Its a Prog life

Saturday July 20th. We leave a bright sunny lunchtime in Sheffield as Ian and I descend into the Sheffield City Hall for the Tramlines festival lineup of Progressive Rock bands playing in the Ballroom. A £6 wristband gives you all day access to a number of venues throughout the city. But we stay in the Ballroom to see seven bands starting with Maybeshewill, followed by Enochian Theory, I Like Trains, The Pineapple Thief, The Enid, Anathema and ending with headliners Amplifier. Each band gets 45 minutes, enough to form a solid impression. Maybeshewill, The Pineapple Thief, Anathema and Amplifier were excellent and I will want to see again. Highlight of the day were I Like Trains, moody like Editors and Joy Division, I can recommend their latest album The Shallows.
Driving home I realise I like this modern prog-rock.


For a more complete review see Ian's blog entry.

The Host

Apart from some of the photography, this is dull and unreal (everyone is pretty or handsome, everything is clean).

£8 = Fabulous

My first experience of 3D film was over 10 years ago at Disneyworld in Florida, a show case of the technology lasting around 10 minutes. Seemingly there were objects flying towards and around you, and even though you know its not real, you still react by moving out of the way. Fun enough to make everyone smile.
Films such as Star Wars and Toy Story have reset the benchmarks for special visual effects and sound quality. Avatar (30th Jan) sets another by combining human actors and physical sets with expansive CGI effects and presented in 3D. There are recognisable storyline similarities with Alien, Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas, and its over 2 hours long. But its the visual quality, the detail and the 3D effect that overwhelms from the start and keeps you engaged. Fabulous.

Thursday 25th Feb and its Chantel McGregor at the Duchess with support from Jessica 'Jess' Graham. The paper bracelet they wrapped on my wrist at entry was white with lots of pink stars reflecting the girlie theme. Jess and her band had already started, and apart from a couple of funkier numbers, which the rest of the audience enjoyed, she was really good, kinda' reminding me of Tracey Chapman. At 8:30 Chantel began, on a proper stage and with a superior sound system, 2 hours of excellent rock/blues, including 2 of her own songs, amazing guitar work, unique charm, the experience was ... fabulous.

Good, Bad, ...

December 5th and its the Mostly Autumn Christmas gig at the Grand Opera House. As per last year it was a highlights/favourites set that included a few festive songs (Silent Night was beautiful), special guest Chris Johnson and seasonal hats. Wholly enjoyable, but I'm not sure I'll be there next year, instead I'll try and catch them out of season somewhere.

A full turnout for the Friday (December 18th) nighters at the Ristorante Bari for our Christmas meal, to be followed by Chantel McGregor at the Roman Bath. But due to the heavy snow Chantel's cancelled. So we slide over to the Terrace to see Stealer. A heavy rock covers band that disapointed as every song sounded the same, I recognised only two, one each from Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Half way through their set, and for one song only, one of their elderly WAGs stripped to her underwear, then sang and danced with the band. She even had photos taken with a couple of the Stealer fans. Alltogether best described as The Good, The Bad and ...

I'm not here

Extract from "Life" Dig a Hole: Part 1 (2007)

Luke: So they must know everything is in motion, and the particles within everything are never in one place. Therefore, if it's never in one place, it never is, is it?
Crews: So I'm always in motion. I'm never in one place. I'm never here.
Luke: Just more likely to be here than not to be here.
Crews: [To Reese] I'm not here. You like that, don't you?
Reese: If only that were true.

If you've never seen Life, then you really need to, whilst you're still (likely to be) here.

This is the end

Saturday 28th November - I should be happy, I'm at a Yards gig, I've got a drink in my hand, and I have a clear view of the band. I should be very happy, 2 sets from the Yards, the first is 30 minutes of their quieter, soulfull, mellow songs, and then nearly an hour of heavier rock songs, in total almost all of their catalogue. I know the tunes and most of the lyrics and I'm singing along. But, the crowd are talking (grrrr), Chris Helme is having problems with a hum on stage, and its the Yards last high - their last gig. I want it to be brilliant, and it mostly is, but its their last high, and everybody knows it. I will miss them.

Letters From Iwo Kima is the counterpoint to Flags Of Our Fathers. 'Letters' takes the Japanese perspective of the Second World War battle on the island, and is much better than 'Flags'. Its worth watching the first 45 minutes or so of Flags to set the scene for Letters. Catch it when you can.