Getting To Know Me - Random Music

So yeah since this is my blog this is about getting to know me, what films, TV shows or music or whatever that I really like and I decided to go with what is on my playlist as I am browsing online and listen to, I am using a Spotify playlist (which I have titled My Main Playlist since I have a few others on there), so yes some of these can be embarrassing -

I am using Spotify for the purpose of this

1. The Boys - Brickfield Nights

I am big on punk - this era anyway and to be honest this was something I added to the playlist at a later date... so this is new to me and I really, really dig it

2. 10cc - Donna

I would never say I am a huge fan of 10cc but I like them enough, while I'd call The Wall Street Shuffle my favourite I do like this one quite a lot.

3. Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere

Like 10cc, Fleetwood Mac are never a band I would say I am a huge fan but I like a lot of there's, this was probably the first of there's I ever knew, I think this on more for more nostalagic reasons then any other reason.

4. The Vandals - My Girlfriend's Dead

For the same reason the Boys got added to the line up this was added to listen to at a later date. This is really not my sort of thing, it sounds more of the Green Day era (which is just not my bag baby). This is getting deleted.

5. The Beatles - I Wanna Be Your Man

I love The Beatles, ever since I saw the Anthology series on ITV as a young teen, I was the only person in my school who had the complete Beatles studio albums (plus most of the comps), I like this song but I've never considered it my favourite.

6. Queen - I Want It All

If somebody hated the band Queen I don't think they would be worth knowing, I have such happy memories of listening to the 2 Greatest Hits Albums with headphones on full blast which did include this song (I know there as been Greatest Hits 3 since then), I'd think of this as a second string favourite as in there are plenty I like better but it's something I easily put in a Queen mix.

7 - July - Dandelion Seeds

About 10 years ago I went crazy with downloading loads of 60's garage/psychedelic rock (which didn't include this) and just love a lo of this era thinking it should be much better known, this is a song I came across more recently, I love songs with guitar like this.

8 - The Spiders - Boom! Boom! Boom!

So from the same era, but this time a band from Japan and wouldn't be out of place on a garage/psychedelic rock collection, verges on being a curio but the bands musical ability make up for it.

9 - Lance Fox & The Bloodhounds - That's Your Problem

Help I'm stuck in 60's G/P, I like this song but there are plenty of songs that sound familiar to this to me that it doesn't particularly standout in this great subgenre.

10 - Leonard Cohen - The Future

Arguably my favourite singer of all time and really gutted when he passed away late last year. The Future is probably one of my favourite one of his too. I have heard this song too many times to count at this point can also be an odd one to sing out loud in public. Also his voice is something I just love listening too.

11 - David Bowie - Young Americans

If Leonard Cohen is my favourite singer, Bowie is an easy top 10 and somebody else who sadly passed away last year, like Queen's I Want It All it fits into that second string favourite - plenty I like better but an easy choice for a mix.

12 - X-Ray Spex - Warrior In Woolworths

X-Ray Spex are a really cool band, one of those you think they should be that much better known, absolutely love Polly Styrene's voice I think that is what drew me to them

13 - Kiss - Do You Love Me?

Never truly adored Kiss, I think they verge on being marketing geniuses rather then musical geniuses (sorry fans) but there is plenty of there songs I like.

14 - The Barbarians - Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?

Back to the 60's garage rock genre, The Barbarians were actually one of the first I heard (with Moulty though) so they are in part to blame for me for falling for this sub-genre.

15 - The Cardigans - My Favourite Game

Finally something a bit more modern... what do you mean this came out in 1998? As it's proved I am stuck in the past with my music, that something that is nearly 20 years old feels like it's on the newer end of the spectrum to me, songs like this remind me of the late 90s.

16 - Stevie Wonder - I Ain't Gonna Stand For It

I went through quite a Motown phase in the early 00's thanks to a compliation. I knew so many of the songs sometimes without quite realizing it, one of the standouts was Stevie Wonder who also excelled with his studio albums. This song is among my favourite of his.

17 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Part 3

Love Pink Floyd, even seen Roger Waters live two times, Part 3 is probably the least known of the 3 parts (with the 2nd being best known), The Wall which is this is from is one of my favourite albums of all time, so it's hard to think of some songs like this on there own without thinking about the rest of the album.

18. Pixies - I Bleed

I'm glad some of favourite bands are coming out here rather than a bunch of embarrassing stuff, but anyway I love Pixies, easily one of my favourite groups of all time, I think it proves how great I think Pixies are when a great song like this would easily not crack the top 20.

19 - The Ramones - Can't Seem To Make You Mine

Another lucky choice, big fan of The Ramones, ironically of all Ramones songs to come up this is a cover of The Seeds song (a Garage Rock band - the original is better), Joey's voice is unique but I love it.

20 - Guns N Roses - Breakdown

GNR along with Aerosmith, where like the first rock bands I ever got into, so there is always going to be a soft spot in my heart for them, and it was the Use Your Illusion albums which were the first ones I heard. With the case of this song I think I prefer the early part of the song to the rest.

So there you have it - 20 songs, with nothing to embarrassing and I think I fairly good cross section to show what sort of music I like, though there is some genres that are missing (I have some country, pop and orchestrial among others that didn't come up). May do this again.

Geekabilia Cleethorpes

Geekabilia Cleethorpes had mostly interested me with only one guest announced - I knew it wasn't going to end up being one of those massive events - that if it was any further away in the country I couldn't justify attending (as much as I wanted too) - but I knew Cleethorpes was gettable to by bus (and a trip across the water via Humber Bridge) and the travel and ticket I would consider on the affordable end. So anyway this was a two day event, Good Friday (luckily for me there was no guests that were Friday only) and the only day I was planning to attend - Saturday.

I decided to attend this event simply because my Doctor Who poster (which I will promise at one point I will shut up about on this blog - but not for a few more months I reckon) featured 24 signatures before today, and none of the people who signed it have played the role of The Doctor. So excitingly for me among the guests at this event was Peter Davison who played the Fifth Doctor, and could end up being potentially the first in a run of the next couple of months of actors who played the iconic role - and there is some irony in getting a Doctor on the day first episode of a new series premiering. But besides that they ended up announcing a couple of other guests that interested me (including 2 further Who actors and 2 from another poster project I am working on).

So if you have ready any my earlier blog entries about conventions, it's always an out of town convention equals an early start - with a 6.20am wake up to be on the bus by quarter past seven, I basically listened to music while writing down random things and reading a bit of Audrey Hepburn's biography (I covered her career from The Unforgiven until My Fair Lady during this trip) and I arrived in Grimsby (yes, of Sacha Baron Cohen fame) to get a bus (which is a short journey) into Cleethorpes, have to say both these drivers were very nice, I wish I could say the same about the third driver who I got while in Cleethorpes as he was a bit on the grumpy side to get to the leisure centre where it was held and I got to the venue at about 9:15 and pretty close the front of the line (I was stood behind a Mother dressed at the 10th Doctor who had sons dressed as Harry Potter and Darth Vader - which included a lot of arguing about who would win a fight, I personally think Vader but didn't want to say incase Harry Potter put a spell on me.

When I got in I got a free goodie bag for pre-booking my tickets which included Angry Birds Star Wars rubbers (as in erasers - not condoms), Simpsons badges and Terminator Salvation DVD (from Germany), I'm not complaining since it's free. And me loves free stuff...

The First guest I met simply because she was at the end and that was Claire Gutteridge (who I keep wanting to refer to as Lucy Gutteridge - the female lead of Top Secret!), she was extremely lovely, talked to me for a fair while and seemed happy to be there. She also said she was honoured that I wanted to add her to my Doctor Who poster!

notice she is the first person to put season and episode number on and I guess at the moment she is the "newest" actor on there.

After Gutteridge I went to Alan Harris, who is best known for playing bounty hunter Bossk in The Empire Strikes Back. Okay, so here the price written online and even going in was £10, but I got to his table and it turned out he was charging £15 a signature and I didn't see this until after I got my items signed (I had 2) but explained and he took my word for it, I firstly added him to the Doctor Who poster

and then added him to my Belgian Top Secret poster! Which I'm shocked I've got three names on it now since I got Ian McNeice on it in 2009 and remained only signed by him up until this year.

The third guest I met since I still had the poster unrolled was the main reason for attending - The Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison who was a friendly chap and had a steady cue (I got complimented on my poster by somebody in the cue) and happy to finally add somebody who played the iconic role, and he of course signed over himself...

And the poster has it looks now with 27 names! I think I would constantly bore people with this picture - if anybody read this blog...

I then went to meet Luke Barnes, who if you watch GOT you will probably remember his face at least,, who was another nice fella who I talked a bit about Hull with and he added his name to my Game Of Thrones poster.

Final guest of the day for me is Ross O'Hennessy, extremely musclebound and another Game Of Thrones actor, was also very friendly

And here is how my Game Of Thrones poster looks now with four names, obviously this looks less impressive than the Doctor Who at the moment but once more names get added this will give it a run for it's money I think (a couple of upcoming events could see me get past 10 names on this face)

And that was it for guests - I met 5 of the 7 guests so that the batting average was great there (Chris Rankin was from Harry Potter which I am not working on and there was one other Doctor Who guest Terry Molloy who is already on the poster), I bought a cream cake and a can of coke and was out of there by 10:50, and I had a quick look around Cleethorpes buying a couple of DVDs.

Overall, this is the shortest amount of time I've spent at an out of town convention (50 minutes!) but if a future event brings a couple of guests I want to meet then I wouldn't say no to attending again. I did look around the stalls but there wasn't enough on the stalls for me.

Hall Of Fame #4 - Sarah Douglas

Met her at Newcastle Film and Comic Con in November 2016, and she was absolutely lovely, was the star of the day for me - she also had a very entertaining and informative where she talked about Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve etc. and I recommend anybody meeting her.