Sent: Wednesday, 20 May 1998 1:54 Subject: my ass is burning !! [ i.e. : "lawks a lordy my bottoms on fire"] [private joke for those in the know] Okay this is the first email. well actually it is the 2nd, NS 4.0 gave me a gpf, so I will rush this email so excuse any typos. well BIG THANKS to everyone for the great sendoff. My apologies to those that I was not to catch up with before I went. I am now spending 3 hours in Singapore Changi Airport. I've walked around and checked on what I want to buy : John Woo's Latest video called "Blackjack" with Dolph Lundgren. Plus possibly the video cd for "The Killer". Though I think some things are cut a bit around here ? The flight left AK at 2:15pm, Big Thanks to Cousin Celia, Big Dion and lovely Terangi for seeing for off and making sure I left these shores...never to come back....yes Celia I found that interesting item that you planted in my bag thinking customs would think me a dirty old man. Yeah okay, so the humour has left me now, I've outside NZ now so gotta be serious. The flight was 8 hours. Was not bad, lots of food which was good, plus the wonderful KRISWORLD where ya have a screen in front of you and can watch TV, music, movies, nintendo etc. So far out of 14 movies I have seen : fallen [denzel], firestorm [howie long], The man who knew too little [bill murray]. Nothing good so far actually ! I may check out wag the dog, and the don king story next. Mr. Mead, the 3rd song they played in the terminal was the old remix of 'Open your Heart' no joke !! Right now it's about 9pm here so about 1am in NZ. I had some Thai Bahti on me which actually converted pretty well considering. I still have a wad of NZ cash on me. Just used me old trustbank card here and it seems my final pay ain't gone in yet ! oh well ! okay time to do more shit ! love darryl wish you were all here so I could give you a hug. (except mike, unless he's shaven...) -------------------------------------------------------- Subject: how I ended up in soho... Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 08:43:28 PDT dead dog in gutter... tire tread on burst stomach. the stench of crime of the city floats up to me and I look down on it and say no, I kno.... oops wrong email ! uum...anyway, this'll be quick and brief. since I last talked to you it was singapore 10:30pm. since then I had a 13 hour trip where I slept a bit luckily. On the trip I watched wag the dog and don king story. the last movie is the better one, apart from possibly possibly 'the man who knew too little' don't watch any of the other movies. they have 1-2 moments but they're pretty shite !!! The entertainment system has music cycling over for different genres, so the 3 songs I played over and over were : madonna ray of light, lutrecia o'neal - ain't that just the way, and zoom by fat larry's band [I alost embarrassed myself by singing along to this, blasitn git out from the headphones, man what a CLASSIC song, brings tears to my eyes] I arrived in Heathrow 5:30am. The first stop was passport/immigration - I didnt' realise it so was quick glib and informal - well as you can tell I got through. the guy had some piercing questions about my degree and why it took so long, plus my family etc, but he let me through. Anyway this is the shitter, I followed the crowd through and then found myself out of the area - i.e. I missed dutyfree - bugger ! bugger ! bugger ! bugger ! oh well, no matter, it would've been too much trouble, too much to carry as it was. Today I've been pretty numb, one would feel I should be vibrant and excited but I am actually quite sedate. It may set in later - all it seems to me is basically older buildings made of concrete and more streets to pound, to do what ? well normally I would do shopping, AARRGGHH ! there is SO much music here that is so hard to get, or is cheap that I wanna get it !! but I don't wanna carry it around ! doh ! Anyway I wandered around Heathrow, it was quite big. I finally checked out the tube and took the 35 minute trip into Piccadilly Circus. I walk up the stairs [drum roll] and emerge opposite the big electronic LEd screens etc. I turn the corner and find the stacks of nz/aussie travel mags, open them and find maps as well as 10s of PAGES of jobs jobs jobs !! next to then are 2 guys begging ! [incidentally in the swiss corner a girl comes up and asks me for money for her baby -- strange cos she didn't look too rough - if you're wondering I gave her a slap around the ear and pleaded to not understanding engleesh] Anyway I took the tube into town, smiling all the way, cos the myths go that everyone normally looks depressed ! I arrive into town and walk around and decide to hit the midland bank where I have UKP 1500, but it was shut, in fact a lot of shops are closed ! what gives - a bank holiday ? anyway I decide to dump my bags so pick up a phone which I find eventually in the tube and hit the DIRECTORY service button and find out a YHA number to call. I manage to get toa YHA up north in gilders green ( sp?) which is UKP13 a night. I change and brush me teeth etc and head back into town to make the most of my one day tube pass. Speaking of which - WOW the tube is so cool ! I think it is an amazing system !!! I LOVE IT !!! Anyway I head back into town at 12 after walking around the area, lots of opp shops here, fun ! yeah ! before I forget this some much music here, mTV europe is doing various shows to be televised, the one with the big names (verve and pumpkins is sold out) but the r'n'b one is still on, so if I make it you may see me there on mtv, it has damage, ntyce, hinda gicks etc ! When david lee arrives tomorrow I may call him and see if he wants to see england vs saudia arabia on saturday at wembley ! later on I will buy my ticket for opening for the jim steinmann/andrew lloyd webber musical 'whistle down the wind'. anyway I hit town AT 12, and then realise then when I first arrived and when everything was closed, it was becasue it was 7-8am !! I know the guy who I think manages HMV in piccadilly circus so pop into there, I think he is still in NZ so don't ask ! BUT I see so many videos and cds I've been after. some chinese movies etc I want them so badly !! oh well, will have to wait when I leave here. there are lots of bands playing here. I just missed out : dickies, deep purple, beastie boys... I have a massive list but can't find it now. p.s. I have a budweiser in my hand now, yum ! so thirsty !! my time is runnign out here so will type quicker now ! ISABEL if you get this send me a list of all AQUA you have, they have both CD singles for all the current singles here. YOU WERE RIGHT, there are actually dance remixes of my heart will go on actually sung by celine dion, tell me if ya want it. also if anyway else out there wants it, tell me ! NINA : they are selling the double bilingual cd here for UKP 10. lots of mode and erasure here my dear !! what amazes me is they still have old old stuff here selling for normaly price, e.g. savage garden, gina g ! I was impressed by HMV in oxford. I walk into the dane section which is about the same size as real groovy. I check out rap/hiphop and walk walk walk. then find out I have now hit thwe slwojam section ! then I come across disco then jungle etc !!! they're soundtrack section is pretty cool too ! though I am still after sacred spirit I - the remixes. which is rre, so they don't have it ! hah ha ha ! anyway here I am in soho at the webshack ! I have some numbers I will call up tonight to make plans/ I will prob. saty at the YHA here in SOHO tomorrow night. there is a big free concert happening this coming weekend so I will hit that. I reckon is 2-3 weeks I would've covered inner LONDON city and seen all the sites !! WENDY : pls email me when ya arrive here etc so we can catch, I love the tube it's a lotta fun so like to explore on it. where I live is just down the road from HG wells house. (trivia buffs : what do those initials stand for ?) uum...well I have other things to say, I'll have to write them tomorrow when I remember them. clothes seem to be cheap here too. today I checked out trafaglar square, wow it is darn big isn't it NUS ? anyway since I 'missed' dutyfree I gotta get a camera tomorrow. the I can start touristing. I had a big mac meal today, for 2.89 UKP (about 9 bucks). T I got a hercules toy with it !! So far I have found 3 dance music stores, more on the hiphop rap tip. I've picked up a few interesting dance mags to digest today. WEll, ya reckon... London is just like NZ. I can't see any major differences ! the radio is the same, in passing cars today I heard white guys blasting the latest 2pac doing the biz on mai fm ! okay 1 minute left before this goes to sleep ! take care all till tomorrow ! Tee lots of love alwasy !! darryl ______________________________________________________ Subject: avt tace, avt loquere mel iora silento Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 11:52:52 PDT well one again I have 30 mins to tell you of today's events. During the course of the day I think of little nifty things but I forget them all when I it down so hence this email will fly all over the place. anyway since the last email which was sent 5pm I strolled along soho got on the tube and somehow ended up in Brixton. I wandered round a bit looking for the music venue 'Brixton academy' but no go. (I found out later tyhat instead of going left when coming out of the station I should've gone right 400m] well anyway brixton was pretty much what I expected, though it'll be interesting at night. Lots of oldish guys with dreads rasta colours and walking round with a dazed glaze. I checked into a dub/ragga/reggae store which was great. was tempted to buy lucretia mcneals album here just to say I bought something from here, but still too expensive. I had dinner at KINGS halal chicken, which was nice but too salty. What gets me is the dark-skinned people in britian, are really quite dark skinned, no ifs or buts about it. I enjoy looking at the jamacian women here, just like insolent teenage girls who always seem to have a cute pout [this line is derived from ZIPPY THE PINHEAD comic, so don't blame me!], these women hold themselves with grace. Anyway I left brixton and headed back to town, checked out swiss corner or whatever and saw various buskers there etc. lotsa people walking around. I checked out the 6 floor segaworld ! fun ! Similar ride movies to those at Galaxy in Auckland. One thing I notice is that one can keep walking and find more things to look at - so somehow I ended up in Soho again, but in the dead of night. I strolled past some gay bars; a welldressed black man tried to sell me hash; lotsof nice women smiled at me. wow ! what a friendly area !! I got back to hostel at 10pm. fell aslepp on the tube ! so tired, realised I'd only had 3 hours sleep withina 2 1/2 day period. I was sharing a room with two yanks, Jon and Chad. Slept soundly and had breakfast with an aussie from Newcastle who was gonna check out spain and we talked about crime there. Today I tried to buy a camera but still no luck. Me and Chad hung around today and went to changin of the Guard at Buckingham at 11:30am. so many people ! as it happened there is a special candian thing on, e.g. canada house reopening or canada day or something so it was longer than normal so canadian army there. we wanted to go british museum, so decide to walk and took a few hours detour to trafalgar yet again the art gallery and other places. I had shepards pie at the silver cross tavern. we did 1/2 of one wing of the gallery and it took 45 mins ! so still have to do west,north souht and 1/2 east wing ! NINA I know you would love this place and I know you could spend days here !!! I esp. liked the reubens and the odd raphael !! so many paintings have so many allegories (underlying meanings). anyway we got to british museujm with 1/2 hours to spend there. and we were justblown away. as it happened chad qwas doing a doctorate in chinese history ! I'm glad he did not patronise me earlier by trying to spead chinese to me (I can't !) I loved the egyptian statues etc. mumies etc, the rosetta stone, such big edifices !! Today I shelled out and bought ticket for 1st preview night for 'whistle down the wind' luckily it was pretty much sold old, but me bring single I got a far end seat on the 5th row ! also bought my ticket for the r'n'b MTV night, which'll be televised. playing are damage, n;tyce and about 4-5 other acts, no one I can remember off hand so prob. not so big. So look for me if it airs over there in NZ !! Coming up is the princes trust concert with 18 or so acts! irt's playing in hyde park next month. acts are eternal ;-). all saints, boyzone etc plus other popular acts. only doing 1-34 songs each. up coming concerts I will hopefully check out are deftones, de la soul (playing in the small [?} jazz club. well I RELENTED !!! I ended up buying some records, goodness knows how it'll be for carrying around. I couldn't help it, such great records onyl for 1 UKP each !! I'll rob. end up leaving them at a friend's place. I've got a bead on where to find the seconhand stores here so it should be good. (I know some londoners who say it is hard finding hard-t-get stuff here so I am trying to prove them wrong). oh man, world cup soccer fever is rife here ! yesterday Ialso checked out haleys (?) a great toy store 5 floors of it, lots of interactivity, I may have to send you guys out some of these fun gliders they have. I've still not seen any celebs. tomorrow nigth I hope to live at the soho or SW YHA hostel. whre I live at the moment is a nice little quaint place. when I picked up my bank card yesterday I had a little chat to the guy, he said he has about 500 nzers a month come through. I got out 100 UKp today, which brings my total cost here for 2 days : 180 UKP. it should average out and go down soon. I also need to buy a camera so that'll cut deep. once again if you guys need anything ask me and I'll grab it for ya. I hope things at work are going fine, with all thenew people it'll be a fun place I am sure !! pls email me if you get this, cos I don't think the mailing list is working to its best capacity. today I once again got closer to thinking I was not home. everynow and then I remmeber that I m 1/2way around the world from home. but everything pretty much seems the same !! just mroe people, and more thigns to see actually. though I am sure that when I go to europe I will get hit by a CULTURE shock ! about the poeple here, there is a comic called 'v for vendetta' which is an adult sort of one based on britian turning intoa dictatorship, in there a person laments the extermination of minorities. and it has some wonderful lines and words to say about gays, lesbians, darkskinned people, and as I walk around I am reminded of the line in the comic in which the character describes each minorites uniqueness with loving detail. i would love to quote it now but can't remember) the comic also has a classic line where a condemned lesbian writes a note which starts 'whoever find this, I don't know who you are but I love you...' okay 1 min to go before time runs out. lots of love as always missing you all, (yeah right) darryl !!! ______________________________________________________ Subject: romeos Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 12:40:11 PDT well guys here I am again. pressed for time again so It'll be sans structure !! before I forget did I tell you guys about the first time I saw trafalgar square ? well I got out from the emabnkment tube station with the thames river before my eyes. I eyes gaze to the various police signs asking if anyway saw [2 indians/pakistanis that were found floaing in the river] which litter the region. if I get a flyer I will send it to you guys ! FUN ! anyway I walk up NORTHUMBERLAND ROAD (yeah I know what you are thinking, I should photograph my self in all the monopoly locations) I turn the corner after a few minute and there bathed in glorious lunchtime sun is the swquare. big and beautiful. thousands of pigeons about,lots of school kids ! to my workmates you can tell Dominic that there were lots of young swedish girls here !!! in in short short skirts !! I am sure he will be salivating. having said that all of them are less that 8 years old. so us lads will have to placate ourselves with our yougn girls bicycle seat collection). oh yeah I found a great music store which sells cds 1-5 UKp. for oldish funny stuff. this shop had several swdish complation cds. very veyr nice layout etc !! anyway today I woke upo at [fdunno what time yet, I ain't set my watch yet] anyway it was bright . so I lay in bed for a while then got up and relaised it was 7am !! brekkies at 7:30am. I turned up to it at 8am after reading some stuff to pass the time. I caught up with rex-workmate dave Lee and after some misunderstanding of certain corners of leichester sqaure we got otgther in searhc of a pint. we called into the green MAn and I had a pint of BASS. incidentally I passed a restaurant called WONG KEI whgich someone told me years ago had the worse sevice ever ! anyway me and dave drank a few and decided to get to camden town to get him some new cloths. [pls ecxuse typing, my fingers are infected with soe cuts uinder the nails, plus more iportanly the jeyboardss here are terrible, and keys are in dfiffernt places] getting there we had the joy of bus hopping , i.e. running after a bus and jumoping up onto the back of it and flashing the conducrtore our tifket. anyway we gt there and chefk out the music and clothes shops. I manged to pick up a william orbit 12" from 1981 !!! wow I flipped !!! ISABEL : I also got berri -0 shine like a star cd dsingle for you !! anyway we got parted cos |I had to go in search of a toilet and dave had to head back to brighton. I end up back in town and check out the rest of the stores in soho. come across that great store. find some rare stuff which I may get layter etc. p[lsu see the odd record I'd never thought I'd see. at this rate I thjink I will finish with london in 2 weeks. then I may move around the country. there are plenty of jobs going here, not just computers but manual stuff. dave told me that with holiday season soon thoguh I shodl start working. at the momnent it is coming up to running of the biulls time in spain, pamploma. finanial wise I don't feel like doing it now. but I gotta do it once I guess ! tonight I don't have a placre to stay. I have left my big backpack in a lokcer at a yha, I was going to stay up all night today and check out the town (hence the subject line for today -- yeah okay a bit of a pirvate musical joke as usual). but dpending on how things go I will head backj there and maybe crash on the lounge'. as I thihk the weeknd will be a bit big., I'll see hwo I go for bluding a place to stay with people OI know here. else I may call into a cheaper hostel which is round 60-75 ukp a week. well I#'m off to lcheck out kfc !! so far the mcds tastes thre same her, though they call themn 'sandwiches' and not burgers !! current promotion is hercules so I've grabbed some figures abd toys ! my workmates : you can TELL KAMAL that I MAY be going to the reggae/roots/dub festival happening at BRIXTON ! lee scratch perry is playing. it is on sunday |! monday is bnka holiday so supposedly a lot of nz/aussie things happen. as yet I've nto checked up with other nzers though. other than that over the course ofd next week I will continue checking out the attraftions ! ANYWAY< re the MTv thingie. it is called 5 NIGHT stand. and I will be at the 3rd one with damage etc playing there. I think it may be trelevised streaight away. gottsa go., 1 min left ! love darryl ______________________________________________________ To: balmy_sat_afternoon@london.com Subject: old possums practical cats Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 09:39:18 PDT well I only have 10 minutes ! not much to report. to my workmates I had fun with dave yesterday racing after buses and leaping from them while moving ! he send his love and wishes and says he misses you all. and he is looking for work that may take him back to NZ. he told me to take someone to see CATS, so hence today's subject. It is a bank holiday tomorrow or so, so I may not log on for 2-3 days after this. incidentally his email is : oldpossom@hotmail.com anyway last night I did nothing, well nothing nice to report. suffice to say I did not get much sleep. yesterday I saw my 1st celeb, it was the girl from republica ! today I went to capital Fm hosted fair or summat called Extravaganza.it had bungy etc. it was fun but there was lots and lots of teenage kids there. afterwards I went back to camden to check out a record fair - and yeah I did go mad !!! Isabel I got you 1-2 things. all jim Steinmann oriented. in fact yestreday I picked up the old original 1989 cd single for 'it's all coming back to me now', beats the pants of celine's weak-ass version anyday ! today I picked up 1 record I'd been after for a while. the 10 inch record for nine inch nails. i wanted it cos it had a poster in it ! yay ! also got the actual full william orbit remix for 'run silent run deep' dwayne I picked up on a whim for you the picdisc for 2 tribes. got it for 5 UKp ~$15 NZ ! so much stuff here that you like me prob. did not know existed !! Nina, I've seen some autographed pet shop bouyys stuff here. plsu ya can get the video here. plus as well as recoil - unsound methods ! Sanj I've put you on my list now I hope you get this. you would go mad here too ! well everyone afterwards I had to pull myself away from the record fiar, it happens every 2 weeks anyway ! I have now moved from the yha hostel in the NW on london to shepards green in the W of london. as the concert on tuesday will be held ther. plsu it is cheaper. 10 UKp instead of 15 UKP for YHA. it looks a bit grotty but I think I'll get by. I really need my sleep eh. not had a decent nights sleep yet ! today being sat I don't think they'll be that chance ! but I'll try to have a quiet one ! what else ? well had kfc last night, the combo is the popular one for 4 UKP. (about 12 bucks). get 3 pieces plus chips, drink, and a hot wing. so you do end up with a few good pieces. it's a good shareble one ! well I can't wait for someone to get here to share this with me. that's prob. why I've been a bit lazy getting to all the touristy things. tomorrow I'll prob. shell out for a camera. 65 UKP. at the record fair I picked up a swag of cds to sell so just advertised them on the net now. I think that over the next 2-3 days I'll prob. try to catch up with nzers. Last night I managed to contact my london mate here who lived in bedfont. to those who were wondering it is practically next to heathrow. other than that I'll try to get to the museum again perhaps. then changing of the guard again I feel. make the most of the weather. still not sure about delasoul concert, can't seem to find any mention of it now. janet jackson is playing soon too. I was gonna pick up tickets for depeche mode but I may not be here when they play in september. I've seen many interesting homeless people. interesting smell ! I am annoyed nah pissed off at all the currency here. they have coins for 1,2,5,10,20,50,1 pound. what a pain ! I was in town late last night round 12 and wow, you still cannot move without hitting someone, plus the noise of so many people talking is slightly deafening ! sheesh its 5:30pm and I just yawned ! the record fair was in camden which I guess is a big big market place. today it was chocka ! imagine a road 1/2 the size of queen street and it is completely jampacked all day ! that's a good description ! wellI try not to buy but I can't help it. Richard whom I know here is the guy I sent some stuff too so I will leave the stuff at his place. My cousins can tell Rodney that he can relax about coming here. it is pretty easy to get in and then get settles without any stress. I bet there's more to say, but I can't remember yet again ! okay love again ! see you in 1 or 3 days ! darryl ______________________________________________________ Subject: kindertotenlieder Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 06:24:42 PDT well here I am again after a 2 day beak, I've done a lot over this period and have so much to write but once agian I've prob. forgetten it all ! well 1st thign ! thanks to all for your email, I don't so far away from home at all !! well you know what ? I feel really safe in london ! I pound the streets and if I stay away from dark alleys it's all safe. there's always lots of people everywhere. and still no sign of skins or national front supporters. (check out http://www.whitepower.com for fun !-) well lemme see the last email was saturday I think. I checked into a place thatcosst 65UKp for a week., as opposed to 15 UKp for YHA hostel a night. I was put off by the locale at first but it is getting better. 2 nights \I sahred a room with 2 aussies and one south african girl. I got a great nights slep, while we were chatting at 12 I fell aslepp ! on sunday I woke up invogorated so decided to go to st pauls cathedral. luckily on sundays is it free entry and naturally they have servbices etc.becuase I was with my workmates I decided to go to the service next week. it is pretty darn impressive. I wanna go bacjk with a photo and take a photo of an angel's face. very eeire ! the cafe and shop etc is in the crypt so it is even ore eerie ! I was happy in the fact that I would not have to come back here agin for shopping etc. i.e. st pauls ins the only attraction here. anyway it was near the thamas so I walked across it to get to THE MONUMENT which is a big colunm thatyou can pay to climb up the 100 or so steps. I crossed the Southwark birdge and went alng to london birdge and had a look around but did not go in. rollerbladiung woudl be fun along the thames walkway. interesting signs of a big city here. along the thames there was a flash restuarant and right right right next to it (an alleyway) was covered with piss and shit. On monday I decided to cvheck out some cheaper places for rent, I checked out stockwell and it was even more decreipit that brixton ! nice signs of human nature with various peope feeding some tramps. (who didn't smell that bad !! but tasted terrible - I had to shave my otngue afterwards). anyway on sunday after st pauls across th water one can se the new venue for tate gallery and next to it is christpher wren's house asn well as globe (shakespeare) theatre. anyway at london birdge I crossed it (ntach ) and walked around towe of london, when someoe else is here I will go into it and check it out. I caugfht the tube from here and headed NE to check out petticoat markets. the prices were pretty darn good so I will check here for cheap clother. I should note that prices for shirts, jacktas shows etc are pretty good, though ya need to head out fromt the centre. in the same area is whitechapel which I walked down it by mistake. pretty duskey etc. and passed my first mosque ! in some places one can ick uout the strong religious etc hindi, jewish influences and neighbourhoods. lyesterday I SW IT !!! my very first parkbvench !! they are pretty rare here, though I can uderstand it cos they would take up too much room ! also in some places, mainly viftoria tube statyion I walked 120 mins to find a rubbihs bin ! (at the end I gave my iceblock rapper to a vagrant). (incidetnally I read today that leonardo dicarpio is to play in 'amercian psycho' - no wthat will kill his career I am sure!) anyway at petticoat I decide to head to ALl saints for some reason but got there and gave up. now I think I checked out some other places on the old monopolgy board. iTHINK i ENDED up in trafalgar to eat kfc and there the israeli supporters had taken it over and made a lot of noise !!! on monday I mocved not a differnt room with 3 south african guys whop all recently bleached /peroxided there hair. meet my first nzers here. one had joined a band. the other was wanting to work. today there was a big dub/reggae concert featuring lee scratch perry and king sunny ade well as about 15 others incuding dreadzone whom I really wanted to see. it starts at 3pm I got there at 2:30pm in brixton academy but there waws 2 massive lines and heaps of people ruiushgin round tyring to get tickets. that taught me that I gotta get things early round here ! nzers are so tardy when it comes to things like this. it was good mixture of crowd as well. today \i am checking ticketd for de la soul and depche mode. and trying to get best deal. tonight is that mtv thing so I'll writ you guysa setlist when I go. I am starting to know peopel at the hostel better now and it's pretty fun now. it was a bit daunting at first. so I may stay on a bit longer here. music is such a force her. any road you walk in the city just blares out all types of music !! I've found some good supermarkets etc. londond is wearing me down though. a bitu bnoring in fact ! so I may ducvk off some whre for a few days in between concerts that's I've already bought tickets for. okay I have los more to say but I forgot it ! tomorrow I will chedk out art glalery and museum fully ! I've caught up with chris so far which is from nz. love #darryl p.s oh yeah checked out chinatown finally ! there was a goodlokking chinese street singer singing loveboat theem and barry manilow etc ! yay lotsa great videos etc !! I am drikign lots of water, getting dehydrated a bit. okay gota go ! ______________________________________________________ To: ribena.sparkle@hotpants.com Subject: adventures of a supertramp Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 07:55:54 PDT hi all ! well yesterday I forgot to mention some things ! I forgot to say I also went to westminister abbey and parliament, pretty darn big and old and smelly etc. and that was the politicians ! anyway more fun ! across from it I saw a large building, so as I have noted before, when ya see something here ya move towards it. anyway it had a mcdonalds in it and also NAMCO land (videogame place). but also it housed the wonderful LONDON aquarium ! it looked awesome but I thought I'd save it for another day. anyway I think was all I did. also at st pauls you can buy record carrier bags from them as well ! well yesterday I went to that MTV concert. imagine this, me sitting in a line of 200........all pre-pubescent teenage girls......... oh well.......... (yeah ok there were heaps of guys there as well.....but just close you eyes and imagine, pre-pubescent girlies........ hur hur hur) Right next to the venue is the WALKABOUT, which is a chain of aussie/nz bars in England. Anyway the show lasted 7-11pm and was great ! great comperes, the black and white guy normally from mtv. bands and number of songs in order : make - 80s sounding 5 piece, 3 black girls on vocalsm, 3 white guys doing instruments. sounds a bit dated but I enjoyed the lead singer who reminded of the girl from amazulu... (cue young ones jokes NOW!) they did 3 songs. kleshay - 3 piece girl r'n'b group. just formed and recorded. they did 2 songs and it was awesome and catchy. no slow jams just fast r'n'b. hinda hicks - did 4 songs. did 70s/80s tyope music. more sould and funky than technoish. ultimate kaos - okay as I said there was a large female contingent here, this was one of the bands they came to see, 5 versions of jamacian peter andre's. they did 4 songs. very catchy but a bit pointless. not like kleshay..... truce - another 3 piece r'n'b girl trio. very catchy and fun ! juice - another 3 piece r'n'b girl trio. a bit boring in some places. they were US I think. n'tyce - oh yes, a 4 piece UK girl group...hhmmm...this was the act I enbjoyed the most, mainly because their single which has been played in nZ "telefunkin" is terrible, but it sounded great here. as did the other songs. also on that vieo that had terrible bouffant/afro haricuts, but today they wore their hair down. so yeah I enjoyed it, almost as much as kleshay... damage - the final and major act. 5 guys. and well...let's say I got deafened for the first 5 minutes !! and I was right in the middle of the floor surrounded by screaming girls, while their boyfriends tried to remain cool ! anyway they did their hit "I love to Love" which is pretty damn nifty. though their other songs were a bit samey and cliched !! lots of bottom wiggles for the girls, and they guys that were on the top balcony, nuff said !! anyway the final song was between them and truce and was actually the video shoot for the next single "key to my room" (?) so if you ever see the video, prob. on mtv, I'm the guy in the centre of the floor. about 10 m from the stage, I'm pretty tall compared to all the other people so you may see my hairdo ! they show will be televised prob. cut on MTV europe june 3rd I think, it was only during truce that I moved down to the floor, before that I was in the back. I'll try to find out when exactly. today I'm gonna go to the precursor for 'who's line is it anyway' which always has richard vranch (on piano) in it, plus various people from the show. so should be fun ! outta time ! love df ______________________________________________________ To: crash@bang.wallop Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 12:11:18 PDT well it rained again today. [btw if anyone don't wanna be on the list or is getting sick of it, email me and I'll take ya off, for good, hur hur hur] today I woke up pretty well rejuvenated at 7am ! when I finally got going at 10am I decided to finally check out Harrods. And I have to say it was pretty damn nifty ! 6 floors of fun. the first floor is a bit staid with the food court there etc. but as you move up the music gets louder, until you reach the fashion shops etc. Basically everything is here ! it is really is a magnificent place. I picked up various souvenirs along the way. And despite what people say, it isn't that much expensive that the rest of London. Though in the music dept cds sell for $15 UKP as opposed to an average of 12 UKP in central London. I spent a while here listening on the machines here which are pretty good. It's been a while since I've heard music on headphones. Though since I picked up an REO Speedwagon cd I've been tempted to pick up a discman to help shut out the pleas of beggars as I walk the streets. As long as I have Reo Speedwagon poverty does not exist !! Opening on July 12th is Dr Doolittle with Phillip Schofield in the starring role and still looking as young as ever. It is a collaboration with the Muppets etc so supposedly it will have a fully mobile and vocal pushmepullyou on stage !! Anyway after Harrods I walked around a bit in the Kensington area, got bored then headed down town to pick up various things, and some how I've wasted 4 hours so here I am now in the early evening. Today I will visit Allee in Kings Cross. Yesterday I finally did my final bit of ticket buying. I got tickets for de la soul on June 18th. Depeche Mode on 30th September. And the Princes Trust gala on July15th, which luckily sold out pretty quickly. That's it, no more concerts for me ! I've finally caught up with my friend Chris who came to London 1 year ago. Yesterday I once again tried to tackle the British Museum, but once again to no avail, just too big in there, and too hot ! Tomorrow I'm gonna try to tackle the National Art Gallery. I am looking forward to Saturday to catch up with some people here plus head out to Convent Garden and Camden Town. Every now and then I think of things I should mention cos they seem trivial here but they prob. are different in NZ. Oh yeah yesterday I had dinner in the park and sat talking to a odl gentleman on a parkbench, he explained to me about the various streets of London dedicated to certain trades etc. (he was a tailor on Saville Road). Whilst we were talking there was a group of brits in front of us dressed in aussie gard playing soccer. NOT drinking fosters though ! Oh yeah last night I checked out the IMPROV comedy Store. It was 11 UKP for 2 hours. As opposed to the show in AUckland where ist is an hour and they do about 12 or so skits let's say. They only did about 8 here. As some of them were so long. I forget the names but the 3 I recall are : Richard Vranch (who is actually pretty good, though he doesn't get much chance to do much on the tv show), Josie Lawrence (nuff said !!) and Jim Sweeney, the other actors I recall from the show as well. One long skit they did was 30 mins and was based on a story about rugby, somehow it descended into the actors doing the 'northern haka' (pronounced 'hacker' !) it was a good laugh, it was apt that there was a NZer in the audience ! And NO, I so much wanted to shout out lots of things during the showw. e.g. ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE ! but nah I kept quiet. To those of you coming over we have to go check it out. (Wed and Sunday evenings). At present I am still in Shepherd's Bush which is a pretty clean neighbourhood, I am bunking with other fellow NZers, in fact one came on the other alternate flight same as me. so we've been in UK about the exact same time length. I will stay here for a little longer and depending on how things go I will head off for a little tour for a week. once I've done most touristy things I'll be done with London. I did a check and the MTv 5 night stand plays from this date onwards, though it seems Fri-sat is blank so not sure if the show I went to is on this week or not. http://mtvnz.co.nz/whats_on/tuesday_mtv.html Driving around here is pretty simple, though very packed downtown and ya gotta give way a lot ! As I mentioned, not many rubbish bins or loos, though that is so there is less threat of bombs etc. so I've been told. umm..running outta things to say, I know some of you would enjoy the shopping here. Yeah it is much cheaper and more alternative clotheswise as you head out from the centre and hit the markets which are packed chocka ! love darryl ______________________________________________________ To: fish@smell.com Subject: a poke in the eye with a sharp stick Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 10:44:24 PDT well today I saw a dead fox ! pretty sad. I had many chances to take photos but decided not too, though something says I should take as many photos. though those of just scenery I reckon will be a bit boring. oh well ! we'll see. today I wandered out towards heathrow and round housnlow and osterly. it was pretty cool there and nice op shops etc. IN fact I have told you there are heaps of them for different charities here ? anyway I pretty much wasted the day, I tried to check into a post office gut the line was too large, infact all of them were. 4 people to about 20 customers. I then walked past the police station and that was a long line too ! tonight I'll head out to kings cross then covent garden and the WALKabout pub. next week I have 10 days before the next concert so will probably head out to scotland and visit my old friend malcolm and sarah. forgot to mention that at harrods I think I saw jerry springer ! plus they have one column of the floors called the egyptian room where everything in that part on each floor is done up in that style. at the bottom there is a tribute to di and dodi (as you recall dodi's dad owns harrods). so this is about the only place you can take photos in the store. okay back to to the slog. this weekend on sat I check out camden and meet up with ricahrd and on sunday meet up with ex nzer chris. love df ______________________________________________________ To: thank@you.lady Subject: all flesh must be punished ! Date: Sat, 30 May 1998 07:43:56 PDT hi all ! well if I do decide to pull finger and head off to scotland you may not hear from me for the next few days while in transit. On Friday I caught up with my future step-sister. She worked at a pub in Kings Cross - I amble up and try to make as much trouble as possible and she finally twigged who I was. Supposedly a few asians do come into that pub so hence I did not stand out as I thought I would. I had my first UK Guinness and it went down pretty quickly, though the fruit beer took a little longer getting down. I left her at 12 and went downtown and as my beloved XTRA workmates were heading out friday night as well I decided to reciprocate and stay up all night. The city was still humming till late, on impulse I called into a club which was a bit blah, lots of pretty young things. I got searched as I went in. All I had was the latest SUN tabloid in my arms so they took that. The music was supposed to be a mixture but was basically just instrumental house/garage with an MC rapping over the top of it. I left it at 5am and walked around taking some shots of London in the morning, nothing spectacular. I headed back home to change and then went back in and checked out Covent Garden which wasn't as good as I was led to believe, lots of stalls selling normal trinket stuff etc. I then met up with Richard whom I'd been corresponding via email for a year or so so we did coffee and did some music hunting. And now I am here, I am tempted to head to a strictly 70/80s club tonight but think I will rest and ahem...tidy up my room ! Today is such a lovely sunny warm day that I wore tshirt and shorts. Interestingly enough I have worn the same getup the past few days and have noticed that not many other people wear shorts around here !! One of my roommates is french and I had to dig deep to recall my french tuition. Luckily it is still passable so I was able to ascertain that he was from Martinique; he was serving in the military there but has finished and is now looking for work in telecommunications in France; his wife works somewhere in Hyde Park and it is their wedding anniversary coming up soon so he is here to surprise her; and his name is Mr. Stoatgobbler. Tomorrow on Sunday I'll check out Camden Markets again. And may do some touristy things. I hope all is well where you are and you are making the most of umm...Winter I guess. I forgot to mention that Hounslow which I visited yesterday is near Heathrow so without fail every 5 mins a plane would fly over. A good cue for a photo but I couldn't find a good positiobn. Richard lives near by and he says that sometimes it's about every 45 seconds. I've still not had a chance to check out the aussie/nz pubs yet but soon I guess, though I am not too fussed about it. IN fact I'm not that homesick for it yet ;o) right now I am www.xtrachat.co.nx which looks to be good ! though I am sure it'll be a real pain in the ass for some concerned. (I got a javascript error). well I hope my photos turn out okay. I have more to say but can't remember as usual. cheers ! darryl