Never put drinking and carousing above music...

The cat calendar continues to extract daily "awwwws" from us as we see every day's new lovely wee cat...



Today my first e-bay acquisition in a while arrived – “Forget Yourself” by Australian band, The Church...



I have all their albums having first “got into them, man” in 1981 via their single and video (yes, there were videos then) of a track called “Unguarded Moment”...

They have seldom toured the UK, usually choosing to play the odd one-off date in London as part of a European Tour...

However, in, I think, around 1983 or 84 they came to Edinburgh and played in a Student Union venue. Anne and I were turned away because we weren’t students...

However, this ranks well below the disappointment of failing to get to see my fave Canadian band, Rheostatics in 1994. They came over for a very rare visit to the UK and played a residency at the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe – in fact, that’s how I got to know their music. To drum up support, Guitarist Dave Bidini came into our shop, Reptile Records and gave me a promo copy of their then new album “Introducing Happiness”...

I was planning on going to see them on their last night. However, Anne was taken ill and I decided to stay at home with her...

But that incident ranks in turn below the time in May 1978 when I had a ticket to see UK (John Wetton, Bill Bruford, Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Jobson) at Edinburgh Odeon but decided instead to go to a party at local vicar’s son, Rory MacRae’s house – it promised to be an all-nighter due to the out-of-townness of Rory’s ma and pa – and indeed an all-nighter it turned out to be and very enjoyable at that...

However, I have always regretted not attending the UK gig. I gave my tickets to sister Pam and her friend Janice – along with my very basic bootlegging equipment. Pam and Janice were so small they had to sit on the seats without folding them down...

To her credit, Pam did a great job with the recording – but the 15 year old girls’ seats kept making creaking noises during the gig due to their not being put to proper use...

Oh well – I still listen to it occasionally...

And so tonight, with Anne out on the town, I pulled out all the jazz CDs...



...and gave them their own section – it took less time than expected....

My soundtrack was the new Church album and a home made compilation of UK and Bill Bruford tracks which mirrored the set list that night back in 1978 when I put drinking and carousing above music...

Highlight of the Day : The Best of UK