(no subject)

Yesterday was Elbow night, so I had no time to blog...   

Elbow aside, it was a peculiar day, right from the moment I pulled out of the driveway.  Those readers who have been following this blog from the early days will recollect that I had a number of goals for 2010, which included getting my thesis published (at last) and various other things.  One of the various other things was the unexpected publication (for the fourth time) of a short story I first penned way back in 1989.  It won a competition, and it's probably been the most successful thing I've ever written.  Which is a bit galling, considering I scribbled it out and edited it over a 24 hour period, and I've written a lot more since which means a whole lot more to me...

The story in question was a piece of speculative fiction set in Scotland in the near-ish future.  Inspired by the deregulation of the bus industry, I envisaged a futuristic Glasgow based loosely on medieval or late prehistoric society, where political authority rested not in the hands of a warrior elite, but in a bus-driving elite.   Yes, it sounds weird, but for some absurd reason, it worked.

One of the then MD's of those companies featured in the story liked it so much that he asked me if I'd be willing to let him reprint it in a forthcoming book he was writing.  I agreed - the story's more than earned its keep in the last twenty years, so I was quite happy to let him include it.  But it was a bit annoying when I found out last week that the book has now been published and that I wasn't invited to attend its launch a few weeks back.

This is the background to the Weird Co-incidence of the Day.  As I was driving to work yesterday, I swung to a halt at the nearby road junction, and paused there while a bus drove past.  Well, blow me down, but...  What I'd assumed was just a normal, bog-standard bus was in fact painted in the livery of this long-defunct bus company which I'd featured in that story twenty odd years ago...

So I had a moment where I sat there thinking 'huh????' before I headed off to work.  And once I got there, I endured the most horrible, unpleasant day, struggling on through a revolting snowstorm.  I won't call it a blizzard, because that's too strong. 

To add to my woes, I stumbled through the front door, cold, tired, hungry, and in a desperate rush to get to the Elbow gig, to discover that my consignment of Sweet Peas had arrived from Thomson & Morgan.  This was comforting, because I've heard nothing from T & M and I wasn't sure that they'd processed my order (though the cheque had been cashed, which made me hopeful).   But it meant I had to start the whole rigmarole of repotting etc., which will be taking up a lot of my time over the next ten days or so.  Until it's time to plant them out, my house will be full of small peat-dwelling lodgers, and rapidly taking on the flavour of a greenhouse.

Roll on springtime!!!

(no subject)

Yesterday was Elbow night, so I had no time to blog...   

Elbow aside, it was a peculiar day, right from the moment I pulled out of the driveway.  Those readers who have been following this blog from the early days will recollect that I had a number of goals for 2010, which included getting my thesis published (at last) and various other things.  One of the various other things was the unexpected publication (for the fourth time) of a short story I first penned way back in 1989.  It won a competition, and it's probably been the most successful thing I've ever written.  Which is a bit galling, considering I scribbled it out and edited it over a 24 hour period, and I've written a lot more since which means a whole lot more to me...

The story in question was a piece of speculative fiction set in Scotland in the near-ish future.  Inspired by the deregulation of the bus industry, I envisaged a futuristic Glasgow based loosely on medieval or late prehistoric society, where political authority rested not in the hands of a warrior elite, but in a bus-driving elite.   Yes, it sounds weird, but for some absurd reason, it worked.

One of the then MD's of those companies featured in the story liked it so much that he asked me if I'd be willing to let him reprint it in a forthcoming book he was writing.  I agreed - the story's more than earned its keep in the last twenty years, so I was quite happy to let him include it.  But it was a bit annoying when I found out last week that the book has now been published and that I wasn't invited to attend its launch a few weeks back.

This is the background to the Weird Co-incidence of the Day.  As I was driving to work yesterday, I swung to a halt at the nearby road junction, and paused there while a bus drove past.  Well, blow me down, but...  What I'd assumed was just a normal, bog-standard bus was in fact painted in the livery of this long-defunct bus company which I'd featured in that story twenty odd years ago...

So I had a moment where I sat there thinking 'huh????' before I headed off to work.  And once I got there, I endured the most horrible, unpleasant day, struggling on through a revolting snowstorm.  I won't call it a blizzard, because that's too strong. 

To add to my woes, I stumbled through the front door, cold, tired, hungry, and in a desperate rush to get to the Elbow gig, to discover that my consignment of Sweet Peas had arrived from Thomson & Morgan.  This was comforting, because I've heard nothing from T & M and I wasn't sure that they'd processed my order (though the cheque had been cashed, which made me hopeful).   But it meant I had to start the whole rigmarole of repotting etc., which will be taking up a lot of my time over the next ten days or so.  Until it's time to plant them out, my house will be full of small peat-dwelling lodgers, and rapidly taking on the flavour of a greenhouse.

Roll on springtime!!!

(no subject)

And now, it's time for my concert review.

As you're no doubt well aware, I went to see Elbow at the SECC in Glasgow last night,

I knew from the start that this was not going to be a regular gig.  Instead of the common-or-garden tinny music coming over the loudspeakers (which isn't too bad when it's Hendrix or the Stones or their ilk), a string quartet were sitting on the stage playing arrangements of Elbow songs.  And very good they were, too.

The clientele were also markedly different from your average gig-goer.  Around 50% were in their late teens, or early twenties - in other words, the kinds of people you'd expect to see at a gig by an Indie band.  The other 50%...  They were dominated by what I'd best describe as the 'Berghaus Set'. 

Clad as I was in my usual combination of Craghoppers, Sprayway and Berghaus, I felt well at home...

Rubbing shoulders with such an audience had its distinct advantages...  There was not a single volley of beer lobbed through the auditorium throughout the entire concert by any mutant low-life with more money than sense in the back row...  Everyone was polite, with impeccable manners (though I can't understand why anyone pays £25+ for a ticket then spends much of the time texting friends on their mobile phone).  On the minus side, they were a bit repressed and low-key.  There was no bopping in the aisles for us, though we all joined in the sing-along sessions with real gusto, and gave the band a standing ovation at the end.

As for the band themselves...  Well, what can I say?  The opening track was one of my favourites, The Birds, and while I felt a bit distanced from the proceedings at this stage (all the action taking place close to the stage), this soon changed.  Guy Garvie's patter is really good - he's chatty and amiable, and it soon feels like you're getting entertained by a friendly uncle (or cousin, if you're amongst the older members of the crowd like me) who just so happens to be lead singer of a rather talented troupe of musicians.  They played 4 out of 5 of my all-time great Elbow songs, which isn't bad going. 

Most of the songs in their set came from either The Seldom Seen Kid or Build a Rocket Boys!  And yes, they did play The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver.  And a tear did roll down my cheek, as I suddenly felt myself gripped by a desperate desire to be standing on a lonely fell top in Cumbria, surveying the world from a lofty perch....

I would have liked to have heard a bit more from the back catalogue, but what we were offered was a great collection of songs and it was a very entertaining evening.  Elbow fans will certainly not be disappointed, and we certainly felt we got our money's worth.  If you're a fan of Elbow's music, then you should check them out live as they're well worth watching!!!

(no subject)

And now, it's time for my concert review.

As you're no doubt well aware, I went to see Elbow at the SECC in Glasgow last night,

I knew from the start that this was not going to be a regular gig.  Instead of the common-or-garden tinny music coming over the loudspeakers (which isn't too bad when it's Hendrix or the Stones or their ilk), a string quartet were sitting on the stage playing arrangements of Elbow songs.  And very good they were, too.

The clientele were also markedly different from your average gig-goer.  Around 50% were in their late teens, or early twenties - in other words, the kinds of people you'd expect to see at a gig by an Indie band.  The other 50%...  They were dominated by what I'd best describe as the 'Berghaus Set'. 

Clad as I was in my usual combination of Craghoppers, Sprayway and Berghaus, I felt well at home...

Rubbing shoulders with such an audience had its distinct advantages...  There was not a single volley of beer lobbed through the auditorium throughout the entire concert by any mutant low-life with more money than sense in the back row...  Everyone was polite, with impeccable manners (though I can't understand why anyone pays £25+ for a ticket then spends much of the time texting friends on their mobile phone).  On the minus side, they were a bit repressed and low-key.  There was no bopping in the aisles for us, though we all joined in the sing-along sessions with real gusto, and gave the band a standing ovation at the end.

As for the band themselves...  Well, what can I say?  The opening track was one of my favourites, The Birds, and while I felt a bit distanced from the proceedings at this stage (all the action taking place close to the stage), this soon changed.  Guy Garvie's patter is really good - he's chatty and amiable, and it soon feels like you're getting entertained by a friendly uncle (or cousin, if you're amongst the older members of the crowd like me) who just so happens to be lead singer of a rather talented troupe of musicians.  They played 4 out of 5 of my all-time great Elbow songs, which isn't bad going. 

Most of the songs in their set came from either The Seldom Seen Kid or Build a Rocket Boys!  And yes, they did play The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver.  And a tear did roll down my cheek, as I suddenly felt myself gripped by a desperate desire to be standing on a lonely fell top in Cumbria, surveying the world from a lofty perch....

I would have liked to have heard a bit more from the back catalogue, but what we were offered was a great collection of songs and it was a very entertaining evening.  Elbow fans will certainly not be disappointed, and we certainly felt we got our money's worth.  If you're a fan of Elbow's music, then you should check them out live as they're well worth watching!!!