And it's so sad that I'm so glad that you're so bad for me

[alexsarll]

Just as the Hammersmith Palais bows out, it is confirmed that the Spitz is also on the endangered list. I can just about accept the sacrifice of the Astoria to Crossrail, but all these others are being replaced with shops, offices and gastropubs - things of which I've never noticed any shortage in London.

Today's mind-bogglingly Wrong, I-really-hope-this-is-a-hoax website: Thank God I.... They believe that "by becoming grateful for EVERY experience in our lives we discover that we are in fact NOT victims of circumstance but beings worthy of love and a life filled with divine porpose & inspiration!" [sic. And if only they'd typo'd one further and said 'divine porpoise' eh?] Which is a stupid bloody idea, but one with some centuries of history; they've just managed to express it in an especially queasy form by coating it in modern self-help gloss and producing such charming images as this. They're looking for stories for various forthcoming titles, so do drop them a line if you'd like to see your contribution appear in such inspiring volumes as "Thank God I Was Incested", "Thank God I Have A Small Penis", "Thank God I Am Crippled", "Thank God I Am A Dwarf/Midget", "Thank God I Had A Miscarriage" and "Thank God My Pet Died".
(Of course, coming from a christian POV they do count as afflictions some things which others might not. I can imagine a few people I know might be able to offer entirely sincere contributions to "Thank God I Am Bi-Sexual")

If a German commemoration of the war dead in 1970 had seen a senior member of their government declare "The Sudetenland is German, it always was, it always will be," nobody would have found that remotely acceptable. So how come Argentina restating their claim on the Falklands in like terms is passing with so little comment?

Comments

[augstone.livejournal.com]

that website reminded me, do you know about this lifestyle side project?

[martylog.livejournal.com]

Oh my life, not The Spitz! I had my first ever rock-band appearance there with SW! I wanted to do an MFMO gig there - they've a grand piano!

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Seeing your entry title, I keep thinking of a song by Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Now I know your list of influences is not so much wide as gaping, but surely not?

I to9o remember the Spitz. I was at a gig there on St Pat's some years ago, and remember seeing Ballboy, Tompaulin, and some viciously loud bastards called (I think) Vermont, who prefaced their set with the words "This may hurt". What really hurt was trying to get home in the pouring rain at 2am, with the usual St Pat's crowd, having not got to bed till 4am the previous night.

Gosh, what a life...

[srk1.livejournal.com]

The Germans had a much stronger claim on the Sudetenland - which did at least have a permanent German population at one point - than the Argentinians had on the Falklands. The latter claim is entirely based on alleged geographical proximity (ie they're 300 miles from the Argentinian coast) and the fact that France established a settlement a year before Britain, and then transferred its territorial claim to Spain. There was an Argentinian settlement on Port Louis for a grand total of seven years before America kicked them out in a fishing dispute and Britain reasserted its (never relinquished) territorial claim.

It's just a silly thing the Argentinians won't get over, in the same way the Spanish won't get over Gibraltar.

[missfrost.livejournal.com]

I take it you are aware of Facebook-Barry and ignoring it?

For the record it took me one second to go Alex is on Facebook > hang on, since when does he call himself Barry? > spoof.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The Astoria is going to be shops/offices/gastropubs as well, dude. Just shops/offices/gastropubs that don't mind having a thundering railway beneath them. My guess is that it will lie empty for a couple of years.

oi

[ksta.livejournal.com]

pls see my recent lj post, if you get a mo. ta.

[johnnybrolly.livejournal.com]

The Spitz is one of the best venues in London. Merg!

There are some venues not currently being operated as venues proper...The Grand in Clapham is the only one I can think of a ce moment. The Kentish Town Forum - Does that have a different name these days, or has it been rubbed out completely?

There used to be three famous music pubs in Fulham. The King's Head, The Swan and The Golden Gloves. Now there are none.

If I was still in a band I'd be most depressed about all the venues closing.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

"Thank God I Am A Senior Citizen" - WTF? Is this really on a par with "Thank God I Was/Am A Battered Spouse"? Ageism is alive and well it seems.

Boo Spitz and Astoria and everywhere else closing down.