Marchbanks

Tonight’s bottle is a 2012 Gigondas from the Bruniers of Vieux Télégraphe fame. Fully mature with loads of Grenachy goodness. If you can find the 2015/6/7 vintages they are even better.

It’s being paired with Disquiet, the new album by the Necks (see previous posts.) I think it’s their best ever.

I always say that a workspace freed of tedious overbearing organizational constraints is the sign of an imaginative, fertile mind.

#TheNecks in Brum. I’ve seen them six times now and last night’s second set was the best of the lot. It had an elegiac feel that left me moist-eyed. I picked up their new CD, hoping that buying direct would benefit them more. Bonus - I saved a fiver over Amazon’s price, and Bezos doesn’t get a cut.

#MarcRibot in Bristol last night. Great playing, thought-provoking songs, dry humour and political comment. Although ostensibly in singer-songwriter mode I have to admit my favourite parts of all were when he picked up his Strat, stamped on the volume pedal and filled the room with an unholy racket.

Last night - a Fleurie from Jean-Paul Brun. JPB is something of a #Beaujolais maverick, and this is atypical, in a very good way. It has body and complexity (the wine, I mean, not the handsome fellow next to it), so forget that Nouveau crap, buy some of this instead.

Is that a C-chord shape I see?

Tonight’s bottle is a rather good #Rioja from Remelluri. It’s not spoiled by too much oak as so many are. The musical pairing is #WKCR radio and their excellent Saturday night (UK time) blues and folk programming. Note man apparently brave enough to try a matching waistcoat/curtains combination.

Tonight’s bottle is an entry-level Ornellaia, 2016 vintage. Tastes like there’s years of life left, which is a relief as I still have a few left. Excellent vfm. #wine #tuscany

This is being paired with Caym, #Bookofangels vol. 17 by Banquet of the Spirits playing #johnzorn, of course. Recommended.

A trip to Dalston yesterday. As I had to be back home by late afternoon I sadly couldn’t stay to see #shahzadismaily playing at the wonderful #CafeOto in the evening - so I had to make do with a flying visit to look through the second-hand jazz vinyl. And have a coffee. And buy an Oto t-shirt.

I Never Knew That Was There: 623 unusual sights and their stories around Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell and Dudley I Never Knew That Was There: 623 unusual sights and their stories around Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell and Dudley : Reeves, Benedict: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Today my work colleague Ben Reeves showed me a book that he has written. Rather annoyingly (as he’s also a fine cameraman and a good pianist - bastard!) it’s excellent, full of #Birmingham (UK)’s lesser-known buildings and features and the histories that they hide.

www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Knew-T...

A week of work! Time to get suited up because

1. I enjoy it
2. It’s a mischievous reaction against the normal sweatshirt/jeans/trainers uniform
3. Sometimes it freaks out people who wear the above - also amusing
4. Occasionally there are compliments and I need to take all of those that I can get.

Joy unconfined - #thenecks have made a new record. I heard it via Bandcamp last week and it’s one of their best. You need to buy it, trust me.

thenecksau.bandcamp.com/album/disquiet

If my house were burning down I’d be prepared to delay my exit in order to grab my collection of their CDs.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s #BlackSabbath ballet is on tour. If you are near Plymouth, London or Edinburgh I recommend it.
www.brb.org.uk/shows/black-...

I can’t believe it’s two years since I took my #ozzy bat (with detachable head, naturally) along to see the original run of performances.

Happy 108th birthday #theloniousmonk. Great tunes, great on-stage dancing, great piano style, the greatest middle name - and as a fellow hat-wearer I salute your choice of millinery!

The scary part of fixing tube amps is the first power-up. Here’s a Leak TL/12+ that I have rebuilt with all new components. The first picture shows the first switch using with a dim bulb tester (no smoke or bangs = success!), the second shows it in it’s full glowing glory. #tubeampsrock!

Hello World! Everyone has to start somewhere, so I’ll start here. Today I began to build a DIY variac for valve amplifier testing. Work stalled when I spent half-an-hour searching for the drill bit that I had put down somewhere.