Vidler's only gone and done it again! Genius.

That's right - the stuff that only happens when you're getting valuable shut eye. Last night it appeared I was down the front at a Maccca gig; it was important I was down the front as I'd got a present him which I was keeping in my jacket pocket. After catching Mr McCartney's eye, he asks me to take my jacket off (but what about the gift?) and pass it to him on stage. He then drapes it over the mike stand, inside out, and proceeds to sing the washing instructions to the tune of Eleanor Rigby. Well at least it wasn't Ringo.

One of my first gigs was The Who at Charlton Athletic in '76. It was, for a number of years, in the Guinness Book Of Records for being the loudest 'pop concert' ever staged.

Some 25 years later, however, I really did fear for my hearing at The Flowerpot in Derby; this lot turned everything up to 12. Ironically, the band in question were a tribute to, you've guessed it, The Who: The Wholigans.

Well it's my birthday too, yeah. Or at least it will be tomorrow. And, yes, before you ask, as a kid I did used to get loads of 'joint' presents - even this year when my mother landed on us on Christmas Day I was given a couple of parcels not to be opened 'til tomorrow (wrapped in Xmas paper - generic paper anyone?)

Anyway, that's not my beef (though it may well still be for the likes of Edgar Winter, Nigel Kennedy, Roy Hattersley, Max Hastings and any other Dec 28ers)- the current Mrs Medd and my only son and heir always come good so the mistakes of the past aren't repeated! No, what it is is this:tomorrow will be my last birthday that will begin with a 4. 'No biggie' I hear all you fifty-somethings say...well, from where I'm standing I'm not so sure. Suffice to say I'll be relishing my cards more so than usual this year - they won't mention half centuries or the fact that I'm not old, I was born in a Golden Age.

I've just got around to reading about the Dylan photo shoot in Liverpool in the last issue. In 1966 the only way to watch the FA Cup Final (assuming you'd not got a ticket) was at home. Pubs would shut at 3 (kick off) and not open again 'til 6. And thinking about it, pubs with TVs weren't commonplace until many years later.

Ever fallen asleep (at a gig you shouldn't have fallen asleep at?) Location: Bradford, Time: 2007, Artist: Richard Hawley. In my defence (with sincere apologies to the Bard of Sheffield), the warm theatre had very comfortable seats (loads of leg room), oh, and I'd been drinking Oyster Stout since lunchtime. So when the band take to the stage and the quiffed one announces 'Let's ballad', I'm gone (solid gone). It's not something I'm proud of, but I did wake up for Coles Corner.

Oh God! When will it end? When will it be safe to buy a national newspaper or switch on the radio or TV without seeing or hearing another clothesless Emperor (or at least one who is never photographed with a shirt on) being hyped/fawned over by one and all. Yes, I'm sure he is very good at batting the ball over the halfway net and I'm equally sure he loves his mother dearly, but come on, enough's enough.

If you can't say it in 3 minutes, it ain't worth saying. Well, here's 5 from my Pod that all clock in at exactly 3'-00''
The Only Ones: Another Girl, Another Planet
The Band: Rag Mama Rag
Beautiful South: A Little Time
Woody Guthrie: House Of The Rising Sun
Young Holt Unlimited: Wack Wack

Long before MTV Unplugged, 1978 I think, Elvis Costello & The Attractions were due to play West Runton Pavilion. However, come ten o'clock only Elvis has turned up, not an Attraction in sight. So, he duly plays a semi-acoustic set before his band finally rock up. A few years pass and he then plays 'a Northern love song' at Live Aid and, before you can say folk club, everyone's at it. Some acoustic sets, in fact, hit the spot better than their electric counterpart. I'm thinking of sublime performances by The Black Crowes (a Saturday afternoon matinee at Islington's Garage), Clive Gregson, Everything But The Girl, Glenn Tilbrook, Dodgy and, of course, Richard Thompson. And now he's doing the whole thing in front of American TV cameras with the best hired hands money can buy.

Following on from the Red Dwarf thread; Bewes and Bolam haven't spoken since '75/'76 (the time of the spin-off film). Bewes, whenever he was asked about Bolam, used to say 'I had lunch with Jimmy last week' but gave up with that when he published his bio. It's a real shame we don't see him on our screens anymore (though he did, ironically, play the news vendor in Ant and Dec's re-working); in much the same way as I could listen to Bill Nighy read the telephone directory, Bewes could make just about any script jump off the page - like he does on stage these days with Pooter and Three Men In A Boat.

1HWs? Two spring to mind. Roy C and his Shotgun Wedding; at the tender age of 11 I didn't fully grasp what a Shotgun Wedding was but loved the gun shot sound effects (though still nowhere near as good as the opening sequence to Captain Scarlet). I also remember it being out around the same time as Macca's C Moon - taping them both with a shaky mic whilst sat next to the telly getting everybody in the room to stay shtum. And what was L7 all about btw?
The second is, without doubt, a classic: Car 67 by Driver 67 was a My Baby Done Me Wrong for the 80s. Before I go, thank you to the blogger who put me on to Sufjan Stevens: he rates both Ian Hunter's Rant and Nick Lowe's At My Age (as do I) so I took the plunge. Thanks again.

Richard Raftery (letter writer) must know he's amongst friends? He must know that the chances of anybody picking up The Word from the news stand is familiar with jazz? Then why the open brackets, closed brackets telling us who, among others, Ben Webster and Stan Getz are? Are these luminaries unable to stand without the crutch of defining bracketry? Where will it end? John Lennon (co-writer of a number of popular tunes in the 1960s...see McCartney P).

On the Podcast before last it came out that one of The Word's scribes had a photo of himself taken with The Polyphonic Spree; to which, I think, Hepworth saw his Spree and raised a Springsteen: ouch! Well that got me to thinking about my 'hand'...all I can come up with is Rodney Bewes, Wreckless Eric, Phill Jupitus and Gerry Laffy. (I think I'd have to fold). But what if I'd been in a room with Elvis Presley and The Beatles? If the legend is correct, Elvis invited the lads to his drum on 27 August '65. If they did meet why is there no photographic evidence of this momentous occasion? Surely someone thought to bring the instamatic? Was EP really there that night? The Colonel was, that much we do know. Discuss.