was received today. The sitcom I have been babbling about of late called How I Met Your Mother has been guaranteed a fifth series. More humour like this is on it's way...
I'm pleased this is the case because I worked my way through all those episodes very quickly and reached the end of season four needing some closure. This arrived in my inbox this morning...
Juliet and co have organised a night for your entertainment this Thursday. I have heard there will be free food, giveaways and Hops is DJing. I'm going to duck back out into the sun now. See you tomorrow
...I think he might have been our only decent teacher" That's a Hold Steady lyric full of the same sentiment and almost an ode to Springsteen's "we learnt more from a three minute record than we ever learnt in school" That lyric popped up mid way through the set when he played No Surrender with Brian Fallon from the Gaslight Anthem. I mentioned the Joe Stummer lyric because as soon as the band took the stage the unmistakeable chug of London Calling erupted...
Bruce was his normal self, a ball of energy, running up and down the stage. At one point he tripped hopping up a decent gap from ground to stage level. He lay on his back in a star shape and shouted out "Get me an elevator, I'm f***king 60!" One of the highlights for me was hearing Bobby Jean and Out In The Street is always good for the Clarence Clemons factor. Those two have a great time together..
When Bruce introduces his band in a gospel style I've heard him call Clarence Clemons the godfather of soul. Dan had given me the heads up on his intro at glastonbury and sure enough it was the same. He was introduced as "the biggest man you've ever seen!" Here is the set list. He came on just after 7 and finished at 10.15. That's impressive...
London Calling Badlands Night She's The One Outlaw Pete Out In The Street Working On A Dream Seeds Johnny 99 Youngstown Good Lovin' Bobby Jean Trapped No Surrender Waiting On A Sunny Day Promised Land Racing In The Street Radio Nowhere Lonesome Day The Rising Born To Run
Rosalita Hard Times Jungleland American Land Glory Days Dancing In The Dark
Two serious enders there too. I couldn't have scripted a better weekend.
Yesterday was amazing. It was a beautiful day and the rain that did happen did so while we were watching Johnny Flynn in a tent. This was the set Neil Young gave us...
Hey Hey, My My Mansion On The Hill Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Spirit Road Words Cinnamon Girl Fu@*in' Up Mother Earth The Needle & The Damage Done Heart of Gold Old Man Down By The River Rockin' In The Free World
He played for over two hours. The surprise came when as he has done before on this tour he ended the set with the Beatles song A Day In The Life and Paul McCartney ran on to join him half way through it. Everybody's hands instantly flew in the air. Mine did, I'm pretty sure my brain had nothing to do with it...
Unbelievable. I can't even imagine what these guys have in store for us later this evening...
Unless you've been under a rock and your only link with the outside world is this blog you'll be aware that Michael Jackson passed away. Love or hate him his influence is undeniable and I bet one of these lurks or has lurked in your bedroom/house/loft...
I borrowed the LP from the library and made my own interpretation of the album cover for my cassette copy when I was at primary school. This game was sick too...
Yes Moonwalker! Ben had the duvet cover. An early end to a strange and tragic life.Considered not even mentioning it but felt I had to. Hopefully he's chilling on an island somewhere with Elvis,Biggie, Morrison and the rest. The board wall is looking good for you this weekend...
Enjoy a more detailed look using our online store. The Habitat cork cruisers are amazing. What do we have to sell you? Predominantly...
Good sticker that. We have the Powell dvd "Fun" in stock, it's the fun we've been selling for years that keeps them coming back. This colour co-ordinated grem was psyched on the choice we offer...
You've been tango'd! I lost a fair few hours on that Moonwalker game but none of the antics crept into my everyday life. I spent many more hours on the game that influenced this clip...
If you visit the Hennes website for a spot of browsing pay heed to Nugget on their front page...
London calling huh? Hard rock calling tomorrow so I can't promise any Alley action. we'll be watching...
I'm looking forward to my weekend in the park. Saturday we'll be going to see...
Neil Young! He's headlining our Saturday night. Sunday is to be headlined by...
The boss! What an action packed weekend it's set to be. I can't imagine a more perfect scenario. It pleased me no end when checking the line up that we'll get to see...
That's what a passer by said responding to Nuggets question. He'd asked if his shorts look alright, he'd just bought them. Having told Nugget his shorts looked classic he proceeded to walk off laughing hysterically, nothing like a strangers hysteria to boost your confidence. Shortly after this we witnessed Brophy swearing he'd returned Olly's lighter to the to the point of saying he'd punch his face over this fact and revealing it beneath his kettle chips. All go. I got to grips with photoshop today solely to bring you this old photo of Jagger skating Birmingham...
in order to let you know that himself and Will Bankhead...
Have a new night for your listening pleasure over in the Wild Wild West...
Pay them a visit. Rob has a new sport he's developed. One humans thirst for stickers makes sticker baiting a possibility...
Finally this guy...
Also giving a new Summer look a trial is threatening to start a blog. Sign me up
...but we are the weirdest herd I've ever seen" Nearly finished the first book of the border trilogy and it's a joy to know two more are coming. I intend to re-visit the first two films from where today's quote comes from...
in anticipation of the third. Had fun skating with Ches yesterday before he bounced. Make sure you check his blog. There's a sick new edit up on there of an old trip to Spain with footage of the Butcher-chop chop, Wainwright, Flynn, Stalker, Brady and Will Ainley. It's the newest post.. Click here
You heard me. Hopefully you're out there somewhere and it's not too busy. I know everyone has their reservations about being told what to do especially when it involves skateboarding, an activity largely inspired by not wanting to be told what to do. Like it or not today is International go skateboarding day...
Having got off my train this morning I walked through my station and went to use the cash point. Whilst extracting money the song I was listening to ended and during the silence I heard two boards, maybe more thrown down on the hard marble floor. If you've been skating for weeks, months or years your ears become attuned to the noise of like minded folk. Occasionally you can be duped by a trolley or a wheelie bag but usually you're bang on the money. This time I was, I looked up to see about twenty kids skate across the station concourse as Minor Threat entered my ears. Go skateboarding day it is indeed, the same crew and more greeted me as i opened the shop. It looks like I'll put in the hours after hours too as Rob and myself attempt to re-create an epic stair session we enjoyed many Summers ago. Back from a recent tour for a few days is LA correspondent...
He's shredding it up as I type. He has his own original intent shoe out on DVS...
His name's on the insole...
on the paper inside...
and even on the box...
Yes Brophy!...
If you're dusting it off, have a good day. If you're not dust it off tomorrow.
On top of a busy Saturday morning/afternoon the madness was compounded by travelling musicians. They are a step up from the operatics which used to make Seth shout out the door but bad nevertheless. This is basically the soundtrack we are subjected to for ten minutes at a time periodically until they are told to jog...
Rob and I earnt the right to wear one of these recently...
What a magical feeling. I'm not sure a photo has been double dipped on here. This one earns a re-run. One year ago we enjoyed Neil Young at Hop farm. This Saturday we'll see him again in Hyde park. Yes Neil! Yes Charlie!...
...parachute, only used once, never opened, small stain. Ouch. No parachutes for sale in here but there is a mass of shoes I spent this afternoon foraging for. Come in and have a good sift through for yourself. Limited sizes, nice prices...
That'll be the main attraction this weekend perhaps. Certain regular features we tried implementing here at Alley headquarters have fallen off somewhat. Ghetto snacks dwindled although stalker may have revived that. Hops' movie career ended when he was carried to the bins still sellotaped to a tree after one of his adventures. We never saw him again. Where one journey ends another begins welcome to...
Good news from the front line concerning Karim Bakhtaoui who was the focal point of our last rat signal ...
Boards beneath his adidas clad feet will now be supplied from Stevie Williams' division of the Kayo corp via the good people at i-five...
Keep your eyes peeled for a DGK board flying about near you on the streets of London...
Nice when what you do is appreciated. The first bit of Jakes Alley post in ages arrived this morning. Jacqui AKA Stalker keeping the ghetto snack dream alive...
Here's the snack...
Not a fan of tuna myself. I gave the can to Karim who's wearing a Slam hoody on the hottest day of the year thus proving he's the only person in this country who could legitimately ride for DGK.
Born on the same day but on different years are Slam manager Henry Clay who is on the other side of the globe...
and your game of skate host and mind behind Wayward Wednesday's...
Happy Birthday! I'm hoping to sink a few beers with our man on this side of the pond after going to see this guy...
He has done solo stuff since parting ways with the Drive By Truckers. He still plays out the material he wrote whilst still with them. Have a listen...
Luigi interlude. He's always trawling the net for gold dust. Imagine how stoked you'd be if you saw this driving along. I'm not sure I'd survive...
Aaawoight moite!...
Yes Ed! Apparently Benny will be back in a few days. We have a Union Jack ready to wrap him up in...
Tim from NikeSBorg came in yesterday to visit the re-vamped Debacle installation in the basement. To see the coverage... Click here
I'm excited about the taking of Pelham 123. I'm excited about Public Enemies and the next Transformers film but there are some serious intricate black comedies set for release...
We were kindly dropped in a copy of the Green Diamond production "Rich Mahogany" It's been on loop ever since. Here's a trailer...
You're welcome to come and have a watch. If anyone knows where we can get copies to sell, let me know. There's more than a handful of happy watchers keen to get their hands on a copy. If you keep them peeled you'll see Ozzy Will and Danny Brady and SMorgan make an appearance. Our most recent Ozzy Visitor Keegan wanted to make sure he made the news as he is more important than that other Australian Will Brown yet receives less coverage...
He was assisting Lev's Antwuan Dixon shoe tests. Expect to see more of him this Summer. Another brief visitor passed through yesterday, it was a flying visit and it slipped my mind getting a picture as it often does. This one will have to do...
It was good to see Kenny. Some days of rest and then another insane trip begins for him. My weekend draws to a close and free time beckons. Enjoy your Sunday evening.
...when it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good." It was the main event last night for sure. It drew a happy crowd of punters who would have visited us anyway for the Debacle premiere...
This was the mellowest premiere I have ever manned. There were buckets of endless free beer. The large stack of Pizzas we distributed eliminated the two can Van Damme element...
The crowd was deep...
and filled the new Debacle exhibit downstairs too. The live video link worked well too. Everything ran surprisingly smoothly. The only mishap was a cigarette bin on fire...
and a peeping Tom...
I'll take you through the Debacle installation, a little tour. You should come and have a look yourselves really though. You'll be greeted by the pillar...
The walls downstairs look amazing...
Here's another...
and one more...
with a little Ricky Oyola guest appearance. This guys part was unbelievably good...
In my blog version of a video link up here's an image from the US premiere courtesy of Seb out there in the field...
Ewan was there too...
Keep a look out for the video. Grant Taylor smashes it. Thanks to Gorm, Badger and Sam Barrat for making the whole event work as well as it did. Look forward to the next one.
