Thursday, June 30, 2005
Yes, ok, ok, I'll blog about Glasto! Jeez! ;-)
Hello all.
Well I suppose it would be rude of me not to write a bit about possibly my best weekend of 2005 so far!
My friends have already written loads about it and they overlap quite a bit, especially Pear Cider being far too tasty, Bright Eyes being unpleasantly wierd, the Killers being far better than Ben thought they'd be, and Jack White being utterly possessed by the spirit of the blues!
I also loved the Futureheads for their children's TV-style banter (in Geordie accents, plus one of them's called Barry so it reminded me of the Chuckle Brothers!) and was also impressed by the Kaiser Chiefs and the Zutons. Plus on Sunday night I stayed up to watch the sun rise at the Stone Circle, apparently one of the things you Must Do At Glastonbury :)
Read my friends' accounts here, here and here.
However, I think I must write more fully about an act we saw on the Sunday. It wasn't a band, more like performance art. Wandering around one of the Circus Fields we ended up in the Belle Epoque tent, where on stage was a man wearing full powder and blusher make-up, a ridiculous wig and a long, flowing magician-like gown. He overexaggerated his "actor's" voice, facial expressions and movements in a thoroughly comical way, and was apparently trying to persuade two complete strangers to kiss each other on stage. He was encouraging the audience to go "oooh", starting quietly but building into an orgasmic crescendo as the couple approached each other, accompanied by our rising to our feet and raising our arms in the air. Very silly. This is just to set the scene, by the way.
At first we were bemused, and wondered what the hell we were doing there, but he was very good at getting the audience on his side and participating, and it soon became quite fun. He got us to make suggestions as to what we could do, such as sing a song (Al suggested "The Sun Has Got Its Hat On", which was eventually taken up) or act like an animal (our suggestion of "badger" was sadly overruled by "ostrich"). This was all well and good, but before we knew what was happening, we were on our feet, acting like ostriches (hand looks to left, looks to right, jump forward a few steps whilst going "dik dik dik dik", and repeat) and then walking out of the tent into the field as a crowd of 100 or so. We then proceeded to surround innocent bystanders and sing to them or persuade them to take their shirts off or whatever. One poor guy was on the phone to his mum at the time, so we sang her happy birthday (even though it wasn't). It was quite a wonderful feeling to be part of "something" -- even though I guess it was really just the in-crowd, the mob, something I'm generally against. It was very surreal and funny though!
Going to collect my photos after work today. I've asked for them to be put on CD, so I'm intrigued to see how good they are. I'll post some tomorrow hopefully. One last thing: no, we didn't get flooded out, I'm sure you'll be relieved (or secretly disappointed ;-) to hear. We were on some of the highest ground (more by luck than judgment, but there you go!)
So yes, another excellent Glasto. See you there in 2007 hopefully!
Well I suppose it would be rude of me not to write a bit about possibly my best weekend of 2005 so far!
My friends have already written loads about it and they overlap quite a bit, especially Pear Cider being far too tasty, Bright Eyes being unpleasantly wierd, the Killers being far better than Ben thought they'd be, and Jack White being utterly possessed by the spirit of the blues!
I also loved the Futureheads for their children's TV-style banter (in Geordie accents, plus one of them's called Barry so it reminded me of the Chuckle Brothers!) and was also impressed by the Kaiser Chiefs and the Zutons. Plus on Sunday night I stayed up to watch the sun rise at the Stone Circle, apparently one of the things you Must Do At Glastonbury :)
Read my friends' accounts here, here and here.
However, I think I must write more fully about an act we saw on the Sunday. It wasn't a band, more like performance art. Wandering around one of the Circus Fields we ended up in the Belle Epoque tent, where on stage was a man wearing full powder and blusher make-up, a ridiculous wig and a long, flowing magician-like gown. He overexaggerated his "actor's" voice, facial expressions and movements in a thoroughly comical way, and was apparently trying to persuade two complete strangers to kiss each other on stage. He was encouraging the audience to go "oooh", starting quietly but building into an orgasmic crescendo as the couple approached each other, accompanied by our rising to our feet and raising our arms in the air. Very silly. This is just to set the scene, by the way.
At first we were bemused, and wondered what the hell we were doing there, but he was very good at getting the audience on his side and participating, and it soon became quite fun. He got us to make suggestions as to what we could do, such as sing a song (Al suggested "The Sun Has Got Its Hat On", which was eventually taken up) or act like an animal (our suggestion of "badger" was sadly overruled by "ostrich"). This was all well and good, but before we knew what was happening, we were on our feet, acting like ostriches (hand looks to left, looks to right, jump forward a few steps whilst going "dik dik dik dik", and repeat) and then walking out of the tent into the field as a crowd of 100 or so. We then proceeded to surround innocent bystanders and sing to them or persuade them to take their shirts off or whatever. One poor guy was on the phone to his mum at the time, so we sang her happy birthday (even though it wasn't). It was quite a wonderful feeling to be part of "something" -- even though I guess it was really just the in-crowd, the mob, something I'm generally against. It was very surreal and funny though!
Going to collect my photos after work today. I've asked for them to be put on CD, so I'm intrigued to see how good they are. I'll post some tomorrow hopefully. One last thing: no, we didn't get flooded out, I'm sure you'll be relieved (or secretly disappointed ;-) to hear. We were on some of the highest ground (more by luck than judgment, but there you go!)
So yes, another excellent Glasto. See you there in 2007 hopefully!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Blog fatigue
I haven't blogged for ages. Again. I'm just feeling very apathetic towards it at the moment. Also I've been quite busy at work and haven't really had the time. Ho hum.
Anyway, the list of Things Of Note In Pgd's Life runs as follows:
Went to Reading last weekend for my friend Rachel's 20th birthday. She'd just finished her 2nd year exams, too, so obviously the only sensible thing to do was to have an almightly piss-up. Her friends organised a not-so-secret birthday picnic (with only a couple of days to go, they let it slip - to her face!) in Henley-on-Thames, which is a beautiful place and so well-to-do that its charity shops are rumoured to stock designer clothes on a regular basis (Edit: and furthermore, I have just been informed, is the constituency of bumblingly affable Tory MP Boris Johnson. Hurrah!). In the evening we went to Reading Uni's student union club, which is huge and very very cool except for the fact that queueing for the bar is a nightmare. One bar only sold shots (i.e. no mixers), and whilst the queues were smaller, it did have the disadvantage of, well, persuading you to buy shots! The next day we spent happily wandering around the campus's huge areas of lakes, woodland and grasses, and then ambling in the general direction of the town and the train station, stopping regularly for liquid refreshment and once for Japanese noodles. Mmmm!
Some pics of all this can be found here.
This week has so far seen barbecues, a trip to Rhinos, a meal at an Indian restuarant paid for by my boss, and karaoke night at the Union. Tonight it will also take in a long-postponed gig by Ben Folds. Which is nice :)
One last thing: as some of you may know, my Mum has for a while now been researching our family history. She has now put her work online in the form of a series of chapters documenting local history, each drawing on the experiences of a different generation of the family. It's not finished yet, but please feel free to have a look around and make (constructive) comments! The site is here.
Anyway, the list of Things Of Note In Pgd's Life runs as follows:
Went to Reading last weekend for my friend Rachel's 20th birthday. She'd just finished her 2nd year exams, too, so obviously the only sensible thing to do was to have an almightly piss-up. Her friends organised a not-so-secret birthday picnic (with only a couple of days to go, they let it slip - to her face!) in Henley-on-Thames, which is a beautiful place and so well-to-do that its charity shops are rumoured to stock designer clothes on a regular basis (Edit: and furthermore, I have just been informed, is the constituency of bumblingly affable Tory MP Boris Johnson. Hurrah!). In the evening we went to Reading Uni's student union club, which is huge and very very cool except for the fact that queueing for the bar is a nightmare. One bar only sold shots (i.e. no mixers), and whilst the queues were smaller, it did have the disadvantage of, well, persuading you to buy shots! The next day we spent happily wandering around the campus's huge areas of lakes, woodland and grasses, and then ambling in the general direction of the town and the train station, stopping regularly for liquid refreshment and once for Japanese noodles. Mmmm!
Some pics of all this can be found here.
This week has so far seen barbecues, a trip to Rhinos, a meal at an Indian restuarant paid for by my boss, and karaoke night at the Union. Tonight it will also take in a long-postponed gig by Ben Folds. Which is nice :)
One last thing: as some of you may know, my Mum has for a while now been researching our family history. She has now put her work online in the form of a series of chapters documenting local history, each drawing on the experiences of a different generation of the family. It's not finished yet, but please feel free to have a look around and make (constructive) comments! The site is here.
