Reading mud

Thanks to Baz & Suz for this photo:

Reading Festival report

What a great weekend. Where to begin?
We had a brilliant time at the festival. It was the first time that we have had to wear wellies but the ground dried up reasonably for the end of the festival
We saw around 25 bands over the three days. The sets we enjoyed the most were from 3Oh!3, HADOUKEN!, Delphic, LCD Soundsystem and Foals. But we didn't find any new discoveries, unlike most festivals. We also only made it to the main stage once (what terrible sound quality. We will need to risk going closer to the front next time. But the beer & piss being thrown are serious deterrents for oldies like us). Thinking of oldies, there were plenty of them at the festival, more than we can remember. Perhaps it's the oldies with the money these days?
We had a surprisingly sociable festival too. Not only did we hang out, as usual, with Barrie & Suzie (seasoned rockers) but also met up with Steve the Office (so called to distinguish him from Steve the Rocket Scientist and Steve the Tax Exile) and also George, who texted us from out of the blue.
Real ale was for sale this time, an excellent innovation.

Bands seen this year, with the pithy Collins End summary:
Surfer Blood (a little clean cut and preppy)
New Young Pony Club (good fun but nothing special)
Summer Camp (don't bother. Sorry!)
Two Door Cinema Club (good fun, better live than expected)
The Big Pink (not really developed from last year. Great music apart from an ill judged slow number)
Delphic (absolutely cracking set, wonderful live)
Mumford & Sons (Americana fronted by a young Stephen Fry. But a few really good songs)
Alain Johnson (avoid. Sorry!)
Blood Red Shoes (a little ordinary)
Phoenix (good fun, they develop their songs well for a live performance)
LCD Soundsystem (absolutely fab.Shame the low turn out meant there wasn't much of an atmosphere. Aren't people fickle? It was only 2 years ago that they completely packed out the tent)
Band of Skulls (better than their name would suggest)
3Oh!3 (an excellent recommendation from Steve the Office. Catch them if you can)
HADOUKEN! (cracking set)
Kids in Glass Houses (well, we did manage a coupe of songs before we wandered off)
The Maccabees (set spoilt by dismal sound quality, and the knobheads around us)
The Cribs (good enough for us to pootle off in the middle of their set to seek out an Indian take away)
HEALTH (just about my favourite band. What a set! (but not in a good way...))
Holy Fuck (OK but rather dull & same-y. At least we managed to keep out of the rain)
The Drums (we loved the eccentric front man)
Metronomy (another rather good rocking set from Geoffrey's cousin. Curious lights.)
Kele (Reading wouldn't be Reading without an appearance from him)
Foals (a great set on which to finish out festival)

This only adds up to 23, but that's close enough.

Here's a piccie of B&S, early in the day. You would not want to see the photo of them taken later on.

Here's a photo of us, courtesy of B&S:

Songs with a Family theme

Just before we get to the Reading Festival report, we had a few more ideas about songs with a family theme. We missed out on any tracks from Grandaddy's "Just Like the Fambly Cat". The Stig (see blogs passim) asked if pets count as family, which of course they do, but I couldn't find a suitable pet song in time (hummm Pet Shop Boys?). Another missed opportunity was "Highway 61 Revisited". I wonder if songs with classical references (Oedipus, say) would have been interesting hunting grounds for family themes. And the last missed opportunity was for famous families, dynasties et al (eg any songs by the Dead Kennedys; the theme from Dynasty (if it exists, and I bet you would have to be desperate)).

Songs about Family - evening report

Many thanks to Barrie and Suzie, who let us trash their house and did all the clearing up.

Another splendid night, of course, Steve & Margaret had to beetle off at midnight but made up for this early departure with an early arrival, revealing scenes of chaos as I tried to assemble dinner. Mike and I tore ourselves away at 3am, we could have stayed a lot longer.

As I predicted, we had a lot of duplicates but none of the ones I thought we might. "My perfect cousin" (the Undertones) came out three times, and everyone thought that was a good thing. Lots of duplicates "Son of a preacher man" (Dusty); "Papa's got a brand new bag" (James Brown); "Good rockin' daddy" (Etta James); "He's not heavy, he's my brother" (the Hollies); "Alcoholic" (Star Sailor) (an appropriate choice); "Little sister" (Ry Cooder); "Seventh son" (two different versions: Willie Mabon & Jools Holland). Sly & the Family Stone and Sister Sledge were notable by their absence.

We never managed to hear Steve's playlist. He decided to go retro and bring a CD. As if anyone has a CD player these days...! His 1st generation iPod (with a hard disk) has finally died, and at an inconvenient time. However, we did find out that he selected the theme from the "Man from UNCLE", which I though was rather clever.

I was pleased with the reception to my playlist. My first 9 tracks were good, inoffensive music night fare, successfully lulling everyone into a false sense of security. But the last track was the 17 minute cacophony of "Sister Ray" (Velvet Underground), which I rather like as it happens, but Margaret had to keep her fingers in her ears.

When posting the playlists, I noticed the wonderful tidiness and symmetry of Mike's playlist:: son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather. (This subtlety was rather lost on me on the day.) Of course, the astute of you will say "what does "Walk on the wild side" have to do with grandfathers?". The link, to give you a massive hint, is Herbie Flowers, but I will say no more.

Next theme: "Toys and Games, but not including Sport".

Songs about Family - the playlists

Barrie:
Does your mother know - Abba
Alcoholic - Star Sailor
My father's house - Bruce Spingsteen
He ain't heavy, he's my brother - the Hollies
Married with children - Oasis
Daddy's eyes - the Killers
Mother's little helper - the Rolling Stones
My perfect cousin - the Undertones
Mother - John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band
Brothers in arms - Dire Straits

Suzie
Family portrait - Pink
Seventh son - Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
My perfect cousin - the Undertones
Alcoholic - Stair Sailor
Comfortably numb - the Scissor Sisters
Hound dog - Big Mama Thornton
My dad's gone crazy - Eminem
Gone daddy gone - Gnarls Barkley
Mama told me not to come - Tom Jones & the Stereophonics
Everybody needs someone to love - Blues Brothers

Mike
Son of a preacher man - Dusty Springfield
Daughter - the Blenders
He ain't heavy, he's my brother - the Hollies
Little sister - Ry Cooder
Papa's got a brand new bag - James Brown
Motherfucker from hell - the Datsuns
Uncle Joe - Charlie Shavers
Underpants Auntie - Crocodile Tears
Grandma - Long John Hunter
Walk on the wild side - Lou Reed

Ali
Up the junction - Squeeze
Kooks - David Bowie
Good rockin' daddy - Etta James
Mother-in-law - Ernie K-Doe
Little sister - Ry Cooder
Seventh son - Willie Mabon
My perfect cousin - the Undertones
Sliver - Nirvana
My son calls another man Daddy - Hank Williams
Sister Ray - the Velvet Underground

Margaret

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - London Palladium Cast

Love Child - Diana Ross and the Supremes

Granny Wasn't Grinning that Day - Ray Charles

Back on the Street Again - Jim Post

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys - Willie Nelson

Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Come to Mama - Etta James

Good Rockin' Daddy - Etta James

Papa Was a Rolling Stone -The Temptations

Steve C

The Man from UNCLE Theme
Papa's got a brand new bag - James Brown
Mother and child reunion - Paul Simon
Turn around - Nancy Griffiths
Granny in the attic - Flook
Don't cry sister - J.J. Cale
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child - Mahalia Jackson
My forbidden lover - Chic
All my ex's live in Texas - George Strait
Family - LeAnn Rimes

A Secret Weapon leads to last minute changes...

We all have our resources to help us design our playlists, and I now have a new Secret Weapon. For the last few music nights I have made no secret of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio as a source of inspiration for obscure and entertaining tracks. But now, I have some one even better. The Stig of Music Night has whispered some new ideas into my ear, and my playlist is now under revision................

Excitement mounts

Steve & Margaret have confirmed they're coming. My playlist is done. So is Mike's. Suzie is working on hers. Who knows what Barrie is up to. All is set for Music Night.

Welcome to the Collins End Revels

Residents of South Oxfordshire will be well acquainted with the fact that in the past, Collins End was well known for drunken and debauched parties, known as the Collins End Revels.

Well, we are traditionalists. Modern day Collins End Revels take the form of music nights. For many years now (the first music night we had to swap CDs in & out of the machine), we have been getting together with our friends to listen to music. In advance we agree a theme. Each person has to come up with a playlist, usually 10 tracks (but there is a story to this. Maybe more later/in another post if I can be bothered). Then we all get together, listen to the music, get drunk and generally have a good time. Sometimes we have a competition, sometimes not. It all depends on what we feel like. We all enjoy it when we get duplicates - tracks chosen by more than one person.

We have a music night coming up soon. The theme is 'family'. Now, there is a surprisingly small number of songs about family. Usually when I am selecting my tracks a sub-theme emerges but nothing like that happened this time - too little choice. I predict a large number of duplicates this time.