TUNEFUL KUALA LUMPUR

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Mr Fixit approaches another deal

Landed at KL after a fairly easy flight. As usual when coming from one climate zone to another, leaving the petrified atmosphere of the aircraft and stepping out into the sauna that is the tropics was like being hit with a wet, warm blanket. Malta's answer to Judith Chalmers Ally Hearn and his poor partner Annabel were waiting for us as we emerged, eventually, from baggage claim. From there we were taken to Ally's choice of hotel in KL. Right by the airport, The Tune hotel is a haven for cheapskate travelers. Ally is one such. As we entered our room (sideways) we could see why it was only £10 a night. Papillon had more room in his prison cell and that's the solitary confinement part of the story! Even the addition of a full length wall mirror could not add an illusion of space. The fan in the middle of the ceiling had barely room to rotate. But what the hell, after a few bottles of Tiger beer we were ready for a bed of any kind!

No room at the room

ON THE ROAD TO KL

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Pre flight refreshments Rustan style

It was with a sense of the usual trepidation that we greeted the arrival of our driver Iddon. He had kindly agreed to ferry us to Stansted where we were to begin the first leg of our journey to Kuala Lumpa. The drive there was uneventful apart from the occasional sniff or sneeze from poor Trish who has a cold. I seem to remember she was similarly inconvenienced when we set off on the fateful Wagrain trip at Christmas. We waved goodbye to Gary who is house sitting for us while we are away.

When we arrived at Stansted, a sight I had never seen before fair took my breath away....it was almost empty. It looked as if there was some kind of strike but there was a lack of bodies sprawled out over the floor so it could not have been that. No, joy of joys, our flight with Air Asia was a night flight and we were the last departure of the night. Even WH Smith was closed! We checked in bags really quickly as I had already done it on lie but was a massive queue of fellow travellers who had not. I could not help but wonder why. We were soon sitting in the one place that was not closed, the good old bar. The queue joined us later!

After a couple of beers and a wine for Trish we were boarding. Now here I have to mention the fact that Ally Hearn traveller extrodinaire forgot to tell us that Air Asia was nothing more than a Long Haul Ryan Air but with more comfortable seats Nothing on board was free, and there was no free in-flight entertainment which I for one always look forward to as it passes the time rather efficiently. To obtain this you needed to book a console which showed reruns of mostly American soaps. No movies. Trish would have been in her element. Also worrying was the sight of the cabin crew seemingly praying as we boarded. As it was a night flight we were soon getting plenty of shut eye, which proved to be pretty good in-flight entertainment.

ALL MIXED UP

-Just what we wanted

It was with interest that I read my good friend Jill Taylor's blog today. She had been waiting for a few days on the delivery of a new sewing machine. It came later than she was promised but when it arrived she was so pleased with it and sparked it into use straight away. Similarly I was waiting too, for a new mixer for The Cheats to replace the old one which sounds as if it is on it's last legs. We ordered it last Thursday and a Friday delivery was promised. So it was with relief that I opened the door to my neighbour Gary who announced he had taken in a delivery for me.
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As soon as I saw Gary coming towards me with a parcel the size of a DVD player I knew something was wrong and all my carefully laid plans to have it delivered on a day when I don't work were as nothing. I should have known better. Now the correct mixer is the size of a small suitcase and I knew what I had ordered was right so what was this? I freed it from it's bubble wrap. The box it was in turned out to be twice the size of this mixer. Here...take a look at it resting on my coservatory sofa.

-A phone call to the suppliers gear4music (be warned) followed. Of course their Customer Service department was 5p a minute but they rekoned without one of my favourite websites http://www.saynoto0870.com/ and I was soon being told that 'the picker does not know much about mixers'. I resisited the temptation to suggest maybe the 'picker' to stick to removing the contents of his nose. Anyway, they collected the rogue item and assured me the new one would be delivered on Monday, a day when I would not be there. Now that's another problem then.

SATNAV SENSATIONS

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Britannia Stadium

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I have spent this weeked taking part in one of my least favourite activities and that is driving or being driven. How I hate it. I especially hate city driving followed closely by motorway driving. So a Saturday spent motoring to Stoke and back and then to Charlton in south London on Sunday was beyond the pale. However, there was at least a plus side to both trips,....... eventually.....We got home safely!
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The trip to Stoke was of course to see the Premier League game between them and Super Spurs. I went with some trepidation as to go all the way up there and return empty handed was too terrible to contemplate. Nick did the driving thankfully, which eased the torment somewhat. The rain was persisting most of the way there and we were pretty much dependant on SAT NAV to get us past the inevitable delays on the journey. What a great invention that is too. At least you can't really get lost with one of those, which for me was one of the absolute worst things about driving to another place. -

Nico's SATNAV working fine!

In London today I realised that they are not infallable when after emerging from the Blackwall tunnel we lost the signal for an instant were without guidance and took a wrong lane. The software then recalulated the trip using the next 'convenient' route. We ended up in gridlock mayhem on the North Circular. Not the best way to spend a Sunday.
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Stoke were well beaten by Spurs in an exciting game thanks largely to Stoke striker who looked as if his own personal SATNAV had malfunctioned as he fired over from close range with the goal at his mercy. But moment of the day was to come at the Harlington Performs quiz, which we really had to fly down the motorway to get back for. In our team was The Iddon Family. Nick, our driver, Jane, Nick's wife and son Tom and his wife Amy.
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Over the evening Iddon senior consumed a fair amount of beer and was beginning to look the worst for wear. He also began to speak louder, either in answering questions or taking the rise out of his son. It was during one of these interludes when Jane's personal SATNAV went AWOL as well. As she was admonishing Nick for speaking too loudly, fooling about and 'drawing attention to himself as usual', she reached forward across the table and in one deft yet fantastically snychronised moment, tipped the entire contents of her wine glass over the table and more importantly, him too. It made a hell of a noise as well Priceless! You had to be there.

MAIL ME

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A whole week since the last post and it almost feels like that is playing somewhere as well. The drizzle is coming down, and we are making the long trek to Stoke tomorrow and I have an uneasy feeling that we will return empty handed. The last time I visited Stoke's Britannia Stadium was a mere three years ago to watch Luton get a creditable 0-0 draw in The Championship. How times have changed! Then we have a quiz to look forward tomorrow night at Harlington Village Hall, where I personally will spend most of the evening ignoring a certain Kay Ratcliffe, a newly aquired hobby.
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Following the cinema visit on Friday last we were again at The Lane with Nick and Mike to watch a fairly comfortable if not inspiring 3-1 win against Blackburn. In the evening we to be found at The Jitlada Thai restuarant to celebrate Jill's 60th. birthday. It was a really super evening, especially as I was able to meet up with my old mate Dave Panther who I really don't see as much as I would like over the years.
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OK so what's with the picture at the top of the page? This weekend also sees the release of a new compilation from Pilgrim Studio. This time it's mail order only and by that I mean e-mail order only. It features music from The Walter Trout Powerhose Trio, Acoustic Ladyland, Nada Surf, The Doves and Steve Stills to name just a few.
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If you want a copy then it's up to you to let me know by sending an email to request one. The reason for this is to prevent me sending discs off into oblivion. At Christmas I posted at least 15 Christmas CD's around the globe almost without reply. Tod, Goran and Rustan have sent their own CD's back but I think that is a small return. Years ago in the age of cassette I used to receive perhaps two or three a month and it was always great to get them. Goran was the chief contributor, this time last year when I transferred the cassettes to my hard drive I realised just how many he, chief among others sent out. It's not difficult folks. I can still play cassettes too!
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It would be great to start this up again with my good friends. So if you want one let me know mailto:j.scales@ntlworld.com

3D OR NOT 3 D THAT IS THE QUESTION

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The latest movie hysteria surrounds the James Cameron film 'Avatar'. As many of you know science fiction is my thing and I don't mind a bit of science fantasy either. So following rave reports from friends Iddon and Dawson, I decided that I would go and see what all the fuss was about. I must confess, during my last visit to the cinema, I saw a trailer of said movie and was not convinced it looked anything more than a computer generated children's fantasy. I am a bit fussy when it comes to sci-fi. Time travel is my favourite and of course Star Trek is the best. Movies have been few and far between in their appeal. 'Alien' is my all time favourite, a series that went rapidly downhill with every sequel. The original, on first viewing, will always take some beating.

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Trish and I turned up at The Galaxy in Luton on Friday anticipating a cinematic treat. We were to be disappointed. In true Lotonian fashion they had decided to only show the 2-D version. The ensuing two and a half hours were thus pretty boring. Trish actually fell asleep as our hero woke up from hyper sleep upon arrival at Pandora. There was still two hours and 25 minutes to go at that point! Allegorically it was a familiar and depressing tale of conquest for treasure. A hot topic here on Earth as far back as you care to mention. This time it was in 2-D on a breathtaking world first conjured up by Roger Dean on various album covers in the 70's and 80's! There was the usual bad guy who wanted to destroy anything that lived and would do anything to achieve this in true Jarhead Marine-Like Gung-Ho cigar chewing fashion. Of course he was to meet his demise in a one -on-one showdown with our hero and his eight foot piece of alien sex-on-legs.

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Roger Dean's Floating Islands. Look familiar?
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I could not get away from the fact all the way through the film that I was watching computer generated characters and although it was superbly done, I left the cinema thinking 'so what?' But as Dawson and Iddon have since pointed out, it would be crap in 2-D and only 3-D viewing would bring it to life as a spectacle. This led me to consider an interesting question. Those ancient Egyptians must have had a pretty boring life. All that 2-D living!

HELLO AGAIN PETER

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Quite a busy week this week. two gigs so far and both at the excellent STABLES venue in Milton Keynes. The place only holds about 350 or so people so it is an intimate venue where you can see and hear artists in comfort. There is a well stocked bar and you can take your drinks into the audotorium. Set up by the late Johnny Dankworth and Wife Cleo Lane, it's well worth a visit and they get some pretty good acts there.

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One such was playing on Tuesday night - the legendary bluesman Peter Green. The place was jam-packed to witness Peter's performance and they were not disappointed. I last saw him just after he left Fleetwood Mac in the early 70's at Eel Pie Island, I think it was, in London. He fronted a four piece band then and it was a six piece on Tuesday. A second guitarist has been added, plus a sax player and keyboards. Peter does a B.B. now and that is that he sits down for the whole time. His contact with the audience is minimal. Indeed he seems rather embarrassed to be on the stage at all. He shuffles on and off with a small wave to the crowd.
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However it is his guitar that does the talking. As it always has. He treated us to some new unfamiliar numbers, some familiar ones from post Fleetwood Mac days and of course some classics. Three in fact:- "Oh Well", "Albatross" and the song almost everyone thinks Santana wrote "Black Magic Woman". He didn't really 'get it on' and at his age and with his previous drug consumption and related effects thereof, I didn't expect him to. But as I pointed out to Trish, a great guitarist is one whose style you recognise immediately and one which others can't really emulate, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, B.B. King, Santana, Zappa for example. Peter has his own and he borrows from the greats as he goes.

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For me, the best of the night were the aforementioned Mac classics, a super "The Thrill Has Gone" but the ultimate thrill was to hear him play Freddie King's "The Stumble". I desperately hoped for "The Supernatural" but didn't get it. That's right Pete, leave em' wanting!

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