In work today , my mate Jon pointed out this amazing idea , your own inflatable pub? How mad is that. Princes start at a mere four grand for a shed sized one to twenty eight grand for the luxury Hogshead. Drinkstuff are pushing this leisure addition that will enhance and field or unused piece of garden that you have. The website is here.
Of thats not the only thing they have on the site , but if anyone has one of these you have to let us know.
The features of this pub include:
• Can be erected in less than 10 minutes by 4 adults • Can be installed on any flat surface • Features 2 fire places • Internal artwork includes dart board
I mean an inflateable pub with a dart board and fireplaces - What can you say to that?
After the success of National Record Shop Day , RPM in Newcastle decided to throw a free mini festival to celebrate Independence Day with setd from several independent bands . The advertising on the right was brilliant - some chalk instruction on Grey Strret at the entrance to High Bridge!! Being to the total wimp that I am , I only clocked the first four bands , but the standard was excellent and the setting sublime despite the weather changing from one moment to the next alternating between rain and sunshine with a bit of rain.
I must apologise that I dont know the names of any of the RPM staff but they are a great lot and very helpful . They provided tea and cookies to anyone who wanted , the cookies freshly baked by a lovely young RPM girly who was also doing the raffle. I think her talants expand much further than what she was doing today - but her cookies are to die for!! The tea and cookies set up is to the left.
Also one of the guys came out dispensing ice cream in wafers during the sets , how good is that !! Amazing how many people declined but I had two , though ended up with sticky fingers as a result of the ice cream melting!!
The Running Order was as below. Click on the names to hit the myspace page and hear what you missed:
In the same universe as Mumford and Sons , melodic and imaginate use of percussion and mandolin , well worth going to see if you can catch them . The weather suited them and as all the band were great crowd plaeasurs and good to talk to after the gig.
Impressed me as the first band I'd seen sporting a cornet (woodwind not ice cream) sing Roxy Music on the Old Grey Whistle Test around 1971. Reminded bme a bit of Elbow , songs maybe a bit downbeat , but were self deprecating and had some good banter . Would recommend them , and again good company after the gig.
This excellently named upbeat combo were fromted by a guy with a most amazing moustache , with a vaguely rockabilly feel . Visually great and got the crowd going , didnt get a chance to chat , as it was almost home time for me.
Today attended the International Friendship Festival / Wahington Kite Festival with some great friends. I've never been able to fly a kite so to see the sort of skills on display here today was jaw dropping. There were things that should just be impossible , but people were doing it. Apparently its all in the preparation !!. Well I could probably do a decent impression of a Kamikaze Kite!! Here's their website that in true local authority style manages to give no directions on how to get there (check these maps of Sunderland) but there is a good picture of a kite !!
Anyway took some video , and despite the fact that my camera uses Apple's idiot MOV format that Microsoft Movie Maker imports but then outputs a nice black screen from , I've put together some footage of the absolutely amazing stuff we saw today . Soundtrack is "Kites" by Simon Dupree and The Big Sound (who later became Gentle Giant) and can be downloaded here. Enjoy...
Yesterday I signed up for The Gospel Choir , who will be on the same stage as the King of Rock and Soul , Solomon Burke. While I knew of Solomon Burke he only burst into my musical sphere when he released the album "Don't Give Up On Me" which contains the excellent "None of Us Are Free". This was sceduled in for the Gospel Choir to perform , But Mr Burke wishes to sing the song himself with the Gospel Choir, this is beyond my wildest expectations. Here's him in 2003 on Top of The Pops with Steve Wright getting the description correct for once:
Heres a link to Emusic that will allow you to download the 2002 album with a free trial.
Anyway I 've joined up with the Gospel Choir half way through rehearsal , and choir consists of outsiders like me, a core of the Custom House house choir , and various memebers of other choirs including a student called Lauren who guessed I was going there as she noticed me dropping my sheet music as I dozed on the Metro !! I was gonna get a taxi but she guided me straight there and told me where to sit , with the half a dozen men , among the multitude of ladies!!
The Choir is led by Sharon Durant , who's voice is the purest I've heard since Joan Baez and that's saying saying something . Her choir website is here , which gives details of what's happening as well as link to "Mouthful" , the accapella group that she is a member of.
Sharon's voice alone deserve's a page article , but she is leading this thing, arranging all the parts for all the different parts of the choir , singing those parts out for the groups to sing , and then getting everyone to sing their parts and bring them together to make a harmonious whole. The work , skill , talent , and enthusiasm of this lady is a wonder to behold .
Last night we worked though "Down To The River To Pray" and "Daddy Sang Bass / Will The Circle" . I started with sheet music and lyric sheets , but Sharon is so good that she had me ditching the paper and following her, and I'm not that hot on the old remembering front!! The music Sharon has lined up consists of a wide ranging spread of Old Time Americana featuring arrangements of traditional material as as Leadbelly and Carl Perkins songs.
Anyway this is Day One from me , working towards the night on the 23rd of July which we join the bill with Mr Burke. When I left I needed to get to North Shields and missed the ferry by two minutes resulting in a half hour wait in a deserted Ferry Terminal , but saw some amazing cloud formations , so maybe even that was worth it...
If you fancy the concert , there's a link to a two for one ticket offer here.
This has been quite an amazing week for me, while there's no major live upheavals , lots of things seem to be going well and opportunities popping up in the most unexpected areas. One of these is the opportunity to perform on the same bill as Solomon Burke at the Summertyne Festival in the Sage Gateshead as part of a country gospel choir . At first the fifty pound price tag put me off, being a total cheapskate , but I assume you'll get to watch the great man as well which ids worth the price on its own. Added to that you'll be learning to sing as part of a choir and this begins to look a bit of a bargain . Theres full information here.
KING SOLOMON
Also I'm still pondering the purchase of a pink acoustic guitar from Windows in Newcastle. While that may not be the one I get , I will buy one this week despite the fact I have an adequate collection of electrics and keyboards!! One can never have too many things to make noise with
THREE LIONS
As well as that , we have the Mouth of Tyne Free Festival on Sunday 11th of June. The same day as the World Cup Final . The headliners are the Lightning Seeds !! . Imagine , and I will allow myself a little hope , if England make the final . Broudie and fininsh with "Three Lions" , tey show the Final on Big Screens in the Priory , England Win , and the broudie comes back on for another round of "Three Lions" to finish the night !! I don't think it will happen but we can all dream ... and if you put in the effort dreams can come true!!!
Bought a new lawn mower and one of these things for making logs from old newspapers. Apparently the logs take about three months before they are ready to use , and a weekends papers (four in our house) is enough for ten of the logs or bricks.
Making them is fairly simple but I need to wait three months to see if they are a success.
A guy called Martin Skelly has come up with this device device that enables you to play your MP3 Playlists like a vinyl record !! I checked the date , It's June 13th not April 1st so it may be true. Apparently you load your playlist onto the disc , and the put the disc on the player , put the needle on the disc and away you go. I believe each track has it's own colour so you know how long you have to go !! What information there is is on the guy's web site here.
While I'm impressed with the concept , it does seem a bit pointless , though will be a talking point at parties. The whole point of MP3 is convenience , and this device jst seems to make it more inconvenient to play your MP3s , but it a very stylish way. I personally won't be buying one but reckon it will sit nicely next to that iPad you've ordered!! You can get your iPad from Orange here:
The thing about this , if Apple were marketing it , then it would sell by the lorry load , let's face it , if you can make a success of the iPad and iShuffle you can sell sand to Arabs and ice to Inuit!!
