Chris Who? Fave Things Recordings
Links The Blyth Power Ashes 2008 Gigs
Pictures Reviews Wasted UK 2006
'Some Communication'
September 2008
Hello.
Here’s what’s been happening since June… We start in early June with a
live performance and interview for the Anarchist Voices website. After a quiet
(musically) April and May, it wasn’t the most impressive of performances or
interviews given but good fun and always good to think about why I have the
views and ideals that I do hold. It was recorded in Belper, Derbyshire and
thanks to Jon for the help, support and for the inclusion on the website (not to
mention his relaxed living room setting for the recording!). Anarchist Voices is
interesting, well designed and covers many aspects of anarchism and anarchists
lives. It can be found via my links page of the website or on the 2008 past gigs
page and you can watch the interview and two songs performed (See You In Hell
and ‘Phone In Well) should you so wish.
The
night after performing for the Anarchist Voices website, I was able to see
Joseph Porter and Attila The Stockbroker at The Queen’s Head, Belper. It’s
always good to see Joseph live and quite a rarity these days. He was excellent
as you’d expect with a set which included Trooper Shaw, Endgame, Valley Of
Kings, After The Horse Has Bolted and Milton’s Schemes. Attila was as
passionate as ever with his poems and songs and it made for a great night’s
entertainment.
I’m
no longer writing book reviews for the Derby Evening Telegraph (the last one
appearing in June), deciding that I have little time to read books of someone
else’s choosing never mind find time to write my thoughts about them. I
started to review books whilst having a day-job in a public library after an
interview I did for the newspaper about the work involved as well as about books
and reading back in September 2004. I was also asked to talk about the music
that has shaped my life by picking 5 songs of importance. I found it virtually
impossible to pick just 5 songs and so chose songs from the whole of my life,
from listening to my Mum’s Elvis Presley records as a child to the punk sound
of Conflict during my teens and since moving on to other styles of music also, I
included Bob Dylan, The Pogues and Blyth Power in my interview. I wrote a piece
about one of my all-time favorite books (The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe) and
a Best Of 2004 culture article which gave me a chance to talk about politics
(Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 being my film of the year) and fox hunting
(Eric Ashby’s excellent My Life With Foxes is the most wonderful book you
could read with amazing pictures also) as well as recommending Chumbawamba, Robb
Johnson and Red Wedding in a daily newspaper - not to mention recommending an
excellent book called Talking Cock by Richard Herring also. I was also asked to
recommend books to people who had never read a book before just by being told
their interests, likes and dislikes. I’m not sure if this was at all
successful but was interesting to try if nothing else! Though I remember a young
lad being recommended an Andy McNabb novel (army/gulf war stories) which the
newspaper put my name to and I certainly hadn’t suggested that at all and so
emailed the newspaper to ask not to have my name put to anything again that I
hadn’t written. Usually my reviews or opinions were edited rather than added
to through only having a short space to say what I wanted. I was able to review
my own book choices from time to time which included Boff Whalley and Iain Aitch
though mostly, I reviewed the books that were sent to me. Some great, some ok,
some bad and many I don’t remember either way. The books were diverse and
included the likes of Tony Parsons, Alexander McCall Smith, Audrey Niffenegger,
Mitch Albom, Dan Brown, Paulo Coelho, Clare Francis, Susanna Clarke, Jodi
Picoult, Nick Hornby, Ali Smith, Ian McEwan, Sebastian Faulks, Sue Townsend,
Phillip Pullman and Bill Bryson. My favorites of all I read though were by Joolz
Denby and David Peace. It was good
fun while I was involved and I read some books that I’d never have tried
otherwise.
I
enjoyed watching the Euro 2008 football championship on TV whenever I got chance
to see any of it. Despite (or maybe because of) England not taking part, the
tournament was enjoyable without the hype, expectation and media frenzy that
surrounds England’s efforts… The quarter-final game between Portugal and
Germany was a real highlight with Germany winning 3-2… and it was a lot
quieter watching games in the pub too!
The
end of June was an important and special time for me when I got married to my
partner on the day after our 10th anniversary of being together. I
did have a sort of ‘stag night’ the week before though not the type you see
rampaging around our city centres these days. There wasn’t a Viking helmet or
matching T-shirt with offensive slogan in sight nor did we stagger out of any
lap dancing or strip clubs… though I did have a few drinks of course as it was
a night spent with some good friends around the pubs of Derby. Thanks to Mat, Gordon,
Gaz, Keith, Kev, Les, Mike, Shawn and Rob for making it a night to remember –
though I don’t recall the last couple of pubs in all honesty having reached
the pint of no return (he!he!). Being blessed with never suffering from
hangovers, I was up early the next day and after a cooked breakfast and a cup of
tea, was out helping one of the guys move house. Now that certainly did sober us
up. The wedding itself took place the following week in a register office in a
small Derbyshire town in the presence of a few close friends and family before
going on to a restaurant for a meal. Neither me nor the new Mrs. Butler are
happy with a lot of attention and so wanted as little fuss as possible. I did
wear a suit and my partner wore a dress and we coordinated by me wearing a tie
to match her dress! The ceremony was lovely and yes, we BOTH cried! We’d been
asked to choose some music to be played as we entered the room, while the guests
gathered and to be played during the signing of the register etc but we found it
really difficult to find music suitable for the occasion. We did take along a CD
with a few songs and the only ones I remember hearing were Nick Drake’s
Northern Sky whilst we entered the room together and a Dolly Parton song while
we signed the register and posed for a few photographs. We had a few photographs
taken outside in a nearby park and garden area and the weather stayed dry for us
which was a huge relief. The meal in Denby, Derbyshire afterwards was great too
before everyone came back to ours for a drink, chat, relax and help us celebrate
further. Unbeknown to us, the front of our house had been decked out with
balloons and banners while we were out getting hitched. This was a nice surprise
and brightened up our street too! Cheers Tracey! Many thanks to all who were
there to wish us well on our special day - you (and I) know who you are. On the
following day, we threw a party for anyone to come along and wish us well and
celebrate with us. Rather than any formal wedding party with speeches, dressing
up, pomp and ceremony, we decided on a gig instead with the live music being
performed by friends of ours: Eastfield, Steven Cooper & The Charlies and
The Re-entrants and it was held at The Kings Head pub in the town of Duffield,
Derbyshire. We spent the day at the pub arranging the barn room for the music
and cooking/preparing food for all of our guests (with some grateful help from
some fantastic friends). It was a long day but worth the effort as we had a
fantastic time. Steven Cooper & The Charlies were the first to perform. They
were brilliant and included a great version of Shane MacGowan’s That Woman’s
Got Me Drinking. Most of our female friends and relations fell in love with
Steven and I don’t blame them. He’s great. The Re-entrants were wonderful
too and had the audience singing along with a range of well known songs being
played on ukuleles. Eastfield were the headliners and were the perfect end to
the music. Mrs. Butler and I even joined them to help sing along (or at least be
present on the stage together) for their Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit cover! Mrs. B
says that’s the first and the last time she’ll ever get up on a stage in
front of an audience but it was incredibly good fun. Thanks to all of our
friends and relations who turned out to help us celebrate and to wish us well.
Thanks also for all the good wishes, the cards and the presents. We hadn’t
expected anything and had stressed to people that it was an ‘Eastfield gig’
rather than a ‘wedding party’ and so we were especially taken aback by the
generosity of all the good people who came along to support us. The most unique
presents must be the bird hide (cheers Gordon!), the Dolly Parton plectrums
(cheers Steven and Fi) and of course, Freya, our Barnacle Goose which was
adopted for us by Eastfield. There are far too many people to thank here and so
we have sent out Thank-You cards to people wherever possible. One person sorely
missed from the weekend was Oddo, the Eastfield drummer. It was a real shame
that he was not able to take part or attend. Luckily, Johnny from Ramones
tribute band, New York Scum Haters was a very competent stand-in for the evening
though it is at this point I’d like to wish Oddo a speedy recovery from his
operation and hope that he is soon back behind the Eastfield drum kit. Our
thoughts were with him during June and our hopes are with him now for the
future. We left the party sometime after 2am and eventually got to bed at 5.30am
but hey, we had a wonderful time, we had the music of our choice at our party
and best of all, the music was played by people we consider to be very dear
friends. There was no honeymoon as such, though we did have a few days away from
our day jobs and it gave us a chance to go bird watching. The highlights? For
me, it was the first time I’d seen a Black-Tailed Godwit at Attenborough
nature reserve, Nottinghamshire and great to see a Common Sandpiper,
Oystercatchers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker at Carsington Water, Derbyshire.
(We also had a Kestrel fly over our back garden recently which was a first in
our garden. We no longer have many birds in our garden because we have two cats
and so have had to encourage the birds less.)
Another
great day was spent at the Derby CAMRA beer festival in July. Many thanks to
Mat, Keith, Gordon, Neil and Sally for sharing a great day. Moving on to a few
pubs in Derby and Belper afterwards resulted in a very drunken day again but
good fun all the same… At the end of July, I went to a pre-season friendly
football game between Matlock Town and Blackburn Rovers. It was also a
testimonial game for Matlock’s James Lukic who was leaving after 10 years at
the club to play for Gainsborough Trinity. There were no goals but it was still
a good game with a Rovers side made up of reserves and fringe players and a
Matlock side welcoming back some old favorites to make it an enjoyable night out
on a lovely summers evening.
I
went to another pre-season friendly football match in August between Derby
County and Netherlands club FC Utrecht. It was an entertaining game and ended in
a fair 2-2 result with the Derby goals both coming from new signings (Kris
Commons and Nathan Ellington) and nice to see new Derby striker Rob Hulse play a
part in the game also… A few days later I went to Newcastle-Under-Lyme for the
very first time as far as I can recall; The New Vic Theatre to be precise to see
Chumbawamba. They were brilliant and the venue’s acoustics and seating set-up
(with the band playing ‘in the round’, sort of in the middle of the room)
and the band’s voices and sparse acoustic arrangements on some songs sounded
perfect.
The
next performance by me was during August at the Rebellion UK 2008 punk festival
in Blackpool. It was my second time appearing at this festival with a slot this
year on the Bizarre Bazaar stage during Sunday afternoon. It took me nearly 3
hours to drive just over 130 miles due to the weather conditions and the speed
restrictions on parts of the motorway. We arrived Saturday lunchtime to a
Blackpool pouring down with rain and very strong winds. The visibility was so
poor that we were driving down the promenade before the tower even came into
view. We checked into our hotel for the night and caught a tram into town to get
something to eat and have a look around the town. It rained continually on the
Saturday and so between the shops and the arcades and anywhere else to dodge the
rain, I went into the festival to check out the stage/room I was to appear in on
the following day and have a look at what else was happening on various other
stages. As an aside, whilst looking around the shops, I stood behind Melvyn
Hayes (star of the Cliff Richard films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and
Wonderful Life amongst other stuff) in a queue which I thought was great. Those
musicals are ok I think. I’m no fan of Cliff and they may be a bit tacky but I
just love the innocence, enthusiasm, 1960’s feel to them and even some of the
music and dancing is good! I like some of Elvis Presley’s films too actually.
There, I’ve said it. Go on, laugh! But I bet you like some tacky stuff more
dodgy than that… Anyway, the star spotting didn’t end there with Jet Bronx
& The New Forbidden appearing at the Rebellion festival. Who? I don’t here
you ask. Well on vocals and guitar was Lloyd Grossman, TV presenter of Through
The Keyhole and various cookery shows…. Such is the diversity of punk
festivals! Other acts I saw on the Saturday included Anti-Nowhere League, Attila
The Stockbroker, Peter & The Test Tube Babies, The Dickies, The Blaggers and
The Not-Sensibles. Sunday was a lot brighter and although still very windy, at
least it stayed dry and sunny. I headed to the stage I was to perform at in good
time to make myself known to the sound/PA and stage managers and was able to see
a couple of acts while waiting around. The full running order for the day and
stage I was performing on was: Max Splodgenessabound starting off the day with a
game of bingo, then The Casual Terrorist, Craig Temple, Dirtbird, Susan Vale,
then myself from 4.45pm until 5.25pm, Captain Hotknives, Neck, Ed Tudorpole,
Kunt And The Gang and headlining the evening was Neville Staple of The Specials.
I performed my 40 minute set and enjoyed every second. The sound was perfect,
the festival staff were all helpful, friendly and supportive and it was really
nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd. Many thanks to Paul and Loretta,
John of Verbal Warning and Paul Carter for the support. Thanks to Wath and Kelly
for being friendly faces throughout the weekend and to Mrs. Butler for the
support and companionship throughout the weekend also. Cheers to the people I
met after my performance who took an interest, came up to chat or bought a CD.
The interest was really appreciated (after all, they could have been watching
the likes of Agnostic Front on the main stage!) and thanks to Daz and Jennie for
having me along at the festival to begin with. Regarding my set; I performed
Don’t Vote BNP and Don’t Come Back due to the BNP’s Red, White and Blue
gathering which was due to take place on the following weekend. Advertising
itself as a peaceful political festival, it was to be nothing more than a
gathering of racists, fascists and brainless morons full of intolerance and mis-information.
I performed Eastfield’s Sharks Against Surfers purely to dedicate the song to
Eastfield’s Oddo along with a get well soon message (and after my performance
I received a text message reply from Oddo saying ‘thanks and have a good
one’ after a member of the audience let Oddo know of my dedication during my
set!) There was also a new song in the set called An Evening With Michael
Portillo. It was still very much a work in progress but good fun to try and it
seemed to go down well with the audience. The song came about after going to a
couple of venues earlier in the year and seeing posters/flyers advertising ‘An
Evening With Michael Portillo’. The song is just a bit of fun with me
contemplating some of the things that I’d rather do than spend an evening with
the aforementioned ex-Tory MP. My full set was: Sinners, ‘Phone In Well, Tony
Says Good Luck, Celebrity Bus Crash, Don’t Vote BNP, Don’t Come Back, A Good
Upbringing, An Evening With Michael Portillo, Strike!, Sharks Against Surfers
and See You In Hell. We headed home after my performance with the roads and
driving conditions much better on the return journey and a satisfaction of
playing at the UK’s biggest and best punk festival…
The
following weekend was spent at another festival with me playing at The Blyth
Power Ashes weekend. Having been lucky enough to play at Blyth Power’s
previous 6 festivals held in Tallington, Lincolnshire from 2001 to 2006 and with
last summer’s festival having to be cancelled, it was fantastic to be back
with a new venue for another Ashes weekend. This year it was held at Lumb Farm
in Marehay, near Ripley in Derbyshire and I was honored to play a small part in
their weekend again. I performed on the Friday evening amongst a line-up
featuring such names as Paul Carter, Pog and Wob and had an excellent weekend.
You can read my review (or Blog as they’re called these days) for The Blyth
Power Ashes 2008 on the website which includes some pictures from the weekend
also.
Updates
are to be found here, Fave Things, Pictures and Gigs pages as well as the new
The Blyth Power Ashes 2008 page. Take care now,
Chris
Above: CB live at Kettering Sawyers
25/01/2008
____________________________________________________________________
Chris Who? Fave
Things Recordings
Links Gigs Pictures
Reviews Wasted
UK 2006 The
Blyth Power Ashes 2008
____________________________________________________________________
(c) Chris Butler 2008
visitors since March 2004