I’m Back!

Yep it’s true. I’m back and bigger and better than ever.

Firstly, I need to make some apologies.

To those of you who I haven’t spoken to enough, when I really should have done; to those who I argued with and upset and was mean to – I apologise. I apologise for not talking, or for talking too much – for the tears and the tantrums, for the arguing and the pain. Basically, I’m sorry for having been such an almighty pain-in-the-arse.

And the hugest THANK YOU in the world too, to Mrs H3 for sticking with me through thick and thin – you are, quite literally, my lifeline. Without you I wouldn’t be writing today. I love you matey, in all your guises.



There are two main reasons why the blogging stopped, neither of which I really want to go into in detail. Enough to say that the concert season pretty much dried up for the summer (damn you festivals!), thus leaving Mrs H3 and I in the situation of having to make our own entertainment down the pub - although that did produce some interesting evenings as the pictures show, and I have been recovering from an illness which has left me unable and not wanting to write anything, let alone a blog.



But as the words of the song say, I’m picking myself up, dusting myself down and starting all over again and the re-emergence of the blog is part of that.
So, back to the good stuff.


*~* MUSIC *~*

The concerts have started again, although they are a little thin on the ground, especially after the extremely sad announcement that Chas and Dave have split up. Obviously our entire autumn schedule had revolved around their concerts, but neither Mrs H3 nor I have any interest in seeing the Chas Hodges Band. We need Dave to make our evening complete. However, all is not dim on the concert front as we do still have Marc Almond, The Flaming Lips, Gary Numan, Alice Cooper and the mighty Rolf Harris to see between now and Christmas and Mrs H3 is off to see Dizzee Rascal later this week.

This is a weird feeling for me, as I’ve never had any interest in Dizzee (although I quite like Bonkers) and I decided that I didn’t want to see him, so told Mrs H3 she could find someone else to go with her. Of course, now I’m wishing I hadn’t said that as it seems very strange NOT to be going to a concert with her and I’m worried that I’m going to miss something good. So yep, now I’m wishing I was going!

Since I last blogged a million years ago, we’ve been to see I Am Kloot at Relentless Garage who have just released a new album of b-sides and rarities, and who were absolutely fantastic (no, of course I’m not biased). I rather like the venue and it was a joy to see the songs performed by the whole band again, although I was a little surprised by their jazzed up version of my favourite song Fingerprints and not entirely sure that I liked it that way.



We also saw Peter Doherty at the Roundhouse, which I’m not sure was the right venue for him. Although he was good as ever, we got the impression that he wasn’t completely comfortable there and he seemed to be lacking something that we’ve seen at previous shows of his. A good evening, but I think he’d have been happier somewhere where the audience could get a bit closer – the gap between stage and audience at the Roundhouse is huge and their bouncers are numerous and well-prepared. There was never any chance of a stage invasion, which probably ruined Peter’s night a little as he does like to get people up on stage whenever he gets the chance.



A repeat visit too, to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Once again they were very good (although they omitted Psycho Killer from their repertoire this time unfortunately), but the venue, Blackheath Concert Halls, was dreadful. The whole building was over-heated, but the concert room itself was totally airless and it was hard to stay awake because of the heat, although the chairs were so uncomfortable that they did help a little. There was one fan, located in the bar area, which Mrs H3 and I spent most of the break standing in front of (bad luck to anyone else who wanted to get the benefit) in an attempt to cool down. The toilets were acceptable, but the cold water had been turned off, leaving only scalding hot water for hand washing – definitely not needed at any time, but especially when the place was already so warm. All in all the evening wasn’t as entertaining as it should have been and even though the UOGB did several of those clever multiple song mixes including some I’d never heard before, it was hard to think of anything else but getting out and getting some fresh air. This was followed by the worst chips I’ve probably ever tasted in my life from a fish and chip shop that apparently has won awards for being the best chip shop in...well, I’m not sure where...London? the UK? The world? I’m guessing maybe it’s the best chip shop in Blackheath.

We were also fortunate enough to see the always excellent Blue October at the O2 Islington Academy. This is a strange little venue and not being in the mood for heading for the front (much to Mrs H3’s relief I imagine) my view of the band was rather restricted, to the point that in the end I gave up even trying to see them and just enjoyed the blast of freezing cold air from the excellent air conditioning whilst I got lost in the music. There was a bigger crowd than I’d anticipated which I’m hoping is a growing fan base rather than people just turning up on the off-chance, although as Mrs H3 pointed out, rather a lot of the audience were foreign.

There was a chance to meet the band afterwards, but although I wanted to get a hard copy of the latest album Approaching Normal, the whole thing looked rather disorganised and there were a lot of screaming girls around, so we decided instead to just get the hell outta Dodge. Amazingly, the car park that we’d used was almost empty despite being pretty cheap. Definitely a good find for future concerts in that area as getting up that way is a nightmare when the tubes are playing up as they were for the IAK concert.



Finally, Mrs H3, her mum and I all wandered down to the Lewisham Country Fayre (apparently Lewisham is in the country) and had a pleasurable afternoon petting llamas and goats, eating cakes, drinking tea and watching Boney M. Yep, that’s right, Boney M were headlining the afternoon’s attractions. Running through their range of hits (most of which Mrs H3 didn’t know, being such a youngster) the band, who still contain one original member (the woman in red) were enthusiastic and lively and we rather enjoyed the show, although there were some very strange people there – which I suppose livened the proceedings up even more.




*~* FILMS *~*

Now the last time I posted about films it was, of course, excitement at the impending Harry Potter film that I’d been counting down to for over a year. As luck would have it I ended up seeing the film twice on opening day, the first time alone, the second with Mrs H3 and I think it would be fair to say that it comes in as my second favourite of all the films, top place still being held by the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It’s almost time for the DVD to be released and way too late for reviews, but I think my view pretty much fits with the majority of other HP fans – the film was good, but had its flaws. I was confused rather than elated when I left the cinema the first time and couldn’t actually decide if I thought the film was brilliant or rubbish.

As ever there wasn’t enough Snape, although admittedly there was more than any previous film and I was hugely disappointed that they missed the most important line of the whole book out of the film – it wouldn’t have taken too much more screen time for Snape to say ‘DON’T CALL ME COWARD!” I was disappointed too at the lack of the battle at the end of the film, instead replaced by a pointless (in my and lots of others opinion) attack on the Burrow. I was also exasperated by the Ginny/Harry/Room of Requirement scene as that leaves too many important things unsaid or undone for the next film.

In fact that would be my main criticism – too much important stuff not explained. Mention of the horcruxes, but not how they were made, or why they were important. Too much stuff removed and little put in that added substance, although the fish scene was quite delightful.

The ‘unfortunate event’ as it’s become termed by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, was wrong and gave a completely different impression of the end of the film to the end of the book. And I have to congratulate too, Steve Kloves for still attempting to ship Hermione and Harry even when it’s completely obvious that they’re never meant to be a couple.

Since then there’s been little on the cinema front either, although Mrs H3 and I did, sadly, waste two hours of our lives going to see The Time Traveller’s Wife which was incredibly dull and just totally crap and the completely excellent District 9 which I would definitely recommend to everyone, although I did find it incredibly sad.

But this week has seen the beginning of the new season and the release of a load of films that I want to see and of course I’m now on countdown for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland next March (as it’s a little early for me to be counting down to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One ). Coming up are 9, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant , New Moon, the Twilight sequel; Where the Wild Things Are and, surprisingly, Guy Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes (or maybe not a surprise as it stars Robert Downey Jr). Out now are Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Up and even Zombieland which received pretty good reviews.

I went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs after good reviews from both critics and friends and thought it was excellent. I went to a Saturday afternoon showing and thus shared the cinema with lots of children, all of whom seemed to enjoy the film as thoroughly as I did. This animated film revolves around the premise of a man who invents a machine to turn water into food and is both laugh-out-loud funny (for children and adults) and touching and although a little mawkish at the end, is generally an all round feel-good movie. I came out of the film feeling glad that I’d seen it, which I think says it all.

I was also impressed with the staff of Showcase Cinema at Bluewater as they had no problem in throwing out a large group of youngsters who were mucking around in the cinema and refused to shut up even after repeated requests from the rest of the audience. The woman who removed them received a cheer from the rest of us.

And the fun doesn’t stop with films. Halloween is on its way and Mrs H3 and I are going to Hendrick’s Halloween Ball - St Anthony’s Dance a fancy dress event at the Troxy ho sted by the Last Tuesday Society. The following night will see us once again dressed up (for a change) for the Sherwood Oak Halloween Party . Expect a huge bunch of photos to appear shortly.

So I think it’s time to shut up now. You see, now I've got going again I can just rabbit on...and on...and on....

Music and Moanings

So, I’ve discovered that, unfortunately, I am too old for music festivals.

To be fair, I wasn’t really all that much in the mood to go to the Lovebox Weekender anyway. Depression from PMT, a niggling backache and bad hayfever left me wanting to climb back into bed for the weekend and ignore the world, but having spent so much on the tickets I was determined not to waste them. Of course, I was also regretting the choice to go on Saturday, where the line up consisted of little other (from my point of view) than Duran Duran, however much I love them; when Sunday’s line up had Gary Numan and The Doves, amongst others.

Being in the already grumpy mood I was in, I was also unhappy about the weather. Obviously I’d been hoping that in the middle of summer, the day would be long, hot and dry. Sadly, it managed only one of those three things.

It all began so well, considering. Having got to Mile End, having been able to travel on the part of the Jubilee Line that is still running at weekends, with the weather showing signs of being sunny, things didn’t seem quite so bad. But then came the walk to Victoria Park, which the Lovebox website had described as being ten minutes away. I had already been made aware by Kev the beanpole that even he couldn’t walk it in ten minutes. However, we hadn’t anticipated something nearer to a forty five minute walk.

Still trying to get into the spirit, our first stop was the tequila tent for a rather tasty margarita and some excellent Latin American disco, where I became the proud owner of a rather tacky pink and orange maraca.

So, things seemed to be looking up, although more alcohol (which I suspect would definitely have helped the day) was out of the question as I was driving, so instead I moved onto the water and the odd nice cup of tea. There were many food stalls, and all seemed to be fair trade and organic and all those other good things, the choice varied and eclectic. Eventually Mrs H3 decided on a Greek chicken kebab, whilst I went for an organic sirloin steak burger with some divine onion relish (and another cup of tea – yep I know, I’m so rock n’ roll!)

Having checked out the various other entertainment areas (most of which appeared to be hardcore house music) we ended up sitting near the main stage as there were at least people we’d heard of on there. We missed VV Brown as we were debating about food, we caught most of the Rumble Strips, who I personally didn’t think much of, although to be fair we were sitting outside of the area where we could hear them properly and during the break while we waited for Mr Hudson to come on, we went over to the Warehouse stall to get our free ‘Rain or Shine’ kit, consisting of a cheap paper fan and an even cheaper white plastic poncho. This was our best move of the day.

Sadly, by this point I had to admit to Mrs H3 that I was feeling somewhat bored as there wasn’t enough (of interest to me at any rate) going on between acts on the main stage and sitting around was beginning to make my back hurt again.

So back to Mr Hudson, and I was desperately trying to remember which rapper had taken him under their wing (it turned out to be Kanye West – is he a rapper?). Anyway, I thought Mr Hudson was okay although not really my cup of tea, although I did recognise Supanova which means that Greg James must have played it between 4.45 and 5.30am a few times in the recent past (the only time I listen to Radio One these days).

Having found ourselves in the optimum area for viewing and sound, we proceeded to stay and watch Florence and the Machine, who were the only other band that I’d been looking forward to seeing (as Friendly Fires clashed with Duran Duran on the other stage). Disappointingly, for me at least, I wasn’t overly impressed. I will admit that Florence does have a good voice, but her songs were quite boring and even Rabbit Heart, a song which I’ve quite enjoyed when I’ve heard it on TV, didn’t lift the proceedings. Eventually we gave up and instead joined the humongous queue for the toilets.

By now I was fed up of standing (backache and arthritis setting in big time), so we headed for the barrier in front of the disabled viewing area/sound booth and finding a nice central pitch sat down while we waited for N.E.R.D. to come on stage.

It was at this point that it started raining and so we donned our cheapo ponchos and settled in to watch Pharrell and his crew doing their thing. Now I have to say that this sort of music really does pretty much leave me cold, although Mrs H3 was in her element. But, although I was no longer able to sit down due to the rain, I actually found myself starting to quite enjoy the show, especially when they blantantly broke every Health and Safety rule in the book and invited a whole load of fans onto the stage.

But now everything was wet and so sitting down was a no-no, which meant the next few hours were spent standing with all the old age pain that goes with that. Again there was a long wait for the final band, who as Mrs H3 surmised, were obviously waiting for it to get dark so their (admittedly spectacular) light show was visible. By the time Duran Duran had made it to the stage the temperature had dropped considerably and I was now freezing cold, to go along with wet and miserable and the wishing I hadn’t come had returned.

I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised to hear that I thought Duran Duran were bloody excellent, and Simon looked gorgeous, dressed as he was in frockcoat, waistcoat and top hat (definitely feeding a fantasy of mine). His singing too, was spot on, and as had been the case with Voodoofest, it was clear they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. For the duration of their set, I forgot the cold and the rain, almost forgot the pain from standing for so long, and even, for a moment, stopped thinking that I’d wished I hadn’t bought a ticket and experienced some real pleasure.

But then the concert ended and we had the long, long walk back to the station and the even longer trip back home. I was in so much pain by this time and Mrs H3 was so fed up, that we decided that even if we’d had tickets for Sunday we wouldn’t have gone (yep you heard me right, I’d have missed seeing my beloved Gary rather than make that journey again). By the time we’d got home we were determined that we’d never go to another festival ever again.

However, sleep and hindsight made me consider that had the day stayed dry I’d have not been in as much pain as I’d have been able to sit down more and had there not been so great a walk, it would have been fine. As an urban festival Lovebox was nothing like Reading or Glastonbury and I think I’d been expecting it to be like them. Whereas at the larger festivals there are so many different things to do that you can never get bored, even if the music isn’t quite to your taste, unless you were up for getting drunk there wasn’t so much to do at Lovebox. There weren’t enough bands that I liked, I’ve never been into all that house music stuff, and even the fringe stuff wasn’t as entertaining as other places I’ve been so the day soon became rather boring.

So actually, maybe I’m not too old for festivals, I’m just too old for the Lovebox Weekender or any other festival that takes place in Victoria Park. Give me an easy journey and a seat to sit in and I’ll be happy!



Having missed Gary Numan at Lovebox, we did instead get to see him at what used to be called the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (it’s something O2’y these days, as everything seems to be) last Saturday evening - and yes, we had seats.

I had been a little maudlin as Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival (yep the ice cream people, and yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to any more festivals) had a cracking line up, including I Am Kloot and the Super Furry Animals. After a lot of considering we decided that it would be too much to try to attend both, although part of me was still disappointed at missing IAK. Anyway, all disappointment was forgotten once Gary took to the stage.

Mrs H3 told me on the journey home that she always enjoys watching my face when Gary comes on stage, as I always look so ecstatically happy to see him. And it’s true. Every time he appears I’m transported back to the first time I ever saw him live and the joy and love that I felt for him then spreads through my entire body.

Whilst watching him this time I was thinking about the number of incarnations he’s gone through over the years and how far away his music is now from what I was listening to and loving so much back in the late seventies. I wondered for a moment whether, if I’d been told, at the time I first saw Tubeway Army on Top of the Pops doing Are Friends Electric? that Gary would eventually be doing hardcore metal music, whether I’d have believed it, or even been such a fan. But, whilst I might not have believed that he would head that way, I would definitely have still loved him.

Music-wise it doesn’t seem to matter what Gary turns his hand to, I enjoy it. I don’t LOVE all of it, but then, personally, I think it would be a very strange person that could say that. But I’ve enjoyed his journey to where he is today, and love the way that he integrates the older songs into his current style. And I love his current style. And when I see him live there is no equal for me... I adore I Am Kloot and often say they are my favourite band, but Gary is a lifelong love that will never die and for me nothing, and no one else will ever come as close to perfection as he does.

So now we have a quiet period. Not much going on in the way of concerts, I assume because of the summer holidays and people going away so nothing interesting has been booked. The next concert at the moment is Peter Doherty (oh yes) on 19th September, followed by concerts by people as diverse as Blue October (yes, they are coming back to the UK and I am very happy about this), Flaming Lips, Alice Cooper, Marc Almond, Chas and Dave and Gary Numan again towards the end of the year.

We found out recently that Dave's wife died of lung cancer, which may have accounted for his absence from the last concert we went to, and others since. I'm hoping that he's back for the three concerts we've got booked for the end of the year, or I fear for Mrs H3’s sanity. My sympathies go to Dave and his family for their loss.

I’m also looking forward to September/October as this signifies the release of the new I Am Kloot Album called B, which contains B-sides, rare recordings and new songs. Obviously this will be accompanied by a tour, which is always good news!

My Birthday and Other Antics

Okay, so I’ve finally recovered from the crappy viral gastritis that’s been affecting me since just after the Blue October concert. Initially I thought I’d just overdone the celebrations for my birthday – after all I did rather cane the wine over the weekend, but as the illness progressed it became clear that it wasn’t the alcohol but some bloody virus. On the bright side I’m currently 1 stone lighter than I was this time last week (although unlikely to last with the amount of carby food I’ve had to eat over the last few days in an effort to get well – we all know that carbs (and bread especially) are not my friend).

The birthday celebrations started well enough. Thursday night was Bill Bailey night and this time we sat towards the front of the stalls. Once again the show was brilliant with more than enough differences to the earlier show to keep us entertained, in fact Mrs H3 and I both agreed that we probably enjoyed the show even more the second time. This time round was the added attraction of Kevin Eldon and their Kraftwerk tribute which I always find funny, and with the show so close to ending its run Bill was obviously in buoyant mood and performed many encores before ending with that still hilarious film.

Friday night was our visit to see Jen and the rest of Rainham Amateur Theatrical Society (RATS) in Mother Goose at the Oasthouse Theatre. I still remember the hilarity of our last visit back in 2005 when I, Andrea and various members of the Sinners spent the evening watching Jen performing as Prince Charming in Cinderella and was looking forward to seeing this final pantomime. Jen was on fine form as Jack, Mother Goose’s stupid son and the rest of the cast did an excellent job, especially Dean Caston who played Mother Goose and Simon King and Andrew Stringer as the evil baron and his gorgeously ludicrous camp son. However, Mother Goose isn’t the funniest or most interesting pantomime ever and it was a little hard to get laughing, although once Andrea started, as ever there was no stopping her.

Unfortunately Mrs H3 didn’t have such a good evening. Unaware that she had never seen an amateur production of anything, let alone a pantomime it didn’t even occur to me for one second that she wouldn’t realise that it wasn’t going to be like the professional ones that we saw in December. In retrospect I should have thought and warned her, but sorry, I didn’t. It soon became quite obvious that she wasn’t really enjoying herself, although to her credit she did try to join in albeit a little less enthusiastically than usual. As for me, I enjoyed it just as much as any of the others I’ve seen, and enjoyed it more than Aladdin, and will be quite happily attending any of Jen’s future pantomime showings in the future.

Now I’d love to have done something exciting for my birthday, but firstly it was on a Sunday (not known for being the most exciting day of the week) and secondly I didn’t get paid until the following Friday and so was pretty much broke. So Saturday night was spent in the Sherwood Oak with my friends, having a meal and drinking copious quantities of wine. Mrs H3 and I took the opportunity to try out some of the weirder features on our cameras (note the fabulous negative effect on her and Lynne) which continued once I got home and opened my presents. As ever Mrs H3 shone on the present front. Not only did I get the sparkliest, shiniest converse trainers ever to walk the planet, but better still another of her handmade masterpieces – this year a rather wonderful doll which looks exactly like her (and yes I can attest that her hair looks exactly like that before all that straightening takes place) – proof positive that she can’t get anywhere near a camera without that cheesy grin appearing!

On Sunday we had been intending to go to Howlett’s as something a bit different (and Mrs H3 had bought some spanking new Cyberman silver wellies specially for the occasion), but of course the weather decided not to be kind and instead it poured with rain all day. After spending most of the morning optimistically hoping for the weather to clear we gave up and went for a nice cooked breakfast at the café followed by a shopping trip at Bluewater and a visit to the cinema to see Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans. I really enjoyed the film, but then I enjoyed the previous two as well and it really is just more of the same. Finally we returned to the Sherwood Oak for dinner and some more wine (quite some more wine). And so my birthday was over, although I did have the Monday off just in case I needed it to recover (I didn’t).

Tuesday of course was the Blue October concert at Underworld and I was incredibly excited by the time we got there. I don’t think Mrs H3 was sharing my enthusiasm for the evening, especially once she found out that the venue was small and below ground, but as ever she tried to get into the spirit of things even when I tried, as usual to get as near to the stage as possible. The place was as hot as hell and heaving, with all 500 tickets sold out before the evening, which I admit surprised me somewhat. Whilst I love the band, I’ve only ever met a couple of other people over here who’d ever heard of them and so I hadn’t really been expecting as large a turnout as there was. Strange really when you think that in the US they play festivals and concerts to 50,000 people. There was some interest in the support act People in Planes and I wondered just how many of the people there were actual fans of Blue October and how many were just there for an evening out.

It became clear immediately when Justin and the guys appeared on stage that almost the whole crowd were there as fans of band. Everyone sang along to the songs; hundreds of hands waved in the air when Justin asked if anyone owned History for Sale and there was as great an enthusiasm for the new songs as for the old. I got the impression that the band was somewhat surprised at their popularity and the reception they received and hopefully they thoroughly enjoyed their evening. I know I, and probably everyone who was there enjoyed it too. Hopefully this will mean a quick return visit as I don’t think I could bear to have to wait another two years to see them again.

By the end of the concert we were, quite predicatably deaf and my throat was raw with my voice croaky, from singing too loudly I assumed at the time. I ached pretty badly too, but put that down to overdoing it at the weekend and it was worth it just for the pleasure of being at such a brilliant concert. Imagine then, my displeasure on waking on Wednesday morning when I found not only were my ears still buzzing, but my voice was almost completely gone, my throat was sore and I had a raging fever.

As I always do when I’m ill I took refuge in sleep – 18/20 hours asleep each day, fighting off the infection. By Friday I felt a little better, enough to actually sit up and watch TV for an hour or so, although then I seemed to relapse with a body temperature down in the hypothermic range and so it was back to bed along with more layers of duvets and blankets and the heating on full. By Saturday morning I had the added extra of dehydration, vomiting and diarroeah; something which didn’t diminish as the day went on and soon I was tucked up in bed for more sleep, although I did manage to listen to the sublime Elbow live in concert with the BBC concert orchestra on Radio 2 while I was there.

By Monday I had to admit that I wasn’t getting any better and I had to visit the doctors. It was of course sods law that it had snowed heavily overnight and there was no way of getting to the doctors but to walk – a journey which was very slow and saw me unsuccessfully trying not to throw up a couple of times en route. Then of course the doctor was late getting in and so by the time I got home again some two odd hours later I was just about ready to die. Sleep of course was the answer and for the rest of the week as well, although food was most definitely off the menu until Wednesday, when I finally managed to keep down a banana.

Now just about fully recovered I’ve finally got round to updating the blog and have just remembered that the UKS cybercrop started this evening too. So I’m off to check out the classes and see which ones I can do.

The Other Stuff including new concerts

Mrs H3 and I haven’t just been going to the pantomime for the last 6 weeks. Oh no. We’ve also found time to go to the cinema and to a concert.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity ‘Twilight’ was released over here on 19th December and Mrs H3 and I went on the opening night. Now as you know I’ve been waiting for this film for ages, so I was extremely excited – enough to forego the alcohol (yes really) at my works Christmas party, which took place in the afternoon.

We had decided to see the film at the O2 Vue – although it turned out that it wasn’t in the huge cinema, but one of the smaller ones. We had elected to eat there too, which turned out to be a mistake as there was a Madness concert taking place in the arena so it was packed and we had to queue for almost an hour to get into Zizzi’s.

The evening didn’t get any better when we went to collect our tickets from the machine. The booking had been lost. After a long argument with the useless staff we had no choice but to buy the tickets again.

So to the film. Almost as soon as it started I knew I was going to love it. Robert Pattinson, looking gorgeous as ever filled the screen and soon I was drawn into the Twilight world. It would be fair to say that 95% of the audience was under eighteen and I had forgotten, having rarely been to a film showing with so many young people, how much they like to talk through films. The whole cinema was filled with people discussing the film, whether it was about the actors, the plot or how it compared to the book.

The girls behind us were no different in that respect except that the one behind me must have been the only person in the cinema who hadn’t read the books and spent the whole film asking her friends who characters were and what was going on.

Distracting as this was it didn’t stop the enjoyment of the film which was a decent enough adaptation of the book. I was already on Team Edward, and thought Robert perfect for the role – although I’ve never been able to convince Mrs H3 of either – she is firmly Team Jacob (poor deluded woman) and couldn’t understand my swooning over Mr Pattinson at all. However, whilst the film didn’t sway her from the Team Jacob camp she did admit that Robert was completely gorgeous.

For me there were a few disappointments, although they were mainly superficial – the overuse of the pale makeup on the vampires (I’m sure that could have been more naturally done) and especially the ‘dazzling’ scene. With the wealth of special effects available these days I was expecting Edward to be truly stunning but instead he was rather lacklustre – a pot full of glitter would have worked better then the final film version.

Notwithstanding my few gripes, I thought the film was excellent, although I would definitely be interested to see it with a more mature audience and without the talking.


The following night we were back at the O2 to see the Bootleg Beatles at Indigo. Once again we were in the Kings Row, but a few rows back from where we had been for Gary Numan. To be honest it was a bit high for us and fortunately there were enough empty spaces for us to move during the interval to a less dizzy height.

The last time I saw the Bootleg Beatles was at Glastonbury in 1995 and I had such a good evening I’ve recounted the story of it many times over the years. I can say that they are just as good today as they were then, and yes they sound – and look – just like the Beatles. Working through the whole catalogue from “From Me to You” right through to “Hey Jude”, they incorporated the fashions and the news of the times. At the end ‘John’ came on and sang “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” after which the encore consisted of “Let It Be”, followed by “Twist and Shout” which they performed as it was the last night of the tour (they said).

I thought it was a fantastic evening, although I was aware that Mrs H3 was not quite as enthusiastic as I to begin with as Chas & Dave (with Pete Doherty in support) were playing the Tap n’ Tin that night and normally we would have gone there instead. However, as the evening went on she was soon joining in as happily as I. It turned out that Pete didn’t turn up at the Tap n Tin (even though all his family did) so we didn’t miss anything interesting , and we’ve already got tickets to go and see Chas & Dave at Fairfield Halls, Croydon in May so all’s good.

Actually the concert season is already looking quite bright. We have the two Elbow concerts in February and as mentioned above Chas & Dave in May. Gary Numan is playing the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 25th July and I Am Kloot are currently recording a new album, being produced by Guy and Craig from Elbow (lots of happy fangirl squeeing from me) which surely means a new tour shortly, to which I’ll obviously be going to as many shows as possible (alas unable to make either of the dates in Manchester as it’s just outside my finances to go – I suspect it would be cheaper to get to the Paris show than Manchester). However, I was very excited to find that Blue October, whose new album “Approaching Normal” is released on 24 March 2009, are FINALLY coming to the UK. Short notice as its next Tuesday, 27th January at Camden Underworld – but of course we’ve got tickets and I’m completely twitchy with excitement. They are being supported by People in Planes whose album “Beyond the Horizon” I’ve just listened to (and very good it is too). It should be an excellent evening. Also keeping fingers crossed for an e-mail saying that I’ve won the Duran Duran competition tomorrow night, which would see us at a concert with them in London next Wednesday evening.

Anyway, kicking it all off, tonight is a return visit to see Bill Bailey in Tinselworm and of course tomorrow is the final pantomime and then I’ll be celebrating my birthday. Have a feeling it could all get a bit messy, but there might be some decent photos at the end of it all.