The forecast is poor but the actual weather turns out to be beautiful for my return to Kinder for Christmas 'dinner' (chicken sandwich & homemade fruit cake). I'm reflecting on how different it is this time compared with hunkering down amid the ice and snow a year before. This time I've chosen Madwoman's Stones as my destination, ascending via Ollerbrook. Also unlike last year I meet no one. Until I reach my lunchtime resting point and there's a fellow sitting there with choral Christmas music playing on a radio. He says he's up here every Christmas Day. We exchange Christmas greetings and a bit of chit chat but aside from him there's no sign of human life. I love it. As I said last year, it's good to be 'home' for Christmas.
Friday December 16 2011 - David Ford at Leeds Empire
I love special Christmas gigs and I love gigs involving lots of laughter as well as great tunes. David Ford always supplies the latter two but tonight is extra special. The video below sums it up to perfection. Basically, for this part of the show, his audience is invited to randomly select a cover version for him to perform. This is achieved by the shouting out of numbers that coincide with pages from a couple of big books of chords for pop hits of the last 40 years. In this way he is lumbered with performing Boyzone's 'No Matter What' and, later, the Queen/Bowie tune 'Under Pressure'. He pulls them both off with no little skill and oodles of aplomb. I'm thrilled to be in on one of the best kept secrets in British music and I'm looking forward to more David Ford in 2012.
Monday December 12 - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel at The Cockpit, Leeds
I have a fond memory of 'discovering' Steve Harley, long ago as a 17 year old with an unplayably cheap guitar, hungry to discover more and more music. He was, of course, a familiar figure in the charts of the 70s but it was a friend who would introduce me to the more 'substantial' songs of his albums. One song in particular gripped me. I can still vividly recall listening to 'Cavaliers' in my bedroom one warm summer evening, enraptured, and deciding to try my own hand at songwriting. Not that I would ever write anything to touch that sublime dirge, replete with words like 'masturbation' and a riff that made me realise that songs didn't all have to go in 4/4 time. Trips to the local library supplied more albums of his that I would eventually buy, once I had the cash. Years later I would see him play a free festival in Leeds and be blown away by those songs in all their strident expansive wonder. 'Best Years Of Our Lives' remains one of my favourite albums to this day.
So I'm excited about seeing him, resplendent with full band, at The Cockpit. And I duly arrive sufficiently early to take my place at the front. I'm with all these gnarly old diehard fans and word has it that he's going to play at least 2 hours. Sadly, though, my record of the gig is marred because - unbeknownst to me - Harley doesn't like being filmed by his fans. And even though I'm respectfully discrete with my camera he still objects when he spots it and his road manager snatches it from me and turns it off.
Later, between songs, Harley tells a story of losing his rag with a fan who was filming one of his acoustic shows. And when the band are taking their curtain call, he's grinning and doing mock model poses for my benefit. Although my camera is now securely bagged up again, out of the reach of roadies. It strikes me then that Steve Harley is from a time when artists had full control of the distribution of their material. He says his objection is to the distracting impact of the camera light. But I suspect he's just a bit of a prima donna. And I have to say that, although it's a disappointment not to be able to capture a full song from a songwriter I've admired all my life, he's kind of earned the right to be awkward. I still love his music and I'm hoping he'll play out again soon. Next time I'll stay further back - although on the evidence of YouTube, his eagle eyes may well still root out anyone trying to capture the performance.
Here's that camera confiscation moment, in full ...
Sunday December 11 2011 - Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost at The Deaf Insititute, Manchester
I owe my love of Cherry Ghost to my daughter. It goes back to summer 2010 and a drink in the bar of the Lowry Theatre, before seeing The Coral. That story is here. Tonight is spine tingling and I love sharing it with my Sal. There's no 'Welcome To The Black Parade'. But there is this ...
Although it's not all that remote, there's an intense feeling of solitude here today. It feels almost as if I've stepped out of the normal world and into somewhere outside of time. It's odd when my phones show that I'm connected to Manx Telecom. It's odd when my GPS switches itself off the moment I arrive at the iron age settlement of Barnscar. Odder still when my GPS keeps switching itself off all the time I spend there and only works properly again once I've left. It's that kind of place and that kind of afternoon.
Tuesday November 29 - Badly Drawn Boy at the Comedy Store, Manchester
Damon Gough is a funny bloke, as well as a great songwriter. I didn't know that until tonight. The next day I bought two of his albums on the strength of this first time of seeing Badly Drawn Boy.
Tuesday November 29 - I Am Kloot at the Comedy Store, Manchester
I just love this band. Everything about this band. John Bramwell has forgotten to bring the beer crate he normally props his foot on, to play. So he just sits on the edge of the stage. I wonder if anyone has ever asked him why he doesn't just use a guitar strap like everyone else. The informality & slightly chaotic nature of of this gig only makes it all the more special.
Tuesday November 29 - Everything Everything at the Comedy Store, Manchester
This was a priceless gig. Everything Everything, I Am Kloot and Badly Drawn Boy plus the comic brilliance of Justin Moorhouse, compering. All in the same wonderful evening. I wonder if the hapless woman in the audience from New York, who described herself as a 'blogger', will think twice about sitting near the front when a Manchester comedian is on stage next time.
