Happy New Year - 8 days late!

NYE was fun - we went to Scotty & Lottie's flat to hang out with them and see the new year in. Got wasted and had a general good time. I've got pics somewhere, I'll put some up on my flickr when/if I find them.

Xmas in general was good. How was yours?

Radiohead played a NYE gig which I missed. If you missed it too it's here...

The Christmas period.

Christmas was great this year. Normally, I have to make sure everyone else is happy and do lots of journeys to other peoples houses to make visits when all I want to do is stay home, open my presents and get fat! This year that was pretty much all I did. Ok, I went to my mum's in the morning for Christmas lunch and exchanged presents but we were back home by about 3ish. And I went to my dad's on Boxing Day to give him his present and had a pub meal. But other than that we stayed at home.

Lisa bought me a Nintendo Wii. I knew I was getting one (see?) but it was still cool to actually finally open it... especially after all the news reports about many people with pre-orders being disappointed with stock shortages. I've got to say that it is an amazing console and thoroughly recommend one. Everyone who came to my place over the Christmas period will have played it and loved it so much they're like, "I've gotta get one!". It really is sooooooo much fun!

It was also that time of year for the Glenigan Christmas Party! What a yawn that was. I only went for the free booze! Oh and the members of the board performing the YMCA! The rest of it was boring. Being in IT we always get put on the table right at the back somewhere - usually behind a pilar so we can't see the awards being presented. This year was no different. I eventually moved to a different table with Andy. The food was pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. After the meal was the awards. This always bores me cos I'm not in a department that can be given an award. After that there was a really bad covers band. I felt like I was at someones wedding. Yep, all the usual cover band sinners were played - Mustang Sally, You Can Leave Your Hat On etc etc etc. After that it was the moment I was waiting for...

...play it if you dare! After that I went home.

After Christmas me and Lisa went up to Newbury for James 8th Birthday (for those of you that don't know, James is Lisa's God-Son.) We stayed over a couple of nights and did a bit of shopping in Newbury. I bought myself Yakuza for the PS2 for £9.98...



New Years Eve was a big ol' party at Andy's in Three Legged Cross. This was Blind Voyeurs first secret warm-up gig. It was a warm-up for our first public gig at Centre Stage on the 5th Jan. We managed to practice the whole set before the guest arrived so when we played we were HOT!! I think we surprised a lot of people cos they were expecting something chilled out and ambient. It was our fault cos we did tell then that we were! Oh well. After our little half hour we DJed, got very twisted and jumped in the hot-tub. Good times had all round!

Blind Voyeurs DJ Set

AFter a bit of a geeky tech post yesterday, it's time to return to a normal post about that I've been up to. This weekend I was originally scheduled to go to Newbury with Lisa for Charlie's 30th birthday. This would involve leaving Bournemouth after work on Friday and staying in Newbury til Sunday. I was looking forward to it until my mum said she really needed me to do a few things for her that Saturday as it was so close to Christmas and needed to get a few things in. Anybody who knows me knows that my mum is agoraphobic and therefore needs me to do a few chores on a regular basis. Anyway, it's because of this I had to let Lisa and Charlie down. Charlie said she totally understood because she is a single mother (as is my mum) ... but I still felt bad.

Friday evening came, and Lisa set off on her way. Gary and Simone came round for a little catch up. Gary's been a bit on the ill side and has had a couple of days off work. Simone is pregnant and loving it. They'd emailed me a picture of her baby scan that she had a couple of days before. Introducing baby Hudspith...

After they left I got back to work on the film while Scott revised his half of the DJ set. There were a few new bits I wanted to edit into the film ... but at the same time I had to find stuff to take out cos it was running seriously over time! Lisa and all the birthday girl entourage wanted to send out a toast to me in the form of a picture message...

I toasted them back via picture message with the glass of wine I was drinking. Followed, shortly after that I was sent a picture of Lisa with a chocolatey hand-print on her chest!...

...they had one of those chocolate fountains, y'see! Girls will be girls!

Saturday, I went to my mum's as usual and did a few chores for her. She's been trying to decide what to get Lisa for Christmas for ages. I suggested something and she wanted me to get it (Sorry, Lisa. I'm not about to type what your getting here!) I also had to grab some stuff for Christmas Dinner.

I got back home at around 3ish. Had a very drunken phonecall from Lisa at about 5ish - she'd been out on the piss all afternoon with Charlie and was not about to give up now! Anyway, the problem with getting pissed that early in the day means that you flake out early. They'd stopped drinking a couple of hours later and gone for a chill/nap at the time I was just starting to pour out the wine for my night out. Because tonight is the night that James and Scott do their first Blind Voyeurs DJ set at Sixty Million Postcards. To say that they were nervous was an understatement. They were practically shitting themselves. I tryed to help by saying stuff like "Guys, you're only gonna be playing music on a big stereo like you normally do every evening!" It didn't really help but hey.

Anyway, the night went well. After getting very drunk at Sixty Million Andy suggested going back to his for an after-party. I'd never been there before but it was cool. Andy had been sober all night cos he was driving so when we got there he mixed up a mental cocktail for all of us with rum, vodka, crushed ice and mint. Jesus that stuff was strong - I guess he had to catch up. We then went into the hot-tub. I thought it was a ridiculous idea cos it was freezing outside. I was told that as soon as your in the hot-tub you don't notice! Man, it was so nice - I've gotta get me one of those! I had no idea what time I crashed cos I took my watch off ages ago but I was getting tired so it was time to crash out. Man, did I have a hangover the next day! Anyway, here's some pics....

...to see the whole flickr set click HERE.

Sunday, I was soooooo frickin hungover! I felt like I was gonna be sick for most of the morning. I wasn't but sure felt like it. I had nothing to eat except a bacon butty. I had to have a massive nap in the afternoon until 6pm when Lisa rang up and suggested we go for a Carvery down at Cooper Dean. Fuckin' mint idea! Scott woke up about 10 minutes later and we convinced him to join us. That sorted my head right out. Good times had by all!

...in other news...

Lisa's had a hair cut, yes it's a Pob!...




There was a fire behind the house at the end of the car-park at work. Somebody called the fire brigade but neglected to tell them that the fire wasn't actually here at work but in the road behind. 2 fire engines turned up!...





Lisa, Scott and myself went Christmas shopping in Southampton. They had one of those German markets like they have in Bournmouth. We stopped at the German bar to have a nice hot drink (I forget what it's called - sounds like blue-vine I think!) It was nice...




Me and Scott got talking about Tracy Emin and about how stupid some of her art was. Ooooh wow - a messy bed! Yawn! We decided to throw together some random articles onto a frame and call it art. It's called Headphonenumberpill...




On the Tuesday 28th November it was Lisa's Dad's birthday. Happy 61th Charlie!! We went to Ask for a meal. Me and Scott were saying how if you were really dumb you could have the following conversation for eternity...

Man 1: "So where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"
Man 1: "Ok, I will. Where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"
Man 1: "Huh? I just did! Where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"

....... you get the picture! Speaking of pictures...

And now, headlines without pictures.
Lisa get's vertigo again! Is off work for a while to recover. Is seeing a specialist soon.

Kim invited us up to stay for the first weekend in December, but only if Lisa's feeling better. Lisa looked like she was getting better and then it's got worse again!

Our band is having some very constructive practices. It's finally looking like our work is starting to take shape. We have new tunes to fill gaps and old ones that looked like they'd be impossible to play live are starting to work!

Torchwood is getting better, gorier and scarier.

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here is boring/annoying this year.

X-Factor is addictive just because the public are messing with the voting system! I mean are people seriously voting for Ray and The MacDonald Brothers because they are good? I think not! People are just voting for them to mess with the judges heads and money. The winners have to have a record contract. I mean, Ray is an annoying little shit that looks like he's been raised by wolves! And the MacDonald Brothers look like those creepy porcelain dolls that have come to life in some sort of horror movie! MAKE IT STOP!!




Oh and Me and Scott have rediscovered our worms!

Gig Preparations Underway...

After finalising a slot for Blind Voyeurs' first gig with Conrad of Solid Air preparations began straight away and now things are really starting to take shape. Up until now we were just jamming and writing new tunes constantly and now have, like, a million tunes and ideas just floating around in the ether. Now that we've actually got a date to work towards we're all a lot more focused of making a set number of tunes gig-able.

Word on the street is that Conrad is planning a new regular event for 2007 and beyond. The event will be more arty than the previous Solid Air with local talent showcasing not only music but other forms of art, such as films, photography, poetry, maybe performance art too. We've been booked for the first night and other acts are yet to confirm (wishlist: Sancho, Brenda, A&E Line) Scott and James from Blind Voyeurs are also going to be DJ'ing before and between acts.

On Friday 13th October, 2006 Blind Voyeurs got together to have a thorough think through (how many words beginning with 'th'??) about what we're gonna play. Although it wasn't intended we jammed a new tune for the intro to our set and then decided on what songs we should string together. We're gonna steer away from the 'play a tune then audience claps then play a tune then audience claps' approach. We're going to tie all tunes together in, what classical composers call, movements.

On Sunday Scott, Lisa and myself have started shooting for a short film which we're going to project behind the band. Ideas have been coming thick and fast since then and, after a couple of late nights, already have a good 5 minutes of film editted together nicely. We're going to edit the film to roughly fit the mood of the songs of our set. More news of this when it arrives.. in the meantime here are a few stills from the shoot...