best birthday ever!

i haven't written this for a while as we have been off having adventures. i celebrated a birthday. a big one. 30. je m'appelle claire, j'ai trente ans. in the run up lots of people had been telling me their horror stories of freaking out, retreating to the country, watching their seinfeld box sets on their own, buying skateboards... like it was a mid life crisis. i was prepared for the worst, prepared to wake up on easter sunday morning and just start crying and run with the cat to live in the forest, but this was not so. i had an interesting few days before B day.

the thursday 9th was the last PEPPERMINT PATTI gig (for the forseeable future). the ladies have lost their venue (for the moment) and the last 3 gigs have been blighted by bad luck (illness, band splitting up etc) and audiences have dwindled a little. its bloody expensive putting on gigs, especially when you're one of the good ones who pays EVERYONE not just the headliners and puts them up and gives them hot chocolate and washes their clothes. the climate has changed too, other promoters are putting on ladies and there is less of a stigma if you're in a band / lady singer. i like to think partly thanks to the good work of patti, and i think i'm right. i have been blessed in becoming friends with these ladies after working as an usher for their shows. i was already a fan, going month in month out to see what delights they had. the kimya dawson was my introduction to gigs in cardiff and chapter itself back a few years ago, a patti gig is always worth a punt, i've been introduced to all sorts of brilliant wonders through them: betty and the warewolves, wet dog, kania teifer this season of gigs alone. for a young(ish) bisexual girl finding gay clubs frighteningly day glo and aggressive they were a beacon in the fog.

this gig with VICIOUS GUNS and BETH and BEC was unfortunately subdued. HELLS BENT gay friendly indie disco was on up the road and it seemed that people had not taken the advice of coming down here first. i must admit that i was a bit angry. the patti ladies also run QUEER CYMRU, the welsh listings site and yet no-one came out to support them in their last gig. there were a few people there but not enough and it solidified the decision to make it the last. i didn't want to go to HELLS BENT after due to tiredness and wanting to shout at many in the queermunity for their ingratitute. many still don't consider me properly gay since i now have a boyfriend and never liked the pilled up vibe at the clubs (cos that's what makes you gay, folks! sometimes i get really irritated for some in the gay community for being as rigidly facist about sexuality as any copy of the daily mail... but i can feel a rant building so am going to leave it there) so i decided it wasn't best to go along to the disco, next time i'll be happier and more up for it.

despite the small audience the show was really good. HYSTERICAL INJURY were great, especially considering the fact that they'd lost half the band recently and were experimenting with their sound. BETH and BEC were lovely, its the side project of rebecca newman from HOT PUPPIES who got married and had a baby last year and is spending more time on a quieter folky sound. many songs were just achingly beautiful and it made me envious of that baby, being sung to in the crib. she did a cover of "last night i dreamt somebody loved me" that almost made me cry.

VICIOUS GUNS didn't blow me away, i must say. maybe the sound wasn't right for the funereal feel of the evening but it seemed a bit of a shallow girl / boy / blondie set, although they were enjoyable. they were a band who looked amazing but i wasn't convinced by their songs. i truly feel this is just because i wasn't in the mood though, i just couldn't get into it.

my housemate chris ran up to me at the end of the show and said "dance with me in a minute". chris and steen were djing and he had something planned. he played "decaptacon" by le tigre and made a tearful speech about how the patti ladies had helped him through the years and how grateful he was to have them. i felt a lump in my throat and gave him a hug. it was a perfectly timed moment, he said what needed to be said. chris is planning to put queer gigs on in the name of SIR and i wish him luck, i'll help him as much as i can and i hope its a success. peppermint patti lives on in LOOSE, SIR, gigs like FORECAST's recent PONYTAIL / COMENCHIE show. i think its going to be ok.

the next night we went to my friend nic finch's wedding to debbie savage. i remember talking to nic a couple of years ago about the fact that they debbie had a really cool surname. he said wistfully "yeah, when we get married we're going to be SAVAGE FINCH... i love her for that alone". i was really touched by that statement, it was such a typical nic comment and it made ma happy. i'd been worried cos they'd had to find a venue at the last minute as the point was closed so it was moved to the gate with only a couple of weeks notice but it was a brilliant wedding. we weren't there for the ceremony but arrived to find anne clearing tables away to make room for the dance floor. there was time to quickly wave to nic and see debbie's dress in amongst carring flower displays to another room. then to drinking and dancing! they had fred snow, of top shelf jazz and a tap dance artist performing for the crowd. they got us doing the charleston and we danced till we were giddy with our friends anna, chris, mattie and benny. ace. next up with carl morris with some top cheese (john rostron commented that black box recorder's "ride on time" was the new abba!) and it ended perfectly with the bugsy malone cast doing "we could've been anything that we wanted to be!". it felt like a film. perfect.

the next day began normally, with me in box office but it already felt like a holiday, lots of people were already wishing me birthday congrats. that evening we were expecting the nosworthys (rich, col and rhian) and the ponty set. their presence was enough but the presents were spectacular. a few months ago me and steen had been to jacobs market to do some window shopping and take pictures of things we liked and i had said truthfully on facebook how much i really wanted these things. but then, i really want a house and an allotment would be nice too. the nosworthys bought me all that was still in jacobs market including the blue dog i lusted after and the fish eye mirror! nos the younger also got me spillers vouchers: £30 worth! i was blushing with gratitute, amazing presents!

after the presents we went to the VEGETARIAN FOOD STUDIO for a birthday meal with the aforementioned and small steen, brother rob. what an immense treat! it is an amazing place, reasonably priced and very tasty. my favourite thing was the atom bombs, chilli potatoes that make your head explode. i also had a disco coffee. disco coffee! i think it was just coffee with spices but it is great to read it on the menu. the plan next was to go to dempseys for twisted but i wanted to drop off the cards and we got distracted by the DUCHESS (duke of clarence on clive road). this pub was our old hunting ground when we all moved in next to each other and first met and it was too tempting not to go in for a drink. unfortunately getting out was a bit more difficult and i subsequently didn't turn up for my own birthday party in twisted. steen was trying to get me to go but my stomach was so full and i was sleepy with happiness and so we just went to bed at about midnight like lightweights. before bed steen gave me his presents. naughty steen, he was taking me away in a couple of days and wasn't meant to be getting me anything. i opened a package from some foreign parts that included a HAROLD AND MAUDE MUG AND BADGES! i was so happy! harold and maude is my favourite ever film and you just don't get any merch, it is a film from the pre-merch days so i don't know how he managed it but i was pleased as punch. but there was more to come. i opened up my card. inside was a message saying "you're cordially invited to see DEVO in london". i said "yeah! that'd be great, shall we get tickets?!" only to feel confused and stupid minutes later when presented with TICKETS FOR DEVO IN LONDON PLAYING ARE WE NOT MEN? WE ARE DEVO!!!!!!!!!! steen had mentioned how he'd almost got me ATP devo tickets a couple of months back and i'd veto'd it cos we couldn't afford it but he'd noticed this gig (that, miraculously had passed me by entirely) and bought tickets before they sold out. we are both devo fans, some of our early dates were spent dancing to devo in his kitchen in penylan. very excited. too excited to sleep... if it wasn't for that veg studio food and the two pints of cider afterwards.

when i awoke it was MY BIRTHDAY! we got up fairly quick cos my parents were coming to take us for lunch. it was lovely to see them, i don't see my family enough these days with my all day sunday working. sunday was always the day of getting the train back for sunday lunch, reading sunday papers with my dad, walking the dog with my mum and nattering with my nan. i need to somehow work that back into my routine. i opened presents and cards and we played with our mental cat frankie, who my mum just adores and we went to RIVERSIDE MARKET and i got bought a lovley herb garden by my mum and we bought some bits and bobs, like some amazing artichokes from ceri's BLAENCAMEL FARM stall (for roasting: very tasty) then went to CHAPTER for sunday lunch.

my mum had bought 3 (3!!!) cakes for my birthday and we took these along to nos da for SCRABBLE SUNDAY. the lovely lisa and paul had made cupcakes spelling out claire vaughan 21! (not being certain of my birthday age, knowing it was a biggie but not sure how big. ha!) it was simply lovely. as it was lisa's joint leaving party (unfortunately for us she is moving north to live with the gogs on a farm) there were all kinds of games there and john was djing. it was a brilliant party. i had more cards, a massive one from casey and ewan brought me badges. we sat and ate cakes and played guess who and blockbusters as well as scrabble and had a bucketload of fun. after saying a sad goodbye to lisa and went home. no TOP 1o0 in GWDIHW and no LOOSE all dayer. by the time my parents had gone there had already been a few bands on and the scrabble party was too good to leave. a happy bedtime.

monday we celebrated EASTER with experimental cooking. steen had the idea to make a giant chocolate bar, from all our choc eggs and sweets from spa: a sort of greatest hits of chocolate bars. the only rule was no nestle. we had a great time. we melted up the chocolate eggs, chopped up milky bars, crunchies, snickers and bountys and put them in the pan to cool decorated with some truffles i'd got from my nan. we then chopped the pan of chocolate into hand bite sized bars and gorged. a great easter treat.

in the evening we went to buffalo for MATT ELLIOT and the much- multi- talented rhodri viney (as RATATOSK) and TREMBLING BELLS at LESSON #1. rhodri had been to see matt elliot years ago and claimed it was one of the best gigs ever in his life so i had high hopes and was not disappointed. rhodri was stunningly lump-in-throat brilliant as ever and TREMBLING BELLS gave a sweet folky feel to the night, with their slightly quaint but beautiful sea shanties and then matt elliot took the stage. he admitted he was very tired after a punishing schedule so might not be at his best but you would not notice. he looped sounds around on his guitar, tumbling into intense love songs until my jaw dropped. i was rapt. high on birthday money i dashed to the merch stand and promptly bought all his albums.

what a brilliant birthday weekend. i'd not done all i'd hoped, not gone dancing in twisted and not seen the loose all dayer but it had been perfect. i did feel older but completely comfortable with being 30. it wasn't scary, i just felt like a grown up with a wonderful man and a brilliant cat. the next morning we set off for my birthday trip but i will save that for another post.