Cheated on the title as it's not really one word.....sorry about that.
For anyone who has followed these writings for a period of time (if there is such a person),
You will have registered my respect and regard for Mr Frank Turner.
Turner is a former thrash/death metal band guitarist, from the band Million Dead, turned folk revival singer songwriter who has been prolific in his number of live performances in the last years since going on his own.
If you pay attention to the bottom of the blogs (if you ever get that far) you will know that they are all numbered now and that is inspired by Frank Turner. Before he begins the music in every show he states which number of shows he is up to. He performs close to 200 times every year.
Do the maths, started solo shows in 2005, building up a head of steam, how many shows by December 2016......yep 2000!!!
His favourite venue is Rock City in Nottingham and so it was that on the 16th of December I was stood there with my friend Mike (even more of a friend now as he got the tickets through a Facebook ballot) watching one of my life heroes perform his 2000 show.......wow!
I could write for hours about it but that won't do. My job here is to observe and report.
Never have I been at a gig where so many people knew so many of the words to so many of the songs (of even the support acts) and were willing to sing along.
And on the support acts, Turner invited some of his oldest friends and influences to play and even stepped in as guitarist for the Taylor's who split up seven years ago when their guitarist moved back to Canada, it was their first gig since then and with Turner in the line up.
He also had "Beans on toast" as his main support, check him out here.
What is special about this though is two things and these are the points of the blog today.
He turned up time and time and time again and keeps going and keeps practicing and keeps getting better. I once saw him use the phrase "if more people turn up we will put out more chairs and if less turn up we will take some away", I love that! He embodies, perfect practice makes perfect - 2000 times over.
He walks his talk. He believes in the power of people and in making a difference. On the night he recounted the story of how he had started to support "safe gigs for women when he was contacted by the founder of the project and questioned whether any problems occurred in his own gigs. When he saw the stories and accounts of what had happened he got involved and has something to say to such guys from the stage. But the next bit is mush better.
To demonstrate the power of unity and working together he brought Jay "beans on toast" back on stage. He stood him on the barrier between the crowd and the stage facing the stage and then issued instructions to us all, including the bar.
As he played the next song, BOT was transported by the crowd, horizontally, first to the bar to collect 2 Jamison whiskies, then onto the sound desk to shake hands with the crew then over to a random guy with glasses to share the drinks. He ended by being returned to the stage by the end of the song. Almost everyone in the 2000 crowd had supported that.
It's a silly thing that made little difference, or did it make a little difference. He also got the crowd to hug a stranger during the show, we don't do enough of that.
I was inspired as I always have been by him. That is enough. Entertainment is one thing, it is cheap these days.
Inspiration is priceless.
CC Sab analytics - 281216
weight - 13st 7lbs - up 3 lbs on last week, combination of xmas and dodgy scales measuring low last week (happy Alex j??)
Waist - across the belly button (eehhh!) - 38.5 inches (up!!), maybe a measuring error, probably not.
Chest 40 inches no change, why would there be.
BP - 131/78 pulse - 58. The best of 3 measurements, increased on last week, xmas and "boilergate", more about that tomorrow.
CTL - 45.5 huge increase!!!! good!!
Finally, the photo - this is week 2 week one blog is here for the photo from week 1.
My friend and amazing photographer Stuart Reekie (photography.co.uk) has kindly agreed to photo my face weekly in standardised conditions for both of us to see if it shows an improvement over the period. It's really subjective but if you don't get the blog though the website and only on email you need to click this here to see the photos on the blogs and click the blog itself
Blog Post Number: 1171 - got this wrong yesterday, this number is correct.
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