'Felicitations on the anniversary of the commencement of your journeys around the sun'

...and what a splendid night the second anniversary party for Ruislip's Sounds Of The Suburbs record shop turned out to be, with excellent sets from The Witchdoktors and Religion Equals Decay (aka RED) alongside a show from Punky Reggae Party which saw your humble narrator reunited with an old friend. Back in the 1980s The Price played several gigs with a fine band from the Acton area called 1926 - I'd not seen any of them for the best part of 30 years so it was great to discover that their singer / guitarist John now plays in Punky Reggae Party. I was invited by bassist Chris to join the band 'for a few songs' when I met him back in April at Ruts D.C.'s Balcombe gig - somehow over the last couple of weeks this progressed to 'why don't you do the whole show?' Well why not indeed? So I did - which means that as well as sharing the stage with my old mate John I also got to play 'Up Against The Wall' with Tom Robinson Band keyboard maestro Ian Parker (he was in the band, he didn't just suddenly appear there!) among other highlights. Which reminds me - I also joined The Witchdoktors for their encore of the Damned classic 'Neat Neat Neat' which, as I'd already played it with PRP, meant that I got to play the same song with two different bands on the same night. Weird!

Talking of splendid nights Sunday just gone saw Sylvain Sylvain play The Dublin Castle in Camden Town. Like all sensible people I'm a big New York Dolls fan, and I'm pleased to report that the man himself was in fine form, promoting his new book 'There's No Bones In Ice Cream' with some great stories from the rock 'n' roll frontline and an acoustic set of Dolls classics and more. But some of the most memorable moments for your humble narrator were away from the stage - I went over to say hello to Gaye Advert and found myself being introduced to Bobby Gillespie and Thurston Moore. I'd just finished talking to them when I got a cheery wave from Damian O'Neill of The Undertones. The things I type here sometimes eh? And did Thurston Moore really say that he liked The Price? Yes, incredibly, he did. As I say, weird - and getting weirder!

Anyway it's my birthday today. I know that some people don't like having birthdays but I really like them, especially given the rather basic alternative... I often find that I get a bit introspective at this time of year, and reading through this posting I do seem to be looking back more than I'm looking forward... ah well - it's only once a year. At at the same time every year. Hopefully. 
I called Price merch man East earlier (it'd be difficult to him call later and be able to comment on it here if you think about it!) about meeting up tonight - his opening line was so brilliant that I've shamelessly stolen it for the title of this posting. And I've got 'Torn And Frayed' by The Rolling Stones playing in the background at the moment - 'just as long as the guitar plays'... see what I mean? Introspective. 

Hmm... time for a drink, or two, I think - don't you?

Tougher than the rest

Well, you know how this is going to work by now don't you? I make some weak (increasingly weak to be honest!) excuses about having no time to do anything other than work in Balcony Shirts, then I bang on about the things that have happened to me when I haven't been working in Balcony Shirts. Simple eh? Except this time it deserves more… or is that just egotism on my part? After all, it doesn't really matter what I write here does it? Not compared the death of Muhammad Ali anyway. Mind you, not much matters next to that does it? Whatever your opinion of boxing it's impossible to deny that Ali was one of the great figures of the 20th Century, and given the reaction to the news of his passing it's surely difficult to think that he won't be one of the great figures of the 21st Century and beyond. For what my opinion is worth he was, is and always will be a truly remarkable figure in history who transcended sport, politics, race and religion to inspire countless people to achieve things in their lives that they never have otherwise been able to do. That goes beyond any analysis - put simply, the world has become a better place for him having lived on it.

Right - let's get onto the 'I haven't had much time this week…' stuff - 

- I saw Wilko Johnson at Rough Trade East.
The extraordinary renaissance of The Canvey Island Assassin continues with the publication of his autobiography 'Don't You Leave Me Here', and last Thursday's early evening event saw the man himself interviewed by Zoe Howe about the new book and more. Hang on a minute - didn't she write a book with him a while back? Well yes she did, which has prompted more than a few 'so what's in this book that wasn't in the other one then?' questions; sadly I've not had time to read the new one yet (obviously!) so I can't answer that potentially rather awkward query, but I can confirm that both were on good form during the admittedly often rather contrived inquisition. I managed a quick chat with Zoe and her husband Dylan afterwards as well as catching up with Wilko's son and Eight Rounds Rapid guitar man Simon, after which I hightailed it across town to Denmark Street…

- I attended The WitchDoktors's album launch night at The Alley Cat Club.
…where I arrived just in time to catch a couple of songs by The Healthy Junkies before The WitchDoktors gave a blazing performance in support of their new release 'Voodoo Eye'. I've seen them a few times here and there - they always give a good show and this was no exception. Great stuff - and the album is excellent too.

- Roger Cotton died.
I played quite a few shows with Roger, and The Flying Squad recorded with him in his studio - he was a great bloke and and a fabulous musician who I'm very proud to have known and worked with. A very sad loss.

- I played a show in Rickmansworth with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks.
A lively evening at The Halfway House saw Big Al's two daughters winning friends and influencing people with their, erm, 'flamboyant' style of dancing. That's all I'm saying here, as I'd like to keep my job.

- I didn't play a show in Bethnal Green with The Upper Cut. 
Our run of bad luck at The Salmon And Ball continued when the PA system went wrong during our second number - despite repeated attempts at continuing we eventually gave it up as a bad job and went home. Bugger!

- I went to see Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium.
On June 5th 1981 I witnessed a (literally) life changing performance from The Boss and the boys (no ladies in the band in those days!) at The Wembley Arena. 35 years to the day later I saw him and The 'heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking, love-making, legendary' E-Street Band put on a 3 1/2 hour show that might not have been quite as transcendent as the one that I saw all those years ago, but still left little if any doubt that they are indisputably one of the greatest bands of all time. Highlights were many and varied, but a mention has to be given to a devastating version of 'Candy's Room' - is there any greater moment in rock music than the first note of the guitar solo? - and 'Because The Night' which was as intense and powerful a performance as anything that I can remember seeing from him or indeed anybody else. Magnificent. 

And talking of magnificent, what better way to end this posting than with a quote from the late and undeniably great Muhammad Ali himself - 

'Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power that it takes to win when the match is even'.

There's nothing to add to that is there? Thanks Champ.