Entertainment For Lively Minds
London Mingle - Friday 2nd March!
Hello chaps!
It's that time again: for drinking alcohol, eating cake and pork pies and talking about music & nonsense. We'd love you to join us for the next London Mingle on Friday 2nd March.
New attendees warmly welcomed, it's always lovely to meet new people. Drop me a line if you're thinking about coming for the first time!
Venue details and sign-up sheet in the comments.
Hopefully see you there
Hannah xxx
PS for anyone who's either 1) new to the concept of mingles, and / or 2) nowhere near London, just wanted to say that mingles also happen in Glasgow, Reading, Dublin, the NW and W Mids. There's even been one in New Zealand. Keep an eye on the board and hopefully there'll be a mingle near you. And if there isn't, start your own (and feel free to DM me for advice on doing just that).
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Otters!
As usual, we’ll be in the private upstairs room at the King and Queen, 1 Foley Street, W1W 6DL. Go to the back of the bar, through the door, up the stairs and you’ll find us. People generally start arriving from 6pm onwards, and we're generally there until kicking out time.
The pub is less than a mile from Euston Station (the very nearest tubes - 3 minutes walk away - are Goodge Street on the Northern, Warren Street on the Northern and Victoria. Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street tubes are less than 10 minutes walk)
Should be plenty of on-road parking in the surrounding streets (you might have to pay for meter parking for a while, depending on what time you arrive, but Congestion Charging stops at 6pm.)
Please remember to bring some loose change – the pub don’t charge for room hire; all they ask is that we do a whip-round in support of Macmillan cancer support.
Home-cooked treats, CD giveaways, book swaps all happening as usual. (and stop being shy about taking stuff, we had TONS of things left over last time). Can’t remember what the CD theme is, can someone please post it? (or choose one?)
Also, given that the jam last time was a roaring success, please feel free to bring an instrument (I'm going to bring a keyboard and a ukulele, happy to share with anyone else who wants to play). Jam will probably kick off sometime after 10pm.
Anyone coming from out of town (or indeed just fancies coming back into town the next day)? There's still talk of doing something on the Saturday (possibly Vorgongod's famous Beatles tour, although as it's pretty late notice, we might have to leave it until the next mingle).
hope to see you there
Hannah xxx
Any chance of a May bank holiday mingle?
I will be in "tha' London" for my annual solo trip to every museum and jazz club in the town from Friday 4 - Monday 7 May and hope to squeeze in 90 minutes of sheer hell in the Emirates on the Saturday afternoon. A Mingle would be sure to bolster my flagging spirits.
Good call
I could pop my mingle cherry* if there's one on Friday 4th May.
(*You know how many and when...)
Great Neils think alike...
London Massive - make it so! Don't expect much, do I?
You might well be in luck
Because the London mingles are on the first Friday of every other month. Which, by my reckoning, makes the one after this: Friday May 4.
Bring on the Neils!
Indeed.
It should be Friday May 4th for the next Mingle (henceforth known as "The Neil Mingle"). I've just got to doublecheck the booking with the pub.
"Your name's not Neil, you're not coming in", etc.
Tents fingers in the Monty Burns stylee and says
Excellent!
OK - I'm now...
BaskerNeil Old Face!
The 4th works for me too
I'll be making one of my periodic trips over from the land of the long white cloud
I'm in..
Pink Ticket pending.
Rah!
Are you making something piggy? Hope so! I'd also like to make something porcine but not sure what and I don't want to tread on your trotters by making a pork pie!
It's either a pie or the mandolin. Bag won't fit both.
I suspect most would prefer the pie. Ony because it saves them from my mandolin playing.
I'm out
as previously declared. The potential good news is that if there is a mingle in May and its on 4th I could well be available.
As ever, hope everyone has a great time.
As always
any boot requests, lmk. Will do up some more Gillian Welch DVDs as they went down so well at last London and Liverpool. Will burn some bits and pieces anyway but if you're particularly looking for something then lmk
Oh and to the trio who picked up GW DVDs last time, I've done up some proper artwork for it so will bring spares of that along
Not this time...
...hope you all have a good time & I will probably there in May (would be happy to do some London 'tours' then too).
YES!
definitely coming this time
flights manipulated and hotel booked. I'll be arriving in London around lunchtime so I am up for any extra-curricular activities pre-mingle.
Any particular theme for CDs?
Not working that day so far so almost certainly yes
Count me in
I'll do a cheesecake again and also bring some paper plates and plastic forks.
I'm in
And will do the usual early in and early out manouvere.
If you do have any questions for me after I leave then make a note and I'll address them next time. (What?)
I might have been in a meeting earlier that day and will possibly come dressed in a suit so I may be looking like a buffoon. Which is very handy actually given the truth of the matter.
I'm in
Will also try to bring the wifi router I promised DFB weeks ago. I can't find it at the moment but I know that I have it somewhere.
I'll be there
Hope to have a CD prepared this time
No hurry LB
if that bloody charity ever get anything done it will be a bloody miracle
"feel free to DM me"?
I feel I should know what this means but I'm afraid I don't. I'm guessing the "M" is "message" but can't guess the "D". Anyone care to enlighten me - struggling to keep up these days!
DM = Direct Message
Click on the name of the person you want to contact; click on the Contact tab and there should be an email form for you to use.
Ah!
Thanks Gavin!
that's a relief
Where I come from that's what we used to call Doc Martens.
I'll say this once...
...and then I'll shut up. Would we consider sharing our musical recommendations by Spotify playlists rather than CDs? On the grounds that it's fairer to the artists and doesn't exclude those members of the Massive who can't make it to the mingles.
Producing multiple high quality copies from a single paid-for source is the surest way to deprive the artist of any value from their work. The Word mingle piracy project now runs to hundreds of discs a year - several thousand stolen tracks. Some people are even offering a 'you name it, I'll burn it' service. This is way beyond friends swapping mix tapes.
If the aim is to introduce others to new music, a Spotify playlist is more efficient as it can reach more people, it's limited to material that's licensed for distribution, and it at least allows the slim possibility of some return to the owners and originators of the music. If you compare the profile of the average Word reader with economic status of most musicians, there's really no justification for these Robin-Hood-in-reverse handouts.
In summary: unfair, inefficient, unnecessary and illegal.
I fit into the age range of the average Word reader, Captain.
But that's about it.
I'm definitely not one of the 11% of us who earn more than £100,000. ELEVEN PER CENT! MORE THAN £100,000!
Or the 44% who earn over £50,000, or anywhere bloody near it.
*Closes down Average Word Reader page, looks at bank balance and weeps*
Hello? Is that HR?
I've just been reading an internet music-blog slash network-thing at work, and according to them I'm due an extremely hefty pay rise to bring me up to their reader profile. Hello ...? Hello ...? Oh. They've hung up.
Spends £90 a month?
On music? Christ, I don't think I have that kind of disposable income for anything let alone music. I am a he and of the right age, though.
This is the bit I liked ...
The writer had clearly not seen me
attempting to introduce J Martyn's death as an item of teabreak conversation ...Somewhat reminded me of Carpenter's Dark Star:
Yep
you name something commercially unavailable and never will be and I'm only pleased to do you a copy. Very rarely (say twice) have done it for anything you can legally purchase. And that ususally results in people buying it and other stuff legally.
I'd suggest that artists get much more out of people discovering them them through mingle CDs than the pittence they will get off Spotify. I know from recent Cds I've bought stuff by Etta James, Irma Thomas, a northern soul box set, MIA, pop hits old and new, Gillian Welch, 60's garage comps as well as oodles of odd tracks from i-tunes.
If you object to it that strongly then don't take part so you'll have an alibi when the BPI police come knocking
How about
YOU name 'something commercially unavailable and never will be'? I'm not sure that's your decision to make. And aren't the compilation CDs made up for 'stuff you can legally purchase'?
I don't accept that people 'usually buy it and other stuff legally.' How could you possibly know that?
In terms of the literally 1 or 2
people I have copied an album for in a "look, try this" way they have toldf me that they went out and got it alongside other Cds by the same artist. Now they could be lying but I'd like to think not. I'd prefer to see the average Word mingler (what a horrible thought) as an unhealthy consumer of music rather than a "freetard".
I really don't understand your first question. I'm not being wilfully difficult. The stuff I burn for people is out there on torrent sites, being traded between fans and not everyone has access or the knowledge to get hold of it. If that makes me a dealer in illicit goods in your eyes - fine.
It's not about you!
"Everyone else is doing it" is a weasel excuse, and yes it does make you a dealer in illicit goods. But if you're comfortable with that I won't certainly hold it against you.
Let me put the question another way; do you and others make purchases because you were given a CD, or because you were given a recommendation? Surely a playlist gives a far larger number of people the option to buy, based on legally available tracks?
The mingle Cds
are a bit of fun (and thats all they are) to the people who attend the Mingles. Opening it up to other people who don't attend isn't what they are about. Yes thats "clique-y" but not the end of the world.
Someone, can't recall who, tried to post up Spotify playlists of Mingle CDs before and not only did it get little interest but it was constrained by the Spotify catalogue.
"Recordings Of Independent Origin"
There are loads of these around.
Audience or soundboard recordings, broadcasts etc. of live music that are not intended by the performers for official release.
Collectors used to swap tapes and discs of such stuff either in person or by mail, charging only for media & postage or even bearing the expense themselves. Either that or they bought dodgy bootlegs from dodgy characters at vast expense.
These days people put them up on bit-torrent trackers for free download and commercial bootlegging has pretty much died out. The reputable bit-torrent sites enforce standards of quality for the files distributed and disallow recordings which have ever been officially released or recordings of artists who do not wish unofficial recordings to be distributed.
The artists lose nothing by this as they weren't going to release the recordings anyway. If artists released every single thing they recorded because a few fans want the stuff they'd be spending a fortune oversaturating their own market for virtually no return. Not an economically viable proposition. There are not enough rabid "must have everything" fans for any artist/band to try and sell them any and every obscure recording and still make money from it.
The artists and labels are not fools (mostly), they release material onto the market in measured doses when they expect it to sell and at least cover the expense of producing it, hopefully make a profit.
For the record
I have paid out actual money after hearing a single song by certain artists on CDs I've picked up at the London mingles, just as I have after listening to the Now Hear This CDs (Specific examples: Brent Cash, Arthur Russell, Jim White); I doubt I'm alone. In fact I know I'm not: Paul Waring has been kind enough to give his own instance of this, ie that he bought the Mummers' back catalogue after hearing the one song I put on a CD.
I don't dispute that making CDs for the mingles is against the letter of the law. As an incurable relativist, I'd quibble over whether they're against the spirit of the law, though. Nearly all the artists I put on my CDs are below the radar; some of them are friends of mine, who have given their blessing to including a song on a CD, because the worst that can happen is that the listener doesn't enjoy the song. If the listener does enjoy the song, there's a reasonable chance that they won't be satisfied with just the one song, and may well investigate further. Obviously, this is no guarantee that they'll shell out money. But equally, you can be far surer that if they'd never heard the song, they wouldn't be buying any product by that artist.
Agreed
I also refer to previous comments made about the likes of Bandcamp and Noisetrade which allow music to be downloaded for free with the artists blessing. Noisetrade, in particular, gives an option to take it for free or pay as much/little as you like. Clearly, the business model of the artists concerned must assume that many won't pay anything (I know I never do).
Some of the music there includes full albums that you could go on Amazon and buy, in some cases for £10 upwards. So what's the artist trying to achieve by giving away for nothing?
More confusing, one of the artists I downloaded subsequently sent an email link to another free song. The email stated that he wanted you to share it with your mates and spread the word.
How does all this fit in with the traditional (utopian?) acquire/pay model?
Comes down to
who makes the decision to share it that way, doesn't it? Chocolate bar makers give away free samples at railway stations, but if you go into a shop, buy one and nick 20 to give to your mates, they may complain.
Oh come on!
That is a rubbish analogy Cap'n, and I think you know it!
The manufacturers won't complain
The shopkeeper might though.
Regarding the mingle CD's. I haven't listened to more than half of the ones yet (I am busy etc.). Have I stolen the music yet or will I have done so when I listen?
I don't think the law is aimed at people swapping a few obscure songs (and they really are obscure - I think people are looking to the edges of their music collection for most of the songs) in a pub. Which is why we won't be raided during the mingle and fined and/or imprisoned.
I think it is the file sharers and the people doing this on a large scale that are the intended scope of the law. Personally I have far less illicit music than I did when swapping tapes as a callow youth. So I'm breaking less laws than I did before even though it's easier.
And I reckon most musicians will have copied music from a friend at some stage of their lives. If they now make a living from and complain about people doing the things they have done (or still do) it would open them to accusations of hypocrisy.
Okay, okay
I know when I'm beaten.
Cards on table; I have a professional interest in illicit supply chains. Not insignificant stuff like music, but the kind of products where the duty and tax you avoid by buying off the back of a van might just have been invested in the NHS to help you not die from the diseases the products give you. I was interested to see if the justifications offered here are the same as the excuses for getting involved in those black markets. Turns out they are.
If I have come across as ridiculously moralistic, it's worth pointing out that I'm a massive hypocrite. I picked up about 8 CDs at the Mingle in October, and very good they are too. Let's say that's 120 tracks. I usually buy about three CDs a month - say 36 tracks. I got myself three months worth of new music for nothing, and I've hardly bought anything since. So where others say these CD giveaways drive purchase, in my case it's had the opposite effect.
Slight tangent
Your comment about "buying off the back of the van" reminded me of a bizarre thing that happened to me last week.
I was standing outside my house, chatting to a neighbour. Then, a man in a white van drove up, stopped by us and called "Scuse me ladies, either of you want to buy a memory foam mattress?".
I did not want to buy a memory foam mattress.
I've never anything like that happen before.
Your trouble Hannah
is you don't know a pick up line when you hear it
It's happened to me, too,
as I walked down the street near my home.
I strongly suspect, pace DFB, that he wasn't trying to pick me up...
OK Cap'n
I acknowledge you've conceded, but I wanted to say that our house is not wired to the computer, so the only time I can listen to a Spotify playlist is while I'm here at the iMac, and not listening to anything else that may have come flooding in on a torrent whereas an awful lot of CD listening is done in the kitchen.
Hmmm
I don't think I need a "justification" or "excuse" for something basic as sharing my enthusiasm and enjoyment of an art form. As others have pointed out there's a big (and legal) difference between sharing something with a person you know, and putting it into unlimited distribution.
My guess is that the aim of those mingle comps is NOT to supply you with 15 tracks of "new music", but to give you the chance to discover something that you'll hopefully get excited about, enjoy, want to explore further... or want more of.
To cite a service like Spotify (still unavailable in Germany, mostly because of musicians' objections) as an alternative is laughable - it does nothing for the music, merely uses it as the foundation of their advertising business, and the minimal amount they pay to the musicians would be considered an offence in any other business.
(And yes, part of my income comes from copyright and licensing fees for my art...)
I'm not sure what amounts to
a bit of tape-swapping between a bunch of music lovers at such a micro level is going to cause too much hardship in the world of rock and pop...especially Word readers who are still avid consumers of physical product and, from the few straw polls we've done previously, are happy to pay for their music.
However, I'm with you on the Spotify Playlists. I hate burning CDs, very tedious, time consuming and not exactly eco-friendly. I guess the key thing is, you have something to show on the night so it's a little icebreaker/talking point to compare track listings. I guess we could still bring printed track lists, artwork, sleeve notes etc and write down the URL.
The other way around it, especially if you want to share music that isn't on Spotify is to upload your selection to MixCloud which, provided you credit your tracks properly, will give the artist a few pennies and you can design your own covers etc. I've done it before at a previous mingle.
Spotty
No use to anyone unless you are at the PC or you live I a mythical place with decent 3G coverage and loads of space on your call plan. And you don't mind some git asking you to change gas suppliers every 5 minutes. I've bought at lease half a dozen CDs based on a few Mingle comps though.
No good for you, then
but better for the majority who can't get to mingles? And therefore more likely to stimulate sales for the recommended artists?
Good point
Why not, if they are on Spotty. I find it is a bit limited for obscure stuff. But if Mingle Jingle Bingle Bongle can be recreated on Spotty the world can only be a better place!
MixCloud
sounds perfect
I've got an idea..
The Mingles are a bit of a hassle. They create allegations of cliqueiness. Some people are excluded by reasons of distance, economics or both.
Why don't we just create an informal, all-welcome web-based site where anyone can pop in at any time and share their opinions, thoughts and conversations? Seems bloody obvious to me.
Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? I'm sure Fraser could sort it out.
This web thing.
Do they serve sherry?
Will there
be cake?
See the 'Downloads' tab up top?
Free cake and pies. Fraser makes them himself.
Caution:
Don't delete cookies!
It does strike me
that the "compile and bring a CD" idea could eventually get out of hand.
From one fairly recent mingle I brought home 21 CDs and DVDs. I'm not entirely sure if I've played all of them yet. Of course that's in large part my own greed, as I could have just picked up a few instead of all that I saw...
Nevertheless I'll be bringing copies of a new one entitled "Every One A Maserati!" (unless my CD burner dies in the next few hours) plus a few RT/David Byrne and other rarities
Strong sympathy with this approach
To be honest my motives are as much about me no longer favouring discs of nay kind (except wagon wheels maybe). Still happy to illicitly trade in Vinyl 45's and Albums, but I knew those new fangled CD whatsits wouldn't last.
Has there ever been a Vinyl exchange programme at a mingle? Still love the book exchange concept by the way.
is the book exchange strictly legal then?
hope so, I missed out on the Joe Jackson autobiography last time due to pangs of guilt.
Hope so, probably
A legitimate exchange of second hand goods your honour.
By an amazing coincidence, it was I who bought the Joe Jackson biog along for the table.
It's certainly closer to legal
because you're only depriving the author of one potential sale. Unless you photocopy it 10 times of course.
or its swapped more than once
we are really into "would you sleep with me for a million dollars" territory here aren't we.
It's not "closer" to legal
It's wholly legal. It may well be depriving an author of a sale, but that's a moral issue, not a legal one.
I'm seriously
...considering joining you this time. If all goes well (and airport staff in Berlin isn't on strike) I'll arrive in London on Friday. (Hope there isn't yet another Dr. Strangely Strange reunion gig in the evening.)
If there was a Dr SS
gig I bet Mark Ellen would be right down the front with you
Not this time
But hope to be at the one after.
Have fun.
Sadly I will be unavoidably detained...
... in a remote cottage up in County Durham. Sorry folks! I promise to make it to one of these again, this'll be mingle three in a row I think...
I shall be there
looking forward to it.
Happy birthday to me! In anticipation...
But sadly I shall be off somewhere agreeable with Mrs T rather than communing in London. Next time!
I did say I'd come didn't I?
but I can't make it, as I'm coming to that London to see the mighty Scritti Politti at the next 'Word in Your Ear' shindig not long after the mingle date. Hope I might see a few other Massive members down there?
You will be attending a London mingle later in the year.
Hypnotoad commands it.
Yep I definitley will make the next one
and also, I've lost my fear of flying, I've lost three stone and my time management skills have improved threefold. Thanks Hypnotoad.
Yep I'm Scritti-ing
it
See You There
I'm Scritti-ing my Politti also. Eagerly looking forward to it.
Jolly good
see you there, providing the ROPRA/BPI haven't sent you to the tower for 20 years for peddling boots.
Just try and stop me!
(For the avoidance of doubt: please don't actually try and stop me. I will be there!)
If I can wriggle out of the clutches
of my dental hygienist I will be there
We have our own on site
(if he's not too busy knocking one out).
Count me in
I'll be there, hope to put a CD together this time. No jam, though (of either type).
I'll also be going to see Julia Johnson the evening before, at the Regal Room in Hammersmith. Anyone else up for that?
Hoping to make it
Finances permitting, etc etc.
I'll be bringing along some trainers I knocked off from Foot Locker. Help yerselves, go on.
I'll also try to:
- get organised enough to make a CD
- bring my friend Juliet, who's failed to attend so many times that some people have doubted her actual existence
(PS. the May 4th Mingle is 2 days before my birthday. Do I get a cake...?)
This one
is but 3 days after mine and I will be bringing cake (of the cheese variety).
As it's your birthday
you can choose the cake. Particularly if you bring your imaginary friend Juliet. Let me know what your favourite type o' cake is and I will happily oblige.
Is that offer
unilateral only?
Favourite cake?
Free.
Hannah, I think you'll find Juliet...
...is a Giant Rabbit. So I'd guess carrot cake is the best option.
This is F****** embarrassing
My imaginary mate told me at the weekend that she can't make it, because an imaginary work colleague has an imaginary leaving do on the same night.
And now you all think I'm a weirdo with a made-up social life.
Arse on a stick.
Anyway, I'll probably show my face, and duly have people gently edging away from me all evening (nothing new there, etc.)...
"Er, sorry [looks at watch], is that the time...?
...Look, really great to meet you Soupy, lovely Rabbit you've got there, really fine specimen, er, um [glances desperately at Hannah]... things to do, er, you know how it is, er... [glances at partially open window, calculates drop to pavement]..."
Can't you just imagine a new imaginary friend?
and if they're going to be a rabbit then why not Jessica Rabbit?
To Save The Blushes O' Man O' Soup
... I have ducked, dived, charmed and prioritised and as a result WILL BE MINGLING!
This will only really mean anything to about 4 people but still, yay.
I'm not a giant rabbit - the reality is just some scrawny looking indie nerdette in a Belle and Sebastian t shirt and jeans with icing sugar that can't be washed out of then.
But still, bring it on!
I am one of the four.
Thank F*(goodness)ck! for that.
I've still got a tenner
that says you're not real, and instead we're going to have Man of Soup in a long wig claiming to be you. ;-)
PS so looking forward to meeting you, finally!
Soupeo & Juliet...
..."Shall I compare thee to the meat counter at Sainsbury's?"
A huge big rabbit in a Belle & Sebastian T shirt - really, have you heard the like of it?!
Hopefully
Although a CD might be tricky as I'm travelling for most of the week. I do have some other stuff though.
Hope to be there by the way
Forgot to add that in my post above!
The four tops, Michael Jackson
And I .
Having to work on the Friday means my famous Beatles tour will have to be put on ice til the may mingle - which will be sunnier anyway. Really looking forward to it. as it 'appens, my GLW bought me the Joe Jackson book for Valentine's Day and I've raced through it with great delight. Will only be too happy to pass it on to a good home - if only there were a massive member who'd like to read it.......
Hope So
I'd like to pass on the Luke Haines book I picked up in January to someone else at the very least (it's excellent).
For the record (well the DVD)
I'll be bringing along some Bowie, Kate Bush, Ska, XTC, Roger Waters, REM and probably Beatles goodies.
All for freee, nada, nothing, sod tout, partake or don't, its your conscience.
Well hoist the Jolly Roger
and I'll take one of your hooky Let It Be DVDs, me hearty. And a note from Macca to say he's happy for you to distribute it.
Macca
is too busy smuggling fags to care. Or something like that. I recall a story about a Japanese airport and some ciggies.....
XTC
If you'd be so kind as to put a copy to one side for the May Mingle that would be much appreciated!
No problem
sir
You
Are a gentleman.
I can't be there
Which is something I am very sorry about. But will see you all in May.
I'll be there..
..and then probably on to the Hidden Door for afters:
http://www.thevintageguidetolondon.com/dance-sounds-60s-underground-hidd...
I've just mixed the pie filling.
It'll sit in the fridge maturing for a couple of days. Pie gets made on Tuesday, jellied on Wednesday and (hopefully) eaten on Friday.
The piccalilli has been made as well, but I'm not sure about it. It seems a little bitter.
Well, the Branston Pickle gets all the kudos, doesn't it?
The bastard.
Unexpectedly...
...it looks like myself and Helana Handcart will be coming along.
Looking forward to whatever Hannah's making! (and to meeting Soupy's Giant Rabbit, obviously)
Are you bringing
any Mahavishnu bootlegs of live recordings/ studio outtakes?
Hurrah!
That's a hurrah for the attendance of Colin and Helena, not for the ominous mention of the Mahavishnu bootlegs. Obviously.
Oh come now, Drakey - no need to play...
...hard to get on the MO front!
I'm travelling light, but if there's any demand I'll cobble together an MO2 best-of-live CD (as it was MO1 last time).
This is the kind of thing we're talking about:
All the way from Germany
So, am I supposed to bring Sauerkraut and Wurst? A krautrock compilation including Cindy & Bert as well as the usual suspects like Peter "Space Patrol" Thomas and our old friend Eamon Dull? Or will a Cliff Richard comp with his German Schlager hits be more appropriate? (Just asking...)
It sounds as if a pork products competition is brewing..
Do your wurst, sir!
Traitor!
Mychael how are you?
You know why I'm saying traitor here don't you?! LOL etc.
Actually, don't tell anyone but I've been to a couple of Massive Meets in Reading. I can't make it on Friday - it's been a bad week as you may have seen on Facebook. I hope you have a good time.
Guilty I know...
;-) ("Everybody who doesn't know how to 'cough' leave the room now...")
All the best Neil, and hope to meet you another time!
I, for one will not be bringing any CDs.
It is because I feel I cannot deprive any more artists of their due royalties. I want my conscience to be clear.
And not because I can't be arsed to do any and anyone who says it is is a big rotten smelly liar.
Now looks like I won't be coming.
Snap CQC inspection at work. Bastards.
Anyone want a bloody great big pork pie?
CQC
Campaign for Quality Choppers?
Lenny, this is a disaster. I'm not coming if it's all pirates and no pie.
I believe
its the Coalition for Quality Comestibles. I suspect Lenny is in a pickle due to the impending review.
In view of all the illegal music sharing I won't be coming
As if ....
Actually it's just work. Boring, boring work. Fingers crossed I'll still make it to the TVM and hopefully the next one in London.
Just to show how much I value you guys
I've turned down a complementary ticket to go and see "The Hoff" in concert at the 02 this Friday.
I've never had a complementary pass in all my life. Just goes to show how much I'm looking forward to the King & Queen, Pork themed word mingle on Friday.
See you there. (I'll be the one not wearing a Knight-Rider T shirt)
Oh gawd
Looks like we might be having a bit of a pork crisis. Looks like Mr Lenny Law and his magnificent pie can't come.
I'm going to be making a chocolate, mascarpone and raspberry tart, hopefully some chocolate caramel salty crunch too (by request of Mr Vince Packet), but I don't think I'll have a chance to make anything piggy too. TBH, I'm so new to pork cookery, I'm not sure what I'd make even if I had time. Dammit. Don't come for the pork, come for the sparkling company, fine ales and the pleasing selection of t-shirts worn by your fellow minglers.
MMMMmmmmmmatzo crunch
Save some for me.
Bad news everyone...
I'm still coming.
Hurrah!
Lenny, I know a really good courier firm...
You'll be missed, mate.
Beezer will have to listen to my shit jokes instead.
It's no wonder...
...he leaves early.
;-)
Will be thinking of you, you Southern softy bastards.
Hurrah to the power of 2
I shall be wearing my shit joke listening trousers. Which are pre-programmed to make me fuck off at 8:30.
I may yet make it...
Two days of frantic paperwork. It depends how things go tomorrow. I'm not letting that pie go to waste.
More bad news
Tomorrow's Mingle will be held in a cheesecake free zone.
I'd intended to buy the ingredients at lunch-time and make it this evening. However after a few day's off work I return to find there jobs that just couldn't wait and I was unable to get out at lunch and then had to work late as well.
So apologies for that. Next time.
I still expect to be there.
Even more bad news
For me, anyway. Mrs Malc's car has decided it's going nowhere without a new alternator and destroyed the drivebelt in its efforts to prove it. The ramifications are worse still: tomorrow I shall now be working from home and attempting to get the sodding car fixed - and the mingle is looking a very remote possibility. Ho hum. It'll have to be May, then.
Ohhh nooooo
sorry to hear it, Malc
It's a bummer sure enough
I shall just have to spend the evening scowling at home. Roll on the next.
It's now 12:32pm, Friday the 2nd of March....
and I'm 12,000 miles away. Would love to be at the mingle, but I don't think there are any buses.
Hey, Phil...
...you're in the New Zealand media game, aren't you? Don't suppose you'd fancy doing a bit of sleuthing for me re: a certain little-known overseas tour that touched down in NZ in November 1974? Contact me off list if so... :-)
Rats
I really wanted to come to this, but I can't now. I even had a CD sorted out. Ah well, May it is.
Yikes!
I had a whole routine ready for you rosbif..... May it will be. Hope all's ok your end. I have some bad news 'n all. My iTunes has become ' error 40251' which means it won't burn discs. I'll find out at the mingle how to post a Spotify list - and do so tomorrow.
CQC visit concluded, passed with flying colours.
Hotel booked, pie and pickle packed, hope someone's got some forks. See you all presently..
Good news.
Save me a slice.
There's a pound shop between work and the station.
Shall I pick some up on the way through (plastic)?
"Hotel booked, pie and pickle packed,..
...hope someone's got some forks"
Is this an extension of the 'single line of a lyric' thread?
I'm crying off I'm afraid
Its been a long week working away and I'm stuck in a Paternoster lift. Have fun Y'all
Well I don't know about you lot,
but I thought the CD swap went well*
*Picture may have been "manipulated", Captain. The big boys made me do it. *runs away*
Arf!
Now that's proper swag. Looks like you've got an enormous slice of Lenny's pork pie there too.
Sorry I couldn't make it last night - see you all at the next theft-fest.
It wasn't all mine.
I piled up the piles to make one big pile for the purposes of the pic and rationed myself to five CDs and two books because I can't bear the guilt any longer.
We missed you last night, Captain!
Thanks again everyone
for the good company, good conversation and good food. I remember taking more than my fair share of the latter I'm afraid!
Once again I was Cinderelly and first out the door very early on. Which meant that, again, I still haven't managed to speak sensibly to a good few of you. If that seemed like bad manners on my part that's because it was and I do apologise.
It was while sat on the train (which didn't turn into a pumpkin seeing I was back home and fast asleep well before midnight) I realised I'd totally overlooked one main reason I'd turned up; to canvas attendees to the Massive Picnic, tentatively planned for a summer weekend pre-Olympic.
So in summary this makes me a forgetful, bad-mannered glutton. My life-plan appears to be on track then.
See you all again soon, I hope.
Nice to see everyone again
Oooh - Joe R - I checked up - it wasn't Adam F - but A.D.A.M. featuring Amy that did the cover of Zombie. Here it is, in its dubious glory.
Holy crap
That is awful. Thank goodness you did get the name wrong last night. If I'd found it on Spotify, it would have ruined the whole night :-)
Pants
is the only reasonable way I can think to describe it.
Ardal O'Hanlon is definitely now in the Cranberries too - Eamonn Forde noticed this:
http://twitpic.com/8gj61m
Are you kidding?
Turning the worst single of the 20th Century into a piddling Eurodisco track is a fantastic achievement. Okay, it's not on a par with turning base metal into gold - more like turning a bucket of runny s**t into base metal - but respect is certainly due.
I can't make out the lyrics anymore, Praise Jah, and I'd take that vocal over the trilling whine of Dolorous Dolores even if it wasn't sung by a hot lady getting wet in a car wash...
Another lovely Mingle.
Thanks all. Hopefully I didn't appear too drunk. I spent the evening with a smile on my face and that is a good thing.
Thanks to Leedsboy for the ride home as usual.
Hannah, you are now absolved of all responsibility for making cakes that I like. Please let someone else have a go. Although the Chocalate Caramel salty crunch stuff really is chocolate porn and I was definitely not the only one indulging.
Hmmmm, chocolate caramel salty crunch.........
I shall be missing the next mingle on the 4th due to a Retroman promotion at the Half Moon in Putney. So see you all in Reading or in 2 mingles time.
Among the subjects covered
In a lovely mingle were the mistakes men make in marriage, the washability of hooky Thai premiership shirts, the importance of the number of syllables in a person's name, the chords of Daydream Believer, the Portsmouth of Joe Jackson, the Mahavishnu Orchestra's more, um, accessible tracks, how jelly in fact is integral to a proper pie, the snobbery once encountered by rugby league players from their rugby union contemporaries, University Challenge's most loveable and detestable contestants, swimming with music, the dangers of water and electricity in flats, how a tiny gust of wind can detune a twelve string guitar, how luxuriant a beard a man should cultivate, the infectiousness of Lucille Bogan's filthy giggling, Brian Eno's love of gospel music, how being ill is a bitch when you're self-employed, how insurance can pay the bills when your heart's in writing about rock n roll, how a glamorous business card trumps a boring one and many many others.
As ever, thanks to Hannah for ace organising and, far more selfishly, for commenting on my weight loss and making my Billy Joel crooning dreams come true.
I left the place with a song in my heart and 117 in my bag; drunk, happy, optimistic. Normally I live in terror of street hassle but last night when someone kicked me up the arse on the way to the tube, I turned around with a robust 'Fuck off' and was, as they say, 'ready to engage.' It turns out the anal intruder was in fact the greatest piccalilli maker in England, Mr Lenny Law- who took justifiable mischievous delight in his 'gotcha!'
I love mingle nights. They are so special and I greatly look forward to the next one.
And the new mingle tradition
of kicking Vorgongod up the arse was invented.
Oh dear
Hopefully more honoured in the breach than th'observance...
It will be metaphoric
We will raise a glass to your arse.
Oh come ON!
Some of you must have sobered up enough by now to post photographs. Lets have all the gossip, a review of Lenny's pie, what Drakeygirl lost this time, London celebrity spotting, etc.
Ahem!
Beany, I lost nothing. Apart from a little bit of dignity when singing My Boomerang Won't Come Back with Martin Simmonds and Stick.
In fact, as Carly Simon attested in her song Karma-ing Around Again, I was able to repay the fates, after a "refreshed" woman on the train near me left her phone on the seat when she hopped out. I took it home with me (a couple of stops along the line) and after a bit of detective work using her contacts (i.e. ringing "Home"), we arranged for her to pick it up this afternoon. One happy stranger - and a chance for me to play the Good Samaritan like the lovely mystery person who handed my iPhone in to Lost Property when I managed to leave that on a train on the way back from a mingle.
I didn't spot any celebs in London. But on the way back to the station I did see a 20-year-old bloke walking along the street wearing ridiculous jodhpur trousers, carrying a manbag and smoking a pipe. So he must have been famous, right?
As usual, a tip-top night, talking to tip-top people - familiar faces and new - and having a tip-top time. Roll on May 4.
Oh, and Vorgongod? From now on, I am so going to kick you up the arse every time I see you.
At all future Mingles
I hereby appoint 10.23pm as "Kicking Vorgongod up the arse time". We could all form an orderly queue.
Sorry Vorgs. You know I love you really.
Well at least you've moved on from talking...
...bollocks! :-D
(*Reference which Hannah or someone else can explain...)
just call me artie
Oh my.
What have I started?
I'd like to apologise
in advance for anyone psychologically scarred by the Michael Elphick track on my CD
As always, hope all the illicit DVDs work, LMK if any don't.
Lovely to see you all!
Hope to see you at the next mingle, Friday 4th May.
Hxxx
I Exist!
As was finally proved at the Most Marvellous Mingle on Friday! Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming and lovely.
PS Yo, man.of.soup - please let me know where I should send the invoice for my evening appearance. Thank you very muc-oops.
Cheque's in the post
Glad you enjoyed it. I did all the more once you turned up and the "invisible rabbit" comments died down a bit (cheers, Colin!).
(BTW: £4.79 for a burger?? They're taking the piss.)
While I'm here, thank you to DFB for the excellent XTC DVD and for whoever did the "Power Pop and Flower Pop" CD (Richie B?) which started with THREE of my favourite songs and got better from there (Neal Casal - new favourite thing).
Thanks also to Lenny for the pie (which was brilliant) and Hannah for the insanely addictive chocolate crunchy thing.
Thanks to everyone for a fab evening. Really enjoyed talking to the people I managed to talk to. Sorry for not boring the arse off even more of you but there just wasn't time. Special thanks to Helena Handcart and Milkybarnick for educating me about the existence of helium sharks (I may have hallucinated that?)
Also, I especially enjoyed the conversation with Colin H where he managed to lead literally EVERY subject back to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Colin, you're a star!
Funny you should say that, Soupy...
...it reminds me of an incident involving the Mahavishnu Orchestra when blahblahblahblahblah... [drones on endlessly; widespread consultation of watches; surrepticious sound of people moving doorwards...]
Actually Colin
I was a little disappointed on Friday. We had rather a succinct conversation about the MO. I was expecting it to go on a bit.....
Devastated to have let you down, Leedsmeister!
...hopefully this 15 minute slab of Calvin Weston's 'Treasures Of The Spirit' MO tribute act will go some way to allasying that overwhelming sense of disappointment, let-down and dismay.
Just imagine, we could one day aspire to this repertoire at a mingle - Hannah or YTDS on keys, Shane Pacey or Stick on guitar, Markavishnu Ellen on bass, Carol From Luton on violin and, er, somebody else (let's say Heppo for sake of argument) on drums...
I'll put that clip
in my diary and watch it when I have a slot :o)
It did happen...
...and that was purely from Helena - I was as astounded (and excited) as you that such a thing exists. Brilliant!
http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/19681541/AirSwimmers-Remote-Contr...
(Probably available from other places too)
My Remote Controlled Shark needs
duly met! Thank you kindly.
Good to see everyone again...
thanks for all the lovely comments, advice and support for my Retro Man Blog and new Retrosonic Podcast...very much appreciated! Particularly Colin H, Mark, Alan, JoeR, Phil Pirrip, Vince, Leedsboy, Drakey, MikeH...sure I've missed some out but thanks!
If any of you fancy a trip to the seaside on March 17th then bring your buckets and spades to Southend-On-Sea as I am putting on the Len Price 3 at The Railway Hotel with our very own Mr Mondo DJ'ing. It'll be a mini-mingle of sorts as some kind Massivers are already getting their kiss me quick hats and inflatables out of the cupboard to join us!
Unfortunately, it would appear that my next special event at The Half Moon in Putney with The Len Price 3, The Past Tense and Leedsboys' favourite band, The Jetsonics, is on Friday May 04th which seems to coincide with the next London Mingle. That's a shame as I was ably supported by a nice bunch of the Massive at the last one and your presence will be sorely missed!
Anyway, another enjoyable night out and thanks for Dave Dog Faced Boy for the lift home - hope you made it through Slough intact!
Retro Man is right.
The Jetsonics are my new favourite group and very good they are too. Highly recommended and probably the only reason I would miss a mingle (except for my kids birthday party which was why I missed the January one).
Wot, no Pics?
Is there some mass conspiracy to stop us non-attendees from getting a flavour of what took place?
I'll be starting rumours of a clique.............
We talked about this at the lodge meeting
We have uploaded them but to our special London massive web portal. If you need to ask for the web address, then you can't have it.
Top of the Comps
Another fab Massive Mingle (a Mangle?) - with a stackload of stash bagged. I'm just ploughing through Richie B's excellent Power Pop selection box and Dog Faced Dave's Illegal CD...
If the guitars are out at the next do - I'm good for a run through on Tainted Love (non 12" edition)
And if you're around and about Southend way on the 17th March - come on and shake a leg hereabouts
It was great
And apologies to MilkybarNick for shouting your name out loud when someone asked who you were! Enjoy the CD if you have a copy.
No need to apologise!
I think I might've got you mixed up with Joe R above - so apols for that.