NATURAL SELECTION....

Current mood: I BELIEVE I CAN FLY.....
Category: I BELIEVE I CAN FLY..... Music

I went along to this gig on the boat.

In essence, I like good non-pretending folk music. I find proper folk musicians to have a lot of integrity. They know and love music, have a very strong connection to their instruments and they certainly love sound...

This so, I don't listen to a hell of a lot of folk, but at the back end of last year, I did buy a CD of Belgian Folk Music and it was one of the best CDs I bought all year. I've been planning to review it, but it has no cover, so I don't know what it is or what the tracks are.

I also have one of very early English folk music. I've had it 5 or 6 years and still not ever played it - I'm saving it for a rainy day.


So, tonight, aboard The English Maid, I was reminded that Brigid Power-Ryce has an incredible voice. It's like a strongly burning candle, and it's one of the few voices, that's power and intensity frightens me..

The rest I saw and heard were also good...


I also like boats, so the night went down well, even though I didn't stay long enough to see Woody Guthries old mate Tom Paley play....

Yes boss, as I often do, I wandered off early on a whim, following my nose....

I walked down the Thames as far as Tate Modern, then across to St Pauls, through Bank, up Brick Lane and all the way down Bethnal Green Road and then onto Roman Road for the final stretch...

It took about 2 hours in total.

It was a lovely walk...


As I descended the steps onto the Island, I could hear the rumble of good quality bass...

Other than the Fish Factory (I plan to get a job there soon) and the Slaughterhouse (I plan to never work there), Fish Island is almost completely composed of Yuppie Flats and Artists Studios.

The Artists are always having parties.

So much so, there's a hand written poster that recently been taped to the brick wall of the block of studios to the left of where I'm writing this.

It says:

PLEASE DO NOT PISS AGAINST THE WALL BEHIND THE SILVER LANDROVER. ARTISTS STUDIOS ARE FOR WORKING, NOT FOR HAVING PARTIES IN EVERY WEEKEND!!!!!

Feeling as if I'd had enough action for one day, I elected not to seek out the party, and instead, took the set of steps that takes me up and past Shayne Wards flat.

Shayne lives in Number 32 and I live in Number 46

I like to walk past Shaynes flat.

Why??

I like to remind myself of the night on which The Chairs Of Pop Power were captured..

It's a bit like my version of Remembrance Day, except during the capture of The Chairs Of Pop Power, none of my friends got blasted into a thousand bleeding pieces by bombs and machine gun fire...

So, I'm just past Shaynes flat (there are no new important pop artifacts to be had), and I'm walking this gangway towards mine and I can hear a couple having one of those quiet arguments - the kind that'll really BLOW once they get the front door shut.

They are about to come into view.

They are walking towards me.

They can only be going to one of 3 flats...

I know who they must be.

It's Shayne and his girlfriend Faye McKeever.


I smile broadly and get ready to say:

'HELLO!!!!' in a polite and neighbourly fashion...

But Shayne looks down at the floor like a man who knows his musical time (and ownership of The Chairs of Pop Power) has been and gone.

Faye looks at me and returns my smile and we all carry on walking...