Music and Muscle Aches

Word of the day: bloke
man

What I learned today: Walking around in high heels all day from meeting to meeting is not ideal.

What I love about London: Taking a train, a subway, a bus and a boat all in one day.

Good News vs. Bad News

Good news: I made it through filming three interviews today all over London. And I think the footage is OK, despite some interesting sun glares, crooked cameras and scripted answers…

Bad news: I think I am permanently paralyzed from wearing high heels.

Good news: I only have one more interview left for the DVD.

Bad news: I still have one more interview left for the DVD. Yesterday I learned the oxymoron of corporate communication when I went all the way to the other side of town to have my interview canceled.

Good news: I am finally in the warmth of my bed ready to watch my dose of Thursday American shows.

Bad news: I don’t have any wine. Or even any tea.

Good news: I am going to Amsterdam next weekend!!!!

Bad news: How on earth am I going to finish up the DVD stuff, write an article and redo our surveys handbook in the next two weeks? Oh well, I guess there is never a good time for a holiday. (Oh my, I just said “holiday” instead of “vacation.” Yet I’m kind of over the novelty of me saying English words.)

Good news: I found new London music. Jessica and I found a cheap rock show in London at this hole-in-the-wall hipster bar in a slightly dodgy area of Hoxton called The Macbeth. Actually, random tidbit: I read today that this is the pub where Amy Winehouse’s husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, assaulted a guy. Fielder-Civil was in the news today after being arrested for allegedly trying to pay the guy off to get him to not press charges.

The Macbeth could be a bar in Athens, Ohio, just with more skinny jeans and European haircuts. When the song “Big Pimpin’” came on after a wave of indie songs, Jessica pegged it as “classic ironic hipsterism.” We clearly adored this type of atmosphere, because we are both wannabe hipsters at heart.

The bands were definitely of the strange variety you expect from these sort of things -- both riveting and underwhelming at times. But that’s why I love local shows so much -- they are one of kind and can’t really be recreated. While the songs you liked at a bar might ring in your head for days and days, often it won’t ever sound the same on an album (although it will certainly sound better on an album). It’s about being somewhere with some no-name band that suddenly matters for that moment. Plus it was pretty cool to realize all of their London references wouldn’t be understood in Ohio. That’s the beauty of local music.

I am now listening to: Orphans & Vandals, with London-inspired “epic” songs as Jessica describes them. I also enjoy the fun horns of Scottish band Future Retro Champions.