Andy's bright ideas.

Yesterday evening we went to a pub in Kettering particularly to see Blaze Bayley's band, but both of the bands on before were also good. I particularly enjoyed Voodoo Six. If I can catch up with my work, which I am managing well under half speed, I'll post a photo or two.

I found myself next to Rockchick, who we first met at the Lauren Harris gig at the same pub. She was, as previously, taking a lot of pictures with a truly impressive camera. She let me have a closer look at it after the gig - it is a Nikon digital SLR, with a zoom lens that you operate by hand and, of course, a true optical viewfinder. The focus is auto, though. She said she had just gotten that new lens and was well pleased with it.

Blaze sang on (I think) two Iron Maiden albums, before pressure from the fans induced them to get back together with Bruce Dickinson. Blaze did not quite have the vocal range to sing songs from their other albums in the way that Bruce had, but I would be happy if occasionally they had Blaze on stage as a special guest for a song or two - or maybe for one song on an album.

There were six different real ales available at the pub, and the four I tried were all good. Hobgoblin on handpump is not widely available, and that was the greatest treat for me. Then we shared a kebab, with lots of chilli sauce and (just for me because they are too much of a good thing for Hibernia) several pickled chillis. I had a better nights sleep than I had managed for ages;-)