Category: Musings

Happy Octoberween Everyone!

At this time of great joy and happiness, the BBC has a piece on the ever expanding influence of Halloween – a festival that Americans have taken into their hearts. The Beeb also asks whether Halloween has gotten too commercial, something that has been worrying me more every year.

This year I saw my first shop selling pumpkins and masks two months ago! In summer!! Is nothing sacred anymore? When will we get back to Halloween’s roots – as a time of scaring and egging of houses? As a time when small children eat enough sweets to be sick? Instead, big business has made it another opportunity to up the bottom line. Shame on you corporate world! Can’t you stick to ruining Christmas with mass consumption?

The Imaginarium Opens Tomorrow – Friday 16th

Terry Gilliam’s latest magnum opus, featuring Heath Ledger in his fateful last ever role, is opening tomorrow in cinemas across Britain. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a beautiful gothic fantasy set in modern day London. The story revolves around the mysterious Doctor Parnassus who has the skill to guide your thoughts to reveal your inner imaginary world. Parnassus was once a monk who made a deal with the devil for long life, and many other deals and bets since then, one of which involves the soul of his first child due at the age of 16. Parnassus tried to prevent this by never having a child, but (un)fortunately he did – a daughter played by the sparkling Lily Cole. And so the scene is set for the story.

As Parnassus and travelling show troupe try to save his daughter’s soul they come across Tony, played by Heath Ledger, hanging from Southwark bridge. They save him and he, in turn, acts to save them – or does he? All is not clear as Tony’s character evolves. Along the way Tony finds out about Parnassus’ magic mirror that reflects your innermost mind and enters it himself – and it is here that Terry Gilliam’s genius saved the movie when Heath unfortunately passed away – every time Tony enters the mirror he becomes another actor; Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all take up the reigns to play the mirror Tony and to great effect.

Go and see this movie. You won’t see much press about it as Terry Gilliam is one of the most talented Directors in the world today but his movies never sit comfortably in the ‘blockbuster’ genre and so marketing departments seem to give up in despair – instead he makes us pay attention to the wonders he creates on screen and use our brains and imaginations to full effect. Parnassus sits with Gilliam’s classic fantastical movies; Time Bandits, Brazil, Baron Munchausen and the Brothers Grimm – all wonderful flights of fancy and visual feasts. More info on the film and a larger copy of this wonderful poster can be found here.

The Pixies Do Doolittle


Black Francis in Action
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of The Pixies, even though I know most of their songs through cultural osmosis. So the thought of seeing them play just one album, albeit their seminal album Doolittle, all the way through had me slightly apprehensive. Thankfully this apprehension proved misplaced, as we were all in the capable hands of some of the finest alternative rock musicians in the world.

Rocking tunes, amazing visuals, and my first proper mosh in way too long made for yet another great gig in a year of great gigs. What the band lacked in between song banter, they certainly made up for in energy and precision, delivering hit after hit to an audience that lapped it up and just wanted more. The more in this case being a smattering of Doolittle B-Sides and a couple of classic hits off the album. Wonderful. Plus Art Brut were the support, could it be any better?

If you can get a ticket to tomorrow night, the last of their four sell out shows, then go – you certainly won’t be sorry. Otherwise just click for more photos of The Pixies in action.

September so far…

Hmm.. seem to have been a bit too quiet on the ol’ blog-o-sphere this month! This I attribute to not having anything witty or insightful to say. Apparently my Mercury is heavily retro-graded according to my ever helpful friend Paula. Possibly I’m just recovering from an epic August full of weddings and other fun stuff.

So, a brief update on the month so far: we’ve wandered around many areas in North London to try and work out where to live next. Hampstead was very nice but stupidly expensive, but the heath is lovely and you can swim in the lakes as long as you don’t mind catching something! London Fields was lovely but stupidly expensive. Stoke Newington had a nice park, and was only ridiculously expensive – notice a trend here? Living in London may have its upsides, but cost of living certainly isn’t one of them. We also went along to the London Twestival, which was great fun – most of which was had doing craft making small Twitter style birds. Ah, bless.

This last weekend we saw the ever wonderful Massive Attack at Brixton Academy last friday, where Martina Topley Bird did a stunning beatbox version of Black Steel. Then Saturday was a day full of family nephew related fun around London, followed by our first trip to Buttoned Down Disco which was highly enjoyable.

Sunday we braved the many thousands of other cyclists at the London Skyride. It’s a wonderful chance to cycle round car free streets in central London, but I have to say it feels less safe cycling round with little kids either wobbling around left and right or zooming through small gaps than it does with cars! That and the somewhat OTT corporate sponsorship from Sky and the highly un-environmentally friendly rubbish, plastic bags, etc generated by the free giveaways. Bio-degradable bags, anyone?

Other than that I are mostly be running a lot. Or was at least until last night, when my knee gave out going past the Houses of Parliament. So another fitness regime has bitten the dust.. for now!

Nun with a Gun


20090808-IMG_2396
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

There are some photos up now from Paul’s stag do in Oxford the other weekend. Much nun and gun related antics and fun was had by all. So a big thanks to Iain for organising, even with a broken arm and a morphine habit to boot. Paul’s married now to the lovely Victoria, so I’ve been told it’s safe to release these photos to the wild as divorces are expensive {;)

Congratulations to the bride and groom!

Pearl Jam @ Shepherds Bush Empire.. WTF!


Eddie Vedder & Ronnie Wood @ Shepherds Bush Empire
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

A few weeks ago Pearl Jam announced an intimate, pre O2 Arena gig at the 2000 capacity Shepherds Bush Empire. Given that they sold out the O2 in 11 minutes it was always going to be a long shot that we’d manage to get any tickets to SBE. Guess what? We didn’t. Real hardcore fans (ie, not me) started to ‘line up’ electronically at TicketWeb at 4am, before the 9am actual sale started – so my attempt at 8.45am was too little, too late.

Or at least we hadn’t gotten tickets, until about 3pm today, when the wonderfully, Twitter-tastic @o2sbe mentioned that TicketWeb had a few last minute tickets on sale… This was a tweet I almost missed, but thankfully didn’t, so a few seconds later I was on Ticketweb trying to buy tickets to no avail. It looked like it had already sold out. Poot.

Except they hadn’t sold out. In fact the Tweet had been a bit too early. As a few minutes later I tried again and voila! Ticket were on sale! Not only that, but stalls tickets were on sale. So after a fevered few minutes and 90 quid burnt on my credit card (again) we were in possession of two stalls tickets to one of the hottest gigs this year. My evening plans had suddenly changed and here was I wearing a business shirt instead of something suitably alt-rock-esque.

A few hours later, tickets in hand, touts avoided along with the pleading gaze of many people holding home made ‘tickets needed’, we entered the packed Shepherds Bush Empire. Drinks purchased we found ourselves a comfortable spot near our usual bar alongside a very short Matthew Horne (of Gavin and Stacey fame) before some loud mouthed Scottish banter sent him scurrying up to the celeb balcony to continue playing with his phone. Everyone was in high spirits, both drunken and in terms of their height as this had to be the tallest crowd we’d ever seen at the Empire. Then, around 8.45, the magic began as Pearl Jam came on stage and everyone went a little bit crazy. Because it was Pearl Jam. And because Pearl Jam still know how to rock. Oh yes, they do.

I can’t remember the exact set list from their fan friendly set of mostly hits, with a few new tracks and covers thrown in. They covered ‘All Along the Watch Tower’ – and to make sure it was extra special they brought out Ronnie Wood to play along with them. Yes, Ronnie f*cking Wood. Celebrity excess aside the crowd got to bounce and sing along like crazy folk to Even Flow, Alive, Better Man, Dissident and Jeremy amongst others that escape me now. They even found time to thank Obama for winning the presidency and not forcing them to pretend to be Canadian. Eddie has a lovely line in crowd banter, bless. Two encores later and we all had to go home. Ears ringing from guitar splendour. Legs aching from most frenzies. And most importantly, faces plastered with the biggest grins ever.

Thank you Pearl Jam (and @o2sbe) for making what was supposed to be a boring night in one of the best nights this year. I thought Blur was going to be the uncontested highlight of this year, but you guys gave them a good run for their money! Now if only Kurt Cobain was still alive I could try and complete my University musical taste triumvirate…

Pearl Jam play Shepherds Bush Empire – August 11th!

In what is likely to be one of the ‘must see’ gigs this year for indie rockers, if not the rest of us, Pearl Jam have announced a special one-off gig at Shepherds Bush Empire on August 11th. It’s time to beg, borrow or steal your way in there folks, as this promises to be something else.

Of course considering Pearl Jam sold out London’s humongous O2 in 17 minutes I think we can all safely assume that those not in the industry will have a gnats piss chance in hell of getting in. Still, hope springs eternal, and for those of you who are hopeful (read: ‘deluded’) what you need to do is pre-order a copy of Pearl Jam’s new album Backspacer from HMV.com. They will then send you a unique link that lets you fight it out during the pre-order period between 21st and 22nd July. For the rest of us tickets are on sale July 23rd but let’s face it.. there won’t be any beyond 0.1ms into the pre-sale assuming HMV’s servers don’t go into meltdown. Which they will.

Essex Dogs


Damon Albarn – Blur @ Southend
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Just got back from Southend where we saw Blur perform their “first official gig” (according to Damon himself). And what a gig it was.

From the very start the Blur boys rocked like they’d never stopped with a long set of all their hits. Song 2, The Universal, PopScene, Essex Dogs, Chemical World, Modern Life is Rubbish and of course, Girls & Boys, which had the whole crowd jumping along for the first of many pogo sessions.

They have a few smaller gigs to follow over the next few weeks – so if you get the chance go see them for a show you won’t forget.

The Happy Couple & Friends


The Happy Couple & Friends
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

A big congratulations again to Aimi & Gary, who tied the knot yesterday in a wonderful ceremony at Orchardleigh Estate near Frome.

And a big thanks for organising such an amazing celebration in such a beautiful location! You’ve just set a high standard for the rest of the weddings we’re going to this summer. Pretty sure we won’t get to stay in a tower with a four poster bed and a bathroom on a separate floor very often – lush.

More photos as soon as I find a spare moment to get through them. Right now though we have to shoot off to see Blur…