Really I ought to compose some kind of long screed about how ridiculous the Swedish Pirate Bay case is, but actually I can’t think of anything I didn’t already say in the cartoon I did earlier this evening.

In other news, last week I finally took my aunt’s old alto sax, which I have been fooling with for the last year and which bits keep mysteriously falling off of, to the shop, and was told that it’s basically a write-off, owing to age and having been crap to start with (there is little love for the 1970’s Mexican Conn Shooting Star among sax experts, apparently). Thanks to the rather wonderful Arts Council <a href”http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/takeitaway/”>Take It Away</a> scheme, I have managed to get hold of a shiny* new Trevor James Revolution II alto and am slowly in the process of realising that sax addiction is a very real and underappreciated social problem. I am trying not to think about tenors. Or baritones. Or, God forbid, basses. First I need to learn the alto properly. This will involve being able to play for more than two hours without my lower lip turning to jelly and rendering me incapable of performing. Ow.

In other other news, I saw Daren Callow playing at the River Bar on Friday night, and he was, as ever, excellent., though sadly this time around there was none of the loop pedal loveliness we got last time I saw him at the Montague Arms. Also on the bill was this guy DiceJar, who manages to create the aura of an invisible heavy metal band around him when he sings and plays with an acoustic, only in a thoroughly excellent manner.

NB - Mine is not actually shiny, as I got the matt finish one, so most of it is in fact not shiny at all. I had wanted a normal gold lacquer one but it was more expensive and didn’t come with a free stand; the guy in the shop offered me an equal priced black one with black keywork but it didn’t seem to play as well - for what little I know about it - and more importantly I really don’t want a ‘ooh look at me’ funny colour sax until I can actually play the thing properly. As I said to the bloke in the shop, if I get a job in a heavy metal band I’ll come back to him. Mind you it was lovely to look at.