Friday night at the Kings Arms saw the pub rocking away to the long awaited first gig of up and coming band ‘Keep The Drummer Happy’…
After months of rehearsal, Charlotte, Dave, Tim and Ed finally set up camp in this excellent venue and showed us all what they had been up to, taking us on an eclectic roller coaster ride through a selection of classic covers. The journey took in a range of diverse musical styles – ranging from the pulsing bass line of ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine’, through the electro reggae beats of The Polices ‘Roxanne’ and the self-indulgent leviathon that is Led Zeppelins ‘Moby Dick’, complete with an excellent though tortuous solo by eponymous drummer Tim Barker.
The set was mostly tightly constructed, with tunes chosen to bring out the best of each of the individual musicians and showcase the incredible vocal talents of the gorgeous Charlotte Bradman.
Heaton loves it’s live music at the Kings, and the pub is regularly packed on Fridays, with regulars and newcomers alike. Last Friday was no exception, and it is testament both to the band, their friends, and the enthusiasm and support of the staff of this venue, that a new unheard of act could garner such vocal affirmation and play to such a large crowd.
This being the Old Heatonian, regular readers will no doubt be expecting my ‘however’ moment. But to be fair, even though they made a valiant attempt at performing an already (in my opinion) shocking track (My Sex is On Fire – Kings of Leon), I found it difficult to fault anything else on the night. Sure, there are rough edges to the performance, but the enthusiasm and tenacity of the band members will ensure that these are knocked off quickly.
And perhaps they’ll cut down the length of that Moby Dick drum solo – kick out the middle 15 minutes of it and it could almost be perfect…
The band are booked to play the Kings again on 25th September – if you missed them this time round, make sure to mark that day in your calendar. I promise you a good night!
This weekend will see me migrate the Old Heatonian (and numerous other websites I run) finally to it’s new home…
The main codebase is currently already there, but I need to move the databases to my shiny new server, so you may notice some disruption during Saturday. However, as ever I will try to keep this to a minimum, and during quiet times.
In other news, there is some controversy brewing over my failure to post a photo of St Paddy Day hi jinks in the Kings. The reasons are two fold:
- A participant has objected.
- I haven’t had time to download the photo from my phone, resize it, ‘enhance it’ using photoshop, upload it to the site and attach suitable sarcastic commentary.
(Suggestions by a local real life fantasist in the Kings that I hand over my administration passwords so that he himself could link in the photos ‘on my behalf’ were met with the incredulous sneer that they deserved)
Due to ‘big things being afoot’, updates will be few and far between over the next week or so…
But keep checking, because soon, all will be revealed.
Not that much to talk about so far this week…
Training at the gym is coming on in leaps and bounds – I have now managed to run the full mile on the treadmill at least, although it was a particularly knackering feat, but my goal is in sight.
I was amazed though to discover that a young lady who frequents the Kings has recently completed her own feat for Sport Relief, which frankly puts my own meagre ambitions into perpective. She managed to run 50 miles, row 50 miles and cyle 50 miles over an eight hour period. Albeit, this event took place at the University gym, but when you consider it is taking me the best part of quarter of an hour at the moment to complete my mile, I am suitably humbled by her.
Well done Jodie!
The UK awoke to a slightly emptier world this morning, with the sad news of the death of Jeremy Beadle…
Having fought cancer for a number of years, he finally succumbed to pneumonia. Old Heatonian would like to express our sadness at this loss.
And put an immediate appeal out for the inevitable round of e-mail/text jokes to be forwarded in this direction asap!
My car went in for it’s MOT today…
Given the recent catalogue of mishaps that have ocurred recently, I wasn’t expecting particularly good news when the nice man from the garage rang me with the ‘damage’. However, surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad – having failed only on headlights out of alignment, rear indicators need painting(?) and my numberplates apparently have deteriorated so much they are barely legible.
Which was surprising.
After all, the sneaky police officers manning the mobile camera on Manningham Lane the other Saturday didn’t have much trouble reading them!
In other news, eagle eyed readers may have already noticed the sudden appearance of my official ‘Sport Relief’ widget, which will show how much sponsorship has been pledged on my special ‘Sport Relief Sponsorship Page‘, which can be found here.
So, I’m officially signed up now – it only remains for you, dear reader, to hop over there and sponsor me.
Thank you.
There was much mirth in evidence this weekend as I revealed Mrs Funks latest masterplan to reduce my belly inches…
Not content with inflicting ‘fat free chips’ on my unsuspecting palate, she has finally gone the whole hog and enrolled me in the gym. Purveyors of ales and fine foods the village over are currently gnashing their teeth in despair as the prospect of my not insignificant contribution to their weekly takings being withdrawn, as Mrs Funks strict regime begins to bite.
Herbie, resplendent (for some obscure reason), in his mexican sombrero in the Kings on Sunday, suggested that we have an offical ‘measuring session’ at some point, followed by regular updates on the website of how many belly inches I am losing over the course of my (hopefully) shortlived career at the Heaton Squash and Tennis club gym. While I feel that his suggestion was made in an effort to cause me humiliation, it’s not really far from an idea I had in mind anyway.
2008 is Sport Relief year. In an effort to raise money for worthy causes the world over, the challenge this time round is to run (or walk) either 1, 3 or 6 miles. When I heard about it, I did make a promise to myself that I would attempt to do this, as it would give me some incentive to ‘buck my ideas up’ with regard to my health and general fitness. So, I would like to announce the following:
I am going to train as hard as I can, and on the day I am going to attempt to run 3 miles. 6 miles would probably be a bit ambitious, given that the event is sometime in March, and 1 mile is for wimps. I will get some sponsor forms sorted out, and I would appreciate it if everyone would dig deep and sponsor me for this worthy cause. If nothing else, the sight of me wheezing home about 2 hours after I start should be good for a laugh. I tell you , only Bob Hope would do more for charity!
Things like this are always more fun if there are a few of you involved, so I would also like to invite anyone who is inspired to have a go to join me in this endeavour – get in touch via the usual channels if you fancy it! I may even get T-Shirts printed…
I will announce an official weigh in, followed by a final booze up for old times sake by the end of the week, then we’re off.
Or I’m off, if noone else is man enough to give it a go…
Epicures across the county wring their hands in frustration…
…as it is revealed that the long awaited website, authored by our own Dribbly Baines and examining the delights of food available in our own corner of the country, turned out to be no more than ‘an elaborate windup’, as the comments against my Saturday article reveal.
Quite who the windup was aimed at, what it’s purpose was, and just… well… WHY?, will no doubt remain a mystery.
Plastic Taff for one will be disappointed, as he was looking forward to following in the footsteps of the dribbling one and sampling the objects of his in depth reviews.
Unconfirmed accounts suggest that he’s already been to Morrisons to stock up on Sutherlands Beef & Tomato spread to slather all over his toast!
It’s not been the best of weekends at Funk HQ…
Not only did I set out to get a simple, £10 fault with my car investigated, and walk away with a potential repair bill upwards of £400 and no car available for my trip to Nelson Monday morning.
Not only did I almost certainly speed past a mobile camera at 40 mph in a 30 zone on Saturday morning.
Not only did I discover another leak in my radiator and have to apply RadWeld and a radiator full of newly mixed antifreeze.
The Plastic Taff pointed out a potential typo in the Old Heatonian!
He was right as well. If I could refer you to the article ‘UpgradeWeekend’, I mistakenly inferred that the ‘Plastic Paddy’ used to go to the gym on a Sunday morning. This of course was incorrect – it was the Plastic Taff himself who used to go to the gym on a Sunday morning.
Apologies to anyone concerned who may have taken offence.
Once again, Old Heatonian may express some connection issues for a limited period over the weekend, as I need to upgrade the website to iron out some security issues. Apologies in advance – I’ll try and choose a quiet period…
In other news, the Fountain reopened again last night. New lines have been installed in the downstairs bar, and work continues today on the upstairs bar. Why not pop along and sample the wares available? With a selection of lagers and 3 cask ales currently available, along with a selection of wines and spirits, there will be something to tickle your palate.
The Fountain would also like to announce the reinstatement of the Sunday Breakfast club, previously run by Oirish Sean. Opening at 9.30am, a full English Breakfast is available until 11.30am, at the very reasonable rate of £3.50. Why not do as the Plastic Paddy used to do, and finish off your early morning training session at the gym with a large, satisfying, cholesterol laden fried breakfast, with all the trimmings? And the bar is licensed from 10am. Result!!
News | Funk | 
July 27, 2009 6:47 am | 
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