A piece of paper from York or: I'm back

Hello there. It's been a while, has it not? A lot has happened - I've been up to all sorts of stuff, but the main thing is that the long-running embarrassment that was my marriage is now no more. Weep no tears - at least these days when she pulls an unpredictable stunt no-one points the finger at me...

Still enough of that. I'm back and I'm blogging again. I promise not to be away for so long in the future. 

Went to see The Long Blondes on Tuesday night. The support was a quite engagingly clever old-skool hip-hop act called Kid Acne. I shall say no more than this: I utterly approve of the fact that Kid Acne can make me laugh at the same time as making indie kids look like Old Man Steptoe with gall bladder problems. They don't like it up 'em, those types.

As for the Blondes - time to grow up and move on, people: they're pulling some excellent music out of the hat with their new direction. The old stuff, as engaging as it sounds, is mono-dimensional compared with the new direction they seem to be heading in. "Century" off the new album was a triumph of an opener, and it pissed off the indie kids no end. That gave me an immense amount of pleasure. Heh.

So what is this new direction? There's still the sense that we are working with the bastard offspring of Eno-era Roxy: and live, they seem to understand the demands of that particular influence very well. However, there's other influences in the mix. A bit of Gert Wilden, a bit of Siouxsie and the Banshees... It's engaging, and it made the material off the first album seem lightweight by comparison.

Kate was a revelation. R. is of the opinion that Kate "can't sing", and that the new material showed her limitations off.  Sorry, Red: have to differ on that one. She's in charge of her role in the Blondes - she handled the new songs with aplomb, and she seemed to be really enjoying the interaction with the Fibbers audience. Not that you can be aloof in Fibbers. After all, it's not the biggest of places.

So all in all, a decent night. Entertaining early on as The Ex Who Won't Let Go decided to text R., which caused hilarity all round, and it got more pleasant as the night went on. Spent the following afternoon back in the Hudd watching "Once" on DVD with R., which is a movie that has got me all weepy both times I've watched it. I enjoy her company. Hell, I miss her and I thought I didn't.

So. The Piece Of Paper. I was going through the pockets of my blue velvet jacket, and I found a folded piece of paper. At first I thought somebody liked me - had I scored a phone number? No. It was a rather perplexing shopping list, evidently compiled by a borderline alcoholic. 

I'd watch Ready Steady Cook if it had ingredients like that in it, mind...