Firstly, the pictures from April’s Pin Ups are NOW in the gallery. Fair warning though, they err might not feature as many crowd shots as you hope.. Secondly, tickets for May’s Pin Ups are available at the online store NOW – go get them! They’re just a fiver (entry on the night will be £7).

Now onto the music chat. On Thursday night I responded to an invitation from Pin Ups photographer Martin Craig (who has unfortunately been busy the last few months, hence the gallery snaps have been a bit shoddy) and attended the Temper Trap gig at the o2 Academy. It’s a venue I really don’t like and from what I had heard of them I didn’t think much of the Temper Trap either. So it’s a testament to Mr Craig that I was still up for the action!

The Academy was as grim as usual, largely populated by the seemingly infinite number of neds and 19 year old kids who seem to lap up Academy gigs regardless of who’s actually playing. However I have to admit the Temper Trap weren’t as dreary as I expected. In fact, if they hailed from Brooklyn, and recorded their songs to sound a bit messier, I bet they would get a much less bumpy ride from the critics. It seems a bit contradictory for tastemakers like Pitchfork et al to laud bands such as TV on the Radio and/or The Hold Steady but put the boot into the Temper Trap. Fundamentally it’s all modern rock music - and personally it all holds the same potential to follow conventions and be a bit boring.

Nevertheless the bit of me that likes U2 definitely likes the hit Temper Trap single “Sweet Disposition” and it was nice to see the guys in the band’s faces light up in response to the great crowd reaction for the song. Outwith that obvious highlight the set blended together with a string of undistinguished offerings, presenting me with some very easy opportunities for “isn’t this still the same song?” jokes. Their pre-encore set closer “Drum Song” deserves a bit of credit; it’s catchy. Final song “Science of Fear” was most notable for the fact that upon exiting the gig I found it easy to re-sing the song with lyrics highlighting the song's slavish and crap Radiohead-isms, with verse lyrics about obtaining Thom Yorke’s phone number and a chorus of “I saw Johnny Greeeenwood/He walked right byyyyyy me.”

I guess you had to be there.

I haven’t blogged for a short while because last week I was in New York with my dear old mum, and resisted the urge to take her to see Broken Social Scene in Brooklyn (no doubt the gig got 10/10 on Pitchfork…). Instead the most musical part of our holiday arose when we went to Broadway to see “Million Dollar Quartet” , which I think would be dismissively described by those aware of high art as a “jukebox musical”. (That is, there’s lots of great songs peppered by short and ropey pieces of dialogue.) I’d describe it as “fantastic fun”.

As musical historians amongst you will know, the “Million Dollar Quartet” was Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, who met up at Sun Studios for a once in a lifetime jam session in 1956. The 4 principal actors are former (or current) touring musicians, some in their first acting role, and supported by a bassist and drummer delivered fantastic renditions of a string of 50s classic rock n roll anthems. Special praise should be reserved for Levi Kreis , the actor who chews up the scenery as Jerry Lee Lewis.

Finally I would like to draw to your attention that one of our guest bloggers from April’s Pin Ups, The Pop Cop, has had his blog shut down by Google because of their rather draconian interpretation of US copyright law. The Pop Cop didn’t have a lot of the content backed up and is understandably distressed that 3 years worth of content may go down the pan. All the details can be found at his Music Alliance Pact side project . Why not do a good deed for the day and email support@blogger.com, asking for the blog to be reinstated, or at least for The Pop Cop’s content to be returned to him.

Cheers

John D.x

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Yes folks quicker than you can say boo to a goose or even shake a
lambs tail Pin Up Nights is back again to liven up your last Friday of
the month antics. Thank you once again for coming along in numbers in
March, we’re working hard to keep Pin Ups ahead of the usual Glasgow
clubnight action and have got a couple of fantastic events coming up
over the next few months. I’m not giving too much away just yet but
safe to say The Pin Ups Festival will be back this year (bigger and
better than ever) and our May event might just be a bit special
too.... That said, we’ve not slacked off with the good ideas in the
meantime and this month you're in for a real treat as the ladies and
gents behind 5 of Scotland's very best music blogs take to the decks
at Pin Ups.

Y'know, blogs. Hugely popular and intriguing. It's to do with the
Internet and that.

The Pin Ups website has a blog but it mainly involves John D writing a
daft story every couple of weeks about what bands he has seen and
associated drunken scrapes. The bloggers we have recruited are all
Very Serious and even engage each other in impressive existential
chats about what music blogging should be all about, check it out -
http://www2.jpscotland.co.uk/musicblog/2009/10/editorial-how-many-new-bands-is-too.html

Lloyd of Peenko's Blog ( http://peenko.blogspot.com ), Ed of 17
Seconds ( http://www.17seconds.co.uk ), Jason Pop Cop (
http://thepopcop.blogspot.com ), Nick ( http://www.radar.scotsman )
and Halina ( http://www.glasgowpodcart.com ) will all be playing you
some special selections! These characters know more about whats
happening locally and in the music world in general than most people
you’ll ever see assembled in a small kitchen like space again in your
life. Pick their brains, chat to them in what Pin Ups likes to call
"Terrifying Real Life" and more importantly enjoy what is likely to be
an incredible selection of tunes. (Willie from Rokbun has already DJ'd
at Pin UPs twice but we should mention his blog here too -
http://www.rokbun.com ).

Playing live will be Louise against the Elements, following up their
successful Pin Ups debut at Pin Up Frights in October (
http://www.myspace.com/louiseagainsttheelements ), the globe-trotting
Carmine, a new band by chaps who played Pin Ups way back in 2005 as
Kodiak ( http://www.carmineonline.co.uk ) and the tough-talking and
absolutely barking mad Kung Fu (
http://www.myspace.com/themightykungfu ).

And in amongst it all there will be us Pin Ups DJs keeping the action
unfolding throughout both rooms at the Flying Duck.

To whet your appetite for what is going to be jam-packed night of
action and brilliant music why not check out all the fantastic songs
we played at March's Pin Ups by looking here -
http://www.pinup-nights.co.uk/gig.php , or enjoy March's snaps by
looking here - http://www.pinup-nights.co.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=56
(fair warning, the playlist is more impressive than the
pictures..)....

Lastly, everyones favourite Pin Ups character The Butler celebrates 6
months of Pin Ups life this month! Please feel free to award him a
smooch and a well done on your way in. “The master is expecting
yoooooououuuuuuu”

See you on 30th!!

The Pin Ups Chapsxxx

ps - Pin Ups in May involves These New Puritans, Ipso Facto, HaHaHa
(Frazer from Vendor Defender's new remix side-project), the chaps from
Halleluwah Hits (Glasow's new record shop/label), Gold Future Joy
Machine (an intriguing band from London), Nevada Base (Pin Ups
favourite Glasgow band), Miss the Occupier and Un Cadavre. Advance
tickets for just a FIVER are available at the store at
http://www.pinup-nights.co.uk NOW!!!!

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So, on Thursday I went to see Rufus Wainwright at the Concert Hall. I had never before seen him live and I was pretty excited about it. (I am an absolute pushover for camp chaps performing piano ballads - I saw Elton John in Las Vegas a few years ago and I will honestly say without a trace of irony that it’s one of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve ever been to.)

Rufus has passed the stage where critics thought he might break into the genuine mainstream, and as musicians progress in their career you get concerned about how much of their earlier or classic material you are going to get to hear live. The initial signs at the Rufus gig were far from encouraging. An assistant was deployed to announce to us that the first half of the show would be a “song cycle”, and Rufus would appreciate it if we could remain completely silent during the performance. (For “song cycle” read the dreaded “I am going to play my entire new album”.) An endurance test ensued as Rufus, dressed in some crazy dressing gown/cloak, treated us to “Songs for Lulu” (which is about the death of his mother) in its entirety with hardly a pause between songs, never mind any chat inbetween. Songs for Lulu just hasn’t grabbed me in the way that the rest of his albums have and in my humble opinion it doesn’t merit the “song cycle” treatment.

Thank God then that Rufus re-emerged for the 2nd half “dressed down” (i.e. in waistcoat and trousers) with a much more benevolent attitude. It was all witty one-liners and lots of his best songs. He was clearly tired (he had spent the last month in London working on his new opera) but I think the fact that he made a few mistakes throughout the performance (and could joke about them) added a lot of warmth to the evening. In particular he made a real meal of Poses – stopping it, starting again, then getting the same part wrong again but struggling through and rounding off by saying "wrong wrong wrrrong" in mock horror. Personally I was thrilled to hear The Art Teacher , Memphis Skyline, Dinner at Eight and Going to a Town, and in true showbiz style he definitely left us all wanting more.

On Friday I was supposed to go and see the The Strange Boys at Sleazys. The alert amongst you will spot that “supposed”. What happened was I met up with Pin Ups photographers past and present Martin Craig and Iain Baillie plus lots of other chums to attend some opening events for the Glasgow International festival of contemporary visual art. First stop was the GOMA for Fiona Tan’s Tomorrow exhibition which to be honest I was pretty puzzled by. You can read the description here, which may help you understand why it was funny (but admittedly disrespectful) when Mr Baillie summed up the display by claiming “I could film a bus stop in Barlornock too”.

The odd sparkling white wine or 6 later and we were in the GI Festival Hub on Miller Street, where there was further sparkling wine. I was lapping up the free booze, I mean, my introduction to the art world, and before I knew it, it was 9.15 and I was getting text messages from my ever tasteful pal Peter saying the Strange Boys were coming on-stage at 9.30pm. I was snookered! No wonder artists are caricatured as unreliable drunks! Just one taste of the heady artist lifestyle had deprived me of my ability to keep an appointment and also stripped away any critical faculties - I had forgotten it was a Friday and Sleazys would be wrapping up the gig early so that the basement could be used for club nights. Oops! I should really have gone back to look at the Fiona Tan exhibition at that point, because I bet it would have made a lot more sense. Anyway comedian Phil Kay was in the GI Hub and there were a few dudes kicking about with camera gear. It seems that Phil was on some sort of filmed tour as he also pitched up at Glasgow Podcart’s “Sketchbook” exhibition and there is a wee video of that here at Central Station, Glasgow’s arty-Facebook thing.

I only know the Glasgow Podcart characters through the Blogosphere and have yet to meet them in what I like to call “Terrifying Real Life”. But all that is of course about to change because April’s Pin Up Nights is gonna be a Blogger’s Delight! All the details about it, as well as May’s Pin Ups (Guest DJs These New Puritans) can be read by visiting the “upcoming event” bit of the website.

This is all my banter for the moment! Until next time!

John D.x

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The playlist from Friday night is now in the "Playlist" section. We look forward to plenty of our unusual choices mysteriously cropping up in the playlists of other indie nights over the coming months!

It's actually the first one we've put up since November 2008! Pictures from Friday night are now also in the gallery, though they're not exactly of the Martin Craig quality you have come to expect! But it's the thought that counts, huh? Thank you very much if you made it along, quite a good wee evening given that it was just us Pin Ups chaps and no famous folk or whatnot.x

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Hello, I know people tend to visit this site on the day of a Pin Ups, presumably just to check Pin Ups is on, so I thought I should write a blog update for you. Firstly in case the title of this post is making you chuckle, I insist that "indie disco" is a valid term of music-fan art. I know folk these days talk about "parties" not "discos", but as far as I'm concerned "party" makes it sound like it'll start at 3pm, there'll be a cake with candles, and your gran will pitch up with a card. Pin Ups isn't a "party" - it's for boozed-up ruffians out til 3am. It's an INDIE DISCO! So there!

Now that I've got that off my chest, I think the most notable musical event I’ve been to in the last few weeks was Edwyn Collins at the Mitchell Theatre. He was with his wife Grace, who was reading from her book about Edwyn’s 2005 brain haemorrhage and subsequent recuperation: "Falling and Laughing: the restoration of Edwyn Collins". It’s a wonderful book and great to hear Grace reading it. I wondered if she would be a tad affected or “arty” in real life, but she turned out to be a splendid lady. There was a particularly hilarious moment when she was referring to the interest which the tabloid press took in Edwyn’s illness. “I mean, Edwyn had never been a celebrity” Grace began, before Edwyn interrupted, quick as a flash in a luvvie voice, hand on chest: “Excuse me, Grace”.

Both Edwyn and Grace spoke candidly about his illness, how he had to rediscover his love of music, and how his halting speech continues to affect people’s perceptions of him. Accompanied by a pianist and guitarist (who I think was from Little Barrie?), Edwyn then performed a short “greatest hits” set. It was quite odd for the musicians but they warmed to the task and final song “Girl Like You” came far too quickly.

As for the Indie Disco Scouting Missions referred to in the blog title, I like nothing better when I'm in a foreign city than checking out it's INDIE DISCOS. (And it's not just me who has this borderline disease - check out this fabulous article + comments on the drownedinsound website). So, I was down in Birmingham (with Pin Ups chaps Baillie and Butcher Cassidy, amongst others) last week seeing our friend Simon (who despite living in Birmingham was at 3 Pin Ups last year!), and on the Friday night we all ended up in and INDIE DISCO SCOUTING MISSION at Birmingham Academy to enjoy the self-proclaimed “UK’s biggest indie night” Propaganda. I know “indie” is a very damaged term these days but I’d class the night as very much, at best, “Landfill Indie”. It was all very reminiscent of Glasgow’s very own APeeC, with an equally slippy floor and possibly even more atrocious playlist.

I’m not sure if it is X Factor or Glee that has made “Don’t Stop Believin” fashionable, but anyway rumour has it that when it came on around 3am a chap in our company was inspired to scenes of “taps aff” nudie-chested abandon, to the total bewilderment of not just the rest of us but also the Brummie punters! Apart from that bit of incredible action I didn’t think too much of the Propaganda "experience" - "UK's top indie club" my arse! I believe you can do an “indie disco” without having to play a load of tripe – hopefully we will prove that tonight.

The Saturday night in Birmingham was a more civilised affair. Myself and Butcher shrugged off Friday's fatigue and managed to stay out a bit later and ended up in a quirky little place, I’m sure you won’t have heard of it, it was really tasteful and exclusive and called (cough) “Walkabout”! Deary me. And that was after being knocked back from the 80s Reflex Bar! Overall it’s fair to say that as Indie Disco Scouting Missions go, the weekend wasn’t exactly a roaring success! But we had FUN and that's all the matters. In the car back up we also heard a mind-warping conversation between our Ladies Night Hunky Secret Treat Justin Currie and Billy "Shotgun" Sloan on Clyde 1. Two amazing legends in one studio! We're lucky the world didn't explode!

Last night I went to see Dave Gorman at the King’s Theatre. As is always the way with Mr Gorman’s shows, I can’t reveal too much as it might spoil the surprises. I don’t think the show was as consistently funny as other shows he has put together in the past, but it still has some terrific moments and he is a very talented man.

I’m away now to make up some “zone”-based decorations for tonight’s Pin Ups. What do I mean? You’ll have to come along to find out! It’s not just Dave Gorman that likes to keep surprises under wraps!! xx

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