This month: two summers 20 years apart, why the new Rush album is so good, and a bit about Ted.


We had our twice-yearly burst of sunshine in May and I made the most of it. I knew it was coming – it’s been lovely in the late Spring in Manchester for the last five years running – so I was prepared. By the end of it I had gone a lovely brown colour and looked healthy for the first time since..... well.... last May!

This time: the end of my annual winter sulk and the best purple patch of gigs ever.

This month: what I listened to in 2011......

Barchetta - Hard - Zorg

The festive period and my waistline have been frequent enemies. At the end of 2011 they fought a long and sustained battle which Christmas won. I sit here in the second week of 2012 feeling fat, not fitting into my clothes and wondering at the concerted effort it will take to get match fit again.

A work contact of mine told me over a pint recently that she’s lived in the same house her whole life. I on the other hand have called 16 different residences home so far and I suspect there might be more at some point. That means in theory I have moved abode every two and a half years, but the reality is somewhat different.

This month: skimming stones in Silverdale, turning 40, why Liverpool isn’t all bad and how I came to be in a cell at Kendal Police Station......

This month: unsurprisingly, on the road with Rush.....

This month: causing chaos at gigs, accidental beard cutting, a huff about Q magazine and tales of Wibbly Wobbly burgers.....

B.B. King

My life has been taken over by the blues. Don’t worry; I’m not talking about being down in the dumps: I’m talking about some sublimely beautiful twelve-bar guitar melancholy. There’s nothing quite like a rampaging guitar riff and the great blues players had them in droves. I’ve been on a mission to find them.