Thursday 31st January
That’s another pretty cool interview consigned
to tape. Last night I met Vega singer Nick Workman in
a bar at Marylebone Station for a chat about the group’s
new album, ‘What The Hell!’ before darting
back across London in time to tune in the radio for the
kick-off of the Huddersfield-Palace match. Had the Eagles
won, they’d have ascended back into the automatic
promotion places. Alas, the home side notched a second
half goal to seize the points just as Holloways men were
enjoying a spell of dominance!! Grrrr…
With the transfer window about to slam shut, my friend
Mark Kentfield just texted the shocking news that Palace
have signed Kevin Phillips on loan from Blackpool for
the remainder of the current season. On paper, that doesn’t
really float my boat. The guy *always* scores against
us no matter who he’s playing for, but he’s
about 107 years old isn’t he??!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 30th January
Great news – my guest list application
for next week’s gig by Danny Bowes and Ben Matthews
at the Komedia, down in that unmentionable place on the
South Coast, has just been okayed. I missed the one they
did at London’s Shaw Theatre ’cos it clashed
with my trip to Skegness. That’s summat to look
forward to.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 29th January
Well, it really doesn’t take too long for
that cosy ‘holiday feeling’ to subside, does
it? I’m back at my desk here at Ling Towers and
it’s almost as though the Skeggy experience didn’t
happen. Anyway, as we enter another Classic Rock production
week, I’ve just conducted a really interesting phone
interview with Robyn Hitchcock. As a co-founder of neo-psychedelic-punks
The Soft Boys, also a keen conservationist, Hitchcock
had a lot to say for himself. I really enjoyed our chat.
I’m working my way through a huge pile of album
reviews. Please welcome my favourite new band… Free
Fall. Weaned on Zeppelin, UFO, Priest, Van Halen, The
Who, AC/DC and the Stooges, the Swedes kick serious quantities
of ass!!!! Check them out here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 28th January
Onto day #3 of this year’s GBR&BF and
I felt increasingly sad that the event was coming to a
close. After a late but humongously proportioned brekkie
(the food at Skeggy is *amazing*!!), we grabbed some seats
in a sports bar for the televised lunchtime FA Cup clash
between Brentford and Chelski. Sara is a big Bees fan
and was thrilled but ultimately disappointed when her
side came tantalisingly close to an audacious feat of
giant killing – the Stamford Bridge millionaires
can count themselves extremely lucky to have departed
Griffin Park with a 2-2 draw.
Music-wise, Sunday’s itinerary produced so many
riches that you could only dip in and out of its delights.
Finland’s queen of slide guitar, ERJA LYYTINTEN
[7], sported a pair of eye-catching sparkly hot
pants as she began on the Rock Stage. Her playing, especially
during the mesmerising ‘Change Of Season’
(a song from the new album ‘Forbidden Fruit’)
was equally dazzling, but soon it was time to switch location.
Over at Jak’s Bar, the UK-born Amazonian blonde
JO HARMAN [6] was performing a solo set away
from her band The Company, accompanied by just acoustic
guitar and occasional keyboards. As I arrived she was
busy crooning a delightful version of Bobby Blue Bland's
Whitesnake-popularised ‘Ain’t No Love In The
Heart Of The City’. Christ, what a voice! But for
me there was a little too much chatter and not enough
music, so I headed back to the chalet, changed clothes
and went out for a nice, long run along Skegness beach…
at the waterline, with waves lapping at my feet and the
sun beginning to dip over the horizon. Lovely…
After the evening meal we returned to the Rock Stage for
the Joe Bonamassa-approved HENRIK FREISCHLADER
[7], an artist whose recorded work I knew but
had never seen live before. His blues-rock was drenched
with Hammond organ and underpinned by funky groove but
barring the occasional dip into commercial waters such
as ‘Breaking My Heart Again’ it soon began
to feel a bit lethargic.
It was time to head back to Jak’s for a look at
ROADHOUSE [7], a band featuring my ex-Shogun/Tokyo
Blade pal Danny Gwilym on guitar. TB’s John Wiggins
was also in a rather large crowd that cheered the band
along, and why not? Into their tenth consecutive year
at Skegness and with three cute female lead singers, Roadhouse
offered a party-friendly vibe that was hard to ignore,
tearing the joint up with the fruity rock ‘n’
roll of ‘Devil’s Highway’.
Reluctantly we tore ourselves away from Jak’s to
take a look at BLUE COUPE [7], a power-trio
featuring the Bouchard brothers, once of Blue Öyster
Cult, and Dennis Dunaway, bassist of the original Alice
Cooper group. Starting strongly with ‘The Red And
The Black’, ‘Burning For You’ and ‘Cities
On Flame With Rock ‘N’ Roll’ they sounded
unexpectedly good, though the addition of a second guitarist
would’ve yielded some welcome additional welly and
finesse. Alice fans would’ve enjoyed a version of
‘I'm 18’, though the effect was diluted by
the inclusion of some nondescript-sounding tunes from
a new album currently being mixed by Jack Douglas. The
band were just about to launch into ‘Godzilla’
when it was time to move on (again).
Sara had wanted to wanted to watch ROBIN BIBI
[8], a talented guitarist/vocalist who comes
from her local blues patch of West London, and I’m
extremely glad that we did so. Playing delicious slide
guitar and jumping up onto the tables, Bibi highlighted
the festival’s strength in depth on its satellite
stages.
With the clock ticking down I was faced with the choice
of an honest, AC/DC tribute act or the band of non-originals
known as DR FEELGOOD [6]. On the surface
it was no contest: The latter won out. And there’s
no denying they’re good; authentic, too. But for
me it was just too hard to get past the levels of audacious
fraud involved (the band were handed use of the name by
singer Lee Brilleaux after his death in 1994), so I headed
back to Jak’s for a little more of Robin Bibi, a
final few rounds of drinks and – ulp! - some dad
dancing! I hope that nobody took photos!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 27th January
After brekkie I managed to get in a quick jog
around the outer limits of the holiday park complex. It
was just my luck that Noel Buckley and Paul Newcomb were
on a fag break outside a building as I ran past it, and
that Noel happened to have his trusty camera to hand.
“Officer, I’ve been papped… what about
my privacy issues??!!”
After a quick shower it was onto the Blues Stage, where
the ever thoughtful Alice Klaar had saved Sara and I some
seats right at the front of the stage for HUNDRED
SEVENTY SPLIT [8.5], the side-project of Ten
Years After men Leo Lyons and Joe Gooch. Electing to studiously
ignore the TYA catalogue in favour of songs from an album
entitled ‘The World Won’t Stop’ was
a brave move, though the excellence of ‘Where The
Blues Began’ and ‘Dance On Your Tombstone’
– the former melodic, the latter detuned and gnarly
– solicited an unscheduled but thoroughly deserved
encore of ‘Going Down To The Smoke’, confirming
them as the best band of the bill till that point.
STRAY [8] were formed in 1966 so Del
Bromham should know his way around a fretboard by now.
Unlike so many bands at Skeggy, Stray still make records
that withstand modern scrutiny, a fact proven by their
first three numbers, ‘Move A Mountain’, ‘Free
At Last’ and ‘Harry Farr’ (all from
2009’s ‘Valhalla’). Bromham’s,
chirpy, witty stage banter went down as well as the band’s
bluesy, hook-laden hard rock and when he hung a squealing
axe from the roof girders during the epic, Iron Maiden-covered
‘It’s All In Your Mind’, success was
assured.
It was time to grab a pint of wine and claim a decent
place on the dancefloor for the arrival of HAWKIND
[9]. With their cosmic light show, sexy android
dancers and stilt walkers, also some wonderful back-projections,
Dave Brock and company took off into the stratosphere
with the crisp one-two punch of ‘Master Of The Universe’
and ‘You’d Better Believe It’ and never
looked back. When the crowd simply refused to let them
leave, there was just one song that they could possibly
play: ‘Silver Machine’. The band of the weekend,
and no mistake.
Let me just say that I consider myself a fan of the reunited
CURVED AIR [6]. I saw them last April at the
Borderline and filed a rave review for Classic Rock. At
Skeggy, however, the audience could not get to grips with
the quirky-jerky time changes and crazy violin solos.
Sonja Kristina still has a very decent set of pipes but
did not appear to be enjoying herself, and it rubbed off
on the audience, who fled the building with such haste
that I thought Mark Taylor had begun taking off his clothes.
Time for a few more sherberts back at the chalet, then…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 26th January
Yesterday marked the opening of this year’s
Great British Rock & Blues Festival. The journey to
Skegness in a car owned and driven by my photographer
buddy Noel Buckley was full of laughter and joy, also
plenty of ciggie smoke for Sara Harding and I as Noel
and Mark Taylor puffed away in the front seats. The chalet
was excellent, and we wasted little time imbibing a couple
of liveners before heading off to Jak’s Bar to check
out THE MENTULLS [7], a frighteningly
young blues band that my gig promoter friend Pete Feenstra
has been jabbering on about at every available opportunity.
The four-piece unit (keys, no bass), didn’t disappoint.
In fact, a beanpole guitar player who towered above his
Lilliputian band-mates was extremely impressive. Look
out for ‘em!
Moving onto the Rock Stage, JOHN COGHLAN’S
QUO [7] whetted the appetite for the upcoming
Frantic Four reunion with a nostalgia-friendly set that
focussed on Quo’s vintage years, bookended by ‘Junior’s
Wailing’ and ‘Down Down’ but also including
gems such as ‘In My Chair’, ‘April,
Spring, Summer And Wednesday’, ‘I Saw The
Light’ and a full-length ‘Railroad’.
Dandruff was shaken.
Several years ago OLIVER-DAWSON SAXON [6]
played one of the most dreadful gigs I’ve ever seen.
At Skeggy, running through ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’,
‘Denim And Leather’, ‘Crusader’,
‘Dallas 1PM’ and ‘The Eagles Has Landed’,
they were vastly improved. But any version of Saxon without
Biff Byford on vocals is, frankly, a non-starter.
Annoyingly, one of several schedule clashes meant that
FOCUS [8] were already well into their headline
set by the time we arrived at the Blues Stage. Last year
the Dutch maestros released a truly strong comeback in
‘Focus X’ that I’m sure was well represented
in their repertoire. The glut of instrumental solos seemed
rather pointless, though the band redeemed themselves
with great versions of ‘Sylvia’ and a wonderful,
yodel-tastic encore of ‘Hocus Pocus’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 25th January
I’m disappointed by the seemingly imminent
transfer of Crystal Palace wonderkid England Wilfried
Zaha to ManUre. Wilf is a genuine star in the making.
His departure was inevitable. The Red Filth are paying
£10m up front, with an extra £5m in additional
fees but the best news is that Zaha will remain with the
mighty Eagles ‘on loan’ till the end of the
current campaign. So long as we hang onto striker Glenn
Murray during the transfer window then I’m reasonably
happy with the outcome. I’d like to say I wish the
20-year-old good luck at Old Trafford but of course that’s
impossible. It’s a small crumb of comfort but at
least Wilf didn’t opt for a tin pot joke of a club
like Wigan, unlike so many others before him (*Braces
himself for the next email from Phil Ashcroft*…!)
Anyway, I’m heading out of the door to the Great
British Rock & Blues Festival weekend at Butlins in
Skegness. Can’t wait to see Hawkwind, John Coghlan’s
Quo, Virgil & The Accelerators, Erja Lyytinen, Leo
Lyons & Joe Gooch, the band that calls itself Dr Feelgood
and as many of the other attractions as the numerous schedule
clashes will allow. I’ve packed the Jäger test
tubes along with my running gear and swimming trunks.
With a posse that includes Paul Newcomb, Mark Taylor,
Noel Buckley, the quasi-legendary Alice Klaar and my ‘hair
twin’ Sara Harding, good times and hangovers are
ahead!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 24th January
On the grounds that each time our paths cross
in the Crobar I can never recall a word of the conversation,
I arranged to have a civilised sit-down meal and catch-up
with my good pals Annick Barbaria and Harj Kallah, the
godparents of my two sons. Rendezvousing in the Cro was
*not* a good idea, neither was the bottle of delicious,
fruity white wine that washed down the nosebag. And whose
goddamn bright idea was it to return to the Cro for a
nightcap? “I must get my last train home”,
I thought and gazed down at my watch, expecting it to
say 11.30-ish. No. 12.18am… the bugger was long
gone. Oh well, one more drink… just to be sociable.
After a night bus journey home I crawled beneath the duvet
at 4.30am, the alarm going off at 6.40am… ugh. Making
the kids’ sandwiches for school, I’m sure
I’d have failed a breathalyser test. Luckily I got
my s**t together pretty quickly as there are two important
phone interviews to conduct – Fairport Convention’s
Dave Pegg and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm. No rest for the
wicked.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 23rd January
Aston Villa crash out of the League Cup semi-final
to a team from the fourth tier of football. *Titters*.
Eldest lad Eddie and I sat glued to the TV coverage as
the underdogs of Bradford gave the Premier League big-boys
as royal ass-spanking (yes, I know that sounds like something
my friend Mark Taylor might get up to in the privacy of
his boudoir). ’Twas a great game for the neutral
but somewhere in the midlands, Sir Peter of Way still
resides in a darkened room, head in hands.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 22nd January
I’ve just been out for a run in the snow
and slush. The park was completely empty and the combination
of silence (save for my own footfalls), fresh air and
the chill factor was rather exhilarating. Sometimes a
spell on the exercise bike just won’t do.
Though I’d been intending to attend a late-afternoon
playback of the new Bon Jovi album, when push came to
shove there simply wasn’t time. Given the band’s
shocking artistic plunge I’m pretty sure it would’ve
been an exercise in blind optimism anyway.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 21st January
Well, what an enjoyable interview/lunch with
Brian Wheat to talk up Tesla’s headline appearance
at Hard
Rock Hell AOR Festival in April. Well worth braving
the snowdrifts for! It’s hard to believe that I
first met ‘Shredded’ when I witnessed Tesla
opening for Diamond Dave Lee Roth at the Civic Centre
in Lakelands, Florida, for a Metal Hammer ‘on the
road’ story waaaay back in February 1987. Sheesh,
that’s an aeon ago!! Great, great band. They’re
gonna make a new album, too…
Brian and I chatted a while after the tape recorder went
off. As we did so, the door of the restaurant opened and
in strolled legendary lensman Ross Halfin, my CR colleague
Peter Makowski and… who was that bringing up the
rear?... oh yes, James Patrick Page. Note to self: BE
CALM as you (very gently) shake the hand of God. Hahaha!
That’s not very easy…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 20th January
No, I wasn’t among the idiots to have booed
former boss Dougie Freedman upon his return to Selhurst
Park with new club Bolton. Besides the fact that uncertainty
still surrounds the reasons for Doog’s exit from
SE25, I have too much respect for his exploits as both
a player and a manger. Sadly, the game was less than a
classic. Freedman has taken his defensive-minded tactics
up to the Reebok and, try as they might, Palace were unable
to break down the visitors. When Wilf Zaha rattled a post
towards the end it had seemed as though the deadlock would
be broken, but sadly not so. The Eagles are in fourth
place, just two points off the automatic promotion places.
Things could be much, much worse but we need a win before
too long or confidence will begin to fade away. (If only
the same fate would be befall this fuggin’ snow
– it’s just started coming down again!!).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 19th January
Last night’s journey to central London
and back was a bit of a nightmare. It was worse still
for the hapless Monsewer Beare who sent a BB message in
the wee hours of this morning, revealing that he had fallen
over, been sick and was attempting to negotiate snow drifts
whilst walking home. Oh, Mr Beare… do you never
learn? I’m not sure how much of this admission was
attributable to the icy conditions. Having been an extremely
good boy, I was long since in bed and notching some Zeds.
Amazingly, CPFC’s Facebook Page has confirmed that
today’s game between Palace and Bolton is ON! So
I need 45 mins on the exercise bike and some LOUD music
(the first Montrose album will be perfect), a quick shower
and to be on the ale within an hour. Come on you Eagles...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 18th January
The new issue of Prog is here, with an excellent
cover feature on Steven Wilson. Am looking forward to
reading it over the next coupla days.
Have decided to brave the banks of fluffy white stuff
and head up to the Crobar this evening. Andy Beare and
I have agreed to don our ‘sensible heads’
for this journey… arrive by 7pm and be on our respective
paths home by 11pm. I didn’t know that I had a sensible
head! But after a week spent chained to the PC that included
at least three 7am to 8/9pm stints, I do need to blow
off some steam! If tomorrow’s Palace game is called
off then I’ll be working for just about all of the
weekend, too.
My Swedish mate Stefan Johansson was in attendance at
W.E.T.’s album launch show at a club in Stockholm.
“The gig is already a classic – pure AOR happiness,”
he writes this morning. “I’m nursing a monumental
hangover.” Git!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 16th January
Don’t be fooled by the final score of last
night’s FA Cup third round replay. A deserved late
equaliser from Glenn Murray saw Crystal Palace take Premier
League team Stoke to extra time – even after our
reserve goalie gifted the home side the lead with an embarrassing
howler. 4-1 flattered the Potters, especially as the Eagles
missed a first half penalty and Stoke can be considered
fortunate to have avoided defeat in the original game
at Selhurst. A home tie with Man City in the next round
would’ve been nice but, all in all, I’m satisfied.
Let’s get on with promotion back to the top flight.
UFO have been added to the Download Festival bill –
yessss! Their first time on a Donington Park stage, so
far as I know? So that’s Maiden, UFO, Motörhead,
Alice In Chains, Down and Airbourne for starters. Hmmm.
Better book a hotel!
Postscript: Argggg! Have just realised that UFO’s
gig at the Forum is the same night as Crystal Palace’s
crunch home match with Hull. I had it down in the diary
as being an away game. Two words spring to mind: ROAD
TRIP!!!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 15th January
I cannot stop playing my watermarked advance
CDr of the new Steven Wilson album ‘The Raven That
refused To Sing (And Other Stories)’. What a truly
breathtaking piece of work. Love those Mellotron sounds...
I’ve also been working on a new press biography
to accompany the January 18th unveiling of Erja Lyytinen’s
excellent new album, ‘Forbidden Fruit’ (Ruf
Records). Lyytinen is known as Finland’s Queen Of
The Slide Guitar, but the new record – her fifth
studio release – houses some wonderful songs and
is without the doubt the best thing I’ve heard from
her so far, continuing the advancements that made 2010’s
‘Voracious Love’ so popular.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 14th January
Snow is falling in London, but what a great way
to begin the week – a 9am phone interview with Europe’s
Joey Tempest… truly one of the nice guys of rock
music.
I’m making a list of great, under-appreciated rock
power ballads. It was impossible not to include this
one by Shy – I will never forget seeing them
perform it at the old Marquee in Wardour Street. That
guitar solo by the late, great Steve Harris still brings
up goosebumps.
Here’s another of my favourites, by the mighty
Winger. There are great melodic hard rock vocalists, and
then there’s Terry
Brock of Strangeways. This
one by Unruly Child was also a bit of a no-brainer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 12th January
Aaaaarg, Crystal Palace concede yet another late
goal and lose at Burnley, having dominated the game’s
second half. That’s no wins in the last six away
fixtures... but do we allow our heads to drop? F**k no.
We pour ourselves a stiff one, go online and book our
travel for the trip to Hillsborough on February 23. Come
on you Eagles!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 11th January
Closing the news pages of the February 1st issue
of Classic Rock. Apart from the fact that it meant re-jigging
the obituaries column, I was sorry to hear of the
sad passing of Claude Nobs – ‘Funky Claude’,
from Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water’. I
had a very brief meeting with Claude during my one and
only visit to the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2003 and he
seemed like a complete gentleman. Thanks to Purple, immortality
is assured.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 10th January
Last night was Date #3 with the lovely Sara Harding.
Armed with a mountain of popcorn and a small bottle of
something to wash it down with (!), we headed back to
Leicester Square to see Texas Chainsaw, the latest spin-off
of 1974’s all-time great slasher movie Texas Chainsaw
Massacre, in 3-D. Never let it be said that I don’t
know how to treat a lady, hahaha! Truthfully, the film
wasn’t great, though the company was vastly superior.
That’s interesting – Crystal Palace have taken
Alex Nimely, a 21-year-old forward, on loan from Man City,
for the remainder of the season. The Liberian lad can
apparently play as both a winger (on either flank!) and
a striker… looks like a good temporary deal by the
gaffer.
Just received a nice-looking four-disc Girlschool boxed
set from Lemon Recordings. ‘The Bronze Years’
pulls together the group’s first four albums and
various bonus tracks, with a
detailed 5,000-word sleeve essay penned by yours truly.
1983’s Noddy Holder and Jim Lea-produced ‘Play
Dirty’ has always been my favourite Girlschool album,
so I’m later on gonna give it a good ol’ blast.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 9th January
I eased myself very gently into 2013’s
gig-going waters with last night’s show at the Queen
Elizabeth Hall, where folk-prog veterans Caravan paid
a 40th anniversary anniversary revisit to the ‘For
Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night’. The QEH has
a steep incline and seated just seven rows back and with
the sound just about perfect – maybe the keys of
Jan Schelhaas could’ve been a notch louder –
it almost felt as though my friend Mark Taylor and I were
onstage with the band. The perception is that Caravan
is very much the band of guitarist Pye Hastings, so I
was a little surprised that Geoffrey Richardson was such
a huge part of the show, introducing the songs, playing
a multitude of different instruments – even including
the spoons during ‘Gold Girl’. I was mightily
impressed, and the set only improved as it progressed.
‘Nightmare’ was wonderful, its carefully woven
delicacy fully justifying the band’s request for
mobile phones to be switched off, and the epic, 20-minute
strains of ‘In The Land Of Grey And Pink’s
‘Nine Feet Underground’ were magnificent.
Now into their 44th year as a band, I hope that Caravan
get to celebrate their half-century. Here’s the
set-list: ‘Memory Lain, Hugh’, ‘Headloss’,
‘In The Land Of Grey And Pink’, ‘Smoking
Gun (Right For Me)’, ‘The Unauthorized Breakfast
Item’, Medley: ‘L’Auberge Du Sanglier’/‘A
Hunting We Shall Go’/‘Backwards’, ‘The
Dog The Dog, He’s At It Again’, ‘Golf
Girl’, ‘Nightmare’, ‘Fingers In
The Till’, ‘Chance Of A Lifetime’ and
‘Nine Feet Underground’, followed by ‘I’m
On My Way’ and ‘Hoedown’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 8th January
Yay! My phone interview with Train’s Pat
Monahan happened at the third attempt! What a bloody relief!
I’m liking David Bowie’s Tony Visconti-produced
new single, ‘Where Are We Now?’, released
without warning at 4am today on his 66th birthday. It
was quite shocking to have heard them playing a snippet
on Radio 4’s Today programme as I awoke! Wasn’t
Bowie supposed to have retired?! It seems not, there’s
an album in March! Frankly, it beats me how in this day
and age you can make an album with someone like Visconti,
and keep that knowledge out of the public eye. Check out
the news story here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 7th January
Happy birthday to my youngest son, Arnie. Like
many whose big day falls so close to Christmas and New
Year he’s already had most of his presents but there’s
a rather large chocolate cake in the fridge (Note to self:
Must do *big* run tomorrow).
I also have a present of my own. DL website regular Mark
Willett has generously posted an enamel Crystal Palace
pin-badge that passed into his ownership – a gift
for my alleged “services to rock journalism”…
hahaha! Apparently, said badge has lucky qualities. Its
previous owner believed that if it is worn for the rest
of the season, “promotion to the promised land”
will be achieved. Conversely, however, should its new
owner fail to wear it to even a single game at Selhurst,
“the power will be lost and Palace will be playing
non-league football within four years”. Ulp. I’d
better not screw up! Thanks a lot, Mark (you complete
loony!).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 6th January
I’m proud to be an Eagle after yesterday’s
FA Cup Third Round clash with Stoke finished goalless.
Could’ve done without the prospect of a replay at
the Britannia Stadium as the League is paramount for Crystal
Palace, but my beloved Eagles played well against a very
strong starting line-up from Stoke. We chose to rest Speroni
and goal machine Murray and by the end had five non-first
team players out on the pitch but still more than held
our own.
Eldest son Eddie had been excited about seeing Michael
Owen in the flesh but the former England man barely touched
the ball. Don’t mean to be rude but I couldn’t
watch Stoke week in and week out. I approached the game
with open mind – I don’t really give a rat’s
arse about the Prem – but I’m afraid I agree
with all clichés about City – they dished
out ugly, physical, unimaginative football and worse still
were extremely unsporting, failing to return the ball
to Palace from a free-kick after it had kicked out for
one of many fouls. Talking of which, though inevitable,
their thuggish treatment of CPFC starlet Wilf Zaha was
beyond shameful.
Really wish I could’ve made it along to this morning’s
Orpington Record Fair, but I’ve simply too much
work. *Sighs deeply*…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 5th January
I write with an outrageously severe hangover
following date #2 with the lovely Sara H. My Friday night
was spent in central London’s Crobar. Need I say
more? Sheesh, that girl can put her drink away…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 4th January
Must confess that I always had Justin Hawkins
pegged as a bit of a tosser, but I actually enjoyed this
afternoon’s phone interview. Hawkins doesn’t
take himself anywhere near as seriously as I feared, and
we laughed and joked quite a lot during the phone conversation.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 3rd January
I’d been intending to break my 2012 duck
by attending this evening’s gig by blues whippersnapper
Laurence Jones at the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst.
However, the offer of a phone interview with Joe Bonamassa
was just too good to turn down. Apart from shoving a tape
recorder under the guitarist’s nose at the Classic
Rock Awards a few years ago, till this evening I’d
never spoken properly to JB. He projects the same type
of vibe as Steven Wilson: Extremely serious and passionate
about music, and of course very well-informed in all of
the opinions he expressed. I liked him a lot.
Here are this month’s updates to the Playlist
and YouTube pages. Enjoy!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 2nd January
Thank f**k for that. The result of the big New
Year’s Day fixture at Selhurst: Crystal Palace 3,
Glenn Hughes and Robert Plant’s Ladyboys 1. Back
to winning ways at last. The Eagles played pretty well
and Andre Moritz took his two goals well – yes,
CPFC have a Brazilian that can curl a free kick over a
wall… WTF? – but it has to be said: Wolves
were very, very poor. Unless something is done very soon
they could go straight down another division. Palace,
on the other hand, move to within two points of an automatic
promotion place.
Today is when the office-based employees of Classic Rock,
Metal Hammer and Prog return to work. I’ve been
here at the PC since 6am attempting to finish my Buckcherry
story. Apart from basking in the CPFC result, the only
thing to have cheered my day was the discovery of this
rather salacious website, stumbled upon whilst Googling
the name of Gene $immons. It makes pretty good reading….
unless you’re Lars Ulrich, Alice Cooper or even
Courtney Love – Euuuueeeeew!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 1st January
Oh well, that was the second consecutive sober
New Year’s Eve – with Sara with her own family
down in the wilds of Cornwall I had a quiet, uneventful
night in with my kids. Now, at 8am, I’m back at
the PC transcribing an interview with Buckcherry. Welcome
to my somewhat daft world.
Just donated a tenner of what I’d have spent in
the pub to my friend Chris Payne's DRYATHLON™ drive.
Basically, he’s abstaining from the Demon Drink
for a month, with the profits going to Cancer Research
UK. Nice work, Chris! Link here.
Of course, as regular visitors to this page will know,
I never touch a drop myself (ahem)...
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