Checked out the Fortuna Pop fest at the Luminaire, High Road, Kilburn, London yesterday and had a good time.

It's great to see a thriving indie venue in the once-bleak badlands of Kilburn, even if the stage was a bit hidden fromview.



I liked Bearsuit. I've got a lot of time for trumpets in rock!

Actionettes and Bearsuit, Fortuna Pop fest, Luminaire, High Road, Kilburn

Came out of the tube around 4pm today to find a ton of cops in the station, with travellers being directed through an airport style, full body metal detector.



The presence was heavy - at least three armed police at the top of the stairs carried pistols *and* machine guns!

Apparently, the armed-to-the-teeth police presence was there to 'dissuade' people form carrying knives to the Carnival in Notting Hill.

More photos here: armed police at Brixton tube

Here's two fantastic collections of photographs from two of my favourite places in the world: Wales and New York

Maciej Dakowicz's smart, sharp and funny street scenes taken around Cardiff and the Valleys makes me feel like a fumbling amateur, while Joseph Holmes' photos from New York make me want to get on a plane and start snapping.


That reminds me: I've still got a ton of photos to add to my New York photo gallery from our November 2005 trip.

What a great festival that was!

Despite its daft name ("Endorse-It Festival in Dorset"), it was a fantastic weekend.



Great location, great bands, just the right amount of people and (gasp!) barely a ket head or dodgy dealer geeeezer to be seen anywhere.

And I never thought I'd say it, but RDF were brilliant too!



More photos here: Endorse-It festival, 2006

I'm still working on this one, but here's some new photos from Folkestone.

It's a strange town and much nicer that I thought - it's got a proper beach and a fabulously evocative abandoned funfair (the next section will show the posh hotels and lovely coastal walk)


Folkestone photos


Folkestone festival and beach


Folkestone abandoned funfair

It's a funny old city Nottingham.

The centre is mainly ghastly with a truly dreadful shopping centre and bland streets lined with the same identical big brands as everywhere else, but then you turn a corner and come across some really attractive architecture.



I only know Nottingham from two overnight stays where we've gone up for a wedding - which naturally involved the odd tipple or two - so I've never had chance to fully explore the place.

Here's my photo report: Nottingham photos

Hangover ahoy!
Blimey, last night was a bit fierce.

I was asked to DJ a benefit at the Albert which was billed as 'ska, reggae and other stuff.'

As I was on at 930pm and kinda thought I'd be the first on, so planned to warm 'em up with some King Tubby and dub and then move on to some ska.

Only problem was when I got there I realised that the other DJ was playing exactly that!

A quick set reshuffle saw me opening up with a rude boy ska set, moving on to the Clash, The Ruts, Plastic Bertrand, Jam, Squeeze, Futureheads, Jonathon Richman, Undertone, Graham Coxon and a ton of other punk stuff I was too pissed to remember.

Afterwards, we shuffed across to the Canterbury for How Does It Feel To Be Loved for some 60s/indie/ motown grooving.

Top night!

Coffee at the Photographers Gallery
There's an interesting exhibition on if you're passing through.

The London Fire Brigade Archive shows a curious selection of scenes from the 30s to the 70s, including a bus that's crashed into a house, moustachio'd fire brigade dudes rocking out in a band in the 70s and photo evidence from small front room fires.

Right, I've finished my coffee. Time to hit FOPP and buy a ton of ska CDs.

Visited the bleak - but fantastic - shingle wastelands of Dungeness last weekend and took some snaps of the old station site at Dungeness.



Wandering around the area, I came across two heavily rusted narrow gauge lines, which I assume were used by fisherman to transport fish from their boats to the nearby road.


We'd travelled to Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, which steams through 14 miles of countryside on a tiny 15 inch (380 mm) gauge track.



I love the weird open spaces of Dungeness and managed to grab two pages of photos here