maleghasty

Well, I'm another year older, for a whole day now...

I had a great birthday, better than I have had for some time, truth be told. I'm not going to do a blow by blow - for those that were there it's all in their memories and for those that weren't it's not that exciting. Suffice it to say there are a few things that I remember:

Using the sprinkling water trick on a barbeque that has paraffin infused charcoal in it will make clouds and clouds of white smoke

Pimms is ALWAYS a good idea

DJ Nick Rock will be sorely missed from The Rising Sun for the next few months while he toils around the club and weddings circuit in Rhodes - oh the poor lamb!

Clutch are a great band - I had always thought that they were good, but I have been informed that they are in fact great.

Girls in corsets are ALWAYS a good idea.

Posh / splendid places are all very well, but I seem to be able to have more fun in the best, dingy, noisy Rock Bar in the whole of the South of England - I do not care what this says about me, it is mentioned in order to remind me that keeping it simple is good.

Too much Guinness makes it hard to walk home, but it don't half feel like fun ;-)

Night, night LJ-Land xx

P.S. Big Love and Big Thanks to everyone who came, and everyone who woulda wanted to but couldn't for perfectly good reasons.

I have just listened to the whole of "The Slip" by Nine Inch Nails, sitting out on my 'front porch' under a warm night sky, sipping a wee dram of Highland Park and marvelling how this man, this artist in the truest sense of the word, can move me and pry the lid off my soul with such candour and genius...

For those of you who don't know, "The Slip" is available for any and all comers to download, legally, completely Free of Charge! (Thanks are due from this blogger to

reznorsedge for the heads up).

There is no doubt that he / the band will make a tonne of money from the upcoming US and presumably European and World tours to follow, and from the limited vinyl edition and special collectors edition of the album that will no doubt follow this 'gift' into fandom, but that's not the point - no finally free of Interscope and his record 'deal' here is an artist, with something to say and something to share that knows that giving his music to his fans as a gift is not only really cool, but is the way to truly embrace the changes that are coming in the music industry. We, the fans, are always going to go to the gigs - listening to the music on an iPod or on the stereo is pretty good, but there is nothing that can replace being there as it shoots from the instruments and out of the PA / Soundsystem and through your body in a glorious explosion of sound, emotion and power, so make the money from that, from the meeting of performer and artist and use the 'record' as the extended advert for the Live experience.

If you want to find out for yourself how good "The Slip" is - and it really is GOOD, then go here:

http://www.nin.com/

in the next few days and get a copy of it for yourself, for free...

G'wan...