A night at the Monarch (again)

with Moonlands

Lady Pocket

and Guru.

Found some

 beach fossils

 just off Brick Lane. 

While the guitar

player 

and the man on the keyboards were working hard

the drummer found all this funny

and the bass player took a short nap. 

As the band slowly dozed off I tubed it to another part of London and saw 

Leah Bryant (and a few others)

Notting Hill carnival - day two

A few dancers

 and a few other people came down to my extended birthday party.

When you need to kip

you might as well have a bit of shuteye on a float travelling through the Notting Hill Carnival.

Baby in Vain

 I know it is,

baby,

I know it is. 

After being told it was all in vain, I felt like going to a dark tunnel for a spot of spoken word. 

Thursday night Mangrove Steel Band rehearsals

for the carnival in All Saints Road.

Another double bill for me

Went to see the Belgian Stuff at Rough Trade, and although it is not really my cup of tea I enjoyed a couple of song in the set, especially their finale...

 After being held up elsewhere (you know meeting people and hanging out)

I managed to catch the last hour (all they way to midnight) of the Island Experiment at The Paradise by Way of Kensal Green, which has an extremely quick changeover of artists and always provides for some good music.

Ghostpoet

Was really looking forward to seeing him perform live (heard about him on BBC6 when I was in Ljubljana and thought I will get to take a photo of him one day) and he sure didn't let us down. I also loved the way he took his time (and I really mean took his time) to speak to absolutely anyone who wanted to speak to him after the show. Next time let's go and grab some beers, whatdoyasay?  

Marc Chagall

Following the family get together lunch in Tunbridge Wells (which for some reason coincided with the sex festival) I set off for a little drive around the countryside. In Tonbridge I saw this old man sort of hitchhiking on the side of the road, so I stopped - isn't that the right thing to do? You can't just drive past, can you? He wanted to go to a village nearby and as I really didn't have a plan I said I would drive him there... After a few miles, he said that we are going to pass a really special church very soon and that I should go and see it sometime. As soon as he told me there are some special windows in the church I asked him: Are they the ones by Marc Chagall? (I had been meaning to go and see them one day, but on this day I had no idea I was so close to them) He replied that they were, so I said I would go and see the church as soon as I dropped him off... But he said well let's go now, it is on the way anyway... So we did.... And as we where there he told me all about the local family and the story behind the windows... I would tell you all about it, but I am sure that if you go there you will meet this old man hitchhiking somewhere nearby, so just pick him up and let him lead the way while he tells you all the local stories.

Friday night double bill

 at the Monarch. First up was Sample Answer 

followed by The Indios (obviously this is just the drummer of the band and he is the only one appearing on the blog, for the other photos you will just have to look elsewhere, init?)

From one

venue (Rough Trade and Man Duo) 

to another (Green Note and The Honneycutters) 

(and from one genre and feeling to another, all just a tube ride away)

The performers of the night

Rob Corcoran

 Nuala

Peter von Toy

After an afternoon

hanging around Portobello listening to live music 

and searching for my little niche in this wonderful community 

I left this part of town and visited the Green Note where I listened to Jack Harris, who was so entertaining with his music and anecdotes 

that even Rachel Harrington, the headliner of the evening, spoke about him during her performance.  

Saturday afternoon in the village

 Katmandino doing their stuff

 Ajay Srivastav with his blues guitar 

and there has to be a first - I forgot his name (early onset of Alzheimer?)

Friday nights

 are turning into regal nights (at the Monarch). Sunlit came on at sundown

and The Gulps helped the crowd gulp down the beer (while they were gulping the whisky apparently)

Random musicians from the night

 bass player from Time for T

 Drummer from Jouis

and one of the guitar players from Cousin Kula. 

Nadia Reid

in Rough Trade West, followed by 

a completely different style of the Beach for Tiger at the Monarch. 

(Just me trying to come up with weird combinations for my evenings)

Sunday afternoon

with Jake Mills at Acklam Village

and Sunday evening with Alex MacLean in Portobello house

Great fun seeing the Featherz again

their front woman Danie is a blast to listen to, watch and photograph (I've photographed her twice so far and discovered it is impossible to come from a concert without some good photos of her)

Of course, the rest of the band should by no means be ignored. This is lovely Lucy (as Danie would call her) and she plays the bass 

 Aryanne plays the guitar

while Daz drums his soul away, thanking somebody up there.