murphy1970

The Mary Chain were on top form on Wednesday night. They are one of those bands I'm glad I missed live in my younger days. Gone are the days of chaotic gigs, over in jig time, ending with the band fighting amongst themselves or a rammy in the audience. These days JAMC are a tight, live outfit and they ran through a great selection from their back catalogue. Reverence live was worth the ticket price on its own.

Going to see The Mary Chain in Glasgow on Weds, saw them at Edinburgh Corn Exchange on Psychocandy tour and they were on top form that night. Also going to see Tom Hingley and backing band play Inspirals set in Kilmarnock

Very impressed by second series. Good acting and well paced, and a lot of interesting subplots

The Stranglers were on terrific form last night at the Academy. It was a pleasure to watch them run through the whole of the Black & White album, including those tracks rarely played live like In the Shadow, Do you wanna and Enough Time. I think that was one of the longest sets I've ever seen them play and it drew from across their back catalogue.

Meaning to have a clear out of all the books I've bought 2nd hand and not got around to reading and started in on Kurt Vonnegut. Just finished Player Piano and I thought it was wonderful, and was annoyed I'd left it so long to getting round to it. Like all the best sci-fi it speaks of the human condition, looks at the world as we know it, and extrapolates from that a convincing view of what might be. What impressed me most was the combination of comedy and pathos. He manages to make serious points and human drama whilst being funny. I'm currently more than half way through The Sirens of Titan and I'd highly recommend that too.

TMBG were superb last night. I'd tried to prepare my fiancee for the experience, something along the lines of they're an acquired taste and a wee bit weird. No worries though as she was mightily impressed by their numerous catchy tunes and on stage banter. The new songs stood up well, Answer and Music Jail, but for me the highlights were Your racist friend, Twisting, Meet James Ensor and James K Polk

Going to see They Might Be Giants supported by BMX Bandits tomorrow night in Glasgow. Saw TMBG last time they were in Scotland through in Edinburgh and they were excellent

Ipod is fecked again, going to buy record player next week. I have few albums on vinyl but was wondering if anyone in Ayrshire has been to store in Kilwinning, and if so, would you recommend it

Whereabouts can you catch 2nd series? Is it available via Netflix or a streaming service?

Every decent result for UKIP in an election is a fatal blow to that myth of the sophistication of the UK electorate. Fundamentally they are a party of ultra Thatcherite libertarian nutballs supported by the sort of mindless working class racists who used to vote BNP.

Booked tickets for They Might Be Giants next January in Glasgow. Saw them couple of years ago in Edinburgh and they were fantastic.

A bit of victim blaming earlier on the thread. Sheridan's downfall was 100% of his own making and the ensuing debacle can be laid squarely at the door of the CWI and SWP, who opted to split SSP for pathetically short sighted reasons.

Correct, Rise have nothing to do with Hope over Fear or Tommy Sheridan. The SWP are another group who wwon't be involved to any great degree because of their role in Solidarity

I hope Farage keeps to his word and stays safely resigned. He's not my cup of tea, but there is no denying that he knows how to play the media and has created this loveable Arthur Daley type persona for himself. Judging by the numerous racist, homophobic and downright nutty comments emanating from the others in his party, the odds must be reasonably short on his replacement being a total loonball which should hopefully see the UKIP bubble bursting. With regards to the collapse in the far right vote I would give that a cautious welcome. It is good to see odious creeps like the BNP vanish from the political map but I strongly suspect that many of them will simply have relocated into UKIP.

SLF at Barras on St Patrick's day then The Stranglers at Kilmarnock

Waited a long time to see The Mary Chain and they were well worth the wait. Superb gig from first to last. Psychocandy is a class album & they did it full justice. The shorter first set was also top drawer, especially Reverence & Upside Down

Tom Hingley band at Ivory Blacks

Currently reading A place of greater safety, Hilary Mantell,s historical novel about French Revolution. It centres on the 3 key figures, Danton, Desmoulins & Robespierre. Thoroughly enjoying it, its a worthy predecessor to Thomas Cromwell series.

I see Israel has just shelled a UN run school being used as a shelter. 15 dead, hundreds injured, Israeli propaganda department will be working overtime. If there was any justice there would be a long queue of Likud politicians & IDF top brass facing trial for war crimes.

Israeli attempts to play the victim ring very hollow. Their brutally disproportionate response can only serve to ensure the next generation of Palestinians will grow up hell-bent on Israel,s destruction.

Got spare ticket for Barras on Fri, should have known fiancée wouldn't want to go. If anyone is interested then send me a PM I,m really looking forward to gig, they were great last time I saw them in Glasgow

Regeneration via PPI so we'll all be paying for it for ever more. New Labour took the dodgy Tory policy of PPP and somehow made it even worse. Back on topic, Benn is a great political hero of mine. I had the privilege of hearing him speak a few times, and he was a superb orator, passionate and erudite. The first political books I read were his Arguments for Socialism & Arguments for Democracy when I was at secondary school.

Saw Tom Hingley (ex Inspiral Carpets) at Coyote Whiskey bar last night. Very good gig. Very good singer and put on a good acoustic set.

Off work for a fair bit, great holidays in my job if nowt else so been doing a fair bit of reading. Recently finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, 1st of a trilogy of fantasy novels, and I really enjoyed it. I just hope that he cranks out the finale a bit quicker than George RR Martin. Also read two biographies, both very different but fascinating reads. The first was Its So Easy and other lies by Duff McKagan, the bassist with GnR. How he survived to tell the tale is a medical miracle. Also recently completed Autobiography by Morrissey. An interesting, if at times, difficult read, not helped by the lack of chapters.

Shocked when I heard the news, thoughts go out to all those who've lost loved ones or are waiting on news. Been in The Clutha in the past and like going into Glasgow for a Friday night out with live music so seems close to home.