going to the chapel...

so the week started badly when i accidentally wiped my entire ipod by plugging it into someone else's computer who's itunes was set to 'synch', but all it took was one great rock and roll show and the world and i are friends again.

yep, just two days after yom kippur we went to the Union Chapel in Islington to watch one of my fave ever songwriters Adam Green (from Moldy Peaches) perform a solo acoustic set. To make it even cooler, the gig had sold out but i got last minute tickets off e-bay for below cost from someone who couldn't go due to a last minute work function (thanks Stuart's boss). So there was Adam on the stage of the church, sitting below stained glass windows of slaughtered saints and a virgin, singing all his filthiest song, coughing up a lung (he diagnosed himself with having tuberculosis of the soul), and demonstrating the bunny dance. He was, as presumably always is, totally high, so much so that he couldn't play a song if the audience started clapping along, in fact at times he struggled to play or sing the right notes anyway. But it didn't matter because his songs carry themselves, sweet melodies and gentle guitaring to accompany his lyrics about cocksacks, incest, and Jessica Simpson. (wow the words in that sentence are going to get this blog so many hits - but all from people searching for 'cock' and 'jessica simpson' - hi perverts, who are now reading this page, hope you didn't find what you were looking for). Adam didn't quite explain why his lyrics are so gross, but he eluded that he does have a goal with it. To me, he just looks like a naughty fourth former trying to see what he can get away with, which is a lot because the songs are so good. so much better than most songwriters telling you all their problems and how much they love girls they can never have.

London's Crawling

So still in London. Still unemployed. Still homeless. But applying for lots of jobs and being very well looked after by friends. so we're happy. right now we're in crystal palace which has a park that features victorian sculptures of dinosaurs. yabba dabba doo.

last night we went to see swedish israeli new york antifolk band Herman Dune, who were wonderfully chaotic and eclectic. check out their music video here. i was surprised to see how many fans they had who could sing along with all their songs, there were more herman dune fans at that show than there are in all of NZ. unfortunately despite having a ukulele sitting on the stage, the singer David Ivar Herman Dune never played it. He's so tall and gangly, he would have looked wonderfully comical playing the ukulele.

A few small setbacks on our walk and tube back to our train (the last train of the night) caused us to do some impressive springing up escalators to catch our final train. But we caught the train with 12 seconds to spare and spent the entire train trip coughing up all the unpleasant things we had breathed in while running in a dirty underground station. for some reason the other people on our train carriage didn't look impressed with our nonstop spluttering and coughing. people are strange.

London Stalling

So i've arrived in London, and the town has already stopped. tube went on strike on monday night. they were supposed to strike for 3 days because the train company couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't make any staff redundant. seems like the union is using all its biggest guns prematurely, but then maybe i just have too much time to think because I'M STUCK IN THE F*&%ING SUBURBS without a train to take me away.

Job hunting is slow with few bites, which is fine because working is overrated, however i dunno how long my pounds will last.

went to the british museum on monday because it was free. the museum is the biggest waste of potential i have ever seen. so much amazing stuff, poorly displayed with few signs explaining what i'm looking at or what its significance is. worse still is the dirty feeling i get from looking at stolen things such as the Easter Island Statue.

saw an ad today on gumtree - Indie Band seeks guitarist, bassist, drummer...
so far the band is one guy who can sort of play rhythm guitar and sing. maybe i should call myself a band too.