It was a busy week last week. I ended up going to two gigs on consecutive nights in backwater little townlets to see some really quite surprising bands.

First up was Blue Öyster Cult in the tiny village of Holmfirth, made famous by being the setting to Last of the Summer Wine. The venue was certainly peculiar, being as it was a half renovated play house with scaffold and steel fencing supporting half the structure and a peculiar sloping floor. Still, it was a decent enough place and the sound was fine to my ear, so I was ready for some rock.

Given that BÖC released their first album 7 years before I was born, I think they can be referred to as "old school" quite legitimately, and the show reflects this. As Ian (whose idea it was to go to this gig) pointed out, when the band started out a live show actually meant more than just playing a selection of songs from the album and going home. And it shows. 10 or 20 minute versions of classics like "Then Came The Last Days Of May", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Godzilla", complete with duelling guitars, massive 4 guitar riff fests, drum solos and alternating vocalists. Top stuff.

So after all that, what could follow it? Well, a Friday night in Stocksbridge, steel centre of Sheffield, to see Mostly Autumn on the weekend prior to the release of their new album, Glass Shadows.

After finding possibly the single most distant venue in Sheffield, and standing around for an hour drinking a well kept and surprisingly cheap Farmer's Blonde from Bradfield Brewery, the band took to the stage. They played a good selection of classics and new material, which was great for me. Hearing songs from a new album live before you've even taken the album out of the shrink wrap makes them all the more special, and owning the album 3 days before general release makes it even more so.

Overall, the new album is a bit less proggy, a bit less folky, but definitely Mostly Autumnal. It's a solid release that surpasses the sometimes half-baked Heartful Of Sky, with none of the songs particularly disappointing (although one or two bring out puzzled expressions and exclamations of "What the... ?!", but in a good way) Still, overall a win, and a great couple of gigs. More like that, please.

Last week saw the return of the Oakwood Real Ale and Music Festival at Rotherham's Oakwood centre, and I had every intention of making a repeat visit after last year's success. Due to planning issues, some people's lack of CAMRA membership (tut) and what-have-you, we decided to head over for a Saturday afternoon session rather than a rather rushed and drunken Friday.

Turned out to be a good idea in the end, although only a trio of ale lovers made it out. The use of festival tickets to get on public transport proved as useful this year as it did last, and we were soon heading up the long (long, long ...) driveway to the top of the festival. Once in, we got our glasses and headed up to the 'Elvis room' at the top of the hill, for a leisurely roll down to the bottom over the course of the afternoon.

What should greet us in this first room, then, but a selection of breweries from our own dear Shalesmoor Shuffle! Specifically, the Crown Brewery and the Sheffield Brewing Company had a wide selection available, as well as Barsnley's Acorn brewery. Well, where better to start than in familiar territory? A pint of the SBC's Five Rivers followed by a new one from Crown, Laid Marion (fnar, eh?)

For the remainder of the afternoon we staggered about the Oakwood centre sampling many different local and regional delights. The Oyster Stout from Wentworth was surprisingly tasty, even if the oyster flavour was detectable, and the Claife Crier from Cumbrian Legendary Ales took the award for most dangerously drinkable, being a 5% stout but disappearing faster than a stout ever should.

The bars closed for an hour at 5pm, presumably to give everyone a chance to clean up for the busier evening session, so we headed next door to $random_wetherspoons_clone and had some moderately bad food with moderately bad beer. Back to the festival then ...

Last Thursday I went with Andy, Ian and Mike to see Dark Tranquillity play Rock City for the second time in five months for the official Great British Fiction tour.

The setlist was excellent, with plenty from the album and quite a bit of older stuff too. They played almost all my favourites off fiction, including Focus Shift, Misery's Crown, Terminus, and The Lesser Faith. They didn't play Nothing To No One, but that's OK. They played plenty of older stuff, including Therein from my favourite feel-good album Projector, and Wonders At Your Feet which is always good to hear live.

However, prior to them coming on there were two support acts. First up was Omnium Gatherum, a death/black metal band from Finland who I've never heard of before. They play some good riffs and I can appreciate the music a great deal, but the black metal screeching from the lead vocalist leaves me cold. As I commented after their set, the best bit was when the mic cut out and we just got the instrumental. If I manage to ahem borrow a copy of one of their studio albums I might grow to like it. Who knows. I did like their T shirts, so that's something. Oh, and the name means "a hodge-podge", if you're interested.

Prior to them, though, was a local band. Insidious. Now, at first I wondered if the sound system was at fault, but that was later proved wrong by the fantastic sound for Dark Tranquillity. Then I thought it might be just me, because I couldn't detect any tune, melody or even rhythm in the wall of noise coming from the stage. The different musicians were apparently just hammering their respective instruments while the lead vocalist (I hestitate to say 'singer') shouted various grunts between looking like he'd forgotten where he was. Mike asked me if I thought DT were ever this bad. I said I couldn't imagine it.

It was certainly an evening of extremes, from the confusing, apparently drug-fuelled, start to the extremely high quality and well performed gig by DT at the end. Dark Tranquillity were on stage for over an hour, by my reckoning, so we got plenty of the good stuff to compensate, and Omnium Gatherum were alright for a change from my normal listening.

So it was my birthday this past Christmas Eve, and my sister made me a most excellent cake. Behold:

The cake, it is not a lie!

One Companion Cube made of 4 sponge cakes with a hint of strawberry flavouring so it tastes of love. Lovely stuff. Tastes, erm, tasted pretty darn good too! Didn't even have to open a portal to get to it, either.

My general experience of taxis in Sheffield is that if you get a black cab, you'll get where you're going if you can but find one, and if you phone a taxi company then you'll be lucky if it ever turns up. That bit of handy knowledge doesn't stop me trying to use them, though, because they're the only way short of walking to get home at midnight.

So what's new? Well, on Friday night, around about 12-ish, I had cause to try to go home. I called Mercury. No answer. I called RCA. No answer. Tried again several times, and either got a busy tone or no answer each time. Most peculiar. It was suggested that I try a more local firm, Excel, who might have one available, so I did. No answer.

A thought occurred to me. It's the last Friday before Christmas. Everybody will be out on the town. I'm calling from a mobile. Which would you rather deal with as a taxi firm; someone at a residential address with access to a landline, or some random drunk in the middle of town? I figured that the only way to distinguish between the two short of answering the phone would be to look at the CLI. Starts with 07? Sorry, you're probably a drunken loony. Get a black cab or walk it.

Putting this theory to the test, I switched to a landline and called Excel. Answered within two rings. Now, I've not done further experimentation, but it did make me stroke me chin and say "Hmmm..." in a quizzical manner.

So anyway, Excel say they'll have a taxi with me in 20 minutes. I wait. 30 minutes later, no taxi. I call back. Apparently they couldn't get one to me so the girl on the phone passed the job over to Phoenix taxis, where her dad's girlfriend works. I call them and she says that the taxi has been and gone because I didn't go out to meet it. I did point out that when you tell someone to expect ringback and don't actually ring them back, it can hardly be considered their fault for not knowing the taxi was there. She agreed, called the driver an idiot, and promised another in 5 minutes.

So 20 minutes later I'm back on the phone. Phoenix aren't answering again, even from the landline, and I have no idea what is going on. I call Excel back to see if they have any clue what's going on. I say "Hello ..." and the girl on the phone says "Is that Craig? Haven't they picked you up yet!?" I tell her what's been going off and she apologies for the hassle, then has an idea.

Turns out that she lives just round the corner from me, and her dad was picking her up in 5 minutes to go home. Would I like a lift with her? I said yes, on the grounds that the only other way would be to set off walking and take my chances with black cabs in S35. Sure enough, 20 minutes later (about 2:20am) an Excel cab arrives with a young lady waving madly in the front seat. Unfortunately, me being something of a dimwit, I can't remember her name ...

We set off, and it turns out that she does only live about 2 minutes drive from me. How handy. So I got home in the end, in a most unconventional manner. So the moral of this story is this; be nice to the girl at the taxi company. She's a person too, and she might well be a lovely person who pulls out all the stops to help you get home. So thank you, girl at Excel taxis whose name I don't know. And take note, you muppets at RCA and Mercury.

Controversy, comestibles and confusion. The three Cs of the 33rd annual Steel City Beer Festival in my own home town of Sheffield. Controversy because the venue changed to one far from a tram stop! Comestibles because the Bakewell Farmers Markets do a mean pork butty. Confusion because, quite frankly, nobody had a clue what was going on.

I recently bought a second hand Fuji S1 Pro from a friend who has recently upgraded, replacing the FinePix S5100. It's lovely, but I've not really had chance to properly test drive it yet. More when I have ...

On Saturday 14th April, 2007, we (that is, me and Ian) finally got to the first gig of the year since our 'gig-a-month' idea; Mostly Autumn at the Oakwood Centre in Rotherham. I was quite excited about this one, because it's a band that I've been wanting to see live for ages but have never managed to get to a gig.

To add to the fun, I took the car and fetched Vee and Chris, too and we all headed out to the people's republic of Rotherham to the Oakwood centre. The more astute of you may notice that it's the second time I've been there this year, the first time being the Oakwood Real Ale festival. While the journey last time was arduous and scary, and the taxi ride home was confusing, this time I discovered it's actually very easy to get to. Up the parkway to Rotherham Hospital and next left ... Oh well.

Being a Classic Rock Society gig, the crowd were a mixed bunch. Entire families turned up complete with kids, grandparents and matching t-shirts. Compared to the massing crowds of the Corporation, the setting was very sedate. Chairs were available, along with 3 real ales and a complete lack of moshing 14 year olds.

I confess that I've never really seen the point of Easter. It marks the most important points of the Christian calendar, but I can't really see how the mass hype of chocolatey indulgance has anything remotely to do with it. It's just a chance to get a bit fatter, really.

I haven't had any chocolate this year. Rather, I haven't eaten any. I've had a bad gut since last Wednesday and it's only just started to subside a little. I think overindulging at La Gondola last night might have forced my guts back into action.

Speaking of which, I recommend La Gondola whole-heartedly. Food is lovely, staff are friendly and prompt and prices are good. A carpark that is free on Sundays next door is quite handy, too!

I've just noticed that all the Google ads on this site are for cake. I have no idea why this might be. Maybe you can buy Haskell Cake?

Now, what to do with bank holiday monday. Some beers could be good...

Yesterday, I was looking at new mobile phone contracts for the wife. O2 are offering a ridiculous number of minute and texts for very little, but on an 18 month contract. The concept of an 18 month contract scares me, to be honest. I don't want to be stuck with O2 for that long without at least the option of escape!

I looked at T-Mobile, I looked at Orange, I looked at Vodafone. I looked at independent retailers. They were all rubbish. In order to get anything like a good deal these days, you have to sign up for an 18 month contract. It's rubbish. However, this is where Virgin Media come in.