Born Slippy

This week has been brilliant, I have celebrated one of my best pals birthday. We started with a gig at The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. Albert Hammond Jr. was top quality, he spotted us two tall men at one point singing along and clearly giggled at our drunken state. The whole night was hilarious, lots of booze and great music, but the driver was sober (safety first) and definitely missed out on the fun the other four of us had, even when enjoying the gig. I love Albert Hammond Jr. not only for being a member of The Strokes, one of the key bands in my personal musical history, but also for his solo records. This track is off his new album (it also shares its title with one of my favourite ever track by this little band called Underworld):

Following on from this gig we basically had 3 days in the pub drinking our pints of Kronenbourg and chatting music, politics and shit. We are planning on a couple of gigs in the new year, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Field Music, both in Brighton which should both be rad. 

In other news, I've also helped my friend Jonny with his new venture. He has started an ethical clothing company, all sweat shop free and organically made, plus hand printed here in Chichester. Check it out at www.gnarlytreeclothing.co.uk. Spend your money in places that support local business and help the people making the product as opposed to corporate bigwigs not paying taxes yet still making money from the hard working people of our society. 

Tour = Freedom.

I recently followed my mates TRAAMS on tour. It was really fun, three days of boozing and music with three good friends of mine. They just released their second album, Modern Dancing, with many positive reviews. I would definitely recommend listening to it, its on Spotify, my favourite tracks are Silver Lining and Sister. They played three in store shows in Brighton (Resident Records), London (Rough Trade East) and Portsmouth (Pie & Vinyl); all great record shops that deserve a visit and will help you out regardless of your questions or taste in music. I will be heading out on tour again with them in a few days when they tour with The Wytches, a brilliant Brighton based band, check them out here.

In terms of books I've just finished a novel by Jonathan Franzen, Freedom. Its an excellent book, critically acclaimed, and Franzen is widely thought to be one of the greatest American novelists alive.  I really enjoyed the novel, however it raises a number of questions about our culture. Franzen has managed to write a realist novel that makes me question some of my lifestyle choices; he covers subjects such as overpopulation, alcoholism and, as the title foreshadows, freedom.

One of the main characters, Walter Berglund, becomes involved with his assistant, a younger woman who persuades him that the biggest threat to human existence is overpopulation. They both work for a multi-millionaire who Walter believes will help fund a campaign against overpopulation. Meanwhile his wife has become an unhappy alcoholic, she has done nothing with her life except be a house wife and as such has become bored. She holds a grudge against her son's girlfriend, Connie, for taking her little boy away from her, this is one of the underlying stories within the novel, at no point does she reconcile this difference with Connie. Freedom is the main theme of the novel but I fail to see the form of freedom that Franzen wants to express. If anything none of the characters end up being free; each is constrained by belief, love, circumstance and money.

Intentions

A list of things I intend to do with this blog:

• Publish some of my own work, both written and photographic
• Discuss things that I have done and places I have been
• Review books I have recently read
• Express my desires to travel and get away from home
• Share music I enjoy and bands I like

I hope to write at least one post a week.