So, you're looking for some Christmas music to make that party swing right? Well, Mike McEchron has stepped up to the plate and saved you. Click this BLACK CHRISTMAS link and you'll get what you deserve.

If you're playing around on the computer, killing time before the world starts to turn again, visit EVAN JOHNS site. I googled him after pulling out "Please Mr Santa Claus" and there he was.

Circumstances prevent me from covering last night’s BEATSTALKERS show at any great length but I can tell you that they pulled it off. They built the critter and people dragged themselves along to the fabled Glasgow venue where the band played regularly some 40 years ago. Augmented by backing singers and brass there was a certain oomph added to the material which included their recorded work and some “standards”. Particularly impressive was a glam marinated sprint through “Stagger Lee”. The Thanes did what they do prior to The ‘stalkers and turned in a fine, possibly too short set of long forgotten and some never known beat nuggets. I left to catch a train with a flu virus stompin’ on my noggin and it’s showing no signs of abating at the minute. My “Christmas” is pretty much on the ropes. I hope you’re faring somewhat better…

Update @ 15.50 hours - Mr Cruickshank confirmed that Zal Cleminson (SAHB) joined the band onstage toward the end of the show and fired things up a gear. It really was a good-natured affair. Like something set up for a great lost episode of Taggart or something. It was more like a social than your regular Barra's rock show. With a special ambience specific to Glasgow and then some.

Just got the word from Mr Vahlberg that FREAK SCENE RECORDS in Stockholm will be starting a closing-down sale on Tuesday (27th). This is one of the last proper record stores on earth and sad news. Juan Capel has done one heckuva tour of duty but he's had enough. And who could blame him? Juan has been a huge supporter of NBT over the years and we wish him nothing but the best.

Yesterday was supposed to be the shortest day but it didn’t feel like that from where I was sitting. Another relative kick in the ribs was the recent realisation that it is Thursday and not Friday. Bollocks indeed. But anyway, the days are fair drawing out and ‘tis the season that yours truly would prefer to be over. The faux bonhomie is in full swing and the (scum)hordes are buying up tons of stuff neither they or you need. The fact they can spend their brains out until late into Saturday means that all kindsa daftness will probably ensue. I don’t think the stores are closing here at all this year?

Need to get to compiling a list of “gear of the year”, assembling a cd, that type of activity. Roll on 12.30pm tomorrow! Beatstalkers at The Barra'lands tomorrow night, be there and be whisked back to what seem like better days.

Check out this NPR interview with AMY RIGBY. She'll be back out this way (hopefully) in Spring 2006...

Ben Weasel's latest entry really resonated with me and he's a young 'un compared to Methusalah here. I scored a copy of his combo's Weaselmania for my nephew's Christmas, hoping that it'll rub off in some way or other. Screeching Weasel really were something y'know and this latest Fat Wreck release is a belter if you need to hit upside the head to that fact. Then you can stock up on the albums...

"To all our friends and enemies alike, we at Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Company offer season's greetings -- hillbilly style, naturally! And we'll be celebrating in such suitable style at Otto's Shrunken Head this Thursday, December 22nd, so stroll, bike or scooter on over and join us, won't you? Next week's show will be our LAST at Otto's until Spring!" Thursday, December 22nd ~ Otto's Shrunken Head ~ 538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B), Manhattan ~ From 8:00 until 10:00 sharp ~ No cover ~ Last Otto's show is on December 29th! ~

Seems as though the Lefsetz thing I posted earlier links to an i-Pod commercial so bollocks to that. Too bad because it's very entertaining and the link took me directly to the "podcast". Anyway, nothing is ever simple, it seems.

So what to report? Absolutely sod all happening in this neck of the woods. Gearing up for The Beatstalkers on Friday and very much looking forward to not having to drive to the open prison of a dark foreboding morning until January 4th 2006. I have a dentist appointment on the 9th, gimme that any ol' day!

Let me know if there's anything I should be letting folks in on. Something in your locale perhaps? Don't care where on the planet it's happening, we have readers in every percievable nook and cranny looking for action. Me? I'm getting the bunker ready for some serious batoning of them hatches.

I think that the "security" isssue is sorted now. Tis early days but fingers and everything else crossed that the bugs won't work, cyberinfection wise...

Had the misfortune to have to go out in the early afternoon yesterday, Whoa nelly! The scumhordes were out in droves and all the rages that converge to result in the "festive" mulled variety were bubbling away in the cauldron. I made it but it was touch and go for a wee whiley. Today, we're off to see a "heart-lifting" movie called - wait for it- "Merry Christmas" at Filmhouse in Edinburgh. My ticker ain't in the habit of being raised above working level but we'll see how it goes...

Update - Well the movie wasn't awful but not my kinda thing really. Railing perilously close to being a costume drama, it all seems a little contrived to the point of beyond obvious. It also has "Trevor" from Eastenders in it. Can't exactly recommend that it's a good use of two hours to be honest but there y'go...

Way more Christmassy and very likely to warm the cockles of your ticker is the ability to download Angel Corpus Christi's "Still Feels Like Christmas" for the duration of this holiday season. Go get it!

The amount of decent seasonal tuneage this year is meagre but, completely out of the blue (no pun intended), a lowly 7" by The Come-Ons arrived at this here manger in a sharp hand stamped bag. Three songs, wrapped up in signed brown paper and string. The A-side is an original - "Christmas Lights of Blue", when you flip this baby over there are versions of "Don't Forget To Feed The Reindeer" and "My Favourite Things". I wonder sometimes, how this girl and boys haven't been discovered and thrust upon our undeserving world and then the penny drops. They actually offer entertainment value and our "friends" in the "business" evidently aren't down with that. You (however) can and may download the "Reindeer" portion whist learning about said combo in readiness for the revolution HERE.

Well, after listening to Sounds of the Sixties this morning, I have a desire to buy a Roger Whittaker compilation but that, as they say, is my problem. The other problem with this computer is still persisting so i'm trading warily. As it is, there's sod all to report anyway except to remind you about The Beatstalkers show at the Barra's in Glasgow this coming Friday (23rd). If anything REALLY scintillating turns up then i'll jump on this sucker and will check e-mail periodically. One is thinking of resolution on a number of fronts including my seemingly compuholic tendancies. Of course it wouldn't last but what if it did? What if it did?

Update - The Beatstalkers were on the Janice Forsyth Show on Radio Scotland this morning during the alst hour. You can catch that on the Listen Again feature available through the BBC website. They sound very much up for it and knocked out a groovy version of "Ramble On" in the studio to make sure the listenership got that.

Hello everybody. Getting ready for the Festering Season? Good. There are several hurdles to be overcome on this end including some kinda security issue with this thing I tap away at. I need to get that sorted out before I leave we open to all kindsa nasties which they don't do cream for. Please bear with this. There is almost nada to report anyway so you're not missing owt. If anything REALLY important goes down then I'll brave the cyber cooties to bring it to you. Cannae say fairer than that...

The Human League, The Proclaimers and… The Woggles were among the entertainers that hit up Edinburgh last night. I dragged my arse, through the birdshit canopy that is the underside of the train tracks along the Calton Road to Studio 24 for the latter but due to a coughing fit, I didn’t stay until the end. The venue was bloody Baltic and figure the cold and the smoke must have triggered something to make me feel decidedly gubbed. Anyways, the instro-mental stylings of Preston Pfanz and the Seaton Sands kicked things off quite nattily. With a perfectly measured set both in tuneage and length. Other combos could do well to take a leaf out of their book. I saw The Woggles once before, opening for the very wonderful Girl Trouble in San Francisco. Their Fleshtones approximation disturbed me then and it does so now. It makes me pine for the real super-rock deal and as entertaining as these Atlanta chaps can be, they’re not Zaremba, Streng, Milhiser and Fox. Throwing all the ‘tone shapes, The Woggles work hard but I detect little of themselves in their g*r*ge-r*ck pantomime. These are the Great Grandchildren of Nuggets and the crazy paving to the big burny fire is festooned with good intentions. Sometimes though, that ain't enough.

Preston Pfanz and The Seaton Sands have a 45 available on Forth Bridge Recordings. comprising "Knock Hill Chicane" and "Forth Dimension". The Valves claimed there was "no surf in Portobello", well - there's a fair head of twang to be had in close proximity some 28 years later.

"Hey folks
Jingle balls'n'bells to all you goodly people, especially Andrew & Lisa Perry, lovebirds of this parish, who recently tied the knot! Huzzah!
Saturday the 17th is set for the Sonic Reducer Xmess Thang, a riot of tinsel, bonhomie, alcoholic beverages, and twisted festive funk, soul, garage, punk, soul'n'junk 45s. Expect a snow-capped mountain of tuneage, including Clarence Carter's Back Door Santa, The Sonics' Santa Claus, Otis Redding's White Christmas, Fountains Of Wayne's I Want An Alien For Christmas, and TWO versions of the cockle-warming Christmas In Vietnam (neither by G Glitter!) ...
Our guest spinner for Old Saint Nick's fave hoedown of any annum is Tony 'The Folkie' Bailey, one of yer ever-lovin' SR crew's oldest and bestest friends, and he'll be dishing top drawer 45s from his legendary stash, kept under maximum security at a secret lair, high above the Holloway Road.
Truly, Jambo don't come no better, bar none ...
This Saturday will also mark BigKegShandy's birthday, and you're all invited to come and take the piss out of his increasingly Ray Reardon-ish hairline ... Tips on superior hairpiece manufacturers, under plain cover, will be gratefully accepted ...
If we don't see you at the bar, have a kool yule, and gear noo yerr ...

Selah! Joss & Joe"
---------------------

Sonic Reducer At Filthy MacNasty's - Saturday December 17th - 7pm - Free
68 Amwell Street EC1
Tube: Angel
Tel: 7837 6067

Next SR: Saturday January 7th ...

"The first showing in Scotland of "WE JAM ECONO" The Story of the Minutemen will take place at STEREO on Kelvinhaugh Street, Glasgow on Sunday 18th December. It's at 7pm and entry is a meagre £4 at the door.

All (any?) profits will be sent to the film makers and in addition to the movie there'll be dj's playing the hits and rarities from The Reactionaries on. Plus screeing of live footage of the band in action. Don't choke, do it... econo."

I made a brief, relatively unsuccesful attempt to attempt some Christmas shopping earlier. Not in a busy, bustling metropolis you understand but basically, my retailophobia is accelerating. The condition is now bordering upon apopleptic with no sign of regress in sight. Even in the relatively quiet backwater that I tried, it's too busy. People buying anything and everything to quell an urge to over extend themselves. You get the same crap everywhere now. Market forces have seen to it that conned-sumers like the limited choice. Of course, you can shop on-line but that too is fraught with problems. The fact that you'd have to factor delivery into the fray is, at this point, not really an option. My mind hurts at the very consideration of another patrol but tomorrow, as they say, is another, er, day. Another can o' worms more like...innit?

RIP - Richard Pryor

It's too late an outing for Gran'paw here but you young 'uns are cordially encouraged to hightail it along to Optimo in Glasgow tomorrow (Sunday 11th December) to catch Quintron & Miss Pussycat... "The story goes as such: A club owner-turned outlaw flees Chicago and meets an oil painting puppet theatre founder in New Orleans. There, Quintron's Swamp-tech / Noise / Mood meets Miss Pussycat's Puppetry / Minimal Electronic Soundtracks. This one will be mental. You will also be helping the band out if you attend as they sadly lost pretty much their entire studio when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans."

What's with this weather? Less than a week ago it was sub zero, now its miserably damp but mild. Stand by for mutating viruses everybody. Just in time for your Christmas break. Coughs and sneezes are everywhere, Brits have a stiff upper lip, they don't like to stay in until their cold, flu, whatever is gone. They like to share, particularly the denizens of large open plan, call centre-esque offices. However, jockeying for some imaginary position of status will always win out so what's the point in mithering about it.

Don't forget The Woggles show in Edinburgh this coming Tuesday at Studio 24. It's a school night I know but it'll all be over by 11pm so it's kinda like a matinee. Besides Aram needs to cover his stake on this. Maybe Mr Coleman will write something about his encounter with the band at Dirty Water last night over the next day or so to put you in the mood?

Let's see what else... I guess the deadline for objections to The Cameo debacle passed yesterday. let's hope that enough of us responded to get this ridiculous notion banished from our collective radar. It'll be a couple of weeks before we find out what the verdict on the planning application will be. Fingers and everything else crossed then, eh?

Jings, crivvens, help ma boab... just found this Broons/Oor Wullie site on Tom Morton's Beat Croft blog.