Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Published on Fri 23 Dec 2011

I was back in Dalston on Wednesday to do a couple of songs at the "Folk Modern Christmas Party", mostly because Steve who runs it felt bad that nobody was there when I played last month (including the rest of the acts on the bill). There were about 15 people doing stuff (not just playing - there was unusually effective (and affecting) poetry and this guy who did some hula hooping and juggling, as well as a song)

with names being drawn out of a hat of who was going on when. Which would be a good way of running open mics. Anyway, the room was full of lovely people this time and when it was eventually my turn I played Watertight and Ghost of Paddy's Night Past much better than I have for ages. People said nice things afterwards and I went home happy. Can't ask for much more than that. Apart from maybe a visit from an inflatable Santa. Which we also got.

Wow, it's been quite a while since I had a chance to write - I'd forgotten about the gig at The Living Room, which was a nice evening. First up were The Half Sisters, who were down from a 3 piece to a duo, but you'd never have known it. They were ditzy and fun and because they're sisters and have the same voice could do a really cool double tracked kind of effect by singing in unison. They also had a tambourine with all but a couple of the metal bits taped up to stop it being too loud, which is a great idea. I was on second, and did OK, though the crowd thinned quite quickly after the sisters were done. Apart from anything else, it was really nice to see the guys who run the night - it'd been ages. I did finish my set by kicking someone's water over on one of the lights. I think it survived, but they unplugged it to be on the safe side. Smooth. Setlist (approx): The Ghost of Paddy's Night Past, Watertight, This Place is Dead Anyway, Phosphorus Burn, You Won't Break My Heart, Magnetic or Rhetorical, So Finally a Love Song (which I stopped after a few lines because someone's phone went off), Edinburgh.

Headliner Evi Vine was great - a three piece of singing/guitar, cello, drums/bass/guitar as required, all of which were put through looping pedals at one time or another. Really atmospheric.

Talking of looping, last Friday I saw Rob Jackson's latest outfit The Eloi Cole Collective (named after a man they found at CERN who claimed to be from the future). It's going to feature a rotating cast, but this time was Rob on little synth and guitar, Tony on laptop and Peter Chilvers on iPad and iPod. It was all improvised (the setlist consisted of three modes they were going to stick to) and was really engaging (hypnotic even), even over the Friday night Cornerhouse crowd who were there to see some dubious singer/songwriters.

I also did a last minute Portland thing with Aidy, Flaming June and Eureka Stockade (all of which feature Paul Richards hitting things). Just the 4 songs: The Ghost of Paddy's Night Past, Cold Case (only partially spoiled by the sound guy's decision to turn on some disco lighting about halfway through. Bellend), 60 Miles with a Slow Puncture and Watertight. I had to leave before Eureka Stockade unfortunately, but Flaming June and Aidy were both really good to watch.

We had dinner in a restaurant the other day with the most unusal cutlery I've seen for a while. 

We were surrounded by people who seemed to be on first/second dates. Conversations we heard ranged from episodes of The Simpsons to Dan Brown books (I'm surprised people are still talking about Dan Brown books when there are Steig Larsson books to fill the same need for terribly gripping but terribly written adventures) and back to episodes of The Simpsons. If I'd have realised aged 20 that all that mattered in these situations was saying things rather than worrying about what you were saying I think I'd have had a very different time. I suppose it's obvious really. This guy was in the toilet. It was a bit offputting