All in All

Welcome Sophie Louisa Hitchman, first child to my younger brother Graham and his lovely wife, Lucy.

You sit around for years waiting for a nephew or niece and then two come along at once!

On a sad but similar "and then there were three" note, I have to report that we were not able to keep Molly after all. Little Miss Marfa is once again the only lady of the house and she seems much happier that way.

Now, as you know, we go to a lot of gigs, and do judge a gig by the venue. Last night we went to see Yo La Tengo at Koko, the newly re-launched Camden Palace.

I was a bit wary of what this would be like as a venue; it's been nearly 20 years since I was last there in it's nightclub days (one fateful New Year's Eve by the speaker I swear is the cause of my hearing difficulties) and I'm not sure what it would be like as a music venue.

Crap, is the answer, frankly and I feel I will only return for someone pretty good.

Visually the refit is great, I can't recognise the club from the past at all, and the staff were great - friendly and efficient. However, accoustics and atmosphere-wise it was a real disappointment. A really cramped main floor which was it wasn't on a slope you couldn't see anything. People watching from the gallery upstairs talked through it as they couldn't have felt that they were at a gig, and the sound really carried. We also had a very obnoxious person standing in front of us, which didn't help matters.

What also didn't help matters was that Yo La Tengo were a bit lacklustre, and it was a very pedestrian, unexciting performance. On the whole, a bit of a disappointment all round, I'm afraid.

The very lovely lady sitting at Ian Mac's feet is our new family member, Molly.

She's very affectionate and pleased to be a part of our family, and has settled in very well. Marfa, too, is getting used to someone else in the house, and could probably do without the calls to play every few hours, but this is just teething matters.

The photo was taken minutes after she got a bit carried away on the lead and sent Ian flying as she pulled with all her strength. He now has an arm in a sling to rest it from the bruising!

So we say farewell to Barbara Bel Geddes, Miss Ellie from 'Dallas'.

I am, of course, ashamed to say that I thought she passed away years ago, but for a brief period in my youth I did watch 'Dallas' avidly and had a fond affection for her and Pam, and I thought they were far more realistic than the over-glamorous characters in 'Dynasty' (if you can call writing off an entire season as "just a dream" a realistic situation).

I'm very conscious of the fact that a large number of my recent posts have been, well, a little bit gay. Talking about the ladies from Abba's evening wear, a comic book heroine's new costume, Lt Uhura, Wonder Woman etc. So, as a reaction to that, let's not forget that the English football season has just started again so it's time to cheer on Watford (somebody has to).

One game into the season is not really enough to form an opinion as to whether it will be a good one for the Hornets, but losing at home on your first game (having sold your best player in the Summer) is not exactly a good start, is it? I don't want to be a pessimist but I think like last season, it will be all we can do not to be relegated.

So we went to see the Magic numbers at the tiny Cecil Sharp House on Friday and they were great. We saw them a few times last year as support for other bands and it's great to see how they've developed such a good following based on word of mouth and constant touring.

What was also nice was that (minor celeb spot) Ed Harcourt was there, as the last time we saw them was supporting Ed during his residency at Madame Jojos last October. So, nice to see that he was friends and liked them, pity when I saw him he was downstairs holding court in the bar when they were on stage. Still, I guess it's the thought that counts.

However, just when you thought it was all good news for the Magic Numbers, someone has to ruin it. God, Richard Bacon's a prat. I mean, this is the man who was sacked from the biggest presenting job in children's television for being caught snorting coke, and has been lucky enough to crawl back into television, and on the band's first Top of the Pops appearance he jokes about their size. I don't blame them for walking off (and I'm sure they are getting more publicity by not appearing than they would have if they went on as no-one watches TOTP these days), and I love the BBC's damage limitation - "Richard was mortified that they took offence as that wasn't what he meant". Let's hope that's another presenting job he loses - it's hard enough for a real band to get anywhere these days, the last thing they need when they get their break is for a smug unfunny prat to crack a joke at their expense.

BTW, I know that by rights as I'm standing up for them, I should publish a picture of them and not their cartoon logo, but I just think the cartoon is so cute.

Well, we're up to part three of four now in the return of Donna Troy. She's ascended to godhood, been quite deranged with the power, beaten the life out of her friends and now come to her senses, remembers them all and all that's left is to sort out the gods and explain what happened between dying, waking up in the middle of a battlefield, and ascending to godhood before returning to normal heroing. Fair enough, not a bad story but nothing to set the world on fire so far and as I've said before, it's just nice to see her back.

BUT, have a look at this opposite. This is her new hero costume. No prizes for guessing it was designed by a gay man, but seriously it's really dreadful for three reasons in my opinion. (1) The leg bits are black instead of the starry bit elsewhere, which seems a bit odd. (2) Yes, she needs the Amazon bracelets but why the bicep ones too? (3) Worst of all, there is the disco-dolly little choker around the neck. Why not give her one of those '80s little more than string headbands too? Heigh ho, what can you do, and at least it's better than a lot of the civilian clothes she was depicted wearing in the '80s.

(Yes, I know she's not real and this is just a comic, but I am allowed to criticise, surely?)

In other news, Hurrah, I managed to get White Stripes tickets for the second Hammersmith show (who would want to go to the Alexander Palace?), and for Sigur Ros at Brixton, and it's the Magic numbers tonight.

Ahhh, Lt Uhura, queen of communications in Star Trek. I've been thinking about her a bit ever since Scotty died the other week. In her autobiography (which I haven't read, but I did buy it for my mate, Gary's birthday the other year) she makes a big deal about how just as she was about to quit the show, Martin Luther King told her she had to stay because her role was such a big deal.

I ask you though, what did she do? Sit behind the captain with a bit of metal in her ear flicking a few switches. And while I'm on the subject, how come all the women had ridiculously short skirts? Yes, it may have been great to have a multi-racial crew in the future, but the women did still seem to be nothing more than bits of fluff for the menfolk to oggle.

She did get to wear trousers in future years, in the films, but if memory serves this was balanced out her her having to do the dance of the seven veils in the worst film of the lot. By this point she was well into her fifties and not really the sort of stripper you'd like to see (cue Wayne Rooney joke here).

Anyhow, having just critically attacked her, I do sort of have to confess that she was always my favourite character, and no-one ever really matched her in my affections in the future series.

No, this isn't an update to say that I have managed to get a copy, but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon as they have sent it back for a reprint. ie effectively a second edition with different cover not worth as much no matter how careful you are in keeping it, not that I am interested in resale values, etc.

Better than nothing, I suppose.