Journal Entries
The Storys live 21 September 2007
Posted Sep 22, 2007
Hello people,
Saw the Storys last night at an old pub in Portsmouth. They are a great band. I've seen them once before when they played in my home town's theatre.
They absolutely raised the roof. The place was packed. They played some old stuff, and they've just finished recording a new album so they played some stuff from that, too.
They were saying to spread the word about their music, so check out their site: www.thestorys.com (I think)
I guess you should be able to hear some of their stuff there. If you like the Eagles you'll like the Storys cos their trademark is three-five part harmonies. Take the Eagles acoustic sound, but throw in some rock a la Crowded House (and some pretty cool guitar solos) and I reckon you get a good idea of the kind of music I'm talking about. They've had some songs played on radio 2 (I Believe in Love and Roll Like a Stone) and have supported Elton John on his tour.
Anyway, I have an extra story about the Storys...:
It's quite a small venue and I was sat right near the stage to the side. At the pub they have a separate area for the band to get sorted before they go on stage. I was right near the doors to this area. While I was listening to the support band, Steve Balsamo (lead singer from the Storys) came out to listen to the band too, around where I was. He then went and sat down right beside me a few minutes later! 
Maybe he thought it was a good place to 'hide', as he had his back to most of the rest of the pub while he listened to the set. I pretended I didn't know he was there cos he was just minding his own business really, and I didn't want to hassle him. Someone did recognise him later and came up asked for a specific song as a dedication, which he was fine with. I did turn round to look at him at one point and must've pulled a weird face (sorry Steve!) cos he looked at me with that 'I've just been recognised' expression.
I was able to get my CD card signed by the whole band later. They're really nice guys and are really approachable.
Great gig. 
Kaz.
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Latest reply: Sep 22, 2007
journalist at last...
Posted Aug 11, 2007
Got the first of my certificates through this week for my National Council for Training of Journalists prelim exams. Finally got it all on paper! I passed both my Media Law papers, both my Public Affairs papers (Local and Central Govt.)and News Writing (of course..)
Now I'm just waiting for my sub editing certificate...
Didn't get shorthand unfortunately, but can have another shot at that..
Discuss this Journal entry [46]
Latest reply: Aug 11, 2007
Keane, Live at the o2 Stadium, 21 July 2007
Posted Jul 22, 2007
Got back from the gig last night. Apparently it was being recorded for a forthcoming DVD release.
The band themselves were great-they played their hearts out, and Tom really works the stage, but the sound engineers were really poor. The support band were Ghosts (not cherry ghosts), and I quite like some of their stuff. I was keen to see what they would be like, but the sound engineers did such a poor job that vocals were drowned out by the rythmn guitar and bass, and I was unable to hear any of the set properly, cos I just got a horrible fuzzing sound in my ears from the reverb 
.
The engineers failed to sort the problem by the time Keane came on. At one point there was feedback on the treble of Tim's keyboard, and they never really sorted Tom's mic.
The stage was like a kind of T shape-the problem was with the main setup (if you like, at the 'top' of the T).
Later on, they walked down to the middle of the stadium and played at the 'other end of the T' with a different setup-more acoustic:- that was perfect-and you could hear everything.
They did a fantastic version of You Eyes Open, with Tom on acoustic guitar, and Hamburg Song and the Frog Prince were both beautiful-Tom's voice sounded great.
But, as soon as they went back to use the stuff that was miked up at the top of the stage, the problem started again-I figured that Tom's mic was up too high, and it almost sounded distorted-it didn't need to be- he has such a powerful voice.
Anyway, aside from the sound problems, they played brilliant-I'd go and see them again-but definetly not there. I'm not going to the o2 again. It might have been cos I was at the back of the staduim, I dunno, but I felt like I couldn't really sit back and enjoy myself cos the bad setup was distracting (call me and old fart if you like, but it wasn't very nice).
Anyway, the band seemed pretty overwhelmed by the size and scale of it all-Tom admitted he was 'speechless'! Apparently its the biggest place they've played. Somewhere Only We Know was good fun-everyone sang along-pretty much raised the roof!
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Latest reply: Jul 22, 2007
Perfect Alibi-(Pink Floyd Tribute) live 14th April 07
Posted Apr 17, 2007
Finally got to post my thoughts on the gig on Sunday now Hootoo's back up and running again.
Excellent band. 
quite a mixed up set-lots of variety. Some early Floyd (Arnold Layne) but mainly later stuff from Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of The Moon, Delicate Sound of Thunder etc. Their guitarist was very cool .
They started with Shine on You Crazy Diamond, which was excellent, but its difficult to pick a favourite because they were quite good all round. If I had to pick a fave rom the set it would be Comfortably Numb or Learning to Fly, cos I thought those were ace. Their guitarist made the songs his own too, which I thought was good cos David Gilmour's pretty impossible to directly 'impersonate'
They did mainly the more dramatic Floyd stuff, I'd say, except for On The Turning Away, which was a surprise, and Wish You Were Here. I would've liked to hear Us And Them, but they didn't include it.
Now I just want to see David Gilmour in concert even more.....
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Latest reply: Apr 17, 2007
Crowded House are back!
Posted Feb 14, 2007
Crowded House are back!
Neil Finn has announced he is going to reform the band. I know its a bit late news for hootoo, but I haven't had a chance to add a journal entry for ages, and seeing as they talked about it last night on the news, because of the Police reforming too...
Admittedly Crowded House will never be the same without Paul Hester, he's irreplaceable, but like what happened with the recent Queen tour with Paul Rodgers taking vocal duties, whoever the House's new drummer is will be welcomed into the fold as an individual. Its not a matter of 'replacing' anyone.
It will be interesting to see who the new drummer is.
...Hoping for more CH news soon...
Kaz.
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Latest reply: Feb 14, 2007
Kaz
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