Today I stumbled across another wonderful find , under The Tyne Bridge , next to Popolos , the Long Play Cafe. This place is gorgeous , it does coffee , cake on settees and couches , with retro record players from RPM , wonderful wall art , Bowie and The Beatles caught my eye and they sell second had vinyl , T-Shirts and other music..
They have an Anti Record Store Day wall display . When I asked them about this they told me that to participate in Record Store Day you have to pay a £300 registration then commit to buying NEW vinyl every month. If you deal in second hand stuff that's an overhead you can't justify. Record Store Day started out as a celebration of independence but it's turned in to another commercial troughing.
Anyway apart from everything I've mentioned they put on gigs , serve food, sell very reasonably priced vinyl (I resisted the Prince picture discs), I bought a copy of Genesis' Lamb Lies Down on Broadway , just so as I could read the libretto.
It was great chatting with staff and visitors , lots of people had just discovered the place like me.
Really it's worth a visit if you like good food , good company , good atmosphere , comfy chairs and vinyl , 7" and 12" , black , and other colours and picture discs.
Back In NYC is one of my favourite songs so it's an excuse to play it
While it's nothing earth shattering there were a lot of nice things going on today. This follows on from yesterday where I heard a friend had an offer on a house accepted , and was so pleased for them, and they were happy. And yesterday was extremely good.
And then today I had tasked myself with getting some new jackets , and after trailing through shops found a pair of linen ones in John Lewis and when I got to pay found they were half price , so it was effectively 2 for 1.
I wandered through the Grainger Market stopping off in Reflex and a chat with my mate Phil who works in there, then down through the Bigg Market towards RPM and noticed a shop that had replaced the beloved Attica , The Glamorous Owl and it is a wonderful and joyous place full of locally produced things and the people are wonderfully welcoming. You have to visit this place it really is a jewel.
Then on to RPM where Marek told he had something coming in , a collection of local 60s / 70s vinyl coming in , which should be very interesting.
Then in Fitzgeralds was served my a waitress who had the most amazingly stunning Medusa Tattoo , a true work of art , but I was too much of a gentleman to ask her for a photograph of it , but it was very impressive.
Anyway , the Joe Walsh song should suffice for the soundtrack to this post because the title sums up my feelings today even though I am very tired,
Oh and Preston won today which is always puts a smile on my face.
So enjoy the rest of the weekend. I know things are going to get much, much better
Sorry I've not blooged for a while , no real reason apart from laziness , but it has been remarked upon , and I need need to post something given how much is happening this week. So here it is.
This week I started my new job which is basically a 9 to 5 scenario with decent flexibility and good people to work with and it's been very enjoyable so far, managing to track down a rogue tenner in half a million quid to balance a book. The thing is , this new job has given me back about ten hours a week that I wont be on a train and maybe £3K a year I don't have to spend on travel.
This has come at an opportune time because tomorrow , as well as being my great friend Craig and Sheena's birthday it's also National Record Store Day , so I will be in and around Newcastle visiting RPM , Reflex , Beatdown but may not get to the excellent Pop Recs in Sunderland although I'm sure they won't miss me there. Some great memories of previous days include getting a Facebook message from my great friend Mike asking if I could pick up a copy of the Clash's London Calling about ten to five. It was the most sought after item of that day, so had sold out when the shops opened , although one did turn up in Reflex a couple of weeks later which I snaffled immediately and dropped off.
This week , also , it's World Book Night on Shakespeare's Birthday (23rd of April). Just 18 books this time but a bit of a trek by public transport to pick them up tomorrow , mine is Roddy Doyle's "Dead Man Talking" a short , easy to read book , which I shall be distributing around Newcastle on the 23rd.
My friend Royston posted a link to this blog post from KFMX (Lubbock's Rock Station) about the legacy of illegal downloading. It sums it up in a nutshell. Although I'm in two minds about the grammar , sould it be Metallica Was Right or Metallica Were Right. Anyway this post isn't about grammatical correctness it's about the whole music stealing thing , and where we are at today and why we are here today musically/ It's probably best to do it roughly in temporal order so I'll do it by decades:
Vinyl became established, first in 78 format with seven inch 45's becoming the single record content delivery device of preference. 12" 33rpm Albums named because sheet music was collected in albums was the modus operandii for Classical Music because of the length of the pieces , although spoken word albums came out that played at 16 rpm . If you look at a full featured vinyl record player that's what the 16 option is for. If you do want an classic record player take a look at RPM in Newcastle.
The thing is unless you had your own recording facilities in the 1950's the only way of stealing music was to actually shoplift or resort to burglary. Music theft was limited to plagiarism and blantant exploitation like Alan Freed's co composer credit on Chuck Berry's Motorvatin' because there had to be a white presence.
Music took of in this decade, and you had a proliferation of transistor radios and portable vinyl disc players, and affordable reel to reel tape recorders were available. These allowed you to record either from the record player, radio or television. However this was not widespread so artists and record companies just saw it as another marketing opportunity, however the BBC threatened prosecution of anyone who recorded TV programs , although they then later asked for recorded copies when trying to replace lost shows . Albums became more popular especially with bands like the Beatles and Beach Boys shifting industrial quantities and incidentally albums were commercially available on tape reels. Really record companies were seeding the ground without looking to the future.
This is when supposedly the shit hit the fan for record companies. Music was becoming more portable. The introduction of the 8-Track tape and more importantly the compact cassette tape. These were introduced by record companies again to sell product, but when cheap portable recorders were put on the market you would have thought that someone would have realised that customers would not just record their own voice or birdsong.
Lots of companies produced tapes and recorders and customers started recording music from TV and radio and records and sharing it with their friends. This was countered by the "Home Taping Is Killing Music" campaign. What actually was happening was that record companies saw a threat and adopted a terrible attitude that their market was comprised of thieves. Home taping went through the roof with the introduction of the Sony Walkman , because this meant that you could take music that you had paid for with you by copying to a C90 tape. Record companies didn't like this either because they saw it as a potential loss of revenue.
Companies started marketing pre recorded cassette tapes which sold well , but in a completely odd ploy Island started the 1+1 series with the album recorded on one side and the second side blank for you to record whatever you want on. The only image I could find was for the John Martyn album Grace and Danger, although these was a normal delivery method for Island completely encouraging people to tape music. I don't know if there is a caveat or disclaimer on the tape somewhere.
The portability of recording apparatus meant that bootlegs now became more prevalent, so as well as official releases , you could , if, ironically, you were prepared to pay way over the odds for usually substandard recordings.
The record industry tried introducing a high frequency signal on the vinyl record to combat taping, and finally introduced a 5% PRS levy on all tapes.
Home taping didn't kill music, if anything it helped spread the word. Although you could only record in real time, so you knew what you were doing. Though for the first time you could put together tapes for parties , driving , bus journeys, running but you still knew that you should really buy the records. However often you would get a tape from a friend, listen to it and then go out buy the album. The record companies didn't acknowledge this.
1980s:
This was the decade that changed everything. The record industry introduced the new cure all, the perfect indestructible medium of CD. This was a cold planning campaign by the music industry, they introduced very cheap CD players, CD players were part of the all in one music centres replacing the cumbersome vinyl turntable. People bought music centres not realising that this made their vinyl records obsolete. So they needed to buy CDs to replace the vinyl , except CDs were expensive £12
compared with around a fiver for the vinyl equivalent. Mid price albums were a bargain at a tenner. Now you weren't offered a trade in for your vinyl so you were paying for the medium. Did this mean that the music had no actual value?
But anyway this was a McDonaldisation moment for music, suddenly you had remote controls , you could program the way a CD was played , you could skip and repeat tracks, it was convenience for the ears. And you could program a CD and record it to cassette to make your mixtape.
The new medium had no clicks or background vinyl noise, and the first song I played on my new CD player was The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", played loud. A mistake I never made again. Previously the song was introduced as the needle hit the groove, this time the opening power chord just hit with no warning at all. That was my first impression of CD.
But again the music industry just saw a huge cash cow, but they were selling discs containing music converted to digital signals and guess what happened then......
1990s:
CD replaced floppy discs as a medium for computers. They could also be written to. Home computers were taking off, the internet was connecting people and at this time the music industry decided it was time for another change. CDs would deteriorate and were not as indestructible as we thought. They needed replacing. Incidentally I've had CDs for thiry years that are still fine.
The music industry told us we now had to but DAT . It's tape! Tapes break , get tangled , and you cant easily change the order, and a blank tape cost as much as a CD. DAT did have it's place but just became a specialist niche and never threatened CD's dominance. However......
The CD data was copied into a digital file stored on computer , this was MP3. It was not created by the industry so there was no regulation. People could copy albums to there computer and duplicate them to CD, but more importantly could use the internet to share music using peer to peer networks such as Napster.
People were ripping , sharing and downloading music and not paying for it. The music industry had given everything to the public on a plate. Like with cassette they tried legal downloads but included DRM which limited what devices you could play YOUR music one. It didn't work. Elton John and Metallica were the biggest voices behind the movement that eventually shut down the peer to peer network Napster citing the amounts of money they had lost. The thing is most of the people who downloaded stuff were actually doing it because they could, they would never have bought the music if they couldn't download it so the figures were irrelevant , and these artists didn't give a fig about their fans when the issued old product on CD , then brought out a new version with an extra track, ten brought out a remastered version , expecting fans to cough up money each time.
However in the days of pay per minute internet connection a friend of mine spent £30 to download a Basement Jaxx album he could have bought over the counter for a tenner.
The nineties were the decade where certain people began to expect music to be free, not realising how this affects the people who produce it. This was a direct result of the music industries pushing of CD uptake in the 80s without any thoughts of impact analysis.
The New Millennium:
The turn or the century digital music became the norm. The internet has become very fast , and they perception that music is free has driven down the price of CDs. These days a new Cd will set you back around a tenner, a new vinyl album will cost you twice that. If the cost of albums had kept pace since say, 1975, you would be paying £80 for a new album today. I've used Job Seekers Allowance as a guide for this , in 1975 I bought the new Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here", it cost me £3.25 , now JSA stands around £70.
People can listen to music of their choice free on Youtube , Spotify and any number of streaming services. The problem with these for the artist, is that royalties are paid on a pay per play basis. So if a track is streamed on Spotify an artist will get paid a very small fraction of a penny, if their record is played on the radio they'll be paid £50 (that is completely made up but it is a reasonable amount). I don't know what the answer is to this.
But this leaves us in a world where to make money bands have to charge a lot for gigs and merchandise and kids think that stuff (music and video) should be free.
However music is still vibrant and alive, record shops are still going strong especially with National Record Store Day . New music is still being produced and I still buy a CD a week of usually new music the latest being the Wooden Shjips album "Back To Land".
The music industry is continually bleating about lost profits and stealing , but in digitizing everything they have created something that can be stolen over and over again, although as recent trends have shown , sensible pricing and convenience will actually result in sales and income, otherwise iTunes would have died a death long ago, and they still cause havoc and inconvenience with their licensing and terms and conditions.
So that's it , possibly my longest ever blog post. Hope it didn't send you to sleep.
Well although I didn't see anyone I knew apart from the guys at Reflex and RPM,yesterday was an excellent day. I'm writing this at 3 am just because I was awake and it's the middle of the Easter break which means I can actually lie in today.
Although later on I may be painting decking, depending on the weather. I hope it last a bit longer than in previous years when I finally do it , though I will publish photographs (of the said decking!)
I remember selling my EMI version of Anarchy in the UK by The Sex Pistols for £30 then buying the album on Virgin for £3 , the import single for £1.50 and still having £20 to spend! which brings me on to ....
....I got a copy of Peaches by The Stranglers from Reflex which was doing some extremely brisk trade, and just wish that certain shops to adapt the speed and courtesy of the guys there, they also had free sweets and chocolate which I forgot to partake of, but they had lots of excellent stuff. I see a lot of copies of the disc were on ebay going for a fortune but you can get their first six albums plus a disc of rarities for under fifteen pounds here. While it's nice to have limited editions, for me it's always been about the music.
Cake at RPM
RPM was rammed as they had cake, DJs and and bands in the courtyard next door, and at certain points the shop was in a one in one out situation. I browsed their second hand vinyl, and saw a second hand copy of the second Roxy Music album "For Your Pleasure". I have the CD, but was thinking about it while I looked round the delights in the and listening to the rockabilly from the in shop DJ, I went back and it had gone , c'est la vie.
Still it was a great atmosphere and I could have spent a lot of money, which I will do when it's a little quieter.
Good Turnout
Anyway had a nice meal at the Stand , just missed my friend Jon and his daughter Aoife, though he sent me a lovely picture of her, face painted as a lion enjoying orange juice,
Came home and cleaned the decking again so it should be ready for painting today or tomorrow. So after this I am going back to my bed, and going to have a bit more sleep.
This is my seven hundredth blog post and this morning I was informed that I have eighteen copies of The Humans by Matt Haig to give away on World Book Night 2014 on April 23rd, that's a Wednesday this year. I have some ideas how to schedule it and this year I have less to go round so I will make sure none get wasted, on people who's cultural highpoints are Top Gear and Bake Off programs.The premise sounds brilliant:
"One wet Friday evening, Professor Andrew Martin of Cambridge
University solves the world's greatest mathematical riddle. Then he
disappears.
When he is found walking naked along the
motorway, Professor Martin seems different. Besides the lack of clothes,
he now finds normal life pointless. His loving wife and teenage son
seem repulsive to him. In fact, he hates everyone on the planet.
Everyone, that is, except Newton. And he's a dog.
Can a
bit of Debussy and Emily Dickinson keep him from murder? Can the species
which invented cheap white wine and peanut butter sandwiches be all
that bad? And what is the warm feeling he gets when he looks into his
wife's eyes?"
Sounds brilliant doesn't it? I do have my copy on order and will have it read before the give away occurs.
On 19th Of April (I think because it doesn't tell you the date on the site, just a countdown) it's National Record Shop Day, well that's what I call it , so I will be visiting Reflex and RPM and Beatdown and JG Windows in Newcastle and buying some product. These days are now very big and great fun, with lots of events, and I'll post more in the run ups to both of these events.
Time for bed now, happy seven hundredth post to you all, and it the words of James .... "How Was It For You?" , here's to the next seven hundred.
I am right handed, but it's amazing the sort of things you need your left hand for. Late last week I flayed part of my left index finger with a potato peeler, which was very painful. But simple things like washing up, showering, washing, shaving became very difficult as plasters were washed off skin was caught and bleeding and pain ensued, not nice.
Anyway I have managed to smooth it off so it wont catch and I don't need a plaster on it.
It other news Rough Trade have opened a major record shop in New York (see here), and it is reckoned that there will be a major renaissance for record shops which is great news. They were always a great place to socialise and discover new stuff, and we're lucky in Newcastle that we still have some decent ones such as RPM and Reflex.
Sad news in the deaths of Phil Everly and Eusebio, but the older you get the more these things seem to happen. We still have recordings and memories of them. Pity I don't have a video of Eusebio goals set to an Everly Brothers song though I'm not sure which one it would be, maybe "Walk Right Back".
Anyway enjoy the rest of the first weekend of the new year.
Another great High Bridge Quarter Festival today. Lots off food stalls with cupcakes from Sweet Petite Cupcakery , coffee from the Ouseburn Coffee Co , Pies and Chili Vinegar from The Red House , as well as food from Dabba Wal. So the setting was good from the off. The weather kept nice and there were some excellent records played by the DJs.
There were so many food options, I couldn't decide which one to try and ended up not eating anything, though got some things for later on , but we had Jamaica , Italy , England , India, Mexico and The USA all represented in one way or another,. Burgers , Curries , Gumbos , Jambalaya , Cupcakes and much much more.
RPM - Record Player Mecca!!
It was RPM's 25th Anniversary and they laid on free cake as well as knocking 25% off CDs for the day , which I took advantage of with the new Bill Callahan and Factory Floor albums. So the atmosphere was excellent , even The Beehive had tables outside for Al Fresco drinking!
Some Sweet Cup Cakery
The only band I caught were the excellent Transfigure , and I chatted with Grace after the set , a very nice young lady and a more than decent singer.
I sampled bits of the food and succumbed to some Carrot Cake from Cupcakery which I posted on my instagram feed here. The Carrot Cake was very nice and a great finish to an absolutely brilliant day.
Well I've jusst finished the excellent Tony Benn biography by Jad Adams , discovering lots of things about someone who must be close on the most respected politician ever. The book is surprising readable obviously helped by it's subject mater or an caring idealist , a stunning orator who had the intelligence outspeak opponents without ever getting flustered. His encounter with Ali G / Sacha Baron Cohen showed him taking matters seriously rather than pandering to sreotypes resulting in Sacha Baron Cohen writing to Benn thanking him for being the only person to react with skill and integrity to Ali G's inane stereotypical questioning.
Anyway this means I've started "A Little History Of The |World" by Ernst Gombrich which is the book I've chosen to distribute on World Book Night on Tuesday April 23rd 2013 on my train back from work between Darlington and Newcastle. The preface tells of the genesis of the book which is entertaining in itself , I was going to tell you about it but the copy on the Amazon page does that very well , so I'll include that here:
"In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the
26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited to attempt a history of the world
for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six
weeks, and Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser was published in
Vienna to immediate success, and is now available in twenty-five
languages across the world. Toward the end of his long life, Gombrich
embarked upon a revision and, at last, an English translation. A Little
History of the World presents his lively and involving history to
English-language readers for the first time. Superbly designed and
freshly illustrated, this is a book to be savoured and collected. In
forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone
age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colourful picture of wars
and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of
science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the
sweep of mankind's experience across the centuries, a guide to
humanity's achievements and an acute witness to its frailties. The
product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account
makes intelligible the full span of human history."
I've said it previous posts why I chose the book and have started reading it , and finding it well written , in terms a child could understand, really a book that should be in every household especially if there are young children. It is the sorting of book theat stimulates interest and inquisitiveness and will inevetibly have them asking "Why?" in a good way.
Three days before that it's National Record Shop Day which will mean long queues out of RPM , Reflex and Beatdown in Newcastle and bands playing and street entertainment and chasing limited editions onf vinyl artefacts worldwide.Every year it's getting bigger and better , and as for the demise of record shops , don't believe a word of it , the best ones are still with us . I was recently surprised to find excellent record shops in York and Bakewell , and as long as a shop is welcoming and able to adapt they will attract customers. Often people complain about the cost of music and I point outthis fact:
In 1975 Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here in an unfeasible shrink wrapped plastic bag, containing postcards etc (maybe that was Dark Side of The Moon which did contain posters and stickers). Anyway I'd just left school and was geeting job seekers allowance which was £3.25 .... the same price of the new Pink Floyd album. Needless to say I didnt go out that week.
So if albums had kept pace with Job Seekers Allowance the cost of an album would now be around £60 !! I recently took deliver of The Blue Oyser Cult's Columbia Album box set (17 discs) which cost me £46 and that was funded by a MyVoice voucher and Hilton Honors voucher so I didnt rwally even pay for it. So music today is better value than ever.
Funny how a little success in the face of adversity can make your day so much better. Yesterday the shower hose broke, which I replaced and now it's better than ever, Today the washing machine decided not to drain and usually thi is a laborious draining process , except today I left it running as I drained it and it suddenly picked up and drained itself . Fixed , I think , but itcertainly was a good way to finish the day. The washing machine is over ten years old now so is on very borrowed time , but if I have bounght anothe six months I'll be happy with it.
After the snow we have the wind , no doubt people will be complainingabout that . Look for the good things in life , like the wonderful Shins album "Port of Morrow" that I bought at the weekend from RPM.
Was gonna use Iggy's original , but thought I'd post this Ravens as Crows one instead , another small success :)
Although Alanis Morrisette got it completely wrong, I'm here in Cromford reading a book about reggae called Bass Culture by Lloyd Bradley and I'm unable to actually go to a record shop and browse for reggae because there are no record shops within 20 miles of here.I know this thatnks to an excellent app called The Vinyl District
Scarthin Books Amazing Shop Sign
Well you could say Scarthin Books has a selection , but it's Naxos Classical and there is a clue in the name of the shop that tells you that it specialises in books. Bakewell has a musical instrument shop that has a few CDs and there's a few charity shops which have second hand CD sections.
The thing is economics and the fact that people's habits mean that record shops have to try harder , and the good ones are still very good.And there's always online if you dont have physical access.
I used to go to record fairs but todays digital age means that I can track down most things on line , and at my age I actually have virtually everything I want musically , but still look forward to new bands and new albums.
I stll love going into RPM or Reflex in Newcastle and hearing something new that I immediately buy. That's how all record shops should be. That's Entertainment I find more relevant than HMV. HMV don't seem to know what they are selling , giving most of their floor space over to iPod docks.
Anyway this post has wandered a bit but I'm going to read more of Bass Culture and enjoy the rest of my holiday!!
.. and then three come along at once. Well it's not quite that but nearly. Last year on World Book Night I gave away my books on the Tyneside Metro , if you click on the labels below you will see what happened then.
Initially this year I was going to do the same thing with Bill Bryson's "Notes From A Small Island", but this year World Book Night is on the 21st of April which is coincidentally National Record Shop Day as well as being the first High Bridge Quarter Festival.
So the idea is that I'm going to join in the festivities at High Bridge concentrating on RPM records and giving away my books at the festival . I've been joining in National Record Shop Day for the last couple of years and had a great time seeing some great bands , getting ice cream great food and meeting great people.
This year looks like it's going to be the best ever and if you catch me you might get a copy of the book. Check out the High Bridge Festival site by clicking on the poster.
Reflex in Nunn Street and Beatdown up near The Five Swans will also be having lots of events and special stuff for sale so get yourself down and have a wonderful day. Great music , great company , great books , great food all guaranteed!!
Before Facebook I knew one person who originated from Leicester , and leicester to me meant a football team who did well under Martin O'Neill and Walkers Crisps and Gary Lineker. Since I joined up with Facebook people from Leicester pop up with alarming regularity in my Facebook encounters.
I've met players of Mafia Wars ,Scrabble and now I find the guy from one of my favuorite record shops (RPM in Newcastle) hails from Leicester. The latest incident was a guy asking about a Supercharge CD who actually went to my old school , but is now Director of Physics at Leicester University.
I've never been to Leicester , but everyone I've encounterd from there have been absolute top people, which is maybe the reason I don't live in Leicester , I obviously wouldn't meet their quality control!!
Lots of people complain about the BBC and "why should I pay the license fee when I dont watch it" (apart from iPlayer , radio etc etc. Over the years , apart from the excellent David Attenborough helmed natural history programs (Frozen Planet is his current masterpiece) , the BBC has recorded numerous music sessions by some excellent bands .
This month has seen the release of some excellent collection from TheYardbirds , Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple , that latter for some reason incorporating CD and vinyl copies in the same box , surely you dont need both!!Though over the years I've accumulated ELO and Bowie at the BBC introduced by Bryan Matthews, and am waiting for a definitinive Half Man Half Biscuit compilation which would surely sell by the barrow load. Anyway this could be another reason to succumb to Orange's excellent Christmas Box package to get my hands on the Angle & Curve Headphones for a £40 outlay (with a PAYG phone , piggy bank and other extras thrown in).
Today I took a copy of the 40th Anniversary copy of Tago Mago by Can from the excellent RPM in Newcastle, on the player now , think the Stone Roses had been listening to Halleluwah!! . The Orange is calling harder ......
This Saturday is National Record Shop Day , where wall the independent record shops put on events , record signings , sell limited special edition records , usually on vinyl , and have a good time. In Newcastle we still have the following that are worth visiting on the day:
Reflex (Nunn Street part of the Grainger Market Building)
From Reflex's Page:
"REFLEX is once again proud to be involved with Record Store Day. On Saturday 16th April, we will be throwing our doors open at 8am (brought forward an hour early by the organisers) and offering up hundreds of exclusive records, CDs and memorablia, only available over the counter in Indie Record Shops across the UK. All releases are only available in the shop on the day, no mail-orders will be taken and no pre-orders/reservations can be made.
There will be entertainment on offer including Mod new boys The Master Colony and others TBA, with guest DJs and refreshments available. Come and join us for what will prove to be a great day and get your hands on as much exclusive product as you can carry!"
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.
A pleasant day in York yesterday was marred by the fact the Track Records another independent record shop had bitten the dust (see here for the ongoing saga) . This means there is an "award winnng" DJ shop which seemed to specialise in non descript T Shirts , HMV, and charity shops as the only palces to buy music left in York. This is happening everywhere , and while the internet is a convenient place to shop , and downloading is convenient, if we dont watch out we'll only be able to buy what Tesco deem suitable for us. The non changing Top 30 , X-Factor future seems to be getting closer by the day.
I really don't know what the answer is, I try and do my bit by buying from Reflex , RPM , JG Windows and Roots 2 Music in Newcastle (Spin is still going online only) , but I'm just one person and to quote Joni Mitchell:
"You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone"
Maybe Maximo Park at RPM have the right idea - "Apply Some Pressure":
