Stage Whisper

Whole week without posting = bad form

My excuse . . have become clinically addicted to MySpace. I'm not proud, but neither can I deny it any longer. It's taking over my waking hours and I even dreamt about it earlier this week.

Come say hi and be one of my select band of exclusive friends (Johnny Nae-mates!) . . http://www.myspace.com/grahammccarey

Or come listen to the wonderful and beguilling sounds of The Recovery Club, fall in love and leave a 20 word review . . http://www.myspace.com/therecoveryclub

Elsewhere . . in the "real" world . . Gav and Frances' wedding this weekend. Gav was my best man (nearly SIX years ago!) and is/was the drummer with theoceanfloor. I am being an usherette in a tartan skirt and my wee girlie's being a flower-girl. Photos may follow :)

Have a nice weekend now.

. . seems to be all the rage to embed a Youtube movie in the old journal entries right now. So - ever a slave to passing fads - here's one to make you smile - the Green Wing approach to coffee enemas, courtesy of the ever marvellous Mark Heap:

Morning...

Noticed this morning, as I was walking down from station to office, that I was one of maybe three or four gents carrying a small and discretely female umbrella. Mine is black with a matte silver finish on the handle - but it's definitely of the female size and style. Or am I wrong in this assumption? Is the oversize golf umbrella the exclusively male preserve of the umbrella world? Any road . . it's the least embarrassing choice from our household - the other two being respectively covered in pictures of Winnie the Pooh and shaped like a cartoon dinosaur.

Elsewhere . . for reasons as yet unclear even to myself, I now have my own MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/grahammccarey). So, if any of you krazy kats have pages too please come and be my friend . . it can be lonely out there . . . .

If you ever have the opportunity to see The Hidden Cameras live GRAB IT WITH BOTH HANDS AND DON'T LET GO!!! : )

They were bloody fantastic last night (at Òran Mór in Glasgow), even better than the last time I saw them . . which already definitely ranked in my Top 3 gigs ever.

Am I exaggerating? I don't think so. One of THE very best and most engaging live bands I've seen. A pure and undilutedly joyful experience. I would defy anyone to watch them without a big goofy grin on their face. I'm often guilty of inwardly enjoying a gig a LOT, but outwardly appearing like I'd rather be anywhere else on the planet. No such problem with these chaps though - they just can't stop moving and grinning, and forcing you to love the music every bit as much as they clearly do.

[EDIT - and, yes, I'm aware that I've managed to represent them with a picture where unusually NONE of them are smiling!]



Supports My Latest Novel I enjoyed more than when I've seen them before. Pretty accomplished stuff, but definitely not very engaging with the audience and unfortunately quite dour when set beside The Hidden Cameras.

A wonderful night though . .

. . that said, I find myself this afternoon in one of those inexplicable black moods. No obvious reason. It's a gloriously sunny October afternoon and I have no immediately pressing worries to speak of. Ho and indeed hum . . . .

Well, my plan to update every day has gone somewhat awry since my PC developed a minor virus situation and has been under IT supervision for lengthy periods . . .

Anyway . . further to my recent post on Vlogs, I discovered today that Jonathan King's 'channel' on YouTube has been suspended because of complaints and he's had to start afresh at a new address. Now . . don't get me wrong here . . I'm not making any claims for the guy's innocence, I merely find his telling of his life story really quite interesting and engaging and I approach it with an entirely open mind. And that's ALL he's doing . . telling his life story. Surely this is one of the strengths of a site like YouTube - to provide a place where you can get your story or your views across unedited and uninterupted . . something which is nigh on impossible via the mainstream press.

I would recommend watching his videos. It's not for everyone but, if nothing else, it's a story of a life told well and entertainingly. The new channel can be found HERE.

Would I feel the same if it was Gary Glitter? . . . . you've got me there!

Meanwhile - it goes without saying - WebCameron lurches along, unimpeded by consessions to common decency.

Just been watching David Cameron's "Vlog". (..this is what happens on Saturday nights once you're a parent!) Needless to say I'm singularly unimpressed. But I'm also amazed that they/he actually think it'll make an impact. Judge for yourself, but as I see it . . either (A) he's genuinely SO disorganised and unprofessional that he can't set aside time to record a proper, uninterrupted Vlog in his sumptuous study and chooses instead to try to film one during a 'hectic FAMILY mealtime'; or (B) it's false and contrived. Either way would yr trust the bugger?



Far more engaging (I'm very surprised to see myself writing..) are Jonathan King's Youtube diaries. I'm not saying he's won me over and I now regard him as a saint and will now campaign tirelessly to see his name cleared . . . but it's hard to deny that he's a great communicator, and I do find myself listening (if ONLY it were audio-only!) with a very open mind, AND tuning in again for successive instalments . . something I find unlikely to imagine will happen with "WebCameron"....

Would any of you folks in or near Glasgow be interested in a ticket to see The Hidden Cameras at Òran Mòr next Tuesday? I have one going spare y'see . . .

If you're at all familiar with their music - or even if you're not - I couldn't recommend highly enough taking the opportunity to see them in person. One of THE very best live bands I've seen in recent years. Also on the bill - I think - are Piney Gir and My Latest Novel.

Ticket will only cost you £9 . . or nearest offer if you're super skint :)

[EDIT] - ticket now taken.

What a dull dull day . . .

If you're having as dull a day as me, here's a funny little strip from The Perry Bible Fellowship to pick you up . . .

( The Pacific CouncilCollapse )

( A little aside regarding recently purchased long-playing CDs . . .Collapse )

iTunes help please . . . !

My PC is suddenly refusing to communicate with iTunes - either to download podcasts I'm subscribed to, or to purchase stuff from the iTunes store - says it's some kind of network eror, like there's something wrong with my connection or something, but everything else is working fine. Use Windows XP. Have recently gone wireless and downloaded the latest version of iTunes, but I can't see why either of these things should have affected it.

Any inspired help would be hugely appreciated : )