Lord, has it really been that long since I last blogged? I know I haven’t had much going on, but this is ridiculous. Anyway, since I last talked to you, Great Britain showed that it really is great and hosted the best Olympic and Paralymic games ever (no of course I’m not biased); J K Rowling has released a new and completely brilliant book; The Hobbit trailer was finally released to a lot of excitement; I Am Kloot at last (thank heavens) announced some concerts ‘down south’; my computer and my washing machine both gave up the ghost (sadly in the same week) and Mrs H3 and I once again committed ourselves to attempting to attend this year’s Snow Ball in Edinburgh.

And now it’s that time of year again – I mean, of course, NaNoWriMo. Now normally at this time of the month I’m waxing lyrical about how I’m ready to tackle the 1,667 words that I need to write every day to meet the 30 November deadline of 50,000 words and as we all know from previous years I either start out well, then tail off or get sidetracked before I even really get going and then have a mad spurt at the end of the month. So I was all ready to go and actually even had a plot idea for once – something that doesn’t usually happen properly at this stage of the game, but sad to say I’m really not feeling in the mood for writing this year. I’m not entirely sure why, but at the moment I’m just not feeling the NaNoWriMo love and am thinking of skipping it for the first time since 2008. It may be that as the month goes on my need to write will return and I’ll make a late attempt but at the moment it just isn’t happening. However, if you want to have a go, please check out their website at the link.  

Although I’m not writing at the moment books have once again become a large part of my life. For some reason I went through a period of about six months when I didn’t pick up a single book, not even Harry Potter – and I’m sure anyone who knows me knows what a strange and shocking thing that is (and not just the not reading Harry Potter). I’m not sure why this was, but now I’m back with a vengeance and am voraciously reading anything I can lay my hands on. Terry Pratchett, Lauren Kate, Cassandra Clare, John Connolly, the lovely James Herbert, Dean Koontz and of course the wonderful J K Rowling have all featured in my reading list over the last few months – and all have been brilliantly entertaining and well worth checking out.

As the weather gets colder and the nights draw in, Mrs H3 and I are finally getting some evenings out. Firstly was a small and intimate, but completely wonderful evening with the fantastic Chris Singleton and the Distractions a couple of weeks ago, check out the link for a free download of Chris’ first album ‘Twisted City’. Although there weren’t anywhere near enough people there considering the quality of the band, those of us that were had a truly excellent night. The picture isn’t great quality as it was very dark in there, but not bad considering.

Chris Singleton and the Distractions

Next was our usual annual jaunt to the Halloween Night of Fear with Alice Cooper, which of course saw us dressing up in our scary best. Note the fantastic face paint that Mrs H3 put on me – she’s a true artist that one! Alice was good, but I don’t think he was a patch on previous years. I wasn’t keen on the Wembley venue (especially when it was scheduled at the same time as the NFL American football – trying to get to the venue through the thousands of leaving football fans was a complete nightmare and we only just made it in time) and the sound quality wasn’t very good. Initially I thought it was because I’d been struck down with the lurgy the week before and my ears were still playing up, but Mrs H3 and plenty of others confirmed that wasn’t the case. The stage show was scaled back too, which was interesting, but not as entertaining as the usual beheadings etc., although the snake and the strait jacket did make an appearance. Strangely he chose to do a tribute to Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Moon which took four songs – a little surprising when he has such an extensive back catalogue of his own that he could draw upon instead, and when he didn’t play ‘Only Women Bleed’ which I thought was mandatory. It was still a good evening though, although very wet, which is unusual for Halloween and I’m sure was because I went for the full face paint.    

Do you think I've overdone the make-up?

And so onto the future when on 20^th November we finally get to see I Am Kloot for the first time in what seems like forever (definitely well over a year), playing a preview of their forthcoming album ‘Let It All In’. Obviously I’m extremely excited by this, although somewhat nervous as I am desperately hoping this latest Elbow-produced offering doesn’t have the lush orchestrations of the last one and makes a return to the raw, lyric-driven sound of their previous albums. Having heard the first single from it I’m not entirely hopeful, but trying to reserve judgement until I’ve heard the whole thing. The album is released in time for my birthday (hurrah) and is followed by a couple of concerts in London and Brighton in February, which we will, of course, be at. Actually, trying to get tickets was mental, something that has never been a problem before and there was a scary moment where it actually looked like we weren’t going to get them – which would have caused a strop of massive proportions from me. It’s already bad enough having to pay double what it used to cost to see them (since their Mercury music award nomination) without not being able to get a ticket!

Of course Gary Numan makes an appearance before Christmas too on the 7^th December, where hopefully he’ll be recovered from his recent move to Los Angeles. And then, just after my birthday on 31 January we’ll finally be seeing Passenger, a band that I’ve loved for years but have never yet quite managed to get round to seeing live.

And so once again Mrs H3 and I are heading to Edinburgh in an attempt to go to the Snow Ball  I’m fairly confident that this year we’ll actually make it as it’s being held at the beginning of December, so hopefully less chance of snow (and us getting stuck at both ends as we did last time) and we’re travelling the day before rather than on the day of the Ball itself just to make doubly sure. This year’s star attraction from the USA is the original wizard rockers Harry and the Potters, who we haven’t seen since Leakycon last year. With RiddleTM, Siriusly Hazza P and Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldronsproviding first class support it’s going to be a great evening and is the first Harry Potter event we’ve attended in ages and will help to soothe our bitter hearts for not managing to get tickets for Leakycon London next year (still not ready to blog about that). Expect lots of photos of all the lovely witches and wizards in their finest robes ready to Wrock the night away in the magical city that Jo Rowling calls home at Europe’s premiere wizard rock event.

Happy Halloween, Birthday and NaNoWriMo

So it’s Halloween weekend, and although the TV has been full of Christmas ads (just to annoy me I’m sure) and a Harry Potter one (whoop whoop - only 19 days ‘til the new film) it does actually seem pretty Halloweeny.

Partly this is because I have a lot of online friends who are from the US and of course they’re all bonkers about Halloween, but also because finally Halloween is becoming a big deal over here in the UK too.

I love that this is the case because it gives me the excuse to dress up even more often than I already do and Halloween gives me the chance to go to extraordinary lengths (and I don’t just mean wig-wise). This year we decided to forgo the usual Sherwood Oak Halloween party as part of our celebrations and instead went to see Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.

I can’t tell you much about it, as like the Mousetrap, they ask you not to reveal details to people, but I will say that it is definitely worth seeing. Clever and atmospheric, it was a good alternative to an evening in the pub and far more entertaining, although the scariest bit for me was looking round at Mrs H3 in the dark, and her looking back – as she was dressed as the puppet from the Saw films and looked brilliant (and terrifying).

Although it’s actually Halloween today, we’ve taken a break, except for pumpkins (mine’s Severus Snape) and pumpkin scented candles (loving Yankee Candle’s Moonlight Harvest at the moment). This is because I’m (supposed to be) getting ready for the main event which takes place tomorrow night. Mrs H3 and I are off to join Alice Cooper at the Roundhouse for his Night of Fear and are expecting to have a bloody good time (see what I did there). I’ve got all sorts of great ideas running around my brain as to what to go as, but can’t quite pin myself down to one idea.

Anyway, whatever I come with up with I’ll be sharing in our Halloween album once we get the photos uploaded.

This weekend has also been my sister’s Jo’s 40th birthday and I celebrated it by sending her some flowers and a bunch of balloons that Freddie just loved playing with. That boy is so cute!

Finally, it’s that time of the year again…yep, I mean it’s NaNoWriMo time. Yes, I know I always sign up, and yes I know I always faff about all month not writing anything and then post a whiny blog about half way through the month (which usually comes to more words than I’ve written of my novel) complaining about lack of writing, but as they say, hope springs eternal.

As ever I’ve only got a half formed idea in my mind, or more accurately about 6 half formed ideas, none of which go together (at the moment) – although after discovering that bookstores are now having whole shelves catering to teenage paranormal romance I may do something along that line instead, but I’m really hoping that in a month pretty much devoid of any excitement (apart from the Harry Potter film (did I mention it was out on 19th November?) and the chance to ogle Snape for the minute or so that they’ll give him on screen) that I’ll really be able to buckle down this time and get the job done.

Interestingly, my boss has also signed up to do it so maybe the two of us can encourage each other. Actually…maybe not.

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!