Grow Claws

No. That's not a direction for budding werewolves!!



It's the name of a budding band, from Brighton.

Now. I rarely cover music that's outside of the 'norm', but maybe I have a bias towards these guys and girls.

They describe their music as 'experimental pop', with influences ranging from David Bowie to The Beach Boys and Kate Bush to Adam and the Ants.

The band comprise the following talented people:
Jez Berns - Bass / Vocals
Chris Griffin - Guitar / Vocals
Rob Ling - Drums / Vocals
Alex Painter - Sax / Guitar / Synth / Vocals
Esther Springett - Clarinet / Synth / Vocals

I'm not one to ram music down peoples' throats; it's a very personal taste; however, please give them a listen.  I've included a video below, of their track called "Rubber Ball" (and it's as far from Bobby Vee as you could hope to get)!!

This is wonderful.



They have a fan page on Facebook.

I'd love to know what you think.

From Top Gear With Love - Again

Some of you may have seen this previously, when I posted it back in July.  To my new readers, and Top Gear fans; of which there are many, this is for you.

Just shows you what can be done with a little patience!!!

Here he is - Jeremy Clarkson as you've never seen him before...

AudioBoo on the Blog

Since my post the other day, about AudioBoo, I have now included a feed right here, on this page.  Just look over there, on the right.

No more having to search them out!! I saw you digging around trying to find them!!

You may also notice some other changes, as I've given my blog a spring clean, so I hope you like the new look.  Let me know what you think.

I've also introduced a new Fan Page on Facebook - so to save you looking in multiple places, you can see everything there.  At least, that's the plan.  There's a button, also over there on the right, where you can link to the new page.

Have a great weekend.

The Final Countdown....

Here's a quick trip down memory lane; as I remember a trip to the Monaco Grand Prix.

I don't recall the year, but oh boy, do I remember the experience.  My dad had acquired tickets to THE event on the F1 calendar, and so he and I had an overnight trip for the race.

We flew out of Gatwick (I do remember it was British Caledonian, so that's how long ago it was!) and we flew to Nice on the Saturday.  On the Sunday morning we took the train to Monaco, and soaked up the atmosphere around us.

Our seats were in the grandstand facing the harbour, at Tabac, as the cars headed for the pool.  Spectacular views, in glorious sunshine.

Apart from the race, the over-riding memory was the music being played over the sound-system. The one track, played over and over, was Europe - "The Final Countdown".  Ever since, whenever I hear that, I remember this one quick trip to the South of France.

Dad and I did another overnight trip, this time to the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.  It was in 1994 (the year of Nigel Mansells' one-off return, in place of David Coulthard); and we took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth, and after arriving in Le Havre, we drove down to the circuit; watched the race, then drove back to get the overnight ferry back.  It was an amazing; and spontaneous, day, as we only decided the night before.

Now, it's the Final Countdown to the new 2010 Grand Prix season.  The cars and drivers may have changed, and even the rules; but the excitement is still there.  Over the last few weeks, we have seen them test and tweak their cars, learn more about their handling, and squeeze the best out of the machines.

With the current and previous World Champions in the same team, the re-arrival of Michael Schumacher at Mercedes and Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari; that's FOUR champions in one season - the atmosphere will be electric!!

I'm not sure I'll get to go to Silverstone this year; but I'll be tuning in each race weekend to see the teams; watch the drivers and hope we get a great competition.

You can watch and listen to all the race build up, qualifying and races on the BBC.





You can also follow many of the teams on Twitter  - there's too many to mention, but here's a few:
McLaren - @TheFifthDriver
Virgin - @virginracing
Red Bull - @RedBullRacing

In case you hadn't gathered, I'm a McLaren fan!  Especially after my visit to the McLaren Technology Centre in October last year.

Roll on March 12th - the start of the first weekend, in Bahrain.

Drive Safely.


(Image taken from mclaren.com, without their permission; hope they don't mind)

AudioBoo

Have you seen AudioBoo?



Created for users of the iPhone, it's a verbal blogging / tweeting tool.  In fact, as well as their own site, you can also post or tweet your verbal rants and raves - see below.

Now, as you may have gathered from previous posts, I don't own an iPhone. 
I'm a BlackBerry user. 
Unfortunately, the iPhone seems to have gathered the following where apps are concerned, and AudioBoo is no different.  It has been developed primarily for iPhone users, but the team haven't let that stand in their way.

There is a light!!

The clever chaps who built it, have realised that there is a huge market of non-iPhone users, and have also developed PhoneBoo.  Now, I can dial a number (which is a normal number, so is included in my inclusive minutes) and record my Boo, which is then loaded onto my profile.

If you follow me on Twitter, you can get them there, too!!

Hurrah!!

Below is an example of AudioBoo / PhoneBoo at work.



If you listened to that, you may have picked up on a small issue.  It seems to have clipped the last few seconds.  I will experiment over the next few days, and see if I can work out how to manage that.

Overall, a great idea, that seems to have caught on in quite an imaginative way; around the world.

Not bad.

Stay tuned for more.