If you've never heard of the band Live then you must have been living in a hole for the past fifteen years. Let me enlighten you...

Live is an American alternative/rock band from York, Pennsylvania, USA. Formed in the early 1980's under the name "First Aid" (follewed by several more name changes), they finally settled on the name "Live" in 1991 when they released their first album 'Mental Jewelry'. Since then they have released a further seven albums, their most recent being 'Songs from Black Mountain'. During the lifetime of this amazing and talented band, they have sold some twenty million records and have a huge following throughout the world.

The band is currently on a world tour and last night (Mon 12th June 2006) performed their sold out gig at the ABC, Sauchihall St, Glasgow. Needless to say, the venue was packed; and what a venue it is! Home of Scotland's first cinema, the interestingly art deco building has now been converted into Glasgow's biggest live music venue, hosting two stunning live music and club spaces with four bars and an overall capacity of 1600 people. If you ever get the chance to go to a gig at this venue then I would recommend going just to say you've been to the ABC.

The setlist comprised of some thirteen songs, followed by an encore of a further eight songs. They played everything from their latest single "River", through their infamous cover version of "Walk the line" by Johnny Cash, to the "Mirror Song" from their very first album. The crowds reaction was tremendous and became particulary raucous during "Lightning Crashes" but it all ended on a much calmer note, "Dance With You", when the whole audience and all the band members sang along.

If you really never have heard of this band then check out the official website: www.friendsoflive.com or one of their better fansites:
www.fansoflive.com. Buy their albums, catch up on what you've been missing out on and next time they play in Scotland (rumoured to be sometime next year) then make sure that you are one of the first to buy tickets. I know I will be!

Until next time...

Well... first entry and what more of an exciting topic than... wait for it... no really... I want to build up the tension here... I want you sitting on the edge of your seat (but make sure your holding on)... this is big people... some of you may not be able to cope with the full extent of this info... are you ready... DISHES!

Yes. That's right, I've been reduced to washing dishes for a living. Full time, 8-12 hours a day, 6 sometimes 7 days a week. Sometimes till 4 in the morning. Washing dishes. Fairy claim in their advertisments that their green goo is good for your hands, well maybe it is, I don't know, but I can tell you this: the cheap, watered down stuff that smells like toilet cleaner certainly aint. Occasionaly I get offered a nice pair of pink rubber gloves with the pretence that these skinny pieces of, again cheap, rubber will make some kind of difference... Have you ever smelt the inside of a rubber glove after 8 hours of washing dishes in near boiling hot water. Your hands sweat so much that you may as well have worn the gloves on your ears for all the difference that they make. And another thing, how are you meant to delve into the bottom of a two foot sink for the bits that inevitably sink to the bottom (yes that's right, knives, forks and spoons, you know who you are!) with gloves that only come just past your wrists???

"Trivial stuff" you might say ("What a loser!" others of you might say) but I have good reason for mixing up the bubbles. Like I said above, I'm "washing dishes for a living." I'm working to live, not living to work, might be a better way of describing the situation. Although nothing is booked yet (and knowing us probably won't be for weeks) my better half and I are planning excursions into mainland europe. A friend has kindly offered to put us both up in Paris for a few nights and then we plan to train it north or south from there. Like I said, plans have not quite planned themselves yet. So if anyone has any suggestions of where to go (remembering that cleaning dishes doesn't pay that much) then I'd love to hear from you...

Until next time...