Side 1 of a completely made up cassette compilation, stepping through the 2000s.
When approaching this post, 2006 didn't particularly stand out. I was half way though my first 3-year stint as a blogger, still with less than 100 posts by year end.
However, it proved to be a helpful reminder of what I got up to in 2006, mostly going to comedy clubs and the theatre with Mrs. K, by the look of it. Little surprise, as the excellent Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken pub was at the end of our street, and Bristol city centre was a short walk away.
Comedy shows in 2006 included Adam Hills, Mark Thomas, Matt Welcome, Omid Djalili, Richard Herring and, er, Russell Brand.
Theatre-wise, we experienced
Air Guitar by Peter Kesterston
Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter, adapted by Tom Morris and Emma Rice
Present Laughter by Noël Coward, starring Simon Callow
Restoration by Edward Bond
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter
The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare
Jesus Christ, It’s Christmas by Bristol-based theatre company Paper Aeroplane
and, er. Scrooge, based on the 1970 film musical by Leslie Bricusse and starring Shane Richie ...and yes, he did shout "Taxi for Walford!" at the end.
I also enjoyed reading a fair few books, such as
American Ghosts & Old World Wonders by Angela Carter
Black Hole by Charles BurnsN.P. by Banana Yoshimoto
Feeding Frenzy by Will Self
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth by Chris Ware
Planet Karen by Karen Ellis
Planet Karen by Karen Ellis
Whoa Nellie! by Jaime Hernandez
and The Fountain At The Centre Of The World by Robert Newman... actually, that one was shit, and the former star of The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a creepy sleazeball when we saw him perform stand-up around the same time.
As for TV, we were both obsessed with Lost and Dog The Bounty Hunter, Saxondale and Nathan Barley. To be honest, the latter two were me, Mrs. K wasn't at all bothered by them.
2006 was Clan K's first experience of Go Ape in the Forest of Dean; tree tops, rope walks and zip slides, it was a blast.
Mrs. K and I also visited the Relaxation Centre in Bristol, sampling the outdoor and indoor hot tubs, steam room, sauna and floatation room and we both felt unbelievably great afterwards. I then blew it all the same evening as my oldest friend Stuart was in town and mandatory ale quaffing in The Three Sugar Loaves and The White Lion ensued, including pints of the prophetically named Doom.
Gig-wise, 2006 was pitifully limited to Julian Cope in February and the Ashton Court Festival in July.
I've written about this previously, but 2006 was the year that Mrs. K and I experienced unexpected headliners Simple Minds. The once-free festival now charged entry, but £9.00 per day was pretty good, considering the range of music on offer.
What wasn't pretty good was Jim Kerr and co. In my blog review, I wrote that "Don’t You Forget About Me, a dire cover of Van Morrison’s Gloria and the closing third encore (!) of Alive And Kicking were little more than extended karaoke tracks, with Kerr preferring the audience to do the work on the choruses."
It wasn't all bad: I cited the "sole redeeming moment [as the] rendition of New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) seemingly inspired by Utah Saints’ rousing mid-1990s cover version."
In closing, I ruefully reflected that "Perhaps the festival is still a
rites of passage for some, but my feelings towards Ashton Court were
aptly personified by Jim Kerr: over priced, over the hill, out of touch
and with an inflated sense of self-importance." Oh dear!
On a happier note, we had a fun holiday in Bulgaria in October.
But what else was going on in 2006. Here's a non-exhaustive and entirely subjective run through of some events (and non-events, I might argue).
1st January
The first UK #1 single of the year was That's My Goal by Shayne Ward.
21st March
Twitter launched. Five days later, Elon Musk's company SpaceX's first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket crashed to Earth shortly after liftoff. Sixteen years, Musk acquired Twitter, with similar results, culturally speaking.
6th May
Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens died of a heart attack at his home in Brisbane, Australia, aged just 48.
20th May
Finnish band Lordi won The Eurovision Song Contest with Hard Rock Hallelujah.
9th July
Italy beat France to win the FIFA World Cup.
24th August
The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at it's 26th General Assembly, consequently relegating Pluto to 'dwarf planet' status. Poor Pluto.
4th September
Steve Irwin, Australian TV legend and conservationist, is fatally stung in the heart by a stingray while filming underwater.
23rd November
Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian Federal Security Service officer and subsequent critic of the Putin administration, dies after being poisoned with Polonium-210.
30th December
Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging for crimes against humanity.
31st December
The last UK #1 single of 2006 is A Moment Like This by Leona Lewis.
Yep, if we weren't facing the existential threat of talent shows like The X-Factor, music buying on physical formats was also under threat. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley became the first single to top the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone. Crazy remained at the top of the UK singles chart for nine weeks, the longest #1 spell for more than a decade.
It's one of two #1's to appear in today's selection, albeit in a DIY extended version by DreamTime, whose music blog I was obsessed with at the time, even if the edits themselves were a bit hit and miss. Crazy definitely sits in the 'hit' camp for me.
The other #1 is by Arctic Monkeys, who also used the internet to their advantage, building up a groundswell of interest and support, which helped their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not become the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history at the time.
Aside from that, it's the usual eclectic mix of the well known and the wilfully obscure. And yes, although I committed the crime of not including The White Stripes, I have opted for Jack White's other band, The Raconteurs. Contrary sod, aren't I? Great song, though.
I missed The Go! Team at the Ashton Court Festival - they headlined the previous day - and I've still yet to see them live, but I love their gloriously joyful racket as much now as I did 20 years ago when I first heard them.
Muse and The Killers I'm less fussed by, but I do like the remixes featured here. Tahiti 80, Phoenix and Peter, Björn & John (with Victoria Bergsman) brings some European sunshine to proceedings. I finally got to see Peter at least live on stage, as the cornerstone of Robert Forster's Swedish Band in Cardiff last month.
I can’t promise the same level of diary diving tomorrow as I have done today, but 2007 will offer up another dozen examples of why the 2000s weren't so bad for music after all.
1) Big Day (Album Version): Tahiti 80
2) Young Folks (Album Version): Peter, Björn & John ft. Victoria Bergsman
3) Long Distance Call (25 Hours A Day Mix By Pierrick Devin): Phoenix
4) Cash Machine (Video Version 2): Hard-Fi
5) Why Won't You Give Me Your Love? (Album Version): The Zutons
6) Steady, As She Goes (Album Version): The Raconteurs
7) Crazy (DreamTime Mix): Gnarls Barkley
8) Ladyflash (Album Version): The Go! Team
9) Supermassive Black Hole (Team9 Remix By Neil Mason): Muse
10) Standing In The Way Of Control (Radio Edit): Gossip
11) When You Were Young (Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Radio Edit By Stuart Price): The Killers
12) When The Sun Goes Down (Album Version): Arctic Monkeys
1st January 2006: Stars Of CCTV (#14): 4
22nd January 2006: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (#1): 12
5th February 2006: Thunder, Lightning, Strike (#26): 8
5th March 2006: Fosbury (# n/a): 1
26th March 2006: It's Never Been Like That (# n/a): 3
2nd April 2006: St. Elsewhere (#1): 7
9th April 2006: Tired Of Hanging Around (#9): 5
30th April 2006: Broken Boy Soldiers (#4): 6
25th June 2006: Black Holes & Revelations (#4): 9
13th August 2006: Writer's Block (#35): 2 *
24th September 2006: Sam's Town (#2): 11
5th November 2006: Standing In The Way Of Control (#64): 10 **
* Young Folks was subsequently re-released the following year and got to #13 in the week of 23rd September 2007
** Likewise, Standing In The Way Of Control got a second bite of the cherry when it returned to the charts the week of 4th March 2007 with a peak of #7