Bonnie Prince Billy, No Smoking and the False Economy of Cheap Flights

Very, very, very early one morning last week I got myself out of bed, took a cab to Birmingham airport and took a white-knuckle ride on an 'plane to Edinburgh in order to see Bonnie Prince Billy play at The Queens Hall...

The gig was amazing and definately the best I've ever seen from him. He was backed by Harem Scarem, who provided wonderful three-part harmonies and an array of instruments that complimented the songs perfectly. It truly was something else.

Whilst in the venue I was told two things that put the cherry on top of the experience.....Firstly, that the gig was recorded by the BBC for a future broadcast, and secondly that rehearsals for the gigs (part of a mini-tour of Scotland) had been recorded with a view to a possible future release as an album. It's all good..

I also learned two things whilst in Edinburgh......

1) The Smoking Ban ain't all bad. It is about 3 weeks old up in Scotland and in the post down here in England. My 48-hour tour of Edinburgh's pubs tells me I'll cope just fine when it kicks in down here.

2) The phrase 'Cheap Flight' is an oxymoron. Leaving and arriving back in Brum at stupid o'clock meant the expenditure on food, fun and the inevitable beer or 17 totally outweighed the 'saving' on the ticket. You live and learn, eh kids...

That said, it was a great trip and long live Billy.

FotS Recommend: #4 in an Occasional Series

JayMay

First of all, before you read this post go and buy JayMay's debut EP.

It seems only fitting that the week in which we confirmed luddites finally joined the MySpace community (or...stampede/revolution/whatever-you-call-it) that I get round to recommending someone whom I discovered entirely via the internet that has really, genuinely floated my musical boat.

It was about 6 months ago that I came across Jaymay's original homepage (now since removed). The honest truth is that I can't actually remember how it was I came across it in the first place - it certainly wasn't via the radio, or a magazine or even a 'tastemaker', or even 'the bloke down the pub' - so often a source of credible information, especially musical.

What's good about her? Well now...She has a turn of phrase that will leave you smiling.......an intuitive rhythm to her delivery that you don't hear often........and the tunes are peachy. Better than peachy, in fact. Of course, then there's the voice. She also plays her arse off seemingly 20 times a week and if you live in New York City and you haven't seen her play then you should sell your TV and re-think your social life.

My only regret is that I didn't get around to posting a link to "What Happened", which was the tune that convinced me that I was listening to something great, before it disappeared from the net. I only hope it surfaces somewhere again soon cos I loved that one.

I won't post a tune cos it seems that the best thing to ask you to do is to check it all out for yourself at her own site. Go on!

My Space

We've added a myspace thingum

www.myspace.com/friendsofthestars

Thus far we have 15 friends......this includes generic American 'Tom'

Would *YOU* like to be our *FRIEND*?

Craig
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