Firstly, very sad news indeed, the Phoenix has been sold, so it’s likely to be the end of live music at the Phoenix. Over the last few years the Phoenix has put on local, national and international bands, and supported new and upcoming local and national bands with a passion. It’s a sad reflection on the people of Plymouth who claim to be live music fans, yet can’t be arsed to spend a few hours away from myspace to go to see some bands play live; it’s not asking much is it? It’s not even like it would cost much, £2/3 entry and bottles of beer for £1, how often can you say that you’ve seen four live bands, plus had 7/8 bottles of beer for £10? I am really angry, yet feel empty at the same time, the so called local scene is a waste of fucking time in my opinion, all talk and no action, and ultimately that’s what’s killed the Phoenix. Plymouth’s music scene will suffer massively from the loss of the Phoenix, suddenly bands will be wondering why there’s nowhere for them to play anymore, places like the Hub aren’t interested in new bands wanting their first gig, a lot of bands will give up before even getting started as there is no support from local venues. Too many venues are playing it safe and booking cover bands that they know will pull people in; and in many ways I can’t blame them as there is next to no support for original bands these days among the punters of Plymouth, much to the dismay of live venue owners!
And today I got my Telewest bill and they are still charging me for the cable internet that hasn’t worked for seven months, the contract was supposed to be up in December, when they promised that they’d stop billing me, but that hasn’t happened. I phoned up customer services and they informed me that the contract wasn’t up until May 2006, which is total bollocks! The contract was up on the 10th December, and I can prove that as I have the original install letter still, but they were insistent that I was wrong, I asked to be transferred to the cancellation department and the damn thing hung up on me after holding for five minutes. So I sent an Email to them instead, explaining the situation and threatening to withdraw my direct debits if I don’t get any joy. I have even considered ditching Telewest completely as they have gone downhill massively over the last 12 months. I was fuming earlier, so I elected to not write this entry then as it would be full of expletives and not much else, I am still angry and will not be beaten on this, I am fed of companies taking advantage, two years ago I would have let it go and just paid up, but that’s not going to happen anymore, why should I pay what I don’t even owe? Fucking incompetent bastards!!!
