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There's no After Midnight on Christmas Eve, or New Years Eve. I know better than to compete with two quite well established events like those, so there'll not be a lot of blogging going on over the next week and a bit. Not a lot more to say , to be honest. Happy Christmas, I suppose, will have to do. And a Happy Twenty Ten.

Appropriately with Christmas on the horizon we have a surfing song tonight, courtesy of Johnny Kannis who sounds like a wrestler by name but , er, isn't. I resisted the temptation to celebrate the Stooges acceptance into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame but played their mentors the MC5. The show is off for two weeks, something to do with a couple of Eves coming up, so it's my last chance to do the Christmas thing with the Dickies. Also tonight, the Responsible Teenagers from NY are accused of being irresponsible and borrowing a tune from The Jam. The evidence is there to hear.

Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays
Tenpole Tudor - Three Bells In A Row
PIL - Careering
Responsible Teenagers - Temporary Feeling
The Jam - I Need You
Dickies - Silent Night
MC5 - Tonight
Mumps - Just Look, Don't Touch
Teardrop Explodes - Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
Johnny Kannis - King Of The Surf
Mark Beer - The Man Man Man
Cramps - TV Set
Flamin' Groovies - Teenage Confidential
The Fall - Psycho Mafia
Count Five - Teenybopper, Teenybopper
Stiff Little Fingers - White Christmas

So the Stooges are to be given a pat on the head at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next March. They'll be sitting in the reserved seats beside Abba, Jimmy Cliff and The Hollies. I have yet to hear what Iggy thinks about it but can I be insulted on his behalf ? I have looked at the list of inductees since 1986, when some bright American decided to write down the ultimate 'my favourite band and/or singer' list.  Can't argue with the first year - Elvis, Chuck, Jerry Lee etc. But Black Sabbath (2006) getting the nod ahead of The Stooges ? The Young Rascals (1997) ?  Aerosmith (2001) ??  Let's read that again .... Aerosmith ??? (let's have another couple of question marks while I'm at it) ??????
The Ramones didn't get the invite until 2002 , after Queen ! Steely Dan ! Earth ! Wind! and bloody Fire !! had been honoured. It was the year after Joey had gone to meet his maker. Joey Ramone, as a fan of the first wave of rock and roll as well as the British Invasion, would have appreciated being in the company of his predecessors. He would have forgiven the Hall of Fame for putting the Eagles ahead of his band but his fans didn't. Well, this one didn't. And the announcement that the Stooges are to be given their badge next March comes too late for Ron Asheton, the man who came up with the riffs for I Wanna Be Your Dog, No Fun and TV Eye. He died in January. His band had to wait their turn until Metallica were honoured. Metallica. I seem to have run out of anger. And exclamation marks.

It's the middle of December and I now realise there's no chance of me actually watching all of that Sopranos box set I got for Christmas. Christmas 2007, that is.

I really wanted it, too. I requested it from Santa. And then didn't watch it. Why ?

It's not only the DVD player that is underused when it comes to box sets.

The Elvis Presley "Essential 70s Masters" I got for Christmas 2003 also sits on a shelf, mocking my pretensions of being an Elvis fan. Yet a year later I went out and bought the Elvis "Complete 50s Masters". Two black boxes side by side, undisturbed.

Oh, I have played one disc - I even heard most of it before being distracted by some domestic diversion. But I will, in all probability, never set aside the one night necessary to play the whole thing.

I assume it's a male disorder, collecting being the better part of actually playing. Maybe they're attractive because they sometimes have the dimensions of an LP, and it's a two handed holding sensation that takes me back to my teenage years. Or maybe its because men are usually impressed by large collections of records.

A friend of mine says he has 200 box sets of music. I'm impressed. (see?)

But hold on.

Say four discs a box , 50 minutes a disc ?

I reckon that's 666 hours. The devil may have all the best tunes, but I don't think he has enough for 200 box sets.

I loved reading an interview with Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls, who was attempting to butter up the Caledonian market with the statement that Scotland was the first place to get the New York Dolls. He also said that Primal Scream are his favourite band. I presume he reads the Sunday Post and has boxes of Tunnoch's Teacakes backstage at every show.  I love the New York Dolls, but don't remember them the first time round. I became aware of their existence in 1976, by which time they had disbanded and were history. Recent history, I now realise, as the disbanded in 1975 but when you're 17 all history is ancient history. I did go and see them the first time they reformed in 2004 in London, at the behest of Brian Young from Rudi. 'You can't miss that' he said and he was right.

New York Dolls - Babylon 
Siouxsie & Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling
Rejects - Stir Crazy
Swell Maps - Harmony In Your Bathroom
Justin Trouble - Pony Tail
Stranglers - Choosey Susie
God's Gift - Clamour Club
UK Subs - I Couldn't Be You
Ludus - My Cherry Is In Sherry
Josef K - Heads Watch
Velvet Underground - There She Goes Again
International Exiles - Let's Be Sophisticated
Jonathan Richman - Abominable Snowman In The Market
Standells - Try It
That Petrol Emotion - It's A Good Thing

That Petrol Emotion returned to their home town on Tuesday night. OK, Derry is only the home town of 60 % of the members but it does make it handy for me to see the band for the first time since they embraced the Reformation.

The Petrols, as we trendsetters call them, also contain an Undertone. Damian O'Neill is the sole inhabitant of that intersection of our musical Venn diagram.

For someone like me who is only in the set labelled 'Undertones' (don't you wish you paid more attention in maths?) it's odd to stand in the crowd and watch your colleague playing on stage with another band. I tend to think of the rest of The Petrols as my in-laws who I do know, but not that well. As it turns out, I used to know one Petrol quite well. Ciaran McLaughlin, drummer and writer of some of their finest songs, had the nom-de-drum Elvis Wesley when he, Damian and I had a band called The Wesleys in 1981. Apologies to all Methodists, by the way , but I still think it's a cool name for a band. Damian played organ as Lesley Wesley while I played bass and sang as Wesley Hunter (a cousin of the Wesley brothers).

We played twice. The first time it was great - we did 'No Time Like The Right Time' by the Blues Project, 'Liar Liar' by the Castaways and 'Just Like Romeo And Juliet' by Michael And The Messengers. The second time we attemped 'Take Five' and nearly put someone's eye out.

Admittedly, the Wesleys weren't as good as That Petrol Emotion. But not many bands are.

A couple of anniversary choices around tonight, not least something from the thirty year old London Calling. It only seems like five years ago we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of what is, admittedly, a fine record. Television recorded live in front of what sounds like ten people in CBGBs, probably because it was 1974, and who is Ronnie Toast ? Former members of Blondie are excused from answering that question.

Blondie - Rifle Range
Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds - Ain't Bin To No Music School
Clash - Hateful
Boys - Box Number
Television - Blank Generation (live)
Elvis Costello - Lip Service
Gang Of Four - Cheeseburger
Vibrators - Petrol
Saints - Run Down
Jilted John - Shirley
Paul Revere & The Raiders - Steppin' Out
Monochrome Set - Strange Boutique
Sham 69 - I Don't Wanna
The Eastern Dark - Johnny & Dee Dee
Rosehips - I Shouldnt Have to Say

I will not be placing a bid for the original artwork of the Clash LP 'London Calling'. I seem to have mislaid the seventy thousand pounds that the drawings are expected to cost at a London auction house later this month. Of course, if I had been smart I would have asked Mr Lowry himself for a spare sheet, when he was working on the artwork in the autumn of 1979. He accompanied The Clash on their tour of America that September, when the support band were those loveable urchins The Undertones, whose runny noses (caused by prolonged exposure to CS gas, no doubt) were often wiped on the ragged sleeves of their Dunnes Stores jumpers, according to the press release.

I only saw Ray Lowry once outside a dressing room. I presume he was waiting to consult with Joe Strummer and his chums once the crowd of hangers on, record company people and assorted revolutionaries had finished with them. We knew of his reputation, of course, as one of the great cartoonists for the NME, who knew how to puncture the egos of both musicians and critics in one frame. He's not around anymore to enjoy - or be embarrassed - by the prospect of his work being sold for many times more than he would have earned for it the first time round. I'm grateful that I saw him even once - I wouldn't even pretend that I actually met him - and , for what it's worth (£70,000 !!) can I say I'm glad he's getting a bit of recognition in the proper papers at long last. All we need now is for the photographer Pennie Smith to get an appreciation or two as well for her part in the ever growing legend that is London Calling.