Such a wonderfully classic view that makes me feel proud to be British! [that takes quite a bit]
Brilliant Victorians and their wonder at everything new!
Senser – Camden Underworld
Along with Andy, my sister and niece, I went to the Underworld in Camden to see some bands. This was an important gig as I was taking my niece to see some proper music for the first time [she confessed that she has seen Olly Murs but didn’t say it loud enough to cause threats of physical damage to us].
The line-up was:
- Ingested
- Senser
- DJ Starscream
We got the train into St Pancras and then walked the twenty minutes to Camden High Street. After some food and a drink in the World’s End pub we entered the venue and I showed my guests around the delights of the basement. Ingested were on first. They had shouty vocals. They weren’t the worst example of this type of music I had seen but they weren’t that good either.
The main reason I had wanted to come along this evening was that Senser were playing. I have liked their stuff since I was, ok, let’s just say since about 1994 and I saw them once before in Southsea! I like the music and the sound that they have. I thought they were really good. They played two new songs, I think, and the rest I knew. Very good, very energetic. I’m glad my niece saw these as her first proper band. All good stuff.
DJ Starscream was on next. He is the DJ from Slipknot. We tried it. But it’s not our stuff. We left and went for coffee. That’s not down to his ability to play, I’m sure he’s very skilful at what he does, but it left me cold.
Current iPhone Background
My current iPhone background is this stunning picture of the Earth and Moon system taken by the Cassini spacecraft from orbit around Saturn. We are so small and insignificant! God must have been having a serious joke when he placed us on this land, there’s so much out there, and we’ll never get to it (do the physics/maths).
Holy Cow
Holy Cow, Batman.
I’ve just passed 500 communications on this website. I have to admit most of them are shockingly boring but then it’s not about you it’s about me. This is my thing. I don’t really care what you think.
This gives me something to do, although I am amazingly aware that it is public and so won’t let out all my thoughts here. I have considered writing another website and really going for it but, you know, that’s just not cricket. I do have some ideas for a new domain but the content of the website is not enshrined yet. It was going to be a site of my album reviews but that didn’t seem worth it. I’ve put them on here. Perhaps I should make it a photolog website? Yes, I do know that there are sites that let you do that for free but, once again, I don’t care. This is for me.
Send me your feedback. Ha ha. ianparish@gmail.com
Sonos
I have installed some Sonos components in my house. I have been really impressed with the simplicity of them. They work really well. My only complaint would be that I have to physically turn the speakers on and off as I walk around the house. I don’t want them screaming out all the time to no-one.
I want an RFID chip installed in my arm and detectors placed in my house and then that connected to my Sonos system controller so it knows which speakers to turn on and off. THAT would make me extremely happy and also BIONIC. Yippee.
I lied, I have another complaint. As the Sonos controller unit reads my iTunes library I think it should be able to write to it so I get a “played” count whenever I play tunes. There are some tunes on my NAS drive that aren’t in my iTunes library but then I couldn’t care about those. It is highly unlikely I will ever play those through the Sonos system.
Fire Running
About 30 years ago I can remember playing a game of “fire running”. Every now and then in the good old days parents would burn the garden waste on a big bonfire. These were wonderful times of cooking apples and potatoes (not together) in foil in the embers and generally doing boy stuff with flames.
The best thing we ever did was place a plank of wood on a big fire. The wood was probably 1″ by 4″ by 10′. I am aware that wood burns but that just adds to the fun.
Start about 4 metres away from the fire making sure that the flames are high and it is burning properly. Then RUN. Don’t lose your footing as you run up the plank and over the fire. Jump from the top of the fire and then land with style.
This is what being boys and summer is all about.
Download 2013 – My Sunday
Sunday at Download 2013 and we drove in to Donington Park. I didn’t pay attention to where we parked the car, principally because Andy said he would remember where it was. We walked up to the natural arena and met with Andy’s olds. Today was going to be a monster day and so I was really looking forward to it. I bought a t-shirt for a friend and went to get one for me – whoops – they had sold out. Never mind, that’s what eBay is for.
One last beer at 10:30, just to keep the blood-alcohol levels from dropping too much. A pint of Trooper, of course.
First band – States of Panic. I can’t remember them.
Then we walked over to a small tent and watched a London based band called Mordecai. They were good enough for me to buy their album and actually listen to it. I would see them again, preferably in a small London Club.
Cancer Bats and Coal Chamber were on the main stage next and I don’t remember much about either of them. Cancer Bats did nothing for me but Coal Chamber were a bit better. I liked the singers’ tattooed face and the bass player.
Up next on the main stage were Five Finger Death Punch and I was blown away. I’d never heard any of their stuff before but thought it was brilliant. They had fun on stage and the lead singer was brilliant at controlling the crowd. Superb.
Amon Amarth were a joke. They had a Viking ship on the stage. No, I didn’t like them. Funny how within such a tightly confined definition of music there are still bands that do absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps my views change as I “mature”.
Stone Sour on the main stage were brilliant. The lead singer just smiled through it all. I expect bands to enjoy what they do and these guys were great. One guitarist was bald and dressed in a suit. The other guy had the best beard ever. All in all I had a great time.
Over to a tent and watched Newsted. Jason got a great round of applause and I really liked the music. I have pre-ordered the album because I want more. They finished with Whiplash and, oh my (to borrow from George Takei) it was a dream come true. They were most enjoyable. We stayed in this tent to listen to POD but any band that has a Christian story bothers me and they were rubbish.
After that we saw some of A Day to Remember but curiously I haven’t remembered. We also saw 30 Seconds from Mars who could improve by literally being 30 seconds from Mars so they are nowhere near this good planet of ours.
Last band of the shebang:
RAMMSTEIN
I love the music, I love the show, I love it all. I think I could quite happily see these guys every week for a year. The sound was massive, the show was pyrotechnical mania. AND they played Buch Dick. Look you need to see them on YouTube and you need to be converted. These guys make everyone else look like pussies. Absolutely brilliant and I can’t wait to see them again.
After the show we chatted to Andy’s olds and waited for the car park queue to die down a bit. When we left them it was already 12:30 and we headed off to find the car. We had lost it. We walked completely around one car park in the chuffing dark trying to find a dark blue car!! Eventually we re-traced our routes and found the car. Left or Right? There looked to be no queue to the left of the main exit and so I decided to turn that way. Bugger, just around the corner was a massive queue and no room to turn around. Eventually after rallying through some small villages we found the M1 and headed south.
Things I don’t really want to repeat:
- Seeing the pre-morning glow of the sun coming up as I drive down the M1
- Stopping for extreme caffeine input
- Getting flashed by a speed camera
- Watching the sun arise while drive along the M26
- Getting in at 5 and then getting up at 7 to go to work!
This Download weekend was one of the best things to have happened to me this year and I had a great time.
Download 2013 – My Saturday
Saturday started with a slight disaster. Andy had forgotten to inform our landlady that we wanted breakfast so she wasn’t prepared for us in the breakfast room. She did manage to cobble together some food and so things weren’t so bad after all.
We waited outside our guest house for our lift to the festival. Stella and Graham eventually turned up and I started an epic day of rum and Jager. We knew we were planning to meet up with some friends inside the festival so today was going to be a bit strange with 4 of us having to decide what to do together rather than just Andy and me.
As we were walking in from the close car park (about a mile away) I could hear UFO on stage and I’m gutted I didn’t see them, I really love the tacky 70s rock sound! Once inside the festival we browsed the shops. There wasn’t anything that really stood out at me although I did buy a “Power Up” t-shirt. Eventually we met up with Dave, Jon and AN Other.
Black Stone Riders are just Thin Lizzy without the singer and Gary Moore (RIP). I just wasn’t that interested. There was no progression to the sound of the new stuff. It was just extra Thin Lizzy, add 20 years to the music and make it sound the same.
I tried with Mastodon, I really did. I just didn’t get on with it and thought they were a bit rubbish. Since Download I have been trying to listen to The Hunter in the house and it still doesn’t really do anything for me. This is a shame as I’ve been looking for some new sounds to get into.
Sky Valley Mistress. Hmmmmm. Well I wrote this down in the list of bands I watched on the Saturday but I can’t remember. There, said it.
Alice In Chains came on next and I really like their music. It’s moody, depressing and haunting. They sounded really good and it was nice to see them for the first time since 1991 but I was hungry. I am ashamed to say that Andy and I went to get some food.
Motorhead were OK but really just what you’d expect from Motorhead. I would have liked to hear the song “Motorhead” because it’s among my favourites, but then it’d be hard to beat the classic “No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith”.
We headed back into the crowd for Queens of the Stone Age and . . . . . we just chatted all the way through their set. They were really uninspiring and boring. It’s a shame because I actually like two of their songs but they just didn’t really do it for me. I even turned away from the stage to chat to my friends!
We were in place for Iron Maiden. No moving now except inwards. Really looking forward to it. The lights dimmed and there seemed to be some activity on the stage when a Supermarine Spitfire (possibly VC version – it had straight tipped wings) flew over the crowd from behind the stage, circled a few times and did some more fly overs. Absolutely brilliant. Best bit of the day so far.
Maiden came on and were typically Maiden. It was a very good show with lots of fire, Eddie and singing along. There were a few songs I would have liked to hear and a couple I would have preferred they hadn’t played. I think they played two from the Fear of the Dark album which I don’t care for. I’m waiting patiently to hear Revelations live. Maiden were good, but I found that Slipknot blew them away. Maybe because I’ve seen Maiden about 6 times since 1988?
Perfect Pub
A perfect pub needs the following things:
Ladies and Gentlemen I give you The World’s End in Camden!
Aesthetic Perfection
Saw Aesthetic Perfection at the Camden Underworld last night. There were four bands on the bill. Apart from the headliners the only one I liked was Kommand and Kontrol. They had a good mix of electronica and guitars, they considered themselves The Gentlemen of Electronica, worth a watch.
Aesthetic Perfection were good but let down, as other bands were, with some technical issues. During the evening speakers stop working, microphones died and guitars died. The sound was poor as the PA speakers were aimed too directly towards back, the closer to the stage you got, the worse the sound (more than at other venues).
Aesthetic Perfection essentially showed the other bands how to do it. Odd make up, hard sound and disturbing lyrics. Everything that makes a good evening!
Confirmation
I don’t think it’s right that I went to a college that has so many odd things about it. I love the fact it was odd but there are problems with that.
If I meet someone new I have to try and explain some of the things about IC because it was part of my life. I can mention any of the following:
- Mascotry
- Constituent College rivalry
- Imperial Rag Mag
- Kamikaze Parachute Run
- Field Cup
- Tie Clubs
- Traditional Bar
- Pots
- not NUS
- Bo
- CGCU Bar Nights
And these would probably be met with a bit of a “really?” nod. “Yes” would be the reply.
These things can only be confirmed by someone who’s been there and been in the same social group. Obviously those are the people I am still in contact with and so confirmation is required.
I have had the job of confirmer a number of times.
Ian, could you just explain Spanner and Bolt to X who doesn’t believe me.
I explain about my past love Spanner and its companion Bolt and although X now believes the stories they still have that look of “your place was odd”.
It sure was!
Evening Picnic
Just right. An evening picnic with my sons.
Two Annoyances
-
Number 1
This might seem trivial but it’s the little things that will grind us down. When I shop in Tesco and pay at the self-service till I am pretty sure the lovely lady says:
Clubcard excepted.
It’s probably just her accent but I don’t like it. She should, of course, be saying:
Clubcard accepted.
That would make me happier.
-
Number 2
When broadband supplying companies are advertising perhaps they could actually state a speed rather than just a value. They seem to say:
Speeds of up to 8 megabits
Now, you know I’m this fussy! 8 megabits is not a speed. You have to have a compound measure for speed because it’s a rate. They should be saying:
Speeds of up to 8 megabits per second
If both these things happened I would be a happy man!
Top Song
Just been playing some AC/DC while completing a few laps on the GT6 demo. All of a sudden, well, not really, it was the next track but “You shook me all night long” came on.
It is a brilliant song. I just love it. The riff, the lyrics, the late 80s. How it makes me feel. How it makes me happy.
Just awesome.
Twitter have changed something. My website no longer has a twitter feed down the RHS. Also, my communications aren’t being posted to Twitter automatically, a slight inconvenience.
Well, I’m sure I can cope but I don’t like it when I have things working how I want them and then, kapow, things change. It’s not right.
A Lovely Place To Work
What a lovely setting for work!
USA Pictures
Finally got some prints from my DC trip at Easter. Had my panoramas printed, only the lovely things obviously.
Here’re the X-15 and SR-71 in the dining room:
Here’s the orbiter Discovery next to my Cylon guardian:
And finally the Capitol sitting on the other side of my Cylon:
Download 2013 – My Friday
Friday
I left work and battled through the traffic at the Dartford Tunnel and then the M1 just being busy. I found the hotel easy enough and Andy had left the key under the door mat so that all worked out ok.
Had some rum and got a cab to the festival. It took at good 25 minutes to walk from the taxi rank to the main arena. I tried getting in touch with Andy but with so many mobiles around a concentrated site the signal was appalling.
Bullet for my Valentine
I could hear and see this band as I was walking around the arena trying to get some food and Jagermeister. They sounded alright. Not really my stuff, but not the worst in the world. I was more interested in seeing the Friday night headliners.
Slipknot
I have know about this band for a long time. My first contact with them was when they played “Wait and Bleed” on TFI Friday in about 2000 or so. I bought the first album straight after that and then even the next two. I hadn’t bought any more and didn’t really listen to it that often. That will change. They were fantastic. The show was excellent and has made me a huge fan.
After the show it was great to meet with Andy and his parents. On the way back to the guest house we argued about the usual things we argue about!
Vegetables 2013
This year’s vegetables are growing well. I’m looking forward to carrots, parsnips and tomatoes later in the summer.
Slip Lane
This communication has been brewing for a few weeks now. It is time to let off some steam. I have two driving issues that I wish to highlight.
Slip Lane
When I learnt to drive I was told that the slip road to a motorway or dual carriage way was for cars to speed up and be able to enter the main carriage way safely. As even the slowest trucks generally do around 60mph it seems reasonable to expect drivers to SPEED UP to at least 60 mph so that we can all enter the motorway in the safest fashion possible. This does not seem to happen.
Many times recently I have been sitting in my car at 40 or 50 mph while trying to get onto the motorway because the idiot in front of me won’t speed up. It’s a motorway you moron. Let’s get a move on and be safe, or just don’t drive.
Village
The roads to where I live are a little narrow and twisty and different. I understand that people who aren’t from around here might want to take things easy. I don’t mind that. I find it a bit irritating but it’s fair enough in all honesty. So these drivers potter along the lanes at 40mph. I understand.
What I don’t understand is that these morons then continue to do 40mph through the village. It’s a 30 zone, FCS. There are kids playing in the field and old people and cars parked everywhere. If you insist on driving slowly along the national speed limit roads then please do the same in the village and be aware of your surroundings. It’s 30mph for a reason. The throttle isn’t stuck at 40mph, lift off a little.
Those who recklessly speed through the village are a different matter.
Rant over for now.