Leaving London in Style

12-13-2008 (early morning)

Yes, that is a Hummer Limo, and that’s how I got to the airport this morning. Sure I may have put more of a carbon footprint on the earth than I needed to this morning, but once in my life 

won't hurt.

Thursday, at the Bang Staff Christmas party, I was told I’d have a limo at my disposal. Throughout the day yesterday, I kept trying to call Peter, our advert director, to see if that was actually going to happen. However, with each call, I couldn’t get a hold of him. So towards the late afternoon, I was giving up hope.

Then just was we were finishing up our shisha (hookah), I got a call from Peter. He told me I’d be getting a call from the limo service shortly and that we’d work out the details.

So after a call at 6:00pm the previous day, this limo picked up Rachel and I at 3:00am right outside MTH on York Terrace East.

Despite the heat not exactly working and the driver almost getting in an accident, that was the best free limo ride in London that I’ve ever had.... and I have Peter Terry to thank for it!

Tying Loose Ends

12-12-2008

For my last day in London, today was rather uneventful. Partly because I forgot what wine hangovers do to me. Slept in till about 10am and still had a pulsating headache.

My boss reminded me last night at the party of my final task to perform for Bang Radio, one final blog. That’s what the remainder of my morning entailed. I thought it was quite sentimental if I do say so myself. I’ll spare you the link:

It’s my 99th day in London. Tomorrow, I fly back to the land of beer and cheese, my home state, Wisconsin. The past one hundred days have been an absolutely incredible experience. Much of that has to do with this amazing city.

Taking daily jogs in Regent’s Park, hopping on a bus down to the West End for a show, shopping for things I’d never find at home in Camden, seeing bands that I’d have to travel all over the states to see, taking in history and art at the many London museums, and of course the tourist sites of Big Ben, London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square and the list goes on. This city has made my experience unforgettable.

As time went on, I got to know the city better than the average tourist. I was fortunate enough to discover Brent, specifically Harlesden. There’s an almost small town atmosphere in this neighborhood, even though it lies within this monster of a city. An atmosphere where people seem to care for each other and help out one another. The diversity in this area also makes it extremely special to London and to me. Where I’m from, there are a lot of the same people. But here, there’s a wide variety from all over the world sharing themselves with Brent, making it all the better. Brent has made my experience unforgettable.

Every weekday (well except for my touristy Friday’s off), I got off the Bakerloo Line at Willesden Junction or got off the 18 bus at Park Parade and walked down Harlesden High Street to BANG Radio. Here, I not only volunteered to assist the station in going where it needed to go, but I also took a lot from it as well. Not that I robbed the place when no one was looking, but I took away professional experiences from a community station that is making leaps and bounds in London. Being a part of a station as it goes through the many changes Life/BANG has over the past couple of months definitely taught me a thing or two… or 22. As much as I gained professional work experience, I also learned many “Life lessons” (pun intended). BANG Radio has made my experience unforgettable.

Most importantly though, I’ve come to know some wonderful people at BANG Radio. In the short 90 some days that I’ve worked with them, they’ve helped me develop as a professional audio engineer and also as a person. In their own unique way, every person at BANG Radio has taught me something. There’s no way I could every properly thank the whole team for the experience I’ve had there. So I guess this blog will have to do. Thank you all. The people at BANG Radio have made this experience unforgettable.

I hope this is only a short hiatus with London and not a final goodbye. Only time will tell. So until that time, cheers!

After the blog writing, I packed the remainder of what I had to pack. Then to ISH where I spent my last £2.30 on my lunch staple of a turkey and cranberry baguette and Sweet Chili Kettle chips (I’ve gotten complete hooked on these by the way). I said my goodbyes to Issac and Zorra, two of the café workers who brightened up my breakfast every morning.

I took my lunch to go and walked up to Camdentown where I told Chad and Kim I’d meeting them for one last hookah, or shisha as it is known here. With my bonus from work, I figured I’d treat mis amigos, but they were picky. Kim wanted strawberry shisha, Chad wanted mint. Being the amazing facilitator that I am, I compromised: strawberry shisha and mint tea to warm our souls on this typically damp London afternoon.

We walked about Camden for a while. This is definitely one part of London I’ll miss the most. Free spirits uniquely expressing themselves through art, clothing, and music, I can only imagine what this area of London must have been like during the swinging 60’s.

From Camden, I stopped by Harlesden to drop off some luggage at Gabriella’s place, as I’m storing it there while I’m in the Canary Island of Tenerife for the next week.

Upon returning to Westminster, I stopped by ISH bar to see who was around. Surprisingly, Issac, who is not a big drinker, was there and we had a chat and an email exchange over my last pint of ISH Carlsburg, which had become my beer of choice in London.

That one beer was enough for me since it was already 11:00pm and I had to be awake in 4 hours.

Warhorsing

12-10-2008

Wednesdays I normally start my morning a bit later, as I don’t have to be into work till about 12-12:30. This week was a bit different since I had to queue around 8:45am at the National Theatre in order to get tickets to see Warhorse.

I had some lovely company though with Kat. You may remember her from the ISH karaoke and construction building freeze tag. She met me at ISH reception this morning at 8:00am with two coffees in hand. We hoped on a 435, got off at Trafalgar, and walked over the Thames to the National Theatre only to find a queue had already formed with still 45minutes till the box office opened.

The wait was worth it though. We got our tickets. I couldn’t be more pleased since that show was probably the best I’ve seen in London.

 

It’s about the 1914-18 war, except from the perspective of a horse named Joey. It begins with Joey as a foal and how he is bought by a drunken farmer, raised, and subsequently loved, by the farmer’s son.  As the war breaks out, Joey is sold to the army. His strength and good upbringing save his life though, as he is put to use as a general’s escort as opposed to infantry. The farmer’s son eventually misses Joey too much and joins the army in order to search for him. From there it turns into Saving Private Ryan, but with a horse. The show is incredibly moving and extremely unique. Mostly because of the puppets.

Joey is actually a life-sized wooden framed horse that three men operate throughout the show, one on each set of legs and another controlling the head. Their incredible skill in moving that horse makes the audience forget there are even puppeteers. The lifelike way in which they move that puppet is astounding.  Especially when there are two of these life-size horses on stage at once. 

The sets were minimal and interactive with the movements of the cast. There was a torn page from a book flown in at the stage top, which projected scenery and video in sketches, very tasteful and artistic.

And the music. Awesome. Mostly chorus and the small instrumental parts were carried out on stage. There was a narrator / inner monologue of Joey who was in every seen, in the same costume, but yet fitting the scene well as he sang the story in an English folk song style. All around, a brilliant show.

To rewind to earlier in the day, I got my hair cut before work today by a nice Brazilian man who spoke no English. I decided I did not have the patience for dreads as I know that in order to have them look the way I’d like it’d take 3 years…. just not patience enough. And while the Brazilian guy was very meticulous, I still hate the way it looks.

As Cold as Ice

12-9-2008

As mentioned two posts ago, time is running out. So tonight I had to take in a London site I can’t find anywhere else: The Absolute Ice Bar. After visiting it though, I came to find out that these bars exist in large cities all over the world. But I wanted to see the London one.

Basically, the ice bar is just what it sounds like, a bar made entirely of ice. The floor, pillars, walls, sculptures, tables, seats, chandelier, the bar itself, and yes, the glasses were all made of the purest ice imported from Sweden. Apparently, it lasts 6 months before they have to import more ice. In order to keep people comfortable and buying Absolute Vodka mixes for their entire 45 minute time slot, they supply each visitor with a parka / overcoat, making everyone at the bar look like Eskimos.

£12.50 entrée fee and that includes your first drink. Was the price worth it? Well, when am I ever going to be able to drink in a bar made entirely of ice again? Kimberly and I had an icy blast. I snuck my ice glass out and licked it the whole walk home up Regent’s street. The glass even lasted me as long as the ISH bar, where I ordered a shot of Sambukah in it before it completely melted. 

I'll Miss MTH 179

12-8-2008 

A little flat that looks out on to Regent's park in central London. 

It will be hard saying goodbye to this place. 

Even it is a touch small....

Portobello Glass Blowing

12-6-2008

I really enjoy the people I travel with. Everyone has their own unique interests and it seems everyone from the UWSP group is getting something different out of their time in London. For instance, Deb has been getting to know the London glass blowers association quite well as she took it upon herself to pursue training with them. I am lucky enough to be friends with Deb, because this friendship led to her taking Kim and I on a tour of their studios today.

 

It was actually their annual open house this entire week, but had it not been for Deb, I’d never known that. But beside the typical open house stuff, Deb also took the time to explain some of the process to us and introduce us to a some members of the team, who just so happen to be some of the most talented glass blowers in the world.

 

Watching them work made me appreciate every wine glass I’ve every drank out of and every vase I’ve ever put flowers into. The skill, speed, and fluidity with which these guys have to work brings awe to anyone watching them work their craft.

Once we had finished watching multiple artists make an ornate bowl, a wine glass, and a pitcher we decided there was plenty of daylight left to take in Portobello Road. This market specializes in antiques from old school binoculars to books and doll houses. My favorite vendor had a wall of antique beer signs which if I had a place in London, I’d purchase way too many of those. They also had the usual t-shirt shops and vendors that you’d find in Camden. From one of these guys, I got the greatest t-shirt known to man. Perhaps you'll see me wearing it around. I could post a picture of it here, but that just wouldn't be as fun.

 

Plus we saw my favorite busker again, puncture kit, only this time he was joined by a...let's say less talented musician, but they still entertained the crowd. 

And like any market, this place had loads of good eating:

 

Once we’d shopped till we were about to drop, we walked back to a bus that’d take us home. But we also came upon a house that Deb and Kim were certain belonged to Elton John. No one was 100% but we’re going to say it was.

Pub Crawl

12-5-2008

Against my better judgment, I went with Kim, Mike, Shannon, and Luke on a pub-crawl this evening. In the past, I’ve been rather disappointed with the amount of fun and free alcohol that one get’s out of a pub-crawl for the monetary value one has to put in. This one wasn’t too bad though, two pubs and three clubs.

Started at Belusey’s, a pop culture on the walls, music videos on 10 screens kind of a pub. Then moved on to the Roadhouse club, where motorcycles and 76 gasoline signs were the selected memorabilia of this surprising classy place. They also had a Starship Troopers pinball machine that I just had to play. I did my part for the federation, keeping in mind that the only good bug is a dead bug.

From there we went to familiar territory right down the street from the Coliseum where we get drinks before and after ENO performances. From there we heard probably the best house DJ in London at Verve. The dance floor was packed as this guy mixed everything, even the theme from Magnum P.I. with Feddie Le Grand's “Put Your Hands up for Detroit.”

The night ended at Zoo Bar, familiar by name, but I had yet to visit it. Upstairs was a hop’n club playing more pop hits. The basement, on the other hand, housed the real ravers. The contrast was interesting. But before too long, I’d had enough so Shannon and I took our leave and walked home from Soho.

Getting Edjumacated

12-2-2008 

My work experience has been teaching me a lot lately.  Two week ago when Life FM won the Radio Academy award, we went out to the pubs with a whole bunch of audio engineers afterwards to celebrate. My supervisor taught me that night how to seize an opportunity and network without shame. I threw my contact info at a bunch of producers and managers that night hoping to get a bite in the UK job market, but I got the next best thing, an invite to come to London’s Kiss FM offices and take a look around.

A radio imager for Kiss, Simon, was one of the panel speakers at the Radio Academy awards and I was thoroughly impressed by the way he approached radio sound. So in the pub afterwards, we got to chatting and then today I was in his office and walking about the Kiss studios seeing what corporate stations with lots of money can do and can afford. State of the art studios with mics that hang from the ceiling and adjust at the slightest touch, counsels that allow a single presenter to DJ four stations simultaneously that are broadcasting throughout London, and production studios that shame the ones I’ve worked in. He was even kind enough to show me the specific software programs he uses and exactly how he uses them. A very informative hour at a hustling and bustling station, where a team of 10 do the jobs of 1 person at Life.

I had already arranged to have today completely off of work, as I traded my normal Friday off for today. So I took advantage and got to know the immediate area around the Kiss offices which just so happened to be Regent’s street.

The world’s largest toy store, Hamley’s, lived up to it’s reputation. I could have played in there for hours…well hours beyond the hour and a half I did spend there browsing and playing vids.  I also found a children’s piano / chimes-like instrument that I swear was tuned in mixylidyon mode. Might as well start them young.

After that I went to my favorite toy store, the Apple Store. As if I wasn’t already infatuated enough with Mac after getting this MacBook Pro, this store made my feelings stronger. There show room is simple to showcase their product and let costumers really play with them. I liked that. The best part by far though was the theatre in the back where every hour they have a demonstration from a professional on everything from transferring from Windows to a Mac, to using iTunes, to the programs I stayed for Garageband and Logic. If you are ever in the area of a Mac Store, do yourself a favor and get to know them.

The night ended at the Ain’t Nothing But (the Blues) Bar. Where Sister Mary and the Choir Boys entertained the crowd to the point of rowdy dancing and glass breaking by the end of the set. I’ve been wanting to get to this little venue for a while now, but since it is literally a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ kind of place, it fills up fast. Happy to say I finally made it there, and made some awesome new London friends.

South of Hyde Park

11-30-2008

I had so much fun alone with London, I decided to call her up for a second date. Now, I was just looking for a one day stand with her when I started my day in Greenwich yesterday. But I just could resist her. Beckoning me the way she was, with all she had to offer. 

My goal today was to get to second base with London. How was I going to do that? Go some places I had never gone before and also go some places I have been, but try something new there. First on the list was the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, a little carnival set up with rides, fun houses, little vendors, and a slew of German fare. There was also a creepy animatronic Santa Claus there. If I were a kid, there's no way I'd want to sit on that lap. 

Next stop was a straight shot through Hyde to Exhibition Road. My first stop there was the science museum where I saw the future Japanese automobile, complete with a little computerized companion who's job is to keep the driver happy and awake. You can see his little eyes on the drivers left, as the driver sits in the blue chair in the middle.

Following the oddities of the future, I took in the differences of the past at the Victoria Albert Museum. The highlight for me here was a gallery devoted to musical instruments of the baroque, renaissance, and classical periods.  While they all looked quite familiar and were obviously the precursors to the instruments today, there were some oddballs that looked like they'd be more than fun to play. The care they took in decorating their early pianos and other instruments made them interesting to take a look at, but I would have loved to get behind those cases and try my luck at the strings snapping in my face.

I had seen all the exhibits I wanted to at Victoria Albert, went down the street to the Paper Tiger Chinese Restaurant. Which according to their signage is London's first Szechuan Chinese restaurant.... so there's a fun fact for ya. 

After my eat-as-much-as-you-like for £4 lunch, I ventured back to the science museum because I was much in the mood to take in an Imax film. It was about the ocean and the alien like animals that inhabit our planet in it's depths. Quite an entertaining bit of cinematography. It was narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and if it weren't for all the screaming children it would have been a perfectly end to my day. 

Imagine 0°00'00"

11-29-2008

Today I took on London all on by my lonesome. It was quite liberating as I went where I wanted, took all the time that I wanted, and didn't really have to compromise with a group. This day was about me and Greenwich.

This entire trip I've had a collection of 50 cards called London City Walks. Sadly, I have yet to use any of them until today. I wish I would have started using these little blue cards sooner. On one side is a walking map of a small section of London. The other side has written directions which include historical, entertaining, and interesting information. Today I used my Greenwich card.

What's the cliche saying? The journey is the reward? That definitely applies to this Greenwhich journey because it was a chore getting out there with the tube lines down over the weekend: Bakerloo line to Waterloo Station, change to Jubilee line, take that to Canary Warf (where I was stopped by a TfL agent and randomly asked to present my oyster), then change and take the DLR (dockside light rail) to Greenwhich.

But totally worth the journey. The walk started at the Royal Naval Academy. Now chances are that without the little blue London City Walk card, but I would have never known about the Painted Hall.

This massive banquet hall is in the middle of the Naval Academy and hosts all their huge ceremonial functions and dinners. As impressive as the bulbed candles are, the real beauty, as you might have guessed, is in the walls and ceilings of which every centimeter is covered in ornately painted scenes and decorations.

Even the fireplace, which looked ornately carved, was in fact not ornately carved, rather painted to look ornately carved.

It was quite a sight, tucked away in the Naval Academy.

Across the way from the painted hall was the Naval Academy's chapel, which was worth the walk over to take a look, but not worth enough to post a picture of it here. As far as chapels go, I've had better. But they did have some amazingly clean and modern toilets. So there's a plus.

The real excitement in this area of London is the Prime Meridian, where the line of longitude is at 0°, completely zeroed out. Here I am straddling two different time zones. My watch and my head was spinning as I stood with absolute zero between my legs. It was a thrill. The Prime Meridian and the opposite 180th meridian (at 180° longitude)in which the International Date Line generally follows. The circle these two lines create divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

This line, which unlike natural lines of latitude defined by the rotational axis of the earth, is arbitrarily created by humans for navigational purposes. The most famous man made concept also originates from Greenwich, specifically from the Royal Observatory: time. From here we all sync our watches and where for close to a century, time was sold by the Bellville family, specifically a woman named Ruth Bellville. Taking after her mother, Ruth walked up and down the streets of London giving local shop owners the correct time, as she got access to the observatory through her father and got the correct time there. I learned all about her when a lovely actress dressed in period clothing gave a 30 minute talk about her life.

The Royal Observatory also houses the world's first public time keeping device. Ships docked along the Thames would look up the hill to see this massive red ball sitting like a tumor on top of a weather vain. At half noon, the ball falls to the polls midway point, and when the clock strikes 1:00pm, the ball drops all the way down. This allowed the sailors to adjust their clocks accordingly and set sail on time. The ball still very much functions today. I just so happen to be at the Royal Observatory at the exact time the ball slides down that skinny shaft.

The rest of my Greenwich day was much more exciting than a droopy red ball. After the ball dropping and the talk from pseudo Ruth Bellville, I chilled out in the observatory learning from an interactive panel (like in the movie Minority Report) about black holes, black matter, solar systems, and all things space-age. I went to a planetarium show about Mars Invaders. Sounds like a kids sci-fi, but the invaders in this brilliant piece of cinema were human beings, and the entire film was about our exploration of Mars, past and future. 

Once I knew all I ever needed to about Mars, I walked a cold walk down from the observatory to the National Maritime Museum, where I soaked in (pun intended) all sorts of boat and sea knowledge. Beside the Seaside pleased me the most of all the exhibits. It was more art than educational, but if one looked close enough, you could learn a great deal. The exhibit was a series of black and white photos taken from the 1820's to about the turn of the century. Each scene depicted a different aspect of life for those living seaside. 

From the Maritime Museum, I found my way to the Greenwich market, where I indulged in a rainy Nutella crepe and an oriental chicken wrap, in that order. This market was probably one of the better as it was mostly homemade-craft based. Super cool artisans selling not just trinkets to clutter your home, but practical things like puppets and wooden ties.... well there were some practical things there, like the food. I got a bag of spiced cashews from a vendor that had barrel after barrel of deliciously seasoned nuts.

Once the market started to repeat itself, since I was walking in circles, I decided it was time to head over to the West End and take in a show. To get back, however, I took a walk under the Thames via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, yet another find thanks to those little blue cards. Had to be careful in here though as there were a lot of regulations, including:

• NO cycling
• NO busking
• NO littering
• NO loitering
• NO skateboarding
• NO skating 
• NO spitting
• NO animal fouling

I think a more efficient sign would simply say: Walking Only

After a few tube rides, I was in the West End contemplating what ticket I want to try getting last minute. As I was walking down Tottenham Court Road, I was randomly grabbed by Jenny and Cody as they were on their way to the musical Imagine This. This musical is about a family of Jewish actors during the Holocaust. And of coarse, there's a romantic fling thrown in there as well because as we all know, every story is a love story. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be the most moving show I've seen in London. A rather innovative story. Plus, sitting in £60 seats when you only paid for the £10 seats is bound to make anyone happy. 

Quick backtrack, we had some time between purchasing our tickets and the show starting so we wandered and found Cucumber Alley, a pleasant little covered shopping alley with this light scheme. Lovely, yes?

I got Ralph Vaughan Williams'd

11-28-2008

My turkey comatose did me in till about 10:30am this morning, which is the latest I've slept in throughout my time in London. I went for a turkey trot in Regent's, and rushed back to my room just in time to shower, change, and run across the street with Cody to see the Royal Academy of Music's Symphonic Wind and Brass Ensemble perform a concert of Vaughan Williams along with a Holst thrown in there.

The ensemble, under the direction of Keith Bragg, performed Ralph Vaughan Williams Toccata Marziale and English Folk Song Suite which has always been a favorite of mine. Then they mixed it up with a Gustav Holst piece called Hammersmith. I have always been a fan of Holst ever since I performed his piece Dream City, but this Hammersmith piece brought about a new found appreciation for him. The piece is about London, specifically the area called Hammersmith. Holst wrote the piece while he was living there and studying at the Royal Academy. The gradual trudging along of the prelude represents the Thames, which Holst said, "goes on its own way unnoticed and unconcerned." The rapid movement of the scherzo, on the other hand, shows just how fast paced London can be. The concert was finished off with Vaughan William's Scherzo alla marcia.

After grabbing a late lunch at ISH, I had just enough time to get some schoolwork done before it was time to head down to the Natural History Museum for it's 'After hours' party. On the last Friday of every month, the London's NHM stays open late and opens it's main lobby to a classy drinks and o'dourves restaurant complete with jazz duo playing in the corner right next to the mastodon skeleton.

Since the food was all too expensive, Luke and I decided our money would be better spent checking out the Darwin exhibit and educating ourselves on his two year journey around the world and his research into the Theory of Evolution. I learned more about Darwin in two hours than I think I had space in my brain for, but a nifty little exhibit.

We left the museum walked past the ice-skaters and watched them stumble around and fall down a bit. Then we made our way to the Coliseum where once again Luke hooked me up with tickets to the opera. This time we saw Riders to the Sea, a Vaughan Williams opera. It was only 45 minutes long, which is why it started at 9:30. The artistic concept behind the show made it worth seeing, but it was definitely not my favorite of the three operas I saw at the English National Opera. My ranking is as follows:

1. Aida
2. Partenope
3. Riders to the Sea

A London Thanksgiving

11-27-2008

To all you Wisconsin citizens reading this, know that your tax dollars are being well spent. Today, the University sprung for a delicious Thanksgiving feast for us all at the Park Café in Regents Park. We had the whole place to ourselves, it was fantastic.

From my understanding, the catering company was scrambling to gather Thanksgiving recipes and trying to figure out how the hell to make these dishes, but truthfully, they nailed it: mouthwatering turkey, perfectly spiced stuffing, candy-like sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and even the pumpkin pie chaser with a coffee to settle the tummy. Couldn’t have asked for a better holiday away from home.

Afterward, being the college students we are, we had a Get-tanked-giving started by a beer pong tournament and finishing at the ISH bar.

Rich People Live Here

11-25-2008

Since the first day we moved in on York Terrace East, I could tell lived in a nice area of London. But it took me a few weeks to realize how nice it was. The flats across the street from MTH and to our right and left are millions of pounds.

My first clue was Regents Park. It’s the most beautiful park in London and to have it in your backyard must not come cheaply.

My second clue came from my walk I take just about every day to ISH. In my walk, I always pass by a flat that has it’s lower window lit up as if they are proud to display what disgusts me. A zebra pelt rug laying on the floor ears attached, neck mane draped to one side, and clearly is not an imitation. On the couch next to this unjust death rug is a blanket made of raccoon pelts with the tails decoratively dangling from the edges. This one could very well be a fake, but judging from how much money these people must have, it’s probably not.

Another clue that really solidified my knowledge of where exactly I was living came from two east Londoners. Joe and Ben came to west London just looking for a little night out and ended up running across the ISH bar and the Wisconsin ladies. These guys were awesome though because they didn’t discriminate. They bought just as much alcohol for us guys as they did the girls. Eventually we got around to the topic of where we live and we said, “well, we live here.” Their jaws dropped as they said, “do you realize where you are?” They continued to tell us how Madonna has a flat not far from here and that millionaires are the only ones that call the Regent’s Park area home.

So, am I a millionaire? No, far from it. But the International Students House is subsidized by the government and allows for students to live cheaply where they would otherwise only dream of living. It’s a sweet deal for ISH, because they also house a club in the basement that carries big name acts. So essentially, they have a government subsidized club. Talk about bank.

The last and final clue I have for knowing where I live is the reminder I pass by every day that is written on the size of the International Students House:

And while we are students scraping by here in London, we are living in London. So that statement holds quite a bit of truth.

A Swell Monday

11-24-2008

Best musicians ever? Is that an over statement? Perhaps, but they are the most soulful musicians ever: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. They are the stars of the movie Once. Which if you’ve never seen, get on it. Glen is also the front man of The Frames, an all around solid group out of Ireland.

Glen was like a child on that stage in Royal Albert Hall, not that he was unprofessional in his way, but in the wonderment he had for the space he was in. Watching him pound away on his guitar and passionately yell into his tessitura was like watching Brett Favre playing football. Strange comparison I know, but hear me out. As any Packer fan, or football can for that matter, knows, watching Brett is like watching a kid in the backyard, just loving the game. This was Glen. On stage and loving it.

He started solo….completely solo, without even a sound system. Just him and his beat up acoustic guitar at the front of the stage and filling Royal Albert Hall with “So this is what you’ve waited for.” He was then joined by Marketa for “When your mind’s made up.” Then the rest of the band came out and I was trapped in Swell Season euphoria.

One of the openers came and joined the band playing the fiddle on a few numbers as well. All around, an absolutely fantastic show.

Life wins

11-19-2008

By the end of the night, I had earrings and a plastic princess necklace on, a jar of pickled onions, a huge boxes of jellybeans, chocolate milk duds, Cadbury cream eggs, and a hard bodies calendar. I was smiling ear to ear and was sticky with champagne. Couldn’t have asked for a better night in London. Again, l’m trying the Tarentino thing.

About a month and a half ago, I spent a week at work going through the stations achieves. I was to compile a 30-minute audio sample of the stations best from the past year. This audio sample, along with a on-air schedule, 5-page write up, and an hour of on-air material from a randomly selected hour of their choosing, was sent to the National Radio Academy for a competition. It was a long monotonous week. But a week ago something came of it.

The National Radio Academy called my boss Gabriella and asked her if someone representing Life FM was going to be at their panel discussion and awards ceremony tonight. She assured them there would be, although until that phone call, there wasn’t going to be.

So tonight, Gabriella and I, after looking for the place for about 45 minutes, sat in on the panel discussion the Radio Academy arranged on radio station imaging. It was extremely informative. I love hearing people talk about radio sound and the psychology behind it, because it’s totally what I’m into. So it’s great to hear people who are as nerdily into it as I am. However, these people weren’t nerds. They were hip, professional audio producers who came from all sorts of backgrounds and worked in all different angles of radio. Before the discussion tonight, they were all given an assignment in another panel members job, and the results were extremely interesting.

After the panel discussion came the announcement of the winner of the Radio Academy’s Nations and Regions Award. I have to admit, as they were describing the eligibility requirements of the award, my heart started pumping a little faster. Finally, it came:

“And the winner of the 2008 Nations and Regions Award is, Life FM.”

Gabriella, in a not-so-quiet whisper said, “Oh my God!” and draws the attention of the entire room. The presenter continues, “I believe we have a representative from LifeFM here tonight.”

The award presenter described the station and why we were chosen:

The judges described Life FM as a community radio station which seems entirely at ease with itself because, first and foremost, it knows and understands its target audience.

Like all entrants to these awards, Life FM was required to submit an hour of continuous output (specified at random by the Academy), along with a highlights compilation and supporting written submission.

The judges felt that the output they heard demonstrated that it is possible to achieve high level of local awareness without sounding parochial - citing, as the best example of this, a feature called ‘Battle of the Brands’, which pitted local businesses against each other for a chance to win some free advertising: the judges felt that this was an excellent mechanic for building listener loyalty, and very well executed.

The judges were also impressed by the standard of the on air presentation, the station sound, and by the written submission that accompanied the Life FM entry. Significant time had clearly been spent compiling this entry - and it was time well spent. Congratulations!

Gabriella went up to say a few words. She thanked me for gathering the audio and gave props to everyone at the station. We were both ecstatic. Afterward, virtually the entire room of audio producers went to a little pub two doors down and I was able to catch up with some of the panel, as congratulations were being thrown our way from all around the bar. Gabriella even had a few of her friends come out and join us. After socializing and exchanging contact info for a while (in hopes of a possible job lead), that pubs started to feel a little tiny, since it was. So Gabriella, her friends and I headed to a pretty crazy basement club, which turned out to be a haven for homosexual men.

Meh, I was in a good mood and had enough alcohol in me to not care about getting hit on, so I hit the dance floor. Before too long though, came the competition portion of the evening.

After listening to a big black drag queen sing, she (he?) took onto the little stage two girls and two guys, one of which was me. We passed a wrapped gift down the line in a musical chairs kind of fashion. When the music stopped, whoever was holding it got to unwrap the first layer of paper and keep whatever they unveiled. I just to happen to be the last one. However, I didn’t get off so easy. In order to earn my prize I had to eat a pickled onion out of the person’s mouth who had the present before me. Luckily, this was an attractive woman, so I had no qualms.

Needless to say, I won. That pickled onion taste is still in my mouth, but I won. On top of the prizes mentioned at the beginning of this post, I also got a bottle of champagne which I shook up and opened in a festive manner all over the dance floor which I then shared with my fellow contestants.

I stumbled home down an empty Regent’s street. It was sweet because they were doing some construction / cleaning I was able to walk right down the middle and take pictures of the stars above.

And I saw a designer clothing store for pregnant women, where you can spend a couple hundred pounds on an outfit that you’ll where for 7 months tops!

Upon arriving home, I awoke my roommates and told them of my night, and it was a night indeed. I had to get some sleep for the next day I had a 9 hour journey to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shaolin Children are Nucking Futs

11-18-2008

Being employed at a radio station certainly does have its perks. The best one being free tickets to concerts, shows, movies, whatever. Tonight I was given comp tickets to see Shaolin: Wheel of Life.

It was a unique show. It kind of told the story of the Shaolin monks, a peaceful order of monks who lived in seclusion in China. However, when enemies started invading China, they saw the need to learn combat and defend their country. They imitated their fight styles off of animals: snake, tiger, eagle, and rat.

The cast was made up of boys aged 6-18 and a few older guys to play the part of emperors. The tiny boys were the most impressive. I’m not kidding, literally 6 yeas old and these kids were doing flips of each other, performing intricate fighting sequences, and even doing flips where they used the top of their heads to propel themselves into the next flip.

It was like watching a kung-fu stunt show with a storyline thrown into it. Then once the storyline was complete, there was another 20 minutes of even more crazy stunts: walking on axe blades, breaking bricks with their heads, laying ones body on six sharp spears, you know the usual.

Once the self-mutilation was complete and we began filing out of the theatre, Kallie and I agreed that it was cool to see, but we are both pleased we didn’t have to pay for it.

La Clique Monday

11-17-2008

Work was the same as work could be. My night was as bizarre as bizarre can be.

Kimberly, Aurelia, Chad, and I went to wildest show I have yet to see in London. It’s called La Clique, the circus. We had £10 standing tickets, yet in this intimate little theatre, it was all we needed. Basically, the show is a series of small acts:

• Mario the flaming, Queen-loving Juggler
• David O'Mer the wet, muscle bulging gymnast
• Captain Frodo the absolutely hilarious contortionist, who awkwardly stumbles about stage
• The English Gentlemen, two acrobats who display incredible strength and balance
• Yulia Pikhtina, the drop dead sexy hula-hopping lady
• A woman who did magic and stripped at the same time
• and the comedic Miss Behave who entertained the crowd with acts that "don't have you asking how? but why?"

The show was absolutely hilarious, stunning, and extremely entertaining. If you are ever in Londontown, swing by the Hippodrome and check it. You will not be disappointed, guarantee.

Ancient Civilizations and No Stripper

11-16-2008

With only a few weekends left in London, I need to budget my time wisely and hit up what is absolutely essential. From what I had heard, the British museum is one of these such essentials. So today Luke and I gave ourselves a little education and soaked in thousands of years of art.

But first, food was necessary so what better for brunch than a pie from a delicious little Italian place off of Goodge Street.

The museum lived up to it’s reputation, full of priceless artifacts from ancient civilizations like friezes from the Parthenon. I learned today that those actually would have been painted. There was a computer simulation of what the Parthenon would have looked like with these strips of painted sculptures at the base of the roof. There were many scenes throughout the gallery that were either completely or 75% intact. The ruins were actually set up in the gallery approximately as they would have been in the Parthenon, so with the right amount of imagination, I felt like I was there, sandals, tunic, and all.

We even got our feet sandy as we headed back to ancient Egypt via a tour with a lovely volunteer. She told us all about the different dynasties and how the empire evolved with each new pharaoh. While their civilizations were evolving, some of their supposedly ‘new technologies’ didn’t quite work as well as those of old, particularly when it came to burial rituals. A very primitive Egyptian burial was simply a pit dug in the desert sand in which the body was places with whatever objects he or she made need for the afterlife. No sarcophagus, no tomb. Just sand. This preserved the body incredibly well, however, left the body susceptible to tomb raiders and scavenger animals. Hence, why they moved to the sarcophaguses and embalming to attempt to preserve the body for use in the afterlife.

Those with servants even had them killed upon their death, because you wouldn't want to lift a finger in the afterlife. One pharaoh eventually saw the cruelty in this, and since he was god after all, declared that servants could carve a figurine of themselves which would act as their masters servant in the afterlife.

We also saw some samurai armor and Japanese art, an entire collection of African art, and even Indian Jone’s Crystal Skull…. not really, but it is a glass skull that is debated to have supernatural powers.

Oh and the key to decoding text of the ancient world, the Rosetta Stone.

The British Museum also rotates some commissioned contemporary art pieces that are displayed amongst the permanent collection. We were lucky enough to see:

Anthony Gormley’s Case for an Angel I

Damien Hirst’s Cornucopia

Ron Mueck’s Mask II

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Dark Stuff (various mummified animals, collected on a metal stand with a light projector showing shadow faces)

Marc Quinn’s Siren (Solid gold statue of Kate Moss in a yoga pose)

We felt a lot smarter after leaving the museum, but we didn’t want to feel too pompous. Lucky for us there was a comic book store right across the street! They had some amazing comics, graphic novels, and books. My favorite was the comic of Firefly, a sci-fi/western series that was on Fox for not long enough.

We arrived back at MTH just in time for the guy’s floor party that was being held in the basement. I was really jacked to go because there was rumor that a stipper was going to be there. Truth be told, it was actually kind of lame. They ran out of beer way too fast and the pizza they promised the 40 of us that were there came an two hours late and in the form of four 8inch little pizzas. Certainly not enough to feed a basement full of hungry buzzed guys.

But meh. Got to play some foosball with pantsless little guys, watched the Packers play Chicago, and played cards with some cool guys from all over the world. It was cool having them ask, “where are you from?” Then I’d point to the screen and say, from where this game is being played.

The night ended at ISH bar with great conversation with Deb.