Sun And Champagne



Meg in the sunshine at Mumm vineyards, Napa. Also, yes I know it isn't champagne because it's made in the USA, but it is made from the same grapes, by the same grower so it is the next best thing.



There are 1.2 million bottles of fizz in this aging room, and we saw at least 3 rooms like this, that's a lot of posh party wine.

Chimney Rock vineyard, Napa Valley, California.

Meg's Monster Truck



Meg wanted to hire a big vehicle to drive this in, so we got this, the Chevrolet Planet Destroyer, how big is it ? I was out of breath walking from the boot to the passenger door, and we accidentally ran over a Humvee on the drive up.

A Long Day's Travelling

I don't think I have ever been so tired setting off on holiday, we locked up at work after a dinner for 55 at about midnight, and shortly after 1am we were on our way to Leeds courtesy of Mum & Dad In Laws Taxi service. Leeds station in the small hours of a Saturday morning is mostly filled with drunken revellers of the type whose eye you don't want to catch for fear of unexpected violence.

Nevertheless we arrived at Manchester airport safely, most of the pissheads having got on the same carraige we went to the other end of the train. We grabbed an early breakfast at 5am, got the connecting flight to Heathrow. We were both exhausted by now, in the Heathrow lounge we had coffee and Meg snoozed a little, I did a little writing and then finished reading Sense And Sensibility.

The flight to San Francisco was fine, plenty of space and comfort in our business class pods, thanks to Mrs YS winning at the casino. Meg got quite a bit of sleep, I could hardly stay awake when I was watching a film, but then when I extended the chair into its bed form I just couldn't get to sleep.

The time difference is minus 8 hours, so we had a strange sort of Groundhog Day Saturday, got the rental car (when I say car, I said Meg could have a large vehicle if she wanted, she's rented a thing so large you could fit my own car in the boot) and drove up the Napa Valley, crossing Golden Gate Bridge on the way. I have taken photos, but I seem to have forgotten my camera lead, so photo blog posts will have to wait. *Bought one*



We were really tired last night, so we didn't go to any of St. Helena's posh restaurants, but just settled for a perfectly nice Mexican meal at Armadillo's, and then in bed at 7pm.



It's 6am now, I'm up early because my body clock is out of synch, we have nothing planned today and all day to do it in, lovely.

Sod This

I'm off to San Francisco.

Can't You Just Be Normal

That was the cry, almost in unison, from chef Phil and waitress Georgie a couple of weeks ago as I enthused over some recent musical finds. Via the wonderful African music blog Awesome Tapes From Africa I had downloaded some songs by a Ghanian singer and musician called Onipa Nua, and from the massive and eclectic WFMU On The Download archive I had come across a selection of famous songs condensed into sixty seconds and was raving about the double time version of Eleanor Rigby.

And then the shout went up.

Well, it appears that I can't be normal, the processed chart music industry holds very little interest for me, I don't care for the ultra slick, over rehearsed style over substance approach of the X-Factor factory farm method of producing short lived record company cash cows, I'd much rather be having a few pints at a small venue watching a new band doing their best and performing their own material.

The breadth of music available to people has expanded massively with the digital recording revolution, there are ten times as many albums being released today as there were in the 60's, yet the music industry keeps on proclaiming that the death of music is upon us. It isn't the death of music, but it may well be a tidal shift in the industry and in the way that we purchase and consume music. When a band can record their music and put an album directly onto the internet for download they don't need to get record company backing to get their songs out to the public.

Free legal downloads are available on the net in huge quantities, bands put out free music to entice new fans and hopefully persuade them that their music is good enough to be worth purchasing next time around.



Today I will be driving the staff mad with some more recently discovered music, Dirt Star who is a Chinese indie musician singing in Mandarin and English, you can download both his albums for free from the link, and The Fuck'androlls, an Asian (sorry, I can't find any more info on them) indie rock band with a really dirty garage sound, you can download their 3 track demo EP from the Last.FM link for free.

Here's to new music, to not getting old and comfortable in musical taste, to pushing the boundries, to driving my long suffering staff right around the bend.

Hard Rock Hell III

Stage times

Last year the timings ran very close to time, so now it's time to pick and choose which bands I most want to see. The 3 stages are all very close so you don't have to spend more than a minute or two walking from hall to hall.

Thursday - The Viking Fancy Dress Heavy Metal Ball
17:30 - 18:00 Riot:Noise
18:15 - 18:50 New Device
19:05 - 19:35 Raw Glory
20:00 - 20:40 Attica Rage
20:55 - 21:35 Marshall Law
21:50 - 22:30 Beholder
22:45 - 23:20 GMT
23:45 - 00:30 Special Guest

That's a good start, I'm looking forward to RIOT:NOISE and New Device (although where's my album Amazon ?), Marshall Law are a good old NWOBHM band so I'm glad there's no-one to clash with them, Beholder are ok, Guy McCoy Torme though are bloody awful, as musicians they have played in some of the big classic rock bands, but their most recent album is really poor pub metal stuff. It might be an early night then, although I'd be interested in seeing who the as yet to be announced Special Guest is.

Friday

STAGE 1 - HARD ROCK HEAVEN
18:00 -18:45 Logan
19:00 - 20:00 Gun
20:15 - 21:05 Ratt
21:15 - 22:30 Terrorvision
22:45 - 00:15 Monster Magnet
00:30 - 01:30 Sonata Arctica

STAGE 2 - PORSHAMAR / TOTAL ROCK RADIO
15:20 - 15:55 Hysterica
16:10 - 16:45 Waylander
17:00 - 17:45 Korplikanni
18:00 - 18:45 Die Apokalyptischien Reiter
19:00 - 19:40 Delain
19:55 - 20:25 Flash Lightnin
20:40 - 21:20 Black Spiders
21:35 - 22:10 Sons Of Merrick
22:30 - 23:30 Edens Curse
23:45 - 00:25 Winterborn
00:45 - 01:30 Tribal Law
01:45 - 02:30 Total Rock Winner

STAGE 3 - YOUNG BLOOD
12:00 - 12:40 Imicus
12:55 - 13:30 Arthemis
13:45 - 14:30 Voodoo Johnson
14:45 -15:15 Remedy
15:30 - 16:00 9 x Dead
16:15 - 16:45 Dead against the rest
17:00 - 17:45 Hanging Doll

Friday has worked out well, only one clash amongst the bands I really want to see, I know Ratt are a classic band, but they might lose out to the up and coming Brit rockers Black Spiders, I saw BS supporting The Wildhearts and they were really good.

SATURDAY
STAGE 1 - TRICK OR TREAT
18:15 - 19:15 Mayra Roxx
19:30 - 20:10 Rogue Male
20:30 - 21:20 W.A.S.P.
21:40 - 23:00 Queensryche
23:20 - 00:40 New York Dolls
01:00 - 01:45 Lauren Harris
02:00 - 03:00 Spit Like This

STAGE 2 - METAL AID / METAL ON METAL
12:00 - 12:45 Pig Iron
13:05 - 13:45 Tigertailz
14:00 - 14:45 Quireboys
15:00 - 16:00 Girlschool
16:20 -17:10 Hydrogyn
17:25 - 18:15 Witchfynde
18:30 - 19:15 Demon
19:35 - 20:25 Angelwitch
20:45 - 21:25 Susperia
21:45 - 22:30 Evile
22:45 - 23:35 Onslaught
23:50 - 00:20 Goatwhore
00:40 - 01:20 Skeleton witch
01:35 - 02:30 Toxic Holocaust

STAGE 3 - OLD SKOOL NWOBHM
12:00 - 12:40 Cloven Hoof
12:55 - 13:35 Dumpys Rust Nuts
13:50 - 14:40 Tyson Dog
14:45 - 15:30 Marseille
15:45 - 16:30 Saracen
16:45 -17:30 Elixir
17:45 - 18:15 Hammerhead

Saturday has worked out well for me too, no clashes at all, so I can wander off between bands and catch an act I don't know as well. Poor old Spit Like This, they had to open Stage 2 at midday last year and went down really well, this year they've got the 'dead on your feet' slot, 2am when all the punters have been boozing for fourteen hours. Tigertailz did this slot last year and I must admit I was falling asleep on my feet.

Three days and nights of heavy metal, beer, vikings, beer, glam rock, beer, bad fast food, beer, spam beer eggs chips spam and beer, I'll need a holiday when I get back, and a liver exchange.

Question Of The Week

Yorkshiresoul readers said last week that if they were watching television, then Life is the best thing on the telly at the moment, followed closely by Strictly Come Dancing.

This week's question delves into equally serious intellectual territory, who is the most attractive woman on the planet ? If your choice isn't on the list, add her in the comments.

Book Review : 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill****



This is the second collection of horror short stories I have read recently, and Hill's wildly inventive and eclectic collection is far superior to the formulaic repetition of tales by Ambrose Bierce that I struggled through.

As with all short story anthologies, there are some good stories, and some not so good, but the good ones in 20th Century Ghosts are really good, clever, inventive and unsettling.

'Pop Art' which sought to explain the problems of being an inflatable child born to normal parents was wonderful, a simple but weird idea well explored, 'Voluntary Committal' has an autistic boy who builds models and cardboard castles, and gates, gates which lead to other places, 'Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead' showed a really neat twist on the horror theme in which a couple playing the part of zombies in a film explore their past and current relationship.

Good stuff, and it made me want to read some more of Hill's material, some of the stories have a Stephen King feel to them, and that's no bad thing in the realm of terror and suspense.

One - The Death Of Sam Berry

On the day before I found Eileen I witnessed Sam Berry walking up Cam Lane, checking the cars as came towards me. I was on the far side of the wall, hidden from Sam’s view, I already possessed a shotgun, indeed I had used it earlier that day to kill Thomas and Margeret Scoresby whom I had been lodging with. Something about Sam’s gait was troubling me, when I first caught sight of him lurching up the lane I thought he had been injured and nearly called out him, but then prudence kicked in and I hid behind the dry stone wall and watched him through the crenels.

Sam staggered from car to car, at each one he fumbled with door until he got it open then thrust his head inside, he peered inside the car for a few moments and then pulled back and moved on to the next vehicle. At a black 4WD Sam couldn’t get entry, the owners must have locked their car and then set off on foot, Sam roared incoherently and slapped the side window, the sound of an angry human voice on the otherwise quiet morning made me nervous. In front of the Subaru was a red Peugot, Sam wrenched open the rear door of the small car and pushed into the back seat, disappearing from my sight. I spent a few nervous minutes wondering what Sam could be up to, checking the field behind me to ensure nothing was creeping upon me, and breaking and checking the shotgun, habit.

When Sam did emerge from the Peugot’s rear seat his face was coated with dark blood, at least I was sure now.

“Hey Sam, “ I called, he looked up and then came shambling towards me, his left leg hanging and dragging with every forward lurch. I raised the shotgun when Sam got within two car lengths of me, then he spoke, his voice was guttural, rough and evil sounding, not anymore the gently accented voice of the bloke I’d met in the Farmer’s Arms a few times.

“They were down there, all away,” he grunted.

I took a step back from the wall, in danger of losing control. Before he spoke I was controlled and about to despatch a flesh eating creature, but hearing him speak threw my mind into a spin.

“What Sam ? What did you say ?” I kept the gun trained on him but I was trembling now, the barrels weaving in small arcs.

Sam stepped right up to wall, his hideous gore coated visage with its blank expression only feet away from me.

“Talk to me Sam, please, come on” I was pleading, desperate, tears of fear squeezing themselves from my ears and blurring my vision. “Just talk to me, tell me you’re alright.”

“They were down there, all away,” he repeated, then he roared and jumped up the wall his hands frantically grabbing at the top stones. I pulled the trigger and the gun barked, and again, Sam’s head blew apart in a red spray, his corpse fell back away from the wall and into the lane. At the gun’s report a pheasant broke from cover near the wall and leapt into panicked flight, crows jumped cawing into the air from the stand of trees opposite. The double echoes bounced and rolled around the valley, I cracked the gun open all the way ejecting the shells smoking onto the grass, with the gun reloaded I looked over the top of the wall. Sam Berry died on Cam Lane on a Tuesday afternoon, I didn’t bury him, there were already too many corpses in the lane for me to bury them all, so I said a short prayer for Sam Berry and turned for home.

Day 4 - 12,760 words written.