So whats been going on? Heres a brief update of whats occurred since January (and I really can’t believe its October already – where did that year go?)
I got back from San Francisco and my big trip on Jan 4th 2012, slap bang in the middle of winter, and promptly did nothing till June, save a few bits and pieces. I should have maybe taken the time to do another (slightly smaller) trip – but I thought I’d be sensible and didn’t. Instead, I had a few weekends away to London – to see Bouncing Souls, Dropkick Murphys, Mastodon, A Place To Bury Strangers, see friends and generally behave like a drunken bum – a trip to Sheffield in May to see Lisa and Ginny (and see Alkaline Trio), and a couple of trips to Amsterdam with mates to see Cock Sparrer and The Bouncing Souls, of which both trips were a blast.
Although I generally did nothing while I was at my parents (and looking for college courses to do in my downtime was a miserable failure), I did get started with a new band, based in Brighton. I played a shit-lot of Skyrim, and what days the sun came out, I went to the beach. I also tentatively started running again.
However, this is nothing to do with moving forward in life.
As of June, I started working back at Legal And General as a contractor, doing 3 days a week at the Hove office. And I quite like it. I lived with friends in Hove a couple of days a week while I was working, and got to like that too. I’ve always loved Brighton, and have always thought about moving here, but am so lazy, I never wanted to deal with the hassle. I didn’t know Hove that well, but found I really liked living here too. It’s a pretty great place.
So as of the middle of September, I’m now living in my own flat in Hove, 5 minutes from the beach, 10 minutes walk from work, living in a town that I’ve always enjoyed visiting and is somewhere that I’ve wanted to live for a while. I’ve also got a new band that after 8 months of work, is finally nearing the stage where we’ll be getting music online and playing live soon. And I can run 7k in 40 minutes.
So things have moved forwards in the last 18 months, albeit slightly. I definitely feel like I’m in a better place that I was back at the start of 2011. I need to keep chipping away at life before I get to March 2013 – cos that’s when all the contracts finish!
Not sure I like deadlines…..
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Better Late Than Never - A Year On, Part 1
Figured it was time to kickstart this blog again. Stuffs been happening this year - albeit very slowly - and i'm pleased to say things are moving on. However, thats gonna be part 2. I feel this hastily written blog is far more apt, considering almost a year ago, i was starting my Round-The-World trip - first stop being Amsterdam and Vienna with The Bouncing Souls.
So bizarrely enough (and i didn't even think about this until it was happening), this week I ended up in The Netherlands to see The Souls twice again, a year and two weeks after the last time i saw them.
Flew out to Amsterdam, checked in at my groovy hotel, then trained it an hour and half away to Eindhoven, a place i've never been before. I can't say Eindhoven was particularly amazing - however, the venue was right next to the station, in a pedestrianised area that inculded loads of bars and restaurants. Great, i haven't really got to go that far to find places to hang out.
De Effenaar was an awesome place. Not dissimilar to Melkweg, it was a huge grey building with mad pipes and crap hanging off it. Two venues inside and a wicked little bar/restaurant. Hung out in the bar and charged the iphone, had a few beers and chatted to the nice punky barlady that kept serving me. There was a massive book on the bar - unfortunately all in Dutch - full of photos. Turned out it was a history of the club - its been there since the early 70s, and everyone has played there - the Damned, Ramones, Fugazi, Jesus Lizard, Pixies, Shellac, QOTSA etc etc etc. Was impressed.
The gig itself was ace. The venue was small, intimate (about 300 capacity) with brilliant sound and more friendly bar staff. Support for the Souls on this tour are a band called Downtown Struts from Chicago. I must say i was impressed, and they have a fan in me. They kinda reminded me of The Briggs (but less Piratey) or Street Dogs (without the Oi-ness), and cranked out tune after tune. Was cool to see The Souls bring another great band out with them, as a few of their supports haven't been the best in recent years - i can't remember who played in Vienna (that nondescript, although i know Pacer played a few times - nuff said), and Black Presidents on their last big tour were pretty tedious too. I guess Downtown Struts would be the best thing since they dragged The Draft in tour in 2007. Anyway, i got an album, and would enjoy them again the following night.Bumped into Pete (Souls guitarist) and Kate (manager) at some point, and drinking was arranged for the following night.
The Souls set was wicked, once again playing a full on consistent set of old and new stuff. As well as playing 8 tracks off the new album, we got Argyle, Cracked, Lifetime, Kid - songs you don't hear that often. However, the barely played anything off Gold Record, and nothing off Ghosts On The Boardwalk, which was a bit of a shame. Regardless, i had a great time down the front, shouting along with a couple of Beardies and their girlfriends that i'd met earlier.
Had to catch the last train, so missed the last few songs and caught my train back to Amsterdam with no problems.
Next day I was seeing The Souls at Melkweg, on of my fave venues. Spent the day as I usually do, drinking by the canals (mainly at a pub called In De Wildeman), then had a long walk down to a tattoo shop i wanted to check out (check Salon Serpent, such an awesome shop).
Bumped into Bryan and Pete from the band just before showtime and sorted arrangements for beertime afterwards, then headed into the venue.
The gig was in the small room (where i'd seen Magnapop a few years previous), and i'm pretty sure there were less people there than the previous night. Not to say the crowd were any less receptive, but it was nice to have room to move around.
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As for Melkweg, well, its another incredible european venue. The sound is brilliant, you can see the band, the bouncers aren't arseholes, the barstaff/venue staff are friendly, and noone throws you out as soon as the gig has ended. The few Euro venues i've been to are all like this (De Effenaar from last night, Paradiso, Winstom Kingdom, Vienna Arena) and shows it isn't THAT difficult to do. I prefer Euro gigs over UK gigs everytime.
Met up with the band after the gig (as well as some random german punky types i'd met earlier in Leidseplien, who wanted to take me drinking after the show), and headed over to Dan Murphys on the corner of Leidseplien for a quiet drink. The usual core of Bryan, Pete and Kate were in attendance, along with Michael the drummer, Dave Hause and three of the Downtown Struts, as well as bunch of other friends of the band. Spent most of the time chatting to Zack and Ryan from the Struts (talking Chicago, San Francisco and DIY punk), had a bit of a fan boy chat with Dave Hause and talked Keith Moon with Michael.
Got turfed out of Dan Murphys pretty early, so headed over to The Cave, a late night metal club off Leidseplien. We were the only ones there, and was a bit of a riot. And as things got steadily more insane, i decided that it was time to leave them all to it. Said goodbye to Bryan and Kate (and left with some very good news indeed), and walked out into the rain. I was back at the hotel at 3am.
I've now seen The Souls 33 times, and they are now top of my "how many times i've seen a band" list. I really enjoyed this trip, even though there was a lot of running around, late nights and hangovers. Was ace getting to see The Souls play again (with the added bonus of great supports), and also spending time in one of my fave cites, almost a year ago to the day that i started my trip.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
MY TRIP - THE AFTERMATH!
I’ve been back home now for just under a month. I still don’t know what I want
to do with my life, but that’s something for another time – I need to start
sorting stuff out soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a look back over
the last four months (and more), and pick it all apart.
First of all – it was a bloody amazing holiday. However, I had no epiphany
moments, no game changing discoveries about myself, no “sitting on the side of
a mountain and coming to some great realisation about life, the universe and
everything”. I kinda figured that wouldn’t happen. I think the only thing that I
really came away knowing was that I really missed playing music, and it’s the
one thing I truly love doing, whether it’s playing in a band or seeing bands.
So I just got on with having the best time I could, and apart from a couple of
minor back-packing niggles, for the most part I achieved it. I saw some
gobsmacking places, went to some of my favourites cities (more than once), did
a few vaguely mad things (mad for me anyway), and spent over six months in
bright sunshine and hot weather. I got to hang out with some good friends (some
of which I hadn’t seen for years), and made a few new ones. Oh, and I got a few
new tattoos, courtesy of my friend, the very brilliant and talented Mary Joy Scott.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
My European start of the trip was pretty amusing:
- Gay Pride in Amsterdam!
- hanging out with The Bouncing Souls in Vienna, and getting onstage with them
- me and Jackie doing one day of sightseeing in Vienna with massive hangovers
- cutting my Amsterdam trip short to fly back to see The Bronx in Kingston, the
night the London riots broke out
America was brilliant from pretty much start to finish.
The only problem I have
with the place is at least 50% of the cab drivers are utter retards. It was a
pretty relentless few weeks here (including Chicago in May, and San Francisco
at New Year), and we did a lot:
- getting to hang out with Tim, Tom, Kelly
and Alex on and off for over a month
- Tims awesome friends in Chicago who did so much for us while we were there –
CJ, Jim and Mel
- seeing Chixdiggit and Marked Men in Chicago, and getting to a Cubs game (and
watching them lose!)
- spending a lot of time with my SF friends for a change – Suzanne, Tom and
Mary (and Nikki!)
- getting back to SF for New Years for a manic week to see X, attend Suzannes
birthday and get a mega tattoo off Mary
- my best bud Lisa coming out to Las Vegas for a week, staying at Hooters,
shooting guns, and seeing the Grand Canyon and Valley Of Fire
- hanging out with my old Ship crew, Jon, Jeff and Nicole in LA. First time
seeing them for over 5 years, and didn’t seem like a day had passed since the
last time we saw each other. Was only a brief trip to LA, but the guys helped
me out a great deal with places to stay/keeping me amused, and was such a great
few days.
- Awesomefest in San Diego. I liked San Diego A LOT. I dunno if I’d ever go
back outside of Awesomefest happening, but as a first time trip and being a
tourist it was brilliant. Sunny, hot, great beers, great bars. LOTS OF MEXICAN
FOOD. Loved it.
- New York – for being awesome. Rockafella Centre, Staton Island Ferry, Manitobas,
and seeing Juliana Hatfield for the first time in 15 years at City Winery (and
puking in their very posh toilets!)
- going to see Bob Mould in SF, getting to meet him, and seeing him do the rock
thing AND the gay disco thing in the space of one night.
- The Academy Of Sciences in San Francisco
- The ridiculous SF pub crawls in SF that me and Suzanne did over the space of
a week
- Hooters – every one of them!
Then it was onto Fiji, which was 50% incredible:
- loved the Blue Lagoon
- swam with sharks, did a cave dive, two massive hill walks and lots of
snorkelling
- met lots of awesome people, including Will and Carole, a young groovy American
couple that kept me company for the whole trip in Fiji. Think they liked having
a drinking buddy – I certainly appreciated their presence the time I was there.
- hated Waya Lai Lai with its shit food, weird villagers and bed bugs
Australia gets broken down like this:
- hated Brisbane, which was full of arsehole backpackers.
- Fraser Island was indescribable. All I can say was it was like being on the
island in LOST. Had the best tour guide, and a good tour group. Had a brilliant
three days, the highlight being the third day where our group of three got
taken to some really random remote places away from the other tourists.
Awesome.
- Sydney. Was only here for three days, but should have been longer, as it took
me a few days to get my bearings. I think the best thing about Sydney was
discovering James Squires beers and getting drunk in The Rocks! The worst thing
was missing The Drones and Dropkick Murphys playing by two days!
- Featherdale Wildlife Parks kangaroos, wombats, kookaburras and koalas
- Perth was all kinds of amazing.
- getting to see all my old friends in Perth who I hadn’t seen for over 10
years (Ray, Shirley, Martine, Mark, Tarnya) and have them put me up for far
longer than they should have, getting to hang out with Kelly and Alex again,
and meeting some of their groovy tattooed punk rock friends.
- finally getting to see OFF! play, after missing them in every country/city I’d
been to in the last six months
- Kelly and Alex taking me to Rottnest Island, and doing an 18km bike ride to
the far west of the island
- Kelly and Alex taking me on an insane DIY beer tour into the Swan Valley to
try out some different breweries
- Mark driving me to the Pinnacles National Park and back again. Four hours
there and back, 20 minutes in the park! All we wanted to see was a very long
road and a Pinnacle that looked like a penis. Job done!
- Kellys mum driving us around Perth for a day, and getting to hand feed wild cockatoos!
- the ridiculous meaty BBQs put on by everyone throughout the holiday
- Fremantle, the Little Creatures Brewery and Bon Scotts statue
- the beer – James Squires One Fifty Lashes, Little Creatures Bright and Pale
Ales, and the Nails IPA only found at the Sail And Anchor in Fremantle
- drinking said awesome beers practically every day. Especially the day I sat outside
the Lucky Shag on the river, drinking pints of Golden Ale, eating a massive
steak, sitting in the sun listening to the cheesy cover band.
- Kings Park and the main city of Perth
- The Two Feet And A Heartbeat walking tour
- the wicked birdlife – my inner ornithologist came back with a vengeance
And the final stop, Singapore:
- the zoo
- my stupidly posh hotel
- Clarke Quay
- Hooters!
- more Little Creatures
The downsides break down into two sections – backpacking and my rucksack. And thats about it.
Backpacking really wasn’t for me. Apart from meeting relatively normal people
in Fiji and Fraser Island, I spent the rest of the time on my solo part of the
trip not meeting anyone. With Fiji and Fraser Island, it was as though everyone
was kinda thrown together – in Fiji, it was because everyone was following the
same route round the island. In Fraser Island, it was because you were stuck on
the same tour together. But everyone in those situations didn’t appear to be
rampant 18 year old boozehounds...unlike the ones I “met” in Brisbane, Byron
Bay and Sydney. Basically these were people I’ve actively been avoiding my
entire life in the UK, so Christ knows why I would want to hang out with these
people now. I also wasn’t spending time in the few hostels I stayed in hanging
out there – I had money to go out, eat a nice evening meal, have a few (good
few) beers. So by not hanging out in hostels, I wasn’t really meeting anyone. My
arrival in Brisbane (at 1am) put me off immediately – it was like a bad night
out in Croydon. Coupled with my prison like hostel, populated by the kind of 18
year olds that run riot on the last night of the Reading Festival, it changed
my mind on backpacking as soon as I got there. Byron Bay was another kettle of
fish altogether – if you aren’t a surfer, you may as well be invisible. That is until the drunk Bogans come out on a Friday and Saturday night. Then I wish I could have been invisible and ignored. I liked Byron Bay as a place, but the people
there left a lot to be desired. After this, I booked hotels and was quite happy
being on my own, and got on with enjoying myself. And bloody enjoy myself I did!!
As for that bloody rucksack – worst mistake I made! Serves me right for not
going with my initial preference. I found a side loading Berghaus rucksack,
with a detachable day pack, wheels and a handle which I thought was ideal.
However, looking at research online, no one had a good word to say about it. So
I ended up buying a normal top loading backpack (a Vango 60+10), which I hated
the moment I started trying to pack it. Forget the fact I never once needed to
use it as a rucksack – it spent the entire trip either in a plane hold, in a
cab boot, or on the floor of my hotel. I never once carried it for longer than 15
minutes! The thing that eventually got to me though – I met more than 5
different people who were all travelling with my original choice, the Berghaus!
So my point is – for anyone going on a big trip – work out if you will actually
need to use your backpack AS A BACKPACK! If you aren’t going trekking or
camping in the wilds or wandering around cities aimlessly trying to find
somewhere to stay, DON’T BOTHER. I wish I could have found some helpful advice on this before I went away – but every Backpacker site I found was incredibly biased towards taking a rucksack. I guess its fine if you are travelling all
round Asia. I however was basically on a mega extended city break – with a few
beaches thrown in as a change!
And thats it. Best idea I’ve had in years, and a pretty brilliant 6 months. I’m
so glad I sold the house, quit my job and did this, even though I haven’t got a
clue what to do next.
Maybe I’ll just do the trip again – but this time do it backwards, starting in
Singapore, and hitting Melbourne instead of Sydney. Hmmm, wheres that bank
statement....
to do with my life, but that’s something for another time – I need to start
sorting stuff out soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a look back over
the last four months (and more), and pick it all apart.
First of all – it was a bloody amazing holiday. However, I had no epiphany
moments, no game changing discoveries about myself, no “sitting on the side of
a mountain and coming to some great realisation about life, the universe and
everything”. I kinda figured that wouldn’t happen. I think the only thing that I
really came away knowing was that I really missed playing music, and it’s the
one thing I truly love doing, whether it’s playing in a band or seeing bands.
So I just got on with having the best time I could, and apart from a couple of
minor back-packing niggles, for the most part I achieved it. I saw some
gobsmacking places, went to some of my favourites cities (more than once), did
a few vaguely mad things (mad for me anyway), and spent over six months in
bright sunshine and hot weather. I got to hang out with some good friends (some
of which I hadn’t seen for years), and made a few new ones. Oh, and I got a few
new tattoos, courtesy of my friend, the very brilliant and talented Mary Joy Scott.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
My European start of the trip was pretty amusing:
- Gay Pride in Amsterdam!
- hanging out with The Bouncing Souls in Vienna, and getting onstage with them
- me and Jackie doing one day of sightseeing in Vienna with massive hangovers
- cutting my Amsterdam trip short to fly back to see The Bronx in Kingston, the
night the London riots broke out
America was brilliant from pretty much start to finish.
The only problem I have
with the place is at least 50% of the cab drivers are utter retards. It was a
pretty relentless few weeks here (including Chicago in May, and San Francisco
at New Year), and we did a lot:
- getting to hang out with Tim, Tom, Kelly
and Alex on and off for over a month
- Tims awesome friends in Chicago who did so much for us while we were there –
CJ, Jim and Mel
- seeing Chixdiggit and Marked Men in Chicago, and getting to a Cubs game (and
watching them lose!)
- spending a lot of time with my SF friends for a change – Suzanne, Tom and
Mary (and Nikki!)
- getting back to SF for New Years for a manic week to see X, attend Suzannes
birthday and get a mega tattoo off Mary
- my best bud Lisa coming out to Las Vegas for a week, staying at Hooters,
shooting guns, and seeing the Grand Canyon and Valley Of Fire
- hanging out with my old Ship crew, Jon, Jeff and Nicole in LA. First time
seeing them for over 5 years, and didn’t seem like a day had passed since the
last time we saw each other. Was only a brief trip to LA, but the guys helped
me out a great deal with places to stay/keeping me amused, and was such a great
few days.
- Awesomefest in San Diego. I liked San Diego A LOT. I dunno if I’d ever go
back outside of Awesomefest happening, but as a first time trip and being a
tourist it was brilliant. Sunny, hot, great beers, great bars. LOTS OF MEXICAN
FOOD. Loved it.
- New York – for being awesome. Rockafella Centre, Staton Island Ferry, Manitobas,
and seeing Juliana Hatfield for the first time in 15 years at City Winery (and
puking in their very posh toilets!)
- going to see Bob Mould in SF, getting to meet him, and seeing him do the rock
thing AND the gay disco thing in the space of one night.
- The Academy Of Sciences in San Francisco
- The ridiculous SF pub crawls in SF that me and Suzanne did over the space of
a week
- Hooters – every one of them!
Then it was onto Fiji, which was 50% incredible:
- loved the Blue Lagoon
- swam with sharks, did a cave dive, two massive hill walks and lots of
snorkelling
- met lots of awesome people, including Will and Carole, a young groovy American
couple that kept me company for the whole trip in Fiji. Think they liked having
a drinking buddy – I certainly appreciated their presence the time I was there.
- hated Waya Lai Lai with its shit food, weird villagers and bed bugs
Australia gets broken down like this:
- hated Brisbane, which was full of arsehole backpackers.
- Fraser Island was indescribable. All I can say was it was like being on the
island in LOST. Had the best tour guide, and a good tour group. Had a brilliant
three days, the highlight being the third day where our group of three got
taken to some really random remote places away from the other tourists.
Awesome.
- Sydney. Was only here for three days, but should have been longer, as it took
me a few days to get my bearings. I think the best thing about Sydney was
discovering James Squires beers and getting drunk in The Rocks! The worst thing
was missing The Drones and Dropkick Murphys playing by two days!
- Featherdale Wildlife Parks kangaroos, wombats, kookaburras and koalas
- Perth was all kinds of amazing.
- getting to see all my old friends in Perth who I hadn’t seen for over 10
years (Ray, Shirley, Martine, Mark, Tarnya) and have them put me up for far
longer than they should have, getting to hang out with Kelly and Alex again,
and meeting some of their groovy tattooed punk rock friends.
- finally getting to see OFF! play, after missing them in every country/city I’d
been to in the last six months
- Kelly and Alex taking me to Rottnest Island, and doing an 18km bike ride to
the far west of the island
- Kelly and Alex taking me on an insane DIY beer tour into the Swan Valley to
try out some different breweries
- Mark driving me to the Pinnacles National Park and back again. Four hours
there and back, 20 minutes in the park! All we wanted to see was a very long
road and a Pinnacle that looked like a penis. Job done!
- Kellys mum driving us around Perth for a day, and getting to hand feed wild cockatoos!
- the ridiculous meaty BBQs put on by everyone throughout the holiday
- Fremantle, the Little Creatures Brewery and Bon Scotts statue
- the beer – James Squires One Fifty Lashes, Little Creatures Bright and Pale
Ales, and the Nails IPA only found at the Sail And Anchor in Fremantle
- drinking said awesome beers practically every day. Especially the day I sat outside
the Lucky Shag on the river, drinking pints of Golden Ale, eating a massive
steak, sitting in the sun listening to the cheesy cover band.
- Kings Park and the main city of Perth
- The Two Feet And A Heartbeat walking tour
- the wicked birdlife – my inner ornithologist came back with a vengeance
And the final stop, Singapore:
- the zoo
- my stupidly posh hotel
- Clarke Quay
- Hooters!
- more Little Creatures
The downsides break down into two sections – backpacking and my rucksack. And thats about it.
Backpacking really wasn’t for me. Apart from meeting relatively normal people
in Fiji and Fraser Island, I spent the rest of the time on my solo part of the
trip not meeting anyone. With Fiji and Fraser Island, it was as though everyone
was kinda thrown together – in Fiji, it was because everyone was following the
same route round the island. In Fraser Island, it was because you were stuck on
the same tour together. But everyone in those situations didn’t appear to be
rampant 18 year old boozehounds...unlike the ones I “met” in Brisbane, Byron
Bay and Sydney. Basically these were people I’ve actively been avoiding my
entire life in the UK, so Christ knows why I would want to hang out with these
people now. I also wasn’t spending time in the few hostels I stayed in hanging
out there – I had money to go out, eat a nice evening meal, have a few (good
few) beers. So by not hanging out in hostels, I wasn’t really meeting anyone. My
arrival in Brisbane (at 1am) put me off immediately – it was like a bad night
out in Croydon. Coupled with my prison like hostel, populated by the kind of 18
year olds that run riot on the last night of the Reading Festival, it changed
my mind on backpacking as soon as I got there. Byron Bay was another kettle of
fish altogether – if you aren’t a surfer, you may as well be invisible. That is until the drunk Bogans come out on a Friday and Saturday night. Then I wish I could have been invisible and ignored. I liked Byron Bay as a place, but the people
there left a lot to be desired. After this, I booked hotels and was quite happy
being on my own, and got on with enjoying myself. And bloody enjoy myself I did!!
As for that bloody rucksack – worst mistake I made! Serves me right for not
going with my initial preference. I found a side loading Berghaus rucksack,
with a detachable day pack, wheels and a handle which I thought was ideal.
However, looking at research online, no one had a good word to say about it. So
I ended up buying a normal top loading backpack (a Vango 60+10), which I hated
the moment I started trying to pack it. Forget the fact I never once needed to
use it as a rucksack – it spent the entire trip either in a plane hold, in a
cab boot, or on the floor of my hotel. I never once carried it for longer than 15
minutes! The thing that eventually got to me though – I met more than 5
different people who were all travelling with my original choice, the Berghaus!
So my point is – for anyone going on a big trip – work out if you will actually
need to use your backpack AS A BACKPACK! If you aren’t going trekking or
camping in the wilds or wandering around cities aimlessly trying to find
somewhere to stay, DON’T BOTHER. I wish I could have found some helpful advice on this before I went away – but every Backpacker site I found was incredibly biased towards taking a rucksack. I guess its fine if you are travelling all
round Asia. I however was basically on a mega extended city break – with a few
beaches thrown in as a change!
And thats it. Best idea I’ve had in years, and a pretty brilliant 6 months. I’m
so glad I sold the house, quit my job and did this, even though I haven’t got a
clue what to do next.
Maybe I’ll just do the trip again – but this time do it backwards, starting in
Singapore, and hitting Melbourne instead of Sydney. Hmmm, wheres that bank
statement....
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
San Francisco Final Trip - days 107 - 114
SAN FRANCISCO 28th Dec – 4th Jan
When I was originally thinking about booking my trip, way back in Jan 2011, one of the things I wanted to do was end 2011 in SF, seeing my fave band X (as they always play between Xmas and New Year), and hopefully catching at least one of my friend Suzannes birthdays. The plan changed when the trip planning got too expensive, but I’m pleased to say when I cancelled Bangkok I checked prices again, and got a wicked deal for a week in SF for New Year. So I went for it.
Flew BA, and I must say after two weeks of being home, I’m now basically over long flights. Two hours in I was totally over it, and had at least 8 more hours to go. Add to that the fact I was sitting next to a GIANT GERMAN DUDE that spoke no English. Yeah it was a pretty excruciating 10 hours!
Arrived at SFO around 2pm, and got grilled at Immigration – guy wasn’t happy that I had already been here in Sept, and had obviously been round the world since. Got the usual “don’t understand what a holiday is” questioning for this grumpy old sod, but he didn’t keep me too long and eventually let me in. Man, what is wrong with these retards? Especially when they ask you how long are staying, want to check your return flight details, then still give you three months to leave the country!
My hotel was slap bang in Fishermans Wharf, and once I was in the cab I turned my phone on and had a message from Mary at Tattoo City. As it was walking distance to the hotel from the shop, I got dropped off at Tattoo City first rather than checking in at the hotel. Met Mary and the other shop guys, and had a brief chat with everyone (I love this shop), then checked out the stunning tattoo design Mary had sorted for me. I was gobsmacked to say the least.
Checked in to the hotel, then set about having a quiet evening and an early night before my tattoo marathon on Thursday and Friday. I already knew what I wanted to do, so was UTTERLY DESTROYED when I walked round to Hooters and found the place had closed down a week earlier! ARGH! I didn’t know what else to do, but knew I didn’t want to head out to one of my usual haunts south of the city, so plumped for a pulled chicken sandwich and an anchor steam at Teirnans, the shite tourist bar I’d been to in Sept when I had half shaved my head. Was pleasant enough, and the evening was made better when I left the pub and crossed the road to the Buena Vista Café and grabbed another Steam and chatted to the happiest barman ever. Was pleased to get back in here as it was always packed in September (has free wi-fi too!).
The bulk of the holiday was pretty much as expected, and as it was my last time in San Francisco for a while, I was gonna go back to all my favourite places, and hopefully get to see all my SF friends. The weather was also fantastic for the 7 days, warm and sunny throughout, which made a change from what I’d left behind in the UK.
So most of these places are mentioned in previous blogs. Managed to get into Buena Vista Café a few times on this trip, which is always worth a visit. Also managed to get a lunch in there one day – which sometimes is a mission to get a table as it’s so busy in here. Visited Burgermeister and 901 Columbus in North Beach for lunch a couple of days – both great places, and 901 has free wi-fi. Got to Vesuvio a few times (with my mate Tom). Ate in North Beach at a couple of great Italian restaurants – Calzones and Mona Lisa. Spent New Years Eve afternoon in Hobsons Choice on the Haight drinking bloody marys, having a great time chatting to random people. Everyone was in a party mood (as it was NYE AND a Saturday), so the atmosphere was great, even though it meant usually happy barman Chris was moody and stressed as it seemed he’d been left to cope with the bar all by himself. As I was at Hobsons, it meant I had to go next door to Asqew Grill for lunch, another of my favourite places to eat. And as i was in the Upper Haight, i just HAD to go to Amoeba Music, as per usual! Tom took me to a place I’d never been to called Rogue (in North Beach), which is a Portland based micro brewery. Did amazing beer and even more amazing burgers. At the end of the week, another of my friends Erin (who I haven’t seen for years) took me for a drive out to the west coast of SF to the Cliff House. Which is what it says on the tin really – it’s a restaurant on the cliff. Great food and even better views – if it isn’t foggy!
The main events of the holiday were my new tattoo, Suzannes birthday and getting to see X on NYE.
The day after I arrived, I was off to Tattoo City for sitting #1. Mary was tattooing a medusa pin up girl on my left thigh, and she’d worked out a vague system that would allow her to work on me for two days in a row and hopefully make it easier on me. It half worked. She did an amazing job, above and beyond anything I’d expected, especially considering the state I was in at the end of the second day. On Day #1, he shop was empty like last time, we were treated to some awesome doomy music from Aleph the reception guy (Joy Division, The Effigies, The Cure, The Damned), and Mary got to work on my leg. This session was relatively bearable for three hours. The last two hours weren’t great, but the numbing spray worked a treat. 5 hours later, part 1 of the tattoo was completed, and I limped off happily in agony. As usual, as much as it had hurt, we’d had such a giggle during the session it didn’t really matter. And the design was looking incredible already, even at this half-finished stage.
On day #2, the shop was busier and the atmosphere was totally different. As nice as it is having the shop to ourselves, theres a real family vibe in this place when it’s busy. The guys here really are the nicest tattooers on the planet! It’s also a nice distraction having different people wandering into the tattoo room for a little chat, taking the attention away from the torture happening on my thigh! Was cool getting to chat lots to Doug Hardy (who I always seem to miss when I’ve been here before), and Trev the reception dude was very helpful with his runs to the deli to pick up food and drinks throughout the session.
As for the session, brutal doesn’t even cover it. I knew it was gonna be hard going, but not this hard. I think I managed to grit my teeth through it and sat ok for Mary, even though I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Whatever the case, she did a sterling job on the tattoo. The work she produced literally blew my mind. The final hour however was the worst, and I can’t believe I sat through it. I don’t think I was approaching shock or anything, but my body was definitely calling time on the session. I was hot, I was cold, I had the shakes, I was hungry. So I got a mars bar thinking the sugar would help, but it just made me feel worse. It was as though my body was saying “I can’t deal with two things at once!”
After 2 days and 10 hours it was all over. Me and Mary took lots of photos of the work, then she wrapped me up good and proper. Then I limped off into North Beach for a pizza at Calzones – which was packed. In fact everywhere was heaving. I guess cos it was the Friday before NYE. Then I grabbed a cab and headed down to Thee Parkside to meet up with Suzanne for her birthday bash, and to see her band, Girl-illa Biscuits.
I’d missed coming here on my last trip, so was cool to get back to this groovy little bar in the middle of nowhere. The place was empty when I limped in – apart from Nikki the guitarist sitting at the bar. I’d met Nikki on my last trip, and was great to catch up with her (luckily she recognised me immediately). Suzanne wasn’t far behind, and was pleased to see my mate again. We had a beer and a chat, then they went off to soundcheck – and I must say I was dead impressed. They were tight as anything and Suzanne definitely pulls off being the perfect frontwoman. Who knew ay? It was like she was born to do it!
The hour before showtime was spent chatting to Suzanne and Nikki and meeting up with various other people I’d met through Suzanne. They’d got a huge crowd down at Thee Parkside which was pretty impressive. They were the first band on, and it was packed when they started. They played hard and were absolutely kicking. I must say I loved it – I even preferred them to the real Gorilla Biscuits! Suzanne spent most of the show shouting “Fucking mosh, its my birthday!” at the crowd, and as we expected, ended up in the audience for the last song. They only managed to play 5 songs, but they’d pulled off an ace first gig. I was pleased to hear later on that they are taking it seriously and are gonna be carrying on. Was so glad I’d got to see them!
Next up were Cunt Sparrer, an all girl Cock Sparrer tribute. I was intrigued to see these ladies as I’m a big Cock Sparrer fan, but was totally gobsmacked when they started. They are like a living room version – one drum, acoustic guitar and bontempi organ! The first song “Because You’re Young” was weird, trying to work out what they were doing – but by the time they’d played all the hits (and they do them all – “We’re Coming Back”, “Take Em All”, “England Belongs To Me” etc) and a Misfits cover, I was blown away. It was still like a full blown Cock Sparrer gig – everyone down the front shouting along at the top of their voices, almost drowing out the band. Frontlady Jen seemed happy with the performance the front row was putting on.
My leg was beginning to give me jip however, and thought I’d better get back to the hotel and sort myself out. Had a brief chat with the Biscuits girls, then caught a cab back to the hotel and sorted my tattoo out. I couldn’t stop grinning – it had been an awesome couple of days.
New Years Eve main event was the X show at Slims. SF had been particularly busy today, and everywhere was mental. The queues for the cable cars in The Wharf and Union Square had been among the longest I’d even seen. Good luck getting a ride on one of those! Caught a cab down to Slims in the evening, not knowing how I was gonna get back to the hotel later in the evening. Luckily the door guys confirmed that the buses were running late this evening, which was a weight off my mind. Meant I could get on with enjoying the show.
Support act was Sean Wheeler (from Throwrag) and Zander Schloss (from Circle Jerks and many more other bands). They kinda played acoustic soulful folk music and were brilliant – Seans voice was absolutely amazing, and Zanders guitar playing was incredible. I was hooked from the first song. Sean Wheeler is a bit of a character too, and had everyone laughing with his crackpot stories between songs. Loved them.
X were the main reason I was here, and they were flippin brilliant. They don’t worry about doing anything different than the last time I saw them – they just played a straight up awesome set of old classics that you’d expect (except they left out “Nausea” for some reason). They timed the set perfectly to fit in “Happy New Year” at midnight, let off balloons, I clinked glasses with Exene and DJ (while Billy stood at the back of the stage, looking unusually grumpy and drinking water). Then they kicked off with “Year One” and carried on the rest of the set. They may be old, but they have more energy and kick more arse than bands half their age. Long may they continue playing – and hope they come back to the UK one day!
One of the funnest things about the eve was that as it was an all-ages show, the place was full of these groovy punk rock families. Old punk moms and dads with their punk rock offspring, ranging from grown up kids, down to teenagers and even a couple of little kids. The atmosphere was brilliant.
I did notice that my left leg was starting to hurt again – not surprising really considering the tattoo session. However, I realised my knee had swollen right up and was becoming painful to stand on. Ended the set sitting on a chair like an old man. Was very lucky that on exiting the gig, I only had 5 mins to wait for a bus, which dropped me off right by the hotel! Handy!
New Years Day I figured was gonna be a quiet, but was totally wrong. The weather was fantastic today, so decided to go for an ill advised walk, considering my swollen leg. Walked up to Coit Tower to take some photos of the view, then wandered into North Beach – and found every bar packed an kicking at lunchtime with party-goers! Decided I wasn’t gonna be left out, so jumped in a cab and headed to the Mission and to Pops Bar on 24th Street. They were having a pyjama party and showing movies, so figured it would be a cool thing to do. When I got there, the place was busy with tattooed punks in their dressing gowns, and Nikki was running the place by herself. Grabbed a place at the bar, stuffed myself with free food, watched Bridesmaids on the big screen and got served free beer by Nikki all afternoon. Awesome!
Managed to meet up with Suzanne on my penultimate day for one of our pub crawls – which we thought was gonna be a quiet night as we were both knackered after the festivities. Met up at Benders, then headed to 500 Club and Claires Deli, where we hung out for a few hours, having awesome sandwiches and chatting to various friends of Suzannes. We ended up at Hemlock for their Monday night Punk Rock Sideshow, and once again got to hang out with Nikki (and get some cheeky beers), as she works here as well. It was pop punk night tonight, and the music was kicking – the DJ played Fucked Up, Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, Teenage Bottlerocket and Ramones among others. Was a brilliant night, hanging out with brilliant people. That turned into a bit of a booze fest and definitely wasn’t a quiet night, getting back to the hotel at 2am. It had been a blast catching up with Suzanne and Nikki again – probably won’t be seeing either of them for a while now.
My final day had a touch of déjà vu about it. Once I’d packed and checked out of the hotel, I was back to Tattoo City to get tattooed by Mary again. This time she was tattooing some more mini skulls on my right arm to finish it off. Luckily it was a slightly easier tattoo session and only took an hour. Was great to get to the shop and see everyone on my last day. I’m feeling like I’m done with tattooing for a while, as I’m now symmetrical. Although if Mary comes to the London Tattoo Convention this year, I’m already booked up for session.
Final stop of the holiday was a quick trip to Alamo Square to be a tourist. I’ve never been here before, but was bought up in a conversation with Mary earlier in the week, as its one of the locations that appears in “So I Married An Axe Murderer”. So I was dropped off, looked at the houses, took some photos, and headed to Asqew Grill for my final burger of the holiday.
(Speaking of "So I Married An Axe Murderer", next time i go back to SF i'm taking the tour of locations - I thought i'd done them all, but seems i may have missed a few!)
And that’s about it. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel (taxi driver was another of these “drive you round the houses” rip-off dudes), grabbed my stuff then headed to the airport. Flight was ok as I had a space next to me and slept the whole way home – luckily was only annoyed by the Tourettes ridden hyperactive teen wearing a bobble hat sitting in front of me for an hour as he fell asleep too.
Holiday is now over and I’m back to reality. Getting to SF for a second time was a real bonus, and was so pleased to finish my mega trip here. I really love this place and feel so comfortable here. OK, it helps that I have friends here – but I’ve made those friends by being here so many times. I wouldn’t have come back so often if I hadn’t absolutely loved the place. Can’t see myself heading this way for a while (not until I sort out what I’m doing with my life anyway!), and I’m glad my last two trips were so brilliant.
Btw - just realised i never made it to Zeitgeist on this trip. Weird, and pretty unheard of for me!
I still need to write one more blog about the trip – then I’ll carry it on with whatever I get up to next.
When I was originally thinking about booking my trip, way back in Jan 2011, one of the things I wanted to do was end 2011 in SF, seeing my fave band X (as they always play between Xmas and New Year), and hopefully catching at least one of my friend Suzannes birthdays. The plan changed when the trip planning got too expensive, but I’m pleased to say when I cancelled Bangkok I checked prices again, and got a wicked deal for a week in SF for New Year. So I went for it.
Flew BA, and I must say after two weeks of being home, I’m now basically over long flights. Two hours in I was totally over it, and had at least 8 more hours to go. Add to that the fact I was sitting next to a GIANT GERMAN DUDE that spoke no English. Yeah it was a pretty excruciating 10 hours!
Arrived at SFO around 2pm, and got grilled at Immigration – guy wasn’t happy that I had already been here in Sept, and had obviously been round the world since. Got the usual “don’t understand what a holiday is” questioning for this grumpy old sod, but he didn’t keep me too long and eventually let me in. Man, what is wrong with these retards? Especially when they ask you how long are staying, want to check your return flight details, then still give you three months to leave the country!
My hotel was slap bang in Fishermans Wharf, and once I was in the cab I turned my phone on and had a message from Mary at Tattoo City. As it was walking distance to the hotel from the shop, I got dropped off at Tattoo City first rather than checking in at the hotel. Met Mary and the other shop guys, and had a brief chat with everyone (I love this shop), then checked out the stunning tattoo design Mary had sorted for me. I was gobsmacked to say the least.
Checked in to the hotel, then set about having a quiet evening and an early night before my tattoo marathon on Thursday and Friday. I already knew what I wanted to do, so was UTTERLY DESTROYED when I walked round to Hooters and found the place had closed down a week earlier! ARGH! I didn’t know what else to do, but knew I didn’t want to head out to one of my usual haunts south of the city, so plumped for a pulled chicken sandwich and an anchor steam at Teirnans, the shite tourist bar I’d been to in Sept when I had half shaved my head. Was pleasant enough, and the evening was made better when I left the pub and crossed the road to the Buena Vista Café and grabbed another Steam and chatted to the happiest barman ever. Was pleased to get back in here as it was always packed in September (has free wi-fi too!).
The bulk of the holiday was pretty much as expected, and as it was my last time in San Francisco for a while, I was gonna go back to all my favourite places, and hopefully get to see all my SF friends. The weather was also fantastic for the 7 days, warm and sunny throughout, which made a change from what I’d left behind in the UK.So most of these places are mentioned in previous blogs. Managed to get into Buena Vista Café a few times on this trip, which is always worth a visit. Also managed to get a lunch in there one day – which sometimes is a mission to get a table as it’s so busy in here. Visited Burgermeister and 901 Columbus in North Beach for lunch a couple of days – both great places, and 901 has free wi-fi. Got to Vesuvio a few times (with my mate Tom). Ate in North Beach at a couple of great Italian restaurants – Calzones and Mona Lisa. Spent New Years Eve afternoon in Hobsons Choice on the Haight drinking bloody marys, having a great time chatting to random people. Everyone was in a party mood (as it was NYE AND a Saturday), so the atmosphere was great, even though it meant usually happy barman Chris was moody and stressed as it seemed he’d been left to cope with the bar all by himself. As I was at Hobsons, it meant I had to go next door to Asqew Grill for lunch, another of my favourite places to eat. And as i was in the Upper Haight, i just HAD to go to Amoeba Music, as per usual! Tom took me to a place I’d never been to called Rogue (in North Beach), which is a Portland based micro brewery. Did amazing beer and even more amazing burgers. At the end of the week, another of my friends Erin (who I haven’t seen for years) took me for a drive out to the west coast of SF to the Cliff House. Which is what it says on the tin really – it’s a restaurant on the cliff. Great food and even better views – if it isn’t foggy!
The main events of the holiday were my new tattoo, Suzannes birthday and getting to see X on NYE.
The day after I arrived, I was off to Tattoo City for sitting #1. Mary was tattooing a medusa pin up girl on my left thigh, and she’d worked out a vague system that would allow her to work on me for two days in a row and hopefully make it easier on me. It half worked. She did an amazing job, above and beyond anything I’d expected, especially considering the state I was in at the end of the second day. On Day #1, he shop was empty like last time, we were treated to some awesome doomy music from Aleph the reception guy (Joy Division, The Effigies, The Cure, The Damned), and Mary got to work on my leg. This session was relatively bearable for three hours. The last two hours weren’t great, but the numbing spray worked a treat. 5 hours later, part 1 of the tattoo was completed, and I limped off happily in agony. As usual, as much as it had hurt, we’d had such a giggle during the session it didn’t really matter. And the design was looking incredible already, even at this half-finished stage.
On day #2, the shop was busier and the atmosphere was totally different. As nice as it is having the shop to ourselves, theres a real family vibe in this place when it’s busy. The guys here really are the nicest tattooers on the planet! It’s also a nice distraction having different people wandering into the tattoo room for a little chat, taking the attention away from the torture happening on my thigh! Was cool getting to chat lots to Doug Hardy (who I always seem to miss when I’ve been here before), and Trev the reception dude was very helpful with his runs to the deli to pick up food and drinks throughout the session.
As for the session, brutal doesn’t even cover it. I knew it was gonna be hard going, but not this hard. I think I managed to grit my teeth through it and sat ok for Mary, even though I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Whatever the case, she did a sterling job on the tattoo. The work she produced literally blew my mind. The final hour however was the worst, and I can’t believe I sat through it. I don’t think I was approaching shock or anything, but my body was definitely calling time on the session. I was hot, I was cold, I had the shakes, I was hungry. So I got a mars bar thinking the sugar would help, but it just made me feel worse. It was as though my body was saying “I can’t deal with two things at once!”After 2 days and 10 hours it was all over. Me and Mary took lots of photos of the work, then she wrapped me up good and proper. Then I limped off into North Beach for a pizza at Calzones – which was packed. In fact everywhere was heaving. I guess cos it was the Friday before NYE. Then I grabbed a cab and headed down to Thee Parkside to meet up with Suzanne for her birthday bash, and to see her band, Girl-illa Biscuits.
I’d missed coming here on my last trip, so was cool to get back to this groovy little bar in the middle of nowhere. The place was empty when I limped in – apart from Nikki the guitarist sitting at the bar. I’d met Nikki on my last trip, and was great to catch up with her (luckily she recognised me immediately). Suzanne wasn’t far behind, and was pleased to see my mate again. We had a beer and a chat, then they went off to soundcheck – and I must say I was dead impressed. They were tight as anything and Suzanne definitely pulls off being the perfect frontwoman. Who knew ay? It was like she was born to do it!
The hour before showtime was spent chatting to Suzanne and Nikki and meeting up with various other people I’d met through Suzanne. They’d got a huge crowd down at Thee Parkside which was pretty impressive. They were the first band on, and it was packed when they started. They played hard and were absolutely kicking. I must say I loved it – I even preferred them to the real Gorilla Biscuits! Suzanne spent most of the show shouting “Fucking mosh, its my birthday!” at the crowd, and as we expected, ended up in the audience for the last song. They only managed to play 5 songs, but they’d pulled off an ace first gig. I was pleased to hear later on that they are taking it seriously and are gonna be carrying on. Was so glad I’d got to see them!
Next up were Cunt Sparrer, an all girl Cock Sparrer tribute. I was intrigued to see these ladies as I’m a big Cock Sparrer fan, but was totally gobsmacked when they started. They are like a living room version – one drum, acoustic guitar and bontempi organ! The first song “Because You’re Young” was weird, trying to work out what they were doing – but by the time they’d played all the hits (and they do them all – “We’re Coming Back”, “Take Em All”, “England Belongs To Me” etc) and a Misfits cover, I was blown away. It was still like a full blown Cock Sparrer gig – everyone down the front shouting along at the top of their voices, almost drowing out the band. Frontlady Jen seemed happy with the performance the front row was putting on.
My leg was beginning to give me jip however, and thought I’d better get back to the hotel and sort myself out. Had a brief chat with the Biscuits girls, then caught a cab back to the hotel and sorted my tattoo out. I couldn’t stop grinning – it had been an awesome couple of days.
New Years Eve main event was the X show at Slims. SF had been particularly busy today, and everywhere was mental. The queues for the cable cars in The Wharf and Union Square had been among the longest I’d even seen. Good luck getting a ride on one of those! Caught a cab down to Slims in the evening, not knowing how I was gonna get back to the hotel later in the evening. Luckily the door guys confirmed that the buses were running late this evening, which was a weight off my mind. Meant I could get on with enjoying the show.
Support act was Sean Wheeler (from Throwrag) and Zander Schloss (from Circle Jerks and many more other bands). They kinda played acoustic soulful folk music and were brilliant – Seans voice was absolutely amazing, and Zanders guitar playing was incredible. I was hooked from the first song. Sean Wheeler is a bit of a character too, and had everyone laughing with his crackpot stories between songs. Loved them.X were the main reason I was here, and they were flippin brilliant. They don’t worry about doing anything different than the last time I saw them – they just played a straight up awesome set of old classics that you’d expect (except they left out “Nausea” for some reason). They timed the set perfectly to fit in “Happy New Year” at midnight, let off balloons, I clinked glasses with Exene and DJ (while Billy stood at the back of the stage, looking unusually grumpy and drinking water). Then they kicked off with “Year One” and carried on the rest of the set. They may be old, but they have more energy and kick more arse than bands half their age. Long may they continue playing – and hope they come back to the UK one day!
One of the funnest things about the eve was that as it was an all-ages show, the place was full of these groovy punk rock families. Old punk moms and dads with their punk rock offspring, ranging from grown up kids, down to teenagers and even a couple of little kids. The atmosphere was brilliant.
I did notice that my left leg was starting to hurt again – not surprising really considering the tattoo session. However, I realised my knee had swollen right up and was becoming painful to stand on. Ended the set sitting on a chair like an old man. Was very lucky that on exiting the gig, I only had 5 mins to wait for a bus, which dropped me off right by the hotel! Handy!
New Years Day I figured was gonna be a quiet, but was totally wrong. The weather was fantastic today, so decided to go for an ill advised walk, considering my swollen leg. Walked up to Coit Tower to take some photos of the view, then wandered into North Beach – and found every bar packed an kicking at lunchtime with party-goers! Decided I wasn’t gonna be left out, so jumped in a cab and headed to the Mission and to Pops Bar on 24th Street. They were having a pyjama party and showing movies, so figured it would be a cool thing to do. When I got there, the place was busy with tattooed punks in their dressing gowns, and Nikki was running the place by herself. Grabbed a place at the bar, stuffed myself with free food, watched Bridesmaids on the big screen and got served free beer by Nikki all afternoon. Awesome!Managed to meet up with Suzanne on my penultimate day for one of our pub crawls – which we thought was gonna be a quiet night as we were both knackered after the festivities. Met up at Benders, then headed to 500 Club and Claires Deli, where we hung out for a few hours, having awesome sandwiches and chatting to various friends of Suzannes. We ended up at Hemlock for their Monday night Punk Rock Sideshow, and once again got to hang out with Nikki (and get some cheeky beers), as she works here as well. It was pop punk night tonight, and the music was kicking – the DJ played Fucked Up, Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, Teenage Bottlerocket and Ramones among others. Was a brilliant night, hanging out with brilliant people. That turned into a bit of a booze fest and definitely wasn’t a quiet night, getting back to the hotel at 2am. It had been a blast catching up with Suzanne and Nikki again – probably won’t be seeing either of them for a while now.
My final day had a touch of déjà vu about it. Once I’d packed and checked out of the hotel, I was back to Tattoo City to get tattooed by Mary again. This time she was tattooing some more mini skulls on my right arm to finish it off. Luckily it was a slightly easier tattoo session and only took an hour. Was great to get to the shop and see everyone on my last day. I’m feeling like I’m done with tattooing for a while, as I’m now symmetrical. Although if Mary comes to the London Tattoo Convention this year, I’m already booked up for session.
Final stop of the holiday was a quick trip to Alamo Square to be a tourist. I’ve never been here before, but was bought up in a conversation with Mary earlier in the week, as its one of the locations that appears in “So I Married An Axe Murderer”. So I was dropped off, looked at the houses, took some photos, and headed to Asqew Grill for my final burger of the holiday.(Speaking of "So I Married An Axe Murderer", next time i go back to SF i'm taking the tour of locations - I thought i'd done them all, but seems i may have missed a few!)
And that’s about it. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel (taxi driver was another of these “drive you round the houses” rip-off dudes), grabbed my stuff then headed to the airport. Flight was ok as I had a space next to me and slept the whole way home – luckily was only annoyed by the Tourettes ridden hyperactive teen wearing a bobble hat sitting in front of me for an hour as he fell asleep too.
Holiday is now over and I’m back to reality. Getting to SF for a second time was a real bonus, and was so pleased to finish my mega trip here. I really love this place and feel so comfortable here. OK, it helps that I have friends here – but I’ve made those friends by being here so many times. I wouldn’t have come back so often if I hadn’t absolutely loved the place. Can’t see myself heading this way for a while (not until I sort out what I’m doing with my life anyway!), and I’m glad my last two trips were so brilliant.
Btw - just realised i never made it to Zeitgeist on this trip. Weird, and pretty unheard of for me!
I still need to write one more blog about the trip – then I’ll carry it on with whatever I get up to next.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Singapore - days 103 - 106
Singapore is awesome. It’s like a beginners guide to Asia – cos everything is English and it’s totally geared to tourists. And i basically behaved like one for my last three days on holiday!
First of all, Singapore is HOT. Actually it’s more humid than hot. Ridiculously humid. And unfortunately it did take its toll on me on a daily basis. I could manage about 2 hours wandering around in the heat, but would then have to come back to the hotel, cool down in my freezer-like room, and go for a swim at the hotel pool. Then i’d go out for another 2 hours and do it all again!
Secondly, it’s cheap – and sort of expensive at the same time. Cab fares were joke money, couldn’t believe how cheap they were. The food and beer was a whole other ball game. In Clarke Quay and the tourist areas, food and beer were quite pricey (although with a rate of over 2:1, it didn’t work out too bad), however in places like Chinatown and Little India they were dead cheap.
Managed to check out Chinatown and Little India while i was here. Both were kinda what you expected, however the Chinatown was far more fun than most of them i’ve been too. This one actually had pubs, and a random german bratwurst stand, Erichs Wuerstelstand, too! Also got hassled everywhere I walked by people wanting to make me suits and sell me kimonos. Noone seemed to understand that not only did I not have the money, but I didn’t actually want a new suit! I’ll hand it to them for trying their hardest to sell stuff though, they almost convinced me I needed 7 kimonos to lounge around the house in!
Little India was more of the same, but unfortunately the day I went I had an upset stomach. I really fancied a curry, but the no-frills restaurants in the area made me change my mind as I didn’t want to add to the problem. But pricewise the food was joke cheap. Was a bit gutted as I was so up for having a non-tourist curry, but my bottom couldn’t face it! So I just settled for being shouted at by more hard sellers in the street instead.
Every night I played it easy and wandered over to Clarke Quay for food and beers. I just wanted an easy few days and it was so close to the hotel. The only decision I had to make each night was where to eat and where to drink! Obviously I’d already done Hooters, and I went back there on my last day. I had an awesome curry at a place called Ras (to make up for the one I missed in Little india), and also ate at a mega steak restaurant called Hot Stones. Basically, you order the food and they bring you a red hot stone that you cook the steak on. Yes its kinda fun, but I don’t understand how they can charge you twice the price when they aren’t cooking it!
Beerwise I frequented two bars in the area. The first was the Bungy Bar, next to the reverse bungy jump thing on Clarke Quay. It was the only non-restaurant bar I found, was a small place, had fun bar staff and played loud music. The bar had no walls so was open to the Singapore heat and was a very pleasant place to hang out at night. My other bar was a place called Sque that I was excited to see served Little Creatures. I popped into here every night (and day if I passed) for a Bright Ale, and the bar staff remembered my drink everytime. Brilliant.
The major tourist thing I managed to do was get to Singapore Zoo. This was recommended by everyone, so I had to go. Absolutely incredible place – except I got bitten to buggery by the biggest mosquitoes ever (I’m surprised I don’t have Dengue Fever!), and it was by far the hottest day I was there. I managed to see most of the zoo, but was flagging badly by lunchtime, so was home after three hours. It’s a huge place, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. The only place I can compare it to is San Diego Zoo, mainly cos they are both huge. But in Singapore Zoo, most of the animals are “free range”, and don’t appear to be hindered by being in cages!
I got to hang out with some Sloths in the rainforest exhibit (they were literally uncaged and inches away from me – you could have stroked them), and obviously I spent a lot of time watching monkeys. The chimps were pretty amusing as usual, but the big surprise for me was the huge family of Proboscis Monkeys. I’ve never seen these guys up close before, and I spent ages watching them running around, feeding each other, and being harassed by the one baby in the cage. Man they’ve got some noses!
The highlight though was the Orangutans. On first impressions, it looks like they’ve just got a few huts and logs on a little island, with one solitary miserable looking Orangutan sitting in the middle of it. It took me a while to realise that there were vines and nets high up in the trees, hanging over the paths and walkways of the zoo. There were Orangutans everwhere, and it was cool to see them looking down on us with mild amusement. Spent most of my time here, watching their antics and taking a shit load of photos.
My major non-tourist project however was to get hold of an SLR camera here. I basically spent three days dealing with this, checking out every place I found that sold cameras. The only problem was, it seemed the dodgier the place, the more hardcore the sales technique – and the higher likelihood that I was probably gonna end up buying a bootleg. I eventually got my Canon 1100 from Funan IT Mall, from the first shop I checked out on my first day, and I must say, I think I got a pretty good deal all things considering, and I’m dead chuffed with it. Was mega hard work sorting this though, especially as I kept waking up my camera guru in the UK due to the time difference. Sorry Andy!
Day #106 was my final day on holiday, and spent most of it sorting out the camera. Then there was a torrential downpour that lead me to the Bungy Bar for a few beers while I waited for the rain to stop. It was incredible – the rain was actually WARM, and was literally like running through a shower. If I’d had a change of clothes to hand, I would have just stood in it just for the sheer hell of it! Had my final Hooters of the holiday, then it was time to get sorted back at the hotel and to head to the airport.
Not much more to say. The flight was relatively ok for a 14 hour stretch, however I must say that yet again the Quantas food selection wasn’t up to much, but I did get a spare seat next to me to stretch out in so that kinda made up for it. Watched most of Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 for the journey home. Got back to Heathrow, was out of the airport under an hour and out into the FREEZING COLD. Stupid flippin country!!!
I was glad to be home – mainly so I could get rid of the rucksack, but was also looking forward to seeing everyone again. I had a couple of quiet days coming up, but on the Saturday (two days after arrival back in the UK), I was due back into London for a week to see bands, roller derby and catch up with the crew again.
And that’s it. End of my 3 and a half month holiday – apart from a quick trip back to San Francisco for New Years Eve. There’s plenty more to say on the subject, but I’m gonna leave that for the next blog. Until then, thanks for reading so far. I’ve had an utterly brilliant time, and I’m still glad that I sold the flat and left my job to do it.
Wish it wasn’t so flippin cold though....
First of all, Singapore is HOT. Actually it’s more humid than hot. Ridiculously humid. And unfortunately it did take its toll on me on a daily basis. I could manage about 2 hours wandering around in the heat, but would then have to come back to the hotel, cool down in my freezer-like room, and go for a swim at the hotel pool. Then i’d go out for another 2 hours and do it all again!
Secondly, it’s cheap – and sort of expensive at the same time. Cab fares were joke money, couldn’t believe how cheap they were. The food and beer was a whole other ball game. In Clarke Quay and the tourist areas, food and beer were quite pricey (although with a rate of over 2:1, it didn’t work out too bad), however in places like Chinatown and Little India they were dead cheap.
Managed to check out Chinatown and Little India while i was here. Both were kinda what you expected, however the Chinatown was far more fun than most of them i’ve been too. This one actually had pubs, and a random german bratwurst stand, Erichs Wuerstelstand, too! Also got hassled everywhere I walked by people wanting to make me suits and sell me kimonos. Noone seemed to understand that not only did I not have the money, but I didn’t actually want a new suit! I’ll hand it to them for trying their hardest to sell stuff though, they almost convinced me I needed 7 kimonos to lounge around the house in!
Little India was more of the same, but unfortunately the day I went I had an upset stomach. I really fancied a curry, but the no-frills restaurants in the area made me change my mind as I didn’t want to add to the problem. But pricewise the food was joke cheap. Was a bit gutted as I was so up for having a non-tourist curry, but my bottom couldn’t face it! So I just settled for being shouted at by more hard sellers in the street instead.
Every night I played it easy and wandered over to Clarke Quay for food and beers. I just wanted an easy few days and it was so close to the hotel. The only decision I had to make each night was where to eat and where to drink! Obviously I’d already done Hooters, and I went back there on my last day. I had an awesome curry at a place called Ras (to make up for the one I missed in Little india), and also ate at a mega steak restaurant called Hot Stones. Basically, you order the food and they bring you a red hot stone that you cook the steak on. Yes its kinda fun, but I don’t understand how they can charge you twice the price when they aren’t cooking it!
Beerwise I frequented two bars in the area. The first was the Bungy Bar, next to the reverse bungy jump thing on Clarke Quay. It was the only non-restaurant bar I found, was a small place, had fun bar staff and played loud music. The bar had no walls so was open to the Singapore heat and was a very pleasant place to hang out at night. My other bar was a place called Sque that I was excited to see served Little Creatures. I popped into here every night (and day if I passed) for a Bright Ale, and the bar staff remembered my drink everytime. Brilliant.
The major tourist thing I managed to do was get to Singapore Zoo. This was recommended by everyone, so I had to go. Absolutely incredible place – except I got bitten to buggery by the biggest mosquitoes ever (I’m surprised I don’t have Dengue Fever!), and it was by far the hottest day I was there. I managed to see most of the zoo, but was flagging badly by lunchtime, so was home after three hours. It’s a huge place, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. The only place I can compare it to is San Diego Zoo, mainly cos they are both huge. But in Singapore Zoo, most of the animals are “free range”, and don’t appear to be hindered by being in cages!
I got to hang out with some Sloths in the rainforest exhibit (they were literally uncaged and inches away from me – you could have stroked them), and obviously I spent a lot of time watching monkeys. The chimps were pretty amusing as usual, but the big surprise for me was the huge family of Proboscis Monkeys. I’ve never seen these guys up close before, and I spent ages watching them running around, feeding each other, and being harassed by the one baby in the cage. Man they’ve got some noses!
The highlight though was the Orangutans. On first impressions, it looks like they’ve just got a few huts and logs on a little island, with one solitary miserable looking Orangutan sitting in the middle of it. It took me a while to realise that there were vines and nets high up in the trees, hanging over the paths and walkways of the zoo. There were Orangutans everwhere, and it was cool to see them looking down on us with mild amusement. Spent most of my time here, watching their antics and taking a shit load of photos.
My major non-tourist project however was to get hold of an SLR camera here. I basically spent three days dealing with this, checking out every place I found that sold cameras. The only problem was, it seemed the dodgier the place, the more hardcore the sales technique – and the higher likelihood that I was probably gonna end up buying a bootleg. I eventually got my Canon 1100 from Funan IT Mall, from the first shop I checked out on my first day, and I must say, I think I got a pretty good deal all things considering, and I’m dead chuffed with it. Was mega hard work sorting this though, especially as I kept waking up my camera guru in the UK due to the time difference. Sorry Andy!
Day #106 was my final day on holiday, and spent most of it sorting out the camera. Then there was a torrential downpour that lead me to the Bungy Bar for a few beers while I waited for the rain to stop. It was incredible – the rain was actually WARM, and was literally like running through a shower. If I’d had a change of clothes to hand, I would have just stood in it just for the sheer hell of it! Had my final Hooters of the holiday, then it was time to get sorted back at the hotel and to head to the airport.
Not much more to say. The flight was relatively ok for a 14 hour stretch, however I must say that yet again the Quantas food selection wasn’t up to much, but I did get a spare seat next to me to stretch out in so that kinda made up for it. Watched most of Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 for the journey home. Got back to Heathrow, was out of the airport under an hour and out into the FREEZING COLD. Stupid flippin country!!!
I was glad to be home – mainly so I could get rid of the rucksack, but was also looking forward to seeing everyone again. I had a couple of quiet days coming up, but on the Saturday (two days after arrival back in the UK), I was due back into London for a week to see bands, roller derby and catch up with the crew again.
And that’s it. End of my 3 and a half month holiday – apart from a quick trip back to San Francisco for New Years Eve. There’s plenty more to say on the subject, but I’m gonna leave that for the next blog. Until then, thanks for reading so far. I’ve had an utterly brilliant time, and I’m still glad that I sold the flat and left my job to do it.
Wish it wasn’t so flippin cold though....
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
An Interlude - HOOTERS round the World!!
ok, a bit of a step away from the blog, but something i promised i'd report on...HOOTERS!!!
its my last day in SIngapore, and i was sitting in the Clarke Quay Hooters, listening to Xmas music, having a beer and some wings, and thinking about the differences in the chain...please bear in mind i've never been to a UK Hooters.
on Day #2 i started my holiday as i meant to go on - a visit to Hooters New York. Over the years i'd been to Chicago, San Fran, Nashville and various Florida/Miami branches, so i know what i'm talking about. Another point, i love Nandos - so thats the kind of restaurant review your gonna get here!
I've always loved Hooters - and for various reasons! Obviously the pretty Hooters girls are a big part of the process, but if i didn't like the food, i def wouldn't eat here. My take on the place - esp in the US - is its a total blue collar/tourist place. No frills, beer, chicken, sport on the TV and hot girls. Its usually not sleazy, and its a bloody good laugh. totally low key, no faffing about or heirs and graces. Which is great for me, being the uncouth idiot I am!
So far:
Three Hooters in Orlando: real mixture of ladies and service. you go from proper holiday style restaurants on international drive, to utter redneck shambles in the outer areas (namely near the airport).
Miami - no different to decent Florida standards. see also San Diego
Nashville - where old Hooters girls go to die
Chicago - total blue collar. no frills, great atmosphere, its a booze-and-chicken wings fans dream. Such a fun place, and in a really nice part of town (not!)
San Francisco - always my fave, basically cos it has a nice quotient of tattooed ladies present to fit in with the vibe of the city.
New York - total attitude. what you'd expect
San Diego - total tourist. massive restaurant, and totally geared for the holiday makers. the toilets are called "restrooms" not "crappers" like normal. its my next fave next to SF.
Las Vegas - we stayed at the Hotel, so it was a MEGA Hooters week. Hotel was brilliant, casino was small and workable (and cheap!), and the restaurant was massive again. However, take NYs attitude and x100. Out of all the waitresses and staff, we met two that were actually pleasent and a right laugh.
I didn't get to Los Angeles. Jon wouldn't let me! ;-)
that leaves me with my last stop - Hooters Singapore. I went there twice, mainly to end my holiday at a Hooters. But it was an odd one. Apart from the odd local, it was full of old fat english ex-pats. One afternoon, i caught the girls rehearsing a dance for whatever reason (Hooters in the US doesn't have Coyote Ugly style dancing). Weird. Plus - and this is the worst - THEY DIDN'T DO HOOTERS HOT SAUCE!!!
i must say, it was a great Hooters and the food/beer/service didn't disappoint. But i kinda wished the chain/franchise has taken into consideration that the place was in Singapore. Whats the point in a regular "CAUTION BLONDES THINKING" when not one of the girls is blonde! add to that all the US references, and it didn't make much sense. To me, it would have been far more chucklesome to have changed the typical Hooters references to ones that made sense in Singapore. The joke was, the calendars and the menus had photos of the local staff on them - so what not go the whole hog? It was a great place to hang out, is def one of my fave Hooters, but just didn't make sense as far as the chain was concerned.
i know its not very feminist of me (and i don't really care), but it is a chain that exsists on a big scale, and is as offensive as a cheerleader squad. A few people had asked for a write up of every Hooters i went to, and here it is.
HOOTERS - my fave "restaurant"!!!
its my last day in SIngapore, and i was sitting in the Clarke Quay Hooters, listening to Xmas music, having a beer and some wings, and thinking about the differences in the chain...please bear in mind i've never been to a UK Hooters.
on Day #2 i started my holiday as i meant to go on - a visit to Hooters New York. Over the years i'd been to Chicago, San Fran, Nashville and various Florida/Miami branches, so i know what i'm talking about. Another point, i love Nandos - so thats the kind of restaurant review your gonna get here!
I've always loved Hooters - and for various reasons! Obviously the pretty Hooters girls are a big part of the process, but if i didn't like the food, i def wouldn't eat here. My take on the place - esp in the US - is its a total blue collar/tourist place. No frills, beer, chicken, sport on the TV and hot girls. Its usually not sleazy, and its a bloody good laugh. totally low key, no faffing about or heirs and graces. Which is great for me, being the uncouth idiot I am!
So far:
Three Hooters in Orlando: real mixture of ladies and service. you go from proper holiday style restaurants on international drive, to utter redneck shambles in the outer areas (namely near the airport).
Miami - no different to decent Florida standards. see also San Diego
Nashville - where old Hooters girls go to die
Chicago - total blue collar. no frills, great atmosphere, its a booze-and-chicken wings fans dream. Such a fun place, and in a really nice part of town (not!)
San Francisco - always my fave, basically cos it has a nice quotient of tattooed ladies present to fit in with the vibe of the city.
New York - total attitude. what you'd expect
San Diego - total tourist. massive restaurant, and totally geared for the holiday makers. the toilets are called "restrooms" not "crappers" like normal. its my next fave next to SF.
Las Vegas - we stayed at the Hotel, so it was a MEGA Hooters week. Hotel was brilliant, casino was small and workable (and cheap!), and the restaurant was massive again. However, take NYs attitude and x100. Out of all the waitresses and staff, we met two that were actually pleasent and a right laugh.
I didn't get to Los Angeles. Jon wouldn't let me! ;-)
that leaves me with my last stop - Hooters Singapore. I went there twice, mainly to end my holiday at a Hooters. But it was an odd one. Apart from the odd local, it was full of old fat english ex-pats. One afternoon, i caught the girls rehearsing a dance for whatever reason (Hooters in the US doesn't have Coyote Ugly style dancing). Weird. Plus - and this is the worst - THEY DIDN'T DO HOOTERS HOT SAUCE!!!
i must say, it was a great Hooters and the food/beer/service didn't disappoint. But i kinda wished the chain/franchise has taken into consideration that the place was in Singapore. Whats the point in a regular "CAUTION BLONDES THINKING" when not one of the girls is blonde! add to that all the US references, and it didn't make much sense. To me, it would have been far more chucklesome to have changed the typical Hooters references to ones that made sense in Singapore. The joke was, the calendars and the menus had photos of the local staff on them - so what not go the whole hog? It was a great place to hang out, is def one of my fave Hooters, but just didn't make sense as far as the chain was concerned.
i know its not very feminist of me (and i don't really care), but it is a chain that exsists on a big scale, and is as offensive as a cheerleader squad. A few people had asked for a write up of every Hooters i went to, and here it is.
HOOTERS - my fave "restaurant"!!!
Monday, 5 December 2011
Final week in Perth, then Singapore - days 97 - 103
It’s December! Perths summer is here. And man, it’s getting hot (30 degrees+ for the last week – hot for me anyway!). My final week is pretty low key – I’ve done most things I want to do, and I’m also resisting spending all my cash unnecessarily, esp as I’ve booked a trip to San Fran for New Year.
Most of the final week, I lay round the pool, sit in the garden in the sun reading, and try out practically every local pub that’s within walking distance! Weds (day #99) I head into Perth for the evening to see The Misfits @ Amplifier. I’ve not seen them for a while, and the last time wasn’t the best (the Misfits/Black Flag tour with Robo on drums). But I’m a sucker for those songs, so stump up $60 so I can get another gig in!
First port of call though, is the Generous Squire next door for some James Squire beers. Only found out about this place in the last week, so was looking forward to going to a proper James Squire pub. Same awesome selection of beers, and decent food. It wasn’t too busy on the weds, and I happily sat out on the veranda having a drink and reading my book. However, on Friday it seemed to turn into Tiger Tiger from Croydon. Majorly disappointed!
Amplifier is a cool venue – the bar area is half inside/half outside, had some decent beers and wasn’t too pricey. The venue part of Amp is behind the bar and is a third of the size, with a huge corner stage. Capacity can’t be more than 250 people at the very most! The gig is ace – Misfits manage to play a relatively coherent set, and for the most part I enjoy it, and am happily shouting along with the rest of the aussie punk dudes. However, the venue is SO LOUD! Far too loud for the size – which I guess is kinda cool, but the band sound a bit of a mess in places, and some of the song are difficult to make out. Get home at a decent hour, grabbing a cab immediately on exiting the venue. However, am a little hungover the next day due to all the Fat Yaks I’ve had!
Day #99 is my last Friday, and before I head back to Perth to meet Kelly and Alex, I finally make it to Perth Zoo. The weather today is sweltering, so most of the animals are hiding or asleep. It’s a tad disappointing, but it’s a cheap zoo, and I’m round it in a couple hours. Grab the cross river ferry into Perth (rather than getting the bus), which makes a nice change, and is really relaxing, then head to Durty Nellys to meet K&A.
Durty Nellys is a typical irish bar, but it does decent beer, the food is good, and its not too pricey again. Meet up with K&A (and a couple of the chaps I met at the Grim Fandango gig a few weeks ago), and get boozey for my last night. It’s a great evening, and its not even spoilt when some drunk twat outside the pub starts punching passers by and then gets dragged off by 4 police dudes on bikes!
Next stop is Amplifier again to finally see OFF! Who I have ben desperate to see since I started this trip in August. I’ve managed to miss every gig they done in a city I’m at by about a week, so was well happy when this date got announced. And man, they don’t disappoint! Loud, fast, angry, they deliver 17 songs in less than half an hour. And for an encore they start the set again and re-play the first few songs. Its exhilarating stuff, and I’ve not seen a band as full on as this since The Bronx show at The Peel in August.
It’s a great way to finish my last week in Perth. After the show, I hang out with the guys for a bit, then catch a cab back home. It had been brilliant seeing Kelly and Alex again, and thanks to them had done some fab stuff over the last 6 weeks. I look forward to seeing them again sometime next year.
My penultimate day was spent back at Tanyas, who was having a pool party/BBQ for my last day. Drank lots, swam lots, ate lots, but took the opportunity for an early night, as I had a early flight on Sunday. Again, was fab to catch up with everyone again for a last time, esp the kids.
Day #103, and I’m dropped off at the airport early by Mark, and I’m on a Quantas flight to Singapore. Must admit, they weren’t as good as my flight from Sydney. They managed to run out of food by the time they got to me, flippin ridiculous.
Got to Singapore, got through customs easily (nice friendly immigration dude), and grabbed a cab to my hotel. Cost of the cab was joke money (so cheap), and I was so happy when I checked in at the hotel (the Regis Park). It was awesome! So posh! It even had one of those weird frosted glass wall/mirrored bathrooms! Really glad I stumped the cash for my last hotel of the holiday!
It was pissing with rain at this point, but was still red hot, so once I unpacked, I headed over to Clarke Quay, which luckily was more or less opposite the hotel. Within minutes I’d managed to sniff out the Singapore Hooters! AMAZING!!! Nothing different than a normal Hooters, except none of the girls were blonde (all Asian!), did Tiger beer and nothing else, and worst of all, didn’t have Hooters hot sauce!!! Was still great though, and I had my usual wings and chips, and it was ridiculously cheap.
Spent the rest of the evening mooching around the area, popping into different bars, and having a Tiger or a Heineken. Bit gutted I’m back to drinking crap beer again, but whatever. Singapore was making my head spin. It was like Times Square, but on a much larger scale! I must say, I can’t wait to see it in the day so I can get my bearings, and am really looking forward to spending some time in this city.
Most of the final week, I lay round the pool, sit in the garden in the sun reading, and try out practically every local pub that’s within walking distance! Weds (day #99) I head into Perth for the evening to see The Misfits @ Amplifier. I’ve not seen them for a while, and the last time wasn’t the best (the Misfits/Black Flag tour with Robo on drums). But I’m a sucker for those songs, so stump up $60 so I can get another gig in!
First port of call though, is the Generous Squire next door for some James Squire beers. Only found out about this place in the last week, so was looking forward to going to a proper James Squire pub. Same awesome selection of beers, and decent food. It wasn’t too busy on the weds, and I happily sat out on the veranda having a drink and reading my book. However, on Friday it seemed to turn into Tiger Tiger from Croydon. Majorly disappointed!
Amplifier is a cool venue – the bar area is half inside/half outside, had some decent beers and wasn’t too pricey. The venue part of Amp is behind the bar and is a third of the size, with a huge corner stage. Capacity can’t be more than 250 people at the very most! The gig is ace – Misfits manage to play a relatively coherent set, and for the most part I enjoy it, and am happily shouting along with the rest of the aussie punk dudes. However, the venue is SO LOUD! Far too loud for the size – which I guess is kinda cool, but the band sound a bit of a mess in places, and some of the song are difficult to make out. Get home at a decent hour, grabbing a cab immediately on exiting the venue. However, am a little hungover the next day due to all the Fat Yaks I’ve had!
Day #99 is my last Friday, and before I head back to Perth to meet Kelly and Alex, I finally make it to Perth Zoo. The weather today is sweltering, so most of the animals are hiding or asleep. It’s a tad disappointing, but it’s a cheap zoo, and I’m round it in a couple hours. Grab the cross river ferry into Perth (rather than getting the bus), which makes a nice change, and is really relaxing, then head to Durty Nellys to meet K&A.
Durty Nellys is a typical irish bar, but it does decent beer, the food is good, and its not too pricey again. Meet up with K&A (and a couple of the chaps I met at the Grim Fandango gig a few weeks ago), and get boozey for my last night. It’s a great evening, and its not even spoilt when some drunk twat outside the pub starts punching passers by and then gets dragged off by 4 police dudes on bikes!
Next stop is Amplifier again to finally see OFF! Who I have ben desperate to see since I started this trip in August. I’ve managed to miss every gig they done in a city I’m at by about a week, so was well happy when this date got announced. And man, they don’t disappoint! Loud, fast, angry, they deliver 17 songs in less than half an hour. And for an encore they start the set again and re-play the first few songs. Its exhilarating stuff, and I’ve not seen a band as full on as this since The Bronx show at The Peel in August.
It’s a great way to finish my last week in Perth. After the show, I hang out with the guys for a bit, then catch a cab back home. It had been brilliant seeing Kelly and Alex again, and thanks to them had done some fab stuff over the last 6 weeks. I look forward to seeing them again sometime next year.
My penultimate day was spent back at Tanyas, who was having a pool party/BBQ for my last day. Drank lots, swam lots, ate lots, but took the opportunity for an early night, as I had a early flight on Sunday. Again, was fab to catch up with everyone again for a last time, esp the kids.
Day #103, and I’m dropped off at the airport early by Mark, and I’m on a Quantas flight to Singapore. Must admit, they weren’t as good as my flight from Sydney. They managed to run out of food by the time they got to me, flippin ridiculous.
Got to Singapore, got through customs easily (nice friendly immigration dude), and grabbed a cab to my hotel. Cost of the cab was joke money (so cheap), and I was so happy when I checked in at the hotel (the Regis Park). It was awesome! So posh! It even had one of those weird frosted glass wall/mirrored bathrooms! Really glad I stumped the cash for my last hotel of the holiday!
It was pissing with rain at this point, but was still red hot, so once I unpacked, I headed over to Clarke Quay, which luckily was more or less opposite the hotel. Within minutes I’d managed to sniff out the Singapore Hooters! AMAZING!!! Nothing different than a normal Hooters, except none of the girls were blonde (all Asian!), did Tiger beer and nothing else, and worst of all, didn’t have Hooters hot sauce!!! Was still great though, and I had my usual wings and chips, and it was ridiculously cheap.
Spent the rest of the evening mooching around the area, popping into different bars, and having a Tiger or a Heineken. Bit gutted I’m back to drinking crap beer again, but whatever. Singapore was making my head spin. It was like Times Square, but on a much larger scale! I must say, I can’t wait to see it in the day so I can get my bearings, and am really looking forward to spending some time in this city.
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