I had one of those 'what's the world coming to' moments last Friday.  Yes sports stadium regulations in the name of  'health & safety' never cease to amaze me.  I've been refused entry before on the grounds of carrying offensive sandwiches but this time it was umbrellas!  I wouldn't have minded so much but it was raining (I don't normally carry an umbrella when it's dry).  So after a 20 minute walk from the car park to a well-known brand new stadium in St Helens it was a case of  'ditch your brolly or be gone'.  The problem with all these incidents is that although I'm laughing about it now at the time the only thing you want to do is to allow the steward who gave the order a much closer inspection of the item.  The point is it's all getting rather silly in my opinion.  Refusing food and drink is simply a commercial decision, but an umbrella (unopened I might add) is hardly an offensive weapon, except at the point when a punter is told they can't take it inside with them.

GIGS
There wasn't supposed to be a gig last week but in the end I did play one with BitterSweetShop at the New Conservatory in Leeds.  It was raining (again) which meant it wasn't so busy and I got wet walking to the gig.  (I'll save moaning about car parking charges in Leeds for another time!).  Thankfully, having got soaked getting there, the gig was rather good.  Perhaps the smaller audience helped because all present were listening to what we were doing which gave it a nice intimate atmosphere.  The room sounded good too.  Definetly a succesful gig I think.
This weekend I'm playing at being a working musician again with covers gigs in Bradford and Lincolnshire.

INTERNET
Things are hotting up a bit on Twitter at the moment, which I've finally decided is the best site to promote oneself.  If you're a tweeter but not a follower of mine then please find me and follow me by clicking here:  FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER 
I should add of course that it's only my favourite site until they'll probably decide to change everything!

LISTENING TO MUSIC
My latest listening of the week started with the new album by Rumur 'Boys Don't Cry'.  I enjoyed the last Rumur album and this one is very good too.   There's still a lot of Karen Carpenter in her sound although this time less so.  Nonetheless I find it a relaxing experience hearing her music.
I then moved onto 'Season's End' by Marillion which is actually my first proper taste of their music.  It's everything I hoped for but unfortunately ends up being a bit of a poorman's Genesis album.  They sound very similar but without the finesse or melodic inspiration.  Simple Minds' 'Street Fighting Years' album lacks any inspiration and depsite the mouth-watering prospect of Trevor Horn producing them  I found the album very hard-going with messy arrangements, over-long songs and nothing really solid in the songwriting department.
I'm currently on with Shakespear's Sister's  'Sacred Heart' album.  I love Marcella Detroit's voice but unfortunately this album is predominantly Siobhan Fahey with Detroit only on selected tracks.  Her vocal range is about 3 tones which is ironic given that Marcy's is about 300.  Then again maybe that contrast is what makes a succesful duo!

By next week I should have seen my hero Tom Petty perform live so will fill you in on that one next time.