SO i originally started this the night i got back but lost the desire to post. i happened to check out nitzerebb's myspace page tonight and noticed something interesting in one of the videos that was posted: the back of my head. since i dont do anything terribly embarrassing, and if you dont care about a song spoiler... http://www.myspace.com/nitzerebbmusic (i would advise one to *stop* the audio track that automatically runs at the top of the page before starting the video.). i havent even read what's below aside from what i just wrote, so forgive me if its lame. cheers...
Sunday - 02.07
leave JFK for my first day-flight to europe. coincidentally enough, it was the first time that virgin was offering the flight i was on. arrive london shortly before 7p local time. made my way to uber-posh chelsea where i'm staying at my sister's flat. king's rd is beautiful, the people are more beautiful. had dimsum takeaway.
Monday - 03.07
FUCKING HOT! they have this television ad that depicts a typical london summer: people are walking around miserably during an overcast afternoon and suddenly there is a break in the clouds and even changes into bathing suits and puts on sunblock and lays out in the streets...then the clouds cover up the sky again and everyone's depressed again. i was told by one cab driver that london gets 12 days of sun a year - i was there for 5 of them. anyway, walked from chelsea to hyde park corner where i paused for a break and watch a bunch of asian kids play soccer, then beyond picadilly circus to beyond soho and in and around holborn. met up with a friend that i worked with in the US. got to see the inside of a UK ad agency, met a london-based media recruiter, stopped by abbey road studios, crossed abbey road like they did, had (only the veggies will get this...) Quorn Cottage Pie for dinner...i love the Quorn products and i wish they'd expand it in the states to carry this. got trashed at friend's flat, went back to chelsea.
Tuesday - 04.07
Another scorcher. can't recall now what i did during the earlier part of the day, but during the evening i met up with some ex-pats at the london office of my old agency, then i met up with another media colleague based here that i had met in new york last year. i went with him to meet his mates at the pub where they've taken in most of the world cup. my expats friends showed up and suddenly the americans were taking over. happy fourth of july.
Wednesday - 05.07
It rained. and i slept in with the jetlagged and partying kicking my ass. waited for my sister to get home. we had indian take away and watched france beat portugal. heard all about her trip to africa which she is on right now. it was a nice way to recoup.
Thursday - 06.07
Made the journey to camden town. walked around the various shops for a few hours. had a few pints and some salt n vinegar crisps at the pub that is across from the world's end/underworld. bought a souvenir for jax. made my way back to chelsea by walking down to embankment (which is a far fucking walk). en route had a pint at the sherlock holmes pub (i don't think it was actually a theme-pub...the clientele was all workforce and not touristy) and a tesco-express sandwich for dinner. i used to make fun of londoners for their pre-packaged sandwiches...oh well. sister got home from work at 1am (the joys of investment banking). we listened to music until 3am and then she woke up at 430a to go back.
Friday - 07.07
Staying up til 3a was not a good idea for her b/c she was home at 1p, which was good so that she could prepare for her trip saturday morning. i did nothing during the early part of the day but in the evening i met up with a high school friend who has been here for over two years. it was a lot of fun b/c we got a chance to talk shop for while...me being in advertising/media and she being in marketing research. sounds lame and it is but we were on the same page. we then meet up with her boyfriend and some of there friends at a pub that if i had not physically walked there with her i never would have found in a million years. if i were considering investing in a pub, this is certainly the last place i would have placed it. the area wasn't bad but it was beyond tucked away in an alley. after the pub my friend, her b/f and his good friend and i head up to camden to got to a very tasty tho decor-confused vietnamese restaurant (aren't the waving cats japanese?). dinner wrapped up shortly after 11p and then my friend and i headed over to the electric ballroom for a night of london goth?/industrial?/???. sadly, dj rex is no longer spinning on friday nights, so much of my entertainment for the evening was lost. i think the highlight was when we went upstairs to the metal room and AIC's 'them bones' was being spun.
Saturday - 08.07
The day started off with my sister and i walking around chelsea for some last minute shopping before her african excursion. i picked up the muse absolution live dvd for a friend of mine and i need to be sure i burn it before giving it to her b/c i don't have a pink multi-regional dvd player and i don't want my imac to switch over. i'm very excited to see this dvd and the band itself live in august b/c of the three 'best live act of 2005' accolades on the cover. after our shopping, we enjoy another tasty dimsum lunch from an even better restaurant around the corner from her flat. while she finished her packing i made my way over to stamford bridge, home of the chelsea blues football club. it's literary a 10min walk from my sister's flat; if i were her i'd try to get season tickets and master the art of the curb-kick (oh wait...), but that would be impossible - i don't even want to know how long the waitlist is. now...my raison d'etre. the point of this trip has arrived. sister leaves. i hopped on the #19 bus up to islington, home of slimelight. after watching terence fixmer's set (not bad, actually) and some other local act that was supposedly by douglas mccarthy's personal request - the real fun was to be had - NITZEREBB took to the stage. i won't go in to it in too much detail for the sake my my friends who will be seeing them in nyc, but needless to say it was extremely fun and a great sight to see and experience. the best thing was the intimacy of it all...for those who remember the venue, imagine seeing them at coney island high. fortunately, brits are wims when it comes to shows so i was able to secure a spot in the front just off center. the highlight of the the evening (my life?) was douglas mccarthy's acknowledgement of two of the more painful hours of my life that i wear on my left elbow. post-gig: sucked. i stuck around slime for a bit but decided to go home so that i could enjoy my final full day in london, but i couldn't find a black cab, the mini-cab stand nearby that the NEP merch people showed me was overflowing. i hopped a nightbus with one of the NEP merch folks (phil) who escorted me to victoria station where i was able to catch a cab without a problem. i left the club around 130a and got home around 330a. but i was happy.
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(the following was written on 04.09.06 and is, therefore, much less verbose)
Sunday - 09.07
two words: FOOTY. worldcup finals and boy was this city hopping. i futzed around all afternoon packing for my trip home the next day so i didn't get out until i hit the doubledecker bus for islington for the second night in a row. i left chelsea as the final was starting and got to see it happening all across town; in central london there were people packed 5 or 6 deep OUTSIDE of the pubs. fortunately i had the almighty Dougie feeding me scores via SMS and the bus driver himself was relaying updates throughout the trip. so i get to islington and meet up with David, the bloke from chelmsford (NEP's hometown) who needed a ticket. as i'm meeting him i also say hello to gileZ & and some guy who was from cubanate but was not marc heal. the gig again was sick. they played two tracks that they didnt play the night before (one of them being one of my 3 favorite songs) and david gooday, the original percussionist and my myspace friend, came out and played on two tracks. the man is older and domesticated but you could still see the fire in him (after all, he's been quoted as saying "you never quite leave the ebb"). the post-gig party at slimelight was 'eh' and i needed to get home to finish packing so i left rather early.
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