Carrying on the Robert Plant review theme, here's a link to the gig at the Hammersmith Palais two days before the Forum gig mentioned in the previous post.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14936-1905489,00.html
A
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
The Mighty Reviewer
Me and me mate Clownman went to the Robert Plant gig at the Forum in London a couple of Tuesdays back. We got there early and thus got awesome seats in the front row upstairs. The support band was some hillbilly Yankee group whose name escapes me and who looked like they'd escaped from the freak show - heavily tattooed guitarist, huge hunch-backed upright bassist, geeky looking tall, skinny inbred singer with walk socks pulled up past his knees, an occasional giant woman fiddler and a drummer. In-ter-est-ing, is how I'd describe it.
Anyway, I'm here to talk about the Robert Plant gig not the freak show. So yeah it was a great gig with extra special meaning for me as I got to see a living, breathing member of LED ZEPPELIN – the greatest band ever, who have had such an impact on my life.
So the band comes on stage followed a moment later by the man himself to steadily increasing applause and they go into Freedom Fries off the Mighty Rearranger. The rest of the gig was not quite what I was expecting i.e. no 29 Palms or anything in fact before the last two solo albums (not counting the greatest hits). There were about six Led Zep songs - Black Dog, Going to California, When the Levee Breaks, Four Sticks, What is and What Should Never Be, and the encore of Whole Lotta Love, which brought about a standing ovation. All the Zeppelin songs were arranged differently than the album versions, I imagine because it wasn't Zeppelin playing them so he didn't want them compared directly.
As was to be expected they played a number off The Mighty Rearranger but surprisingly no Shine It All Around. I thought Tin Pan Valley, where Robert berates his peers for relying on their past glories, was particularly poignant as Rod Stewart was doing his cover band thing at Earls Court a few nights later. I certainly know which gig I’d rather be at!
I was very surprised at how good his voice still is and he hasn't lost any of the power and still moves really well. He was almost reserved at times and didn't act like the star of the show, with the other band members almost on an equal footing. He certainly didn’t take himself too seriously and joked with the audience, especially after dropping his tambourine by accident at the end of one song, which created a great atmosphere.
The Forum is a relatively small venue, which he said he loves and has seen a number of bands there himself, including The Cult. The gig was long sold-out and there was probably about 2 thousand which was nice and intimate (although not as small as his gig at the Hammersmith Palais on Sunday, which would have been cool to see) - Craig and I got front row upstairs so we had an awesome view.
The sound was pretty good although I felt the guitars were too loud early on and drowned out the vocals a bit much but they sorted that out. I forgot my earplugs so I was glad that the volume wasn’t ear splitting unlike the Motorhead gig that I went to down in Brixton a few weeks back which was also a very good gig, although I really don’t know how Lemmy is 1) still alive and 2) able to hear anything at all!
Anyway, so that was the night, awesome and something that I’ll remember for a long time, a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, time.
Anyway, I'm here to talk about the Robert Plant gig not the freak show. So yeah it was a great gig with extra special meaning for me as I got to see a living, breathing member of LED ZEPPELIN – the greatest band ever, who have had such an impact on my life.
So the band comes on stage followed a moment later by the man himself to steadily increasing applause and they go into Freedom Fries off the Mighty Rearranger. The rest of the gig was not quite what I was expecting i.e. no 29 Palms or anything in fact before the last two solo albums (not counting the greatest hits). There were about six Led Zep songs - Black Dog, Going to California, When the Levee Breaks, Four Sticks, What is and What Should Never Be, and the encore of Whole Lotta Love, which brought about a standing ovation. All the Zeppelin songs were arranged differently than the album versions, I imagine because it wasn't Zeppelin playing them so he didn't want them compared directly.
As was to be expected they played a number off The Mighty Rearranger but surprisingly no Shine It All Around. I thought Tin Pan Valley, where Robert berates his peers for relying on their past glories, was particularly poignant as Rod Stewart was doing his cover band thing at Earls Court a few nights later. I certainly know which gig I’d rather be at!
I was very surprised at how good his voice still is and he hasn't lost any of the power and still moves really well. He was almost reserved at times and didn't act like the star of the show, with the other band members almost on an equal footing. He certainly didn’t take himself too seriously and joked with the audience, especially after dropping his tambourine by accident at the end of one song, which created a great atmosphere.
The Forum is a relatively small venue, which he said he loves and has seen a number of bands there himself, including The Cult. The gig was long sold-out and there was probably about 2 thousand which was nice and intimate (although not as small as his gig at the Hammersmith Palais on Sunday, which would have been cool to see) - Craig and I got front row upstairs so we had an awesome view.
The sound was pretty good although I felt the guitars were too loud early on and drowned out the vocals a bit much but they sorted that out. I forgot my earplugs so I was glad that the volume wasn’t ear splitting unlike the Motorhead gig that I went to down in Brixton a few weeks back which was also a very good gig, although I really don’t know how Lemmy is 1) still alive and 2) able to hear anything at all!
Anyway, so that was the night, awesome and something that I’ll remember for a long time, a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, time.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Friday, November 18, 2005
The Great Gig in the Sky
So I went along to the UK Hall of Fame Music Awards last night and it turned out to be one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever been to. Great venue – Alexandra Palace in North London, well organised, great sound (especially considering they changed the gear for every band) but best of all I got to see some of the people that have changed my life.
The show started with the Aretha Franklin being inducted –she wasn’t there as apparently she doesn’t like flying. The Eurythmics were next up and after being inducted by Sir Bob Geldolf, played a couple of songs - Missionary Man and I think the other one was Thorn In My Side (but don’t quote me on that). They sounded great – well Annie did at least – I couldn’t hear Dave’s guitar.
Next to be inducted was Jimi Hendrix, with Mitch Mitchell (Jimi’s drummer from the Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Slash, resplendid in obligatory top hat (and who lit up a ciggie onstage) doing the honours. They then got up and jammed Stone Free and Hey Joe with Billy Cox (Jimi’s bass player from The Band of Gypsies) and this time it was the bass I couldn’t hear, although admittedly Slash was pretty loud. I didn’t recognise the singer but may work out who it was when I watch the show on Channel 4 tonight. It was a jam in the purest sense of the word and it got a bit loose at times, especially in Stone Free, but they pulled it together a bit more in Hey Joe. Be that as it may it was still fantastic just to see these legends playing together, and Slash’s tone was awesome.
Now my memory of the order of events from here starts to cloud, but it doesn’t really matter.
Bob Dylan was inducted although he was playing Manchester last night so he couldn’t be there, Alanis Morrisette performed a couple of his songs, however, it wasn’t a performance to remember.
The Who were inducted by Ray Davies of the Kinks, however, they didn’t play.
Pete Townsend inducted Pink Floyd and although they didn’t play it was still great to see Dave Gilmore and Nick Mason, who said it was reward for a lifetime of bad drummer jokes, before proceeding to tell one. Roger Waters was beamed up behind the others on the stage in a live video link from Rome, and didn’t seem too impressed that Dave had referred to him as a “passenger” in Pink Floyd’s career - maybe no more reunions after that comment!!
Sir Geoff Hurst inducted The Kinks before a performance of a couple of their songs by The Pretenders.
Joy Division/New Order were inducted and then played a song by each incarnation and dedicated the second song, Love Will Tear Us Apart, to Ian Curtis, the original singer of Joy Division who killed himself 25 years ago.
AC/DC’s Angus Young inducted Ozzy Osbourne into the hall of fame before the madman himself proceeded to bring the house down with an extra high energy performance of Crazy Train with Zakk Wylde on guitar. This was an extra special bonus for me as I hadn’t expected Zakk to be playing - he’s right up there in my top five guitarists of all time and definitely my favourite of the past 15 years. This was pure “chill down the spine” stuff and the crowd went absolutely crazy for it, proving even though he’s approaching 60 the Ozz Man can still rock with the best of them. He certainly knows how to work a crowd and many of the younger bands today could certainly learn a thing or two from him. This was the true Ozzy, not the cringe inducing version that we see on the Osbournes.
Queen’s Brian May then inducted Black Sabbath into the hall of fame and once again Ozzy was back on stage with the founders of heavy metal. This was another “chill down the spine” moment for me as I finally got to see one of my favourite bands live in the flesh. The only problem was a technical one, as Tony Iommi’s guitar kept cutting out, however, nothing could dampen this moment for me. It brought back memories of when I was learning to play the guitar and staying up till the early hours of the morning trying to get all these Sabbath songs down.
Last, but certainly not least, to be inducted as an honorary member was the late great John Peel, for who music is certainly the worse for his passing. His brother and wife accepted the award and spoke a few words, before The Buzzcocks were joined on stage by The Datsuns who together performed a version of The Buzzcocks song “Ever Fallen In Love”. This song has been re-recorded as a tribute to Peel by an all-star line up and is to be released this coming Monday with all proceeds going to Amnesty International.
Ohhhh!!!!! What a night!!!! I’m still buzzing out over it, and would pay double the £86 that I paid to see it again. Let’s see where the Pussycat Dolls, Crazy Frog and all the other insipid, crap bands are in 20-30 years time, who????????
The show started with the Aretha Franklin being inducted –she wasn’t there as apparently she doesn’t like flying. The Eurythmics were next up and after being inducted by Sir Bob Geldolf, played a couple of songs - Missionary Man and I think the other one was Thorn In My Side (but don’t quote me on that). They sounded great – well Annie did at least – I couldn’t hear Dave’s guitar.
Next to be inducted was Jimi Hendrix, with Mitch Mitchell (Jimi’s drummer from the Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Slash, resplendid in obligatory top hat (and who lit up a ciggie onstage) doing the honours. They then got up and jammed Stone Free and Hey Joe with Billy Cox (Jimi’s bass player from The Band of Gypsies) and this time it was the bass I couldn’t hear, although admittedly Slash was pretty loud. I didn’t recognise the singer but may work out who it was when I watch the show on Channel 4 tonight. It was a jam in the purest sense of the word and it got a bit loose at times, especially in Stone Free, but they pulled it together a bit more in Hey Joe. Be that as it may it was still fantastic just to see these legends playing together, and Slash’s tone was awesome.
Now my memory of the order of events from here starts to cloud, but it doesn’t really matter.
Bob Dylan was inducted although he was playing Manchester last night so he couldn’t be there, Alanis Morrisette performed a couple of his songs, however, it wasn’t a performance to remember.
The Who were inducted by Ray Davies of the Kinks, however, they didn’t play.
Pete Townsend inducted Pink Floyd and although they didn’t play it was still great to see Dave Gilmore and Nick Mason, who said it was reward for a lifetime of bad drummer jokes, before proceeding to tell one. Roger Waters was beamed up behind the others on the stage in a live video link from Rome, and didn’t seem too impressed that Dave had referred to him as a “passenger” in Pink Floyd’s career - maybe no more reunions after that comment!!
Sir Geoff Hurst inducted The Kinks before a performance of a couple of their songs by The Pretenders.
Joy Division/New Order were inducted and then played a song by each incarnation and dedicated the second song, Love Will Tear Us Apart, to Ian Curtis, the original singer of Joy Division who killed himself 25 years ago.
AC/DC’s Angus Young inducted Ozzy Osbourne into the hall of fame before the madman himself proceeded to bring the house down with an extra high energy performance of Crazy Train with Zakk Wylde on guitar. This was an extra special bonus for me as I hadn’t expected Zakk to be playing - he’s right up there in my top five guitarists of all time and definitely my favourite of the past 15 years. This was pure “chill down the spine” stuff and the crowd went absolutely crazy for it, proving even though he’s approaching 60 the Ozz Man can still rock with the best of them. He certainly knows how to work a crowd and many of the younger bands today could certainly learn a thing or two from him. This was the true Ozzy, not the cringe inducing version that we see on the Osbournes.
Queen’s Brian May then inducted Black Sabbath into the hall of fame and once again Ozzy was back on stage with the founders of heavy metal. This was another “chill down the spine” moment for me as I finally got to see one of my favourite bands live in the flesh. The only problem was a technical one, as Tony Iommi’s guitar kept cutting out, however, nothing could dampen this moment for me. It brought back memories of when I was learning to play the guitar and staying up till the early hours of the morning trying to get all these Sabbath songs down.
Last, but certainly not least, to be inducted as an honorary member was the late great John Peel, for who music is certainly the worse for his passing. His brother and wife accepted the award and spoke a few words, before The Buzzcocks were joined on stage by The Datsuns who together performed a version of The Buzzcocks song “Ever Fallen In Love”. This song has been re-recorded as a tribute to Peel by an all-star line up and is to be released this coming Monday with all proceeds going to Amnesty International.
Ohhhh!!!!! What a night!!!! I’m still buzzing out over it, and would pay double the £86 that I paid to see it again. Let’s see where the Pussycat Dolls, Crazy Frog and all the other insipid, crap bands are in 20-30 years time, who????????
Have a Drink on Me
Apparently I have to do this for Jangles, so here goes, although it will be short and sweet.
It is really stupid and hypocritical of the SPCA to call for farmers to put their animals on diets. After all it's not like the animals are subjected to a diet of McDonald's or curl up on the couch every night to watch Shortland St with a Pizza or Fish n' Chips now is it? No, they are out in the open, free to roam and wander at their leisure, and as Jangles says, they are already on a diet of greens for God's sake!!!!! The very same diet as what we are trying to get our own species to eat five times a day!!!! Well maybe not exactly the same but you know what I mean.
Apparently there is an abundance of pasture at the moment which is why the SPCA have called for the diet. So in times of drought what are they going to call for? A diet of lard and trans-fatty acids? I think not.
Well there you go Jimmy, have one on me.
Cheers
It is really stupid and hypocritical of the SPCA to call for farmers to put their animals on diets. After all it's not like the animals are subjected to a diet of McDonald's or curl up on the couch every night to watch Shortland St with a Pizza or Fish n' Chips now is it? No, they are out in the open, free to roam and wander at their leisure, and as Jangles says, they are already on a diet of greens for God's sake!!!!! The very same diet as what we are trying to get our own species to eat five times a day!!!! Well maybe not exactly the same but you know what I mean.
Apparently there is an abundance of pasture at the moment which is why the SPCA have called for the diet. So in times of drought what are they going to call for? A diet of lard and trans-fatty acids? I think not.
Well there you go Jimmy, have one on me.
Cheers
Friday, November 11, 2005
Happy birthday Levi
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Levi, happy birthday to you. Hip hip…
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Another Weekend
Friday
Few drinks after work then home and fell asleep on the couch.
Sat
Caught up with Ocker Yolanda, who is leaving the UK for good on Wednesday, and Rocky Moira and met some Brit friends of Yo’s. Went to Harrods and got Mum her birthday presents. Down to watch the fireworks at Battersea Park for Guy Fawkes, the 400th year anniversary. Probably the best fireworks display I’ve seen. To Nandos and ate then to Infernos and danced the night away to the likes of some modern stuff and then the classics like Bon Jovi, Gn’R, Aha, Van Halen etc etc, brought back fond memories of Barneys RIP. Watched a chick knock herself out cold on the stage after falling backwards off the dancing booth on to her head, but she was ok after five minutes, although she will definitely have a concussion. Home about 4.30am after waiting an hour for the bus, the verdict - a great night out and Infernos is not a bad place considering the £10 cover charge!!
Sun
Up early as Yo was off to York so got her sorted; mucked around; an afternoon nap. Cleaned the house, Pizza for tea with Gem. A really good weekend.
Few drinks after work then home and fell asleep on the couch.
Sat
Caught up with Ocker Yolanda, who is leaving the UK for good on Wednesday, and Rocky Moira and met some Brit friends of Yo’s. Went to Harrods and got Mum her birthday presents. Down to watch the fireworks at Battersea Park for Guy Fawkes, the 400th year anniversary. Probably the best fireworks display I’ve seen. To Nandos and ate then to Infernos and danced the night away to the likes of some modern stuff and then the classics like Bon Jovi, Gn’R, Aha, Van Halen etc etc, brought back fond memories of Barneys RIP. Watched a chick knock herself out cold on the stage after falling backwards off the dancing booth on to her head, but she was ok after five minutes, although she will definitely have a concussion. Home about 4.30am after waiting an hour for the bus, the verdict - a great night out and Infernos is not a bad place considering the £10 cover charge!!
Sun
Up early as Yo was off to York so got her sorted; mucked around; an afternoon nap. Cleaned the house, Pizza for tea with Gem. A really good weekend.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Major Discover Number 2
Ipods do not support Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, which are smaller than standard MP3 files but with superior quality. This is a great reason for not purchasing one.
A Major Discovery
Ordinary old hair conditioner is as good, if not better, than specialist shaving soap, gel, oil etc etc. I found this out in the shower this morning, and it was one of the smoothest shaves I’ve ever had. Spread the word.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
The Running Man
Just finished watching The Running Man on TV - great action movie and a social commentary to boot. Gotta love those 80’s outfits and hairstyles.
Street Etiquette
Don’t you just hate it when you’re walking along the street in busy pedestrian traffic and people are just so rude? They don’t move an inch to facilitate your getting past them!! I was walking down Oxford St (that of Monopoly fame) a little while back and was getting very riled up by the amount of people virtually walking straight into me. Now granted that London is a busy place (over three million people are moved on the underground every day - that’s 75% of NZ’s population!), however, I still don’t see the harm in someone meeting you half way by moving over a foot (see I’m in England now so I’m reverting back to imperial measures) to allow the passing of both parties in relative ease – I was pretty angry and someone was going to get a dropped shoulder before too long!! Come to think of it most people down Oxford St are probably tourists – bloody foreigners.
Anyway, so it reminded me of the Oxford St incident yesterday when I was walking to work in the rain and had my umbrella up along with 95% of everyone else. Now funnily enough I generally don’t have too many complaints about the footpath etiquette of the people around where I work, as I think we are all in the same boat and just want to get where we are going. However, on a wet day the footpath’s useable space is immediately halved by the multitude of people with opened umbrellas and life becomes a jungle again. You really have to keep your wits about you in order to avoid losing an eye to an oncoming umbrella. So as always I tried to think of how this could be avoided and came upon the idea of either 1) extendable footpaths (probably not that feasible) or 2) transparent elongated umbrellas. Then again I thought why doesn’t everyone just wear a coat?
Anyway, so it reminded me of the Oxford St incident yesterday when I was walking to work in the rain and had my umbrella up along with 95% of everyone else. Now funnily enough I generally don’t have too many complaints about the footpath etiquette of the people around where I work, as I think we are all in the same boat and just want to get where we are going. However, on a wet day the footpath’s useable space is immediately halved by the multitude of people with opened umbrellas and life becomes a jungle again. You really have to keep your wits about you in order to avoid losing an eye to an oncoming umbrella. So as always I tried to think of how this could be avoided and came upon the idea of either 1) extendable footpaths (probably not that feasible) or 2) transparent elongated umbrellas. Then again I thought why doesn’t everyone just wear a coat?
Friday, October 21, 2005
The Blog That Failed
So since my purchase of the Creative MP3 player I’ve been listening to a heap of music (mostly thanks to Levi). The majority is stuff that I am relatively familiar with, however, I’ve discovered a few new gems along the way. For example, I have a new found appreciation of Metallica who I’ve been a "passive" fan of for sometime now and saw in concert coming up a couple of years back. Now of course I’ve heard their albums from time to time but I’ve never really listened to them. However, having played Ride The Lightening, And Justice For All, Metallica (aka The Black Album), Load, and Reload for the past couple of weeks or so, I have come to the conclusions that:
It is also very interesting hearing the progression over the years from the early thrash metal of the first four albums (these don't sound nearly so "alternative" today as they did back in the 80's which illustrates the huge part that they, along with certain other bands, played in bringing heavy music into the mainstream, which in turn makes it easy to forget how groundbreaking it was at the time) to the classic rock sound of Load and Reload, which are both absolutely superb albums (although the hardcore fans may disagree).
The other thing with listening to music through headphones constantly is that, (besides probably contributing to speeding up my hearing loss) you hear all sorts of things that you normally miss by just listening to a stereo. The subtle vocal, bass, guitar, drum – whatever, lines that are “hidden” away low in the mix are brought out and add that little bit extra to songs that often you have been listening to for years without noticing. The production is also highlighted as the stereo effect is brought to life by our binaural senses.
Anyway so what’s my point? Well, it's that you can see things in a totally different light by changing the way you do something, it’s like an old painting in a new frame.
1. they are up there with the great bands - some of the compositions and performances are just brilliant and they have a total synergy going on
2. I have greatly underestimated Kirk Hammett’s abilities as a lead guitarist (I think this is mostly due to his very average tone, although this has improved with the albums). Some of his work is fantastic – The Call Of Klutu and the absolutely gorgeous harmonised solo on My Friend of Misery to name but two.It is also very interesting hearing the progression over the years from the early thrash metal of the first four albums (these don't sound nearly so "alternative" today as they did back in the 80's which illustrates the huge part that they, along with certain other bands, played in bringing heavy music into the mainstream, which in turn makes it easy to forget how groundbreaking it was at the time) to the classic rock sound of Load and Reload, which are both absolutely superb albums (although the hardcore fans may disagree).
The other thing with listening to music through headphones constantly is that, (besides probably contributing to speeding up my hearing loss) you hear all sorts of things that you normally miss by just listening to a stereo. The subtle vocal, bass, guitar, drum – whatever, lines that are “hidden” away low in the mix are brought out and add that little bit extra to songs that often you have been listening to for years without noticing. The production is also highlighted as the stereo effect is brought to life by our binaural senses.
Anyway so what’s my point? Well, it's that you can see things in a totally different light by changing the way you do something, it’s like an old painting in a new frame.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Another Weekend
Out after work on Friday with work people to Agenda – good night. Chicken soup for dinner when I got home courtesy of Gem. Spent the night on the couch.
Quiet day in on Saturday until Gem, her friend and I went to an engagement party at Brogans in Fulham. Few drinks, but not a very exciting night.
Up early to watch the 19th and final race of the 2005 Formula One Grand Prix, good race – I’ll blog more on this later. Back to bed for a cat nap then organised tickets for Bon Jovi with a couple of friends for June next year. The Wembley Stadium general admission tickets had sold out so we opted for the Southampton gig.
Down to the Boathouse to meet the ex-flatmate who’s back in town from Brazil for a day or two on route back to Oz, meet some more new people and had a good time, was there a number of hours. Then boring stuff like grocery shopping on the way home and that was another weekend gone just like that.
Quiet day in on Saturday until Gem, her friend and I went to an engagement party at Brogans in Fulham. Few drinks, but not a very exciting night.
Up early to watch the 19th and final race of the 2005 Formula One Grand Prix, good race – I’ll blog more on this later. Back to bed for a cat nap then organised tickets for Bon Jovi with a couple of friends for June next year. The Wembley Stadium general admission tickets had sold out so we opted for the Southampton gig.
Down to the Boathouse to meet the ex-flatmate who’s back in town from Brazil for a day or two on route back to Oz, meet some more new people and had a good time, was there a number of hours. Then boring stuff like grocery shopping on the way home and that was another weekend gone just like that.
Quote of the Day
This is just classic!
Robbie Williams "I am the only man who can say he's been in Take That and at least two members of the Spice Girls"
Robbie Williams "I am the only man who can say he's been in Take That and at least two members of the Spice Girls"
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The Weekend That Was
Met up after work on Friday night with some friends and some of their friends and so on – all in all a group of about 20 of us, and we did a Jack the Ripper guided tour walk, which was very cool and interesting. We found out quite a bit more about London both now and then – three million people inhabited the one square mile that is the City of London in 1888 - the year of the killings, as opposed to the ten thousand that live there now. The last part of the tour where we ended up would have been almost as it was back in 1888 with the cobbled streets and gas street lights etc. All this for only £5.
We finished the tour close to Brick Lane so about half the group went for that great ‘traditional’ English meal – the curry, which Brick Lane is famous for. We negotiated a 30% discount and free round of drinks, and had a few good laughs Left about 11.30pm and headed home, got home about 1am and had a phone call from Nona back home.
Saturday.
Met a couple of friends and went shopping for costumes for the British themed party tonight, scored an inflatable Big Ben as my costume while the others got theirs. Had Maccas for lunch and went to the scene of the party. Got the essentials i.e. beer and the party kicked off later that night. A great time was had by all, I only wish I had a pound for every time my Big Ben got squeezed. Stayed the night there on the couch – finally to sleep about 4am.
Sunday:
Bacon and eggs for breakfast from the very accommodating hosts and then watched a bit of the cricket - Aussie v The World X1, the third one dayer from Melbourne - Aussie absolutely kicked ass and won by 157 runs.
Hung around for the A1 Grand Prix from Germany, the Kiwi team did well again and came fourth in both races and are now tied for second with France in the overall competition, only one point behind Brazil, good stuff lads.
Headed home, grabbed some essential groceries on the way. Caught up with a couple of the flatties, watched an episode of that classic show Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em, which I haven’t seen for years, crashed out for a couple of hours from exhaustion. Watched Cocktail and then the F1 highlights – great race. Ahhh what an awesome weekend and now it’s back to work to recover.
We finished the tour close to Brick Lane so about half the group went for that great ‘traditional’ English meal – the curry, which Brick Lane is famous for. We negotiated a 30% discount and free round of drinks, and had a few good laughs Left about 11.30pm and headed home, got home about 1am and had a phone call from Nona back home.
Saturday.
Met a couple of friends and went shopping for costumes for the British themed party tonight, scored an inflatable Big Ben as my costume while the others got theirs. Had Maccas for lunch and went to the scene of the party. Got the essentials i.e. beer and the party kicked off later that night. A great time was had by all, I only wish I had a pound for every time my Big Ben got squeezed. Stayed the night there on the couch – finally to sleep about 4am.
Sunday:
Bacon and eggs for breakfast from the very accommodating hosts and then watched a bit of the cricket - Aussie v The World X1, the third one dayer from Melbourne - Aussie absolutely kicked ass and won by 157 runs.
Hung around for the A1 Grand Prix from Germany, the Kiwi team did well again and came fourth in both races and are now tied for second with France in the overall competition, only one point behind Brazil, good stuff lads.
Headed home, grabbed some essential groceries on the way. Caught up with a couple of the flatties, watched an episode of that classic show Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em, which I haven’t seen for years, crashed out for a couple of hours from exhaustion. Watched Cocktail and then the F1 highlights – great race. Ahhh what an awesome weekend and now it’s back to work to recover.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Jimmy Jangles Will be Jealous Not Jovi-al
Bon Jovi are booked to open the re-built Wembley Stadium next year http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4296786.stm, I am so there, yes on my steel horse I'll ride. Jealous Jimmy Jangles? http://www.jimmyjangles.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 30, 2005
Damn It!!
Don't you just hate it when you leave the house on the way to work and forget to take your sounds with you!! This is exactly what I did this morning, leaving my new Creative 1gb MP3 player (by the way these are really great, I'd totally recommend them to anyone thinking of buying a smallish MP3 player and I'm glad I didn't get the iPod Nano considering the screen problems that they are having) sitting on the dresser, so instead of being treated to the sweet, soulful melodies of Metallica, Black Label Society or The Datsuns etc I was subjected to the low frequency rumbles and onomatopoeic 'clack' of the train track
Thankfully the carriage I got into was rather full, now normally I would be complaining about this sort of thing, as I hate being squished up against some overweight oaf smelling of B.O. However, the Gods were smiling on me this morning as I had the fortune of being squished (well standing at close proximity really) next to a rather pretty lass, for the duration of the journey. We shall see how the Gods treat me on the return journey home this evening.
The moral of the story: maybe I should forget my sounds more often.
Thankfully the carriage I got into was rather full, now normally I would be complaining about this sort of thing, as I hate being squished up against some overweight oaf smelling of B.O. However, the Gods were smiling on me this morning as I had the fortune of being squished (well standing at close proximity really) next to a rather pretty lass, for the duration of the journey. We shall see how the Gods treat me on the return journey home this evening.
The moral of the story: maybe I should forget my sounds more often.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Out On The Tiles
So I had my first proper night out in ol’ blighty last Friday. Had a couple of drinks after work and then proceeded home, I just love how (they have toilets on the trains over here). Got home and the flattie (we shall call her Gem – not her real name) asks if I want to come down to the Slug and Lettuce for a few drinks with some of her friends. Now, money is tight at the mo’ so I said ok, but I don’t want a big one as I can’t really afford it and I’m also going to the first ever A1 Grand Prix qualifying day tomorrow, so I put £10 in my pocket and do the unthinkable and leave all my cards at home!!.
So anyway we trundle down to Putney High St and have a couple of pints while waiting for Gem’s friends who duly turn up. Drinking, chatting, laughing etc etc until closing time 11pm - I still can’t get used to this un-Godly early hour.
So then someone suggests going round to The Fez bar and carrying on (the pubs close at 11pm but the clubs stay open much longer), so we roll on round there and I almost didn’t make it in as there’s an £8 cover charge and of course I don’t have enough cash or anyway of getting any. Luckily one of the group lends me a tenner and I’m in.
Now I didn’t even know that any clubs existed in Putney so I’m just amazed as we head down underground and this huge expanse confronts me with light-up dance floor and all (about ten times as big as the one they had at Barneys). Next things there’s a drink in my hand and there’s dancing to be had.
An couple of hours of this and a few more drinks in my hand (though not out of my pocket) and we’ve had enough, so we head out for takeaways and then Gem, her friend and I are off home – so much for my quiet night. We’re all a little bit tipsy and my frozen pizza in the freezer sounds like a good idea, although then the chips that we’ve had kick in, and we flag the pizza idea., probably a good thing – “don’t drink and fry”.
Anyway that was my Friday night, don’t you just love those off-the-cuff nights that turn out great?
So anyway we trundle down to Putney High St and have a couple of pints while waiting for Gem’s friends who duly turn up. Drinking, chatting, laughing etc etc until closing time 11pm - I still can’t get used to this un-Godly early hour.
So then someone suggests going round to The Fez bar and carrying on (the pubs close at 11pm but the clubs stay open much longer), so we roll on round there and I almost didn’t make it in as there’s an £8 cover charge and of course I don’t have enough cash or anyway of getting any. Luckily one of the group lends me a tenner and I’m in.
Now I didn’t even know that any clubs existed in Putney so I’m just amazed as we head down underground and this huge expanse confronts me with light-up dance floor and all (about ten times as big as the one they had at Barneys). Next things there’s a drink in my hand and there’s dancing to be had.
An couple of hours of this and a few more drinks in my hand (though not out of my pocket) and we’ve had enough, so we head out for takeaways and then Gem, her friend and I are off home – so much for my quiet night. We’re all a little bit tipsy and my frozen pizza in the freezer sounds like a good idea, although then the chips that we’ve had kick in, and we flag the pizza idea., probably a good thing – “don’t drink and fry”.
Anyway that was my Friday night, don’t you just love those off-the-cuff nights that turn out great?
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