An appeal.

I'm going to be on the nightshift tonight.

Anyone want to do me a couple of hundred words on the music tonight?
Worth a pint to anyone that fancies it.

Ward of Shame*

Department of wicked whispers : Which Angel regular was recently seen by Kevin doing the Walk of Shame in the general area of the Cherry Tree a short while back?
Apparently, this regular was looking a Freddbare but still had the old Starr quality about his person.

In other less scurrilous news, Paula will be taking part in this year's Race For Life and can be sponsored by the simple means of asking at the bar and filling in a sponsor form.

*Yes Mrs Porous, there will be a Bacardi and Diet Coke in it for you, well done on being the first winner

The Fallen - A Preview

I recently received THIS message in the comments box of Lisa's recent review of the Swimming With Sharks gig:

Ben "the fallen" Gardner said...
Oh dear... did I read a challenge to The Fallens undisputed "noisiest buggers in East Anglia" title within the Wicca'd Witch's report on Swimming With Sharks? Think so. :-) I likes a challenge AND I've got a new 2kw P.A to play with on the 7th June. Please send the invoices for broken window panes to Mr Porter jnr. hehe, game on.

So with that in mind I feel it's only right to give this show a real push.

First a little background.
A few years back, Paula and Kevin decided to throw an all day bash to mark the occasion of Kevin's Xth birthday and the first anniversary of their taking over the tenancy of the Angel. The proceeds from this night went to a local charity, the day was roaring success and an Angel Tradition was born.

Fast forward to 2008 and this year's Big Draw for the event in question are local heroes The Fallen, playing at their spiritual home.

The choice of charity was a cause of some debate, a debate which was settled by The Fallen's hairy Bass Thing Ben.
This year's choice of Charity is The Spinal Injuries Association, run for, and by, people who have sustained spinal injuries and provide vital support and information for people who have spinal injuries, in order to allow them to live as independent a life as possible.

So, when the bucket comes round on June the 7th, chuck in any loose change you might have, because without them, your ears wouldn't be ringing half as much as they will come Midnight, as the band you'll have just had a great night with wouldn't have had a bassist.





Postscript - you should still check out Recoil this Saturday AS WELL, I'm told they're rather good and the girls need shoes and the Spotty Dogs are very hungry buggers

Post-Postcript - click the bloody link and read about the SIA you idle buggers, I can't do ALL your research for you

Video Footage From May 10th of Swimming With Sharks

Brought to you courtesy of my roving reporter on the scene. In keeping with my usual standards, the recording is of the usual quality.

Competition Time.

In a Cleverest Pub On Britain First I am launching my first EVER competition.

My 'news round up' type posts have headers which, frankly, are a bit dull.
If anyone can suggest a better title, caption or otherwise for these posts there's a pint(for the gentlemen, a fruit based drink or white wine for the ladies, rules are rules) in it for you.
Leave your suggestions on the 'comments' section to this post along with your name and what times/days you generally get in the Angel, should I decide to use your caption/header/rude name for Tony Ward in one of my news round-ups.

Cheers.

/edit, in aother first, this is the first EVER post I've made on this blog that hasn't had ANY spelling or typing errors in it.
Grammar pedants need not reply to this.

News Round Up

Steve Plumb is contemplating learning to fly, 'once I've had my knee done', the former cricket ace is planning on doing an hour or so a month to get his requisite flying hours 'when the weather is good' in order to obtain his pilot's licence by the time he retires, with most pilots apparently needing anything from 40-60 hours flying time to get a licence some Angel regulars are already laying bets on whether Steve 'ascends' in a more permanent fashion before he gains his wings.

Staying with the mustachioed seamer, Steve is due to consignment of a large amount of pond liner for his garden. Rumours that the monkey puzzle tree is no longer a deterrent for the local kids around Greyhound Road and that a moat is in the process of being constructed are yet to be confirmed.

The recent survey on the recent addition the the angel bar repertoire of Greene King's take on Old Speckled Hen(Greene King's Ancient Spotty Cock anyone?) shows a largely positive response to the new brew with 64% of all respondents who've tried the House beer liking it, with a 21% undecided rate and 14% preferring to drink dishwater. That'll be the percentage regulars who drink Foster's then.

The Black Lion is now in the hands of new management, an apparently much-pierced(in the earring sense) lady, referred to darkly by Richard as 'the tattooed lady'.
Porous has eaten there and could scarcely contain his indifference, but it's early days as yet and here's hoping it can regain it's former high standards as an eating pub.

Also in the hands of new management, and off to a more positive start, Turner's Fish and Chip Shop has been renamed as 'Rumble's Fish Bar' and reopened to some mild excitement amongst the local hungry buggers following the revelation that the chippy now sells, in addition to traditional chip shop fare, kebabs, burgers and Genuine Turkish US Southern Fried Chicken.
Good luck to Kemal and his(from what I say on Friday and Saturday) hardworking, polite and friendly team and all the best to Keith and June on reclaiming their weekends after nearly 30 years behind the fryers.

Overheard tonight...

Paula, do I look like Freddie Starr?

And So To Business

You should pity me. Really you should. I had to force myself to apply some lipgloss and venture down to the Angel to listen to some music last Saturday. It was a hard job, but as Him Indoors was forced to work for a living, somebody had to step into the breach and drink his quota of IPA.

The weather was glorious and as I ambled down the hill (or 'slight slope' as we Northerns like to call it), the dulcit tones of Swimming With Sharks belting out 'Teenage Kicks' as a warm up could be heard as far away as the social club. Yes, it looks as though The Fallen have a rival for the title of 'Scourge Of The West Suffolk Noise Abatement Society' at last. 

Swimming With Sharks surprised me. They really did. They look like an average pub band. They are good...but they started off with the usual blues/rock covers that most pub bands play. I was thoroughly enjoying myself (which witnesses may have something to say about, but I am maintaining a dignified silence) but was not expecting to hear anything that I hadn't heard before. Then they played a song they had written themselves and IT WAS GOOD. 

I was certainly taken by surprise - normally White Men Playing Reggae makes me want to smash stuff, but 'Blue Days, Black Nights' was a wonderful song, perfectly suited to the weather, and had me wanting More Of This Sort Of Thing. They performed three more original songs over the course of the evening, all maintaining the quality promised by 'Blue Days, Black Nights', and proving that their musical influences were indeed varied. 'Late Shift' was reminiscent of Santana, with Punk influences being very apparent in 'Coffee' and 'Fuss Over Nothing'. 

As well as the original material, we rocked out to various rock classics, with 'Schools Out' and 'Sweet Home Alabama' standing out in particular. They also performed a riproaring version of 'Valerie' by The Zutons, accompanied by spontaneous 'Sharkettes', and although my memory of the evening is slightly hazy, I am pretty certain that at one point there was a singing dog. I can't have imagined this, surely?

 

Their performance of 'I Saw Her Standing There' also sticks in the memory, mainly due to the unique but enthusiastic harmonies during the chorus. I was also incredibly pleased to hear them cover 'London's Burning' by The Clash. I really really wanted to hear more punk (and I would personally buy them all a pint if they did a couple of Billy Bragg songs), but perhaps sensibly they stuck to classics that everyone would know. They certainly had people dancing and shouting for more, which is always a good sign. 

On the whole I would declare Swimming With Sharks a great success and hopefully a happy new addition to Paul & Kevin's regular supply of Very Good Pub Music. They might not have been technically perfect, but they were enthusiastic and honest, and performed with a sense of joy and humour that more than made up for the occasional wobbly note and mistimed guitar chord (not to mention the occasional lapse in the lead guitarist's memory). They not only perform, they entertain and they genuinely appear to love what they do. 

As a little bonus, you can have their encore - a song called Teenagers by the young person's beat combo, My Chemical Romance. Footage to follow when the computer stops being such a massive rubbish.

So Sorry To Keep Everyone Waiting....

It's been one hell of a week.

Before I get to the business of writing the proper blog update, I should mention that our cat Wolsey is now safely home from the vets, and she is now BIONIC. Well she is for the next 6-8 weeks until they remove the wiring from her lower jaw. She's been straight on her crunchies, she's *that* hard.

Your Charming Webmaster nearly ended up in casualty himself upon receipt of the interim invoice from the vet (it's his Yorkshire genes you know), and would seriously advise anyone who has a pet to insure them. We did (thankfully), and it's saved us from a very very nasty expense. We have to thank Swayne & Partners in Long Melford who have been wonderful, supportive and reassuring, not to mention providing the highest quality emergency treatment, care and accommodation for Wolsey whilst she's been incapacitated.

Cats: an update.

I recently received this missive from the Curries, further to the recent article about Wolsey's recent visit to the Angel.

Hiya!

Perhaps we should take Mitsie down to the Angel as we're looking after her at the moment! As Greene King IPA is 95% water, she'll drink most of it, and Patrick can finish the other 5%. She loves Go-cat, so may enjoy a nice crunchy pork-scratching or three! She is an "incomer", born in East London, but has spent most of her life in Glemsford.

And here is a photo of Mrs Currie's pussy.


You can make your own Mrs Slocombe jokes.

In further Cat News, wolsey is currently indisposed due to an unfortunate accident involving her jaw and a car.
We hope to have her home soon.

Welcome to Update City, please drive carefully.

The Great Morris breakfast has been reported as a great success with Kevin and Paula providing 26 hungry Pagan Prancers with cooked breakfasts with a level of efficiency which caught a few Morris by surprise.

The Monthly saturday quiz was held on the 3rd of May.
As usual the standard was high and the eventual winners, seeing off regular top-of-the-tablers Simon Says were pereniall contenders the formidable Four P's, or the Brothers Plumb as they're known.
Robert is rumoured to almost have turned up the corners of his mouth on hearing the news of victory.

Dogs Cats of the Angel

This is the view that Angel regulars had of my cat, Wolsey, after she decided that she wanted to see where it was that Lisa and Myself went on nights when Reece is at his dad's.
Her entrance was met with a mixed response, the Spotty Dogs appearred keen to ingratiate themselves with her, Paula, understandably forseeing chaos ensuing, less so.
So it was that she was taken home again and confined to quarters.
For the record, Wolsey shuns bar snacks as demeaning but quite likes cheese.

Following on from the dancing..

...26 members of the Morris made their way through the village, perambulating their merry way to the Angel, where Kevin and Paula furnished them with a no doubt excellent breakfast(Kevin was heard to say the week before 'the sausages are all important, cheap sausages can BREAK a breakfast').

Here, courtesy of the one time Sussex Young Cartoonist Of The Year(2003), extremely lovely, internet celebrity and available for commsion at very reasonable rates Ed Carter, known to his accomplices as Down On The Farm(Dottie) for short is an artist's impression of what happened when the Bejingle'd Lotharios of the Morris Men Of Little Egypt reached Tye Green.



The full sized image can be viewed HERE

May Day

And so it was, that the Morris assembled at Park Farm for the May Day dancing, here are some early photos, courtesy of Kevin, who was sent them by intrepid Morris PR man Brian Stephens.

Gently now, I'm an old man

My stick's bigger than yours

Women aren't allowed to dance in this one. It would be Sexual Morrisment

None of these men have been circumcised