I Hate ITunes

I hate iTunes. I quite intensely dislike most apple products but ITunes especially. I find myself writing this because of the enormous lengths I had to go to this evening to try and download a podcast. I'd heard advertised on the radio the latest XFM breakfast show podcast with Danny Wallace starring some of my favourite comedians. I found the link and ended up at a holding page on the iTunes website informing me that I should download it before I could listen. Surely not I thought... a podcast at the end of the day is usually just and MP3 and there must be and RSS/Atom feed somewhere that I can just download it from. Apparently not.

Lidl or Moon

Well, I've just got back from what has to be the most interesting concert I've ever been to. I went to see Kate Rusby at the Lowry and it was magnificent. I somewhat knew what to expect because I'd listened to the gig she did for Radio 2 the a couple of weeks ago by this was even more special. It was unlike any gig is been to before but it's also a very different genre to the sort of music I usually see played live so I suppose it would be!

One of the most endearing things about Kate is the way she intereacts with the audience. Between each song, she'll tell a little anecdote and explain ether something about the song or a little story about herself. The title of this post is inspired by one such story she told about seeing the most beautiful full moon when she was coming back from a gig only for it to turn out to be a sign for Lidl!

Because it's not really the sort of concert you go to sing along with - although we were encouraged to join in for a couple of them - mainly because you've paid to hear one of this country's, ney the world's, most beautiful voices, it's lovely to have that conversational intersection and it makes the whole thing feel very special.

Another of the stories we were told was about a man who had asked for a set list with the key for each song. Slightly confused but wishing to find out more, they obliged and low and behold it was because he had bought a trumpet along with him and wanted to 'play' along and did so too! Apparently he wasn't very good but who the he'll would do that? Unless you were really amazing and were hoping to be invited on stage, the only thing you've achieved is ruining it for everyone else.

So, yes a fantastic night which also included an instrumental piece comprising of the Muppets theme tune and a bit of Rainbow! What more could you ask for?