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satyricaI had an emergency back-up gig when roleplaying got cancelled again last Wednesday and went along to a bar in Leake St, the street-art/skateboarding hub under Waterloo, where some bands were playing: first Max Pope a dreamy sounding one-man-and-electric-guitar, then Fatherland (post-punk with a laptop) but I was there for The Starlight Magic Hour, who I'd been struggling to catch again after really enjoying them previously. I missed the support and just go to the Lexington for a Valentine's edition of Queen Zee on the Thursday, who had both the chutzpah and the tunes to keep their crowd happy.
I worked a half day on Friday then jumped onto a coach up to Manchester (enduring many hours surrounded by a family of 4 or 5 small children) for my annual pilgrimage for Joe's birthday. It was just me on Friday night but another car-full came up from London on Saturday. We went out for lunch in Stretford, at the kind of pub where everyone turns to stare when you walk through the door, then some local friends came over for the party in the evening. I did a lot of just sitting around over the weekend but it was exactly what I needed as an antidote to all my work stress: a few of us carried on right through the night and I poked around the city centre a little before getting the coach back on Sunday and heading over to N's for dinner and an early night.
This week I headed out to the Monarch on Monday and just caught the end of a panel discussion about mental health in music with Jack Saunders, then two bands I liked were playing: Garage Flowers and then Velvet Hands, one of whose brothers I got chatting to as he also had long dreds and I ran into one of the Meet-Up guys too. On Tuesday I jumped on a coach up to Oxford to see L and family for the evening and transport a banner Iris had borrowed back down to London; it was really nice just to spend time with them for a (mostly) non-Iris purpose.
I was back gigging last night, at Thousand Island. I got there as The Keep Cats were playing, who looked really young and were good; I was also impressed by Lovelace who had slightly more complexity to their music and also won me over by quoting Howl. I was there for Valeras, who seem to have really come into their own and had a good, energetic crowd going.
I worked a half day on Friday then jumped onto a coach up to Manchester (enduring many hours surrounded by a family of 4 or 5 small children) for my annual pilgrimage for Joe's birthday. It was just me on Friday night but another car-full came up from London on Saturday. We went out for lunch in Stretford, at the kind of pub where everyone turns to stare when you walk through the door, then some local friends came over for the party in the evening. I did a lot of just sitting around over the weekend but it was exactly what I needed as an antidote to all my work stress: a few of us carried on right through the night and I poked around the city centre a little before getting the coach back on Sunday and heading over to N's for dinner and an early night.
This week I headed out to the Monarch on Monday and just caught the end of a panel discussion about mental health in music with Jack Saunders, then two bands I liked were playing: Garage Flowers and then Velvet Hands, one of whose brothers I got chatting to as he also had long dreds and I ran into one of the Meet-Up guys too. On Tuesday I jumped on a coach up to Oxford to see L and family for the evening and transport a banner Iris had borrowed back down to London; it was really nice just to spend time with them for a (mostly) non-Iris purpose.
I was back gigging last night, at Thousand Island. I got there as The Keep Cats were playing, who looked really young and were good; I was also impressed by Lovelace who had slightly more complexity to their music and also won me over by quoting Howl. I was there for Valeras, who seem to have really come into their own and had a good, energetic crowd going.
