A bottle of orange juice blew up in my kitchen bin the other day, knocking the bin lid onto the floor and covering some nearby laundry in juicy bits. I can only assume that the bottle top was actually vapourised, because there has been no sign of it. I only realised what must have happened when I came downstairs to find a tangy smell and a puddle of orange liquid on the kitchen floor. And an orange juice bottle with no lid on. Does that sort of thing really happen? I'm still suspicious that I might have unwittingly wandered into an unconvincing romantic comedy at some point this year.
I spent the afternoon painting doors in my house, secure in the knowledge that I was going to London tonight for a premature Christmas Eve drink so I'd be able to get away from the fumes. Unfortunately someone seems to have tipped a pile of snow over the entire country apart from here, so instead I've spent the evening watching 30 Rock and slowly getting woozy and feeling lucky I'm not flying anywhere today. So if I say anything odd, that's probably why.
The Frames show at Shepherd's Bush last week was outstanding - even better than the New York one. I think partly because they were further into the tour, partly because the venue was smaller and partly because British crowds (even London ones) seem to be a bit more attentive (despite the poshest man within a 5 mile radius standing next to us wittering on about how much he liked Once). I got tingles for at least the first 10 songs with, as usual, Seven Day Mile, Fitzcarraldo (which was missing in New York) and Star Star being highlights. The impromptu version of Rhinestone Cowboy was fun (especially watching Joe Doyle trying to figure out what the notes were as they went along) though my feeling about that kind of thing is that I'd rather hear a Frames song (apart from when they sneak Hotellounge into Star Star). We didn't go in for the support act, Duke Special, on the grounds that I heard him on the radio a couple of times, and beer was cheaper in the pub. £17.20 for a round of 4 in the venue! Blimey.
I've been reading a lot of "best of" lists lately, in an effort to find any good music that I've missed, but all I've got round to checking out so far is Laura Marling and First Aid Kit, neither of which I liked much, the First Aid Kit one in particular (though I'm not even sure it was out this year) sounds like it was written by a couple of teenage girls who don't have English as their first language. Oh... I'm not sure how many new albums this year I actually liked. Certainly of The Guardian top 40 the only one that I've heard and really, really like is LCD Soundsystem, though frankly any list that doesn't have "dogshit" in the title and contains a Paul Weller solo album probably isn't to be trusted. I had high hopes for The National and quite high hopes for Vampire Weekend, based on their last releases, but was about the same amount disappointed with each. I was pleased for John Grant ( who I saw the other week) that he was in there, though I'm not sure one good line about Wynona Rider's ability to do accents makes a great album. I've not heard The Arcade Fire one (they fell off Spotify) but reports from people I trust have said it's not as good as their others, which weren't really my cup of tea. I should probably check out Beach House, because everyone seems to be raving about them, but I got put off of them by seeing them live a few years ago. People improve though, right? What else have I even heard... The Hold Steady one has a couple of moments, but on the whole doesn't have whatever it is I like about their other ones. Chris T-T's "Love Is Not Rescue" is great and, I think, his most consistent. Dan Mangan's "Nice, nice, very nice" is nice, nice, very nice (though maybe came out last year). The Weakerthans' "Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre" is brilliant, and I was especially pleased Chris recommended it, because I'd somehow been unaware of them. I quite like Erland and The Carnival's album, though it's very different to the live show. Oh! Josh Ritter! I only started listening to him at all about 6 months ago (just in time to see him in New York), but the one that came out this year is, I think, the best. Such incredible words. Also, I know I'm friends with them (and mastered it), but Small Town Boredom's "Notes From The Infirmary" puts a lot of more well known acts to shame. Maybe it's not been so bad a year.
Don't think I'm not aware of how stupid it sounds judging other people's efforts when nobody really likes mine. It's funny how actually trying to do something yourself makes it harder to have opinions about it. That said, I'm pretty sure I care more about music than The Guardian rock and pop critics do.
I went to the Folk Club here for the first time in a while last night, though I didn't play - there were still 4 of us left to play at 11.15, so I fell on my sword. I was feeling ill anyway - our work Christmas do was on Wednesday and I only felt right again this morning. I won't relay the amusing things that happened, but we did a freezing punt ghost tour and I got a reminder of how pretty Cambridge is. It turned out that one of the regulars, Alan Bailey, died recently, which made me sad. I didn't know him well, but he was an excellent guitar player and was always nice to me, especially when I was first starting. Some good people played, in particular Tom (with a lovely new song), The Willows (who borrowed my guitar, so at least it was worth taking it) and a guy called Dave who was approaching the level of Eric Roche on a completely unamplified and therefore unprocessed acoustic. Which is impressive.