IDLES

This is the best new band I have heard in ages. I learn about new music mostly from this series on YouTube called the NPR Tiny Desk concerts. Always immaculately recorded.

IDLES are British sensitive new age punk. [They insist that they are not punk. They ARE punk like The Clash were punk.] They are blokes who love each other and are happy to show it. They speak about their feminism. They are pro-immigrant. Their lyrics are ingenious, full of punk imagery and life and great turns of phrase. 

Me, oh me, oh my, Roy / You look like a walking thyroid / You're not a man, you're a gland / You're one big neck with sausage hands / You are a Topshop tyrant / Even your haircut's violent / You look like you're from Love Island / You stood and the room went silent 

- Never Fight A Man With A Perm

They have fun on stage and love their audiences. They believe in expressive flouncy dancing. One of the things I found really impressive was their refusal to be "cool". At this concert at Glastonbury, the front man Joe Talbot has a little cry as they come out to play; he's dreamed of this and can't believe that he's really on stage at the festival he's been to before as a punter. I think that's really charming.

Oh, and the rhythm guitarist seems to mostly get around in his underpants.

Quiz victory to King Zog of Albania

Last year the boys and I went to a few quiz nights at the Duke of Wellington. We came 4th on our first try, and were pretty pleased with that for a small team. Then we came 4th again. Then when we came 4th again we thought ah, this is going to hard to be get past these established (and bigger) teams. On our last visit we struggled, so we left it for a while.

On Wednesday night we went back for our first quiz of the year. We were leading at the halfway mark, which was pretty exciting. We had all contributed some good answers, and of course now Marcus is 18 I was able to buy him a beer which is nice.

The Duke run a good quiz - it's very low stakes and I think that discourages cheating with phones. First prize is only $20 ($10 for second and $5 for third). Also they have a handicap system to try to give everyone a go. I think if you win, you start the next week on -2 points. One team started this quiz on -12!

So we brought it home well and finished in front! We ere all very pleased with ourselves and we'll be back next Wednesday. We might try to grow our team a little.

I have trouble remembering all kinds of things now but I was happy with my efforts; especially dragging out some names that were deeply buried. There was a Harry Potter film question, and the boys knew that the actor had been in All Creatures Great And Small, and then I was able to retrieve his name after intense mental effort (Christopher Timothy). So, good teamwork.

Our team name was King Zog of Albania but next time we are going to be King Kamehameha of Hawaii.