... and a week have gone by since I last typed my 'regular' blog feature!
I truly need to work on my memory!
Anyhoo, what's there to tell?
We did well in the Olympics after all (following on from my last blog post.)
There's been a Royal baby.
I've moved in with my girlfriend (and she's survived so far!!)
We've had snow, rain, a heatwave and now just 'Summer'.
Managed to get a few days in Ibiza in May. Good to be back after missing out in 2012.
And spent last weekend at Fairport's Cropredy Convention with my extended family, the McBastards!
And this is where I'll concentrate this post. Cropredy 2013.
This was my 4th visit to the little, family-friendly, Folk-Rock Fest that is 'Cropredy'.
Previous visits in 2005, 2007 and 2010 have all been good. And this was no exception.
I do try to attend more regularly, but much like this blog, other things come up and it gets missed!
On the line-up this year were 10CC (one surviving member of 10CC anyway), The Levellers, Nik Kershaw (solo / acoustic) and the mighty (mightily theatrical) Alice Cooper! He puts on a good show.
And what a show.
It had everything. Female guitarists, stick waving, baton twirling, fireworks, costume changes, songs about Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees, electrocutions, a giant 'It's-a'Knockout'-esque Frankenstein ("Its pronounced Frankenstein" - Gene Wilder)... and a good old fashioned guillotining of the man himself!
What more could you ask for a family-friendly festival? haha
But it was definitely worth a watch.
10CC played the hits. The Levellers played a very good set. Nik Kershaw was surprisingly entertaining stripping his synth-based 80's hits down to one guitar and a microphone.
And I never knew he wrote 'The One And Only' for Chesney Hawkes! Enjoyed that sing-a-long!
Other acts of note over the three days were The Moulettes, Romeo's Daughter, Mediaeval Baebes and Richard Digance (Entertaining as always!)
And, although I missed them, the Peatbog Faeries were apparently excellent.
There was even a surprise 20 minute stand up from Jasper Carrott... who is starting to look his age. And his jokes were just as old... ;o) Gawd bless 'im!
Fairport Convention finished the weekend out with their typically epic 3 hour set, bringing out guests here and there and generally entertaining the crowd with far more gusto than is to be expected from men of their years! Peggy did seem to have a LOT of pee breaks throughout... so maybe the age is catching up with them after all!
Roll on Cropredy 2014... Meet you on the ledge!
M
