paulcrofts

Very sad to hear Dave had passed away. Never met him, but enjoyed plenty of nights in the pub and beers from the brewery. In fact all of us who enjoy a night out down Kelham owe Dave a great deal. He blazed a trail with the Fat Cat, that brought in customers and encouraged everyone else in the area. Let's hope the breweries are planning something to celebrate his life. It would be nice to see all the Sheffield breweries get together and brew different beers in his honour. Something like "Wicketts Best" from one, "Wicketts Pale Ale" from another etc. with a contribution from the sale of each pint going to Cancer research. I'd drink to that.

As well as the oldest club - Sheffield FC - and the oldest ground - Sandygate Rd - we have the second oldest club - Hallam FC - the first officially organised match - Hallam v Sheffield at Sandygate Rd 1860 - the first cup competition - Youdon Cup, won by Hallam in 1867 - and the London clubs adopted our rules as someone already said! Not only should the council make more of it, I can't believe the FA put the National Football museum firstly in Preston, and then moved it to Manchester. Looks like an obvious anti-Sheffield bias to me.

Saw The Hot Soles and Ed Cosens Band at Tramlines recently, and was mighty impressed by both of them.

Mogul Room on Sharrow Vale Road has always been good when I've been. And there's the added bonus of the Porter Cottage just up the road for a quick drink beforehand!

Shapespeares on Shalesmoor has some pretty good beers since it reopened. Had a very nice pint of Citra in there a couple of weeks ago.

"...Stonehenge Pigswill ..." Great name. Is this an actual beer? If not it should be!

I've been in a couple of times since it re-opened and I think it'll be pretty good once it's finished. Looks like they opened a bit early to get the Tramlines crowd, but you can't really blame them for that. Good range of beers and a beer garden with plenty of potential. Hopefully the real ale crowd will include it in the Kelham run. Always nice to see a pub reopen and succeed.

I'm going back a few pages here, but what on earth is a mahogany biologist?

Went on Saturday - all day - and had a fantastic time. I agree with the comments about flyers though. The council ought to ban them for the weekend, and make Domino's etc just use the guys with sandwich boards. One other thing worth a mention is the timing. I know it's difficult to keep things on schedule when there's a lot of bands, but it does mean if you plan what you want to see it's likely to go haywire before too long. I was keen to see The Hot Soles at DQ who were meant to be on at 8.30. However they started at 10.20 and I had to leave after 3 songs as I also wanted to see The Hosts in the Libraray Theatre at 11.00. (Both bands brilliant by the way. as were the band on before Hot Soles, who I think were an ex-Reverend guy's band. Ed somebody Band, I think) It's probably a consequence of venues hosting bands when they're not really used to it, but the fact they're involved outweighs any minor disadvantage with delays. And the thing about Dev Green being a bit small is that it means people who don't want to queue will go somewhere else and probably come across something they hadn't expected to see. All round it's a great event and I personally can't wait for next year.

Wow, that's one surreal traffic accident!

Saw Ely Cattleman at Lounge on Sat afternoon, who did a great set despite it being an acoustic spot with no amplification, and the fromt windows open. Best band I saw at the weekend though was easily The Hosts at O2 academy. Great band, great songs, fantastic vocalist. Should have been on the main stage.

I'll name a couple of Mary Chapin Carpenter songs. Not because they have any association with anything, but just the subject matter is beautifully expressed. "Only A Dream" which is about her and her sister during their parents break up, and "John Doe No. 24" based on a true story of a deaf and blind boy found in America, who was never reported missing and went to his grave without anyone ever coming forward to say he was their relative. Mary Chapin always has a great way with words, but she really excels on these 2 tunes.

Didn't Simon Beckett the novelist used to be in PALIS? I've just been to Germany and in the airport booksellers in Koln he had 3 books in their top 20 list!

Anyone fancying this? should be a good night.

Dead Like Harry will be at the Frog & Parrot on Division Street on Friday 24/7 as part of the Sheffield Music City/Tramlines Festival. Free entry, band on stage at 10.00. For anyone who can't make it, some of the songs will be on Radio 6, Radio 5, and Radio Sheffield the same night. Not sure yet if these will be broadcast live or later on.