from hank to hendrix...

so this weekend i saw Neil Young play at the Hammersmith Apollo. Holy shit i think it was the best concert i've ever been to. he first played a solo acoustic set, where he sat on stage surrounded by 8 beautiful guitars and two pianos, and just played a bunch of songs, interspersed with random comments or him just standing up to look at the painter who was painting canvases at the back of the stage. he looks like a man from another planet examining this world with an anthropological interest, kind of David Attenboroughesque, but then when he sang he had the voice of angel. After his wonderful solo set he took a break and then came back with a band and played a full noisy feedbacky set of rock and roll goodness. pure perfection. i think they're going to release a dvd of the show so you'll be able to see what i'm talking about.

florence

so i know i keep saying i'll stop writing about the tube, but it is such a large part of my day and it is constantly odd. for example today they didn't turn the lights on in my carriage so it was dark. very dark. everyone could suddenly relax because no one was watching them, and at the same time get scared because they couldn't see anyone.

oh, and another thing. do pregnant women just spend all day travelling around underground?

this weekend we went to florence, which is a damn cute city filled with terracotta colours and statues with great asses. i don't know much about art, but i like it when its naked.

the art at the uffizi gallery was very impressive - botticelli's venus, and all the ninja turtles except for donatello (who designed the windows at the Duomo Cathedral next door). the pizza and gelato was also impressive. as was the river and the bridges. yeah, its true, i was impressed.

we went from florence to pisa to see some tower that's on a lean. there was a small tower in a field of tourists taking photos of themselves pretending to hold up the tower. hilarious.

people are so clever these days.

[insert bowie song title here]

so i've got a new idea for a film, but i'm not going to actually make it, so feel free to take this idea and make a million dollars:

a man in 1985 gets accidentally frozen (an accident in a slurpie machine) and wakes up in 2008 and finds that everything is... exactly the same. everyone is getting excited by rambo and knight rider movies, police concerts, jackets with short sleeves and puffy shoulders, and world war three is minutes from beginning.

just an idea.

churchtime

so yesterday i went to a charity gig in the afternoon in a church in notting hill, raising money for aids orphans in africa or something wholesome. we went because we knew early 80s all-girl post-punk band The Raincoats were playing. we arrived and there were a trillion very small children running around and a woman singing the wheels on the bus. we ran to the pub and returned two hours later to see a band of 14 year olds playing rock covers. then suddenly they begin covering Should I Stay or Should I go and we look up and Mick Jones from the Clash is singing with them. he then returns to playing with his baby and reading his Guardian. then the band finishes and they announce another guest and Beth Orton gets up and plays a set! then the raincoats played wonderful chaotic stabby post-punk goodness while under 5s dance along. a beautifully surreal gig.