Back in 1980 I lived for about 6 months in St Neots, near Bedford. One day I got chatting to the bloke next door who told me he worked for a record company, namely A&M, who of course were riding high with The […]

I’m detecting a general swing to the right here

Gigs: 2 at my local folk club. The Peterloo show by Pete Coe, Brian Peters & Laura Smith didn’t do it for me at all. I put that one down to “supporting the club”. […]

Single: I’m pretty sure it was Daydream by The Lovin’ Spoonful, which I bought at a second hand stall in Smithfield Market in Belfast. The B-side was an instrumental called Night Owl Blues that was my first […]

Live

I made my first visit to Shrewsbury Folk Festival and was very impressed. Having said that the weather was fantastic and I found myself a few times thinking that it would be a different story it is was […]

I was left wondering how I’d never previously heard of Ledisi. I thought she was fantastic and made it look very easy

Prior to joining the Doobies as a dep during regular bassist’s ill-health John Cowan had his own bluegrass band who were big on the bluegrass circuit. I saw him many times at Merlefest in the noughties. He played […]

For me July means Summertyne at The Sage Gatehead. I try to go every year with a few of my oldest friends, and always enjoy the whole experience. Highlights this year were: kd lang performing Ingenue. Absolutely […]

Apropos of not very much, I told a mate of mine that Mrs B and I had done the Beatles Homes Tour and had greatly enjoyed it. He’s the kind of guy who knows lots of random stuff and he told me that Menlove Avenue […]

I was front table centre for this! Who knew there were 2 Afterworders in the house 🙂 I’ve seen them 5 times and this was the best. The new material sounded very strong IMHO

Like many I have been impressed with his CV and his pitch for the top job. The problem is that he voted Remain, which I suspect means he has no chance whatsoever.

Mrs B and I have been front row first night patrons at our local am dram (Summerseat Players in Ramsbottom) for about 27 years. It’s currently producing very good work and getting very good houses too. I got […]

Hey nick

Good to see you back. I still regularly cook one of your Word recipes: Chicken & Prune Splat, correctly described by your good self as Super easy, super tasty

About time. In 19 days time it’ll be June, which is like, er, summer! Spring seems to have passed me by somehow

I’m similarly finding it hard to feel sorry. Third time? He’s clearing not learning from his mistakes. Plus he can conveniently blame “the suits”, as that means he doesn’t have to blame himself

I just finished listening to this and enjoyed it very much. The bit near the end where Pencil describes how he decides what a commissioning client wants describes my experience exactly. I met him and the lovely […]

A long month I think. I managed to pack a fair bit in
Live: Court & Spark – The Joni Mitchell Songbook at Darwen Library Theatre. I was intrigued by the idea of this as the Joni songbook is both wide-ranging […]

My mate and I were active participants in the Bury Times League about 20 years ago. We were good at it too as he had an excellent general knowledge and I just knew lots of random stuff. At my wife’s suggestion […]

Fab fact about Mothership; 3 of them (guitar, bass and keyboards) play in a very good Joni Mitchell Tribute act that I saw in early March. The guitarist had about 10 guitars on stage, which was a bit of a […]

That Fish article paints a brutal picture. I would think the David Hepworth line of “either a lot less than you think, or more than you could possibly imagine” still applies to musicians’ earning. But mostly the […]

Like several people on here I’ve been listening to my Talk Talk CDs since the news of Mark’s death. I was listening to The Colour of Spring on Sunday Morning and thinking what a great album that is. I came down […]