THE FRIDAY FIVE – 30.12.2011

1. Big Foote – Crazy Crazy Nights
2. Voice Of The Beehive – Monsters and Angels
3. The Ramones – Needles and Pins
4. UB40 – Sing Your Own Song
5. Showaddywaddy – Under The Moon Of Love

So, this is the last Friday Five of 2011, here’s hoping i’ll be listing five songs for you on a weekly basis throughout 2012.

Happy New Year to all blog readers

Last week was the 9th anniversary of the death of Joe Strummer. I forgot to do a Clash Top Five last week, so i’ll do it this week.

I can still remember that day. Was working in The Globe on a Saturday night. Woke up on the Sunday lunchtime, and put on Ceefax, and the lead story was “PUNK LEGEND JOE STRUMMER DIES AGED 50” as the lead story on 101

And yes, I am aware that there are songs that Mick Jones sings the lead on in my Top Five.

FIVE THE CLASH SONGS

1. Train In Vain
2. London Calling
3. Spanish Bombs
4. Magnificent Seven
5. Guns Of Brixton

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 23.12.2011

Due to unexplainable technical issues, there was no Friday Five last week. Hope this week’s makes up for it.

1. Marina and the Diamonds – Oh No!
2. Phil Lynott – Yellow Pearl
3. Team America – Team America Theme
4. Damien Rice – Cannonball
5. Noah and the Whale – Life Is Life

Last week’s technical fuck-up meant you missed out on the Five Best Songs Ever By An Act From X-Factor.

Shouldn’t be too hard, there are only five listenable tracks by X-Factor acts.

FIVE SONGS BY X-FACTOR ACTS

1. Jedward – Lipstick
2. Diana Vickers – My Wicked Heart
3. Leona Lewis – Forgive Me
4. Diana Vickers – The Boy Who Murdered Love
5. Leona Lewis – Better In Time

Seeing as it’s Christmas, I might as well join in the fun and do a Christmas Five.

Everyone knows what I want for Christmas, and that I don’t want it until 4.45pm on Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas to all readers, hope to fill up the blogosphere with more pictures and music suggestions in 2012.

FIVE CHRISTMAS SONGS

1. Robert Goulet – Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
2. Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas
3. The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping
4. Jonah Lewie – Stop The Cavalry
5. John Lennon – Merry Xmas (War Is Over)

STLFTEM ROUND-UP 2011

Seeing as it’s the end of the year, almost, I thought I’d keep you all up to date with my STLFTEM for 2011.

For those who don’t know, STLFTEM is basically Something To Look Forward To Every Month.

I started it in 2009, and it basically is to have something to go, see or do every month, and look forward to it.

The only rules are that it has to be something seen in person. Therefore, watching Euro 2012 on TV won’t count for June next year.

Also, I can have more than one STLFTEM each month. In fact, I can have as many as I wish.

January was a bit of a cheat, as I went to the Linfield v Glentoran match postponed from 26th December 2010. But, my lifestyle ethos, my rules.

February was a bumper month as I went to Barcelona for a weekend, and then the following Wednesday, I went to see Northern Ireland take on Scotland.

March was also a Northern Ireland match. A 0-0 draw v Slovenia. Yep, that was well worth the wait.

April was a bumper month with a title showdown for Linfield against Crusaders and three matches against Glentoran, one of which was an Irish Cup Semi-Final. Not only that, but there was also the matter of Beady Eye’s first concert in Belfast.

Four wins, and an excellent concert made it a worthwhile month.

May was all about travelling as I went to the UEFA Cup Final, and Manchester United’s last match of the season, against Blackpool.

June was quiet, but I did go and see 3OH!3

July was also quiet, but Linfield playing in Europe and a pre-season friendly against Derriaghy were enjoyable. As I stated earlier, some months are a struggle.

August was busy with the start of the new Irish League season and trips to Edinburgh and Brighton.

September was the Arthur’s Day concert at Ulster Hall (Any my ticket was free)

October was another concert at Ulster Hall, Noah and the Whale. There were fantastic.

I’d hoped that November would be going to the MTV EMAs. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a ticket, so I had to make do with a trip to Old Trafford to see United take on Sunderland.

December will be the Boxing Day match at The Oval. If that bites the dust because of the weather, I’ll make it the Ulster v Aironi match two weeks ago (Again, a free ticket)

Well, that is how i’ve managed to have STLFTEM throughout the year, but I’ve already got some lined up for 2012.

In January, I’m going to see Roy “Catchphrase” Walker as part of the Out To Lunch Festival.

February will be a busy month as I’ll be taking a break to Amsterdam from 3rd-6th, then going to see Noel Gallagher at The Odyssey on 16th, before flying to Manchester on 23rd.

I’m hoping to see United v Ajax. I’ve no ticket sorted as yet, but I’m confident I’ll get one.

Pretty tempted to go and see The Beat at The Limelight in March. Undecided as yet.

August of course, will see me head to Edinburgh for the Festival. If I could afford to, I’d spend the whole month there.

So that, is how I’ve managed to enjoy myself at least once a month this year and how I plan to do so next year.

If you have any suggestions for any of the months, feel free to get in touch and suggest.

THE SOUND OF 2011 : 1-20

So, here it is, the Top 20 songs of the year ……….

1. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – AKA What A Life
2. Noah and the Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N
3. The Pierces – Glorious
4. Jon Fratelli – Santo Domingo
5. The View – Blondie
6. Clare Maguire – The Last Dance
7. Silhouette – Can’t Keep Up
8. Beady Eye – The Roller
9. The Naked And The Famous – Young Blood
10. Girl Crisis – The Sign
11. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – I Wanna Live In A Dream In My Record Machine
12. Scala and Kolacny Brothers – With Or Without You
13. My Chemical Romance – Planetary
14. The Vaccines – If You Wanna
15. Sunday Girl – Stop Hey
16. Pearl and the Puppets – I Do Like You
17. Adele – Rollin In The Deep
18. Nero – You And Me
19. Tone Damli – Butterflies
20. Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

So, congratulations to Noel Gallagher. What A Life ……. What a tune.

There is no prize as such, but if wants to meet up before his Belfast show in February, i’ll buy him a Hungry Hound. It’s only fair.

By the way, the offer of a Hungry Hound is still open to Marina and the Diamonds (2010) and Little Boots (2009) should they ever be in Belfast.

If you haven’t heard ‘AKA …… What A Life’, here’s the video, as well as the previous winners.

Sound Of 2010

Sound Of 2009

Sound Of 2008

Sound Of 2007

Sound Of 2006

2011 IN PICTURES – DECEMBER (SO FAR)

Of course, there’s still nine days left of the month, but as i’m wanting to get this series wrapped up before Christmas, here’s what i’ve got of December so far.

Won tickets for Ulster v Aironi, so I took up the offer of a bit of free Rugger, so I headed to Ravenhill to get some not bad photos.

The following day, I was at Seaview for Linfield’s visit and got some OK photos. Nothing special

I’d hoped to get a better photo of the Linfield mural on Blythe Street.

But alas, there is always a car parked in front of it when I want to get a snap, but I will try and get one.

While I was failing in that task, I did manage to get a nice photo of the winter sun.

Ulster v Aironi

Ulster v Aironi Photo Album

Crusaders v Linfield

Linfield v Glenavon

2011 IN PICTURES – NOVEMBER

Interesting month. I’d hoped to have photos of being at the MTV EMAs, but alas, I was unable to get a ticket.

Without being greedy, I was at the Manchester United v Sunderland game where United fans were able to pay tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson spending 25 years in charge at the club.

I got excellent seats for watching the game, not so excellent for taking photos. Managed to get some nice shots outside the ground, including stickers left by FC Basel fans.

Later that week, I headed to Botanic Gardens to get some arty farty shots of the early morning Winter Sun, some of which turned out well.

Meanwhile, the month saw the unveiling of a new mural commemorating the history of Linfield FC, which, unsurprisingly, I was out to get photos for.

Meanwhile, the end of the month saw me make my first visit to the newly refurbished Seaview, which I was impressed with, and managed to get snap happy at.

FC Basel Stickers

Manchester United v Sunderland

Manchester United v Sunderland Photo Album

Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens Album

Weavers To Winners

Carrick Rangers v Linfield

2011 IN PICTURES – OCTOBER

Not the most productive of months. The highlight of which were going to see Linfield play at Coleraine, and Noah and The Whale in concert.

Coleraine is one of my favourite away grounds to visit, but not when it’s raining, like it was this time (Think it’s the first time i’ve been there when it rained too)

Managed to get some good photos, nothing spectacular, which is to be expected when you are stuck in the same position for 90s minutes.

The following night, I went to see Noah and the Whale at Ulster Hall. They were fantastic. Really cannot speak about how brilliant they were enough.

I’d went to a couple of matches at Windsor Park as well, but unfortunately, it’s not the most friendly ground for amateur phtography, but you can check out the results if you like

Coleraine v Linfield

Noah and the Whale

Linfield Photos

LINFIELD 1-0 GLENAVON 17.12.2011

Not the most exciting of games, but a 1-0 win, which will do I suppose.

Managed to get some photos, nothing special.

Was on a half-day yesterday and had some time to kill, so I headed round to Sandy Row to try and get a better photo than the one I have of the Linfield mural.

Unfortunately, as with every time I try to get a photo, there seems to be a car parked in front of it, thus ruining it.

Anyhow, I managed to get a nice arty photo of Blythe Street.

Enjoy

Photo Album

2011 IN PICTURES – SEPTEMBER

Not the most productive of photography months, especially compared to August.

Got some nice shots of Shamrock Park when I went there to see Linfield lose 2-0 to Portadown.

I was also at the Arthur’s Day conert at Ulster Hall. An enjoyable concert, even if the photos were nothing special.

Linfield v Crusaders

Portadown v Linfield

Arthur’s Day/Culture Night

Kelis

Cashier Number 9

The Enemy

Linfield v Carrick Rangers

THE SOUND OF 2011 : 21-40

21. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Everybody’s On The Run
22. The Pierces – You’ll Be Mine
23. Ed Sheeran – A Team
24. Florence and the Machine – Shake It Out
25. Miles Kane – Come Closer
26. Manic Street Preachers – This Is The Day
27. A Friend In London – New Tomorrow
28. Hurts – Better Than Love
29. The View – Grace
30. Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
31. The Killers – Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
32. Snow Patrol – Called Out In The Dark
33. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – The Adventures Of Raindance Maggie
34. Beady Eye – The Beat Goes On
35. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Death Of You And Me
36. Beady Eye – For Anyone
37. Two Door Cinema Club – Come Back Home
38. Duke Special – I’ll Come When You Call
39. Clare Maguire – The Sword and the Shield
40. The Pipettes – Boo Shuffle