Category: Music

Bloomington does London

Post author By nina
Post date April 2, 2007

This was the last weekend of visitors. Alec arrived Thursday and we enjoyed the perfect concert at the Koko. It was a conglomorate of his and my music taste with the largest disc ball I’ve ever seen. We arrived as James Holden was doing his first of two sets. I liked this first better, it was more chill. Then Green Gartside (Scritti Politti) & Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) was the meat of Holden’s sandwich set followed by an insane jam session with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) and Steve Reid! We met up with Annamarie that night to continue the perfect weekend.

Early that morning I took them to my favourite classic place for visitors, The Troubador. Then we slopped through some rain and I took them to Buckingham Palace and Westminster. We sought salvation in the National Gallery and saw the Manet to Picasso exhbit. Annamarie went to see Marry Poppins with her Roma roomies and Alec and I toured Soho. Some how we made it out to Zoobar, a classic London day.

On Saturday, graced by the sun we split our ways and Alec got to see the South Kensington Museums. I took Amar around to all the shops she’s been missing at High Street Kensington. Poor little girl in Roma has not seen in H&M in forever. I got a super cute cheap bag from Top Shop with a huge discoball on it, it reminds me of the Koko! They got a taste of my favourite takeout, by favourite I mean cheapest, and it became a Snappy Pizza evening. That night, tired from Londoning we spent the night in and made it to Kings Kebob at a good solid 2am.

We woke up, dropped Alec off at the Tube and proceeded onto Notting Hill Gate where it was not crowded, touristy, or annoying. In fact, I got the perfect pair of shoes I was looking for, for 3 pounds. Pink athletic pumps! We did our thing, and got McDonald’s and then I took her to meet her roomies and we said by.

I came with the intention of napping only to pleasantly find an email from Matt telling me him and Jonathan are back in London till tomorrow. We met up for some drinks and I got a peek at some upcoming goodies for the paper at The Savoy.

I also met some really fun Londoners on my Tube ride home! What a great weekend I have no idea how I made it to class this morning.

London Music Travel

Air @ the Forum, 17 March 2007

Post author By nina
Post date March 18, 2007

“Oh, didn’t Air do that one song in the 90s?… Sexy Boy “

Yes. Any many-a-other song since. I saw Air last night in Kentish Town. Besides the obvious that they were excellent I’ll tell you more. I had no idea what they would be like live. Especially considering their special guest opener put encouraged everyone to talk or sleep after about 2 songs. Point being, the possibility of an Air-like soothing lovely but quiet show became a real possibility.

Silly me, Air was not a 20quid naptime. Of course they played songs from Pocket Symphony but it’s always nice to hear the classics. Nicolas Godin has a really cute French sense of humor. Before Kelly Watch the Stars, he got distracted by the voice distorter and saying little nerdy things instead. And his broken English reminded us, “I like when you shout!”

Some of the songs, but not all by any means were instrumental. And don’t you worry, their encore ended with Sexy Boy.

Even though I went by myself, I made friends with two girls here from Australia. They live about 2 hr from where Rossy is studying! When I told them the tale of how I ended up there solo, they said to me, “It’s like going to the movies alone!” That’s a little joke for you if you read my blog. They’ve been going to so many shows, I’m a little bits jealous. But we both realised and agreed… London is weirdly behind on the music scene.

Music Travel

Berlin!!

Post author By nina
Post date March 12, 2007
1 Comment on Berlin!!

Achtung! I had a wonderful time visiting La Cantina in Berlin from March 9-11. I arrived to the airport a million miles away from the city and took a train to the Zoo train stop where we were supposed to be meeting. Well, I guess there was a mis-com because I later learned they were already there and didn’t find me. After magically communicating I needed a phone card (and a nice woman who helped me use it), and 4 phone calls I got in touch with Thom and hopped two trains to his host family’s place.

Just outside the station and Thom and Alec were sitting and waiting happily. They greeted me with a German beer at noon. We all know I don’t like beer, but it was kind of perfect. I checked out his host family’s place which was SO cute and wonderful, then we got the best roast chicken from a stand outside

Then Thom took us on a walking tour of the city. It was perfect and good to just have a chill evening and see Berlin. It’s really interesting how creatively they do their monuments. It’s weird too because Berlin is a new old city since so much had to be rebuilt. It will be interesting to see it grow in the next 20 years.

I begged for a traditional German dinner around Alexazanderplatz and was reminded and pleased with small European portions. We cleaned up real nice and got swankyed up and hit up a cool German club in the Sharp building. I guess after the war old movie theaters and warehouses adied the clubbing boom there.

Our night ended at 5 and started up at 11 when we hoped to find Drew and then Kristin at the airport. With success by a hair we made it back to Thom’s host sisters place in E. Berlin where we stayed. After much needed showers and naps we had really delicious Indian (a little germanized) dinner with Thom’s host sister Judith and her friend. On the way to dinner there were Punks rallying in support of other Punks in Copehagen. Gotta love E. Berlin!! We were hoping to get into a pretty elite club, Panorama Bar to see the Junior Boys, but in short… Nein. Tatoo faced bouncer surprisingly said no to my cute face, just kidding.

Still a good night because I had my first taste of Donner, a turkish pita/meat snack thing. Can you tell I barely eat in London, EVERYTHING was the best food I ever had. Of course, how would I see these boys without me jumping and snuggling all over them before bed. The three of them were cramped on a pullout couch and Kristin and I scored the huge cozy bed. But, it was nice to be tucked in by my boys.

Another night ending at 5 and starting at 11 led us to pick up Paul from the airport. I insisted on a second Doner before Pauly could even get back to the apartment. So good.

With only a few hours before I left we got to check out some cool Markts (markets) and I had amazing Blood Orange juice, warm wine with chestnuts, and a cheese and green onion crepe.

Berlin, like Barcelona, had really awesome graffitti everywhere. There’s no doubt that styles were different. But art for arts sake, or taking almost any opportunity to be creative is something I will miss when I leave Europe and the UK. Look, my friends are hipsters, hahaaha:

Thom, Alec and Drew took their little Pinta to the train station-bahn-platz-strass-haus and saw me off. It’s always so hard to leave these boys, they’re so good to me. I’m also glad I knew they were amazing far before I ever left them. I hope they have a good week in Berlin, I’m looking forward to showing Alec around London in a few weekends when Annamarie is here.

I am thrilled that I got a relatively cheap flight, but RyanAir is killer. They make it worth it no doubt.

London Music

Going to the movies alone

Post author By nina
Post date January 30, 2007

One of the most exciting parts about coming to London was for the music. Unfortunately, I haven’t met too many people who listen to the same stuff as me. I used to always say that I would kill to go see Massive Attack or Four Tet, but they never play in the States. Frustrated that I would be missing their shows, I decided I’m not going to.

A pretty cool co-worker of mine who’s been in London for 10 years (from Seattle), gave me the final push. So, I bought a (really cheap!) ticket to see Four Tet and Steve Reid at the end of March. Theres a mild possibleyeity that some I may not have to go it alone, but doubtful.

During the past half month, I’ve been whining “this is not why I’m here.” So, that’s the end of it. I will do things that I want to do while I’m here. I’m sorry I waited so long and never bought Air tickets, now I know. I’m sorry that it seems to be the first time in forever that Massive Attack isn’t performing (minus a benefit concert that was sold out immediately, and well before I left for England).
Also, I have really wonderful coworkers who really want me to get something out of my internship. I’m already writing an article because someone insisted I get my name published in the Magazine. It’s a 500 word piece about the health of Britishers in North East England. Hey, it’s a start. I’m getting a push from another side to interview an MP. Eek, I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. He assured me that I’ve got 3 months yet. Weird.