| Public Service Announcement |
[Sep. 6th, 2005|10:37 am] |
The London premiere of the Rock Against Racism documentary is next week.
( Film and gig details )
If anyone would like to help on the night let me know, or get in touch with LMHR direct. Thank you for your attention. |
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[Jun. 28th, 2005|06:12 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  mellow | ] |
Running water is wonderful. As are baths and cereal in a bowl (not a bar).
This means I'm glad to be home but I'm missing the muddy place. Not least remembering turning the corner to the stone circle at half two Wednesday night and seeing a beautiful sea of flames. Camping with lovely people and bumping into many, many more. Every single minute of the Tears. Hugging, holding hands, singing along. Wandering Lost Vagueness at 4am. Possibly the best Art Brut set I've ever heard. The LMHR night. Especially the brilliant Babyshambles set. Who would have thought I'd go to see the Others THREE times? Reminded me why I loved them. "The lights in the sky are fucking moving". Lying on the mud banks of the Other stage in the sun listening to The Dears, particularly Who are you... Special Needs. Of course. Randomly hearing classics live - There She Goes, Waterfall... Watching the sun come up from the stone circle on Monday morning. The singing was great, my need for constant spliffs probably wasn't (sorry Jess). I think I may have pictures.
My brain hasn't arrived back in London yet, explaining the lack of proper sentences here. Nothing has broken through my feeling of mellow happiness. Not the 7 hour drive home nor finding my fridge broken and full of defrosted "frozen" food (I'm a hoarder remember). I think I probably need more sleep but toying with Crash Convention. It can be a hard life sometimes. |
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[Jun. 12th, 2005|04:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Suede - Suede | ] |
Living room dancing is good. There is a lot to be said for a few days hibernation (aestivation for the pedants among you).
As part of my ongoing campaign to improve my working environment, I’m making a CD – this is part of my people should talk to each other, poor-though-it-is Xfm is better than Virgin and “no I’ve no idea where the Queen compilation has gone” mission. So Gema who I work with has requested a compilation on the grounds that I go to a lot of gigs (true) and know about contemporary indie music (hah). So I’m trying to put together classics from the last year (or two) that will win people round. Any thoughts?
From today’s news: “William The Brainiest Royal – Official”.
Hahaha. |
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[May. 6th, 2005|10:32 am] |
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I have to admit to having not investigated the manifesto of Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket, but this is taking it too literally. |
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| Get in! |
[May. 2nd, 2005|01:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Luxembourg | ] |
What can I say about Trafalgar Square yesterday? What a great day. All the work paid off (although I must remember never to try to redo artwork the day after a Duck party again). Thank you to all of you who helped on the day and in the build up. I know you probably don’t need my thanks as it was for a good cause but THANK YOU anyway.
( a few people came along )
40,000 according to the press I’ve seen, which isn’t too shabby really. And despite all the stress and running around all day, everyone seemed pretty happy. Even the great get Peter in and out of the square went fairly smoothly...
( he’s not the messiah )
Oh, and the few bits of the music I got to see weren’t bad either!
PS The Great Eastern really is a shit venue. Surrounded by many lovely people and good line up last night but it’s still wrong seeing bands in a hotel conference room. And the drinks are ridiculous expensive. And the security are a pain. Repeatedly shouting “I’m going to fuck you up” while trying to kick me and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) philrar is not a good plan. Not because we are so hard (haha), but we can both be quite stroppy and persistent in arguing our case, as I think the security guy in question found out. |
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| Internet psychology tests are so good |
[Apr. 21st, 2005|12:29 am] |
Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for United States relative to United Kingdom
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/uk/selectatest.html
Haha. Before my american friends are the slightest bit offended, can I point out that apparently the US is represented by the flag, outline of the country and GEORGE BUSH... |
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[Apr. 2nd, 2005|06:38 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
Luxembourg were of course great.The set seemed too short. Things had to build up a little. Let’s draw a veil not only over the flaws but the whole mic stand thing. That said, by Close Cropped I was dancing around like an idiot...
On the subject of which, I enjoyed having white_city_girl, kateclaire and alanbb round after. Well done for making it all the way up here. They learnt that I enjoy dancing round my front room, my iTunes contains some tack and occasionally my dancing can be just a little camp. They are obviously far too polite to mention this.
I have to get up in 4 hours, stay up all night for the Ducks and then get Glastonbury tickets (ever the optimist). Why the hell am I sitting here writing on Live Journal? |
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| Roll up, roll up |
[Mar. 31st, 2005|02:42 pm] |
Before I resort to posting here, there and everywhere, are any of you planning to come to...
The Arctic Monkeys next Tuesday in the Dublin Castle.
But haven't bought tickets yet? I've some spares due to hopeless dropouts and would like to exchange them for nice, crispy fivers.
As I seem to be becoming a ticket agency, I also probably have a spare ticket to ( do not click if you hate football )
Tonight's the first of the birthdays (yay!). My next night without a gig is Wednesday (I'm going to die!) |
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| I should be doing something constructive... |
[Mar. 12th, 2005|01:17 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Original Pirate Material | ] |
...but first a few words about the gig last night in the cavernous space that is the main hall at Ally Pally – seeing as philrar and albiongirl asked so nicely.
( Rap battles, Mr Doherty and mopeds )
One last thing. There were at various points last night outbreaks of lighter waving. This continues to mystify me. I mean, why? And don’t you end up with a burnt hand? There’s an amnesty on offer here for anyone who has done this, if they can explain it to me (this offer does not extend to people who turn the backlight on their phone on and wave this around!) |
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[Mar. 10th, 2005|10:51 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  recumbent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Arctic Monkeys | ] |
Jamie’s gig last night seemed to go well. Despite the best efforts of the sound engineer who had them feeding back for the first two songs. But it came together, a good set in all and the label people came, listened to the end and left. So here’s hoping.
Tomorrow I’m wending my way to Ally Pally for The Streets gig. Now I’m not enough of a snob to dislike The Streets. In fact they’re quite good – I enjoyed them the time I saw them live at Reading. I probably wouldn’t be paying to go to see them without a bit of arm twisting from a good friend who I’ve shared some of London’s finest with (ie dragged along to the New Year Frog). I’ve heard Babyshambles are meant to be playing so that could be interesting. But, but, but. I don’t really like big gigs anymore - I’ve been too spoilt in the last year. And much though I love the people’s palace, I seem to remember that it’s a shit venue for gigs. And I’m not sure what the audience will be like: at the moment I’m fearing Brixton gig but with more attitude. And this means I won’t be able to go to Jess albiongirl’s drinks with her mum which is a pity, not only because I’d said I would, but also because I think it’d be a good night.
Reading that back, it sounds a bit negative which it wasn’t really meant to. Meeting some of my oldest friends and going to a gig with them will be fun.
Oh, on a complete off chance, I don’t suppose anyone out there knows who I should vote for in the LondonMet SU elections? A bit tenuously they seem to have given me a vote, and people fought a war so the likes of me could have the vote, you know, so it seems a bit of a waste not to use it. I did try reading the manifestos. For god’s sake, Word checks grammar and spelling as you go along, there’s no excuse!
Meanwhile I’m excited about the Arctic Monkey’s return to London on the 5th. In fact I’ve booked tickets tonight. Booking tickets to the Dublin Castle: I never thought I’d see the day... |
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[Mar. 5th, 2005|02:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Bright Eyes | ] |
I'm meant to be having a productive day so obviously I've done this instead...
( Ray's meme ) |
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| Friday night |
[Mar. 5th, 2005|02:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sylvia | ] |
Just got in from Infinity (tell me that the rumour it’s being shut down and turned into offices isn’t true). Fuckwits were fun and Clash-like as ever (this is a good thing). I enjoyed The Mardous a lot, which I haven’t always done in the past. Whether this is because they are getting better or because I’ve been in a happy mood all day I can’t say. The B Plan … sorry I went to talk. The evening had got off to a ropey start after finding out that I wasn’t on “the birthday list” but happy birthday, um, whoever. Luckily I spotted friendly faces quite soon. Later I had various chats about politics, life, whatever with several people, not least philrarand politicalalison. As old friends I hope they won’t be embarrassed by me saying that my evening is always enhanced by them.
I didn’t have the financial or mental clout to head for Borderline.
Unfortunately my bus ride home was interrupted by our bus being raided by a “revenue protection team”. I think they used to be called ticket inspectors in a simpler time. They found someone who hadn’t paid their 80p so pulled over the bus for 20 minutes to wait for the police. When I suggested that this was a waste of everyone’s time, they pointed out to me that they were defending passengers who paid – by stopping us getting home. I suggested taking a poll of people of the bus to see whether we’d rather wait or just let them off. As the response seemed to be in my favour, the inspector who’d chosen to argue with me told me in no uncertain terms that I might not care but “the Government does” (there was definitely a capital G in the way he said it). Oh, well, argument won then. Bah, public transport should be free and funded by taxing Rolls Royce and Jaguar drivers anyway.
Tomorrow… I wanted Funfairs and Heartbreak but you just gave my a great night out. |
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[Feb. 28th, 2005|09:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Spanish bombs - Clash | ] |
God it was hard to work today. The weekend was good but over too quickly. I went to see Jamie’s band Friday night. Apart from him being a friend, I genuinely think they’re quite good. The venue was more than naff though: Storm on Leicester Square. I remember now why I hate Leicester Square – full of people who don’t know any better being taken advantage of (by places like Storm). Saturday saw the Unite conference. There was a good turnout and it was interesting to see so many union leaders, etc having a go at the Labour government for their attacks on asylum seekers and refugees. Apart from anything else, it was a relief to have the thing happen after the panics of organisation in the run up. Oh, and the music session was fun – go and organise a gig! Damo gave a good talk and then entertained us later at the Barfly. I love going to see the Metro Riots at the moment although some idiots did their best to sully it – but I’m sure you’ve all read all about that already. Sunday involved watching far too much junk TV (has to be done sometimes) round the VABS. This after lunch with my mum and dad which was at least uneventful. Although my mum slightly freaked me by detailing her funeral arrangements (not for any good reason thankfully). Apparently she wants to be cremated in a cardboard coffin while “Get off my cloud” by the Stones is playing. I felt that deserved quite a bit of respect actually.
Meanwhile, tonight, I’m having a quiet and strangely content evening. Met Sarah for a quick drink after work. Have a big pan of homemade Bolognese slowly cooking, filling the house with good smells. And I plan to watch this drama on the telly at 9 set during the miners’ strike. Hopefully that will be good… shit I better go and find out. |
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| I'm a bit slow like that |
[Feb. 23rd, 2005|10:56 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Donnas - Spend the night | ] |
I’ve been a bit slow with this due to running around last night, but for what it’s worth…
1. Total amount of music files on your computer? A paltry 1047. I need to spend a “fun” day feeding my mac CDs.
2. The last CD you bought was... I don’t remember as it’s a lot rarer than it used to be thanks to the evil internet. But if I hadn’t been in such a rush last night, it would be The Dears.
3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message? Fake Tales of San Francisco – Arctic Monkeys
4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
Picking out five is impossible. There are a lot of the obvious ones, along the lines of The Libs, etc (is it too soon to include Arctic Monkeys?), older stuff like The Who or The Clash, but also...
1. How Soon Is Now – The Smiths. Happy days living in Cambridge and having my eyes opened to The Smiths at last.
2. Anchorage – Michelle Shocked. iTunes tells me it’s “pop-folk”, but this always makes me smile inside when the world seems Alaskan.
3. Tarts – Special Needs. Whether I’m happy, sad or pissed off, I love listening to this. And I think it was the first Needs track I had, and look where that’s led.
4. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free – Nina Simone. Beautiful.
5. Shangri La – The Kinks. Understated ironic social observation AND a great sing-a-long song. What more do you want?
5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?
Are there ANY people who read this who haven’t already done this? Hmm, don’t remember seeing heyladyray - that would be interesting. Anyone else? |
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[Feb. 23rd, 2005|01:32 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dears - Postcard from Purgatory | ] |
I went to see the Dears at Virgin Megastore this evening. I still find something odd in going to see a kind-of-gig in a record store. Especially when the quiet bits get interfered with shopfloor noise. That said, it was a nice little set (well, an hour, so not so little really). I still love Who are you… most of all their songs. Thanks to heyladyray for pointing them out to me. That was a nice little musical appetizer to…
( Brixton )
If that all sounds a bit negative, I should add I had a great time dancing along to Gang of Gin, What Katie Did, Fuck Forever, etc, etc. But I was dancing despite the people around me, remembering other, better times. I’m sure many people there tonight were very nice but I wish many of you I’ve shared some of the good times with had been there so we could form a protective bubble…
And, no, I didn’t buy a t-shirt! |
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| Been meaning to write... |
[Feb. 16th, 2005|04:52 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dears/Who/Bright Eyes strange medley | ] |
I should be better at updating this instead of running around spamming others’. But first can I point out the joy of my Acquisition playlist: a weird medley that I never would have put together but somehow go together in mood due to downloading order.
It was definitely good to take a break for a while – it’s a bad sign when you start to feel gig-by-rote. I’ve truly got back on the gig horse in the ( last week )
Meanwhile Valentine’s Day rolled round. I thought this might bother me, but didn’t at all in the end. I think my enduring impression of the day will be coming home on the tube, feeling really quite happy singing along to my iPod (oh yes, I am the person you want to share a carriage with). Looking round at my fellow passengers - several burdened with flowers, massive bouquets, large plants, trees, whatever – and thinking they all looked bloody miserable. Now I’ll put a large part of this down to the tube and I hope they all got home to great happiness. But it did make me think how I was happy right there and then; not least due to the music, the people, the gigs that I never would have known if I hadn’t split up with Cassie. “Every cloud has a silver lining” as one of my ex-bosses had the very annoying habit of saying. |
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| News flash |
[Feb. 10th, 2005|11:01 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
| [ | music |
| | XFM - adverts, adverts and more adverts | ] |
Oooh, a royal wedding! I'm so so excited...
Also in the news, such a pity that Death Disco kept me away from my local Ikea opening last night. 20 hospitalized, a stabbing, stored closed half an hour after opening. I love London but sometimes, just sometimes, I despair. |
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| Glue! |
[Feb. 2nd, 2005|12:01 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Tuesday: I went to the first gig of Sarah’s band Glue. I was all ready to be the supportive and encouraging friend. But as it turned out there was no reason to be economical with the truth. They were very good. Think female-fronted punk. Think angry at arrogant exes (“Sweet Little Girl”). Think boredom at Heat-style celebs (“Bloodbath in The Ivy”). Great stuff. And I got to be a bit fan-boy (me, no?) down at the front; I even got given the set list after OMG, OMG! Expect more over-excited ravings about them in the future |
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| Magic moments |
[Jan. 29th, 2005|03:13 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Stone Roses | ] |
Pleasure Unit tonight. Felt strangely unchatty and out of sorts. Now this is fine if you’re somewhere like Koko but not in Pleasure Unit. It’s too small to be like this. I guess that’s what comes of an enforced week indoors. That all said, lots of lovely people there (with a few notable absences) and The Fuckwits got me going while the wonderful Moogs made me very happy. So by the end of night I left feeling it was an evening well spent. I just hope that I didn’t make anyone think I was a grumpy so and so along the way.
My other randomly happy moment of the day was this morning on the way to work (and it’s not often I have these moments at twenty past nine in the morning). There I am on the tube with the ever so happy commuters, all grinning ear to ear, when this busker in the middle of the carriage breaks into the Stone Roses’ I wanna be adored. Now this seems a rather odd choice given that it’s not exactly contemporary and also rather obviously didn’t do it for my fellow travellers. In fact they had apparently entered some parallel universe where there was no one busking, no one standing in the middle of the carriage with a guitar, not at all but that advert is sooo fascinating that I’ll stare at it determinedly. I have to admit he didn’t really do the song justice but it was certainly heartfelt. This outburst of emotion in the sterile atmosphere of the tube made me very happy, in the same way that walking out of the house and realising that the sun is out and there isn’t a cloud in the sky makes you glad to be alive. Hmmm, maybe I’m getting over-emotional about this now but it was a wonderful little moment. And the guy was wearing a No to ID cards badge which was a good thing. I feel on the verge of a rant about “Control Orders” and the attacks on civil liberties but that should probably wait till another day… |
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