They are a lot of fun. Dearest readers, as soon as I get broadband, you will reclaim my humblest self.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Wild Beasts
They are a lot of fun. Dearest readers, as soon as I get broadband, you will reclaim my humblest self.
Joan as Police Woman
I know what you are thinking, dearest readers, supposedly I am not blessed by broadband and yet I post - long story - to cut it short, I will refrain from elaborating on this. Another thing, my dearest readers must be thinking, oh dear, she is back to square one with her pathetic camera phone, oh why. There is only one answer to the last question, my camera's memory card was full and I was in a hurry and so I missed the unique chance of capturing the magic of Joan Wasser in London Union Chapel on 4th October 2009, what a shame, as she is the most beautiful lady of music and I cannot express the joy of seeing her live and experiencing the most starstruck moments of my not so short and getting annoyingly too long life.
Let me explain, London Union Chapel, as some of you may well know, is a little church. Coming from a land where having imposed religion on myself in my youth I would go to church every day for the joy of it, staring at tainted glass and medieval pictures of the suffering son of god hoping to be the chosen one, I did shudder sitting in the wooden benches. So real. And then, after a supporting act which was not bad or good but my excitement did not let me record anything of it, she came. She came on stage. It was Joan as Police Woman with Timo Ellis performing songs from the new album 'COVER' and original material. For some reason, I had somehow, stupidly, thought that she sometimes was struggling to sing. Not at all, her Start of the Heart live was breathtaking - up and down down and up, a captivating creature with a magnificent voice. And yes, dearest readers, I was crying, it was so beautful. Once again, I wish I was a proper reporter, to give you details of the cover versions and original material that were presented, but, inadvertedly, I simply flew away.
Needless to say, Joan as Police Woman is comprised of both utter sadness and goofiness. She is constantly joking and goofing about, which makes you want to hug her and never let go, but at the same time you get the feeling that she is totally overwhelmed by the human condition, which brings back memories of a Human Condition song, a new one, very sad, oh, and now I remember another song Flash - which, she reported, a slightly tipsy Italian fan had requested saying play Flesh - very much like me, non-English. I find het utterly but utterly charming and some of my readers may think I am praising her too much. Maybe I am, but Joan Wasser replaced the Kate Bush daily slot and it means a lot.
Which brings me to my final anectode. Some readers may ask what brings me to the final anectode and I must admit - the Italian boy. Imagine this, I decided to get myself a souvenir on my way back so I ended up scanning the products on a desk display and concluded I could only afford two postcards. Everyone was buying the COVERS CD, which I could not afford, so I was a bit ashamed and still being under the spell of the gig I did not have the confidence and will to fight for my turn at the proverbial till. Proverbial? Some may raise their eyebrows at my choice of phrases. Anyway, suddenly, Joan came and stood right in front of me with a couple of markers ready to sign the album, ticket or whatever. I was star-struck - she smelled of old attic clothes, which I assumed was her vintage attire, very sexy I must add. She is a true beauty, I was looking at her lovely face and still trying to get the postcards, for the first time I had thought that she was his girlfriend, which should never cross anyone's mind as she is the real jewel and definitely does not need any post or pre-mortem endorsement. When I got the postcards I was stupidly pushing them towards her and after millions of light years of my staring at her and thinking that she was tall and beautiful and that I could not speak English and I would never ever parrot this plain 'Joan, can you sign it?'. In such distress was I that she finally asked 'do you want me to sign it?' - and I said 'yes, please'. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life. But then I started complimenting her and I like to think she realised I was not English and could not properly ask. No dignity.
Let me explain, London Union Chapel, as some of you may well know, is a little church. Coming from a land where having imposed religion on myself in my youth I would go to church every day for the joy of it, staring at tainted glass and medieval pictures of the suffering son of god hoping to be the chosen one, I did shudder sitting in the wooden benches. So real. And then, after a supporting act which was not bad or good but my excitement did not let me record anything of it, she came. She came on stage. It was Joan as Police Woman with Timo Ellis performing songs from the new album 'COVER' and original material. For some reason, I had somehow, stupidly, thought that she sometimes was struggling to sing. Not at all, her Start of the Heart live was breathtaking - up and down down and up, a captivating creature with a magnificent voice. And yes, dearest readers, I was crying, it was so beautful. Once again, I wish I was a proper reporter, to give you details of the cover versions and original material that were presented, but, inadvertedly, I simply flew away.
Needless to say, Joan as Police Woman is comprised of both utter sadness and goofiness. She is constantly joking and goofing about, which makes you want to hug her and never let go, but at the same time you get the feeling that she is totally overwhelmed by the human condition, which brings back memories of a Human Condition song, a new one, very sad, oh, and now I remember another song Flash - which, she reported, a slightly tipsy Italian fan had requested saying play Flesh - very much like me, non-English. I find het utterly but utterly charming and some of my readers may think I am praising her too much. Maybe I am, but Joan Wasser replaced the Kate Bush daily slot and it means a lot.
Which brings me to my final anectode. Some readers may ask what brings me to the final anectode and I must admit - the Italian boy. Imagine this, I decided to get myself a souvenir on my way back so I ended up scanning the products on a desk display and concluded I could only afford two postcards. Everyone was buying the COVERS CD, which I could not afford, so I was a bit ashamed and still being under the spell of the gig I did not have the confidence and will to fight for my turn at the proverbial till. Proverbial? Some may raise their eyebrows at my choice of phrases. Anyway, suddenly, Joan came and stood right in front of me with a couple of markers ready to sign the album, ticket or whatever. I was star-struck - she smelled of old attic clothes, which I assumed was her vintage attire, very sexy I must add. She is a true beauty, I was looking at her lovely face and still trying to get the postcards, for the first time I had thought that she was his girlfriend, which should never cross anyone's mind as she is the real jewel and definitely does not need any post or pre-mortem endorsement. When I got the postcards I was stupidly pushing them towards her and after millions of light years of my staring at her and thinking that she was tall and beautiful and that I could not speak English and I would never ever parrot this plain 'Joan, can you sign it?'. In such distress was I that she finally asked 'do you want me to sign it?' - and I said 'yes, please'. That was the most embarrassing moment of my life. But then I started complimenting her and I like to think she realised I was not English and could not properly ask. No dignity.
Please, do go and see her live.
Apologies
Dearest Readers
I have yet to post a lot of mind blowing reviews but the problem is getting old and lazy but, above all, primarily, waiting for godot of broadband. Please be patient and you shall be rewarded.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Radiohead
Review to follow.
The review is still to follow, my dearest readers, as I was busy holidaying and then hosting my dearest auntie and visiting Oxford, which I hope is more than to the point in this post.
I know there is plenty of the three of you waiting for my review of the memorable Radiohead gig in Poland on 25th August 2009 in Poznan in my most favourite Cytadela Park. Before I reveal that afterwards OK Computer brought tears to my eyes, again, long-lost feeling of freshness of this album flooded my oh so Radiohead loving heart back in the day, I would like to tell you the background story - the story of my 5 years of graft in the city to become an educated member of the society. Yes, I was studying in the city of Poznan, getting drunk at the weekends, studying, working and having walks in Cytadela Park and, sometimes, rarely, travelling to Berlin or Dublin to see Radiohead live. Once, in Berlin, one of the Polish weirdo Radiohead fan friends of mine threw a red and white bear with a note 'come to Poland', and yes, the bear proudly reached Thom's piano, if I was in Poland, I would post a photo of the bear. Anyway, I do not think they ever bothered to read the message. After all, it took them years to finally arrive in Poland.
As mentioned above, I have seen Radiohead a few times. Not too many, not too few. The first one was on nine eleven, the day of the big collapse. So every year I am reminded of my private anniversary, of how 'let's go down the waterfalls' brought tears to my eyes while my friends were texting me - come back to Poland, it's safer, unaware of what they meant. Yes, we, people in the first rows did not have a clue about the tragedy, unlike the band who felt unhappy to play. And since then, whenever I saw them, I found them quite unhappy to play. Which made it difficult for me to enjoy. But I am boring you.
So this time, Radiohead were full of beans, playful, with an audience full of unspoiled music fans for whom seeing Radiohead live was a miracle and the happiest moment of their lives. You cannot imagine a crowd more pleasing and responsive. Moreover, it was a beautiful summer day in a lovely city filled in with music fans. Last but not least, the park which used to be a citadel is a magic place with Magda Abakanowicz's sculpture and 2WW tanks and planes on exhibition. And I was a bit drunk.
So they came on stage after unappealing Moderat. Do not get me wrong, my dearest readers, I like Moderat, I spent long nights dancing to Kompakt dj's in the nearby SQ club. I simply cannot imagine why this dance act should be appealing when you're watching the sunset and not sunrise in an old citadel park. And I have seen some sunrises there dancing to Booka Shade, quite memorably, a sunrise the night right after my post-graduation, but it is a different story. And I think I missed the first rays of sun anyway.
Dearest readers forgive my sentimentality, but I hope it partly explains why I was so smitten. A beautiful performance it was, perfect, no mistakes, such positive energy. And oh my, Thom could even take a mickey faking Borat's accent and no one realised. They played the new song 'These are my Twisted Words' and they played 'Creep'. I had my a bit fast tempo 'let's go down the waterfalls' to for the third time in this review so already famously bring the tears to my eyes. And the bit with tuning into a random radio station - when I heard a Polish voice, I fully realised the impact of this idea. The band seemed so relaxed and happy to play and dance - it was a joy to see. And there is proof, out there, on youtube. Go and see for yourselves, dearest readers. And may 'let's go down the waterfalls' bring tears to your eyes.
The review is still to follow, my dearest readers, as I was busy holidaying and then hosting my dearest auntie and visiting Oxford, which I hope is more than to the point in this post.
I know there is plenty of the three of you waiting for my review of the memorable Radiohead gig in Poland on 25th August 2009 in Poznan in my most favourite Cytadela Park. Before I reveal that afterwards OK Computer brought tears to my eyes, again, long-lost feeling of freshness of this album flooded my oh so Radiohead loving heart back in the day, I would like to tell you the background story - the story of my 5 years of graft in the city to become an educated member of the society. Yes, I was studying in the city of Poznan, getting drunk at the weekends, studying, working and having walks in Cytadela Park and, sometimes, rarely, travelling to Berlin or Dublin to see Radiohead live. Once, in Berlin, one of the Polish weirdo Radiohead fan friends of mine threw a red and white bear with a note 'come to Poland', and yes, the bear proudly reached Thom's piano, if I was in Poland, I would post a photo of the bear. Anyway, I do not think they ever bothered to read the message. After all, it took them years to finally arrive in Poland.
As mentioned above, I have seen Radiohead a few times. Not too many, not too few. The first one was on nine eleven, the day of the big collapse. So every year I am reminded of my private anniversary, of how 'let's go down the waterfalls' brought tears to my eyes while my friends were texting me - come back to Poland, it's safer, unaware of what they meant. Yes, we, people in the first rows did not have a clue about the tragedy, unlike the band who felt unhappy to play. And since then, whenever I saw them, I found them quite unhappy to play. Which made it difficult for me to enjoy. But I am boring you.
So this time, Radiohead were full of beans, playful, with an audience full of unspoiled music fans for whom seeing Radiohead live was a miracle and the happiest moment of their lives. You cannot imagine a crowd more pleasing and responsive. Moreover, it was a beautiful summer day in a lovely city filled in with music fans. Last but not least, the park which used to be a citadel is a magic place with Magda Abakanowicz's sculpture and 2WW tanks and planes on exhibition. And I was a bit drunk.
So they came on stage after unappealing Moderat. Do not get me wrong, my dearest readers, I like Moderat, I spent long nights dancing to Kompakt dj's in the nearby SQ club. I simply cannot imagine why this dance act should be appealing when you're watching the sunset and not sunrise in an old citadel park. And I have seen some sunrises there dancing to Booka Shade, quite memorably, a sunrise the night right after my post-graduation, but it is a different story. And I think I missed the first rays of sun anyway.
Dearest readers forgive my sentimentality, but I hope it partly explains why I was so smitten. A beautiful performance it was, perfect, no mistakes, such positive energy. And oh my, Thom could even take a mickey faking Borat's accent and no one realised. They played the new song 'These are my Twisted Words' and they played 'Creep'. I had my a bit fast tempo 'let's go down the waterfalls' to for the third time in this review so already famously bring the tears to my eyes. And the bit with tuning into a random radio station - when I heard a Polish voice, I fully realised the impact of this idea. The band seemed so relaxed and happy to play and dance - it was a joy to see. And there is proof, out there, on youtube. Go and see for yourselves, dearest readers. And may 'let's go down the waterfalls' bring tears to your eyes.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
The Twilight Sad
On 5th August, Wednesday, I had the utmost pleasure of reuniting with my old friend Ama to see The Twilight Sad in Lexington and getting him to make the most of my enemy of a camera. The above pictures are the child of their cooperation, for which I am grateful, as I could focus completely on the gig. I secured my first row position, as close to the guitarist as possible, to watch in amazement the flow of movements that produce the amazing sound of The Twilight Sad. With apparent confidence, Andy MacFarlane is not only on guitar, this would be underestimation, I would call his guitar vocals, yes, dearest readers, I am not exaggerating. James Graham, the traditional vocals, is frighteningly charismatic, but, for some reason, at gigs, his vocals are not as accentuated as on the records, and perhaps rightly so, as the audience can appreciate the instrumental aspect of The Twilight Sad. Needless to say, Mark Devine on drums is fantastic, as usual. Yes, dearest readers, they are one of my favourite bands and I am looking forward to their new album. In many ways, this gig was much better than the one in ICA, mostly because The Lexington is more of an intimate venue and packed for the occasion, which made me happy, as I would love to see The Twilight Sad grow.
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