Running out of running puns

I played a set at the lovely Engine Room in North Shields They put on loads of good gigs, and are by far the most interesting place on the fish quay, so I had been keen for ages to play there.

It was Great North Run day! So: afterparty! But: TORRENTIAL RAIN! But: didn't stop me! So: played my smartarse set of vaguely running-themed bangers!

1. Free - I'm A Mover

2. Big Daddy Rucker - You Got Me Movin'

3. Back Street Band - This Ain't The Road

4. Blues Magoos - Slow Down Sundown

5. Freak Power - Running Away

6. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill

7. Owen & Leon Silveras - Running Around

8. The Mohawks - The Champ

9. Bobby Womack - I'm A Midnight Mover

10. Gwen Owens - Hit & Run

11. Steppenwolf - Faster Than The Speed Of Life

12. Sham 69 - Hurry Up Harry

13. The Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Running

14. Manic Street Preachers - Train In Vain (live)

15. The Stranglers - Walk On By

16. Jr Walker & The All Stars - (I'm A) Road Runner

17. Jimmy Ruffin - I've Passed This Way Before

18. Willie Bobo - Funky Sneakers

19. Charanga 76 - No Nos Pararan (Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now)

20. RL Burnside - Rollin' & Tumblin' (remix, funk lagoon edit)

21. Finis Tasby - Walk On

22. Cake - The Distance

23. Phoenix - Run Run Run (edit)

24. Sly & The Family Stone - Lady Is A Champ

25. Esther Marrow - Walk Tall

26. Imperial Breed - On The Run

27. Morphine - Cure For Pain

28. Nancy Wallace - Young Hearts Run Free

29. The Limp Twins - Moving Closer To The Sofa

30. Lalo Schifrin - Jim On The Move

31. The Apples - Run This Town

32. Willie Mitchell - The Champion (pt 1)

33. Stranger Cole - Run Joe

34. Johnathan Richmond and The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

35. The Spook School - That's When I Ran Away

36. Phil Wilson - 10 Miles

37. MU330 - Please Don't Run

38. Wat - I'm Walking

39. Dinosaur Jr - Take A Run At The Sun

40. The Wedding Present - Go, Man Go

41. Flo - Go Cat Go

42. Fats Domino - I'm Walkin'

43. Chuck Berry - You Can't Catch Me

44. Little Richard - Ready Teddy

45. The Detroit Cobras - Break-a-way

46. The Beatles - Why don't we do it in the road

47. Linda Clifford - Runaway Love

48. Organized Konfusion - Walk Into The Sun

49. The Chemical Brothers - Go (Extended Mix)

50. Les Rythmes Digitales - Jaques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)

51. Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

52. Scorpions - No Pain No Gain

53. Bryan Adams - Run To You

54. Bon Jovi - Runaway

55. Queen - Headlong

56. Roy Ayers - Running Away

57. Jo Jo Gunne - Run Run Run

58. The Contours - The Stretch

59. The MVPs - Turnin' My Heartbeat Up

60. Noisettes - Winner

61. The Go Team - Panther Dash

62. A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)

63. The Jesus And Mary Chain - The Hardest Walk

64. The Bees - One Glass Of Water

65. The Me Me's - Gotta Get Out This Place

66. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Born To Lose

67. Wonder Boy Travis - She Went Thataway

68. Hayseed Dixie - Walk This Way

69. The Bamboos feat Alice Russell - Step It Up

70. Billy Preston - I'm Coming Through

71. Smash Mouth - Walkin' on the Sun

72. Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere

73. The Beatles - I'm so tired

74. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Born To Run

75. Mark Knopfler - Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero

Had a LOVELY time. Hopefully more adventures on the metaphorical wheels of steel soon.

Good Times at the Disco Inferno (location: Funkytown)

I had a LOVELY time at the Star & Shadow Electric Disco night. Played a couple of sets in the end. Loads of requests that I played if I could, and ended up just playing big banger after banger, which no DJ really minds if everyone is having a great time and dancing - which they were. First time for me playing out in public since lockdown and All That Business, so probably a bit rusty (though I tell you: disco is a flipping nightmare of seeming like having solid beats but the actual BPMs being variable all over the place, haha!) Anyway, left absolutely buzzing. Good times.

 

Hopefully the event made a bit of cash for the Star and Shadow in the face of horrendous energy bills. It's an absolutely class venue. Films, parties, gigs, art, all kinds of stuff happening. Check out their programme - SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, always.

There may be other parties like this (not always disco), so keep an extra keen lookout for them!

Onwards and UPwards

Up! magazine is lovely magazine full of positivity and people talking about their passions; each monthly issue is on a specific theme.

I, unexpectedly, found myself in the position of writing about superheroes for the 'heroes'-themed August 2023 issue. It's a difficult topic for me as I have quite conflicted opinions about the genre of superheroes and how it has impacted the medium of sequential art that I love.

However, writing the piece gave me an opportunity to reflect on how I feel and what superheroes mean, and why I think their popularity persists. I found it interesting, and, in addition to the rambling, I did a couple of drawings of, e.g., a not-Batman doing a kickflip.

You can download it (and all previous issues) free from their website positivelyup.co.uk/

Let's go! Disco!

DISCO DISCO DISCO! The Star & Shadow cinema/arts venue returns after its summer break with disco party on 2nd September, raising funds for the venue. I'll be amongst the DJs spinning vintage funk & disco! Come along in your most sparkly gear and help support this amazing venue. Tickets a mere five quid! https://starandshadow.org.uk/programme/event/electric-disco,7065/

Check out the full amazing programme here: https://starandshadow.org.uk/

Swim for the surface

Paper Jam battled on valiantly in largely online form from 2020 through to 2022 but gradually got itself back to something resembling its former self during 2022. This culminated in the publication in spring 2023 of The Sea ...And That, our first anthology since 2019's prophetic You Need A Holiday ...And That.

The process of slowly getting our mojo back enough to put out a (really good) anthology involved first putting out a little A6 promotional anthology/zine in autumn 2022, Under The Restless Sea.

Here's the strip I did for that:

Yeah, it's been a funny old few years.

My story in the main anthology is, I suppose a continuation of these themes, but a bit sillier on the surface. Here's how it starts:

The anthology does have a lot of melancholic stuff in (comics, personal expression, catharsis, etc etc) but it's still incredibly varied and fun and really good to see in existence. It features plenty of old hands from Paper Jam of yore, but also plenty of new faces. There was a great launch party, sales are going well (it's available online here), and plans are being made for the next anthology.

It's nice to be, at least to some extent, back on dry land.