I want to start this week's blog by saying a very big thanks to my very good friend mr Rustan Lefin. Although he gave me the real bad news this week that he would not be coming skiing next winter, he did, some time ago invite me to become a member of the SPOTIFY community. Of course, being me, I never got round to it and he had to send me a second invite. And of course I didn't get round to that either. So on Thursday I was doing a bit of de cluttering in my email box and I found that old invitation. So I downloaded SPOTIFY. very soon I was shelling out the £9.99 monthly membership fee to access the 320kbs downloads to improve the already good sound quality. The trouble is with modern life that there seems to be so little time to access and so discover new music. A thirst I have always had as I soon become bored with most stuff I get into unless it really is of great, enduring quality. So SPOTIFY seves up a constant supply of new music tailored to your taste. For example, I wanted to see how much BRAND X stuff they had. Quite a lot as it happened but nothing I had not heard. So I clicked on the 'related artists' tab. WOW. Lots of bands playing BRAND X type music. Rather than labour through all the new stuff I have been listening to,(if you are interested that is) have a look at the list on the right of the blog for the artists spilling forth and give them a listen.
So, a good piece of work on Thursday was followed on Friday by an invitation to The O'Donnell House for dinner. Of course John 'I'll go anywhere for a free dinner' Darley was invited and of course forgot the afters he promised to bring last time. I brought the starters. Liam didn't appreciate our tin of John West smoked muscles. Trish and I did. Well, if you wait for O'Donnell to serve up the pre-main course snacket, you are likely to have a spider spin a web between your head and the wall!
O'Donnell served up an excellent feast of smoked haddock, veg and .......wait for it.........you guessed it Dofenoir spuds (again)
www.virtualfestivals.com/myfests/index.php?/...potatoes.
All the time of course he was lavishing us with gallons of assorted alcoholic beverages. Needless to say the guests did not make it out and were forced to stay overnight at O'Donnell's Bar and Grill. Trish and I were sensible and hit the hay at 2am. Darley was less so, 6am, reportedly and did not rise until 12 midday.
By that time we had been to Luton, I to buy an amp for the afternoon's gig and Trish to go and gawp at some famous soap star from Emmerdale (wife of Darley, Viv Hope) who was risking life and limb in the local shopping mall, opening a pound shop. I expect as soon as she cut the ribbon she was immediately trampled underfoot by the hordes of chavs Trish reported from her vantage point.
Following the early evening's acoustic gig, The Cheats hot footed it up to our local for the electric sets. This meant we started playing at 5.30 and finished at midnight and an explanation for the bedraggled look in the photo below, taken at the gig and featuring myself and one of Rustan's English mates I met in Goteborg a couple of years ago, now living in the next village. When I asked why the hell he moved back here from Sweden, he had no comment to make except for 'better beer'. Silly sod.
Anyway the weekend finished up with a bit of tree surgery on Sunday. Both the cherry blossoms in the front garden have been given a lobotomy in an attempt to stop their rapid yearly growth. It won't work. Tried it last year, they just laughed at my feeble attempts!
