Subject : Re: a letter feom florence
Date : Mon, 20 Sep 1999 12:00:21 PDT
hiya Lisa
well it's Monday night 7pm.
yawn tired !!
need to get my eyes tested cos it's getting a bit strainy when looking at
the screen !
Did you get my other email in reply to your being mugged i have a
feeling i somehow deleted accidently...but i wanted you to know that
thanks, I know you're a good mate to me and in fact to everyone and I know I
can count on you.
I didn't get the email but this emails says enough ;-)
need to home 04 3800026 work 04 4606161 mobile 0212120503.....I was
aha, expect a strange call one day at home !!!
hah hah hah !!!!
letting it upset you....i dont want this to sound cold or heartless >but it
probably will...bad things happen and they will all
dear Lisa thanks for saying this.
unfortunately the incident had no effect on me - because as you recall I was
always an optimistic person who puts setbacks behind and nothing seems to
phase me ;-) or mayeb I'm just thcikskinned.
we were walking down a busyish street, a popular road connecting a popular
market and the art gallery.
about 20m in front of us were some people and to the left as well.
as we walk down the streets I keep an eye out especially down doorways and
alleyways.
all of a sudden I felt someone put their arm across my neck and someone
moved into view in front of me. i assumed that emma was in the same
situation so managed to let out a squeal which alerted all around us. as the
person in front moved into my view I realised what was happening. the
sensation of aggresive physical touch is shocking at first. I realised what
was happening, the arm was tight against my throat and couldn't say anything
I reached my arms out in front to grab the guy in front and at the same time
worrying about my passport in one of those safety belly bags or whatever -
and then it all went black.
[we guessed at this point the guy behind pulled me back hard and the guy in
front pulled forwards the bag that was round my neck off which caused me to
black out temporarily.]
this is funny. cos all of a sudden I found myself somewhere..at home in bed
?
back at the hostel in bed ?
lying down somewhere........
then just like a tv dream the scene in front of me became wavey and into
focus.
my head is numb can't feel a thing, no sensation, things come into focus and
i see a woman standing above me, i realise i am lying on the ground, no
sensation though all seems warm, must be because the pavement was warm !
i then click to life and remember the last thought of what was happening. i
look down at my body and can see my town pockets and the contents scattered
on the ground. people are standing around me, i turn around and emma is
standing up not crying not screaming I instintively move to put my arm
around her, i am still in i guess a state of shock feeling numb but not in
pain. looking through the tear in my shorts I can see blood but not a lot.
emma looks at it and freaks and asks for help.
there are about 10 people around us but only one can speak english.
they try to comfort us. I see my one torn pocket, the other is open but
seems to be ok, i know the bag is gone so despair a bit as we know we won't
get anything back. The blood is running down my leg a bit now, now deep it
goes nobody knows. Everyone tries to comfort us.
it makes an interesting scene two obvious tourists all dressed in white
light clothing surrounded by locals in their dark brown attire.
The people try to flag down a policeman on a bike, i can't recall if two of
them go by or not because what happens is after 1-2 minutes he eventually
comes and radios for am ambulance, some relief at last.
anyway to cut a long story short. on the way here the policeman found the
bag on the roadside, everything was still in it which would indicate they
didn't opne it else they would've got emma's wallet and camera and other
things such as rhe postcards we were writing to everyone ! if they saw these
they would've pocketed them.
i talked as best I could to some sweaty people next to me, they were
sweaty and out of breath as they had seen us in trouble and come running.
onelady said the guys got out of a car and got into one and sped off. this
was shown to be untrue later on. my camera got pinched, it was shit anyway
and the film in it had 19 shots which were that important, I hope !
my left torn pocket had some stuff in it and it all looks intact.
anyway they put a bandage on me, getting a scalpal to peel back the scan and
put iodine on it.
it is a pretty clean cut.
i check my pockets in the ambulance and find the bullfight ticket for
tonight !
yay !
all the paramedics pass them around looking on in admiration !
a girl there luckiylspeaks english so she takes us to the hospital and the
police stayion which takes abotu 2 1/2 hours.
at the hospital desk I check my right pocket fully and find that all my
money is still in there !
yay !
whoops out of time, 8pm time to go home now.
wow what a long tieto write this email !
more tomorrow.
xxxda
rryl
Subject : Welcome to Music week !! 11 dec - 20 dec 1998
Date : Tue, 21 Sep 1999 07:39:05 PDT
Hi all this is an email I started long time ago, finally finished it now -
only 10 more to go which will cover the past few months...
This was the first music week I had, i.e. a week filled with fun and
frivolity and lots of music.
xxx
darryl
;-)
Let's start this email with the lyrics of a Marc Almond song which reminds
me of London and vice versa, as I walk around in the twilight hours people
pass me by and I ignore most of them, but some remind me of this song, lost
people on the streets, me included perhaps, maybe it's my reflection in an
Oxford Street window that catches my eye. Walking through the darker
streets, the smell of piss enamates from the beggars and homeless warming
the door and pavement sheltered under cardboard and eating dinner from a
rubbish bin.
Waifs and Strays
by Marc Almond
And so they say they're leaving
While you sleep away the day
You go out every evening
Collecting waifs and strays
They follow their illusions
They don't know what to do
They need a clear direction
That's why they turn to you
You're pleading
Please don't leave me
Don't go from me so soon
I need to be found
For I'm a stray too
Don't go
Just wait until tomorrow
On the streets of Paris
On the streets of Rome
They find a home
In shadow or in coffee bars
Down the winding alleys
Through the brightly lit arcades
No matter where they are
In and out of life they wander
Little waifs and strays
They stay until you fall in love
That's when they slip away
In the dark you'll see
Those sad brown eyes come shining through
Your heart will melt
You felt the way they looked at you
Don't go
Just wait until tomorrow
You find you need someone
To love your days away
Just when your heart is crying out
Please stay
Don't go away
Just wait until tomorrow
Yes it's true
I'm a stray too!
________________________________________________
Well thanks to all of you who read that last big email I sent. I seem to
be quite fussy now about what I write and like to work a bit more on it.
With that last email I actually left out one detail and that was that the
female bartender at the Ronnie Spector concert was the thin gothic girl I
was next to in the Depeche Mode concert !!
I'd recognise those fine emancipated features anywhere.
Well the week after the concert flew by - even though I was desperately in
need of some rest and recuperation !
Friday night is Peter's last night here so we all head off to the
Walkabout Tavern again. Initially it is Peter, Me, Mark, Emma, Mark,
Maryanne and Adrian. Already there with their own agenda are Liz, Kate,
Sharee, Donna.
http://www.walkaboutinns.co.uk/
Peter is heading back to Sydney. All us guys don hawaiian tshirts and head
down, unfortunately we do not get the attention we deserve! The regular
cover band runs through the normal boring set of pub party songs and I
remember why I don't come here often. Though they do a good version of
Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough".
SATURDAY
I catch up with Malcolm and Sarah from Hamilton and Tauranga and we all go
to Portobello Road Market.
http://www.nottinghilltv.co.uk/
Malc and Sarah have been to everywhere else in London except here so
through light drizzling rain we wander amongst the more alternative
marketgoers in London.
They have an aussie friend they met on a European Contiki tour and she is
working in The Rat and Parrot Pub in Putney (Bridge). So we head out there
and grab a feed at McDonalds. They want to go off drinking so I leave them a
head off to town by a whim. At the station I spot a guy with the same Front
242 tshirt I have [front : no sex until marriage, back : you deserve to go
to hell] and ask him about their recent concert which I missed - the tour
tshirts were black and the back looked as though your spine was exposed !
darn I wish I had one ! I've not been on a train before so grab the one to
Waterloo station. A new section of it was opened a few days ago and
australia's Bjorn Again were there to open it !-)
I'm tired and in town at 9pm...what to do ? Well walk around as per usual
! A reprint of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" catches my eye so I guess why not
? So at 11pm I bought my ticket and went in, it was a great jokey
atmosphere in there, I've not seen a horror for a while. Well it was good to
see it especially that seventies style of horror and like the reviews say :
there is actually no gore in it ! Most people are basically bopped on the
head and they're dead !
Afterwards I hit Leicester Square and catch up with Hema and head back home.
Malcolm and Sarah are supposed to be calling round at 10am.
SUNDAY
12 midday and I'm still waiting.....While waiting for them to come to my
place Elizabeth a friend from Auckland calls up as Kym is at work/training
so she comes along with us to my favourite markets. We take the good old
central line east to Liverpool Street station and descend into Petticoat
Market, Bricklane and Spitalfields. Despite my worry that we'd run out of
time we manage to get about and I can show everyone around. I pick up some
cheap chips : 20 small packets of chips for 1 UKP a bargain !
...Unfortunately I find out later that beef, prawn, worchestershire sauce
flavoured chips aren't too palatable.......We also pick up 5 snickers bars
for a pound as well. Back to Liverpool street it is pretty much pitch dark
at 5pm and I show them the outdoor ice rink at the Broadgate centre.
I feel like eating chinese so we head into town to Wong Kei Restaurant and
me being boring I order thick chinese noodles with pork and prawn again !
YUM ! Our dinner guests who are sharing the table are a middle-aged french
couple. We spy a dish they are having and order it, when my dish comes then
enquire what type of 'pasta' I am eating !
Get back home at 9pm and Mark, Fred and Andrew are heading to the
Walkabout Tavern for some more final drinks as Fred is heading off to Canada
for a year or soon. Mark is from Wooga Wooga, Fred is from Sydney, Andrew
from Perth is my beloved roommate, Dave Tetley from Hamilton is along for
the ride. I drag Adrian and Arnold a peroxide chinese canadian architect
whom I hung around with back in August is back for a few days before heading
back to Canada. I have still to write up that particular period - oops ;-)
So we head there, oh yes Jeremy is with us as well. He is a bouncer at the
pub but it is his night off, it is comforting to be in such company. Even
though I've only been to the Walkabout for only about 10 times for the past
7 months they seem to recognise me, probably cos there ain't many chinese
that go there. Which as I may have mentioned before seems to be the case
whenever I go to a pub or to a concert. Also along is Beatrice from Tasmania
who is Adrian and Arnold's roommate.
The band tonight is naturally a cover band more on the rock edge of
things, they first launched into a blistering cover version of The Cult's
"She Sells Sanctuary" !! Anyway we drink 2 for 1 (2.50 UKP) Steinlager and
I am reminded of my last days with my workmates in NZ when Steinlager and
Heineken used to be our drink of choice - apart from someone who had a
hankering for scotch and coke !
I get home to bed at 12 after stopping off at Pasha's which is a good
value kebab place just down from us.
[I am writing this section on Wednesday 23rd December, today Rev. Donald
Soper died. Check out http://www.speakerscorner.net/ for more info on him. I
had the immense pleasure to hear him debate from his wheelchair with a
little group of 10 people at Speaker's Corner some months ago]
MONDAY
5 minutes late for work. Get home at 9pm. There is a Depeche Mode cover band
playing at the club tonight called DEPECHE MADE. Allan wanted to come but I
can't reach him by phone so only Andy and Fred are game to come down,
luckily they are open minded about music so it's cool.
During the night they regale me with tales of seeing Dead Or Alive in the
company of some icelandic girls on Saturday night at the G.A.Y. niteclub who
have a special guests every weekend - man I was annoyed at missing them,
especially as I normally pass that club on my way home but that night I took
another route !
Get to town at 11pm and go into the club, it is the most packed I have
ever seen it, at the night's end I would've counted a (un)healthy mix of
goths, punks, new romantics, gays (one bald one looked like Vince Clarke who
as we know ain't gay) and two beautiful tall men dressed as women who
dominate the dancefloor and slink across the walls staring at you. Fred is a
bouncer so he strikes up a typical bouncer camaraderie with the bouncer
here. We sit near the bar and one of the regular girls rushes in slightly
rattled or inebriated followed by the bouncer who is wanting to kick her out
as she told him to 'fuck off' for some reason or other. The management comes
in and there is some discussion, her friend is comforting her a few metres
in front of me, she releases her grip and the girl faints and makes what I
would call a hollow thud as her head lands 2 metres in front of me, like a
drama in slow motion I wait for her friend to turn around and pick her up.
The band which comprises of a tall guy with glasses, a chinese guy and a
long haired hippie type came on and did tinky-bomp versions of World In My
Eyes, Never Let Me Down Again plus others, though they seemed to mainly do
their own tunes. The last song is Enjoy The Silence which judging my the
crowd's reaction here at the club it seems to be THE Mode song people like
in a singalong sort of way. They played for about one hour.
After the band the dj comes on with Erasure's "Love To Hate You" which
fills the dancefloor and various other greats !!
We danced till 2am then got the night bus home.
TUESDAY
Get to work 2 minutes early. Tonight is Fred's last night here so we all
planned to go to town. I get home at 8:30pm and they are off to dinner, so I
eat at home and join them at the Walkabout later which is good as I am too
tired to go to town. I head there with everyone else and we drink. The as
usual covers band plays normal pub party fare with a tilt towards 80s hits -
so glad they don't do any Doors songs !
Get back home at 11:30pm. We all sit and talk for the next two hours with
other vagrants who arrive home in the same state as us. I desperately need
some sleep so call it a night. At 6am Fred and Andrew come back to bed. At
7am Dave sticks his head through the door and wakes up Fred who was supposed
to get up earlier to catch his flight. A lot of noise and shuffling about as
Fred heads out the door. Don't think I'll see him again. Before he goes we
wake up Andrew to say goodbye and I take a photo to immortalise the moment
though I don't think Andrew appreciated a camera flash within seconds of
waking up.
http://www.marcalmond.co.uk
WEDNESDAY
5 minutes late for work. Tonight is the night, finances are a bit low so I
have decided to buy a cheap seat to Marc Almond tonight so I can go to
another concert later in the week. The show starts at 8pm and I arrive at
the Albery Theatre in Covent Garden at 7:30pm. I approach the box office and
acting like a theatre newbie inquire about the cheap restricted view seats -
the pierced italian lady says I can pay for the cheapie ticket which is 7.50
UKP (top prices are 27.50 UKP) but as there are seats available way up front
she'll give me one of those.
I trundle in and am surprised that she has given me the far left seat
third row from the front ! YAY !!! After a while an american guy called
Chakdi (sp?) comes and sits next to me as he managed to secure a cheap
ticket as well and we talk about our good luck. He's a web designer for AOL
but is touting for work over here, and tells me he is here cos he was just
passing by and recognised the name. He tells me a tale when he met a gothic
girl last week who took him to a club out Islington way. Whilst in
conversation two girls in feather boas come by trailing pink feathers.
The lights dim and Marc steps out in all black as usual and with a black
peak hat covering his eyes. He runs through an acapella rendition of Fun
City and I know I am in for a treat, the venue is suited for a more cabaret
and theatrical type of show.
The faithful love him and the applause is astounding !
The setlist :
fun city, open all night, on the prowl,the user, untitled, black heart, when
bad people kiss, But I'm Alive, sleepwalker,
scarlet bedroom, I've never seen your face, a taste of champagne, black
kiss, bedroom shrine.
break
a lover spurned, beautiful loser, stories of johnny,le diable ca va, my
love, crime sublime, erotic shopping, tenderness is a weakness, tragedy, st
judy, night and dark
encore:
seedy films
The show went on for over 2 hours and I definitely got my money's worth ;-)
Lots of inbetween patter, three sheets behind the stage shows pictures of
Marc or fitted the theme of the song.
One of my most favourite songs is Blackheart and I squealed with delight
when he started playing the opening bars. As was Tenderness is a Weakness, I
really like his earlier stuff.
With this song he had some false starts, for example where the guitarist was
about to come in he told him off for playing it wrong.
All playful fun !!
The latest single is Black Kiss and this incorporatd a host of extra
musicians and singers who made an impact to the racuous song!
Anyway I won't bore you with further details.
I left the venue on a high and decided against not waiting near the
stagedoor and keeping in the vein of the dark seedy songs I walked through
Soho on the way home with 'Waifs And Strays' ringing in my head........
THURSDAY:
Work was same as usual, getting a bit tired now, nevertheless I was looking
forward to the concert tonight.
Finished work and took Metropolitian line to Kings Cross and took Northern
line northwards to Kentish Town. Walk out and join the other lovelies to The
Forum !!
Get there and join the line, a few ticket touts outside. I have tickets
for upstairs only. They are checking for drugs and cameras so when I head to
the door I hold up camera and flash my ticket. They say I can't take the
camera in so I leave it in the cloakroom, when I come back I just need to
walk through without showing my ticket so I manage to sneak downstairs ;-)
The venue is popular for indie bands : The Residents, Public Enemy,
Supergrass, same design as Shepherds Bush Empire but perhaps slightly wider.
Soon Dorothy (Dot) Allison comes out in tight blue jeans and a cardigan,
this was one of the reasons I came tonight as well. She was the lead singer
of One Dove who made a lovely album and absolutely wonderful songs.
Unfortunately the direction she is heading is more strummy guitar based. The
bad acoustics and loudness to the point of distortion didn't help. Even a
set of songs with a young string quartet couldn't salvage it, as it happens
though she is getting critical praise !
Soon afterwards St Etienne came out with a lot of fanfare and light and
noise. The band if you're not familiar do 60s-flavoured music but still with
a modern dance edge, lovely vocals and organs etc.
The band comes out one by one and the lead singer Sarah Cracknell comes
out with a feather boa and a slinky shiny number which during the course of
the night threatens many times to fall down !
The started off with my favourite song of theirs !
setlist :
nothing can stop us now, the bad photographer, sylvie, you're in a bad way,
people get real, who do you think you are, join our club, I was born on
christmas day,hug my soul, he's on the phone.
encore : hobart paving, avenue
I was right up close about 2 metres from the centre of stage. what got me
was that everyone was singing along and man was it packed, a lot of stylish
looking people surrounding me in 60-70-80s clothing.
FRIDAY :
Tonight I was going to relax.......but then Ems and I decided to head
downtown to watch a movie : RazorBlade Smile.
Don't watch it ! It is an english vampire movie that borrows from John Woo
in the fight scenes with two-handed gun fun and slomotion action, but you
hardly see any blood ! It starts off promising enough with a gothic
victorian setting but the lead actresses voice is so fakely sleazy it's
obviously put on.
As it happens when I saw Anthony recently and he actually knows the person
who directed it so I told him how shit it was.
Afterwards I decided to wait backstage at Marc's concert for that night
and I got his autograph, gold pen on one of his flyers, turning the corner
we see people have cornered a family and it turns out to be his Mum, sister
and nephew (with polio hand) so I say why not - and get the strangest set of
autographs I've had so far complete with written titles to indicate whose
they are.
Bleary eyed we head back home, another late Friday night !!
SATURDAY :
I think I worked again tonight, but that's not important cos it was the
final night of Marc's concerts so I had to go cos he was bound to do
something different.
Emma and I get cheap tickets again but these are on the top second floor,
still get a good view but it soon becomes apparent that Marc does not use a
microphone, I know the words but even I have trouble making out what he says
so it wasn't nice for new listeners.
setlist :
fun city, open all night, on the prowl,the user,untitled, black heart, when
bad people kiss, But I'm Alive, sleepwalk, I've never seen your face, a
taste of champagne, black kiss, bedroom shrine.
break
a lover spurned, beautiful loser, stories of johnny, le diable ca va, my
love, crime sublime, tenderness is a weakness, tragedy, st judy, night and
dark
encore:
seedy films, hand on my heart, say hello wave goodbye,jacky
Yes - that's right, basically the same sort of setlist !
This time there were more encores. Say Hello Wave Goodbye was a lovely
acoustic version which had all of us including me singing along as loud as
we could. Looking down from my perch I could all the ground stalls on their
feet. Incidentally on the box opposite I can see Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie.
Funnily enough the supposedly incidental inbetween banter and improvised
bits were exactly the same - and in a few months time it was to crop up
again at the Royal Festival Hall show ! oh well.........
Afterwards we go to the stagedoor and there are 30+ people outside ! doh !
eventually Marc comes out, did I mention how short he is ? shorter than me !
he comes out and makes his way out to the car parked on charing cross
road, everyone runs after him - a drunk englishman wearing fake rubber
breasts sees the commotion and waves his breasts in the window - he doesn't
know who it is as it's darktinted. As the car departs everyone waves goodbye
as though they are farewelling an old dear friend....
Sunday
...rolls around, tired, the last night of this music marathon now.
Today we checked out Brick Lane markets and got some cheap food etc.
The rest of the day I think we did a bit of shopping. Howard Jones was
playing at 8pm so as dusk rolled by Emma went home I headed off to the gig.
One ticket tout outside, Howard must be getting popular I chuckle to myself.
Get in there and the same old crowd, catch up with Anthony and other
familiar faces. This gig is the Christmas party gig so the Jazz cafe is
suitably attired. First band is the first band signed to his label they are
a male and female duo doing poppy techno music, very similar to
Sunscreem/Opus 3. It is uplifting music and lyrics i keeping with Howard's
image I believe. It goes down politely well.
The concert was great as usual but something inside me stuck, maybe cos I
was dead tired but also because I'd seen all this before so I made a pledge
to save my money next time. He does basically the same setlist and the new
arrangements on the old classics are totally brilliant.
Setlist :
you know I love you don't you, new song, love is a good thing, like to get
to know you well, wedding song, sleep my angel, pearl in shell, i want to be
your everything, dreaming on, you're the buddha, I.G.Y., everylasting love,
tomorrow is now, life in one day, what is love, what a good year that was
(Sinatra cover), hide and seek, no one is to blame, let the people have
their say, things can only get better.
After the gig I lead the way upstairs. Anthony and some others get Nick
Beggs' autograph, he used to be the leader (not the singer though) of
Kajagoogoo, and despite that particular period of musical history he is well
respected in musical circles as a topnotch guitarist and bassist. I ask him
about the track 'Big Bubbles No Troubles' as I still cannot remember which
rap artist sampled it to make a big hit, he doesn't know either, he's just
happy as long as it makes him money ;-)
Afterwards we head out to the buses again, Anthony and I reminisce that
this was how we first met. Music always seems to be the major factor as to
how I make friends.
MONDAY
now when I look at my notes for this period I have 'heart attack' written
down -- I have no idea what it means, I don't think I saw anyone die. Or if
I did and forgot it, it was probably a little death...
I leave you with the lyrics to my favorite Marc Almond song.
Ruby Red
(Almond)
Well it seems you have a heart
I saw it once so I know it's true
You let it out on Sundays when
You let it beat me black and blue
When you went and stole my heart
I saw it go so I know it's true
It was a ruby, ruby, ruby red
It was the most precious gift I could give to you
It was as red as the sun in the evening sky
It was as red as the fire in a panther's eye
It was as red as the rose under the summer sun
Like a fire from a killer's gun
Chorus
Ruby, ruby red
Shine a light onto this boy's bed
There's a street lamp glowing in my head
Oh, Ruby, ruby, ruby red
Well it seems you have a soul
You let it go so I know it's true
It was a ruby, ruby, ruby red
It keeps me warm when I'm feeling sad and blue
Well you went and stole my heart
I saw it go so I know it's true
I wrapped it up in a bouquet of barbed wire
It was the wickedest gift I could give to you
It was as red as the sun in the evening sky
It was as red as the fire in a panther's eye
It was as red as the rose under the summer sun
Like a fire from a killer's gun
Repeat chorus
Oh just like Johnny Rio baby
I need to be desired
I give up looking for my past
For the ones I left behind
Ruby red, ruby red, hey, hey, hey
Repeat chorus
It was the most precious jewel
I could give to you
Colour me red when I'm feeling blue
The colour of a kiss
In a young girl's dream
The mark of a guillotine
A drop of blood from a single thorn
Red wet sheets in the afternoon
A red light leading to my tomb
Ruby red all around my room
Ruby, ruby red
Oh shine a light onto this boy's bed
Oh, ruby, ruby, ruby red
Subject : what I've done since the "holiday " Mon 6th September -----> Fri 24th September
Date : Fri, 24 Sep 1999 05:39:00 PDT
Hi all !
here's a little update on what's happened since we got back from Holiday.
Sunday 5th September 1999
After the plane got in delayed we ended up home at 1am and hit the sack at
3am.
Got up at 7am for work, thought about calling in sick. Idesk has changed
premises to another tubestop, I had an inkling of this but decided to go to
the old premises anyway and ended up getting to work late ;-) Got there at
10am and awkwardly caught up with some workmates in the smoko room and then
found myself in the middle of a meeting. The company we used to support, the
contract is finishing so a few things were up in the air.
So for Monday-Wednesday I just slacked around while everyone else was
reorganising in a disorganised fashion (yeah yeah, pretty weak joke...)
This suited me as I was having to adjust to early wakeups, not having
siestas, cold, food...
On Thursday we got tickets to see Paul Kelly at The Embassy Rooms. We had
dinner at Wong Kei's then walked towards Tottenham Court road.
He was playing one concert in London originally which got sold out, so he
did one at Shepherds Bush Empire which is a capacity of several thousand so
we wouldn't have been able to get good seats for it, so I managed to get
tickets for his third concert. Stopped at Virgin Megastore to listen to
Billy Braggs and Divine Comedy's latest albums and got to the venue at
7:45pm.
Lots of australians outside queuing up with pints/handles in hand, we join
them and pick up our tickets. Descend into the venue and WOW !! ABC
performed here 4 weeks ago and I can guess why. It is beautiful !
It's like an old classic cocktail club, capacity of 600, intimate nooks
and crannies, a velvet-lined boudoir with mirrors on the walls for the
women, and 2 metre high porcelain urinals for the men !
The support band were Iron Monkey from Wellington New Zealand. Described
as sort of like Crowded House so it was laidback guitar strummy pop stuff,
good vocals and a good stage presence and inbetween song banter.
Watching them from our comfortable position propped against the railing at
the back on a sort of low terrace it reminded me of my university days and
the bands that went with them, youthful amateur exuberance and all that.
They played for 45 mins then after 15 mins Paul Kelly came on. There is an
adage that any australasian artist or band that comes to England will always
be sold out as homesick australasians will always attend regardless of
whether they like the person or not ! This sometimes defeats the purpose of
touring as no new people will get to hear him ! Australians are pretty
guilty of this, New Zealanders not so much to an extent as it is people like
Chris Knox and ex-members of the 3Ds that tour over here ;-)
Anyway the concert started off with a few new tracks which made use of the
keyboardist and effects. As you would expect he did all the better-known
singalong songs such as 'Before Too Long', 'Careless' and 'Darlinghurst'. He
did an encore of 3 songs then another set of 3 which ended in the "classic"
'To Her Door'. Also Christine Anu turned up to do one song as well !
The concert was fun and the crowd was getting into it, not too rowdy.
Though the only downside was when Paul did an acoustic set and with so many
people talking to each other you could hardly hear him which caused him to
cut the song short. I wrote a letter to an australasian backpacker magazine
which was slightly sarcastic though it hasn't been published yet - probably
went over their heads ;-)
Afterwards we got tickets for his acoustic gig at the 12 Bar Club which is
a musicians bar with a capacity of 100-150. Just at the top of Charing Cross
Road and it is a bar I've always wanted to explore as I've passed it many
times as it is down a little alleyway. The concert is next Sunday and will
be exciting as Paul only ever plays large venues so it will be pretty
intimate, no matter how cliched that may sounds....
Friday 11th
Been playing Yahoo Chess all day, haven't played it in a long time but
everyone else here is doing it and it's all coming back to me now.
Cloud Street which is an australian play starts at 6:30pm. I reach
Hammersmith Station at 6:20pm and sprint for 5 mins across the roundabout
through the mall, under the road, leaping over prostrate beggars with a
purpose (this time) past the Hammersmith Apollo then 100 metres to the
riverside to the Riverside Studios. Luckily there were still people hanging
around outside. As it happened it had been held up so we had a drink and I
wiped myself down as I was totally dripping in sweat and starting to stink.
After waiting half an hour we go in and find out that our special 2 for 1
tickets place us 3 rows from the front so we get a great view. Unfortunately
as the lights go down there is a crack and some lights blow. We wait some
more minutes until the manager comes out to tell us that the show will have
to be cancelled due to a power problem.
Doh ! We ask and we are able to transfer the tickets for dates out of the
2 for 1 ticket deal period.
Saturday
Work today, nice and easy so I spent time mucking around and doing emails.
Tonight we had dinner with Nina and her bro at Wong Kei's. We had to descend
into the noisy depths, I didn't like it there but food was nice as usual !
Afterwards the 3 of us went to see the Austin Powers at the Virgin cinema.
Tickets cost us 8.50 UKP each so about $26 NZ ! Oh well we had to do it
sooner or later ! It felt good to be back in grimy London town.
Sunday 12th
Today was Brick Lane Festival, a lot of fun and not so packed as
Bangladesh New Year. We desperately needed new toiletries and this is the
place to get them, we got soap, shampoo and toothbrushes. We had dinner at
Wong Kei's again then running a little late we rushed to London Studios on
the Southbank.
Tonight I had audience tickets for the Clive Anderson All Talk show.
Here's the story, I decided to get tickets for the show about 2 months ago.
I choose them as it would be the show we got back from Europe so it would be
fun to get back into the swing of things again. Originally I asked for 4
tickets for me, Emma, Nina and Liz. I got a letter a few days before we left
saying that the screening on Wednesday was to be put forward to Sunday
because of a big american star. I phoned up and said no problem and asked
for 2 more tickets.
To cut a long story short, Liz needed 2 more tickets for her friends and
Nina ended up getting a job at the studio ! Eventually Liz managed to get 2
tickets for herselves and one of mine and I took Dave and Cass a couple from
Brisbane along from work. Emma took a workmate an irish girl called Lisa.
Anyway me and Emma were rushing met Lisa at the arranged spot headed out
to the studio and hundreds of people lining up outside. Luckily Liz
is way up the queue so we 'join them'. She was panicking but it's all better
as I hand over the spare ticket I had.
As it happens I was annoyed as I had missed out Adam Sandler the week before
but no matter.
Eventually we start moving in and get seated. As it happens the studio is
bigger than I imagined it so I reckon no one was left out because of us. As
is usual there is a warmup guy who tells jokes and gets us in the mood, the
Clive comes out and welcomes us. The filming of the show is fast, Clive does
an intro and away they go. Other screenings I've been to always has some
false starts !
Anyway Clive introduces the first guest and fluffs it up and says
'Kirk...something'. Oh great I groan, Kurt Douglas. Actually it turns out
to be Kirk Douglas ! Such a short cute guy and many women in the audience
thought so. As you know he had a stroke 3 years ago the same year
Christopher Reeve fell off a horse - which made for one of the most
emotional Oscars. He's recovered okay, his speech is still slurred and I was
worried that we wouldn't be able to understand him and not react - being an
audience member we have to be as vocals and noisy as possible. Luckily it
was all okay, I think the interview went for about 30-40 minutes which would
be cut down to 15-20 minutes. He had some great tales to tell and was in
good humour. Near the end when reminiscing about being in London in the 60s
he stood up and started singing "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner" which we
responded to very nicely. I would've loved to have stood up and said 'I am
Spartacus' but we weren't able to as cameras were whizzing above our heads !
I wonder if that statement would've gone above people's heads also ?
Funnily enough there is a Kubrick festival happening and a day earlier I
mentioned to Emma we have to see Spartacus on the big screen.
When that interview finished Clive moved on to the next fellow who was
Robin Williams ! Massive shriek of joy in the studio. All I can say is that
you have to watch it when or if it gets televised on TV in New Zealand. I
was literally in tears most times. My image of him was watered down a bit
due to his recent film roles. He used to be quite saucy and happily he let
it show here. The interview was long as Robin would interrupt and go off on
wild tangents so it felt like over 40 minutes. When we watched it on tv
later on in the week it was cut down to 15 minutes. If you watch it my
favourite jokes were the indian taxi driver and Stephen Hawkings, I was
happy these were aired.
Next guest was Caroline Aherne who is "Mrs Mertons" a spoof old granny
interviewer. I didn't think she was that good but she was entertaining !
We got out at 9:30pm so in total it was about 3 hours inside but it didn't
seem like it ! We were planning to have dinner with everyone but it was too
late so we headed home and pigged out on KFC.
Monday 13th
Passed without incidence.
Tuesday 14th
Once again it was time for the show again. I left work with plenty of time
but still ended up running. I did manage to get two tickets to this
performance, it was actually the official opening night so free food, the
media and some aussie stars. Anyway the show was 4 hours so the moment I got
there we went in and sat down. We had two breaks, one at 90 minutes and the
other at 11pm !
During the first break we had a big buffet of giant shrimps, fish and
small crayfish, well not quite big cos those media types grab anything they
can if it's free so it went pretty quickly, luckily me and Emma were quicker
!
We spotted some familiar australian faces, though only known in the UK
here, Jono Coleman a wellknown fat radio dj which was shorter than Emma who
is shorter than me), and Mark Little (Joe Mangels from neighbours). The
break went on a bit longer as in the final scene an actress walks onto stage
when someone is leaving and knocks her over, unfortunately she was knocked
over and cut her knee which she needed stitches for !
Shit why does this happen to us we yelped as thought of getting home late
again !
Anyway the 40 minute break became 1 1/2 hours ! The show proceeded and
they had the second break, at this point some people left. Looking over some
people's shoulders I can see they furiously scribbling down a review, it
didn't bode well for the cast but luckily the strength of the show brought
it favourable reviews the next day.
Eventually we got out at 12:45 missing the last tube and decided to walk
20 mins back home under light drizzle. Earlier optimistic thoughts of seeing
the world-reknowned show again dissipating along with our warmth...
Wednesday 15th - Laptop and Les Rhymes Digitales concert
A week earlier when we saw Paul Kelly at the Embassy Rooms I saw the
poster for this show, not so hot on Les Rhymes Digitales but as Laptop a
slightly hard synthpop I like were doing support.
Emma would flag it so I called up pommie mate Anthony to come along, he
mentioned he saw the concert listing too and would want to got see Laptop.
For his birthday I got him their cd (of which I picked up a whole batch
cheaply, for any who want a copy). I also asked Andrew from the hostel to
come.
Had dinner with Ant at Wong Kei's, he's a regular there as well. While
waiting for him Dawn French passed by me, I saw her from a distance, she is
just like that fat aussie dj, shorter than me and very very wide. We did
some shopping and as planned ended up getting to the venue at 7:45pm which
had a long line outside ! Doh ! The show has been held up due to
electrical difficulties ! aargghh ! Annoying cos I was getting really tired
now. Andrew met us there and eventually we got in.
Laptop started at 9pm, the band has 5 members, drummer, lead singer, 2
guitars, 2 keyboards, and 2 guys manning the video screens.
The sound was great on some songs, some were strummy indie with a electronic
bent. We all agreed the new single "So Happy You Failed" was awesome,lots of
lovely elements. Last song was the better known single "Nothing To Declare".
They played for 45 minutes then after 15 minutes the next band came on.
Les Rhythmes Digitales the band comprises of one guy with orange hair, a
girl that looks like a space cadet and a drummer that looks like Mr C of the
Shamen, together they create a funky electronic mix with a nod to all genres
such as early synthpop, early house music, funk and electro. It was mostly
all off DAT but was entertaining as they danced all round the stage with
silly grins on their faces !
They only played for an hour but that was enough as I was sweating buckets
in my dinner jacket. Ant and Andy totally enjoyed it, though a bit
disappointed as Nik Kershaw who sings on their latest single wasn't there,
not possible really as it would have slowed down the momentum.
Andrew and I decided to head back home totally beat !
thursday
Slept in and relaxed today.
friday
ditto ! I think !
Saturday
Went to work as usual, dead quiet !
Then had dinner in town and finally got to see "Shakespeare In Love" at the
cheap Prince Charles Cinema. One of the better movies I've seen recently,
some clever injokes and it had me totally focused.
Sunday
This week was something like National Building week so lots of old and
heritage homes and buildings were open to the public.
We planned our route so after Brick Lane we headed way out east to Romford
which is supposedly the oldest royal village in England. We get off the
train and wait by the bus station which would head us closer to the site.
After 20 mins we actually check the timetable and find it it only comes
every 2 hours on a Sunday ! Grrrr ! We walk around this white trash
neighbourhood then head back into town.
Still eager beaver we decide to head to Nunhead Cemetery in
Lambeth/Southwark which is supposed to be a nice gothic place with 100
ivy-covered angels! From Liverpool Station it involved 4 tube/train stops.
We go for it and After waiting at London Bridge station for 20 mins we round
a corner and see that the two train lines are down just for today !!
We're pissed off now so we head into town for dinner. We were thinking of
having a pub Sunday roast dinner but at the end we go to a all you can eat
italian buffet, the scene of roast chicken in the window was enough to tempt
me.
The meal was so-so and it was a learning experience to not to go to that
place again.
With full bellies we headed to the 12 Bar Club. walking it it is a
musicians bar with a low ceiling, literally the size of our lounge back home
! The support band was the Mick Hart band minus bass and drums so it was
just guitar and fiddle. It was angsty sort of music which normally would
bore me but in this intimate setting it was very powerful.
After a while Paul Kelly came on with Spencer Jones by his side doing
slide guitar.
What can I say ? Much better than a full band as we could hear all the
lyrics to the old and new songs, I love slide guitar, and the crowd
atmosphere were good, excepting the typical aussie drunks yelling out for
songs.
Way back in 1992 I swapped a NZ music cd for a alternative music
compilation with someone in North Carolina. One cd had a singer called Kate
Jacobs from Hoboken, New Jersey on it, a singer songwriter with a girl's
voice and a slight country sound. Entranced I filed this name into memory
and over the next few years I managed to get her first and second album in
the cheapie bins in Real Groovy, the albums were officially released here so
I think they were sent to the store as a promotional thing.
6 weeks ago before we went to Europe I found a burnt cdr promotional copy
of her latest album due for release in September. It's these funny chains of
events I think about every now and then as to how my musicals tastes have
expanded to obscure artists all over the world. It was in this pokey little
club listening to Paul Kelly that my mind started wandering and imagining if
Kate was here in this club with her guitar.
Paul's concert was about 2 hours and lifted our spirits after a
disappointing day. As we walked out into the pouring rain I had a feelling
to look at the forthcoming concerts and (you can guess what happened) I saw
Kate's name on one ! I asked the guys at the door for more info and brought
attention to the coincidence and we all had a good laugh.
The next day I did some checking and she is doing 3 concerts here in early
October. I emailed Kate as I have done so before and she remembers me
(probably being her only fan in New Zealand ;-) So we will catch up.
Funnily enough in that week there's a lot of musical stuff happening :
- Donna Summer will be doing a live PA at that gay niteclub
- Buzzcocks are playing
- Netaid is on (though I don't think I'll go)
- ...plus I think I have a show to go to !
At the end of October I've got Beth Orton to go to...
dare I see Morrissey in November ?
Well dear friends as you can see life here is still good and busy, possibly
cluttered but I like it like that !
I'm writing this on Friday 24th September, tonight I'm meeting for dinner
with Dave and Jo Karl from Hamilton.
bon uppertits !
Subject : muh cousin with the fringe on top ! 12 June-19 June 1999
Date : Sat, 25 Sep 1999 03:56:27 PDT
Celia arrived in England the Friday earlier and went to Manchester for the
weekend.
I got the call to meet her at the St George Hotel in Upper Regent Street on
Monday !
The day at work was infuriating, lots of email to respond to but far too
hot in the office to think and be productive at work and play.
At the moment while I am writing this I am wearing just a shirt and
shorts, who cares about formality !
After work on Monday I get off at Oxford Circus. Made one of those
life-forming decisions and walked north up Regent Street.
Sure enough at the very end (figuratively) just when I was about to doubt
my inate sense of direction I came across the hotel at the very end
(literally) of the road. Entered the tiny tiny foyer and entered the lift
and up to Celia's room.
Very plush surroundings; gave her a big hug, she tells me the bags got
lost somewhere in transit, I made a beeline for the toilet !
We wait around for cousin Rodney he turns up before the bags and we click
on the tv and see if we can get any adult channels. We get a photo to
immortalise this. And YES it was one of 'those' hotels - only joking ;-)
To the Wongs, thanks for the cookies !
Eventually the bags arrive, and we head downtown and eat at Wong Kei's to
give Celia a taste of London in her week here. After dinner we walk around
town and show her some sights, she'll probably do some of them by herself.
Now Celia has plans with other friends so we plan to go see De La Guarda
on Friday night.
Nothing much happens except on Wednesday it is my day off so I spend it
with Nina who has just arrived in the country. In the morning we check out
changing of the Guard then walk through town and have lunch at one of those
fancy lawyer pubs on Pall Mall. We get cheap tickets for Oklahoma at the
Lyceum Theatre. We have dinner then meet Emma the Lyceum Tavern where
friends of ours work.
Each day there are 100 cheap 5-10 pound tickets if you present yourself to
the box office so we managed to get some on row L on the far right.
What can I say ? The musical was the best one I've ever seen, lots of
well-known songs that I didn't know the titles but knew everything about
them now. The cast was great with a lot of gymnastics and had Maureen Lipman
and Hugh Jackman as the main male lead. Even now months later I still
surprise myself when I burst into song on the tube with "Oh What A Beautiful
Morning", ramble a bit on "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from time to
time and occasionally when Emma and I are walking along the road we link
arms and break into "The Cowboy and the Farmer Should be Friends" complete
with dance steps !!
The whole audience really enjoyed the show and was very vocal, much more
than normal musicals. The show was 2 1/2 hours so we got our money's worth
and left the theatre around 11pm. I know all my family would love it and I
imagined my Dad sitting beside me whooping and hollering like everyone else
!!
Next week the show finished. At this time we were saving for our Europe
trip so we didn't go again to much regret, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It was recorded on film though and has been shown on UK cable television.
Thursday we had a night in.
Friday
http://www.delaguarda.com/
I got tickets to De La Guarda for me, Emma, Celia and Rodney. We got there
not quite knowing what to expect. We went to the Roundhouse where I last saw
STOMP in January.
We entered the venue, all black curtaining with a low ceiling. No
discernable 'stage'. The sounds of the rainforest enamate throughout. Above
us the ceiling is actually white and we see it is newsprint. We see shadows
moving and rushing quickly above us silhouetted on the newsprint. Nursery
sounds play now and we see shadows of children playing with small toys above
us, then water is splashed down like spittle some of which falls onto us as
we are on the side of the 'stage'.
After several splashes the music stops and UV light comes on and above us
is a myriad of dotted colours like stars.
The music starts building again and balloons land on the ceiling above us.
Then the music builds to a techno crescendo and various people tear people
sized holes through the paper and balloons and little plastic toys come
through and land on us. A while later a couple of metres in front of us an
upsidedown guy tears through the ceiling and picks up a member of the
audience screaming. He lifts her up through the paper...and we realise
she's part of the performance. After a few minutes the other members of the
troupe swing down and tear the ceiling and light water and all the balloons
fall down onto us !
With the 'ceiling' gone they pull away the plastic walls around us and we
can finally see the whole size of the venue. It is a rectanglish room with a
balcony and rails going around the side from which the performers on wires
and swing from and grab hold of.
The rest of the show was more theatrics and avant garde screaming etc and
was ok but didn't live up to the beginning. At some point they do lift up
people if they want to and try to get everyone dancing !
Check out the website of some cool photos of the described scenes !
After the hour long show we walked round Camden looking for a place to
eat, we settled on Nando's which is a south african chicken restaurant chain
that specialises in Portuguese spicey (Peri peri) chicken. Between the four
of us we got 2 large salads 2 chickens and a mountain of chips, luckily we
manage to finish it all off !
After a hearty relaxing meal we wiped the chicken drool off our lips and
faces and headed home. Gave the cousins a hug and hoped Celia would be back
soon...
Subject : Geri Halliwell @ Astoria 5th June 1999
Date : Sat, 25 Sep 1999 08:44:23 PDT
It was on a Thursday that Emma's workmate at Elizabeth Arden slyly asked
her "are you excited about today?"
Okay, cutting to the chase, (as this little question-response went on for
a while) it eventuated Simone is a big Spice Girls fan and was excitedly
awaiting her flatmate to come to work after purchasing Geri's first single
"Look At Me" for her as she couldn't wait !!
A few days later I caught a flyer for Geri's first public performance at the
gay night at the Astoria nightclub. I gathered as many cheap entry flyers as
I could and rounded up the posse.
On the night we numbered me, Emma, Andrew (cos he likes the Astoria) and
Simone who was probably most excited about this. I was looking forward to it
as it would be literally a 'first'.
The venue normally opens at 11pm so we got there at 10:30pm and there was
a long line already with a lot of heterosexual couples who obviously have
come to see Geri as well. In fact some of them have spare flyers so every
now and then they pass down the line for those who wish to save a few pounds
on entry.
After a short wait we get in and as it is the club's birthday bash as we
ascend the stairs the doorboys put on stringwith a fluorescent plastic
whistle around our necks !
We get in and the floor is quiet so we stand and grab a drink. Then my
favourite song of THAT moment comes on "Turn Around" by Phats and Small and
I hit the floor twirling and leaping like a salmon ;-) Andrew joins me and
after a while the girls do. We stay on the dancefloor and within 20 minutes
we are completely surrounded by dancers. 10 minutes later I look onto the
stage and it is a complete heaving mass of dancing guys and gurls.
For the next 3 hours we stay on the dancefloor surrounded by primadonnas
and divas when Geri is finally announced. The girls are short but the 100 or
so people off the stage come down and we move back almost under the
balconies for the first floor but we still get a good view.
She sang well much better than I expected she came on and started singing
wearing green trousers and a pink top, then 6 hunky male dancers came on and
as the show went on she took off more clothes and so did the guys (tops only
actually ;-) During the concert she thanks her parents and George and Kenny
for coming and we look above and they are literally right above us looking
over the balcony.
Geri sung 6 songs in total including 'Look At Me' and various others songs
destined to be singles. As is normal lots of giant balloons rained down to
end (for us anyway) another good night !
We left the venue bleary-eyed at 3am, the streets are packed as usual,
clubbers and pubbers heading home, deliverymen parked up onto the pavement,
road cleaners removing the sex cards from the phoneboxes while the
'cardboys' go round blutaking them up again. For us it would be another hour
long bus trip through the night to get home with daylight breaking....
Subject : Harrow On The Hill
Date : Mon, 27 Sep 1999 18:57:09 +0100
Hi ALL !
well Friday night was good. We planned to meet up with Dave and Jo
from Hamilton outside Prince Charles cinema as they knew where it was.
We picked a nice time as there was a tv crew there because of the
Sound Of Music subtitled version they are showing at the moment. It has
the lyrics to the songs and the audience is required to singalong and
have fun !
We had a long dinner at Wong Kei restaurant chatting about our
respective european holidays which entailed stories of wives for camels,
young boys, terrible toilets and food poisoning (as usual).
Afterwards we went to the opening night of the new mega Borders
bookstore and had a little read and listen to music.
Round 9pm we headed back Leicester Square hankering for some dessert.
We nixed on Haagan Das as it was to busy and went to an outdoor cafe
place. Luckily we got a good table and even more fortuitously there is
no outdoor service, which was good for me cos I hate being served by
waiters etc who normally take an eternity.
Afterwards we went home. On Saturday I had work and did a few more
emails. Work is pretty cruisey now, get paid to do very little.
On Sunday we consulted a book of London walks so today we decided to
go to Harrow-on-the-Hill, I had been here before but only to the modern
city centre. As we got off the train and headed away from the town up a
hill it felt as though I was in a village.
We went up the hill where we could see behind some woods the steeple
of an old church. Up a road past the gloomy graveyard then at the
lookout on which there was a map and in the far distance you can
supposedly make out Windsor and other places out west.
Behind up on the lookout are 'A few words by Lord Byron' regarding the
view. He attended this church and his daughter Allegra is buried here, I
couldn't find it but it most possibly was the one behind the 'words'
with protective iron bars around it.
As we walked we were sharing the path with a father, daughter and dog.
We then entered the church, it was the afternoon now so no service was
in action. It was a typical 1800s church undergoing renovations.
We exit from the church grounds and head down Church Hill (?) Road
past Harrow School....hhmmm...sounds familiar.
As we carry on down the road it looks very nice, nice gardens and
grounds and buildings. About now I realised that this was THAT Harrow
School, this was further reinforced when scores of schoolboys in their
sunday best some with top hats and canes passed us. Nice to finally see
some genuine rich kids. Quite a large number of asians ! Plus lots of
short boys in big suits and trousers.
We head on through the grounds and the walk takes us onto the playing
fields and halls of residence. The largest squirrel I've ever seen
passes us by, must be well-fed by the boys.
We pass some chestnut/oak (?) trees and I pick up some conkers off the
ground and use there as if they were chinese medicine balls twirling in
my hand for the duration of the walk.
A call of nature...calls...and I decide to take a leak on the
sportsfields, heh heh heh ! Imagine me pissing on the Harrow school
field !
We then head off on a track through some woods and some muddy trails
back to Northwick park passed the University of Middlesex and Hospital.
We take the train from here back to Harrow and get a pub meal, no
Sunday roast unfortunately so I have a gammon steak with egg etc.
Pretty tired now as it is raining so we do a bit of shopping potter
around until we get home about 6pm. We grab 'Divorcing Jack' on video
and sneak into John and Linki's room to borrow the video. What a great
movie !
That's it, not much else !
Miss Saigon finishes soon I believe so we have to see it !
Apart from that I'm hanging out for next payday.
have a good week !