The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Peter Kay at the O2

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Venue:

O2

Date: 22/04/2023

We had a splendid day planned in London which would culminate in a chortle fest with one of Bolton’s best comedians. We started with a cheeky pint at the Hole in the Wall pub at Waterloo. We also wanted to watch the first half of the Fulham v Leeds match (the best half as it turned out). Then in for some crazy golf and beer/cocktails at Swingers followed by a trip to Hawksmoor to hit the express menu (probably the best 3 courses for £31 in London).

Then, on to the main event at the O2 where 3 pints of Bud cost the same as three courses of excellent food at Hawksmoor. We didn’t feel the need.

Peter Kay arrived on stage 15 minutes later than advertised. He inferred that it was the audiences fault for taking too long. We spent 20 minutes listening to him saying garlic bread and then singing tv and advert theme songs. Not the strongest start.

It then picked up a little bit with a section on previous jobs and a few, frankly, dad jokes. Tempered by some jokes based around the famous people his job has enabled him to » Continue Reading.

Uncle Roger

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I know I’m late to the party but my 14 year old son streamed this to the Chromecast tv in our Airbnb and I thought it was brilliant.

ATM – Email Hosting

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I have a personal email address and website package from IONOS. I only use the email really and have accounts set up for immediate family. Overall the service is good but it costs £115 per year and I’m only using the mail function.

Is there a cheaper way to have my domain hosted just for email? Or should I bin it and use my gmail or apple mail instead?

Views most welcome.

USB Audio Interface advice

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My son is getting ok with his electric guitar. He would now like a usb audio interface so he can record himself onto either and apple or windows laptop (he has access to both).

He has found an M Audio M Track Duo on Amazon which looks reasonable. There is also a Beheringer U Phoria for about the same price which looks good.

Any of the budding guitarists on heat used either? And is £50 to little to pay for something like this?

Any advice gratefully received.

Isolation Tips

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Sadly, not a post for the best version of the LWTUA hitmakers classic but a request for things for me watch on Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+ and all of the UK free streaming channels.

It’s just me, a tv and a Roku streambar in a room for the next 10 days it seems.

Thanks y’all.

A Football Poem

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This is marvellous. I know football leaves some cold but Lolo from the Stoop in Brooklyn does a full on Dr Seuss on the majestic Leeds victory against Pep’s boys last week.

It’s worth 5 minutes of your time regardless of your feelings on football or Leeds.

ATM – My 12 year old son wants a gaming PC for Christmas

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Appealing to the massive mind for some advice. My son (12 – soon to be 13) wants a gaming pc. He has a PS4 but, apparently, all of his friends have pc’s and use those for games. I basically don’t want him to have one – I think 12/13 is too young and I think pc gaming is more risky than PS4/XBox environments.

I have no interest in gaming – I have to force myself to play FIFA or GT with him. to join in. I am also way out of the loop on online gaming (I recall Steam being new – I suspect that dates me).

I don’t want him to have a pc in his bedroom and it would need to be set up in another room. I don’t really know how to lockdown a windows pc and I don’t really know how to lockdown gaming.

He is a very good lad but can get carried away. My main concerns is the addictive nature of pc gaming and the level of exposure to the wide world (I perceive this risk to be larger than in the confines of the Playstation Live environment – am I right on this?).

» Continue Reading.

Peter Saville t shirts.

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For those of us that:

a) still wear t shirts and

b) like Peter Saville and Factory

these are pretty cool.

https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/men/featured/ut-graphic-print-collections/peter-saville-remix

Reply All – The Cade of the Missing Hit

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Reply All is a fabulous podcast. The latest episode is about a recalled hit song that is completely absent from the internet. It’s a marvellous listen.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/reply-all/id941907967#episodeGuid=c10be340-e2c3-11e9-be80-433a4bca7122

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/reply-all/id941907967#episodeGuid=c10be340-e2c3-11e9-be80-433a4bca7122

Black Eyed Peas tickets for Hammersmith Saturday 25th October

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My brother in law has a pair of tickets to see the IGAF hitmakers show tomorrow. He has fallen foul of the aviation trades unions and is stuck in Italy so I’d looking for takers. He’s looking at face value only so £50 per ticket. They are stall standing tickets.

Let me know if younger interested (I promise not to put you here). Tickets are located in Hampshire (minutes from J4a of the M3.

Anthony Bourdain

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I have just read the news that Anthony Bourdain has committed suicide. I’ve always liked his work – he was witty, insightful and fun which makes his suicide seem the more incongruous and sad.

Has anyone ever bought tickets quite so far in advance as this?

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On Sunday, I noticed an email from Amazon Tickets about a Peter Kay pre sale starting at 10:00. My wife loves Peter Kay and it’s her birthday next month so buying some tickets seemed like a good idea. After 15 minutes, it became clear I wasn’t going to get any either at the o2 or in Birmingham.

Roll on to today – I noticed and extra dates email and clicked on the link. I managed to get a pair of tickets in the Amazon Lounge (I have no idea if this is good but its her birthday and the seats look very good so I did it).

Two seats for Sunday, June 23rd. 2019!

I’ll admit I hadn’t noticed the year but that was mainly because I had never considered having to look for the year in a ticket purchase.

So, I have bought gig tickets 18 months in advance. Can anyone beat that?

Walking Back To Happiness

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After some sensible cajoling by my wife (having just reached the qualifying age of 50), I joined a football team a couple of weeks ago. A walking football team.

It is brilliant – fun, competitive, inclusive and skillful. But slower and with less vigorous tackling. Banter (I hate that term but you know what I mean) is mostly kind as befits the mature and wise nature of the players. We play for an hour and I can’t remember the last time an hour flew by as quickly as last Fridays game. I am seriously back in love with the game.

Any other walking footballers on the blog?

RIP Billy Franks

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Sad news for those that remember the mighty Faith Brothers. Billy Franks passed away on September 20th aged 60. I followed Billy on Facebook and he was energetic, funny and passionate until the end. He may not have been the biggest star, but he was a talented songwriter and kept on creating and playing until the end.

This is my favourite Faith Brothers song – Eventide.

A Song From The Perspective Of A Cat

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Heard this for the first time yesterday. An intriguing title – Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure but an even more intriguing premise – the thoughts of a dying cat. It’s a quite lovely song – moving and emotive.

How do you take it?

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The threads on music playing devices and iPod classics highlight distinct differences in attitudes to streaming and owning music. Some put sound quality above functionality. Some appear to have not been near streaming services for a while and perhaps don’t appreciate the progress in the last year or two.

I can’t remember the last CD I bought (but it was probably second hand, cost £1.50 and was made more than a year ago). I have virtually stopped buying downloads and am about to cancel my eMusic subscription after 6 or 7 years.

Apple music serves my purposes very well and with WiFi well on the way to becoming ubiquitous, along with cheaper than ever data plans, I don’t see myself buying any physical products anymore. In fact, if I did, it’s more likely to be vinyl than CD. And I don’t own a record player.

Most of this change has been in the last couple of years as my devices become more integrated and the apps become better at dealing with the process of streaming.

People seem to be less passionate about physical products for films and tv with Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer and the like not drawing the » Continue Reading.