Out!

So, maybe it's the weather or maybe it's the clocks going forward or maybe just because it's May, but all of a sudden good people are putting on good things to go and see. In the last two weeks we've seen a shitload of good music, for very little outlay.

It all started two Saturdays ago with the Littlest Album 3 launch at The Note, and seemed to steam roll from there. There's too much to go into detail, but here are the highlights:

Tuesday 2nd - the ever-entertaining Scunner and The Glasgow Glambangers at Bloc.
Thursday 4th - Super Puny Humans (author Alan Bissett reading along to the music of Y'All Is Fantasy Island and Zoey Van Goey) at Oran Mor.
Saturday 5th - Popup Films' Music and Moving Image at Oran Mor. Five bands interspersed with showings of experimental films. The films were interesting, and the pick of the acts were A Band Called Quinn and Isa And The Filthy Tongues.
Sunday 6th - Boudica's Ball at Oran Mor. A six act bill featuring female-fronted talent (that could have been better phrased I think). Best for me were Lou Hickey and a soaring set by organiser Colette McKendrick.
Wednesday 9th - WordDogs at The Note. No music this time, but plenty of good stories and the entertainment was top notch. Great to see some old favourites reading new material, including the car-crash punning of Gavin Inglis' "Springheeled Jock" [spoiiiiing!], and to hear readers I've not heard before, like Martin Belk.
Thursday 10th - the last of eight T-break heats, at Tut's. Six bands given 20 minutes each to impress enough to grab a slot at T In The Park. Some great stuff going on here, interesting and varied. Top of my pile were the lush and majestic Miyagi, with honourable mentions to the spikily energetic Miss The Occupier and totally madcap Cider Spiders. I'd like to see more of the Sorren MacLean band too.
Saturday 12th - not an entertainment as such, but our friends Phil, Janie and VV held a party to wave goodbye to the West End. Lots of good craic there, but we couldn't last the pace, ending up plonking ourselves on the sofa with pizza, wine and Eurovision.

What do you think we are, party animals?

And that's it. Have a relatively quiet schedule lined up for the forseeable. Which is a good thing, all things considered.

Monkey Music

Things that have pleased me no end this week.

1/ The Littlest Album launch at the 13th Note. A very eclectic collection of musicians marshalled and organised by Adam from The Plimptons. Some great music, most especially from Only Joe Kane, and we got to play a loud set including a new song. So we all went home happy.

Best of all though is the disk itself. Man, when we first picked up instruments and got a band together in the early 80s, we assumed that if and when we made it the product with our name on it that people would be buying would be vinyl LPs. We dreamed of spinning black plastic encoded with our songs. And I guess that never leaves you. So, cut to 25 years later, and the dream is a reality. The Littlest Album is a thing of beauty. Not just Adam's idiosyncratic, iconic and instantly recognisable artwork and design, but the shiny black vinyl itself. And the best of it is - since I don't own a record player, it'll never get scratched.

2/ Passing it on. No not the lurgie of which both us have been deeply enamoured the last couple of weeks, but ideas, music, creativity. Last night we took our good selves out to catch Scunner and the GlamBangers at Bloc. It's been way too long since we last saw these guys, and had a thoroughly entertaining night (hey, giving noisy plastic toys to the audience is a stroke of genius). And of course the best thing is getting to hear new songs. I particularly enjoyed Scunner's "Cake and Fun" and a brilliant wee song that I believe is called "Monkey In The Looking Glass", which started life as an extrapolation of our song "Spidermonkey" during the Pass The Baton night we did for OxJam last year. I love it when stuff like that happens.

3/ Fitbaw. Got tickets for the UEFA Cup Final. Go me!

4/ The weather's been great, and it lessened the severe disappointment on Sunday of being turned away from Duncan's Ballads Of The Book reading at the Tramway.

5/ Logorrhea : Good Words Make Good Stories is out! I can't wait to get my copy and read, read, read. You should too. Go buy it!