This is really another gallery test....these are all* the images I've had highlighted (deemed as outstanding by the site moderators) on my moblog at MoblogUK. [gallery] *Some images are missing as the new Wordpress gallery function is misbehaving, I'll add them at a later date once the bugs are ironed out.

I've upgraded my blog to Wordpress version 2.5, so I thought I'd test the built in gallery function with a few photos from a recent stag do my brothers and I went on... [gallery]

On Friday I visited Brighton for the first time. Steph, Stat and I went down primarily to see The Deciphers play, but also to catch up with Chloe & Antony and to check out the city. Unfortunately due to over sleeping (the alarm didn't go off), we didn't get there until nearly 3pm (it's a 4 hour drive), but we still had enough time to have a look around - and we liked what we saw. After meeting up with Chloe & Antony and depositing our luggage at their flat we headed off to 'The Lanes' - Brighton's historic quarter, which is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways filled with dozens of shops, boutiques, bars, cafes and galleries, selling everything you can possibly imagine. Many of these are brightly painted and adorned with graffiti or sculptures - it really is one of the most interesting and 'vibey' places I've been, Steph and I both loved it and vowed to return so we could explore some more. Before long I was daydreaming about what it must have been like in the swinging 60's - the place is bohemian enough now, it would have been amazing in the 60s and 70s! We wandered around aimlessly for a couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere, dipping in and out of shops - Steph bought a cowboy hat and some new sunglasses (she really looked like she belonged there!) and I searched in vain for some slip-on vans trainers, but as usual nowhere stocked my freakishly large shoe size. Before long Steph, Stat and I (along with Chloe's friend Shona who's visiting from Australia) made our way to the sea front. Living where we do, home is about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK, so there was no chance of us going all the way to Brighton and not making it to the beach! We headed straight for the Pier to soak up some classic British seaside culture - along the way we introduced Shona to 'chavs'. Unsurprisingly the whole Pier experience was a little tacky - as is British seaside resort fashion, but it was fun to walk along the Pier taking photos and seeing what was going on. Shona headed back to the flat and the three of us enjoyed fish and chips on the Pier for tea - how very English! After a little more wandering, we decided to make our way to The Barfly where the boys were playing at. We arrived to find no one there, but after a phone call and some slightly over-complicated directions (thanks Michael!) we found everyone at a a nearby bar - they were all eating what looked like the most amazing Thai food, it was completely out of place in the type of bar it was and I secretly wished I'd had their food instead of Fish & Chips on the Pier. A couple of ice cold beers later (it was a hot day and we'd done a lot or walking!) everyone made their way to the venue for the gig. I'm not sure whether it was the sea air, or maybe the Thai food - but the boys were on fire! I wasn't sure they'd make it to the end of the set due to the amount of energy dispensed during the first 3 songs - but they did, and the whole gig was brilliant. It was definitely their best performance together so far - and definitely a glimpse into what is hopefully the not too disant future when they're playing in a different town every night to a room full of adoring fans. I was really proud of them that night, and proud to be able to witness it happening. Post-gig we chatted to friends, caught up with some people we hadn't seen for a while, and generally had a good time drinking and talking. Not long before the witching hour we headed back to the flat - what followed was a hot and sticky sleepless night - not exactly what the doctor ordered the night before a 4 hour drive home! By 8:15am the next day we were sat in a cafe imaginatively named 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' eating sausage and egg sandwiches. By 9am we had hit the road and were heading north back to the Midlands, in serious need of some sleep. Thank you Brighton, we'll be back! Update: My photos can be found here and Steph's are here. [tags]Brighton,The Deciphers,Brighton Pier,Brighton Lanes [/tags]

this image was originally posted to moblog.co.uk by user James

18 months after their last (somewhat ill-fated) gig my cousin's band 'The Deciphers' finally hit the stage again last night. The boys have been working hard behind closed doors with their recently-appointed new guitarist Adam, and things are beginning to come together nicely. Last night was a big step for them and understandably after not playing since August '05 everyone was on edge a little. Fortunately things went really well, and the set was warmly received by the audience - thanks to everyone that showed up, it made a difference having such a good turn out! So now it's onwards and upwards...next gig March 3rd at the Jug Of Ale in B'ham, more info at www.thedeciphers.com [tags]The Deciphers, Barfly, Birmingham,[/tags]

At 6am this morning 14 Greenpeace protesters climbed on top of the Admirality Arch in London forcing the closure of The Mall. The protesters then hung a huge banner accusing Tony Blair of 'trashing another rainforest'. Greenpeace are protesting at the government's use of illegally logged timber for the renovation of the cabinet office. Read more at BBC News here. In addition to this - I awoke this morning to find the Greenpeace protesters have set up a moblog at www.moblog.co.uk and have been posting photos and video footage live from their rooftop protest! What a great way to use moblogging technology! The image above is one of those taken by the protesters. To see more click here, and to watch a video (shot on a mobile phone) of Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace Executive Director explaining why they're protesting today, click here! [tags]Greenpeace, Protest, Protesters, Timber, Rainforest, Banner, Admirality Arch, The Mall, London, Moblog, MoblogUK, Tony Blair, Government, Cabinet Office[/tags]

imgimg Had a busy couple of days. On Monday I went down to London for Immi's Bush Hall gig - arrived at the venue about 4pm after Chloe cancelled lunch cause she didn't get out of bed in time - lazy student! (Only joking Clo ;-)). When I got there Immi was already there along with Kumar, Ingmar and Matt of Fruit Pie fame - all very nice gentlemen I have had the pleasure of spending many hours on tour buses and at gigs with, so it was nice to catch up with them. A whole host of other people from the London crowd that I only ever see when I go down there showed up too, so it was extra-nice to see them all. Hung out with Mr Mills of The Lucky Nine and assorted other people....always good to catch up with friends you don't see very often. As I was there and had my hands free I ended up being trusted with the job of 'candle technician' (or 'twisted firestarter' as I preffered to call myself) and was left in charge of placing and lighting candles on stage for Imogen's set. Now, being the highly experienced and fire-safety minded professional that I am - I had no problems doing this, I knew all about the health & safety laws and everything. Honest. I said beforehand I'd happily do this, but wouldn't take responsibility if the venue burnt down mid-gig! I knew where the fire extinguisher and nearest fire exit was though, so everything was under control. Luckily all the candles I'd melted/stuck onto cdrs and placed on various flight cases around the stage survived the show without falling over and setting fire to anything, or melting hot wax onto any important equipment! Looking at a few photos from the show afterwards the candles looked pretty ace too - so top marks to whoever came up with that idea, even if it was me that implemented it and ended up with hot wax all over my hands and clothes! The photo above is a shot someone in the audience snapped of me 'tech-ing' the candles during change-over...my friend's like to call me 'Doug The Roadie' - my gig alter-ego. The show was brilliant - with Immi switching between a grand piano on the floor in front of the stage and he full-on high-tech space-age set up on the stage. She played a mixture of songs spanning her entire career, which seemed to go down well with the crowd who she had in the palm of her hand from the second she took to the stage. I've never been to a gig where EVERYONE was absolutely silent for the duration of every single song - no chatting at the back, or clinking of glasses throughout, just silence - it was very special! The crowd were also like-minded enough that when Immi suggested the first few rows sit while she played the piano (so those at the back could see) that they ALL sat down - all 400 people sat and watched her playing the big old grand piano. I can't wait for the next London show at The Scala on Feb 7th - it's another great venue, very different to Bush Hall and I think the whole set up for the show will be different, but it'll be just as good I'm sure! After leaving Bush Hall I got a lift over to Saint Paul's Cathedral where I met up with my good friend Jo. She was staying in a hotel right by the Cathedral while she was working in London, so I had a place to stay and got to see her too which was most pleasant! When I awoke on Tuesday morning I realised I was very near Fleet Street and thus very near 'The Temple Church' that I'd been reading about in 'The Da Vinci Code' the day before, so I whipped out my A-Z of London and set off in search of the Church (nice rhyme there!). I found the Church/Temple via Starbucks and a Vanilla latte (Mmmmmm) and took some photos while looking around the outside of the building. Unfortunately the Church isn't open to visitors on Mondays & Tuesdays so I wasn't able to go inside, but it was still cool to visit somewhere I'd just read about in a fictional book! Shortly after I jumped on the tube to Euston and got on the train back to Brum. I'd had the worse night's sleep I'd had for ages for some reason, so I'm still feeling warn out now....think I'm going to go and watch a documentary about Churchill's bodyguard and then go to bed. Oh - I posted photos of my adventure on my moblog, check 'em out...

Oh yes! Yesterday I enjoyed a very nice day out in Birmingham my friend Steph. It started as a 'let's meet up and have a coffee for an hour or so' and ended in an all day, drinking lots of coffee, eating food and drinking beer type of event. So that was a lot of fun, many words were spoken and many footsteps taken....Birmingham City Centre really is quite nice on a blustery Autumn Sunday, picturesque and not too busy. We checked out the latest outdoor photo exhibition to hit Birmingham, an a amazing set of Wildlife photos by a photographer called Steve Bloom (check him out here), some of his photos are so amazing they look like paintings, and some capture a moment of such natural awe and action that they're breath-taking. Well worth checking out. Also worth checking out if you haven't already (I hadn't!) is Starbucks' Vanilla Latte! I've drunk regular latte for years, even put Vanilla sprinkles on top of it...but the Vanilla Syrup one is delicious, so thanks to Stephenie for the recommendation! All we need now is a Starbucks in Walsall.....it's only a matter of time, so come on you corporate bastards - come and make money out of me and my friends! ;) So....England beat Poland, finished top of the group....and Villa beat Blues who are now in the relegation zone - all is right in the world of Football! Bloc Party were pretty damn good last Thursday, really enjoyed the gig...the night after that I caught 'The Feeling' in Wolverhampton...nice to catch up with the guys who I'd not seen for a couple of years and their new band is ace, quite quirky poppy indie...reminded me of Queen and Jellyfish, maybe a bit of early Supergrass and the poppier side of New Radicals, definitely worth checking out when they tour next year....massive choruses that you can't help but tap your foot, nod your head to and wake up singing the next morning. Just what the doctor ordered! Saturday night was spent out and about in Walsall, visiting more than one pub (somewhat of a rarity) and ending up in 'The Trough' (as it used to be called)....a proper dirty rock club, with loud rock music blasting all night...and loads of dudes that look like Nick Oliveri. A good time was had by all. Today I bought another album from Pearl Jam's 'official bootlegs' series. For their current North American tour they have a new download shop where for 10 dollars you buy the full gig (in this case 2 and half hours long) in hi quality MP3s format (better quality that the tracks iTunes sell), custom printable artwork for each show and I also got 19 hi-res photos of the show....all for about 6 quid! I choose to buy the recording of their recent Toronto gig because Bono had appeared on stage with them and sung Neil Young's 'Keep On Rockin In The Free World'. Bono and Vedder were in fine form with Eddie paying homage to U2 earlier in the show (all of U2 were watching from the wings) and later Bono repaid the compliment when adlib-ing in the song. Two very cool statesmen of rock, both with a killer sense of humour. The Toronto set also had quite a few songs I haven't heard them do live many times on the recordings I have, and also a cover of 'Harvest Moon' by Neil Young (they refer to him as 'Uncle Neil' and were playing in his home-country!).....so that was an added bonus. Eddie's on stage banter is great as ever too. Tomorrow I don't have many plans.....Wednesday I meeting up with Kerrie, and Thursday hooking up with an old friend who I've not seen much of for the last couple of years, could be a bit of a reunion of sorts which should be interesting. The weeks keep flying by at the moment, which I suppose is a good thing. It'll be Christmas before I know it and I'll need to be buying loads of presents.....I'm already planning! Still if time is flying, it must be because I'm enjoying myself, right?

There's some amazing photos of the Foo Fighters (and other great bands) by Brantley Gutierrez HERE.

So I watched the shuttle launch earlier today and it was really amazing! Even having watched them before, it was really nerve-racking and exciting. I was kind of worried it was going to explode on take off or something, but all appeared to go well and within a minute it was 35 miles up in the sky travelling at 3,2000 mph....it got upto 21,000 mph before the TV cameras couldn't see it! Then when the shuttle seperated from the rocket in space, (which you could see happening from a camera attached to the rocket) it seemed to be moving *really* slowly, despite the fact it was actually moving at a stupid amount of mph! I found this photo on the BBC News site, so thanks Getty Images for taking it ;-) I think I want to be an astronaught!