england, part 2: tv smith (also captain sensible, sort of)

so there was that time that i got to see john cooper clarke and i was a giddy little girl about it. except getting back to the hotel was a total pain in the ass since we didn't know where we were. oh well.

so...er...the next day, people were flooding into london for the jubilee. we're not british, and i had no interest in sitting by the river for hours in the cold rain watching a thousand boats go by, so we decided to go to brighton. why brighton? well, chris loves the damned, possibly more than i do if you can believe it, and said "captain sensible lives in brighton; let's go there." so we did.

the weather was so shitty in london. i know that raining is typical but seriously. it sucked. we got to brighton and i think i heard angels singing. it was way warmer and the sun was shining. i follow the captain on twitter so i tweeted to him:

i didn't really expect a response from him, plus my phone was all wonky, probably because of being in another country, so i wasn't getting updates on it like i normally do. but when i did get to check back on twitter, i was pleasantly surprised:

how freaking cool is that? we were tempted to stay until the next week just to be guests of the captain at a damned show.

anyway, nothing happening in brighton, just nice weather and beachy things and the freaky hotel we stayed at that had mirrors EVERYWHERE (yes...even above the bed). we could hear the neighbors fucking. several times. i swear i would not have stayed there if i knew i would have to stare at myself everywhere i turned and listen to those awkward smacking and grunting noises, but it was the only place with a vacancy. anyway, we walked around a lot and then the next day we got on the train back to london. then got on another train to ipswich to see tv smith perform at the steamboat tavern that night.

so...if you don't know who tv smith is, he was the lead singer in the band the adverts. listen to this song and then listen to this song. and then watch this, which might be my favorite song by him (besides his xmas song) and it gives you a good idea what his live act is like. and then you should listen to everything else of his.

anyway- i'm cutting out a lot of boring things like wandering around looking for a hotel and all the fighting. so much fighting. so, we finally find a hotel and it is within walking distance of the steamboat, we find someplace to eat finally, and head out to the show. i don't want to shit talk but i was having a terrible time; part of that was due to hormones and my stupid brain but mostly it was chris. after we got to the tavern, i had to go outside to be alone for a while, where i sat on the ground behind the steamboat and just cried because i didn't know what else to do. when i came back in, chris was mad at me, so he then decided to go outside and leave me alone in there. so tv smith was just hanging out and talking to people, you know how it is in small places like that. but i was just staring at him, wondering when i would be able to talk to him; i hope you guys have noticed by now that i become a complete idiot in front of people i like. anyway, so some guy saw me and recognized me as the girl who was there with chris and pointed me out to tv, saying "she came all the way from new jersey!" (false; chris is from jersey and this guy just assumed i was too. oh well) and tv looks at me and says "oh...so that's what they look like!" i think i probably laughed? he sat down next to me (!!!) so i put aside my troubles and talked to him. i told him about how we came for the festival and he said he was very upset about it getting cancelled, too. he listened to what i was saying and talked to me like i was important, and he was really one of the most genuine people i've ever met. while we were talking, chris came back and immediately came over and interrupted my conversation, and that was that. 

alright. so, we were fighting, i kept trying not to cry, and finally i had enough and decided to give myself a little pep talk in the ladies room. "this is a once in a lifetime chance! you are in england and you are about to see tv smith perform. it's ok if chris sucks. just pretend to like him for the rest of the night. just act happy. you will be fine. everything is going to be fine." sometimes, that little voice in my head is right. i started smiling and talking to the 2 guys chris was now talking to. i don't remember their names; one of them may have been named spud. we talked about all kinds of stuff, and they were talking about the jubilee and spud kept calling the queen a bitch, and he bought me a pint of whatever he was drinking. another guy, phil, who is also a vegan, told me and chris that val at the steamboat was making her vegan chili so we would all have something to eat. i already felt more at home there than at any bar i've ever been to in the u.s.

there were a bunch of opening bands that were kind of just whatever. and eventually, tv came out and played for a long time and it was a teeny tiny little place so i could see him clearly and hear everything and it was just wonderful. he did his punk rock poem, and he did some adverts songs, and it was so fucking cool. 

after the show, i grabbed one of the flyers from the wall and went over and bought a cd and a tshirt and asked him to sign the flyer, which he did. he was very nice, as he was before, and it really made me happy. 

we stood around and talked more to the people at the show; it was a ton of older punks and i felt a) really young and b) like i was really missing out by not living there. then i saw some people taking their picture with tv and i wandered over and asked phil to take a picture of us together. he said sure, and tv put his arm around me and i mustered up the last smile i had in me; if i hadn't been so emotionally drained, that smile would have taken up my entire face.

he apologized again about the festival, and let me pick out another cd of his - for free. because that is the kind of guy that tv smith is.

all bullshit aside, this is definitely in my top ten best nights of my life.