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?

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?

It’s a telling sign that I’ve been neglecting the blog when I realise how few posts I’ve done since I told you about the first Last.fm Presents Live Friday gig at the Garage or as it’s Coca-cola ™ sponsorship contract has renamed it, The Relentless™ Garage.

In just 2 weeks it will be time to flock to Highbury to experience The Violet May, The Lysergic Suite with the headline act being Art Brut. November’s Live Friday event will take place on Friday 4 November 2011; doors open at 7pm and can be purchased from HMV Tickets and Ticketweb but read on (or scroll down if you really must) and enter my competition to win a pair of tickets.

So why no blogging? Well, the honest answer is I’ve just been remarkably lax at making time to blog. I’ve been enjoying a period of film watching now I have a bigger display. This has caused me to go through most of the DVDs the kind folk at Stella Artois sent me as well as blu-ray versions of some of my favourite Spaghetti Westerns. I even picked up a copy of Westworld on DVD; I had to watch it again after reminding myself about it after I mentioned it in a blog a few weeks ago.

It’s been a funny week or two of late with lots of quirky stories floating around the news under the usual rubbish such as the Daily Mail trying to find a causal link between Twitter and Cancer so they can run a front page demanding it (Twitter) is banned immediately and all those with accounts get flogged to within an inch of their worthless lives. Pity all those PR ‘executives‘ who have multiple accounts!

It’s also party conference season in the UK, last week it was the Liberal Democrats (given that they are not really either of those two words it’s no wonder they prefer to be called the Lib Dems) and this week it’s Labour who will be turning Liverpool into a bit of a ghost town, other than from political groupies who will probably be fewer in number now that the purse-strings on MP expenses are that little bit tighter than days of old.

The first thing that caught my attention was  the news that Pegasus Global Holdings is building a real ghost town, called The Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This town will occupy an area of 20 square miles, that’s the size of Bristol and house 35,000 hypothetical people. It will resemble a mid-sized American town, complete with highways, houses, apartments and commercial buildings in a mix of old and new styles.

If you’ve been reading over the last few months you’ll possibly recall my posts on the Last.fm and HP acoustic pop-up events that were held in what passed for Summer in London. I was able to make it along to see both Slow Club and Ghostpoet and in between Boxer Rebellion performed in Carnaby Street.

I’ve often wondered why I don’t hear more about gigs involving Last.fm. I vaguely recall things happening over the years but nothing regular. That could be either because there are no events happening or I’m not looking in the right places but as a long term last.fm user I would have thought they’d wanna tell me, or maybe they did and I’ve forgotten? That happens more than I can remember!

Well, from next month Last.fm are bringing Londoners Live Friday, a monthly event featuring a selection of DJs and acts who are chosen by and here’s the good bit, Last.fm users! OK, so you probably already guessed that, after all, what else is that massive database good for if not to find the kind of acts that people will want to see? If you’re even remotely geeky you’ll love the next bit…