“Micheal Kruse is a riot as an homeless man who insinuates himself into the household of…”
Right – that’s a bit of an in-joke, but to anybody who has read the NZ Skywatch synopsis of the Nick Nolte/Bette Midler classic – yes, I’m homeless. And I’ve managed to crash at a lovely generous couple’s place. But no – I didn’t nearly drown in their pool. And to those who haven’t seen Down & Out in Beverly Hills – don’t bother googling for the quote I’m referring to – it seems the only use of it on the internet, ever – was actually by myself.
Moving on… moved out of Balham on Saturday. Which mostly served to remind us that another year of our life had passed. And also made me officially homeless. So – moved some stuff into a storage place, and then took the essential stuff with me to crash in the spare room at Caro’n’Dom’s place. Which they kindly agreed to, despite my asking only 4 days prior. Not much notice at all – and when I arrived, I discovered they were also midway through repainting their lounge – so they’d already lost one room, and I was about to lay claim to another. So – very very generous of them. Anyway – after I’d seperated all my stuff into “will need over the next 2 or 3 weeks” – and “won’t need until move into my own place” – I figured, the two sections should really be titled “stuff I need” – and “stuff I don’t need”. And realised that I have once again started accumulating ‘Stuff’. Which I shouldn’t do – it’s just dead weight. I daydream about getting rid of all stuff – and going proper homeless for a while. But am a coward, and like some of my Stuff. So will just look forward to my next backpacking-type trip as a proxy.
So – moving out of Balham has been the main event of the last couple of weeks – but also managed to squeeze a couple of gigs in. Shapeshifter, all the way from Aotearoa – played a great gig, with Tiki Taane fiddling the knobs and what-not. Although Justin & I spent the whole gig glancing with contempt at the young kiwi kids which comprised the vast majority of the crowd. How DARE they be so fresh-faced and naive? Not like us hardened embittered London veterans. Meanwhile, Bibby had lost us within 2 minutes of entering the venue – and I believe spent the entire gig right up the front dancing around with the young ‘uns.
And next on the agenda was the Black Keys. I had bought 4 tickets for this – and 4 tickets were exactly what I had in my pocket when I arrived at Brixton Academy. For some reason I’ve decided to not sell tickets to scalpers anymore – so I entered the venue with 4 tickets in my pocket. And thought about taking up smoking again, just so I could leave the venue, have a cigarette, and then re-enter with another ticket. Thumbing my nose at the “no-reentry” policy. Really sticking it to The Man. Full-on rebellion. But – I didn’t. Instead, I stood at the back, supping on my red wines – feeling rage at the age of the majority of the crowd. These are only kids! How do they even know of these guys, one of my favourite bands? I then defended them in my head, by thinking that they are actually a fairly new band – and that maybe these kids had more right to be here than me – the old creeepy guy standing in the shadows at the back. But… NO – the Black Keys have been around nearly 10 years! These kids were still learning the primary colours when the Black Keys first came out. How dare they stand in front of me, with their youthful good looks, smooth skin, full heads of hair? Little shits. And that argument, of course, won in the end – so I glowered at these kids from my shadow in the back – while the Black Keys put on a bloody good show. Really really good in fact. I can’t remember if I’m missing some gigs from my memory just now – but I would rate the Black Keys as maybe just below Grinderman as regards the best of this year’s gigs. And I do mean “maybe”. And “just”. And all the rest of it, I guess. But – good stage visuals. Simple, but strong – hence super effective. Good music – great sound and just enough impromptu to make a good live show without becoming meandering noise. And – the best use of a disco ball I’ve ever seen. To be fair – until then I’d considered every use of a disco ball as being terrible. But this was good. So – the best. And – a backing band which only came out to play the stuff from the new album – so usually it was just the two of them on-stage. And this reminded me – both these guys & the White Stripes are essentially 2-man bands – yet have made some of my favourite music of the last decade. Hope more people follow the example – and use actually good writing, and simplicity – to create sweet sweet music. Oh – and the Walkmen opened – and I was keen to see them too, so that was sweet. A pretty stock standard rock gig – but can’t expect much more from a supporting slot.
That’s all for now. Got a couple of gigs coming up – the National, and then the Arcade Fire – both occurring around the time I am hopefully moving into my new place. So – another hectic few days coming up at some point. And before then – I’ll be spending my evenings entertaining the small Caro-Dom offspring – Malachy. I spent last night reading a book to him – but pointing out how the book was wrong about some things. You should NOT touch the octopus. You should NOT touch the tiger. And I guess you can touch the helicopter – but not the top bit. What are these books trying to do? The octopus is a clever, tricksy, dangerous creature. In a way – it’s like 8 snakes, with a giant brain attached, yeah? Not cool. And tigers – yeah, cute and all – but essentially a big cat with attitude. And cats are generally moody little brats. So yeah – touch a tiger, but if it bares it’s teeth, or looks annoyed in any other way – get out of there. Or – follow my example, and just find yourself one or more tiger cubs. Drugged and sleepy, if possible. All in all – don’t anybody worry, I’ll be setting Malachy on the right path, regardless of what these irresponsible books suggest.