The Unthanks at the Union Chapel

I could listen to The Unthanks at any time of year, but there's something about the tone of their voices, the haunting melodies and harmonies and the beautiful strings, that really suits a cold winter's night. The Union Chapel, too, with its church pews and vaulted ceilings, is perfect at Christmas.



The gig was a bit of an experiment - a first half of Anthony and the Johnsons songs and a second of Robert Wyatt covers - but the arrangements really suited the Unthanks sound. For Today I Am A Boy was particularly beautiful, and the tricky string accompaniments were stunning, especially the cello, which always gets me right there. They even managed to squeeze in a bit of clog dancing!

It was a real pleasure to spend a couple of hours in the company of Rachel, Becky and the band (and the baby bump, which Rachel announced to cover up her mistake - nice recovery!). A total joy of an evening, the perfect start to Christmas.

Life's for sharing ad campaign

I know they're advertising, and I don't think they'd make me buy a T-Mobile phone, but I do love the musical 'events' they keep staging.

The latest one, at Heathrow terminal 5, brought a tear to my eye (I'm blaming the hormones). Just joyful!

Swingin' Christmas (sorry it's sideways)

On Nigel's recommendation I bought a Frank and Bing Christmas album from the pound shop. It's the perfect Christmas collection - a few carols, a few catchy numbers, the obligatory rendition of White Christmas and no less than three versions of Jingle Bells. My favourite track is Bing and Ella Fitzgerald's version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer which sees the eponymous hero sporting a green fedora and smoking cigars. A swinging Christmas indeed.

Karaoke night

Team Linda finally made it to Lucky Voice for our karaoke session on Thursday night, and what a performance! Nick impressed by singing Ash without looking at the words (above), Linda and I worked our way through a succession of '80s classics, Catherine and Wayne did some beautiful duets and the best random song award went to Nick (and Nick) with Killing in the Name Of.

But the best performance of the evening has to go to Alex and Sonya, for their pefect rendition of Eminem and Dido's Stan (below). Brilliant.

Are these the worst tribute bands ever?

Surely Southend can do better...

Highbrow tweeting

In a radical move the Royal Opera House is staging an opera composed of Twitter postings to @youropera.

Get your tweets in now.

We are the champions

Won the Lucky Voice music quiz tonight, hurrah! Only 3 points in it but Linda's slightly scary recall for dodgy '90s tracks won the day. Bring on the karaoke!

Rocking out

We're at the Dave Matthews Band gig at the Brixton Academy, the man is awesome!



What an amazing gig - aside from the genius of Dave Matthews, it's great to see so many talented musicians (the trumpet player and the violinist are my favourites, although TIm Reynolds on guitar is always ace and Mark liked it when the saxophonist played two saxes at the same time).

One thing to note though - Dave gets away with dad dancing because, well, he's Dave, and he at least has a sense of rhythm. The bassist plays guitar like a mf but he really should stop trying to compete in the dance stakes, it's just embarrassing for the poor chap.

Mr and Mrs Sharps

Sam and Becca's wedding on Saturday was fabulous! And the perfect way to end our holiday, dancing like crazies with our friends to some rocking live music. It was such a perfect English country wedding, I'll post more pics when I get round to downloading them all.

Silent movies

Paul Merton was on Jonathan Ross's radio show on BBC 2 this morning (guest hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in a nice Doctor Who plug for BBC1). He was talking about the silent movies he is curating and confirmed that falling over is, indeed, funny.

Listen here - the show also features Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins round about 1 hr 26, a classic record that I used to listen to with Dad (not the appalling '90s band!).

And check out the tour (which includes clips from Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd); the Hackney Empire gig on May 10 will be accompanied by a five-piece band.

In praise of Supernatural

Supernatural is positively the best thing on the box at the moment! Tightly written scripts, brilliant one-liners, sly pop culture (and heavy metal) references, complex characters and demons galore - what's not to love?

It's basically a twisted roadtrip around small-town America, played out to a heavy rock soundtrack. The ongoing story is gripping (will Dean and Sam defeat the yellow-eyed demon once and for all? Will Sam go over to the dark side? Will Dean go to hell, again?), but the writers are smart enough to throw in some brilliant one-off episodes as well.

Sunday night's ep was a perfect example. Written by Ben Eklund (who wrote some of Angel's funniest stand-alones, including the excellent Smile Time that cast Angel as a Henson puppet), Wishful Thinking saw the brothers battling a working wishing well with bad intentions in Concrete, Washington. I know it sounds weird but there's nothing funnier than a suicidal teddy bear and a bullied kid with superpowers ("Kneel before Todd!").

It's a shame it's hidden away on ITV2 on a Sunday evening, but it's had the same slot for its entire run so it must be holding its audience; a weekly ritual in our house is to sit down to a roast dinner and a bit of Sam and Dean. If it carries on the way it's going, it even risks overtaking the venerable Buffy in Mark's estimation.

Okay, so it's not as grown up as Mad Men or as popular as Heroes, but I defy you not to laugh at this! See, people? Watch Supernatural!!

Where can you find pirates?

You've probably seen Weebl's hilarious Kenya animation before (if not, it is absolute genius; Mark used to sing it to Logan when he was wee).

Now there's an updated version - the action has switched to Somalia but the tune is just as catchy ("...can you high seas it...").

Also, check out their badger song, and the Weebl and Bob toons, v funny(pie!).

Hoppity comes to town

I got embarrassingly excited this afternoon - Mark would agree - to find this 1941 cartoon classic on Film 4. It was a rainy day favourite at Finchale and was way ahead of its time in featuring a community of insects whose homes are threatened by developers (similar to Watership Down, another school standby - wonder who the eco-warrior was? Not Mr Chapman I'm sure).

I was even more excited to discover that the song sung during the nightclub scene, pictured, is called Katy Did, Katy Didn't. (Oddly I've just finished reading What Katy Did, more of which later.)

Now if only Film 4 could show Hugo the Hippo too...

We are the champions, da da da da da

This blog seems to be taking a library turn, now the inauguration of he-who-shall-not-be-named is out of the way. Not necessarily a bad thing but I'll try to mix it up a bit (probably next time Logan does something vaguely amusing).

Anyhoo, last week was the annual SLA pub quiz. AUKML's team, the imaginatively titled Team Gav, came third last year so I was feeling the pressure of being the newbie. You know when you wonder whether you'll have anything to contribute other than, "Shall I get the beers in?"

We had a shocking TV themes round (I got Bargain Hunt, to my eternal shame - come on, what else am I meant to do while Logan's throwing his dinner at the walls?), and with two rounds to go we were trailing the Oliver Postgate Appreciation Society (I kid you not) by eleven points. Fortunately we aced the lyrics round so we knew we were in with a shot (I'm rubbish at remembering song titles but ask me to sing When I'm 64 or anything from Mary Poppins and I'm there).

Faced with a list of 20 cocktails and tasked to identify the ten vodka-based ones (where was Linda when we needed her?), our nerve faltered. What we needed was strong leadership; luckily Gav was there with a steady hand and a do or die attitude. "Sod it," he said (I might have made that up) so we gambled on the ten we hadn't eliminated and, remarkably, it paid off! When the final scores were revealed we had triumphed by one point. Bottles of Sue Hill champagne (and some delicious pizza) all round. Hurrah!

Obamamania

Crowds gather on the Mall in Washington this morning.




My American optimism is still holding so here are a few more Obama links.

I know I posted will.i.am's Yes We Can video a few days ago but I just watched it and it made the hair on the back of my neck metaphorically stand up, it's such a powerful message so I'm unashamedly repeating myself.

The BBC have interviewed Maya Angelou, author of one of my favourite books, as part of their Notes to Obama series: click here to read or watch her explain why America needs Obama. Other Notes... include Wynton Marsalis and John Waters.

Check out part one of Diane Sawyer's interview with Obama from September last year (there's a link to part two on the page, worth watching if only for the Saturday Night Fever photo halfway through!).

The Huffington Post coverage is as excellent as ever - everything from straight reports of the day's events to Michelle's inauguration day outfits and Legoland's recreation of the inauguration.

More Obama memorabilia from the Inaugural store - I like the Obama colouring book best of all!

Wonder if Obama will be updating Twitter from the podium? Let's hope so!

Watch the inauguration live on the Inaugural Committee website.

And for a nostalgic trip back to election night (the donuts! the beer! the appalling Time Square party!) you can't beat a bit of Vidal versus Dimbleby.

Katy hearts Obama

I've been doing tonnes of work on the presidential inauguration events starting this Sunday - how much do I wish I lived in Washington, D.C. right now? Or even in the US, so I could organise a Neighbourhood Inaugural Ball and hook up with the main Obama one by text message.

As it is, I'm going to have to content myself with buying the official inauguration CD/DVD box set, Change Is Now: Renewing America's Promise, available from the Presidential Inauguration Committee online store.

It includes tracks from Wilco, will.i.am, Ozomatli (who blew me away at Glastonbury a few years ago), Stevie Wonder and India.Arie, while the DVD contains eight of Obama's most rousing speeches, including this one from Philadelphia last March. It's $30 but shipping is only an extra $8.50, which is a small price to pay for a little bit of history in the making.

And if that's a bit pricy, check out the Shephard Fairey stickers and pin badges instead (I wish I could afford the $100 poster!).

Did any of us really believe what could happen when will.i.am released his "Yes We Can" video last year? Show's you what positive change can be brought about when people really believe; for once the cynic in me can't help but be swept away by some good old-fashioned American optimism. Until next Wednesday at least.