McDonalds and Music for Thanksgiving...

This year we celebrated thanksgiving by going to McDonalds. Nothing more American than a quarter-pounder with cheese (aka a Royale w/ cheese). The reason for this indulgence is that we went to a concert on Thursday evening. We both came directly from work, so didn’t really have time for a real meal. The concert was Josh Ritter opening up for Gomez. We were mainly interested in catching the opening act, Mr. Ritter, so we made sure we were there on time. The tickets said 7:00PM, so we rushed to get there before seven, but the show didn’t really start until 7:45PM.

I am a huge fan of Josh Ritter. I think his song-writing is incredible. He has a way of saying things that can make everyday common occurrences seem profound. His melodies are simple yet unique and timeless. I also appreciate the historic awareness of folk music past that continually rings through his lyrics and melodies. Perhaps one reason that J.R.’s music “resonates” with me so much is because we share a common history.

We both went to Moscow High School in northern Idaho (where my parents still live). I am a year older than Josh, so we never had any classes together and since I was only at Moscow High for part of my junior year and my senior year, we didn’t really get to know one another. The closest we came to meeting was playing on the water polo club one winter, but I don’t recall us ever having a conversation. I stayed in Moscow after high school where I went to University, making it about seven years that I lived there. That is the longest that I have lived anywhere, so Moscow is as close to “home” as it gets for me.

Moscow is a unique place, a liberal university town in the middle of a conservative rural state, surrounded by the rolling hills of the Palouse, it is removed yet not too far away from the rest of the world. I distinctly remember how slowly everything seemed to move when I moved there from Columbus Ohio. For a while, this slowness distressed me a bit, but now, living in London, I long for it.

I do sense the relaxed Moscow demeanour in Josh’s music. His songs seem to reflect the calmness and freedom of the northern Idaho countryside.

The performance (at the Hammersmith Apollo) was quite good. I think Josh and his band suffered a bit from being the opening act. The mix wasn’t great, making it tricky to hear the all important lyrics and acoustic guitar parts. Even so, the band was clearly very good and well rehearsed, and I enjoyed hearing the live spin on some of his old songs.

The main act, Gomez, was very impressive. There were three different front-men leading and singing different songs. They switched around instruments a lot and skilfully combined roots music with modern electronic effects. I would describe their music as bluesy rock with an alternative edge. My favourite thing about their music was the unique groove that they would lay down for each song. With two percussionists, two guitarists, bass and keyboards, they managed to lay down a complex breathing rhythmic structure that carried the songs along. Again, the mix suffered from hard to hear vocals and since lyrics are so important to me, I have to reserve overall judgement of their music until I have had a chance to hear some of their recordings and get to know their songs a bit better.

Tonight I am back at the open mic in Greenwich. My performance last time was okay (apart from forgetting one of the verses to a new song). I felt quite rusty, but it was good to get out and start performing again. The hosts of the open mic invited me to play a 30 minute guest slot tonight so I have worked up a combination of old and new stuff to perform. I have roped in a friend of mine to play conga with me, so if things get ugly, at least I am not alone.

JE

I have a beard...

Beards are cool.

My dad has a beard…

Eric Clapton has a beard…

Sam Beam of Iron and Wine has a beard…

Ray LaMontagne has a beard…


I temporarily have a beard, but it is only until my chin heals enough that I can shave again. “Why would my chin need to heal”, you may ask. Well I’ll tell you…

There is a bike trail that I take for part of the way home. It goes through a particularly bad neighbourhood. It is quite dark now that winter is coming. As I was coming to a bridge that I ride under, I saw a group of kids off to one side. I didn't think anything of it, but as I got close, one of them stepped out with a big log and whacked me across the face with it. It caught me on the chin quite hard, but it didn't break the skin or knock me off my bike. I was stunned by the blow and I veered of to the side of the trail hitting the wall under the bridge and buckling the front wheel of my bike. I got off my bike and turned to confront the kids, but I quickly realised that there were eight of them and they all probably had knives. So I picked up my bike and carried it away. They didn't follow or try to do anything. Once I was a safe distance away, I called the police, but they couldn't come right away due to more pressing business. I walked to the nearest train station and took the train home. Later that night, the police stopped by our house and took a statement from me. I was quite lucky in many ways. Being hit on the chin was probably the best place because if I was hit any higher up, I might have lost teeth, or broken my nose, or had an eye damaged. Also, they did not attack or try to rob me once I was off my bike; they were attacking people purely for the malicious fun of it. So once I get my bike fixed, I will be taking the road at night and not the bike trail.

A couple of thoughts I have had since the incident…

The neighbourhood where this happened is Peckham, one of the poorest in all of London. It also happens to be the neighbourhood where our church is based. Our church is called Restore Peckham and one of its primary objectives is to be a community that meets the needs and reaches out to this area. This incident helps to confirm that this is the right place for us to be serving.

What happened to me is not an isolated incident. So many teens in England are completely out of control. It is one of the big issues discussed by the government, how to deal with the “yob culture”. You can’t listen to a newscast without hearing the term “yob” (the term yob originally came from a back-to-front slang for boy and is now used to describe any trouble making teen). Headlines are dominated by stabbings, beatings, muggings, bullyings, vandalism, drinking, drugging, fighting, all acts committed by teens. What created this huge void that all of these children have fallen into? Who is to blame: the kids, the parents, the schools, the police? Most importantly, what can be done to improve the situation? People genuinely fear their own children. The fear felt by the adult community simply serves to further isolate the children and thus the “yob culture” is self perpetuating…

JE

Brews and Blues...

On Saturday, I went out to a local Restaurant/Bar called Bierodrome. As one might guess from the name, they specialize in beer. In this case, Belgian beer. They did have a very extensive list, but due to the fact that all the beers were quite strong, and the time allowed, I only had a chance to try three of them. I do really like Belgian beer, strong and sweet with all kinds of complicated flavours. If I had to choose my favourite beer country, it would be Germany. German beers just seem to have a certain authority that really leaves you satisfied after a glass (or two).

On Sunday night, we went out to a jazz concert. The band was called Oregon and the show was part of the London Jazz Festival. The most impressive thing about this band is that they have been together since 1970. All of the musicians in the band were world-class, and they had a unique instrumentation that made them stand out from the standard jazz quartet. The guitarist in the band played a classical guitar, and most of his parts seemed more influenced by classical guitar than jazz guitar. He laid a rich and flowing chordal foundation that the rest of the band built upon. Probably my favourite musician in the band was the percussionist. I’m not calling him the drummer because he was doing so much more than just banging on the drums. In addition to the standard jazz drum kit, he had a whole collection of different hand drums from around the world. Often he was playing the hand percussion with one hand and his drum kit with a stick in the other hand. If I could choose the ideal drummer for a band for me, it would be someone like him. The bass guitar played a standard jazz bass, but rather than just laying down the roots of the chords, he was often adventuring up and down the fret-board with intricate melodic lines. The fourth member of the band was a woodwind player. He mostly played soprano sax (one of my least favourite instruments), but he also broke out an oboe, a bassoon, and other flute like instruments. One of the highlights of the concert was when the band “made up a song”. At one point during this, the woodwind player was playing two flutes at one time, one in each hand, playing a harmony with himself. Overall, a very enjoyable concert.

Tonight I am heading off to an open-mic night at a pub in Greenwich. It will be the first time that I have played out in public since moving to London, so I am a little nervous. But it is about time that I started performing again. I have been putting up the acoustic treatment in my studio and work on my album is about to begin. I am hoping that as I start performing, I will meet some other musicians who will be able to help out with the recording.

Also, this afternoon I get my flu shot. I hate needles and I am afraid that the flu shot will give me the flu, but I have been sick more than ever since moving to London, so I am hoping this will help to strengthen my immune system a bit…

JE

Go-to Places...

One of the hard things about settling into a new city is finding all of those “go-to” places. This process is especially difficult when in a foreign country because all of the “go-to” places that you want to find aren’t necessarily there. We have been going through that process since moving to London about nine months ago. Being such a large city, there is a lot of diversity and many options when it comes to choosing shops, restaurants and places to go. But due to its size and layout, London is also a very difficult city to get to know. All of the good places to go are tucked away down hidden alleys, while all of the bland, overpriced, overcrowded places are right out in the open.

I’ll give an example of a recent struggle. I had to find a new pair of indoor soccer shoes for my Wednesday night soccer. You would think that in a country that is so football crazy, there would be widely available shoe shops (perhaps some even specializing in football equipment), with a huge range of shoes to choose from. Unfortunately this is not the case. The big shops that are easier to find didn’t carry many of the style of shoe I was looking for, and the shoes that they did have cost way more than I wanted to pay. The smaller shops are only open 9-5 Monday to Friday making them very hard to get to due to work. So, I consulted the phone book and for some strange reason, none of the shops that I was interested in answered their phone, additionally they did not have an answering machine! Finally, last Friday, I snuck out of work early to go and explore a couple of the shops from the phone book. I found one that had the exact shoes I was looking for at the right price, only a few miles from my house, and they are actually open until 8PM, so I can go after work in the future. So now I have a go to sports goods shop, but it took me weeks to find.

The best way to find these go-to places is when you just stumble on them and that is exactly what happened this weekend. We were exploring a little market just off Oxford Street. As we were getting to the end of the market (and the neighbourhood was starting to look a bit seedy), Heather spotted a little Cal-Mex restaurant. We enjoyed the best burritos that I have had since Café Rio or Barbacoa in Salt Lake. The best part was that we both ate for less than £10! It is so hard to find good Mexican food here (perhaps due to the fact that there are no Mexicans in England). This truly is an extraordinary find.