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Saw Nash the Slash at the Purple Turtle in Camden last night; he was fine, though the set was a bit predictable. Got the latest Nash album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Nash; not his greatest, rather bland cover versions. Support act Young Things Don't Scream, an elderly Gary Numan tribute band, were surprisingly good. The three other support bands ranged from awful to embarrassing.
For Christmas, I've had the Hot Wheels 1/18th Scale '60s Batmobile - a bargain from Forbidden Planet at £36.99, minus 10% discount because they were having a sale. I also got the 1/43rd scale Batbike. Of course, I already want the forthcoming Super Elite Batmobile - but that's £250 or something, so I won't indulge. I might, though, head over to website Pimp My Batmobile (http://pimpmybatmobile.yuku.com) for some tips on how to upgrade my Standard to Elite!
On Saturday I had a marvellous time at the Barry Grey centenary concert at the Royal Festival Hall. The Philharmonia Orchestra, Voces8 vocal ensemble, pianist Crispin Merrell and Ondes Martenot player Pascale Rousse-Lacordaire played a rousing selection of pieces from Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Joe 90, Space: 1999 and more. Several fans turned up in costume, and we got a chance to meet Scott Tracy. Brian Blessed presided, and Gerry Anderson hovered around - I saw him in the hospitality room but didn't stop to chat. During the concert they projected scenes from the Blu-ray edition of Thunderbirds, but at £120 for the 6-disc set, I think I'll settle for my DVDs.
I see Jean Michel Jarre has gone into the hi-fi business. Apparently he's designed a home cinema system, an iPod dock, a multimedia display and so on. So far, the iPod dock is for sale in France only at around € 450. The others are presumably in the design stage. I think I'll ask for a 5.1 system for Christmas 2012. See the website at http://www.jmjarretechnologies.com/.
This £129 USB controller keyboard looks interesting - though apparently it's aimed at people who want to compose ringtones for mobile phones!? More from http://sonic8.com/.
Next door's cat is a very beautiful Maine Coon. She comes and sits on our step, or hides under a bush, refusing to come out for a cuddle. One day, maybe.
I went to see Tangerine Dream at the Forum, Kentish Town on Saturday; here's a pic taken from the balcony, where the idiots who run the Forum had decided to have unallocated seating - so you paid for a seat but still had to fight for a decent one. Anyway, the three-hour concert was predictably hard going - Tangerine Dream haven't been much good since Chris Franke left, and the latest version, swamped with guitar, sax and percussion, sounds more like some Californian New Age soft-rock combo than a 
pioneering experimental synth band. Yet all the talk on the chat forums is of how great they were. Go figure. Well, at least they did Going West. Anyway, it's probably the last time I'll be able to whip up the energy to go to see them, but I'm looking forward to Edgar Froese's forthcoming book, provisionally titled 'Bouncing Back; or, Needless to Say I Had the Last Laugh.'
I went to see Tangerine Dream at the Forum, Kentish Town on Saturday; here's a pic taken from the balcony, where the idiots who run the Forum had decided to have unallocated seating - so you paid for a seat but still had to fight for a decent one. Anyway, the three-hour concert was predictably hard going - Tangerine Dream haven't been much good since Chris Franke left, and the latest version, swamped with guitar, sax and percussion, sounds more like some Californian New Age soft-rock combo than a 
pioneering experimental synth band. Yet all the talk on the chat forums is of how great they were. Go figure. Well, at least they did Going West. Anyway, it's probably the last time I'll be able to whip up the energy to go to see them, but I'm looking forward to Edgar Froese's forthcoming book, provisionally titled 'Bouncing Back; or, Needless to Say I Had the Last Laugh.'
