'All The Years of Trying' - Trailer for Patrik Fitzgerald Documentary

Do you remember Patrik Fitzgerald? I do. I bought his first few singles and first album back in the '70s and missed seeing him play by one day at The Oranges And Lemons pub in Oxford in 1978 or 1979. I didn't even know there was a second album until the last couple of years and I've gradually enlarged my collection of Patrik songs - there's a load of songs on iTunes now.

The film, 'All The Years Of Trying' is being screened as part of the Raindance film festival on 4 October (tickets go on sale on 15 September). I hope this film brings him a new audience. Good luck!

PiL Update

It's been a stressful week, what with things not going well at work, two Amanda Palmer gigs and the announcement that Public Image Limited would get together for gigs in December with the London gig being on the same night as I'm seeing the Pet Shop Boys.

After consulting with various people I took the sage advice of Paul over a glass of red wine and a pint of Moretti beer the other night, which was to wait for them to announce a second Brixton gig when the first one sold out. Well, obviously! Why didn't I think of that? The tickets went on pre-sale yesterday and full sale today and I gritted my teeth and girded my loins and, at lunchtime, started refreshing the tickets page waiting for a second gig to be announced, but nothing changed. Naturally, the second gig is announced after I leave work and I get the email when I'm sitting waiting for Amanda Palmer to take the stage. Sigh. Just my luck.

Luckily, Chris secured tickets on his return from the theatre and I will be seeing the mightly PiL as a Christmas treat! Yay!

Amanda Palmer at Union Chapel

Amanda Palmer played the Union Chapel up in Islington this evening, a church with a pulpit on the stage. It's a nice venue, a bit different from the usual gig venues, lots of atmosphere and atmospheric lights (that's code for not enough light for my little camera to take any good photos at a distance from the stage). After a trip to the bar to discover they sell Guinness (in cans, unfortunately), downing it since alcohol is not allowed in the church proper, I found a seat in the second row of the balcony right in front of the stage so a good view was assured.

I missed most of Polly Scattergood, the support act, so don't really have anything to say about her other than her voice seemed a bit lost and echo-y in the church but whether that was her, the equipment or the venue, I couldn't say. Amanda also sounded a bit echo-y - I wonder if it was because I was in the balcony which opened up cubic acres of space up into the vaulted roof.

Amanda came on shortly after 8.30pm and scooted round the back of the pulpit to play on the big church organ (oo-er) and then came to the front of the stage to take her place behind her Kurtweil piano and launched into 'Missed Me' and 'Astronaut'. That set the tone for the rest of the show, a mix of Dresden Dolls songs and songs from 'Who Killed...', a nice mix and a timely reminder that Amanda has been around for a while and has a great catalogue of songs to choose from when playing live. She admitted to not really having a set list for the show and invited requests a couple of times. She also forgot the tune and words to songs a few times - she blamed being in a church for the problems. There was also an artist on stage behind her, painting throughout the show - it'll be finished tomorrow night.

Favourites in the main set were the lovely 'Ampersand', 'Runs In The Family', 'Mandy Goes To Med School', 'Sex Changes', and 'Blake Says'. Amanda also played a duet with Polly Scattergood (who stood in the balcony behind the stage) in the rather odd shape of 'Puff The Magic Dragon' followed by 'Delilah' with Polly's drummer (who did his best but he's no Brian Viglione) and then got Polly and her band on stage to finish off with 'Oasis', a great way to finish the show on a high. Amanda introduced it by saying, 'We're all going to hell...'.

Much clapping and stomping later, Amanda appeared on the balcony to sing 'Makin' Whoopie' with her ukelele and then went back to the stage for a lovely version of 'The Point Of It All' before finishing with 'Half Jack' (the echoing vocals really worked in this song). A spectacular way to end!

So, that's show one over, and I have tomorrow to look forward to...

Party on the Internet Auction Funhaus 2.0

Amanda Palmer lives in a strange world - a delightfully strange world, but strange nonetheless. If you'd like to be part of it you could log on to her party on the internet at 10:00pm tonight for an auction of stuff. Details are below:

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We'll start the webcast around 10PM GMT (5PM EST) at partyontheinternet.com We'll show off the items and give them names like, "Leeds United chorus girl costume" and "Oasis pregnancy test" then we'll tell you what exactly they are (i.e. "Amanda wore this in the video for 'Coin-Operated Boy'")...then we'll start the bidding.

You will place your bids by e-mailing auction@amandapalmer.net with the subject line AUCTION ITEM NAME - BID. For example, if I wanted to bid $200 for the pregnancy kit, I'd put "OASIS PREGNANCY KIT - $200" in the subject line. All bids are in US dollars and if you win, please be prepared to pay via PayPal as soon as the auction closes. Please do not bid unless you are serious and can pay upon the end of the webchat.

As bids come in, we'll update you on the webcast and via Twitter as to the current high bid. When we're about to close an item, we'll let you know what the high bid live on the air so that you can try to beat it. Should a bidding war commence, we'll go back and forth and count down from five 'till no more bids come in. All winners will be announced via the webcast and Twitter with first name and last initial as well as the winning bid amount.

Amanda will sign and personalize any of the items we auction off (but we'll sort that out once bidding is closed).

This is a new thing for all of us, so we'll be working out the kinks as we go along... Again, you can watch at partyontheinternet.com and send bids to auction@amandapalmer.net

Love, Team AFP

P.S. We're hoping there's gonna be some wine...it wouldn't be a webcast without wine, right?

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See you there? Hmmm maybe I'd better get some wine...

Amanda at Forbidden Planet

This evening Amanda Palmer did a signing of her 'Who Killed...' book at Forbidden Planet (who moved it to the top of Shaftesbury Avenue? And when? Nobody tells me anything these days). I was going to the theatre tonight so, when I saw the size of the queue and pace of movement I regretfully decided there wasn't really enough time to get the book signed and scoot off to the theatre in time (on Embankment) so I didn't meet Amanda but I (naturally) took a few snaps.

I was pleased by the turn-out for the signing even thought I wasn't able to meet Miss Palmer. Still, I'm seeing her at Union Chapel in a couple of days, so I'm happy.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

Now, I'm not one to get excited over trifles (unless it's a proper one) but you need to know that Public Image Limited are getting back together and touring in December - what a grand Christmas present I thought, and then I saw when they were playing London... the same day as I already have tickets for the Pet Show Boys Christmas show at the O2. Can you imagine the colour of my language on seeing that? And I can't go to Manchester because I'm seeing Ray Davies that night. O what to do ...?

Pop on over to the new PiL site for details.

Bananarama - 'Love Comes'

The 'Nanas are back! This is the new single from Bananarama and it's pretty damn fab, with Keren and Sara looking gorgeous as ever in the video. There's no 'story' to the video, just the lasses looking groovy robed and dis-robed in various scenes, and they've even combed their hair.

I know they haven't really been 'away' as such - I saw them a few years ago doing a promo thing with the Scissor Sisters and it was a little bit fab to be waved at by Keren from the second floor windows of The Forum while we queued to get in. I downloaded the single this morning and am playing it non-stop. The album is out on 14 September so I think that'll be another one to invest in with my pocket money. September's going to be an expensive month...

Welcome back, 'Nanas, I hope this is a big success!

Alan Cumming - 'I Bought A Blue Car Today'

Last night we went to see Alan Cumming in his one-man show, 'I Bought A Blue Car Today', at the Vaudeville Theatre. It's a song and talk show about his ten years living in America and the title comes from part of his US citizenship test in which applicants have to write down a sentence that's dictated to them and, at his exam, 'I bought a blue car car today' was the sentence.

When we got there we headed for the bar since there was some time to kill and while chatting who should come up to the bar near us but Geri Hallewell with her petite posse. Geri looked well but I thought the time of the tartan miniskirt had passed.

Alan's show is about two hours with an interval and he started very energetically by opening with Cyndi Lauper's 'Shine' since he worked with her a few years ago on Broadway. And that set the tone for the evening, with some chat about his experiences over the past ten years and a song related in some way to what he's been talking about. He's got a nice singing voice and it's nice to hear a Scots burr underneath some of the lyrics and phrasing. It's also nice to just hear him talk and waiting for the revelation of where he's subtley taken us before he reaches the next song.

He had a seven-piece band as well as his musical director on piano, and three members of the band were born in the year he made his West End debut so he not so subtley commented on their ages throughout the show in the manner of a man coming to terms with the sudden onslaught of age. Still, he looks good on it.

He's an accomplished raconteur with a story for every situation and we got a goodly selection last night - how he wanted to get citizenship to vote for Obama but it came through three days after the election, his trip to Dollywood, playing various shows with big names, onsets of nerves, his marriage to his boyfriend, meeting Mika, his friend Graham Norton... you name it, it was in there somewhere. I enjoyed it, I liked hearing his tales.

Of the songs, I'd single out three: 'Next To Me' about waking up in the morning to see his husband so he knows everything is all right, including the chorus that says something like 'holidays, the British kind lying on a beach and drinking too much, not the American kind that involve religion and is not fun' (or something like that). He sang 'Mein Herr' from 'Cabaret' a surprise choice dedicated to Natasha Richardson who died earlier this year, with Alan singing it in a moody Glasweigan way. I'd also single out 'Unexpressed' a tender love song after which he said we needed more same-sex love songs. The comedy songs included a Victoria Wood song and a lovely one about the 'Latte Boy'.

He was great fun and I'd happily see him again. The current show is only on for another couple of nights so see it if you can. You might not be lucky enough to see Amanda Palmer, of course ...

Beverley Knight - 'Beautiful Night'

Beverley's new single released on Monday 7 September.

Beverley Knight at The ICA

On Thursday we went to see Beverley Knight play in the box known as the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) as a prelude to her new album due out next week. We saw Bev a few weeks back doing a short acoustic set at the National Portrait Gallery so it was nice to see her new show, all ready for touring over the autumn. And she is *hot*!

On came the band, her usual trio of backing singers and then on strode Beverley, wreathed in smiles, waving at the crowd and then launched into the music. The band were tight and the singers a fun occasional foil for Bev striding round the stage, throwing her head back and giving it some heavy lung action, pointing and high kicking, the woman was tiring to watch but a fantastic sight. She looked like she was having the time of her life up there on stage and giving us her full "100%" which is the title of the new album.

The set was a mix of oldies and newies from the new record, a setlist to please everyone and remind us what a great back catalogue she has. 'Made It Back' and 'Flavour Of The Old School' got us off to a great start, a great extended moody, blues version of 'Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda', and an extended version of 'Piece Of My Heart' (always best live) with Bev giving it some heavy rock vocals and throwing herself round the stage. She also gave us the perennial favourite 'Gold' and a version of the Bee Gees' 'Too Much Heaven'.

The new songs were really excellent, fit right in with the rest of the set but sounding fresh and new. There's the new single (out on Monday), 'Beautiful Night', the great 'Soul Survivor' (which Bev said summed up her feelings over the past 15 years of her career) and what I think is my new favourite, 'In Your Shoes' with the great message of 'get a life and make it work'. I'm looking forward to hearing the album versions of these songs. The encore was, of course, 'Come As You Are' with some great funky guitar-work with flashes of Shaftesque riffing which sounded great.

Beverley has a great voice, a lovely personality, some excellent songs and she never gives less than 100% in her shows so it's a bit of a puzzle why she isn't bigger. She certainly sent me home happy and sweaty after her show at the ICA, and looking forward to the new record. Maybe this will be the record that does it for her. And this time I brought my camera ...