Consider this my Glamour Chase, except minus the anticipation or Empires Of Your Heart

[alexsarll]

If not quite my new hero then certainly my new person reminiscent of Heroes, specifically Micah: Adam Dabrowski, who took control of the Lodz tram network with a remote control.

I didn't have terribly high hopes for Thursday night; as much as I love The Indelicates, likely gigging companions were being a bunch of straightlords and staying in, and I was starting to sympathise with them as my energy faded with the day. Still, what the Hell, give it a try, right? So I headed to the Regency to fuel up - and who should I find there but a couple of Pembroke friends, with whom I could then have a pint, filling that awkward support band gap between hometime and showtime. And then from there, down to the show (where being the Windmill, I was of course far too early, but I can never take the risk that this once they'll be running promptly) where again I bump into people I know - one I've known for ages but whom I now consider more part of charleston's cast, and one via emofringe. I love London's eddies, the way the flow can always be guaranteed to bring someone along. Even if it is interesting to notice the different ecologies it sustains - I know some people were put off this particular Indelicates show by the Metro recommendation (which didn't seem to have had all that much impact), where of course to some people (and some bands) that would be a deal-maker, not breaker. I understood more about this for a moment, at the show, but only as the sort of evanescent epiphany which, written down, could only ever be a "the smell of petroleum prevails throughout".
The Indelicates were of course excellent, as ever (next single 'America' deserves to make them huge, though if it does it will mainly do so with people who miss the point), and top support Restlesslist (I think?) weren't bad either; as with most instrumental bands, I would rather they played in a greasy spoon, but the use of inflatable elephants as percussion instruments is always to be encouraged.

I was pointed at an interesting but flawed article on music in The Wire (can you spot the generalisation/mistake he makes?), but within it is contained a link to a David Simon interview which all Wire fans should read. Spoiler-free, too, thank heavens - I'm only three episodes into the fourth season myself. I'm resisting the urge to quote as best I can, because it would soon turn into a repost of the whole damn article, but I found his comments on why the show owes more to the Greeks than Shakespearea particularly resonant. Ditto his thoughts on making "the world we are depicting that much more improbable and idiosyncratic and, therefore, more credible", and the mantra "fvck the average reader". Oh, sod it - one more:
"In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed."*
(The interview was conducted by Nick Hornby, of all people. The tragedy is that once he gets outside his lucrative middlebrow comfort zone, he's really not bad - he wrote a horror/SF piece for the McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales which I found properly chilling)

One of the better blogs I've seen on the Guardian site lately: Richard Smith, whose Seduced & Abandoned is one of the few journalism collections which comes close to working as a book, considers the decline of gay clubbing, or at least of a certain generation of gay clubs.

*It is not only America which has no place for heroes, of course. Consider the volunteer cliff rescue coastguard who breached health and safety rules in the course of saving a teenage girl's life; dressed down for this appallingly maverick behaviour, he has now resigned.

Comments

[moleintheground.livejournal.com]

The Greek analogy was the thing that stood out for me too. It made me think that I like how the Wire doesn't use big personalities to convince you of the value of what it's saying. It just tells the story. Tremendous interview throughout really, although Hornby doesn't have to do much. Wind Simon up and watch his massive brain go.

[moleintheground.livejournal.com]

Oh, and that decline of gay clubbing thing - I think with Facebook being around, people can be more confident of smaller clubs not being empty - you can see that at least 20-30 people will be there, so you don't need to subject yourself to a giant mass of humans, and the inevitable setlist narrowing populism required to keep them all entertained.

By the way, I'm about seven episodes into Galactica - will they give away a decent amount of info about what the Cylons are up to, or is it fucking Lost in space? (Not Lost In Space, like.)

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen enough interviewers who actively (though presumably unwittingly) get in their subjects' way that even that strikes me as skill of a sort.

I have noticed the past few times I've been to Popstarz that the setlist is incredibly predictable, and a few of the most obvious tracks will even get multiple plays in the same room on the same evening. Which, yes, I'm sure some people like, but as you say, now people know Other Club Nights Are Available, and they're not going to be stood in the corner of an empty room, it's no wonder if they're voting with their feet. Thank heavens for the web making it easier to build communities of interest, eh?

Galactica: I'm at the end of the second season and the Cylon plan is...clearer, I think, but not yet clear. Thing is, Lost (and before it X-Files) were pretty much all about The Mystery. Whereas Galactica or even Primeval, they *have* a mystery, but only as one thread of the tapestry. Which means that they don't need to keep emphasising 'ooooh, whatever could this mean?', and we have something else to keep us watching apart from expecting answers we'll likely never get. Plus, Galactica know their fourth season is the last, so - assuming the strike doesn't permanently stall them - they want to wrap it all up properly.