"A Special Moment in Time"

Stephen Morris's (of Joy Division & New Order fame) autograph on the front cover of my NME Jan 13th 1979.


Do you know when you hear an old band for the first time properly and you wonder why on earth you hadn't discovered them much earlier? Well, that happened to me with a band called Joy Division. It was very early on in 2005 that I first heard something by them other than the brilliant "Love Will Tear us Apart". I had been listening to another band at the time called Interpol and I liked them enough for me to see who their influences were and the name Joy Division came up, so onto itunes I went and the rest as they say is history.
I was literally blown away by the sound that I heard! Peter Hooks creeping bass on "The Only Mistake", Bernard Sumner's eerily painful guitar work on the truly haunting "New Dawn Fades", Stephen Morris's simple yet highly hypnotic drumming on "Digital" and most of all Ian Curtis's ever so sad, tear soaked voice & lyrics on "Insight".
I have never, not once, looked back since I discovered Joy Division. There is nothing at all that I can fault them with. I must have heard every one of their tracks hundreds of times (some tracks more like a thousand). Even all their live performances and all their mistakes. Their music hasn't aged with time at all. It has been almost 28 years since Ian died at the tender age of 23 and Joy Division's legacy still lives on.

And I should know, as I was fortunate enough to be one of the audience at a recent press screening in London for a brand new documentary about Joy Division. It was a special Q&A screening held at the Curzon cinema, Soho where Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris was also present. He sat through the entire film with us all and directly after the film he and one of the films co-writers Jon Savage took to the front of the auditorium and sat with the chief editor for 'Time Out' and spoke about Joy Division and also took questions from the audience. Jon Savage was a high-profile writer during the glory days of British punk and wrote articles on all the major punk acts.
I didn't ask any questions, as I was busy filming the Q&A with my trusty camera and also mainly in awe of exactly whom I was spending my evening with! But I did manage to meet them both afterwards and got Stephen to sign my 1979 copy of NME (January 13th) that features Kevin Cummins famous photo of a trench coated Ian Curtis casually drawing smoke from a cigarette on the front cover. I waited patiently behind a whole bunch of other autograph hunters, including a young woman who had the CD single of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" ready for ink, and then suddenly it was my turn. I pulled the paper out from it's special protective sleeve that I had brought it in and took the cap off my permanent marker specially brought just in case and presented it before him. He smiled as he saw it and instantly asked if I was sure if I wanted him to deface such a collectible. And straight away, I said "Are you joking?, if anything, this will make it worth more." And he said "Oh, well. Fair enough." Then his wife Gillian whisked him away and that was my meeting with a real life member of Joy Division done and dusted. I still can't quite believe that it happened!
Then on my way out of the almost empty auditorium, I spotted Jon Savage running back in and I turned around and went to see if he would mind also putting his mark on my NME. As soon as I turned around, there he was again running back out with a hat on and in a bit of a hurry. I pushed the paper in front of him and kindly asked. He saw the paper and laughed as I mistakenly said that I know he worked for the NME, but when did he first start writing for them and he said that he didn't write for the NME at all. (don't believe everything you read on the internet!). He took the 29 year old paper and wrote "This Is The Enemy, Jon Savage, 24.04.08". I was very pleased!
Jon Savage wrote for, amongst others publications over the years, Sounds, The Face & Mojo. He is best known for his award winning history of The Sex Pistols and punk music, "England's Dreaming".

On my way back home to Twickenham, I blotted out the sounds of London with the sounds of Joy Division.

So, why do I Love Joy Division so much? Because I have no fucking choice!


Jason


Thanks to Phil for a one in a life time opportunity.







(C) JPT 2008.........

"Farewell to Fownes"

The hand coloured poster (part of) for the special gig in Brighton on Wednesday night. I nabbed it off the pub wall (The Prince Albert, Trafalgar St), where the gig took place, on my way past a spewing Eighties Matchbox fan on my way out, only to bump into another fan pissing up the wall of someones house. Lovely!

O.I.B Records Presents...

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.
A Special Intimate Show... Ghoulish Horror Punk Rock Up Close & Personal.

With Scissors.
Blinding Hardcore Carnage. Think Converge & The Locust In A Fist Fight.

From the safety of my stage height bench, over looking the small, cramped, instrument strewn stage, I was only yards away from the psychobilly boys from Brighton. It was hot in there and probably even more so being nearer to the ceiling. At least I had a lone mirror ball to keep me company. I must have had the greatest view of the stage and crowd alike from where I was perched. I was well propped up on that bench for on one side I had my best friend Jac and the other the lady drummer from Breakneck Static.
Although it was Eighties Matchbox headlining, the whole evening was mainly, and understandably so, focused on a certain Mr Fownes, lead guitarist both with With Scissors and Eighties Matchbox. He has himself a new job see. Something to do with some nails of the nine inch variety. He must feel very privileged to be invited to join the American industrial rockers, who began Nine Inch Nails when Rich was just five years old!

After an interesting band (first of three) called Breakneck Static fronted by the tiniest (as in small, not tinny) and screechiest of Japanese girls, and rather cute to boot, on came Rich with his other band With Scissors. A hardcore, psychedelic, experimental (their words, not mine) band from Brighton. The red headed lead singer of which spent most of the performance screaming his lyrics in amongst the crowd. Very loud, fast and aggressive to say the least! I stood through their whole set wondering how on earth they manage to remember the tracks for each gig! Very complicated (to me anyway). You gotta see it to believe it! Awesome stuff!! Rich is one of the most animated guitarists that I have seen! You can just tell that he absolutely Loves it up there. It seems this might have been Rich's, also of Eighties Matchbox, last performance with With Scissors for some time too.

With trusty glitter ball still spinning madly and the rest of With Scissors already gone, Rich seemed to hang around alone on stage and for a while I thought he might just stay there and wait for the rest of Eighties Matchbox (his other band) to join him and begin his last ever gig with them. But after sticking up on his speaker stack the set list for his next performance, then he was gone too. They all came on together about fifteen minutes later to the sound of cheers and claps, mostly wishing Rich well. With the rest admiring Guys new haircut (when I read With Scissors on the poster stuck on the outside of the pub, I didn't think they meant literally;) and over sized, shoulder padded plaid jacket. When did he chop off all that hair? The last time I saw them was at the New Years Evil gig. He looks good though. Toms hair seems to have gone the other way as my friend Jac pointed out and as she also pointed out, as she does every time we see these guys, Marc Norris looks more and more like a Cenobite from Clive Barkers "Hellraiser". I think he'll be happy with that comparison;)

After an audience aimed, semi retarded (in a good way) 'Hellooo' from Rich, the psychobilly Brighton band began with their first track "Mister Mental" (remember Shaun of the Dead?) with that screeching, piercing intro that I absolutely Love! They continued through fifteen tracks in total (see track list below) including an encore that saw Rich walk away from the stage after an absolutely fucking rocking performance of "Presidential Wave". Quite fitting really, since he will be off to the USA soon.

Their set, as was the venue, pretty good! Excellent in fact! Downstairs is a normal pub and upstairs just a small room with a small stage and an even smaller bar. Most of the band were down in the pub when Jac & I arrived, drinking and having a smoke and everything else normal people do. Except, where was Guy? He never seems to hang around with the others and always seems to turn up last all on his oddy nocky. Probably still in the barbers ten minutes before the gig;)
The lighting on stage was fantastic too, so my camera could pick up the band. There were (as usual) a few problems with Guys mic, which meant he had to steal Rich's mic (as usual). The speaker stack next to Rich got knocked over and someone threw a plastic glass across the small crowded room and it walloped me in the neck. I didn't even blink! And for some reason, since reading the posts from Sheik-Yerbouti over on the EMBLD Forum, I was convinced there was going to be some sort of clash between the Sheik and Symren (bass). The main reason being because there was this guy in the audience who looked like it might have been him! Travis Bickle seemed like a puppy in comparison to the way this guy just stared at our band from near to the middle......just under that glitter ball! And, if I'm not mistaken, did I see a real life Gingerbread Man stage dive into the crowd? I know he's a big fan of EM and has supported them in the past (New Years Evil...I was there), so it might have been.

Anyway, there were no head butts, no more plastic cups and all seemed to finish rather well, with Guy hugging Rich just before laying into "Giant Bones" and saying thank you for everything he has done for them over the past two years. Quite a Lovely moment! And Rich even taking time to introduce his little mum who was there up at the front proudly cheering on her son. Eighties Matchbox left the room and Rich went off (I presume) to celebrate with his mother;)

So, what does this mean for the future of Eighties Matchbox? Disaster or the beginning of another new line-up with even more mental tunes, superb live shows and even shorter hair-do's, where Guy is concerned? I for one, know for a fact that I would be absolutely gutted if they split up now Rich has left. But they say that ain't happening and are already auditioning for a new lead guitarist. I really hope that they will go on to bigger and better things. I Love this band and will stick by them whatever! Since the early days when Mr Huxley was around and the last few years with Mr Fownes, I just haven't been able to get enough of them!

Thanks for a truly memorable gig guys!

Good luck with NIN Rich and good luck Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster!


Track List;

Mister Mental
I Could Be an Angle
Charge of the Guns
In The Garden
Mission From God
I Rejection
Love Turns to Hate
Under My Chin
Chicken
Man for All Seasons (Missing from my videos)
Psychosis Safari
Celebrate Your Mother
Giant Bones

Encore...

Horses Can Swim
Presidential Wave

I managed to capture most of the gig on video. Check out my Youtube link at the top right corner of this page. Unfortunately, I had to delete "Man for all Seasons" as my poxy 2gb memory card was running out! There are a couple of With Scissors tracks on there too.



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

"The Little Runner"

The Green Box at the end of the Meadway, Twickenham today.



I tried running away but my ankles said no,
I tried sitting still but told to get up and go,
I tried to face it head on and look into it's eye,
I tried to welcome it too, but that just made me cry,

I run in my dreams and I ran in my past,
I ran all the time and so bloody well fast,
I ran from my Dad and the back of his hand,
I ran to my Mum and her arms so tanned,

The run in my park until it was dark,
The run at school whilst the others played ball,
The run to spurs then right back to earth,
The run down the stairs, from all those nightmares,

I wish I could run, just a little bit,
To the green box and back where we used to sit,
Long gone now, it had to go,
The fast turned to pain and my ankles said no!




Jason


Happy Birthday to Tania tomorrow:)








(C) JPT 2008.........795.41 miles.

"My Kayaking for March 2008"

The river Thames between Twickenham and Teddington, March 31st 2008.


Kayaking is getting better now the weather has improved. Ok, I did have a little accident on the 16th, but apart from that it has been ok:) I got two new paddles to replace my lost one. One for the little wedge of orange and the other for the sea kayak. What I really want is to get down to the ocean! This month (April) will definitely see at least one trip to the sea:) Yay!!! Anyone want to join me?



Monday 3rd March 2008 @ 16:00, Twickenham St Mary's Church to Teddington Lock and back again, cold, sunny, cloudy and windy, 1hr 10mins. Dagger RPM.

Thursday 6th March 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, Ian, 90mins, Dagger RPM.

Thursday 13th March 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, very quiet tonight, Ian etc, 90mins, Dagger RPM.

Sunday 16th March 2008 @ 13:18, Ian, Lee, River Mole from the stepping Stones by Box Hill to Stoke D'abernon, I finished at about 16:30ish when I capsized! (see post dated 18th March called "Six Seconds at the Bottom of the River"), rainy, windy and cold! The water was high and fast. The stepping stones were completely submerged! Dagger RPM, Oh, and I lost my South Carolina sun hat and Andrew Ainsworth paddle:( Temp 7, wind up to 20mph!

Thursday 20th March 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, 90mins, yellow sea kayak (Dagger Edisto), tried out my new paddles and hand rolled in my sea kayak (with a small float:)

Thursday 27th March 2008 @ 21:00, Ealing Pool, Lee, 90mins, tried out new waterproof ATC-2K Actioncam...it was rubbish in the pool because it was too dark. Dagger RPM.

Monday 31st March 2008 @ 17:30, Twickenham to Teddington Lock, sunny, mild, water was fast flowing, 1hr 15mins, temp 12, wind 8.



Jason

P.s. I want my camouflaged (with SC Palmetto & Crescent Moon on the front) sun hat back:( It was a gift from USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC. If anyone lives near there, can you get me one;)








(C) JPT 2008

"My Cycling for March 2008"

March 9th, Crowthorne Woods, Berkshire.


Cold, wet, windy, muddy! What a rubbish month where the weather was concerned! Otherwise I am well (despite feeling crap for the last two weeks of March due to an incident in a very cold and dirty river on the 16th!...see kayaking for March).



Saturday 1st March 2008 @ 14:00pm, PH, HH, Ian, Phil, Matthew, Mike @ Graham (Mikes friend), 16.12 miles, av 7.5, max 29.9 mph, 2hrs 8mins, dry, warm, windy & bright, temp 12, wind 27!, Matthew brought along his new headcam to try out. It was the first time out with Matthew for several months. Mike we met for the first time last Sunday up on Pitch Hill. Total 506.96 miles.

Tuesday 4th March 2008 @ 20:25pm, LH (58mins), Ian, Mike, Tony, 9 miles (15.72 total...see below), dark, very cold, it snowed big snow flakes down Summer Lightning and stung our faces in the wind!, av 10.4, max 22.7 mph, when I got back home I did another 6.72 miles to RP Kingston Gate and back (32mins) to see if the park was open (it was shut still for culling), I tried out my new bike light tonight (Hope Vision 4 LED) and have decided it is the dogs bollocks! temp -2, wind 10. Total 522.68 miles.

Wednesday 5th March 2008 @ 18:45, Ian, RP, 18.06 miles, av 12, max 24.3 mph, 1hr 30mins, cool, dark and dry, although at one stage I stopped in some mud and couldn't get my foot out the pedal and fell right into it! Smelly!, New light still fantastic:)
temp 6, wind 10. Total 530.74 miles.

Saturday 8th March 2008 @ 14:30, RP, 22.36 miles, av 12.6, max 27.3 mph, 1hr 46 mins, mild, spitting with rain, windy, temp 9, wind 18. Total 552.10 miles.

Sunday 9th March 2008 @ 12:40, Crowthorne Woods near Broadmoor Mental Hospital, Berkshire, Gorrick mtb Spring Race, Ian, 3xlaps (and one lap for fun during the expert race), 20.02 miles, av 8.7, max 27.7 mph, 2hrs 23mins, mens open, mild with sunny spells and a little rain, I (rider 271) came 69th out of 95 riders...not bad considering I started near to the back, The route was good and relatively dry, my lap times were 29:30 mins, 29:27 mins, 28:16 mins. I had a bit of a bleed in my right elbow later on that I had to treat and my right thigh too was knocked somewhere around the race! Temp 9, wind 10. Total 572.12 miles.

Tuesday 11th March 2008 @ 20:20, HH, PH, HH, Lee, Ian, Mike, Tony, James, Paul, 11.44 miles, av 6.3, max 19.3 mph, 1hr 48mins, dry but muddy trails, mild & windy, tonight was a good ride with seven of us. The trails were covered in fallen twigs and branches and the odd tree too due to the strong winds we have been having. Tonight also was the first time Lee has been able to come out for a while and it didn't show! He kept up all the way around. He tried his new light (Hope Vision 4 LED) tonight too and Loves it! I used my hardtail (Dessert Storm) tonight and really felt the bumps! My ankles really hurt the next two mornings! Total 583.56 miles.

Friday 14th March 2008 @ 16:00, RP, 18.72 miles, av 12.6, max 23.1 mph, 1hr 29mins, dry & mild, temp 9, wind 6. Total 602.28 miles.

Tuesday 18th March 2008 @ 19:00, Lee, BP, RP, 24.05 miles, av 11.6, max 24.05 mph, 2hrs 4mins, dry, cold, temp 4, wind 3, I didn't feel quite right after a fall in the river Mole on the 16th. Total 626.33 miles.

Friday 21st March 2008 @ 20:00, Lee, HH, PH, HH, 10.69 miles, av 6.2, max 16.2, 1hr 43mins, cold & very muddy (hence the slowness of the ride), cloudy with clear skies between, it felt much colder than what Metcheck said, temp 1, wind 16. Total 637.02 miles.

Sunday 23rd March 2008 @ 20:25, RP (road), 15.30 miles, av 12.8, max 21.2 mph, 1hr 12mins, very cold, wet road and ice in parts, temp -1, wind 13. Total 652.32 miles.

Wednesday 26th March 2008 @ 17:45, RP, 19.63 miles, av 12.2, max 25.3 mph, 1hr 36mins, mild, wet & muddy, temp 8, wind 5. Total 671.95 miles.

Friday 28th March 2008 @ 19:00, BP, RP, Lee, 20.63 miles, av 12, max 25.7 mph, 1hr 43mins, very windy, wet, driving freezing rain at beginning, then clear, temp 3, wind 19. Total 692.58 miles.

Sunday 30th March 2008 @ 16:00, RP x2 & a bit, 24.71 miles, av 12.8, max 36.3 mph, 1hr 55mins, mild, dry (with muddy puddles), sunny with some clouds, I nearly got caught speeding by a policeman! He was at the bottom of one of the hills with a speed camera and was pointing it right at me. I was going 15mph (the limit is 10). Just before (and going much faster) I saw him, another cyclist shouted at me who was coming from the opposite direction and although I didn't hear him because I had my ipod on, I took it as a warning that there were police around and so I slowed down. Also today, I was due to take part in another Gorrick MTB race, but got mixed up what with the clocks going forward one hour and missed it! Temp 14, wind 7. Total 717.29 miles.



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........717.29 miles.

"The **** for My Feather"

View of the Thames from Kingston Bridge 30th March 2008.



My God! What would a **** be without her beautiful feathers? Cold, alone & dead in the water, that's what! It doesn't bare thinking about does it? The two go perfectly together with one another, always have, always will.
There is this **** that I know, you see. The most beautiful **** I have ever seen, ever. I see her sometimes in the park from my bike and whilst driving in my car. I see her in my sleep and I see her in my dreams too. She is absolutely everywhere!
Sometimes she is all alone and I want her so badly. Other times she has another **** by her side and I want to be with her so much that I would kill for her company. I shall never be entirely happy until I have her by my side and her wings envelope me and cover me with her soul, her warmth, her humour and her Love. What do I have to do to get her, to have her with me, to want me so badly that she never wants to let me go? Just what do I have to do?
She is a precious treasure, buried for centuries only to be unearthed and taken by someone else. But this treasure was always meant to be for me. For I had the map and I had the spade and I had the time and I lost her! She flew away and never came back to me, until now. I still have the map and spade and the time. And I have plenty of room in my heart for this most perfect of perfect *****. This most beautiful of all the ***** that there ever was!
I am the feather that belongs to this ****. To keep her warm and to help her fly, to keep her dry, to make her feel pure, magnificent, beautiful & Loved.
I am the river that will carry this **** and keep her afloat and feed her. I am the sky that will take her places, to places that she will have never been to before. Special places reserved only for Her & I. But why can't this happen? Why doesn't she fly away altogether and never come back? When will she paddle over to me and whisper in my ear that she wants me too? That she will be the **** for my feather?



Jason





(C) JPT 2008.........717.29 miles.