I went to see Patti Smith last night ( 17.03.04) at ULU, Mallet Street. I've been a big fan since first seeing her at The Rainbow in 1978, and always try to catch her live when she plays in London.
I bumped into Sean from the High Llamas - who used to be in Microdisney. I've only met him twice before - and both previous times were at Patti Smith gigs.
The last time I saw her she did go on a bit with her poetry. Now don't get me wrong I do like a bit of poetry. Hang on a minute, I've just read that last sentence back. No, I don't like poetry.
But when I saw she was playing a "spoken word" concert the following night, I was encouraged.
Sure enough, she was great. A few too many inter-song rants about Bush/Irag etc - but very nice all the same.
One thing about going to see Patti is I come away feeling a million dollars - and not just because of her songs. She manages to attract quite the most badly dressed audience I've ever had the misfortune to stand amongst.
It has crossed my mind to have a go at covering "Ask The Angels" - it sounded ok as I sang it to myself walking back to Marylebone station.

Quite an eventful day, yesterday - Friday 12th March. We were featured on BBC Radio 5's "Drive" show. As previously mentioned, "Gay Lorry Drivers" begins and ends with a recording of Jo-Anne Sale reading some traffic news.
Well, they were interested enough to invite Jon in for a chat. Jon was on top form -he came across really well, and they played a good chunk of "GLD".
In the evening we played at The Hope & Anchor in Islington. Another strong performance. I have taken to printing out a few lyric books and handing them out at gigs, last night it was interesting to see quite a few observers following our progress on stage whilst reading the words.
www.discostudents.com is very near to completion - there is a vast section dedicated to our songs - words, beats per minutes, explanations of what inspired the words etc. Very impressive.

We played The Buffalo Bar in Islington last night . First outing for "The Most Handsome Man on TV" - the set went well. That was our fourth gig, and we're getting stronger all the time. The night also saw a debut for a great big bra - I believe we are one of the only groups currently operating who use such a device as a stage prop .You wait, in six months, they'll all be doing it . The performance was digitally recorded, we are going to listen to the result and possibly release a couple of the live tracks on our next CD. We are awaiting the first reviews of "Gay Lorry Drivers" - copies are currently being sent out to the press and radio stations. A night of rest and reflection tonight, then we're back in Islington tomorrow at The Hope & Anchor.

The CD is released. Later than anticipated, but it's here. It looks and sounds great - it's a Mandy Rice-Davies situation.
A great rehearsal last evening - we'll be introducing "The Most Handsome Man On TV" at The Buffalo Bar on Wednesday night.
An interesting development is that Jon has contacted BBC Radio5's Jo Sale .
"Now why would he do that ?" you may ask. Well, it's like this. "Gay Lorry Drivers" begins and ends with a sample of Traffic News culled from Radio 5, and of course it's Jo's informative tones that we used.
Ms Sale has agreed to assist us in promoting the record , and so a photo shoot had been arranged for next week.
And finally, we plan to play in New York in November. The CD has been posted ( or mailed as they say over there ) and we await NY's reaction to the possibility of another British Invasion.