Birmingham Post

A strange choice of venue for this rather visceral troupe of portly middle-aged gentlemen, but at least the toilets were nice and clean.

I'd last seen the brothers Mothersbaugh and cohorts at Sheffield City Hall in 1978, a gig memorable for the large plastic sheet which coverered the stage to protect the boards from all the globbets of gob. This was the height of punk, remember.

No such indelicacies at Symphony Hall, thank goodness, but the strange sight of grown men wearing tiered plant pots on their heads. This funny hat is a bit of a uniform for Devo and trade was brisk for them at the merchandising stall. Most disturbing though was the price ticket: £16 for something that would fetch no more than a quid at Webbs of Wychbold. There's one born every minute.

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I'm so glad I didn't go to Glastonbury but watching it on TV was a lark. The Arctic Monkeys were their usual brilliant selves and Birmingham's Twang seemed to make the most of their time on stage. Iggy Pop stole the show though proving that you can still teach old dogs new tricks.
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Festival news closer to home from The Big Chill's head honcho Pete Lawrence. There'll be a longer piece about Pete and the festival at Eastnor Castle Deer Park next week, but remember, it's only five weeks away and tickets are selling fast. Latest on the bill are Post favourites, Guillemots, but Pete Lawrence let slip the name of a secret guest band who will be playing over the weekend. It's a closely guarded secret but this outfit are one of the most acclaimed live dance acts of the past 20 years and their name may or may not have fishy associations.
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Back to Glastonbury with the news that Eamon from Brakes lost his guitar at the festival and is issuing a plea to anyone who may have found it, lying in the mud outside the Leftfield Tent, sometime between 3am and 7am on Sunday morning. It was a Gewa Tennesee Bluesbird, not worth very much monetarily (£120), but of priceless sentimental value (most of Brakes' two albums were composed on it). Anyone who knows of its whereabouts, please contact brakes@brakesbrakesbrakes.com, with a photo, and Eamon will come and collect it and play you a gig in your front room. It was in a black case and had a "Bronze Ace" wooden mic pick up, with the "Bronze" wording rubbed off. Eamon had played at 2.30am and was a bit the worse for wear.
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Birmingham's eccentric Kevin Rowland has been booked for The Big Chill where his only technical demand is a microphone. Quite what he plans to do with it hasn't been established, but we may get a clue on Friday July 13 when he's booked to entertain the in-crowd at King's Heath's salubriously refurbed Hare and Hounds.
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Congratulations to fearsome Brummie three-piece Templeton Pek who have been chosen to add weight to a four-band bill flying the flag for new music around the nation's Academy-branded venues. The Pekkers line up with Showing Off To Thieves, The Hot Melts and Seven Heroes for gigs in Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Liverpool. They headline the Birmingham leg so expect the usual heave of family, friends and pets down the front.
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It's a mere five days now before Ozzy Osbourne returns to his home city for his NIA gig and immortalisation on the Walk of Fame at Broad Street. Here's a man who's rubbed shoulderpads with royalty and world leaders. Indeed the similarities between Osbourne and George W Bush are manifold. They both partied a little too hard when they were younger, half the time you can't understand a word either of them is saying and neither one of them can make a move without their wife's approval.
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Finally, a non-music related nugget but some sort of award is due to the owners of Birmingham's best-named driving school whose name was drawn forcibly to my attention at a near-miss at a roundabout at Perry Barr. If you're reading this oh mighty 'King L, I salute you.