Friday, February 20, 2009

Something For The Weekend 48

Dear Dave,

How are you mate? I’m really sorry it’s been a while since I last wrote, especially as I suspect that you and I are probably the last remaining people still reading this website. In fact you’ve probably been nipping out of the office to the local internet café every half hour or so recently, frantic with breathless anticipation in the hope that I’ve written something sparkly and new about/for you, haven’t you?... Dave?... Hello?... You there?... DAVE?

Of course I haven’t just been sitting around watching television and smearing myself with butterscotch Angel Delight (not during the week anyway), what with all the marathon training and the writing about the marathon training to fit into my busy schedule. And this week I had a two-day trip to London “on business” to meet our new “colleagues”, which was less of a jump-enthusiastically-on-plane-for-wee-jolly excursion and more of a get-sucked-in-by-Death-Star-tractor-beam experience.

I flew to London City “airport” with Air France, who appear to have commissioned the Memphis Belle back into service so that your flying experience has the loudest possible propeller engine noises and you can reach out the window and touch the top of Canary Wharf as it makes its final sharp turn before commencing a bombing run towards the “runway” in the middle of the bloody Thames. This also meant that the in-flight magazine was written in a strange, Elvish-looking language that I didn’t understand so I couldn’t find out what movies weren’t being shown or what menus wouldn’t be served up. C’est la vie, eh? At least I got taken out to a very fancy French restaurant yesterday for a slap up lunch, ‘Pret-A-Manager’ I think it was called. It was lovely, so much choice!

Anyway Dave, culture-wise there are only two things I want to get on your radar for a sanity check this week to see if they pass the initial sniff test before going through the constraint analysis blender. (The Death Star has a LOT of f#cking management consultants wandering about in white stormtrooper uniforms.)

1. Bruce Springsteen – ‘Working On A Dream’
Although this new album is not quite as memorable as ‘Magic’, its perfectly named predecessor from a couple of years ago, it’s still pretty damn good. So good in fact that after I’d listened to it a couple of times, I went down the Amazon and ordered another five of his back catalogue to enhance my collection. He really is the consummate songwriter. And slamming his ‘Little Boss’ into the television screens of millions of viewers during the Superbowl half-time show was pretty cool too.

2. The Signals, Live in Falkirk, Friday February 27th
Now Dave, don’t be giving me any “aw Edge man, I’ve got wedding stuff to sort out like” excuses because a week today, Falkirk’s premier rock legends will be rocking it Boss-style at Behind The Wall in Falkirk. Tell your friends and then tell both of them to tell all their friends about this unmissable musical experience. It’s not to be missed. And if you’re really lucky, we may bust a few crotch moves for you during the show as well.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers, Edge