Starstruck again

Considering my recent post about the forthcoming Magic Band tour, you'll understand just how excited I am by the fact that for the past two days I have been in email conversation with John French, vocalist in said band, and drummer in various incarnations of the Captain Beefheart group.

I never imagined in my wildest that Drumbo would become a VP interviewee, but that looks almost certain now.

A moment of great pride for me as a fanzine writer, and certainly as a fan.

Should thank Dave Jones I guess, without his sampling of Beefheart's 'Sure Nuff N Yes I Do' on his band Screeper's 'Can Fever' track (which our old label Elastic Fiction featured, with great pride I might add, on our first tape release back in 1998), my exposure and ultimate fascination with Don Van Vliet's music may have taken a great deal longer.

My best mate Dekx plays with his Jones' band Autons now, and apparently a new version of 'Can Fever' is played live. Good to know quality always bubbles back to the surface.

A new desire, possibly shortlived

Seems I have itchy feet, despite the abundance of records coming into the VP villa which I'm barely keeping on top of.

Listening last night to the opening track 'Four', on the eponymous Billy Childish produced A-Lines LP on Purr, I suddenly decided that I really need to become a singer in a scuzzy garage combo. I think I could pull it off.

Mind you last week I was contemplating how to get me some DJing slots at gigs (I make no pretence that the tunes I would want to play would inspire dancing, so I'd have to be a 'between-bands' background DJ). A great deal of the fantastic records I've been sent recently are burning a hole on my shelves to be honest, desperate to hit more ears than mine. Hopefully I can somehow give them that chance.

There's a lap-steel guitar in the house that Jenny gave me 2 Christmas's ago that I've not had chance to have a go at either.

I'm also still mulling over putting on a gig or two.

And I complain about there being too few hours in the day now!

Heart attack fodder?

Good job I've given up booze and fags really.

Persil at the Cavern

Had Persil camping with us again from Sunday to Tuesday (although I was away on my work training course, leaving Jenny to entertain them on the Monday night, arenlt I considerate).

Reason being their stay in the UK was extended after the Wedding Present tour to enable them to play a few dates with Melys which included a date at Liverpool's Cavern Club on Sunday, and a free day following. They were now slimmed down from four bodies to two as the nucleus of David and Martine experimented as a live duo for virtually the first time, thereby playing more of their electronicy stuff.

A review will occur on VP when I can get my house in order, so much going on, but here's some pics from the Cavern show.

Polite request

Comedians! Social commentators! The general public!

We now all know what 'chav' means.

You don't need to use it in every other sentence any longer.

Thank you for your time.

Magic! Band!

Fantastic! I am informed the Magic Band are coming back to the UK this summer.

Thier show at the Highbury Garage last June was just sublime and I toyed then with going to the Leeds show at the end of the same week.

Probably best I saved the cash, as I'm really looking forward to this.

I took delivery in January of a Magic Band DVD but as yet it remains unwatched simply as experiencing these things tends to work better when in the company of another enthusiast, so am saving it for my next visit to Chez Dekx. Looking forward to that immensely.

Getting hold of this DVD took an absolute age, as I first picked up the flyer at the June show last year and then waited 7 months or so after all the delays to finally get me mitts on it. However as I was one of the first to order, I got my inner inlay card thing signed by all the band, although I had to wait an extra month for them to be sent to America and back again, but I could cope with that.

Now I used to feverishly collect star autographs when I was a kid. From running on the fields of play after county cricket to writing to Southampton football players with questionnaires (that would never be published, obviously) to bugging obscure Radio Solent presenters for their promo 6x4's. I still have a lot of these artefacts - which gives me an idea for a new series on this very blog...watch this space!!

It's nice to know that physical maturity hasn't tempered my ability to be excited by these pretty ephemeral things though, although this example is sadly rare. I had to wait for the inlay card to arrive about a month after the DVD, and while I am not likely to ask for anyone's autograph ever again, to get hold of these five signatures was ridiculously thrilling.

Not just for potential identity theft reasons either. The draining of their bank accounts can wait til after the May show. I need them to be able to afford the plane tickets, after all.