To whom it may concern (anyone??!) UK tour takes place in May. *does a little dance*

Dates were announced a while ago, I believe, but now the tour page on their website has links for buying tickets, all venues.

http://www.handsomefamily.com/Nshows.html

See you at the London gig if you come along.

Otherwise engaged, so I have to miss this today. Particularly saddened at missing out on the Soundway stall.

All the same, if any of the Massive get there, please report back and post your spoils.

Great cause, by the way; many of the labels lost a huge amount of stock in the warehouse fire.

Warm up your house this evening with Lee Perry's 'Bed Jammin'. Only just discovered this because the Honest Jons label has re-released the album. Brilliant.

And please feel free to add any similarly tropical sounds. It'll get cold again in approximately 11 minutes.

Hope no-one minds me drawing this to your attention since I think it was here I came across Janice Whaley's work in the first place...(Uncle Monty - was it you?!)

If you liked the Smiths Project - all 71 Smiths tracks recorded in one year by this remarkable a cappella singer - then please check out her ongoing scheme to release a solo album of originals.

She's relying on backers, so please consider a pledge if you want to hear the record. You can follow the link below to the Kickstarter page, which itself links to a free song. Which is brilliant.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1616392208/janice-whaleys-solo-album...

Spending a gratuitous day off in London, so inevitably find myself browsing in HMV.

I was very touched to see a slightly crestfallen man standing in front of the 'Dark Side of the Moon' enormo-boxset, actually stroking it gently. It was the caress of a would-be lover. Had his other half been with him, (s)he'd have said, 'You never touch me like that, you cad.'

I was less touched when I took my rather more meagre purchase to the counter, and the till bloke started bloody drumming on it to the in-store music while he was waiting for the transaction to go through. I wouldn't have minded too much, except that this wasn't an idle tap. It was like John Bonham had wandered in for some random sales experience. The rotter. My CDs turned out to be fine, since you ask, despite their ordeal.

I was waiting for Ma Specs_Beard at Waterloo station, in a mild trance, listening to my iPod. Suddenly, I was accosted by an enormous middle-aged bloke with a very meek-looking wife trailing behind him.

'LONDON EYE!' he shouted. (And he was shouting.) 'LONDON EYE!'

I said something like 'Hnnnnyyy-uh?' and scrabbled to take my headphones out of my ears.

'WHERE'S THE LONDON EYE?' he shouted again. He was staring bug-eyed into my face like he was going to deck me. Flinching, I resisted the temptation to just point to the massive 'London Eye' sign above our heads, and gestured to the far end of the concourse. 'Just go right through there, over the road and it's on your left.'

'MMMMM,' he rumbled, and marched off. '[thank you]' said the wife, in a tiny voice, and flashed on after him.

I turned on my heel, for no real reason, but I then noticed that I had been standing next to an 'INFORMATION' sign. Could this guy really have thought that a bloke in a red t-shirt with his headphones on was the best National Rail had to offer? I should have volunteered to go to information myself, to ask if my missing uniform had turned up...

Any 'wrong place, wrong time' stories to help me recover much appreciated.

Ma Specs_Beard this evening. 'Your Dad reckons I say everything twice.' [Pause.] 'I suppose I often do say everything twice.'

Sorry for a London-centric post - but the Capital Massive may want to check this out. It's a kind of sequel to Record Store Day, it seems. A bunch of indie labels selling their wares in Berwick Street, Soho (already containing - or within spitting distance of - some great record shops).

Will I see any of you there? I'm the one with the specs and the beard.

http://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2011/independent-label-market-announced

*EDIT* - found proper link to actual site here:
http://independentlabelmarket.tumblr.com/

Extraordinary to think this was his first film...

Under the intoxicating influence of Mrs Specs_Beard (steady), we recently brought home the latest 'Guilty Pleasures' compilation. It's certainly the heady mix of clunkers and genius I might have expected - and if nothing else, has really driven home to me how much I love this song.

The video, however, is hilarious. Treat yourself to these highlights:

1:32 - Gong!
1:57 - 'Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like an empress above the Serengeti'. Best line in rock and obvious simile for 'doing what's right'.
3:09 - After an entire song's worth of lacklustre detective work, Sherlock finally finds the book he's looking for. It's called 'Africa'.

I bless the rains!

*EDIT* - I had misheard that lyric for years. Thrillingly, Kilimanjaro actually rises like Olympus, not an empress. Thanks, daddyorchipsblog!

My dad isn't very good with names. He was trying to describe a film to me earlier. 'It was like one of those martial arts things...you know. Charlie Chan.'

If only...

...if you're composing a soundtrack to stick your coffee-cup on one corner of the piano, while using the other to engulf yourself in a thick smog of cigarette smoke. I like Vangelis.

Mrs Specs_Beard and I were out for her birthday meal yesterday at our favourite fish restaurant. So, tonight, I was just trying to describe the meal to my mum on the phone.

My wife had fish pie, which contained all manner of exciting fruits de mer, so I MEANT to say, 'It had loads of different fish in it - it didn't all taste of cod and haddock.' What came out was '...it didn't all taste of cock.'

Sorry, Mum.

If anyone else has recently said something spine-chillingly inappropriate to a parent, please lighten my load by sharing it.

Been thinking about Kate Bush a lot lately (what with the 'loin-stirring' thread) - and I've also posted about how lacking I thought her only 'best of' ('The Whole Story') is.

That's partly because it left off gems like this, which has always been one of my favourite KB tracks.

Anyone else burning to champion a song they feel have been unfairly passed over in favour of the artist's hits?

This is quite possibly one website where I really am the last person to realise that the Hitch-Hikers theme began life as an Eagles instrumental. But just in case I'm not - and as it's brilliant -

(Intrigued by the idea of the Eagles of all bands getting into a studio and saying, 'Hang on, let's do one without any singing...')