(no not a castle in Dublin)
Last week I went to see Royksopp and Fever Ray at London's Southbank Centre. The show was huge, and it was at a huge venue. This week I had my mind set on hitting up a pub show, so I started searching online.
Unless you know where to look, it's hard to find small shows. Even in Seattle, unless you know the name of the venue or bar, it's really hard to find the smaller gigs. Here you can't just google "pub shows on April 17th London." Nothing really turns up. What does turn up is a list of the big shows going on in London, the ones that have publicists who actively post the shows. What I'm trying to say is that it took me a little while to find a smaller venue. I finally found a place called The Dublin Castle. It's in an interesting area of London called Camden Town. If you've ever been to London, I'm sure you're familiar with it. It's an area rich with bars and interesting but strange punk kids and shops. An eclectic scene to say the least.
I did some research on the bands playing and I decided on The Dublin Castle because of a band called The Kull. First off the guy plays the same guitar as I do, Epiphone Sheraton II. Also I checked out one of their videos and it was very stereophonic meets the cure, in a way. The guy had a great voice live. I wouldn't buy their CD based on what I heard but it was a good show. Here is the video.
The Kull, 18 x Again
There were 4 bands in all but the only other notable one in my opinion was a band from Scotland called The Lost Generation. The lead singer had an amazing voice and was also an amazing guitarist. They reminded me a lot of the Eagles of Death Metal. After they got off stage I talked to the lead singer for awhile and he told me that he really likes the guys from Eagles of Death Metal and they've hung out a couple of times. Anyway it was a fun night, I didn't take any pics inside but here's a pic of the outside of the pub.
- The Imperial War Museum -
My Contemporary Britain class went to the Imperial War Museum this week. It was really an eye opening experience. It was just so interesting to see the effects of the war from a perspective different from ours in America. The Holocaust especially had a different impact on Britain than America. You weren't allowed to take any pictures in the Holocaust exhibit but I snapped a few of WWI and WWII sections.
Imperial War Museum
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Section of the Berlin Wall.
They had a little thing you could walk into that was supposed to simulate a real trench.. It smelled so awful in there.
Map. If you want you should be able to click on these pics and zoom in on them. They had these maps all over to show the allies and the enemy during different times of the wars. They were helpful.
They had this computer that you could look for people who died in WWI and WWII. There were 2,969 Harrison's who died in WWI and WWII.
- Stonehenge, Stourhead, Avebury -
We went on a little field trip on Thurs.
Erin hangin in the coach.
Sleepy time.
Stonehenge! Because I don't feel like explaining word for word everything my teacher told us about Stonehenge, I will copy and paste what Wikipedia says about it.
One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and sits at the centre of the densest complex of NeolithicBronzeAge monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds. Archaelogists had believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, as described in the chronology below. However one recent theory has suggested that the first stones were not erected until 2400-2200 BC, whilst another suggests that bluestones may have been erected at the site as early as 3000 BC (see phase 1 below). The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.
Our teacher did say that they aren't exactly sure what Stonehenge was used for. They think it might have been a doctor's clinic or a place where they did amputations, because archaeologists dug up a lot of skeletons without limbs in the interior of the stones. The stones were placed so that the midsummer sun would come through them and also so that the winter sun would.
Drew and Colleen at Stonehenge.
In the far distance you can see that the grass has little lumps in it. These are burial mounds. They form a circle all around stonehenge.
- Stourhead -
This is Stourhead Estate. Stourhead Estate was built under the direction of the new owner, Henry Hoare I. The Estate is part of the Stourhead gardens, now all owned by the National Trust.
Stourhead is interesting because all of the gardens used to be completely flat and undeveloped. Hoare wanted a huge beautiful garden that looked "natural." So he tore up the ground and creating flowing hills. He put in trees and shrub from all over the world. He built streams, a cottage, and monuments to add to the natural feel. Stourhead is a completely manufactured garden. Everything you see in these pictures was planned and planted, which is kind of insane because it's gorgeous and seems like it's just been there since the dawn of time. lol.
Flowing hills, all manufactured. Notice the monument in the distance meant to catch your eye. In all directions there are these monuments.
They had a lot of little caves, some you could walk into and other like this one, would try to pull you in if you stuck little limbs in.
Adorable manufactured cottage.
If you've seen 2005's Pride and Predjuce then you've seen this.
Manufactured caves. This is the first time I've used my flash since I've been in London.
Church.
Cemetery.
- Avebury -
This is much like Stonehenge but not as famous. It too has the huge stones placed in specific order. It has the valley cut AROUND the stones. Here is a picture of the valley. It would have been very very deep, and cut out using antlers. How long do you think it took? Geez. It's interesting to note, and you can see from the picture above, that unlike Stonehenge, the people that put the stones up in Avebury dug triangular pieces out of the ground and THEN stuck the stone in. Stonehenge wasn't like that. Stonehenge the stones were placed above ground, not dug in. You can see how the grass is forming around the stone above.
The white you see along the path here is what the valleys used to look like. The ancient peoples would take the antlers and scrape the sides of the valleys until they sparkled white. Then they would sacrifice a virgin so that they could grow more crops.
Rapeseed, also known as canola oil. the yellow in the distance.
Ancient church. Has windows that date back to the Norman Conquest, 1066.
Inside the church.
- BRIGHTON -
Beach on the south coast of England.
Krista and Rio! We all went on a little weekend excursion to Brighton, it's only 45 min by train from London.
The view from our hotel.
Royal Pavilion, built in the 19th century.
They had little shops all up and down the beach. They sold little knickers and pouches lol! wtf?
Krista and I went here for a cold cider. We sat in the sun and listened to some music.
Krista!
Cheers!
Another week, come and gone! I'm already excited to tell about THIS week because last night I went to see PJ Harvey, and it was amazing! BUT, I can't spill it yet, I have to wait until the weekend, or maybe I'll post early this week since I leave on Sat for Stockholm. We'll see. This week I have a relatively relaxed week so I might be able to get it posted before I leave for Stockholm.
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