Bandy Band Bands

Having friends in bands is both a blessing and a curse. The blessings being they will most likely be the kind of people that want to go out on a Tuesday even though one or both of you have a 9am meeting,they always have an awesome jacket to lend you or cigarettes, and you can be sure of great rambling conversation on something neither of you have any idea about (existentialism, politics of the middle east in the 17th Century etc) til about 6am with great gusto! However, in return you have to watch their band...
And just because they're a mate,doesn't necessarily mean they're good. This is why I have often avoided watching friends bands,for if they sound like a shitty Klaxons cover group,or like they're doing their best Axl Rose impression,how do you smile through and say 'Yeah mate,great set'?? You can't lie to your friends can you?

I would just like to state at this point I have all the musical talents of a first round X-Factor contestant taking themselves too seriously-i am by no means a musical authority.

So last year i took the plunge and finally went to see my friend Tim's band Black Canons. I nervously rocked up and tried to hide in a corner just in case, however within 30 seconds i had shimmied my way to the front of the crowd and was doing my best Stevie Nicks 'Edge of 17' impression - they were fricken brilliant!!! Sounded like a sexed-up Pearl Jam! And Tim was fantastic,what an absolute amazing guitarist! After the show i gushed to everyone that would listen how much i enjoyed,and I've been back a couple of times since.

Buzzed off this,i next decided to go see a band I'd told everyone about for years but never seen, Guile featuring my good friends Jon and Neal. Tje dark and intimate setting of the ... In Birmingham was perfect for their kind of bluesy rock. The show was delicious,they were amazing, one of the best live bands I have ever seen, to quote Almost Famous, 'the guitar sounded incendiary'.

And now to add to the list,a band fronted by an old friend, Corelli. They sounded so young and fresh,they looked so exciting and they were a perfect band for the jilted generation to party to!  Like a happier sounding Smiths (this could be offensive, but whatevs I thought they were banging!)

I know it sounds like i am verbally noshing off my mates, but I am not!  And I implore those of you who read this to check all of these guys out,tell your friends and download the tracks! In a world full of Simon Cowell drones, Justin Biebers and wannabe East Enders fusing bad New Order with the Jungle Brothers, these guys are a breath of fresh air!


This revolution MUST be televised...


x

An award-winning artist...

YES I BLOODY WELL AM!!!!  As you can tell I'm a tad excited about this.  I attended a Dr Sketchy event in Birmingham on Saturday and won a round yay!  For those of you unaware of the concept, my interpretation of it is as follows...go to nice pub (the gorgeous Victoria), get a little crunk on fancy cider (thank you to the good people at Stowies for all your hard work, it is not unnoticed), watch some great performers of the Burlesque variety and do some colouring in!  Only good things can come of this!
However, as i'm there in more of a 'support' role for artist friends, i did not expect my drunken scrawling with the contents of my make up bag (4 pints in) to be awarded top marks by the performer, how lovely!  And here is the winning piece :D

Obviously there were other winners, but as I've never been considered even slightly good a drawing bollocks to them this is my time in the sunshine!
However part of my prize was a mouthful (literally, they shoved it in) of Turkish Delight...as someone awaiting dental surgery this was essentially oral torture...but whatevs, yay me!

So your song of choice will be a very fitting Dylan choice...amaze

PMQ's - Jeremy Kyle for Toffs...

And it really is!  I know I say it every week, and every week it's my televisual highlight (next to Sherlock, the man's a complete douchebag, so obviously I find him irresistibly attractive).  Buuuttt it would be nice if they offered some actual ideas, BOTH SIDES.  Cameron continues to say he's cleaning up after labour economic policies (at which Ed Balls looks like he's 'shitting wasps', thanks Chris W) by means of evading any actual questions, and Ed Milliband tries to come back with a 'you're out of touch' comment trying not to double click and head roll after.  And the past few months i've watched it nobody seems to have offered any actual solutions or policies...unless they're so bogged down in public school bitchiness a commoner like me can't pick them out...hmph!

Soo rant over, and yes Stef, i was shouting at the news (another past time of mine, I find it quite therapeutic...)

In order to make myself feel better an lighten the tone I reminded myself of the show I went to see last week in London, the amazeballs Million Dollar Quartet!  Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley - musically it's probably as sexy as Chicago, however i'm pleased they weren't wearing the stockings...that's more Rocky Horror than Rock N Roll.  The wife and I did the whole thing holiday style by downing Daquiri's like it was Mardi Gras prior to the show, causing brain freeze and some interesting navigation of Covent Garden cobbles!  But we made it and danced away in the stalls!

Here's them doing a medley on Letterman - enjoy!

A New Year...

Sooo, I kinda forgot I had one of these for about 6 months...oops!

I come to you now at the ripe old age of 24, attempting to dabble in something new...
My only NY resolutions are to give up the 3 C's - Carbs, Cider and Cigarettes, 3 things i hold very close to my heart...
But for now I've decided to dye half my hair back blonde, and i'm in the 'awkward ginger phase' - fine for now, however the more 40 volt bleach applied the more this could be a mistake :s

What Katie Did...

Grrr! Argh! Damn! Blast!  I write to you today from my bed, not where i had originally intended to be.
Right now i should be wondering around London with my fabulous BFF Stephen, drinking skinny mochas  and G&T's, and visiting what promises to be a gorgeous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.  Alas no; thanks to my student railcard's decision to jump ship from my purse to a place nobody knows i have paid £22 to go to Birmingham today-less fun.

Oh well...I've been a bit quiet on fun days out recently.  The last thing i went to see was The Home of Metal  exhibition about a month ago which was very fun!  It resembled walking through my Nan's house and entering a world of bluesy rock and fan craziness!  I wish it was the 60's, i would have hung around in Smethwick like a bad smell trying to find Robert Plant :)

In an attempt to feel a little more intellectual with TV i decided to stop watching Drop The Dead Donkey reruns for an hour and half (this was difficult, its like tv crack to me) and threw on The Man Who Crossed Hitler, the story of the brave Hans Litten who dared to cross the Fuhrer in the courts.  Watching a man so boldly fight for freedom and democracy in dangerous times makes the recent rioting in this country look even more embarrassing.  Pick your cause and fight for it with fire your belly kids, not for some bad trainers.

Rant over, thanks for listening!

Everyday Is Like Sunday...

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?  Jonny Rotten uttered this at the audience of the San Francisco Winterland Sex Pistols concert in 1978, the last one of the Vicious era.  I'm not mentioning this as a start of a Punk loving excitement fest (although i have been known to partake).  I'm in fact applying it my post-university state of flux....
  According to the BBC, I am part of a growing generation of 'Underemployed'.  I am bright, bubbly and highly qualified in my chosen field (Dance and Culture, how fabulous!), but yet I just cannot seem to burrow my into one of these 'Graduate Jobs'.  Instead I have apparently been forced to take a job that didn't require 4 years of contextual analysis, gender theory, ports de bras, critical theory and leotard chaffing.  I have left my Surrey pad to come back up to my Black Country boarder town and pull beer.
And does this upset me? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
  If you know me, you will be aware of my painfully annoying optimism and enthusiasm for everything ever! (except Abba, don't get me started on Abba).  And also I have always been fiendishly proud of my roots, often welling up in home-sickness at a bag of pork scratchings.  And I also get work in a place that could rival Disney with chipperness, the Winding Wheel!  Home to the coldest Strongbow to ever pass my lips, and some glorious people.  The place makes me feel 18 again, except without the overwhelming erge to drink VK Tropical, thank god!
  Sooooo....I'm writing a blog to satisfy my own need to rambling about things that i see and do, and to satisfy others who don't hear me talk enough balls!  What to do next?  I could travel!  Open my own tapestry business!  Finally start learning Russian!  I could teach!  Perhaps a Masters in something obscure like Early 20th Century Puppetry in the Lancashire area!
  Oh the gloy of it all (glee+joy).  But for now I shall wonder around in an attempt to expand my mind, and share it with the glorious world of tinterweb!
  How exciting!  Because you can't say 'there's nothing to around here' if you don't try, can you...