Saturday 24 May 2003
X-Bloc Reunion Festival
The Barbican
There was a freestage first with some gypsy bands playing wedding style music - raucous with a manic tempo. There were a couple of dancers - the men show off and do the athletic stuff, the women swing their skirts and try not to fall over (or so it seemed). Was regretting agreeing to come at this point - sometimes on a Saturday afternoon you can't quite get into the right frame of mind for this kind of stuff.
However the paid-for concert started at 7.00pm - Lajko Felix, violinist and the Boban Markovic Orkestra were appearing with Frank London.
Lajko Felix was appearing supported by Antal Brasnjo (viola) and Ferenc Kurina (double bass).They stood in a semi-circle at the front of the stage, led by Felix the other two musicians watched him intently for the cues and the breaks. And when the music began it started very softly and built quite quickly into the fast tempo of gypsy folk and klezmer (I'm throwing this in from the programme in case it means anything to anyone - I don't know what type of music it is). Its remarkable how much sound 3 instruments can make. Lajko Felix is a very animated and passionate player, by the end of the first set his frantic playing had broken many of his bow's strings. The tempo, volume and mood of the music sometimes dipped as if at a drop of a pin, to a level where you couldn't believe it could still be heard and yet it was crystal clear, and then it would swell up again. Interlinking various styles merged perfectly using familiar rythms that drew you in - gyspy folk, klezmer and tango. Brilliant.
"Concert violinist extraordinaire Lajko Felix opens the concert. Intense, unpredictable and wild are not standard descriptions of most classically-trained violinists. A towering improviser, his punk approach to Gypsy folk, dlezmer and tango make his concerts in Hungary a national event." Barbican X-Bloc Reunion Programme
The Boban Markovic Orkestra were a huge brass band - a large proportion of the audience knew their music intimately, shouting and whistling their approval from the minute they came on stage. Boban and his son Marko were playing trumpets, two additional trumpets, four tenor horns, a helicon which was enormous played by an enormous man (important it seems to support the instrument which wrapped entirely round him and looked somewhat less shiny than a spanking new instrument), a snare drum and a percussionist. And this was truly a wall of sound. Massive. Music that made you have to stand and dance. And then they invited on Frank London who brought with him a clarinetist. Swell of sound and a screaming trumpet and clarinet. People ran up to an empty space by the side of the stage to dance with hip swinging movements and arms in the air like belly dancers or snake charmers. A man on the front row escaped through the security guards to run up and hug Boban Markovic and sing the last word of a song with him. People shouted their requests from the circle, linked hands in the air and snaked across the aisles.
"Serbian trumpeter Boban Markovic leads the biggest and best brass band in teh Balkans. The sound will be familiar to anyone who's seen the cult film Underground and a Serbian wedding is no party without the funky drumbeats, storming melodies and screaming clarinets." The Barbican X-Bloc Reunion Programme
And when it was over we danced to Anima Sound System (the kings of the Hungarian dance music scene) because you had to release the energy.
2:22 PM
Saturday 10 May 2003
X-Men 2
I have various movie partners for different genres of film. Tonight was the boyfriend - lover of big american blockbusters and comic books - therefore I see big american blockbusters with him.
Flashy computer graphics. Big scenes. All the usual players. Sitting on the tail end of popularity about Harry Potter, or so it seemed to me, they used the school setting as a way of capturing the youth sympathy (mutual understanding). Suprisingly there was more story than last time. It passed the time, didn't bore me but it doesn't come close to my fave films of all time.
We saw it at Wood Green Cineworld which has numerous advantages and equal number of disadvantages. Advantages include: cheaper than town, emptier than town, closer to home. Disadvantages: dealing with riotous, excitable yoof, talking, mobile phones. Can't have everything I suppose...
12:24 AM
Thursday 1 May 2003
Salt Perverts
Chapel Bar
Bails has this friend who does filming and music that she met when doing the lights for Albie's performance. He's a part-time session musician. He's also in a band called the Salt Perverts. They were playing, she said come along, I deliberated and decided I should. When we walked in I noticed Selina - ex-girlfriend of someone I periodically hung out with - hadn't seen her in ages. It turns out she is in the band of Bails' friend. Amazes me how many times you bump into people you know because of some other link that seemed unconnected - it is a huge city after all. Selina was a poet, sometimes a performance poet, I also once heard her doing a radio show.
So, the Salt Perverts - their music was weird enough, lyrics were funny and dirty, I like that kind of thing - low down. Singing wasn't the best but wasn't bad and hey the music made up for it. They had thought about the sound and it was up enough, weird enough and had its own personality. And its nice to see people you know doing things you wouldn't dare to do - perform, in front of other people, and doing a good job. I liked them.
After the gig three men were discussing the lyrics, in hysterics - one particular part tickled them a lot - did you ever wake up with a girl with your dick in her hand - or something along those lines. They rolled about...I like to sleep with my boyfriend's dick in my hand, its comforting and seems right. I've been quizzing women on it and most of them agree with me. Haven't got round to asking any men about it yet though. Previously to the Salt Perverts a christian rap band had been on wish I could remember their name (something Noize) - a worthy outfit, good sound but slightly scary message (gotta be with JC). Anyhows, the three chaps kept saying its good job the god squad left before the perverts came on because they'd have been shocked (and collapsed in heaps of laughter once more).
1:55 PM
Saturday 26 April 2003
Tony Scott's Beat the Devil
Decided to go to see Spike Lee's movie 25th Hour (really liked this also) during the ads they showed this short film starring Gary Oldman and James Brown - brightly coloured, fast paced, quirky idea (not necessarily unique however). Ode to Gary Oldman's Dracula. Liked the way it looked and sounded. Don't know what it is about Oldman that he can make nasty characters sexy even when they look vile. James Brown - soul sex god.
4:40 PM
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