Monday, July 31, 2006

I Can't Think Cause I'm Just Way Too Tired

I'm in Thailand but I typed this out before I left. I can't post the photos right now so I'll update hem at a later time.

So, the big Spain post. Let's get right to it then shall we?

Tuesday
I had to leave the flat at 4:30 am to get the Thameslink to Luton. Took Easyjet and saw Ben's friends Kat and Martin on the plane so I traveled with them on the trains to Barcelona after that. I trekked from Plaza Catalunya to our hostal which was off Las Ramblas closer to the harbor in the 100+ degree weather, my jeans and shirt were soaked by the time I reached my non-airconditioned room. After my shower I just started sweating profusely again which was a nightmare. I was on my own for most of the day so I just walked around the area first by the water.

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I took the easy route out of sounding like an idiot speaking in Spanish while by myself and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. David and Bernie arrived sometime after 7:00 pm. We went for tapas on the other side of the water crossing this bridge.

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We went for drinks in an Irish pub which was playing VH2's top indie 500 which played videos I hadn't seen in years like The Seahorses' 'Blinded By the Sun' and Blur's 'Coffee & TV' (ok I've seen that recently but it's still sooo good.) We headed to Jamboree after that, danced to some hip hop and dropped many euros.

Wednesday
The next day I had some paella for lunch. We then headed to the Gothci cathedral which had scaffolding all over it:

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We took one of those tourist buses all over Barcelona which, although it looks dorky, was a really good idea because we covered a lot of ground. We went to the outside of some big museum to check out the views of the city.

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They have an egg also (sorry, I mean gherkin to the Londoners.)

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We passed by the Olympic stadiums as well.

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Then went into one of the houses (Casa Battla or something like that? Julie, help?) that Gaudi designed (I love him!!)

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At night David and I ate at a cafe and sat by the harbor where it was drunk men central.

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Thursday
The morning was a nightmare as practically all the trains to Benicassim were sold out. We finally managed to buy tickets for a slow regional train with a transfer which finally got us there. We walked about 30 mins+ with our stuff in the heat (no shade at all) to the campsite next to the festival (there are 3 in different parts of the town.) By the time we got there, there were hardly any spots left and we had to camp next to an ant-filled tree facing the sun. We walked 45 minutes to the beach but had fun in the Mediterranean so it was worth it after the complaining. We ate a really good Chinese dinner in the town and had some vodka Red Bulls after in some crowded plaza. Scissor Sisters went on at 3:00 am that night and D&B didn't have Thursday night tickets and I also wasn't able to meet up with Bernie's people or Dan M.'s people because they were already in the crowd when I arrived. So I watched the show by myself which was really good except for the drunk/drugged-up annoying Welsh press guy who kept spitting in my face when he talked.

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Friday
At our campsite they had communal showers which believe it or not were great. The water was cold (which we needed, although I'm wimpy and it took me a while to get under.) Everyone showered in their bathing suits and there was no wait. The port-o-potties did make me want to puke though. We went to the water park that day where we spent more time getting sleep in the shade rather than on the rides. At night the first band was Babyshambles around 6:40 pm. They were surprisingly present and surprisingly excellent. May I present to you Mr. Pete Doherty in the flesh:

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Next up were Ordinary Boys who were good. I'd seen them at Glastonbury and wasn't too impressed but they were better now, probably cause I recognized some of the songs (and Preston from Celebrity Big Brother of course too.)

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We caught the end of the Futureheads in time for 'Hounds of Love' and Man Ray.'

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Then came the Pixies who I was very nervous about watching in the middle of the crowd because I thought people were going to crush me to death. About 20 minutes through, the barrier broke in the middle and there was a half hour break in between their set. Although I'm not a Pixies fan this definitely was a mood killer.

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Next came The Strokes who were my favorite band of the festival. This is quite surprising (and refreshing) since the two times I've seen them (in 2001 and 2003) I thought they were pretty rubbish live, but they were on top form on Friday. 'Ize on the World' was the best.

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Saturday
Saturday was a fantastic day because we moved to a hotel! (I can handle camping, but not camping in 100+ degree heat.) We trekked once again with all our stuff into town and settled into our air conditioned room (still not sure how we managed to find one after only enquiring to about 4 hotels.) We headed down to the festival for Morrissey. Though, I shouldn't say headed as we were two songs late, so we actually ran from the gates to the stage and I probably emitted 16 gallons of sweat (as did the Mozzer.)

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I was with David for most of the festival, but I managed to meet up with Shiraz and Ellie and also with Ben, Dan M., Sam, et al in between sets so that's what I was probably doing next. The following band were The Kooks. Since the Pixies incident the night before, they'd put up a barrier enclosing about the first 20 rows of the crowd. We got inside the barrier and luckily about 10 rows back for The Kooks. This was the band I was most looking forward to seeing but they were just ok. They sounded exactly like the album (barring the improvised part of Naive which I've got on the following video.) I think that since they are still just starting off they'll get better in time.

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Third up were Franz Ferdinand for which we somehow managed to start off in the fifth row. They were excellent and the crowd loved them. They played tons of songs; here are some photos and a video of 'Take Me Out.'

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After Franz came Morning Runner. We watched them from the back with Bernie, Tony, Mark, and Chris.

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We did a bit of dancing later in one of the tents and got back to the hotel around 7:00 am. It was a very tiring festival!!

Sunday
Sunday was the great hunt for lunch food. We went to one restaurant that forgot about us for about 45 minutes. I left a euro for the bottle of water cause I felt bad completely stiffing them. When we passed by after scouring for other restaurants about 20 minutes later they still hadn't attended the table and therefore hadn't noticed we'd left!!! We finally ended up eating kebabs of all things on the corner by our hotel (we did the same on Monday too because they were THAT good.) Sunday's festival started off with Editors. I really love their new stuff (better than The Back Room) which I've said in a previous post.

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After that were Madness which I thought might be boring for me since I only know three of their songs. It was in fact really fun, everyone was skanking and there was a happy vibe in the audience. We left early though to get a good spot for WAS and missed 'Our House.'

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Next were We Are Scientists in the smaller tent who were up against Madness and Depeche Mode so I wasn't sure of how big of a crowd they would get. We got pretty close to the front (even though my photos suck.) The tent was crowded and it was the most enthusiastic audience I saw at the entire festival. It was cute how you could see how the band really appreciated the crowd cheers by the looks on their faces when they came out. (Hmmm, do they know that most of the audience was English and not Spanish?)

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New Song

'Textbook'


Only knowing a few of their songs, we stayed for Art Brut and passed up Depeche Mode since Ryan's seen AB 204,720 times and I wanted to see what it was all about. They were very entertaining, and Eddie Argos' "name every band on the program including the ones it seemed he never heard of followed by Top of the Pops!" was hysterical. I think my conclusion of Art Brut is that they are a modern Pulp - good music with singers who can't sing but with good lyrics and are good at entertaining the crowd. Keith Murray of We Are Scientists joined them also and did the AB rendition of 'The Great Escape' which I've got here.



We sat on the ground for Placebo towards the back but then moved to the grass by the screen and laid down for a nap instead.

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David and I headed to the Silent Disco for a bit. Basically there were 2 DJs playing different music, you've got headphones on where you can switch the channel, and you dance. Except no one can hear the music but those with the headphones on so it looks really funny for outside people looking in. Check out half the people singing 'Whoomp! There It Is' (terrible DJ) vs. those singing 'Dare' (also a pretty bad DJ.)

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We sat for the end of DeUs but I didn't pay much attention, and got up for the final act of the festival which were The Rakes. I was dead tired and they played '22 Grand Job' first so it was hard for me to stay awake during the set even though I like them.

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And that's my wrap up of Spain. I've only been in Thailand for 4 days and I think it'll take me a year to write the recap, but so far so great!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Brilliant Immortality

I arrived back in London yesterday from Barcelona and Benicassim. Although the weather was hotter than hell (I'm not exaggerating) and I walked what felt like 10,472 miles with my large backpack it was well worth it. I have yet to upload those photos though, so in the meantime here are the ones of British Sea Power at the Tin Pan Alley Festival last week.

Although Eamon had left the band to form The Brakes, BSP were still up to their usual antics (yelling weird noises, climbing things, etc.)
There was an air guitar contest before the band came on and two kids were in it who each won prizes. They brought one of the kids on stage to play guitar during the last song, it was cute.

Current Music: Faithless - God is a DJ

Saturday, July 15, 2006

People From Hadley Street Are _______

Kentish + Hippies + Druggies + Families + Dancers + Bike Riders + Happy + Drunks + Punx + Missing Teeth = Apparently My Neighbors

There's been a jazz/blues/funk band playing very loudly for the last 8 hours somewhere near my flat and this whole time I thought it was coming from the park. When curiosity finally got the best of me (plus I couldn't stand doing this paper anymore), I went to explore and what I actually found was an all day block party around my corner. See, I knew people in Kentish Town didn't all just hang out in the dirty cafes/local pubs/Xawaaladas!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Oily Stage

British Sea Power for free makes me happy!!! Come with me on Sunday: Tin Pan Alley Festival.

Current Music: Idlewild - Little Discourage

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Desperately Wanting

I thought luck had been on my side all year when Better Than Ezra somehow decided to skip their annual (usually springtime) tour of New York while I've been in London. That was until I found out about this:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NOT WITHOUT ME, PLEASE!

In a new venue too! I can't believe this. I know I'll be in some exotic place in Southeast Asia at that time anyway, but seriously, why can't they tour Laos for a change?! Geez.

Current Music: Annie - Chewing Gum

Monday, July 10, 2006

Mamma Mia What a Pizza (Express)

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Saturday, July 08, 2006

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Shouldn't I have been verbally warned about the potential after effects of fever, chills, headache, irritability, and the most horrible body-aches ever? Having rabies sucks, and I haven't even started drooling yet.

Current Music: Mansun: Butterfly (A New Beginning)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I've Moved!

You can find me in Humanities 2 for the next two weeks. Desk-warming gifts are always welcome.

Current Music: Shack - Butterfly

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Free Bird

This may quite possibly be the only London Zoo animal you can see for free from Regents Park.
jhsedfliihbwoieg
Emu, Ostrich, or Rhea?

Current Music: Mansun - Naked Twister

Saturday, July 01, 2006

I Lied About the Last Blog Entry Title, I'm Just Being a Loser

And now for the final portion of the blog entry which I was forced to break into three parts because Blogger.com sucks.

Last night was Henry's farewell dinner at, uh, Henry's Restaurant. Would you expect anything less?

Me, Natasha, & Ben drinking what tasted like alcohol-free daquiris
Bye Henry, I'll miss you, but not you being late for EVERYTHING
NY * DC * NY
The funniest part of the night was when David and I were on the phone trying to describe where we were standing on Rupert/Brewer Streets because we couldn't find each other. It turns out we were actually standing about 5 feet away from each other the whole time we were talking. I guess you had to be there to enjoy the hilarity of the moment.

Current Music: Bad Religion - Infected

I'm Not Going Out Tonight Because I'm Depressed About the Football

Blogger is maxing out my photo space per entry, grrrr. I'm breaking a recap up into events. Oh well.
(I HATE BLOGGER)
Anyway, Christine's birthday was on Thursday. We went to Hoxton Bar & Grill on Wednesday night to ring in her 26th.

Miss Tine* & Bryan with a "Y"

David, Me, Tine* @ The Grill
Us Plus Fatima

*Christine puts a star after her name when she signs it.

Current Song - Texas - Inner Smile

Day of Mourning

I really didn't think I could feel so bad after a football match. But switching off of the topic of loss, I realized that Crouch looks kinda like these two things:

I enjoy him.

The atmosphere in the pub was so exciting that Liz's sunglasses looked like this by the end of the match:


Ryan - Liz pointed out to me that you look like Kaka (not THAT kaka, That Kaka --->)

Current Music: Lily Allen - Smile