in the middle of her maelstrom;

in the middle of her maelstrom;

It’s a ‘twin hats’ kinda afternoon in which the better angels of my nature are struggling to drown out the demons who’d rather dream up potential lineups than concentrate on the difference between liquidity and leverage ratios. We have a date, and a familiar headliner, for Last Year’s Gig the Fourth (one which won’t be [...]

all this and an equality cookie too: what we talk about when we talk about the bechdel test;

all this and an equality cookie too: what we talk about when we talk about the bechdel test;

Being ever so slightly of the geeky persuasion the other week I, and an anticipated $1 billion worth of cinemagoers globally, went to see Joss Whedon’s big screen outing for The Avengers (NB: if even the BBC is giving it that title, it’s good enough for me). As I’m sure you’ve read, if not already [...]

taking the music to heart: the tom williams and the boat interview;

taking the music to heart: the tom williams and the boat interview;

Crowd funding is very much the in thing for cash-strapped bands low on label backing and rich in fans and artistic independence at the moment, and it’s a great way to get the people who care most about your music excited and involved with every aspect of the process. While sometime Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer [...]

“i want an audience in my hands like freddie mercury”: the scott mcwatt interview;

“i want an audience in my hands like freddie mercury”: the scott mcwatt interview;

If you really want to get on my nerves on this particular day of the year, just make a hackneyed joke regarding a 35-year-old film franchise. Go on. It seems as though people have only been doing so over the past couple of years, or maybe it’s just that I got to avoid it when [...]

the same chords i stole from a song i once heard;

the same chords i stole from a song i once heard;

Really upset to hear the news via Twitter this morning that Philadelphia punks The Menzingers, currently touring Europe with Bouncing Souls, were robbed of over $10,000 worth of their belongings in Manchester last night. The Menzingers are particular favourites of my wee pal/gig buddy Rachel. Regular readers and those who know us elsewhere might be [...]

about as helpful as you can be without being any help at all: the dan mangan interview;

about as helpful as you can be without being any help at all: the dan mangan interview;

In The Car With: Dan Mangan, through the British Columbia countryside. Dan Mangan is younger than me. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, and there are only a few months in it (he’ll catch up with me on Saturday, according to Wikipedia, for the six weeks before I spin off into that [...]

exerpts from a travel journal: a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again;

exerpts from a travel journal: a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again;

I have felt as bleak as I’ve felt since puberty, and have filled almost three Mead notebooks trying to figure out whether it was Them or Just Me. – DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” In retrospect, during the course of my first resort holiday in about ten years was [...]

hooray for hipstas;

hooray for hipstas;

My own Flickr account has a fair few images that look like they could have been created with Instagram’s retro-flavoured algorithms. They weren’t – they are all film. Stephen Dowling for the BBC, asking whether smartphone ready “retro” filters and photo-sharing applications such as Instagram are making everybody’s photos look the same. Dowling’s isn’t the [...]

“we’re just trying to make some money”: fair ohs talk record store day;

“we’re just trying to make some money”: fair ohs talk record store day;

If I’m being honest I began to lose my enthusiasm for the annual heady celebration of limited edition exclusives and one-off performances that is Record Store Day round about the time I realised that all the cake they were giving away in Monorail was vegan. The Great Hold Steady Clear Vinyl Debacle of 2010 was [...]