Sunday 27 September 2009 21:38
Well,
that's another weekend over. Way too quickly, but that seems to be the
norm of late. Saying that, I slept until lunchtime today, after a late
night at the Tuns. We went to see the Happy Cats, a particular favourite of my spouse. In fact, we saw them twice this week, starting with Arthur's Day on Thursday in Centurian
in Newcastle. They were very good on both occasions, but they did draw
in quite a big crowd on Thursday. Last night though, Paula decided to
ask the band to play Cushy Butterfield.
After the band surprisingly agreed (well, they did look terrified),
Paula went behind the bar to pull her first pint. It was actually a
really good night, slightly marred by Paula's later rendition of Blaydon Races in her now well practiced Geordie accent. Monday 21 September 2009 20:45
Although we'd originally dismissed the idea of going to Elbow's
farewell (for a couple of years) concert in Manchester, I bought
tickets while recovering from flu and feeling sorry for myself. And it
was worth it, for lots of reasons. Before the gig, we had a walk around
the city centre and had a couple of drinks. While enjoying a pint
of Erdinger, albeit in
plastic glasses, a barman noticed my Elbow t-shirt, and played one of
their songs in the pub. Or so we thought at first. He'd actually put on
th whole album ... the one printed on the front of my shirt. It was a
very nice gesture we thought and a cool start to the evening (well, it
was still afternoon). But, then the same barman told my spouse about a bar frequented by Guy Garvey. There was no choice of course, we had to go off in search of the bar. And a cool bar it is too, the Temple, a converted public toilet.
It's a very nice bar. We made a return visit the following day. Unfortunately, Paula did knock beer over on several occasions, resulting in a huge puddle, several inches deep on the floor. It was only a little enbarrassing though.
The concert itself was just great. We'd expected it to be, but the atmosphere was the best. The fireworks were impressive too, as was the Guinness record attempt with the world's biggest choir.
Roll on the next album!
Monday 14 September 2009 21:00
After several years of missing the annual open days for local old buildings, we went to the Holy Jesus hospital in Newcastle on Saturday. It was well worth the trip and it's good that a four hundred year old building is still being used. 
We then had a look at Alderman Fenwick's house (well, it's not his house any more, since he died a long time ago. It's been really well restored and, again, it's in use as offices. I only managed to take the one picture before an old lady shouted at me (I'd not seen the no pictures sign). But it's a very nice picture of a very nice ceiling.
This was all very thirsty work, and I was still weak from my recent bout of flu, so we decided to find somewhere to sit for a little while. Luckily, Secco offered seating, with refreshing Erdinger. We stayed a while to make sure that we were sufficiently rested. We then stopped at Popolo and had more medicinal Erdinger.
The pink glow from the window is quite attractive, but we had to tear ourselves away. Too much of a good thing and all that. Still, the vitamins contained only in Erdinger have helped my recovery.
Yesterday, we went to see the end of the second stage of the Tour of Britain, in Gateshead. Although the constant references to NewcastleGateshead was more than a little annoying, it was great to see a major cycling event in town. The finish line was just below the Sage; a pretty cool place to end a race.
If you look closely, you might just spot the stage winner .... it was all a bit of a blur to be honest; blink and you'd miss everything.
Friday 11 September 2009 19:46
I'm
now paying the price for going back to work on Monday. Although I've
survived the week by doing short days, I don't seem to be able to shake
off this bloody virus. As always, there's a positive. Just give me a
while to remember it.My plans for the weekend, from this point on, involve doing as little as possible.
Anyway, there was no way I was going to miss Sam Baker last night. I did feel rough afterwards, but it was worth it. He was just brilliant and he actually seemed to be having fun. I'll be watching out for his next trip to the UK.
Go on, have a quick listen.
Saturday 5 September 2009 20:29
While
eating toast a few minutes ago, I remembered an email I'd meant to
remember yesterday. The one from a few days ago that told me that Madness tickets would be on sale from Friday (as in yesterday). They were pretty good at Glastonbury and, well I did like them more than 20 years
a few years ago. So I wasn't particularly impressed when, after
remembering to buy tickets this evening, that there weren't any left. Thankfully, after trying a few websites, I found some tickets! I should probably stress that my wish to see them one last time is largely due to feelings of nostalgia and isn't remotely to be associated with the rubbish they produced in the mid-80s.
Saturday 5 September 2009 19:44
He wears a blueSuede
Cowboy hat
Got a woman in her underwear sitting on his lap
He sings an old song
A song to himself
He sings
Waiting round to die
I'm very much looking forward to seeing Sam Baker at the Cluny on Thursday. But, do you know how hard it is to find blue suede cowboy hats in Gateshead?
Saturday 5 September 2009 16:16
A week ago, I was at a festival. Today I'm recovering from a particularly evil and spiky virus. Very wobbly now.However, looking on the bright side as usual, I've discovered the perfect way to lose a bit of weight ... don't eat for a couple of days.
Thursday 3 September 2009 16:48
A week ago, I'd recently arrived at a festival. Today I have a cold. Brilliant.Tuesday 1 September 2009 12:07
September already? What happened to August?We went to Leeds festival at the weekend. Despite more than a little hassle with tickets, and some pretty wild weather, the festival turned out fine.
It's our tent's third year of festivals, and its second year at Leeds (Connect and Lowlands last year, so we missed 2008).
Despite a minor repair with gaffer tape, and a tendency to sag in the middle, it's holding up well and hopefully should cope with another year or two.
Some random festival pictures:
We visited the silent disco too and were surprised to see DJ OD, the Dutch DJ from last year's Connect festival. We asked him to play Skinny Jeans, which he'd played every night at last year's festival. Apparently, in his words, we were going mental when he played it. Regrettably, the Leeds crowd didn't share Connect tastes and a lot of people took off their headphones. Pah, what do they know.
Some advice though; if you get a chance to see him, do it.
Obviously, we saw a few bands while we were there. I'll not put all of the pictures up here, but here're:
Maximo Park
The Atctic Monkeys
Kaiser Chiefs
Kings of Leon
Sadly, that's my last festival until Glastonbury again next year, but I'm already looking forward to it.