Marillionboy

Mmmm, but chicken man is a man and he dresses as a woman whihc you could say is as much dressing truthfully as an Englishman in a kilt. Anyway maybe he's of Scottish descent. Since when are you only allowed to wear something if you are born in a certain place? PLenty of hippies from the UK wore kaftans after all ya Nazi...

Flash you are not going to believe this. A pal of mine just calledme and said he'd just got speaking to this guy! He is "very spiritual"...

Superb picture! We should start a gallery for these people. Genuine street entertainers.

By a country mile it's the Moorings: not so much a venue, more a way of life. The last time I was in there we saw a guy who just seemed to be making strange noises for half an hour (Flash who was that again?) and even though it was shit the drinks atmosphere and chat made up for it until a decent band came on. The Lemon Tree would always be bottom for me, like seeing a band in someone's living room. Yuppy dump with no atmosphere. I do really like The Tunnels though.

Well no-one in London would know what it meant. Fuck Off they just about understand.

And until that point I was convinced Two Hearts was just the job...

Yes, it was originally called Fuck Off but it was changed, not because of the swearie word ut because there have been a glut of plays in the 90s usingthe f-word in the title and they felt it was rather cliched.

No I'm fully aware of that, but it's just not right at all for the piece and I just want different assocations. I'm not slagging off SM, look at my name on here after all!

It need not be new if I could find a punk or New Wave track that was really right or better still Scottish. At the moment it's either gonna be So Here We Are by Bloc Party or something early Cure or Joy Division. No Simple Minds though, too dad-rock (no offence).

Yes but you have to divorce universities from expectations of work. The government has a duty ot maintain the culture of its society and also to allow everyone the chance to be educated without decieving them. It should also make employers invest more in apprenticeships and training to stop the graduate graveyard and the level of debt in this country from becoming any bigger. In my opinion.

Hey folks, Throwing this one out to anyone who's feeling helpful. I'm needing suggestions for the opening music for the production of my play about Aberdeen that's being staged in London at the Royal Court: http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=420 What I'm trying to find is something Scottish. Initially in the script the music was early Cure (So What, Three Imaginary Boys etc) as I couldn't think of a decent Scottish punk or new wave band, but I would ideally like something more contemporary. It does not have to be at all wel known. Does anyone have any suggestions? I want avoid the Placebo option, as I find it hard to take them seriously. Sensible suggestions please, would be HUGELY appreciated!!!

"So what does the university teach students under these circumstances? I would suggest as broad an education as possible would be the best way to go forward (why specialise when nobody requires it). " This assumes universities are there to prepare people for employment which by and large they are not. This has derived from the fact that for many years a Uni education assisted you in getting a good job. But it wasn't the reason for it. Universities are places where you go to learn, the expectatioon is no greater. Governments teachers and parents have a belief they are a kind of pre-employment training which for medicine engineering and so on they are but they are also there to maintain the culture and academia of the world and allow individuals to learn what they wish to.

Brian May's speech about Sabbath sounded like an Alan Partridge script. Damon Albarn: what a complete cock as usual.

Here's something to mention. At the University of East Anglia a couple of years ago the government offered them a large amount of money if they lowered their entrance requirements drastically. So all that matters is people are off the dole queues and in higher education even though they are gonna largely come out to work in call centres. The government boasts about how many people are at Uni now but it's actually because they've made it easier to get in, like the Tories did with O Levels, they scrapped them in favour of the GCSE (General Collapse of Secondary Education as Grange Hill called it) rather than improving academic results, an exam you couldn't fail and therefore a meaningless qualification.

Jester don't borrow it it's utter shit. Dr Who in the 90s was so bad it defied belief. McCoy had absolutely no acting talent or authority: Tom Baker he wasn't. He wasn't alien he was just a prat. The early Tom Baker years still stand up, because they were so bloody violent and Gothic and Tom was putting some effort in then. Watching The Deadly Assassin on dark November nights in 1976 with that cadaverous and incredibly frightening Master takes some beating!

The Conways are absolutely nothing like the Corrs. Such an obvious comparison because they are Irish girls in a band but musically they sound nothing like them anymore than as Irish males in a band go U2 and The Boomtown Rats are comparable. They ain't very goods but their looks are clearly keeping them in. They look terribly wholesome though, like a modern day Nolans, pretty but not sexual. Walsh is just like Waterman to me, he's a buffoon. He's rubbish at tv, like Waterman he can't deliver a punchline to save his life and totally lacks charisma. His trying to be nasty this seris is clearly at the suggestion of the producers to give him some identity. I think Journey South are coming across well but it cionstantly exasperates me that you have to go through such a lot to get to this stage of the competition and yet you end up singing such bland music.

I'm a writer, mainly stage, with a novel on the way and a tv thingey. It beats the fuck out of data inputting for Halliburton which I did for a while, and working on 192. And Nat-West on Union Street, that was shite too.

Yeah yeah whatever. To my dying day I'll never understand why people can't mind their own sodding business. If you don't like Genesis don't buy a ticket.

If we're talking famous, I'd say Steve McFadden Tony Blair Pete Waterman Steve Wright and Richard Blackwood come close. Three people you'd love to be for a day.

I never really had a problem with the reuse of the name when Dave Stuart opened one in Islington though, as the Marquee I went to regularly as a teen was in Charing Cross Road and that was not the "classic" one in Wardour St which itself wasn't the original!

4, 10 and 11 are incredible. 9 looks too photoish: like a poster in a bathroom. No atmnosphere. And 1 looks totally contrived!

I agree it looks like a Meatloaf cover which is therefore totally suited ot The Darkness. I really do think Wilkinson has never done a good cover in his life except Script for a Jester's Tear which is brimming with atmosphere. After that they all look iffy, he's lousy on faces especially, and everything looks like it belong with those posters of girls on motorbikes in alien landscapes. Photoshop's just made him even worse! Yuk, SOOOO 80s!!!! My album cover hero was always Marcus Keef, photographs for me are much better. Eg the first Black Sabbath album, Jimmy Vasmpbell's Half Baked, the Trees album etc. Subtle.

I agree, and as an attempt to be controversial or simply bitter it fails too as he just fluffas it, even has his back to the camera. His singing voice is APPALLING on this clip too! Arrogant loser. "You can't criticise me I've got a weight problem." Knob. Could the only man in history to take the humoour out of swearing.

This hasn't been given too much publicity because the BBC are hoping it will just go away, but last Saturday on Dick and Dom Rik Waller decided to end his career: http://users.telenet.be/bartvanneste/series5/archive/videos/29oct_tonisong.htm

No problem Jester, your money's as good as anyone else's! Casting isn't confirmed yet but it should be crowd-pleasing. And there are references to the mad heather lady and Mad Muggie!