Friday Photo Blogging: We don’t need no stinkin’ badges…
… but we have them anyway. Because since when did “need” enter into the rock’n'roll equation, eh? Behold!
Our drumber[sic] made up the logo, which we’re all rather chuffed with. Aircraft buffs will note that the plane depicted is a Vulcan bomber. Ever heard one of those take off nearby, say, at an airshow or something?
Well, know you know what Aeroplane Attack sound like. 
We’re playing our first gig tomorrow night. I am, to coin a phrase, kinda bricking it. But it’s going to a lot of fun – please come by if you’re in Velcro City for Saturday evening.
Writing about music
Shockingly behind this week for various reasons, but TDP is still ticking over pretty much daily.
Album of the week
This will surprise (and quite possibly appall) a few readers, but I’m going to plump for Shallow Life by Italian goth-metal-popsters Lacuna Coil. Oh yes, it’s cheesy as hell and totally overproduced, not to mention lacking any vibe of authenticity. But by hell it’s catchy, and sometimes that’s enough. Especially when you’ve only listened to two new albums in the last week or so…
… though if you’ll accept a reissue, the Brendan O’Brien remixed and remastered version of Pearl Jam‘s Ten (only available on the deluxe and hideously expensive version, folks!) is a well-executed polish job on an album whose primary flaw was always its budget production. Take a trip back to 1992 as it should have sounded.
Writing about books
Sheesh, what do you know – I’ve not written any reviews this week. Though, to be fair, I’ve been compiling notes for This is Not a Game, and that should pretty much write itself once I sit down and attack it for a few hours. I’ve also been mired in reporting on an unusually competent (but very long) novel typescript, so it’s not like my brain’s been having a holiday from books. Frankly, managing to squeeze in an hour of reading before bed is about all that’s keeping me sane right now…
Freelance
Much as it should do (what with it being my job and all) the ol’ freelance work has been really chewing up my time this week. And to little obvious progress; last week I finally bit the bullet and ordered my first dedicated server, and the last seven days have been largely focussed on learning how to set up and run the thing. Thanks to some helpful hints and hands-on tweaking from friends with relevent skill-sets (cheers, Phil!), the machine is now serving pages to the web. Those pages are only the demo pages of a sample MODx install, though, so lots of work still to do (on the server and in general). Aye caramba!
Futurismic
The Big F rolls on relentlessly; a new piece of original fiction goes up in seven days time, one columnist is about to change direction and another is about to join the fold. Plus the usual bloggery from the fuzzy line between today and tomorrow… won’t you come join us?
Books and magazines seen
Nothing at all this week, I’m afraid, with the exception of the latest issue of SOUTH Poetry. This is not a problem; I have plenty to read already.
Public appearances
April is shaping up to be the month in which I appear in the public domain as more than a mere pedestrian.
- Back on Wednesday night, the Aeroplane Attack gang were interviewed on a local radio station (which, as we pointed out at the time, is a weird thing to happen to a band yet to play their frst show).
- This afternoon saw me talking over Skype with Tony from StarShipSofa, long-time internet amigo Jeremy Tolbert and Tor.com‘s unfeasibly-multitasking Pablo Defendini for the second instalment of the Sofanauts podcast, which should be available at the weekend
- Tomorrow night is Aeroplane Attack’s debut gig
- Next Wednesday sees me attending the Arthur C Clarke Awards ceremony as an employee of the publisher of one of the shortlisted books
Cripes. And we’ve got another gig lined up for Monday 11th May, too. It’s like a runaway train, y’know? Exhilarating, but a bit scary too. But as Hunter used to say: “buy the ticket, take the ride”.
Coda
It’s a common refrain, for sure, but it should be evident I’m pretty busy. And I expect you are, too – whether it be with worky-type stuff or getting the most out of your weekend downtime – so I’m going to sign off before dosing myself up with pills in an attempt to shift the last of this headcold before tomorrow’s show. Whatever’s on your to-do list, have as much fun doing it as you can, OK?
Oh, and did I mention I’m playing a gig tomorrow? Yes? OK, then.
