Oh yeah, thats the result of a seemingly harmless fall from a skateboard ramp, one trip to the ER room later and im now in a sling with a fractured radial bone in my elbow
It has however given me time to find stuff to watch online. Such as.........
And not sure if i posted this before but have a look anyway KENYA VIDEO
And if you get the chance go and see the 300 at a cinema near you. I saw it on the IMAX screen and was a bit disturbed at seeing Gerard Butlers ass 16 feet tall (If you`ve seen it you know what im talking about) but the rest of the movie is fantastic
If you get a chance then swing by this mySpace page for the band SOLARCADE www.myspace.com/solarcade Theyre a great new band from LA and well worth checking out. If you are lucky enough to be going to The Killers show in Staples Centre on April 9th or San Diego the next day then you get to check em out for yourself
After quite a while of not seeing any Family Guy due to being away all the time, i got home to see this episode which was shown just in time for St. Patricks Day. Still amazes me how they can pick a race or nation and manage to get every possible offensive joke about them into a single episode.
In all fairness if you are offended by this then you need to get a life!!
Dont let anyone tell you that watching TV is a waste of time and that you should get out more and learn something....Theyre wrong!! After my years apent watching McGuyver and 24, I found it very useful a couple of days ago. Imagine my horror when i got out of the shower (Easy ladies!!) to find that my unlocked bathroom door wouldnt open and the handle just kept turning in my hand. So after a little while trying a few various ideas that didnt work and the realisation that i would probably be stuck there for days due to the Do Not Disturb sign on my door and not being one of those people who take theyre phones into the bathroom. I decided to take matters into my own hands and used the bin to smash the handle off the door and see if i could have a go at the lock from the inside. After about 45 mins with only a set of nailclippers as a tool, i managed to get the door open and seek freedom!!! Ever wondered what a door lock looks like inside?? Ye need wonder no more!! Imagine if you can though the look of disbelief on the face of the hotel manager when i showed up at reception with the crumpled remains of a bin and pieces of a door lock to tell them i had broken it and wouldnt be paying for it.
The next 2 days were off wandering around Paris doing the usual touristy stuff like the Eiffel Tower
And the Louvre Museum Which houses some of the most valuable pieces of art in the world, such as the Mona Lisa.
After 2 days of good food and drink it was off to Lille for the final show before driving overnight to London where i was dropped off at Heathrow airport to fly home. So thats Europe over with for a while, all attention shifts to North America in 2 weeks time, so until then i bid you Adieu and Bonsoir!!
So Cardiff turned out to be a great show again right up until the end of the show when we had to evacuate the building due to a suspicious package left at the sound desk prompted a bomb threat and the venue was cleared out for almost an hour before the bomb squad arrived to take it away.
After a delayed load out it was time to head off to Dover to take the Euro Tunnel train to Calais and the drive through France and Belgium to get to Amsterdam. A day off in Amsterdam for most people means sitting in "coffee" shops sampling the local wares and a trip to the red light district for the customary bit of "window shopping". Its quite funny how people think that its all hidden away and secretive but this picture was taken down the street from our hotel. After that it was a show at the famed Heineken Music Hall which has seen bands such as Coldplay, U2 and R.E.M play here at one point or another. Another day off in Amsterdam followed before heading overnight to Koln, Germany for what would prove to be landmark gigs for the band as they've had a strange relationshipwith mainland Europe but Sams Town seems to have struck a chord here and the venues are now getting upgraded to almost the same size as the UK and US shows. The day offf was spent wandering around the city and seeing the sights as well the rather odd people doing performance art in the the Leidesplan square in the centre of town such as this guy... ...whose sole purpose seemed to be wandering around and annoying people. Also stumbled across a rather oversized game of chess.
So off to Koln and then onwards to Berlin for a show at the Berlin Arena... ...And a quick trip to what left of The Wall...
Also i thought i'd show one of my favourite pictures i've taken. This is from the roof of the the Reichstag building in Berlin. So off to Frankfurt and then onto Paris for a couple days off.
After the fun of the Hometown shows came the relative boredom of the NME awards. TV shows are never much fun for me as Union rules prevent me from operating lights for the band so i stand and offer my opinion to the TV guy, who most of the time will ignore you!! After finishing load out at 1.30am it was back up at 6am to go to Dublin airport to fly to London for a performance at the annual NME awards which were held for the last time at the famous Hammersmith Palais (The Clash song White Man in Hammersmith Palais is about the bands early days here) Check out the bands performance of theyre cover of Joy Divisions "ShadowPlay" which has been recorded for the soundtrack to the Anton Corbijn directed movie "Control" which is a biopic about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis who died in 1980.
Amongst the people in attendance were Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys, Pete Doherty & Kate Moss (who were apparently ejected after being found in the back alley behind the venue getting up to no good after being repeatedly prevented from trying to go to the bathrooms together). Performances on the night also came from Jarvis Cocker, The View, Kasabian and Primal Scream who also performed with Mick Jones from the Clash. The Killers won a gong for Best Video for the Tim Burton directed "Bones". After braving the aftershow party which was held at our hotel it was off to Brighton for a much needed day off. The show at the Brighton Centre personally ranks as the worst show i've had in years due to technical failures left, right and centre, thankfully the following night in Nottingham was much better. If any of you remember the last time i was in Nottingham i found some fancy dress?? Well, yeas i did it again, this headpiece was just sitting around the backstage area so i thought i'd try do load out in it. I think it quite suits me..
So as the UK tour draws to a close you find us at the Cardiff International Arena in Wales before heading to Amsterdam tomorrow for the start of the European run. Always a good crowd here right back to when we played the Cardiff uni right through to the Millenium Stadium show with U2.
Trivia fact - The Big Sleep Hotel in Cardiff has a very unique and special business partner in Hollywood superstar John Malkovich - How Bizarre eh!!
...well for a few hours anyway. Got back to Dublin for a couple of days for 2 shows at the RDS Arena. Due to the cancellation of last Novembers show at the Point Theatre this was the first time for Sams Town to hit Dublin and needless to say it was pretty well recieved even if the RDS isnt exactly the best venue in the world. I even managed to get a mention on stage when Brandon noted that the band liked to think they took a little piece of Ireland with them everywhere they went because i was from Dublin.
