Whatever Happened To The Mother Black Cap?

[alexsarll]

I've learned my lesson when it comes to talking online about pubs I hope to use regularly (curse you, Neil Morrissey!) but since I'm not in West London very often, I have no hesitation in making this recommendation to those who are. The Pelican, near Portobello Road, loses points for a lack of draught cider, but since all the drinks seem to be the same price anyway, I object less to Bulmers. Good decor, properly twilit like an old-style pub but not scuzzy. Not bad music, except for the reggae. But here's the clincher - Thursday, from 6pm to 9pm, you order your drinks and then roll two dice. The bar also rolls two dice. You roll higher - your drinks are free. You don't - you just pay what you would have anyway. Obviously the gamer in me thinks that this lacks nuance - double 6 should be a critical hit, where you also get champagne, while on a double 1 you have critically failed, pay double and get punched in the face. But hey, it's their business. And I did see three double 1s rolled by punters, once twice by the same guy, so I can see how that might lose custom.
Portobello Road, though - that was one of the first London locations etched in my mind ("street where the riches of ages are sold"), and it looks to be dying on its arse. Half the shops are shut and look like that's long-term, and the rest were short on customers. Really took me aback. As did the 'coming attractions' signboard still up on the Astoria, and the realisation that Don Draper is only 35. Meaning that in the first series of Mad Men, set 18 months earlier, he was presumably 33. He can't only be two years older than me, he's a grown-up!

The first issue of Neil Gaiman's Batman story...maybe it was just because I read it drunk, but I have no idea where he's going with this. It is nonetheless brilliant, and coming so hot on the heels of Grant Morrison's third definitive take on the character, that's impressive. In other comics news, Kieron Gillen's Sabretooth one-shot is probably not essential reading for all Phonogram fans, but is pretty good, and the new issue of Captain Britain has DRACULA MEETING DOCTOR DOOM ON THE MOON. I love comics.

Comments

Shameful confession

[despina.livejournal.com]

I like reggae.

That pub sounds pefect.

Re: Shameful confession

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I like ska, and even a bit of dub, but as soon as anyone mentions Jah or Zion, I'm out.

Re: Shameful confession

[despina.livejournal.com]

I was shocked and alarmed at how happy I was at the world music stage my first Glastonbury (I had previously been a Ministry/Pantera/Skinny Puppy etc metal fan only).

I feel I have a more balanced outlook now and credit reggae.

Re: Shameful confession

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

How curious - having heard no mention of Pantera, ooh, probably since Dimebag Darrell died, that's the second time their name has cropped up this week - and the first was in a Doctor Who comic.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

i think those shops might be weekends only, perhaps just when the market's on. i know i've seen them open recently.

i'm in a bad way today.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think I did right to bow out when I did. It still took me a fair while to wake up.

Some of them looked closed down rather than closed, but I guess they might store all the antiques out back for security's sake.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Don Draper says he is 35. That doesn't mean that Don Draper is 35 though.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

GPWM, especially given he was lying about all that other stuff. But still, he's probably in the same decade as me. That's weird.

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

That pub sounds excellent!

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

But: Do they have a jukebox for reggae-cancelling purposes?

[icecoldinalex.livejournal.com]

yup. Smiths, Blur... other usual Indie suspects. It's gooood!

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

O I C. Jolly good!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

And the Clash, because it is West London, after all.

[azureskies.livejournal.com]

It was damn good week for comics, actually. The three you mention were the standouts, but there was also the better-than-issue-one Incognito #2, and not one, not two, but THREE decent things from the increasingly-surprising Peter J. Tomasi : Outsiders, while otherwise concerned with characters I care nothing about, had four lovely pages of "dealing with the aftermath of the Bat-death" that, in focusing on Alfred (and nicking wholesale from "Have a good life, Rose"), was better than either the Dini or O'Neill follow-ups; Nightwing did much the same, and he's pulled Green Lantern Corps back on its rather-good track, briefly, in the pause between inevitable Geoff Johns crossovers.

I mean, it was also a week that had Titans in it, but you can't have everything.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

My other purchase was The Walking Dead, but at time of writing I hadn't been able to bring myself to read it, and as a rule I don't write much about that because what is there to say beyond 'Oh no, I can't take much more of this, it's all too harrowing'.

My general policy at the moment is to steer well clear of DCU stuff unless it's someone I trust absolutely, but I shall at least keep an eye out for these Tomasis should they turn up in the library, which a surprising amount of DC product still does, even baffling ones like Countdown to Adventure.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I was talking to augstone yesterday about how I feel pretty much the same with eg the Ramones (two songs), AC/DC (one album) and Motorhead (one song), while respecting the achievement of getting an entire career out of a template in that way.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Come on, you must surely know 'Ace of Spades'? Even the tiny children on Skins know that one!

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

The original version by Hawkwind is better than Motorhead's. Ace of Spades is overrated. Their cover of Stand by Your Man is great though.