The Wedding Present, 26 October 2007, Manchester Academy

The Wedding Present, 26 October 2007, Manchester AcademyI’m not going to attempt a well written review of a gig here, I’ve got too much bias with a band that I’ve loved to follow, (pretty fervently for c. 21 years) to do a good, balanced review, but it’s nice to capture my thoughts on last night’s performance whilst fresh in my head.

TWP have never shied from gimmickry (12 singles in a year, for example, back in the 90s), and somehow they decided to take to the road to mark the 20th anniversary of their defining album, “George Best”. Great idea really; whole album, start to finish, in the right order. Like a dream gig in many ways for me.

To add to it all, the ten or so songs that they chose to sandwich George Best with were a well picked balance from the massive repertoire. ‘Blonde’ to come on to stage one-by-one, for example and a very well chosen ‘Kennedy’ to pick things up immediately after the George Best tracks.

Most surreal point of the evening was without doubt the full fluffy bunny costumed helper who came on stage with five big white number cards to count down the audience into the epic first four words of ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft” (play below)

I took a few snaps on my phone but they were so poor so I had a play in photoshop – the lovely thing about gigs is the colour lights….

The Wedding Present, 26 October 2007, Manchester Academy The Wedding Present, 26 October 2007, Manchester Academy

We’re off the see the wonderful wizard of Gedge

Katie and I are off to see the Wedding Present this evening. How excited can one 37 year old little boy get?

The tour’s to mark the 20th anniversary of their best selling album ‘George Best’, which makes me think how quickly the last 20 years have flown by. The set includes them playing the whole album, in order, which’ll be nice. People won’t have to ask for requests in between the tracks.

Enjoy this little gem from 1994 in the mean time… yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah…

All revved up

In a final installment of moaning about this year’s cancellation of the Three Peaks Cyclocross, I’ve made a little tune based upon some very appropriate words from a certain M. Loaf.

Lily’s bike fever

We got a trailer bike the other day – a necessity for the school run which starts this week (exciting !! – school starting – not the school run) and have had a great weekend getting used to it. Cycling-dad obviously was trying his best not to pile on the pressure, but in the end, we had to reel her in… she just loves it.

After a six mile eco shopping foray into Ramsbottom yesterday, we expected to go to Gisburn forest today for a great family picnic and bike ride on the gentle trails there. Alas, what the weatherman described as a “band of rain passing over” gripped us from 9am until 8pm, so Lily and I got our aggression out with a brilliant off road rode up onto Holcombe moor. We got filthy and soaked, but it all seemed to make her smile more and more. Bring it on, cycling-daughter.

Lily and the new Trek Lily and the new Trek Lily and the new Trek Lily and the new Trek

Modern Telephony

Which phone to use?Those blogs where people rant about things getting on their nerves get on my nerves… so I won’t put any unnecessary interpretation on this photo. Suffice to say that I glanced down at my desk a few minutes ago aghast at what phoning people has become…

Marrakech – a bonus family holiday in 2007

Targa Sunset, MarrakeshLike waiting for a bus, we were lucky enough to have two hot summer holidays abroad this year. If anyone knows of any good carbon offsetting schemes for all those air miles, just let me know.

House guests of Katie’s family friend Tom Stoddart, we enjoyed the almost surreal luxury of being catered for all week in a beautiful and spacious home in Targa, on the northern suburbs of Marrakech. Tom, is well-off enough to have several domestic employees – all of whom were very friendly and helped us all to feel like we’d mixed with local people. Our French linguistics had to be dusted off a bit and with a strong regional accent, some words were hard to distinguish, but we got by.

The house was made even more child friendly by having a supply of dog and even eight 3-week old dachshund puppies. Olly and Lily made several daily visits to their little den each day.

Although it was lovely to have had a pool all to ourselves and enjoy the children (we went with Katie’s family: Sally, Simon, Olly, Lucy, Jean and Bill), we also had enough opportunities to nip into this amazing city a few times, too.

MarrakechThere’s some family photos here and less familyesque photos on Flickr here. The sunsets were particularly enjoyable – even without much immediate topography other than palm trees and olive groves. Simon and Sally’s flickr photos are here.

I also managed to keep the training going all holiday and ran each morning for a minimum of 35 minutes in some temperatures that would suggest a lot more lying in bed. The theory was to get up early and get out or get cooked. Daytime temperatures reached the mid 40s on some days but it was only in the high 20s in the mornings. I acclimatised well though, and running was a real joy in such a different environment. Google Earth tracks of the runs from my Garmin 305 are here, showing some nice zig-zagging through the shade of the olive groves and the dusty barren ‘fields’, complete with tumble weed.

Great fun – thanks Tom and we’ll come and see you again when you move to Agadir!

Anderson Patrick

Andy PatrickA good friend from my late teens was killed in very tragic circumstances on Saturday. Anderson Patrick was just known as ‘Plug’ to us back in my sixth form – one of those names people get given at school when they have sticky-out ears.

Plug was one of those people who were good to party with. Katie remembers his dancing in a dodgy but very enthusiastic fashion; arms flailing and just going for it. We had some great times – particularly in the summer of 1988 when we left school – but onwards for the next couple of years, too.

People started dancing on the tables at the first ever Little Boogie Machine gig in the Brown Cow, Lancaster; Plug and his close friend Jamie Kineer were the first up there.

I haven’t been in contact with Plug for a long time now – we went off doing our own things as you do, but he’s one of the people I’d have loved to see again. The fact that I won’t do is not of any consequence to me. What I can’t think about for more than a few seconds is how his wife and three children won’t see him again.