« January 2009 | Main | October 2010 »
The vineyard you can see is Chard Farm, which has two of my favourite pinot noirs -- the Tiger and the Viper -- which I tasted very shortly after this picture was taken. No, I wasn't driving.
Lord of the Rings geeks like me may recognise this location as the foot of the Argonath, which we see in The Fellowship of the Ring as the Fellowship paddles past after leaving Lothlorien.
Scenery, LOTR geekery and wine. The perfect NZ trifecta.
| |
|
A country of inveterate, backwoods, thick-headed, egotistic philistines.
—Lenin, on New Zealand, 1909.
I think history rather got the better of Lenin, don't you?
| |
|
People give Queenstown a really bum rap, saying it's horribly touristy and spoils NZ experiences. I couldn't disagree more, and I hate horribly touristy places. Yes, there are a couple of bar crawl areas full of braying Sloanes, but it's easy enough to escape it, stay in some really nice places, get good food and great wine, and avoid looking at built-up areas. Even in the built-up areas, though, the architecture isn't horrible. Or maybe I'm just too used to miserable 60s architecture in Europe.
My cousins and I went out jetboating on the Kawarau Jet, which was good fun (although expensive, and other smaller jetboating experiences I had in NZ were more enjoyable). This is one of the shots I got from the boat in that lovely summer evening.
| |
|
Portscatho sits nestled in Gerrans Bay on the southern Cornish coast. It's rather a lovely place, especially in the sunshine, and the South West Coast Path provides ample opportunity for a nice stroll along the cliffs and down to the beaches.
| |
|
You may remember that I had a fantastic time going up to Mount Sunday (Edoras) & Mount Potts with my guide, Chris, from Hassle Free Tours.
I just came across this short panoramic video I shot while I was up there, and I figured that since people on Twitter liked the first post, you might like a more panoramic view too. It also shows just how incredibly quiet it is. Until I start talking, of course, and pointing things out with my helpful finger of helpfulness.
| |
|
I can't really remember when I first heard this ultimate girl-with-guitar song. In the car, on the radio, in the UK sometime, perhaps? Regardless, the Ode to Billie Joe is probably one of the consummate 60s ballads. Faintly hilariously, I can sing it at Bobbie Gentry's pitch. And I'm a tenor.
| |
|
Girlyman, The Tunnels, Bristol, Saturday 25 September, £12
I first heard Girlyman in 2008 when my friend Kristen and her friend Bethany from Birmingham (that's Burmunham, Alabama, not Beerming'm in England) came to visit me when I was living at Land's End in Cornwall. They were supposed to be heading from London to France, but IMed me from Atlanta airport when we realised that the Channel Tunnel had caught on fire.
So instead of a three hour Eurostar journey for the 305 mile journey to Paris, they hopped on a six hour journey for the 305 mile journey to Penzance. I rented a car (both of them wouldn't fit in my two-seater smart car, and Kristen just refused to sit in the boot (that's "trunk" for American readers). I don't even know.
We had a great time, including a fun roadtrip up to Stratford via some of my favourite bits of Cornwall, including St Endellion. Just as we turned off the road, I remember Kristen putting some Girlyman on the iPod, and I think the first song was Amaze Me. There's a low-quality concert recording, or you can listen to it on a flash player on the 'Remember Who I Am' album on their music page. Or, seriously, just pop down 79p/99¢ on iTunes. You won't regret it. When I first heard Amaze Me I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, and I still do. And I love their latest album, Everything's Easy. Here's the title track (from a different gig):
Girlyman - Everything's Easy from Girlyman on Vimeo.
Which is why I snagged tickets for last night's Bristol gig. My dad was up for the weekend helping me pack for New Zealand (I leave next month, and move out of my Bristol place next week), and I grabbed us both tickets. As it turns out, there's a fairly cool historical set of coincidences here:
Venue
The Tunnels, as I said, are literally under the approach road that leads up to Bristol Temple Meads station. It's a new venue, with lots of free parking after 6pm, a nice bar, Thatcher's cider (from the village where my grandparents used to live) and a good acoustic.
Girlyman mentioned between songs that they were having that usual American/British history dissonance, where everything here is really really old. I should point out that the venue they played was originally constructed in 1840 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Excuse me, I mean Isambard Kingdom Brunel!
Comic from Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton.
Opener
Ashleigh Flynn sounds like a one-woman Indigo Girls/Bob Dylan fusion, and was a great opener for Girlyman. Awesome lyrics, great sound, and a fab performance.
Girlyman
Girlyman had been in the UK for a few days, so had been getting used to driving in the UK, especially our delightful roundabouts. Now, clearly, despite being from Massachusetts, Nate has blocked Cape Cod from his memory, because I recall Cape Cod being absolutely littered with roundabouts (or "rotaries"). But the rest of the US? Not so much. I feel their pain, though, especially with the driving on the other side of the road.
They were in great form tonight, though I imagine they were horribly jetlagged still from flying Delta.
Setlist
I completely forgot to get a setlist, but it was a fantastic mix of stuff from the new album and their older stuff. My favourite new discovery was Moose on the Road, which I totally want them to release as an anti-Sarah Palin polemic. NO MOOSE. They also did the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton (written by the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb) Islands in the Stream and the best cover of Son of a Preacher Man that I've ever heard. Here's them doing Islands in the Stream, though obviously not at the gig..
Girlyman - Islands in the Stream from Girlyman on Vimeo.
They asked for request and did a few, including mine (Amaze Me, although I also want to hear Maori on account of the whole Moving To New Zealand thing) and Hey Rose. There was a singalong section of Postcards from Mexico (the Baby, you're great on the highway / This desperation / You're cold hearted) bit), and naturally I had to sing along with Doris. At pitch. Excuse me while I adjust my high tenor halo.
The crowd (who included Radio 4 News Quiz occasional panelist Dr Phil Hammond) insisted on multiple encores (I may have been an enthusiastic part of that), and things wrapped up around 11.30 after a bit of CD-signing.
In general
Awesome band, awesome venue, awesome times all round.
To hear more: Girlyman.com.
Enjoyed this post? Subscribe to the blog in your favourite feed reader.
| |
|
Well, it had to happen after a while: New Zealand and Hobbit references. Having grown up with the books, and what with the films coming out while I was at university and, later, in China, I have absolutely wonderful memories of both: from watching the Fellowship film eight times in the cinema (I had a summer pass to our local movie theatre in NY) to meeting up with my friend Anna in Singapore during my winter holiday from Beijing, and the fact that I had to wait ten days from US release until I was in Singapore. Not that I couldn't have watched a bootleg on my 12" PowerBook's screen in Beijing, of course, but it wouldn't have been the same.
So, this is Bag end. Or, rather, was. The whole Hobbiton complex is part of a farm, and it's actually a great experience, not horribly touristy at all. I went in summer and there were more than enough opportunities for people-free pictures and a bit of quiet, which are fairly high on my criteria list.
I recommend driving yourself there, though, although there are tours available from Auckland.
Fingers crossed that the Party Tree (pictured) makes it to The Hobbit: apparently it hadn't been too healthy.
| |
|
For my [REDACTED] birthday, Alex & Jag and Audree & Steve and I went to Gaucho at Piccadilly. Which is actually a fair way up Regent Street, if you're trying to find it. (The Apple fan in me suggests that this would make an excellent stop to or from buying a new iThing.)
After some rather delicious cocktails downstairs, we headed up to the table. Those of you who have been to Gaucho will recall its Tasteful Cow theme, and we had a great table in the corner...and a smoking hot Irish waiter. I have a sneaky suspicion that they choose their staff based on hotness.
Since it was my first trip to Gaucho, Alex and I shared the sampler (so did Aud & Steve, and Jag had his own steak). It was a lot of meat, too much by the end of it, but it was absolutely brilliant. Four steaks, some flavoursome, some buttery, some melting, some meaty and textured. So good. And the humitas -- which you must try if you go to Gaucho -- were divine too.
The wine -- a Perdriel malbec, because hey, Argentina, you guys, Argentina -- was absolutely stunning. It was almost too big, but then I combined it with some more steak (because, you know, there was enough there) and it just matched perfectly.
All in all, a fantastic place for great steak. Would go back again.
| |
|
I'm often fascinated by The Big Picture from the Boston Globe. Sometimes it's provocative, sometimes reassuring, sometimes heartening, sometimes absolutely gutting. This particular set, from China, is a bit "oh gosh how horrid China can be!" and a bit "OMG look at China, how awesome!", with a bit of really interesting photojournalism interposed.
| |
|
