The Gaslight Anthem...

Myself and the Missus ventured to Alexandra Palace in that London (over-crowded and busy place where we used to live) to see The Gaslight Anthem. 

The Gaslight Anthem are an American new wave/punk band the Missus got into about the time of their breakthrough second album, The 59 Sound, in 2008. Now we're both fans and we've seen them a few times since. 

The New Jersey outfit were touring the UK to promote their fifth and newest album, Get Hurt, which is a more mature and mellow affair than their rockier two opening two albums or their more sophisticated third and fourth albums, American Slang and Handwritten. 

With a growing back catalogue, the Gaslight Anthem as a live act can now weave several newer or slower songs into their set, before kicking in when the band goes into attack mode and launches into their more well-known, high-energy tunes.

Because they've spent so much time touring and building a fan base since 2006, they're a fantastic live act and, in lead singer Brian Fallon, they have a great frontman and a genuinely gifted songwriter. 

The band have already produced five really strong albums and, somewhere along the line, they'll 'do a Green Day' and produce something like American Idiot that resonates worldwide and turns them into global superstars. 

Until then, however, I'm delighted I can still get tickets to their gigs.

Not Good People: Part II...

I have a rehearsed reading of a new play in few days so I'm polishing the script and tinkering. I'm still aware the play needs a bit of layering and it also needs a small, trim but it's pretty much there. I can write. I'm actually not bad with words.

Then, last night, the Missus came out with the following sentence while trying to stab e with a fork:
'I'm not cunting well kissing you, you fucking shite-hawk!'

I'm maybe no so creative with words after all...

Romance News...

Me and the Missus are laid in bed. We are doing what young people call 'chill-axing'. But I'm restless and consequently I'm wittering.
'You see, all you have to do is occasionally feed me, fuck me and let me go out once in a while, and I'm sorted.'
'I suppose you're quite low maintenance,' she comments, not really paying much attention.
'I don't watch much out of life...'
'You're very loyal, too. It's something I've always liked about you,' adds the Missus. 
'Yes.'
'And you do enjoy walking, too.'
'Yes.'
'Low maintenance, loyal, likes walking and sometimes demands food and sex...You'd make a very good dog.'
'But dogs are stupid?'
'Yes. You'd make a very good dog...'

Not Good People: Part I...

I have a reading for a new play in three weeks. The play will be ready by then, but it currently needs a bit of editing and trimming to get rid of the more hectoring elements. 

It needs a final scene, too. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. And I've pretty much got my dream cast to perform it, so I'm looking forward to it. 

The play is called Not Good people and it's sort of about apathy and engagement with politics. Writing it has been quite good for me because I tend to work out my own thinking on things while I'm writing and it's given me a bit of a kick up the arse about my own political engagement.

With work hectic and my martial arts training becoming increasingly more important, it's easy to forget there's a wider world out there that you are part of and should more fully engage in. And, who knows, this may be the start of me reconnecting with the political again in a more active capacity.

Of course, it may also not be because I've had a cracking idea for a new commercial comedy as well. But we'll see.

I'll post a scene from the play in the next day or so. See what you think...