oh, the irony of sunday tabloid papers...

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does PO stand for 'piss off' rather than 'post office'?!

The other night, I was reminded of my hatred of the main Post Office in town. Since it has been privatised, commercialism has started to creep in and when you want to post a parcel or buy a stamp, you are bombarded with cheap umbrellas at inflated prices, tacky CDs and DVDS that nooone would want to buy anyway, and party poppers. This is annoying.

I go to the Post Office a fair bit, sometimes every week, just to send bits and bobs or pay bills. I used to go to the one outside my street but these cosy little affairs have been closed down in favour of huge corporate selling machines, which means I have to travel into town and face the grotesque main one.
The one useful thing that used to be on the shop floor was this little stamp machine that gave you single stamps when you put your small change in. Typical they should get rid of this and replace it with a stamp machine that sells only books of twelve. I just do not need twelve second class stamps, one will do!!

Therefore, then you have to go queue for twenty minutes at least to get this bloody second class stamp. On fifty percent of the times I have visited my town's main Post Office, there has been a drunk man there at 4pm, singing, talking and complaining loudly. From what the ladies working there were saying, I assumed he came in every week, would queue for half an hour to send something or other, then promptly leave because it cost too much. Every week. Six months and he still hasn't sent this letter to his poor mother.

By the time YOU get to the front of the queue and get the stamp, you then have to dodge past questions like:
"Is the item you're sending of any value?"
"Would you like to insure the item?"
"Would you like to insure the item gets there by tommorow?"
"Would you like to insure your home?"
"Would you like to insure your face?"
"Is there anything else, on your person or not on your person, absolutely anything at all, which you feel may need insuring?"

By this point, you're losing the will to live. Maybe the drunken man has got the right idea afterall... I'm not sure you could go to the Post Office stone cold sober. You'd have a nervous breakdown.

Gig review: Interpol @ Newcastle, Dec 07

Interpol @ Newcastle Academy, Tuesday 4 December 2007

"I feel much better tonight!" announces Interpol's Carlos D as fans cheer loudly.

When Interpol cancelled their Newcastle gig back in August literally minutes before they were due on stage, they annoyed many fans who had queued for hours to see the NYC band. Luckily, they promised to reschedule for December, where spare tickets from those who demanded a refund sold out almost immediately.

Tonight, support is from Friendly Fires, a sharp post-punk combo from St Albans. Brandishing unusual instruments and creating a sparse sound, they border on experimental in places, reminding me of the early electro efforts of the now sadly defunct Cooper Temple Clause. I felt they were a strange choice of band to support the rather morose Interpol, but entertaining nonetheless.

Now was the long-awaited main act. Beginning with the landscape-sounds of Pioneer to the Falls then firing straight into Say Hello to the Angels, Interpol obviously mean business this time.

Despite constant comparisons to Joy Division, they have constantly toyed with their sounds on each album, never failing to deliver each time. Where fans of many bands often become disillusioned when new albums show a shift in musical morals, Interpol don't seem to have this problem as the crowd sing back the words to each song, regardless of which album it was from. While they may not give off the impression they are the most charismatic band ever, I found the performance very enthralling.

Some may dismiss such music as depressing, but I see it more as moody and epic. With all members dressed in black as though a uniform, singer Paul Bank's voice draws you in until you feel his sorrow. C’mere, No I in Threesome and the wonderful finale PDA are particularly beautiful, whereas anthems such as Slow Hands and Evil draw an excited dancing mood within many sections of the audience. Specialist, a rare song for dedicated fans, is also met with much enthusiasm.

Interpol showed everyone why they're big players in the league now, and the audience could almost say they have been on the journey with them tonight."

Published: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2007/12/19/interpol_review_feature.shtml(19/12/07)

Gig review: Stereophonics @ Newcastle, Nov 07

Stereophonics @ Newcastle Arena, Thursday 22 November 2007

"There are not many bands reviled in the music press as much as the Stereophonics. They may not invite the most flattering album reviews in the world but they do know how to put on a good show.

It's going to be the fourth time I've seen them at Newcastle Metro Radio Arena and I have held my hopes high as each gig I have been to has had a great atmosphere.

I await the support band, Coventry lads The Enemy. I admit I am not the biggest fan, despite their recent successful assaults on the charts. I am wondering if this performance will change my perceptions. It didn't really, mostly because each song was filled with screaming from the fan girls behind me so I failed to hear much at all. You've got to give it to them for dedication though.

As soon as Stereophonics came on stage, they hadn't even got to the first chorus of opener Bank Holiday Monday and The Enemy fan girls had to be pulled out from the moshpit of enthusiastic 'Phonics dedicatees.

Pull The Pin isn't their best album and is often greeted with a more muted response, but this is maybe because of the large array of classic hits singer Kelly Jones and the boys have decided to wheel out which make recent efforts sound lacklustre in comparison. Hits from debut album Word Gets Around invite the biggest response, with the crowd chanting back the words to A Thousand Trees, Local Boy and Tramps Vest as if their lives depend on it.

A mash-up of acoustic songs is performed solo by Jones, which is also met with a beautiful sing-along. For the encore, It Means Nothing and number one single Dakota lead to a near stage invasion, with crowd surfers nearly kicking me in the face. Yet I can't deny that this was one of the best few hours of fun I've had this year.

Critics can accuse Stereophonics of being middle-of-the-road rock for your father, but tonight they have the youthful audience eating out the palms of their hands with a passionate performance."

Published: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2007/12/19/stereophonics_review_feature.shtml (19/12/07)