up to the turn of the year. Then, a disastrous team selection for a game at local rivals Macclesfield, knocked their confidence and thereafter the only thing consistent about the Alex was their inconsistency. Matters weren't helped by leading goal scorer, Calvin Zola, having a few weeks off, Byron Moore missing the last third of the season and Bailey and Schumacher bothing having spells on the sidelines, but then Crewe demonstrated their ability to shoot themselves in the foot by collapsing spectacularly at Morecambe on Good Friday. From 3-1 up and with Morecambe down to ten men, Crewe missed a penalty and slowly crumbled. They conceded a second goal three minutes from time and then two more in injury time to lose a game that they had been in control of at the 70 minute mark. That pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the season and apart from a win at fierce rivals Port Vale and a thrashing of Accrington Stanley, there wasn't much else worth talking about. We finally finished 18th, which is the lowest finish we've ever managed under Dario. Although the football has been disappointing, there have been positives to take from the season. Our strikers have started to show signs of improvement, with Zola, Donaldson and Grant all notching double figures. Ashley Westwood and Matt Tootle have emerged from the background to become integral parts of the first team in their debut seasons. And Harry Davis made himself a regular on the bench despite still being part of the Academy. If, and it's a big IF, Dario can find us a decent centre half and a left back, we should be in good shape for a better challenge next season. That's what I hope anyway. Haven't been out to watch much live music in the last couple of months, to be honest. Mostly due to depression, obviously, but also due to the fact that I seem to be a bit short of cash. hopefully that'll be sorted sooon, but more of that later. Anyway, the one gig I have attended was The Fall at Keele University. The gig was in support of their sparkling new album "Your Future, Our Clutter". Can't remember the name of the support band, unfortunately, but they were entertaingly diverting. And then The Fall hit the stage. You can never be sure what you're going to get but that night, they were brilliant. MES stalked the stage, apparently indifferent, constantly chewing, occasionally referring to lyric sheets and generally fiddling with onstage equipment. The band were rock solid and largely indulged MES' amp fiddling with grace and good humour. MES' apparent indifference thawed during 'Chino' when there was a brief attempt at stage diving from some of the younger, more enthusiastic members of the audience. From then on the gig went up a notch. MES lasted the whole set, extended 'I've Been Duped' with some keyboard fiddling and gave us a pumped-up encore of 'Sparta FC'. Top notch and thoroughly recommended. It occurred to me, re-reading my last posts, that I haven't bored you with a list of the cheap-slash-rubbish DVDs that I've purchased in the last few months. I did say I was trying to avoid buying stuff but I just cannot help myself...
A couple of weekends ago my sister Liz and her hubby took part in the Weaver Wander. It's an annual event run by the Rotary Club which consists of a 100 mile round trip for classic and sports cars and also a static display of the same on the local park. Some people do just the Wander, some do just the display and some crazy foo's do both. Last year my sister took part in the static display and this year they did the Wander and the display. With the Wander starting from Nantwich town square, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get my camera out and snap away. As a result there's about a 100 or so photos in this Weaver Wander photoset on flickr. Enjoy. In work-related news, you'll no doubt be delighted to know that the Free Fridays are no more. And you'll doubtless to be unsurprised to learn that I managed to do precisely none of the things I imagined I do on my spare day. (Apart from the long lie-ins and slobbing around - I did plenty of that!) And that's disappointing, on the other hand, I'll be quite glad to have that missing 20% of my salary back. It'll mean I can afford to go out more than once a month AND should have money enough to buy important stuff - booze, my Crewe season ticket, them cheap and nasty DVDs that I've been missing out on... Although, obviously I should take care not to go mad come payday. As for the loss of the free day, well, now that the footy season is over, I've got Saturdays and Sundays mostly free till the beginning of August. And there's always the evenings to do stuff in, of course, and that's a lot more viable now that summer is here and I don't need to wear three jumpers, a pair of gloves and a woolly hat to keep warm in my house.... The only real drawback to the end of Free Fridays, apart from the end of the long lie-in obviously, is that I'll have to re-think all my holidays AND book a day off for this year's MDS Rail Ale Trail. Mind, I've not got many other days off booked, or indeed planned, between now and the end of the summer, so I'll probably hold on till the footy fixtures come out and then start booking days off around Crewe's away trips. Yes, I know. I'm a sad man. Go on, stick your oar in: Yvonne Sheila Lawrence08/02/39 - 23/04/10
A montage of pictures of my mum, who died recently. Rest in peace mum. Go on, stick your oar in: I am brave, I persevereMonday 5th April 2010Alongside my Things to Do List I had planned to have 'Friday film festival' - spending the day catching up with a number of my DVDs that I haven't got round to watching yet. Sadly, circumstances have been against me for the last few weeks so those DVDs remain unwatched. In the meantime, of course, I've managed to acquire a few more and have some more on the way so the backlog is building up. At this rate I might have to take some extra days off just to get through them all! I have, though, made a start on my 'To Do' list. You'll be pleased to know that I got my old PCs out and tried to get them to boot up. No joy with either, I'm afraid although I haven't got a keyboard or mouse for the older one so that probably doesn't help. I had spent a few hours trying to find them, gave up thinking I could use the ones from my newer broken PC and then found I couldn't. Arse. Not that it really matters - there's nothing I want on the older PC so I'll be trying to re-use as much of that as I can to get the newer one working... Having had a good shufty on the Net, I'm now prepared to try swapping out the power supply units when I next get a spare few hours. So if this update doesn't get posted you'll know I electrocuted myself in the process... Mind, I'm not sure when I'll next have a few spare hours. My weekends all look full between now and mid-May and I've got a few other things to do on my free Fridays at the moment (Film Fest, Jazz Fest, Day at The Races, washing, ironing, sleeping...). That said, I have also made some tentative steps in the re-design of my website. I've got a proper front page in the making and have worked out what I want on the site itself. so I haven't been totally slacking off. Honest. Oh, and I have taken some tentative steps towards getting a bit fitter. Not only am I popping the old pills (see previous entry) but the fitness referral from my doc has come through and I've got a whole range of options to choose form - sessions in the gym, swimming, Tai Chi - but the one that appealed to me most was the "Sit and Be Fit" classes. Yep, sitting in a chair and moving a bit, that suits me! Mind you, the way my blood pressure is soaring, despite the pills, I don't think they'll even let me do that at the moment... Talking of a day at the races, I'm no gambling man but, in preparation for the forthcoming works outing to Uttoxeter races, I followed the form at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and tipped a few horses. I only started on the second day and I didn't go as far as actually putting money on them. (I firmly believe you should only gamble with money you can afford to lose, and I can't afford to lose any at the moment.) Which was just as well because I would have been a fair few quids poorer by the end of the week. I didn't pick a single winner, managing only four placings out of the 22 horses I tipped. Even in the Gold Cup, which was meant to be a two-horse race, I couldn't pick the winner. Mind, at least I tipped Denman, rather than Kauto Star, who fell. It wasn't a particularly encouraging start to my new sideline as a tipster, but then I wasn't alone in not picking the winners - only the bookmakers went home with more money than they started with. (No change there!) Even so, I'll not be giving up the day job just yet. Anybody who has been checking me out on Facebook will also know that me ma has given us all a bit of a scare recently. She ended up in hospital with what turned out to be fractured vertebrae. That's bad enough but, given the state she was in when she was admitted we were fearing the worst. As were the medical staff who put her through a whole heap of tests. She's on the mend now, although still in the hospital while they feed her up and get her back sorted. I have been over to see her a couple of times (a round trip of some 210 miles or so, fact fans) and, to be honest, it has been the first time in a while when I've regretted not being able to drive. Not because I've any great desire to see me mother, of course, but because I could have done some driving and saved my sister from having to do it all. Not that she'd have thanked me - IF I could drive I'd probably have a knackered old Land Rover or something equally uncomfortable! Anyway, in order to take my mind off my poorly ma, I went to The Box last Friday night to see The Lockdown make a return to Crewe for a rare gig. They were ably supported by several assemblages of young things. There was one lot just finishing as we arrived, but I didn't hear enough of them to form an opinion. Can't remember who they were either, but I think they were All Is Falling. They were followed by another female-fronted band in Angel Range, who showed promise. They were pretty good, in fact. Then there was the quirky, slightly different Swim Into Scarlet, who have already come to the attention of the BBC. They started things off with an instrumental track, which I think is a neat idea - it confounds the expectations. They then gave us an interesting set, full of old skool indie riffing (notes of early Orange Juice) with some of the doom-laden angst you expect from teenagers. Nothing I saw changed my opinion from last time, that they could develop into something special. Last up, of course, were headliners The Lockdown, who sounded pretty good despite having only had one rehearsal. (Mind they have played these songs a few times - they ought to be able to do them in their sleep!) I may, of course, be slightly biased, but I did (once again) find myself wondering why these guys hadn't decided to give it a go full-time? They've certainly got the tunes and a year or so of hard gigging round the country, getting their faces and songs in front of more critical audiences, would do them the world of good. And finally Jazz Fest. Or, as it's properly known, The Nantwich Jazz & Blues Music Festival. This year's event was the 14th and once again, seems to have been a big success, so far. I didn't get to see The Blockheads on the Friday night as I chose to go to Morecambe to watch Crewe (and the less said about that the better!). I didn't get out to see any of the bands on Saturday either, but joined the Easter Sunday throng for the traditional twenty minutes of queueing at the bars and toilets and occasionally seeing a live band. I did actually want to get to the White Horse to see the Salt City Jazzmen, who are still a fine trad-jazz act, but my companions refused to go, so I managed to get through the day without seeing any Jazz at all. In fact, all I saw were the rock covers band Mutha Humbucker, the acoustic warblings of Silken and my ex-colleague's blues band, Steamy Windows. It was a good day out, although considering I started at 1pm, the fact I was still awake and standing at 10.30 was something of a minor miracle. There are some more acts on today but I won't be seeing them as I'm off to watch my little smashers, Crewe, again, despite Friday's result. Go on, stick your oar in: ...but at least my thyroid function tests were normal...Saturday 27th FebruaryHaving had a few Free Fridays now, I ought to have done a bit more than a few web updates. Admittedly, the web updates did need doing, but I've not yet got round to doing any of the other things I thought I'd get round to doing. So I've made a little list, let none of them are missed. Now all I've got to do is make a list of places that I could have put that list, so I can find it and remind myself of the stupid things I said I'd do... No, not really. I was kind of hesitant about sharing the list though, if only because you chaps will keep reminding me about the things that I haven't done. (I seem to remember saying I was going to learn to drive a couple of years back, for example. Road users will be relieved to know that I haven't managed it...) Anyway, here it is - Jim's To Do List for 2010 or beyond...
Anyway, I swear my doctor is actually making me sicker. I went the other week and my blood pressure was high (160 over 110) and then later in the day I was struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea. I went back last week (having been sick all week) and my blood pressure was even higher (180 over 120, fact fans) and the results of my blood tests showed that I had high cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes! The only good news was that my thyroid functions appeared normal and my liver function tests showed an improvement. (Probably because I don't drink anywhere near as much as I used to!) So I'm on ACE inhibitors for the blood pressure, statins for the cholesterol and can look forward to some prescribed exercise. Woo hoo! I have to confess that I bought Mojo magazine last month. Normally, I avoid buying it as it seems to be aimed at middle-aged men still desperately believing the 1970s were the best decade ever. But they lured me in with a free CD of various artistes covering the songs on Syd Barrett's 'The Madcap Laughs' album, an article about said album, an article on the recording of Captain Beefheart's 'Safe As Milk' album and a feature on Dr Feelgood. And once again I found myself conned. The cover CD has three decent covers on it - REM and Robyn Hitchcock (separately) doing 'Dark Globe' and Marc Almond doing 'Late Night'. The rest, well, the rest don't add anything to the orginals. Which is kind of a surprise given the album was mostly Syd and his guitar. In fact, some of them are pretty awful - I'll quite happily pay to never have to hear The Besnard Lakes' version of 'Love You' ever again. Luckily the article about the genesis of the original Madcap Laughs album, including a bit about the cover art, was pretty interesting. And the article on Dr Feelgood was worth reading. The Beefheart one less so. It was basically an extract from John 'Drumbo' French's book, and he clearly has an axe to grind. Anyway, given that you can still get The Madcap Laughs for only £4.98 from Amazon, I recommend it as being better value than shelling out £4.50 for Mojo's pee-poor cover CD. Heck, even £4.50's worth of Mojos are better value! Still on a music tip, I made a rare trip out to see old faves, Sgt Wolfbanger at The Box t'other night. I might not have gone along, to be honest, as the credit crunch is biting hard, but I scooped a few quid on the Lottery. Not the jackpot, of course, but four numbers and enough for a couple of nights out. (Hey, even dwarves started out small.) I think there were four bands on the bill but by the time Jules and I had stopped chatting in the pub (I say "chatting" but really it was just Jules letting off steam about Cheshire East councillors, The Alex, and other general stuff) it was a quarter after nine so we missed the first band on. Apologies to you, Proud Proud People, I'm sure you were excellent. The second band on, Swim Into Scarlet, were all about 15, looked about 12, and were actually pretty good. They gave us a bit of an old skool indie sound with nods to Wire, Gang of Four and the like. With a little more practice and a bit more adventure they could develop into something special. The third band The Fears had a stadium-friendly sound - all big guitars, pounding rhythm section and epic vocals. It sounded slightly out of place in the tight confines of The Box, but if you closed your eyes and imagined yourself in a field somewhere it sounded perfect. Finally, Wolfbanger closed the night with another solid set. They even surprised us by chucking in a couple of new numbers, which fitted in seamlessly. And all too soon it was over. Another top notch night out. Might find time (and cash) for another one soon! Go on, stick your oar in: Paris is in India???Sunday 31st January 2010Books, glorious books. Something and something for cooling the blood. Or maybe not. Have to admit that I haven't really spent much time reading for the last year or so. There was always something more interesting on the Internet to grab my attention... Even when I couldn't watch the television (aerial troubles, compounded by the digital switchover, you really don't want to know) I didn't read much, preferring to waste my time on the Interweb. Anyway, I've acquired a few books recently so have started to read again. Well, I say 'read' but, to be honest, some these haven't been read so much as dipped in and out of at various times.
Well, that's it for now. I'm afraid my plan to avoid buying cheap DVDs went out of the window and I've got a few more to watch. But I'll save them for the next update - I've got to get round to watching them all at some point! Go on, stick your oar in: Yours sincerely, Albert EinsteinFriday 22nd January 2010Who says the blog is dead? Well, obviously mine was until I got my day off... It's the third of my non-working Fridays (not counting New Years Day, obviously) and already I've done a second update for the website. That's as many as I managed in the last six months of last year! Not that I should be feeling proud of that because I haven't managed to do any of the other things I was thinking I could on my free day. Admittedly, some of my plans have not been helped by the recent cold weather. Most of my first free Friday was spent shivering under a duvet on the sofa, watching telly and trying to keep warm. It was so cold, fact fans, that pipes INSIDE my house froze. And whilst I've become used to the condensation freezing on the inside of my windows during the winter (especially the North-facing ones) I wasn't expecting the deep coating of frost on the inside of my bathroom window which I hope you can see in this lovely photo.
And, before you say it, I do know that it gets cold in the winter, thank you. But this year it got a lot colder a lot earlier than usual. Last time we had any snow laying for this sort of length of time, I was still at school! And I don't remember school closing at the time. I think we got an afternoon off when the heating broke once, but there was none of this nonsense about conditions being dangerous. It's OK though, I'm not bitter... Anyway, this week's tedious list covers my recent-ish music purchases. Given that I've not mentioned much in the way of music purchases in a good nine months, the definition of 'recent' must be taken fairly loosely.
Hhhmmm, having looked at that list I perhaps should have prefaced it as being my recent purchases of ancient music... Don't think I've bought anything that's been recorded in the 21st Century! Oh well. Never mind. Anyway, that's enough for this free Friday update. Next time I really will get round to talking about the books I've been reading. Honest. Go on, stick your oar in: You don't think you shine, but you do. But. You. Do.Saturday 16th January 2010Thought I'd get an update in before Christmas, but I never managed it. So anyway, what capers. What comedy capers. Since I was last with you, my company has had a round of redundancies. It's never a happy time when your company has to lose staff, especially as there wasn't much indication that this was coming. I wasn't one of the unlucky few this time round which, with my track record, was a pleasant surprise. A slightly less pleasant surprise was finding ou a few weeks later that the company had taken me up on my proposal and that from the 1st january, I've been working a four day week. Part of me doesn't mind - I like the idea of a four day week, to be honest - but I'd rather still be getting paid the same amount of money. Still, it's better than working no days a week, I suppose and does serve me right for volunteering. Just got to make sure I use the days off to do all the other stuff I keep saying I'd do if only I had the time... As if getting an extra day off every week wasn't enough excitement for me, I managed to lose my wallet. There wasn't much cash in it but it did have my bank card, credit card and Crewe Alex season ticket. Not to mention my lottery ticket... In an early morning stupor, I'd forgotten to put it back in my pocket after I bought my ticket on the train. (The 8.33 London Midland from Crewe to London Euston, fact fans.) I got off at Alsager and went to work but my wallet didn't. I realised I was wallet-less about fifteen minutes after I got off the train. Luckily, while I was panicking, my boss found me a number for London Midland and I was able to explain to James at Customer Services my predicament. He tracked the train to Stafford, made a phone call or two and rang me back to tell me the train manager had found my wallet and left it at Stafford for me to collect. Not only that but all my cards and cash were still in it. Thank feck for that! I borrowed some cash and hopped on next train to Stafford to be re-united with said wallet. I didn't know whether to jump for joy, cry with relief or punch myself in the face for being so stupid. I owe someone up there big time. The problem with the sporadic updates is that I forget things. For example, whilst writing down stuff that I've done recently for this update, I remembered that I went to the cinema to see Funny People a while back. So much of a while back, in fact, that I should have included it in the last update. Anyway, luckily it's not a third entry in the Babs Streisand's Funny Girl/Funny Lady series, but a Judd Apatow comedy starring Adam Sandler. It was alright and not certainly not the dumb-fest of other Apatow films (Knocked Up, Zohan, etc). In fact, despite the laughs, it's a noticeably darker film than some of Apatow's others - neither lead character is particularly likeable and the shadow of death and unfulfilled lives hang over everything. It does have a lot of funny moments and funny lines but it's not one I'll be rushing out to get on DVD, to be honest. Unless it's going really cheap, of course. More enjoyable as a cinematic treat was Sherlock Holmes. It's an enjoyable romp through Victorian London, starring Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Doctor Watson. It's directed by Guy Ritchie but is thankfully short of cockernee gangster-types. In fact, I didn't even realise it was Guy Ritchie film till I saw the credits. Anyway, it's a cracking movie even if it does take some liberties with Conan Doyle's most famous detective. Certainly anyone raised on Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett's iconic portrayals of Holmes will be gnashing their teeth but I think Downey does a good job and Law's Watson is much closer to the literary Watson than others have been. and there's two decent villains in the movie and a nice set up for any sequel. Definitely worth going to see. Of course now, I'm on reduced wages, I'm either going to have to cut out the buying of cheap DVDs or buy stuff that's even cheaper that what I've been picking up recently. Either way, this is probably going to be the only list of DVDs I do this year, unless Morrisons/Amazon/HMV/whoever start knocking them out at 50p...
And that's your lot for this brief update. Next time (hopefully next week) I'll give you a proper run down on some of the music that I've bought recently and a rare glimpse into my reading habits. Well, I say habits, but the truth is, I don't actually read that much and have only recently started ploughing through a few books. I might also include some photos - I've got a load from Christmas that I haven't uploaded yet. Don't hold your breath though. Go on, stick your oar in: the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justiceSunday 8th NovemberWell, I was going to start with the usual apologies for the delay between updates, but frankly, it's been so long any apology would be meaningless, and besides I've had other stuff to do. Not that I can guarantee to have remembered all of it. So, where to start? Well, how about a few highlights? Nantwich Show - As usual I dragged my nephews round the Nantwich Show and International Cheese Festival. And as usual (or at least usual for the last three years) it was a tad damp. I took some pictures, of course, and a video of the rather underwhelming stunt biker and you can see them on my Nantwich Show 2009 set on flickr. I'm kind of getting used to the mud at the show now, but once again was left wondering why there was no metal roadway put down at the entrance to the showground. The main route up to the cheese marquee must have been about two inches deep in slurry-like mud by the time we left. Lord knows how anyone with a wheelchair or a pushchair coped with it. If I was organising the event, that would have been the first place I put any roadway. Holiday - For the first time in ages I had a proper going-away holiday. A week with my sister and her family at the Pontins Holiday Park in Caister-on-Sea. And very nice and relaxing it was too. The weather even stayed nice all week. It was raining on the day we arrived, but after that it was pretty much sunshine all the way. We had a couple of days out at the Caister Castle Car Collection and the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre but mostly we stayed on site.
UA Europe Conference - For the first time in ages I managed to persuade an employer to send me off to a conference. I couldn't manage to get them to stump up for me to go to LavaCon in New Orleans, sadly, so had to make do with the UA Conference in Cardiff. Can't say I've had any great times in Cardiff, to be honest, but that's probably because I've only been there to see Crewe get beaten... Anyway, that all changed this time round, because I had a great time - met some good people, learned some interesting things, heard some inspirational presentations and even managed to get a beer or two down me neck. Not sure exactly how much of it is directly applicable to my work at the moment (apart from the single-sourcing stuff) but all very interesting in a geeky way. Did you know that HTML 5 is coming, for example? I didn't. Crewe Alexandra - Have to start wondering what's going on down at Gresty Road these days. Amid rumours of impending financial meltdown, the club have sacked a manager for the second time in less than year. I wasn't too disappointed to see Gudjon Thordarson get the heave-ho, to be honest, because we weren't playing attractive football, weren't winning and weren't developing our young players for the future. We lost two promising Academy graduates to Stoke during the summer due to GT's attitude towards them, apparently, That's not to say GT didn't do some good things - he signed two useful central defenders from non-league for nothing, got Zola fit enough to play 12 games in a row, sent a couple of lads to Iceland to get more experience and got rid of a lot of useless players over the summer. Sadly, he also sold two of our better players for next to nothing. In the end a run of four defeats including a dismal thrashing at Accrington Stanley and a woeful home loss to Bury was enough for the board to pull the plug. Dario has stepped into the breach once more and with only one training session got the team playing football again. There were promising signs in the defeat at home to Rotherham (although the defence and goalkeeper still looked suspect) and then a good win at Bradford. A painful loss at home to local rivals Port Vale got some fans grumbling, and they grumbled some more after the defeat at Notts County, but the recovery appeared to have started with a fine win at Cheltenham. Sadly, it all went titsup yesterday at York, where Crewe looked comfortable for 85 minutes and then conceded two late goals to crash out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle. I think there might be a bit more pain to come before we settle down and start fulfilling our potential. At least we can concentrate on the league now! In the longer term, Dario is pretty much likely to remain in charge till the end of the season and then things will be reviewed. Hopefully this signals the start of a proper succession plan, with assistant manager Steve Davis being groomed by Dario to gradually step up and take over first team affairs. Onwards and upwards. Hopefully. Music stuff - Probably forgotten at least one of the gigs I've been to in the last couple of months, so apologies if you were expecting me to review your band. One of the things I can remember is that Sgt Wolfbanger have finally put their album out. 'Think Inside The Box', is the name of it and it's available from all good record sellers. And some crap ones. Actually, you can download it track-by-track from Amazon, or order the CD (cheaper than the download) online from bigCartel. Another of the things I can remember is going to see Wolfbanger, along with Bathroom Crooners and Heebie Jeebies supporting Slow Club. Bathroom Crooners opened the night. I liked them when I saw them last time, but this time I was a little disappointed. I think I was probably disappointed by the lack of original material as much as anything. They were just breaking in a new drummer and so were working round that, but I wanted to hear their songs not their covers of other people's. But maybe that was just me. Still think they can live without the ukulele cover of a Peaches song though. The other thing I noticed was that lead singer Sam was stuck behind his keyboards all gig, even when he didn't actually play them on a song. Think he needs to find a way to get out from behind them every now and then, to be honest - break the barrier the keyboards create. Next up were Sgt Wolfbanger, who were excellent as usual. Frontman Dan (that's a description by the way, not a nickname like he's in some Guy Ritchie-directed gangster musical) has really grown into the role and has a real stage presence now. Buy their album, see how good they are. Or at least check out their myspace page. Penultimate band were Rotherham's Heebie Jeebies. Frankly, I could live without ever hearing from them again. Their recorded material is riff-heavy stuff marred by sub-Libertines vocal stylings. Live, they were a godawful, shouty mess. Finally, boy-girl-acoustic-duo, Slow Club. I was fearful of a twee-cum-kitsch overload and they were a bit winsome at times. but overall they were very entertaining in a light acoustic American-folk-type way. Best moment of all was probably their totally acoustic encore in the middle of the audience. The other musical extravaganza I recall is the inaugural Club Sumo night at Square One in Crewe. I have to say, first off, that being slightly drunk, I probably wasn't in the best position to judge how good it was. On the other hand, I can tell you that when acoustic song boy Chris whatever-his-name-was started off down the other end of the pub, I couldn't hear him properly over the murmurings of the assembled throng. It was a situation easily resolved by moving down to the other end of the pub, but I reckon it wouldn't have hurt to have turned his mic and guitar up a bit. Unlike the Sumo Kings, who kicked off their set with the guitars turned down and the bass prominent in the mix, giving us a garage-rock sound reminiscent of Pere Ubu. Sadly they ruined it by turning the guitars and vocals up and then they sounded a lot like any other shouty indie band. They're a good shouty indie band, make no mistake, but we're not short of those. Anyway, in the midst of all that, you'll be delighted to know I've continued splurging on the old cheapo DVDs. And I've bought a few as well...
And that really is enough for now. Hopefully next time, I'll be able to tell you how hilarious William Shatner's latest book is, or list the CDs by bands you've never heard of that I have purchased. I doubt it though - I'll probably be spending most of the time apologising for the lack of updates, assuming you haven't lost interest. Just remember, the update arc of the fatfakir universe is long but it bends towards eventuality... Go on, stick your oar in: |