YK50

It's about time I got back on the horse, so to speak. 2010 is going to be a busy year culminating in my 50th birthday. I'm going to try and fill up the year with events and celebratory stuff marking the half century.

First up is my "official" logo. It'll be used on everything from e-mails to invitations to memoes and anythig else appropriate to this momentous calendar year.

 

 

 

 

Also on the agenda this year are concerts (Chris Rea in April and Andrea Bocelli in November), theatre (The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Stockard Channing in June) and a little jaunt en famille to the Antipodes in July.

I still miss her...

It's now 6 months on since we lost my beautiful little cat and I still miss her. We had her cremated and scattered the ashes in her beloved back garden. The two black cats were quick to move in and try to take her place in or affections. They're adorable but she was irreplaceable.

So much has happened in the half year since I last posted. I'll try to summarise.

United won the league (again!) but were outclassed by a superb Barcelona side in the Champions League final in Rome. It hurt to lose the final but it could have been worse. We might have lost to a team we really despise or worst of all... THEM*!

Staying (briefly) with football, United sold Ronaldo to Real Madrid for £80m and they're welcome to each other. If ever there was a club designed for spoilt, childish, selfish primadonnas, it's that shower. Barca is the club of record in Spain now. At least they show class in everything they do. I'm ashamed to say United then signed Michael f*cking Owen. I'm still hoping to wake up some morning and find it's all a bad dream. I think if he were to score the winning goal for us against THEM* in the Champions League final next May, I'd still despise him.

We went on hols to Malta. Actually, we're only just back, having spent last week in the beautiful Mediterranean island. Of course, I didn't get to see or do half the things I wanted ("I'm boooored. I wanna go to the internet cafe and play video games. I'm tired. I don't want to go and do that boring stuff...") because of resistance from other memebers of the travelling party, but we did get to go to the Popeye Village, which I missed on previous visits.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g230152-d546981-r34579511-Popeye_Village_Fun_Park-Mellieha_Island_of_Malta.html

Kev and I went to Eindhoven in April. PSV battered Ajax 6-2 and everyone said I would be very welcome to come back again! We also did a bit of sightseeing, visiting places of interest to Kev who's big into WW2 stuff. We spent the Monday of the weekend travelling to Nijmegen and Arnhem, scenes of famous battles during the unpleasantness. We met a very interesting old character who would have been a kid around the time of the great battle for the bridge at Arnhem. His name was Sam Rubens and he had quite a tale to tell.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/copple/3443022615/

The gigs are still rolling in, despite the bloody "R" word. Stephen keeps me busy most weekends and I think he misses me when I'm not available.

The new cinema opened in Ashbourne in May. but the first movie I had any incliation to see was the new instalment in the Harry Potter series. The cinema is comfortable enough and within walking distance - only a mile from the house, which makes it almost a healthy exercise if/when we fancy a night at the movies.

We also got Sky+ HD and I don't know how we managed to live without it. Costs a bloody fortune but I'm trying not to think about it.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell, really. I've named the two kittens "Small Black Cat" and "Hissy". Hardly imaginative but it's descriptive and hilarious fun when the vet has to fill in their names on forms.

 

 

 

*Scousers.

 

Loss
Mood:  sad

CJ died last night. To say we're devastated is to understate wildly.

 

 CJ. July 2005-January 2009

Busy times
Christmas was frantic and only now are things beginning to slow down to an acceptable pace. DJ work seems to have dropped off to almost nothing with free weekends on the horizon for the forseeable future. While this may seem worrying in the long term, I'm almost relieved and glad for the opportunity to rest and re-charge the batteries. A couple of great gigs over Christmas (and one which was memorable for all the wrong reasons) and New Year meant that the bank balance is a lot healthier than I could expect for this time of year. I had an after-wedding gig down in Enfield on Dec 30th which could have been disastrous because the gear failed. The sound engineer for the band before me offered to stay on and loan me his stuff. It was an incredibly generous offer but fortunately, it wasn't required because I traced the fault to a loose connection to the mixer. Once that was sorted out, it was all systems "Go" and turned out to be a fantastic night. The following night - New Year's Eve - was even better: a surprise 30th birthday Karaoke in a private house over in the posh part (sic) of Clondalkin.

Back home

Arrived home last night and still trying to acclimatise. Bryan came back with us. He's off college until the start of February even though he has to pop down next week to do a couple of exams. It'll be good to have him home for a little while. The road back was fantastic, it's nearly all motorway now and the bulk of the trip (Jack Lynch tunnel to the Red Cow roundabout) was covered in two hours and twenty minutes. Now that's what I call roads! Once we had unloaded the gear, I hauled ass up to "Auntie Valerie's" to rescue CJ who was overjoyed to see me. She kicked up a ferocious racket in the car on the way home and she's still a bit disoriented.

Christmas was uneventful and passed peacefully enough. I was trying to get around to all the things I had promised I'd do but as ever, there's a few things I never got around to doing. Mum and Dad were both sick, suffering from heavy colds and taking enough pills to make them rattle when they moved. Dad was pretty zoned out at times but it eased the symptoms. I just hope that when the cold eases up, he'll get back to normal. I got him a couple of great books about subjects he cares deeply about: Cork humour and Jack Lynch.

Going south for Christmas

Arrived in Cork yesterday, having put CJ into "Auntie Valerie's" yesterday. She was not happy, a fact she wasn't exactly shy about telling me. Got to Cork in good time and went to see Mum and Dad for a while, then we went out to Bryan's house to see the "student accomodation" which we were paying for. Suffice to say I think I'm being screwed but Bryan is very happy with the place. It's so grimy, I'm convinced the rats wear overalls. We took him out for a meal and had a nice bite to eat in one of the local pubs.

By the way, got a call from Stephen to say he went into the office of that welsher this morning demanding payment for Friday night. After she tried to fob him off with the promise of a cheque, he stood his ground until he finally got paid. In cash. Which he counted out right there in front of her and whoever happened to be passing through the lobby. His closing point to me was that he's pretty sure they'll find it difficult getting a DJ for next year's party, should the cheap bastards cough up enough to hold one.

Feckin' GAA

In case I haven't mentioned it, I hate the GAA. What happened last night though, while hardly their fault only adds to that feeling.

I was supposed to be doing the after-band gig in Bray again. That's a fun one. The Abba tribute band get the crowd warmed up and I pick up the pieces. Sweet. At the last minute however, Stephen asked me to take a Christmas party for an investment company. Unfortunately, it's in one of the function rooms at Bigot Central (aka Croke Park).

While parking was the best ever (literally outside the door of the function room under the stand), the rest of the evening was best forgotten, This crowd got very drunk very fast and were well gone by the time the boss got to his feet for the speeches. This oration cosisted of the usual "You've all done very well" platitudes punctuated by instructions to somebody called Tony to shut up. It was like a catch phrase only not funny. Then he moved on to the spot prizes. Such generosity! There was a top prize of a TV, which they probably picked up in Lidl. A voucher for HMV was another highlight. I have no doubt that the lucky recipient will enjoy spending the €20, perhaps in the bargain bin.

While the object of Christmas parties is to get everyone on the dancefloor, different tastes and age groups have to be satisfied so it's a delicate balance and it takes a half hour or so to read the crowd well enough. However, all I got was "that's too old", "that's too girly", "have you any new stuff?" "how about some rock n' roll?" Eventually I got fed up with them and played any old shite they asked for. As someone once said, "don't try to educate 'em, entertain 'em."

At the end of the night, I loaded the gear into the car (as previously mentioned, it was just outside the door) and approached the girl in charge for my fee. "I didn't know I was supposed to pay you." You think? I smell a problem here. After what had been a frustrating night for me, I kinda lost it a bit and very crossly told her that this was just not acceptable. She bloody well knew she'd have to pay me the balance of what was owed. "But I don't have the money on me," she claimed. "Tell you what, I'll have someone post you a cheque on Monday." Well that was the final straw. "IF (and I stress the "IF") you post a cheque on Monday, I won't get paid until after Christmas," I explained as if to a backward child. There was no more to be said, so I just turned and walked out. Straight away, I sent a text to Stephen who said he'd sort it on Monday. He's just as mad as I am because he was very clear in his dealings with this one.  

One of these nights

Busy night last night. Had a gig in a restaurant in Suffolk Street in Dublin - right in the middle of the busy shopping district with its labyrinthne streets and limited parking. First job was to find the damned place. It was in a street which barred access to private cars. Buses and taxis only. Great. Had to park in a car park miles away and walk back to find out if there was a back way in. (I had phoned the restaurant earlier in the day to make such and enquiry and received no help whatsoever from whatever foreign minion who answered the phone. Honestly, who gives these people visas?) Met a very sympathetic lady owner/manager who gave me a go-fer with a trolley and the back alley through which I could bring the gear. It was a mugger's paradise and I didn't fancy making several trips out there at 2am to re-load. However, once I got unloaded and parked in a safer location (Chatham Street - about a half mile away), all was better. Lily, the manager lady even got her chef to cook up a steak by way of smoothing over the earlier difficulties.

The gig went well, once all the speeches and stuff were over. It was a karaoke and by the time they got into it, they were well oiled and up for anything.

Getting out was easier. Parking in the street outside (even a restricted street) at 1:30am was no sweat and it only took five minutes to load up and get the hell out of there.

This morning, I learned that I would be doing a gig in bigot central (Croke Park) instead of the one I was scheduled to do in Bray. Oh well, think of the money!

So this is Christmas
Mood:  not sure

Finished work yesterday for the year. Now to the serious business of getting Christmas out of the way. I have a few gigs to do with three in the next three nights. A bit of a slog but since I'm on hols, it shouldn't be too much bother.

I'm a bit bothered about tonight. Can't quite put my finger on it but there's something causing me concern and I'll be happier once this one is out of the way.

Had the unusual experience of going to Kelly's at 10:30am to see United play in the semi final of the World Club Cup (or whatever the hell it's called) from Japan. Straightforward victory over Gamba Osaka. United were 2-0 up and comfortable but a flurry of goals - 6 in the last 16 mins - gave an unreal feel to it. It finished 5-3 thanks to some slack marking and generous refereeing. Funny sort of crowd in the pub at that hour of the morning. A couple of United fans, an indifferent barman and a well-oiled barfly with no clue whatsoever as to what was going on and a blissful ignorance of football in general. Harmless old codger but a bit annoying with some of the comments. He should have been a blonde.

A place in the country

Did a house warming last night down in Naas. What a house! It was colossal. A massive place with a living room about the size of a hotel lobby. Before I started, there was a very nice girl playing piano and as the buzz of the guests increased, she was being drowned out. I was enjoying her performance however and bombarded her with requests for my favourite pieces. She was delighted to oblige for her appreciaive audience of one. Even when I had done all my sound checks, I asked her if she'd play the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. She said she'd already played it, but then smiled sweetly and said she'd play it again.

On Friday, I had a gig in Bray following the Abba tribute band. The crowd was nicely warmed up by Ellen and co. Nice easy Friday night, even if it did have a late finish.