Don’t Look Back: Slint August 29, 2007

All Tomorrow’s Parties’ Don’t Look Back season kicked off recently, and I was determined not to let it pass me by this year. The Don’t Look Back deal is that bands come along and play their best album, from start to finish.

I went along on my Jack (having an odd taste in music means I occasionally need/want to do this) and had a rare old time. It was my first visit to this particular venue: Koko in Camden. I have to say I was impressed. Lots of little cubby holes to sit down in, to have a pint and a chat in, and watch the band too.

Support was from Alexander Tucker. I’ve seen, and enjoyed, him before. He’s a solo artist who seems to record short sections of himself singing, playing guitar or playing violin, before playing back those recordings on a loop. Each song builds up into a crescendo of interlacing sounds, and rhythms and harmonies start to appear. It’s like, way out, man.

Slint were there to play their 1991 album, Spiderland. It’s considered a highly influential classic these days, though I am not ashamed to admit that I had never heard of them or this album until about four years ago. They certainly mixed in the right circles in their day: Will Oldham took the photograph used on the cover of the album, Steve Albini produced their previous album, and PJ Harvey allegedly applied to be their singer.

I’ve been listening to the album for the last couple of months, and seeing it played live really brought it to life for me. It’s a dark and serious album, and a dark and serious gig, but it’s got so much variety in it: the fact that the first song is about a rollercoaster ride says a hell of a lot about what follows.

The band are curious performers: very static and reserved in their stage presence, yet unleashing powerful waves of sound with pinpoint precision. Nobody seems to have put a clip of the gig on YouTube yet, but I’ve found a clip of them at the Primavera festival in Barcelona, if you want to see them do their thing.

Only one person seriously tried to dance.

Bexley blogosphere doubles in size… August 13, 2007

..since I joined in with blogging, by the looks of things.

Actually, I’ve found two others blogs which seem to have a focus on the borough: Bexley conservative future and Duncan Borrowman of the Lib Dems.  How’s that for being impartial – I’ve linked to websites for all three major political parties now.

Of course, being an apolitical council officer (that’s the official line), I won’t have much to discuss with these two, but maybe they’ve got some views on furry mammals or crisps they’d like to share.

No offence meant to any other Bexley bloggers whom I have not found yet. Quite the opposite – please get in touch!

Fox news August 13, 2007

And not the Rupert Murdoch kind, no sir.

Following some comments about my previous post, I’ve been doing some digging on foxes. (Our local foxes, very kindly, have reciprocated by doing some digging in our back gardens. Not for nesting purposes, it seems: they just like digging).

Andrew is correct in thinking that Lewisham Animal Welfare are a bit down on fox feeding. We’ve just published the council’s fox advice on the Lewisham website. (Eek – I’ve just spotted a typo in it – must fix that first thing tomorrow!). Bexley Council are not quite so down on it, and have a spiffing pictorial calendar showing the “fox year“. Less impressive was their response when I tried to probe further on this issue – they advised me to look at their website.

Well, having looked at several pro-fox sites like the fox project and National Fox Welfare Society I’ve decided that fox feeding, in moderation, is ok, provided your neighbours don’t mind the mess and the occasional large hole in their garden.

I know a lot of the neighbours are already regular fox feeders: one fella even treated the vixen with a course of anti-mange medication last year. I’ve decided to ask all the others for their views before I continue feeding them.

A local post for local people August 1, 2007

The tagline of this site says that this blog is supposed to be about living in South-East London, and I’m keenly aware that I’m yet to share many thoughts on this.

I’m a keen follower of the goings-on in the Lewisham blogosphere, being an employee of the local authority for the borough, and it is two of those blogs in particular that inspired me to start this one (Andrew’s and Henry’s). Andrew was also very encouraging when I met him at the Catford beer festival.

I haven’t found a blogosphere for Bexley yet, but then, I haven’t looked that hard either.

So, a little bit about Bexley for you. Bexley is a village, and a London Borough. I live in both the village and the borough.

I love Bexley because I can get into London easily (though sometimes I have to run like hell to catch the 00:10 last train home of an evening – the taxi fare from London doesn’t bear thinking about) and get into Kent easily too when I fancy some fresh country air.

What I like best is that, on the outskirts of the village, is a farm shop and a fantastic butcher’s shop, plus an Italian Deli in the centre. This means I can put my money where my mouth is by buying local, and avoiding the supermarkets as much as possible. Smug. (I also think that supermarket shopping is a perfect way to ruin a perfectly good day off work – in Asda, no-one can hear you scream).

It’s not quite as lively as other places I lived (Greenwich, Forest Hill, Tooting, the East and West Ends of Newcastle) most of the time, but it’s kicking on a weekend, when the majority of its 9 pubs will be jam packed. This pretty much suits me.

It’s pretty foxy. We have a family of foxes living behind our garage, and they are very friendly, like the neighbours. As long as you put food out for them occasionally, they don’t poo in your garden (the foxes that is, not the neighbours – boom boom). I’ve discovered that they like cheese, cakes, the leftover vegetables after you’ve made stock, quorn chile, meat of any description and bread if there really isn’t anything else to eat.

There’s plenty of other wildlife, perhaps a bit too much. I’m going to be spending part of the forthcoming weekend trying to evict some squirrels from my loft. The council has some very good advice on this, I’ve noticed.

That was all very positive, don’t you think? More on Bexley at a later date, I think.