MEN ARE FROM MARS BUT WE'RE ALL IN SPACE NOW
I came out last week. On MySpace I mean. Having cowered behind a shark for several months, I took the plunge at midnight one evening and revealed my face on cyberspace. I woke the next morning to a record 5 comments in my inbox ranging from 'beautiful' to....well never mind the range, that's the comment I kept re-reading, and a record 10 'friend requests' in the overNightSpace of a mere 7 hours, from male musicians in NY. Ah ha - so that's how one kickstarts a music career in this City!
What I failed to mention is that said photo is approximately 10 years old, and when I read the comments more closely I realised that my London friends were a little sceptical of my sudden youthful appearance ('have you had a facial?' and 'since when were you a Bond girl?'). So I then went into the sort of panic where you stand in front of the bathroom mirror for an hour contemplating doing things that you've never considered doing before, like plucking your eyebrows, putting green mud on your face and giving up alcohol. (I said contemplating....) Spookily, in the midst of this crisis, I received a phone message from Monique, who messed with my face uninvited in February, offering her services, like she was directly tapped into, or logged on to my facial misrepresentation dilemma....
So armed (or rather faced) with my new public profile, I embarked on a whirlwind social calendar few days. The wonderful Anita was in town, so a couple of extremely fun girlie evenings were had with her fantastic mate Diana and my NY soulmate Daniela (the 'Space Girls'). Aware of the fact, as we sat around various dinner and bar tables, that the four of us were subconsciously falling into 'Sex and the City' roles. I won't embarrass you with the topics of conversation (like we did all nearby tables), but OurSpace was growing around us and I spent a fair amount of time with mouth open in amazement in 'Charlotte' mode. Although unfortunately even a 10 yr old pic doesn't quite cast me as Charlotte visually......
Imagine my relief then when even after the sort of hot weather on Saturday which immediately turns my hopelessly intolerant British complexion into a blotch fest, and several (ahem) g&t's, not one, but TWO complete strangers at the gig I was at, RECOGNISED me from the MySpace photo. Result!
It was the Heernt debut album launch gig and it was so good to see them playing again - it's been way too long. Also finally got to meet the awesomely talented singer/songwriter Jeff Taylor, who I've been corresponding with on and off over the last few months. He played a beautiful support set. An excellent evening - Heernt are, as I've said before, my absolute favourite NY band of the moment, well since I've been living here in truth, so I came away with an armful of everything Heernt - CD's, DVD's, stickers, beer holders (?). I've said it before and I'll say it again - Heernt - you heard it here first.
Still riding on the Heerntergy of the previous night, and in an effort to keep the TH from working over the weekend, I persuaded him that Sunday's Bang On a Can Marathon at the WFC was an event we couldn't possibly miss. 24 events back to back (roughly 21 different groups) over 12 hours! Haha. I wondered if he'd last, (I wondered if I'd last to be honest), but you can always depend on blokes to fall into competitive mode on such occasions, and I sensed it was becoming a team sport to him - he wasn't about to leave the pitch half way through the game, however much he was hating it. And believe me, by the time William Parker came on, he was pretty much definitely hating it. By about 8pm there were still 7 bands to go and I had definitely developed arthritis, but was otherwise okay. I'd also had a sneaky couple of painkillers at 6pm, but wasn't about to admit this to the TH.
Then I went outside for some air, and got CHATTED UP! I mean properly. I can't remember the last time that happened.....but it wasn't in the US. Admittedly everyone was behaving a little oddly after 9 hours of 'new' music, but even so, I prefer to think that I'm actually metamorphosing into my MySpace photo......
At 10pm the TH said 'now I know what it must be like giving birth!'. Errrrr? I think what was actually happening was that he now knew what it was like to be without an alcoholic drink for 14 waking hours. Personally I've never given birth, but despite his sportsmanship, I still felt justified in pointing out that 11 hours would be considered a miraculously short birth, and in pregnancy the 20 painful alcohol-free hours he had just experienced would have been preceded by 9 alcohol-free months.
We made it to the end. But more miraculously the technicians and crew at the WFC made it to the end. Never before in my life in the arts have I witnessed such incredibly fast and slick changeovers coupled with such excellent sound over so many consecutive and technically complicated performances.
Only in NY can you go to a gig like that and be home in a cab in 7 minutes. The TH paid....
What I failed to mention is that said photo is approximately 10 years old, and when I read the comments more closely I realised that my London friends were a little sceptical of my sudden youthful appearance ('have you had a facial?' and 'since when were you a Bond girl?'). So I then went into the sort of panic where you stand in front of the bathroom mirror for an hour contemplating doing things that you've never considered doing before, like plucking your eyebrows, putting green mud on your face and giving up alcohol. (I said contemplating....) Spookily, in the midst of this crisis, I received a phone message from Monique, who messed with my face uninvited in February, offering her services, like she was directly tapped into, or logged on to my facial misrepresentation dilemma....
So armed (or rather faced) with my new public profile, I embarked on a whirlwind social calendar few days. The wonderful Anita was in town, so a couple of extremely fun girlie evenings were had with her fantastic mate Diana and my NY soulmate Daniela (the 'Space Girls'). Aware of the fact, as we sat around various dinner and bar tables, that the four of us were subconsciously falling into 'Sex and the City' roles. I won't embarrass you with the topics of conversation (like we did all nearby tables), but OurSpace was growing around us and I spent a fair amount of time with mouth open in amazement in 'Charlotte' mode. Although unfortunately even a 10 yr old pic doesn't quite cast me as Charlotte visually......
Imagine my relief then when even after the sort of hot weather on Saturday which immediately turns my hopelessly intolerant British complexion into a blotch fest, and several (ahem) g&t's, not one, but TWO complete strangers at the gig I was at, RECOGNISED me from the MySpace photo. Result!
It was the Heernt debut album launch gig and it was so good to see them playing again - it's been way too long. Also finally got to meet the awesomely talented singer/songwriter Jeff Taylor, who I've been corresponding with on and off over the last few months. He played a beautiful support set. An excellent evening - Heernt are, as I've said before, my absolute favourite NY band of the moment, well since I've been living here in truth, so I came away with an armful of everything Heernt - CD's, DVD's, stickers, beer holders (?). I've said it before and I'll say it again - Heernt - you heard it here first.
Still riding on the Heerntergy of the previous night, and in an effort to keep the TH from working over the weekend, I persuaded him that Sunday's Bang On a Can Marathon at the WFC was an event we couldn't possibly miss. 24 events back to back (roughly 21 different groups) over 12 hours! Haha. I wondered if he'd last, (I wondered if I'd last to be honest), but you can always depend on blokes to fall into competitive mode on such occasions, and I sensed it was becoming a team sport to him - he wasn't about to leave the pitch half way through the game, however much he was hating it. And believe me, by the time William Parker came on, he was pretty much definitely hating it. By about 8pm there were still 7 bands to go and I had definitely developed arthritis, but was otherwise okay. I'd also had a sneaky couple of painkillers at 6pm, but wasn't about to admit this to the TH.
Then I went outside for some air, and got CHATTED UP! I mean properly. I can't remember the last time that happened.....but it wasn't in the US. Admittedly everyone was behaving a little oddly after 9 hours of 'new' music, but even so, I prefer to think that I'm actually metamorphosing into my MySpace photo......
At 10pm the TH said 'now I know what it must be like giving birth!'. Errrrr? I think what was actually happening was that he now knew what it was like to be without an alcoholic drink for 14 waking hours. Personally I've never given birth, but despite his sportsmanship, I still felt justified in pointing out that 11 hours would be considered a miraculously short birth, and in pregnancy the 20 painful alcohol-free hours he had just experienced would have been preceded by 9 alcohol-free months.
We made it to the end. But more miraculously the technicians and crew at the WFC made it to the end. Never before in my life in the arts have I witnessed such incredibly fast and slick changeovers coupled with such excellent sound over so many consecutive and technically complicated performances.
Only in NY can you go to a gig like that and be home in a cab in 7 minutes. The TH paid....
posted by jazzshark at 10:53 AM
1 Comments:
Fabulous writing Bond girl! x
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