This one goes out to the one I love

Friday 21 May – It's nine months ago since Skint last played at The Terrace in York. We saw them six months ago in O'Neills and thirteen months ago at The Terrace, so we're averaging catching them every six months. Why? Because they're pretty damn good, that's why. Skint are: Rich Graves (lead vocals), Stew King (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Moore (drums), Gav Cator (rhythm/lead guitar), and Paul Teasdale (bass/vocals). Paul also plays bass in Breathing Space. They play modern indie and classic rock covers, and they do it very well indeed.

It took a while for the guardian of peace (bouncer) to get the patio cleared so that the doors could be closed allowing the band to start playing so we had a bit of a late kick-off, maybe 21:30. They went straight into R.E.M's The One I Love for their sound check and then they were away; Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict A Riot) QotSA (No One Knows), The Editors (An End Has A Start), Kings of Leon (Red Morning Light) Green Day (Basket Case), Blur (Song 2), Jet (Are You Gonna Be My Girl), Green Day (Boulevard Of Broken Dreams), Stereophonics (Dakota), Oasis (Champagne Supernova), Kings of Leon (Molly's Chambers), The Kooks (She Moves In Her Own Ways), Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars), Rolling Stones (Jumping Jack Flash), Simon & Garfunkle (Mrs Robinson), The Automatic (Monster), Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen In Love), Fratellis (Chelsea Dagger), Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor), The Hives (Hate To Say I Told You So), and Electric Six (Gay Bar).

The highlight for me was the rocked-up version of Mrs Robinson, whilst the lowlight was Gay Bar. Not necessary. They have plenty of good songs in their repertoire; please remove from your set-list. Overall, as before, highly recommended. See you in about six months guys.

Hey girl in your summer blouse walking down the beach road from your house

Saturday 15 November - was the second outing of the weekend, commencing with a visit to Akbar's in York, an Indian restaurant that I hadn't tried before. It was nice and roomy inside and, for 18:00 on a Saturday, surprisingly packed. The service was excellent and we could see all the chefs beavering away in the kitchen. The pickle tray was superb and for the main course I had a prawn balti which was tasty and spicy, about as hot as was comfortable for me. After eating we made our way to the Grand Opera House in York to watch "Music of the Commitments" featuring two of the original cast of the Peter Parker film. The music was great and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but... (drags soap box into view...) For me there are two main types of music; stuff you sit down for (Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn), and stuff you stand up for (everything else). Some music appeals on a mental/emotional level, and some at a physical/emotional level. The Commitments music, being soul, is firmly in the second category so what possesses the promoters to put such shows on in a seated venue is beyond me. Back to this show in particular and I really did enjoy the music, I sang along and stood up and danced (in my limited way) in a tiny space between the seats, but I really didn't appreciate being introduced to every member of the band three times during the performance, listen to rubbish jokes between the songs, and I don't need to be told when to clap along. Grrrr.

Friday 14 November - kicked off a long weekend of music starting on Friday with a different watering hole to haunt, O'Neill's in York, an Irish bar which of course confuses me when I try to get a beer, so I ended up with a pint of Caffery's. That was OK. I was a little early so worked my way to the back of the bar where the band were busy doing their sound checks and found a tall chair to sit on and try to look cool. I think it may have worked rather too well as I was immediately pounced upon by a youngish lady who was obviously a smoker and pretty much wasted already. Fortunately I adopted my excellent "I can't see you, go away and pester someone else" pose and despite laying her extremely cold hands on my upper thighs she soon gave up to be sick somewhere outside. A and H turned up a little later and we were also joined by Legs Elanovitch, the Russian spy-mistress.

The reason we were here was to watch a band that we had seen before, Skint (and on FaceSpace). Skint are: Rich Graves (lead vocals), Stew King (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Moore (drums), Gav Cator (rhythm/lead guitar), and Paul Teasdale (bass/vocals). Paul also plays bass in Breathing Space. They played a superb set of modern indie/rock covers. Due to the fact that in order to avert a new Cold War I was obliged to neck a vodka between pints #2 and #3, my brain was left a little woolly but I managed to blag the set list (actually a list of band names or songs titles but not both) and have re-assembled it for your delectation: The Strokes (Last Night), Kings of Leon (Molly's Chambers), Oasis (Supersonic), The Kooks (She Moves In Her Own Ways), Editors ( All Sparks), Artic Monkeys (Scummy Man), Green Day (Boulevard Of Broken Dreams), Wombats (Kill The Director), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict A Riot) QotSA (No One Knows), Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars), Kings of Leon (Red Morning Light) Graham Coxon (I can't remember the name of this one!?!), Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen In Love), Therapy (Screamager), Jet (Are You Gonna Be My Girl), The Automatic (Monster), Velvet Revolver (can't remember this one either), Fratellis (Chelsea Dagger), Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor), Electric Six (Gay Bar), and The Hives (Hate To Say I Told You So).

Skint are a really top notch covers band, and I'm not on commission, honest guv.

Sucker love is heaven sent/You pucker up, our passion's spent.

Friday 4 April – A rather cosmopolitan feel to our Friday this week. There’s me and A of course, Yorkshire passports all stamped and in order. H is across from Holland, and we were also joined by South Afrikaan G, plus the mad Russian Legs Elanavic and her Norwegian trawlerman friend. I arrived at The Terrace just as York covers band $kint were about to fire up.

Skint (I’ll spell them the normal way now) consist of Rich Graves (Lead Vocals), Stewart King (Lead/Rhythm Guitars), Ian Moore (Drums/Percussion), Gav Cator (Rhythm/Lead Guitars), and Paul Teasdale (Bass/Vocals). They did covers including: Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars), Placebo (Every You Every Me), The Hives (Hate to Say I Told You So), Oasis (Supersonic), Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor), Electric Six (Gay Bar), Kings of Leon (Molly Chambers), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict a Riot), Green Day (Boulevard of Broken Dreams), The Automatic (Monster), The Strokes (Last Night), The Buzzcocks (Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)), and more...

They were stonkingly good as evidenced by the abundance of crazy dancing people. Crazy John, your tips for the Grand National were rubbish. Crazy Jackie, say hello to Janie. Crazy Fran, hope you get your Masters in HR (clever lady).

I was looking forward to a sports filled remainder of the weekend but was sadly disappointed with the WBA v Pompey match. Even though Pompey is my birthplace, it was a poor showing by the Premier side and the single goal they scored was a blatant handball. The Barnsley v Cardiff match didn’t sound much better. An early goal from Cardiff putting the kybosh on Barnsley’s cup hopes and pretty much stifling the rest of match. Please, let’s not talk about the F1. Hamilton was slow off the start and quickly dropped back down the field. On lap 1 he seemed to make contact with the rear of Alonso, possibly compromising the handling of the car, to the extent that on lap 2 he mistimed a turn and ripped the front wing off when his car climbed over the back of Alonso’s. Nil points for Hamilton then. Meanwhile, up the front, Kubica had started from pole position, but the Ferrari brothers managed to drag him back down to third place by the finish of the race. Still, Doctor Who came back on our screens so all was not lost.