The George Lite Zone

An X Box Camera in the UK stares at the images sent by it's US kin, looking at the images it sent, of the images it sent onwards to the shores of infinity.

Calvin's godfather, Black Adder, and Cassidy bid us Happy New Year over X Box Live.

A Happy New Year to one and all, from the Ternent Clan, George, Linda, Calvin and Buffy the cat.

For the 2nd and final time this year it was time to see Joan as Police Woman , this time on my own turf in the hallowed grounds of Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms. Support this time was supplied by Leith's Dean Owens backed by the equally Leithish Kim Edgar . Tracks like Raining in Glasgow rained down on the assembled throng with Dean strumming along on accoustic guitar while Kim aquited herself ably on keyboards and backing vocals. On a number of tracks Dean let rip on the harmonica with the croud going wild, nothing to do with their being asked to do so beforehand, honest. His set finished with Whisky Hearts. On the sleevenote to the album of that name, Irvine Welsh said "Every time he sings a song, he means it and feels it with every fibre of his being. Now that is something special - Scotland's most engaging and haunting singer-songwriter ". According to Dean this track is being used on the soundtrack to a new Irvine Welsh movie next year. Hopefully this exposure wi...

As hard rock bars go, Excalibur is the real deal. Owned by a group of local Hells Angels, it sits on the edge of the cities red light district, a heavy metal sword stuck in a classic rock. I met the couple pictured earlier, in the bowels of Chimera and it was their directions that brought me there. I also got talking to another group of Motorhead fans there who saw the Wolverhampton gig. They hailed from Chadsmore, Staffs, which is just up the road from my old stomping ground in the Midlands. Tis a small world. There followed a party of Geordies, all temporary Man Utd fans for the night (Sunderland's latest Premiership opponents). Howay the lads! Heineken was quaffed, refreshing the parts other beers cannot reach, and rock and roll was the order of the day (or order of the early evening at this point). On the music front, I was quite impressed with the Killswitch Engage that was played. According to the barman, it was from the bands self titled first album and sounded incredibly ti...

, Staying over on mainland Europe this weekend I thought that a return trip to the Dam was long overdue. And so it was I found myself heading off to Brussels Gare du Nord station and a two and a half hour train ride to the heart of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is a bizarre place. You walk into a shop, look up and a herd of cows looks back at you. Surreal. After this close encounter of the bovine kind I headed on down Dam Straat to Chimera in search of Christmas booty. A magical world of fairies, dragons, pixies and goth shop assistants. Several hours later, I finally emerged, having browsed their entire stock enumerable times before making my seasonal choices. Thirsty work this shopping, time for a beer.