Rising stars

A sad day for the family with the passing of my Uncle Alistair, who had bravely battled motor neurone disease for three years. My thoughts are with my aunt, cousins and their children. I raised a glass to you all tonight.

The drink was raised in a wondrous setting - the Union Chapel in Islington. I think it's my favourite London venue. It has delicious hot food (with takings going to charity), mugs of tea, and fantastic acoustics and atmosphere. The building is still a working church when there's not a band on stage.

The gig itself was stunning. The support came from three sisters with a guitar and beautiful harmonies - The Staves. The main act, The Civil Wars, are a couple from Nashville who had the audience calling them back for two standing encores. It's just them with a guitar and once with a keyboard. They sang one song with no microphones or amps and that was one of the best. Their covers (Jackson 5, Smashing Pumpkins, Elliot Smith, Michael Jackson, "You Give Me Sunshine") were as equal to their songs. I highly recommend their album and if they tour near you, definitely check them out. They'll be on Jools Holland on 4 October (hopefully I'll be in the audience, although I never ever win the audience ticket lottery for Jools).

Barton Hollow

You Are My Sunshine

Disarm [Smashing Pumpkins cover]

Falling

We walked to London Bridge past the busy streets of Islington (so many bakeries open late!) We saw an extra bright star in the sky and thought of Alistair.