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Morning, beautiful, originally uploaded by Caroline.

Although my hotel on Osborne Street in London gets bad reviews on travel sites, I didn’t have a problem with it at all. Yes it’s a little run down and I’m sure some people may not find the area attractive. But I like Brick Lane with its vintage clothing shops, cool record store (Rough Trade), Bangla Deshi restaurants, ‘beigel’ bakeries and photo opportunities. Plus some excellent coffee at Coffee@.

Some photos taken in the Tower Hamlets area.

Efterklang , originally uploaded by Caroline.

My guest pass for the Rogue’s Gallery festival also gave me access to the second day of the Analog Festival.

Three bands I’d never heard of before were on the bill. The concert started with Liars, an American band with an Australian singer. I’ve filed them under Z for Zappa with their experimental rock sound. Not my kind of thing, but frontman Angus was theatrical enough to please the photographer in me.

Efterklang made me want to hear more. Dressed in folk garb the Danes came across as a happier version of Arcade Fire – with just a tiny hint of Up With People.

The somewhat older band Tortoise followed. Instrumental rock with two drum kits in the foreground. They were a little too jazzy for me at the start, so I wandered around taking pictures of the beautiful setting of the festival, but their rhythms became a little tighter as their set progressed which drew me back in.

View my Efterklang, Liars en Tortoise photos on Flickr.

I wish there was a way on Flickr to upload a batch of photos temporarily, without them appearing in your photostream. So you can look at them, rotate them, whatever, and then tick off the ones you want to add to your stream, and the ones you want to delete. That’s all.

A second set of photos taken in Copenhagen on day 3 of my stay, the results of an eight hour walk from Vesterbro to Christianshavn, to Nyhavn and all around the City. I gave myself a task for the day: ‘find the light’ (and the shadows).

The funeral set is also online, but mostly friends & family only.

A set of photos taken on my first day in Denmark. A pro would cull these down to 3 shots, but that would take too much time so there’s 34 in all.

Scandinavian Christmas decorations aren’t permeated by the American ‘Coca Cola Santa’ fun fun fun look like in the rest of the world. Sometimes they’re a little creepy. A little creepy can be good.

Also, there are a couple of cameraphone shots which contain more freaky shop window examples.

I bought a monopod shortly after walking through this arch. On Tordenskjoldsgade, where I once spent a lovely summer.

Performing in Amsterdam for the first time in ten years, Maria McKee seemed surprised (though you never know with her) so many had come out to see her.

Personally, I had expected a bigger crowd. The Paradiso staff had made their main room more intimate, putting tables and large plants down and moving the soundstage up a good way towards the stage.

She played all my favourites. Even the oldies: Breathe, Dixie Storms, Shelter, Wheels… fabulous to hear them all again, as well as tracks off her new album ‘Peddlin’ Dreams’. Unpredictable and slightly mad (she says) as ever. Another one of those ‘criminally’ underestimated artists I like so much.

Setlist: You Are The Light, I Can’t Make It Alone, Am I The Only One, Peddlin’ Dreams, High Dive, Wheels, The Horse Life, Shelter, Turn Away, Sullen Soul, Worry Birds, If Love Is A Red Dress, Dixie Storms, Barstool Blues, People in the Way, In Your Constellation, Everyone’s Got A Story, Breathe, Life Is Sweet.

Some photos

Shirley Manson, like Kylie Minogue, is likeable and exciting to watch. I don’t care a whole lot for Garbage as a band (not since their first album, anyway), but their leading lady is just riveting.

(Selection of photos)

A sign outside the venue said: ‘No flash. No professional gear.’ Just before the start of the show, a security guard noticed me taking my camera out of my bag.

s.g.: ‘We don’t allow lenses on cameras.’
me: ‘But all cameras have lenses.’
s.g.: ‘Uhm, you can’t use professional gear.’
me: ‘It’s a 300d, it’s not a professional camera.’
s.g.: ‘OK. But don’t be surprised if we take your roll of film later on.’
me: ‘There’s no film in this camera.’
s.g.: (sigh) ‘Well, whatever’s in it.’

I stayed out of view of the guards for most of the show right up until the end when some people in front of me left. It gave me the opportunity to take some good close ups when Shirley played our side of the stage. Just when I knew I’d got ‘the’ shot (the one above), a big bald security guard told me to cut it out, using the international cut throat sign. I put my camera away then and he didn’t take my memory card. A guy in front of me filmed the entire show with a tiny digicam.

What creeps me out about places like Flickr is when people you don’t know, have never met, have never e-mailed with, ‘friend’ you. I wish there was a way you could ‘unfriend’ strangers. Or simply not allow it unless you give permission.

Dude, I’s SO not your friend.

[Read more]

Studio Brussels are using some of my photos on their site. They did not ask permission to do so, even when it was specifically stated the copyright was mine and all use required my express permission. When I called them on it, they apologised and I let them continue using the pictures. I’m not that difficult.

Last night, the veteran DJ of the programme using the pictures vented his frustration with the people ON them during his show. Very loosely translated it came down to this: ‘I saw them play live back in the 80s and they were uninspired and pretentious’ ⁽¹⁾, ‘They were drunk when I interviewed them’ ⁽²⁾, ‘Their DJ set sucked, Fleetwood Mac was about the most exciting thing they played.’ ⁽³⁾, ‘You only need to buy one of their albums to know what they’re like.’ ⁽⁴⁾.

This DJ had not prepared his questions very well (‘Did you ever sell your soul to the devil?’), he mispronounced the band’s name and got the name of their record company wrong as well. He fucked up. Consequently the interview was a bit of a trainwreck. He was eaten alive by two charismatic artists having a laugh. On stage, in front of 250 of their fans in Ancienne Belgique. Ouch. Even heavily edited, the interview sounded painful on radio. You know you have a problem when the fans’ questions get a better response from the artists.

I felt sorry for him at the time, though I could not understand why he hadn’t prepared properly. Now I wonder why he took the job in the first place. If you don’t like an artist, why put yourself in that position?

I have asked Studio Brussels to remove my pictures from their site a.s.a.p. as I do not want my work to be associated with this level of frankly unprofessional behaviour.

Footnotes:
1. More pretentious than The Fall, who they were supporting-uh?
2. No, they weren’t. We did, however, get hammered afterwards.
3. I heard Fischerspooner, Joy Division, Brel, T Rex, Mingus…
4. Mr DJ, you fight like a girl.

I still have to write about my weekend in Brussels with those two mad Irish bastards and one London gent. Rest assured I’m working on it, scribbling down my impressions in a notebook on my way to and from work. Cause I’m an ‘amateur’.