The Chapman Zone Dave’s Blog

But wait!

This one’s different….I made this one!

The Pancake Eating Freaks demo track “Can I Get Away”, for your viewing pleasure:

Actually, I was a little miffed at the quality of the YouTube version - they alter it once you’ve upload it, and some of the bits are out of sync. I spent bloody ages getting it in sync in the first place!!!

I will try to get a better quality downloadable version on their site soon, as soon as I work out how to shrink a video down to a decent size without shagging up the picture or sound quality.

Now that I’ve finally sussed out how to put video clips on here from Youtube, here’s on of my favourites…

If you scroll down three posts, you will see one called ‘Easter Break’ in which I list all the things that I intended to do with my long weekend.

Well, it’s Thursday now, the weekend is well and truly over (although I only have to work a three day week before the next one - woohoo!), so let’s review the list I made:

1. Finish the Pancake Eating Freaks’ music video.
Fraid not - made no progress on this over the weekend. I am not far off finishing it though.

2. Make some more progress on the Scout Summer Camp 2006 video.
Nope! I want to get the Freak’s video out of the way first, but I’m going to have to get cracking with this - Summer Camp 2007 is looming!

3. Buy an I-Pod, and get some stuff on it.
Yes! I succumbed and bought an 80gig Ipod video. The first one didn’t work though, so I had to swap it the next day for another, which works great! Got 300 albums on it already!

4. Sort out the stores in the Scout Hut (again).
Kind of. I got the tents out, with the help of Spud, Mr Kyle and Limpet, and I have started getting some stuff out for the camp in two weeks. There is still a lot of work to do though, and I hope to get some more done this weekend.

5. Get all the tents out and pitched, so I can see whether or not I have a case to ask for a couple of new ones (Patrol tents).
Oh, oops! Yes, done this one, and yes we do need at least one, but preferably two new Patrol Tents, and a new Store Tent.

6. Get the Kitchen Tent up and marked properly (every time we pitch it, it is subtely different).
Nope. I may not take this on the weekend camp, it depends on the weather.

7. Get nicely drunk at Simon’s Party. Not paraletic, not vomitous, just….nicely drunk.
Oooooh, yes……see previous post!

8. Tidy my room (again).
Yes I did, then I messed it up again!

9. Catch up with the bookkeeping and record keeping for the Scout Troop.
I have done so a little, but this job is neverending.

10. Sort out the programme for Scouts for next term, including the weekend camp that is coming up.
No, but I am hoping to arrange a meeting with the other leaders either tomorrow night or Monday night to do just that.

11. Get more stuff sorted for Summer Camp 2007.
Not over the weekend, but I have started looking at the programme again this week.

12. Get a photo album online for both the Scouts and for the Pancake Eating Freaks, on their respective sites.
Not yet. We had a go round at Collin’s, but the upload failed - we will retry soon.

13. Play some more guitar
Yes! Me and Mark jammed a little, and I’m havign a go at ‘Easter’ by Marillion (just the acoustic bit for now, not the utterly sublime guitar solo).

14. Play some more drums
Yes! Got the kit out at the HQ, and decided to have a go at ‘My Sacrifice’ by Creed. Hope to get down there tonight for another go.

15. Burn some more copies of the Freaks’ demo for Mia to take to her friends in Folkestone.
Done!

16. Book tickets to see Spocks Beard, once I found out who is going (right now it’s me, Kyle and Mark (bruv), but John is starting to warm to them…).
Done, and John is going, so that makes four (Me, John, Mark and Mr Kyle)

17. Source some wood for the Brake Horse I want to make for Summer Camp.
Tried and failed, will try again soon.

18. Finish working on the posts for Cub Summer Camp.
Pretty much there now, creosoted the posts, just need to paint the top of post number one.

19. Get my ironing done.
No chance!

So there you have it. Not an entirely unconstructive weekend, but could have done better.

B-

Simon (that’d be Kyle and Aaron’s dad, and manager of the Pancake Eating Freaks) celebrated his 40th birthday last night, with a bash at the Park Gate British Legion…..and f*ck me was it good fun!!!

As regular readers know, I am not a massive fan of alcohol, and don’t see the point of going out and getting bladdered for no reason. What I may or may not have said before, is that when you have a reason to celebrate, then I see nothing wrong with alcohol at all. It takes away the inhibition that many often feel when dealing with social events, and can………….oh f*ck it.

….look, I got sh*t faced last night, alright?!?!?!

Anyway, back to the party. It was an evening of live music - the Pancakes played a set, then Simon and Sophie (Kyle and Aaron’s little sister) joined them for a song, then Sophie did a song, then Riff (Simon’s band) played the rest of the night.

Everybody totally f*cking ‘A’ rocked! The Freaks played one of their best sets I’ve heard them play - the singing was better than it’s ever been, and they hardly hit a bum note all night. My only criticism was that it was not loud enough! Then Sophie and Simon joined them and played ‘Emergency’ by Paramore - aside from a couple of mishaps it was really good. She’s got one hell of a voice for a 13 year old (I think that’s how old she is), and if she keeps singing, she’s going to be scarily good when she get’s older.

I dunno if the Freaks did something to foul up Riff’s setup, or if they just put a curse on them, but they had some real problems with their equipment at the start of their set - one of the lights wasn’t working, Bob’s guitar had tuning issues or something (he was fiddling with it right up to the start of the first song), and they had trouble with the mix and the mikes. That didn’t get in the way of them totally rocking out though, they sorted out the problems within two songs, and they played the best I’ve heard them to date (this is gig number three for me so far).

I took the cameras along, and set up the video next to the stage. I hardly used the still camera though, but it didn’t matter, as Collin was there clicking away all night. He was driving that night, which left me free to drink and be merry. I was a little too merry by the end of it to actually operate any of the electronic stuff, but we got all of the live musical action and Collin took a sh*t load of photos, which I am looking forward to seeing. We will get them up on the appropriate sites very soon.

I had a bit of a dance to ‘Taking Over Me’ during the Freaks set, as the cider had begun to kick in by then. By the time Riff got on, I was feeling the full effect, and had a bit of a jump to a few of their tracks. I couldn’t do too long in one go though - Smells Like Teen Spirit nearly killed me on it’s own - so I would sit down for a bit between songs.

Riff were awesome. The best bit of the night was when they played Freebird - their last song of the night. We had a load of us swaying to and fro (trying to stay upright) during the slow first bit, and then we broke off into full on air guitaring for the solo. For those that are unfamiliar with the song, firstly, shame on you! Secondly, the guitar solo lasts for a good five minutes or more, and gets more and more mental as it goes along, so the air guitaring got more and more mental along with it! By the end of it, I think I was on the floor, and Tom was lying on me (we were both still air guitaring before anyone gets any ideas!). It was totally insane - I have no idea what I looked like, but I was off on a totally different plane, oblivious to everything around me except the music. It was almost trance-like.

The only downside of Riff’s set was that it was too short - they were late starting and had to chop bits out of their set, because the British Legion are very strict about finishing and closing on time.

I remember telling everyone I knew that I loved them before I left, and hugged everybody I recognised - I do that when I’m drunk, apparently.

I was mildly hungover the next day, but my neck absolutely caned from all the headbanging (it still hurts a little bit - maybe I gave myself whiplash).

But it was a seriously awesome party though, so thanks to Simon and Tracy and the rest of the Fenton clan for inviting me, thanks to Collin for gathering up all my expensive photography equipment at the end, and thanks to Martin for teaching me how to skank!

Roll on Fenton Fest 2008!!!

A few weeks (months?) ago, I lost my Leatherman Wave.

For those that don’t know what that is, it is a multi purpose tool - sort of like a swiss army knife, but opening out into a set of pliers. They are extremely good quality….and I should hope so, since I paid £50 for it.

Anyway, I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to think where I might have put it - I completely dismantled my room, scoured the Scout hut Stores and Scouters’ Room, and asked everybody I knew to keep an eye out for it, in case it turned up at theirs.

After much swearing and such like, I just about gave up hope of finding it.

Just now, I was trying to fix my Epiphone guitar, so I can sell it. The bridge pickup is not sounding half of what it should, so I unscrewed the pot cover and the pickup itself to see if there were any obvious loose wires that I could fix. I got horribly confused by all the gubbins inside, so promptly screwed the covers back on and put the guitar away - guess I’m taking it to PJ’s to get it fixed, unless I ever get to part-ex it for that acoustic bass.

As I was putting it back in it’s bag, I felt a strange bump in the front pocket.

Lo and behold, it was the f***ing Leatherman!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!

I remember exactly what I put it in there for now as well - it was over the Christmas break and I was down the hut sorting out the stores, and one night I took the Epiphone down there with the Amp to try it out again (I’d just got it back from Mark). When I’d finished, I had no spare hands, so slipped it into the bag to enable me to carry it home….

You know what? I’ve just realised that this is a painfully boring story, so I’ll shut up now……

Let’s just say I’m pleased…

Six days off work…….niiiiiiiiiice!

Going back on Wednesday, and I want to try to fill this one with as much valuable use of time as I can, but ‘valuable use of time’ does include some vegging out, naturally.

So, what do I want to get done this looooong weekend? I thought I’d list them here, so I can compare the list against what I actually did come Wednesday.

1. Finish the Pancake Eating Freaks’ music video.

2. Make some more progress on the Scout Summer Camp 2006 video.

3. Buy an I-Pod, and get some stuff on it.

4. Sort out the stores in the Scout Hut (again).

5. Get all the tents out and pitched, so I can see whether or not I have a case to ask for a couple of new ones (Patrol tents).

6. Get the Kitchen Tent up and marked properly (every time we pitch it, it is subtely different).

7. Get nicely drunk at Simon’s Party. Not paraletic, not vomitous, just….nicely drunk.

8. Tidy my room (again).

9. Catch up with the bookkeeping and record keeping for the Scout Troop.

10. Sort out the programme for Scouts for next term, including the weekend camp that is coming up.

11. Get more stuff sorted for Summer Camp 2007.

12. Get a photo album online for both the Scouts and for the Pancake Eating Freaks, on their respective sites.

13. Play some more guitar

14. Play some more drums

15. Burn some more copies of the Freaks’ demo for Mia to take to her friends in Folkestone.

16. Book tickets to see Spocks Beard, once I found out who is going (right now it’s me, Kyle and Mark (bruv), but John is starting to warm to them…).

17. Source some wood for the Brake Horse I want to make for Summer Camp.

18. Finish working on the posts for Cub Summer Camp.

19. Get my ironing done.

20. Aaaaahhhhh….that’ll do!

While I was looking for the 28 Weeks Later trailer, I saw this on on the Apple site, and it’s become another must see just on the basis of the trailer.

Partly because it’s got the ever-reliable John Cusack in it, but mainly because of the story - it looks like a real feel-good movie, with the possibility of a few tears as well - my kind of movie.

I love, LOVE, zombie movies. So you can imagine my delight at discovering that this film (I’d not heard anything about it till this morning) is coming out on the 11th May….