That Was The Week That Was

In no particular order:

1) I was coming off the tube at Aldgate East with Alex when I spotted a familiar face framed by white hair. He was carrying a camera and peering down the Tube tunnel, researching a new book or programme? It was the unmistakable features of Dan Cruickshank, I was almost tempted to ask for an autograph, but decided that TV Presenter-worrying is not really my style. He has the most fantastic voice.

2) I was in the ex-Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street (it's now called something utterly unmemorable) pottering about. I spotted that there was a band setting up in the music store in the basement. I was just pondering sauntering down to check them out when, amidst muted screams they began to play. It was Wet Wet Wet!

I ran out of the store.

3) I went to Paris with Peachy. Despite cold, strikes, a broken train and a very heavy bag (get a wheely case!!!) I had a relaxing and enjoyable time. The champagne was chilled, the hotel trendy, the food wonderful and the company perfect. Paris genuinely feels like a home away from home now, just a small shame that my friend P couldn't join us, despite living in Paris, she was in England for the weekend.

Doh!

4) Went along to the 10th Anniversary of the Blue Acoustic Cafe at The Horn last Wednesday. Strange evening of crazy cheering audience in the first half and crazy cheering table football players in the second half. Had to sneak out early as I didn't feel too good, but great to see Kris, Sean, Bill and plenty of familiar faces in the crowd.

That's the week that was. This weekend features a trip to Bucharest with the Pet Shop Boys. This is definitely, finally, for sure the last gig with them ever. Well alright the last gig this year anyway. I won't be spending my birthday in Moscow after all, so next week there will probably be a big PSB retrospective.

Please check out my tunes (see below) and let me know what you think.

Lots of love,

Dxxx

P.S. Check this out, very silly: http://store.shirtsofhawaii.com/tstefiuk.html

3 New Mixes on MySpace

I've uploaded three new mixes of songs to my MySpace profile, please go and check them out:

www.myspace.com/darencallow

Obsession is a new acoustic arrangement of an old song. Lightkeeper and Vulnerable are remixes of songs I recorded specially for the Guitarist song competition.

Dxxx

Wot A Laugh

I played at the Montague Arms in New Cross on Thursday at a new event of art, music and poetry called SECOND THURSDAYS. It was hosted by Frog Morris and the atmosphere was friendly and eccentric. The bar itself has a plethora of eclectic knick-knacks, mostly of a boating nature. Any place that has a Penny Farthing as a railing and a huge model boat over the bar gets my vote any day.

I did a small set first a the main act had pulled out, playing songs from my Lullabies album.

Next up was Frog Morris doing his excellent stand-up routine, I greatly enjoyed his new take on the Spanish Armada and the poems/songs The Angry Badger and I Was The Pig Semen Delivery Man were familiar favourites.
http://www.frogmorris.net

After Frog we had a debut performance from Fred - Sweden's guitar playing answer to David Beckham. He'd never performed on his own before, and it showed, but he won the audience over with his perseverance and pluck.
http://ateljen.50megs.com/

Then it was the turn of Victor Mount, with his guitars, kick drum and violin!! He kept forgetting the words to the songs and then interrupting his own performance to tell anecdotes. Very funny.

Finally I took the stage again to play a selection of my other songs and the evening was over. It all went very smoothly and the venue is a really fun place to play. Looking forward to the next on on December 13th.

Dxxx

Liquid Piano and the RAF

I've been working the last four days at Music Live in the Birmingham NEC. I've been helping to promote and sell a guitar accessory product called the Facelift. It's been fun, but hard work and I'm pretty shattered today. As is traditional at these events a fair amount of alcohol and frivolity is involved. My favourite experiences were listening to a pianist and singer in the lounge of the hotel. I'm always amazed by anyone who can make a piano sound liquid and organic and they certainly did that, I was highly impressed.

I also enjoyed meeting a couple of guys from the RAF who were on some sort of blag trip, seeing how far they could get and how many missions they could accomplish without any money. They were funny and articulate guys who actually gave me heart for the future of our country and armed forces, even though they were very, very, very drunk indeed. I bought them a round of whiskies and never had to fork out for another drink all evening... not sure quite how they did it. Regards to John the bar manager too, lovely chap who's knowledge of drinks and generosity knows no bounds.

I also went to try and see my MySpace friend Elite play last week. It was at the Cross Kings which I've played at twice myself, so I was looking forward to going and hanging out. One thing I failed to spot the three times I've been there now is that there are two stages!! One is downstairs and that, of course, was where Elite was playing. So I nearly missed her altogether, fortunately she decided on a whim to play the upstairs stage too, so I got to hear two songs after all. I was so embarrassed I sneaked out.

I've not touched a guitar for four days, as it was the last thing I wanted to do after being bombarded by music of all kinds for four days, but I'm playing at the Montague Arms this Thursday so I'm practicing hard again. I'm reminded of Andy Summers of The Police, who reflecting on rehearsing for their Synchronicity tour said: After two weeks we sounded like a school band, after four a college band... it took us nearly 6 weeks to sound world famous.

This Thursday's gig is hosted by my friend Frog Morris and should be a lot of fun, see below for details.

Dxxx

P.S. Thanks to Peachy for her comments on the previous version of this post, interesting views, about which I couldn’t possibly comment. Ha ha.

Coming Up...

Me And The Monkey King

I had a dream.

I was standing outside The Morrison hotel in Dublin. It was cool and breezy. The popstar Ian Brown was there, he was putting gravel on a light in the floor. He seemed very happy.

Then I was in a nightclub with more popstars and lots of people in sailor uniforms. I meet a guy called Mitch, he's a millionaire clothes store owner. He takes me to a secret place in the club and introduces me to the Irish mafia. I smoke a cigarette. He asks me if I'm gay or straight and then tells me how he cheated on his wife - I'm the only one he can tell.

Then I'm outside and eating a Burger King meal with a Kiwi and a dancer called Swan. It starts to rain heavily. So we walk the other way around the building to stay dry.

I'm back at the door of the hotel. Ian Brown is still there.

I go to bed and fall asleep.

Only...




...it wasn't a dream.

Dxxx

Cross and Cras in King's Cross (and St. Pancras)

A weird thing happened to me on the tube home from Cross Kings in King's Cross on Sunday. A bizarre reflection occurrence meant that a man with a dark beard and bald head had said head transferred onto the body of a white tracksuit wearing lady... it was very odd and took me a good minute or two to work out what was going on.

I took the picture above too (a rare picture of me!!) and I love the fact that I've ended up being both cross and cras (sic). I was feeling kinda cross, although that might have been wine-rage, who knows.

The open mic night at Cross Kings is great fun (oh and happy 1st birthday to you all as well... well done David Goo for lasting that long!) but also very frustrating. I saw some excellent acts (stand up Laura Younger, Liz Arcane and Sam from Twickenham), and some bewildering and beautifully British acts (stand up Todger! No one got my joke when I kept shouting "Release Todger!" and then found it rib-achingly amusing. note to self... drink less!). I got funny looks when I told one act that they were better than their guitar, I meant it as a huge compliment. Another act I went to compliment looked at me and asked if I could hear anything else during their first number. I wondered if they meant voices from the spirit-world or perhaps just an errant mobile phone, but in fact she just meant that she felt it could use some drums! She asked me if I was a producer and, not untruthfully, I told her I was and gave her my card. Actually I often come across acts that are excellent and I'd love to work with, but just as often see utterly awful, or worse, very boring acts squeezed alongside.

Why do these people play on a Sunday night in King's Cross... why, for that matter, do I? Who knows, but I'm glad they do (I think) although I often do wonder... All I can really say is come along and see for yourself, check out the acts, say what you think. Give your support to the tryers and the greats, and show your indifference to the mediocre. There's lots going on out there and you will always hear something you enjoy.

Dxxx

P.S. I played All I Want Is You and a new version of Obsession that I'm very excited about.

P.P.S. The food is very good too!

All Good Things...

There are lots of good things happening in my music world...

1) I'm buying a house with room to put a small studio in it

2) I'm putting together an exciting new band with my brother and a sensational young bassist called James Gruber. Some clips of rehearsals to follow soon - stay tuned!

3) The PSBs continue to tour despite a few date changes

4) I've got a new set of chords for an old song - Obsession - which I will record soon as I put together a proper solo demo

Happy times.

Dxxx

Miss The Train? Who, me?!

Yup, I'm back on tour with the fabulous Pet Shop Boys! Have I missed it? Hell yeah. All the guys on this tour are fantastic, and I'd rather be here than petty much anywhere else... but I nearly wasn't "here".

We flew out to Madrid fine, but then encountered the baggage reclaim at Madrid airport. It's not slow, particularly, but it's a very big airport and it just takes time for the bags to arrive, and we had a train to catch. We split up, NT and the tour manager in one car and the crew in a bus. Guess who got to the station first (and on time), yeah us in the bus. Guess who had the tickets, yeah the tour manager... in the car, which arrived late and we all missed the train. Ho hum, time for tapas and a glass of wine. We'll be on the next train, no doubt. Except the next train is full, so... 8 people get on the 20.08 and the remaining 5 have to get the 21.30... that's me, in case you hadn't guessed. Not a great hardship as it meant a taxi ride to Plaza Major and a meal on the management. I have to say I'm still in awe of having dinner with a world famous popstar... I should be getting used to it by now. Just call me a kid at heart.

Lovely trains in Spain, btw. We passed the journey (at 300 Km/H) doing crosswords and drinking red wine, bus to the hotel, and here I am... blogging again... Suede playing and another vodka calling from the minibar... hard life, huh?

Dxxx
(in Zaragoza, Spain)

What's Missing From This Picture?

A new venue last night - Leonards in Farringdon - two stages one with a heavy rock band or two and one with the "acoustic" acts - almost a festival vibe. I was just glad that the Prodigy didn't come on in the big tent while I was playing!

First up was Tiger Lily, who played well and had some interesting songs. Then it was Tony (My Sweet Idiom? Not sure that's right, see pic). Truly lovely guy with a distinct voice and a great sounding Epiphone Firebird, but very depressing songs!! Then it was Charlie Savigar who has a great voice and some catchy tunes, good guitar player too.

After that it was Mr. Limbic And The Whole Damn System who comprised a laptop, funky guitarist and bassist and a chap singing, making funny noises and playing percussion. Interesting mix that somehow managed to be very slightly less than the sum of it's parts, but hats off for being different and playing well. Actually having said that, everyone played well, so hats off all round.

Finally, at 10pm, it was my turn, and despite being pretty tired I think I did well. I even managed to squeeze in 6 songs (All I Want is You, I Need Your Love, Tomorrow, Vulnerable, Lightkeeper and Do You Want To Dance?). I was heartened by a couple of people saying my set was strong, including a guy that said he saw a lot of live music.

So a pretty good night you would think, well what was missing from this picture?

Ah, an audience maybe?! Well you can't win them all.

Dxxx

P.S. Many thanks to James and Alex for coming down, all the other acts for sticking around to hear my set (thank you, thank you) and Simon for doing the sound superbly.

Just Another Day At The Office

Just when I thought I'd had my fill of surreal and (mostly) enjoyable evenings, another one has come bumbling along. Last night I thought I'd try the open mic evening at The Cross Kings in, erm... yeah, you guessed it, King's Cross. By reputation this is a good night with a good host and nice P.A. My friend was playing piano between acts and I wanted to check that out too.

I was very tired from the goings-on on Saturday (see below), but I made my way down and found the venue easily. First impressions were very good. The bar has friendly staff and is decorated in a fun, bohemian style. The host, David Goo (great name), was friendly too and introduced himself as soon as he saw my guitar. The Sunday night consists of floorspots followed by booked acts, and promised to be great fun.

Floorspots kicked off at 7.30 with birthday boy Pete Scott, and I followed next. The venue was almost completely empty, but I'm used to those sorts of gigs, and it was a welcome relief after Saturday's boisturous punters. I played three songs, and my tiredness showed a little as there were a few small playing mistakes, but the vocals still sounded strong so I was pleased. Several more floorspots followed one of which was a friendly chap by the name of Edwin Addis, who I'd met previously at Edwards in Hammersmith. The venue was still empty, but we all tried our best and the standard was pretty high.

After the floorspots ended we went on to the booked acts, the first of which consisted of a cello player, violinist, percussionist and two female singers singing in some language that sounded a bit like Turkish, but could have been anything. In a slightly surreal twist about 80 people emerged, as if from nowhere, and packed out the entire venue. Where were they when the other acts were on?! Anyway, they seemed to enjoy the band they'd come to see and some even stuck around to see the next acts. These consisted of a couple in jeans and check shirts singing about how sick they made each other (kinda funny, but a bit lightweight), You And Me singing songs about the trivia of life (with a superstar recorder player... more on that in a minute) and Preacher Boy, who had come from the States and played Dobro steel guitar extremely well and sang pretty good. My friend Wayne Myers (Fit and the Conniptions) provided a variety of ivory-tinkling between acts.

I have to say that I was most excited by the recorder player for You And Me... who looked and sounded exactly like Keith from The Office (far left in the picture), and you know what? It WAS Keith from The Office, or more accurately Ewen MacIntosh who plays him. How cool is that?! I only wish I'd known for sure it was him when I was there, I would have got his autograph.

Who knows what will happen next? I've no idea, but I do know when "next" is, it's this Thursday at Leonards in Angel. See you there!!

Dxxx

They're not purple and they're not getting any smaller!

The last time I played support to Shrinking Violets was on the 24th of September, 1995! In the (now sadly demolished) Railway Hotel in Harrow. In this year of bands reforming, it seems entirely apt that they should do the same and so... I've just got back from their first gig in about 12 years. It was a great fun evening, and not least because I was playing a set myself, and also doing the sound for the bands (I'm a multi-tasker you know!).

The night was opened by Day Release, who were doing their first gig ever! They gave a pretty good account of themselves even though their guitarist had a broken foot and the bass player was wearing a kilt with ballooons stuck under it to look like a large set of balls and a little willy!

I was next up, and cracked through a few of my more up-tempo numbers. It was great to play with a clear, loud PA and on a stage where I could move around a bit. It's always very hard to compete with a large talking audience with just acoustic guitar and voice, but I played hard and enjoyed myself. I was particularly pleased with a re-working of All I Want Is You, which I opened with. I was chuffed that a lot of people made a point of grabbing me to say how they enjoyed the set afterwards. So I was happy.

After me it was time for the main event... and what a storming performance it was. These guys really know how to put on a show... as The Wizard of Oz played in the background they went through numerous costume changes, props and swapping of instruments to bring us a fantastic set. I'd forgotten how much I loved some of their songs. Thanks For Nothing is my favourite by a long way. After an Elvis impersonation, dresses, masks, women's hats, a mandolin, a mohican made of plastic flowers, giant egg-shapped papier-mache heads and a cauliflower came and went it was all over. They can all really play too and I enjoyed every second. I hear a rumour that they are planning more shows, I hope so, life would much the less rich without them. So well done 'Hippy' Paul, Mick, Kermit, 'Arms' Paul and Neil - come back soon!!!!

Spametry

I'm off to play another last minute gig tonight after an invite from my friend Wayne. If anyone is at a loose end, do come down and support us at: HOBGOBLIN (Formerly 'The Jay Cubed') (club & bar), 73 White Lion St, Islington, N1 9PF (Nearest tube Angel) - music kicks off around 8pm.

Tonight is special as I'm planning to perform the world premier of a new poem I've 'written'. Now I don't do a lot of poetry reading, in fact none at all, but this poem is mercifully short and it's origins are very interesting. I was scanning my Junk Mail folder a few weeks ago, checking in case anything had been wrongly filed, and I realised that the headings of the 5 spam mails in there read as a rather beautiful, poignant and, some might even say, profound poem. It has almost Haiku like elegance and a real punch in the pay-off. I've reproduced it below (note I haven't changed the order of the lines), as I'm sure it will whet the appetites of all for my performance tonight.

For those that can't make it, I'll give a full account later (assuming anything interesting happens).

Have fun!

Daren

Don't Wait Any Longer
(D. Callow et al)

Don’t wait any longer,
Have you got a sec?
Looking for a friend?
Timing, important.
Do you want to enlarge your penis?

Humbug!!

As a person who has long suffered from a birthday in the same month as Christmas, although fortunately at the start of the month. I was utterly floored when I noticed that Pizza Express have already launched their Christmas Menu!!!!! It's only September for f**ks sake! I call upon all right thinking people to immediately boycott Pizza Express until they show a bit more respect for tradition lovers, and those with a sense of perspective everywhere. Let's start a No Christmas 'til December campaign or at the very least until after fireworks night. Mid-September indeed... I ask you!!

Five Days, Three Gigs

It's been a busy few days music-wise. Kicking off with a floorspot on Sunday at The Horn in St. Albans. I must confess I certainly wasn't "feeling it" that day, perhaps Dr. Evil had gone back in time and stolen my Mowww-Jowww... or perhaps I was just in a bad mood. I played okay (I think), but the evening was kinda subdued, and to cap it all the train home was 45 minutes late... harumph!



The Castle

Moving swiftly on. Wednesday brought a debut performance at The Castle in Portobello Road. I was amongst friends as the outlaw Robert James and the wonderfully witty Wayne Myers were hosting and performing respectively. The Castle is a lovely pub with a friendly atmosphere. It has plenty of people to play to (as opposed to some open mic nights, where you are only playing to other performers!) but the downside is the high volume of background noise (ie chat), but I don't mind that. I feel it's my job to entertain and get the attention of the audience, and if that fails, at least enjoy yourself and that might rub off on a few people.

Robert James opened and in a worrying omen managed to break a string. I was next on, so after a slight haitus I kicked off. I played I Need Your Love, Minneapolis, Tomorrow, Vulnerable, Lullabies and Do You Want To Dance? And it went down pretty good. I was encouraged by people watching and nodding their heads in time, and I grew in confidence as the set went on. Set done I relaxed at the bar, well for a moment or two anyway. The string breaking maladies continued as Wayne broke one of his. As my guitar was tuned and ready to go, I quickly loaned it to him and he was able to finish off in good form. He's a very good player and it was great to get a chance to hear my guitar from the punter's point of view. I was pleased to hear it sounded great!

Wayne, Frog Morris and myself then had a suitably jolly remainder of the evening, when much alcohol was consumed and we enjoyed all the other acts. Robert James (guitar re-strung) was a rousing finish to the night. I shall be back, and I thoroughly recommend the Wednesday nights there. Great fun and great entertainment. Thanks for coming Frog!

Edwards

Somehow in all the frivolity I managed to sign myself up for a return visit to Edwards! Rob was the host again and a mixture of pre-booked and floorspot acts performed. The standard, I have to say, was very high and all the turns played well. In fact as my spot approached and then was put back I was nervous about playing, and considered sneaking out. In the end I managed to stay sober and performed with gusto. It's a truism that a good performer will encourage the others on the bill and it certainly seemed true that everyone was trying very hard and, for the most part, succeeding. During my performance a chap sitting to my left added some percussion which sounded great. It made Vulnerable slightly challenging as I tend to vary the speed quite a bit, although it works very well with a fixed beat too, I think it was one of my best performances of this song. In fact it was quite a night for percussionists as the worlds saddest percussionist in a red top accompanied a couple of other acts. It's a highlight of Rob's performances that he passes out percussion instruments and encourages the audience and performers to join in. This tends to make for a rousing night, even if occasionally the song finishes only for the percussionist to continue on oblivious to everything!

It was hard work doing two gigs in two days and I came off sweating, but very happy. My guitar's work wasn't finished though, as one act had come without a guitar (who does that!!) so I loaned mine out again. The evening climaxed with more stomping, slapping, strumming and howling (and in Wayne's case self-harm as he preceeded to bash himself all over with a shell covered shaker). You really must check out Robert James some time if you are able, as he's a real performer who can make two hours worth of other (good to very good) acts seem entirely pedestrian. I'm looking forward to the next one already!

Dxxx

P.S. There were way too many other excellent acts to mention here, but if I was to pick one other out then do check out Mike Davies an excellent blues guitarist/singer. He only got one song, but he made the most of it.

P.P.S. The photos are Robert James at The Castle (top) and Wayne Myers at The Castle (playing my guitar, bottom)

Rock 'n' Pop

Couple of chances to see me strum my stuff this week. Tonight I'm off to The Horn in St. Albans, where the music quality is varied, but usually high, and the loos have to be seen to believed! Check the picture.

On Wednesday I venture to a new venue, The Castle, in Notting Hill. (225 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, W11, Nearest tube Ladbroke Grove) I'll be on about 9pm and will be playing for 20 minutes!!

More gigs coming. Plus I've recently jammed with a new bass player who was excellent. Trying to talk my brother into drumming for us on Monday, or at least helping us find a suitable tub-thumper... very excited by this, as it will be a song-led three piece with a lot of improvisation, effects and real impact. I've been dreaming of having a band like this for a long time and it's a good feeling to know I'm close now. BTW, if you are a drummer who likes the sound of a three-piece with some adventure and experimentation thrown in (something between The Police and Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood) then get in touch!!

See you at a gig very soon,

Dxxx

The Police

Where am I? Queensbury in Harrow in a church hall. What am I doing? I'm playing live in front of an audience on electric guitar for the first time ever. It's 1986 and the song my brother and I are playing (badly, I've no doubt) is Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police. I'm playing a white Stratocaster copy through a Carlsbro amp... I really wanted a Telecaster. I fell in love with The Police when they released Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and slowly worked my way through the back catalogue. Synchronicity became my soundtrack. By 1986, mind you, The Police were nearly over. They released a remix of Don't Stand So Close to me and then split up. My first gig was a Sting gig, I wished it was The Police.

Where am I? Soho, London. What am I doing? I'm at a gallery looking at pictures taken by Andy Summers in the mid-eighties. I'm not alone, the other guy in the room is another 30-something. I feel rumbled. It's September 7th 2007. I have the Telecaster now. I can play Roxanne and Message In A Bottle. I can even play Every Breath You Take, but it's harder. I've been playing in bands for 21 years... still one thing I haven't done yet... see they guys that started it all play live.

Where am I? Twickenham Stadium. What am I doing? Well you can probably guess. It's September 8th 2007, my friends and brother are all here (somewhere) alongside 55,000 other people. On a stage, somewhere down there, a small figure walks onto a darkened stage and starts to play a gong. It's Stewart Copeland and he's closely followed onstage by Andy Summers and Sting... something I've waited 24 (ish) years for is really happening. I can't actually believe it. The crowd roar as Summers starts to play Message in a Bottle. I panic, I can't hear anything! But the crowd noise abates and I get treated to 2 hours of pop perfection. I cry. Someone buys me a drink. I start to sing along with everything. I'm pleased I know the words to some of the less well known songs. Andy Summers plays some huge guitar solos... why the fuck not. I don't care, I love it. I cry more. Somehow we get home. I don't really remember.

Where am I? The Horn in St. Albans. What am I doing? I'm on stage playing Do You Want To Dance? I improvise some lyrics from Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. It's Sept 9th. I got to do the one thing that I really wanted to do and never thought would happen. I've been through the gamut of emotions and come out singing. I don't cry. I smile and have fun. Life carries on.

Dxxx

I Went To Documenta and All I Got Was This Lousy Mug

Actually I think it's a lovely mug and it's from the 4th Skulptur Projekte in Muenster and not from Documenta at all. But I did go to both last week and had a quite varied time. Documenta is an important (so they say) art exhibition and event which is held every five years in Kassel, Germany. Kassel itself is a very workman-like town in the heart of Germany with very few buildings older than the 50's. I wondered at first if it was a new town, but it turns out in fact that we bombed it flat during the war. Poignant then that the Documenta event is a very political exhibition and, this year at least, quite dark in nature. It didn't help either that the weather was lousy when we were there. After the fun of Berlin and the Kunst-Werke exhibition of Joe Coleman it came as quite a culture shock. We stayed in a business hotel just out of town and got the bus in each day to see the art. We shuffled around all the major galleries and tried to find somewhere to have fun in Kassel, but we failed. I also discovered the the brothers Grimm used to live there, grim was the word alright! So we left as early as we could and went to Muenster.

The Skulptur Projecte in Muenster only happens every ten years, and this is the fourth occurrence, so it's quite a privilege to be there. In contrast to Documenta the only politics seems to be about the interaction between art and public spaces and it's a much more light-hearted affair. I didn't get to see the Bruce Nauman inverted pyramid - Square Depression and the Guillaume Bijl buried church, but we did see some good stuff. Our favourites were the Mike Kelley petting zoo, complete with cow, goats and donkeys!! We also liked a sculpture made from crushed plastic animals, the sort that towns use to promote events. Ironically the hotel we stayed in actually had one of the painted cows in it's lobby!

Muenster is a much more fun place to go out and we managed to find a Mexican bar that served us about 6 cocktails with extra shots along the way and only charged us €28 !! We also found a fun Italian restaurant where everyone in the party gets their own charge card, no arguments about splitting the bill there then!! Now that's my kind of town!

Dxxx

P.S. The Shrinking Violets are reforming, and I'm supporting them at their gig on the 29th Sept at the Trinity in Harrow. Should be a riot!!

P.P.S. The Pet Shop Boys look set to announce more dates in October... hoorah!! I'm not unemployed yet!

Fit and the Conniptions

Well, I've just spent about the last three hours looking at the cartoons of I guy I barely know from about 15 years ago... he once roped in my brother to do drums for him, and I was probably very upset as I was dead jealous of anyone who stole my band members. But he's a totally cool guy (in an entirely un-cool way, if you know what I mean) and a sensational cartoonist. Think Dilbert for music lovers and you've just about got it. The fact that we are both still survivors in the "music world" despite various ups and downs is both a source of encouragement and a damning kick in the teeth, but that's what Wayne seems to be all about. So there you go. Do: a) check out his cartoon series, by clicking "First" in the link that's coming up and going through it day by day, b) go to one of his gigs, 'cos you'll be in the cartoon one way or another, and c) support your local musicians, we are like the High Street, about to be taken over by Tesco or summit.

Worthy posts on Documenta, Skulptur Projeckte and The Police to follow... keeep up if you can! Ha.

Here is Wayne's cartoon about our gig the other night: http://www.conniptions.org/?20070827

Dxx

P.S. Happy birthday to my brother on 3rd Sept just gone... the day war broke out, don't chya'know!