Haha... What?

Mow the lawn, indeed.

Photos From The Unplugged Irish Gig

The Bluesberries in Widescreen.


All solos should be this much fun.



Won't someone please tuck in my shirt.



Beer. Foamy.



You talkin' to me?

Yet Another Post-Gig Claim Of Greatness

Well, we were great. All the 'Berries were on form. The Marki had any number of fine solos. Walter kept the all the pieces at just the right tempo. Hannes made "Dead, Drunk & Naked". I was glad to get through the whole thing with my voice intact.

The games room at Doherty's Bar isn't huge (I'd guess we got about 30 in — not packed but good enough) but singing with no amplification was a bit daunting. I managed it though. Having to belt out the songs didn't exactly suit all of them (a few songs really need more of a croon and the Tom Waitsy bit in Vanilla Pudding is diffcult to do without close miking) but some of the songs we did we as good as they've been. I personally thought we'd never done a better Prison Grove.

The only really wrong thing I remember was had an odd hesitant moment from me at the beginning of Dead, Drunk & Naked.

Our new song, "Love's Grown Cold", was a blast and just the thing to pep up the second set.

All in all, a fun night.

Yet Another Gig Poster

Yes, it came from Obamicon.me which I suppose sort of makes me a hack, but in Austria where that image isn't really in the public consciousness it makes me a poster maker of very great speed...

Gig Poster

This is the poster for the BluesBerries next gig. I'm fairly proud of this one. Though I may have ripped off this:

Though I like to think I've added something. Subliminal boobies.

Karaoke Rage

There's a whole other post (a series, probably) on how everything is a "rage" these days, but this article on Karaoke Rage in Slate tickled me. Not so much for the insight -- people can can precious about music and being a drunk exhibitionist doesn't help your impluse issues -- but for the examples. One in particular:

And in Asia, there's been a string of karaoke-bar stabbings and shootings, including a horrific incident in Bangkok in which eight amateur singers were murdered by their neighbor, reportedly due in part to his hatred of John Denver's "Country Roads."

Now, I've never murdered anyone over "Country Roads", but I live in Austria, so the chances for me to do it are quite high. In fact if I were to snap it would probably be that. Or "Summertime".

First UK Appearence

"Guten Abend. Ich freue mich, hier in Rotherham zu sein"

Escaped Into The Wild

Yeah, so, three tracks from the BluesBerries demo CD "Back With The Blues" are available to listen to on our Myspace Page. I'm proud of them and I know my band are so I'd appreciate you all taking a few minutes to listen to them and, if you feel like it, to leave some feedback here or on the Myspace page.

I wrote "Invisible Friends", if you can think of any non-icky way to expand it to take in all the senses then I'd be interested in hearing your ideas -- I don't know why but the way I sing "lepers" on that track makes me smile, I hope it has the same effect on you.

Lady Love

Jorn Barger over at Robot Wisdom has unearthed this list of, currently, 40 songs about what I like to refer to as "hot lesbo action".

It's a pity, really, that the links are to videos rather than MP3s because I'd probably make them all in to one big playlist and play it every so often down at the Irish pub. Jill Sobule's I Kissed A Girl and Jonathan Richman's Dancing in A Lesbian Bar get regular play there —I have my own "Paul's Drunk" list, it's easier that way— so sneaking in a whole themed evening appeals to my sense of humour.