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December 2006

A couple of months ago news arrived at STUK that Ryan Roxie, as 'Roxie 77', would be playing a one off show in, of all places, Athens, Greece at a small club called The Underworld. Why Athens? that will be explained a little later, but suffice to say that the chance of seeing Roxie rock out to his own songs was something Jaded and I really didn't want to miss, so after a little research we booked our flight and we were off to sunny Athens at 8am on a cold friday morning.

We arrived in a warm and sunny Athens around 2pm and caught the metro into the city, finding our hotel with relative ease (remember this, it was about the last time we found ANYTHING with ease!!). The hotel was the Ionia just north of Omenia, a central point in Athens and so we freshened up before heading out to look around and grab a bit to eat. Now Greece is famed for it's excellent food but we somehow managed to find what must have been the worst example of Greek cuisine possible. Truly dreadful! They certainly saw us coming a mile off, and surely the statue of a dog on the counter should have tipped us off... oh well, live and learn.. This was certainly an exception as we were to discover the following day.

Johnnie Holiday, Singer/Guitarist of Star Star and all round cool guy, had emailed us his phone number so we could all meet friday evening but despite repeated tries we didn't manage to hook up that evening which was a shame as he, Roxie and the band headed out to see Greek band Gennesis (pronounced Yennasis in Greek) play nearby. Gennesis would be backing Ryan the following evening so of course Ryan jumped up on stage to play a couple of tunes with them. Very sorry to have missed it.

We'd booked a package deal including hotel which luck would have it was only a stone's throw from the club. Result! However finding your way around Athens is, at least for us, a nightmare.... We spent hours the following morning wandering around the streets searching for things which, in fact, were only minutes away. Even with our trusty map we proved hopeless at finding ANYTHING without getting lost, this included the Acropolis, probably the single most recognizable location in Greece! Being the good tourists we had to visit this historic site while in the city but somehow managed to walk for over two hours, with a map, without finding the ancient monument. Eventually we ended up at the University of Newcastle site (I'm serious.. the U of N has buildings in Athens) where someone kindly showed us where we were and pointed us in the right direction. After another 45 minutes walk the huge tower of rock that is the Acropolis loomed into view.. kinda hard to miss, but we did. The real irony is that after seeing the sites and museums, and having a very nice dinner opposite Thiso metro station, it actually took us only six minutes by train to get back to the area we started in. Of course then it took another 30 minutes to find or hotel again... ho humm... Anyway... we got there in the end and the views from the ancient temple of Athena were spectacular. Well worth all the walking.

After a quick return to the hotel (got lost) to freshen up it was time to head to the club. We had actually located the Underworld the previous evening, marking it on our map. Of course we got lost but not too badly this time and we took up our position outside with a few other earlybirds. After about 15 minutes a very familiar face appeared at the door looking around. Seeing us standing there looking a little lost Roxie came over and kindly escorted us inside the club to the tiny dressing room. Here we finally met Johnnie and various other band members of both Gennesis and Star Star, Johnnie's band. All were extremely hospitable and we chatted for a while over a couple of beers. Turns out the Athens-Roxie connection is that Johnnie was originally Roxie's old room mate back in the eighties (and in fact introduced a young Ryan to the glories of Alice Cooper) and now lives out in Greece, so that explains the gig location.

The guys from Rockpages.gr arrived to interview Roxie and Johnnie and we were able to listen in while the the guys chatted about the past, Alice, and their current projects for a forthcoming feature at the Rockpages site. The time was getting closer and opening band 'Wild Machine' were coming to an end of their set (which unfortunately we missed... sorry.. you sounded really good from what we could hear) so it was time to vacate the dressing room and take up our positions front and center with all the greek Sickthings in attendance including some familiar faces from the unofficial greek fanclub.

I'll review the actual show elsewhere but suffice to say Roxie and Star Star ROCKED Athens hard and loud!

After the show everyone hung out for a while, the bands posing for pics and signing anything that stood still. Ryan sold out of Roxie 77 Cd's so there were obviously a fair few uninitiated impressed by our man. Always good. Johnnie had organised an aftershow party at another club called 'Club Texas' and everyone in the audience was invited to carry on partying into the early hours so after a while we all headed on through the Athens streets to a small club that was heaving with people. A few more drinks etc and we took up station by the DJ booth while Roxie and Johnnie took over, spinning some old favorites until 4am at which time it was finally time to say our goodbyes. Roxie was the first one out, as he had a flight back to Sweden the following morning. The rest of us followed a short time later only to find Roxie, guitar case in hand, still trying to get a cab!! Johnnie, our greek speaking host, sorted out a cab for him, and then for us so that we didn't get too lost (which in the state we were in would have DEFINITLY happened) and we arrived home safe at our hotel around 4.30am. A really great night it was, with excellent music and company and we really want to thank Johnnie, Roxie, Star Star and Gennesis for being so friendly, accommodating and just cool guys. Thanks!!

Sunday morning came... and went... we didn't see any of it. We'd made plans to meet up with Johnnie that afternoon but yet again communication was our downfall as we couldn`t reach him and apparently our hotel wasn't answering their phones! Next time we'll make the plans a bit more carefully (and while sober)! We headed back down to the Acropolis area to re-visit our new favourite restaurant to have another delicious greek dinner before wandering around the market area for a while looking for things to take back with us. This was the 'market of the dissapearing shops' as we almost immediately found something for my daughter Sara, but thinking we had only just arrived we should wait and see if we found anything better... only to find the shop had disappeared when we returned (and it WAS the right spot) to be replaced by something completely different! Oh well. We then headed back to the hotel and had a few drinks before grabbing something light for dinner (they serve BEER in McDonalds in Athens!!!!) before retiring for the evening as our flight was leaving at 9am so it was a very early morning for us!

Many will think that traveling from the UK to Greece for one small show in a club is a little extreme... well maybe it is, but we had a great weekend, made some new friends, and watched the one, the only, Ryan Roxie perform his songs live... personally I think it was worth it, and then some.

June 2006

Well it's been a while since I wrote anything here, and I'm being hassled about it again... so here goes....

It's been an interesting few months I suppose. Jaded has been back an forth to the UK a few times spending a good percentage of the last few months here at STHQ and brightening up life but the most recent visits finally gave us a chance to do the tourist thing around London and elsewhere. A visit to see Baz and his good lady, Jill, up north was very enjoyable, especially when a long country walk resulted in the least fit member of the party (ME!) being the only one not in pain for the rest of the weekend. Of course any excess the walking achieved was immediately put back on by Jill's lovely sunday lunch! I always said being fit was over rated!
A trek up to London to sight see also brought back memories of youth when we visited Buck House (Jaded was disappointed Lizzie didn't ask her up for tea), The Tower of London (they wouldn`t let her take home the crown jewels), Covent Garden, Leicester Square, St James Park, Whitehall, Horseguards Parade etc all in one day! Much cider was consumed of course.

Also recently there was the little matter of the UK Alice shows. I made my way to only two of the possible four this time, travel and expense putting me off going to all four, plus the fact that it would be the same show we've basically seen for a couple of years now. I bought tickets for Jaded, Sara and myself to go to the Monsters Of Rock knees up in Milton Keynes on the basis of being told it would be the only UK show. Ho hum. Jaded ended up having to go back to the USA and Sara pulled out when she saw the rest of the bill (who?). But the tickets hadn`t even arrived before Sheffield came calling, the chance to see Alice headlining a proper show. A ticket was procured for that one as well as the only UK headlining show and low and behold there's Dublin and Isle of Man as well...Oh well. If it hadn't been for MOR I may have gone the distance but enthusiasm from fellow travelers wasn't high so just the two it would be. Sheffield turned out to be a fun time, front and center but the revelation was MOR. I've always been of the opinion that Alice really needed the darkness to really work best, but at Milton Keynes he not only stole the show (not hard generally speaking) but really shone in the blazing heat, making it one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen in a good few years. Even Jaded enjoyed what she heard via cell phone!! Of the other acts Nugent was amusing, Journey akin to watching paint dry (slowly - sorry Bill), Thunder got the crowd going, Queensryche I barely remember and Deep Purple were good as always, but suffered from following the high energy Alice show as a large number of people were noticeable leaving early.

Now it's rant time. Why do companies say they are going to call you back. I mean, why bother. 99% of the time they don't and it can only be assumed that many times they have no intention of calling you back at all. While searching for work this has become more and more apparently. Isn't it simple politeness to reply to people when they contact you? Even if it's an automated reply, or a quick "thank you", that's at least something, but out of the dozens of companies I've been in touch with over the last couple of months 99% don't even bother to respond with a simple confirmation that they have received your message/application/enquiry. But the worst are the ones that SAY they will call you back. Now obviously sometimes things come up, people forget etc but ALL THE TIME? I don't think so.

An example. I went into a job agency here in Staines on wednesday to enquire about one of their adverts. A nice young lady chatted away to me and I filled out the requested form for her. She said she had something that could be suitable and that she would call me at home in an hour to talk about that and any other vacancies she could fine. Cool, I thought, she seems to be okay so I headed home to wait... and wait... and wait... The following day I called them to see if I can find out what happened to discover both the young lady spoke to and another person I could have talked to were off for the day but would be in friday.... so I call friday (today) to be told both are busy but someone will call me back as soon as they're free. That was over 6 hours ago and still nothing. Is that anyway to run a business?

And this isn't an isolated occurrence. Recently I had call to contact my local MP, who's local office happens to be right next door to me. I call through to be told he's actually vary rarely in the area but to call his office at Westminster. This I did, three times leaving messages with his secretary who said "someone will call you back". Did they? you guess... So at the same time, as the matter involved another area as well I contacted the MP for that area. Via phone I was told to write in with all the details and someone would look into it and contact me. This I did, enclosing all the information I could and sending it off. Last I heard of them of course.

One company that I must mention though as being the opposite was surprisingly BT. I recently, finally, arrange to change my phone and internet companies to get a broadband connection and to their credit everything went smooth as silk. The technician arrived on time and bingo everything was set up perfectly first time. Good show BT. Of course it was slightly spoiled by the internet company who's customer support never did respond to one of the half dozen email messages I sent trying to sort out a minor problem... oh well..

December 23rd 2005

So it's Christmas again. Ho ho ho. I suppose I should really get this thing updated for the end of the year. It's been a pretty busy few weeks here at STUK HQ so I'll run through a few of the more interesting developments but first... the answer to the question foremost in your mind... YES, I have a working toilet!! The final plumber did the trick. Of course I'm STILL waiting for them to fix the busted bath front...

Anyway, where did I get to last time... hmmm.. Tour time! okay..

After the Fanfire ticket mess back in January for the first time in many years I wasn't going to see all the UK shows. I was in two minds about this. On the one hand I wasn't hugely impressed by the Paris show back in June, but on the other hand... hell, this is Alice, it's ALWAYS a good show and meeting up with the Sickthings is always great, but I was having a very special visitor mid-tour so that made all the difference!

I arrived in a windy Brighton in the excellent company of Mr & Mrs Harrington and Mr Jollyjon about midday and we proceeded to wander around the lanes looking in shop windows, visiting the pier (although not entering the Dr Who exhibition for which they wanted an exorbitant entry fee), and getting very windswept outside the venue. So much so that some medicinal beverages were needed so JJ and I (and a rather put out Sara) retired to the nearest bar for a few relaxing hours before returning to find Madam Bondage, Jackboot Jill, Tim, James and assorted others waiting for our arrival (well we assumed they were waiting for us...). A short wait and we were inside.

The Brighton show was at least 8.76 (rounded up) times as good as Paris. From my viewpoint at the barrier (stage left) the band was well oiled and firing on all cylinders despite having been on the road for over 6 months and Alice was, as always, the master of the stage. Still nowhere near enough NEW SONGS though! Opening band Twisted Sister were also pretty amusing, although maybe you have a problem when your singers between-song banter is more interesting then your songs, but then that was how it was back in the 80s when I had last seen them so no surprises there. After the show we trekked back to the car and back home pretty quickly.

Tour day two was Wembley, or rather a tent in a car park in Wembley. The day started by again taking advantage of the Harrington Travel Service (Lisa is so much better at organising these things then I) and along with Mr Jollyjon we headed to The Green Man Inn, the prearranged venue for the now traditional Wembley meetup. While the others took advantage of the food on offer I spent another enjoyable few hours in the company of Madam Bondage and friend and Mr William Nathaniel Crowe, photographer extraordinare and provider again this year of the snake Alice would be using in the UK. Other attendees included Mr Paul Forsyth, Mr John Youngman, Ms Denise Firman, Mr Tottenham Alice Cooper (his real name folks), Nick and Sharon and various others and a good time was had by all. Moving across to the tent (situated behind the Wembley Arena that is currently being refurbished) I managed to upgrade my Nottingham tickets thanks to Mr Clarke (watch for parcel very shortly) before heading inside what I had been told was the worst venue in the country... if not the world!

Hmmm.. Maybe it was my seat position, which I will admit helped a lot (front row center... ho hum), but I didn`t think it was that bad! From my vantage point the sound was excellent and the view perfect. I`ve heard many others had horror stories due to being able to see nothing all show, and also later discovered there was a video screen half way back (which I never actually noticed) to help people actually see something of the show.

Chats of varying length with Mr Nelson, Mr Trustram ( Dean Of Men), Mr Clarke, Mr Michael, Ms Annie, Mr Keen and others filled the time nicely before the lights went down and the fun began. As expected it was the same setlist as Brighton but the sight of Alice dropping his sword and nearly skewering a cameraman in front of him nearly made the morning news headlines! Of note was the audience reaction which was noticeable subdued at the seated shows (Nottingham was dead...) as opposed to the far noisier standing shows.

Next day we headed cross country to Cardiff, Wales for show three where after a nice meal with the Lansley family I again spent much of the afternoon enjoying good company at the local inn.. which sure beats standing in the wind and rain for 6 hours! This is starting to go on a bit now but suffice to say another excellent show came and went in a flash! I was taking advantage of Mr Jollyjon and families offer of accommodation for the night so post show we headed back there to recover before spending the day off on a Dr Who location tour of the city (the new series was filmed in Cardiff) before meeting up with Des and Des for, you guessed it, a couple or three drinks at various pubs followed a lovely meal provided by Mrs JJ and various word game entertainment around the fire before bed.

Next up was Birmingham and another arena show. Another solid performance and afterwards a little meet and greet with the band was very nice. I hadn't actually got to meet with Messrs Garric and Johnson before but both were extremely pleasant and even my mention of Jaded's dislike of Mr Garric's sideburns was taken with good grace! Damon was starting to recognise faces in the UK crowd (he mentioned having seen us at the front several times) and was now fitting in to the line up extremely well. Mr Roxie, Miss Calico and Mr Singer also came out to say "hi" and sign anything placed in front of them for some time before being ushered off to catch the coach. Great people one and all.

Speaking of the lovely Ms Jaded, the time was fast approaching that she would arrive at STUK HQ so it was back home (courtesy again of Mr and Mrs H... Thanks!!) to do some much needed cleaning and tidying before her long awaited arrival. Many of you know that Ms Jaded and I have been an item for quite sometime and finally we were going to get to spend some quality time together as well as catch a few shows.

But before this I had a bit of luck. Having given up on getting to see the Tubes or the mighty Cardiacs on the UK tours (the were playing exactly the same period as Alice) I was surprised to wake up on the friday to discover I'd won free tickets to see Cardiacs at the London Astoria that night!! Result! A quick arrangement to meet fellow Alice fan Francis who was brave enough to take the extra ticket and it was off to Central London by train in the pouring rain. But boy was it worth it. I've been seeing this band live for over 20 years and they never disappoint but tonight they were something truly special. A flawless show in front of a packed house highlighting the sort of musicianship and stagecraft few bands could dream of. The finale of an epic 'Dirty Boy' was worth the admission alone. Stunning.

Despite a few flight delays Ms Jaded arrived at Heathrow airport on the 14th safe and sound and finally all was right in the world. It had been a long wait to be together but that was washed away very quickly once we'd had a couple of days to settle in and discover the wonders of Tescos and Monty Python (all new to an American) before we joined up with Mr Trustram for the trip up to Nottingham.

Thanks to Mr Clarke's generosity I had managed to secure a couple of front row tickets for the show allowing Ms Jaded to come to an unplanned extra show. In the end, so we could sit together, we gave one of these to our driver and another to a happy and surprised fan outside, taking the original tickets up the back for ourselves. However once in the venue we never actually found our real seats and instead slid in next to Ms Jackboot Jill in third row where the seats were empty so result all round. Nottingham was another good show as far as the band were concerned, but the audience was almost silent most of the time, seemingly oblivious to anything but 'School's Out' and 'Poison'. Not exactly the type of audience Jaded had been told to expect in the UK! Luckily all that would change tomorrow.. and then some!

We again had the honor of hanging out with Messrs Roxie (who even found a room and provided beer and music for the lucky few backstage. Good man!), Johnson, Garric and Singer for a while where Chuck again recognised me and deduced that Jaded was the previously mentioned sideburn critic. He hadn`t heard the last of that either! With Jackboot Jill and friend in tow we returned to STUK HQ in the early hours for some well needed rest before heading down to the last show of the tour in Bournemouth.

Well.. what can I say about Bournemouth. The BIC is a great venue, the staff amazingly well organised (separating out the early arrivals so they were guaranteed of getting in first) and the show was something else. Maybe it was because it was the last one and the band didn't have to hold back anything, or maybe there was just something in the air, but the band stormed the stage and the audience responded in kind. This was the Alice Cooper show full on with everyone giving 110% to end the tour. The arrival of Dee Snider for 'Under My Wheels', while hoped for, was very welcome and was a great end to a great show. Jaded declared it as the best show she'd ever seen and just her being there, front and center against the barrier, in front of me made it very special for me. A great end to another tour.

Next up was a return to the Harrington residence for the night (and a few more beers) before heading home to recover and make plans for the next leg of our adventure. We had decided to head up to London to catch Mr Chuck Garric performing bass duties with Union, the band featuring Bruce Kulick (Ex-Kiss) and John Corabi (Ex-Motley Crue), who were playing a few shows around Europe including a London stop at Camden Lock and so a few days later we were fighting through the evening traffic to North London.

I'll admit neither of us knew any Union material, and the small turnout at the venue wasn't exactly reassuring, but the band really pulled out the stops and played a blinder of a show. We positioned ourselves about a foot in front of Mr Garric and enjoyed the set immensely, especially when Chuck took lead vocal on a few old Kiss songs. He really has a great voice and we both agreed he sounded better on them them a certain Mr Simmons ever has!! Afterwards we got to chat a little and have a photo taken. Chuck seemed genuinely pleased someone had come to the show to see him and asked if we were heading to the next show. At that point we'd thought about it but weren't even sure where this place called "Nuneaton" was so after promising to try we headed home to get the maps out and plan another trip!

Next day we find ourselves stuck on the motorway heading north (it's next to Birmingham apparently) for our second Union show. Despite what seemed endless traffic we made it to the small venue just as the doors opened and again took up position just in front of Chucks microphone stand. Another great show, longer then in London as well, with the band having fun and messing around but always performing the music flawlessly. Afterwards we had to head off quickly for the long trip home (longer then we ever expected) but just had time to say "hi" to Chuck again and get him to sign the photo we had taken the previous night. If you every get the chance to see Union then go, they are a great band!!

So there we are, heading down the M1 motorway back to London. Tired but happy. Then disaster. While stopping at services for a coffee Jaded notices we only seem to have three tyres on the car. One it appears has decided enough is enough and was feeling a little deflated. Now.. this had happened a week or so earlier on another tyre and all it needed was a little pumping up and it was fine. So we limp over to the garage and pump up this one. Which immediately deflates again in front of our eyes. Now.. I am the first to admit my knowledge of cars is nonexistent. But I CAN change a tyre... if I have a jack. Which it appears we don't. Bugger.

So there we are at 2am in the morning halfway between London and Birmingham.. and it's freezing cold. Calls for help to surrounding vehicles doesn`t make a jack appear and despite unloading the spare tyre I can find one anywhere in the car. Luckily I have an AA membership (that's Automobile Association for you Americans, not Alcoholics Anonymous) so a quick call and about 40 minutes later a nice chap arrives to show me where the jack is on my car... ho hum. Well it was pretty well hidden, and I did look there but couldn't see it (it's hanging UNDER the car in a hidden black box next to the spare tyre!!). Not a great way to impress your girlfriend by the way! The nice chap proceeds to change the wheel for us anyway and in doing so discovers that the wheel nuts are on so tightly the chances of getting them off by hand were pretty slim anyway, so that makes me feel a little better. Finally we ready to rock about 3.45AM and crawl back home...

And that brings me pretty much up to date. Jaded and I spent a happy few weeks together before she had to return home for Christmas where she is now. She'll be back in the UK at the end of January and we can't wait to be together again. It truly sucks to be separated at Christmas but it can't be helped. For once I`m actually looking forward to my birthday!!

October 18th 2005

Here follows a story of ineptitude and frustration. a tale that involves two homes, a bath, a toilet, two companies and a variety of plumbers.

One Sunday about two weeks ago I was sleeping soundly around 9am in the morning when I was awakened by the sound of the door bell. This is not a good start to a Sunday as I'm sure most will agree. On opening the door I was confronted by Plumber (1) with a sad tale. Apparently there was water leaking into the flat (apartment for you Americans) below, the source of said water being somewhere in my bathroom.

"Oh dear" I said sleepily wishing said plumber would evaporate, "you better come in" .

On entering the premises the plumber (1) proceeded to the bathroom looking for possible sources of the leak. He started with the bath. "Have you used the bath recently?" he asks. "Not since yesterday evening" I reply. I thought I was doing pretty well for this time on a Sunday morning personally. "I need to look under the bath" he said, and proceeded to rip off the scurting board and wrench off the front of the bath.

"Crack".

That was the front of the bath cracking as he removed it. "Don`t worry" says plumber (1), "they`ll fix that when they come to repair the problem". This confused my sleepless mind slightly.. wasn`t he, the plumber (1), here to fix the problem?

Under the tap end of the bath he found that the floor was slightly damp. On examining the tiled area behind the taps he decided that the tiles needed replacing as water was seeping through, dripping down, and draining through the concrete floor into the flat below. This seemed reasonable to me. He reported that he would book someone to come fix it the following day.

Fast forward about 10 days to this past thursday. I hadn`t got around to chasing up the non-appearing plumber (?) meant to have visited to fix my bath back together and fix the leak. Early evening and plumber (1) arrives at my door again. " There was water leaking into the flat below" he says.. then "Haven`t I been here before recently?" I replied in the affirmative and mentioned no one had ever turned up and no appointment had been made to fix the problem. He remarked on the fact that the screws that had previous held the bath together (btw the bath WAS still usable during this time.. we weren`t unclean) were still where he had left them. I repeated that yes, no one has been since his first appearance.

He ferrets around a little, this time turning his attention to.... the toilet. Now the pipes behind our toilet are all boxed in with only a little covered hole for access. He removes the cover and sticks his hand inside. On removing it he confirms that in fact the pipe bringing water into the toilet was leaking and that he would have to shut this off until someone else could come out and replace seal on the pipe that had broken. "Can't you do it?" I asked, reasonably I thought, I mean, he was a plumber (1). "No" he replied. He was the "emergency plumber" who was only contracted to "make safe", not to repair. A different plumber, from a completely different company (2), had to do the actual repair. So off he went into the night leaving us without a working toilet ("you can flush it with a bucket of water" he helpfully added) saying someone else would come by in the morning to fix it. Hmmm....

Low and behold the following morning plumber (2) duly dies arrive. This is a good sign. He comes in, mentions plumber (1) could have done the job while he was here and saved him a trip, and leaves. Total time here around 2 minutes. We had a working toilet!! All was right in the world. Now I just had to get the bath put back together and re-tiled.

That evening as I was preparing to go to bed the door bell rings. "Good evening" I say to plumber (1). "Didn't anyone come and fix the leak" he replies. I confirm that indeed plumber (2) had arrives and fixed the link and wasn't it wonderful to have a working toilet again. "Ah..." says plumber (1), "there's water leaking into the flat below again". Strangely I wasn`t surprised by this news.

Plumber (1) proceeds to look at the toilet, declare that all plumber (2) had done was turn it back on, and then turns it off again.

"Bucket" I enquired?

"Bucket" he concurred adding that as it was late Friday night by now no one would be visiting until monday now to fix the leak. "Lovely" I said, although this was not what I was thinking. He did confirm that someone from company (2) would be by Monday morning, and that he would write a detailed report to his superiors reprimanding plumber (2) and company (2) for their shoddy work.

This now brings us, after much bucketeering, to Monday morning. I stay in waiting for plumber (?) to arrive. Come 2pm I call the given telephone number to enquire whether he has been lost on the road somewhere. After various robots I get through to a voicemail and leave a message. I never did get a reply to it but low and behold about 30 minutes later plumber (3) arrives to fix the leak in the toilet. I did mention the bath but apparently that "wasn`t his job". He spent about 45 minutes fiddling around with the toilet (thus making me late to pick up my daughter from school) before declaring that it was all fixed and offering me a form to sign to show he'd done the work which I signed. I mean.. he'd been doing something and I had a wonderfully working toilet. He left and I put away the faithful bucket. Ha!!! What a fool I was.

About 9.30pm Tuesday night plumber (4) arrives. "Leak?" I asked. "Why, how did you know?" asks plumber (4). I Iead him upstairs (collecting bucket on the way) where he proceeds to fix the toilet.

No, I'm joking. He just turns it off again and leaves explaining how he isn't contacted to repair but only to "make safe" and that someone would call from company (2) to fix it in the morning. Hmmm.. I'm beginning to see a pattern.

Wednesday (today) arrives and I again wait in for a plumber. While I'm waiting I decide to call the landlord and ask him if by any chance he can do something about this farce. I get through to some youngster, Lewis by name, who while being very helpful and supportive didn't exactly fill me with confidence. He says he will email both company (1) and company (2) to find out what is happening. I assume telephones are either old fashioned nowadays or he already knew all he'd get was a voicemail.. He promised he'd call me back once he'd checked it out. I wonder if I'll ever hear from him again.

Afternoon arrives and no sign of plumber so I head out to pick up Sara from school as usual. On my return there is a scrap of paper in my letterbox informing me that plumber (5) had called as arranged but that I wasn't in so must call to rearrange the appointment within 48 hours or it would be canceled. I called the (new) number on the slip without much optimism but low and behold after the obligatory robots I get a real live person. I recount this story to him and suggest his company seem to have a few problems and that could he please sort this out. Now. I think he detected a certain amount of sarcasm in my voice as I answered his questions. I know I tried to be as sarcastic as possible so I hope he did. He disappeared off for a few minutes and returned to say plumber (6) would arrive between 5pm and 7pm this evening. He added that plumber (6) had to come all the way from Dorking and work after hours to do this. Like I could care less where he's from.

As I am typing plumber (6) has actually arrived, at 7.10pm, and is busy working on my poor toilet. He doesn't know what the problem is (no one has told him anything) but that could actually be a good thing as he'll have to start from scratch.

Could I have a working toilet tonight? Will they ever fix my bath? Watch this space for updates... if you care....

In other news....

I hate telemarketers too...... especially T-mobile.

Cardiacs have two new exquisite live album out this week and a spiffing new website design worthy of laudation.

It's nearly tour time again!!!

Just 26 days to go now baby!!!

I.L.U.J

September 4th 2005

It's again been pointed out I haven't updated this for AGES!!! Wow, I didn't realise it was actually two months ago. Doesn't seem like it at all. Two months since I was in Paris and a lot has happened, but I start at the beginning.

Paris was cool. Well, actually it wasn't cool at all, it's was STEAMING HOT!!! Every time you walked out of the damn door you melted into the Parisian walkway, but other then that Paris was cool. It's always great to meet up with Jon, B&L, Jill, Bill etc and this time we had two youngsters on board, James and Tim (Electedplus), and our own Nurse Rozetta, Vicki, who was a trouper trying to get me online via her laptop at the hotel, alas without success (but the attempts were appreciated).

I left London in the middle of all the recent bombings on the day, sunday, before the show. After all the trouble I'd had booking Eurostar tickets (they are USELESS if anything doesn't go through automaticaly and charged me extra because THEIR system wasn`t working correctly!!) those of us traveling from London were split up on arrival and I found myself up the very back of the train daydreaming and snoozing the whole way. Not a bad trip all told all told. Arriving in Paris I realised just how far to the back of the train I was when a cigarette later I STILL hadn't reached the front of the train where the exit was!!

As I said before, Paris was HOT!! The hotel was a 15 minute or so walk from the station and by the time we found it showers were definitely the order of the day before relocating to the nearest drinking establishment which became kinda a local for us over the next two days. Oh, and be warned, drinks cost a fortune in Paris!! We had a few beverages there before heading off to the Hard Rock Cafe to grab something to eat. People gradually arrived including JollyJon and No. 1 song, and Jill after a nightmare journey from Germany that left her hours behind schedule. The Hard Rock was okay (Tim liked the Marilyn Manson guitar but no AC stuff that we saw). Food was nice but service very slow, and I was somewhat surprised that they served Fajita's without any salsa?!?! What's wrong with that! I tried to get the attention of a waitress but they all seemed to be ignoring us and in the end I had actually finished eating before any showed up again. And what is wrong with these people that they have to play music so loud you can't hear the person next to you talk????

Day two was show day and despite the great company I'm seriously missing my girlfriend. My phone wouldn't work and we couldn't find any internet cafe's to send out emails etc. I had half expected this and had been in two minds about going to Paris in the first place. The timing of the trip wasn't great but all tickets etc had been bought so here I was, in the "most romantic city in the world", just really wanting to be somewhere else. Eventually I managed (I thought) to send a couple of emails via Tim's cell phone (never arrived) but that was about it. Eventually we did find not one but about four internet cafes, ALL in the same small area and all just before I boarded the train home!!! Typical.

We spent the day doing the tourist thing after first checking out the venue and meeting up with Pat, Alice's prop master, who seemed to almost be waiting for us when we arrived, standing as he was in front of the venue waiting for the gear to arrive. Long walk around the most expensive area of the city in the baking sun, no idea really what we saw (I discovered we went almost past the Louvre when I got home!!) but it was an enjoyable enough way to pass the day before heading back to the hotel to shower and change for the show (Pic seems to have gone down well James :) ).

Arriving early to the venue we found a tiny but very friendly little cafe/bar just round the corner where we set up camp for much of the afternoon, meeting lots of fans who had traveled to the Paris show from all over Europe. Hopefully I didn't seem too distracted to all those that kindly came over to say "hi" after spotting the custom made (by Bella) STUK 'Got Splatter' shirt I was wearing, made especially for the occasion. On entering the Olympia I suddenly realised this was the exact same place the classic '72 footage of Alice Cooper was filmed 34 years earlier! Doh! It's a small theatre, maybe about the size of the Astoria in London with a long hallway that takes you to a large foyer before doors lead into balcony or you can move down a wide staircase to the main auditorium. Not being too interested in the support band I settled down on the stairs to wait for Alice, unsurprised to see the rest of our party quickly heading back out of the auditorium soon after said support band started. Close escape apparently!

Alice hit the stage about an 40 minutes later and by now everyone knows about the show. I thought the first half dragged a lot. Very few surprises and there were nowhere near enough 'Dirty Diamonds' tracks in the setlist. However the second half was a huge improvement with Alice sounding faultless on 'The Awakening' especially, really sending shivers down the spine. JollyJon and No. 1 son gleefully sang 'Eighteen' at the tops of their voices as, of course, part of the reason for their trip was the young mans own eighteenth celebration. Also worthy of mention was the sterling job put in by one Mr Roxie on stage right. A ball of energy and color as usual (even in the horrendous heat) without whom no Alice Cooper show is now complete. On the way out I picked up a Roxie77 shirt ready for the November UK shows. I had hoped to catch up with Roxie while in Paris but as luck would have it managed to miss him everytime he surfaced, unlike everyone else with us who seemed to run in to him everywhere!!!

After the show were were all starving hungry so after a fruitless search for somewhere to eat we finally ended up back at our 'local' near the hotel (Café Laffyette or similar) where at about 1am they kindly made us some grub and charged me the earth for a lousy savaloy and chips! Hey!! It sounded a whole lot better on the menu!! Still, not complaining as the staff there were very pleasant and polite all through our stay and multiple visits there, and not just because of the small fortune they made from us!!

On waking the following morning many of our party had already headed off home leaving B&L, Kathleen, Bill and myself with a few hours to kill before our trains were due to leave. By now I was well and truly ready to head home. All attempts at contact had failed and while still in good company I was very distracted, hot, and tried. So what do we do? We climb the biggest hill in Paris on the hottest day of the year!!!! "Lets go and see Monte Claire(sp?), it's not that far from here" says Lisa, our tour coordinator, and as I'm normally pretty happy to go with the flow off we went. She neglected to mention that the route up to it was nearly vertical!!!! Still, much to my amazement (and that of my nice new blisters) we made it to the top to discover Paris' highest English pub where we stopped for a while to rehydrate!! Well worth the trip!

A few hours later and after a last beer it was time to catch the train home, only falling over in the road once on the way to the station, due to a pot hole in the road and tired legs, not any alcohol intake I assure you. The train ride home seemed to take forever. You know how it is. Return trips are either really quick or seem to take an eternity, and this was a loooong one. All I could think of is getting back home and being able to hear my girls voice again. I know.. I'm sure some of you are throwing up into buckets by now but it's true. As much fun as the trip was it would have been so much better if she had been with me. I finally returned home in the early evening, after negotiating the extra security arrangements at London Waterloo station. It was good to be home but I had a lot of cool memories from the trip.

Since then things have outwardly been very quiet at STUK towers, but behind the scenes MAJOR changes have been happening. Many of you already know what they are, while some others are guessing (you're normally right!!!). Suffice to say at this moment I think I'm actually happier then I've ever been in my life, which could explain why this blog entry has a little less sarcasm and complaining then usual!!. Soon STUK will be under co-management and I just can't wait!! Time seems to be at once going very quickly yet unbearably slowly. Yet every day is now filled with a light that wasn't there six months ago. November brings the UK tour at last, and other changes that will be much more permanent and certainly for the better. Still hoping for more 'Dirty Diamonds' songs in the show (how can you tour to promote an album and only do three tracks from it?!?!) but I know that half the fun of going to the shows is meeting up with people, especially the 'usual suspects', and the thought that when I get home it will be to begin again and build a new life is very exciting.

More soon....

ILUJ

July 4th 2005

It appears that a certain person keeps wanting to know when I'm going to update this weblog... and as I hate to disappoint them I figured I better get on with it while I have some time free! So beware.. stream of consciousness follows in no particular order

Long time coming but finally it's 4th July!!
Over here in the good ol' UK that doesn't really mean much. No rockets red glare here. However this year of course is slightly different, as today is "Dirty Diamonds" day in Europe, the official release of the excellent new album!! There should be fireworks greeting it.. and marches down the street, maybe a truck breaking down... But of course the great public out there generally don't have a clue it even exists. There does seem to have been a fair amount of publicity this time though, and at the right time, so maybe this one will do better then the last. We'll know in a week or so when the first charts appear but it deserves so much more success then it'll get.
Veritable modern day classic.
Even 'Steal That Car' sounds good to my ears now!

You want to know what else has been happening here at STUK towers over the last few weeks I suppose. I mean.. that's
often what a weblog is kinda supposed to be about. Well a great deals been happening actually. Most of it good! But
unfortunatly I'm not gonna tell you what so ha!! Well maybe some of it....

By the time most of you read this plans will be confirmed for STUK's first trip across the channel to Paris! Why? Because november seems just sooooooo far away, and also to celebrate the birthday's of both Jollyjon, allegedly, and his first born. Aging members of the legendary Sickbusketeers (Jon, Bill, Mr and Mrs H, Jill) plus some young upstarts (Tim and James) are convening to travel to the heart of France for a couple of days, all for the latest news from the AC tour, drink a few
Beers, and to discuss the meaning of life, the universe.. and, well, the price of French breakfast probably. As my French is pretty much nonexistent (only studied it for 7 years, can't remember a sentence)) I foresee lots of gesturing, pointing and speaking English v..e..r..y slowly, something I need to practice anyway for overseas calls!
You know it makes sense... or nonsense, or something...

For some reason the trip hasn't really gripped me with excitement yet. I know it'll be great fun, and it's always cool to meet up with the busketeers, but it all seems to have come about so quickly. Hassles with tickets etc haven't helped. Getting show tickets was a doddle, but Eurostar's site is deceiving at best and by the time they finally sorted things out (by phone) the cost had doubled!! Still. I'll be there, decked out in a specially made T-shirt created by two lovely girls in the wilds of New England and specially for the show. "Got Splatter?"
So if you see a rather lost looking Brit wandering around Paris feel free to say "Bon jour" and remember to say who you are!! Nothing worse then talking to someone who obviously knows you and not being able to figure out who they are!! Especially with my lack of ability to match names to faces as a very patient Mr Capes discovered a few years ago!!!

The launch of the STUK American store seems to have gone well. Thanks to everyone who's used it, and everyone who bought the new album through Amazon UK. Every little counts so it's much appreciated. Thanks are also due to Mr George Orlay for his help setting up the US part of the store.

The latest redesign of the site seems to have been met with a generally positive response. I'm pretty happy with it this time so expect it to stay this way for a while yet whether you like it or not!. I was thinking about adding a more DD flavour.. but as the cover of the album is, in my opinion, pretty dull that's not going to happen now. Maybe just a few touches here and there.

Hmm... I'm trying to think of something I can really have a rant about this time.. nothing like a good old rant to clear the head. But everything's generally been worryingly sunny here recently and I just can't think of anything. How disappointing. So I suppose I'll end there. Next time... Maybe the Paris report, possibly written by Jollyjon as he's so much better at the travelogue then I.. or maybe I will do one. Or maybe Dolly will do one... in French.

ILUJ

April 26th 2005

Okay, here's the deal. This is my little corner of the site where I get to spout forth about whatever I fancy, when I fancy. It could be Alice related, or maybe not. But if anything interesting ever happens in my lousy life, you may or may not find out here. Ha!

So where to start. Well I've been asked a few times over the years why there's no "about me" type page on this site. No, really, people actually ask! I don't know why either. I mean, who really reads that crap? I don't. You go to a site for INFORMATION, not for "my dogs called spot". I don't really have a dog. That was just an example. I actually have two cats. but who cares!!! You see what I mean.

But.... as people have asked here you go.

I'm Si, which is short for Simon which no one calls me if they want an answer. Is there anyone who actually likes their name? I mean, your kinda lumbered with it unless you wanna pay to change it. My daughter hates her name as well, which is a shame 'cause her mother and I thought it was pretty cool. But then my parents probably thought Simon was cool as well. Ha!

I live in a dump just to the west of London called Staines. Yeah, laugh it up. I always love those soap powder adverts that say "will remove staines in seconds!" I wish. Ok, there are worse places to live. Sure, but *I* don't live those places so I complain about Staines. They've spent millions in the last few years around here trying to make it better. Now it just looks like a million other places. We didn't even have a cinema for years after they closed the old one, though now they've opened one of those multiplexes that cost a fortune to see a film. Still there ARE worse places. I could live in London.

Most people think London is great. All those cool places to go and all the history. And that is true. But having worked there for 10 years on and off trust me it sucks. You can't drive anywhere without it taking three times longer then it would take anywhere else in the country. And with the congestion charges they've introduced you have to pay just to go into the city! Then if you get that far there's nowhere to park without taking out a mortgage. Its easier to take the train in as long as you can afford it. The train from here takes 25 minutes to central London and costs the same as going to Wales!! How dumb is that! As a result I only ever go into the city when there's a gig on as anything else you you want you can get cheaper more locally or on the net.

Ah, the net. What a life saver. You know that song "Is Anyone Home?" That's probably about me. I'm wired for life. I do pretty much everything via the net nowadays (spot the weight gain) as its so much easier and quicker. I wanna find out something, google it and there it is. Well most of the time. When I tell you that the people I talk to the most are in another country you'll get the idea. But hey, I live in Staines remember? There's no one worth talking to here! Well, there's one other Alice fan here somewhere. I know that because the local MVC always have TWO orders for all new Alice releases. Plus I did once see an Alice shirt walking down the street but I was in the car so no idea who it was. Staines is full of chavs and trendies. Yuck.

Oh, and I'll tell you something else that sucks. I don't have broadband. There's only one affordable way to get it where I am, and that's through a huge company called Telewest. Anything else involves extra costs like changing phone providers and stuff.

Now, Telewest are crap. Well, no, that's unfair. They're liars but not crap. I switched over to Telewest about 7 years ago on the promise of "Broadband/digital TV within a year". But there was a problem. The local cable system here is so poor it can't handle a digital signal. Apparently it was one of the first cabled areas in the country or something and has never been upgraded. So I waited a year then called them up and said "what about my broadband you promised?" "We're working on it" they said. "Broadband within the year". So I waited, and waited, and a year later I called them up and said "Where's my broadband" and they said "This year, we promise". And so its gone on.

Now, there is an alternative to using cable, at least to get all the TV channels and stuff. Get SKY! Ah, but there's a problem. My lease FORBIDS having a satellite dish on the building. So instead of 100 channels of crap I get about 30, of which 20 are completely worthless rubbish like shopping channels or MTV. And it's still analogue. Yet I still have to pay the same for this as someone next door pays for 100 plus channels with all the movies and stuff. It sucks. I could pay extra to get movies and sports, but how much and what channels I haven't a clue. Telewest have now basically got a policy of ignoring anyone that isn't on digital and do''t have any information available for anything that isn't digital. What's worse is that every month when the bill comes through it's packed with flyers telling me how good digital cable is and why I should get it!! Are they taking the piss??? SEVEN years I've been waiting for them to provide it and here they are rubbing my nose in the fact they don't!! They've even stopped issuing updates on the situation now. No more "this year" promises. Nothing at all! So while what they do still provide DOES work fine, they still suck.

So, what else is there you wanna know. Done the kid and the pets. I'm into music like you couldn't guess. I have a great taste in music actually. I rarely like anything that sucks. Odd that. Of course 99% of the world doesn't agree with me but that's there problem. They can have their (c)rap and dance rubbish. I don't want it. Give me a cranked up guitar every time. I used to be in a bands in younger years. The last one were pretty good as well, but London is no place for a band wanting to play their own songs so that died a natural death after a few years. Was fun though. Luckily due to intensive brainwashing since birth my daughter also has some taste in music, although she has some major lapses at times. Still, she likes what she likes and doesn't normally get sucked into the current fad as much as most so that's cool.
Oh, and Cardiacs rocks. You've never heard of them so just take my word for it. It's true. After all would I lie to you?

I'm also a big scifi TV/Movie fan but don't own an anorak. Thought I'd get that in before you did. Dr Who rules and the new series would be 100% fabulous if it wasn't for the odd lapse into childish lavatorial humour which spoils an otherwise stellar show. Best thing on TV (but I admit there isn't much competition right now). My good friend Jollyjon got to see them filming, with the Tardis parked across from his office. I was jealous!!! How sad is that.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Maybe I'll tell you all more later, or maybe not. It'll be a surprise! Bet you can't wait.