Tuesday, May 22, 2007
I'm feeling better. In fact I feel kind of great.
What is this up and down bollocks? Some kind of bi-polar nonsense? I've read up a bit about it, but I refuse to diagnose medical conditions that I may or may not be suffering from via the Internet, and I will not allow myself to become a hypochondriac, like my Mom.
I have about an hour and a half before I need to go. Time for some writing and catching up, yes?
Yes. I think so.
Thursday night my Brother and I went to see From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler).
Put your protective clothing on. I have a big statement to make.
From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) at the Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton was the best gig I have ever seen. Seriously.
Of course, they were not The Jam. They could not be The Jam without Weller, but I doubt that Weller could have made the gig any more powerful, any more fun, any more exciting or any more lively. Lead singer/guitarist Russell Hastings did a perfect rendition of the Weller bark, and he and second guitarist Dave Moore (cunningly hidden behind a keyboard or standing towards the back of the stage, so sustaining the illusion of the 3 piece), played those very tasty power chords perfectly.
Rick Buckler may look these days like the oldest man in creation, but Bruce Foxton has not aged a day, and the greatest rhythm section to come out of the British New Wave played with total passion. Total energy from band and audience, from beginning to end. Just magnificent. A dream come true.
You see, I loved The Jam from the very early days. They were the one band (except for The Beatles, of course) that I had always regretted never seeing. The first single that I picked up on was "The Modern World" (which spoke to me) and from then on they were my band. They became really big in the UK towards the end of 1979, when the "The Eton Rifles" single went top 3 and from then on they belonged to everybody.
I assumed that they were going to play the big singles ("Going Underground", "The Eton Rifles", "Start" and "A Town Called Malice") and they did and they were brilliant, but I hoped and prayed that they would play those songs that I loved. The early singles. The album tracks. The songs that I had never forgotten the words to, even 25 years later.
And they did.
"Thick As Thieves", "The Modern World", "Boy About Town", "Pretty Green", "Life From A Window", "In The Crowd" (sadly without the extended coda), "In The City", "When You're Young", "Strange Town", "David Watts", "News Of The World", "Down In A Tube Station At Midnight", "Little Boy Soldiers", "That's Entertainment", lots of others, and one of my absolute favourites, the song that I wept all the way through while they were playing it, "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have A Nice Time)" (by the way, the greatest Britpop hangover song of all time and it was released 16 years before Britpop happened).
This is not much of a post. I find it difficult to put gut feelings into words, because the words are not strong enough. It was a gig that I definitely felt in my gut.
The greatest gig of all time. For me. And I'm going to do it again. We have obtained tickets for the show that From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) are doing at the Carling Academy in Birmingham, as part of the November/December tour. Tickets still available, guys and girls.
How much of this happy time was down to alcohol, I couldn't say. Let me put it this way. My Brother and I had several brews before we even got to the venue. San Miguel, Coors, Becks, Magners, something else that escapes me. We got to the venue late. Luckily the sound check was still in progress. We had some more to drink, checked out the numerous Ben Sherman, Lambretta, and assorted Union Jack and target tee shirts, before the doors opened and we charged to the front, up against the barriers.
A lady (who looked very much like the Suburban Hen, only about 10 years older) and her teenage son were standing behind us. We engaged them in conversation. I was a silver tongued devil and successfully channelled George Clooney. The lady told me that in 1982 her Dad wouldn't let her go to see The Jam on their farewell tour date at Bingley Hall and that this had always annoyed her. She said that now she ran her own business with her husband. Husband? Pah!
We drank some more. We bought them drinks. They bought us drinks. My Brother told me later that I had pulled and should have gone for it. Rubbish. It was just innocent flirting. I've never pulled in my life.
Going for a piss I ran into a guy from work who was with his mate. His mate had a head like a fish. Huge bulging eyes. I couldn't see any fish scales, but they might have been there. He was scary looking. I shook his flipper and went on my way.
From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) came on. There was a massive crush. My Brother and I got the lady and her boy, who were being buffeted in the maelstrom, in front of us. I can be a gentleman when I try. We sang. We danced. We got very sweaty.
And something happened, way, way later. One minute I was at the front, singing at the top of my voice, and the next my Brother had me in a vice like grip under my armpits and was dragging me out. (My Brother is only a little taller than me, but he is wide and he is strong. I once said to him that if I was ever in a life or death fight, he was the one person I would want behind me. I asked him who he would have behind him. He said, Mike Tyson. Bastard.) My Brother said I had passed out. Eh? No. Yes. So I saw the rest of the gig (not much of it left) from the sidelines, fresh drink in hand.
It took us ages to find the Metro station. ("Which way did we come?" "Fucked if I know, Bro".) That was a laugh, especially when we found out the the Metro was not going to be visiting Wolverhampton due to a problem with the points earlier. My Brother was extremely pissed off, but I thought it was funny. Eventually we got a bus to West Bromwich and then the Metro to the city centre. We couldn't find any pubs open, so we both went home.
Bananas, water, milk, cereal, toast. No hangover for me, thank you very much.
Great night
3 movie reviews to come, but I have gotta be going.
Everybody sing along now...
"What kind of a fool do you think I am?"
"You think I know nothing of the modern world..."
What is this up and down bollocks? Some kind of bi-polar nonsense? I've read up a bit about it, but I refuse to diagnose medical conditions that I may or may not be suffering from via the Internet, and I will not allow myself to become a hypochondriac, like my Mom.
I have about an hour and a half before I need to go. Time for some writing and catching up, yes?
Yes. I think so.
Thursday night my Brother and I went to see From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler).
Put your protective clothing on. I have a big statement to make.
From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) at the Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton was the best gig I have ever seen. Seriously.
Of course, they were not The Jam. They could not be The Jam without Weller, but I doubt that Weller could have made the gig any more powerful, any more fun, any more exciting or any more lively. Lead singer/guitarist Russell Hastings did a perfect rendition of the Weller bark, and he and second guitarist Dave Moore (cunningly hidden behind a keyboard or standing towards the back of the stage, so sustaining the illusion of the 3 piece), played those very tasty power chords perfectly.
Rick Buckler may look these days like the oldest man in creation, but Bruce Foxton has not aged a day, and the greatest rhythm section to come out of the British New Wave played with total passion. Total energy from band and audience, from beginning to end. Just magnificent. A dream come true.
You see, I loved The Jam from the very early days. They were the one band (except for The Beatles, of course) that I had always regretted never seeing. The first single that I picked up on was "The Modern World" (which spoke to me) and from then on they were my band. They became really big in the UK towards the end of 1979, when the "The Eton Rifles" single went top 3 and from then on they belonged to everybody.
I assumed that they were going to play the big singles ("Going Underground", "The Eton Rifles", "Start" and "A Town Called Malice") and they did and they were brilliant, but I hoped and prayed that they would play those songs that I loved. The early singles. The album tracks. The songs that I had never forgotten the words to, even 25 years later.
And they did.
"Thick As Thieves", "The Modern World", "Boy About Town", "Pretty Green", "Life From A Window", "In The Crowd" (sadly without the extended coda), "In The City", "When You're Young", "Strange Town", "David Watts", "News Of The World", "Down In A Tube Station At Midnight", "Little Boy Soldiers", "That's Entertainment", lots of others, and one of my absolute favourites, the song that I wept all the way through while they were playing it, "To Be Someone (Didn't We Have A Nice Time)" (by the way, the greatest Britpop hangover song of all time and it was released 16 years before Britpop happened).
This is not much of a post. I find it difficult to put gut feelings into words, because the words are not strong enough. It was a gig that I definitely felt in my gut.
The greatest gig of all time. For me. And I'm going to do it again. We have obtained tickets for the show that From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) are doing at the Carling Academy in Birmingham, as part of the November/December tour. Tickets still available, guys and girls.
How much of this happy time was down to alcohol, I couldn't say. Let me put it this way. My Brother and I had several brews before we even got to the venue. San Miguel, Coors, Becks, Magners, something else that escapes me. We got to the venue late. Luckily the sound check was still in progress. We had some more to drink, checked out the numerous Ben Sherman, Lambretta, and assorted Union Jack and target tee shirts, before the doors opened and we charged to the front, up against the barriers.
A lady (who looked very much like the Suburban Hen, only about 10 years older) and her teenage son were standing behind us. We engaged them in conversation. I was a silver tongued devil and successfully channelled George Clooney. The lady told me that in 1982 her Dad wouldn't let her go to see The Jam on their farewell tour date at Bingley Hall and that this had always annoyed her. She said that now she ran her own business with her husband. Husband? Pah!
We drank some more. We bought them drinks. They bought us drinks. My Brother told me later that I had pulled and should have gone for it. Rubbish. It was just innocent flirting. I've never pulled in my life.
Going for a piss I ran into a guy from work who was with his mate. His mate had a head like a fish. Huge bulging eyes. I couldn't see any fish scales, but they might have been there. He was scary looking. I shook his flipper and went on my way.
From The Jam (Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) came on. There was a massive crush. My Brother and I got the lady and her boy, who were being buffeted in the maelstrom, in front of us. I can be a gentleman when I try. We sang. We danced. We got very sweaty.
And something happened, way, way later. One minute I was at the front, singing at the top of my voice, and the next my Brother had me in a vice like grip under my armpits and was dragging me out. (My Brother is only a little taller than me, but he is wide and he is strong. I once said to him that if I was ever in a life or death fight, he was the one person I would want behind me. I asked him who he would have behind him. He said, Mike Tyson. Bastard.) My Brother said I had passed out. Eh? No. Yes. So I saw the rest of the gig (not much of it left) from the sidelines, fresh drink in hand.
It took us ages to find the Metro station. ("Which way did we come?" "Fucked if I know, Bro".) That was a laugh, especially when we found out the the Metro was not going to be visiting Wolverhampton due to a problem with the points earlier. My Brother was extremely pissed off, but I thought it was funny. Eventually we got a bus to West Bromwich and then the Metro to the city centre. We couldn't find any pubs open, so we both went home.
Bananas, water, milk, cereal, toast. No hangover for me, thank you very much.
Great night
3 movie reviews to come, but I have gotta be going.
Everybody sing along now...
"What kind of a fool do you think I am?"
"You think I know nothing of the modern world..."
# posted by Pynchon @ 10:08 am 
Comments:
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I rented "The Good German" today based on your review of the movie. I'm saving it for Friday night's pleasure. you haven't steered me wrong yet on a review, lets hope this one is dead on as well.
Bi-polar? Sorry, you aren't postal enough to be bi-polar. maybe you can work on that though.
Bi-polar? Sorry, you aren't postal enough to be bi-polar. maybe you can work on that though.
daisy: Didn't I say that that the cinematography was wonderful, but that it was really cold and empty? Something like that.
hen: You looked good, but your boy wasn't up to much.
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hen: You looked good, but your boy wasn't up to much.
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