Another great gig: was that the premiere of Travel? Perhaps not. I love Travel (and indeed travel, and every gig involves a journey both literal and metaphorical). It is oddly reassuring to know that you can only plan your time to a certain extent. Some points in time are fixed: the times of trains, the time of the gig, the time of the pub pre-meet, and check-out time at the hotel. Fixed, but flexible. The rest of the time is free. Finding the places (the venue, pub, hotel, Northern line) is the requirement, but it is equally important to drift, to dwell, to look up, to find things, to get lost. The A-Z will always get you back where you need to go. Be prepared, and prepare to be unprepared.
I can’t do this like our friend Birdsong (great to see the master at work, although he should be reminded to carry a spare pen next time!
Craig’s not made of pens you know, but he did have two in case he lost one. Very wise is Craig). Great to catch up with Birdsong, Craig, Peter, Andreas, Michaela, and to meet Phil, Brian and MikeG for the first time. There were a number of other people whom I know by face and by name but perhaps the combination went in and out of my short term memory from whenever our paths last crossed, for which I apologise. It was great to be with you all. Was that you, Gem, in the pub? Quite possibly. I am assured our Rob was there too – will catch up at Leeds hopefully. Was also lovely to see Sarah this morning in Shoreditch High Street.
I can’t write too much about the music, except that I enjoyed it all tremendously, even the Dubterror/Karborn mix of Burning Car which I have to admit worked well in this environment. It has earned itself another listen.
And the films were beautiful, nice big screen, with presumably the original Quiet Man film (stills of which are on the Quiet Men sleeve) or else a careful remake? It matters not. I could have watched these loops over and over again, and did. Thanks to earlier contributors to this thread for picking out some of the other references.
Back at the hotel, eventually, this morning, had a chance to look through the sumptuous booklets for Impossible and Neuro Video – brilliant stuff. And I played “Soul Mining” (see the “What Music Aren’t You Listening To?” thread) for the first time. Ever since I first heard the references on “Dusk”, The The and London are intertwined, so it was the obvious place to start a relationship. Or to restart a relationship.
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