WIDATW

Dec. 19th, 2006 09:01 am
kneeshooter: (camera)
The weekend mostly sped past in a blur - in fact so much I ended up doing very little more yesterday than try and recover. Today will be better. Oh yes.

Friday was [livejournal.com profile] fishthecat's birthday do at Chez [livejournal.com profile] quondam. Much Micro Machines was played, there was much cursing of consoles and I was reminded how hilarious playing two-people-one-controller can be. A little booze passed my lips, but it only served to improve my game, honest.

Saturday I got the train to Sheffield for Batfink. This was at the kind invitation of The Way Of All Flesh. We'd hoped to spend a bit of time with my new lights and get some live shots. Alas the soundcheck wasn't quite as efficient as it could have been so we didn't have very much time. However some shots were grabbed of the band (plus [livejournal.com profile] paul_sticks who was DJing) and then I got to say a brief hello to [livejournal.com profile] gothgrr, [livejournal.com profile] ayrton_nix, [livejournal.com profile] sarcaustick, [livejournal.com profile] darkstones, [livejournal.com profile] toripink and [livejournal.com profile] thirstypixel; watched some bands and then hung around with [livejournal.com profile] ant_girl and [livejournal.com profile] grufti who kindly let me enjoy their new spare bed.

Batfink started well but never actually seemed to take off despite the early promise. It seemed reasonably healthy but not especially vibrant. Of the bands, 3ulogy had a little bit of promise but aren't there yet; TWOAF I enjoyed - a little old school for my current taste but they seemed to be enjoying themselves (unlike 3ulogy who were trying very hard to be angry); Rome Burns I've not seen before and I'd make the same comments as for TWOAF; Voices of Masada I've seen a number of times and while the confidence and production are improving they're not really my thing. Maybe ten years ago...

What was disappointing was the size of the crowds for the bands. It seemed to me that each band was mostly just watched by "their friends" who then didn't stay for the others. Obviously I can understand the importance of seeing your friends and offering them support but a generally healthy, vibrant scene it does not make.

Sunday morning I didn't see my hosts as I dashed to Leeds station; took a particularly slow train back to Birmingham; charged my camera batteries then got back on a slow train - this time to London for NMA. It's been a while since I saw them and Justin now has the most ill-advised haircut I've seen him with (but then he is 50 so deserves some latitude). I caught the end of the support (Dave Blomberg's current band - Nozzle) who were quite impressive.

I can't remember much about NMA themselves - it was good; probably not the best I've seen them, but that might have been because I was absolutely shattered. Needless to say I have plenty of pictures of varying quality and will put some up at some point. An early finish meant I was on the 22:56 from Euston, so to bed at a healthy 2am...

I'm not sure I'll be able to do that kind of thing when I'm working in Nottingham - another unforseen cost.

Anyway - some pictures...

Photos )
kneeshooter: (avatar)
Friday night was The Levellers. Wow. It was like being 19 again. Although I've seen them doing a "seated acoustic gig" in the last couple of years I've not seen a full show since 1993 in Portsmouth - actually might have been the second gig I ever went to (first was Fat Bob on the Cure's Wish tour). Looking at the Lev's discography they've been releasing steadily since they got together, but the gig concentrated on the catchy tunes - there was a lot of Levellers and Levelling the Land. But they pulled it off without sounding like a "Shit, we've run out of money! Best tour again!" gig.

Which reminds me, I must sort out if I'm going to try and do NMA next Sunday in London (after doing Batfink on Saturday).

Saturday I managed a little cycle without falling off and eventually headed into town for not-Goth Shite. Despite a slow start I had a jolly good night - though after getting a little tipsy I feel I must apologise to a number of people... [livejournal.com profile] nearly_everyone was out, there was a little dancing, a little bitching, a little conversation and some other things I don't quite know how to describe.

My alcohol tolerance must be at rock bottom though, I had ~at most~ two glasses of wine and a White Russian and felt like I'd had two or three times that. Oh well... maybe I'm getting old.

Sunday I managed to rouse myself and get into Birmingham for the local Flickrmeet. It was alas a little bit of a washout - but five of us headed to BMAG for a wander around. There was some excellent modern Islamic art by Mohsen Keiany (website is www.mohsenkeiany.com but does not do the work justice), an impressive bronze Lucifer and I caught myself actually liking some of the Pre-Raphaelite draft sketches. Most surprising - I suspect it's partly the influence of artw*nk and my newfound appreciation for the narrative of creating art. The etchings room wasn't as good as it was last time though, so I lasted about an hour before heading off to Tescos. I declined to shoot after reading the photography agreement. Draconian is an understatement so I have sent some emails offering to help rewrite already!

Torchwood yesterday was ok - a slow burn like Galactica last week. This week's BSG was not so good - a bit SFX heavy I felt; but [livejournal.com profile] mr_cook (damn him!) has gotten me addicted to Heroes.

Some pictures of Rotersand and The Levellers to come...

I'm also still not sleeping very well. Too many dreams.
kneeshooter: (camera)
Actually, I think they've all put themselves back after an initial enthusiasm for running over the boy-rat's cage attempting to have ratty-sex through the bars.

So, I'm going to attempt to the Dear Diary crap late at night when no-one is up to read it - on the basis I'll then feel less guilty about trying to say something of more substance.

Crap )

Now, I should drag myself away from 24 Hour Party People and go to bed. I hope I am more interesting in the morning.

In the meantime, here's some pictures of VNV Nation.

VNV Nation VNV Nation
VNV Nation VNV Nation
VNV Nation, Sheffield, November 2005

I seem to have failed to get to NMA tonight - oh well - had a lovely curry instead :-)
kneeshooter: (Default)
Today was the last part of my OU course - an exam. This isn't itself scary - after all I have crammed extensively and don't even suffer from flashbacks at going back to the-place-where-I-had-my-finals - but by golly my hand hurts after three hours of writing with a pen. Actually, I'm not sure writing is a correct term for the barely legible scrawl which left the end of my biro. I think, at least for me, the days of being able to function in that kind of high pressure, written word, WITH PEN environment are over.

This morning before the exam my mind was jumping all over the place. When the new Depeche Mode album arrived (part of my monthly direct debit to Music Non Stop) I was reminded I've got a ticket for their Birmingham gig next year - followed by the realisation I had no idea where the ticket was. So first I emailled the NEC to say "have the tickets been sent out?". "Yes" they said. "Arse" I said (privately - my arse is mostly my own). So I thought, I'll have to turn the place upside down, and then put it for safe-keeping in my "box of safe-keeping" - this one here, by the PC, with the Depeche Mode ticket for next year in it...

Whitby approaches at a pace. I've nothing to wear - so it's the same old shit then. I do have to sort who I'm sharing a room with and how I'm getting there. It will also be a chance to catch up with people of course and I must get some technique tips from [livejournal.com profile] littlelightbulb as it looks like I'll be impersonating her on [livejournal.com profile] blankinfinity's guest list the following week at the DeathBoy gig at Edwards. Any initial pointers?

The other excitement from MNS has been Advanced Electronics, Vol 4 which has enough remixed dark-electro-futurefluff to keep me going for weeks. Highlight so far has to be the Soman remix (or should that be RMX?) of Chrome. I, unlike most VNV fans, like Chrome, but this version is a bit pacier and generally an improvement so expect to hear it the next time anyone is stupid enough to let me DJ anywhere.

NMA tomorrow night and in a change with recent tradition I'm not taking a camera - instead it'll be a spare t-shirt and perhaps a spare pair of glasses for when mine get knocked off and crushed in the mosh. The BBC has done me proud though and put up three gigs recently, with Goldie Lookin' Chain coming soon. Links below:

And now - I'm a bit drunk. This is exciting for me - but I appreciate might be of limited interest to the rest of you. Bed soon, perhaps with another page or two of The System of the World, which is about as much as I can take at one sitting.

Wey-Hey!

Jun. 30th, 2005 08:14 am
kneeshooter: (Default)
When the following day has a lot of rushing around in it I tend to find that I overcompensate and wake up extraordinarily early - confusing me and ensuring that I'm even less able to deal with the day.

This is, I suspect why I woke up at 6am this morning, rather than 6:30 when I intended, after having had a lucid dream about being stuck in a lecture, unable to escape.

So, there was only one thing for it - bounce up, bounce out (which I find very hard to do without a shower), and get to the gym. While I might crow about it on LJ I don't actually think there's any danger of me becoming a real gym bunny - and losing my current "slightly overindulged" figure - it's actually quite good fun, and energising. This morning musical assistance was Prodigy, Das Ich, New Model Army and Coil, though being fearful for my safety I unplugged for the cycle home.

Today I shall mostly be running from meeting to meeting, and this evening I'm considering a visit to [livejournal.com profile] reverend2001's party - assuming I can scrape together a costume and sufficient volumes of "Avast Me Hearties".

Oh, and going back WIDATW - I can't remember if I mentioned what jolly fun the not-Aftershow Party was - nice to see [livejournal.com profile] davefish, [livejournal.com profile] keris and [livejournal.com profile] toripink as well as the local crowd.
kneeshooter: (camera)
I use online banking, so the idea of a Bank Holiday is slightly removed from my reality, but that's probably all for the best.

So, where was I... Read more... )

February 2012

S M T W T F S
   123 4
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829   

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 01:21 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios