Revengeful Lobster

On Saturday Sam and I went to London to see the Queen Levellers at Brixton Academy. It was an event called Beautiful Nights, one of their 20th anniversary gigs, and it was awesome.

That’s the band exploding in some kind of plamsa ray feature. Supporting the Levellers were 3 Daft Monkeys (who are very good), and Alabama 3. The Wikipedia article on Alabama 3 features this amusing quote:

The band was formed when Jake Black met Rob Spragg at an acid house party in Peckham and they decided that a fusion of country music with acid house was a musical possibility.

I mean, what the hell were they doing at this party? Playing Musical Twister?

Rob: (spins spinner) “Ok Jake, left hand country and western”
Jake: “Okay”
Rob: “aaaaaaand, right foot… acid house”
Jake: “Hmm… That could work”

Just because something is possible, doesn’t mean you should go ahead and do it. Regardless of how they decided to embark on such a musical journey, the end result was pretty good. Worlds away from Dolly Parton at any rate.

The other guest band was Dreadzone, who continued with the theme of musical fusion. Their flavour is a blend of reggae, dub, techno, and dance. Reggae has never really been my thing, but just as Alabama 3 have made me look at country music in a new light, Dreadzone I think have opened doors for me. Musical doors. Musical doors in a house of sound, in a city of noise, on a planet of shoes.

We also went up the London Eye! Only three things can fly higher than the Eye in London; property prices; birds; and helicopters.

Last night I finished reading the final volume of Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle; The System of the World. That’s nigh-on three thousand pages of late renaissance adventure, romance, war, politics, and Natural Philosophy. I started reading the first book over three and a half years ago, soon after I was given it for my 21st birthday by Daf. I did manage to fit a few books in between volumes, some Gibson and some Banks, and I did read Quicksilver twice, but I’ve been following the story of Daniel Waterhouse and Jack Shaftoe for such a long time now, that coming to the end of such an epic tale has left me somewhat stunned. There are no more pages to turn. I’ve already read Cryptonomicon.

What the hell do I read now?!

I had better find something soon, otherwise I may be tempted to read the whole thing again. I may be tempted to buy the whole thing again.