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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Biff Bang Pow" <biffbangpow@cox.net> |
| Subject | Liverpool IPO |
| Date | Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:27:06 -0500 |
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With frantic last minute planning, the wife and I flew off to Liverpool this
last weekend.
Random remembrances:
If you stay at the Adelphi, you're within walking distance of the train
station, the bus station, shopping district, Albert Docks (& The River
Mersey), and of course Matthew Street & The Cavern Club. However, corner
street signs are not the rule, and it was easy to get lost.
We enjoyed 2 full days of sunny skies. Apparently this is not the norm, as
I didn't observe one local who owned a pair of sunglasses. And as Mark H.
observed last week, *everyone* smokes.
Be careful crossing the streets. The roads appear from all directions and
most everyone drives *very* fast (and on the wrong side of the road ;-)
The Magical Mystery Bus Tour is well worth the money. Bonus on our tour -
not long after telling the story of original Beatles manager Allan Williams
giving them away to Brian Epstein, the man is spotted walking down the
street. Our tour guide makes the driver stop so he can yell out the window
to him. He then shared more stories of Allan's drinking prowess.
PSA for all young, single men: Besides housing the Cavern Club, Matthew
Street is home to numerous dance clubs. We estimated there to be 3-4
females for every male, and black mini-skirts were the dress of choice.
On Friday night, the definite standouts were The Jessica Fletchers & The
Singles. They were both *amazing* live units, and provided a nice visual
counterpoint to one another (the sweaty, dangerous looking Fletchers vs. the
sweaty, well-dressed Singles.)
The front stage (the small stage that everyone pictures when thinking of the
Cavern) was dedicated to Swedish bands. Here we heard the Mop Tops perform
one of the greatest pop songs of the '90s - "Plastic Moon Rain", and The
Spyders remade Big Star's "13" as an organ propelled rave-up.
Saturday night's highlights were Stingray Green (former member of the
Vandalias), Steve Barton & of course Jeremy. Robbie Rist played drums for
Barton, and threatened to explode on stage throughout the entire set. On
this night, he was second only to the Muppets' Animal in sheer percussional
intensity.
It was also really cool to see The Jetset, who were playing for the first
time in 17 years. We'd accidentally met the drummer Mickey earlier that day
on Albert Docks when my wife offered to snap a picture of him with his
friend. David brought them back out for an encore, but they'd played all
the songs they'd rehearsed! So they played "The Man Who Lives Upstairs" a
second time.
Jeremy's band was the last we saw this night, and they were absolutely
amazing! They played the small stage, where due to space limitations and a
very low ceiling, most bands remained fairly subdued. Well, not Jeremy! We
had to leave before the end of the set, but if nobody got hurt from flying
guitar necks or smashing their heads into the brick ceiling, well...color me
impressed.
After a short 4 hours of sleep, we rode the bus to Manchester Airport with
Ringle Todd & his companions (thanks for the cd Todd!). I'm still paying a
price for the lack of sleep and miles walked, but it was definitely worth
it. A mountain of praise & glory to David Bash & Jean Catharell for giving
me an excuse I might not ever have made for myself.
---Steve
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