Up in the air

Published on Tue 25 Jan 2011

I'm sat in my favourite (i.e. the only) bar in JFK Terminal 4, being subjected to a US comedy that is so weak that I don't think it's made it to UK TV at all (I wonder how many of those there are, bearing in mind I even watched the execrable Linc's), drinking what passes for "ale" over here (it doesn't seem to serve lager - maybe using the same thinking that resulted in the KFC's decision to not sell pieces of chicken). It's been a really good week.

Last Saturday we went to see Joseph Arthur and David Bazan at a nice venue called City Winery, which is, as you might have guessed, a wine shop/restaurant by day. They bring you wine in conical flasks, which is both quite cool and a bit worrying at the same time. They have a quite ridiculous amount of good acts coming up.

Bazan was great, though was obviously an unknown support act to a lot of the crowd (the people on the table next to us were quite loudly not enjoying it) and these things are always a bit better if everyone's into it. We got a few of the best Pedro the Lion songs, a few from Curse Your Branches and a few from the album which is due to come out in about May, and I've forgotten the name of. All were great, though you can imagine that Priests and Paramedics and Transcontinental might have seemed a bit strange to people who didn't know anything about him.

Joseph Arthur was the first "real" act I ever saw in Cambridge, when he was young and nervous and brilliant supporting Ron Sexsmith at the Boat Race. I've seen him 3 or 4 times since and he's never quite lived up to that first time (with the possible exception of a Portland Arms show that was pretty great). I don't think I'll see him again. In retrospect it was largely the use he put loop pedals to (I never saw anyone that came close, though he was also the first that I saw) that set him apart and the shows since he stopped doing that (I wonder if he got bored of the restrictions they put on you, or if their prevalence for a little while made him feel they were passé) were markedly less fun. This time the addition of a drummer and rubbish sounding guitar player made every song, bar a couple of solo ones, pretty much indistinguishable. He did play "Mercedes" from his first (great) album, and "Honey and the Moon" and "In The Sun", though all were right at the end and my patience (as well as most of the audience) had been lost by then. Also the tune to "In The Sun" seems to have changed over the years to something that's much less good than the original was. I never really understand when people do that (Counting Crows and Bob Dylan being the main culprits I've seen) - I wonder if it's to try and bring songs that people like more than they feel they merit down a peg.

We saw a few smaller bands too, mostly somewhere on the mediocre to rubbish scale, but Boy Without God at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn were (they'd say was over here) a notable exception. Charismatic frontman, pretty, playful songs, unusual lineup (not that having an unusual lineup makes you good, but 2 guitars, viola and, that rarest of beasts - tasteful saxophone), just pretentious enough to make you think they're cleverer than you but not so pretentious as to make you think they're just trying to be. If that makes sense. I think the set might have been slightly front loaded because I went to the loo with about 10 minutes left and when I came back the spell was broken, but for a little while there I was blown away... I've not had time to investigate further, but I will.

This Saturday we went to the newly refurbished Museum of the Moving Image. I went to the one in London as a child, and remember it fairly clearly - they had a green screen that allowed you to fly over The Thames and some skeletons from the original Jason and the Argonauts. This one has been open for a week and is entirely white inside, including the floor and while it's striking, they've had to employ a small army of moppers to keep it that way. I bet they're regretting getting rid of the tartan carpet. I got most excited about going through the display of Star Wars action figures pointing out the ones I had, and that they had Chewbacca's actual head from The Empire Strikes Back, and a working Defender arcade machine, but there were some interesting exhibits about how films are made, and some insteresting installations on the top floor, including a white plastic/ceramic cityscape with a projector above it that made it look like the sun was rising over it and occasionally like it was in Tron.

I'd been told that New York gets really cold in winter, but, to be honest, while the temperatures are really low (it was -8 at 1pm this afternoon for example) I felt much much colder in Cambridge a few weeks ago when it was only about -2. I dunno if it's because it's drier here, or just because the sun is out a lot. I've been impressed by how quickly they get rid of the snow - I'm pretty sure there were more guys with spades on the platform of one subway stop the other night than there were in the whole of Heathrow during the unpleasantness the week before Christmas. Based on the piles of the stuff along the edges of all the (clear) pavements there has been quite a lot.