moshing in buffalo and other delights

getting back from the holiday we had a nice lay in and a massive fry up in the morning before i headed for work and then dashed straight over to HASSAN HAJJAJAN's SOUK space in CHAPTER. there were 4 artists doing soundscapes: jon ruddick, matt cook and odysseus constantinou (and the fourth i don't know the name of, i'm sorry. i think its duncan... but i really don't know) over middle eastern silent films. i missed the first two short films but stayed for the final one which was of burning oil fields just after the kuwait - iraq battles in the early 90s. there was a helicoptor going over the dessert and the landscape looked incredible, like another planet. when we got to the oilfields burning it looked like hell. knowing that the burning of these oil fields meant that the world lost hundreds of years worth of energy in times where we're looking at the loss of all oil energy in the next 100 years was heartbreaking. the music the set it to took us on this otherworldly journey and was just beautiful. afterwards jon and i had a big party in our house where the musician richard james broke a dining chair. the only other place i've lived where a chair was broken was also by a musician: ringo starr's son zac starkey when he came to visit my friend stef in barcelona. this is a random fact that isn't entirely relevant but i found it quite funny at the time. poor rich, he was embarrassed and very apologetic. it was quite a nice party from what i can remember. steen had the record player going and many people saw my appalling collection of 80s hits. goodbye, sweet credibility!

on monday we went to see BLUE EYELIDS at chapter. i picked this merely for the poster, which was a gorgeous drawing of the girl in the film in blue on a pink background. maybe more choices of films should be based on the poster, cos this was a good 'un. it was an offbeat romance like a fairytale, but much darker than that makes it sound. shy marina, who seems almost not there in some scenes, wins a trip for two to a beach resort. after her sister lets her down she realises she has no-one to take so pretty much takes the first person she finds: victor, who claims to know her from school (but she seems to remember scant details of this time). they getting to know each other better and its here the story really takes off. its scenes of quiet, awkward first dates are quite wonderful. it could be bleak and heartbreaking but stayed with me as a beautiful little film.

the next day was the SLEEP FURIOUSLY night at CHAPTER with a Q&A with GIDDEON KOPPEL. the film was slow and beautiful, focussing on the little yellow library van going around the surrounding villages and meeting people, such as koppel's sculptor mother and children at the school which is due for closure. it sounds really crass but i kept thinking of postman pat and his van afterwards, it had the same dreamlike quality that the first scene in postman pat used to make me feel when i was watching it as a child, the little village where things were stuck in time and would just go on tomorrow whether we were watching or not. i don't think koppel would like my childish comparison though, he didn't seem to like any of the other comments on his film that viewers made in the q&a very much. he was an arrogant pompous man and almost made me dislike the film. i don't like being so harsh with people but he seemed to want to alienate the audience talking about academic film language when people wanted to tell him how beautiful they found it and it made me a little angry. i know who john berger is and i've read his books but i don't think name dropping in that manner helps with film education, i believe that if you try and keep it simple you can explain difficult concepts to people and make them happier and enlightened rather than make them feel stupid and not clever enough to understand your masterwork.

will and i had a day off together on thursday so we had a nice breakfast and lunch then headed off to see the DIANE ARBUS EXHIBITION at the national gallery. as we were running short on time (partly due to me stopping off in the bike shed for a new bell for my increasingly amazing looking spruced up bike) we didn't stop at any of the other bits but just headed straight for arbus. it was a good comprehensive showing of her work, nestled quite appropriately next to the bacon and modern art section. it had a few of the old favourites there, the boy with the granade, the christmas tree, the mixed race couple as well as a few i'd not seen bigger than in my a4 sized book at home, which was a real treat. it reminded me to show steen the FUR film that they made a couple of years ago based on arbus' introduction to photography.

later that evening it was the LOOSE night. liz and ryan again outdid themselves with an amazing line up. ISLET, only their 3rd gig, i think they said were amazing, lots of instrument swapping and funky bass post rock stuff. i was grinning throughout. the grinning did not stop there, however for next on was THE LOVELY EGGS, who were very much fun. they sounded better live than they do on tape, the tongue in cheek-ness fully present and brilliant banter. when SHONEN KNIFE came on no-one could believe that it was the same band that have been gigging since the early 80s, they were full of energy and kept up a marathon set that got loads of people moshing at the front (and in buffalo!) this is the second time i've witnessed "atmosphere" created at the direst of wanker venues, buffalo and both times its been a loose night. no coincidence there, i think. liz puts on amazing gigs. afterwards we went out to celebrate 3 birthdays: john, lovely ben and noel (who was proudly showing off a sabrina "boys boys boys (summertime love)" single amongst his presents). i ended up getting much more drunk than i expected and staying out much too late.

on friday we went to my friend KATY'S WEDDING PARTY. they'd been together for 20 years but decided to suddenly go to registry office and become official, it was at the yacht club in cardiff bay and had lovely views and was a lovely do. we sat talking to our friend chris fowler most of the night and i danced a bit with my friend rachel. we went home fairly early but still pretty tired after a beautiful day.

unfortunately for me i got a bit drunk at the wedding party and even more unfortunately i had to get up at 6am. fortunately though, this was to help out at the PHOTOMARATHON! matt and betina had asked me to be on a radio programme at 7am. matt picked me up just before 7am and there was nary time to finish my cup of bbc tea before we were in the studio. i thought i'd be really nervous but it was absolutely fine and i felt quite relaxed. we talked about the photomarathon between the expenses scandal and the lions game (i don't know what this refers to but someone said it was rugby later). it was fine. we then went down to the millennium centre and met the press officer, ruth, who helped us set up the tables ready for the big day. it all went by in a bit of a blur. photomarathon baseball caps handed out, hundreds of people queueing for their film and registration card and then the topics were announced. i was as much in the dark as anyone else, keen to start and by 10.30am i finally saw the topics and went off with rich, rhian, darren, ian and mike and steen to go off and shoot!

topics
1. topic number / colourful
2. contained
3. roll with it
4. chip

1. i did a bunch of sweets on a green table, pleased with it i was. steen did a brilliant bit of shoelace work that pissed on my first entry.
2. i did a shut-up building down the bay only to be again trumped by steen's amazing gravestone in the centre of town
3. i made steen do a forward roll for me (not sure if this came out properly or not unfortunately) and steen got me to take a picture of him on a bin like a sort of failed superman
4. i wrote "c" on steen's hip. lame. steen cut a chip size out of a potato and photographed the potato, which i liked

2pm next topics released
5. age
6. crunch
7. black and white
8. social network

5. i took a picture of some mould on a piece of wood that i liked. at this point steen and i had to split up, i was due in work at 5.30pm and getting a bit tired and grumpy to boot. we had time to take a great picture of the park behind the law courts for his age entry.
6. i took a bite out of a crunchy biscuit (again, a bit lame, not sure about that)
7. i found an expenses claim for lembit opik, a summons for his council tax (so we paid an extra £50 to him for forgetting to pay it!) and took a photo of that
8. i went into chapter bar and saw uncle simon et al. i said "don't move". that was my photo done!

steen texted me the last 4 entries due to my being at work
9. spillage
10. missing
11. dressed to impress
12. winner

9. in chapter i was limited about what i could do but i found a mug and filled it with box office paperclips for spillage
10. made a little paper saddle for the ceramic horse in the gallery display cabinet with "shurgar" on for missing
then ran home to get a prop for steen and dressed up the cat in a shimmery sequinned top for 11. and then photographed rhys with his fake trophies (he found them) for winner.

ace! done! i cycled like a bandit to get to the millennium centre in time to hand them in before 10pm and saw the gang all there, including pedro. we had a nice long chat and then headed home defeated. it was close to midnight and the lack of sleep was unreal.

the next day i began my new life as free of backpackers! i started in the cafe at a relatively decadent 9am and had a lovely shift of "getting jobs done" before ushering in the cinema for PRINCES QUEST, a french animation telling the story of two brothers from the middle east who have to work together to free the djin fairy. i'd seen it before and really enjoyed it again the second time around, some of the set pieces are beautiful, with the middle eastern patterns and layering of colours.

that evening was marc robert's gig upstairs in chapter with ZEUK followed by SHELLEYAN ORPHAN. they hadn't gigged for 16 years and it was a bit shambolic but i did love it. they were at their best when they just relaxed into it and let their dreamlike songs surround you. her voice sounded very much like the lady from the SUNDAYS and they did a great nick drake cover.

what a great week to come back to!