The Poor Mouth

A cursory glance at the index of The Purple Bottle will tell you that I've been an infrequent blogger and have confined myself to music. My friend and fellow Robyn Hitchcock fanatic, "Jams O'Donnell", is at the other end of the spectrum - he seems to post at least once a day and covers any subject that takes his fancy, upon most of which he is informed, amusing and passionate. His blog is called The Poor Mouth and you can find it here: http://thepoormouth.blogspot.com/
I'd post a picture of him but I'd better get his permission first, so here's one of me that he took:



It's due to the encouragement of "Jams" that I've started posting here more often, so you've got him to thank/blame! By the way, if anyone is wondering where the name "The Purple Bottle" came from, it's the name of Sky Saxon and the Seeds' publishing company.

Robyn & The Venus 3 (or 5) at Oxford Zodiac

(I posted this to the various Robyn Hitchcock groups straight after the gig. As it's been quoted quite a lot on the net -my blushes! - I'd thought I'd copy it here for posterity. Unfortunately, my photos weren't very good but there are some great photos out there. The one here is from the BBC Radio Oxford site).

Well, I don't know when I'm going to come down but I've just got back from one of those gigs of a lifetime. Not only did Robyn and the V3 play one of the best sets I've ever seen in 20 years of Hitchcock gigs but the encore was Robyn and REM - yes, Michael Stipe and Mike Mills were there (and Thom Yorke in the audience) and the little old Zodiac rocked like it probably never has before! And it was only half full! I'll just post the setlist tonight but I took quite a few pics and my mate got nearly all of it on his phone/camera - pray that it comes out and that someone got a good recording of the audio (I didn't see Matthais there but I hope he was!)

Adventure Rocket Ship
Afterlife (? new song)
Sally Was A Legend
Ole Tarantula
City of Shame (Thom Yorke was bopping to this one, just next to our group)
If You Were A Priest
NY Doll
Somewhere Apart
Flesh #1
Television
Not Dark Yet (Dylan - this was a highlight for me)
Authority Box
Creeped Out
Driving Aloud (Radio Storm)
Madonna of the Wasps
Jewels For Sophia
Kingdom of Love

1st Encore (enter Michael Stipe & Mike Mills who played Peter Buck's rickenbacker)
Electrolite (REM song)
Arms of Love
I'm Gonna DJ (At The End of the World) (new REM song, Mills switched to bass, Scott on guitar)
Listening To The Higsons (Buck on drums, Reiflen bass, Scott guitar, Stipe backing vox, Robyn ditched his guitar)

2nd Encore (with Mike Mills but not Stipe)
Give It To The Soft Boys
Eight Miles High (and I was by then, without alcohol or drugs! An absolutely stunning extended version)

I may have got the encore details a bit skewed but by that time all hope of writing anything down had gone out the window!