Welcome to 1432 Everyone!

Took a trip to Warwick Castle today... and man was it a trip. We arrived to find a full blown renaissance festival going on with people dressed exactly as they would have in those days. If only someone had informed before hand or else I would have worn my stockings. I couldn't help but laugh because I remembered that South Park episode "Super Fun Time". Where the school goes to that pioneer day and no one will break character. At one point I received a phone call near some guy playing a lute, and when I answered it I half expected him to call me a witch or something. "Where'd you get that fancy device stranger...you must be a wizard!" It was hilarious even though I felt like I was back in Disney World or something. Its one thing when you have a Renaissance Festival in the middle of some forgotten field, but its another thing when you have it in the middle of a flipping castle... that has been standing for centuries. Its almost like shaming history in a way when you turn a monument to medieval culture into a theme park. There was a Joust as well which well... was kinda cool except for it was so scripted I could tell who was going to win the "princess" hand in marriage before the thing had even begun. I still cheered for the Black Knight though, because he was pretty cool. Got some ugly looks from children though.

Speaking of children what the hell is with some of these British parents. I mean don't get me wrong some parents are great, but others are pretty poor. My friends and I were sitting under a tree and some halfass father wheeled his baby under this tree and parked it. He then mosey'd off to the gate to stare at the dirt while waiting for the joust began. The baby sat quietly for like 1.2 secs and then began bawling! I mean c'mon dude. I wanted to go kick him, but instead we all got up and went to get food... I'msure the baby was fine.

That dude I posted at the top stood in a circle breathing fire for a good 40mins. That really can't be healthy for you in the least, but after watching him spit flames for so long I feel like I can do it too... maybe I will try next time i'm around a bonfire or something. He also told us there was a dragon or something living in the tower and that if we yelled loud enough the dragon would come out. I shamelessly believed him and, with the rest of the 5 year olds in the auidence, stared yelling for the dragon to come out... of course he didn't. Sometimes I'm just so stupid, but its wishful thinking that makes this world interesting.

There was a also a Falconery exhibit (to quote Joe thats my "Verb" haven't heard that in YEARS!) This was cool except for the damn bird kept flying in a tree and disappearing. He also had a Bald Eagle (AMERICA!!) which he made fun of and said its his least favorite bird. Then he made some quip about flying over a McDonalds and the audience laughed...bastards. Learned though that Bald Eagles bully smaller birds into giving their food up to them...ah the spirit of America!

We walked along the ramparts of the castle and looked off the towers pretty sweet scenary you could defintely get a good view. However, due to this festival there was grafitti along some of the walls. Funny that for centuries you cannot see anyones name, but then you enter the 21st century and suddenly the walls are coverd in carvings with stupid things like "Bobbo wuz here!" and this picture "Ho-Bama" wtf??

Hobos

So I've been seeing tons of hobos on the street lately it kind of awakens a sensitive feeling in me. I kind of want to give them money... but I know it won't do any good. The bums I see here are not the usual bums I saw in Mobile they are shivering from withdrawal and rocking back in forth begging for spare change. Well actually this is just one woman I pass everyday while walking to the tube. Shes the most pathetic person I've ever seen. I really wish I had taken a picture of her, but I don't really want to draw attention to myself so instead I walk by without making eye contact. Maybe I will do something someday...before I leave here just take all the pence I have saved up on my counter and just throw them at her.

It must be a sad feeling to have no one in this world you can run to when you are in trouble or just have no one left because you've been getting high your whole life and suddenly you are worthless. Maybe it is just because I am young but I just simply cannot imagine myself in this situation or even to the point where I would have to camp out on the street for a night. It ain't easy being homeless. I know there are people though that go without shaving for a few days and move into the city to live like a homeless person for a day or two. They think its cool or inspirational or something, but to me that just seems like such a slap in the face to actual homeless people. Like crouching down next to someone and saying... "Yea man this does suck! Well see ya later I'm going back to my AC apartment... good luck with all this."

But homeless people have a bad rap as pretty much the world hates people who live on the street. I would really like to talk to a hobo some day and maybe hear their life story I feel like that would be interesting... or really sad... I dunno. I will put it on my to-do list. Maybe arrange the meeting so I wouldn't be putting myself in danger of being harmed or robbed. I mean seriously hobos are angry people sometimes. I remember a friend of mine inhigh school brought a large gathering of hobos some pizza and wine once and they retaliated and hit him yelling shit at him and such... It was messed.

Oddjob

So throughout our stay at the wonderful Hostel Panda in Vienna we had multiple roomates, but the one that I will always remember was Farzob from Taijikistan. How we met Farzob (or as we called him Oddjob) is a very bizarre story which began the very first night we arrived. When we moved our stuff into the room we noticed that one bed in the center had someone sleeping so we tried to stay quiet... however little did we know this was to be a common trend in the life of our "sleepy" pal. The next morning we slept a little late (around 10am) and when we awoke the man was still wrapped up in his blankets asleep. Thinking nothing of this we left and when we returned that night he was still asleep (I guess it was a late 10pm...). The following morning he did not wake up when we did and we left again, but this time returned around 4pm to find him still asleep. We began laughing at how ridiculously long this man has been sleeping we really did not know what to think. However we sat in the kitchen and talked for awhile until suddenly he woke up and walked out into the kitchen to stare at us...

We were a little creeped out but we talked to him for abit... I mean he was no bigger than 5'0 and there was 4 of us what did we have to fear. He knew little English and could only mutter one line phrases such as; "What is your name", "Where are you from", "America the country of Dreams", and "I'm Doctor" were for the most part our conversation you could fill in the rest. He then surprised us by asking us if he could come along with us to the Mozart concert we were planning on going to that night... and well we said sure why not. He awkwardly followed us all the way to the theater hall and when the concert began... he low and behold fell asleep.

We woke him up after the show and walked back to the Hostel where he immediately dove back in his bed and went into his hibernation with his infamous words "I sleep here". Oddjob truly was an odd and sleepy little man. This was the last time we spoke to him as he stayed asleep for the rest of our stay in Vienna. I don't know what they do in Taijikistan, but apparently it involves a lot of sleeping.

Vienna

I have just returned from a weekend holiday in Vienna and I have to say it was awesome. Minus the fact that i don't know much German my friends and I were able to successfully navigate our way around the town without any problems whatsoever. I mean Vienna is much like any other European city in that its very culturally diverse. There are people from all over the world everywhere (but not many Americans or well we didn't see many). My friends Ross, Clay, Joe, and I arrived in Vienna on Thursday May21 and at first we walked out of the airport and looked at each other all thinking the same thought "Well we are here... now what the hell do we do" We were very confused about all the signs in German and somewhat lost even (Thank you whoever decided pictures were a great way of communication I think it was some caveman) for without picture we may have never it out of the airport. We were lost again however when the bus dropped us off at the bus stop in the seventh district (also the gay district... we didn't know this until we were there) called Wien Westbahnhof. Anyways to make a long and confusing story short we wound up finding our way to the Hostel Panda where we would be living the next few days. We were greeted by a group of Dutch kids who were also in Vienna for holiday...These kids were cool, but after sitting around with them for awhile we soon realized that they did not like Americans too much, and after I argued with a kid about American politics for a bit (he was trying to say I am an idiot even though he has never been to America and the reason he does not want to go was because he was scared he would run into George Bush... which would have been surprising as I have not met George Bush and I don't think he spends his days wandering through the streets waving.)

Anyways Dutch kids not super cool, but alright. We spent the next day walking around Vienna and seeing as much as we could... it would be about this point I posted all the wonderful pictures I took and even a video I was planning on making which would document my trip, however my computer decided it hates my cameras memory card and erased all of the pictures I took this weekend... SO long Vienna its like you never existed.

I guess I will just say that we had an amazing time in Vienna and we met some very strange people and saw some incredible sights such as the top of Mount Untersburg (a part of the Alps).

Iron & Wine- Around the Well

Iron & Wine or Sam Beam's new LP is finally being released today (May 19, I don't think my computer is going to update... I'm living in the future). This album is (in my opinion) the best LP Iron & Wine has made. It's just a collection of unreleased stuff spanning from Iron & Wine's beginnings in 2002 to now. The entire album is absolutely incredible and includes some of the most relaxing songs. The music is very harmonic and even a bit haunting. The lyrics are (as usual) poetry. I can listen to this album a thousand times over and never tire of it. I am a huge fan of "The Trapeze Swinger", but lately I have been obsessed with "Love Vigilantes", but really it is very hard to play favorites here as every song is equally as promising and powerful as the next. Do your ears a major favor and buy this album today!

Tube Tunes

A major change here in London is the amount of music (or I should say the quality of music) on the streets. I mean for the most part in the states you walk down the street and see some guy strumming a guitar... but its rarely that good. Now don't get me wrong there are some very talented street musicians, but for the most part or maybe just where I am from Street music is not to outstanding. But today when I was walking to the my tube destination I suddenly heard a wonderful rendition of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and was taken back... because well it sounded good and fit the atmosphere of walking past all these people. However, I turned the corner and saw to my amazement a man dressed in a clown suit... I kind of froze in my footsteps (well because i hate clowns) but luckily the man behind me was kind enough to shove me on my way again. I don't know what it is about clowns I mean seriously what happened!? CLowns are supposed to embody fun times and laughter, but for some reason in our society Clowns are some of the most hated people on the planet! I guess Stephen King really screwed the pooch on that one for writing IT (if I was a clown i would be pissed at him for that). It kinda makes me sad that clowns are hated so much, because I would honestly like to be able to laugh at them or with them whatever... but I think these thoughts then actually see a clown and quickly throw them out the window, because facts are facts and clowns are scary as crap! Theres something already mentally unstable about a man in his forties willing to paint his face and wear a rainbow jumpsuit to entertain little children and then when you have them walking around doing magic tricks and laughing like a maniac... well the whole thing is just unhealthy.


But anyways this particular clown was playing "What a wonderful world" and actually playing it good (did I mention he had a Harmonica in his mouth, because thats kinda important). The whole song was fitting and people were strolling by chucking pence into his case. I mean the situation was bizarre. But I guess the point I'm trying to make is we need more street musicians like this man (maybe minus the clown suit).

Another talented musician I saw was a boy (not older than 16) playing a Cello in the middle of the streets and he was AWESOME. He has a whole set up on a street corner and was politely rocking out to Mozart. What a peculiar sight. England and class go together like 2 peas in a pod...

Just Handshakes (we're British), Heartless Bastards, The Woo!worths, The Last Republic

More shows yay! The other night I found myself stumbling across a underground show in some abandoned subway station. Well it has a name its called Club 229 (or just 229) and had a fascinating time! It was really cool to see all the various people in the show united by such a variety of bands. In the crowd I even saw a few men in business suits. The only thing that was negative about the show was the girl dancing in front of me. I believe a good friend should tell you when your a bad dancer and making a fool of yourself, but this girls friends stood there and laughed with encouragement. All while there friend jerked her body about in weird poses (it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine shows off her terrible dance moves... in fact it looked exactly like that). Anyways I'm all for free expression and dancing to whatever just so long (if you know your a poor dancer) you dance in the back and not in the very front in center of the show. Its distracting from watching the band.

Just Handshakes (We're British)

this was a small British band that were (like me) newcomers to London. However, they played like they have been there many times before and really rocked the stage with a great energy. Their music sounds very Wolf Paradish except with a girl lead singer. I've been listening to the EP they gave me and while the studio stuff is just a tad disappointing it is only because live they sound amazing. I also was privileged to meet the whole crew after the show and they were very upstanding and cheerful people. Keep on rocking I look forward to one buying their CD. I would upload music here for your listening pleasure.... but it makes the site all laggy and obnoxious so here a LINK to their myspace instead.

Heartless Bastards

This was the band that led me to such an incredible show. I have been listening to Heartless Bastard since I stumbled across their single "The Mountain" some how made it on my ipod (I'm really not sure how it did). But I'm thankful that it was there as it led me to a great show in London. Heartless Bastard are fellow Americans and they were happy to meet us after the show. They too were very nice and played a killer set. If you have a chance to see them I strongly advise it.
http://www.myspace.com/heartlessbastards

The Woo!worths

A British electronic band to the core the Woo!worths also played a fun set (which got the rest of the crowd dancing, which made me happy because terrible dancing girl was buried in the crowd) The Woo!worths's music was very similar to what you would hear in many London pubs (techno). Not saying theres anything wrong with that, I am a fan of electronic dancey dance music and the Woo!worths definitely quenched the thirst to dance. It does not lok like they will play any shows in the States, but if you happen to be in the U.K. go listen. It will not be a disappointing show I promise.

The Last Republic

The last band of the night and unfortunately the best is not always saved for last. While they played alright music (it really wasn't my taste) they had annoying stage antics that made them seem like a Fall Out Boy wannabes. I like it when bands play for the love of their music but this group just seemed like they loved themselves (maybe it was just the lead singer). I did get to meet the band after the show and they invited me to party with them so they weren't bad guys I just wasn't a major fan of their music.


I don't know this show happened on the 13th I really need to get better about finishing these blogs right afterwards I start to forget... so I guess thats my report on the 229 adventure show all in all it was an awesome time look any one of these bands up if you want to see a good show.

Cheers

Andrew Bird

I went to my very first London show today and was very entertained. My friend Joe and I went to the Shepherds Bush Empire (or the O2 Empire) it was an awesome venue that according to someone was a top venue in a GQ article... but I couldn't find anything, but still good location!These are the best pictures I took of the stage it took a while for me to learn how to work my camera... Anyways on to the show.

The crowd in London is much more laid back then America. Refer to goodafternoonbrad
for a list of American Show rules, specifically the one about personal space, in London you have lots of personal space (at least at chill shows such as Andrew Bird. I mean this could really only apply to Andrew Bird's crowd, but still laid back shows in the States seem to follow the loss of personal space rule.) However, London shows (at least this particular show) I had plenty of room to move about.

Anyways enough about the crowd

Snowbird

This was the opening artist and while she had a lovely voice for the most part it was not amazing. The music consisted of a synthesized beat, some piano, and her voice... which came of sounding very Regina Spektorish. She also wrote a song about the horrors of killing a bug, but then told us a story about squishing a bug, which really made no sense at all. I believe your either for killing bugs or against it. There can really be no in between on this matter. This was best summed up when I asked one of my fellow showgoers what he thought of this and his response was priceless "Shes a fence-sitter one of the worst types of people." Imagine that in a heavy British accent (it was pretty funny.)

Courtney Tidwell

Now this group was alright. They did not sound that great, but definitely a decent band. They kind of reminded me of a less hardcore version of Pretty Girls Make Graves the music was not that complex nor were the lyrics, but all in all not bad.

Andrew Bird

Amazing! a awesome and spectacular show from the start. Andrew Bird can do some pretty sick things on a stringed instrument and its not so much the animation of his show that makes him good. It is how well he plays a violin, guitar, or anything else on stage. His band mates (I am no sure if they are his regular band or just studio musicians for the tour) were also quite impressive in their own rights. Andrew threw them some solos and they easily played some smashing riffs. His music is kind of like a folk meets rock and is best friends with bluegrass. Definitely worth checking out if he tours near you and if not go purchase his new EP or buy his albums, you won;t be disappointed.

Welcome to London!

This morning at 12:35 a.m. Central Time, your humble bloggist arrived in London Gatwick International Airport to begin his study abroad program for the next month.

We arrived in London in a little over 7 hours and after no sleep and walking out into London's streets at 6a.m. their time I was already exhausted. But we had to make our way to Regents College this of course meant dragging our bags through London in the early morning. For the most part this was not too difficult, but a few did make a scene when we blocked the Tube gates with our luggage... It was kinda embarrassing. Then when we boarded the tube I specifically heard a man tell his girlfriend "Oh god we are sharing the tram with Americans" which kinda took me back... I guess it is true that Americans are not to well liked.

This is the best picture I could manage while we were rushing our way through the British Railway system.

Anyways after the whole Tube debacle we finally came out at Baker Street, which was as expected decorated with Sherlock Holmes paraphernalia everywhere (even the walls had Sherlock Holmes profiles on them.... I 'm going to get my picture with that wall someday.)
However, I couldn't manage to take many pictures here, because well its kind of hard when your pulling a 45lbs bag and fighting your way through crowds (I mean after all I didn't want to look to much like a tourist...)

After we made it out of Baker Street and walked a quick 5 minutes around the corner we approached what would be our home for the next month, Regent's Park. It was something else, because of the excellent weather we were having (I was expecting the rain as this is usually the case in England.)
And at last we made it to our new home Regent's College, where I will be keeping you up to date with what is happening in London for the next month. Seeing as how I have never been here why don't we discover this place together.