Off Topic The Review Thread

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Saw Buzzcocks last night, well Steve diggle and 3 mates from the pub, they were all Espiecially Diggle playing rock stars and guitar heroes exactly what they in the 70’s were not about. A 10 minute version of harmony in my head to finish, wah wah pedals and audience participation and guitar solos **** off 3 out of 10 cause I like the roundhouse.
Anyway The Stranglers were much better and stuck to the script playing recognisable songs, but when I say The Stranglers I mean Jean Jacque Burnel and his three mates from the pub, though the subs did a good job, glad to hear pin up not a single but always thought it should have been. I hate tribute bands don’t see the point, and I know some of both bands have passed but felt slightly aggrieved that these almost tributes callled themselves the old names. Stranglers 6/10.
I do like the roundhouse
https://youtu.be/W3Zop8-2M68
 
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Immersion at Cafe Oto:-
Let’s start with the support, a Catweazle type character who looked liked he lived on foraged mushrooms for the passed 40 years. The music (noise) to him sounded like the sweet rhythms of the forests lost civilisations but to the rest of us fungi deprived audience, it didn’t.
Look out for White Sage you can buy albums online??
So to Immersion, a Colin Newman (Wire) side project, Newman has been a favourite of mine since the late 70’s, bought his solo projects and other bands like Githead, immersion is his latest guise, with a member of Githead, now have their third album out. Must say can’t see what Malka Spigal brings to the table, often playing two sometime three bass note through a phase to make dreamy sounds and singing quietly and tuneless whilst Newman holds it all together and sounding very much like a Wire side project, creating a dreamy electro sound of 30 years ago. The new drummer added a lot giving a dreadzone feel. Overall I enjoyed seeing Colin Newman still going but how about a new Wire album please
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Bugonia:-
Lathamos’ latest offering with a similar cast, Emma Sone and Jessie Plemons. I really liked Poor things then disliked “a kind of kindness” in equal opposite measures, so not knowing what to expect went with an open mind. This is a strange and quirky movie with a twist I wasn’t expecting. I really enjoyed Plemons, always under played characters but in such a menacing way, just see him in breaking bad. Emma Stone always good and watchable, no silly but cute dancing this time but she get her head shaved in the film, neither disappoints.
A strong 7
 
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Heard this talked about on the radio yesterday - great idea, and great fun too. Anybody go to gigs these days and missing having a physical ticket to add to your collection? Bored of endless QR codes snd barcodes? Well Tim Burgess of The Charlatans has come up with a great solution....as part of his Merch-Market website (which he set up for bands to sell all their merch commission free) he's added a physical ticket maker. Enter as many details as you can and create your own ticket stubs then you can download and print them out!

https://merch-market.co.uk/ticket-generator

I had a play earlier and made these from old gigs I've lost the stubs for..


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Setlist.fm is a grest website for finding the exact dates...

https://www.setlist.fm/
 
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Steelmonkey said:
Heard this talked about on the radio yesterday - great idea, and great fun too. Anybody go to gigs these days and missing having a physical ticket to add to your collection? Bored of endless QR codes snd barcodes? Well Tim Burgess of The Charlatans has come up with a great solution....as part of his Merch-Market website (which he set up for bands to sell all their merch commission free) he's added a physical ticket maker. Enter as many details as you can and create your own ticket stubs then you can download and print them out!

https://merch-market.co.uk/ticket-generator

I had a play earlier and made these from old gigs I've lost the stubs for..


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Setlist.fm is a grest website for finding the exact dates...

https://www.setlist.fm/
Click to expand...

I was at the Frankie GTH one at the Hammersmith Odeon.
 
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Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV, adaptation of the first Mick Herron novel, starring Emma Thompson, who is magnificent as is Gary Oldman in Slow Horses.

Just like the books, initially interesting and increasingly daft plots, characters who veer from incompetent to superhuman with monotonous regularity, and literally everyone, in every situation no matter how stressful, even impending death, has the ability to spew out smart arse dialogue.

Curate’s egg TV. Just about worth it for Thompson.
 
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Seems to be Richard Burton week in The Sun. Just watched a touching documentary, The Richard Burton Diaries, which documented his disdain for the profession at which he excelled and his reverence for those that could actually write the words that he was asked to recite. He diminished himself in this. A truly great actor.
 
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Stroller said:
Seems to be Richard Burton week in The Sun. Just watched a touching documentary, The Richard Burton Diaries, which documented his disdain for the profession at which he excelled and his reverence for those that could actually write the words that he was asked to recite. He diminished himself in this. A truly great actor.
Click to expand...
In the seventies Burton was interviewed by Dick Cavett on PBS in the States. They got on so well they did it on 4 consecutive evenings. Cavett was a great interviewer who let guests talk and Burton was incredibly eloquent and honest on alcoholism and his upbringing in the Valleys. So eloquent that I assumed it was scripted but Cavett says not. All on YouTube in bite size chunks or the whole 2 hours in one go. Highly recommended.
 
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That Pete Doherty can write some great melodies with clever lyrics and proper song writer. Saw Babyshambles last night at the Brixton Academy, quite a few rangers shirts around. Not a sell out, noisy, sweary support. Babyshambles were a little low key seemingly (to me) not really letting go and not rocking, (perhaps more drugs were needed) but the songs are good enough to make going worthwhile. All the classics were there and a good version of the new “dandy hooligan”, the best white reggae song since the clash. Doherty even welcomed Chelsea supporters, he has grown old but lost some weight.
 
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On BBC1 now is Prisoner 951, the story of Nazanin Ratcliffe and her illegal incarceration for years in Iran.

The first 15 minutes has been entirely in Persian/Iranian/Farsi, which strikes me as ambitious even with subtitles. I didn’t even realise it was on, sitting at an angle to the telly and playing with the iPad, and had to ask ‘what is this?’ when the language eventually filtered through.

I hope it’s good, and shows how grievously this woman was let down by the British government while she was being abused by the insane theocracy in Iran.

But I’m going to listen to some music now, had too much wine to be reading words on the telly.
 
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Trip to the pictures for the first time in ages. Wake Up Dead Man, 3rd of the Knives Out whodunnits at the very comfy Everyman cinema in Stratford. The first of these films was very good, the second a disaster. This one has had very good reviews.

Good fun, like an upmarket much more intelligent Midsommer Murders. Superb ensemble cast with Daniel Craig being the detective Blanc again. Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott and others all given licence to ham it up gleefully but not quite as much as Josh Brolin as the victim, a rogue priest who likes to confess to his many and varied ****s in great detail. Stand out performance Josh O’Connor as the young priest at the centre of the story. His discussions with the atheist Blanc give some added depth but not to the detriment of the daft but entertaining plot.
 
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sb_73 said:
Trip to the pictures for the first time in ages. Wake Up Dead Man, 3rd of the Knives Out whodunnits at the very comfy Everyman cinema in Stratford. The first of these films was very good, the second a disaster. This one has had very good reviews.

Good fun, like an upmarket much more intelligent Midsommer Murders. Superb ensemble cast with Daniel Craig being the detective Blanc again. Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott and others all given licence to ham it up gleefully but not quite as much as Josh Brolin as the victim, a rogue priest who likes to confess to his many and varied ****s in great detail. Stand out performance Josh O’Connor as the young priest at the centre of the story. His discussions with the atheist Blanc give some added depth but not to the detriment of the daft but entertaining plot.
Click to expand...

Didn't know they had made a third - will keep an eye out, did enjoy the first one. As you say, second one not so good...
 
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Had a trip to Wirral to deliver a commission and took in on a stopover in the centre of Liverpool. Decided on a late b’day celebration at Hawksmoor steak house in the city. A pleasant surprise to find that a Monday night you could bring your own wine for a £5 corkage. Next challenge was finding a decent wine establishment in a couple of hours (in Liverpool at 4pm it wasn’t easy) - fortunately found one and was led to a lovely Nebbiolo near the Barolo region.
The restaurant was superb, great ambience even though it was a quiet Monday evening; very good service and a lovely Old fashioned to start proceedings. Had to go for the filet (though was almost tempted by a rib-eye) at 350g it was a beautiful piece of meet and as perfectly cooked as you would expect accompanied with a mash and bone marrow gravy, sprouts and chestnuts and spinach/lemon/garlic. Wine was very good. An excellent meal finished with a fine Black Forest pavlova. Highly recommended restaurant. Excellent all around!
 
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