Hot Hot Heat

Not a huge amount happening at the moment. We've had the bathroom ripped out and our swanky new units installed. Spent all of Saturday (right up till 2.15am) painting and tiling. Woke up on Sunday morning very tired and decided that the shade of red we had chosen (salsa2) was hideous. Cue trip to B&Q. Completely redid all the walls in a much nicer Classic Red. 5 times. I love painting and will happily stay up all night if I'm in the mood, but this was a chore of the highest level. I'd spent my entire weekend in that one room and i was sick of it. Must say though...went in the bathroom today and it looks realy nice. A job well done (almost).

The best part of decorating upstairs is that I can pick up loads more digital stations on my little radio. Spent Sat and Sunday tuned into The Arrow. They played the new Cheap Trick single twice on the same day. Also, 'The Word' programme is top. David Hepworth in his loft http://www.totallyradio.com/show_pages/shows.php?show=92

The kids are off school now and are chilling out. Louise has been suffering with a nasty toothache which was finally sorted out today. I've not played a note of music in weeks. We had a band meeting on Friday night in which we sorted out a few things. Still need a bass player. Let me know if you are good enough!

ROGER KEITH 'SYD' BARRETT: 1946 - 2006

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun....

Who killed Bambi..?

Time has come again to raise the paintbrush of destiny and get a move on with decorating the house. We had the new windows and doors fitted on Saturday which means I have started Alexander's room. Deep blue with dayglow stars. Looks really smart and I've only just started. I'll stick a pic up once its done.

Finally sold the Ford Escort on Sunday so that's one less job out of the way. Had a nightmare day with the new car. Went to pick up Louise from Oxford and chipped the windscreen. Later on the same night Bambi decided to end it all using the front end of my car. Wrecked my fog lamp and bumper. I'm still sulking.

Band news: We have decided to let our Bass player John go. A nice chap but he was finding it a struggle to keep up with the rest of us. We move at such speed...
Found a new chap called Dave who we are due to meet this week. Sounds like the right man for the job but more news soon.

Greg Dulli brings his Twilight Singers to the UK this week. Nottingham tomorrow followed by London on Wednesday. If you like no frills, straight edge, passionate music you really need to witness the band live. If they do not move you then I'd check for a pulse.

Sorry...forgot to say hello to our new viewer The Mighty Nobber!

Damn Smarch Weather

I really must update this more often as there is so much going on.
My son Craig has reached the grand old age of 18 and we put on a big party a couple of weeks ago. Spent all day cooking and running back and forth to Bicester, but come party time lots of his mates showed up and had a great time. It was brilliant to see some of mine and Louise's close mates as we do not get together with them very often. We had a big cake made in the shape of a Marshall Amp and the band Mofo came and played lots of old school metal. Rock...

Been to a couple of gigs. Myself and Rod (Marillion FOH) ventured out to the Royal Albert Hall to see Zappa Plays Zappa (stunning) and also managed to blag some passes the following day for Milton Keynes Monsters of Rock (thank you Lucy) so we spent the day eating very bad chinese food and watching Ted Nugent, Journey, Alice Cooper, Thunder and the laughable Queensryche. Headed out early to beat the traffic just as Deep Purple were starting their set. Sounded good but I was home 10 minutes later. Bliss! Always good watching Andy Ball doing a fine job during Thunder's set. Loving your work...

The following week was SAHB and Cheap Trick at the Hammy O. SAHB were good but very poor sound. The Trick were brilliant and played a longer set than the last time I saw them headline! Def Leppard were headlining but we walked out after 3 songs. Awful.

New band news! Played our first gig somewhere near London. Shithole of a pub but lots of people who did not mind if we had not worked out any solid endings to any of our tunes. We had worked them out...but some of us forgot...tut tut...
Still, how we managed to play a gig 3 weeks after meeting was a bloody miracle.
We also got a call on Friday night from the local pub in Steeple Claydon. They were running a weekend long music festival and one of the main bands had pulled out on the Saturday. After ringing round the boys I said yes and we were on to gig no 2. Great festival and good crowd but I hate playing outdoors. It sucks all the life out of the guitars and i struggled for the whole 40 minutes. My Flying V got a round of applause which made me laugh. The big firework display to mark the end of the festival is going on as I type this. Lots of energy and commitment in this band but I will be very happy once we sort out a strong set and line up...more news soon-ish.

Myself and Loubee got stuck into the back garden today. Cut down loads and discovered an extra few feet where the jungle used to be. The new double glazing goes in next Saturday and the conservatory as soon as the planning permission is granted.

Not much happening at work. The new album is sounding great. Lots of real instruments being used (which is different for Marillion...real piano) and Mike Hunter is busy issuing yellow cards or shooting people in the face. Its going to be one of their best.