RIP Brain Selby: How Selectadisc made me a groovy fecker

Sad to hear that Brian Selby, the man behind Nottingham's legendary record shop Selectadisc, has passed away.

Along with the NME and John Peel, Selectadisc defined my musical education in the 1980s. I'd hear a band on Peel, see the advert in NME and then bunk off school to go buy the single from Selectadisc. That was from their Bridlesmith Gate shop; we'd then roll down to the Market Street store to nose around for import albums and pester the staff to play a couple.

But it was more than just a record shop. Billy Bragg and the Clash played gigs there. Bands playing at Rock City would have signing sessions there (even if Wayne Hussey from The Mission always seemed to be terminally pissed and never make it to one). The counter was crammed with fanzines like Blank Reception (which featured my first ever band interview with the Soupdragons. For younger readers, fanzines were like blogs only in black & white printed form).

Brian then opened up a club called The Garage and another Nottingham legend was born. Goth and punk downstairs, Graeme Park playing house upstairs; my Def Jam cherry got well and truly busted.

Meeting friends and strangers. Falling in and out of bands and love. Discovering new music. Chatroom and fan forum. In the days before t'internet, Selectadisc *was* social networking.

Cheers Brian. A generation of groovy fuckers are your legacy.




Pics from Sam Metcalf's Indie Travel Guide and Internet Curtains

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Mussel fritters

Finally, the first in what will no doubt prove to be an interminable series of almost-recipes.

The reason being, I tend to buy random stuff and then work out what the hell to do with it. My Twitter followers often pitch in with ideas, I Google a recipe, leave out the bits I haven't got / don't fancy and add in stuff that I like / happens to be in the fridge.

So this started out by buying a box of mussel meat because, uh, it looked interesting. Matt Clarke, the Kiwi-in-exile brewer at Hawkshead, suggested making fritters with it. Google threw me this recipe from what's become one of my favourite foodie sites, Fisher & Paykel.

I used just the cooked meat, left out the parsley and added a dab more chili. The batter then got slapped into a pan two spoonsful at a time and I spent a lazy afternoon making up the fritters as and when.

Got to say that I wasn't convinced by the look of the batter; it had the look of vomitus about it. But, damn, it was tasty.


Best served when: you can't really be arsed to cook and fancy snacking all afternoon.

Best served with: Matt's Lakeland Lager. Although I had Brewdog Punk IPA; robust flavour meets robust flavour.

What I'd do next time: take a photo. D'oh!

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SNAP: Spondon village cricket

Well, the So Needs A Photo series never really took off. So let's kickstart it.

Lazy summer evenings watching cricket. Shadows lengthen. Haze plays with the horizon. Wide balls are swatted lazily. And here, at Spondon Cricket Club as they play a charity fundraiser against legends from Derby County Football Club, I have a photo that I can cherish in the cold, hard, icy months ahead. And dream of dappled sun, leather, willow and whites...

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