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.

crazy fun punk weekend of little to no sleep

i will pick up sort of where i left off...

i saw hugh cornwell at the brighton bar on a saturday night. i was able to do this because i work saturdays during the day and had enough time to drive to long branch to make it for the show. afterwards, at something like 2 or 3 in the morning, i drove back home and slept for a few hours before getting up and planning my sunday out.

you see, the damned were doing their 35 year anniversary tour, and weren't coming to philly (for shame you guys. FOR SHAME.) so i had to see them somewhere else. i decided on washington, dc for several reasons.

a) it was on a sunday and i don't work on sundays, yaaaaay

b) my friend i've known since pre-school lives there now and had been trying to get me to come visit and she is really fun and awesome and down for anything. so when i suggested seeing the damned together, she was totally willing even though she had never heard of them. i sure do love her.

c) dc is relatively easy to get to by public transportation. especially when your friend lives there and knows all the buses and things and the best way to get there.

so after a drive to the train station and the train to the bus and the bus to dc, i was finally there. i'm not sure how many hours it took but it seemed like a lot. she met me where the bus let off and went to her place, where she had dropped off some really fucking delicious vegan food she picked up earlier from some place i wish i knew the name of.

she lives within walking distance of the black cat, which is where the show was. i'm a little jealous. dc seems like a pretty cool place, but as you will see, i was not there for very long. so we walk to the black cat and pick up our tickets and head in and it is PACKED. we manage to get up to somewhere in the middle of the room. the legendary shack shakers are opening. i had heard of them before but never listened to them, at least not that i could remember. but oooh did they win me over. they were so much fun. lots of energy, fun songs, and weird stage antics. i mean, this was kind of a long time ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy but i seem to remember him shoving the microphone in his mouth. i could be wrong. anyway, it was fun.

so the damned finally come out. being their 35 year anniversary (which is, let's face it, a long ass time), they were doing damned damned damned and the black album all the way through. that seems to be a thing that bands do these days; play through full albums from start to finish at their shows. i'm not complaining, but i do find it interesting. it takes a little bit of the fun out of it, since if you know the albums, you already know the set list. they blew me away regardless. so captain sensible comes out and says something about putting us in a time machine and taking us back to 1977. it was SO COOL to see damned damned damned all the way through. SO COOL. remember when i copped out and said that whole album counted as my number five favorite damned song? well. yeah. so you can see why i was so happy.

then they left for a brief intermission, captain saying "see you in 1980!"

so then it was time for the black album. my goodness. it was intense. and fun. and everything you want in a show. for a bunch of old dudes, they really don't show their age. 

after that part ended, they leave the stage again but, of course, come back for an encore. this is the fun part, because now what are they going to play? captain says they had a discussion backstage and are letting us, the crowd, choose the encore. he also says something about doing "copious amounts of drugs" whilst backstage. then "hahaha not really! we don't do that anymore. lemmy does though, if you can believe that." teehee. anyway, people start shouting things and i can't understand anything they're saying but we get to hear "love song," which captain introduces with "if you really listen to the lyrics, it's about trains. so, just for you, here's a train song." that made me smile so much. he's truly fabulous. and then it was "smash it up," naturally. i would love to hear them do "i think i'm wonderful" live sometime, but oh well. "smash it up" is a perfect end to the night. fuck i love that song. gah. 

remember how i said the place was packed? holy shit, people, it was so awesome. if you remember from the last time i had seen them in philly, it was hardly even half way full in there. it made me really, really happy to see so many people there for them after that last time. either people are smarter in dc and know good music when it comes around, or people are just coming out to see them because you never know when it will be the last time you get to see bands like these. sad, but true. 

after the show we walk back to my friend's place, look up my public transportation home, and go to sleep around midnight, only to wake up at 4am so i can catch a bus to another bus that will take me back to philly. at this point i am completely delirious but so happy about my 2 amazing nights in a row that i don't even care. my friend and i say goodbye and off i go on the bus that takes me to the greyhound bus that will take me back to the city of brotherly love (ha). i get off the bus in philly, run over to the train station and catch a train almost immediately that gets me to work on time. amazing. and then that night, i went out with my boss and our friend to maxwell's in hoboken, nj to see the crocodiles. 

did i mention how tired i was? 

the crocodiles get their own entry. because they're that good.

so the next time the damned tour you better get your ass out and see them, for fuck's sake. what are you waiting for?

the damned

last night was BRILLIANT. as an early birthday present, my sister took me to see the the damned. i love this band. love them. as i was watching them play, i couldn't help thinking about how legendary they are, and here they are, right in front of me. legends! wow. i have actually seen them once before, but it was on that tour that was them, and the dickies and the misfits, and it was a while ago...i remember being impressed then also, but for some reason last night i was just totally blown away. also, they really shouldn't call themselves the misfits anymore..."misfit" would be more appropriate, seeing as jerry only is the only member of the band. whatever. so the damned! they opened with "love song." hell yes. and they closed with "smash it up." FUCK YES. they couldn't have picked a more perfect song to close with. and they had to do "new rose" and "neat neat neat" of course. captain sensible looked smashing as always, with the white plastic sunglasses and red beret, and tight leopard skin pants. dave looked like a mad scientist. and monty looked like...well...monty. ha. it was a really great time, and unfortunately the place didn't look as packed as i would have imagined that it would. i couldn't believe more people weren't there, but what can you do. and can i just talk about how much i love dave's voice? it's so unique, and deep and smooth...i guess not typically what you would assume a punk rock singer's voice to sound like, but that's what i love so much about it i guess.

these are my personal top 5 damned songs, and sorry that i already sort of gave a few of them away...

1. smash it up - starts off with a cool, sort of dreamy intro, and then kicks into this freaking amazing song...ahhh...if you have never listened to the damned, this would be a great song to start with.
2. i think i'm wonderful - this song rocks, obviously, but the lyrics made me smile the first time i ever heard the song, and they still make me smile to this day. "some stupid opinions on the way that i am, they can look at me and i don't give a damn, damn, damn." it's the perfect FUCK YOU song to people who think you dress weird, or act weird, or whatever. basically, my theme song.
3. wait for the blackout - well...what can i say...i just really love this song.
4. love song - it's just that, a love song, but certainly not a typical one. you should just listen to it.
5. **TOTAL COP OUT WARNING** the entired DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED album. told you it was a cop out. but honestly, my number five would have to be one from this album, but how can you pick only one? honestly the whole things kicks so much ass from beginning to end. i mean, i love new rose, but who doesn't? i also love born to kill, and so messed up, and see her tonite, and stab your back...you get my point, right? this was the first damned album i owned and it's hard to move past it because it's just so good. i wish i could have heard it when it first came out though, when there was nothing else that sounded anything like it...can you imagine hearing that in 1977? i feel like i missed out! there was so much great stuff happening in the 70s. oh well.

anyway, in case you haven't got the point yet - the damned are amazing! go see them if you ever get the chance, you won't regret it.