New, Old, and a gig....

Well, there's the new and old, the arrivals this week - Top row left to right; jesu - Heart Ache, Lifeline and Pale Sketches (after all that moaning I'm finally happy), bottom row L-R; Raven - All For One, Onslaught - The Force, Witchfynde - Give 'Em Hell, Moss - Sub Templum.

Last weekend we went to a park in New Brighton to see a gig, the strangest venue I've ever been to, a park, on the waterfront, with a bandstand displaying the names of various composers:
The line up basically wouldn't have normally been deemed Claw-worthy, Nu-thrashers SSS were headlining, which isn't really our cup of tea (although the game of musical chairs they did for the children during their set was quite funny), but the highlight for us was the inclusion on the bill of Northern England's finest entertainer, Frank Sidebottom.

Sidebottom, or "Sidie", is a firm favourite of Thee Claw, and he loves us too.

For those of you not au fait with Frank, here's a little bit of info from his Wikipedia page:

Frank Sidebottom is the stage name and persona of the English comedian and musician Chris Sievey. The character is instantly recognisable by his spherical head (styled like an early Max Fleischer cartoon) - this was initially made from papier-mâché, but later rebuilt out of fibreglass.Frank, usually dressed in a 1950s-style sharp suit, is portrayed as an aspiring pop star from the village of Timperley near Altrincham, Greater Manchester. His character is optimistic, enthusiastic and seemingly unaware of his failings. Although seemingly middle-aged, he still lives at home with his mother, to whom he makes frequent references. His mother is apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes has a sidekick in the form of "Little Frank", a hand puppet who is otherwise a perfect copy of Frank.

I think it's a Northern thing, but he's hilarious.
He sang such fantastic covers as "Anarchy in the UK" (as Anarchy in Timperly) "Twist and Shout", "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?", "Hit The North", "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "Blitzkrieg Bop".
He sold raffle tickets that were drawn during SSS's set, and as he left the stage, he exclaimed that he was going to go and drink a six pack of Lucozade because he had "nothing to do", whilst his Oh Blimey Big Band played - you guessed it - "Six Pack" by Black Flag!!!
All in all, one of the best shows Thee Claw has been to all year!