Last Week...

A quick blog this week, as I was out on business* on Tuesday and now it's getting towards the end of Friday afternoon...not a great time for doing anything productive! I don't think there's been any gigs since last Tuesday. No there weren't. I enjoyed the hot weekend and have generally been spending more time outdoors than usual recently. Yesterday I think I found a new potential favourite place in the country at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I tend to think of favourite places as needing to be further away but sometimes ones close to home are good too. There's something about this place, and it isnt't the free entry! I could go back and just wander round, planning things and suchlike, lovely place.

*Well, I spent all afternoon at a pub in Upper Mill (also very beautiful) and then went to see Mark Knopfler at MEN Arena, (See below).

This Week:
It gets a bit more exciting with a long-awaited Altanta Soul gig tonight at the Bakers Vaults in Stockport. Then tomorrow (Sat 29th) it's the first 30 minute appearance of the acousitc 3-piece at The Hole In T'Wall, as part of the Big Green Weekend in Hebden Bridge. Our slot is at 9pm.

A-Z of Music:
I've now watched all 4 hours of the Tom Petty documentary, and found out a great deal. I enjoyed it very much. There's more depth to the man than I'd previously thought of, but it inspired me to keep going and to stay true to my particular dreams, which I guess is the general idea!

Mark Knopfler has written one of my all-time favourite songs (Brothers In Arms) and has the sort of guitar sound and feel for melody that causes instant air-guitar moments. I remember once having one of those moments in a record shop when 'Boom Like That' came on. My biggest cause for concern here was that it was in the Arena and I don't have him down as being a big venue performer. Sure enough, with Mark sitting down for the whole show due to a back injury, it hardly rivalled Queen in those stakes. His mumbling vocal-style meant it was hard to hear the words at first, and I wondered how much patience the audience would have, given the way people are these days.

Luckily it improved as it went on and I think he just about got the show to carry. Certainly the response was much better than for others I've seen who were stood up! The band sounded superb, it's just a pity that it didn't rock a bit more. When I saw Chris Rea in March I was tired by the end as I fed off his energy and the effort he puts in.


Moan of the week:

A non-musical one this week, although it could apply to any situation. My question is this: Why do I always get stood next to the guy at Rugby League matches who feels the need to constantly slag off his own team from half an hour BEFORE kick-off, until the end of the match??

I mean, surely it would be better to save the £18 and stay at home and moan. That way they could avoid inflicting themselves on everybody else. I find myself often commenting on the need to stay away from negativity, but this was a whole tirade. Poor lads, everything our team did was wrong, why not support the opposition instead? Why not just shut the fuck up, as I said to him about 10 minutes into the match. It didn't work of course. But I'm glad I said it.

I've been in bands with people like that too. I'm sure I've done it myself. In fact I'm doing it now, a moan about moaners. But surely when it gets so bad it's time to think: What am I doing here, and how must I sound to other people, right: I'll shut the fuck up.

I'll be standing in a slightly different place this Sunday :)