The George Lite Zone

Tonight the Willard Grant Conspiracy were aided and abetted by a fine alternative Folk act from Glasgow called Doghouse Roses, initially as the support act and later joining the conspiracy. Iona Macdonald has an exceptional voice and backed by quality guitar playing from Paul Tasker, Doghouse Roses are a fine alt Folk group. I look forward to seeing them back home in Scotland some time. Doghouse Roses left the stage briefly before returning with Willard Grant Conspiracy. A session of top drawer musicianship followed, with Iona's silky vocals providing the perfect counterpoint to Robert's potent brand of Americana. An aural delight to swirl around in the mind and savor, like a fine cognac. Music to warm the soul. The following pictures were the first I've taken with my newly acquired Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. An excellent lens for low lighting conditions when you don't want to use a flash. Also great for hunting pandas.

24 hours on from Mudhoney's Berlin gig , I was still buzzing from their adrenaline fueled brand of West Coast punk. Madensuyu in Brussels were going to have to be exceptional to take me to the same heady levels of rock nirvana. And exceptional they were. For a two man band Madensuyu produce a wall of sound that is simply astonishing. Listening to their studio material had given me an inkling of what they could do, but live they are something else. Woma n, Fafafuckin' , Tread On Tread Ligh t... hypnotic pulsating music that blows the mind. Ghent's finest have raised my live rock bar another couple of notches and reaffirmed my belief in just how good the Belgian musical scene is at the moment. Go out and buy their albums. Better still, if you can, see them live, you wont regret it. Finally, here are a few more images from a truly memorable night in Brussels.

The last time I was in a mosh pit was at Motorheads 25th anniversary concert in Brixton, the birthplace of punk, it's ironic then that the band to drag me back into the pogoing fray were the godfathers of grunge, Mudhoney, returning to Berlin after a 15 year absence. Tracks from their new album, The Lucky Ones , meshed seamlessly with their old classics, as body surfers cascaded onto the stage in a blitzkrieg of the flesh. On that stage lead singer Mark Arm threw himself around like a man possessed, running at the crowd one minute and jerking around in demonic puppet fashion the next. A punk master in all his pomp. "You may have noticed we had Kurt Cobain on stage with us earlier", he quipped. "He was a bit smaller than I remembered him". Touch me I'm sick in particular brought the house down, with the German audience freaking out en masse. Two encores rounded off proceedings, with the crowd still baying for more. All in all a fantastic nights entertainment...

A walk up Friedrichstraße today took us into Scheunenviertel, known as the "barn quarter". Amongst other things, this former Jewish center of the city hosts numerous art shops and includes Tacheles. At the turn of the 20th Century Tacheles was one of Berlin's most elegant shopping centers but has since fallen into disrepair and been converted into an alternative art center. Perusing one of the Tachele artists studio's I came across the surreal work of Hungarian born artist Andras Bartos . A walk further down the road to Oranienburger Str. 27 brought us to a shop full of his work. After much humming and more than enough harring I couldn't decide on a print for myself. Calvin on the other hand immediately went for this macabre canine piece which will be winging its way back to Bonnie Scotland in a few days time.

Sitting here in our hotel room in Berlin surfing You Tube in search of musical entertainment. Having just played a live version of L7's Pretend We're Dead on iTunes, I went hunting for footage of grunge's finest in full flight. That's when I came upon this clip that reminded me what a damn fine drummer Dave Grohl is. With Brütal Legend fast approaching, here's young Jack Black and Kyle Gass performing their tribute to the greatest song in the world, aided and abetted by the shiny demon himself. And here's Dave playing the tributed song. Hmmm is that why Zeppelin didn't have him guesting with them at the O2 Arena. Although he would have done a bloody good job... If they ever make a live action Muppet Movie, Dave's getting my vote to play Animal!

I'll swear that Gym Ball I was working out on tonight is out to get me. Bounce to the left, bounce to the right, roll along on your belly supported by your hands, bounce, bounce, bounce... By the time I'd finished I felt like Tigger. How can a ball be such hard work. I'm not a number I'm a free fan! Speaking of balls, here's an old classic from those German metal maestros Accept . It's the title track from their 1983 release and is the opening album in that old charade favourite The 100 Best And Absolute Greatest Heavy Metal Albums In The World Ever .

Thanks to Suki for reminding me just how good L7 are. I meant to follow up on them when I heard the track Shitlist on the Natural Born Killers Soundtrack album years ago and was mightily impressed. It's taken from the album Bricks Are Heavy which is a good place to start with the band. In terms of all female grunge bands they kick Hole's ass. Now that just doesn't sound right now, does it! Here's a video of the girls playing Shitlist in Rio in '93. Play it loud, then play it again, this is good stuff.

I just heard the bad news from Hawkwind's MySpace account, that Huw Lloyd Langton has just been admitted to Dorset County hospital with kidney failure and is on dialysis after a bout of food poisoning. Anyone out there who wants to send him a get well card can send it to: - Huw Lloyd Langton Prince of Wales Ward Dorset County Hospital Williams Avenue Dorchester Dorset DT1 2JY My best wishes go out to him and Marion.

In search of Mudhoney Berlin gig tickets, I stumbled across this cover of one of my all time favourite Hawkwind tracks, Urban Guerilla. http://www.last.fm/music/Mudhoney/_/Urban+Guerilla Mudhoney's version was recorded for a John Peel session in 2002, and released on a 2003 Mojo Magazine freebie, it was also included on the compilation album Up Yours! Punk's Not Dead . Cargo Records also did a limited edition 7 inch run in a series of Hawkwind covers. Hawkwind's original dates back to '73 and was banned by the BBC due to its release coinciding with a series of IRA bombings at the time. Mudhoney have captured the punk sensibilities of the original, while incorporating guitar riffs reminiscent of early Hawkwind. All in all a bloody good cover. I think they did Bob Calvert proud here. Speaking of which...

The Flemish province of Limburg straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands and is home to 5 piece indie band Johnny Berlin . Featuring Paul Renner - vocals & guitar, Laurens Renner - synths & vocals, Roberto Beck on Drums, Tom S. Downing - Lead guitar and Jean Letour on Bass. Musically they hark back to the golden days of 80's electronica with some punk undertones. A time of Kevin Keegan, Spandau Ballet and bad haircuts (such as yours truly's disastrous Afro). Great vocals, cool keyboards and catchy riffs this is a nice band. To cut a long story short, the band took it's name from the legendary 19th Century pimp Johannes "Johnny" Renner. Born in Berlin in the 1920's he wandered depression torn Europe before establishing himself in Belgium in the 30's. Johnny was one of the first people to open a brothel on Chaussée d'Amour (The Highway of Love) between Liege and Saint-Trond and went on to establish a series of bordellos in Brussel...