Everybody can't be on top but life it ain't real funky unless it's got that pop (Prince)

Apologies for this one - I'm veering off slightly because school hasn't started yet in the UK and we have spent the last two weeks settling in to our new surroundings in Surrey.

First purchases: kettle; toaster; iron; TV; vinyl; CDs; stereo. Pretty much in that order. 

These priorities are firmly established!

Part of that process has also been catching up with friends and family and having a mini break. 

Reason for that being the next long holiday I'll have will be next July (sob). 

Outside of my parents' friends and my brother, my cousin Christine has probably known me the longest: fifty years (say it in a shaky granddad voice).

So it was a priority to meet up with her and her family (97 year old mother and her three children - Tom, Lewis and Fran).

During the visit Tom passed on a copy of his book, Pop Life. It details a year of gigs after he decided to attend one a week following Prince's sudden death.

It's amazingly great! Although it helps knowing him and the people around him, I would have loved this book regardless.

It's well written, extremely funny, on a subject that fuels my life as it does Tom's and his personal voice shines through every sentence.

Here's Tom recounting preparation for a gig by Francis Lung. a younger brother of an ex-girlfriend: 

My brother, a friend of Francis Lung, planned to attend the show, as did trusty Rhys and Eleri who kindly offered to make me a disguise for the evening using a paper plate, colouring crayons and pipe cleaners. I decided against this on the combined grounds of personal pride and laziness.

Pop Life is published by Novum. Get yer copy here. It's very much worth the effort!