Category Archives: Music

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion

I’ve always loved making new listening discoveries; there’s nothing better than being overwhelmed by great new music.

Recently, a really nice bloke introduced me to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. And they’ve since been in my head pretty much non-stop.

Fortunately, I have a large degree of control of Spotify in the pub, so they’re on repeat through the day – at least until one of my colleagues notices.

A good track to start with is My love for evermore (both versions are great).

Today, to vary things a bit, I had around three hours of Prokofiev. Then, when Paul complained, I switched to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. On repeat, of course. Several hours later, Phil noticed and put some other stuff on.

Joe Gideon

Pretty much a week late, but life’s so busy. Around 11 years since I last saw them, I went to a Joe Gideon gig last Thursday. Minus the Shark. It was just the one hour set, but it was non-stop, with no faffing around. Good original music.

In the Shark’s place, Jim Sclavunos was on drums. It was kind of weird talking to him after the gig, since we’ll next see him in the SECC, with the Bad Seeds.

He was a nice guy, as was Gideon.

Sam Baker

After missing his last couple of UK tours, we caught Sam Baker at the Cluny last night.

It was good to get away from the pub, since I seem to be there most days for either work or leisure. Or both.

The gig was good too; hopefully, it’ll not be too long until the next tour.

I also bumped into a couple of people, unexpectedly, at the Cluny. Andrew, the BBC Inside Out producer was a nice surprise; he’s a genuinely good bloke. And an ex-wife too, but that wasn’t so great.

Pub III

This week and last, I painted a pub. And, you know what, I managed to do a decent job. The place looks like a pub, rather than a pub pretending to be a cafe.
A little more work is needed to get it right, and I neglected to take a picture at the end of last night’s decorating shift, but it’s pretty much there now. Anyway, I’m now in a pub other than our pub. And it’s nice. And I can have a pint without thinking I might need to nip behind the bar if it gets busy. The guy who’s singing here has also played in our pub. He’s ridiculously good.

Kill the Beast

A bunch of us went to see Kill the Beast’s Director’s Cut in town at the weekend. It was a little mad, but fast paced and genuinely funny. Admittedly, the production had probably only caught our attention because of the Felix Hagan connection. But I’ll certainly looking out for future tours.

Divine Comedy

So, Friday night (and some afternoon) was spent in Manchester. Despite my attempt to guide us to the wrong venue, after checking tickets in the Temple Bar, we set off for the correct destination.

Anyway, I did mention the Temple Bar.

There were other bars, but I took no pictures. While the band were astounding, the important thing to me was spending time with my kids (OK, and Ian). We agreed to do this again, possibly without a gig, because this did create a time pressure.

Some pictures I stole from my youngest offspring took on the evening.

It was good to see that Mr Hannon drinks Becks.

One unplanned aspect of the evening was an underground view from under the stage. One needed to stoop, because the Albert Hall is quite old.

Big Red and the Grinners

Our local, the Three Tuns, did something different last night (different for this pub, anyway), showing that good live music will always attract people.

The place was as busy as it used to be a decade ago, with the gig room full and a busy bar. The style of music wasn’t the norm for the Tuns, but maybe it was time for change.

The Loft Boys and Big Red & the Grinners.

Jukebox

I’ve missed having a jukebox ever since I sold our old one following its death. Regrettably, my attempted repair was a failure and it was taking up a lot of space in a small house.

After a few years, I found a suitable replacement, several weeks ago. Due to impending decorating, the new jukebox was stored in the spare room. Unfortunately, decorating was delayed by the need to work on the van.

But, now, decorating progress has been made, allowing the jukebox to be mounted on the living room wall.

It’s actually older than the old jukebox, early 70s rather than mid 90s, but it’s a lot smaller and has passable built-in speakers.

Best of all, it has had a hard drive fitted.

Holy Moly and the Crackers

After seeing Holy Moly and the Crackers at a festival earlier this year, we simply had to buy tickets for last Friday’s gig at the Sage. Well, it was just down the road, after all.

A great night, with solid live band at a cool venue.

Well worth checking out if you have a chance.