Otsuka and Punt

Tonight I went to dinner with Mike Otsuka, who'd just been to give a talk to our Political Theory Research Seminar. (More familiar blogger Chris Bertram - of CT fame - was the speaker last week, but owing to a rescheduled time I was unable to attend)

Between this and the Moral Philosophy Seminar, there's a danger I may end up bankrupt if I go to too many dinners at £10-15 a time. Still, it's nice to get more opportunity to meet academics in the field. Mike's someone I've seen at a couple of conferences now, and it seems he recognises my name - he said he even found this post on this blog, via my comment on CT.

Of course, it's also a chance to dine with other Oxford people - including Jerry Cohen (I never knew how keen he was on pepper, or observant of Cowley Road's ethnic eateries) and Claire Chambers, who I discovered is something of a closet Sisters of Mercy fan!

After dinner, I went to join the Oxford punt - that's the local music festival type thing, not to be confused with messing around on the river. (Read my review of the 2002 punt here) I hadn't bought an all-venue pass, but I met my friends Rosemary, Nick L and James in the Cellar.

First band, 100 Bullets Back, were a two piece who seemed to nick their basslines and drum parts from the likes of New Order and Soft Cell (two songs in particular were reminiscent of 'Blue Monday' and 'Tainted Love') and combined this with their own funky-punk approach, including vocals with a megaphone (ah, how Chumbawumba...) Not the most original, but a very 'in' kind of sound at the moment, and a band I'd definitely like to see/hear more of.

Second up were Jabberwock, a local funk type band quite well-known to several members of college. I hadn't seen them before, but I also thought they were pretty good, although less my thing.

The final act was another I'd seen before - The Nailbomb Cults. Actually a one man and his laptop affair, playing gabba/hardcore, with a liberal sprinkling of samples. Too bad 'Disneycore' seems to have been removed from their audiopage, but go check out some of the MP3s and see if they make your ears bleed...