Hit the deck

Busy week at work means I've been slogging rather than blogging so here's a quick catch up on the last 10 days or so. The Rayographs and Charly Morris were in session last Saturday. Ton was in town from Barcelona, which was a good excuse to check out the Jerusalem Tavern - been meaning to go there for ages...fantastic pub. Ed and Jenny from the Mules were in session yesterday and then the full Mules plus the Rayographs and Charly again put in superb performances at Richard's new Pub Pop night at the Miller in Snowsfields. Me and T-lo were on the deck (just the one!) for a spot of proper old-school 1960's youth club dj-ing.

Spanakotiropita

Back from a fantastic week in Lefkada. Top laughs, brilliant beaches and I even did a spot of windsurfing, if repeatedly falling off the board and getting back on again qualifies as actually windsurfing, that is. Shame we didn't book our flights with XL - we might have got a few extra days in the sun.

Farewell to the Crops

Fantastic session from Electricity in Our Home son the first Hello Goodbye show after the summer break today - go and see them supporting Wire at the Scala on Monday if you can.
Great night at the Enterprise for the Crops swansong, T-Lo's birthday bash and the launch of 'The Beast Must Die', with a brilliant performance from the Great Blondini, who is best described as Tommy Cooper meets Roger Melly. Sterling work on the wheels of steel from the Wild Man too. A very enjoyable night all round in fact and good to see so many old faces, including all three Heave bassists! Not feeling sad to have finished, but pleased to have gone out on a high note, rather than a bum note (though there were a few of those too!). Off to Greece now for a week of well earned relaxation!

Teens at the Tate

XX Teens played at late at the Tate last night accompanied by cane-wielding dancers dressed as mummies with birdcages on their heads. And why not?

Que la bête meure

Final ever Crops rehearsal last night, which went worringly well...hopefully not a bad omen. Tomoland was in attendance to document the historic and rare tri-blogged occasion, and Jolly came along for a private view as he'll be in Wales tomorrow. Picked up copies of the album today...Smell the Glove is here! Come and get one for free tomorrow night at the Enterprise in Haverstock Hill!

Sex Pistols

When the Pistols split up in 1978, I would never have been able to imagine myself cycling across London at the grand old age of 44 to see them, in their fifties, play live again. But there we were last night - me, T-Lo and former Heaver Gavin, who we bumped into outside the gig. Playing in front of a backdrop of two giant combine harvesters, the band ripped through most of their back catalogue (i.e. the whole of Never Mind the Bollocks, a couple of b-sides, a few covers and 'Belsen was a Gas' reworked as 'Baghdad was a Blast'), with John Lydon camping it up like a chortling punk rock pantomime dame. This is pretty much why the Pistols still work as a live experience - the set is absolutely solid, with no danger of being diluted by new songs (though the encore versions of Silver Machine and Roadrunner were admittedly a bit flabby). The sound was crisp and loud and demolished the myth that the Pistols couldn't play - they could at the time and they still can. I suppose that in a way the gig was like punk rock's answer to 'The Good Old Days', but 'God Save the Queen' blasting out a full volume still sends a shiver down the most cynical of spines and reaffirms the Pistols as national treasures.