October 2024
A Night at the Casino Where Everyone Is A Winner
Went to the Liverpool O2 on Friday to see Casino’s biggest hometown gig, where they were supported by Heavy North. Several years ago I went to the Arts Club (don’t confuse it with the Arts Bar btw) to see the Heavy North supported by Casino. Both top Liverpool bands and matey too.
I didn’t see the second support (Neil Noa) as my sorry old body wasn’t up to it (it turned out it wasn’t up to two bands either, but that’s a different story).
I grabbed a pint of something wet and expensive and headed up the front of the venue and grabbed a bit of rail on the far right of the stage. Got chatting to John from Bury, a big music fan and a Liverpool FC fan to boot (a big fan of Heavy North who’s seen them at least as much as I had, but hadn’t seen Casino before).
Heavy North came on stage right on time to play their half hour or support slot and hit their groove straight away with a couple of tracks from their first album. The atmosphere for their performance was great and the O2 had filled considerably. I was glad I had bagged a place at the front, resting on the rail and dropping the pint on to the step on the other side for intermittent retrieval was a godsend. The set was a pleasure to hear and every song was celebrated with loud applause. The crowd were there to see the bands, not to chat which is sometimes an issue when I’ve been to the O2. Didn’t manage to grab a set list when they finished but LFC John from Bury did.
Casino had a hard act to follow even if they are all mates. They rose to the challenge and performed brilliantly with their new single, Heaven, kicking it off. By Your Side was greeted like an old friend with everyone singing along. It was clear the band were loving the night too and they played as a tight outfit—like they always do to be fair. They’ve got tons of great songs that always get the crowd going. Now if I could just hold an album in my hands...
I didn’t see the second support (Neil Noa) as my sorry old body wasn’t up to it (it turned out it wasn’t up to two bands either, but that’s a different story).
I grabbed a pint of something wet and expensive and headed up the front of the venue and grabbed a bit of rail on the far right of the stage. Got chatting to John from Bury, a big music fan and a Liverpool FC fan to boot (a big fan of Heavy North who’s seen them at least as much as I had, but hadn’t seen Casino before).
Heavy North came on stage right on time to play their half hour or support slot and hit their groove straight away with a couple of tracks from their first album. The atmosphere for their performance was great and the O2 had filled considerably. I was glad I had bagged a place at the front, resting on the rail and dropping the pint on to the step on the other side for intermittent retrieval was a godsend. The set was a pleasure to hear and every song was celebrated with loud applause. The crowd were there to see the bands, not to chat which is sometimes an issue when I’ve been to the O2. Didn’t manage to grab a set list when they finished but LFC John from Bury did.
Casino had a hard act to follow even if they are all mates. They rose to the challenge and performed brilliantly with their new single, Heaven, kicking it off. By Your Side was greeted like an old friend with everyone singing along. It was clear the band were loving the night too and they played as a tight outfit—like they always do to be fair. They’ve got tons of great songs that always get the crowd going. Now if I could just hold an album in my hands...
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Flash Dogs-Woof!
Was made up with the return of the Flash Dogs and their Equinox challenge back in September (hey, it was on the Equinox, wasn’t it?). And this very Sunday they published the results of the judging by Rebekah and Juna: and one of my stories was chosen as a winner (by Rebekah, of Flash! Friday fame). So now I am doubly made up.
Flash Dogs Equinox—Photo Prompt
Two fifty words is a difficult challenge, but everybody managed it admirably. My first story ‘Newcote: A New Beginning’ won, along side Eric Martell’s ‘Why We Seek’ (picked, of course, by Juna)—and one my other two got a mention as well for the ‘most appropriate response to seeing a Dragon’—which I guess was the protagonist peeing himself.
I’m glad I got a dragon into a story with a nod to the judges. It would have been rude not to. Anyway, more writing awaits—and maybe more dragons or some alternative events with ‘appropriate responses’. Onwards and Upwards.
Flash Dogs Equinox—Photo Prompt
Two fifty words is a difficult challenge, but everybody managed it admirably. My first story ‘Newcote: A New Beginning’ won, along side Eric Martell’s ‘Why We Seek’ (picked, of course, by Juna)—and one my other two got a mention as well for the ‘most appropriate response to seeing a Dragon’—which I guess was the protagonist peeing himself.
I’m glad I got a dragon into a story with a nod to the judges. It would have been rude not to. Anyway, more writing awaits—and maybe more dragons or some alternative events with ‘appropriate responses’. Onwards and Upwards.
Very Mostly Water
Not been out singing at Open Mics much this year at all. Not even approaching double figures out there, but I went to the newly moved OM night at the Dispensary on Monday. Yep, it’s moved to Mondays so that it doesn’t clash with any footy (or will do so a lot less often) now that Liverpool are back in the Champion’s League (which has games on random Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to make it difficult as far as I can see). There’s also other OM nights on the Tuesday (including the nearby Metrocola), but to be fair there are OM nights all over the city on nearly every day really so any day will clash with one or another.
Last Monday was one of the wettest day in the recent history of the city so it was a bit of a last minute call to get out there. I felt I should make the effort after watching too much telly (I’d binge watched Ludwig on the iPlayer). Got wet going to the bus, then got wet leaving Queen Square, had a quick pint in the Vines before getting wetter with the last few hundred yards to the Dizzy.
Dave O’Grady was there and a couple of regulars—and a newbie (Dan?) on his first Dizzy appearance. Headzic played his double wok after him, with all his man-made sounds of rain falling to compete with the real stuff outside, then I went up to play a few songs (five). Dave came up after me and played some of his bluesy tracks.
With the constant (around 36 hours) rain I went with Bap Kennedy’s ‘Mostly Water’ first. Think I’ve only played it once or twice in the wild before. Followed that with ‘Splendid Isolation’ Warren Zevon (don’t play that often either), then it was a few of my old dependables: ‘Heart Breaks Like the Dawn’ Chuck Prophet, ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina’ Ryan Adams, and, due to requests, ‘Whiskey in my Whiskey’ Felice Brothers. Five songs—that’s like an EP’s worth. Afterwards chatted to a nice couple from Munich who were travelling through the city and they’d loved the OM. Said it was rare in their part of the city. The guy asked if I’d written the songs, to which I replied with the names of the singer songwriters who actually had. He knew all of them (though maybe not Chuck P), but said he hadn’t recognised them when I was playing them. I confirmed that by not playing the guitar well I did them in my own way and by necessity ‘made the songs my own.’ His other half had said she’d loved them and had been looking up the songs whilst I was playing them—which you can take in multiple ways. Anyways for one reason and another I was glad I’d made the effort to go out.
And incredibly when I walked out on to Renshaw Street it had actually just stopped raining. Though Liverpool was still remained mostly water.
Last Monday was one of the wettest day in the recent history of the city so it was a bit of a last minute call to get out there. I felt I should make the effort after watching too much telly (I’d binge watched Ludwig on the iPlayer). Got wet going to the bus, then got wet leaving Queen Square, had a quick pint in the Vines before getting wetter with the last few hundred yards to the Dizzy.
Dave O’Grady was there and a couple of regulars—and a newbie (Dan?) on his first Dizzy appearance. Headzic played his double wok after him, with all his man-made sounds of rain falling to compete with the real stuff outside, then I went up to play a few songs (five). Dave came up after me and played some of his bluesy tracks.
With the constant (around 36 hours) rain I went with Bap Kennedy’s ‘Mostly Water’ first. Think I’ve only played it once or twice in the wild before. Followed that with ‘Splendid Isolation’ Warren Zevon (don’t play that often either), then it was a few of my old dependables: ‘Heart Breaks Like the Dawn’ Chuck Prophet, ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina’ Ryan Adams, and, due to requests, ‘Whiskey in my Whiskey’ Felice Brothers. Five songs—that’s like an EP’s worth. Afterwards chatted to a nice couple from Munich who were travelling through the city and they’d loved the OM. Said it was rare in their part of the city. The guy asked if I’d written the songs, to which I replied with the names of the singer songwriters who actually had. He knew all of them (though maybe not Chuck P), but said he hadn’t recognised them when I was playing them. I confirmed that by not playing the guitar well I did them in my own way and by necessity ‘made the songs my own.’ His other half had said she’d loved them and had been looking up the songs whilst I was playing them—which you can take in multiple ways. Anyways for one reason and another I was glad I’d made the effort to go out.
And incredibly when I walked out on to Renshaw Street it had actually just stopped raining. Though Liverpool was still remained mostly water.
The Return of the Flash Dogs
06/10/24 22:09 Filed in: flash friday fiction | flashdogs
Was good to see the recent iteration of the Flash Dogs with the Equinox challenge. And it was nice to see some familiar names there. The invite was for ‘up to four’ stories using the photo prompt. In the end I wrote three, but two of the writers did submit four stories (Stella and John Murphy). Two others wrote three stories and another six wrote one story (which is plenty enough really).
Writing stories of just a 250 word maximum is damn hard. It’s been a while since I tried (I have done Thursday Threads once this year—a maximum of 150 words). Think 350 is a bit easier to get a story out there, but hell even that is a push too).
Have read all the stories and I enjoyed them all. My top few were ‘The Land Remembers’ (Voima Oy), 'Postcard' (Bex Spence), ‘Pentimento’ (Bex Spence, again), and ‘Ask the Dog’ (Stella)’. But if I went through them all again maybe I’d pick some different ones. Sometimes judging is even harder than writing to a very tight margin. Kudos to all those who got involved. It’s good to be back (whether it’s for a short stop or for something a little longer).