30 Days of Buffy: Day 22 – Best Xander-centric episode

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Andy
Blimey! Xander-centric… my first reaction was a great big "huh!?" but then I started remembering things like Go Fish and Teachers Pet and my thought obviously became "best!?" – and then I read Hazel's choice and thought… "Yeah! That was OK" so… and sorry for just leeching of Hazel but you know… best Xander-centric episode will have to be (Xander's Doppelgangland) The Replacement

Hopefully some of my own thinking tomorrow!

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Kristin Hersh @ ‘Round Midnight

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Andy
I was very tempted not to go – I love Kristin Hersh to pieces and I've been seeing her live for twenty years now – and she's still right there at the very top of her game… but I'm old, and tired (really, really tired) so it was tempting to just stay at home… it's not like I'd have wasted any money on the free tickets for this surprise/secret show.

But it's been three years since I last saw her and, who knows how long I'd have to wait to see her again so I dragged my tired, tired carcass off to Islington and arrived just in time – I was pretty close to the last one they let in to the venue – which fortunately left me in a very sweet spot for the show… and what a show. Just under an hour of gems (off the top of my head) Hook in Her Head, Pearl, Gazebo Tree, Flooding, Quick, Mississippi Kite oh and many more… my tired head’s too fuzzy…


… and a stack more on flickr.

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30 Days of Buffy: Day 21- Best Willow-centric episode

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Andy
Given my answers for day 4 and day 18 (and even day 9 and day 1) there really is only one answer to this one… it could even have been there on day 2 if my mood had been different when I wrote it…

Best Willow-centric episode is, of course Doppelgangland – here're are the two Willows with appropriate "stupid question" faces on.

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30 Days of Buffy: Day 20 – Best Spike-centric Episode

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Andy
Eurgh! This might be a cheat but I'm going to pick Spike's first appearance in School Hard because…

It has a genuinely evil Spike

It has a healthy dose of Drusilla

And it has Joyce with an axe…

… which ripens into a nice gag in Becoming II

So best Spike-centric episode is definitely School Hard!

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30 Days of Buffy: Day 19 – Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Andy
Not being part of the Buffy fanatics world I tend to only know who "everyone else hates" thanks to Hazel. In her post she mentions Riley (who I don't really mind that much), Kennedy (who was a bit annoying) and Dawn… Dawn!? Dawn was great… or at least could have been great, except that after The Gift they didn't really know waht to do with her. And Michelle Trachtenberg was lovely so clearly if "everyone else hates" Dawn and I clearly don't then I guess that's Day 19 sorted…

Character I like that everyone else hates is Dawn…

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MP3: Robert Forster (and Grant McLennan) in 1991

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Andy
OK – I'll put the whole of this show on Mediafire tomorrow but until then here are a couple of tracks. The show was shortly after The Go-Betweens had split in early 1991. Robert came to town with a band he'd picked up in Berlin and played a stonking set – for the encore he was joined by Grant McLennan for two songs (Clouds and Danger in the Past) and then did a cover of Grant Hart's 2541.

This show ranks right near the very top of my best shows ever.

MP3: Robert Forster with Grant McLennan – Clouds (via box.net)
MP3: Robert Forster – 2541 (Grant Hart cover) (via box.net)

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MP3: Kristin Hersh at The Borderline in 1992

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Andy
I just came across this recording I made of a solo Kristin Hersh show from 1992. I went with Jackie (not sure why Hazel didn't come) and we saw a celeb in the bar beforehand – although I can't remember who the celeb was! Anyway… the show was great and I think the recording turned out OK. Recorded using crappy passive SONY tie-clip mics to a Walkman Pro.

MP3: Kristin Hersh @ The Borderline 3rd July 1992 (via mediafire)

Obviously Kristin is still making awesome music – I'm off to see her on Monday night. Her new album, Crooked, is great… and available as a book!

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30 Days of Buffy: Day 18 – Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Andy
I was going to go for Oz again although he actually did get a fair bit of screen time, he just sadly wasn't well enough used (see also Dawn) – there were plenty of one-offs I would happily have seen more of (Hazel mentions a couple)… but I'm going to pick one who was I think only in two episodes and they were both pretty good (the second one was one of the very best) so… the Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time is Vamp Willow

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I love living in the future – #2 – vinyl on YouTube

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Andy
I love living in the future – I love that I can get music instantly delivered to my ears without leaving my seat… but I also have a fondness for vinyl not for any reasons of quality or snobbishness but more because somehow putting a needle into a groove of plastic and getting music out of it is somehow more amazing to me than getting music out of a computer.

I love that people post videos of them playing their records to YouTube and I never get tired of watching them – here are a few favourites, most of which I found in a 30 minute trawl of YouTube – there is so much vinyl joy out there!

The Champs  – Tequila

The Monkees – Porpoise Song

The Shangri-Las – Give Him a Great Big Kiss

The Special A.K.A. – Gangsters

Luna – Dear Paulina (of course!)

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Dad on a bike at CenterParcs

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Andy
via flickr.com

Went to CenterParcs at the weekend for my dad’s 70th birthday… this is the only time I’ve ever seen him on a bike which I guess proves that you don’t forget how to do it – it really is just like riding a bike…

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