Are living rooms the new stadia?

This must feel like a strange era for successful musicians. Just when the explosion of social media opens one door by creating the most amazing oppotunities to build your fanbase, the recession slams another one shut by making it so much tougher to get an album made!

So it seems groups are doing a bit of lateral thinking... and it's getting quite exciting.

That's what I discovered at the weekend when I went up north to a friend's with my daughter for a 'gig in a living room' in North Yorkshire with Lost Alone.

Hands up, I had not really heard of them before though my daughter and her friend had been to a gig. It didnt seem like my old-fogey-mum kind of music.

But the acoustic set they performed in my friend's living room at the weekend was a brand new opportunity to listen and to like! The lads... really friendly, down to earth and well really just very nice!.... explained that these days music labels just dont have the cash to sink into developing new albums. And so they are going down a different road.

As well as touring all over the world (and loving it, from what they were saying) they have lined up 10 of these intimate gigs - sold to fans, or the friends and parents of fans, to provide a unique experience at home, in the local pub etc.  The money generated will then give the guys the freedom to get on with the creative side of things and record a new album.

It also means their fans can get a really up close and personal musical experience. I dont know their music so it woulnt be fair to attempt to review it, other than to say the harmonies were fantastic and I suspect the enforced acoustic approach highlights better just how tight they are musically.

The lads admitted to being more nervous at this performance than some of their stadia gigs... and you could see they werent lying! But this intimate and personal set was fab, they pulled out all the stops  and couldnt have been nicer, more accommodating or friendly... what a treat!

Cheesecake,cycle chains...and calculations

I am no Einstein but today I developed a new theory of relativity.

Sunshine + riverside restaurant + tempting cheescake = sum total of another 4lb straight on the hips

So when I got home I decided to try to balance the figure.

I hoiked the bike out of the garage and set off with every intention of a 7.5mile round trip round the watercourse at the national watersports centre, nearby at Holme Pierrepont. I actually did it a few days ago - not bad for a wobbly (in every sense of the word) granny still rusty from so many desk-bound years.

That would surely soon subtract the 3,000 calories I must have consumed in the course of a lovely indulgent lunch.


I set out - still full. It was hard work. It was windy It was ruddy hard work.

And would you believe... The watersports centre was in full use for some kind of event (how dare they?) --- all the people spilling in and out of there were young, svelte, sporty and dressed in the proper gear.

And they were charging £5 to get in!!

I was hot, it was hurting, I was huffing and puffing. So I took my ruddy red cheeks and rusty old cycle spokes on up the road - did a U-turn and cycled home again - total covered about four sorry miles.

Relatively successful then...

Taste of the city

I am no mean real ale fan.... don't really like the taste of beer. But I was really pleased to read about the revival of the Shipstones brand in Nottingham in the Evening Post

Shipstone's, the tipple of choice for generations of Notts pub-goers, is being brewed again. The new beer is the work of Nottingham native Richard Neale and Colin Brown, a former brewer at the original Shipstone's.

In my reporting days I visited the brewery for an interview and, while I didnt relish the aroma of brewing hops etc, loved the feel of the place.... it was a beautiful building that rightly has preserved its place as a city landmark.

The Shippos label was a real home-brewed source of pride - a bit like the mining industry in this area or the heady industrial days of British Steel and ICI leading international trade from my smog-filled home turf in the north east.

It lay at the core of each of us.... and it felt personal when the brewery shut down - the old county council logo just doesnt look right up there.  So it's grand to see the Shippos brand back, albeit in a scaled down guise...

Welcome back old matey.... have one on me!

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Nottingham-ale-Shippo-s/story-19489841-detail/story.html

Sunshine, Sunday and sausages

It was hot, a surreal experience in itself since this was the weekend and we were still in England. So we piled into the car and headed off to Elvaston Castle for the joys of the Derbyshire Food and Drink festival.  Sun so hot TV chef Rosemary Shrager didnt even have to warm up the Aga to keep us entetained, and the chocolate cookies on the Latte and Laughs (not really) stall were literally melting before our eyes. This sign caught my eye. Funny and engaging... even got a chuckle out of this old veggie!

Well maybe not so soon

Birthday from hell yesterday. February definitely not my favourite month any more - too much loss to think about.



But here we are, the day after and the countdown to spring has begun.

There is so much to look forward to like...
Local library closures
Rising fuel prices
Uni places now a no-go area for all but Einstein and the privileged
Rising food prices
Cuts
Price rises
Cuts
Price rises
Cuts
Oh yeah, and price rises.....

The spectre of the dole... thank god they are revamping benefits because now I can feel reassured about that, eh??????

mf.....

the best laid plans..... back soon!

Asleep for 11 months.... I wish!

So on the face of it I've been a lazy old sod, having been nowhere near this blog since January, and here we are staring yet another new year in the face! In reality I've been tied up with lots of work (til now at least!)including some new commissions and, excitingly, signing up as a volunteer member of the editorial team with the British Naturalists Society. The idealist in me loves the thought of working to do a bit of good rather than making hefty profits (for others, not for myself!) so I've got a tick in the smug box for that one.
Working with PR students in Leicester has also opened up new doors of interest for me, not least discovering it's important to get to grips with my blog!

Back in five..... (honest)