Biding time till I write up the next Halloween Horror Fest movie review, here’s five songs that stood out last week:
David Bowie
08.01.1947 – 10.01.2016
Unbelievable that my second blog post of 2016 is another in tribute to a musical hero who is no longer with us.
The recent passing of David Bowie caught us all off guard; I for one thought it was some cruel internet prank at first. Not so – a quick trawl of the internet confirmed the sad news.
Back around 1990, my uncle let me borrow a bunch of records from his collection – an absolute buzz for a music obsessive like me. There were records by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, The Stranglers, Devo and more. I saw a copy of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”, and asked if I could borrow that too. He kindly agreed and I made off with my temporary haul.
Right from the start, listening to the “Ziggy Stardust” album was something revolutionary. I knew I was hearing something special.
The reason I’d wanted to become more acquainted with Bowie’s work was the high regard some of my other favourite bands held him in, mostly due to his friendship and support of Iggy Pop. I was already a massive Stooges fan.
From “Ziggy Stardust” I continued exploring David Bowie’s considerable catalogue. Some songs were instants classics, some challenged me. All of it was worthwhile taking the time to investigate: classics from “Hunky Dory” and “Low” being favourites. All of those songs inspired me, and gave insight into how many artists of different genres had been inspired by his work.
In fact, the greatest legacy that Bowie’s work has left, for me at least, was that constant pioneering exploration. I was encouraged to expand my musical horizons and accompany Bowie on journeys into different sonic territories. It’s thanks to that spirit that I have the wide ranging taste in music that I have today.
Thank you, David Bowie, for taking us on your adventures in sound. I will continue to admire and study your legacy for years to come.
Sci-fi Weekender 19th – 22nd March 2015
Hafan Y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli
Welcome back to part 2 of my Sci-fi Weekender 2015 update!
Saturday began in the usual manner for for my intergalactic crew mates and I – fairly lazy hanging around the caravan. The home comforts were pretty good t be fair; with a fridge stocked with beer, decent TV and plenty of space we had a good base for our weekend.
To be honest there was less of interest to me personally on this day. The highlight though was a Q&A with Judge Dredd creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. The two were escorted on to the stage by a squad of mean looking Judges, and proceeded to tell the audience about their many years working in comics. All good stuff, though a bit less about the Dredd movies and more about the actual comics would’ve been preferable. But I guess that serves me right for not asking my own questions.
One Man Lord of the Rings was next, and not being a Hobbit geek (unlike Star Wars) I was off. I heard it was good though. Time to mill about round the various merchandise stalls, though there less of a science fiction theme to this year’s traders. With MCM Comic Con on the same weekend at Birmingham NEC, I guess most traders opted for that instead.
Another strange tweak to the event this year was that Hafan Y Mor was also hosting a Prog Rock event on the same weekend. Hence the large number of music related items on sale, perhaps. Though having these two events at the same time appeared to be a strange mutation at first, I decided to check a few bands out over the weekend and found some that were certainly worth hearing. 
Back on Friday I witnessed the strange jazz prog of Knifeworld, which I enjoyed after my ears got used to it. “I want this music out of my head!” was the view of one of my gang.
On Saturday afternoon, I witnessed Landskap. They had an almost doom/stoner rock sound, with slow heavy guitar riffs – augmented by an almost Doors-like keyboard. Very, very good – saw the whole set and loved it.
Next it was back to the Sci-Fi Arena to see the Cosplay preliminaries. As ever there were some amazing entries – well made, authentic, but also incredibly original. The best part was spotting characters from film and television that you just weren’t expecting to see. The Guardians of the Galaxy and Mad Max ensembles were both awesome. Lego movie Batman, Futurama robots and more were just amazing.
You can see some of the photos here, but there were also dozens of fans who were dressed up, and hadn’t even entered the competition. Plenty of people had obviously put a lot of thought and effort into their costumes, but were happy just to be part of the fun.
I did feel bad for one group, though – they were all in monochrome outfits (complete with make-up) to look like the old black & white Flash Gordon serial. However, they’d missed registration through no fault of their own.
The Cosplay was again a real highlight od Sci-Fi Weekender this year. So many fabulous and imaginative outfits, I couldn’t pick a favourite. My thanks to all who agreed to me to take a photo – you’re all superstars!
In the late evening, I popped over to the Prog Rock arena to see Rick Wakeman. Rick was performing on his own, with just a grand piano. Instrumental versions didn’t really appeal at first, though it turned out to be a fantastic set of lush, almost Classical songs. There was a Sci-Fi tie in with an absolutely wonderful recital of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”, which Rick had preformed on originally. Plus the between song banter was hilarious! 
Back to the Sci-Fi arena for the Cosplay finals – which saw a hard fought contest eventually won by the young Tim Burton character family! We ll done! Then it was party time, with characters from all conceivable franchises across the genre seeing the weekend out in style.
It was a long trip back to the real world. We met some awesome people, saw a few familiar faces from last year, and had a great time. Here’s to next year. If only I had a Tardis, I could do it all again…
I have dozens of photos left. I’ll do a bonus section as per last year in the coming weeks.
The Sci-Fi Weekender website is here.
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The Prog Rock website is here.
Platinum Al's Virtual Hot Tub 