4 May 2005

Would it be boring to mention the general election? No one I know seems to be talking about it which makes me think it's a foregone conclusion, New Labour are going to be back again and we'll have another five years of the Blair gink. But that's the main thrust of the Conservative campaign isn't it? But Tonykins (Modified Socialism) might prove infinitely less grating than the affable but psychotic headmaster (Conservative), or the Yorkshire pork butcher from Scotland (Liberal Democrat). Faced with such a choice the temptation is not to bother but I could well do without another five years of people who didn't bother moaning about the current state of things, so I'm going to do the best I can. I think I'll vote for the Green Party just to break things up a bit. But probably if they got into power they'd turn out to be a bunch of yoghurt weaving neo-Nazis. But it's not the winning, it's the taking part. Some twat had to say that so I just did.

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Ipswich was pretty good the other Saturday. The Steamboat has undergone a refurbishment since it was John Peel's favourite venue - not that it probably ever was John Peel's favourite venue but he lived nearby (as in a considerable drive away out into the sticks, but in the same county) and you know how people talk. Why there's even a band here in Norwich who touted themselves as John Peel's favourite band for a while. He probably just played their record. I wish I'd understood about hype when I was a young man. Anyway, the Steamboat is stuck somewhere between scruffy pub and aspiring bistro, in abandoned conversion job mode. But the sound was good and the staff were friendly and the audience were very appreciative even though they were mostly middle-aged men accompanied by the odd long-suffering wife - I wish these people would start bringing their daughters along, they'd cheer things up - I know mine would. Christ I'm starting to sound middle-aged myself but never mind, I still managed to do a two hour set without getting tedious. The next night, at the Social in Nottingham, I felt slightly unfocused but I pulled it together in the end. It was like playing in a cross between a bus station and a communist sauna with the heat turned off . But then again they've got a good PA in there and the staff are friendly and helpful so I should be kinder than that sounded. I like the Social, even when the air conditioning's turned up full. Here are a couple of pictures from Ipswich (one on top of the other), taken by Jeff Higgot who promoted the event. (Thanks Jeff. I wish I was better looking though.)

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17 May 2005

There should be time to pass comment on the the election result - how did he get in again? - would it have made any difference if the other git had, or would it turn out to be infinitely worse? All it takes for a change to happen is for Blair, having written himself into the annals of history, to piss off into the sunset and launch into a never ending (and highly lucrative) lecture tour of the USA, and then some other self-seeking fool can take over and effect what they'll no doubt call a positive and very real change for the better. But never mind - there's no time round here to discuss all that because I've got a never ending (and no doubt highly un-lucractive) European tour to be getting on with. It starts tomorrow, May 18th, in Liege, and it just so happens it's my birthday. I'll be fifty-one. It'll be my 51st anniversary. Fourteen years from a bus pass and no pension in sight. But at least the weather's looking up. One day I'm going to overhaul this site. But not today - I'm probably going to feel queasy on a cross-channel ferry instead.

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