January to April 2004

January 2004

Started the year pretty much as I did the last - i.e with a trip to the pictures - this time in Warrington. I remember reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier about six years ago and thinking what a great film it would make. Seems I was not alone as it got snapped up by Hollywood. In case you don't know, Cold Mountain is the story of a Confederate Soldier (Inman) during the closing stages of the American Civil War who decides enough is enough and deserts. The girl he left behind resides on a farm in a place called Cold Mountain. It is a very well written book in that each of the two principal characters gets alternate chapters.

The film takes some liberties with the book, but still maintains the characterisation that was so important to the novel. But what a cast - not content to pair up Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, Donald Sutherland plays a superb role as the father, Ray Winston is superbly horrible as the commander of the Cold Mountain Home Guard (but he does degenerate back into cockney now and again - if you saw him in the recent Henry VIII then you will know what I am talking about), Phillip Seymour-Hoffman is superb as the disgraced priest, Rene Zellwegger appears exactly as I imagined Ruby to be when I read the book. That is before I have even mentioned a mere bit part for Natalie Portman. Yes I did like it a lot - its epic sweep, superb presentation of history and brilliant cast. Sadly, like many films at the moment, it has not chosen its moment well - it will simply be drowned out beneath the hooves of Lord of the Rings! Still - this is a first class film, worthy of your attention! An added bonus is Jack White (of White Stripes) playing a role as another deserter - and much more than just a cameo - the lad did well! You may even feel like reading the book.....

Well, obviously I am becoming a bit influential, because no sooner have I switched to Sabian Cymbals that Neil Peart does the same. Well, I always thought it a bit weird that Neil, to my mind the finest Canadian who has ever lived, would use Ziljdian (of Turkey) when there was a Canadian manufacturer, such as Sabian, just up the road. Neil is having his own range designed for him by Sabian - I asked them to do the same for me but they refused - citing the fact that they had never heard of me and that I was also a talentless geek likely to make their sales plunge if I were to endorse the range - the cheek of it.

No doubt I will be able to see and hear the nice new Sabians when the lads come to Europe on tour this year (fingers and toes crossed). I suppose it might be too much to expect Neil to start using Mapex drums and hardware.... As you can see I am getting very desperate to type drumming stuff on the site!

On the 8th we went to see Taboo - The Boy George Musical at the Lowry in Salford. Musicals based on the music of a particular artist are obviously quite big: ABBA the Musical and We Will Rock You - the Queen Musical (personally I am waiting for 2112 the Rush Musical if either Ben Elton or Robert DeNiro are interested - well a bit unlikely as the plot to We Will Rock You sounds a lot like the plot to 2112 anyway!).

Taboo is loosely based around the life of Boy George and did rather well when it was in the West End. The story tells of George and his rise to fame and fortune, and ultimately a rather advanced drug habit (don't worry it all turns out OK in the end). Also turning up in the cast are all of George's famous mates: Steve Strange, Marilyn etc. The music is superb (such as the spot on parody of the video to Fade to Grey by Visage) and was actually provided by a trio of musicians (piano, guitar and drums) situated at the back of the stage. Sad drumming bit here: the drummer made good use of a Roland TD10 and I was very impressed! The cast were also brilliant - nearly everyone holds down a few parts each and Mark Little (he of Neighbours fame) was pretty superb (his role was famously played by Matt Lucas - he of Little Britain fame  - in the original production).

Back in an earlier update of the diary I provided advice on going to a comedy club. The advice I gave read something about not sitting at the front. Well that advice could have been written for Taboo - in fact you should think about avoiding the stalls completely and going for the balcony (like we did). Yes - audience participation is an integral part of the show, but I won't give too much away... Yes I did like it - it was a very entertaining show and you should catch it as soon as you can (and I was never a big Boy George fan - or even of New Romantics - apart from the Human League and Ultravox!). A word of warning (to quote Keith from the Office), homophobics might not like it very much.

On the 18th, took Emma and G to see Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Yes, as you can see I am not quite placing my finger on the cinematic pulse of this nation - going to see a film that has been out for quite a few weeks now - in fact it has been on general release since..... November 21st 2003. Well, this was my umpteenth attempt to go and see this film - X-mas, Cold Mountain, Starbucks and Lord of the Rings (or any combination thereof) had always managed to get in the way. Well, I'm glad I chased it to the other side of the world (well - Ellesmere Port can feel like that sometimes) after all the other cinemas had stopped showing it.

M&C is based upon the Napoleonic War writings of Patrick O'Brian and mainly his character of Captain Jack Aubrey (played by Russel Crowe). HMS Surprise (not the best name for a ship I have ever seen) is his ship and he makes it his goal to chase the French frigate that makes a surprise attack on him from a fog bank off the coast of Brazil. This section makes for the very strong opening of the film - very important in my book. I liked this film a lot - despite its decidedly luke warm reception by most (shame on you Empire Magazine). The CGI is superb (just check out the storm and waves as they round Cape Horn), the enormous cast is well chosen (including Billy Boyd of Lord of the Rings - he played Pippin - I suppose the LOTR cast will have film offers coming out of their ears for the next few years!). It is an enjoyable romp - providing you can take a pinch of salt into the cinema with you. I would say go and see it, but you would be very hard pushed to do so this far after the release date - oh well - it will be out on DVD by the time you read this.

February 2004

February turned out to be quite a month for receiving when I was showered with gifts from all over the place! At the time of my latest update, I made contact with a certain Dan Badonis of Canada. I usually try and get some new visitors to the site by making contact with drummers who have registered their details on drumset.com or drumconnexions.co.nz and asking (more like begging - or dare I say it - Spamming!) them to go on my site and perhaps even send me a piccy of themselves to put on the site. Dan was one of the ones I spammed in this way, and he responded by sending me a load of photos - and you can find them in the guests section of the gallery - and I gave him his own little section of the site. Dan showed his gratitude by sending me a load of gifts: a copy of his book - Drumming up Referrals (a guide for salesmen), a superb drum technique book (starring Vinnie Colaiuta) and a bunch of Head Hunter drum sticks. The drum sticks are superb maple gripped - and one will be going in the frame. Dan tells me that a friend of his, Dave Randle, bought Power Tip Drumsticks and changed the name to Head Hunters (perhaps he was a Herbie Hancock fan?). His maple sticks are possibly the best I have ever used - superbly weighted (in fact they are very light) - and great looking. Sadly - they would also appear to be very rare...... so once this lot has gone it will be back to Vater Stewart Copeland sticks.....

Another gift came my way after I signed the guestbook on the homepage of Strangiato - a sadly defunct Rush Tribute Band. The webmaster thanked me for my support, late in the day as it was (sorry guys), and sent me a DVD of them live on stage! I have had a watch of this and they are a sad loss to the Rush-geek community - they were tight, fast and great fun to listen to - they also chose some very difficult tracks and deserve plaudits for operating as a three-piece (very few Rush tribute bands choose to use only three musos and usually add a member to play keyboards). But at least it means that there are now two Rush obsessed musicians out there somewhere who may require a Rush obsessed drummer......

Whilst all of this was happening, Emma was away in Portsmouth on a University thing - but she took the time to go over to the Isle of Wight and send me this pretty cool postcard. You see, I have got this postcard thing going on (the kitchen wall is covered in them) ... and I suppose I could justify inclusion of this picture by waxing on about the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 and Jimi Hendrix and all that stuff... but you would see through such a cheap trick. Basically I do so little travelling nowadays that I have to include other people's travels to fill out the website. Sorry.

So I'm sitting at home minding my own business, when Mark, he of the back bedroom jam fame (see gallery set 02 from the gallery page) (he's also Emma's big brother) bursts in with a banjo! Now, I know you are all thinking of that bit out of Deliverance right now so let's just get over the jokes and move on so I can carry on typing this bit of the site. Right. Finished? Yeah, Mark bought a Fender banjo and he is very chuffed with it (as you can see from the picture) - so that makes him a real Fender endorsee - Fender acoustic and Fender banjo! Mark bought this banjo from Frailer's in Runcorn - this is the best guitar shop in the world - where you can find just about any guitar your heart desires - Gretsch White Falcon, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Strat - they are all there. Guitarists - you must visit this shop! Remember the name: Frailers of Runcorn.

Since Mark's visit I have spent some time trying to identify some contemporary Banjo tracks to throw at him. Recently there is Sing by Travis, or you could plumb the depths of time: Peaceful, Easy Feeling by The Eagles, Gallows Pole by Led Zeppelin, Old Man by Neil Young....erm. Can't think of any others.......... but I suppose anything by Fairport Convention or The Band would warrant inclusion.

E-bay is proving to be the place to be for drummers - never mind having to wait around in a dusty drumshop in the middle of Manchester; just sign on, tune in and get bidding (after all this is where the Mapex kit came from). I followed this advice and extended my drum set a little bit - after an anxious week (I bid a bit early on - just like all the seasoned e-bayers tell you not to), I was the proud owner of another 12" Mapex V series tom - in black. My plan is to use this alongside the existing 12" and just tune it a little on the higher side - but first I will have to get a clamp mounting and attach it to a cymbal stand. I'm not complaining - £30 for a piece of hardware that would have normally set me back about £100! Below you can see me, obviously very chuffed, with my new drum..... but I am having trouble getting a tom mount for it..... much phoning around will be required.

With all this drumming and gift activity, I thought I had better give the Mapex a run out. I did this in St Michael's Hall in Burtonwood (for my American surfers this used to be the site of a massive USAF base during WW2 and the Cold War). You see, Emma has connections..... It was brilliant to get behind the kit again (and without the fear of getting my head stoved in by any neighbours) and I spent two hours discovering that my technique was not at all damaged by being spoiled by an electronic kit - as I feared it may have been. If you proceed to the gallery you will see the pix I have taken of this little run-out. Thanks to Emma and her Dad for sorting this out - my ears and hands hurt so I must have had a good time.

I was at home channel surfing on the 17th and I discovered Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story was on Sky One Mix. Now, I was expecting a documentary - if you will rockumentary, you can imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a TV Movie about the history of the band. Message to the makers of this film: we do not all speak like Dick Van Dyke and live in the American suburbs! It was what I like to term unintentionally funny - not funny ha ha - but funny oh god. It was very surreal to see obviously US locations trying to stand in for the mean streets of Sheffield - and the famous Rick Allen crash scene takes place in what looks like a desert - not the old Manchester Road in rural Derbyshire (complete with off duty Bobby with Dick Van Dyke accent). Why not just film it over here? I suppose it can all be put down to Def Leppard and their unconventional rise to fame, becoming Stadium Monsters in the USA whilst enjoying only modest success in the UK, so I suppose you could understand the makers for only bothering to make the film for US audiences. The best bit for me was how they helpfully showed a picture of Big Ben or Tower Bridge every time the action switched to the UK.

Now I am a big fan of Def Leppard. No, really, I am. Rick Allen continues to drum despite what many would consider the end of his career (i.e - losing a limb) with the help of a heavily modified Drum Workshop kit (Simmons originally built a kit for him). Hysteria remains one of the most cleverly crafted albums ever (proving Mutt Lange is a genius) and after all they were all good old working class lads. So you can see - they deserve better than this biopic - but at least it was a good laugh watching it.

On the 21st we went to see Big Fish. This is the latest film by Tim Burton - he of Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood fame. Big Fish can best be described as a very left field version of Forest Gump, telling the life story of a man through a series of tall tales he told his son: the perfect town - inhabited by 95% women, hooking up with a traveling circus, going on secret missions during the Korean War, being told his fate by a witch, catching the massive catfish that gives the film its name..... that sort of thing.

Yes I did like it - like all of Tim Burton's films it's very personal, and full of little references to his other work. The cast is a bit impressive too: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Danny Devito, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi (who is brilliant as usual) and Billy Crudup (he played the lead singer of Stillwater in Almost Famous). It's a great film to look at and a good laugh too.

Well you have to start them young, so I bought George (my little nephew) a little drum kit of his own to cut his teeth on. Here you can see him all colour coordinated with his red drum kit (just like Meg White of White Stripes - Seven Nation Army!). You have to hold him in position on the stool while he hits the drums (so he does not fall onto his back like a big red ladybird) but he looks like he's enjoying himself. His mum and dad are delighted.... Well, it's an uncle's job to fill his nephew's head with rubbish - my uncle's job was to fill my head with socialism so George should think himself lucky that I am only trying to fill his head with drumming.

Towards the end of the month I popped into Liverpool to try and find a clamp and mounting arm for my new Mapex tom (but also used the visit to get a Starbucks fix as well!). Now obviously I knew it was going to be a hard struggle and had to visit all of the local emporiums looking for the bloody thing! I have helpfully pictured these above - Dawsons - where I bought the Roland kit, adc - I was actually surprised when they did not have one, and Curly - a famous Liverpool shop from years ago. In the end I had to settle for the Tama fitting (purchased from Curly Music), but was a little unsure about the Tama sourced clamp - it did not just look right at all. So I waited to see if I could find the genuine Mapex article in the meantime. There's no rush - it's not like I am playing the MEN or anything like that.

Leading us on nicely - someone is playing the MEN and it is Rush (see my clever word-play?). Their first visit since 1992 will be taking place in September 2004 (that is if Alex Lifeson makes parole before then - he was in a spot of bother in Florida earlier this month - oh dear, Alex - what sort of example are you setting us?). Members of The National Midday Sun (TNMS) Rush Fansite  were able to wave their membership and buy tickets early - and I was amongst them. I'm not too confident things will go smoothly - I will finally believe I am going to see my heroes again (most certainly for the last time!) when the lights go down in September. As for Rush touring the UK - I was on hold for a long time with that prayer (to quote Bill Hicks).

Eventually I did get hold of the aforementioned clamp - I took a few minutes away from my busy schedule and went to Back Alley Music in Warrington and got what I thought was the much better Mapex product (especially as it had M-A-P-E-X written on it to match the rest of my kit!). If you have never been to Back Alley in Warrington (or indeed Chester) you should pop along - they are very helpful chaps indeed. Can't wait to try it out!

March 2004

Spring arrives. And so do some more drums! I e-bayed myself a few toms; a Remo Master Touch 15" and a pair of 8" and 10" concert toms (just like Neil Peart's old kit - before he went all Drum Workshop minimalist!). I am well pleased with the Remo - large size toms (and especially 15" size!) are very hard to get hold of so I was well pleased - and the stand supplied is just mega chunky - along with a helpful extra slot for a cymbal arm or something! It's a shame that Remo drums never gained as much respect as the heads they are most famous for - the stand and drums are just built so well (though the seller has warned me about the uniball holder being a bit temperamental) - far better than many current big names that have switched production to the far east (apart from Mapex obviously!). The only problem I can see however is the colour - white. OK - it's not as if I am before an audience any time soon - it's just the principle! Perhaps a tin of jet black Smoothrite will do the trick - recovering might be beyond my modest means!

The 8 and 10 concerts I am not as pleased with however - the tension rods are very rusty so I will perhaps need to replace them all - and perhaps a little bit of chrome needs touching up - AND at least one nutbox needs replacing - but having said that, someone else had a chance to abuse them before me - and I have never seen a set of Dixon concert toms in good condition anyway (they always seem to have been dragged from under a hedge and then toured for a few years with Keith Moon). Thus - the perils of e-bay - sold as not seen! But - I am now in possession of a kit that is 8", 10", 12", 12", 13", 15", 16" toms, 14" snare and 22" bass, 16" and 14" crashes, 20" ride and 14" hats - all Sabian. That's bigger than the old Supreme - and to think that I only have a Nissan Micra. I may have to upgrade the suspension......

I decided it might be time to see if all this new stuff fits together, so I decided that I would set the drums up in the living room just to have a quick look see. During my setting up I did become worried that the living room would be big enough to contain them! Emma was worried that the carpet would have an imprint of the kit on it as a permanent reminder of my stupidity! Yes - it looks BIG - in fact it looks Spinal Tap big! Perhaps I am going to spontaneously combust at a jazz-blues festival (or was it more blues-jazz?). The new Mapex clamp does the trick as well. I decided to just do a quick hit-every-tom-very-hard-indeed fill and the house nearly shook off the foundations and collapsed down the road. My neighbours may well have heard me...... it reminded me of that bit in Back to the Future - you know with the speaker!

Had a bead on the National Midday Sun site and found some pictures of me from back in September at the Rusheucon - quite professional ones too! So I have updated the Rusheucon page accordingly (i.e I have lifted the pictures!) - go to it via the gallery and gallery set three......

Rediscovered a part of my drumming youth! John Rose Drums of Altrincham is now reborn as John Rose Music of Sale! The last thing I bought from John - I think - was an 18" Paiste RUDE Crash Ride when I was about 17! But big John still remembers me - this time I went in and only had need to buy a new nutbox and tension rod for my 10" concert tom - and a pair of Dave Weckl signature sticks for the wall (Emma was delighted to know I still like to hang sticks on the wall).

It was really nice to see the shop still going. I remember when I last patronised his shop it was all packed into a space about the same size as the room I'm typing in at this moment. Nowadays he has a proper shop with lots of nice drums and cymbals - the good news is (perhaps bad news for my wallet) is the fact that he is a main dealer for Sabian and Mapex! He also knows someone who does the drum recovering material - so the visit - poorly executed and planned as it was (for some reason we ended up in Chorlton!) was a result!

On the 14th our usual trip (myself, Martin and Barry) to Leicester Space Centre to see Radio Massacre International was instead spent in Manchester City Centre where RMI were appearing with Damo Suzuki (RMI had played Leicester Space Centre the night before on their own). Never heard of Damo Suzuki? Well - he performed with an experimental group from the 1970's called CAN (believe me when I tell you that CAN made bands like Camel look mainstream!). Night and Day was the venue of choice (a small live music bar in Oldham Street - just off Piccadilly) - so not the type of venue we are used to as loyal Synth Music Direct fans.

Now RMI were very good - as I have come to expect - they played a superb set (in fact it was just a very long track), showing off their huge array of very impressive gear and special effects stuff (such as a mini Theramin) - and the keyboardist/drummer plays a REMO kit. I was as impressed with them as the last time I saw them. Then Damo took the stage.... I feel that Martin and Barry thought that Damo was a step too far in the RMI journey - and they were not that impressed. It was a bit too...... well a bit too a bit too if you see what I mean. Personally I thought it was OK - I am an experimental kind of a guy. Martin and Barry watched it like dogs that have just been shown card tricks.....

Well, it was all a bit frustrating, really. But the day was saved by a visit to Starbucks, the big fountain in Piccadilly..... the sex toy dispenser in the Norwegian Blue Bar......and so on. Also the journey home....

The Journey home deserves a special mention. Given that the trains in the UK are run on a system that resembles the way that Clive Anderson used to give out points on Who's Line is it Anyway?, it was hardly a surprise when North West Trains arbitrarily changed the train times and left us waiting about with not a great deal to do (and at 22:00 Sunday night in the middle of Manchester that can be a bit worrying). Luckily, Emma was on her way back from Leeds and was able to pick us up and save us from a long (and late) ride on a sub-standard train. Thanks, babe.

Anyway, the pictures from this event are in the gallery under events - that's set three.

On the 16th I celebrated a day off by going to Burtonwood again and putting the extra drums through their paces. It was nice to get everything together and make sure it all works - and it all looks so big and impressive (ooer, missus titter ye not). The Nissan Micra was also equal to the task - it all just about fit in - but I will have to stop extending soon - the suspension just won't stand for it! Pictures from this day are also in the gallery under set two -  called putting it all together.

Also changed the picture on the front of the site to something a bit more modern - being as I was about 17 on the old picture! The new picture is from the practice sesh mentioned above - and was also framed as a Mother's Day prezzie for mum - my Mum and dad have been so patient with my drumming excess. Talking of the site, the counter passed the magic 2000 point the other day - thanks to all who have made that possible.

On the 24th, Martin and I went to the Limelight Club to see a Black Celebration - yes I know that sounds like a Black Sabbath tribute band but these guys are a Depeche Mode tribute. Martin is heavily into these 80's synth bands (Blancmange, Soft Cell, Japan, OMD etc) - and I quite respect them I suppose - so long as we are talking about their early days before they learnt how to actually use the Roland and Yamaha keyboards that they had put their paper round money into! Example - when OMD did not really know how to operate the equipment (such as when they were pumping out epics like Stanlow or Sealand) they were quite creative. Later on - well they just were not as good..... and here I must bring up the example of Tesla Girls - inexcusable.

It's hard to find fault with BC - they sounded just like the real thing to my ears. They even utilised the lit up plinths for the keyboard players. There was only three of them (two keyboards and one vocals) - but they made use of sequencers (and DAT's as well I would imagine) to create their sound. I was very impressed - despite not really being a fan. Slightly worrying was the large core following of women swaying around in very 1980's-school-disco style near the front of the stage. They were obviously regular followers of the band as they sung along in all the audience participation bits - but at least they didn't put their handbags on the floor to dance around. Well - I can't comment - I've been to one Rush Convention and one YYZ gig - so it's the same process, different gender! Photos of this event can be found in the gallery under events - set three.

On the 25th another drum turned up! Yes - another nice tom - but this one really is in a sorry state! In defense of the seller, the condition of the drum was made more than clear on the e-bay description so I'm certainly not having a go at him - but 14" toms are a difficult size to get hold of (unless you are well healed enough to go to Mapex direct and get them that way) so I bid on it anyway. This is a Premier 14" power tom (basically meaning it is nearly as deep as it wide and looks very impressive!) - but it has been recovered in a quite horrible old mahogany wrap - that is little more than fablon! Well - on paper at least I am now 8" 10" 12" 12" 13" 14" Mounted toms 15" & 16" floor toms 22" bass 14" snare! Bloody Hell - that's....... a ten piece kit - except two of the drums are the wrong shade - who cares? Just have it! Above you can see I have set up a hugely funny and thigh slapping tribute to the Rush album cover for Signals - this effect was achieved by putting one of boomers chew sticks under the drum!

At the end of the month, Emma treated me to a trip to the cinema to see Starsky and Hutch. Now I always like a trip down memory lane and I was well looking forward to this. For those of you who were either not alive or on another planet during the 1970's then I must inform you that this old television series was the beginning of the cop-buddy movie. For instance - films like Lethal Weapon or Black Rain would not exist without Starsky and Hutch to show them the way.

The movie, updated for the 1990's, is well worth the effort - and it has all of the authentic S&H moves - the same incidental music as the series, the same story line (Starsky and Hutch find a crime to solve, argue with their boss, go and see Huggy Bear, infiltrate the boss etc.). I always thought that Starsky and Hutch was one of those series that was easy to write for because it just used the same basic story elements every week - Quincy, Murder She Wrote, TJ Hooker, CHIPS, Hart to Hart, Magnum.... oh for a writing job like that - just apply the template and go. Great cast as well - Chris Penn, Juliette Lewis in minor supporting roles - Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller are ace as our heroes - and even the real guys turn up (and they look so well!). Anyway - the film is a great laugh and you should go and see it.

April 2004

So it is now British Summer Time - for our foreign viewers that means that we get an extra hour of daylight. Well, let's just move on - it is raining and not very sunny at all. Despite this, the opening weekend of the month found us making not one but two trips into Chester - County Town of Cheshire don't you know. Well the first one turned out to be productive and then just a ball ache (in fact - a Uniball ache). I visited the Chester branch of Back Alley Music and there was Excalibur; a Drum Workshop Double Tom stand (S/H) for £49! It had to be the nicest stand I have ever clapped eyes on - sturdy, well designed (complete with a little extra mount for a cymbal). The most important thing was the big embossed DW logo on it - I don't often get close to the immortal DW stuff - it really is very hard to get hold of over this side of the pond - it typically only turns up in the setups of the highly paid professional players! I was so pleased that I just bought the thing on the spot (I did some quick maths first - it would cost me £31 to connect a single tom mount to a cymbal stand so it seemed like a good idea - my master plan was to put the 14" and 15" on it  - in my setting up sessions I really did not like the 15" as a floor tom - I kept bashing my palm on it on those big Lars Ulrich style fills). Good idea huh? Well - on getting it home I found that the mounting shafts are huge - bigger than the tom mount on any drum I currently own - aaaaaagh! This is obviously a DW and CIA mounted conspiracy to make sure we extend our kits using only expensive DW hardware! The DW mounts are of the old RIMS system (Resonance Isolation Mounting System) - these connect to the drum without requiring drilling - and I can't afford them, so let's not go there.

Well - what a let down. But at least I still own a piece of DW equipment - albeit just an expensive cymbal stand at the moment! All is not lost - I will simply have to get hold of some alternative tom mounts that will fit this monster (hopefully not proper DW items as they will break the bank into a million pieces!) - it is simply too gorgeous to let go. Another alternative is to get hold of a Tama uniball tom mount (similar but smaller to what the DW uses) and cannibalise it for the smaller shaft for use on the new APK 14" - god knows how I am going to solve the problem of the much rarer 15" REMO tom mounting system (that is a very strange octagon shaped item!). The good news is that advice and offers of practical help are coming in from all over the place - and I have found a place in Southampton that provides the recovering vinyl for drums - so I might as well do the replacing of any mounting hardware when this is done (I am going to need help due to my utter uselessness in the practical DIY department!).

The good thing about going into Chester on a Saturday is that you sometimes get to see Ed Alleyne Johnson doing his thing. I seem to recall mentioning seeing Ed back in the January 2003 diary (go and see if you don't believe me) and buying Emma a copy of his CD right there and then! This time I had my camera with me and was able to capture the man at work. I was able to get closer and get a pic of the effects pedals that he uses to achieve his wall of sound along with his electric violin - you can see this picture on the right - just check out the number of pedals that he uses - and those batteries and the power pack - Duracell obviously send him thank you letters. If you ever listen to EAJ, you can be reassured that  lot of his stuff is done in one take - he uses one of these pedals (I don't know which one) to set up a loop and then he just plays melodies over it - so many that it sounds like a string quartet has turned up and is hidden behind him. Ed Alleyne Johnson is bloody brilliant - it's official.

The second visit to Chester was to see the Zoo. In fact, this had been the original purpose to visit Chester the day before but the weather had turned nasty. Well we made it in this time. I don't know much about animals (despite all of those hours in the 1970's watching That's Life on Earth with Richard Attenborough - or whatever it was called) so I can only tell you that Chester Zoo has some animals in it. Some are from Africa, some are from Asia, some from Oz and some live in the briney. There was some Elephants, some of those big cat type thingys that eat all of the other animals, some monkey type things. Above you can see me in Buzz Lightyear mode observing some.... erm.....Rodent type thingys close up. Luckily, they chose not to have these dome things near the big cat type thingys.

On the 11th, I suppose as an attempt to return the favour for me accompanying him to see Black Celebration, Martin agreed to come with me to see In The Cage - a classic Genesis tribute band (obviously as an ambient keyboard fan I had to sedate him heavily first). Once again the venue was the Limelight in Crewe. In the Cage were billed as a Gabriel era tribute and hail from the far South East.

I find it hard to say anything bad about ITC - they were the best tribute band I have ever seen (apart from YYZ obviously!). Equipment wise they were spot on - the keyboardist had a US defence budget type setup that took up a massive section of the stage - including classic keyboards such as the immortal Mellotron - I've never seen one close up, the bass player had the bass pedals (the type that shake your fillings loose) and the inevitable twin necked bass (12 string guitar and 4 string bass) - I mean how are you expected to be taken at all seriously as a Genesis tribute unless you have a twin necked guitar of some description in your arsenal? The guitarist had the Gibson Les Paul (and it was a proper Gibson - none of your imitations) much beloved of Steve Hackett, as well as a selection of acoustic guitars - and a flute! The drummer, and I don't know if he has done this intentionally, has stocked and set up his kit in a sort of hybrid of Phil Collins and Chester Thompson. Let me explain, the drums are Pearl (they looked like bloody mega expensive Pearl Masters Series as well) - the marque endorsed by Chester when he did the drums for Genesis in concert, but the toms and cymbals are set up as per the arrangement used by Phil Collins (but obviously set up right handed) - i.e one tom over the bass drum and the ride cymbal mounted over the other half of the bass (much like the current Neil Peart set up) .... I'm not explaining this very well am I - just look at the photos. The drums were completed by a classic Famous Charisma Label bass drum logo (the old Genesis record label).

The lead singers equipment deserves a special mention. Well he had a microphone obviously! But he did also have a load of Peter Gabriel era outfits to slip into as well. The Bat-Head outfit for Watcher of the Skies (Martin laughed at this but then realised he was the only person laughing - well he's a synth band fan and the theatrical complexity of prog rock is wasted on him!), the caged head for In the Cage (actually this freaked me out a bit because he looked like one of the trustees from the sanitarium scene in Bram Stoker's Dracula). The massive Supper's Ready section had two outfit changes; the flower head for Willow Farm (a flower?) and the big apocalypse loony outfit for the Apocalypse in 9/8 (I cant describe it any other way - but you can see it on the cover of the Genesis Live album - the one that William Friedkin liked so much). Suffice to say the lad swam well - his delivery was pitched perfectly between Collins and Gabriel.

The sound was superb (I would only venture that the drums were very close to the top of the mix - live acoustic drums are notoriously hard to get right unless you have a budget like that of Genesis on tour circa Invisible Touch). I have since spoken via e-mail to the drummer, Mark Jordan, and he informs me that he likes the big open sound - this is exactly the type of sound preferred by Phil and Chester - so no problem there. The keyboard sounds were authentic (including the piano sounds from A Trick of the Tail and Firth of Fifth) and the two guitarists got it all spot on. A good performance all round.

A brilliant set of Genesis tracks were recreated brilliantly - from Watcher of the Skies on Foxtrot to tracks from And Then There Were Three (as new as they got). So there was quite a bit of Phil Collins era - but taken only from that before the sound of Phil Collins Solo converged forever with that of Phil Collins Genesis (round about.... ABACAB and Duke). I detected a slight undercurrent of hostility towards the Phil material (perhaps it was the bloke shouting "F*** Phil Collins!" that aroused my suspicion?) - which is a shame as Genesis did a lot of good stuff with him at the helm - such as all of A Trick of the Tail. The Peter Gabriel era stuff (for many the only true Genesis) included Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Medley, Firth of Fifth (including the guitarist guesting on the flute for the middle eight).

Highlight of the night was the 23 minute Supper's Ready - a song containing several different sections (it is basically a collection of short songs masquerading as one big song) delivered perfectly. This contains the very difficult Apocalypse in 9/8 - the insane time signature that has baffled even Steven Hawking since the dawn of Prog. This is Prog Rock's finest, and most defining, nearly half hour - so well done for recreating a piece of music history! All in all - a great night, good venue and nice crowd. Result. You can find the pix for this event on the Gallery Page - set three - events...

On the 13th we went, mob handed, to see The Passion of Christ. This was Martin and Barry and I - along with our infinitely better halves. Just in case you have been living on an iceberg in the middle of the South Atlantic I will tell you that Passion of Christ is a film about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ directed by Mel Gibson. In fact, it has turned upon just about every news program imaginable since it was first released. Most of the controversy revolves around the portrayal of the Jews as the main guilty party in the whole story. Now I am not a religious man even slightly so I will tell you that I cannot comment on any of this - I don't know enough - most of my knowledge of these events comes from The Life of Brian so I am not the best man to ask. I can quote scenes from Life of Brian  and Spartacus  if you like.......

But I will say that it is a very good bit of cinema. It is so well filmed that after a while the fact that it is delivered almost entirely in Aramaic and Latin ceases to matter - at least it gets rid of the usual American accents that so often ruin these things. No doubt you will have heard about the explicit violence present throughout the film, and I will tell you that it is no exaggeration at all. The already infamous flaying scene (which the bible referred to as 'Scourging'), that just never seems to end by the way, is as realistic as it is overpowering. Then the walk to the scene of crucifixion, then the crucifixion itself. During the crucifixion scene, there was a woman on an adjacent row who I thought was on the verge of passing out - it leaves nothing to the imagination. Well, you should go and see it wherever you stand religiously- even if it is to see what all the fuss is about - but you may need a lie down afterwards - it's a bit of a snuff movie.

I feel compelled to tell you a story about the night, and I swear that this true and actually happened in St. Helens. We were standing in the queue for tickets when I heard the couple in front of us ask the girl behind the till if it was true that the whole film was in Arabic and full of subtitles. The girl behind the till said "No, just the talking". I am not making this stuff up - it was said right in front of me!

At last - a return to the Leicester Space Centre for a Synth Music Direct Gig. After a short lull for us (when we went to see RMI in Manchester instead of going to Leicester as usual - much to our collective regret) the 17th was the first in the latest series of SMD gigs at this venue. Andy Pickford and Paul Nagle, now referring to themselves as Binar, took to the front with their impressive selection of Roland, Yamaha and all sorts of other goodies. Martin had waxed lyrical about the quality of these guys (I missed the last gig by these guys as it clashed with the European Rush Convention) but he was less impressed this time around. I must admit, it was an OK SMD gig - the guys were very good. Personally, and this is just nitpicking, the sampling of voices that laced all of the tracks was a little too much for my liking - but there were many sections of brilliance - so I will let them off the hook this time and say that it was a damn good gig. But what do I know? I'm a drummer! Photographs of this event are in the gallery under set three - during the gig I tried to get some non-flash photos of the event and these have turned out in a very spaced out style - go and see what you think.

Aagh. On the 22nd I picked up a back injury! I go to circuit training twice a week so I have a feeling it was related to that - I might have gone in a bit too hard. So not much to mention apart from a few days (or perhaps even weeks) of staying away from the Roland kit whilst it heals. Circuits are certainly out of the question and I will no doubt be just doing paperwork at work for a while. But it was a chance to sample some morphine, and other nice strong treatments (including the famous gas and air). So if my typing seems a bit more spaced out as a result then you will know why - the latest pain killers I have been given make me feel like I have been dug out of a King Kong footprint.

On the 26th there was another trip into Liverpool to try and solve this Drum Workshop stand problem once and for all - it's all a bit frustrating having this huge drum kit that I cannot completely put together so I applied myself to this task with some purpose. I have solved it by buying a tom bracket (manufactured by STAGG) from adc Percussion and buying another two Tama tom mounts from Curly Music (you can see the interior of the hugely impressive Curly drum department above). These I have cannibalised in order to obtain the uniball mounts and the connected shafts (a bit awkward and expensive but it's the only way you can lay your hands on the shaft and ball section). I must digress and mention that whilst in adc I noticed that they stocked the new Neil Peart Paragon cymbals - they looked and sounded like a dream! The Sabian logo is picked out in gold and the hi-hats had a lovely clean studio-sound about them. I will certainly be looking (overtime payments permitting!) to add one of these darlings to my set up in the future -which self respecting Peart fan could not feel the temptation?

Anyway, I took advantage of my inactivity and asked Mark (Emma's brother - the banjo player - remember him?) to help me out with his drill (I am not allowed to own any power tools as I am totally inept at any craft related activities). He drilled an extra hole for the new STAGG bracket and I was away! So - after a month of having what I thought was a useless tom stand I have managed to sort it out to my satisfaction. On returning home I set up some of the mounted toms to get an idea of how they would slot together and they looked very impressive - but the 14" and 15" are still the wrong colour. Next job on the list.......

Hopefully I will be able to put the leftovers from this bit of what model makers call kit bashing on e-bay - surely there is someone out there who can make use of Tama uniball tom mounts fitted with DW shafts (well, DW kit owners for a start) - and also the Remo stand should prove useful for someone who wants to mount a floor tom on a stand using the very sturdy Remo mount - which is strong enough to mount sections of Apollo Saturn V Booster should you need to do so (though I cannot imagine why).

You may recall me giving a pretty cool review to Kill Bill - Volume One back in the October 2003 section of the diary. Well, I have been waiting since then for the conclusion of the story. As expected, it is a superb piece of Tarantino genius. He draws on just about all of his massive knowledge of films from just about every genre you care to mention (including a couple of priceless tribute scenes to The Vanishing and Carrie!) and serves up another real treat. Though you should be warned that the squeamish really have no place within the cinema whilst this film is on - it's a little bit on the violent side.

All of the performances are brilliant (Michael Madsen, David Carridane, Daryl Hannah) and the filming style is just as you would imagine - including the quick focus methods used on those old 1970's Martial Arts films - brilliant. This is the work of an enlightened mind - go and see it!

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