Truth Like The Dark

A mailing list friend of mine (thanks Daniel) tells me he’s got a friend on his own in London. Turns out it’s an even older friend of mine, one Lester Nuby. Les is formerly of Verbena, and he was playing substitute drummer for Idlewild, who were opening for REM in Hyde Park. Had a great time hanging with Les, and he got me and a friend into the Golden Circle for the show. Jonathan Rice, Idlewild, and REM were awesome (Feeder was there but negligible).

I’ve seen REM half a dozen times, and I even have some brush-with-Stipe stories. So it was like I saw two old friends. And the show was a great unifying event for the new city I’m calling home.

What a way to start my time here. Thanks again, Les.

Photo feed here.

When I moved to Bristol, UK, years ago, I was perplexed by the style of greeting. A friendly stranger passing you on the street would look your way and say “Alright?”

To the American ear, this is almost hostile: “Alright? Well then, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

But after awhile, my ears re-tuned, to hear it as it is meant: “Doin’ Alright?” Though I’m still not sure what the right response is. I usually use the Southern “Hey!” Which in turn sounds hostile to the British ear: “Hey! I’m gonna have you!” Oh well.

Now that I’m living in Camden, I’m having to adjust to a whole new form of street stranger greeting.

It seems the custom here is to quietly say “Skunk?” as a new person passes by.

I just smile and say “Hey!”

The Basement Gallery

Originally uploaded by re6smith.

I was walking through Southville (a part of Bristol, where I live) with my friend Ben Cole (pictured above), and a woman beckoned us into her basement. Before I could think that Bristol becomes more like Amsterdam everyday, we were donning miner’s helmets, entering a darkened underground room, and viewing pen-and-ink drawings by Tisa von der Schulenberg.

I don’t read German, but it seems that Countess von der Schulenberg was a nun that documented the lives of miners, and WWII, in her drawings.

And she was a friend of this woman in Southville.

The Basement Gallery is definately worth looking into if you find yourself nearby.

Tired fools has revealed my voracious appetite for the finest of British Cuisine:

Grafitti

Originally uploaded by apreussler.

My friend and colleague Annabell Preussler took a few great photos while we were in Slovenia. This classic is better if you’ve been to lovely Maribor, where the slogan was scrawled.

For more fine photos of Maribor (and of many other things), see Annabell’s complete collection.

Andrew (whose pictures are included in the link below) has recently evolved from being my long-time friend to being my current hero. (Don’t get a big head Andrew, I’ll probably have a new hero by lunchtime). But this guy struggled through some rough crap in his life, then settled down and worked really hard at a job he didn’t adore. But he saved up, and now he’s having many months on a South American adventure. He’s working while there to make it happen, as well. But the cool part is that he’s learned to climb mountains, dive the ocean, and he got to see the Galapagos.

Yahoo! Photos - andrewna1’s Photos - Imagen 9 011

On a more general note, isn’t it strange the The Galapagos plays such a quasi-spiritual role for so many of us? It’s sort of the Darwinian Mecca. Perhaps someday I’ll be able to make the haj. In the mean time, Andrew’s pictures are great.