I was on a packed bus going thru kings cross. Everyone was looking miserable ignoring each other as usual and it was raining, then a guy who was with his whole family turned round and started talking to people saying how he was Turkish and how friendly everyone was in London compared to where he had been in Germany where people spat at him and his family.
He just didn't realise people dont talk to each other on the bus here, when he finnished everyone on the bus was smiling at each other, really proud of London. I'm sure we all went beack to ignoring each other and looking miserable on the next bus.
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May 26, 2010
May 17, 2010
THE JOUNEY IS THE GOAL
Well that was a funny weekend. I got picked up for Bearded Theory about 9ish, we loaded all the equipment in Hackney Wick and set off up the A11. Stopping for petrol our driver/guru checked the tyre pressure and a valve blew out. Luckily the spare was under the vehicle rather than under all the equipment. Unluckily it was the wrong size.
We drove very slowly down the road at a very weird angle to a tyre shop a taxi driver had pointed us toward and bought a new valve for three quid. We were on the road again in half an hour. Almost all of the way up the A1(M) we lost power on a big flyover and a couple of us had to run down the road and direct traffic past our halted van whilst it was fixed.
We had a bit of a debate about the attitude we were expecting from Bearded Theory to our lateness. Our sound guy was saying we would probably be cancelled. I reckoned things would be more mellow up north but none of us knew what time we would actually arrive.
The van still wasn't running right and we stopped again just outside Derby. I was wishing we had set off the night before. We rocked up at the site at 4.30 chucked everything out on the grass, loaded it all onto the stage and started playing. As we are a totally improvising totally live act straying into mostly DJ territory we usually have to sort our own sound out into two phonos for a DJ Mixer, pre- sound checking in the studio but the guys at the Magical Sounds tent were totally ready for us, relaxed and totally pro.
Everything went just great and I think the Bearded Theory guys were pleased. We had a few older heads who had taken too much acid come up and congratulate us after which I think is a good sign. We pitched our tents and had a good look round the site.
I was really surprised at how established the festival was. Psytrance is only a small part of what goes on. The whole thing was an inexpensive, really family friendly event with the profits going to charity and I am not surprised it is doing so well. I woke up Sunday and saw The Cheeky Girls in one of the tents before they joined everyone on the mainstage for the Guiness record attempt at the number of fake beards in one place. Derbyshire was a beautiful place to drive back through and it only started raining when we were coming close to the M25. A really sucessful weekend.
..
We drove very slowly down the road at a very weird angle to a tyre shop a taxi driver had pointed us toward and bought a new valve for three quid. We were on the road again in half an hour. Almost all of the way up the A1(M) we lost power on a big flyover and a couple of us had to run down the road and direct traffic past our halted van whilst it was fixed.
We had a bit of a debate about the attitude we were expecting from Bearded Theory to our lateness. Our sound guy was saying we would probably be cancelled. I reckoned things would be more mellow up north but none of us knew what time we would actually arrive.
The van still wasn't running right and we stopped again just outside Derby. I was wishing we had set off the night before. We rocked up at the site at 4.30 chucked everything out on the grass, loaded it all onto the stage and started playing. As we are a totally improvising totally live act straying into mostly DJ territory we usually have to sort our own sound out into two phonos for a DJ Mixer, pre- sound checking in the studio but the guys at the Magical Sounds tent were totally ready for us, relaxed and totally pro.
Everything went just great and I think the Bearded Theory guys were pleased. We had a few older heads who had taken too much acid come up and congratulate us after which I think is a good sign. We pitched our tents and had a good look round the site.
I was really surprised at how established the festival was. Psytrance is only a small part of what goes on. The whole thing was an inexpensive, really family friendly event with the profits going to charity and I am not surprised it is doing so well. I woke up Sunday and saw The Cheeky Girls in one of the tents before they joined everyone on the mainstage for the Guiness record attempt at the number of fake beards in one place. Derbyshire was a beautiful place to drive back through and it only started raining when we were coming close to the M25. A really sucessful weekend.
..
May 13, 2010
CONDEMNING
Not me. I am really enjoying all this at the moment. Saw Four Lions. Was funny but more than funny? Except for the cops armed raid on the wrong Muslims it didn't reall say anything much. I will try and see what Musa thinks.
Guardian: ...The makers claim that "what This Is Spinal Tap did for heavy metal and Dr Strangelove for the cold war, Four Lions does for the modern face of terrorism". This is palpably absurd...
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Guardian: ...The makers claim that "what This Is Spinal Tap did for heavy metal and Dr Strangelove for the cold war, Four Lions does for the modern face of terrorism". This is palpably absurd...
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May 07, 2010
Normal Service will be Resumed...
Well I got that totally wrong eh. Good job I didn't put my money where my mouth was. Well done to the Greens in Brighton. Hopefully Brighton can become a bit of a showcase for some good ideas. Nice to see the BNP go down in Barking, I am currently frantically making calls to see if I can provide a strong and stable government..
will get back to u
..
UPDATE: I am more interested than worried. If Cameron get in I look forward to seeing his vision for power in the hands of the people. I am sure all the other parties could help him with that maybe. Obviously I am a bit disappointed. I think the majority freak out about immigration and I'm in the minority which is why I don't really feel like I am involved in this country. I am glad everyone who needed one got a "kick in the ballots", including Galloway.
..
will get back to u
..
UPDATE: I am more interested than worried. If Cameron get in I look forward to seeing his vision for power in the hands of the people. I am sure all the other parties could help him with that maybe. Obviously I am a bit disappointed. I think the majority freak out about immigration and I'm in the minority which is why I don't really feel like I am involved in this country. I am glad everyone who needed one got a "kick in the ballots", including Galloway.
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May 06, 2010
ELECTION SPECIAL
I had to buy these this morning- Hope from The Sun (who owe me money) who think their man is Obama for some reason
Fear from the Daily Mail (Tory Womens paper)
And the surprise winner is The Star- the only sensible paper today. 20p! being the largest letters on the page some blonde totty WAGs divorce as the headline and "Time to give em a Kick in the Ballots!" as a sort of side issue, reminding everyone how much they hate politicians. Nice one.
I was happily telling my nutty Scottish pal how I didn't vote lest my blood become halal for the global jihadis this morning whilst we were unloading five tons of wood pellets for our burners. The truck driver looked a bit concerned but I don't think he called the cops. They've not been round yet anyway.
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May 03, 2010
BUT IS IT ART?
ARE FRENZ ELECTRIC Launch Party
Gob$au$age + Reptilian Space Wigs + Longinglightning + Braindead Collective + DJ Dan Donovan + Deptford Noise Team + Little Eris + DJ Tab
My neighbour played a hilarious gig on a boat moored to the north side of the Thames last night. We arrived quite early and got to listen to a great dubstep set from someone who turned out to be ex- B.A.D. All so good though at bloody Scandinavian beer prices I realised I wasn't going to have a riot.Then on came a couple of half naked tall gentlemen with silver capes and sort of alien/frog masks. One played horrible heavy metal guitar whilst the other squeezed strangled loops out of a kaossilator with a largish guy struggling to keep a very dodgy PA working. Things were falling over, the sound continualy fucked up and the set finnished almost as soon as it started leaving me with the feeling thast they weren't taking the whole thing very seriously.
After a little bit more DJing my neighbour who calls her project LongingLightning came on and did her Harp/Theromin/Voice loops thing which went great until the PA cut out mid song. None of the power visibly went, no lights switched off. Later I got the feeling thast she had maybe been too professional for the vibe of the night, the equipment forcing its own meltdown on her as she wasn't going to melt herself.
Anyway she was followed by a friendly Welsh chick and her stilletoed friend who had been calm and sociable only an hour earlier but as they took the stage area they were tottering, one more alarmingly than the other. Equipment was set up, the sound guy struggled to attatch it to the dodgy PA whilst the cute Welsh chick swore into a microphone about everything not working. Her friend behind her was quickly oblivious to everything around her and started the gig on her own, singing quietly into a microphone. She fell over three times and eventually slid to the floor and had to be carried out.
As wine was spilt and swearing continued the set was eventually and acrimoniously aborted, with fluctuating rumours over the number of valium the unconcious blonde had taken. I had watched the whole thing from the front with a good pal who does sound for the band sometimes and we were beginning to really enjoy ourselves.
Next a whole bunch of guys started setting up tons of synths, beatboxes and analogue shit. I tentatively asked one of them if it was all going to stop working after a few minutes and they were going to call everyone cunts and fall over. I can't remember the answer but I got the impression this lot were going to at least take it a bit seriously, and maybe make some music.
As they eventually got started half the band aborted mission having been unsucessful connecting themselves to the dodgy PA whilst two or three synth players made a bit of electro noise for about ten minutes before their sound fucked up too. By now we were getting the impression that this was the whole point of the night, and that punk really wasn't dead after all.
More DJing, and some dancing was followed by an even stranger act. A rather largish camp looking male go go dancer bounced off the back wall of the boat, whilst in front of him what I took to be a fellow with a gold plastic manaquin torso strapped to his front and a balaclava turned out to be a real pair of tits and torso painted gold. Another balaclavad person with a fur tail on his/her head was shouting into a non working microphone. Some noise came from somewhere though I am not sure what or where from.
The mic started working as the person screamed "CUNT! FARKING CUNT!" over and over. This inevitably didn't last. A bit more DJing, the power cut out again and everyone drifted out except the stilletoed girl who was being attended to by ambulance people who were wondering how to get their stretcher up the narrow stairs.
I think it went well. The sort of launch party they should really invite tabloid journalist to write shock stories about.
Thanks to greg for the pictures via flikr
Republished on The Land of Little Eris
..
Gob$au$age + Reptilian Space Wigs + Longinglightning + Braindead Collective + DJ Dan Donovan + Deptford Noise Team + Little Eris + DJ Tab
My neighbour played a hilarious gig on a boat moored to the north side of the Thames last night. We arrived quite early and got to listen to a great dubstep set from someone who turned out to be ex- B.A.D. All so good though at bloody Scandinavian beer prices I realised I wasn't going to have a riot.Then on came a couple of half naked tall gentlemen with silver capes and sort of alien/frog masks. One played horrible heavy metal guitar whilst the other squeezed strangled loops out of a kaossilator with a largish guy struggling to keep a very dodgy PA working. Things were falling over, the sound continualy fucked up and the set finnished almost as soon as it started leaving me with the feeling thast they weren't taking the whole thing very seriously.
After a little bit more DJing my neighbour who calls her project LongingLightning came on and did her Harp/Theromin/Voice loops thing which went great until the PA cut out mid song. None of the power visibly went, no lights switched off. Later I got the feeling thast she had maybe been too professional for the vibe of the night, the equipment forcing its own meltdown on her as she wasn't going to melt herself.
Anyway she was followed by a friendly Welsh chick and her stilletoed friend who had been calm and sociable only an hour earlier but as they took the stage area they were tottering, one more alarmingly than the other. Equipment was set up, the sound guy struggled to attatch it to the dodgy PA whilst the cute Welsh chick swore into a microphone about everything not working. Her friend behind her was quickly oblivious to everything around her and started the gig on her own, singing quietly into a microphone. She fell over three times and eventually slid to the floor and had to be carried out.
As wine was spilt and swearing continued the set was eventually and acrimoniously aborted, with fluctuating rumours over the number of valium the unconcious blonde had taken. I had watched the whole thing from the front with a good pal who does sound for the band sometimes and we were beginning to really enjoy ourselves.
Next a whole bunch of guys started setting up tons of synths, beatboxes and analogue shit. I tentatively asked one of them if it was all going to stop working after a few minutes and they were going to call everyone cunts and fall over. I can't remember the answer but I got the impression this lot were going to at least take it a bit seriously, and maybe make some music.
As they eventually got started half the band aborted mission having been unsucessful connecting themselves to the dodgy PA whilst two or three synth players made a bit of electro noise for about ten minutes before their sound fucked up too. By now we were getting the impression that this was the whole point of the night, and that punk really wasn't dead after all.More DJing, and some dancing was followed by an even stranger act. A rather largish camp looking male go go dancer bounced off the back wall of the boat, whilst in front of him what I took to be a fellow with a gold plastic manaquin torso strapped to his front and a balaclava turned out to be a real pair of tits and torso painted gold. Another balaclavad person with a fur tail on his/her head was shouting into a non working microphone. Some noise came from somewhere though I am not sure what or where from.
The mic started working as the person screamed "CUNT! FARKING CUNT!" over and over. This inevitably didn't last. A bit more DJing, the power cut out again and everyone drifted out except the stilletoed girl who was being attended to by ambulance people who were wondering how to get their stretcher up the narrow stairs.I think it went well. The sort of launch party they should really invite tabloid journalist to write shock stories about.
Thanks to greg for the pictures via flikr
Republished on The Land of Little Eris
..
Oubliette show, Southwark
My Clegmania has subdued somewhat after two more debates which were basically reruns of the first, but I still hope for a Clegg victory, or a liberal-strong hung parliament, if only to shut those thieving mother fuckers at the Sun up. Who knows? Maybe politicians who talk sense will come to the fore and these fakes who expel hot air pretending there is some diference between themselves might be consigned to the past.
Anyway, really funny weekend.
Saturday we (the band) had to pull out of the trail blazing itinerant art show which is The Oubliette. We were booked to play the final night of their new exhibition but the noise Police had visited the night before with a stern warning. I cycled up to see if anything could be done about soundproofing, but as the floors were huge wooden beams which would turn into a soundbox with the least amplified encouragement and with so many windows onto the street it was a no go.
I hung around as it was obviously about to start raining, intending to let the sky get it out of its sytem and head back for more rehearsal. The threatening skies eventually delivered, and didn't stop delivering until two in the morning. I had a really great time stuck in a beautiful building with poets, performers and artists doing their stuff.
The whole night really inspired me and reminded me of a lot of stuff I had let drift. That art in empty buildings is invariably the best and most interesting in London, and that even conceptual artists who are driven to transform these places are always the least pretentious of the breed.
These photos are by Flavia Fraser-Cannon from the Oubliette website
Oubliette in the news
a much more comprehensive blog review here
Anyway, really funny weekend.
Saturday we (the band) had to pull out of the trail blazing itinerant art show which is The Oubliette. We were booked to play the final night of their new exhibition but the noise Police had visited the night before with a stern warning. I cycled up to see if anything could be done about soundproofing, but as the floors were huge wooden beams which would turn into a soundbox with the least amplified encouragement and with so many windows onto the street it was a no go.
I hung around as it was obviously about to start raining, intending to let the sky get it out of its sytem and head back for more rehearsal. The threatening skies eventually delivered, and didn't stop delivering until two in the morning. I had a really great time stuck in a beautiful building with poets, performers and artists doing their stuff.
The whole night really inspired me and reminded me of a lot of stuff I had let drift. That art in empty buildings is invariably the best and most interesting in London, and that even conceptual artists who are driven to transform these places are always the least pretentious of the breed.
These photos are by Flavia Fraser-Cannon from the Oubliette website
Oubliette in the news
a much more comprehensive blog review here
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