debs luvs kirris true xxx

We had a great night out on Friday at the tantric Jazz Cafe in Bristol. Two jugs of sangria went down very well!

We were there mainly to see our mate Paul Quinn play keyboards. He was in Kirris Rivere's Blues Band. Yeah, I now. Old fart music. But we shouldn't judge. It turned out to be great fun. Paul even played a few of the black notes.

Kirris is a fantastic singer, well out of place in a little jazz venue, but he's been in films, on stage and on the TV, so perhaps this is his way of connecting with ordinary folk. Or just chilling out.

If you get the chance see him live.

Rye in 1979

(All 19.2.1979)

The Ashford to Hastings line only just survived - it was slated for closure in the 1970s. It was a diesel outpost in a mainly electric area and retained much charm in the 70s.

30 years and one month ago there was snow on the ground as I visited the line from my home in West Sussex. I think at this time the whole ine was still double track, some singling has taken place since. At Appledore there was, and indeed still is, a long branch line to Dungeness nuclear power station. This once continued to New Romney with an interchange with the 15 inch gauge Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. This line now of course gives East Sussex a direct link with the continent with a change at Ashford.

trains in the road - uk style

(All Weymouth Quay 14.8.1986)

In Switzerland, Germany, Austria and many other European countries, as well as the USA, street running is not that rare. But it was never commonplace in the UK. The most famous piece of street track here was the Weymouth Tramway, which saw regular trains connecting with the Channel Island ferries. Although this line still exists it no longer sees trains, and it hasn't for years. But there are always plans to run 'trams' on the route, though I suspect to be viable the route would need to be extended along the prom - the run through the back streets, apart from a short section near the terminus, is not particularly attractive.

But all this was a long way off in 1986. The spectacle of a class 33 pulling long trains through crowds of holidaymakers is not easily forgotten!

My first attempt at travelling on this route ended in failure when the jobsworth guard threw me off at Dorchester because my Southern Rover didn't cover this route. I did finally travel on the line on a special, and I think I did it one more time before the line closed. But this was one line which was better watched from the lineside rather than from the train ...

rustington 1986

This was the sort of regular traffic you'd have seen if you'd hung your head over the bridge in Rustington (Sussex) in the 1980s. It's all changed now! Top shot is of a class 33 with the Cardiff train, this consisted of 5 mark one coaches, compartments, the lot. It was replaced in the 90s by a 2 car Sprinter - an absolute nightmare on what could be a 3 or 4 hour journey!

Second shot is of a 4 car electric in the short lived NSE 'Jaffa Cake' livery, which was far too smart to survive. This could be seen for just a few years and was quickly replaced by a bland red, white and blue.

Shot 3 is of a class 73 electro-diesel running light, with the large logo livery.

Bottom shot is of the classic everyday blue and white slam door electric which could be seen all over the south, once commonplace and now history.

hymeks on the S&D

I'm very much a fan of the S&D - in fact I've given 3 years of my life helping to get it restored!

These are shots via Jeffery Grayer's book of Hymeks at work on the line (mainly demolishing it!) in 1967 and 1968. Diesels never worked regular trains on the S&D, it was the last steam worked line on the Western Region.

To my mind the S&D was the best line in the UK. It ran through superb scenery throughout, it had a huge variety of locomotives and trains, and a real family atmosphere.

It's now being reopened in places, but at last there is a group that wants to rebuild the whole route. It's about time!

back on the streets

Was it really five months ago that we saw Enter Shikari in Cardiff and five months since we've posted on this site? Yet still the visits increase, and you fuckers are making me feel guilty.

So what are Trin and Brassey up to? Well we missed Bonde do Role in December as I was feeling unwell. Stupid really, as they've now broken up. We've been trying to get into some new music but there doesn't seem to be much around! So it's been World music, jazz, rave and classical mainly. We've got a disco this weekend - private kids' party. Hopefully we'll see the Rev again soon.

We did catch some nice Hungarian folk music and dancing in Budapest in December but nothing in Prague.

Oh, and we went to a ceilidh on Sunday (above). The music was great but the dancing looked exhausting. Luckily it was all doctors and nurses and if anyone had collapsed help would have been close at hand.

eneter shikari cardiff 31.10.07

The world is divided into two groups - those that have seen Enter Shikari live and those that haven't.

We joined the important group on Wednesday. Hallowe'en, Samhain, the most important night in the Pagan calendar. And we crossed over the bridge to Wales to see them. I've seen loads of groups. From Geordie through The Police and UB40, New Order, Pulp, Mumm-Ra, Plan B - 30+ years of fun and excitement (and crap). But Shikari topped them all. The energy put out and returned in the 100 minutes they were playing was like nothing I've ever seen before. Their music is the savage but beautiful child of Rachmaninov powered by the beats of a Stewart Copeland on industrial strength Metformin and presided over by a cool and literate clone of Jools Holland. And latching on to the energy of the best club night you've ever been to. The scary thing was that we were by far and away the oldest people there - in fact we seemed a good ten to fifteen years older than the PARENTS that were waiting outside to pick up their kids from the show. What's that about? Why weren't there hordes of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s there? They need energising like everybody else, possibly more so. Some of the kids couldn't handle the terminal moshing down at the front, and were being dragged out every few minutes.

Shikari's trick is that they blend the most monstrous vocals (sometimes) with the most elaborate music, then switch to Rou's 'listen Mum, I CAN sing' voice that beats Boyzone and Westlife at their own game. This switching, from the ridiculous to the sublime, creates the most powerful breaks that send the crowd wild. The songs are driven by powerful drums, bass and guitar, multi-layer Rachmaninov-style complexity coupled with some of the most clever hooks around. These are real songs and the whole band are natural performers, there's no irony or posing here.

Well, there is, but it's smart! Like turning up dressed as the Furies from the brilliant 70s classic film The Warriors, complete with face paint and baseball bats, or slipping in 'Insomnia' just when the crowd were at their most perceptive (and didn't they do it well!!), or giving us 3 minutes of formless and gut-mashing drum 'n' bass before the brilliant encore of 'Sorry You're Not a Winner' and 'OK, Time for Plan B' (cleverly referencing both one of the best films and best acts of our time!)

Loved it. Lads, you're welcome to visit Hartcliffe at any time!!

reverend bristol 2007

On Tuesday we went to see Reverend and the Makers at the Carling Academy at Bristol. Now the Carling sound may be as flat and lukewarm as their beer, but the Rev cut through all that to put on a brilliant show! Interestingly just before the show started, whilst the Ting Tings were on stage, the Rev and a few of the band stood next to us and watched them. It's a strange experience being so close to genius, but the Rev seemed to handle it well.

There are seven on stage, two percussionists, two keyboardists, bass, guitar and the Rev. So you get a really full, groove driven sound to highlight his amazing voice. The songs are about real stuff, dropping Etam, council estates, babies, all the usual material. With me music has to pass the Hartcliffe Test - be relevant, cool and sound good loud with the windows down on a Friday or Saturday evening. This does!

Support band were the Ting Tings, who seem to get more publicity than almost anyone else around at the moment. Singer Katie is an ex-girl band type, but seems to have found her forte with this new two piece. And it was a nice touch when the Rev invited the Ting Tings on stage for a final rousing 'He Said he Loved Me' which has to be about the best 3 minutes of live music I've ever seen!

So catch the Rev if you can whilst they're still fresh and hungry. Although I suspect they'll be around for years.

Next night out - Enter Shikari, Hallowe'en, Cardiff!

gone to uni?

"she goes away today
and he gives her a photo to help her remember
History of Art BA
it's alright cos she's back in late november

but he knows not of who she's been mixing
by christmas she's lying no calling she tricks him

So he goes up to stay
and he don't like her friends, and he hadn't heard of Nietzche
She's seems so far away
the distance is further each time he meets her

"who's the bloke on the wall next to ringo and paul?
is he some f**k expert on guerrila war?"

Open Your Window
Won't you let her out
wave goodbye to the butterfly
she's the one you can't live without

Open Your Window
won't you set her free
where you are tell me where she's at
and all the places she wants to be

He thinks they've grown apart
she uses big words like surreal and genre
and i know it breaks his heart
There's thousands of fellas just like it before ya

"who's the bloke on the wall next to ringo and paul?"
"It's Che she say's have ya seen him before"

Open Your Window
Won't you let her out
wave goodbye to the butterfly
she's the one you can't live without

Open Your Window
won't you set her free
where you are tell me where she's at
and the place she wants to be

we'll be together in the springtime"

The Reverend and The Makers (2007)

Enjoy it. Be Yourself. Don't follow the crowd. Live.
Tx

kylie krap

So Local radio forced me to listen to Kylie's comeback single today. They had people ringing up and texting in whether they actually liked it or not.
It's going to be a hit with the old sympathy vote no doubt. But it was a vile replica of a Gwen Stefani, Alison Goldfrapp Hybrid.
Pop music really riles me ATM. I used to like some pop. It was easy throwaway and fun, but just lately it's plain tedious.
As for my local GWR radio station, well they have one of the worse DJ's (behind Chris Moyles) I have ever heard. He actually thinks the Maroon 5 single is the single of the year... I cannot believe that man has a job in music.
Hmmm I HAVE to listen to him to get the damn traffic reports, Bristol really is a bad place to drive in.
Who are we listening to ATM then?
The Reverend and The Makers "The State of Things"
Timbaland "Shock Value"
And a mammoth portion of The Klaxons... I can't get enough of those weird silver lovely boys......
X

through hartcliffe with the rev

Home made video at its best - a trip through the lovely suburb (really a small village) of Hartcliffe in south Bristol accompanied by Reverend and the Makers' superb Heavyweight Champion of the World, a song all you pathetic teenagers with your ambitions to be hairdressers, car mechanics or city traders should absorb through every pore of your bodies.

I'm 51 and every word of this song is TRUE! The rest is all propaganda ...

stairlift to heaven

So 70s perm posers Led Zeppelin are doing a one-off gig - and they've sold a ticket!

Oh dear. It's quite disturbing to think that out there somewhere there is some sad old git that's still willing to fork out the £3.50 to see these sleep inducing dinosaurs. One of them is even officially DEAD!

Get this, Led Zeppelin were NEVER cool, even in the 70s when tight perms and tighter trousers were still legal. Their music was utter CRAP right from the beginning, and just got worse. They represented everything that was terrible about the 70s - progressive music, racism, IRA tank tops, no cash, no future ...

Whilst the rest of us struggled to scrape a living these talentless toffs churned out 'music' that could send a Pennie of the Automatic to sleep.

So let's wish Zeppelin and their fan a great evening of turgid sentimental posing. I shall see instead Enter Shikari, Bonde do Role and Reverend and the Makers.

revenge of gaia

Most amateurs tend to wreck their videos with TOTALLY inappropriate music - normally some mindless bit of uncool US soft rock with anything that uses energy (skiing, surfing etc) - all it does is sap the energy out of it!

This is better. Only the Prodigy (Climbatize) but it really works with these images of hapless Americans getting their comeuppance as the climate fights back.

Enjoy ...

Somerset and Dorset Line Trip

bow to the Rev

Our new fav band, not exactly new having been around for ever but seems it's the Rev's timetopreach to the unconverted. Check them out soon. We got tickets to see them in Bristol soon. Can't wait.
(ps also seeing Enter Shakari and Bonde Do Role too.... 3 holidays and 3 bands. Life is great)

"And now...

That shes older
As the embers of romance
Fade to mortgages and leccy bills
Been comfortable and that
Nobody told her
That she'd ever reach the stage
Where her husband bored her
Or she lied about her age

He's compromising
At least he's got a job for life
Get born, get school, get job, get car
Pay tax and find a wife
And on that note
The end can't come too soon
If you're not living on the edge
You take up too much room

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

At school he used to dream about
Being Bruce Lee
But the need for chops on the Manor Top
Aint all that great you see
And so he gave up
On his black belt and first Dan
As near as he got to China
Was a week in Camber sands

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

It's boring it's boring
It might put you to sleep
As the same old routine repeating week after week
And you work harder, work harder
You're told that you must
And you must earn a living
You must earn a crust

To be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else"

(Reverend and the Makers 2007
"Heavyweight Champion of the world" )

Album out 19th September 2007

fopp flops

Went into Bristol today to spend loads of cash in Fopp and found it closed. A quick check on the Internet on our return reveals its gone into receivership - 105 stores throughout the UK. Their employees didn't even get paid for the last month.

All in all a great shame as Fopp always had a nice range of stuff, including cheap popular material and some more unusual things.

But then like everyone else we also buy from the Internet and download. Things change ...

looking down

looking down
Originally uploaded by trinitypk

"Light touch my hand, in a dream of Golden Skans, from now on.
You can forget our future plans.
Night touch my hand with the turning Golden Skans,
From the night and the light, all plans are golden in your hand.

Set sail from sense, bring all her young.
Set sail from where we once begun.
While we wait, while we wait.

A hall of records, or numbers, or spaces still undone.
Ruins, or relics, disciples and the young.
A hall of records, or numbers, or spaces still undone.
Ruins, or relics, disciples and the young.

Light touch my hand, in a dream of Golden Skans, from now on.
You can forget our future plans.
Night touch my hand with the turning Golden Skans,
From the night and the light, all plans are golden in your hand"

.
Klaxons
Golden Skans
(2007)

charmaine

Watch More Videos Uploaded by likkle-x-sqweekz.bebo.com

suddenly ...

Suddenly the disco work's reappearing! We've got a 17th birthday bash at the Hartcliffe Community Centre tomorrow, then in a couple of weeks time will be doing the barbie at the stunning Midsomer Norton South station catering coach with a patio disco. Imagine, Enter Shikari, flashing lights and a warm breeze as the sun sets over the station. It's FREE by the way, so you've no excuse for not coming. There'll also be a patio bar with real alcohol ...

Paint It As Black As U like B

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her"

(Plan B), Leonard Cohen 2007
The best place to listen to new music is the car. If the tracks are worthy it doesn't take long until it permeates the mind and soul and makes a permanent imprint.
Plan B's bootleg album 'Paint It Blacker' needs few plays to infiltrate the mind so you wake up at 3am with it whirling round your head like some crazy fucker.

I first heard Suzanne at his gig in Bristol in February. B said Leonard Cohen wouldn't like it. It's very very black. B's usual bitingly good lyrics played over that sprawling unusual voice of Cohen make for the most moreish listening.
The story of the attractive Hooker Suzanne being picked up by the serial killer and her murder is pure horror. Fuck off Zone Horror this is scary stuff.

"Slice slice slice
chop chop chop
Suzanne's begging him to stop"

And her screams as he cuts off her limbs and head makes for difficult listening. The hairs go up on the back of my neck but like some horrific movie it's impossible not to want to hear more.
Fuck it, B this really is fucking clever.
The Paint it blacker CD contains gems at every turn.
"Happy as Larry" with the tale of the Paedophile and the dead child with her knickers wrapped round her neck is so repulsive but so real. B seems to be able to portray the true horror of these real life things. In the end the paedo gets murdered but he wasn't saying that was how it should happen. B has this way of saying something and making you think "Was that right? Should that happen?"
When you've been to his gigs and seen how many kidz love him you realise what a spokesperson he is for them. I truly believe the bloke is a genius. He makes you think.
The lead Track with the catchy Rolling Stones Piece "Paint it Blacker" is the best rap I have heard ever. How many of you out there have ever felt that the world is too full. Too full of everything? Listen to the track. The lyrics will explain.
He's a story teller, he's a spokesperson for this generation. He's talented and he's in your face right NOW.
When your kid come to you and asks for The Fray on his I-Pod, you KNOW it's time to take them on a 4 hour car journey and play B non stop. Kids need him.
Who needs actions when you got words? No-one.

at last

The long awaited Mumm-Ra album has finally hit the shelves. Great throughout, naturally. The boys have done Sussex proud! Up till now famous only for The Piranhas, Keane (ugh..) and The Kooks, we've now added Mumm-Ra to our roll call.

Best song is still 'Out of the Question', in fact it's one of those pop classics that come round every five years or so, in the tradition of 'It's All Over Now' Rolling Stones, 'If there is Something' Roxy Music, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' Blue Oyster Cult, 'God Save the Queen' Sex Pistols, 'Teenage Kicks' Undertones, 'Transmission' Joy Division, 'Rescue' Echo and the Bunnymen, 'Disco 2000' Pulp, 'Don't Look Back in Anger' Oasis and 'I Predict a Riot' Kaiser Chiefs. Era-defining music, even if only for a summer!

But what Sussex still hasn't produced is a working class band. It probably never will - we were always more into fighting, knives, drugs and guns than serious stuff like music!

tracks and tracks

Some shots taken around the Southern Region back in the 1970s.

Music's coming back on the agenda, never fear! Digitalising 12,000 photos is going to be a big job, and to relax I try to do a bit of DJing, even if mainly at home. We've got bookings coming up as well. And a brand new stereo with MP3 and Bluetooth for the car. Now we're just waiting for the new Mumm-Ra album ...

cool or not - I'm confused

Yeah, I know - Dad Rock time! But you know me better. Dontcha? Firstly I see Trin's Beatles keyring. Is she being ironic or what? I HATE the Beatles - talentless middle-class trossers who were uncool even in the sixties. It was them versus the Stones - talented middle-class trossers who were cool for a while. They had that acned hackneyed ASBO look that actually frightened people forty years ago. But Mick was an economist with a degree from the LSE - which is cool by anybody's standards. And Johnny Depp based his pirate of the Caribbean on Keith Richards, the terminally uncool smoker who climbs trees for a day job. I'm still confused.

Then they go and cancel a gig in Serbia because the noise will disturb 300 horses. That is cool by anybody's standards. Not the group that Swissies raved over in the 80s 'cos they thought they were cool - sick making. One of the Swissie returnees gave me and Mad Mike a lift from Vevey to Villeneuve and assaulted my ears with tales of the wonderful Stones - we'd just come back from a Pogues open air gig in Nyon. More confusion.

Now music god Plan B's gone and issued a bootleg featuring the same fellows, Paint it Blacker. And it's fun. But then I loved Paint it Black, Jumping Jack Flash and All Over Now (centuries ago in another life).

Further brain problems and cool/uncool dichotomies as I progress through the album - Radiohead's next. Now I doubt even B could make them fuckers cool!

Music's great!

bringing tross back more like...

We need more discos. I'm getting all rusty and impatient. In August we have a seventies and eighties disco challenge to do. How to stick purely to 70's and 80's and still be cool? It WILL be possible.
Meanwhile we have Beyonce and Shakira heading the charts with a pretty dreadful track. I did hear a remix that was a bit more promising but still dire. Manic Street Preachers are making a semi comeback with Dad Rock 2007. I still think they used to be lyrically brilliant but they had their day. Why don't people just give up when their time is over.... that's you too Bryan Ferry. Load of tross with your Bob Dylan covers.
But the worse for me is the very disappointing Arctic Monkeys 2nd album. I saw them on Jools Holland the other night. Every one was raving about them but every track sounded just like the first album. No new sound or spark there at all. Very drab.
Maybe it's me. I haven't exactly been thrilled with many second albums this year. Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Keane all total tross.
And if I hear 'I want to have your babies' one more time there will be infanticide....

sob...mumm-ra

We got tix to see Mumm-Ra at the Thekla tomorrow but we'd also booked to go on holiday... so on holiday we go... I'll miss you Mumm-Ra. I love Mumm-Ra... *sob*
I also think it's the very last time to see this fantastically talented and fun band in such a small venue. With their new single out Monday (She's got you High) and the Album 'These Things Move In Threes' on 28th May plus the very successful NME awards tour with The Automatic and The View. The fact that 'She's Got You High' is the NME's song of the week and the track being the soundtrack to the new HSBC advert will push them skyward to bigger audiences.
And who is bigger than the shopping giant Asda? Whilst perusing the bunion plasters for dear Brassey, who should be playing over the supermarket tannoy? None other than Mumm-ra themselves. Amazing and made my day. Even made me forget his fungal foot relief. The joys of being a DJ partner.
My tip for 2007 is of course Mumm-ra and NOT that fucking Maroon 5 group as hotly tipped by the GWR so called DJ wanker this week. Song of the year? Get a life and some musical taste idiot.