Breakout Update

At 11:00 last Friday evening, Bevan and I took our turn on the decks in the knowledge that there had only been four paying customers up to that point. 'Aries' had arrived and walked through an empty dancefloor to drop off his records, and I was a nervous man.

By the end of our set, a handful of people had made their way onto the dancefloor, and there was a small crowd gathered at the bar, looking on. I remained quite worried as I wondered towards the bar and made my way through the small crowd, until I turned the corner to see that the rest of the venue was packed! Given that any deficit on the night was coming out of my own pocket, I was understandably relieved.

Perhaps I was also nervous about the fact that Aries might have come all the way from Birmingham to play to an empty room. I decided to go and have a chat with him, as I'd only managed a brief 'hello' when he arrived. I scoured the venue, but I couldn't see him anywhere. At least the dancefloor was picking up by now...



After ten minutes of searching, I liased with Sam, Ben and Chewy to see if they could help. They all agreed that he has a very distinctive blond goatee and long hair, so couldn't really be missed. Suddenly, I spotted someone in the darkness with a cap and a blond goatee. Sam agreed that it must be Aries, so I went to say hello.

As I approached, he made eye contact with me and then instantly looked downwards, lowering his cap to avoid my gaze. Convinced that I had the right man, I leant down towards him and said 'Hello'.

At this point I realised that it couldn't possibly be Aries, as his goatee was nothing more than a bit of stubble. It was too late to turn back, so I had to come up with something, and quick...

"Umm, Are you umm...are you Aries?" I muttered.

He shook his head.



After shaking off my embarrassment I did manage to find the real Aries eventually, and we had a great chat about drum'n'bass and the arts of promotion, and production. In fact, it was nice to get a few tips from him about vocal equalisation, which I employed on my latest tune!

Thankfully by the time Aries hit the decks, King Toby had the dancefloor rammed and it turned into a fantastic night...

Toby Poole came along as a Don't Stay In.com 'spotter' and took these pics too, which are much better at portraying the general atmosphere than mine.

I can't finish this post without briefly mentioning a couple of incidents involving Sam.

Firstly, he took a turn on the door later in the evening, and let someone out to speak on her mobile. When she returned, he jokingly asked her for £20. She leant down, and licked his cheek from chin to eye-socket. His face was a picture.

Secondly, he was convinced by Rosie that drinking a glass of water up side down was really a good idea to cure his hiccoughs. Unfortunately I didn't witness the incident, but apparently it came out of his nose before he'd had a chance to swallow. Rosie said it was one of the funniest things she'd ever seen.

Finally, I know I say this every month, but I'm really looking forward to next month's event. Never one to shy away from a gimmick, it's 'Ladies Night!'

Bristol City 2-0 Brighton

From Bristol City Website:

Gary Johnson praised his team for their professionalism in what he considered a "very comfortable" Johnstone's Paint Trophy win over Brighton at Ashton Gate.

"It was convincing and it was comfortable. Brighton never looked like hurting us when they had the ball, and for a while it was a duel between Scott Murray and their keeper. Unfortunately Kuipers won that battle. He has made several great saves to stop us winning by a much bigger margin"

And the manager was quick to express the hope that Bristol Rovers eventually win their twice postponed Southern semi-final tie at Shrewsbury to set up a two-legged derby clash next month.

"Of course we would like Rovers to get through. Fans of both clubs have been talking about it for some time and it would be great for the city of Bristol."

COME ON YOU REDS!! (And bring on the blues...)

New Camera, New Myspace, and the Wind

I thought it was about time I mentioned my new camera. It's a beast! In fact, to be honest it's such a beast that I do regret taking it on NYE, as it's not very practical (or indeed necessary) for the indoor action shots. Thankfully I still have my dodgy old Nikon to take to Breakout tomorrow night (just had to slip that one in there).

I still haven't been able to use my new camera that much though, as I don't have a case for it yet (picking up tomorrow morning from Bedminster parcel collection!) However I do like this over-exposed shot of my parents' fruit-bowl...



Also, I took this sunset shot from my bathroom window on the day I received the camera, and it's been my desktop wallpaper ever since. It was taken on full optical zoom and the definition is still remarkable, in fact you can make out at least five birds, all of which were a long way away...



So fond on that photo am I, that I decided to use it as the background to my own myspace, which I've been busy setting up over the last couple of weeks. I decided to set one up as a way of getting my music heard, and it already seems to be working pretty well - I've been asked to send tracks to a label called OTC who broadcast a live webcast every Wednesday full of 'unsigned talent'. It's a start.

Anyway, it's probably quite boring in that I only really mention music and production on it (plus photos!), but like I say I'm just using it as a platform to start getting my music heard. I've decided to make more of an effort with that this year, and I've got a real gem on the go at the moment with a wicked Nina Simone vocal that I'm quite excited about.

Finally, I thought I'd post this video that I took this afternoon from just outside my back door. It was very windy. You can clearly hear burglar alarms and wind chimes, but if you listen closely you'll hear me shrieking about halfway through when I nearly get blown off my feet, and possibly the sound of the wheely bins that were flying down the middle of the road...

NYE (Part 3): The Morning After

The first mission of the day involved getting Sam out of bed, which was smartly achieved by Mr Freakes who took the direct approach of jumping up and down on the airbed, sending Sam flying about three feet into the air.



Finally, after a lot of knocking on the toilet door to see if it really was 'engaged', we set out for an afternoon stroll.





We said our goodbyes to George, who had to make the journey home, and re-shuffled the cars.



Mr Freakes led the way...



When we reached this viewpoint, he pointed lazily towards the horizon with his unplastered arm, and using just the one word informed us that it was "Pretty"...





Thankfully Mr Freakes' jacket contained a homing beacon, which was very reassuring as we wondered into the countryside.



Sam was really quite perplexed by the sight of moss...



Before we knew it, we'd reached our destination: Gold Hill. The location of the famous Hovis advert, set in Yorkshire, and filmed in Shaftesbury.



As mentioned previously, we had an intimate encounter with a middle-aged chap, who shamelessly let out the most humongous fart, just as we walked past him.

You could tell that he'd really put a lot of effort into it.

Actually, I felt a bit sorry for him because we had approached very quietly, and he obviously thought the coast was clear to let rip with pride, as he looked very embarrassed and apologised when he glanced around to notice that I was standing about two yards away from him.

In fact, the rest of the group immediately looked accusatively in my direction, and asked if I was the guilty man. Obviously I was in a predicament here, as I needed to clear my name, but at the same time I didn't really feel like I could point at the guy standing just behind me and explain that it was him.

Thankfully Sam, who was aware of the true culprit, muttered something under his breath to the rest of the group which was immediately greeted by a huge round of giggles.

The chap scuttled off down the hill.

Anyway, here's the money shot...



Finally, any thoughts on this bizarre photo?

NYE (Part 2): Coktails

Mr Legge spent some time studying the cocktail book on NYE afternoon, in preparation for a booze-run to the local supermarket. We pondered why just about every cocktail seems to have one completely random, but crucial ingredient.



After feasting on Wendy's cracking chilli...



...we assessed the cocktail situation and realised, perhaps predictably, that we were missing one crucial ingredient from every cocktail in the book.

We had a round of Moscow Mules and Bloody Mary's, which are surely only pseudo-cocktails, containing as they do just the one spirit. It was time for some improvisation.

Unfortunately, my first attempt was a complete disaster. Despite working in a bar for three years I managed to forget a very basic principle...

Do NOT add, even a SPLASH of coke, to any mix containing baileys.



I had to redeem myself.

After some consideration I reached for the gin, and half-filled a cocktail shaker. With very little further consideration, I added a splash of vermouth and a splash of whiskey, both of which had been salvaged from the spirits cabinet (and one had a copyright mark; 1999).

At this point I noticed that this foul mixture, believe it or not, is actually a cocktail in it's own right. It's a 'Smokey Martini', and the only cocktail in the entire book that we could make.

A taste-test revealed that it is without a doubt, a complete wrong-un.

Thankfully Rich arrived in the kitchen to provide some much-needed assistance. A plan was hatched to use the 'Smokey Martini' mix as a half measure, to be topped up with tonic and a twist of lime.

It was a winner! We tagged it the 'Gayboys' Recovery™'

By the time everyone had finished their first Gayboys' Recovery it was time to hand out the party poppers and champagne...





We had planned to make another cocktail by combining Guinness and champagne, to make a 'Black Velvet', which according to the book is the "...most tempting and drinkable looking drink in the World". Unfortunately Rich had bought 'Guinness Original', which is more of an ale than a stout, and probably wouldn't have been quite so appealing.

And Pose:



Once we'd got through the midnight rituals it was time to employ the food mixer for another homemade cocktail attempt.

With incredibly little consideration, Rich and I chucked in a load of baileys and vodka, and added splashes of vermouth, whiskey and soda water, plus the most crucial ingredient: one of Sam's banana's.

Again, it was a winner. In fact it really was very tasty, and made me realise that cocktail books are completely unnecessary. We tagged it the 'Gaylord's Revenge™'



The first round of Gaylord's Revenge went down very quickly, and I had to take my turn back behind the decks. I couldn't believe my luck when I was promptly handed another cocktail by Em, which was a slight variation on the Gaylord's Revenge in that it also contained dark rum and chocolate shavings. Yes, our third and final trademarked cocktail of the evening, it was indeed; the "Gayman's Pride™"!

Perhaps it was the combination of cocktails and painkillers, but Mr Freakes made the mistake of looking tired on the sofa, which quite frankly made him a sitting duck for people like Sam (who will always be able to find a missile from somewhere).



Although, to be fair, Mr Freakes did manage to muster the energy for retaliation...







Finally, with only four of us remaining we decided to have one last round of Gayman's Pride...



At this point I discovered the source of the chocolate shavings... It was a grated Lindt. Unfortunately on this occasion, the Lindt seemed to have lost it's grating potential by the time reached the fourth cup, so not wanting Bruce to go without, Rich decided to chuck the remains into his cup, which must have looked so appealing...



And the moment of realisation...



The night ended watching Sam try and pump up his airbed for about half an hour before he realised that all the air was escaping, and then spending another half an hour blowing it up with his mouth. My chav lilo, on the other hand, took about five minutes.

So there you have it. It was a fun night with plenty of silliness thrown in for good measure, shaken with a large dose of oddness and a twist of bizarre.

'Part 3: The Morning After', is coming soon!

NYE (Part One): On the Decks Tonight...

Sifting through my New Years snaps, it seems that there are just too many good'uns, so I thought I'd split them up a bit; save peoples' scrolling finger some energy.

For those that don't know, I spent the night with some mates at a bungalow (not a cottage) in rainy Shaftesbury, which is a quaint little Dorset town pretty much due south of Bristol.



I took along my decks, and Richard was under strict instructions to ensure that I didn't take any of my breaks/drum'n'bass records, as Mr Freakes was going to bring along his collection of cheesy 80's seven-inches that had gone down so well at his Birthday party (although I did manage to sneak in a little bag of my own!)

Now just a few days before Christmas, Mr Freakes bust his arm up good and proper in a snowboarding accident, when showing off to the kids on a school trip. Note that he still wears his hospital tag with pride...



I realised that this would be the ideal moment to suggest that we have a long talked-about 'scratch-off' on the decks...

Mr Freakes was clearly in some discomfort, but played through the pain barrier, using his fingers on the crossfader as he couldn't grip it with his thumb. But that's no excuse...

I whooped him!

As the night went on, everyone took it in turns to have a stint on the decks. DJ Legge got things started and looked the part. His set was full of classics and seemed to go down well with everyone. Wendy was clearly getting into it...



Next up was DJ Baaaaaaaxx, and all of a sudden things were getting very eclectic. For me, the biggest 'whoop' of the night came when he snuck into my record bag and dropped 'Origin Unknown - Valley of the Shadows', which is that old-school drum'n'bass tune with a huge bass line that has some woman talking about 'standing in a long dark tunnel'. This was closely followed, however, with 'The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian'...



...And that was followed up with 'Dire Straights - Sultans of Swing'!

Sam clearly thought that the rest of the room was distracted while it was playing...



...But without him realising, I managed to capture him strumming away on his air-guitar!



Mr Freakes took to the Decks before Midnight, and with only five minutes left in 2006, he realised that he still hadn't selected a tune to play as Big Ben struck 12. A frantic search followed, and between us, we managed to just about play 'Europe - The Final Countdown' quietly as everyone counted down to midnight, and then 'Dee-lite - Groove is in the Heart' became the first tune of 2007. Not a bad start to the year...



Except that everyone forgot to give Mr Freakes any Champagne...



Finally, as the night drew to a close, DJ Woo put everyone else to shame...





Not only did she look the part at the wheels of steel, but she also managed to pull off the mix of the night, which was even more eclectic than Sam's best efforts. 'Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World', into...



...Oh, now what was it again?!