It's That Time Again ...

Good grief another month gone already! So once again you get the extremely late and horrendously long update.

Firstly a HUGE apology to Mrs H3 for not mentioning earlier that amongst all the things we were doing recently we were celebrating her 30th birthday on 27th March. Part of the reason for this is that for quite a long time she was panicking about reaching this milestone and I didn’t want to upset her any further with a reminder, but then obviously failure to blog regularly came into it as well and so instead of getting ready for the big event after a complaint that I hadn’t mentioned it on here, all I can do now is report on the weekend and say congratulations on getting through the celebrations and for realising 30 isn’t the end of your life!


The Music Bit…The Deal was for the Diamond and the Skulldozer!

So the last time I blogged we were on the verge of going to see Elbow at Wembley and what a fantastic evening it was too. Completely different from the Brighton gig in so many ways, not least the quantity of people in attendance (obviously, considering the size of the place compared to previous venues, although I have to admit I was surprised at how full the place was – I guess it really is finally their year). It was clear from the moment that Guy and the lads stepped onto the stage how chuffed they were to be there and the huge crowd added considerably to the anthem-like numbers such as One Day Like This, although as I said before I’m just happy to see them wherever they perform (however, not the show they’re doing supporting U2 – and not just ‘cos of the £150 price tag - and annoyingly, the concerts in Manchester with the Halle Orchestra sold out before I even had a chance to read their Myspace blog post about them!)

Unfortunately my snazzy new phone broke (the slider cable broke causing the screen to black out) and had to be sent back to Sony for repair however, once again Mrs H3 and I managed to take copious amounts of photos and video footage (pics below as ever … I really will get my Youtube channel up and running for the videos one day I promise).





So then began the Peter Doherty (yes Peter in the press now he’s turned thirty (just like Mrs H3!) and grown up, although actually he’s always called himself that) tour to promote his rather excellent new album Grace/Wastelands which began with two concerts in Brighton and Folkestone and ended on the Sunday after Lisa’s birthday at the Troxy in London. Disappointingly, for all those detractors who have done nothing but slag him off ever since I mentioned we were going to see him, he is now completely clean and turned up at every gig.

The first at Brighton Dome (where else) was an interesting affair to say the least. The first support band didn’t turn up so his drummer came out and did a few songs, followed by a friend of his who we’d seen at the Royal Albert Hall and hadn’t enjoyed, although he was better than the drummer. Finally came Dot Allison and her band, who weren’t my (or Mrs H3’s) cup of tea at all. Luckily, having parked ourselves in the front row of the stalls seats, we were having fun watching the other members of the audience which took our minds off the support. When Peter eventually made it onto the stage, dressed casually in jeans and jumper, he did so with his full band along with a three piece string orchestra and at one point a double bass player and Dot again (as she collaborated on some of the songs), as well as Wolfman who strangely didn’t sing along to For Lovers as I would have expected. The music ranged from his solo acoustic stuff to full on rock and roll chic with a lot of free-form jazz type stuff in between. At one point there were so many people on stage I thought it was turning into a Sigur Ros concert. However, throughout he was excellent, even if the pseudo free-form jazz stuff didn’t particularly float my boat and with a crowd that was very clearly upper middle class and awfully polite it was funny to see the excitement that songs like Fuck Forever and Can’t Stand Me Now produced. It was a really good, if somewhat different evening to the one I had been expecting. He finished without an encore, which came as a surprise to most of us, but as he’d been hit by a drink thrown by someone in the audience and then almost by a lit cigarette, perhaps not completely so.

The following night at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone was completely different. Firstly, we totally missed the support acts and then chose to go and sit on the balcony to watch the show rather than join the moshers. This was an excellent choice as it turned out as the crowd were very different in culture to the previous night. So was the show. Peter, who was once again sporting the casual jeans and t shirt look performed solo for the most part, with only occasional guest appearances by fellow Babyshambles cohort Mick Whitnall and the always value for money Wolfman (still dressed in the same clothes), to break things up (and no, he still didn’t sing on For Lovers). Peter spent a considerable amount of the concert proving his guitar skills with some lengthy riffs and even more time dodging the considerable amount of drinks that the very rowdy audience threw his way. After promising to finish with Albion, he did actually close with Can’t Stand Me Now. As is our wont Mrs H3 and I didn’t move when the lights went up, waiting for the venue to clear somewhat before heading home and it was lucky we didn’t for about seven minutes later Peter reappeared to do a blinding version of Albion to a by then largely empty room. As ever both evenings were caught in pictures and video.

And so to the Troxy - a beautiful art deco venue in Limehouse, London. This was the last night of the tour, and the last night of a very long weekend of celebrating for Mrs H3 and I. The audience was made up of a selection of the types of people that had been at the others - both the stylish and fashionable and the die hard beer throwing fans and the show was sold out. Once again we opted to miss the support acts, although we weren’t successful in the case of Dot Allison, who hadn’t grown on us at all. The gig too was a hybrid of the previous ones we’d seen – the band and the string section was in attendance as were special guests Graham Coxon, Wolfman (and yes this time he did sing on For Lovers and he was bloody awful – although he was wearing different clothes at last!) and Lee Mavers (the lead singer of 90’s band The La’s), which meant of course that the free-form jazz was back, but also there was the acoustic numbers (which I think on balance I generally prefer) too. Peter had chosen to be more formal for this last evening, dressing in a suit and hat, very dashing and very much in step with the venue. Unfortunately, the late arrival meant that we were quite far back and so my view of Peter wasn’t good enough to take any photos or video, although Mrs H3 did manage to. All in all I felt this was the most interesting of the three shows because of the mixture of styles, although I have equally enjoyed all of the shows just for the opportunity to spend a great deal of time gazing at Peter Doherty who, when clean, is a truly beautiful looking man.




So the next concert on the agenda is John Bramwell at the Half Moon in Putney on Thursday, the first time I’ve seen anything I Am Kloot-related for almost a year. Needless to say I am very excited at the prospect of seeing him (and hopefully Pete) again. I’m really hoping that he might be doing some of the tracks from the new Kloot album that he and the band performed in gigs earlier this year. This is followed on 22nd April by another evening with Peter Doherty in Camden and then the eagerly awaited (by me at least) Ultravox concert at the Roundhouse. Early May brings a visit to see the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain at the Cadogan Hall in London as I have become interested in learning to play the ukulele (if anyone wants to teach me please feel free to shout).

Lastly, I just wanted to mention that the new album Hocus Opus One by one of my favourite Wizard Rock bands Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office has finally been released. This long anticipated album is a heavy duty slice of electro-dance pop and is definitely worth a listen so check them out at their Myspace page by clicking on the link. Hmmm, actually while I’m about it I’d also like to mention another excellent new release. Zoë from Split Seven Ways and Malfoy Manor is giving away free (as she often does – check out her Myspace pages) The Broken Bird e.p. under the name Zoë’s Adventures Underground. This is a beautiful piece of work and non-Wrock, for those of you still a little nervous about the whole Wizard Rock thing.

Concerts, Harry Potter and the wonderfulness that is Wizard Rock!

So it’s been a little while since the last catch-up again as I’ve got lots of things coming up in the future, but there’s been nothing much of interest going on in the recent past.

Valentine’s Day came and went without troubling me as usual and lack of money meant quiet evenings down the pub in lieu of any real excitement. But that all changed as the first of the two Elbow concerts we’re going to finally arrived last Saturday night after a somewhat drunken and uproarious Friday session that involved rather too much champagne among other things. Now I’m still ecstatic at the fact that they won the Best Band award at the Brits (although a little surprised I will admit) and then followed that up with another win at the NME awards, the well deserved Outstanding Contribution to British Music so was looking forward to seeing them immensely, especially after my disappointment at missing them last year.

So Saturday night found us at the Brighton Dome, tired from the previous night but happy and ready to be entertained. And what a good job Elbow did. The Acorn are supporting them on their tour, which is good as I really enjoyed their album Glory Hope Mountain and thought they did a fine job. But Elbow were sublime. Obviously incredibly happy at their awards and their ‘sudden’ fame Guy was happy to talk and joke with the audience and even at one point engaged in a question and answer session between tracks. The concert was uplifting and every bit as good as the BBC televised one earlier in the year, although of course the songs weren’t just restricted to Seldom Seen Kid as that one had been, nor was there the huge orchestra and choir.

Between us Mrs H3 and I took about 500 photos (see a selection below) and a good deal of video (hurrah for my fabby phone – although I did feel a slight pang for the crap quality of the old Nokia and am considering taking it to Wembley just for old times sake). So on 14th March we’ll be at Wembley with the guys (and possibly David Hasselhoff) doing it all again, except a bit different. It will be interesting to see the band in such a large location and I’m suffering those pangs of all fans whose bands go global, that I’m torn between wanting to see them in such large venues but at the same time still wanting to see them in smaller places. I expect knowing how down to earth Elbow are they’ll be doing a mixture of both for a while.



Also on the horizon are concerts by Peter Doherty on consecutive days at the Brighton Dome and Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone on 20th and 21st March and after a lot of praying and wishing on my part I Am Kloot, or at least Johnny Bramwell, is finally coming south of the Watford gap again and performing at the Half Moon in Putney on 9th April with an appearance at the Boileroom in Guildford on 11th May. We will be fitting in a visit to the Roundhouse on 30th April to see the newly re-formed (and believe me I’m very excited about this) Ultravox, who I haven’t seen since the Monument Tour in 1982. But the fun doesn’t stop there. It’ll be Chas and Dave time again on 14th May in Croydon and on 18th July Mrs H3 and I will be heading to London for the first day of the Lovebox festival. I am definitely expecting to see an eclectic mix of music there with bands like Florence and the Machine, N.E.R.D. and of course the mighty Duran Duran. The following week will see us at Shepherds Bush for the latest Gary Numan concert.

But one of the events I am most looking forward to is the Hogwarts Jamboree UK on 27th June which is being held in London. Now everyone who knows me knows that I am Harry Potter fanatic (what…you never realized?) and am into everything HP related. Through this I have become involved in a genre of music called Wizard Rock which, having started (rather late I will admit) as a vague interest of mine in hearing bands who called themselves after Potter characters and sang songs about the stories, has turned into devotion to the cause with a considerably increased CD collection.

How to explain Wizard Rock? My personal view is that it’s almost impossible (unless you have a complete hatred of music) not to like at least one of the bands around and believe me, although most of you not in the HP fandom will never have heard of this phenomenon, there are literally hundreds of Wrock bands out there. The musical styles are varied – everything from pop to blues to rap to country, with a healthy dose of comedy thrown in for good measure. In fact, think of a musical style and somewhere there will be a Wrock band that meets your criteria.

Initially started by American bands like Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys, it didn’t take long before the Wrock revolution spread worldwide (and I mean worldwide as there are bands in Sweden, Australia, Japan, Israel and Canada to name but a few) and Britain can boast what I think are some of the best bands around. Personal favourites are Split Seven Ways, Riddle TM, Peeved, Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons, Siriusly Hazza P and the awesome Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and excitingly for me at least, some of these bands will be appearing at the Hogwarts Jamboree.

Ok so this was a funny moment for me: As usual I had 4Music on in the background while I was working earlier on. On comes the video of Apologize by One Republic. I’m confused: the words are all wrong. Then I realize. I’ve listened to the Ministry of Magic’s cover version of the song so many times now that I’m automatically singing their words, rather than the original. And I have to admit I prefer the MoM version.

So lots of music already planned, with more to come I’m sure. After all Michael Jackson is rumoured to be doing a series of concerts at the O2, which I think must be a dead cert assuming the tickets aren’t stupidly priced, although knowing him…. Plus of course the festivals are just beginning to be announced. I’m really fancying Sunday of the V festival, even though Oasis are headlining on the main stage, as there are plenty of other bands that I love playing (read Elbow, James, Snow Patrol and Ocean Colour Scene) and Keane will be headlining the 4Music stage.

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.

Halloween Pics and More

So I should be busy writing my novel but I’m not. Instead I’m having a quick catch up on here.
Last Friday there was a Halloween fancy dress party in the Sherwood Oak and Mrs H3 and I both dressed up (of course), along with a few other brave souls. It was an excellent evening and the photos are below.

I had bought the most fantastic witches’ hat from M&S and built the costume around that, as you can see Mrs H3’s costume was mainly the most fantastic red patent leather DM boots and a rather bouncy tutu.



So it’s Bonfire Night and all around I can hear the bangs of fireworks, although I can’t actually see anything. I love fireworks but I can’t be bothered to leave the house tonight to try and see them as it’s too cold out there and I’m still full of this horrid cold that I’ve had since last weekend. Instead we are going to Leeds Castle on Saturday evening for their ‘Legend of Excalibur’ display. Mrs H3 is excited ‘cos she gets to wear her wellies, I’m excited as I get to wear my Slytherin scarf – I’m not sure which of us is the sadder! LOL

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had got tickets for Elbow at Wembley. Since then they’ve announced a full tour (I get a feeling that Elbow are a bit like I Am Kloot on the touring front i.e. they don’t really stop) and the first night is at the Brighton Dome (Wembley is the final night) so we’ve got tickets for that too. Am very excited at this but also hoping IAK are going to tour the UK early next year ‘cos I’ll be going frantic by then as it’s been almost 7 months now since I last saw them live (and watching them on the internet doesn’t count however good they were!)

So I suppose I should get back to the novel. Jonathan Stroud (author of the wonderful Bartimaeus Trilogy) has sent me (and everyone else taking part in NaNoWriMo) an e-mail containing a pep talk and some advice for getting the story written and sticking to deadlines. I’m really behind now as I haven’t written anything on it since Sunday but I’m sure once I get to grips with the plotline I’m thinking about at the moment I’ll have loads to write about.

A General Update

As I’m off to Spain on Sunday and might not get round to updating again till who knows when, I thought I’d have a general round up on the things I’m looking forward to in the next couple of months.

-- Movies --

At the moment I'm considering going to see 'Brideshead Revisited', although I love the 1981 TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons so much that I'm a little worried I'll be disappointed with the film, just as I was with 'Pride and Prejudice'. I suspect though that the next film will be Kiefer's 'Mirrors' which is now out on 10th October instead of this week as originally scheduled (sorry Mrs H3, apparently it really is scary).

The good news is that 'Twilight' has finally been brought forward. Unfortunately not to the spot vacated by Half Blood Prince as I was hoping, but to 19th December (the same day as my work's Christmas party - guess which one I'll be going to!)

So now I’m focussing on possible upcoming movies. The one I really want to see is ‘Good’ starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong but as yet there’s no release date for it in the UK. I just hope it isn't going to go the way of ‘Bottle Shock’ and ‘Nobel Son’, the Alan Rickman films I’m still waiting to see (now released (or just about) in the US but still with no sign of a release date over here – I guess they are going to be another ‘Search for John Gissing’ or ‘Snow Cake’). Other than that there seems to be a dearth of movies until the new Star Trek film which isn’t slated to be out till next May after being delayed.

And look! Only 288 days to go now till the release of Half Blood Prince - the time's just flying by isn't it?

-- Music --

Well still no sign of that philanthropist giving me free tickets for the Roundhouse next weekend *sigh* but Elbow’s new found fame from winning the Mercury Prize has apparently launched them into the big time and they are doing a show at Wembley Arena (yep, really) on 14th March 2009. Not wanting to miss out this time I’ve already bought our tickets!

And I’m seriously considering Johnny Bramwell at Night and Day on 27th November. Of course I was anyway, but news on the IAK board that he’ll be doing a 90 minute set including NEW songs is more than enough to have me champing at the bit to go. All I need to do now is work out the logistics (and cost of course) of getting to Manchester.

Other than that there are two more concerts planned so far for this year – Chas and Dave (yep those perennial favourites) at the Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October and the Bootleg Beatles (who I last saw at Glastonbury in 1994 and completely stole the weekend) at the O2 Indigo on 20th December.

-- Panto --

It’s soon going to be that time of year again (…oh no it isn’t; oh yes it is!) and so to get in the Christmassy spirit Mrs H3 and I decided that after the excitement of last year’s Peter Pan with Paul Michael Glaser we’d take in a panto or four this year. It was a matter of making some tough decisions (there was NO way I was going to see Joe Pasquale in Dartford) but finally our panto season looks like this:

29th November – Jack and the Beanstalk (Maidstone)
6th December – Cinderella (Bromley)
13th December – Peter Pan (Croydon)
3rd January – Snow White (Catford)

Among the ‘stars’ we’ll be seeing this year are Brian Blessed (yay, we love BB!), Steve Guttenberg, Antonio Fargas and Helen Lederer.

Off To Sunny Spain

I’m now on a countdown for going to Spain for some well deserved R&R at my parents. I’m gratified to see that the weather is likely to be good, especially with the deteriorating weather over here. This week is a busy one so by the time I get there I’ll probably be ready for a good sleep.

Mrs H3 has deserted me to go to Dubai with her mum for few days (of course I’m not at all jealous…well not if she brings me back the bottle of Jack Daniels she promised!)

Not having a hectic social life over the weekend did give me a chance to get a bit of Autumn cleaning done and I now have a huge pile of stuff for the tip that will be going this week, so a nice tidy flat is assured (well as tidy as I can get being an inveterate hoarder!) by the time I go away.

On Wednesday evening I’m going for dinner at Lynnie Lou’s. It’ll be a good chance to catch up and have a gossip, as she’s been all tied up recently with sorting out her lovely new house. Then Saturday night is Heidi’s 40th birthday party, which reminds me that I need to make her a card.

So partying Saturday night followed by an early flight Sunday morning. Not a good combination but I’m sure I’ll manage, especially with the prospect of a week off work to look forward to – nicely timed too as I’ll have just finished with the latest round of talks/arguments on our new database and will be needing to get away!

A little part of me is still hoping to acquire some tickets for the Elbow concert which is the weekend after I get back from Spain, although I’m not holding out much hope. If anyone has a couple of tickets they want to donate please let me know (yes I know that’s even more unlikely than me being able to buy them, but you never know there might be some nice philanthropist out there who has a couple of tickets to spare.) *LOL*

I Am Kloot have released the dates of their latest tour. Unfortunately with the exception of two solo gigs by Johnny (both annoyingly in Manchester – one this coming Friday (and believe me I did look into going but it just wasn’t viable either financially or work wise) and one on 27th November – still not yet decided about that one) all the other dates are in places like Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Austria. Obviously I’m gutted about this as it’s now been 151 days since I last saw them live and to say I’m having withdrawal symptoms would be a major understatement. They are doing a gig in Dublin on 15th December which I am also considering, but I’m really hoping they are going to announce a few UK dates soon…and preferably ones down south. Not all IAK fans are from Manchester you know!

I ♥ Gary Numan

Okay so I have to say this – I LOVE Gary Numan.

Now of course you all know that anyway. After all I fell in love with Gary when I was twelve, still was when I was twenty five and another seventeen years later I am even now completely and hopelessly smitten. I think it would be safe to say that this is an eternal love (unlike the Bay City Rollers – Dad you were right when you told me all those years ago that I wouldn't love them forever as I’d sworn when I was nine!)

I mention this because last Sunday night Mrs H3 and I went to see Gary at the O2 Indigo and it was bloody fantastic (yes I know it's taken forever to get this review up but I've been a busy girl). This is a nice intimate venue (with comfortable seats for us oldies and not so oldies) and with tickets in the Kings Row VIP bit we had a great view. Gary was on form having just returned from rain-soaked ‘Bestival’ where, according to reports, he wowed the crowd. He certainly did so last week, although to be fair it would have been hard not to with a room full of Numanoids eager to enjoy every moment of the concert.

The set was nice mix of the old and the new, Gary’s previously voiced intention to stop singing his old songs not materialising fortunately. I suspect that many of his older songs will never be heard live again, which is a shame, but there are those that fit into his current darker, more metallic sound like ‘Metal’ and ‘Films’ and those he’ll keep playing, reworked with the heavier feel and of course those old mainstays ‘Down in the Park’, ‘Cars’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ will never disappear.

The light show was, as ever, astonishing although too bright for me in places with the strobing effects and the sound level was high, causing almost total deafness in my left ear and partial deafness in the right (which took a day to return properly), although the bass wasn’t anywhere near as amplified as at the Brighton gig.

I left the concert feeling overwhelmingly contented; in fact I’d go as far as to say I used the ‘H’ word in relation to how I was feeling last week. Not being one of nature’s little sunbeams this state doesn't hit me often and it was a bit strange, but a nice feeling. Mrs H3 describes Gary’s music as angry and I think that fits as well as anything. Strange that such angry music should leave me feeling so happy, but then that’s the nature of love – it doesn't work the way you expect.

Mrs H3 took a photo or three and these (or some at least) should follow shortly.



Hurrah and Congratulations!


Just wanted to say a quick hurrah for Elbow who deservedly won the Mercury Music Prize on Tuesday night for their fabulous album ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ which I may have raved about on occasion. It was lovely to see Guy and the guys looking so happy at winning and yes Mrs H3 he still looked like a dustman! Unfortunately we hadn’t got round to getting tickets for their gig at the Roundhouse due to lack of money and of course they are now completely sold out. With tickets going for three times their face value plus now on e-bay I can safely say I won’t be seeing them this time round, instead sitting at home and moping miserably about not going without food for a week to get the tickets before they sold out.


Football

So I am the official fangirl of the Sherwood Oak Football Club and have started a blog to report on their games. Feel free to drop by and leave a comment, or just read about the team’s exploits and look at a few pictures of the guys in action. They really do need all the supporters they can get :)

The Music Bit

So as well as lounging around eating ice cream and watching the latest blockbusters Mrs H3 and I have also been enjoying the music.

On Thursday 3rd July we were back at the O2, this time seeing Duran Duran. This was a weird experience for me. It was promoting their last album ‘Red Carpet Massacre’ which I have to admit I’d not listened to after the first couple of days of owning it as I wasn’t overly keen on it and so I don't know the words to any of the songs. It was odd to be at a concert and not singing along except to ‘Falling Down’, especially as Mrs H3 and everyone around me was. Of course they also didn't play any of the songs I really liked from the album so I actually, and I really hate to admit this, found myself a bit bored at various points throughout the night. Of course things livened up when they played the old tracks and overall I will admit that the evening was excellent and I did thoroughly enjoy it.

I was unlucky enough to be stuck behind a fat bird with fat hair to match (yes I am aware that I’m not Twiggy) who was dancing like she was having an epileptic fit for the whole concert. Every time I tried to get a picture or video the stage, in fact even just look at it she was in front of me waving her big hair around all over the place. Although we were pretty near the front of the venue I spent most of the evening watching the band on the big screen as it gave me an unobstructed view of Simon.

Mrs H3 says that I’ve been different about Duran Duran since their treatment of me in New Orleans. And I think she’s right. Whilst I didn't expect them to stop and talk to me I didn’t think it was too much to expect a smile or a wave, having travelled so far to see them, especially considering there were so few people there. On their fan club website and when they are on stage they are always going on about caring about their fans, but I saw no sign of that at Voodoofest and being cynical it is easy to think they are just about making money.

That cynicism is even easier to have when you discover that the VIP packages that they sell for an extortionate amount of money (I believe the O2 ones were about £400) aren't so VIP after all. My idea of VIP is for a select group of people to be given the chance to have the top seats and the experience of meeting the band etc. At O2 there were 150 VIP packages sold – certainly not my idea of select, and they were sitting only a few rows in front of us. Did they get to meet the band beforehand? I don’t know but according to the information on the website it’s not always guaranteed. This year I also decided not to buy a programme (and actually stuck to that) and the t-shirt stand was left well alone as they didn't seem to have anything under £20 (the blingy t shirt I liked was £35!). Of course as much as I moan I will still renew my fan club membership and be nervously waiting for tickets the next time they tour, so I guess I’m not too cynical just yet.

In the end we decided against going to the Mighty Boosh festival, mainly due to a severe lack of money and so our next musical outing was to see the rescheduled Pete Doherty show at the Royal Albert Hall. Now obviously we had been eagerly awaiting this since Pete had got himself put in prison back in April and I’m sure Mrs H3 was the same as me in hoping that he didn't do anything stupid before Saturday 12th July came. Fortunately he didn't and the show went ahead as planned.

And it was brilliant. I know a lot of people knock Pete for his drug habit but they are being unfair. If you didn’t listen to a band/singer because of drug taking there would be very few bands left in the world, and the ones left would generally be pretty boring. Pete really does have a wonderful voice; he’s a brilliant songwriter and a consummate performer. When he appeared on stage he was well dressed in a suit, completely clean and sober and drinking tea. Oh and he wasn’t wearing his trademark hat either.

The audience dynamic was interesting to say the least. A mix of hard core fans who are more used to him playing venues like the Tap ‘n’ Tin, seat owners who had come along purely to see what all the fuss was about and others like Mrs H3 and I who just enjoy good music and a good evening out. We were lucky enough to have front row seats in one of the boxes and so had an excellent view of the proceedings.

As the evening went on it was clear that some of the die hards were having trouble with the RAH concept of sitting still and watching the performance. Occasionally they tried to get up and dance but were asked to sit down, this wasn’t what they wanted or were used to. Pete did make a couple of mentions to it, at the beginning asking if everyone was sitting comfortably, and later saying he’d been told by another artist that the best bit about being at the Royal Albert Hall was the respectful silences between songs – his die hard fans didn’t shut up for a moment.

What amazed and impressed us most was his ability to keep going under difficult circumstances. At one point in the evening a guy in the front row was trying to get him to talk to his girlfriend on the phone in the middle of ‘East of Eden’. Pete stopped singing, asked the guy to turn his phone off and then carried on pitch perfect from where he’d left off as if he’d never stopped singing. Shortly after the same man was evicted from the hall after he threw a bottle of water at Pete.

Unfortunately the Royal Albert Hall chose to only have two of their bars open during the short interval and so we missed the first few songs of the second half (including ‘For Lovers’ which I’d been hoping he’d play) as we and a million other people were still queuing for water and the evening was cut short by a stage invasion at the beginning of his encore, which effectively ended the show. However, yet again, even with the stage filling around him he only actually stopped singing when the crowd dragged him too far away from the microphone to be heard. I just hope he had as good an evening as he appeared to be having. I know Mrs H3 and I did, although more than a little disappointed at losing the final fifteen minutes of what could have been an amazing encore.

I was worried that as usual the reviews would show the old drugged up pictures of Pete that they always seem to reel out for stories about him and that the stage invasion would be used against him. Fortunately there were only a few that used this tactic, the rest being fair and respectful and even using pictures of him from the evening which showed how good he was looking. The event was filmed and so hopefully at some point in the near future everyone will be able to see just what a good evening those of us at the RAH had that night.

Since then it’s been all quiet on the music front, although we do have plans to see Gary Numan at O2 Indigo on 7th September and hopefully, when I can afford the tickets, Elbow at the Roundhouse in October. By then I’m hoping the I Am Kloot guys will be back from their festivals and touring again as it’s now been 105 days since I last saw them and I’m having serious withdrawal symptoms. Having caught part of their performance at Latitude on the TV I see that Johnny has had his hair cut and I approve. I think he looks better without the long curls.

A New Game

I think I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not as happy with my new phone as I could be. Although it’s lovely and pink it takes really crap photos and even worse video. It is so bad that I’ve decided to create a new game for Mrs H3. It’s similar in style to the old ‘Shooting Stars’ game where Vic would sing a song in a club style and the guests had to guess the song. I’m going to do the same with my concert footage. By the time the sound goes through my phone it comes out just as thumping bass. So the game is guess the song, the singer and the concert. With clips to choose from My Chemical Romance, IAK, Gary Numan, Duran Duran and Pete Doherty it should be interesting – especially as they all sound pretty much the same!

It's My Blog's Birthday!

I’ve just realised that I’ve been doing this blog for two years now so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my blog which I started on the 15th May 2006! Wow two whole years of aimless rambling – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

Disappointingly I’ve just lived through a whole week without any live music; I’ve not seen a show, been to the cinema or done anything even vaguely of interest. Of course there are things on the horizon – in fact the future looks pretty good, but my present is most definitely boring.

The one bright spark has been the acquisition of the new(ish) Elbow album ‘Seldom Seen Kid’. I already had and enjoyed an earlier album ‘Cast of Thousands’ but hadn’t really taken much notice of them for a few years. With the possibility of seeing them with I Am Kloot in Cheshire next month I thought it was high time to catch up with their newer work. I had heard (and loved) the single ‘Grounds for Divorce’ but hadn’t expected to enjoy the album quite as much as I did. I think it is probably a completely ‘me’ album. With fantastic lyrics, lush storytelling over divine music, upbeat yet careworn, dreamy and enchanting, the album is a joy to listen to and gets better with repeated listenings and I can safely say is one of the best albums (if not the best) that I’ve heard this year.

Not such a surprise I guess when Elbow are so closely linked to Kloot and have Richard Hawley doing guest vocals on a track. Perhaps it was obvious that I was going to love it.

Music will be playing a big part in my future as we’re still going to see Duran Duran on 3rd July at the O2 arena and now that Pete’s been released from jail it looks like his concert at the Royal Albert Hall has been rescheduled for the 12th (according to the NME anyway). I’m really interested in the Mighty Boosh Festival on the 5th at the Hop Farm as Gary Numan has announced he’ll be playing there and I love the Mighty Boosh; whilst Mrs H3 has shown interest in the Zoo8 festival at Port Lymphe mainly due to Chas & Dave’s appearance I think, who are unfortunately on the same date. I'm also extremely tempted by Jools Holland's upcoming concert at Rochester Castle on the 17th as Marc Almond is playing with him. All I need now is to win the lottery and I can go to all of them and the Latitude Festival that same weekend which IAK have just confirmed that they are playing (with Elbow).

But it doesn’t stop there. Next week sees the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Although the critics haven’t been very kind to the film I’m sure it’ll be just as entertaining as the other three so I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure when though, next Friday Mrs H3 and I are off to see ‘Potted Potter’ a 70 minute take on the Harry Potter series. Believe me when I say we’ll go and see just about anything if it looks interesting enough!

In my last post I mentioned Diesel Park West playing at Chatham Central Hall. Fortunately I didn’t get tickets for this as the following day Mrs H3 got us tickets for the premiere of ‘Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ at the O2 arena. Not only did she get us tickets but she got us amazing tickets at the front, dead centre. Obviously this is going to be a fantastically star-studded event (after all it is the UK’s biggest film premiere and for charity – Great Ormond Street Hospital) and I understand that there is a dress code involved so look out for the two of us gracing the red carpet, no doubt trying to upstage any minor celebrities that may be there.

But before all this comes Chelsea Flower Show on Wednesday – the horticultural highlight of my and Lynne’s year and so far the weather forecast is looking good. The gardens … the flowers … the Pimms … ahhh the pleasure of a nice day and relaxing with the sounds of the brass band and an ice cream. Of course there will be the usual hundreds of photos uploaded somewhere on line after the event – my fabby purple new camera very kindly donated by Mrs H3 has a card big enough to hold almost 3,500 pictures – more than even I’ll need for the day!

Loving the sound of Motown

Well keeping up with the growing tradition of live music every week, last night I went for a slightly different type and went to the theatre to see the Motown musical, “Dancing in the Streets”. Lynne had a spare ticket as someone who was supposed to be going was ill and I stepped into the breach. I rarely take much notice of what’s playing at Chatham Central Hall, but obviously a lot of people do as it was pleasingly well filled.

The premise is as simple as the set – a recording studio in downtown Detroit filled with the house band and a run through of the greatest hits and hitmakers of the Motown catalogue - the Marvelettes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, The Supremes and Diana Ross, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Glady’s Knight and the Pips and more.

I love Motown and for me the chance to see the sort of dance routines that groups like the Temptations would have used was the real pleasure, as was hearing all those fantastic songs again. All the cast were thoroughly excellent, although I personally wasn’t keen on the girl who played Diana Ross (although to be fair to her she did come into her own on ‘Love Child’, one of my favourite Supremes songs) and actually cringed during the singing of ‘Endless Love’ which I think the show could have done without (actually the whole Lionel Ritchie thing seemed a bit out of kilter with all those other fantastic songs).

As with all the best musicals there was loads of scope for the audience to sing and dance and Lynne and I took full advantage of the opportunity. It really was a very good musical and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes that type of music.

As I was there I thought I’d pick up the leaflets for upcoming productions having spotted the wonderful Dara O’Briain on the cover (unfortunately he’s on the same day that we go to Chelsea Flower Show), however something that did catch my attention was Diesel Park West’s Marrakesh Express Tour which is hitting Chatham Central Hall on 19th June.

Now Diesel Park West are one of those resurgent psychedelic bands that I loved in the early ‘90s but, as I’m sure you’ll be astounded to hear, didn’t do as well as they should have done. After early promise (EMI actually bought the record label (Food) they were on as they wanted them so badly) with their first album ‘Shakespeare Alabama’ they disappeared, never to be heard of again (except by die hard fans I expect). Now, suddenly here they are doing a tour covering the songs of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Freakily, I had a conversation about Diesel Park West only last week at the I Am Kloot gig as it turned out that one of the two women I chatted to after the show’s sister lives with the lead singer John Butler. She was amazed that someone had actually heard of DPW, let alone actually knew any of their work and we had quite an interesting discussion about what they’d been up to over the years.

Anyway this seems like an interesting evening so I may have to go for it, however plenty of time between now and then to decide as I can’t see it being sold out.

Oh and IAK have announced that they’re supporting Elbow at Delamere Forest in Cheshire while Mrs H3 and I are on holiday. I’m thinking a trip up that way could be in order …