March 2004 Archives

24 hours on and I'm still buzzing from having seen The Who at The Forum on Wednesday night. They were amazing - totally fantastic.

Was it the best gig I had ever been to? Quite possibly.

Actually, I'll say now, YES!

Why, lots of reasons - here's some:

-We didn't know we were going till the day before, so it was an unexpected treat.
-The venue is a beautiful old theatre holding c1000 people.
-The crowd were up for it.
-From the moment they hit the stage the band didn't hit a note wrong (although Roger did forget the lyrics a few times).
-Even if you think you don't know many of their records, you do. Any show that starts of with Who Are You (CSI theme tune!) Can't Explain and Substitute can't be bad. Plus they've been doing this for 40 years (minus a few line up changes) so they're as tight a musical unit as you could want to find.

Otherwise written as: Great Venue, Great Songs, Great Band.

And finally, there is the man himself. Pete Townsend is now the official Guitar God (sorry Brian!). He blew me away. His playing is mesmerising - it's not just the swirling arms and the dramatic jumping up and down, he plays the guitar harder than anyone else I've seen. It's not always pretty, and it doesn't mean that the lady always sings, but it sure as hell rocks.

The encore which include an awesome Tommy medley includes a massive ten minute instrumental section with the guitar at the fore and even now I can't get over it. Sean tells me that you can replicate the experience if you buy the Live at Leeds album, turn down the lights, turn up the amp so that it's so loud you can't here environmental health when they beat down your door.

Amazing! Awesome! I don't have superlatives to sum it up - if you get a chance to see them on this tour - GO!

I was enjoying Series Three of 24 as it was - the last few episodes have been fantastic with the Russian Roulette sequence recently amongst one of the best things I've seen on TV in ages....

And then tonight with about two minutes to go they through ina whole load of left-field plot devices which made me just sit there and think 'what the f$%k'?

I now have totally no idea what is going on and where it is going - roll on next Thursday. Oh except I'm seeing Jools Holland at the Albert Hall - damn it!

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, after I read an article in the New Statesman last December on Heritage.

In particular I want to register my disgust at the destruction of a great piece of architecture - the Euston Arch. No, I'd not heard of it either, but that's because it's before my time.

Completed in 1837 the Arch was the dramatic 70ft high entrance for Euston Railway Station. Sadly, Harold Macmillan agreed in 1961 to destroy pull it down in order for the the railway lines to be extended and a new concourse built. It was duly pulled down a year later.

Now, some 42 years on, the lines and concourse remain in exactly the same place as they were, this beautiful piece of architecture had been pulled down for nothing. You'd like to think such a cultural travesity would not happen again, but sadly I don't have that confidence. Do you?

Thanks to Mark for this...

New reality show starts next week 'The Swan'.
http://www.fox.com/swan/

Premise:
Take 20 mingers combine lots of plastic surgeons, personal trainers etc. and unlimited resources to see who can shed their mingiingness.

Nice.

Interesting article in the Sunday Times yesterday about one of my favourite websites, Belle du Jour.

No real surprises in that:
a) I've always suspected that the blog was the work of a journo

or indeed that that:

b) it's being turned into a book and no doubt a film

but interesting nonetheless.

The site deserves to become a roar away bestseller because it is edgy, funny and IMHO much funnier than Bridget Jones and those both BBJ and ABJ. I for one will be first in the queue to buy the book when the day comes...

Good luck to her / him / it - whoever you are - may you find the audience you deserve and may your anonymity remain forever a mystery....

Nice letter from the Inland Revenue this morning informing them that I owe them a sum some unpaid tax from 2002-2003.

The letter, dated 9th March 2004, asks that I pay the money by 31st January 2004.

And the sum I owe?

£3.19.

It must cost them more than that to process it...

First batch of photos from the Murder Mystery Dinner now up.

Becci and Chris have just the best imagination - and collection - of parlour games of anyone I know. Tomorrow sees a load of us meet up at their house in order to investigate the murder of Lord Michael Jagged, A murder in which we are all suspects...

It's 1967 and England still swings like a pendulum does. You're spending the weekend with some of the brightest faces in Britain at the Chelsea home of Lord Michael Jagged. What could be more hip and happening?

The guests are:

Terence Shrimp (aka Chris)
An East End boy who made it big as society's favourite photographer. Cool, camp & collected, you're a dedicated follower of just about everything.

Martin X (aka Tom)
A high;highly controversial political theorist. Some people find you intimidating, others think you're just a mad American and don't take you seriously.

Mary-Jane Faithless (aka Roz)
You used to be famous as the girlfriend of Michael Jagged. Now you're famous in your own right as a top pop singer.

Wiggy (aka Tracey)
You're the most famous model in the world - for this week at least. You're a down to earth suburban girl who now finds herself in demand in high society.

Oliver Steed (aka Neil)
Actor, raconteur, hell-raiser, you're larger than life and twice as loud.

Kitty Killer (aka Becci)
A celebrated journalist & biographer, but you're also so glamorous that you're more famous than the people you write about.

Brian Sewer (aka Damian)
You're a wine critic & wine snob. Sneering, patronising and often downright rude, you don't care whether people like you or not. Which is just as well, because most people don't.

Tamara Fara-Bucktooth (aka Phil ... sorry!)
Famous for being famous, no social event would be complete without your presence. You're also the current girlfriend of Michael Jagged. Or were until his death.

'Champagne' Charlie Bunson (aka Colm)
You're a businessman and entrepreneur who for some reason is feared throughout the East End of London. Some people think you're a gangster, but you've never been convicted of anything.

Babs Crayfish (aka Jo)
You're 'Champagne' Charlie's girlfriend but you're also an actress in your own right. Or you will be, once you get an acting role!

Tom introduced me to this. Which I love - although it only goes to reinforce that I was late to the travelling bug and need to do something about it! (Time however is hopefully on my site).

Sadly I've only visited 5% of the world, a mere 13 countries:

create your own visited country map

However, more impressively (I think,) I have visited 17 US States, 33% of the free world...

create your own personalized map of the USA