So – visited Iceland. Iceland was nice. Did some stuff, saw some stuff – will think about updating photos/etc some day. The best description I could come up for it was that it is New Zealand – but somebody else’s New Zealand. In that – driving around, it’s all beautiful and stuff – but this impression from the people of “yeah, it’s all beautiful and that, but then why wouldn’t it be?” – just like New Zealand. Not quite taking it for granted – and not really not realising how lucky they are – but maybe just not realising how unlucky everybody else is? Or something.
So yeah, quick description: sleepy/rural (all towns/Reykjavik/buildings/etc – reminded me of New Zealand in the 80′s, on a Sunday afternoon). Deserted – driving for hours without seeing a single other car/truck. Floated between two continents – touching North America with one hand, and Eurasia with the other. Saw some geysers – and a plaque bragging about how heaps bigger their geyser is than New Zealand’s. Except theirs only erupts once every hundred years or some bullsh*t – so yeah, give yourself a hand Iceland. Big lazy geyser. Did see a smaller one erupt though – went all kablooey. Saw a waterfall – Gullfoss, the namesake for the ‘Golden Circle’. Pretty good waterfall. Multiple layers, some ice hanging off the cliff opposite, rapids leading up to it, lots of mist. Yeah – not a bad waterfall.
Other than that – also spent several evenings sitting outside in a hot tub, reading a book , drinking whisky – watching for the Northern Lights. Saw some of them. Did some ramblin’. Drove across the south coast – seeing some more waterfalls, and a glacial lagoon. Glacial lagoon is rather cool. Big chunks of ice floating in a lagoon, until they melt enough to float down the river into the ocean. Where they then get washed ashore. Rather a bizarre sight – a beach, with surf breaking, covered in washed up icebergs. And the lagoon – so many different shades of blue. And a seal. Also got in some culture – looked around a museum. Driftwood. Driftwood is/was very important to the Icelandic people. Oh – and binge-drinking – Reykjavik looks to have some spectacular binge-drinking. I didn’t partake myself – it looked to be a young person’s game. Very very young person’s game.
And then back to London – picked Pen up from Heathrow on the way through – and headed back to mine so that each of us could have a rest after our respective journeys. Chinatown for socialising the next day – and then more rest, before back to routine of work and gigs.
First gig back – White Rabbits. To be honest, that was a little while ago now – so can’t really remember many details. But, strangely, there seem to be quite a few videos on youtube. And looking at those, it seems like it was a fairly standard gig, nothing to get one overly disappointed or excited.
A couple of nights later – I insisted Pen come along to see Jose Gonzalez and Tinariwen. And then on the way there, suddenly thought “Why am I dragging Pen to what is probably the polar opposite of her musical tastes?”. But it was too late – Pen was about to see some ‘World Music’. But if you’re going to drag somebody along to ‘World Music’ – you can’t get much better than Jose Gonzalez. And yeah – Jose was his normal self. Absolutely zero ‘stage presence’ – I think he talked to the crowd once – but more than compensated for by the music. I think Pen at least appreciated it. And then Tinariwen. They were missing their usual lead guy, but still put on a rather good show. If you haven’t heard of these guys – look them up. Read their history (“the most compelling of any band” or “the most rock’n’roll of them all”, depending on who you believe). Listen to some music. Really rather good. Jose Gonzalez came out and helped out with one song (a role filled by one or two guys from TV On The Radio on the album – if that helps anybody believe they should check these guys out). Oh, and then it turns out Tinariwen had won a Grammy recently – and this was their first appearance since. So – we saw them get handed/awarded their Grammy – by Jon Snow (a UK news presenter with some solid street-cred). So yeah, I’ve now attended a Grammy’s award ceremony.
Nearly a week later – Grimes at XOYO. A very very talented young lady – I can only assume she’ll be going far. Considering her whole act consists of herself with a microphone and mixing-desk/keyboard – rather difficult to put on much of a show. But – she did alright – got the lighting all dim/moody as possible, so that not much more effort is really necessary – one person, then more and more, dancing like nutters in the background – all good. And yeah – a really really good set. Well done Little Miss Grimes. Highly recommended. Oh – and when I went to the bar to order my first drink of the evening – the barmaid started pouring my chosen tipple without asking. It seems that I have become that much of a regular. At a music venue. Not sure how I feel about that.
Now – trying to get back into some kind of routine. Haven’t done any exercise for nearly a month. And have been drinking a little too much whisky. Hmmm… oh well, got a gig tonight, so maybe tomorrow night. Nope – got drinks with company owner tomorrow, when I have to decide whether I alleviate his concerns about whether I’m gonna jump ship. Thursday night – gig. Maybe on the weekend – I’ll start trying to force some routine back into my life.
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