Last Friday in Telfords was all my childhood Christmases stuffed into an Angelina Jolie-shaped doughnut doll.

I've gone on about it too much and too loudly already.

In fact, I made a promise earlier today with another artist whose talents I am in particular awe of, that I would step back a bit. 'Less is more' and all that.

Who actually decided that 'less is more'? It's an adage that only applies to guitar tracks on Oasis albums.

Back to earth with a bump last night, though.

CD players broke. CD's refused to play or stuttered like they needed sectioning to a speech therapy asylum. And the band played forever. And ever.

Perhaps if they had deigned to turn up and soundcheck on time I wouldn't have felt so sore about it. But why a band partly from Manchester, and partly from Chester itself, should be afforded the luxury of soundchecking two hours later than everyone else is beyond me. Especially when bands from Swansea can make it on time.

But they did go down well. I'd defy anyone playing a set of smooth, rootsy and poppy reggae covers not to go down well. Especially when the arrangements are embellished by Ian Rough's eloquent and frequently impressive guitar.

I squeezed a three hour set into just less than 2 hours... having to negotiate a CDJ that ate one of my key compilation CD's and refused to spit it out. I must have looked a bit fraught because Mr Paul Draper, formerly of Mansun, came up to the DJ booth and asked if I was "bearing up".

This is the kind of thing that happens when I don't drink.

A few weeks ago, I sacrificed my 10 drink tab as a gesture during these difficult times. I think I was expecting Jez, the owner, to canonise me or, you know, refuse my altruistic offer. But he just said, "yes", and since then my Friday nights have been terrifyingly sober. Bar The Boy gig.

You do need a bit of lubrication to DJ to a crowd of drinkers. Otherwise you might do what I did last night. Head down, gradually increasing the bpm until the dancefloor is sporadically populated and the bass is echoing around empty floors and rafters up at the top bar.

I will demand the reinstatement of my 10 drink tab, forthwith. For the good of the venue!

I take my DJ'ing seriously. And I think, when I'm not being a contrary bastard and I'm not battling rebellious equipment, I'm OK. But I do tend to work very much with segues I know work. And some of those segues are starting to sound a bit tired. They're normally jazzed up by new releases opening up new options for juxtaposing the old and the new together -- but this year has provided a paucity of decent new shit to add to my set.

I'm not all that keen on Lady Gaga. The ponced up Noisettes-stuff sounds like Black-Eyed Peas-lite. I do love pop music. I have no problem playing commercial stuff whatsoever, but I'm not hearing anything I like at the moment. Any pointers would be gratefully appreciated.

Anyway -- Paul Draper!

I think I might have mentioned Mansun before.

Oh, yes -- here...

http://adamthomaswalton.co.uk/index.php?this_blog=370

I've always been somewhat in awe of Paul. He was a man with a pretty astonishing and unique musical vision. While all around him, post the big Britpop binge, were eulogising the Kinks and the Small Faces, he and his band were thinking about music that eschewed all that bullshit, retro-conservatism. Attack of the Grey Lantern is steeped in influences, but they're more interesting influences... Bowie, Tears for Fears, Prince... I love that album. And Six is even better.

And, in particular, I love his voice.

It has an androgynous quality to it. And I can't sing like that. That always ratchets up my respect.

And he's there in front of the DJ booth. Thank god I recognised him.

Then, as of course happens whenever I meet someone I respect, especially in Telfords!, the wheels come off the DJ booth and it crashes in a pile of random records to general indifference.

Anyway -- I hope his flu clears up soon. And, yes, I will continue to stalk him on Twitter. And I won't stop hoping that that unique voice and musical vision wraps itself around a solo album at some point.

It's the Mams tonight. And booze. Bring on the beer and the bittersweet good time tunes.

I'll be back tomorrow-ish to tell you what happens.

And I'll have a radio show. News about that tomorrow morning. Have an excellent Saturday.
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