1)I bought the Mail on Sunday today to get the free Prince album. I wouldn't normally buy this rag but I was suckered in by the advertising last night during CSI New York - (the first time I watched it - and it's the season finale! Very good show, will probably get the DVD at some point).

2)He's a bit good, Prince. And very, very short.

3)The AA must have read my blog from sometime ago about the travesty they inflicted upon "You've Got A Friend" in their commercials.You know, where they fuck up the song by chopping bars out of it willy nilly (never thought I'd use THAT expression, I quite like it, they'd probably use it in the Mail on Sunday). Now they've done a new advert, and they have pretty much left the song alone and without the funny timing. I am a very influential person and the internet is a god-like instrument.

Bit of a dull blog today, but that's just how it is, people.

Had an auditon for a cool part today. Went to York, watched Casino Royale on the train on the way up there. Did the scene on camera with another actor five or six times. Really friendly people, very positive. They were seeing one other guy for my role after me and then making a decision. Back on train feeling like the job was mine. My agent calls me, I pick up the phone...they gave it to the other guy.  Watched se7en on the way back feeling blue. Brad Pitt must have gone through this feeling, and I'm often mistaken for his sweet, better looking younger brother. I'm with you, bro!

At least I've got panto, what's Brad doing this Christmas, eh?

Now, look...guilty pleasures are important. Bear this in mind, dear reader, as I let you in on a little secret......I like quite a lot of the music of a certain band called Genesis.

Don't run away. I feel I must explain. The 1980s were a strange time for the young Robin Johnson. My musical influences were all OVER the place. In 1986, my older brother bought Invisible Touch by Genesis. Younger siblings will attest that their older brothers and/or sisters had an enormous effect on their tastes and style as they grew up. I LOVED this album. I was 12 going on 13 and it featured heavily on my stereo (ancient word) alongside the Top Gun album, Queen, A-Ha and other eclectic choices.

Over the years I developed my own musical tastes, most notably a love of the Beatles which I've bored most of you with who know me. I followed the nineties indie scene and so called "cool" bands and outwardly I was as much a product of nineties music as the next long haired wanabee.

In secret, however, I was plumbing the back catalogue of Genesis. Peter Gabriel's voice and lyrics were mysterious and strange, Phil Collins (yes, Phil Collins) played the drums better than anyone I'd ever heard. Their songs were epic GEEK GEEK GEEK! I hear you cry but I don't care.

Last night I went to the cinema to see a live link up of their show in Dusseldorf. My wife declined the invitation and I was surrounded by groups of 50 something men with long greying hair and Genesis 1984 tour t shirts. I felt unclean and ashamed. But the show started and for 2 and a half hours my guilty pleasure was complete. They played loads of old material and it sounded amazing. I left the cinema under the cover of darkness and kept my head down. On the way home I smiled and sang.

I feel better for sharing this with you. I know I'm not cool, but I embrace it.

Have you seen the first picture of Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones movie? He looks pretty darned good for a 65 year old. I am looking forward to to his new adventure, despite the casting of the one trick pony that is Ray Winstone. The only man to bring cockney to the streets of Boston in The Departed. Hopefully he'll die in the new Indy movie.

Warning - reminisence of old man following....

I saw all three Indy movies at the cinema back in the eighties at the Southend Odeon and the Classic in Westcliff. Neither cinema stands today. One is a multiplex and the other a Halfords. Back then, you could get a packet of Butterkist and a large Coke and STILL have enough change to get pissed in The Grand. Halcyon days indeed.........

Crime fighting is a tough business. To be taken seriously by the criminal fraternity you've got to have an image. Superman has the whole red and blue look going on. It's worked well for him over the years. It somehow reflects sunny Metropolis. Does it ever rain there? Gotham is different. It pisses down most of the time - the Batsuit goes with that overcast vibe. I've fitted  rain tyres to my brand new bike - you can't be too careful on those bends in the Narrows.

I have a new agent, folks. This is it now - no stopping me. My conquest of the world of show shall be total and people will flock to see me do my thing...

HOLD IT!

Getting just a bit carried away. Joey got rid of Estelle in Friends and moved to LA and got a new agent. I got rid of my Estelle and got a new agent in Sheffield. I haven't moved anywhere, but the similarity is inescapable.

Can't quite pull of the "How you doin'" thing, yet....

Bloody hell! Have you heard "Last Night I Nearly Died" by Duke Special - what an amazing song, amazing voice, amazing production! A be-dreadlocked bloke from Belfast is behind this aural pleasure and I can't wait to hear more stuff from him.

My faith in music is strengthening every day - Neil Finn, Duke Special...the list goes on and....hang on, not much of a list, just a really long sentence that will conclude with a full stop right about now.

The internet is a modern marvel. I listened to the new single from newly reformed Crowded House and it's really jolly good. I remember rushing out to buy the cassette single (yes, folks - I AM that old) of "Distant Sun" in 1993 before jumping into Ashley's van and driving up to London to play a gig at the Mean Fiddler. We were called The Joyvibes (NOT a sex toy). Chris-lead guitar, Steve-drums, Ash-bass and Me - rhythm guitar and vocals. We supported some shoe-gazey shite band with our infectious blend of pop/rock and the 40-odd ( really, very early nineties tie-dyed odd) in the crowd looked at their shoes. I loved that band...

But, I've kind of gone off the point of this blog:

Go to crowdedhouse.com and judge for yourselves. Neil Finn is a god.

Let's get one thing straight -  I don't have a problem with McFly. They play real instruments and sing pretty well. They are inoffensive in a post-modern Monkees/Herman's Hermits kind of way.

Alright, let's get another thing straight. I don't have a problem with cover versions. Sometimes, they improve on the original recording. I would cite Joe Cocker's "With A Little Help From My Friends" as a good example of this. "Mr Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan was infinitely better recorded by the Byrds.

The reason these cover versions worked is because they took their own slant on the song.....

McFly have covered "Baby's Coming Back" by Jellyfish. This is a great song by one of the best kept secrets of music. It featured on the 1990 album "Bellybutton" which is an absolute gem.

They seem to have downloaded a karaoke backing-track! It sounds like it was recorded by a bunch of dispirited hacks reading off the sheet music. It's an exact copy of Jellyfish's arrangement with all the life and sould sucked out.

If you're going to do a cover - MAKE IT YER OWN.

I don't know if anyone actually reads these ponderous blogs but, hey ho, here comes another one.

I turned 34 yesterday. No fanfare, no telegram from the Queen, no VH1 retrospective for this former Essex boy. I still have my hair, I still have my teeth and no problems of a romantic nature in the wedding equipment (my daughter is a testament to this fact). My wife and child make me ridiculously happy in a kind of Frank Capra-esque way that some people might find nauseating. I got a birthday card from my baby girl "To Daddy from your Little Princess" and the waterworks kicked in. I cry very easily and with less self-restraint as I get older.

And anyway, 34 isn't MID thirties, it's EARLY thirties......isn't it?