Oh. (Russ L going to and fro in the Earth)

Entertainment for the night of Saturday the 27th came courtesy of Boredoms, as brought to us by Capsule.

Gravepaintings were already on when I got there. The stage was too dark to be able to see them from whereabouts I was standing, but I gather they’re made up of folk from that Esquilax/Haddonfield Illinois circle. It might actually be fair to describe them as a cross between the two - electronic noise stuff, some of it beat-driven and rhythmic but more of it free-form. The former pounded along in a reasonably fun way, but most of the latter seemed to drift a bit (although I did quite like the section where the quiet backing track happily burbled away and was interupted by sudden sharp bursts of loud white noise. Water breaking through the cracks in a dam was the image it suggested to me).

(The) Boredoms were… very hard to describe. Witness, for example, the theramin-esque glowing globes (shades of The Photophonic Experiment came to mind. There’s a pun in there but I can’t be bothered to tease it out) wielded by Yamantaka Eye at the start of their set. “Soundballs!” gasped a man standing near me. There you go. Soundballs.

Seven disembodied guitar necks were arranged in a rack. From the distance and light, I thought they were synth modules at first. Silly me. They turned out to be highly amplified and specifically tuned, and so when hit across the width of the neck with a drumstick they would play a chord. Sometimes a really big drumstick would hit a couple at once. It really, really worked, and looked fantastic too.

This percussive way of playing guitars gives a key to the whole thing, since the percussive nature of it all was central. Three drumkits were arranged in an arc (with Eye in the middle of them all at time, leaping around. This added another sense to the ‘tribal’ feeling occasionaly brought up by the drums), playing polyrhythmicaly. At one point it all turned into a more salsa-ish sort of thing. I would dub it ‘psycho salsa’ for added alliterative amusement, but that would be rubbish.

You can tell I’m having trouble putting all of this into words, can’t you?

The weird thing about it, I suppose, was how it was weird and whacked out but never inaccessible at all. That’s quite a nifty trick, I think.

Amazing, anyway. Quite possibly the best live set of the year so far. It’s just all very difficult to verbalise.

P’Ashton writes…

This nearly didn’t exist. We had a dead proper computer for half of the month, and I would have been damned if I was typing all of this on a sodding laptop.

Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. Please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works.

Thursday the 1st to Saturday the 3rd – Gigbeth @ various venues in Digbeth, Birmingham - I think I liked it more last year when it was free, but there’s all sorts of stuff a-happening.

Thursday the 1st to Saturday the 3rd – Flip Animation Festival @ The Lighthouse, Wolverhampton - Your chance to behave in an animated fashion. There are a few different things going on, illuminated in PDF form here.

Friday the 2nd – Meatloaf @ the NEC Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham - Part of the same tour that we attended earlier this year.

Saturday the 3rd – “Capsule & Cake” @ The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham - Part of the aforementioned Gigbeth, so you’ll need one of their day/weekend tickets to get in. Amongst others, PCM, Bee Stung Lips, The Plight and Cutting Pink With Knives are playing.

Saturday the 3rd – “Project X Presents” @ The Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth, Birmingham - Six hours worth of assorted things, including Einstellung, Rich Batsford, Reginald Hunter, Aashiq Al Rasul, and plenty more. Theoretically part of Gigbeth but it’s worth noting that you need a specific ticket for this to get in.

Saturday the 3rd – I.S.K.A. British Opens @ Cocksmoor Woods Leisure Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham - Semi and light contact kickboxing.

Tuesday the 6th till Saturday the 10th – “Slava’s Snowshow” @ The Hippodrome, Birmingham - Sod your cynicism, this last year was honestly one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen on stage. Really, really magical.

Thursday the 8th – Gallon Drunk / The Courtesy Group @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham - Part of the apparently undersubscribed ‘Curates Egg’ night. I can hardly complain, ‘cos I haven’t attended anywhere near enough of them myself, but you know how it works when we all ignore the interesting things and then wish we hadn’t… (Edit: I has a flyers).

Thursday the 8th till Saturday the 10th – “Reddington’s Rare Records – Music And Memories” @ The Alexandra, Birmingham - A production about the missed-by-many Reddingtons 2nd hand record shop, featuring music from King Pleasure And The Biscuit Boys and sundry other unnamed “special guests.” Sounds like it’ll be different, if nothing else.

Friday the 9th – Acid Mothers Temple @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham - The march of the progress of Engrish advances. When unclear conversion is compared when there is Japanese psychedelia, the heart which is expanded simultaneously is small with method of affirmative quality, which it offers simultaneously. If there is no brain, it cannot understand that.

Saturday the 10th – Alice Cooper / Motorhead / Joan Jett @ The NEC Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham - On the one hand, this will rock like little else. On the other, the chances are slim-to-nil of the whole gig going by without someone’s hips going or their arthritis starting to play up.

Sunday the 11th – ‘Muay Thai Superfights’ (Showsport) @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton - The annual big Showsport card. I don’t follow Thai (I probably would if it was easier to do so) but even I gather that Michael Dicks vs Tim Thomas is a really big fight at the domestic level. This one also features the well-known likes of Richard Cadden, Reece Crooke, Liam Robinson and various more.

Tuesday the 13th – Heaven And Hell @ The NEC Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham - Heaven And Hell are basically the “Mob Rules” era line-up of Black Sabbath, which is pretty good on “excluding the two original members least likely to make it all the way through the gig” grounds. Will this fill the NEC, though? I wonder about that. Intense wondering takes place.

Tuesday the 13th – Bedouin Soundclash @ The Barfly, Digbeth, Birmingham - That’s right, them from off of the adverts and such.

Wednesday the 14th – “Meeting Joe Strummer” (Middle Ground Theatre Company) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton - Exploring the man’s life and times without simply being a biopic, apparently. I will be there if I don’t get Lost In The Supermarket on the way. Lord, that was a poor joke.

Wednesday the 14th – Amy Winehouse @ The NIA, Birmingham - I was going to continue my on-running LOTTSADITWM ‘Amy lookalikes’ joke here, but it seems a bit cruel now. Maybe when she’s better. It was either going to be Pete Burns or a shrub of some kind, if that helps.

Thursday the 15th – The Four Tops / The Temptations @ The NIA, Birmingham - So, between Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Joan Jett, Dio & Black Sabbath, The Four Tops, and The Temptations – is it “Good music but their hips packed up decades ago” month or something?

Thursday the 15th – The Lord mayor’s Mega Quiz @ The Great Hall, Birmingham University, Edgbaston, Birmingham - Hosted by Nick Owen of ‘Midlands Today’ world-fame.

Friday the 16th – Will Haven @ The Little Civic, Wolverhampton - Reunited. I saw ‘em first time around, ‘cos I’m good like that.

Saturday the 17th – AMMA @ The Holte Suite, Villa Park, Aston, Birmingham - Amateur MMA, with standing headshots. The last two AMMA events really have been fantastic. The card as it stands can be inspected here.

Saturday the 17th – The Supreme Cat Show @ The NEC, Marston Green, Birmingham - Aaaaw. Courtesy of ‘The Governing Body Of The Cat Fancy’, which is surely the greatest name for an organisation that I have ever heard in my life.

Saturday the 17th till Sunday the 25th – “Grand Slam Of Darts” @ the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton - I not a darts fan as such but I do approve of it. It’s a worthwhile pursuit, I feel. I’m told that some of ‘em have finally caught up with Phil “The Power” Taylor, so maybe it’ll even be competitive.

Sunday the 18th – Mono/Jesu/Mothertrucker @ The Medicine Bar, The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham - Mono’s “Heavy like Beethoven” slogan has to be one of the poorer attempts at saying “We don’t see ourselves as an everyday rock band” that I’ve heard of late. Still, this should be very good.

Sunday the 18th – Boxing (Pugilist Promotions) @ The Rojac Building, The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham - Apparently, there’s gonna be boxing somewhere in The Custard Factory. I don’t know precisely where but I’d guess at The Rojac Building (that’s the only place with sufficient floorspace that leaps to mind) (Edit: confirmed in the comments below). Whichever way up, this features D. Mitchell and Thomas Costello, amongst others.

Monday the 19th – Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton - Baked beans, get your baked beans…

Monday the 19th to Wednesday the 21st – Frank Skinner @ The NIA, Birmingham - (Insert usual story about him going to the same school as me, only earlier, and teaching at a college I went to, only earlier).

Tuesday the 20th – Mahler’s First (CBSO) @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham - Mahler once again proves that being a bit neurotic is not necessarily a bar to being completely ace.

Tuesday the 20th – Jill Scott @ The Academy, Birmingham - I really like Jill Scott and she was great last time I saw her, but £28.50 (!) for a gig at The Academy is taking the piss more than just a little bit.

Thursday the 22nd – Efterklang @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham - Pretty and minimal sort of stuff. I think ‘twinkly’ is the word I’m looking for.

Saturday the 24th – Muay Thai (K-Star) @ The Royal Suite, Perry Bar, Birmingham - Featuring Damien Trainor vs Rungchai. As above, I don’t know my Muay Thai in all that much detail, but I gather this is a big fight and having seen their first match I’m sure Damien will be boiling over with the urge to set a few things straight. There might be a few MMA matches on this card too (I’m not sure about that).

Sunday the 25th – Pam Ayres @ The Town Hall, Birmingham - You know what I wish? I wish I’d looked after me teef. That’s what I wish.

Tuesday the 27th – “Bach To Beethoven” (CBSO) @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham - I can’t help but be reminded of Douglas Adams’ quote – “When I hear Beethoven I understand what it was like to be Beethoven, when I hear Mozart I understand what it’s like to be human, but when I hear J.S. Bach I understand the universe.”

Tuesday the 27th – “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas” (Bilston Operatic Company) @ The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton - You simply can’t argue with that as a title.

Wednesday the 28th till Sunday the 2nd of December – The BBC Good Food Show @ The NEC, Marston Green, Birmingham - Mmmmmmm… foods.

Thursday the 29th – Beverley Knight @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton - Our Bev comes home again.

Thursday the 29th – Ronnie O’ Sullivan vs John Higgins @ The NIA, Birmingham - As with the darts above, I’m not a snooker fan but it’s definitely a sport of which I approve.

Friday the 30th – Speakers Corner @ The Town Hall, Birmingham - Organised by Don Letts, this has seven artists (with Skinnyman being about the most famous amongst them) backed by a house band, discoursing on the subject of what it means to be free in modern-day Britain and the legacy of slavery.

… that The Clash are one of Boris Johnson’s favourite bands.

What? I mean… eh? What?

The United Kingdom was founded when King Arthur and his wife Boudicea helped Jesus to free the the British Isles from the Romans. Their son King Harold defeated The Vikings, but subsequently lost the country to the Normans when William The Conquerer shot him in the eye with an arrow. French chivalry was imposed on the country, forcing the next king Henry VIII to have eight wives through being too polite not to propose. His daughter Queen Victoria abolished Chivalry and replaced it with the industrial revolution, as well as winning two world wars against the Germans. Her daughter, the current Queen Elizabeth II, has so far only won one world cup against them but in her defence she did have to share at least part of her reign with Diana, Queen Of Hearts. She was murdered. Presumably by a Hibs fan.

And that’s the story of Britain.

So, Going Deaf For A Fortnight 2007 is over. That was my GDFAF. 42 bands (29 of whom I’d never seen before) in 12 venues (4 of which I’d never visited before).

I intentionally didn’t write anything about how I felt the whole thing was going as I went along, but anyone who saw me will know that I was completely bored with it by about halfway through. I was enjoying (most of) the gigs, but I was completely fed up with the process. I suppose it just isn’t a novelty any more for me, having done it two years running. Tiredness wasn’t a problem, nor inertia as such; it was active disinterest, if you see what I mean.

Next years is a long, long way away, and so everything could change between now and then, but it’s exceedingly unlikely that I’ll do it again. So… who will? Obviously the main thing about this is for people to go to more and different things than they would in their usual runnings irrespective of how many this may be, but I’d like to see someone do the whole fortnight/major Goodfaff every year. I think it’s a nice tradition to preserve. Hopefully someone local, too.

Well? Anyone?

Right, so. A gig attended every night for fourteen days (and one bonus one during an afternoon), with the one allowed day off in the middle taken up by going to another event. Going Deaf For A Fortnight duties discharged, non?

Well, maybe not. I planned to go to hear Mahler’s 2nd (my favourite symphony without question) performed by the Cleveland Orchestra (I don’t follow such things in detail but I gather they’re highly respected internationally) at Symphony Hall on the 21st. I could try and claim there was some clever plan in place beforehand, but I’d be lying. I miscalculated. I thought that GDFAF 2007 finished on the 21st, not the 20th. Yes, I am that stupid. I forgot that the first gig was ‘1’ rather than ‘0’, if you see what I mean.

But! But but but… when speaking to The Goodfafther Pete Ashton in the middle of it all, we realised that a precedent had been set without either of us really previously noticing it. Following the 2005 Goodfaff, he went to see his sister play in The Banbury Symphony Orchestra the immediate day after. Straight after last year’s Goodfaff, I went to see ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ at The Rep. This year, the above was planned. Excellent! New rule! After their fourteen gigs o’ fury (with or without the night off, if ‘with’ then preferably spent at some other sort of event), someone who really wants to throw themselves into the major GDFAF lark can spend the following night going to something more high-culture! Fantastic, and grown completely naturally. No pesticides involved.

Apart from… erm… I didn’t go. Poorliness (threatened at the final night of popular-music-ing) placed its foot down quite firmly. Sorry about that. I don’t know why I’m apologising to you, though, since I’m the one who wasted twenty-odd sodding quid on an unused ticket.

Still, though. Precedent~!

I think this post is the future. Rather than writing about things I did, I may proceed by writing about things I didn’t do. Fantastic. Whichever way up, though, there’ll be one more post on the subject of Goodfaff and then I promise to shut up about it for the time being. Well, I don’t mean “promise to”, I mean “might”, obviously.

The last popular music gig of my Going Deaf For A Fortnight 2007 dawned, and I wasn’t feeling very well. Off I went to The Hare & Hounds (for the second time in the fortnight) nonetheless.

Dexter were the first turn. I had seen them once before but I really didn’t remember ‘em having a trumpet. I’m silly like that, though. Pop-rock with a bit of ska-punk here and there, anyway, and on the dull side. I wouldn’t suggest they were a waste of electricity, because I’m not nasty like that. Oh no.

Professor Louie (the uncle of our headliner, Jeffrey Lewis. I don’t know which side of the family, but I hope it’s not paternal. Think about it.) was fantastic. He recited his poetry in his tough New York accent, while some vague jazzy grooves were performed quietly by others in the background (although I paid very little attention to those, in all honesty). It sounds kind of beatnik-ish (as in the popular stereotype and not the actual movement, you know what I mean) and in a way it was, but his delivery contained no hint of pretence or fancy. Commonly-expressed lefty sentiments that I agree with but have heard many-a-time before rose above platitudinous-ness by dint of the eloquence and intensity with which he put them across. You could tell he meant it. He was really engrossing, definitely one of the highlights of the fortnight, and I’d maybe recommend trying to see him even if you aren’t normally into any of this live music nonsense. (Have a watch of this video of him doing ‘The Walking Dead’. It’s pretty great, although I’d say it doesn’t capture the full essence it had live).

Finally, Jeffrey Lewis, an artist recommended by many but never heard previously heard by… erm, me. He wore a large guitar. That’s not a euphemism. I just mean that his guitar looked oversized.

‘Whimsical’ is one of those words that has become revolting through over-use by people who have tried to make it synonymous with “acting like a tit.” Another one of said words would be “quirky”. As such I tend to retch when I hear a musical act described via those terms, but I think that they actually may have applied here and furthermore no-one need throw up. A lot of his songs seemed quite silly but were cleverly written, and had a darker edge here and there. His band, The Jitters (I’m not sure if he always performs with them or not) were similarly varied in tone - mostly very lighthearted with the cheap keyboards sounds ‘n’ such, occasionally turning the mood a slight touch more sinister, and then going a bit more dancey on a few songs too. Illustrations drawn by he himself were projected behind them, and were often quite fun (especially ‘Champion Jim”. Champion Jim~!). It was all very enjoyable and I’d like to investigate his cannon further. I had to go before the finish once again (I know there’s been too much of that in this particular fortnight where I really wasn’t meant to, but there you are. Buses. Stabbing pains in the stomach. And so on.).

It’s a bit of a shame I couldn’t find anything to make a big appropriate-feeling finale like Motorhead last year, but never mind. Thus it ended. Or did it? Yes. No. Maybe. Till the next post…

GDFAF number thirteen (into the final furlong by this point) was chaotic to say the least. The plan was to go and see Capdown at The Barfly, on their final ever ever ever tour. I arrived to find it sold out. Blast. Unlike Clutch or Battles (two other sold out gigs at the same venue this year), there was no happy little Johnny On The Spot in position to sell me a ticket at face price. Alternate plans were needed. It really is a bugger, since I won’t get to see Capdown again now, but that’s life. I raise a glass to them; they were a good band.

Faffing about ensued, and plenty of it. I eventually ended up heading to the Island Bar to see Mills & Boon. It turned out that they weren’t playing, of course, only one of them, but never mind that. I’d never been to the Island Bar before, but quite liked it. Functionably nice, it was. And it had paving stones indoors in the upstairs room. Whatever next, eh? I didn’t try any of their cocktails but I may have to next time.

It’s also possibly worth noting that this gig turned out to be an Oxjam benefit. There were quite a few there, so presumably a good sum was raised.

The Cribbler (of the aforementioned Mills & Boon) started the larks off, but alas had to compete with the excitable yakking ‘n’ yelping of morons. Why? Why oh why oh why? When there’s an entire downstairs available, why do you choose the room in which an acoustic artist is playing as your venue for discussing which branch of Tony & Guy you like the most? Because you’re a pillock, that’s why. Nuts to you.

The Cribbler was ace, anyway. Nifty finger-pickering tricks on the old guitar, combined with some unusual but really intriguing lyrics. He also has the ability to switch from ‘calm’ to ‘manic and intense’ on a sixpence, which adds a lot. I really enjoyed his set, certainly more than I remember liking him at last year’s GDFAF. It’s a shame about all the other sods in the room. I mean, come on – it’s a safe bet their conversations weren’t interesting as what he was doing, isn’t it? I’m going to shut up about this now. It’s not good for the blood pressure.

That was about it for interesting music, as it turned out. Tom Bellamy and his band played folk/country-rock stuff without any immediately attractive songs or other points of interest; Shana Tova played emo/post-hardcore stuff without any immediately attractive songs or other points of interest apart from a singer who was irritating in both face and manner. It was cracking on late, so I had to leave before The Will To Rally played, but I didn’t especially like them when I saw them last year and so they can be added to the general hurrumph.

Still. The Cribbler was good, the venue wasn’t bad, and it was for a good cause.

I’m getting a bit behind on the chronicling of GDFAF exploits, but I really don’t feel all that well at the minute. I can’t see them appearing this morning, at least. We’ll have to see about this afternoon. Soon though children, soon. Hopefully.

In what was without question the most anticipated gig of the fortnight, GDFAF number twelve saw Nyki and I heading to the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton for Billy Ocean. Billy Ocean himself.

First of all – nuts to your sneering little accusations of ironic appreciation. You may be a tosser like that, but don’t drag me down to your level. If I say I like something it’s because I’ve found qualities in it that I like, and I like Billy Ocean a lot.

We arrived to find the Ebony Steel Band already on. I always think Steel bands are really clever. Getting all those different mellifluous sounds out of things that are essentially percussive is a bloody nifty trick in my view. As such, this involved a fair bit of me murmuring “Oh, isn’t that clever!” A cover (with part of the assembled steel drummery imitating the vocal melody in the sort of style I’m sure you’ve heard before) of John Legend’s “Ordinary People” was the highlight.

Billy! Aaaaw, he’s lovely. When you see him in the flesh he’s just… munchable. You just want a little version of him that you can keep on your desk at work. When you get depressed he can do his little feet-slide-y dance to cheer you up.

It went much as you’d expect, anyway, and was as much fun as you’d think. Billy-O was never likely to alter his songs significantly in a live setting. I was surprised at the large (and I mean large) number of middle-aged women who came over all hormonal and kept running up to the stage, though. I suppose memory can be a powerful thing, or maybe it’s related to my previous paragraph. I bet the hanky that the one woman so lovingly mopped his brow with is already worth a fortune on Ebay.

So, “Love Really Hurts Without You” opened things, we soon got “Red Light Means Danger”, a bloody great three-card trick of “Loverboy”, “Gett Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” and “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going” finished the main set, and “Carribean Queen” was the encore. All your faves. I do genuinely thing that the better of Billy O’s songs are amongst the greatest pop-soul songs yet created.

Why oh why did they shut the bars in The Civic once he came on stage, though? They don’t normally do that.