The Cathedral City Conundrum

I did the usual fortnightly trip to Sittingbourne this Friday, and afterwards popped in to the Wetherspoons pub for a pint of Nogne O Bitter, (4.5 % ABV) , from a Norwegian brewery, which uses Centennial and East Kent Goldings hops.

Despite being misty in the morning, it soon cleared up to be a fine clement day, warm and sunny. I traversed over to Canterbury to do five visits. I bought another cheap beenie hat , which will be ideal for colder weather towards the end of the year.

I am a little bit hacked off with what is happening just sixty to eighty miles away, considering things in the past, and that due to a fully booked April, followed by the Brighton Festival, my next Northern Lights gig will not be until June. Yet another nail in the coffin of DJ Jazzy D.

I cannot understand how they prefer it when I use vinyl, rather than the laptop, as it makes little difference through heir sound system, except last time the phono cable from the laptop to the mixer did come out a bit causing a bit of crackle, but I have fixed that problem now. Also,if you get a request for a record you haven't got in your bag , then with a laptop connected to wifi etc, you can download it and mix it in with the set. I would still be happy to do vinyl evenings as that is my preferred choice in an ideal world , and I can understand their thoughts on this, as I do seem to get punters wanting to look through my vinyl collection. Luckily I do not carry too many rare items. Most of them would have been born not knowing what a single is, or a 12 “ disco mix, let alone the eponymous albums I use, especially on the jazzier funkier side of the musical spectrum.

However all is not lost. Phil at DCI is warming up to the idea of a disco night on a Friday evening. This could fit in with band nights, or preferably alternate with them. These are just tentative ideas at the moment and need to be discussed and thrashed out, but I am hopeful that we can proceed in such a direction,and it would make sense as I live only a few doors away.

I shall keep you posted if anything comes to fruition and the events page on Facebook.

My tweets

• Fri, 12:18: Gumbo Stew http://t.co/8IwsvjAs
• Fri, 21:53: ff @spotonetwo for top nosh at Chez Timmies
• Fri, 21:54: ff @brightonbulldog for sending stuff that is useful
• Fri, 21:54: ff @DoverCastleInn for providing food not on the menu
• Fri, 21:55: ff @grannyandthekid for lovely tweets and always interesting
• Fri, 21:57: ff @miss_vivienne for being outrageous yet mysterious as an event horizon of a black hole
• Fri, 21:57: ff @EveningStarPub @Beerymatt for lovely well kept beers
• Fri, 21:58: ff @ubuweb for the strange and angular
• Fri, 21:59: ff @ProfBrianCox for making the difficult sound easy
• Fri, 21:59: ff @CPPete a shop that is well worth a visit

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Tamara Drewe

This afternoon I watched the comedy film drama “Tamara Drewe” (2010) , which I had seen once on BBC TV , an adapt ion by Stephen Frears of the newspaper comic strip turned into a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. It is still a wonderful funny film.

The comic strip which serves as source material was a modern reworking of Thomas Hardy's nineteenth century novel Far from the Madding Crowd. Turning graphic novels into films can be a tricky business., yet this adaptation is an impressively limpid, as well as being a compressed and visually textured piece. Here the romantic themes, concerning sensible spouse choice, are undercut by a bawdy appreciation of chaos, mischief and mayhem.

Two hours of wonderful entertainment.

The old drive I left outside soon went. Picked up by the lad next door, who has now left the place, soon to be replaced by his sister , boyfriend and two young children, god forbid.

The clocks go forward this weekend so that the evenings will begin to be lighter and that spring is truly here.