As I suggested in the link that brought you here, I would allow my ego to get the better of me - I think that's only fair as you did click the link with a thirst for knowledge!!

Firstly you will have noticed that I'm very keen on exclaimation marks (or points if you live west of the Atlantic) I'm sorry but that's the way it is!!!!!!!!

Right here goes.

My name is John Warlow (or JW to many)- I'm now in my forties but I don't feel it. For 5 years until the end of 2000 I, along with my girlfriend (now wife), Clare, I owned and ran a cyber cafe in Luton England. I now spend most days at my desk writing software or designing websites for others (which is why this one tends to get a bit left out - the ones that bring in the cash tend to get the priority!)

I was born and raised in Watford (famous for it's football team of which Elton John was the chairman) spent a good few years living in Stevenage (famous for virtually nothing apart from being the first New Town in England and John Cooper Clarke used to live there) but now live in Luton. I went to school at Francis Combe which British readers might have recently seen featured in a TV series documenting the life of a comprehensive school in the nineties. When I left there I spent three great years at the University of Keele (famous for riots and insurrection in the sixties - not quite on the scale of Kent though) just outside Stoke on Trent.

I started collecting records when I was about 13 and the first album I ever bought was Billion Dollar Babies by Alice Cooper (yes my parents were a little disappointed but I wasn't really rebelling - I just liked the noise it made!)

The first band that I just had to have everything by were Sparks - Most British readers of about my age will know of them but they are actually a US duo that had to come over to England to get a hit. If you like the Waitresses then you will probably find some of the early Sparks stuff worth investigating. While they never really went away, the 00's has seen them have somewhat of a renaissance with sell 3 more excellent albums and more live gigs than we're used to - they still cut it too.

I didn't really start going to gigs until I went to college but I was lucky that that was during the punk era and I saw the Clash, The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, The Damned, The Stranglers etc etc etc... I just saw then really as fine pop bands (the Buzzcocks is probably the finest 3 minute pop band the England has ever produced - "What Do I Get" IS the best single ever made - FACT!!!!!!) and my tastes have remained along these lines ever since. I will probably, at some stage, compile a list of my favourite albums, tracks etc for this page but for now I'll just throw a few names at you from the top of my head.

Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, XTC, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Jonathan Richman, Talking Heads, The Beach Boys, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, The Undertones, Hank Williams (AKA the man that invented rock and roll), The Rubinoos, Joe Ely, Big Star, Squeeze, The Pogues, Fountains of Wayne, Ben Vaughn, Edwyn Collins/Orange Juice ........ As you can see, the Waitresses fit very easily into this list. (I'll add some links from these names in the very near future....honest!). I've a bit of a penchant for country music (although I might hit the next person that says "oh yes Garth Brooks....." - Listen!!! Garth Brooks is the Phil Collins of the country world ie dreadful!). So as well as the obligatory Hank Williams CDs, my album collection also includes the likes of Gram Parsons, Carlene Carter, Johnny Cash, Sid Griffin, Mary-Chapin Carpenter etc etc etc.

I like to think that I'm not too jaded to be looking forward to new CDs coming out - in recent years I've added Amy Rigby, Arctic Monkeys, Little Man Tate, Eels, Brendan Benson, The New Pornographers and Mercury Rev to my favourites list and I hope that the list just goes on growing - one day they'll make an ipod that holds my whole collection!

Hey! Its Late, I've had a couple of bottles of beer so how about a JW all time top ten? Here goes (in no particular order (except No 1 of course):-

• What Do I Get? - The Buzzcocks
• Honaloochie Boogie - Mott the Hoople
• Rocket From  a Bottle - XTC
• Ding Dang - The Beach Boys (Quintessential Beach Boys, about 60 secs long)
• Looks Looks Looks - Sparks
• Hollywood Seven - Jon English
• Cool For Cats - Squeeze
• What Way To End It All - Deaf School
• All Night - Chris Rainbow
• Life After Wartime - Talking Heads
• Etc Etc Etc this is not a definitive list - how can it be?

One of the great things about music is that it sometimes sends shivers down the spine - If you want to guarantee a shiver then go to Nashville, go to the Ryman Auditorium and stand on the very stage that Hank Williams performed!

Bored yet? Well you've got this far so I feel that can really start to indulge myself. Apart from merely listening to music I am a very bad guitarist (another reason why Hank Williams should be deified is that you can get away with playing "Jambalya" with just two chords - very nearly the perfect song!) What else? Well I love playing golf - I'm not very good at that either but what the heck!

If I don't stop typing now I'll never get this page on the web - I may add more later.

If you want to know any more fascinating facts just email me - waitress@hardcafe.co.uk.