Subject: The New Year So Far [1/1/99-15/1/99] Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 10:14:00 PST Here is my diary entry for the beginning of 1999. includes : goodbye to Malcolm and Sarah, Anna Maria coming to stay, The King concert, STOMP. -------------------------------------------------------- For New Years celebrations in London a whole swag of us from the hostel went to town - naturally, like a million others ! I've still to develop the photos from here ! A little aside, earlier in the week one station tried to be alternative and showed horror movies during the Christmas season. The showed the OMEN. This movie I saw when I was ten years old and put me off horrors until I was eighteen when I decided to overcome my fear by borrowing some horror movies off a university buddy and sitting down to watch them. The "Evil Dead" series was a good choice to ween myself back onto them (these are a series of horror comedies). Since them I've acquired a bizarre liking for them. Anyway the point of this aside is that while I was watching the movie there is a scene where Gregory Peck meets with a priest who knows the truth on a park bench looking onto the Thames. It looked familiar to me and then when the priest is running through a green it looked familiar as well. I was mentioning this to the people with me saying that he should be reaching a church soon, and lo and behold a church reared up onto the screen and then he got impaled !! I had been here a few months earlier at All Saints Church which is right on Putney Bridge !! For those oldies you may recall when I headed out this way to go to Beggars Banquet record shop and described how I walked through the churchgrounds and graveyard after it had been raining and amongst the trees, vines and columns totally obscure from the road ! GULP ! (And then I went to the Depeche Mode concert ;-) I am struck by how much London does appear in movies and in literature now. I noted this recently as well, as a lot of books on sale here and in the bestsellers list are based in London. And naturally being a trainspotter I enjoy watching for places I've been to already. On a similar note there was a Monty Python all day special recently on BBC and they showed all the famous locations where they filmed some skits. Because the BBC is just up the road from me at White City there are plenty of plum locations around here. About 7 minutes walk away past the Walkabout Pub and in front of the local police station is where John Cleese did the 'ministry of funny walks' sketch, the nearby laundry also showed up in a washerwomen sketch. On another note, supposedly the opening scene of Quadrophenia is filmed round the Shepherds Bush Empire and where the Walkabout is now, I seem to recall a scene which occurs between some buildings so I will have to watch this again. Okay enough blah blahing, back to the New Years Story at hand : Anyway what can I say ? all roads blocked off, lots of happy people getting drunk. Trafalgar square has checks to stop people bringing in glass or alcohol so I posited the idead of heading towards the South Bank. There are supposedly fireworks at Big Ben plus at Tower Bridge and from the walkway we should be able to see both. On this south side it is much much quieter and as we walk over the River Thames all is quiet, except for the endless stream of partyboats ! I am reminded of an 'awful tragedy' that gets mentioned from time to time about a party boat that ran aground and went down to the murky bottom taking a plethora of models and beautiful people.. he heh he... Anyway we walked along the southbank towards the aquarium and Westminister bridge which is where Big Ben is. There is an entertainment centre here so we go and drink and play video games. Two of merry band are very merry indeed and are constantly singing and shaking every stranger's hand. Some steps up lead to large balcony from which one can look down to the river. There are parties in full swing and in a window some little kids in their pyjamas wave at us. 12 O'clock arrives and goes with little fanfare, supposedly Big Ben chimes but we don't hear a thing, the fireworks we can't see, there is a waterboat or something with a few sparklers on it under bridge but we can't see it except for some smoke ! At Namcoworld here there is a pub/nightclub so we decide to hit it and have a dance, unfortunately it closes at 1am !! We head back to Waterloo station and after waiting for the train for an eternity while mice are scurrying around us, (this station is the smelliest and worst station ever - ever worse that wembley central station which is dangerous and foreboding) and having it held up as police chase after some louts have let off the fire extinguishers we head into town, to just miss our tube train ! So we have to descend overground and take the bus. Luckily there are plenty....... The next day is the 'big' new years day parade in town so we meet up with Malcolm and Sarah. Supposedly they import a lot of authentic genuine american cheerleaders !! There were lots of floats just like the ones you see on tv of comic and cartoon characters, the flintstones, mighty mouse, hagar the horrible. With a slight breeze they would tilt extremely to the side and loom over thirty pensive faces with its shadow and threatened to smother us. There were lots of authentic genuine american cheerleaders ! With their tight clothing and american voices squeaking "Happy New Year" and dance routines or gymnastic feats that they would break into every few metres! yay ! When it finished, town was inundated with people, no time for the sales so we go to an all you can eat chinese buffet. It is Mr WU ! One of those touristy pack'em in place. I always smile when i think of this, as we had to go downstairs but the food was upstairs so while the girls sat down me and Malcolm would ferry our way on the narrow stairs and grabs two plates of food each (imagine a place with about twenty chicken wings on them ;-) and go back up again. Not very comfortable but we were hungry and it served us well. Now I think Malc and Sarah went to Egypt soon after. So there is a lull in my events diary up to the 5th. On the fifth my friend Anna-Maria arrived. her second time in London, the first time we met was in August and we spent some time together. This time she was here on holiday and to study a bit of english law. This is what my diary says : 6th January Anna Maria cooks us pasta and corrects us in the matter of eating and cooking pasta correctly and how to test for the best brands. 7th January Anna Maria really like to drink, I mean it's not a problem but she really likes to drink. This night we walk one minute down to the Springbok pub, they sell big jugs of beer for about 7 UKP which is cheap for London. A whole group of us came and she made a few new friends. 8th January - Elvis' Birthday ! Since she was coming I've been trying to line up things to do for her to make her stay more memorable. But it would eventuate that she was happy to hang around the hostel and perfect her english and chat. Tonight was Friday night and I had picked up tickets for the KING. There is along humourous story about this artist but it's totally untrue so let me fill you in. The KING is an irishman who does current or cult songs in the style of Elvis. Unlike Dread Zeppelin who did songs in a reggae Elvis fashion. He did a gig in small venue the Garage a few months ago and it was sold out and was attended by various luminaries. Some months later he played a bigger venue The Embassy Rooms and that was sold out too ! Then because it is Elvis' birthday he is playing the bigger Astoria tonight !! I have his album and it is a lot of fun but didn't sell that well. The joke would have worn thin if he had been more popular, as it happens only those with their ear to the ground were aware of him as no one apart from John Peel played him on the radio ! Here's some links to info about him : http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IITX/qid=942357239/sr=1-1/102-2709605-2572064 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000GBJI/ref=sim_music/102-2709605-2572064 I hear he toured New Zealand so I hope you got a chance to see him before he disappears as a one-hit wonder. Anyway I had six tickets which I ended up giving away to friends so we all got to the venue on time to see support band Goldblade perform. They are a tongue in cheek glamrock-punk-thrash band who lampoon the genres they perform. A lot of noise and fun but don't know if the oldied enjoyed it. As they finished we got right up front. There was a old lady with us and her daughter. The venue was really packed now and we were getting really pushed. Andrew and I stood behind the mother and daughter to protect them from the moshing crowd ;-) I looked around and it was an assortment of characters : mods, a handful of Elvis impersonators, normal people, a girl with lots of piercings and feathers in her hair ! The lights dimmed and smoke filled the stage and a siren sounded and the beginning guitar riffs of The Sweet's "Blockbuster" roared of of the speakers, we all go crazy for a couple of minutes until he comes out. He starts singing and he has a great voice, a bit tubby, he is holding his wrists in a limp fashion like Elvis. The mother holds up her arms and he comes down to give her a hug. Anna Maria sticks out her hand and he comes back down and gives it a squeeze. He finishes to loud applause and introduces the next songs and everyone goes crazy : Love Will Tear Us Apart Whiskey In The Jar Complete with actions to fit the lyrics. Something Else With this Eddie Cochran song on the album it starts off traditionally for a few bars then stops as he tells the band to start it again. Onstage they did this planned stop and everyone who knew the album knew they were going to do it. Onstage I saw them all huddle together and giggle then turn towards us and kick into the song. heartbreak hotel (short version) Twentieth Century Boy Mess O'Blues No Woman No Cry/Can't Help Falling In Love For this he got audience participation to sing the chorus, which them he would break into a few lines of "Can't Help Falling In Love". I don't really like the Marley song but it was fun. Voodoo Chile With the beginning riff of this track the musicianship of the band really came through. On cd it was faultless and totally brilliant playing. Live at first the mix wasn't quite right, the guitar which should be prominent on these rock tracks was behind all the other sounds. But with this track it was just right ! Come As You Are Whole Lotta Rosie With these two track the crowd went even more nuts and we were jostled every which way ! Me and Andrew parked ourselves behind 'mama' as she was getting jostled quite a bit ! Encore: That's Alright Mama Suspicious Minds For the encore he came out in a gold lame suit and brought out someone on double bass and did the old Elvis track. The final rendition of 'Suspicious Minds' was where he extended it out into a ten minute jam. Everyone was singing along loudly, during the chorus he stops singing and introduces the band and thanks everyone while we are all still singing the chorus over and over again. He kneels down to sing a verse but is too heavy to get back up again so the guitarist has to come pick him back up ;-) Finally he comes down in front and shakes everyone's hand ! He left to the strains of : New York New York Good concert but at an hour a bit short ! Afterwards we went to a nearby pub and those who I had given tickets to shouted me beers as we wound down for the week ;-) SATURDAY 9th January Didn't do much. Anna-Maria much to her chagrin had to catch up with a typically sleazy (her words) italian guy so they went to see the stageshow Rent. They got back late in the evening with two large buckets of KFC under her arm so everyone tucked in ! SUNDAY 10th January Being the host I feel I need to provide entertainment so for the sake of nothing else this evening we decide to go to a local cafe. It is a french chain cafe called Cafe Rouge. Along the way we bump into Allan. He, me and Anna-Maria got to know each other at the same time so it is a nice reunion ! He joins us and regales us with tales of travelling through South America, getting his boots sliced open by over eager US customs officials, and having an english couple generously pay for his flight from New York back to London ! I think he had to come back to work with Offspring ;-) 11th & 12th January Monday and Tuesday. [notice how I'm running out of ideas now ?] Anyway we ended up at the pub, Anna really likes her beer and can drink most people under the table ! The thing is she is always chatty anyway so you can't tell the difference ! 13th STOMP okay I had been to this show in Auckland. would it be the same ? the same people ? We got to the venue and because we really weren't that fussed about going we got the cheapest tickets available, restricted view and all that. The venue is The Roundhouse and it is just that, a large circular dome with temporary stacked seating which makes a clatter as everyone descends the stairs. Our 'restricted view' seats were about a quarter of a way up the stalls and slightly behind a column. So we were close but couldn't get a good view - but no one else was in our row so when it started we moved along so we got a good view and actually sat atop our seats as there was no one behind us either ! Anyway the show was good, a few jokes had been swapped around, and at the end the come right up in front row and shake up cans of beer, then they step back and pull the tabs to make another cool effect. 14th Thursday Anna is off soon so a whole load of us go down to the Harveys pub where we know the bartenders as they live with us. 15th Friday Anna cooks us all a last meal and moans as usual about italian men and how she split us with her boyfriend as she complained that his mother made better pasta than her (yes it is a touchy stereotypical subject). we farewelled her the next day very emotionally. But it would only be a matter of months before we saw each other again ! fin