After a gap of several months, the
Veitchstalking recommences. Note the can of
soup being brandished in picture 3.
The Boss' new album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, gets an unwelcome retitling courtesy of the staff at Impulse Records in Euston Station. Best one of these I've seen since Morrissey's Your Arsenal, which was truncated on an HMV receipt in exactly the way you'd expect.
...where everything is anthropomorphised, even the toilet paper.
Coming soon: The Belated Birthday Girl and I present our holiday snaps from Japan 2006.
You have to admire Innocent for running a free festival so popular that it makes Regent's Park as life-threateningly overcrowded as the Astoria: but it did mean that Fruitstock was a victim of its own success this year. All the individual elements were as wonderful as ever, but it was hard to enjoy them with so many people cramming into every bit of free space on the grass (the first picture here was taken early in the day). It can't be a good sign when you're sitting next to the sound desk and still can't hear the bands on stage over the crowd noise.
After several years at Olympia, the GBBF's moved to Earls Court this year, and it's definitely a change for the better. The new venue has much better transport connections, so no more travelling in that hellish District Line Booze Shuttle that used to run between Kensington Olympia and A Proper Station. The whole shebang's now located in one single room (amusingly arranged in a 'monkey head' configuration as illustrated), but with plenty of space in between the stalls for a more relaxed atmosphere. Plus, y'know, beer.
Surreal highlight of the evening: while queuing at one of the food stalls, The Belated Birthday Girl was asked by a Japanese visitor to explain the concept of 'pie'.
Wembley Stadium by night, from a couple of miles away. (Taken on Sunday night, just before news broke that its opening date has slipped again.)
There's something curiously satisfying about an electronic musician who doesn't use a laptop these days, and prefers rickety old banks of keyboards held together with gaffer tape.
The Wet Fish Cafe in West Hampstead has a full size bar optic filled with liquid soap in its bog. The fish is pretty good, too.
