Hello and Happy New Year to you, regardless of when you read this!

As you’ll see there’s been another long gap between the last post and this one. All very hectic round here at Omneo Towers.  The holiday period passed without a hitch i.e. no injuries sustained whilst socialising and plenty of rest was had, which is why no blogging was done, very little tweeting either truth be told! continue reading…

I know what some of you must be thinking. Where’s the update on what’s happening in Manchester? For those new to the blog, I fairly regularly have a post on what is happening music wise in Manchester (and occasionally beyond) mainly down to the diligent work of James over at Example Magazine who keeps me up to date with releases.

The problem is there is so much happening and I’m such a lazy sod most of the time that by the time I’ve sat myself down to update the blog it’s old news.

In an effort to get myself up-to-date I’ll cut back on my waffle and just let you know about what tracks are available either right now or in the very near future. If you like what you hear be sure to follow the them on Twitter and Facebook as you’ll find out whenever they have gigs lined up elsewhere. I guess in ye olden dayes they’d have had all that on their MySpace but is anyone other than Tom still using it? continue reading…

Earlier this year I went to WOMAD, my first proper festival where I helped break a World Record. By proper I mean it involved music, tents, portable toilets and pneumatic drill-like snorers who park their tent inches away from the one you’re in.

It was a great experience and one of the acts I was fortunate to witness was The Boxettes, a five piece all-female acapella outfit with the most amazing beatboxer in Bellatrix. I’m guessing the fact she is the current female world beatbox champion might explain why she is so good but hey, what do I know?

What I do know is I had pencilled them in as a maybe on the guide but that afternoon Sonia and her daughter (the girl) had taken part in a workshop that the Boxettes had run having just arrived from Austria of all places!

After Sonia & the girl raved about the workshop and the girl demonstrated her new-found beatbox skills I crossed out the question mark I had placed in the guide and circled their name instead. The Boxettes were hugely impressive and incredibly friendly on stage which made me slightly regret not going to the workshop however when I think of how embarrassing it would have been to attempt to beatbox in public, the feeling of regret was very fleeting.

So, you can imagine that when I found out that the final Last.fm Presents Live Fridays in 2011 would be headlined by The Boxettes there was a smile on my face. I should mention that this will be the final Last.fm Presents Live Fridays event to be held at The Garage, from January 2012 the venue changes to the HMV Forum in Kentish Town.

Support on the night will be provided by Clement Marfo & the Frontline, Daley and Stooshe as well as the ever present Last.fm DJs. Ticket inc. booking fee are £11.50 however before you reach for your debit card why not enter my competition to win a pair of VIP tickets? continue reading…

For several months I’ve been quite literally lusting after a bag from Tusting. As someone who has a cupboard full of bags, suitcases and holdalls in various sizes and styles discovering their site was quite exciting and it’s only through sheer willpower and determination that I haven’t already ordered a bag from them. I put this down to being unable to decide between the Clipper or the Melchbourne. Of course there is also the £300+ price tag attached to each bag that makes me stop and think twice each time I reach for my wallet.

However I felt unable to resist this week when I noticed how to take advantage of a promotion with Boden. They stock the Tusting Clipper for £300, £30 less than Tusting themselves. However their current promotion is 15% off if you spend over £120 meaning you get the Clipper bag for only £255. Suddenly it was much easier to decide between the two bags; did I want to spend £325 or £255? Yes, you guessed it, the cut-price Clipper should arrive on Monday. I’m embarrassed to admit I’m looking forward to it.

What I’m not embarrassed to admit however is how much I like Fisherman’s Friends. You may recall a while ago I blogged having a general moan about spending one weekend feeling rather poorly and generally sorry for myself. If you missed it I wouldn’t say you missed much but feel free to have a read.

One person who did read it was Janita who dropped me an email and suggested a Fisherman’s Friend might be just the thing to ward off those commuter colds. When I saw the name, Fisherman’s Friend, it was like a deja-vu flashback. continue reading…

Blogs are a bit like buses; there’s an indeterminate time between them so you’re left waiting an age for one to come along and then KAPOW! another follows right behind it. This is the one behind and as there’s no competition in this one it’s more KA than POW!

I hadn’t actually planned being home to blog tonight, for a week or so I’d been counting down to tonight as Peter Doggett was giving a talk at Foyles about his new book on David Bowie during the 70′s.

I guess because I was born in the 70′s the music of the time subliminally ingrained itself in me. It wasn’t too unpleasant a situation although it wasn’t until I was in my late teens before I could listen to certain Bob Dylan tracks as I’d grown up listening to a family member strangle each note to death when he was learning to play guitar.

However, I tip my hat to him because he persevered. Playing by ear he’d listen to each track he wanted to play and then repeat it over and over until he’d perfected it. I, as you can imagine, would have given up long before then, much like I do when I tell myself I’ll learn a language. Result? More teach yourself books than Waterstones and an ability to count to ten and perhaps say hello and goodbye in 6 or 7 languages.

I would say the same is true of the saxophone however that’s heavily influenced by the fact it’s a noisy fucker and as I can hear the people upstairs chop vegetables you can imagine what the sounds of someone crucifying Oh when the Saints go marching in sounds like. Yes, it’s true I did spend £240 importing a mute case from France but by the time I get home from work and eat I’ve no desire to spend 15 minutes just getting the thing ready. Anyway, I digress… continue reading…