Spent much of Monday catching up on bits and pieces -- post to be answered, emails to be replied to, etc. Started watching the final series of The Sopranos, which I've been looking forward to greatly! I was going to wait a bit longer, but I couldn't hold back -- it's time to find out how it all wraps up!!!!

Went to Dolans Warehouse later to see The Magic Numbers. I loved their debut album, and although the second one was a bit disappointing (the songs go on too long!!!), it still featured a few lovely songs. I saw them live once before, and they were great, so I went with high hopes. And all those hopes were realised!!! They played brilliantly, they performed a nice mix of songs, they threw in a couple of cover versions for fun, and ... well, it was just FUN!!! They're one of the most entertaining bands I've ever seen -- real make-you-grin stuff! And it's not that they're a cynical, highly polished machine like so many smiley-happy bands -- you just get the sense watching them that they're having a good time and enjoying their connection with the audience. Dolans is also a great venue for a band like that -- tiny, intimate, no barriers between the band and their fans, no sense of violence. At one point, the lead singer mentioned that it was somebody's birthday. Bas yelled out, "You should play Happy Birthday!" He agreed that they should, but invited her up to sing it!!! She probably would have gone up, except there were lots of wires stretched across the front of the stage and she was wary of being electrocuted!!!! But when they saw she wasn't going to rise to the challenge, they went ahead and played it themselves -- you'll never get a moment like that in a concert arena!!!!! I've been lucky enough to attend all sorts of great gigs over the years, in a variety of venues, but I have to say honestly, as biased as I may be, that Dolans is pretty hard to beat. When you get a top notch band there, like The Magic Numbers, Kasabian or Ash, you get an experience second to no other. It's the way live music should be -- great, established, popular bands in small, personal venues -- but almost never is.

We were in such a good mood after the concert that we went and got kebabs from another Limerick institution, Abrakebabra!!! The brilliantly named kebab chain sports shops all over Ireland, and although the food they serve up is probably ridiculously unhealthy, it's damn tasty, and just the thing when you come out of a great gig and want to top up!!! You might feel guilty the next morning (as we both did -- I couldn't even go near the scales!!), but what the hell, life has to have at least the occasional guilty pleasure, right?!?

Did some more bits and pieces today, including writing a short foreword for the Taiwanese edition of Demon Apocalypse which comes out in January. Also went and got a Christmas tree, and decorated it once we got back. While I'm not a huge fan of Christmas, I have to admit a soft spot for Christmas trees -- they just look so magical!! I don't remember most of the presents I got for Christmas when I was a kid, or what I did on Christmas Days past, but I've very vivid memories of the trees we used to put up, decorating them, staring up at the lights and tinsel and ornaments, dreaming of Santa and magic and wonder.

Oh, by the way, Bas was fooling about online yesterday and devised the following little dance routine. I don't think much of it myself, but she's been rolling around in fits of laughter ever since, watching it over and over! So if you enjoy ritual, silly, childish humiliation, this could be just the thing for you!!! DARREN SCROOGE