3 posts tagged “london”
Am hot-footing it about town this afternoon, first a meeting with Ashley from Shiny Media, then onto a Second Life music biz debate tonight.
I'm looking forward to that actually, as I'm still not convinced that the only thing record labels get out of a Second Life isn't just column inches. Also, someone whose job title is 'metaverse evangelist' is speaking, which is intriguing.
I'm picturing a virtual version of the sinner/winner guy at Oxford Circus, although the reality will be a chap saying 'Second Life is great, please invest in it so my job remains relevant...' Sorry, this is cynical, I know...
Just on way back from Oxford Street, after deciding to spend a relaxing Saturday afternoon just before Christmas jostling with millions of other angry Londoners doing their festive shopping. The whole street's been pedestrianised for the day, so it's TEEMING with people. I shudder to think if they fit on the pavements normally.
Anyway, mission successful, and there was quite a bit going on, with the Evening Standard doing its bit to cheer shoppers up with enormous balloons (pictured), a stage just off Oxford Circus, and street entertainers.
Of course, for the rest of the week the paper will be doing its usual job of depressing Londoners with dreadful stories about TRANSPORT CHAOS and house prices...
Also, Habitat is much more bangin' than I remember it. They had a DJ in there and everything. See, soft furnishings and lighting is well wicked, innit.
I've been meaning to post about this for a few days. There's a petition to save the London Astoria, a gig venue on Charing Cross Road. For those of you who haven't sampled its charms, it's dark, dingy, the floors are sticky, the drinks are overpriced, and the toilets are medieval. But it's also been the scene of some of my (and thousands of other people) best ever gigs.
So I was going to write a few reasons why it SHOULDN'T be turned into yet another shopping/apartments complex, or a central London rail hub. But then I just started thinking about some of the gigs I've seen there. Like Sleeper. They were my third ever gig, back in 1995, and like most other indie boys at the time, I fancied Louise Wener, the singer/guitarist. Mainly because she was a bit doe-eyed, played guitar, and wrote slightly rude lyrics about shagging. I was in the third row from the front, all Converse-trainered and skinny-jeaned up, and it was ace.
Flash forward a few years to the Beta Band in January 2000, at an NME Brats show. I don't really remember much, other than that I was with a big group of my gigging mates in the upstairs bit, we were all trolleyed on cider, and most of us ended up dancing on one of the tables to 'Dry The Rain'. Then there was another Brats gig by Doves (more cider/table-dancing). More recently, I've seen Primal Scream blow the roof off the place ( Gig Cliches Ltd), have given myself whiplash headbanging over a balcony to Wolfmother, and saw The Darkness stake their claim to rawk stardom by selling the place out before they even had a record deal.
In short, it's memories. And for all the venue's flaws, that's why so many people are upset at the prospect of it closing. I'm sure there are many happy gigging nights ahead in, say, the Hammersmith Apollo or Camden Koko, but it won't be the same.
