Just got back from 'Alkaline Trio' at the Astoria. Great fucking fun it was too. I had doubts about the new album - seemed a little bloated - but the new songs held their own against the older stuff. The Trio were one of the bands that I 'discovered' online so I had no idea how popular they were - fucking loads of kids everywhere which was nice to see - I thought all the little bastards were hooked on all that 'popstars' crap on TV. The pit was heaving but nice and friendly - even the security guys were in good spirits. I snapped off the rest of the film left over from the 'Tomahawk' gig so I'll get that developed tomorrow and up on here somewhere if its any good. Glad to say that the guys kept their (circumcised) peni hidden away unlike Mr Patton. Dr Graham tells me he's going to see them at a 'secret gig' which will be a lot smaller than the Astoria - that should be good fun. Read an interview with the guys on Graham's site. I did the ultimate geek thing too - I went to a yank punk rock gig with a comic book tucked under my arm snapping off photos for my blog. I'm regressing obviously. As we had some time to kill (the line to get in was fucking enormous and I didn't want to shuffle slowly forward in the rain discussing favourite Buffy episodes with the 14 year old girlies) we went for pre-gig drinks and comic books. 'Box Office Poison' by Alex Robinson - which is really good - I'll probably get around to talking about it tomorrow. Do you ever feel sorry for the rest of your fellow travellers on the way home from a gig - tonight the tube was just packed with people who really needed help in some way - all sat there, moulded to the seats clutching their Time Outs and Bridget Fucking Jones. What do these people do when they're not skulking? Tomorrow I'm going to go into the store for the last time and do the 'leaving drinks' and all that. I'll even get a pressie... Mike is blogging to: The Hissyfits - Letters from Frank