Easily Read

Rough Trade is more well known as a music store. They also sell various books, so it was a good setting for the UK launch of The Third Script book; a volume of short stories from writers in the UK, Tasmania and Iran.

My friend Matt has a story in it called Tom's Eyes. It's a true story about a terrifying adventure he had some time ago, when he went to live abroad.  Some of the other writes are in the photo, together with some others who read extracts from a couple of the Iranian and Tasmanian stories, as obviously they couldn't be there in person.

Also in the photo at the very back is screenwriter William Ivory, well known for the film 'Made in Dagenham', which was about a strike at Fords in the late 1960s over equal pay for women. And also at the back is none other than our very own official Robin Hood, who spoke for about five minutes about how good it was to live in Nottingham.

One of my favourite local bands The Madeline Rush played three new songs, acoustically this time. Which were of course very good. I bet they should a lot more grungier with their guitars plugged into their amps.

Lucy

I went to see my favourite local band The Madeline Rust tonight at Rough Trade; a record store that opened earlier this year. It was quite an intimate gig, as the space wasn't large, but the devoted audience loved it. As they usually do. The band have quite a faithful following of friends and fans alike.

Here's Lucy, the singer and bassist with the band. Whilst she sports a unique, dramatic look, she's one of the loveliest people I know. Her hubby Gavin, also photographs the band in action, and we often do a sort of photographic dance, as we move around and swap places at the front of the stage, to get different views of the action.

The whole band are great fun to chat to, and I do hope that they get the opportunity of going on to bigger things with bigger audiences, as I think they are as good, if not better than some of the headline bands that are out there these days. But that's just my biased opinion.

The Bonny Lads

Back in November a new record shop opened in the city centre. A branch of Rough Trade no less.

Besides selling albums, CDs and books they also have a snack bar and have recently been having live in-store gigs by up and coming bands.

I saw one such band today at lunchtime, who go by the name of The Little Comets, an indie rock group from the North East of England.  I'd not heard of them before, even though they have been going since 2008.

They played for about half an hour to a receptive audience, who had packed the upstairs cafe area. They weren't bad considering it's not really my kind of music. They also have a bass player, who I sadly didn't manage to get in the shot, so here he is, in a portrait of  his own.