A New Era for Boxing?

Am I the only person who is seeing that a positive effect can still come of the weekends boxing events?
Of course, I am referring to the slap, the water spitting and the brawling which have all overshadowed a magnificent performance by a British boxer, challenging for a (and once most prestigious) version of the Heavyweight championship of the world.
The boxing experts, governing bodies, promoters and worlds press are all onboard the band wagon, criticising and expressing their disgust at the behaviour of men who fight for a living.
Does anyone else sense just a little irony here?

Continue reading “A New Era for Boxing?”

Doors close on Tim Peaks Diner.

Today sees the doors close on Tim Peaks Diner. But this isn’t another business calling time amidst a countries financial woes. This sees the end (?)of the hugely successful brainchild of Charlatans front man Tim Burgess.
Tim Peaks Diner is a virtual cafe that people can pop into by simply dropping Tim @Tim_Burgess a tweet or twenty on social networking site Twitter. The diner plays host to tens of thousands of people during it’s opening hours and boasts quite a significant selection of coffees, teas, spice infusions, shakes and more. The selection is…well, endless. Whatever your mind can concoct, Tim can serve up. And it’s a diner, so if you feel the need for something a little more substantial then you can always treat yourself to a selection of cupcakes, muffins, biscuits…hey he’ll even rustle you up a sandwich if you ask nicely. (the vegetarian selection is outstanding)

There is a jukebox too, which will always keep you smiling. Tim’s eclectic mix of musical tastes kick off each morning with #timsbreakfastbanger which is aired shortly after opening hours. There then ensues many other playlists and some corking tunes. Where else could you here Prince singing with the muppets, Kraftwerk and The Beach Boys all played by one dj.
All very interesting I hear you say, but what makes makes this diner so special for it’s residents?
Well…for a kick off, Tim personally dishes out the orders. In the virtual world, this means personal responses to each ‘tweet’ received. Translated into social media speak, this means that, with over 20000 followers, he’s dedicating a fair old amount of time to interacting with his fans.
In the months that the doors have been opening, that’s quite some tweeting, and quite some typing. There’s been the live events too.. Not content at being totally virtual, the diner doors entered the physical world for some real life human interaction over twitter too. I think Mr Burgess might refer to that as a touch of psychedelic irony…but who am I to second guess him.
The Charlatans albums listening parties from Nashville, Dublin, Manchester et al were all smashing events for those who attended too.
Having had the pleasure of meeting him on one occasion, it’s a double dose of gratitude that has to expressed in closing the review.
For the musical memories that pretty much define the soundtrack of a generation, for keeping going and, in keeping with the subject of the blog, for opening the doors of Tim Peaks Diner to us all, we thank you.
I think everyone who has stopped by will testify, it’s been an enormous amount of fun.

Go on, get over to Tim Peaks Diner today.
If your quick…and I mean really quick, you might catch Tim for that last cuppa!
Or Check out The Charlatans
And look out for Tim’s autobiography coming soon…

 

One For the Ladies…

Whilst looking through some of this years photos I realised that for me, it’s been as good a year for gigs as I’ve had in some time.
Long gone are those days of at least one gig per month and a festival sprinkled in for good measure though.
Oh no, that kind of regularity dramatically reduced around 9 years ago.
And, if I’m honest, it’s probably a good thing. The old bones may still like the odd venture to the front of the crowd, but in reality the old bones are..well just that.