I remember as a kid, I had a record player. The only record I can remember from my "collection" at the time was a Mr Men album with a red cover (I think it was "The Mr Men Songs" from 1979, but don't hold me to it). But CD came along before my love of music was confirmed and so the vinyl went.

Over the past two days I've been at two gigs and seen six bands - four of whom I'd never heard of before.

Friday was the fourth night out in a row for me - Sleigh Bells at The Deaf Institute. My first time in The Deaf Institute, and my first impression is that it's nice - intimate, no pillars in the way etc. But the "amphitheatre" seating at the back... how people managed tor remain seated through Sleigh Bells I'll never know. Also, please keep your staff up to date on cloakroom availability. I had to remain tied to one spot to look after my bag and coat all night. Cloakrooms should be mandatory in venues.

Wednesday was my first gig for 2011 and I had a plan. I was going to rate the gig a nice 5/10 as a benchmark for other gigs this year. But I can't do that. The Burns Unit were just too good to be given a mere 5 out of 10. It'd be wrong, so very very wrong.

Sadly, the support act - John Smith - wasn't the perfect addition to the gig that might have been hoped for. He was a little slow for me and in the cold Club Academy failed to get me moving and warmed up. He wasn't bad, you understand, but he wasn't right for me at that time.

Those of you who know me or follow me on twitter or here will know I like my music. This year alone I have been to 8 gigs, seeing 19 bands and a set by @mitchbenn at Eastercon. I love my local music scene although would like to be more involved in it and I know that Manchester and Liverpool are also really exciting places musically right now.

So, March... no, wait, February. I forgot someone. One of the support acts for Ocean Colour Scene was The Moons. I actually picked up their CD I enjoyed them that much. And I forgot about them in my last entry. Consider this me fixing that mistake.

February has been a busy month. A month of gigs which, while slowing slightly, is far from stopping. It's shaping up to be a busy year. A varied diet of music here I think: dance, pop, indie, misc. Coming up I have James, Ash, La Roux, Hairspray, Swan Lake, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip and hopefully much, much more.

Delphic (support: Mirrors)

So, in 2009, according to my bookkeeping over at LibraryThing, I have read 60 books (let's face it, I'm not going to finish Black Man, Best Served Cold or Bolo before the New Year party tonight). Of those, 43 were fiction books, 5 were short story collections, 1 non-fiction, 1 play, 5 RPG Books (+one of the short story collections was technically an RPG source book), 2 graphic novel volumes, 1 Firefly reference book and 2 cookbooks.

21st May, lying in bed, listening to the radio. I hear music and think "this sounds like Patrick Wolf, but not something I know", checking the radio display (thank you DAB) I saw it was indeed Patrick Wolf. Then Gideon Coe announced it was off Patrick's new album. "New album? Could there be a new tour? Google, help me!"

Well, Sunday I went spinning in the end. Lovely evening. Couldn't find my sock poi though, and the tube poi I was using gave my fingers blisters 8-(. On the very plus side, I think I can manage an oscillating three-beat weave non-turning turn. We also discussed what we would do to replace Play. Looks like I'm going to Shell Island. Wahhay - it's something!

Monday was nothing unusual but I include it here for completeness.