so: england! i will spare you the personal details because i went with my boyfriend at the time (chris); we are no longer together because we basically made each other miserable and i'm pretty sure it started on this trip. it was so bad, i very nearly had a nervous breakdown the one night we were there. so, i decided to go to england for a 3 day punk festival in bath and had already gotten my passport in order and purchased a plane ticket, etc. chris didn't want me to go alone, which i was planning on doing, so he got all his shit together and that was that.
the festival was called the last jubilee, set to go off on the queen's jubilee weekend. huzzah. i found out the day i was leaving that the festival was cancelled.
WHAT. I JUST SPENT HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON A FUCKING PASS AND A PLANE TICKET AND YOU CANCELLED THE FUCKING FESTIVAL.
here are the names i was most excited about from the lineup, so you can see why i was so upset:
BUZZCOCKS
HUGH CORNWELL
THE SELECTER
CHELSEA
GLEN MATLOCK
THE DAMNED
U.K. SUBS
THE VIBRATORS
TV SMITH
EDDIE & THE HOT RODS
THE REZILLOS
999
ALTERNATIVE TV
JOHN COOPER CLARKE
and that's not even the whole lineup. so yeah. we decided to go anyway and i looked up all of those bands and tried to find some other shows they would be playing in the few days we would be there so we could maybe see a fraction of the festival.
i don't really hate flying; in fact, i think taking off and landing is kind of fun. the idea of being over an ocean for like 7 hours freaks me out a little bit, but what are you going to do? that being said, OH MY GOD. have you ever been in a plane for that long? it sucks. i mean, it's pretty magical that i can get on a plane in newark, nj and get off the same plane in london. but those seats are the most uncomfortable pieces of shit and it was absolutely impossible to sleep, so by the time we got there i was delirious.
skip ahead to the fun stuff: the first day we didn't do anything except wander aimlessly, find a hotel room, and get into our first fight. then i slept for about 10 hours. it was delightful. the next day i checked my list of bands and performers from the festival. john cooper clarke was going to be performing at a library at some kind of literary festival in stoke newington. only problem? we couldn't figure out where the fuck stoke newington was. but we ended up there somehow only to find out that it was sold out. lovely. we went inside and talked to the woman taking tickets and she said someone might sell their tickets back, and in that case, we were welcome to buy them and see the show. i left my cell number with her and left feeling pretty deflated. we wandered down the street and found a record store which cheered me up a bit, especially when the guy working there put on some elvis costello. i bought magazine - real life; killing joke - killing joke; and jesus & mary chain - automatic. when i was checking out, the guy at the register told me that the magazine record was one of his all time favorite records. anyway, so i left feeling like that trip to stoke newington wasn't a total bust. we walked back towards the venue and chris insisted on asking one more time. he went up to a different girl and asked if there were any tickets available. you know what she said? she said yes.
SHE SAID YES.
someone had just returned 2 tickets. we ran inside to the ticket lady who shouted "i was just about to call you!" we paid for the tickets and got a seat up in the balcony. another guy was talking first and reading selections from his autobiography; simon day was his name. i enjoyed his stories as well.
oh wait. do you know who john cooper clarke is? most people don't (unless you're british), and i think that is a shame. he's a punk rock poet!
watch/listen to this; this is the very first john cooper clarke i was introduced to (this track was on a punk compilation cd i bought when i was in england the first time; full circle, eh?)
then watch this. this is what it's like when he is accompanied by music.
then this, probably his most well-known poem.
then this because holy shit you guys, how awesome is this man?
so, we're sitting in the balcony, and it really hit me: i am in england and i am about to witness a performance by the one and only jcc...i felt a little woozy. he doesn't ever come to the states, so i felt really lucky to be there. the festival was cancelled, but i still get to see this guy!
he was just as fabulous as i hoped he would be. he was really silly and so adorable, with his teeny tiny pants and huge hair and sunglasses. it was everything i hoped it would be. he didn't do "kung fu international" which was a little upsetting, because like i said before, that was the first thing of his i was ever introduced to. and he didn't do "i married a monster from outer space," which is also kind of a bummer. but of course he did "evidently chickentown" and he did "hire car" and he did one that was new, about hawaiian shirts, or "tiki shirts." it was hilarious, and every time i see someone in one of those shirts i want to shout "NEVER BRIGHTEN MY DOOR AGAIN!" but then everyone would just think i'm crazy. i still giggle to myself when i think about that show. we were really lucky to get in to see him and i will never forget that night.
i'll continue this in another post because this one is already way too long.
here is my sad and shitty picture from the literary festival; i only took one picture because it was dark and i didn't want to annoy everyone by taking a million pictures, but i didn't really look as i was taking it and so the camera auto-focused on the railing which is why john is just a blurry little stick man. but you can totally tell that it's him.
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