Gershwin

A foot-tapping afternoon, as we found ourselves at the Royal Albert Hall, partly via the 452 bus route. A performance of Gershwin tunes, ably danced to by the English National Ballet. Our tickets were for the Grand Tier, and it turned out that we had a box with a great view of the central stage and also the orchestra, and also some nibbles and bubbly waiting for us before we took our seats.

There seemed to be a 'bit of a do' going on in the room next to us too, after initially spotting Lucinda from the Apprentice in a strikingly pink beret with a supporting and well co-ordinated ensemble. Then Rachel Stevens, Paul O'Grady, Maureen Lipman and a few others from show biz, who also seemed to be enjoying their own champagne reception.

A slick performance, with great energy from the cast, from the dancers, through the musicians and even the amusingly manic conductor. The show comprised entirely Gershwin numbers, all recognizable from famous films and mainly accompanied by ballet based dancing.

After this Sunday afternoon performance, we headed to Manicomio just off the King's Road for Gnocci and a dash of red wine.

pollen

Figured out that there must be a high pollen count. Need antihistamines.

Laura Marling in church

"Cross your fingers, hold your toes, we're all gonna die when the building blows". We're part of a loyal group of followers watching Laura Marling singing, in church, on Friday the 13th, that "You're no God".

A simple plan, to meet before the gig, which somehow had a couple of us drinking on the pavement outside the Red Lion behind the church and the others dining Italian in Piccadilly.

Anyway, we all met in the line and were able to link ourselves with the tickets. St James is the church with the little market outside it most days, across the road from the Royal Academy and le Meridien. The queue of people snaked outside of the church grounds and along part of Piccadilly.

Inside, the pews filled fast and we moved from downstairs to the gallery where we grabbed seats with a pretty good view. First up was the accomplished Mumford and Sons, which is a separate band formed from parts of the group that accompany Laura Marling - confusingly it was billed as Melody and Me, so maybe its one of those collectives with rotating band members? Harmonies, plenty of varied folky instruments and a strong five number set. Short pause before a second support band, with plenty of enthusiasm although perhaps not quite the same musicality as the first group.

Laura had been sitting out front for the first act but had sidled into the backstage area during the second act and sure enough, after a short pause for candles to be lit, Laura took to the stage beginning with solo acoustic numbers before being joined by a varied selection of band members.

I've listened to 'Alas I cannot swim', Laura's first haunting album, quite a few times, and found the live versions both precise but still suitably different from the album. Laura's lyrics are quite dark and suggest a life which has felt death's breath and a few unusual encounters. The album is a sort of song cycle with an emotional arc in it like an 'olden days' concept album.

One can't help thinking that the themes of relationships, death and crossings simply provide an initial slightly buried "X marks the spot" from which to project forward other themes in later work. A few new tracks in the set suggested that there's plenty of ideas musically and lyrically in what one assumes to be a busy mind.

Overall a good example of a performer and friends who can just play and sing live well without too much electronica to aid them. An interlude about walking around a graveyard in Birmingham added to the intrigue of some of the lyrics and reinforced my thoughts of a negative image of Emily Strange.

Laura seems to spend time inside her songs when on stage. Aside from the between song chatter, she sings in a manner which often looks to the floor rather than to the audience. The songs are strong, but its not always easy to tell the demeanor of their enigmatic singer.

Here's a fabchannel version of the recent Paradiso gig in Amsterdam.


I am honest now, not a shouter,
I am reformed, forgiven and reborn.
And you're been busy but you've missed me
And I plagued you mind.
You will never go outside,
You will never go back to being blind.

I need shine, I need shine, I need shine,
Step away from my light, I need shine.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, laura, marling, laura+marling, church, london, stjames, piccadilly, alas,

convictions

An interesting day at the spin factory, with the resignation of Shadow Home Secretary David Davis because of the government win on the terrorist detention vote.

It looks like proper conviction politics, when a well regarded MP front bencher stands down and creates a by-election on a matter of principle. His point is about erosion of UK civil liberties and that the 42 day detention without charge becomes another example alongside cameras everywhere, the big DNA database and potentially a national identity card - "The database State", he called it. I see the Lib-Dems say they won't contest the seat when he restands for election in Hull. I wonder whether Cameron will offer Conservative party support for the election?

Its harder to read Gordon Brown's reaction to the outcome, with a win of the vote by 9 seats, despite a rebellion of his own back-benchers. There's still the House of Lords to traverse and possible scraps with the Judiciary. For Gordon this must be more about his leadership credibility as he counts the days to the summer recess.

Interestingly the small majority was finally swayed Gordon's way by the Ulster Democratic Party voters, who changed their mind just before the vote after a backstage session with Brown.

Everyone denies that there were any concessions towards the UDP. Certainly no money from central government to support the introduction of metered water in Northern Ireland. Certainly no concessions on the sell off at less than market rates of ex MoD security bases in Northern Ireland. Certainly no special treatment for Ian Paisley.

I'm sure Gordon wouldn't be using behind the scene tactics to force the vote his way at a time when his own credibility is on the line. He'd play it straight with his own conviction.

Wouldn't he?

hello viewers?

...as if.

hello campers

Continuing the mobility theme from yesterday, here's the latest version of rashbre mobile.

A trial run today of a popup tent for Glastonbury. This year, instead of tent poles and fibre glass thingies, its popup all the way. The tent in question is in a circular bag like a 95cm x 3cm pizza.

Unzip from the packet. Throw in the air and bazzong - an instant tent.

Don't get me wrong, I like proper backpack style tents too and have hiked around Europe with them, but for a festival moment, this has the advantage of instant deployment and only slightly longer take-down.

We trialled it today and had such fun we popped it into use three or four times. We wouldn't do that with a peggypole tent. Now, where's the wellies?

Okay, a popup tent demo from utube...[warning - these clips are quite addictive]

Technorati Tags: rashbre, mobile, glastonbury, popup, tent, camping, outwell

another me

I received notification today that I'm now part of the "me crowd". I can continue to be part of the mac crowd too, but when MobileMe arrives, apparently I'm already enrolled.

Of course, there's been rumours about this mail/calendar/contact/gallery integration service for a while, since the "me" domains were purchased by the company that looks after Apple's domain business.

I'll need to think about this one, because I try to keep my 'work' and 'play' computing separate.

I have a work phone and a play iPhone at the moment, so I wonder how tempting it will be to add 'work' Microsoft Exchange links when the iPhone 2 software appears next month?

I suppose .me gives me a way to have yet more identities if I want them. "We" shall see.

Technorati Tags: rashbre, mac, mobileme, iphone2, 3G, apple,

kite?

A leisurely cycle ride today around a few twisty lanes. Hardly a car in sight although the occasional waft of barbecues being prepared.

There's an area where I sometimes cycle which has a bit of a valley and occasionally I've seen a big bird of prey (big by London-ish standards) soaring around but never close enough to identify. It has a markedly large wingspan compared with most of the birds around here and is a kind of rich rusty brown colour with some white plumage.

Today it flew past quite close for a few seconds and I managed to make out the striking V shape of its tail, which makes me think its a kite - which I understand are quite rare in this part of the country. By the time I'd grabbed my camera from my backpack it had disappeared and although I briefly followed in the same direction I found myself in a field which had some sort of metal detector convention in progress.

Then, when I got home, I noticed a corner of another picture accidentally seems to have the same bird in it - and even another one at a much greater height.

Probably one of the worst photos I've published on here, but it gives me a challenge for another day!

tix

...but this is...

sitting pretty

So after the band, I spend an indulgent time sitting in a waterfront bar watching the world.

Sunshine, with boats and people bobbing by.

I'll admit to some blackberrying when I first sat down, but then I decided that I needed a little down time and awarded myself the chance to chill out somewhere pleasant before the hike back to London.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is pretty positive about Norway and the 'crinkly bits' and sure enough its a pretty country, especially on a beautiful sunny day. The snap is from the plane's window.

strong arm of the law

I finished my work with a little time to spare, so instead of heading back to the airport, I asked the taxi to take me back to the harbour.

As luck would have it, there was a rock band playing, so what could I do but stop and listen?

It was a bluesy and pretty good band of Norwegians all in a kind of black get-up. Hmm, then I noticed the checkerboard around their legs. And then I noticed the insignia on their shoulders. It was the local police force blues band - de Politie? no they were (I think) called "Strong arm of the law" (My Norwegian language skills are minimal). See the two Politie fans taking a few minutes from their patrol duties!

And the band rocked.

Look carefully in the video and you can see behind the stage, where a huge cruise ship is parked in the harbour. I stayed for the whole enjoyable set, before seeking a lazy cafe along the waterfront.

here is a brief rashbrecam extract

or the end of voodoo chile

norwegian pizzas are expensive

Headed to Stavanger, Norway this afternoon which seems to be about ten degrees hotter than London. When I've been here before, its had a kind of bleak North Sea climate with mists and rain, so this is quite a pleasant experience and I managed a quick stroll armed with a small camera.

They were clearing up from some kind of rock concert in the main area near to the harbour and getting ready for an ecology related open air exhibition. A rather large cruise ship named Aida was stopping by, so with the combination of events, the whole place was lazily filled with all manner of tourists.

Stavanger appears to be quite small, but has plenty of cafes and bars and is the staging post for people involved with the North Sea oil industry, so as well as the high traffic heliport, there's a big and interesting museum dedicated to the oil industry.

All this contributes to the throughput of people, which increases the urban style street entertainment possibilities.

I spotted this group of four umbrella wielding performance artists doing a circuit, as well as stopping suddenly in poses for the tourists to catch.

And later, a homage to Banksy, on the side of a warehouse near to the quay. I wonder if its linked to the one in Hoxton in a manner similar to the giant tectroscope that links London's City Hall to Manhattan's Brooklyn Bridge?

And if so, where do you have to look?

My pictures today (except the two older London ones) are uploaded straight from the camera to flickr because (a) I'm Mac-less and (b) I set myself an eight o'clock cutoff this evening and am now enjoying the evening sunshine and a delicious if astonishingly expensive, pizza.

Maybe I've got the conversion rate wrong?