BONUS CONTENT.......It's all the rage within the publishing world!

This is just a little extra blog update or BONUS CONTENT. It's the sort of addition that if you've bought a physical book, by that i mean pages and a cover not a book that works out at the gym, then goes to a coffee shop without showering and sits next to Mrs. P. and I stinking the place out, yeah you know who your are you filthy, dirty, stinky men and women, showers in gyms these days compared to back in the day when i used to go are luxury, really don't get the thought process, aren't you ashamed of yourselves? I bet you wouldn't go the gym then go straight out on a date or a family gathering would you?  

Sorry, went off on a rant there, where was i.....ah yes....you purchase a paperback book then if you purchase the audiobook there is BONUS CONTENT at the end which is usually about 10 ~ 15 mins long and adds nothing to the book you've already bought and read but you've just paid another £12 for the audiobook, RIP OFF! Maybe it's one of these idiot influencers that charge you for BONUS CONTENT only to find out it's them pouting in the bathroom mirror or flexing a muscle on the high street while people look on and think to themselves "What a T**T".

Any whoooooo this is free BONUS CONTENT. Basically it's just chit chat blabbering crap that hasn't fitted in with other blog updates.

It's August and your walking around Morrisons, summers just finished and we're going in to autumn and there on a wall is.....what do you think? BLOODY CHRISTMAS DISPLAY! IT'S FEKING AUGUST! 4 Whole months before Christmas and we're already being hounded to buy Quality Streets, Christmas puddings and mince pies. Considering Christmas Day is a day to celebrate someone there is no physical proof ever existed only a story book it's a bit ridiculous. What next? I know, what about a day for the birth of Cat in the Hat, Spot the Dog or The very hungry caterpillar, they all have books written about them so they must also exist as real entities even though we have no physical proof they are real, GOOD GRIEF! 

I do not have a problem with people believing in something and having a belief in a higher being, that's fine...I believe in the Happy Tequila Pixie BUT who actually wrote "The Bible"? Here's some facts for you.

1/ The bible was written by at least 40 different people over 1500 years, that's an author every 37 1/2 years (I can't even wait 1 year for a second season of something on Netflix as I've forgotten the first season within 12 months let alone 37 1/2 years).

2/ Noah was born 1055 years after creation.

3/ Moses was born around 1393 after creation

3/ Jesus was born around 4000 years after creation (Talk about God waiting until he was ready to have a child, 4000 YEARS!).

Now then this is the interesting part. Noah built an Ark to take every animal.....in the world, 2 of each, BLOODY HELL THAT'S IMPRESSIVE! He was born 2945 years before Jesus. Moses brought down the ten commandments and parted the Red Sea, he was born after Noah and before Jesus, WOW, HE'S THE GUY FOR ME! Roll on to around 4000 years after creation and Jesus is born, he healed people (Doctor), he exorcised people (Priest), he turned water into wine (Vintner), he resurrected people from the dead (most probably not dead just unconscious), he walked on water (so did Dynamo the Magician). Just look at that list. So how does someone who does pretty much normal every day deeds and don't forget is the son of almighty God get a following that we celebrate their birth at Christmas and Noah and Moses who knock spots of Jesus's parlour tricks get absolute zip nada celebrations? So not fair, they are bad asses compared to Jesus.

Morrisons display, please wait till at least mid October next time, I BEG YOU!

Talking of influencers, they are nothing new, they've been around since 1893. Yes folks. Basically influencers are snake oil salesman. I shall explain. A snake oil salesman was someone who tricks you in to believing that what they are selling is amazing, brilliant, they also use it all the time then get you to part with your money to buy the product and it's useless tat and before you know it they've skipped town. Influencers are the same. They get paid by companies to market the products they display. They don't use or believe in the product (like a snake oil salesman) they gather people around to watch (like a snake oil salesman) they give you the sales pitch (like a snake oil salesman), then they give you the purchase details (like a snake oil salesman) then when you get the product you can't complain to the influencers that it's rubbish (like a snake oil salesman). See snake oil salesman and influencers are one in the same, people hanging on their ever word, the mugs will take in the crap their marketing and go off and buy it. Interesting fact, the first known snake oil salesman was Clark Stanley. At the Chicago world fair he cut open a snake, cooked it and used the fat to make a miracle medicine. They later found out the medicine wasn't a miracle cure after all, there's a surprise. Sounds a bit like Temu's business model, sell you something then when you receive it it's cheap tat and nothing like the item picture. 

This is how my mind works, these thoughts just pop in to my empty head from nowhere, Why, i really don't know.

Music. As you know Sian and I love music, we love going to concerts and i love doing music blog updates for you, so this music update is about songs that sound better live than the studio recorded version.

We'll start with Metallica I think. Now I have to say all of their songs sound better live than studio versions, the studio versions don't convey that raw energy and power, the studio version takes quite allot away from the song. So I'm not going to play you the usual Metallica song, I'm going to share with you my favourite song.

Memory Remains:~

Now this one I have tried to sing on karaoke, luckily it was in the booth Sian and I hired so no ones ears were bleeding, it's such a difficult song to sing BUT the arrangement of the live version is so much better and when it comes on on my playlist it pumps me up and gives me a bit more energy when I'm working or out on one of my long walks while people watch me skipping down the road and waving my hands about (no not a like a little girl, more like I'm on stage). We've been very lucky to see Imagine Dragons live 4 times (Cardiff, Milan, Paris & London) they just get better each time.

Whatever it takes:~

For my third selection it's one of the last concerts we went to, Florence & the Machine. Her voice sounds amazing on the studio version but live it's just something to behold. Flawless, loud, strong, controlled and no reverb or auto tuner. It's just stunning and Florence comes over as so nice and a bit mystical. For Florence's song just to show how good her live performance is I've chosen a stripped back version from The Royal Albert Hall.

You got the love:~

This one she didn't sing at the concert but i love it.

Now better live versions wouldn't be without a Depeche Mode song and this is just awesome and live all the hairs stand up on my arms, legs and neck, wouldn't be on my head would it as hardly any there. To have 200,000 fans at the concert in Mexico City last year in the palm of your hands and watching every single one of them joining Dave with the ceremonial arm waving, we've experienced it and I've never felt or experienced anything like it in any other concert, just WOW! We've seen Depeche Mode live 3 times (Birmingham, Paris and Dublin).

Couldn't finish this section without of course.....Foo Fighters, Just F**KING Awesome. So much better than the studio version and this version I'm playing for you is from Taylor "F**KING" Hawkins tribute concert (that we were at) with Taylors son Shane on the drums. It was raw emotion on the stage that night playing through the song "My Hero". We've seen Shane live with his dads band Chevy Metal and he said during a Q & A he uses the drums to release his anger over his fathers death and god he does just that and with amazing talent, power and precision. We've seen the Foo Fighters 3 times (London, Cardiff and Milan).

My Hero:~

And finally, this picture for some unknown reason came up on my news Google news feed on my phone........

Is Google news feed taking the piss? Yes that is me in May 1995, Jesus, a poor mans Francis Rossi 😂

So there's your BONUS CONTENT, It just keeps the blog ticking over and being as the views are rising every month i need to keep on top of it but it will be a while before the next update as Mrs. P. and I got things coming up over the next few months so I'll leave you with that for now.

Until the next update......

Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar, Mrs.P. & Squidly Out!

You lucky, lucky people!

 Do you know why your so lucky...your lucky because it's another update YAAAAY!

So it's not a very big update but it's more of a "DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, SHOTS,SHOTS,SHOTS,SHOTS" update and just to keep the old blog ticking over. Next year it's 20 years old!!!!!! Jebus, you've been reading this dribble blabbering crap for 20 years, you all deserve a medal or therapy.

Our first outing was for Sian's "Happy new tattoo day", any excuse for a pub crawl. We hit Cardiff town centre for 2.30pm for Sian's tattoo appointment by 3.30pm Sian was inked and good to go. At this point i thought Sian was going to be in the seat a bit longer and i had booked a table at a speakeasy bar for 5.15pm. Not a problem we'll hit one of our favs "Barbara's Bier Haus" a great bar with good music Jubel peach beer and lots of shots to choose from. It's sort of our local whenever we go to town (in our last update we were there before Metallica) and it's good vibes all the way until the West Welsh & Valleys come to town around 5.30pm to stare in wonder and disbelief at the big city and annoy the hell out of us locals with their accent and stupidity.

Sian's new tattoo which is a heart made up of  a bass clef and treble clef, so a love of music tattoo which is pretty cool.

Time to celebrate, Cheers!

After 2 Pints and some shots we head off to a secret underground bar which i can't tell you the name of. It's table booking only, no walk ins and it only sits about 50 people at the most, the same capacity as Oceanic. As we enter the property we give our name and we're led to an underground room with a black door at the back of it and behind the door is a cool, chilled , laid back cocktail bar with sort of Cafe del Mar sounds playing over the speakers at just the right volume. VERY COOL!

We're shown to our table which is a wall mounted table with 2 stools and handed the cocktail menu. At this point i get my Amex card ready to be hit hard but we were pleasantly surprised, the price of these cocktails were the same as in any bog standard pub in Cardiff city centre, Barbara's Bier Haus sells premade cocktails for the same price like the other pubs do, just add the spirits.

The menu is very unique, just like Oceanic, the atmosphere is chilled, just like Oceanic, the customers are polite and cool, just like Oceanic, the bar staff are friendly, just like Oceanic and the the bar staff are highly skilled in the art of cocktail making.........

I didn't want to take a picture of the menu as then you sneaky lot would find out the bars name and i can't remember the cocktails we had so at this point i shall do my best to describe them.

The cocktail on left had mango tones to it with a mango jell on top and the one on the right had rum with a rhubarb sorbet on top that melts into the drink.

One cocktail down and time to take a quick pic of the bar.

The second cocktails are here, these were martini's one with a coffee base and the other had jalapeno chilli in it, both very nice but only good for the one.

Hic the third cocktails are here and again not completely sure of the ingredients but the one on the left was chocolate of some sort with a chocolate cube on top and mine was bourbon based and bloody lush.

We are now 4 cocktails down and i decide to borrow Sian's shades to be James Bond. Sian tells me to be Daniel Craig Bond but with the shirt i'm wearing, pinky finger up and behind the glasses my eyebrow raised i'm more like Roger Moore on a very bad day or after a heavy night of cocktails shaken not stirred.

I know that was a pretty rubbish recollection of the cocktails we had but we were just enjoying them so much we didn't even make a mental note of the ingredients which isn't like us not to do that and they were very strong, not much mixer and no hanging monkey, umbrella cocktail shit, as i always said in Oceanic "It's all about the drink in the glass, if you have to dress it up all fancy it's because the drink is gonna be shit"

Another weekend comes around and another fun night out, this time to Roxy Lanes and we've hired a karaoke booth for a giggle and what a great time we had, Sian has a great voice and as i've said before she has the amazing ability to soak in lyrics and remember them so the songs she sang were spot on.....i on the other hand sounded like a turd gurgling down a waste pipe but we really enjoyed it and will definitely book a room again but for 2 hours next time, an hour wasn't enough.

Sian had ordered shots to be delivered to the booth but they came just as we had finished. Now this was very bad service being as it was early afternoon, only 3 other people in Roxy Lanes and they can't even get shots to our booth within the hour we were in there, ah well, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS! So, we have 3 different shots, Baby Guinness, Tequila and Bourbon with a side shot of pickle juice. Just what we like.

HIC!

Now i don't usually take pictures of the toilets i use in the bars we visit but this was in a local bar. There are so many urinal cakes in it it looked like someone had thrown a can of pineapple chunks in it, it would have smelt better if it was pineapple chunks, how many urinal cakes do you need?

Another weekend and another gig, this time it's Hollywood Vampires at Cardiff Castle.

This was an early birthday surprise and what a great surprise it was. As with all our concerts in Cardiff our first stop is Barbara's and it's SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS!

LET'S DO THIS!

A few shots and pints down and we're booked back in to our secret bar again to just check the cocktails were as good as we thought.

Yep they are, this time we were given a comfy booth, very posh indeed but so comfortable to lounge in sipping a few cocktails.

Sian looking very cool and relaxed.

Me looking like i've got something stuck in my straw and can't get any drink through. Not as cool as my previous Bond look.

A few cocktails later and in fine merry mood it's time to make our way over to the gig. As we are just about to enter the castle grounds we are stopped to let a people carrier with blacked out windows go through, it's the Hollywood Vampires. As we walked past the back stage area i caught a glimpes of the vehicle and decided to try to get a pic of the dynamic quartet. As you can see i didn't get that pic as a security guard moved me on, IDIOT JOBS WORTH!

The castle is a great venue for concerts, lots a grounds to roam around in, very posh porta loo's which were kept really clean and plenty of bars and food areas and a great place to take another of our crap selfies.

Now, as you know we aren't serious people and we take the mickey out of those couples that take moody "We're amazing" selfies BUT i found a photo booth in the castle grounds and even with a machine taking our picture i still couldn't get it right, how difficult is it to look at a lens of a camera? What do i do....look at the count down screen, uuuugggghhhhh!

The keep on the mount inside Cardiff Castle for some reason makes me proud to be Welsh, why i don't know but seeing that always gives me the feeling of home, strange i know but it just does.

The support act was The Damned who were very good and i have a few of their tracks in my playlist. Did you know that they were the original band that should have launched the UK punk genre. They released "New Rose" in Oct 1976 but it didn't chart, a month later in Nov the Sex Pistols released "Anarchy for the UK" which charted at 38 and so The Sex Pistols become the band that launched UK Punk rock. Even before that the punk scene is said to of been started by The New York Dolls in 1973 and the Ramones released their first single in Feb 1976. See, you learn something new every day reading this blog.

The crowds gather, the light is fading and Vampires entrance music and video plays and can you see us in the drone picture? The little yellow box marks the spot and we definitely know that's us as Sian had a white t-shirt on and Sian was the only white t-shirt amongst a sea of black so we know that's us.

And so the show begins!

I have to say they were so good, well, so they should be what with Alice Cooper 78, Joe Perry (Aerosmith) 75, Tommy Henriksen (Alice Coopers guitarist) 62 and Johnny Depp 63, so there is allot of years in that band. They played some Hollywood Vampire songs, some from Aerosmith and Alice Cooper and then songs from their dead rock friends such as The Who (Keith Moon) , David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Velvet Underground (Lou Reed), . AC/DC (Bon Scott), only down side was that during their cover of Velvet Underground ~ "Venus in Furs" Depp was miming, that sort of spoilt it a bit. He missed the timing to get back to the mic and he missed about 4 words, not good Johnny, must do better but it was a great night and i loved it so thank you Sian, it was amazing.

Do you know why they're called the Hollywood Vampires? Well, i have listened to Alice Coopers autobiography and there was a loft room in the famous "Rainbow Bar" where also Lemmy pretty much lived in and in that loft room Alice Cooper formed a drinking club of himself, Keith Moon (The Who), Ringo Starr (The Beatles), Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees) and Harry Nilsson who's most famous song was the wrist slitting "Without you" which was made even more wrist slitting by Mariah Carey, it's so "Shoot me now" i advise people not to go and listen to it. The drinking rules were to see who could outlast the others while drinking in to the early hours of the morning, no wonder almost all of  Alice coopers Hollywood Vampire members are dead, he's been sober for 42 years while leaving the rest to carry on so i guess he's almost won the game completely, just needs Dolenz and Starr to pop their clogs first. Later members who have shuffled off this earth are Marc Bolan , Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), John Lennon, Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), John Belushi.....All Dead!

And still Oceanic remains in peoples memories  years on from closing. Jeanette sent me this screen shot off a Kalamaki group page last month. Sian and i do talk about the island and the bar often and we will go back, i think maybe next year is looking like we have a open window in our busy globe trotting calendar but it depends on if any of our bands announce tours, we're hoping maybe Depeche Mode and Imagine Dragons may announce something or a very special one would be Iron Maiden who we just missed out on in Milan this year but i think they may have finished touring....for now.

We have some exciting news on next years gigs. As we've already told you we're in Las Vegas next year to see Metallica, twice, at The Sphere and the first headliner for The Great Estate Festival has been announced and it's an amazing first night headliner.

We paid £75 for a 3 day weekend pass, tickets for the Human League concert we went to see in Cardiff cost £65 so we're already quids in and that's still with Saturday and Sunday headliners to be announced.

The views of this blog just keep growing AND i've read the amount of views i get could bring in £1000 ~ £2000 a month and do you know what....i really can't be arsed. I write this blog just as a bit of fun, i take the mickey out of people on DikTok, Fakebook, X~aggeration and still believe their all idiots. I saw a advert from TikTok on tv the other day.......it was like Rain Man had created it, short edited clips with the odd word to create a sentence that normal people can actually talk in real time, this is our future folks...your welcome to it.

These are the stats of my blog with today being 04/09/26:~

And finally, little Squidly has been made in to some pop art. If Andy Warhol was still around i'm sure Squidly would have been his muse instead of Marilyn Monroe 😂

So my good friends, fine chums and whoever else is reading until the next update......

Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar, Mrs. P, & Squidly OUT!