Month: October 2003

…Makes Al a very poorly bunny indeed. Laid low with a chest infection, I must humbly apologise for the lack of updates for the past couple of weeks. This is largely because I’ve been insanely busy and not doing anything very interesting, and more recently with the dreaded infection…

Bit of a bummer, really, because I’ve not had the dreaded infection for a few years now – I thought I was rid of them. But here I am, wheezing and feverish, coughing up great lumps of something that has no place in the human lung – seriously, some of what I’ve been churning out resembles the nasties in some of the more lurid science fiction pieces I’ve seen! But I digress…

November is lining up to be a busy month, so I’d better work on getting myself fit as a fiddle for the rigours ahead. This year, to break with tradition (and a fine one, IMHO) my mucker Gwyn & I are having TWO birthday confabulations, instead of the usual miserly combined one. There is method to this apparent madness, as will soon become apparent.

So – Gwyn’s party is on the 8th, I believe in Archway (in an attempt to trash the gaff before they move at the end of the month!), then I’m off to Ireland on the 10th for a crashingly brief three-night stay. My family will probably not let me hear the end of it, but nevermind. Then on the 15th, MY party – wahoo! And at this party will be a very special guest, my favourite Antipodean, the (in equal parts) lovely and loony KIZZA. Yes, by popular demand she’s back for six months only, to repeat the mayhem of her last visit. And good luck to her, I say! 🙂

+++ STOP PRESS +++ VENUE FOR BIRTHDAY (PISS-UP) POLITE CELEBRATIONS IS BAR RISA IN CAMDEN, AT LOCK 17/JONGLEURS – IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE IT IS, E-MAIL ME +++ SEE YOU THERE! +++

Yes, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, the adverts have had a tinsel-trimmed flavour for the past two months, and I’m preparing to gorge myself on food & booze with my delightful chums in Camden for the second year running. Let’s face it – if every Christmas could be like last year’s, then it would make the whole production almost bearable… (You can just hear a ‘bah, humbug’ straining to get out, can’t you???!!!)

I’ve got a tentative idea of the happenins UK music scene appreciation website online at the moment – click and have a look. It’s slowly beginning to gather a trace of momentum – since mentioning it to a few people, the interest level is rising, and Ian of FastFood is so keen, he’s signed up on my message board! Welcome aboard, me hearty – arrrr….

Time to throw the doors open to ideas and suggestions on this one: what would you like to see on a website devoted to a London music scene? At the moment, I’m thinking of a gig listing, gig reviews, band biographies, gossip columns, message board – maybe even a classified ad section or bulletin board where disenfranchised musos can be wooed by their more idealistic/enthusiastic counterparts into dusting off that old axe and stomping the boards once again. I tell you, the damn thing has legs – any and all suggestions mightily welcome, however silly! I’ll start a thread on the message board for y’all to post your ideas (now if *anything* gets posted, I’ll “drop out o’ me standin'”, as they’d say back home!)….

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye!

…sounds like an interesting weekend, doesn’t it??? Though “alcohol poisoning” may be a slight exaggeration! Had a funky time on Saturday round my old mucker Nick’s place, celebrating other half Jo’s birthday with a fancy dress karaoke night. Sounds wild, and it was! Of course, I got my wires crossed as to the theme of the evening, and went dressed as a preacher – wide-brimmed hat, long jacket, the works – only to find that I was supposed to have dressed as a pop star! Oh, how we laughed…

Partied till 5 in the morning, then collapsed into comatose ‘sleep’ for 5 hours, then trudged home to my own bed. I wasn’t fit, but I had to drag myself out for a gig in the West End (which I subsequently discovered was for charity) – with a heavy heart (and liver, lungs, kidneys, etc) I dragged myself up to the Borderline.

And what a gig it was! The can-do-no-wrong Gin Panic excelled themselves with an electrifying performance, and guitarist Adam gained huge kudos by slinging his guitar around him in a mighty 360° stunt – we truly were not worthy! Then the headline act, Fast Food. If you haven’t had the pleasure, I recommend these guys – almost as highly as I recommend Gin Panic. Singer/guitarist Ian is the most incredibly wired guy I’ve seen on stage in a long time, and the set was brilliant – definitely be seeing those guys again!

As it happens, there’s talk of maybe making that a monthly event, where the bands play for free to benefit a good cause – now that’s the spirit. And funnily enough, all this musical eventfulness ties in rather neatly with my next up-and-coming projectette – something of a coming full-circle for happenins, you might say. What I’m proposing is to take the happenins.co.uk domain and make it into a music portal of sorts, a kind of a meeting place for all involved and interested in the current London music scene. There will be band biogs, gig listings and eventually downloadable MP3s, along with message boards and whatnot. It’s still in the theory stages, but I’ll keep you posted on developments.

Sod it, I have to do something to amuse myself, don’t I?? I mean, I’ve just cancelled my trip to Turin to see my old buddies Anna and Dani tie the knot, due to appalling skintness. Spewin’, as my Aussie mates would say…

Well, right now I’m still recovering from the weekend. Those cocktail things Nick was plying me with on Saturday night did me no favours – and I did myself even less by having a few beers at the Borderline! You’ve heard this song before: I’m never drink- ah, screw it, who am I kidding? See ya down the boozer…