January to April 2005

January 2005

Started the new year off pretty much as I ended the last - by bringing chaos and noise to the Emma designed living room! I had a few days off over the bank holiday and the temptation to put all of my new stuff together (the Big Dog HH Stand, the percussion instruments and the associated rack) just proved too much to resist - you see drumming is compulsive behaviour. Emma was at ASDA at the time and when she came home to discover that the garden end of the living room had effectively been turned into a drum riser she was obviously delighted and well pleased to have such a thoughtful boyfriend (only not in quite so many words). Anyway she was nice enough (once she had been quite heavily sedated) to take some pictures of me with the kit. You can find these above (obviously), within set 02 of the gallery and also within the ever growing drum kit development gallery. Result.

Took Mark & Gee to see a not particularly up to date film: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. This film must be getting on a bit since it was released but this is the first time I have seen a cinema that is actually showing it - even the Cornerhouse let me down. My local in Runcorn shows old pics now and again midweek, providing a healthy, low fat alternative to those of us who do not really fancy enduring the latest commercial cash-cow from Hollywood. This film charted the life of Peter Sellers (what is known as a biopic I think) and here he is played , pretty much to the hilt, by Geoffrey Rush. It charts Sellers right from his role within the Goons to his eventual break into classic British comedies - of course leading to his sixties heyday - Doctor Strangelove, Pink Panther etc, marrying Britt Eckland. The film is particularly unsympathetic to Sellers - portraying him as a genius who had no time whatsoever for his family or wives, and was a real pain in the arse to work with.

Did I like it - yes it was a brilliant and surreal piece of film making. The significance of each scene was summed up by Sellers, effectively acting as his own Greek Chorus, walking around, in the guise of one of the major characters in his life, on the set of the film of his own life - weird. The period detail is all there, with just about every classic car within the UK being dragged out to appear. The characters within the film; Blake Edwards (played by John Lithgow), Stanley Kubrick, Britt Eckland (played spookily accurately by Charlieze Theron), Goons - are all there and played to a T (particularly Eckland & Kubrick). This is before we go back again to the performance by Mr Rush - perfection. I would normally say to you all that you should go and see it - but you really will have to wait until the DVD comes out.

As it was our, that is Emma and I, 2nd anniversary we decided to go on a nice little jaunt to the Trafford Centre. Emma's side of the bargain was to buy us lunch and my smart ass idea was to go and find us a film to see. Being slightly careless in this department I decided to take Emma to see the big historical epic, the Aviator (not really Emma's scene - but it was my turn to choose - in my defence). The Aviator, if you are not aware, is about Howard Hughes, former head of TWA, Hughes Aircraft Corp, RKO Pictures, pilot and eventually, madder than a snake's armpit. Even at three hours it was always going to be a struggle getting Hughes squeezed into a film. For those of you who don't know, he was a multi-millionaire who eventually managed to completely lose it and become a recluse, surrounded by a no-go zone, peeing in jars and become completely obsessed by germs. You may have seen the very clever parody of him in the Simpsons episode "How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling" (touching on a bit not covered in the film when Hughes started buying up casinos in Las Vegas and began wearing tissue boxes on his feet, obsessing about freemasons running the country). Along the way he managed to bed most of the most attractive women in Hollywood (yes, but was he happy?), build the Spruce Goose and take his plane into the side of a few houses in Beverly Hills.

I must admit that I rather liked the film - even though many people will feel he could easily have lost about three quarters of an hour here and there - it's a bit of a test of endurance rather than a film! As it was a Martin Scorsese film I had to go and see it - you must understand this. Leonardo Dicaprio is rather good as the man himself - in fact he is very good. Kate Blanchett is spot on as Katherine Hepburn - and she probably steals the show from just about everyone (she is the voice that narrates the opening of Lord of the Rings and the highlight of the trilogy for me - even more so than Rosie Cotton). Did I like it - not a brilliant film but then I am a bit of a history fan. So yes.

Gee was nice enough to give me an old twin Glockenspiel. It's a Percussion Plus Soprano Diatonic - now I really feel like a sad old Neil Peart fanatic! Neil, as any good Rush fan would know, has been using tuned percussion such as this pretty much since the outset. These have appeared on many albums since A Farewell to Kings 1977, but there is some earlier footage in the Rush fossil record of him playing a xylophone on All the World's a Stage back in 1976 (during By-Tor and the Snow Dog if memory serves and also during In the End). The tracks Xanadu, Circumstances, Spirit of Radio and Witch Hunt all use xylophones - along with some big old tubular bells and chime trees. Later on, when technology caught up, he dropped the clumsy old acoustic versions and went for a Simmons mallet (basically a synth in the form of a xylophone) - thus saving the need to drag around all of these big heavy old things. This has continued with his use of a Mallet Kat which he uses to trigger all sorts of events around the kit. I have dug up some pics of the said items in use by Neil and have helpfully highlighted them below - the positioned well away from the kit version from 1976, the large orchestral xylophone incorporated into the trusty old Slingerland kit circa Hemispheres, the Simmons Silicon mallet circa Presto and the latest MIDI equipped Mallet Kat for the Vapour Trails tour.

Anyway - thanks to Gee I am considerably more obsessed. I have been trying to decipher some of the more famous tracks - but the best I can (no pun intended) do is Closer to the Heart (originally played in 1977 using tubular bells but later updated to use a xylophone mallet sound on A Show of Hands in 1988). If you are curious it is D - A - G - F# - G - A - D - A - G - but it can also be transposed and played as G - D - C - B - C - D - G - D - C. I did start a thread on The National Midday Sun asking if anyone knew any other breaks - I have been sent a message informing me of the runs to Xanadu and Spirit of Radio - but they are just so darn hard! maybe if I can grow another arm?? Thanks go to Gee for giving me this lovely piece of kit!!!

Around this time I e-mailed Supreme Drums of London to ask them if they could identify my old Supreme kit. They told me that I had owned a kit that was custom built for someone - but they could not remember who. Well - it was nice of them to respond.

Just to close the month down, had a nice night in with Emma, Mark and Gee.... and I won at Trivial Pursuit! This was despite Emma's rewriting of the rules to ensure I did not. Well, I did. Not that I am rubbing it in or anything. Well - I am - especially after mum cruelly ruined my utterly deserved victory on New Years Eve 2003.

Went mob-handed (with Mark, Emma & Gee again) to see Meet The Fockers. You may well have seen the first film - it was a surprise partially for being a hit but also that Robert DeNiro could do comedy. Even now, partially thanks to the effort of Adam, Steve G and E-Baum's World, I still smile when I think of lines like "I will bring you down, I will bring you down to Chinatown". or "Are you a pothead?" or "You didn't try and milk him did you? You sick son of a bitch!". Yes - the dreaded Rom Com - I quite liked the original - even though it was a Rom Com - even my mum and dad liked it so it must have some sort of universal appeal. Whilst I really liked the original, I was not quite as impressed with the sequel. Having said that, Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman really are a treat - but the original was better - but this one had the better soundtrack (T-Rex - always welcome!). Good anyway. For a Rom Com.

February 2005

Started off the month by going to Liverpool and buying Ringo. As you can see from the picture above it is not the real Ringo but a cheap plastic midget imposter - I could not persuade him to sit on my desk for all eternity so I had to settle for this one. As you can see, the cartoon version (for it is the Beatles cartoon from 1965 that this little guy comes from) goes for a stripped down kit - but at least he has the authentic 'Drop T' bass drum logo (not that he is going to get any sound out of it as there is no pedal). That ride cymbal looks a bit tough to get any stick definition out of, but I am quite keen on the drum riser. It means that Ringo can now keep an eye on all of my typing and make sure it's all drumming related (some hope).

My 'ickle nephew, George, has appeared on these pages before - last time was behind the red mini-kit that I picked up in a charity shop in Warrington. Emma picked up this superb little electronic kit in a charity auction - here is George launching into some hot breaks. When he gets it home (his mom and dad have just moved house), I am sure it will remain cute for all of about 5 minutes.

On the 6th I paid a long overdue visit to the Limelight Club, Crewe to see Rush tribute YYZ again. This is the third time I have seen YYZ and this was perhaps their best form yet. A few more ambitious tracks have made it into the repertoire - namely Camera Eye, La Villa Strangiato, Hemispheres and Roll the Bones (a real toughy given the Skeleton Rap that occupies the middle eight). Also it marks the new setup of the drum kit by Tufty - I think, since the R30 Tour, that Peart devotees worldwide have been shifting their toms that little bit to the left (myself amongst them!) - I have helpfully added a picture of this above. The set was full of Rush classics, brilliantly performed as always - Xanadu made it back into the set for a change. In fact, it was the one song that did not need introducing - Simon pulling on the distinctive twin neck 18 string  Gibson SG gave the game away a little. In fact - he had to carry it when Xanadu segued into Freewill as well so he must have been knackered (Alex Lifeson has said that the disappearance of Xanadu from the set was something of a relief as it meant he did not have to struggle carrying the twin neck around the stage with him every night!). A few familiar faces from Eucon 04 could be seen, so I got to spend the evening in the company of a gang of Rush fanatics and also got to see YYZ on top form. I think that's called a result. See gallery set 03 for the pix of this gig.

Had a trip out in Manchester. The reason was that my mum and my auntie wanted to go clothes shopping at Primark - or something like that - and were not confident enough to drive there and back - did not fancy the train either. I, as you would expect, was banished to other shops whilst they did their thing. I decided, after a Starbucks, to pop into both Johnny Roadhouse and Rattle & Drum (situated within the Academy of Sound). Once within Rattle & Drum my plan was to get me a Mapex Boom Stand. But I saw a new release from Big Dog (they who manufactured my hi-hat stand) - a nice new small tom mount (as pictured above). Where this one is different from other mounts is that it comes with a built in clamp for you to attach it to your chosen cymbal stand - thus at a price of £22 versus the £19 for the ball mount and £20 for the clamp that I had previously spent (and jury rigged I might add!) - it represents a much better means of putting it all together. Best of all they fit the awkward mounting brackets on the Mapex toms like a glove - they are a sensible small size so that they must be pretty universal. After buying two of these I decided to stick with the Big Dog range and bought a super sturdy boom cymbal stand as well (I did feel a momentary pang of guilt about not buying Mapex but it passed). This frees up two old mounts that are just dying to have something else mounted on them! As for the Big Dog Hardware, I am definitely a convert.

The 16th was Emma's birthday - and just prior to that we had Valentines Day as well! Bad timing or what. Well I decided to follow advice for a silly romantic gesture and bought Emma a bunch of flowers (ordered on the Internet on the day before - my ass saved by technology!). Emma bought me Supersize Me on DVD - which is brilliant by the way - it gave me the desire to go out and sow the seeds of revolution and old school socialism - but then I remembered that I was at work the next day an the mortgage needed paying. She also bought me a book about Henry Hill (he of Goodfellas fame) and his family on the witness protection programme. I got some ace goodies for Emma's birthday - DKNY Perfume (bought in Selfridges Manchester!) and Annie/Oliver Double Pack DVD (I cannot say anything because I have a real problem with musicals! I think my hump is caused by Stanley Kubrick's 2001 being beaten to the Best Picture Oscar in 1969 by Oliver! Unforgivable or what?). However, I digress.......

There is a lot of WW 2 discussion going around on my fave site TNMS (Rush Forum t-n-m-s.com) - this is related to the Auchwitz & the Final Solution documentary series on BBC2 (there is a TV Programme Discussion page on the site). Given this I was prompted to dig out my old Germany Holiday Snaps (from way back in September 2001!!!!!) and include them in the website. There is now a Holiday Gallery (set 09) in the Gallery Page (I have packaged them with Canada Holiday pics from November 2004 and my visit to Wiltshire last summer) showing off my pics (mainly history-nerd related) - go and have a look if history or travel is your thing.

After getting my new Big Dog Tom Mounts (as detailed above), I decided it would be fun to use them - any excuse to set up the drum set! Decided the best way to use the excess tom mounts that I had previously used was to recycle them as electronic pad mounts - so now I finally have my hybrid drum kit - acoustic to the front and electronic to the back! Now my kit has a set of Roland Pads to the rear, and also one on one of the arms of the percussion rack. When I was a kid and first saw the Neil Peart kit on an old Tama advert I have always wanted nothing but a 360 degree drum kit - nearly there! I have put the results of this in the gallery under yet another set called Neil Peart Rebuild - February 2005!

My quest for the perfect drum kit was helped when I saw a Tama Omni-Sphere® double tom stand for sale on e-bay. It seemed like the perfect little bit of cheap hardware so I decided to swoop and buy it. It's a great little bit of Tama history and comes complete with the particularly dated Omni-Sphere® nameplate on the top of the stand - as you can see above. I have redressed the balance a little bit unloading my old Mapex hi-hat pedal and bass drum pedal on e-bay.

Emma was away in Leeds for the weekend so I decided to take a trip into Manchester to visit the Cornerhouse Cinema on Oxford Road (See What's New Sept - Dec 2004 for a full description of the cinema in question). Countrywide there is not a great deal that I really want to watch and I hoped that the The Yes Men, a nice obscure documentary from the USA, would do the trick. If you have not heard the of The Yes Men then I feel that an explanation would be useful. Basically they are a gang of Anti-Globalisation activists who have the main target of the World Trade Organisation in their sights. They all started off when a friend of theirs managed to buy the rights to georgewbush.com. Naturally they built a web site that parodied the proper georgewbush.com - incurring the wrath of Dubyah himself who said something along the lines of "there should be limits to freedom". Let me repeat this part of the web site - the master of the free world advocated limiting access to human rights and free speech for anyone who does not play the game - perhaps he should not have said it when the cameras were rolling. Later on they managed to get hold of the rights to gatt.org. The GATT refers to the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade - AKA the World Trade Organisation. Being as this is a particularly odious organisation that mainly operates to keep the rich getting richer and the poor staying poorer. This is when the real fun began.

The Yes Men, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano (guys who in the past had done great stunts such has having gay imagery hidden within Sim Copter or sold Barbie and GI Joe with the voiceboxes swapped over from each other!), basically ran the sister site as a parody of the WTO. This was particularly funny as when most people did a websearch for WTO or GATT they ended up on the parody site. It perhaps would have stayed that way but then they started to get invites to speak on behalf of the WTO at conferences around the world! Guffaw! This they did - giving presentations on doing things like selling your vote to the highest bidder on-line (even more alarming is that the audience at the presentation did not even flinch when they suggested this). Then they upped the anti when they were invited to speak on behalf of the WTO at a Textile Conference in Finland - this time they gave a presentation suggesting that the textile industry would be in better shape if the Confederate States had not lost the Civil War (the suggestion being that the slavery of the civil war has been replaced by sweat shop economies around the world). Again, nobody in the room flinched. Then they revealed their trump card in the from of a Management Leisure Suit® - basically a gold spandex suit with a phallus built into it so you can watch your 3rd world workforce on the screen as you enjoy your leisure time (see it below). Again - the audience bought it. This continued - every subsequent idea they presented on behalf of the WTO was more outrageous than the last - such as recycling human body waste into McDonalds to feed the 3rd world (though the student audience who saw that one flipped out and nearly rushed the stage!). Eventually they give a presentation where they plant the idea that the WTO has realised the error of its ways and decided to undergo massive reform - to basically cease to exist (the leak is picked up by thousands of journalists!).

Basically I loved this film (Michael Moore - my hero - turned up in it). It was presented much like a Fahrenheit 911 that had been crossed with Jackass - protesting for the MTV Generation! Once again, I felt like going out, helping the poor huddled masses rise up and changing the world. However, being that I had consumed large amounts of Starbucks (a USA multinational) in the last fortnight I decided that I would look a bit silly. Go and see it - it contains dangerous thoughts that will save us all (however - there are only a handful of cinemas showing it so there will only be a few of you having dangerous thoughts and rushing the WTO HQ).

March 2005

Started the month off with another trip to the Cornerhouse Cinema, Manchester to see The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. I don't know why but trips to the Cornerhouse seem that little bit more rewarding than popping along to my local cinematic warehouse to see the latest mass produced blockbuster from Hollywood. I have always been a massive fan of Bill Murray - I think this was since a pirate copy of Stripes turned up in our house round about 1984 - sell-thru being but a distant dream back then (myself and my buddies watched it about 20 times during the summer holidays and I can still recite sections of the script in my sleep - "Uncle Hulker with the big toe is going to see how far he can shove it up your ass" or "...and then, depression set in"). In this one he plays Steve Zissou, an aquatic adventurer very much in the mold of Cousteau. Everything is there - the wooly hat, the massive ship, the films - very clever stuff. The film follows his quest to find the Jaguar Shark (message to USA - the correct pronunciation is Jaguar not Jagwaar!) after it eats his friend on a dive. Along the way his long lost son follows him on his really stupid quest.

Basically I thought it was a brilliant film. There is so much going on - the soundtrack that mainly consists of some guy singing David Bowie on the acoustic guitar (albeit in Portuguese), the really clever tracking shots that take place in a cutaway plan of the ship, the crew that seem to do nothing but use the acoustic equipment on board the ship to record ditties on Casio keyboards, the superb characters, the cast (Willem Dafoe, Kate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Angelica Houston, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon for god's sake!) - even the cheesy animation works. Towering above all this is Bill Murray who uses his deadpan delivery to really make it all work. Go and see this film - but then you can't do that in Runcorn or St Helens because they can't be arsed showing it (Cineworld hang your head in shame). Looking around the film media, it would seem that reaction to this film has been a little mixed, but I came away convinced I had seen a really good film.

March 2005 got off to a bad start when Tommy Vance, the voice that filled many a Friday night with my old Matsui stereo, went to the big Rock Show in the Sky. After John Peel, Alistar Cooke and Fred Dibnah going last year I am beginning to despair and wonder how many of my heroes are going to cop it. I should start a Dead Pool. I used to love listening to Tommy on Radio 1- it was the only place that you could hear heavy metal in those days (apart from Strat's cassette player in the sixth form common room) - ironic that Radio One has now abandoned all pretense at catering for anything other than music that is just utter tosh for the sake of being utter tosh. His loss confirms what Bill Hicks said before he himself left the planet in his early thirties: "We live in a world where great men die and mediocre hacks are left to clean up in their wake". You said it, Bill.

No sooner had I typed the words above that it turned out that an old-school comedian, and also a fave atheist of mine, was dead as well! Dave Allen, the worlds only true sit-down comedian, he's gone to that high bar stool in the sky. Just what the hell is going on here? Is this some sort of keep-the-talentless-alive-whilst-wiping-out-the good cosmic conspiracy? When people like Dave Allan and Tommy Vance die, all one has to do is to just pause and look around at who is left behind. It is enough to make one ask the question where are we going and what are we doing in this hand basket? As the great man Dave Allen himself said: "Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never - I'm going to do nothing for ever and ever". Think I might have to have that on my grave as well.

Had a day out in Manchester. Emma was doing garden stuff with G (I have no knowledge!). I decided that the lure of Starbucks and the big music shops was just too much to resist. The main advantage of this is that I can spend time in the likes of Travelling Man, Waterstones and Apart from the purchase of some Thomas Lang sticks (huge!) to be framed and a Big Dog clamp, there was not really anything worth mentioning. I did, however, see a gang of very young kids (chaperoned I might add by a lady just out of shot) that had set up in the vicinity of the Arndale Centre (in front of Boots). There was four of them - two very young guitarists (the young lad proved to be most adept at tuning the young ladies guitar as well as his own!) complete with expensive looking guitars and tiny practice amps, another even younger girly on vocals (she had to carry the mic as I think there was not a tiny microphone stand available) and an 'ickle girly on the drums. The 'ickle girly who played the drums had one of those Yamaha pad type things that she played really well. I was very impressed with them, as well as pleased for them - I would never had the guts to perform before a big gang of strangers at their age (in fact I am still doubtful about doing so!). They played that track by Crowded House..... you know the one that talks about taking the weather home with you or something like that..... help me out here as I was too busy listening to Rush when Crowded House were famous! Anyway, I gave them everything I had (and this amounted to only £2 - but I was not alone and no doubt they will have done very well for themselves that day). For the record they were called 4Beenies and between them had more talent than the entire set of contestants on pop idol. These are not idle thoughts, these are facts.

Proving that perhaps I am the uncoolest person in the world, I actually thought it worth posting to The National Midday Sun the fact that I saw a Rush reference in the totally brilliant cartoon, Futurama. How uncool am I? Well if you have not seen it (Futurama never quite caught on like The Simpsons - despite being just as good) it is the one were the professor makes a What If machine and Fry wants to see what the world would be like if the world were like a video game - and he promptly dispatches an alien fleet to the strains of ........ Tom Sawyer! Fry says "All right! It's Saturday night, I have no date, a two litre bottle of Shasta and my all Rush mix tape, let's rock!". God I am so sad - for a few moments when I was posting the thread on the site I started to feel like Comic-Book-Guy off the Simpsons.

People may not be aware of this, and I dare say that some people in Warrington are not aware of it too, but we have a Cultural Quarter! In layman's terms this means we have the Parr Hall (an old theatre that looks like it has been stretched backwards to fit in the square) and the Pyramid Centre - where the BBC recently hosted Question Time - which has a few small cinemas and theatres and all of that good stuff - so not quite Greenwich Village. I had recently been off shift and found out that Dave Spikey was playing the Parr Hall on the 26th, so I decided to take Emma. For the visitors to this site from outside of the UK, Dave plays Jerry "The Saint" St. Claire in legendary sit-com,Phoenix Nights. He is, apart from helping to write the series, a highly respected stand-up working in a highly respected sit-com. Dave put in a brilliant performance - he was a very old-school stand-up who has found a new audience who were clearly very fond of him. The one thing that did spring to mind about the material was that it was very old-fashioned - it was the delivery that made it. He did the encore as Jerry - doing Black Bin Bags etc. Top bloke.

Decided to round the night off by letting Paul M (accompanied me to see Rush back in September 2004)& Bob (Strange Fish Guitarist)(who were also at the gig with their respective girlies) persuade me to go to the WA1 Club (it's the postcode for Warrington town centre, silly!). WA1 have a Rock Night on the last Saturday of every month. The last time I went to a Rock Night was 1991 at the Cherry Tree, Runcorn! Eventually the Rock night disappeared forever at that old venue - and I don't think I miss it that much. You see I am so out of touch that the whole night used to pass like a regular disco - I did not recognise anything they played. Not so with WA1 - they played it all - and the dance floor filled with people banging their heads. They even got round to playing some Rush - Tom Sawyer and Fly By Night - and it didn't clear the dance floor! I remember requesting, back in the days of Cherry Tree, for a Rush track to played there. Fourteen years later and I am finally hearing Rush at a Rock Club! However, the DJ wants to get that PA seen to - I think Gail's Gerbil had been using it as toilet for the last six months (spot the reference!).

April 2005

It is over a year since we have been to Leicester Space Centre to see any of the Synth Music Direct bands that grace the planetarium there from time to time, so I was well pleased to get down there right at the start of the month. This time it was Radio Massacre International - who I have now been to see three times: twice at the Space Centre (though the first time I neglected to take my camera) and once at Night and Day, Manchester. RMI were on very good form again, playing another largely improvised set for us, with yet another very impressive light show going on behind them. But this time..... no drum kit! Yes, the drum kit has been dropped from the set. Why? I don't know - they would not tell us. You can find photos of the gig in set 03 of the gallery (the gig set - that is now getting a bit cramped!).

Actually bought some CD's this time. I must confess that it is a while since I have bought anything that is genuinely different (i.e not a Rush CD) - so I went for a cut price trio of Stephan Whitlan, Paul Nagle and Kubusschnit. I am assured, by Barry and M, that these guys represented the best of what was on offer there that night. In fact, if you look down the list of previous gigs on Gallery set 03 you will see Kubusschnit right there and I was very impressed with them back then - in fact way back in May 2003! Time flies when you are building a website.

I had been looking forward to seeing Downfall for quite some time - in fact as soon as I found out such a film existed. Having been impressed with both of the German made war epics Das Boot and Stalingrad, I expected great things. I could not wait for long and went to the Cornerhouse as soon as it was released. It is the story of Hitler's last hours within the Bunker as the Red Army encircle Berlin in 1945. It is told from the point of view of two books - one of which was written by Traudl Junge - who you can see screen, young and old below - who was Hitler's secretary from 1942 until 1945 (most people's careers at this time tended to draw to a close around 1945). Any of you who have seen the iconic 1970's documentary series World at War will remember her as the woman who gives the most compelling interview about what went on in the bunker in the final days; Hitler's wedding to Eva, the suicides (just about every method is explored, most preferring the pistol at close range), the parties, the shelling (actually quite overwhelming when put through the brilliant Cornerhouse sound system - the whole cinema shook when the Red Army artillery kicked in).

I must admit that it is difficult to imagine a better film. The whole thing is put together so well and there is so little artistic license going on that it really is a bit of a historical document as much as it is a film. The first thing I must mention is the performance by Bruno Ganz who played Hitler (the first person to play him in a German film since the war - and he is actually Swiss!). The opening scene takes place as he is about to interview some girls to work for him and in the seconds before he stepped into the room you could have heard a pin drop in that cinema - it felt like he was going to walk into the cinema. From the moment he walks on he is the centre of attention of the whole film, capturing his utter insanity, but, you may be surprised to learn, he played him with a bit of a charismatic and sensitive edge. The battle scenes, whilst not quite as in your face as Private Ryan, are difficult to put behind you - such as the unforgettable image of a pair of teenagers committing mutual suicide in their 88mm emplacement as the Russian infantry overwhelms their position.

I will have to stick my neck out and say that Downfall has to be quite possibly one of the best films ever made (certainly the best foreign language film I have ever seen), and it should be rammed down the throats of everyone. The final scene, delivered by Junge herself before her death in 2002 is the masterstroke, telling of her regret for not learning of what was really going on in Germany, her message being that it is the role of the young to learn and to find out what is really going on. Believe me when I say that you must see this film. Be warned, though. Some parts of it are so unpleasant to watch as is imaginable. The scene where the wife of Dr Goebells, calmly killing her children in their sleep rather than letting them fall into the hands of the Russians is particularly difficult watching - so you have been warned, you may want to go and get a choc-ice during that bit. I seem to repeat this line quite a lot at the moment, you may find it difficult to find a cinema that is actually showing it, so good luck.

Had a little bit of time off work and decided I would visit my old workplace at Shell Wythenshawe. Well, most of these lucky people are recipients of the Arizonabay monthly update e-mail so it was only polite that I visited them for a chat and a coffee. It was a bit weird to see all of my old workmates in a different office (though not quite as surreal as that bit in the office x-mas specials when David Brent goes back with his dog), all doing different jobs - but they have at least thrown off the shackles of Wincanton/Hoyer cruelty (the reason I left) and no longer have to do 60 hour weeks (the main reason I left). Got a free meal out of it as well (which I was assured there was no such thing as). The guys you can see above are Kev, Neil and Pledge Head ™ Pete. Not in the picture is Ledgey - who is a bit of a drummer (much more than me - he actually gets real gigs!) and a big anorak fan of the Godfather Trilogy - It's the way pop wanted it. It's not how I wanted it! I can do stuff, I'm smart. I was passed over, and I demand respect! Fredo, from this day on, you are nothing to me. Not a brother, not a friend, I don't want to know you or what you do. When you come to visit our mother I want to know in advance so I'm not there. That sort of thing.......

The 7th found me in Birmingham for the first time since I was there for the Drum Fest in July 2003 (although I did stop for a quick coffee on the way back from Rusheucon 2004). I was here for a work thing (I won't bore you with the details) but this time had a chance to do a bit of an explore. I recall coming to Brum in the early 1980's with my now dearly departed nan (my uncles lived - and one of them still does - round the corner in Bromsgrove) and I also accompanied my big brother there when he ran the Birmingham Marathon (before his knee swelled up to the size of Rhode Island and he had to stop running Marathons). I must say that the skyline has changed a little bit since then. I do recall the quite cheap and nasty Bullring of days gone by, and now it has been replaced with the strangest looking thing I have ever seen in my life (see the picture on the right above) - and it has a well nice Borders Bookshop inside it (complete with a Starbucks).

It is now most impressive - in fact the whole city centre has gone from a bit of a national joke (when most of it looked like the picture of the old 1970's Bull Ring above on the left) to a really nice place - I should think so - this, after all, is the city that gave us ELO, Black Sabbath, Jasper Carrot, Slade, Duran Duran, The Moody Blues, Red Robbo, the Austin Allegro, The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe (though the TV version was filmed on the Isle of Man!), Snow Hill Station, Cadburys, Pebble Mill, TISWAS, the Barry Taylor character in Auf Wiedersehn Pet (and by association, The West Bromwich & District Building Society), and Robert Plant - so it is only fitting that Brum should have a damn fine city centre. Made a mental note to pay Brum another visit when I was not in such a rush - and this time try and find Birmingham Drum Centre.

I seem to be spending a lot of time in a certain Manchester Art Cinema of late. Well - I have been owed quite a bit of time off and there has been absolutely nothing on in the mainstream that I actually feel like seeing - Emma has been at work during the day so I have had to find diversions like the Cornerhouse to visit. On the Friday I went along to see the latest low budget offering from across the water - the Assassination of Richard Nixon. I can hear you all say that Tricky Dicky was not assassinated - well that is certainly true. But, there was no shortage of people who were willing to trade the last few seconds of their life for a lifetime of notoriety and do so - there were several occasions when would be assassins got very close to him. This film is based around the life of Sam Byck (played by Sean Penn), a furniture salesman who had the smart idea of hijacking a plane and crashing it into the Whitehouse (yes - way back in 1974 - he was way ahead of his time), thus ridding the world of Richard Nixon forever (though Nixon ended up doing a much better job on himself than any assassin could ever have done).

Strangely enough, the Sean Penn main character has been renamed Sam Bicke (some people have suggested that the only possible reason for this is as a nod to the would be assassin in Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle!). Sean Penn is on fine form as the real loser of a furniture salesman for whom nothing falls into place. The shop in which he works is staffed by a small father and son team who can only speak in nightmareish salesman-motivation-speak (Dale Bloody Carnegie) which eventually drives poor old Bicke over the edge (including a bit that is not unlike my own behaviour when he starts screaming "It's about the money, it's about the monAY!" at politicians on the television - I do that now and again - in fact quite a lot as we are in the run up to a general election). I really liked this film - it was a very intimate and small film with loads of nice subtle touches from all concerned (including a priceless moment when he turns up at the offices of the Black Panthers and tries to join). Sean Penn IS a very good actor (no surprise if you have been to see Mystic River) and I love him even more because he is a moaning lefty just like me. If you get the chance, and once again you will not unless you go to the Cornerhouse long before I have even posted this inane drivel to the website server, you should go and see it.

After going to see nothing but films that come pretty much from left field, it was a bit weird going into a big cinema to see a mainstream Hollywood Film (and this site is starting to look like a sort of Barry Norman website!). I felt like I was betraying the spirit of independent cinema or something like that. Well, Emma was working on her dissertation for university so I was effectively banished from the house (again). After having my usual at Starbucks I though I might pop along and see what was going on. Well, I went for Sahara - as Hollywood a movie as you could hope to get. It is very familiar - and, despite being based on Clive Cusslar source material, is basically an amalgam of several recent films: National Treasure for the plot, the Mummy for the visuals. It is about an obsessed diver (obsessed in the same way that the Nicholas Cage character is in National Treasure) who seems to think that a Civil War Ironclad ship escaped across the ocean with a consignment of Confederate gold coins just as the civil war was ending. The most logical place for this to end up is in Africa (the same Africa that one could find in the mummy). I suppose it is an OK movie, but my expectations for all cinema is high since the last few weeks of seeing really good films that could not have cost as much to make in total as Sahara paid on just the catering budget (well..... I'm guessing....). There is nothing here that you don't see every week at the cinema, so only go to see it if you mistakenly go to the cinema before Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is released....

As a little treat to my mum and dad I took them both to see Downfall (see above) as I knew it was just the sort of thing that they would like (we all used to sit down and watch World at War together when I was a kid). Mum and dad really liked it and I myself am even more certain than last time I saw it that this is one of the best films ever made. The last time I went to see the same film twice was back when Lord of the Rings was doing the rounds. Say what you like about the Germans, they sure know how to make a good war film. However, VUE managed to get two of the reels mixed up so one 10 minute stretch of the film did not make sense at all - maybe they should stick to showing Hollywood blockbusters.

Well, the counter broke the 4500 mark - many thanks to those of you who popped by and made this possible! You may have noticed that the webcounter has changed - the last one went off line for some reason!

On the 24th I went along to the Limelight Club, Crewe to see Spirit of Rush (again). When this gig was first advertised it was meant to be 2112 but it looks like something has happened that has allowed SOR to pick up the gig. I must say that they were on truly superb form - just as they were last time. The drummer turned up with his Yamaha Hipgig - along with a load of Roland pads. It does look like he has added some Zildjian Z Series cymbals to the set up (there is no mistaking their strange looks or their loudness). I must say that perhaps SOR have the edge at the moment - I think the fact that they are a three piece carries them over the touchline - and their decision to include the recent Rush cover of Summertime Blues. So they are a tribute band, doing a cover of a version of a song that is also a cover - work that one out! Also worth mentioning is their inclusion of Earthshine - which must be a bitch to play, the time signature going all over the shop during the chorus. Anyway, it was a truly superb performance all round. Photos from this gig are to be found in the gallery set 03.

Just had one more chance (the 28th) to see another band at the Limelight - Monument, the Ultravox Tribute. I have always had a massive soft spot for Ultravox - I thought they were the least embarrassing of the so-called new romantics (this is despite Midge Ure making the questionable decision to wear a camp-as-a-row-of-tents leather bikers hat and tight white t-shirt when they played Vienna on Top of the Pops - humiliation added to by the fact that Shuddupayahface kept it off number one). The Monument guys are from Scotland and made a sound that was not quite Ultravox, but more with a hard edge (what I suspected Ultravox must have sounded like live - so that's ok then). They had amassed a lot of equipment (unknown old Yamaha synths - and an EMU!) - but a lot of it had seen better days - sometimes breaking down (but I suspect the monitor system was to blame for some of it). The drummer played a set that was brilliant simplicity: two Roland tom pads, a snare pad and a bass pad - all mated to a Sonor mini acoustic (one tom, one bass one snare) that has been garnished with a couple of cymbals. The bass player had the choice of a Musicman Stingray Electric Bass (easily identifiable by the massive single pickup and the weird arrangement of the machine heads) or playing the bass lines on a synth. I was very impressed with both their sound and their set: Vienna (of course!), Hymn, Reap the Wild Wind (one of the best songs of all time - FACT), All Stood Still, If I Was etc. Good night's entertainment, and at last something good about a decade that I find it difficult to remember anything good about - I felt naked without a pencil moustache and a mullet! Needless to say the photos are to be found in set 03 of the gallery.

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