alexsarll: (bernard)
[personal profile] alexsarll
Had one of my occasional weekends at places outside the usual orbit - gay pop night Duckie on the Saturday, country at Come Down And Meet The Folks on Sunday. The former would be in my usual orbit if only it were as easy getting back from Vauxhall as it is getting down there; I can't recall the last time I went to a club and they didn't play a single dud song. The same cannot altogether be said of Come Down..., but they did adopt one innovation which would be welcome at other gigs: the opening acts do two songs each. Enough to whet the appetite, not enough to bore anyone. I've seen so many support acts who'd have benefitted from being restricted to that sort of teaser.
I did two numbers myself at Bingo Master's Breakout a couple of weeks back, covering GK Chesterton and Alphaville (and even my apophenia struggles to divine a common thread between those two). Ciccone were there as part of their comeback tour; one of the first bands I ever saw in London, quite by chance, long before I could know I'd end up knowing them, walking the other Parkland Walk with one of the core personnel. It all knits together, one way or another. The other show was at the Windmill, whose gents' is not exactly salubrious, but at least no longer reeks of piss. Likewise, returning to the Rhythm Factory for the first time in a decade or thereabouts, I was pleased to find it no longer full of bad drugs (even if they had been replaced by furries and steampunks; nowhere's perfect). These small tidyings-up, I can forgive; I'm not against all renovation, even all gentrification, but when a once-welcoming boozer like the Noble ends up looking like the departure lounge at a shit airport, something's awry. I try not to worry about London, knowing that every generation is convinced it lives at the end of an era - but sometimes, even knowing that, it's hard to resist.

What else? James Ward, formerly of this parish, seems to be attaining mild celebrity with his Adventures in Stationery; I went to the launch, where he was interviewed by fellow ex-LJ star Rhodri, and it ended up altogether too much fun for a Monday. John Watterson aka Fake Thackray is another for the list of tribute acts I've caught lately, though readier than most to play the hits, in so far as Jake Thackray had hits. The X-Wing habit is proving hard to kick, even if my results remain patchy. [livejournal.com profile] tigerpig returned to the other side of the world, her passing marked by events including a noise gig which, perhaps down to the occasion, managed to fit a surprising amount of feeling in amongst those dissonant frequencies. Albeit not quite so emotional a show as Martin Newell's Golden Afternoon; Gershwin's 'Summertime' is one of the first songs I remember, one of the first things to make me feel melancholy, long before I knew the word 'melancholy'. Combine that with Newell's natural affinity for the moment where summer's waving goodbye, turn it into a duet with Lorraine Bowen on that most poignant of days, Sunday...yes. Bless the mad old bastard.

Date: 2014-10-15 07:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fivelongdays.livejournal.com

Is that the artist formerly known as Wardytron?  I gatecrashed his birthday do back in 2005. He didn't seem to mind, or at least was far too polite to object. Came across as a lovely sort of chap. I've wurbled for too long now...

Date: 2014-10-15 07:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Younger brother thereof. My parents seem prone to the same mix-up, but I suppose they are both fairly ridiculous in not wholly dissimilar ways.

Date: 2014-10-15 09:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-newham.livejournal.com
Hello, you were in my dream last night! We both attended a theatrical version of 'Five Children And It' in Finsbury Park and it was so bad that I had to confess to you that I hadn't understood a word of it. You were also fairly unimpressed.

Date: 2014-10-16 06:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Based on the newish local theatre's work to date, I can all too easily believe that they'd muck up Nesbit.

Date: 2014-10-18 12:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
A prescient dream, perhaps - seems questionable adaptations of that very work are in the air: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/18/five-children-western-front-kate-saunders-review

Date: 2014-10-15 10:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fivelongdays.livejournal.com

Ah, that's fair enough - he certainly writes like him. If I am allowed to ask such things,  (a) what was Wardytron's actual first name (because I'm trying to remember and failing miserably) and (b) what's he up to these days?

Date: 2014-10-15 10:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dawnage.livejournal.com
Ha, I can tell you these things too! Did you know? Didn't know you knew Sarll either...

Date: 2014-10-16 06:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
a) Andrew and b) mainly drinking and reading Kingsley Amis, so far as I can make out. Which sounds like a good plan to me.

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