Recently, on The Barstool...

It's been a bit longer than usual - 9 weeks - since I last did a roundup of what's been going on over on the dark side.

Well, we had a new entry in my 'Great Dating Disasters' series - an account of a rather lovely, but inevitably very brief, liaison with a much younger girl. There was this frivolous piece on interactive video games you can play at the urinal - inspired by a genuine news story (from Japan, of course). And I was delighted to find that YouTube finally has Pete and Dud's pillar-box scene (from the film Bedazzled), which I have always considered the best ever explanation of the fall of Lucifer. I've shared the recipe for what is currently my favourite cocktail, come up with a novel bar promotion idea or two, and expounded on why very cheap drink is actually a BAD promotional idea. I've also recently discovered a rather wonderful new (time-wasting!) website.

Overall, a rather slow couple of months, though. Well, slow for bar reviews and such, because I didn't go out very much over the holiday period. However, the slew of 'significant' days following each other in quick succession gave me plenty of excuses to post some great music...

I celebrated the advent of the Chinese New Year with the opening scene from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, in which Kate Capshaw sings Anything Goes "in Chinese" (comment discussion evinced some scepticisim about how good her language coaching had been), while Australia Day - this year, only a few days later - was marked by posting a version of Down Under performed just a few years ago in LA by Colin Hay with the Ringo Starr All-Star Band (there's also a brief clip of former Aussie PM Bob Hawke sculling a beer at a recent cricket match!). A couple of days after that, I sought to dispel the holiday blues with the irresistibly bouncy Birdland from '80s electro-jazz outfit Weather Report. Then, on Bob Marley's birthday we had Stop The Train (actually a Peter Tosh song rather than one of Bob's, and I found a version of his to accompany the early Wailers one - double happiness!). A few days after that, Jorma Kaukonen was in town: I didn't go to see him because he was playing at bloody Yugong Yishan, but I did taunt myself for the omission by posting a performance by him of Hesitation Blues. Then, on Mardi Gras, I posted Tom Waits singing his I Wish I Was In New Orleans, followed up a few days later by some other versions of the song (and another song of the same name by a young star of American roots music, Ben Prestage). Then, last weekend, for St Patrick's Day I posted a few versions of Whiskey In The Jar. Lots to enjoy there.

But of course, the BIG NEWS over on my other blog has been the 'return' - after 3 years or more of silence - of the once highly popular Band Names Game. Please go and check that out, and leave some band name suggestions of your own.

This week's memorable offerings have included Single-Click Generation, Freddy's Fingers, Zombie Snot, Full Metal Jackass, Haunted Spouse, Rhythmic Pastimes, The Glass Melangerie, Archbishop Of Hell, The Mostly Deads, Barefoot Actors, and My Personal Spammer. Think you can do better? Click on the link!