I was pillaging Emusic earlier…

Posted on by Alasdair

When I realised that it’s been a long while I listened to Lush. Used to have them on cassette, never got around to getting CDs. All Emusic’ve got is the 2001 “Best Of” album, but it’ll do for right now…

And I’m parked at my desk, bored out of my mind fighting with yet another bloody spreadsheet. Trapped in a fucking New Town on the river between Chelsea and Wandsworth. Autumn has muscled its damp and miserable way in, seemingly overnight. The sky out the window behind me is a dishwater grey, throwing insipid spatters of dirty rain down, the Thames is reflecting it all back like a ribbon of apathy, and all buildings around here are the identikit modern flats they’re throwing up along the riverside.

And yet:

“Let’s run away and be so alive
Escape the drudgery of this nine to five
Shake, baby, shake, you know I can fit you in my arms”

Bad news…

Posted on by Alasdair

Douglas Rushkoff informs that Robert Anton Wilson needs financial help just to die with a little dignity.

Wilson, for those that aren’t familiar with his work, was one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. His writing was both sharp, and wise, and the fact that he seems to be dying in penury is both sickening and sad. If you can spare a few quid, stump up, please.

Bad news…

Posted on by Alasdair

Douglas Rushkoff informs that Robert Anton Wilson needs financial help just to die with a little dignity.

Wilson, for those that aren’t familiar with his work, was one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. His writing was both sharp, and wise, and the fact that he seems to be dying in penury is both sickening and sad. If you can spare a few quid, stump up, please.

[Gig review] The Pipettes

Posted on by Alasdair

Londonist loves the Pipettes, and who wouldn’t? With their Spector-influenced indie-pop and fifties/sixties school prom aestheic, and their modern cynicism, it’s not a surprise that they packed Koko to the rafters on Friday night.

What is a surprise is how quickly they’ve done it. In less that six months, they’ve gone from playing moderately sized student unions, to packing out a large venue as indie-pop darlings of the moment. And if we’re honest, it shows just a little. They’re the hot thing right now, and making the most of it, but you can tell they’re not entirely used to venue where the audience don’t have the room to move like their songs demand, or a gig where half the audience only respond to the singles, because that’s all they really know – there was a bit more urging the audience to move then there needed to be early on, which had them looking a little uncertain of themselves when they really, really don’t need to be…

Was it a bad gig? Not by any stretch – the girls delivered the uptempo pop wit that their records promise and looked marvellous in their new polka-dot dresses and if it took them a little longer than normal to get the audience fully on side, well, they did it in the end, judging by the roof-raising cheers for the encore. One suspects they just need a little time to adjust to their well-deserved new status, that’s all.

And if you missed them, well, they’re still fantastic, and you should catch them next time round. At this rate, they’ll be playing Wembley some time early next year, and you’ll be surrounded by people saying “yeah, I saw them when…”

Contact Experience II

Posted on by Alasdair

Contact Experience II

And, slightly later than planned (been busy) the second and much less abstract photo inspired by the accounts of contact experiences from people on drugs.

Yes, it’s probably quite clear what this really sitt, but still, just unfocus your brain alightly, and watch the entities as they push through the membrane of our universe.

Or something.

And now, organ failure.

Posted on by Alasdair

I could really have done without the last week.

I have been fighting a cold all week. (And when I say fighting, what I mean is “stubbornly refusing to admit that I have a”.) What I have wanted to do all week is take a day or two off, and spend it in bed, resting in an attempt to shift it, moving only to get more tea.

What I have done is work late two nights this week, in a futile attempt to get five days work done in three, then spend two days doing heavy lifting followed by going gigging. (Thea Gilmore and The Pipettes, respectively. Reviews to follow. No, not going was not an option. Don’t be stupid.)

And tomorrow, I need to get up sharply in order to get to the post office and pick up whatever it is that they failed to deliver in the week. Bah.

Has anyone got a spare set of lungs? And possibly some sinuses that aren’t full of eldritch horror? And perhaps an immune system that can fight off colds, since this is the third one I’ve had to refuse to admit to having in only slightly more than three months?

Yes, I do want your sympathy. No, I don’t have any pride. You need to be able to inhale properly in order to have pride. The inamorata is away sunning herself in a Cretian villa (at least, I hope that’s what she’s doing) and I have no one around to give me sympathy, so hand it over.

Yeah, OK, I’m going to bed.

Attention London Food Nerds!

Posted on by Alasdair

(stu_n, burge, mr_tom, I’m particularly looking at you…)

anw has pointed me in the direction of this: http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2006/10/12/179

Heston Blumenthal’s scientific advisor is putting on a show at the Dana Centre in which he unravels the physics of cooking. With a special buffet. And a drink. 12th October, 13 quid a head. Sounds like fun to me.

0207 942 4040 is the number to call to book…

Contact Experience

Posted on by Alasdair

Contact Experience

The first of two photos inspired by accounts of contact experiences by people on drugs (or even some who were not on drugs), with five dimensional being made of liquid information. This one, is, obviously, a bit of abstract photography.