The Cemetary Set

The Duke and The King

Amidst plumes of volcanic smoke, The Duke and The King thankfully descended upon Islington's Union Chapel last night. A four piece dedicated to tugging at heart strings one minute and stomping on bones the next, they made the Chapel their home and the audience their congregation.

Songs from their critically acclaimed debut album 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' filled most of the set, starting with 'If You Ever Get Famous' followed by the singalong favourite 'The Morning I Get To Hell'. The four members of the band were all blindingly talented, blessed with honey drenched vocal chords and serious abilities at playing a range of instruments. One song began as a 'Nothing Compares To You' cover before transforming into one of their own. The band also paid tribute to pearl necklace-wearing lead singer Simone Felice's past, with a Felice Brother's ditty the crowd gleefully absorbed.

When the band members weren't high-fiving, hugging and kissing each other with genuine affection, they were playing some wonderful folksy-soulsy songs, beautiful violin and generally enchanting their congregation with one of the finest sermon's held in the Chapel.

To keep the whole show down to earth, rootsy and not too 'rock n roll', once finished, the four members of The Duke and The King walked into the crowd and shook hands, hugged and kissed 'their people'. Not many acts finish their performance this way and the warmth generated from their actions made the awaiting cold night air all the more bearable to face.

The Sunday Roast

We recently hosted 15 friends for a Sunday Roast at our house. There was a Mad Hatter theme, with the winning hat going to Julia and her 'Shower Cap'. Simple, yet very effective, Julia wore the hat throughout the course of the afternoon/evening and was a deserved winner. The roast meats on offer were lamb and pork, accompanied with potatoes, pumpkin, beans, carrots and Dave's famous home made yorkshire puddings. Special mentions to Rach for her grand help in the kitchen (despite being our guest of honour) and Dave and Meg's tireless efforts were also very much appreciated, in particular Meg's ability to make all types of interesting shapes with balloons. The spinach dip was also a crowd favourite, despite the efforts of 15 ravenous adults not being able to finish it all. Long live The Cob.

Get on your bike!

http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/news/radio/podcast/lecture_152.mp3

Manchester United def AC Milan at Old Trafford 4-0

I had the rare pleasure of standing behind the goals at Old Trafford on my birthday, watching Manchester United tear AC Milan apart. The world's best player (probably), Wayne Rooney, didn't let the home town supporters down with 2 more goals to reach a season tally of 30. Fletcher and Park also scored for Manchester United. Most of the crowd's chants were about loving United and hating those Glazer blokes who own the club. David Beckham received a warm welcome from his old supporters when he took the field for AC Milan in the second half. He was quickly booed the second he had a possession however, before the vocal crowd started singing "There's Only One David Beckham" again. It was probably the last time he will play at Old Trafford.