Germs And Gaucho's
July 31, 2007
 If it's not rain it's germs. The weekend before last I missed the Hoxton Whores [for the second time in as many months] due some nasty gastric flu nonsense. I tried to put a brave face on it for a BBQ at the Happy Valley Country Club the next day, but had to bail out after 2 beers and a sausage.
All seemed back to normal on Sunday and we managed to get expensively pissed in the Rosendale. Normality lasted until Thursday for the Scissor Sisters at the O2. The gig was so much better than I had expected. And I had high expectations. I thought the band would be pretty tight but I didn't expect them to rock so much! There were the expected levels of disco glam as well of course and the stage show was awesome [see the laser frenzy of "Comfortably Numb" above]. Apart from a couple of lacklustre ballads it was non-stop party music all the way. We missed the support act as we were still wandering around taking in the gaudiness of the Dome's "Mall" effect and trying to find somewhere, with enough bar staff to ward off the queues, for a drink. I think we settled on Iguana's or something in the end.
We managed to spot a bar still open afterwards as well... and sunk a couple more while the majority of folk fought over the tubes. Unfortunately we left it a bit too late and missed the last Westbound Jubilee line train. But all was not lost as we caught the 1.00am Thames Clipper and whizzed down the Thames with mini bottles of wine admiring the lights of Canary Wharf. We had intended to get the Clipper to the gig but all attempts were thwarted by trying to book online. Sort it out!
Had a bit of a relapse Friday night at Jnr's Jamm. I assumed I had a hangover from the gig the previous night but maybe not... Nice to see Junior again though and there was a great vibe in the club but I was visiting the toilet so often I suspected I'd get followed by suspicious staff after a while! So we went back to Kev and Karol's and managed to butch it out until 8.00am, walked home for a quick nap and met up again in the Railway at 3.00pm for Bloody Mary's.
At 7.00pm we were back in Docklands to meet Carol and Mike at Gaucho. Five hours later we staggered out into the rain. It was a great night out but Gaucho didn't quite live up to my expectations. My rump steak was very good but nobody else's was quite what they had ordered. The sides were good though and the wine was excellent. All Argentinian, as was the meat of course. I suspect we may have drunk far more than we ate. We got the Jubilee line OK this time but had to cab it back from London Bridge. Oddly enough we didn't even leave the house on Sunday!
So here I am, a couple of days later with a hacking cough, sore throat, sneezing and constantly blowing my nose and I've finally succumbed to FaceBook. Lord help me!
Categories: Music, London, Food & Drink
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Urban Communications
July 22, 2007
 Just testing blogging from my mobile...
Well, that works OK. Can't send images though, which is a pity. Just trying to get Twitter to work from my phone as well now. Thought I could compose Twitter Haiku's if I'm bored on a train or something! The text replies suggested that it was set up, but I sent a test message and nothing has appeared yet.
Left: Blue Pylons by Suzanne Chalke - Buy Yours here
Took advantage of the rare bit of sunshine and wandered down to the 2007 Urban Art Fair. A lot of the same artists and pictures from last year but a few new faces too if I'm not mistaken. Not sure if I'd see and/or mentioned Trudie Moore before. Nor Oliver Shaw or Suzanne Chalke. Sara Sherwood just made me jealous by dividing her time between painting in Greece and selling in London. Nice work if you can get it. Although saying that, it was her cityscapes that caught my eye.
We broke the walk, up and down Josephine Avenue, up with lunch at the White Horse. Steak, horseradish and rocket ciabatta and tomato, and mozzarella risotto balls with pesto. Sam had a great Bloody Mary as well. I was a bit wary of anything alcoholic as I'd just spent two feverish days with a nasty little virus that popped out of nowhere.
Of course that all went by the by when we met up with Kev & Karol at the newly revamped Rosendale... Where we got pleasantly pissed before going home for a Fujiyama takeaway, watched Sideways [again] and I watched Victim. A 1961 Dirk Bogarde movie that is credited with helping to decriminalize homosexuality in Britain. It looks dated now, but must have caused a stir at the time... and 1961 isn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things. I can't believe I'd never seen it before.
Phone posts don't automatically add categories!
Categories: Art, London, Movies, Blogging, Food & Drink
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Tides And Clouds
July 09, 2007
 Went to see Tide this evening. A nicely put together exhibition of works by Jo Lewis at the Sun & Doves. Along with Jo's watercolours, which are created using the ebb and flow of the tide [The Thames in this instance] , were some colourful mounted pebbles, called "Rock Pools" and a few explanatory haikus. See one of them below.
Blackfriars Beach by Jo Lewis - ink on paper
Jo's work can be bought via LondonArt.co.uk. You'll have to hurry if you want to catch the exhibition though as it ends on July 15th. Had a bloody good Steak & Guinness pie at the Sun & Doves as well!
One line on paper
Floating on water not held
In the River Thames
On the way I picked up a copy of Gavin Pretor-Pinney's Cloudspotter's Guide, which Will Self referred to in a recent blog post. Well, he mentioned the associated website, The Cloud Appreciation Society actually, but I spotted the book on the site.
Talking of clouds, given the current precipitation levels maybe Jo could save a few journeys and create some rain art!
Categories: Art, London, Photography, Books, Blogging, Food & Drink
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Somewhere Over The Rainbow
July 04, 2007
 Phew, I've managed to add a few links to the St. Lucia posts. Just got to write something up about Paris now. Still recovering from Wild In The Country at Knebworth on Saturday night. Don't ask me what happened as it's all a blur. All I remember was Underworld and a lot of mud and rain! Unsurprisingly, there has been more rain since! Especially last night, when an impressive storm produced some neat lightning and two almost perfect rainbows over Crystal Palace. Couldn't get a shot of the whole rainbows with my lens, but got this shot, which I think is pretty good.
Categories: Music, London, Photography
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