Echoes of Flavio's Ghost Dreaming

Today I should:

- do two lessons. Weirdly, one is a banjo lesson. Until last week I had never even been near one.

- tidy flat (it might happen)

- change the toilet seat (oh, my glamorous life)

- practise guitar (technical stuff and exercises and run through my programme at least once) for recital on Thursday -FB event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/140330019879766/

- change concert guitar's strings (and the three days of constant re-tuning that ensue) for said concert.

- Go to Dead & Buried -on that line of things, check whether a friend who wants to come along (and for whom I have a ticket) is able to make it. D&B FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1726237230999554/

Thursday I met with a young friend at Amorino in Covent Garden to eat fantastic ice-cream and sit at the tables outside under the leaky grey, grey skies exchanging life stories, mostly about our respective fathers.

In the evening I went to North-Nineteen for the londongothsluts meeting, this time celebrating boxcat and myz_lilith's return from their travels. After listening to very good stories of far away and having a so-so dinner (a first for the place; I won't be ordering fish and chips there again), left to go and see The Creeping Terrors at the Unicorn. Very good gig on their part, not that many people in the audience, though. Pictures of the gig, here. The band that followed was playing 'ironic' covers of hard rock and generic 'cock rock'. I'm getting tired of 'ironic' so I left with friends for a glass of wine at their place and to make the acquaintance of Luna, their visiting cat. A lot of wine and good conversation, although it is not the conversation that results in a pounding head the morning after.

Friday -I totally failed to make it to Nambucca to see Prof Elemental (I wasn't that taken with the idea of this, I must say) and the Memepunks (I was, but still didn't make it). Instead I stayed at Veronique's Goth Christmas Party and Jason's Birthday Commiserations (at Aces & Eights; no link as it was a 'private' event), which was a fantastic party. Again, pictures here. Really really lovely. More head pounding in the morning.

On Saturday, after lessons and meeting a friend for coffee and catch up at the Rustique Café, I went to the Slimelight to see DKAG and Alien Vampires' concert. Wasn't intending to stay long or drink much but people kept giving me conversation and buying me drinks and .. the morning after started lated and went rather slowly and heavily. Maybe there is a theme developing here.

Sunday didn't exist apart from some guitar practice and one lesson, this one online with my pupil in Kuala Lumpur.

Monday -ah, getting to meet lovelybug at St Pancras and spend some lovely time with her there, then joining Krisztina and yog_sthoth at the Tricycle Theatre to see _that_ movie. Which I liked. Quite a bit. May have to see it again in a larger screen, maybe in 3D.

I didn't mention the letter from the HMRC where they allude to a possible error in my tax return last year which will mean me having to magic a lot of money to pay more tax. No, one wouldn't mention that sort of thing, would one.

Remarkably busy week-end. I should start that on the Thursday, when I went to the londongothsluts meeting at the Doric Arch -particularly since I didn't have to go to school on the Friday. I did go to deadandburied (ah, that's still there, even though Nik hasn't posted for many an eon) in Archway. That was an excellent party. Saturday was very good, if a tiny little bit bittersweet for me in parts. A couple of lessons, then to the Bart's Christmas Bazaar with my friend Jennie with the idea of buying a couple of little pressies for redd_foxx who always buys me lots of little presents for xmas and I hardly buy her anything back. Didn't find anything that would really catch me but did buy a couple of things. We left and ended up in a Nicholson's pub nearby, had a lovely catch up and finally each left for their home -I only briefly, as was going to Cavey Nik's (seems he has finally deleted his old LJ) birthday meal at Jashan's Indian restaurant in Turnpike Lane. This turned out to be very good, perhaps not the cheapest but very very nice food. A lovely meeting of people, too. I think the birthday boy was happy.

Sunday brought, apart from my most difficult lesson of the week, the Alternative Bring & Buy at the Dome in Tufnell Park. This was, as always, a lovely event. Again, I came back with a couple of small things. In the evening there was the 'after-event' party at Aces & Eights in Tufnell Park. Pizza and beers with friends.

Hmmm.. Inferno, or not Inferno? But it is the Inferno-Sin City mash-up night...

Whether to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous metal...

Elusive-Voices of Masada Elusive and Voices of Masada at Electrowerkz, 08-12-07

More pictures of the Elusive/Voices of Masada gig

Black.Plastic.3 Black.Plastic.3 at the Pleasure Unit, 08-12-07

More pictures of Black.Plastic.3

Andy Clegg's Birthday at the Rosemary Branch


Slaughterhaus5

... have a good one!

Week-end was generally good, apart from .. not the having to work, but the fact of some pupils having arranged lessons then cancelling at the last minute. And the weather. And that car that was holding up the traffic on the A1,, in the middle of the carriageway with plums of smoke and a geyser of brown water issuing from under the bonnet (no, it wasn't my car. But driving an old Peugeot which I don't look after properly, I do wonder..)...

Plus points: Betty Ford Clinic. It was a bit ... sparsely attended but was a very good night. I still think the bar is way too expensive, though. And getting out of there in the middle of the night is difficult. I normally resolve both things by the simple expedient of driving there, which means I cannot drink and have a reasonable chance of making it back home when I decide to, without waiting for night buses for half the night. It is a good night, though, and will be coming back.

Drinks for strangepixel's birthday at kajia's on Saturday night. This was excellent and pictures will follow. Maria is definitely Queen of the Margaritas. Pity I missed the dinner at Mildred's.

Sunday evening at the Dev, in celebration of ravenstoker's birthday -there were quite a few other interesting things happening that night but had to go say happy birthday. Also met with Samantha (who has an LJ but whose ljusername I didn't quite get...) which was very good.

Looking outside today makes me think,, for some reason, of Dryden and the detuning of the sky (I'm sure somebody in ljland had mentioned it...)...

First of all, Happy Birthday, blackberryqueen!!

It was a good week-end, apart from the small horrible incident in the park mentioned yesterday, but which did not manage to mar a beautiful picnic, a gppd gathering of lovely people.

Yesterday, a few lessons and some time spent at the Dev in the evening, where there were two groups of friends sitting in different places so I had to divide myself in two. It was very good to see redlaurie and mark13, sorry if the stress over the flat thing (this sentence looks very ood -never mind) spilled over. It seems like there will be a temporary respite from that tension, but, you were right in what the choices I'm facing are -and maybe it is time to move. It was very good also to see necromanci -but, did you see me?:P At the other table, ravenstoker. deinelakaien. catwalk_ghost. (we finally meet, sir), Greenie, Owen & Christine, then Jana and her boyfriend and a few others.

Today has brought a milliion errands, going to Camden Council to sort out parking permit and other things, a pupil not turning up on the day he was due to pay and not being available on the phone, more lessons later and the aforementioned news from the agency that I don't have to move tomorrow -but I might want to...

Tonight, party in Stoke Newington for Jill's birthday. If I can make it afterwards, I'll try to go to Betty Ford Clinic, although tomorrow being a working day and all the rest might mean that I only make it to one of the two.

Tomorrow night shall be Invocation at the Minories in Tower Bridge. There is also zuleika666's birthday bash at the Big Red. On Sunday I have some three lessons -spread through the day, starting at 12 pm in Stamford Hill, don't have anything marked for the evening which probably means I'm forgetting something important....

That is one ugly name for a club/bar. There was an interesting gig last night there, where there were playing a few bands including Patricide, -Un and Leechwoman. Mostly what people used to call (still call) 'experimental', which is no longer ground breaking (I thnk I saw the first performance of that kind in 1975...) but it is still very good to see, nonetheless, people making music which is out of the ordinary. I'm not going to attempt a review, which morbidfrog did much better here(with photos), but it was good to see some different stuff. Liked what Robert was doing (solo drum kit doing very simple but very intense stuff against an electronic or electro-acoustic backdrop). Leechwoman was a revelation, something like a noise band with guitars (much sori if they think of themselves as a metal band of some sort, that's what I got from them and I liked it). I'm glad I went.