That Was The Week That Was

Up The Hoops!

Way-hey! Last week was a bit of a brammer, got up to loads of different things under cover of (at times) some very nice weather. Off work for most of it as well, splendid.

• Started playing footy again last Monday and didn't make a complete arse of myself - many thanks to Breza, Paulo, Fraser et al for their kind attendance. Such care in the community schemes are virtually the only thing these days that can tempt the old fella away from his sofa, the neighbour, and the binoculars...

• Continuing on a football theme, Accies are still unbeaten atop the first division as I type with a mightily impressive 100% record. At last the bookies are now taking them seriously as title contenders but not before old Uncle Mex got his foot in the door at 14-1... Would gladly have toddled along to see them ride Thistle at Firhill last Saturday but was otherwise engaged (q.v.). Also, apparently a couple of clubs from Glesga did quite well during the week and qualified for some European league thing but I'm not quite up to speed on junior football so we'll say nowt more, eh ?
  

• Was in London on Wednesday helping some friends out with research (not on Labrador cloning, Dave) that they were doing but somehow managed to make a total balls up of my main mission... visiting the giant squid on display at the natural history museum. Bugger! I'm going down again to see Rush in October so will have to make a date with it then... what? Stop that laughing at the back!

• Saw a fantastic little movie at the GFT last Thursday, Daft Punk's Electroma. Beautifully shot retro futuristic weirdness with zero dialogue, a DP special wacked-out ambient electro disco soft rawk pastiche soundtrack, and rampant echoes of Westworld abounding. Skimpy little plot, and probably a little too long but I'm so glad I caught it. Modern Sci-fi cinema needs a bolt from left field to kick it up the bracket...

Connect Four

Went to the Connect festival on Saturday up at Inverary Castle by Loch Fyne. Different type of thing from my usual festival attendance habits... but, I have to say, it really was utterly blooming ace. What a fantastically beautiful venue for starters. The weather was a bit single fish but the setting looked arguably all the better for it, the moments of gloom giving off that classic old Scottish melancholic feel with the mist rolling in over the green hills. The crowd was pretty damn cool as well, a healthy mix of gender and ages with a lovely benign and friendly feel about it - T in the Park without the wankers, as one wag on the bus put it. Huge amount of gorgeous indie chicks in attendance, always a good thing for the general ambience. A seriously well laid on event, too, plenty of interesting festival stalls, a great (and wide) selection of food and bevvy, and close proximity to the beautiful little village on the shores.

Anyway, I ostensibly went to see the Moggies near the top of the bill at the end of the night... and they were pretty feckin' sensational as they always are, tho' the outdoor setting didn't really help them out in their mission of quiet-loud-quiet-loud aural destruction as the wind and rain and wide open spaces do tend to get in the way (BTW, much thanks must go to the lovely young folk standing beside me who kindly passed me the bong helped keep the spirits high during the set). Anyway, they were worth the admission price on their own if you ask me so everything else was a bonus...

For the rest of the time, I caught a good old mix of a few other different sounds as well while I was up there. The Divine Comedy were most entertaining and pretty funny to boot, Four Tet with Steve Reid in the dance tent was fairly, erm, interesting (and at least some of the time in a good way), and the Rilo Kiley were way better than I expected any relatively recent NME cover stars to be- I have to say at this point that their lovely singer Jenny has a really great voice and a marvellous set of pins, always a winning combination for me...

Anyway, if it's on next year, I will be back, it's an absolute must. Christ, if they could just huckle King Crimson or Can onto the bill, I'd be in absolute hog heaven. Seriously.

Made with the help of -

Black Sabbath "Asbury Park 1975" (Bootleg) - A glorious racket for playing while on a bus, on the A83, at two o'clock on a Sunday morning. Perfect.