Friday was a great night. I reviewed the event for Buzz Magazine. Click HERE for the review on the Buzz website. Buzz Magazine is Wales’ leading independent entertainment, lifestyle, and cultural guide with previews and reviews on the arts, film, food+drink, literature, music, events, gigs, travel and Welsh culture.
One of the highlights for me, apart from hearing all the hits from Nile Rodgers and Chic, was hearing Cry by Godley and Creme, as Lol Creme now plays guitar and sings for the Trevor Horn Band:
I was back there again on the Sunday for Paul Weller!
Dude Wheres My Pans are a Swansea based street food vendor consisting of partners Stu and Danny. They started out in 2021 and describe their pop up kitchen as “banging food coming straight from the disco kitchen”
I love Mexican food and so when I heard that they were serving tacos at Hippos, a really nice bar on the High Street I called in for lunch. It was a busy Saturday as there was also a drum and bass all-dayer, HEFT being held at the venue:
The dudes served up three beef brisket and short rib tacos, accompanied by mozzarella cheese, red onions, fresh coriander and nachos. Their beef had been slow cooked for nine hours and it was sourced locally. We were also served a meaty broth, which we dipped our tacos and nachos into. It’s always nice to have something extra isn’t it. There was a vegan option available, and my friends Liz and Juan also ordered crispy skin on fries with a Cajun mayo dip. Yummy!
We enjoyed our lunch – it was a great couple of hours, and no doubt after we left Stu and Danny would have been slamming their tacos all day and well into the night.
If you want to find out where Dude Wheres My Pans are popping up next, or you would like to book them for your event, click HERE for their face book page, and here is the link for their Instagram page:
Founding member of Depeche Mode Andrew Fletch Fletcher has died. Depeche Mode were the pioneers of electronic music in the 80’s and The Singles Collection 81-85 was the sound-track of my youth. Just listening to the album again makes you realise what they had achieved by 1985. The rest they say is history.
It’s not just the music, it’s the lyrics as well. For example in Get the Balance Right:
Be responsible, respectable Stable but gullible Concerned and caring Help the helpless But always remain Ultimately selfish
And People are People:
So we’re different colours and we’re different creeds And different people have different needs It’s obvious you hate me though I’ve done nothing wrong I’ve never even met you, so what could I have done
Croeso means welcome in Welsh and it’s Tapas Tuesday every Tuesday at the Croeso Lounge in the Mumbles! From 5pm the offer is 3 tapas dishes and a 175ml glass of house wine. I had the hummus dish, served with chickpeas, garlic chili oil and ciabatta, the salt and petter squid and buttermilk fried chicken plus a glass of house red – all for £11.50. Can’t go wrong really.
They cater for all, including those who are gluten free, vegans and kids – plus your dog as it’s dog friendly. There is outside seating, with two floors inside, and it is situated on the Mumbles sea front, now known as Oyster Wharf. There is no need to book. Other deals include:
Cick HERE for more info about the Croeso Lounge and other Lounges in the UK.
Fabric Presents is a mix series by London’s Fabric. The latest release features TSHA. It’s a great mix!
Click HERE for the review on the Buzz website. Buzz Magazine is Wales’ leading independent entertainment, lifestyle, and cultural guide with previews and reviews on the arts, film, food+drink, literature, music, events, gigs, travel and Welsh culture.
TSHA wants to pay it forward with this mix – for us to find out more about the artists., and I’m doing that. I went down a bit of an old school rabbit hole, and found the track Hypa by Uncle Knows.
It samples Sound Clash (Champion Sound) by The Kick Squad from 1990 – how cool is that!
Absolutely over the moon to hear about a series of Northern Soul Events in Swansea! I went to one in April. Here is the flyer:
It was fantastic, and the venue is perfect with a spacious wooden floor for dancing.
The next event is the weekend of 2nd July:
The host is Soul Mafia and you can click HERE for their facebook page. It’s the same weekend as the Air Show which will be held a few yards from the Patti on the sea front.
On a very windy and wintery night in February, I went to Garuda in Swansea, where chef Suriyani Watcyn-Jones,(Ani) and husband Steve have been serving Indonesian food for 22 years. Based on St Helen’s Road, it is still the only Indonesian restaurant in Wales. As we walked through their inviting door, and leaving the red weather warnings behind us we were welcomed by aromatic smells, lots of chatter and a few corks popping.
It’s a small and cosy restaurant and the only unoccupied table was ours – a full house then at 730pm. The menu has been chosen with great care, and there is so much choice. It includes a variety of meat, fish and rice dishes, including satays, where the meat has been skewered, grilled and served with a tasty crunchy peanut sauce. Also on the menu are dishes suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
I ordered the Soto Ayam as a starter. It’s a traditional Indonesian chicken soup, with clear noodles, beansprouts and spring onions. You can learn so much from a restaurant by the soup they serve in my opinion, and I could have demolished a big bowl of this as a main course to be fair, but there was so much more to try.
We ordered the traditional beef rendang, a rich slow cooked dish which was described as HOT on the menu, and hot means hot (but if you want it toned down just ask) I also ordered the gule cod, cod cooked in spicy coconut milk, fresh chilli, turmeric, ginger, coriander, galangal, lemon grass, onion and salam leaf.
It was so good, a delicate balance of flavours. All this was served up with sticky coconut rice. You can bring your own wine if you like and there are soft drinks, teas and coffees available too.
Indonesia is the world’s largest island country, made up of over seventeen thousand islands, and you can taste it’s food at 18 St Helen’s Road Swansea SA1 4AP.
A decent 4 hour drive on a Sunday from Swansea, no stopping. The hotel we stayed at was the YOTEL – Deansgate Formerly Qbic. It was great – ticked all the boxes.
First up we went to the ‘Use Hearing Protection – The early years of Factory Records’ exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum. It includes the first 50 artefacts from the official Factory catalogue and the exhibition explains how the label played an influential part in the city’s transformation from an ‘industrial powerhouse to a beacon of art and culture.’ Here is a photo of the founders, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
Factory worked with local businesses like printers, engravers, paper manufacturers , and equipment hire companies. A graphic design industry emerged and so too did independent record labels. There is information on the Situationist International, which was a radical political and philisophical movement which urged youth rebellion against the commercialisation of modern society – mainly via students and Punk.
Here’s the timeline:
The Hacienda was built and I danced there!
There is a also a great section showing what life was like growing up in Manchester at that time:
“Kids made their own entertainmet in society before games consoles and social media. A sence of freedom and exploration that current generations no longer grow up with “
Food for thought.
Quick change back at the hotel and a lovely tapas at El Gato Negro and then it was Tricky at the O2 Ritz – originally a ballroom built in the 1920’s.
Fall to Pieces is his new album and features Marta Zlakowska’s on vocals. I was blown away I must admit. Definately want to go and see him again. Here is a short video and a pic:
I asked for a set list and was given this:
My mate Liz collects posters and I’m sure this will be up on her wall.
First of all the venue – the Grand Pavilion Porthcawl is charming. Built in 1932, it’s housed in an octagonal dome and it’s really close to the seafront. The event was well organised and the staff were friendly and helpful.
Originally the venue was intended for hosting tea parties, balls and civic functions and on a mild night in November it welcomed on stage John Lydon.
John Lydon has performed in over 50 venues with his ‘I Could be Wrong I Could Be Right’ tour and this was one of his last dates.
It was an odd gig to be fair, a random 90 minutes of opinions and memories. He paid respect to Sid Vicious by asking us to sing Fernando by ABBA with him. Mr Lydon told us that Sid Vicious loved ABBA, they were his favourite band. He talked a little bit about the proposed use of Sex Pistols recordings in a six-part television series. Despite asking for details of the script or screenplay, he still does not know any. There were a few expletives on offer here.
On Alzheimer’s he advised us to never ask those suffering from the disease questions, as this can cause confusion. He talked at length on his love for his wife Nora. On the likes of Steptoe and Son and Tommy Cooper, he said that this was British humour at his best, he could be right. I think he said that Donald Trump was an ordinary guy, he could be wrong. His parents taught him how to read and write by the age of 5. He spoke of how important that was, he is definitely right.
There was a question and answer session at the end, on topics such as the indecency trial in 1977 surrounding the use of the word ‘bollocks.’ Apparently the word was originally derived from an Anglo Saxon term for a small ball, and was also used as a 19th Century nickname for clergymen. They won the case.
At the end we all stood up and danced and sang with him to RISE by Public Image Limited, it’s a great song. John Lydon, ex front man to one of the most rebellious bands ever, could be wrong, he could be right – just like the rest of us.
