Too Long in the Wasteland

Published on Tue 6 Oct 2009

It's been a hectic week or so, largely spent in London... On Wednesday we went to that pub quiz where you can use mobile phones to find out the answers again and came a respectable third, beating The Sunday Times and Hardeep Singh Koli in the process. We came a cropper on the spelling round when they produced what I reckon is the only word in the English language that is spelt differently to how I (and everybody) thought. What are the chances? Minuscule I reckon. With a U it turns out.

On Thursday and Friday we were at probably the only internet conference in history at which the WiFi didn't work. Well, apart from the same one the previous year... It was a bit disappointing on the whole, and rather than give me ideas and inspire me to new levels of achievement or whatever, it made me despair once again that I've accidentally ended up working in the same industry as these people. The presentations were also more foul mouthed than the average punk rock gig which was a bit embarrassing. Just so you know, it seems the new geek phrase for "a lot" is "a shit tonne" which doesn't quite make sense to me. I'd have called it "a generous tonne" or at least "a reasonable tonne". And if something is bad, it "sucks shit". Also, I'm pretty sure that the woman from Facebook was either a robot, or had been hypnotised and will come to in a couple of years and it'll turn out she's never heard of the internet and can't even speak English. 

Anyway, the after party on the Thursday was pretty good because the supposedly limited free bar took coffee tokens (and, it turned out, the covers of the book that the coffee tokens came in) in lieu of beer tokens. Which is just as well, because a small bottle of Beck's was £4.50. It was already pretty bloody late when we left the club and I, in my infinite wisdom, decided that I wanted to go to a casino. I'm sure it has nothing to do with watching "21" the other day. There should probably be a rule about never going to casinos when you actually think it's a good idea... I managed to offend the dealer by saying "I preferred the other dealer" when my winnings started to dwindle immediately after they swapped. She said in a very efficient sounding Eastern European accent "You are losing because you are playing incorrectly, it has nothing to do with me." Sigh... Good times though and I had a nice chat with a gaggle of French waiters on the night bus home (I wonder what the actual collective noun for a group of French waiters is? I'm going for either "an indifference", "a snootiness" or "a getting off to piss in the street at Leytonstone"). I also got to meet my nephew again the next day, who is clearly the best baby in the world - he can sort of walk and keeps asking what things are. He was very interested in my bright red Hiroshima Carp T shirt. I hope he becomes a fan.

On Saturday night I went to see The Pony Collaboration. I know I say it every time I see them, but they really are lovely. You can't help but grin like an idiot when they play - I don't think there are any "local" bands that even come close. Get their new album, it's dead good. Dave did a really good set beforehand with Sam on drums, which was oddly punctuated by some drunk guy yelling out his support for the plight of Roman Polanski between songs. Not sure what that was about really.

Yesterday I went to The Borderline in London for the first time in a few years (I used to go there all the time until it got taken over by Mean Fiddler and immediately stopped booking any decent bands) to see James McMurtry. It felt so nice going there again, and it's such an awesome venue. Small and sweaty with a really high stage and unconvincing tex-mex decor that hasn't changed since the first time I went. I reckon if I got to play at The Borderline then I could give up without feeling like a failure. Anyway, the support act was Otis Gibbs, who's like a low rent Steve Earle, right down to the massive beard, and even a few borrowed lines, though none of the songs were near Earle standard. He was cool, as all older American guys are, and had some good stories, but I'd had enough by the time he finished.

What's odd about James McMurtry, or my following of him, is that I only actually have 2 albums, both of which are great, and both of which date back to the early 90s. I don't know why I've not filled in the gaps but it means I'm at a slight disadvantage when it comes to knowing the material. At the gig I saw in January he only played one song I knew, and the same thing happened last night ("Too Long in the Wasteland" which was surprisingly rocking, but I'd have preferred to have seen "Levelland" again instead, or, even better, as well), but I still absolutely loved it. Even more than last time. As much as I like The Luminaire, I have so much history with The Borderline (The Frames, Dar Williams, Jolene, Oh Susanna!, Jay Farrar, Angelou, without even thinking about it) and the fact that it's a smaller room makes it more intense. Much like with Steve Earle, you watch him for a few minutes and you know that he's the Real Thing. It also hit home again just how much better Americans are at playing music than British people. These guys normally just play some bar and grill on Wednesday nights in Austin and I bet there are hardly any bands in this country who are as effortlessly tight, or have such great guitar sound. And as for the songs... Let's just say he's obviously a very clever guy. I hope he comes back soon.