The Americans Are Coming, The Americans Are Coming!

Actually 'the Americans' (my mother-in-law and our niece) arrived yesterday afternoon. As all good houseguests should, they came bearing gifts: a couple of rather festive Fender-branded T's and a pair of Ray Bans, styling circa 1970... retro-chic straight out of Carrie Bradshaw's closet.

Now, I'm more of a Gibson meets Prada kinda guy, and green isn't really my colour, but y'know, I think I can work with this stuff!



Sometimes, being one half of a bi-national couple has its benefits. Family don't drop in every day, and when they do they bring cool pressies!

The flip side is that today I'm suffering from 'passive jetlag'. I may not have crossed time zones but my delightful-but-hyper 8-year old niece did... my required (or at least desired) 8 hours sleep was significantly shortened by her 6 hour time difference! So, it was a Fender T, retro Ray Ban, two coffee kind of morning, and I'm downing my third java boost with lunch.

Still, last night was a lot of fun. My niece loves the fact that 'Uncle Kenny' plays guitar and she tried to put together an impromptu concert. She even wrote a new song for the show, which had pretty damn good lyrics, considering the vintage of the source. A tale of forlorn longing and the loss of intimacy. I'm not kidding!

As she already knew the lyrics to "Proud Mary", remembering them from a road trip we took at the tail end of last year, I set to learning the chords and trying to remember the rhythm. Sadly, the show per se never actually got off the ground due to a scheduling conflict with din-dins. Dinner itself was less than nutritionally balanced and included a lot more chocolate than I'm used to.

Tonight is the debut gig and album launch party for Twickenham-based rockers Magic Ship. I was hoping to head over to Barnes to catch the gig, but with the arrival of the in-laws that doesn't seem likely. For any of you who are local and at a loose end I heartily advocate getting down to The White Hart to check out the band.

Trust me, you're going to like what you hear, you'll get to meet the band and, last but definitely not least, you'll be able to buy their hotly-anticipated debut album at a special reduced rate.



Oh, and while I think about it, I'd like to send out a special 'hello' to all the Rufus Wainwright fans who've stopped by over the last couple of days! I didn't realise that the boy had such a following! I've not had such a huge spike in my page hits since I mentioned having seen Pete Doherty walking down our street! The cynics amongst the blogging community will doubtless accuse me of milking the keywords 'Rufus Wainwright' and 'Pete Doherty' to boost my traffic, but, frankly, if that was the case then I'd have pointed out that I posted a 'review' of his 'Hampton Court' gig yesterday. Oops... I just did. Sorry...

I wonder what a duet between Pete Doherty and Rufus Wainwright would sound like... (okay, not really...)

Oli Brown's "Open Road" Review

First off, I'm going to say that I've seen Oli and his band play twice so far, once as support for Devon Allman's Honeytribe and once as headliners, showcasing this album. Both times I walked away knowing that I'd seen something special. This is a band worth following.

For the guitarists amongst you, here is what you need to know:

The boy has tone.

...and he's not afraid to use it!

And he's so frikkin' young and talented it's enough to make you hang up your guitar, lock yourself in the bathroom and cry for your Mommy. If that's not bad enough, at 18 years old he's got himself a damn fine blues voice.

And he writes his own stuff.

And he has a record deal.

At this point I know you're dying for me to say something like 'he's good, but y'know, all he plays is pentatonics so he's got a long way to go...'

Not so. He plays all over the frikkin' place. Just when you think he's going to do one thing he hits a colour note then tears off in another direction.

And... and...

And I haven't even got round to reviewing the CD!

"Open Road" is definitely a strong debut album. If I had to mark it down for any reason (and I'm totally nit-picking here!) it would be that I think a couple of the tracks could have been arranged more like their live performance. Onstage, the band consistently sizzles but at times the recorded tracks veer more towards a jazzier vibe.

The biggest example is the album cut of "New Groove". Played live it's an edgy, funky, balls to the wall song. On the CD it's a much more laid back. I'd have preferred them to push the tempo and add a bit more snap. In general the drums have been mixed further into the background than I expected, I guess. I get why: so that you can hear every note Oli's plays. I'm sure that I'll get used to the different mix of the recordings and love them after a couple of listens.

Hey I just listened to "New Groove" for the second time and already I'm starting to feel it more. See, I told you I was nit-picking! Y'know I just figured out what the deal is. The album is meant to be played LOUD! Amps to 11, puh-lease!

If you like blues with a twist, buy this album. You will not believe that this sound is created by a bunch of guys who are only just over the UK legal drinking age.