A zest for life, and a reminder of how short life can be

Early summer arrives so its time to make like a tangerine and head for the racetrack.  Last Saturday was the first of the Aintree Circuit Motorcycle Races for this year, so with the sun cracking the flags it was off to the former Grand Prix circuit - yes Aintree hosted the F1 Grand Prix in the 50s and 60s (remember that it sometime comes up in quizzes) - complete with a bottle of Factor 30.

I signed on at 8am, so had half an hour or so to wander around the paddock and take some photos - theres a collection on my Flickr account HERE

This is my favourite photo of the morning, the rider pushing his bike, another having his bacon roll and the general milling about in the background sums up that time of day at the circuit.

At 8:40 it was time to drive onto the track and let the vRS stretch its legs - although it was a very short stretch as I was marshalling at the first corner "Country", so with my 4 wheels safely protected behind a line of trees, duties were allocated and we were set for the start of racing.  Apart from a short stint of 6 races when I was on flag duty on the Railway Straight, I spent the rest of the day on pick up duty at Country, and a busy day it was too.

Our mad 10 minutes came just before lunch when 3 bikes came off together on the opening lap of Race 7, no sooner had we sorted all that out when another 2 did the same thing.  In all we had 8 bikes and 1 sidecar come to visit us, but fortunately nothing too serious, only dented bikes and wounded pride.

As ever on the weekend before the TT gets underway, we had a few riders who will be making their way to the Isle of Man, including a full Sidecar grid.

A fantastic day of racing, and I look forward to the next meeting on 14th June, when with the system of marshal rotation I will be on Village Corner.

Of course the other meeting on last weekend was the NW200 in Northern Ireland, a place I've never visited, but must do so at some point.  The main news coming from across the Irish Sea was of course the accident, and subsequent death of Simon Andrews.  I've only met Simon once, at last year's TT, and he was really friendly, I've followed him on Twitter for a while and whilst most of his posts seemed to be from a hospital bed, as he was accident prone, they were always full of humour and his zest for life shone through.  A sad way to end the weekend.  RIP Simon.

More awful news was to come from the Isle of Man when I found out that a young lad that my sister is housekeeper for when his dad is away on business was involved in a car crash on Saturday afternoon on the Cronk y Voddy straight.  He was seriously injured and was immediately transferred by Helimed to the Walton Centre in Liverpool, but it seems that his injuries were such that he had no chance of recovery and sadly died on Monday evening.  Dosch MacLeod was just 17 with a promising future in the medical profession ahead of him.  I never met him, but my sister always spoke of him and his brothers in glowing terms.  I know his family and friends must be totally devastated and my heart goes out to them.  RIP Dosch.

So this week started a bit numb and subduded.

Next week I'll be off to the Isle of Man on Thursday and then marshalling at the 27th Milestone for Friday practice and all of race week.  Here's hoping for good weather, safe racing and friendships renewed and made.  Until next time and my TT report, be safe and live life to the full - its the only one you get!

Young Musicians, March 2014

I didn't think much about it when I arrived at The Brink to be told, "sorry cold drinks only as the electricity has gone off".  I ordered my lemon & lime and took my seat at the front near the stage.  It's only then that you realise how reliant we are on electricity, of course I couldn't log my chromebook on as it needs a wi-fi connection (which was off), but I always carry my back up notepad and pen.  And then of course if there's no power, there's no amps, or speakers, or mixing desk...

Luckily the first band on, Gump, had some powerpacks in the car, which they kindly lent for the evening, so we could at least have some music, so it was on with the show.

So, first up was GUMP, a five piece band consisting of Sam Jones (Lead Guitar/Vocals), James Redpath (Keys/Piano), Harry Maitland (Percussion/Drums), Freddie Johnson (Rhythm Guitar) and Ben Truman (Bass/Violin/Mandolin).

The lads played a selection of great instrumentals including Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" and Gun N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine"  Special mention must go to Ben who combined bass guitar and violin to give the band a unique vibe.


Next was the first a series of rap artists with Raven McGuire, accompanied by her mates Abby and Craig (beatbox).  I didn't get the titles of her tracks but they all had story to tell so look out for her around the city.  
Got to mention Abby though, she's got a really beautiful voice.  If she's not appearing in her own right she should be.

And with that a Scottish Power man with a spanner had done something with the cabling and behold we had mains power!

A newcomer to Young Musicians was on next with LeeTz - again, with really meaningful lyrics, her track "Run Away" was amazing, a powerful story of a young girl who gets pregnant, and instead of getting the help and support she needs, runs away, but of course cannot run from her situation. Great lyrics, and superb delivery.

 

Next on stage was a young guy I've come to admire over the last year.  I'd always dismissed rap and grime but when you listen you realise it's a unique form of music, more storytelling with a backing track really. 

 

Anyway the architect of my musical conversion is Rosh, an amazing talent - albeit with a dodgy taste in football - who played a few of his own tracks including Shana Tova and Alien.  He finished with a new track Keep Me Down, a collaboration with Kerr and Dominic Dunn, unfortunately Kerr couldn't make it down so Rosh and Dom held the fort between them.

 

We had one last artist on stage with a last minute addition of C2, with a couple of good tracks "Roger That" and "0151".  I've got no details for this guy so I'll add a link when I get them

Another great evening at The Brink and as usual a lot of work done by Dom and David to bring it all together and showcase the amazing talent emerging in our city.  Follow Brink on twitter for dates of the next showcase in April.

 

Young Musicians, February 2014

Dragged myself out of my hibernation box in the loft (I assume Blue Peter still show kids how to do that) to get down to The Brink for the first Young Musicians Showcase of 2014.

Last night's lineup was:

Victoria Goulding (and Jimmy on Guitar)
I really enjoyed her cover of Olly Murs' "Dance With Me Tonight".  Even better was to come with her fantastic take on "Say a Little Prayer", still familiar but unique.  But my favourite part of her set was a tingling slow and soulful version of Sex on Fire.
You can see a clip of Victoria's set here "She Will Be Loved"


Madelaine Kinsella
A return to the Brink Stage for Madelaine, who as well as showcasing her own material takes some familiar songs and turns them round to suit her own style.  For instance everyone knows George Michael's "Wake Me Up", but Madelaine put a completely different arrangement on it and beautifully changed it's focus.
She also included her own composition "Ambiguous" which I heard last time she was at The Brink, and it sounded even better this time round.


Nadine McGhee
Another returning artist took to the stage next, Nadine McGhee, and again you can hear her style maturing and improving, which considering how good she was last time I saw her, is amazing.
Nadine is also good at putting a new and unique slant on the covers she performs but I especially like her original material, and her new song "You Don't Need Me Around" was a totally outstanding performance.
But still, her cover of Birdy's "People Help The People" was perfect and a beautiful way to round off her set
You can get a taste of Nadine's original music on this YouTube clip.


Matty H
I knew Matty was going to be on tonight when his fans arrived with specially made up "I heart Matty H" t-shirts on!
As ever Matty performed an excellent set, and it is noticeable how he is continuing to develop his own, really powerful, sound.  This boy is in demand and you can see and hear why.
He covered amongst other songs "Closer" and "The Way You Make Me Feel".  His fans were going to enjoy his set whatever, but looking around the room everyone else was too, and quite rightly.  My only criticism, and it's me being pedantic, is he performed covers, and they were great and maybe what this audience likes to hear, but I know he has some brilliant original material and he should showcase that more.

If you want to hear more of Matty follow Artist Management on Twitter.


Joe Maddox
Time to up the tempo, I've seen Joe a couple of times now and it still comes as a surprise how huge his voice is. And he's still only 16!

Joe gave us a selection of his own material and covers, including "Take Me There", and then he smashed Jake Bugg's "Two Fingers".  I'm typing this up on Sunday morning and Jake was on the Marr Show earlier, and well, sorry Jake you were good, but Joe was better.
Last week was the anniversary of Buddy Holly losing his life in a plane crash but his music lives on and the timeless "Oh Boy" rang out around The Brink last night as Joe finished with a classic.


Indigo Violet
Contrary to popular, well Dave's, belief, Indigo Violet are not the first band on YMS, that accolade went to The Haze who appeared back in October last year.  For historical purposes though the Haze used a Cajun drum then, so Andy Wells, Indigo Violet's drummer, is the first to wield his drumsticks (that fact will come up in a Brink quiz in the future, so remember it)

The lads performed a song by The Beatles (a famous Liverpool band I think you'll find, Boris) "Come Together", which I last saw performed by the Arctic Monkeys (sorry Boris, they're not yours either) at the 2012 Olympics opening (OK Mr Mayor, you can have that one)
... Sorry, went off on a Londoncentric rant there...
Back at The Brink, Indigo Violet gave us their own song, "i'll Be Gone", and covers including Stone Roses's "Waterfall" and the Jam's "Town Called Malice".

p.s. Dominic Dunn, who waits until I post my blog! now tells me that he ran an event earlier last year and that Bolshy were the first band to appear.  Since I didn't go to that one, I'm going to pretend he's got his red parka zipped up and I couldn't hear what he's saying!

Another boss evening of young and emerging talent.  You need to keep remembering that all the artists on stage are teenagers, their maturity and confidence is amazing, and it's fantastic to see musicians starting out on their career.  I look forward to sitting in my rocking chair in years to come watching TV saying "oh I saw them at The Brink way back when".

As ever there's a lot of hard work put in by Dave Barnicle and Dominic Dunn behind the scenes to bring the evening together, and James (rocking the shorter hair look) does all the techy things.  Still need Brink to fix the stage lights though, the music by candlelight look was so last year, literally :-)

The next Young Musicians Showcase will be in March. Follow The Brink on twitter for details.

Young Musicians Showcase - December

Saturday afternoon saw the third edition of the Young Musicians Showcase at Brink Liverpool, hosted by David Barnicle and Dominic Dunn.

Just the briefest of blogs today as I was also meeting some friends who I hadn't seen for ages, so not typing away during the performances #mybad anyway I've put some video and twitter links below so you can explore and find out more about the artists.

Today's line up was

Niamh Jones
A really cool 16 year old singer/songwriter, check for yourself with this video of Niamh's "Move For Me"

Jamie Clague
Fantastic hair!, and another great performer.  You can see his acoustic "Pistol Slapper Blues" here:

Joe Maddocks
Joe has a bit of the Jake Bugg about him, and performed a cover of "Two Fingers" as his opening number.  He's better of course, cos he's from the city at the centre of the music universe :-) Check out his video for "Days You Were Mine"

Jake & Rosa
A really cool young duo, with a good selection of their own material.  I haven't got a link for these guys so if anyone has let me know and I'll rectify this unforgivable oversight!


Kevin Walsh Jnr (normally seen as 25% of The Haze)
The Haze - check their new release "Oh Francesca" here:
https://soundcloud.com/thehazemusicuk/oh-francesca
- are one of my favourite bands on the Liverpool scene but it was good to hear Kevin's vocals in isolation


Matty Holding
Matty is one of our top emerging stars in the city, and played a good selection of covers and own material.  His latest track "Cause You" is boss!

Eleanor Nelly
And after defrosting from an earlier session on the Williamson Square Bandstand the outstanding Eleanor Nelly rounded the evening off in superb style.  Her own song "One Last Time" shows what a talent she has and she's still just 14!

Anyway, that gives you a taste of the strength of the emerging musical talent that continues to come out of this city; the next Young Musicians Showcase will be along in January. Get yourself along to it!

Young Musicians at the Brink

Liverpool rejoices in a reputation as the UK's Capital of Music.  The musicians of this city collectively have had more Number 1 records than anywhere else in the country.  That is an amazing achievement for a city of less than half a million people.  Its either something in the air or something in the Mersey water that nurtures that talent.  Luckily for the future our young people are proving even more talented, not just covering songs, but writing their own material.  Perhaps its the nature of a place with the historical and social background of a port city like Liverpool that lends itself to telling a story.

On Saturday The Brink held it's monthly Young Musicians Session, organised by Dave Barnicle and Dominic Dunn, with James taking care of the sound desk.

First up was Millie Courtney, just 12 years old, but with a voice which showed amazing maturity for her age, singing her own compositions.  I especially loved her second track "Love Struck".  Millie is heading into the recording studio next week to record the last track she had for us today "Storybook" and you can follow her on Facebook.  And we rounded off with the house in full chorus to wish a Happy Birthday to Millie's Nan :-)

Second on stage was Nadine McGhee, a 15 year old with a haunting style, her first track I could imagine being played as a train pulled out of a station, pulling the couple apart with tears in their eyes.  Her third track was an acoustic cover of Titanium, and she smashed it.  She played a good mix of covers and own material, and one of the latter "Breathless" is also on YouTube:

The afternoon's entertainment continued with Madelaine Kinsella who opened with an acoustic rendition of The Cure's, "Boys Don't Cry" which she really made her own.  We were then treated to a first performance of her own song about growing up - when you get old(er) you forget what a traumatic time your teens can be as you find your way in the world, Maddy's lyrics of "Where's my place again" really resonated.

She then stepped it up with a cover of Arctic Monkey's "Arabella", followed by Peter Andre's "Mysterious Girl" as you've definitely never heard it before.  Maddy finished with her own song "Ambiguous"

Next up was the lad behind the evening, Dominic Dunn.  If you read anything I write you'll be familiar with Dominic and of course his brilliant video "Keep Them Tight"

Dominic opened with another song about boxing "I'm On My Way", followed by "La Vie et Belle", before we all joined in, some better than others :-), with "Can't Take My Eyes Of You".  Back to sanity then with a song I'm now word perfect with... the aforementioned "Keep Them Tight".

Next a singer I've been looking forward to seeing for a while now.  Rosh, a lad who is doing what I thought was impossible and persuading me to enjoy rap and grime.  Here is his video "Demon"

What I like about Rosh is all his songs, which he writes himself, have a strong narrative.  He also mixes in some cool backing tracks which align perfectly.  His song "Alien" used Stings "Englishman in New York" to great effect and his take on "The Power of Love" was a joy to listen to.

Last act of the afternoon was Matty H, another young singer who's maturity of voice belies his age
He opened with a cover of Jessie J's "Who You Are".

Matty's backing track wasn't working so he did an entirely acoustic set, which was the best thing that could have happened, as it allowed us to really concentrate on his vocals.  After a couple of covers courtesy of Adele and Bruno Mars he gave a really excellent version of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" which he owned and gave an insight to how powerful his voice can be.  Matty finished with one of his own songs, and it would be good to hear more of them.  Definitely one to watch

If you want to hear more of Matty or Nadine McGhee, follow Artist Management on Twitter.

As Dave mentioned during his intros, it's not easy for people in their early teens to get on stage and perform, and it's fantastic that The Brink is offering them a showcase in such a friendly environment.

Young Musicians takes place every month at The Brink, Parr Street, Liverpool.  Check out their Twitter or Facebook page and do not miss the next one!

Of Saints and Go Go Boys

Warning: contains Spoilers - If you're going to see this in Belfast on the 16th Nov, you may wish to read this afterwards

Warning: I may use words/descriptions that some of our younger and/or more prudish viewers find distasteful, if that's you go away and read something else.


Perusing the Homotopia brochure I thought "Of Saints and Go Go Boys" sounded interesting, so a quick check if anyone else wanted to go and I was booking tickets for myself and fellow performer Peter Jacobs for last Thursday.  There were only going to be 3 performances - although now I can see why, because you run out of fingers otherwise (more on that later).

Arriving at the Unity Theatre, you were pointed to a poster advising that the show contained Nudity (fine by me), Sexual Content (oh if you must), and Real Blood (what? I don't do blood! what do you mean real blood?).  The guy in the box office said just a little, you'll be fine.  I wasn't convinced!

Anyway up to the bar, met Peter, and then we were handed audience cards, reminding us about the nudity, sex and BLOOD!, and that it was a promenade performance so feel free to walk around and through the set, but don't sit on the furniture or touch any objects (unless told to do so).  They didn't mention not feeding the actors, but as it turns out I wish they had.

We entered the studio space and there followed the usual uncomfortable few minutes that British people have when they haven't been given regimented instructions.  Just stand anywhere, no you don't have to walk around in a single file queue, no we're not forming a healing circle, just fucking move!  Yes there is a naked man lying on the floor, yes you did nearly trip over his legs, no there's no need to giggle.

Anyway, the audience eventually got the hang of their role, and with a change in music, those who'd actually rehearsed their part starting playing theirs.

We were introduced to the three characters, Darling (a very cute Canadian, played by a very cute Canadian), Divine (the Third) and Our Lady of the Flowers (hereinafter called "Fuck Me He's Gorgeous")

Right I'm going to quote from Homotopia now as they are professionals at this sort of thing:

"In an hedonistic world decorated with cheap glamour, three outcasts create their own distorted version of a family as they search for a different kind of Sainthood through glorious self-destruction.... the show recounts the trio's wild and spirited final chapter"

Yep, they did all that, there was plenty of nudity, from FMHG, played by Jordan Lennie; drug taking by Divine, played by Zachariah Fletcher, who was also our shower cubicle narrator throughout the show; all suitably controlled by the cute, if somewhat evil, Canadian Darling, played by the show's creator Joseph Mercier.

The blood came towards the end when a naked FMHG was dripped on by Darling, who having sliced his finger, recounted his father's bull castration technique to a member of the audience, I'd moved around the set out of line of sight for that bit, but what shocked more people came earlier when another patron was called upon to choose whether FMHG got to eat a delicious trifle or a bowl of dog food.  What do you think? Jordan gagged a few times but not as much as the woman standing next to me.

Eventually FMHG (have I mentioned that he was gorgeous?) having been paraded to his fate, was put on a pedestal and we were all given Dollar Bills to attach to his semi-naked body - although British reticence took a few minutes to work out you needed to move to do that.  And with that all three went off to shag backstage.  Well I think officially they went off to die, but I was horny as hell after all that, so shagging fitted into my imagination more easily.

The End

I've ignored huge parts of the show here, but it's definitely one that "you needed to be there" rather than read about, so check PanicLab's website and catch it if you get the opportunity.

To my shame it's the first time I've seen anything by Joseph Mercier, and also the first time I'd been to the Unity.  It won't be the last.  Of Saints and Go Go Boys was challenging and uncomfortable; beautiful and erotic.  And utterly brilliant

p.s. It was Caesar dog food, which is probably more appetising that whatever shite you get in a sausage roll from *****'*

The coal train

Dark morning
Wet streets
I can’t feel the rain
Look straight ahead

Dark morning

I can’t feel the rain.
Turn left
Look straight ahead
First light
I can’t feel the rain

An open gate

Stairs
I don’t count them
Stand on the platform
Wait for the sound
The engine, the wheels, rising
Hauling black diamonds
Walk to the edge
Look straight ahead
Louder
Louder
Just one step
Just one step
Louder
Just one step

 

Stairs

I count them
Twenty Eight
It’s always twenty eight
I feel the rain
I feel the never ending rain