Magnanimously Dormant Dilettanti,

XTC once sang ‘This is pop.’ and they were right. I have craved pop for many months; this is quite unusual for me. The Drums and Vampire Weekend have gained some mainstream success. I have enjoyed Eux Autres and Veronica Falls recently too, but I fell in love with 6 Day Riot after hearing them support Belle & Sebastian in December; so when they were in the neighbourhood recently, we listened.

Life is tumultuous at the minute, and my mind was swimming with possibilities so the night could have been a pleasant distraction or it could have been a hindrance. In the end, it was probably both, but in reverse order. The gig was at The Doghouse, Dundee. The Doghouse, as a venue, did close and move; they had to cordon off the streets and call in Bernard Cribbins. Of course, I forgot this and we were peering through the windows of the new restaurant in the vacated space.

To remedy the situation, I looked at the tickets and they told me the new address. With the aid of an ‘app’, we discovered where The Doghouse was. I don’t agree with ‘apps’ and will stay a fan of apples instead. Arriving after 9 pm, we had hoped to have missed most of the supporting acts. We did not and misery was to ensue.

Spectral Cat had been and gone. From preparatory quick research of the support bands, I thought that they were actually the band I was going to find most bearable. We were to suffer At the Swordfight first. The aim of this band was to sound like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and the like. Each song usually sounded like the one before, although this was dependent on the performance of their gear. They were very confident despite their lack of professionalism and identity. The glow-sticks, which they handed out to their followers, were most successful and these will have added colour to the video recording of their set. I hope they learn something from the playback. Hey Essé were next. I’m sure rap can be delightful but my knowledge of the genre is patchy. I’d say aim for Beastie Boys and avoid the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I’d say that Mr Ivor Cutler managed a decent rap in a Scottish accent. I’ve no doubt that Hey Essé will impress a section of people.

6 Day Riot are a band who are full of confidence and it’s because they know that they’ve written a skein of great songs and they are fantastic musicians. They opened with single All I Need, of course, the opening violin heralded a change from the earlier calamities and 6 Day Riot's ten dedicated followers began tapping their feet. The combination of key and tempo changes and the vocal harmonies is quite stunning. All the hits followed. There was the dark drama of the ukulele-led Take Me Out to Sea. Singer Tamara explained that O Those Kids was about John Darwin. I like when we can understand a song and equate it with a story. For instance, I have no idea who that Day Tripper the Beatles went on about is. Of course, McCartney learned his lesson by the time of Mull of Kintyre, because everyone knows about that cheese. There was Every Third Sunday, which was been on Skins recently, with its interesting lyric; ‘Daily meals to calm your eyes.’ 6 Day Riot’s Run for Your Life is one of the best pop songs of this century; it should be taught in schools and used in the workplace. At this time, it is very apt to describe some of the current affairs. They ended with YaDaDa plus some audience participation.

The night was long but it was ended superbly by 6 Day Riot. The support bands were hard to handle but without them and their friends, the gig would have rather poorly attended. 6 Day Riot deserve more support than just that of this duffer.

Those About to Foment,

The novelty of the new job wore off quite quickly. I know that it is possible to enjoy work, I did so throughout a year that I spent at another company and I did so just a few weeks ago, but only for a few days. My background actually suits my employer very well but they don’t utilise it and I find this frustrating. I was asked to pick up a project that had been sidelined and I had found something quite interesting, but before I could properly analyse or develop my discovery, I was re-deployed.

Nevertheless, I am learning. I am learning how to act when I am promoted. This may simply be a lesson in psychology. I have always have leadership qualities. I led for a short while the other day when I was asked to teach a colleague a test method that I had become the expert on. He tried being awkward but took the lesson. I did not lead when I was asked to rearrange the furniture in my new manager’s office and it was he who knocked over the glass vase.

There’s still hope as long as I am writing. What I am writing is written all over my face. Hope is important. I’ve seen a few examples of what can happen recently. They range from depression to settling to escaping.

The depression worries me, it happened to a friend who has struggled to find a job and move on. His problems have had a considerable effect on me. From a selfish point of view, I draw parallels between him and me to try to understand his problems but also to guard against them. I went to visit him recently and found him in good spirits but I realise these problems take time to overcome.

I can’t afford to settle, I need change. I was glad to see a colleague announce that he is moving on, although I was a little envious. ‘And the one he sent away was the only one who stayed’ could still happen. I was inspired by two lines from the song Time Trading by The Jeffrey Lewis and Peter Stampfel Folk Show:

You gotta do something that you can get nicer at, you gotta do something that you can get wiser at, you gotta do something that you can get better at.

You gotta do something that you can get smarter at, you gotta do something that you might just be a starter at, you gotta do something that you can get better at.

I think it would be a great idea to launch a radio show aimed at sending people to sleep. The best radio sends me to sleep. My brain must finally succumb to the notion that everything is okay and rest. Of course, no station wants its listeners to go to bed, but everyone must sleep so the target demographic is huge. Someone told me that humans can only live for 1 week without sleep, such a station would be saving lives.