FOR JEFF, IN CHICAGO (but relocated for this weekend)

Last July, a long-team reader who has always called himself Jeff In Chicago made a request for, and I quote, "pre-baggy/Madchester 'Blonde' stuff" and in return I shoved up some mp3s from The Primitives, The Darling Buds, Transmission Vamp and Daisy Chainsaw (although I wasn't particularly complimentary about all of them).

Most of the comments left behind indicated that the nature of the posting was a popular one, and I have long meant to follow it up, but just never got round to it. The strange thing was that within about five days of the post appearing, I found 3 x 12" singles by The Primitives in a second-hand shop, each of them going for just £1 each despite being in excellent, almost mint condition. Similar sort of experience in fact as swiss adam, author of the hugely enjoyable Bagging Area, who in his comment last July informed us that he "rescued a 7" by the Primitives from a charity shop in Sale. Haven't played it yet but felt sorry for it, like it was headed for landfill."

Anyway, my own three singles have now all been converted via the USB turntable and rather enjoyable listening they each make. Wasn't sure which one to go for, but in the end by a process of allocating each of them a coin which were thrown in the air.....only one came down as tails and this gets to feature:-

mp3 : The Primitives - Stop Killing Me
mp3 : The Primitives - Buzz Buzz Buzz
mp3 : The Primitives - Laughing Up My Sleeve

This was the band's second 45, released in 1987 on Lazy Records (Lazy 03T), but failed to trouble the UK charts. The world however, would succumb to the charms of Tracy Tracy and her boys less than 12 months later......





Now.....the reason for featuring this post today is all down to the fact that Jeff is also a football fan, and through following TVV decided to adopt Raith Rovers as his favourite Scottish team.

Tomorrow afternoon, Raith Rovers take on Dundee United in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, the first time they have reached this stage in 47 years. And Jeff has flown in especially from Chicago to be part of the day. He arrived in Glasgow about 48 hours ago and he's residing at Villain Towers all weekend.

This will be the first time we've actually hooked up although there have been countless thousands of emails as score updates and his reactions fire their way back and forth across the Atlantic. That's the magic of the blogging world for you.......

Full update might come your way on Monday depending on our sobriety.