January to April 2003
January 2003
Went to see Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers in St. Helens. OK - so I had seen it before but Emma had not so we had to rectify that! Did you know that many people in the USA were harping on about the makers trying to cash in on 9/11? Well, you have to have a sneaking admiration for stupidity like that. I remember being really worried when the first Lord of the Rings film came out that they were going to make a real hash of it - but it is nice to be wrong about things.
When on a shopping trip in Chester we were lucky enough to catch a performance by Ed Alleyne Johnson (let's not dress it up as us going to see a performance - he was busking - but what the hey!). I have witnessed his street performances in a few places - in Liverpool (as far back as 1986 - whilst my mum and I were stargazing at the person who was putting money out for him - the lead singer of Swing Out Sister!). EAJ makes brilliant compositions using an electric violin (of his own design) and a massive array of guitar effects pedals (his battery bill must be a little high!). His basic approach is to build a melody and then loop it using an effect and then to solo and ad-lib over it. I understand he has done some work with New Model Army and has also appeared on Later With Jools Holland. I had no option but to buy Emma the CD so she could listen to it in the car! Never doubt the power of the electric violin - you can here one on Losing It by Rush and also on Vienna by Ultravox (or you could just buy his CD if you see him out and about - which is brilliant).
Cinematic trips for this month also included the latest Star Trek instalment. I must admit that I was not overly impressed with it - it just played like a long episode as far as I was concerned. Top tip: Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan is the one you really should try and see! It contains good storyline, acting and a ridiculous OTT performance by Ricardo Montablan.
A lot of the month was spent armed with a scanner picking out photos and building this website!
February 2003
Went to see Catch me if You Can - the latest Spielberg film. Now this I was very impressed with - apart from the two noisy women on the back row (armed with mobile phones I might add) who incurred my wrath about a third of the way in! Spielberg really knows what he is doing - and for this reason he is excused from his bad films. The 1960's style opening credits were worth the price of admission on their own.
Also took Emma to see the comedian, Dylan Moran at Liverpool Everyman Theatre. This was Emma's birthday treat - and we even got seats right at the front (at the Everyman at the front means just that - our feet were on the stage). You may have seen Dylan yourself in Black Books or How do you Want me?, and his act is basically an extension of the characters in these shows. You may also catch him as the worst shoplifter ever in Notting Hill. Dylan was very funny - in a very subtle way and a good night was had by all - especially Dylan, who gets to smoke, drink and tell jokes for a living! Lucky stiff!
March 2003
Went to see Jackass the Movie - very juvenile, but quite possibly one of the best cinematic experiences you can have if with a large group of friends. The novelty of the whole cinema being close to hysterics will be lost when this comes out on video! Make sure you watch this before you die!
Emma's dad took us all to see Art @ the Lowry Centre, Salford (and not Manchester as it shows on the promotional material - I suppose they assume that everyone outside of the North West has never heard of Salford). This is a French play adapted for English. It stars....erm that bloke out of Only Fools and Horses who plays Trigger and that Nigel Havers bloke. I am not quite a cultured man - but if life is not for trying new stuff than what is it for?
March was also a big month for two other reasons; firstly, I managed to get a First Aid @ Work certificate (looks good on a CV). This was nice as it was an excuse to get the train into Liverpool every day - a nice novelty - I even managed to squeeze in a visit to Dawsons Music Centre to rumple and fetish the amps, cymbals and drums!
Secondly, I managed to get back on the Jamming horse - so to speak. Late in the month, I was able to hook up with a couple of guitarists; Andy Hewitt (this time with an electric guitar; a Squire Strat) and Mark Naylor (the big brother of Emma my missus). We had a long afternoon Jam, Andy and Mark on electric and acoustic guitar respectively (I was on the drums as you might expect), and polished off a list of classics, armed only with our instruments, skill and a pile of tab guitar song books. Mark also used a Yamaha synth. We had a good go at the following;
The whole afternoon went well - but mainly as my next door neighbours was busy in their garden putting together some kitchen units! A set of photos for this event can be found in the Gallery under Back Bedroom Jam.
Graham Hickey also had his stag night this month. This was spent at the Rawhide Comedy Club in Albert Dock, Liverpool. I have never been to a comedy club before so I must admit I had no idea what to expect. The night went ace - but it has to be said that if you have a choice then you really should not think about sitting at the front...... This means you will be a target for jokes at your expense - well, he was OK about it - only called me Harry Potter!
April 2003
Finally came the month of Graham Hickey's wedding. This included a nice trip up to Garstang (mega posh!) to the golf club. I am including this as a musical thing as Graham H wrote the music for his wedding! Most impressive - most people make do with Wagner! But if he was real mate then he would have let me do a drum solo during the best man's speech.
Later on in the month came a nice long musically involved day out. Barry, Martin and I went to see Radio Massacre International at the National Space Centre, Leicester. RMI are one of the best of the stable of indy synth bands around at the moment. Their music revolves around themes pioneered, but later abandoned by, Tangerine Dream. RMI employ two guitarists (one of which doubles as a keyboard/sequencer player) and one keyboardist (who doubles as a drummer). Their improvised set, with the lighting under the planetarium providing atmosphere, went down a storm with the crowd (some of whom had come from Holland - shtop - theshe ambient tracksh are not ready yet). We also had time beforehand to pop into Starbucks in Leicester! Well, expensive coffee + good friends + good gig = good day out. Even Barry getting us lost near East Midlands Airport on the way back could not take the shine off the day!
I almost forgot, on the way to the gig we popped into Nottingham to pay homage to the Warhammer HQ - makers of fantasy battle games, responsible for keeping kids off the street up and down the country (but filling their heads full of heavy weaponry and Gene-Stealers all the same). Barry has a particular thing for this company - in fact I do as well - they are a British firm who have built themselves up from two blokes in a rented room to a very successful company. Best of luck to them - even if I do prefer AD&D 3rd Edition!
Rounded off the month nicely by taking Emma (and Mark and his missus, G) to see Dave Brubeck in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. I can see they were all a bit apprehensive - perhaps they thought I was going to replace the music part of their brains with stolen jazz-cells from mine! Seriously though, despite the huge distance to the stage, Dave and his pals turned in a fantastic performance - Take 5, Unsquare Dance, Take the A-Train - they were all there. The musicianship was superb and the drummer turned in a fantastic drum solo during Take 5. I was so impressed that I went to Borders in Ellesmere Port and bought the Best of Dave Brubeck on CD (only after drinking in Starbucks!)- an essential purchase for those of you wanting to try out a few new time signatures! Dave Brubeck is 82 years old and still a fantastic performer - and the tour was sponsored by Starbucks!
There was a sad footnote to the month when I was informed by Emma that she had walked past the scout hall with my sister and her baby son (scene of my 1980's jam sessions) and it had been demolished - and true to her word it is now just a heavily landscaped lump of turf! This is due to the waste product left in the ground by ICI when they were dumping waste in the adjoining quarry - resulting in great swathes of the village being removed off the face of the earth. The picture below shows the former site of the Scout Hut. Gone forever.....
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