Flipping the Bird

That mad bugger Stephen Jones, and his Baby Bird band, is back. And he's using the F-word. Loudly. And don't call him "Gorgeous".

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It's difficult to introduce you to Sheffield band Baby Bird. Difficult to figure out whether they are actually a band at all and not a figment of frontman and songwriter Stephen Jones' fertile imagination. Perhaps, being Sheffield based, a comparison with Martin Fry of ABC is helpful. Lanky blond poseur in a suit with a penchant for the dramatic and a touch of perverse. And his songs, if he's not careful to lace the sugar with arsenic, have a worrying tendency to be taken straight to the top of the charts by kids and couples who don't stop to decipher lyrics. How else would you explain a pop smash hit with words like "You took me to your rented motor car, and threw me on the bonnet, you got me to hitch my knees up, and pulled my legs apart, took out an Instamatic camera, and pulled my sleeves around my heart. Because you're gorgeous..." You remember it now. You bought it? Even better.

Well he's back. Or the band is. Well one of 'em, Luke and a heap of new fellers. But of course at the heart of it all is Stephen Jones, a lad from Telford, Shropshire via Nottingham, now naturalised in South Yorkshire. Doing his "disturbed lovesongs" (as one of the band recently put it). Mark and Lard, on BBC Radio Ones weekday afternoon show, has the new single "F-Word as their single of the week even though we can't get our hands on it until March 6th. The CD single actually threatens to be a CD-ROM with a video of Bad old Man on it. Which is nice. There will be more live shows and then an album, Bugged. Oh and a book too. In the meantime here's a new 'official' website to figure out - www.thef-word.com. Life suddenly got interesting.

Bristlehound_________________

Time for Bed

After the Gatecrasher 2000 extravaganza another excuse to stop out till dawn

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Sheffield is crammed with nightlife these days. Barnsley might be the pub-crawl capital of the universe but down the M1 after midnight there's some serious clubs attracting punters from far and wide. The Don Valley millennium malarkey was less than earthshattering despite the Chemical Brothers, Paul Oakenfold et al kicking up a storm. And all because some headcase decided that it would be a good idea to climb up on high and get the attention of the masses. Thanks pal.

The deal with Bed is that it's a huge refit of the old Music factory on London Road and will hold around 1,200 It will specialise in what they call "quality" house (though they say it will be totally different than most breeze-block hangouts.). How this differs from the hard house at Insomniacz we'll find out on the delayed opening night in March. The look seems very swish and groovy. None of your post-modernist dayglow Changing-Rooms cheapo stuff here. Wood panels with a bit of leather and suede for our sins. Entry on a Saturday promises to be a tenner, which is fine. Check the website for flyers and info about opening arrangements. Or the inevitable website, where the pic came from. Bed_Club.com.

I'm stopping in this month 'cos it's too cold to wait in the Gatecrasher queue! Its the new series of Royston Vasey, Friends and E-R. See you out there in March when the Flu's flown.

Gone.

Ann D_______________