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How Jean Michel Jarre changed my life (Part #1)
On Friday night, I accompanied friends to the NIA in Birmingham to see French musician Jean Michel Jarre and his band. This was the 6th time I'd seen Jarre play, and as usual, I came away raving about the show. I won't describe the concert in any great detail as I'm writing a review of the show for the Hippy Towers musical review blog (yeah, about ( Read more... ) -
A Nightmare To Remember
I've mentioned in previous blogs that 2010 seems to be a bit of annus horribilis for prog bands - quite a few have had a really rough ride this year. Mostly Autumn lost their vocalist, and poached a new one, leaving Breathing Space casting about for a new recruit (which they happily found in the shape of early Mostly Autumn vocalist Heidi Widdop - ( Read more... ) -
Coming Back To Life
I've railed here at great length before about how unpleasant and ridiculous things have become over at the Marillion Online forum, and also about my concerns for the now 10-year old mailing list The Opium Den, which I set up in protest at how bad things had become on its contemporaneous mailing list, Freaks. 'Old-fashioned' E-mail mailing lists ( Read more... ) -
The First Of Autumn
I've been neglecting my blogging quite shamefully this year, so I've set myself the goal of writing here at least once a week, in order to try and get back on the blogging horse. Seems reasonable to me: it always seems like there's plenty going on, or plenty I want to talk about, but given how much time I sit in front of a keyboard (at home as well ( Read more... ) -
Together Alone
I've just discovered that a good friend, named Rich, had a really nasty accident last night and is currently laid up in pretty poor shape in hospital. It's really brought it home to me that sometimes the internet is a bit of a double-edged sword where friendships are concerned: I'd almost certainly never have met Rich were it not for the internet, ( Read more... ) -
And we're back
Apologies to any regular readers for the intermission in regular service... It seems like aeons since I wrote anything here, and I thought I was probably due an update. Real Life got in the way, iz all ( Read more... ) -
Update from the Planet Spam
Today's entry in the Vogon Poetry Hall Of Fame...
send a hen-turkey rattling off her nest in a thicket on the river's edge, or perhaps surprise even an antelope sufficiently close to point out to the ladies from our window the exquisite flight of that swiftest and most beautiful creature in our American fauna. But our road will not be in running ( Read more... ) -
The Dark Side Of Fandom
As many of you reading this will know, I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan. Well, actually more than a bit - I'm a huge, giant Star Trek fan. I was introduced to the Bill Shatner-helmed original series as a wee lad as my mum liked to sit and watch it when it was on (Friday nights, if I remember correctly) back in the mid-to-late 70s. I loved it then, and ( Read more... ) -
20 Christmas Bullet Points
It's strange: I go for days/weeks/months(!) without posting an update here because I don't feel I have anything particularly relevant to add, then finally turn around and think, "Aw, crap, I really should post something once in a while, just so the people who aren't on Facebook or frequent band forums don't think I'm face-down in a ditch somewhere ( Read more... )