Kimmie, Terri, Tux and The Fury

Blimey, what a week. Tuesday was a chance to hear Mojo Fury playing tracks from the new album, acoustic style. Cello and everything. With bonus conversations about how the songs took shape and where the Mojo ship is steering to. Tremendous.

Wednesday was the launch for the Vital Festival, back in August with Eminem the first confirmed name for Wednesday 24th. A busy old day for Ward Park, I would imagine. In the middle of the party, a bunch of us took off around the corner to the Black Box, where Kimmie Rhodes was warning us off Lubbock, Texas, thinking about the influence of DDT sprays on young metabolisms and singing with distinction. The bug powder can't have harmed her too much.

Friday was a one-off event at the Botanic Inn, Belfast, featuring live music from Cashier No 9, increasingly stellar. We were anxious in case the local clients didn't dig it, but they were leaping around and bawling out the chorus lines. The bash was complemented by many DJ pals, notably Terri Hooley, who inflamed a crowd of people who were generally 40 years his junior. It was a masterclass in how to reach out to every punter, to rouse them and roll them and prepare the house for the only closing anthem that counts, 'Teenage Kicks'.

My favourite night though was Thursday, when I found myself in a tuxedo, onstage at the Ramada Hotel. I was with special company, part of a team that was being rewarded for our work on the Belfast Music project - the exhibition, the iphone app, the bus tour, the website and last year's inaugural Belfast Music Week. The drivers of this particular idea were some visionary folk at Belfast City Council, but a bunch of us had determined to amp up the endeavour. And while the work isn't all done, there was enough evidence out there to rock the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards.

By Saturday afternoon, I was fit to retire for an intense nap. But before I checked out, my eldest daughter was heading off with a heap of camping kit, ready for the Pigstock Festival in Killinchy. It was an amusing, tag team moment, and expressly her turn. But hey, I had put in a few decent rounds.