Je suis tres gros!

Am back from sun-filled France and egads it turned into an eating holiday! The friends husband is being posted to Djibouti with the Air Force so there were lots of visits with both sides of the family for lunch. Lunch in those parts starts around noon and ends just before dinner!! Lots of Ricard, wine, and name-ur-poison consumed along with tons of some of the best beef ever! Oh did I mention that when dinner came around that most were eaten outside since the weather was so fabulous? While it was lashing in Dublin the weather there was just gorgeous although there were a few moments where I wish there was some air conditioning about!

The god-daughter is coming along in leaps and bounds as well and is as cute as a button- she will be 2 shortly and is talking quite a bit and even saying words like stethoscope- think the terrible two’s are going to be fun indeed!

The downside of the holiday (besides coming back) was French radio- I thought that Europe 2 use to be a decent station…maybe its just nostalgia but since Virgin took it over there seems to be such a repeat of old music that I seriously felt like ripping the radio out of the car on occasion. As much as I like Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah if I hear it again in the next year it will be soon enough. Seriously, I don’t know if it has been re-released but playing it twice every hour is a bit much and one of the reasons why I do not listen to ANY mainstream radio stations (Go Phantom!) Surprisingly though I heard Tunng on Virgin- the brilliant song Bullets which seems to be a hit there! Most of the music on Virgin was in English which is a good thing really- France may be known for its food and wine but there is a reason they are not known for their music!

So back to the wet cold Dublin but to the warm embrace of the girlfriend which is always a help Still have lots to catch up on here which I hope to do over the weekend- somehow I don’t think I will be out sunning myself with the bbq out the back!

France…

Will be away in France for the next week and a bit so normal business will resume on my return. Not that it has really been normal business around here for a while…still lots in the drafts but just no time to finish them off!

Long Ago And Far Away

Egads I have not been able to blog much over the last month! Between having a new girlfriend who rather gloriously takes up my time and other family issues I have been putting more half written posts into the drafts folder than I am publishing! So there will be a lot of gig and film posts that actually happened over a month ago- putting them out more for my own memory than anybody else’s benefit!

Quick One on The National…

Bit disappointed…all the elements were there for a great gig but it was only a good gig with the occasional great moment…and indeed only one brilliant one with Squalor Victoria. Sound for the guitars seemed far too loud , the drums muted, and loud again for the horns and occasional strings. Berningers voice sometimes lost in the cacophony but he does have a great voice which still shone through. So all the elements there but just not done to their best.

I Can Sleep When I Am Dead…

…pretty much how I am feeling this morning…halfway through the grueling gig schedule but ohh so worth it!

Quick commments on the last two days:

Monday

Forgetting Sarah Marshal- What? Did I see that? Yes- forgettable.

Angus and Julia Stone- ohhh so sweet! I love their voices and they were just so damn good- perfect venue and tons of songs- excellent night!

Tuesday:

Iron Man- better than I expected and worth the time.

Yeasayer- bloody brilliant!  Album is good and live they are bloody excellent- packed Whelans and they had the place moving.

What is wrong with this picture?

Where is the rain in Dublin??  This is Ireland there HAS to be rain!

Actually great week so far so thankfully the desk in work is make out of wood!

P2

P2 can be boiled down to three things:

1. It was the only film that fit the time slot before the Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip gig

2. It has Rachel Nichols who has a very fine figure indeed

3. She was wearing a tight low cut dress for most of the film

In fairness- it was entertaining and a few tense moments but nothing new- what sustained it was Wes Bentley’s humour and Rachel’s running around.

Tagged

Home from Gemma Hayes last night to find I have been tagged by Becs of her UnbearablyLightness!!

So describe myself in six words- probably not the best to do this in the morning since there is only one thing on my mind but…

Needs coffee and chocolate to survive.

Both are an essential start to the morning which isn’t exactly the healthiest…am trying to get rid of the two Snickers and the massive cup of coffee but it’s proving difficult!

So tagging these people now…trying not to duplicate since some of the people I would have tagged have already been done in the last round…

Aoife Yeah I know you just got memed as well…you shouldn’t have said it was fun

Derek (Tie in to the Phantom show) Dont want to sully your pages so you can leave a comment here if you want!

K8theGr8

Kspin

Luncheon Roll

Rapture Ponies

Apologies if you are ‘Down with this sort of thing!’

The Accidental- There Were Wolves

Have been waiting for debut album from The Accidental since I first heard the single Wolves and my goodness is it a great one. A supergroup of sorts (see the blurb below) with some extremely catchy songs. This is an album made for the hifi- the mp3’s just do not do justice to the sublime background sounds and the harmonies of the group- absolutely fabulous on the stereo since you can pick up every little detail that the compression of mp3 looses. If you can, pick up a copy of the cd with the bonus tracks since Battlesea is quite good and a bit more electronic than the others.

The standout tracks for me at the moment:

Knock Knock

Wolves

Jaw of a Whale

Illuminated Red

Birthday

Battersea

You can stream all of their songs in full at LastFm or they have some up on MySpace. The only tour dates they have at the moment are festivals in the UK but hopefully they will come across the sea for Electric Picnic.

The blurb:

Take the man behind The Memory Band and co-founder of Trunk Records (Stephen Cracknell), the twisted songwriter from Tunng main man (Sam Genders), one half of Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (Hannah Caughlin) and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Put them in front of a PC and add occasional input from guests including harpist Serafina Steer, Lisa Knapp, and various members of the Elysian Quartet and The Memory Band.The outcome is new collective The Accidental and their beguiling debut single Wolves, out through Full Time Hobby on the 31st March. This will be swiftly followed by their first album There Were Wolves on the 14th April.

The New Point- It’s all about the music

Yeah right.