Meenzer

Ah, but has he been seen doing keepy-uppies through security control at Newcastle Airport?

As a music consumer, I'm never happier than when I get to know a relatively obscure artist via MySpazz or similar, see them live in an intimate venue and buy their self-produced CD from them in person. That said, I invariably have no idea how much they're getting paid to perform and how much is being siphoned off by the venue/promoter/etc., to what extent they get any profit out of their CDs, and so on. In fact I do wonder how a lot of less famous performers ever make enough to feed themselves, never mind actually turn a reasonable profit.

La clunge surely? - you can't get much more feminine than a clunge. I don't know, there's a fair few male fannies on here.

What the fuck?

Mor ve Ötesi - Cambaz

I watch our Sky/Setanta games in a Millwall pub. (Knuckle-)cracking atmosphere.

I'm still only 21 aswell. Amazing! I was about to say something snarky about cat years until I realised that's the other way round.

Class

Dierks Bentley - Long Trip Alone More fine crunchy 'n' western from my second gig in as many nights. I'm fucking knackered.

Bugger me, is he still only 21? Happy birthday fella.

Aye, I got that impression. Cheers though - for all I deride London pubs, there are a few Aussie-owned bars that actually have what look like vaguely obscure beers available alongside the usual suspects, hence my line of questioning. I'll investigate the next time I'm unfortunate enough to be dragged along to somewhere convict-themed.

I'd give stevie's left nut (if he had one) for my locals to have beer half as decent as an average London pub. The local I've just moved away from every 6 months installs Hoegaarden on tap but then four weeks later removes it because they are fucking idiots and can't pull a decent beer to save their life. Australian beers (VB, Toohey's New and other such shite) they just pour until beer, not foam, starts to flow over the edge of the glass. Luckily there is a Belgian Bier Cafe now within walking distance of my new home! Yum Gouden Carolus. Plenty of British pubs, bar staff and (worst of all) punters still think that a beer with any kind of head on it is a criminal offence. Mind you, with Aussie beers I can understand treating it like the pisswater it is. I jest, of course. There must be some decent Australian beers, in the same way that even the wastelands of Canada come up with some dead nice honey beers - I just haven't been exposed to them yet (i.e. can't be bothered to find out). Any tips?

I'll take it intravenously then. Place I went to tonight, half pub half live music venue, had Paulaner on tap and Negra Modelo bottled. Not a bad show for a Lahndan scabhole.

You mean you haven't got a range of branded glasses, snaffled from the better quality of pub over the years? What kind of savage are you?

OK, a lot of the Newcastle stuff is so vague as to be useless. Oh well.

Canny album, but a bit wearying after a while, plus (as mentioned) there's the eligibility factor. I tend to prefer Krauss on her own, anyway. Full marks for the Waits cover though.

It's nein erdinger but a fucking bargain Martin. My local has Hoegaarden at $54 a case normally $90 > anyone care for a bier? I'm a Leffe man myself, failing that a decent Kristallweizen usually hits the spot at this time of year, but a Hoegaarden will do quite nicely. Bring it on.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/telegraph...sale-in-UK.aspx A propos of nothing really, just a neat little tool for snooping on who wants out in your neck of the woods.

Good to see Rachel Unthank and the Winterset in there. Even if thelondonpaper complained that their Northumbrian folk tunes were spoiled somewhat by their Geordie accents.

Just got back from a fucking awesome few hours in the company of Justin Townes Earle, so I'm checking out his recorded tracks now. http://www.last.fm/music/Justin+Townes+Earle http://www.myspace.com/justintownesearle He's playing the free outdoor stage at the Sage this Sunday afternoon as part of the Americana Weekend, if anyone's up for it - well worth a trot along, even if his MySpazz suggests he thinks he's playing the "Gateshead Festival in New Castle". His original material's not bad, though I don't know if he'll have enough time to reel off a dozen classic blues/bluegrass/country tracks like tonight, but hopefully there'll be some room for manoeuvre. Oh and there's a paid gig later on that same night, but I know my opinion isn't worth that much to any of you. http://www.thesagegateshead.org/whats_on/e...=&match=any

Ah. I should have worked that out really. Well, give us a shout if you aren't travelling down until the Friday night/Saturday or whatever. Otherwise, happy flat-hunting and I suppose I'll catch up with you in the big bad city at some point.

Close enough. Frikadellen are class (albeit packed with crap). They've got them in stock too, but it's not the same out of the fridge. The Schöfferhofer in question is a wheat beer, not the best, but not to be sniffed at for 99p a pop.

You around t' Leeds on August 22nd or 25th at all? I may have time to burn due to the vagaries of train timetabling.

Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.