Today my reason for loving NOFX is the song Please play this song on the radio, after I have been and returned from work I will post a link to youtube if it exists. But for now, I love NOFX for the refrain of please play this song on the radio.
So as expected Tenacious D weren’t playing Glastonbury, always suspected that Jack Black may have been mistaken, after all it would be smack bang in the middle of the promotion of Kung Fu Panda, unrealistic for him and Rage Cage to strap on an oversized guitar and rock the asses off the Somerset faithful.
I heard rumours of Jables appearance on stage with some band or other, turned out it was Har Mar Superstar. In the end we were in Greece and not lording it up with the Primrose Hill set with Pimms in a field. August will be hard, knowing that the D are rocking up a storm with Metallica supporting them. No way I can do it, none at all, we are definitely going to Shambala.
So the D documentary (I am fully aware of why people come to my blog, it’s the D, I have figures to support this, 80 percent of people that come to my site, hundreds of you, come for the D.) nothing more on it at the moment, Imdb and Amazon don’t have a release date and I couldn’t see anything over at TenaciousJoes, which by the way is the best D website on the web, also check out a fan messageboard http://z10.invisionfree.com/Tenacious_D_forum/index.php? as they are far more likely to have any news.
It seems the tabloids think that Big Brother is in crisis talks due to a number of things and it may be pulled from the air. As if, really, Big Brother making front page news, this is publicity gold for them. They won’t pull it from the air, why would Endemol/Channel 4 do that when people will be tuning in.
I recall when the abhorrent Jade Goody was being her ugly self, clearly they should have pulled her, Lloyd and that girl out of S Club 7 out, but all the time they were there the tabloids were featuring then everyday and I will wager the ratings for that series of CBB were higher than the previous years. The fallout, the then sponsor changed and Ofcom gave them a slap on the wrist, nothing changed though. John Noel, former agent of all of the main presenters of the Big Brother shows, and some of the more famous former contestants had far too much control over it, if he managed Davina, Russell and Dermot, how could any of those be in anyway critical of Jade Goody, another of his clients? I think Davina McCall may have since changed managers and Dermot O’Leary and Russell Brand have since given up their roles on their respective Big Brother shows, perhaps a conflict of interests?
So where are we now, we have a girl, I suspect giving off bravado making threats that her gangster friends will be catching up with anyone who may of vexed her, we have a young girl that survived a civil war, but couldn’t manage to be civil to the other residents, the same girl that forgot in one evening that she has had a boyfriend for the past 4 and a half years, and the latest hoo har was that a dancer flobbed at a young lad over a smudged picture. Here, have some perspective as you are clearly missing some.
This week sees geordie single mother, cept she isn’t a single mother, but Geordie single mother Jennifer is up against ginger chef Rex. I like Rex, and hopefully this will be as one sided as the eviction of Sezer, THAT would be hilarious, clearly it seems as if Dale, Jennifer, “Bex” and Luke think they are untouchable, gladly not the case.
Outside of that, I think Mario may win this you know, after all he has 14 million people that saw him on the Ant and Dec and the fanclub, and basically he is the least loathsome.
We booked a room at Manchester Airport Britannia Hotel and previous experience of Britannia Hotels has shown me that they can be rather hit or miss, Leeds Bradford Britannia Hotel, fabulous, will always stay there if I am up in that neck of the woods, Birmingham City Centre Britannia Hotel, a little bit dirty good only as a place to rest your head if you are on a stag weekend, wouldn’t really want to stay there again. Manchester Airport Britannia Hotel, somewhere a little better than the Birmingham City Centre one, dirty, bad service, it served a purpose. Cheap wine though.
Manchester airport was fine and although there was an hour delay, it didn’t really disturb our holiday, we mooched and bought tat and drank wine, and mooched some more.
The flight was pretty uneventful, permatanned hostesses selling us overpriced wine. We like wine and were happy to buy overpriced wine.
So we arrive in Kefalonia, the heat hits us, bang in the face when we get off the plane and its like the proverbial oven door opening, on the coach to resort we are told current 9.30pm temperature is 36 degrees and it should be rising to 44 degrees that weekend. Sheesh. We went to Zakynthos last year remember and we were happy that the temperature nudged 30 degrees, we thought that is the kind of hot we like.
The bus journey went between hairy and beautifully scenic, no doubt that Kefalonia has some of the most picturesque scenery I have ever seen, the roads are extremely frightening though, this was allowable as we were going through some gorgeous little villages along the way to our resort of Skala.
We finally arrived at Skala and the accommodation, Paradise Apartments consisted of two bedrooms, 2 balconies and a bathroom, one of the bedrooms housed the kitchenette and one faced south and another faced north, so we got sunlight and shade throughout the day.
The room was fantastic, roomy, and clean and it had air conditioning (€30), which I needed even if Lisa didn’t.
Skala itself is essentially shops bars and tavernas in a t shape, a main road down to the beach and then the beach front restaurants.
All of this is on a slight slope and with a few bars and restaurants down a few side streets, not that brit-ified but obviously a large British influence has occurred.
I wont go into too much detail of what we did each day as to be fair if you are still reading you will be starting to get bored but we drank and lounged at the pool at the Ocean View Hotel during the day with the odd trip to Poros and a bit of eating and the like, we pretty much took it very easy, but anyway here are the restaurants, Milo’s (beach front) we ate lunch here most days, fantastic place with a great meze, highly recommend it, Symposium, a bit flash and overpriced, we went once for lunch, he meze was small, wouldn’t go back, Pikiona on the beach front, very nice, set in some shady pines, nice pasta at lunchtime, a great break from the sun, The pines we went to for breakfast and lunch and it was ok, the service was great but the food was just ok. The old village, nice food, Sirocco, I really liked it here, the food was good and the service excellent, Lisa didn’t care much for it, Argostoli, very good food, really good service, Kaliva, they served me the largest bit of pork I could possibly get, I loved it here, Lisa didn’t, she wanted to go to Sokrates. The Manor house, the view and service are excellent, the food didn’t measure up, it was ok don’t get me wrong, but could have been better. Sokrates, easily the best restaurant we went into, and we returned to them, excellent service, fantastic food, really really great place, if you go, try the cheesecake, the best you will ever taste. Sally’s, good cocktails, Captains, excellent cocktails and made to feel very very welcome.
That I think is all of the food places, the food I didn’t feel was the quality of Zakynthos, it was consistently excellent there, where in Skala you had to hunt for good food.
The holiday as a whole was great, just great, we would happily go back but we would love to go to Poros or Katelios or even Ithaca. The people were friendly and the accommodation was fantastic.
The downsides if any was that good food was hard to find, but you could find it.
So that’s it, if I think of anything whilst at work I will update this evening.
The weekend was a mixture, all marvellous and busy but on the whole consisted of the driving lesson. My instructor said the I am now ready for my practical test, so just as soon as the theory is in the bag, bob is your uncle I can start the practical.
After that it was me driving to Telford to see Matt, Becky and Scott, I think you will be hard pushed to meet a finer 2 year old. (mentally tries to recall if any other friends or relatives have a two year old, decides no and doesn’t delete that last statement.) Really good to see them all and Beckys pregnant bump is growing, so that was all nice.
Then back to the house and rather sadly I played Guita Hero III for a while and completed it……on easy, but completion is completion.
Saturday night was the usual malarkey, wine, telly etc and that’s all good.
Sunday GTA4, Lisa went out to do a shop, a final shop before holiday. I tidied, in a fashion, the spare room which is presentable now, and I could get to a guitar, I haven’t picked up a guitar in months, so I played guitar for a bit then packed my case, I am good to go.
That’s it really, nothing more to add and possibly the last before Kefalonia.
Scottish music, I am not talking Jessie Rae or Michelle McManus here, I am talking music produced in Scotland by bands that understand quality.
I like an exponentially high amount of Scottish bands or singers, David Sneddon however isn’t in that list and neither is Texas for that matter.
I believe that Scotland is the greatest music producing nation based on size, far outstripping England and Wales and you know, remove the greats, Elvis, Johnny, Kris, Willie, and then song for song its better musically than the US.
These are big words I know and if I was Scottish you may think it was the Buckfast talking or some of that misplaced national pride they seem to have, but no, I am a Sassenach, a midlander that likes a lot of Scottish bands.
Let me elaborate then, give the case for the defence if you will. How does Postcard records and Chemikal Underground grab you as an opening gambit, The Orchids and The Delgados? Arab Strap? No? Still not convinced, ok Belle and Sebastian, is that more like it? My two favourite British bands, Ballboy and Camera Obscura. I still haven’t finished of course, how about the Rezillos/Revillos, Mull Historical Society, Teenage Fanclub, Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, BMX Bandits, this list is an endless one, Bis, Long Fin Killie, Bluebells.
All great great bands, Scottish and as a country its musical output is seriously understated, admittedly for every Secret Goldfish there is a Fish, for every Josef K a Primal Scream, for every Pastels a McDonald Brothers. But there is plenty of wheat for very little chaff.
So after Greece we come back and then it is Workhouse Festival. Workhouse Festival was probably the best festival we went last year, it was quite marvellous. I have just found out that my friend Essex is coming with us, Essex never fails to break me whenever we meet and share a drink. The last time was at the poker evening, you recall that, the one where I was sick and laid up in bed for 36 hours, the time before was when I went into town and cant recall a thing but someone started on me and wanted to fight me, you get the picture, this is what happens when I drink with Essex. He has a propensity for alcohol equalled by my friend Jon and perhaps Lucky. I am however nowhere near this drinking super league, WBA if you will, each season I try but can’t cut it with the big boys. Lisa similarly is Telford Utd of the 80’s, a good cup run but falling at the final hurdle and pitiful in the league. Doesn’t stop her trying though and being laid up/throwing up in a tent.
That aside really good news Essex is coming with us.
Today its been a diet of Billy Bragg and Ballboy, one was a singer I loved dearly and the other is a band that I DO love dearly. Billy Bragg was the rebound singer between The Wedding Present and Hefner, a bloke at Butlins lent me a tape of Billy’s debut and I fell in love with it, and as Gedge was getting rid of all the elements that made me love The Wedding Present, it was time to move on. Billy Bragg became a little obsession, not a big one, although to this day I own multi formats and even the Beats International album due to his contribution (it is dire). It was of course supporting Billy Bragg that I saw Hefner, and there is lineage to all of this of course, because it was meeting other Hefner fans that I was introduced to Ballboy, I saw them at ROTA in Notting Hill, they were marvellous, that was in 2001, they still are.
So full circle almost, next month, I am off to Indie Tracks festival, you know the one, the one I don’t like, but well this year its almost autobiographical for me, there is Harvey Williams and St Christopher, both of who had fan letters sent to them sent by me as a spotty teenager, The Wedding Present are playing, Darren Hayman is playing as are Ballboy and Town Bike. All you need on that bill is The Ramones and that is my musical evolution there. Well them and The Village People but we don’t talk about that.
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