Casino Avenue 2003-2006: Yes, this really is the last post - I'm turning out the lights properly after over three-and-a-half years. My little break away from the site got me out of the habit of doing this regularly, and it's been hard to get back into the swing of things. Also, a lot of the feedback from other people made me think about what I was doing, and it seemed apt to knock this on the head. Thank you to everybody who's supported, cajoled, and helped me since Casino Avenue started - without them and without it, my life would have been a great deal poorer. But its time has passed. I'm off to the pub, and then to London's trendy North London for New Year's Eve. Thanks for your support over the years - and goodnight.

(Of course, you did know about The Last Bus Home, didn't you?)

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 6:00 PM
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The last-ever Casino Avenue end-of-year playlist:

1. Camera Obscura - Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken. A lusher slice of twee Scottish pop you won't ever find anywhere else.

2. Amy Winehouse - Rehab. Heaven knows what was going on behind the scenes in Amy's life, but somehow she managed to come out with this retro corker. "I'd rather be at home with Ray..." - does she mean the old guv'nor of my post-football boozer? Now we know why he sold up...

3. Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks. Whistling in pop music is amazingly underrated.

4. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes. Only one of them can really sing, and the album was hit and miss, but it included this total cracker of a tune - "I just want to move, I don't care what this song's about...""

5. Spearmint - Psycho Magnet. 1990s indie music's great lost band return to form in a stunning fashion.

6. Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy. They WILL be big in 2007. They WILL be big in 2007. (Hope & Anchor, Islington, TONIGHT, if you're quick SOLD OUT.)

7. Lambchop - Paperback Bible. Saw them for the first time at Primavera Sound in Barcelona - and they blew me away. How come I'd missed them for so long?

8. I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona. Another Primavera Sound band. Seeing this lot at about 2am on a stage next to the Med, and discovering they were actually Swedish... was there something in my Estrella Damm?

9. The Like - June Gloom. Actually first released in the US in 2005, but sod that, it lodged in my brain for the first three months of year, and refused to budge. Restored my faith in Californian girls (did I really just say that?)

10. Nouvelle Vague - Dance With Me. Another album of old punk covers... and this stood out. I actually don't know the original of this, and I don't think I really want to hear it now...

File under "early runners for best of 2007": The Shortwave Set - Casual Use. (Actually released as a limited edition single in November, probably on new album, listen to it here. Let's just say this strikes a chord.)

Album of the year would be Richard Hawley's Coles Corner, but it was actually released in 2005. Ho-hum.

Live gigs of the year: The Flaming Lips at Primavera Sound, Barcelona, June 2006, and Richard Hawley at Curzon Soho, August 2006.

Dead gig of the year: Babyshambles at Primavera Sound, Barcelona. Sort it out or shuffle off, Pete.

Other lists are available: Parallax View, Silent Words Speak Loudest.

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 11:34 AM
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Question: Why are updates on Casino Avenue so rare these days, you tight git?

Answer: Because I'm working on something NEW and EXCITING which launches NEXT WEEK, and it's taking ages to get my simple head around. So hush, now.

Having a good Christmas? I've managed to spend the time doing next to nothing - putting myself down to do loads of work in the run-up knackered me out - and it's been bloody good. It also included possibly my first day-after-Boxing Day without work in a decade, which was also one of my better ideas. However, the place is a tip, I need to do the ironing, it's five to midnight and I've got work tomorrow, so that's no good. I did actually venture out to the shops - PC World for a new hard drive, needs must and all that - and found the whole thing really drepessing. Retail parks, Christmas and me just don't mix.

I'm actually looking forward to going to work, mind, because it's going to be a DODDLE getting there - and the "Saturday service" on the trains is, in parts, better than the usual weekday slop, because all the extra trains from Bitterness-on-Sea and wherever don't run, freeing up a bit of space for the likes of me and my train. Hurrah! And the atmosphere's a bit nicer too. In this respect, I really wish it could be Christmas every day...

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 11:50 PM
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Merry Christmas! I should be full of festive cheer but instead I'm a bit drained and still a bit hungover after a drunker than usual Christmas Eve which included several pints of Staropramen, several bottles of wine and a little bit of champagne. And there might have been some sambuca in there somewhere, but I remember suddenly realising it was 3am and I had a long traipse home ahead of me, the last bus home having long gone.

So before I take myself off for my first decent night's sleep in over a week, here's a Christmas treat inspired by watching Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe Christmas special - enjoy.

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 10:18 PM
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Apologies for the lack of fresh stuff on here, it's been an incredibly busy week (and very little of it has had to do with the festivities). As a piece of festive goodwill, here's a story from last week I've only just caught up with:

Jim Davidson was furious after being put in his place ? by a heckling boy Scout.

The 53-year-old comic was said to be seething after receiving foul-mouthed abuse from the junior punter during a packed pantomime.

Davidson, in character as Dick Whittington, asked the Kent audience: ?Do you know who I am??

And the Scout, in full uniform, ?brought the house down? by yelling back: ?Yes, you?re a fucking wanker.?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a bath, wrap the presents and go to the pub. Merry Christmas.

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 7:05 PM
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You are a TV news network. You see a man has been arrested, suspected of being one of the worst serial killers for some years.

You discover he has a MySpace account. What do you do? Do you....

a) Not mention it.
b) Show some pictures from it, taking care to obscure tell-tale details that'd allow people to hunt down the site.
c) Show a screen grab of the whole bloody thing!

You gather together all your knowledge of the internet, and chose.... c. You get a reporter who knows nothing about the internet to declare he'd "kept a blog on the website MySpace", even though the bit where the blog should be is empty.

So it doesn't take long for someone to tap in, say, the postcode of Felixstowe Docks, and find his profile.

It doesn't take long for offices around the country to be guffawing at a lonely man's internet page... and it doesn't take long for them to start rooting out his "friends" as well. And posting abusive comments there.

Many hours later, MySpace - owned by one of the biggest news corporations in the world - finally pulls the lonely man's profile. But the damage is done, with abuse all over the pages kept by his contacts.

Hopefully exposing the lonely man's MySpace page - which has clearly been pulled to bits by journalists across the country - won't disrupt the police processes which are currently in motion.

But what of his "friends"? Are Fleet Street's scummiest now going to be hounding them? And what of the MySpace freaks abusing them online as I type? It's bad enough discovering someone you may know - even online - is in the nick charged with the crimes of the century - but no-one deserves to be publicly linked to it.

There's a lot of people sleeping soundly in London homes tonight who should be hanging their heads in shame. Because there's a few definitely innocent people around Ipswich who won't be sleeping soundly because of their actions.

Oh, and Rupert, are you still pleased you bought MySpace?

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 10:53 PM
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Ah, this might help me gain some festive spirit - a public carol service? In Parliament Square?

Oh, but you need a permit because it's technically a demonstration and MPs don't like being reminded of the consequences of their decisions, do they?

It's a simple procedure, really...

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 12:17 AM
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So I've finally started to think about Christmas - made a start on the cards tonight, put the tree up, and, erm, preparing to go back to work after a week off doing sod all.

And so I put the telly on, and.... bloody Christmas idents already on BBC1! Sod off! I don't care if it was filmed the other side of Greenwich, and I don't care that they started this time last year too, sod off and come back next weekend when it actually is Christmas!

- posted by Inspector Sands @ 11:44 PM
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