Norman Ralph

Liz and I went to the Wardrobe last night to see Soweto Kinch and his band play. I wouldn’t normally have thought about this gig as something I would go and see, but after Kieran’s review a few months ago when i saw the name I headed straight into town and bought me some tickets.

I am really glad that I went, the tickets were a bit on the pricey side at £14 each and the Wardrobe is definitely no the cheapest place to drink in Leeds but even so, the atmosphere is amazing and the gig itself was second to none.

Soweto Kinch is a saxophonist and an MC, backed by a quartet consisting of a trumpeter, guitarist, bassist (double and electric) and a drummer. They have a totoally unique style of jazz music, combining the funky side of jazz with hip-hop and rap. Kinch’s talents as an MC were clear to see and were especially evident during the free-style piece he did at the end to photo’s submitted by the audience. These skills were, however, eclipsed by his sax skills. He produces a rich, clear tone with an ability to really make the music touch you. At times I was completely lost in the music.

The band was also brilliant and I feel that special mention must go to the bassist who was by far and away the best bassist I have seen live in any genre of music. His skill on the double bass was frankly awesome, the speed and complexity at which he produced spine tingling riffs and beats created the sort of bassline that you just cannot ignore. I occasionally feel with some jazz bassists that they kind of wish they had learned the trumpet or something, but this guy’s passion was obvious to everyone.

The set list was superbly designed, giving a real mix of flavours yet somehow managing to get everything to gel so smoothly that you lost track of time and totally forgot you were in a crowded club.

There were a couple of highlights for me, first I agree with Kieran’s choice of “The House That Love Built” and I also have to say that I loved their final encore piece, I can’t remember the exact name but it was something about a basketball game. The piece was basically a solo off between the trumpeter and saxophonist and I have to say they were both winners, we were treated to five minut solo’s from both musicians, interspersed with some of the finest drumming I have had the pleasure to see and hear. Every track was a journey of music, each with a story to tell. A totally awesome experience.

The night was rounded off when the band came out to sit in the bar with the audience that hadn’t run out the moment the set finished. All of the band members I spoke to had a great sense of involvement with the crowd and were more than happy to sit and talk to everyone – a feat that I wish some main stream pop/rock artists would try sometimes.

I bought their album and even managed to get Soweto to sign it for me – one for the collection, or it would have been if I hadn’t given it to Liz who had a really great time. I found out she is a regular in the Jazz Bar in Lincoln. I took a risk buying the tickets without asking her first, but it looked like the gamble paid off. This has to go down as not only one of the best gigs I have been to but also one of the finest dates.

Thanks to Soweto and the gang for making a good night out unforgettable!

I recently purchased a Seagate external hard drive as I was looking to extend my storage capacity but allowing me to maintain a degree of mobility and hopefully allow shared storage when I get round to buying a laptop. I went for the 320GB version as it was on offer at eBuyer and also they have a good reputation and a decent warranty. The customer reviews were also pretty useful.

Having now used it for a week I can agree. It is virtually silent for all but the most strenuous search tasks and even then it’s not exactly a rock concert! The search time is pretty quick too, not found any difference between it and my internal hard drives. It looks pretty smart too, is small enough to hide away on my desk without cluttering it up.

I have yet to test the mobility and ease of use on other machines, but that will come soon enough I think. My only real bone is the location of the cables. From the design there really wasn’t much choice, but it basically means that the cables are on show. Fine if you are not like me and have a certain amount of OCD about stuff like that, I guess.

I would recommend one, especially at the offer price of around fifty quid including postage and VAT. I got an extra bargain as Google Checkout were offering a further £10 off if I used thier checkout service! So £40 cannot be sniffed at!

Thursday saw the start of the Old Bar’s Festivale. Liz, Michelle, and I headed down to sample the wares and take part in the quiz. They were running sixteen cask ales and four cask ciders, a real treat of proper drinking! They were also running a variety of games and promotions. I won two Black Sheep T-Shirts!! It was unfortunate that most of the circle had coursework deadlines so couldn’t be there.

Headed back to mine afterwards and watched Silent Hill with Liz, it is a really bizarre film. I don’t really understand it, so of anyone out there would like to comment on the story line then please freel free! Fell asleep about 4am.

Went for lunch on Friday with Liz and Michelle then dropped Liz off at the station before meeting up with Claire in the Old Bar. I have not spent much quality time with Claire in ages for one reason and another. She has had dissertation and practical work to finih, then spent three weeks in Japan! It was really good just sitting down and having a few drinks with her again!

We were joined for a bit by Graeme and Sarann before they headed off to finish their coursework. Maths Chris popped by and had a drink or two before heading to bed!

We eventually joined up with a crowd about 9pm, Matt, kat, Sarann, Michelle, Kieran, Heather, Worfolk and a few others – turned into a really good old fashioned piss up at the Ale Festival. Time flew by and before we knew it we were all quite drunk and getting kicked out!

Thursday saw me head home for Easter weekend, a chance to see my mum and catch up with a couple of friends. It was also Michelle’s sister’s last full day in Leeds so we made a few plans.

A few of us met up at lunchtime to head into town for some lunch. We decided on Little Tokyo, a Japanese place. I have always heard good things about it but have never managed to get down there and try it out. The prices were a little scary but it was the holidays so I chose a “box meal” and a side of sushi. I have never had sushi before as I am not a massive seafood kind of guy. I was hugely surprised to find that I am actually quite partial to it. The portions were really good sizes and really filled me up. The menu was excellent – a really good mix of dishes and some real imagination in the titles and descriptions! The meal was rounded off nicely with a desert served in a bowl made of ice!!

Went to see the new TMNT film last night at Kirkstall. We got a minor crowd together to see the ultimate in geek films – an old and slightly obscure cartoon and action figure range (I still have most of the toys except the blimp!) and I think everybody really enjoyed it.

I thought it was a really good effort, the animation in it was slightly outdated, but I thought it really worked to bring the fantasy element of the film to life. The characters were excellent, my only criticism is that they were somewhat sensationalised, ie Leonardo was more of an arrogant leader, Michaelangelo was stupider and Raphael was darker than the original characters. The film was so far beyond the efforts of the original live action films that I can barely bring myself to mention them in the same sentence!

I recommend people go see it, even if they are not that geeky. It is a good action film with all the right elements – plenty of explosions, a fantastic story, the obligatory love story, lots of fighting and all with a PG certificate!

I finally got round to going to see the Barenaked Ladies live tonight. They are a band I have admired for a long time, both for their imaginative lyrics and their uncanny ad libbing skills.

They played a good set including most of their well known songs – One Week, Old Apartment, Brian Wilson, Easy etc and finished off the encore with a tremendous version of If I Had $1,000,000.

Defining the music they play is tough, they manage to combine the originality and musical talent of a singer-songwriter, with a splash of pop and a dash of rock and roll. They are also excellent MCs with the microphones. The band consists of two front men, one singer and one guitarist (although both sing and play the guitar…) and then a backing band of pianist/keyboardist/guitarist/accordianist, a percussionist and a bassist. They seem to have found that sparkle you get when you play with people you love. All in all it was an amazing gig. Chilled out yet rocking at the same time. Funky enough to dance to yet with the rhythm and melody you would expect from an indie style band.

The wonderful B accompanied me and considering she knew of one BNL song, she had a great time singing and dancing.

The evening finished with a few of us in the Packhorse and then takeaway and back to Chris’s place.

I just fit an A0 (thats 32 times the size of A4!!) drawing board into the back of the Izzy’s VW Polo. This is impressive a) due to the sheer size of the drawing board, complete with fully adjustable stand and legs, b) because I currently have no access to my tools, so I did the whole job with my car ratchet set and a cheap Wooly’s adjustable spanner and c) a VW Polo is a small car, it is the second smallest class of car!

If you are looking for a small, cheap city hatch and you value reliability, value for money and the ability to carry both passengers – the Polo fits 4 passengers + driver in quite nicely for small to medium journeys – and cargo then I would say look no further than that Mk4 Polo, the one with the square headlights (approx M reg – T reg).

Those of you that know me will be aware I am slightly biased as I do in fact drive a car that fits the description above, but I can truthfully say that I don’t think I would change it. It does the best part of 50mpg, top speed of about 100mph, fast enough for what I will use it for and fits into most parking spaces. I could be tempted to get the 5 door version in the future, but i would lose out on re-sale value and door size – I am a big fella I like big front doors!

All in all, it was a very rewarding experience. I am quite looking forward to the three hour journey to The Lakes this afternoon.

I have recently been introduced to a boyband from Iceland called Sigur Ros. I have to admit that I am not normally a fan of Scandinavian pop music, even Abba never really did anything for me! This band, however, are different.

Many of you will be aware of one of their tracks, even though you may not know it.  Hoppipolla, from the album Takk, is the theme tune to the critically acclaimed, massively popular BBC documentary, Planet Earth. It is indicative of the album in general, a mix of haunting melody and youthful vocal style. I don’t speak Icelandic, so I do not understand the lyrics, but the mood of the music is one of hope. A masked joy. I definitely recommend this band if you like Bjork, or modern popular classical music at all.

Thanks to Kat for the introduction, I will have to go and buy the CD for myself now as I think this is definitely car music, especially useful for those rush hour moments when you need to relax and calm down. This music would also make excellent dinner music.

All in all, I would give Takk a good 4/5.