A Penny's Worth of Music

There are two audio tracks here.

(1) Acoustic Open Mic - New York, New York

(2) Penny's Open Mic Podcast

Be sure to check out both. (Excuse the low quality on the podcast, had to make it fit on the site)

Thanks to Penny and all the open mic performers.

Intoxicating Jazz

I've come to truly enjoy Fridays at Playland. Not because it's the end of the week,(sadly, I still have two days till my day off). But because I get a chance to chill on the boardwalk along the Long Island Sound, enjoy the sun set with a bottle of wine, watch some fireworks, and listen to the elderly men of the Milt Gerver Big Band play the live jazz that I long to hear.  

Back in Stevens Point, WI, some of my favorite Friday nights we spent listening to the River Cities Jazz Band  as they entertained a mixed crowd of older folks, some 40 year-olds, and a hand full of college-aged jazz enthusiasts. The crowd on Playland's boardwalk, however, has mostly blue hairs and wrinkly skin. But you'd never be able to tell that by the movement on the dance floor. They are all shake'n like it was their first sock-hop. I figured this out not only by seeing, but experiencing it as well. 

A couple Fridays ago, my roommate Pip and I were listening to the fantastic band when a couple of ladies next to us were getting ready to leave. "Leaving so soon?" we enquired. "Well, we have no one to dance with!" they replied. If that wasn't an invitation to dance, I don't know what is. We took these young-at-heart ladies for a slow dance. I danced with Betty. The song was just about over. I could see some tears swelling up her eyes before she said, "We lost our dance partners a few years ago."  I almost melted as we finished our dance in silence because I didn't know what to say.

After that dance, our lovely ladies left. But I was quite pleased we had that dance. Put things in perspective.

A few of us cast members stayed till the night's end. As the band played their closer "New York, New York," our dance captain showed up the entire crowd with her high kicks and Rockette  style moves. The vocalist and band leader came up to her after the show and exclaimed, "You're going to Hollywood baby, no doubt about it," in his classic Brooklyn accent.

Indeed, I've come to love these Fridays. A night to take in life. 

Project Pink

Ranging from people in their 60's who saw Pink Floyd when their music was just beginning to warp young minds, to high school stoners who wanted something else to do with their Thursday night besides play X-box, the Meyer Theatre in downtown Green Bay, WI was packed for the inaugural performance of the world's newest Pink Floyd tribute band: Project Pink. 

No, they are not a breast cancer benefit band as the clueless woman at the Ticketstar outlet thought. Rather, this tribute band took the audience on a detailed re-living of a Pink Floyd experience. From the helicopter search light scanning the crowd and the general screaming, "Stand Still Laddie!" to the encore of "Run Like Hell," Project Pink nails ever aspect of the show.

 The freakishly accurate solos displayed the incredible musicianship of the performers on stage, such as the guitar in "Brick in the Wall," the toms solo in "Time," and the soulful wailing of the three ladies on "Great Gig in the Sky." The emotion they all poured into numbers such as "Comfortably Numb"demonstrated the song's beautiful simplicity. As if the musicians didn't put on enough of a show on their own, the special effects made for an even grander display. 

A sixteen-foot projection screen showcasing classic Pink Floyd imagery made for entertaining transitions between songs and added the extra tripped-out flare expected of a Floyd show. The light show was quite a display, especially for Green Bay. Most often we don't get light shows like that unless they are from national touring acts. 

With the first set encompassing mostly songs from The Dark Side of the Moon and the second set running into The Wall, this fine production will make Green Bay proud once they get in on the road to show off to the rest of the nation, and maybe even the world. 

A Blues Legend

Sporting a track suit and a laid back attitude to match, blues guitar legend Buddy Guy played to a packed hall at the Oneida Casino tonight. Although I don't consider myself the biggest fan, there are certain musicians that any guitarist just can't pass up seeing live if the opportunity comes along.

The blues is a music genre that is quite unique, as it's label, "the blues," is also a chord progression which 80% of blues songs follow. One would assume then, that it would be repetitive and monotonous to listen to...which it can be unless you're listening to a blues master like Buddy. 

Through simple yet well-executed manipulations, the same formats that have been used since the birth of blues can still be as exciting and entertaining as ever. 

Buddy showed that tonight. At 72-years-old, his voice sounded strong and embodied that raspy blues quality, his guitar playing was solid yet wildly brash, and his stage presence was  just as energetic as that of a much younger musician. He even walked up and down the aisles playing and singing a 10-minute-song, coming within arms length distance of my seat. 

All around a great show, watching masterful bluesmen practicing their craft. Matching one another in both skill and creativity, Buddy's keyboard player is also worthy of note, as those two fed of each other the entire night. They gave the audience a blues night to remember. 

Chapter 6

On Monday night, I went to the windy University of Wisconsin - Green Bay campus to watch a fantastic a cappella group live in action. I had seen Chapter 6 a number of years ago when they sang at UW - Stevens Point. They were just as amazing the second time around.

With crowd pleasing favorites like their "Wizard of Oz" medley/storytelling, "Change the World," and "Eleanor Rigby," it's easy to see why this group has been going strong for twelve years. Arranger and live sound producer Mark Grizzard joins the guys on stage for an autobiographical piece he wrote called "7th wheel." It's a hilarious musical look into the guy behind the guys on stage. My personal favorite is "Pinball Number Count" which any die-hard Sesame Street fan, such as myself, would recognize in a heartbeat.  

On their latest album, With the Windows Down, the group nails a fantastic version of Coldplay's "Clocks," as well as croons their way through another Grizzard original, "There I Go."

As charismatic as they are vocally talented, these guys are worthy of your time if they come your way performing, and worth your money. So visit their site, buy a CD, and support musicians through this economic hardship.

Back in the Saddle Again

This past Thursday I went back to my roots and did what I did best, rocked. 

It's been quite some time since I've gotten in front of an audience with a guitar, drums, my bass, and some raw voices. I had the opportunity to sit in with Magna Cum Loud for a gig in Winona, Minnesota. Their bassist couldn't make it. So I soaked up his glory, along with cheap drinks and a free hotel room.

Cum Loud is an adrenaline filled rush of rock straight to your temporal lobe. Being on stage with them for that hour and a half was certainly an experience for all eight people that were listening....

Despite the attendance, the gig revitalized my rock senses that I've missed so much over the years. Since Thursday, I've been playing too much guitar and looking for more opportunities to get on a stage with it.

One of which will be this Tuesday at Ned Kelly's in Green Bay. I'll be sitting in with an open jam, so if you are in the area, swing on by. If you're not around, this is just the beginning. I must satisfy this craving. 

Running and Music

12-7-2008

Time is running out. I have a few options. Run around this city like a chicken with my head cut off, stop at the sites and snap a quick picture, and just get completely wiped out. Or I could take the little time I have and fill it with meaningful London experiences that I know I’ll enjoy and cherish. I chose the latter of the two. 

I got a little extra sleep this morning in preparation for an intense run up Primrose Hill. Why I waited till the last week in London to see this beauty of a park I’ll never know. It’s wonderful and much closer than I thought. Just on the other side of Regents. Since I was running, I didn’t have my camera and hence didn’t get a picture. But this is one of those moments I’m going to keep with me, locked in the synapses of my mind just like all my Regent’s Park runs.

Primrose hill before me. Scatters of people about the park, but not too many as it was a chilly morning. I took on the hill with full vigor. I passed a young woman jogger on the path up. I know the kind of damage getting passed can do to one’s running ego, so I felt a little like a douche. But that’s the way it is in life, sometimes you just get passed. I made it to the top. A crowd of people were there. I swear many of them were watching me. Made me feel like I’d just crossed a finish-line. It looked like it too, as a woman had flown out about 30 mini kites all on the same string and they were flying along the hilltop. A small dog was doing circles around his owner and came to give me a sniff as I began some stretching. I looked up and there was the city. Littered with construction cranes,  just barely visible through the haze. This is Primrose Hill.

I leisurely ran back to MTH, had a shower, and made my way to Westminster Abbey for my third Evening Sung there. This one was probably the best, as I got my way into the choir loft and truly felt the presence of this boisterous choir. These fine male musicians were only the beginning of the amazing music coming my way that evening.

Months ago, I snagged tickets to see Wisconsin brewed musician Justine Vernon, also known as Bon Iver. From the first time my ear holes were filled with his sound, I was taken away by his soulful, falsetto tones. He was tickled pink as he filled the Apollo Victoria Theatre with his music. According to him, this has been the largest venue he’s played in Europe. This theatre just so happened to also be the home of Wicked, where that show plays every night of the week except Sunday. Hence why Justin had to play beneath a giant metal dragon.

I have a new found respect for his song Wolves. He had the audience sing along to the repetitive chorus-like “what might have been lost” lyric. Once we’d all sung through that plenty of times, he encouraged everyone to scream. Scream with all the anger, hate, love, frustration, whatever they had inside them. Utter release. I bet the Wicked cast never got that kind of response from an audience. 

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.

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 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.

Saturday at the Office

11-15-2008


I went into the office today. I feel like a real employee coming into work on a weekend. Before I went in though, I had to hit up Primark once more for some essential cheap yet smart clothes. Upon my walk there, I passed by a department store, whose name I can't recall, yet it resembles a Harrods. Anyways, the point is they had this slogan in there impressive window displays. The phrase disgusts me: "The More, the Merrier," implying the more crap you have the happier you'll be this Christmas. Because let's face it, that's what the holidays are all about right.....(hope you picked up the sarcasm there)

I was asked if I wanted to come in today, so I was going in under my own free will. I figured it wouldn't be the end of the world coming in for a panel discussion with some of the local community, and would actually be beneficial. The goal was to get feedback from invited youth and artists in the area to find out how LifeFM (soon to be Bang radio) can better cater to the needs of the community. Unfortunately, do to a very low attendance (no one from the community came at all) the meeting was cancelled. But it wasn't a complete loss since there was in fact work to be done, as usual, so I did some of that.

Did I ever mention this whole Life turning to Bang thing? It's actually been quite exciting lately. Life FM will be changing to Bang Radio on Dec. 8th, a complete re-branding. The music format / target audience isn't changing but the station is streaming-lining quite drastically. I've seen a lot of presenters that I've come to know well be let go as their show didn't quite fit the sound Bang Radio will embody. It's definitely been a good learning experience.

The other excitement of today was seeing a friend's band play at the Barfly off New Oxford Street. The first night I went to the opera with Luke, we were interviewed by a couple who worked for the English National Opera. We had a drinks with them afterward and we agreed that we'd go out on the town some night and see some live jazz. Turns out that the cameraman, Roney, was in a band back in the day that was playing a sort of reunion gig tonight. So I went out and saw him play at a tiny little basement venue that was way too loud. Pretty sweet gig though, they had quite the local following for a little band from a big city.

En route home, I stumbled upon Newman Street and one of the most famous, and believed to be the largest, pieces of graffiti art done by the genius man known only as Banksy. This guerrilla graffiti artist does works all over London and I believe the UK. Done in his very recognizable minimalist style, Banksy's works are always thought provoking and make wonderful statements about the corporate world we live in. If they don't do that, they are random for the sake of random. He puts a little extra spice to life. Turns what would be a blank, dank, dark alley into a work of art. Check out some more of his works here.

Cambridge, It's Not Just for Scholars Anymore

11-14-2008

There he was. I haven't thought about him since my childhood, and even then, I never thought I'd ever come face to face with him. Never thought I'd come face to face with a legend. A man who built a dream. A man who took science and played god.

A man who would spare no expense.

Who is it you ask? We'll get to that later in the day. We're going to Tarantino it. The suspense will kill you.

I voluntarily got back together with the majority of the UWSP International Programs travel group, despite the fact that towards the end of the two week continental tour, I was not looking forward to traveling with that large group again. But it was a Friday, I had off work, nothing to do, and Cambridge sounded like a splendid little day trip. So, after about an hour and a half drive we made it to one of the world's first college towns.

Every building looks like a different section of the Hogwarts campus, beautifully ornate buildings with immaculately well kept grassy knoll courtyards surrounded by the four wings of a particular college. This grass is no ordinary grass. It is privileged grass. Only professors of Cambridge can walk across it, making those tiny blades educated sacred ground.

My understanding is that there is somewhere around 20-30 different colleges as a part of Cambridge University. Each college has it's own name, symbol, subject of study, great hall (for dining and socializing), flag, and each has their own dorm-like building that serves as both living quarters and small group class sessions.

As nifty as it was learning about a University that I am no where near smart enough to go to, my favorite part of this town was the gondola-like punts that slowly floated up and down the Cam river. We rented one and piloted ourselves around, seeing this lovely little town of about 100,000 from a completely different view.

Mike, Chad, Michelle, Shannon, and I wove ourselves through the river on the punt. When I first heard that you can pilot one of these bad boys on your own, I envisioned a row boat. I was pleased to find out, however, that we got to take the same boats that we saw the guided tours taking. The only way to maneuver them is with a 15 foot pole that is used to push off the bottom to propel oneself and dragged behind to rudder in any one particular direction.

Right off it was a bit of a challenge getting the punt headed in the direction I wanted it, but a few meters down river and I had the hang of it. The other guys in the punt didn't quite have the same experience I did and we simply spun in circles. We wanted to make it back within our one hour time limit so we wouldn't have to pay more, so I took the helm again so we could get back in time. All that summer camp canoeing paid off.

As did all those voice lessons. Since I was standing on the back of a boat with a long pole steering people down a sexy little river, I felt it most appropriate to sing whatever oratorio or art song came to my head to complete the gondolier persona. I also gave an amazing tour full of fun facts that couldn't have been further from the truth and came to me just as fast as I was saying them.

We walked around a bit, did some shopping at a sweet flea market where I found a Waupaca police patch! For those of you who don't know, Waupaca is a town in Wisconsin and here I am finding a patch from there in Cambridge. As we walked we also found an Irish piper named Dicky Deegan:

I still count my blessings for seeing the legend. At first no one believed me, said it just looked like him. But it WAS him. John Hammond, billionaire tycoon who built Jurassic Park....well, the actor who played him at least. His name is Richard Attenborough, and had I known his name at the time, I would have ran up to him and asked for a picture. But I didn't know. I just knew him as John Hammond, the man who harnessed DNA from mosquitos to create dinosaurs on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. Since I didn't know him name, I had to suffice for the candid picture:

I also didn't wanna disturb the walk he was having with what looked like a wife and son.

Here he is close up, Mr. JP himself. I first saw him earlier in the day as we were on a guided walking tour. We popped into the King's College Cathedral and were seated while the guide told us about some centuries old graffiti on the walls in the church. I, on the other hand, was way to occupied with this man who looked like John Hammond.

My friends all doubted me, until we saw him again in the street, and one said, "hey is that the guy you're talking about?"

"Yes it most certainly is," I replied, and I ran to get the picture. Later that day when we got home, Chad IMdb'ed Jurassic Park and we found out that Mr. Attenborough was born and raised in Cambridge. Yes it was most certainly him that we saw.

We finished our day with an Evening Sung done by the boys choir of King's College. Incredible. I even got a seat right behind the choir and was reading the music over their shoulder and becoming immersed in their sound as I felt like a member of the choir. They did an absolutely unreal Tavener piece called Magnificant and Nunc dimittris Collegium Regale. Simply brilliant.

A lovely day in Cambridge.

Joyful Thursday

11-13-2008

This evening rocked harder than I expected it to. I did expect some rocking, more than a baby in a crib kind of rocking, but not quite as much rocking as I got.

Kaity and I made plans earlier in the week to see The Joy Formidable, whom we saw open for Does it offend you, Yeah?, a couple of Sundays ago. After 'Formidable' finished there set that night, we decided we'd have to try and find them again before we booked out of London.

Before we went to see them though, stopped by the ISH bar and saw posters for the World Dinner put on by the International Student's House which was starting just as we were entering the building. Down in the theatre, they set up a buffet on each side of the floor, one side veggie and other other with meat, and in the middle large bean bags served as seating. For a free meal, this buffet had it all: shrimp, chicken legs, deep fried meat on a stick, barbecue wings, all done with a unqiue flair from somewhere around the world. Plus free sangria and another ethnic alcoholic beverage that included a lot of crushed leaves and fresh spices. They even supplied a DJ who was spinning clubbing tracks from around the world. The atmosphere was very clubbish as you had to yell over the music to talk, which was rather odd for a dinner. But all around a pretty solid meal.

After the food, which rocked, we got our socks rocked off by The Joy Formidable at the Wilmington Arms just off of Farringdon. A solid show of which I will post some video eventually. Super nice folk as well. We chatted a bit after the show. Gotta love down to earth indie artists.

And probably the best part of the night was the munchies afterward, as Kaity pulls out

her McChicken and it was missing a bottom bun. High quality eating.

London's Wildlife

11-2-2008

Today I felt like the late Crocidile Hunter, not because I got killed by a sting-ray, but because I was all about getting in touch with the wild side of London. It started with the pigeons surrounding the Marble Arch.

Then came the attack.....

All I wanted to do was touch this little guy's tail. Instead he found it necessary to nibble my finger and scratch my knuckle. He's just lucky I wasn't hungry.

We continued walking through Hyde Park and came across the Peter Pan statue, commerating this legendary icon who refused to grow up. Also many beautiful fountains. The most impressive was not so much a fountain, as it was called, but rather a small concrete circular river. This was the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It flowed from the high point of a small embankment and passed over what looked like stages of Princess Di's life, from smooth sailing over marble accompanied by light babbling, to rough seas over ridged rock which created a rapids-sounding caos, this beautifully constructed fountain was a unique rememberance of this life ended too soon.

We took a break by a lake side cafe to take in a tea and again the wildlife wouldn't leave me alone. 

We continued on and ended up at the south side of the park by the Albert Memorial statue where this time stone creates seemed to taunt me with their smug looks. Not going to lie, I really don't know a whole lot about this massive statue right across from Royal Albert Hall. But on each corner that surround who I believe is Albert are animals from different parts of the globe: a cow, bison, camel, and elephant. There are guided tours that can tell you more about this fantastic memorial, perhaps I'll hope on one of those sooner or later. 

After pondering what that statue was about for a while, we walked down Knightsbridge street towards Buckingham Palace to see one of the many homes of the Queen Mum, Buckingham Palace.

Our day drew to a close as we toured around Camden taking in the shops in the stalls. The Camden markets are a must see if you ever find yourself in Londontown. I will write more about this happiest place on earth in a later blog. 

My night ended with a concert at my place. It is super cool to live in student housing that brings some of your favorite bands to it's basement. Tonight Does it offend you, yeah? was headlining a FREE show. However, you had to book tickets in advance and I did not. But the bouncer just so happen to recognize me from the ISH bar and as I was walking away from the door disappointed, he quickly ushered those in line into the venue and called me back with a whistle, handing me a ticket. I love this place. Not only because of my free ticket in but because I also discovered a two new favorite bands who opened: The Operators & The Joy Formidable.

Harrod's Abbey Burana

10-25-2008
Much like yesterday, there wasn't a set plan for today. There was talk but no real plan. Eventually, Luke, Chad, Mike and I decided that a picture of us walking across Abbey Road was necessary and today would be the day. We got Kim to come along to be the photographer and ended up running into a slew of other folk who wanted to come along. So we all journeyed up the left side of Regent's Park toward Abbey road studios.

Our first mission was reading and signing the walled gate around the studio. It seems every visitor to this hallowed Beatles ground has to sign the wall with a "blah blah was here" or a nifty quote from the fab four. Pictured is yours truly next to my quote "Because the world is round...." Then we got in position, held up the traffic, and Jenny took one of the better pictures I've ever had the privilege to be involved in:

Sadly, I have learned that this isn't exactly where the Beatles crossed in their album cover as the city of Westminster has moved the crosswalk 20 meters forward to the actual intersection, opposed to the middle of street like it was in the 60's. I was told this by a camera man who worked for the San Diego Chargers who was simply sitting at Abbey Road, listening to the Beatles, and watching tourist almost get hit by cars. He is in town to shoot the game that the Saints and the Chargers will play tomorrow as Wembly Stadium. Nice guy. He loved photoshop.

Oh and here's another nifty quote from the wall of signage.

From Abbey road, we took the tube to Knightsbridge, walked down Brompton Rd. and visited Harrods (just thought I'd give directions in case any of you are looking to visit soon). Harrods, for those who are unaware, is a block long glamorous department store that carries everything a rich person could want.

My personal favorites were: the robotic dog that would shake, pant, and lean toward whichever side you were scratching him; fake snow that started as granulated powder that fluffed up when you add water; the £250 baby outfit; the leg bone of a dilopasaurus for decoration that was only £9,000 (stand included).

Speaking of dinosaur bones, I stopped by the Museum of Natural History after Harrod's to fulfill a childhood dream, see some real dinosaur bones. And I'm not talking some tiny dinosaur that was the size of a chicken. I mean real, mammoth-sized lizards, fully intact dino bones. I got my fill. And yes, the theme to Jurassic Park was running through my head the entire time I was there.

I finished my journey through the dinosaur graveyard as the museum was closing. Just down the street was my final destination for the night, Royal Albert Hall. There Jenny, Cody, Enmma and I met for a massive performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. I had the honor of performing this incredible piece as a member of the choir at UWSP about two years ago. So actually sitting back and taking in the whole performance as an audience member was a truly moving experience....and I must say it was difficult not to sing along.

And let it be known that I did not record this video, rather a fellow concert goer did. No, you are not supposed to film during the performance, but the damage was already done. What was I supposed to do, let the footage go to waste?

A Full Friday

10-24-2008
This random Friday became rather eventful rather unexpectedly. Kris and I took a journey south of Hyde park to see the sights there. The first sight to see was the Marble Arch right outside speaker's corner.

Our ultimate destination today was the Saatchi Art gallery. It's an art gallery completely dedicated to contemporary Chinese artists.

Zhang Xiaotao

Feng Zhengjie: Chinese Portrait P Series 2006 No. 1

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Love it! Bite it: (and entire city made from dog chews)

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Angel

Bai Yiluo : Civilization

Since we were just a few blocks away, we decided to edumacate ourselves by going to the Science Museum just outside the Imperial College of London.

We saw the worlds first computers, planes, jet engines, an exhibit on plastic (most exciting), model ships, and a whole array of things you'd expect to find in a science museum. Excluding, however, the one thing I did expect to find, on of those pipes you hover your hand over to make your hair stand up. I mean, come on, how do you miss that?

The coolest section was the interactive children's section. The only downfall, all the damn kids. Although they didn't have the electric hair stand-up thingy, everything else made up for it's absence. This computer monitor to the right was one of my favs as it taught children about sound waves and audio. Basically what I do every day.

We took a bus home, I grabbed a panini from ISH, and hopped the tube over to Brick Lane where I met up with Chad, Mike, and Luke for an Alaska in Winter concert.


Before even arriving, we got a concert of our own on Brick Lane as we drank our cheap beer from the shop. This guy wheeled his kit around London and played wherever he wouldn't get kicked out of, and believe me, he knew what he was doing. Check him out.

The concert was...I don't want to say a dissapointment because I love his music, but it wasn't what I expected. I expected a full group with strings, piano, trumpet, vocalists

and someone dropping beats, however it was just one guy with video of himself behind him playing all the instruments, all in sync of course. It was an experience.

But all around a solid Friday.