And as we are now half-way through the first month of 2020, the other focus is on gigs and other events in the calendar.
High on the anticipation scale is White Hot Day – the first Simple Minds fan convention in over 15 years and the first I’ve had the opportunity of being able to attend. Fans are coming from all over the world to attend. It really is going to be something.
Tickets are available HERE – and if are travelling from afar to sunny Glasgow, I may be able to put you up for the night.
It’s the one a lot of fans have been waiting for and well…it’s fairly disappointing, insomuch as there’s nothing to surprise. No previously unreleased material. Well the Verona audio is deemed “previously unissued” – whatever the fuck THAT’S meant to mean. Not previously in audio only format, I’m assuming?
This new push for “edits” continues with a disc that contains both edits and full versions of songs and some remixes. Why edits? Especially within a product that appeals most to the ardent fan rather than the casual fair weather fan? I just about understood it with “40: The Best of 1979-2019”. It was to appeal to the casual fan, not the ardent one.
If you want true fans … “real” fans to continue to invest in this output, you’re going to have to up your game. Sorry, but it’s the truth. You can’t just keep on relying on us being pulled in by the aesthetics of the packaging. It’ll start to have a tone of “nice legs, shame about the face” with it. “Nice packaging, shame about the content.”
It’s a big investment for some pretty imagery.
The only thing that genuinely appeals about it now is the booklet and Trevor Horn interview.
But don’t let me put you off! Available to pre-order – the best price I’ve seen for it is via the Townsend Music store, currently listed as £43 for the 4CD Boxset. You can view more details on the contents of the boxset HERE (which also contains info on the 2CD and 2LP versions of the album).
I’ll wait to invest. I’m guessing that by the time this year’s Verona gig swings by, the price will have dropped and I’ll grab a copy then. I did similar with Sparkle In The Rain and Once Upon A Time. I bought them both several months down the line at discounted cost.
Now…had this been a Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call boxset….
Please stay a while. I have missed you. Even if the feeling is not mutual….
What to do about this blog? Haven’t had much to say here this past month. It was all about the time in Oz with the family and friends.
Now I am back home though, I am starting to think about what I can do with this blog.
I guess soon enough it’ll be busy again, reporting on rehearsals and then the tour will be kicking off before we know it. I mean… Stavanger must only be six weeks away now. Yikes! (A quick double check and yep, just over six weeks away from today.)
Geez it would be good to have some interviews again, like last year. Jaine and Bruce were great interviews.
Some things have happened while I’ve been away too that I haven’t really reported on. The sad loss of Tony Donald over New Year being one.
There was such loss in 2019, esp. in the final few months. On a personal level too, of course. Hence my journey home. As the days pass on, the more I miss mum. The same thing happened with David. There is no closure. Just a void. This feeling of emptiness that is different to the loss when it happens to you when you’re around to experience it.
I said goodbye to mum in a video. And it took my niece, Madeline, to make me think of doing it. And it felt really weird and just… . I didn’t want to say goodbye like that! I didn’t want to let her know it was goodbye. I couldn’t bring myself to say “goodbye, mum”… even though I knew she was in her final hours of life.
The only comfort I take from it all is knowing she would have felt it as a sweet relief.
She drifted away quietly. My sister, Cheryl, and my brother, Quince, were with her when she slipped away. Cheryl told me that Quince was holding her hand and was unaware she had even passed.
But, enough of that. My grief has nothing to do with this blog in all honesty. I don’t want it to.
I still just want this to be a great blog. Even if sometimes it’s all on a personal level. It is meant to be a Simple Minds blog – with that “heavy dose of Jim Kerr” warning label attached. Lol.
So… I’m open to ideas. Any are welcome.
I wish I could share Virginia prints. But she’d string me up if I share too many! And that I understand. Those amazing photographs of hers are the only income source she has and I do all in my power to try and help her along with that. She’s become a really good friend and I would never betray a trust.
Anyway. Enough of my waffle. I’ll knuckle down and think of something. Take this blog kicking and screaming into 2020 somehow!
Not meant to be taken seriously.
Let me explain.
As I was travelling back home to the UK I posted to the SMO FB visitor wall about having Jim greet me at Glasgow Airport.
I can’t remember what I wrote exactly. I was on the plane at the time and hadn’t slept for some time so I can’t recall exactly how I worded it. But I had joked in the comments of a post written a few days before about him greeting me at the airport.
This post to the visitor wall was a “reminder” – you know “tomorrow, 3pm, be there or be square” kind of thing. Just a silly thing. Light hearted.
So why was it deleted? Who got offended by it? Was it the mention of a certain Glasgow doughnut shop? I don’t work on commission for them!!! Simple Minds have no trouble with me mentioning the band everywhere else… or running this blog as a massive advert for them.
I know I am being oversensitive worrying about why it was removed but I just get miffed about this crap.
It was just starting to feel nice again. Jim was starting to post a bit more and those months of feeling persona non grata were going away… and now this!?
I dunno. Why do I bother?
As petty as a post like that is… you just do it for a bit of fun. When it gets deleted, it feels like a kick in the guts. Like, “Oh FFS, what have I done wrong now?!” Are you just trying to tell me to fuck off? Well… just tell me to fuck off then.
Meh. Never mind, eh?
Let’s just count the days until Copenhagen and delude myself he still likes me. If he ever did.
I can sleep with him again. It’s been a whole month! Lol
Currently at Sydney Airport. Shortly about to board a United Airlines flight to San Francisco. About 30 plus hours of travel ahead with connections included.
See you on the other side.
Time for hame…
