Bye Bye Miss American Pie

In the Presence of Greatness

After months and months of waiting, the day finally came. Last night I attended the Eric Clapton concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I am by no means a music buff, I typically listen to whatever is playing on the radio, but when I saw the tickets come up for sale last November I knew it would be a worthwhile event.

I was amazed that his skill and passion are both still running so high now that he is well into his 60s. Especially since he must be thinking, "Do I really have to play Layla again?!"

It was also nice to be back at the Royal Albert Hall. When I first came to London I didn't care much for the venue but after several visits it has really grown on me. It was the perfect intimate venue (seating capacity ~5,000) to hear Clapton play Wonderful Tonight, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and of course Layla. From where we were sitting I could probably have run up on stage just before getting tackled by security. Grant thought I could only make it within two feet (60cm) before I got clotheslined. I also realized that I have now been to the Royal Albert Hall five times and each time has been a completely different performance. I've seen Bill Bailey (comedian), Tosca (opera), Overture 2012 (children's dance performance), Blackrock Masters Tennis, and now Eric Clapton.

Here are the rest of the photos.

British Summer with Diana Krall

Tonight my friend Tonya, her boyfriend Thomas, and I braved the British summer to attend a picnic concert featuring Diana Krall. Tonya is a huge fan of Diana Krall and I enjoy her music as well. We'd been looking forward to this concert for awhile but staying true to the British summer, it rained all day. The picnic concert was at the gardens of the Kenwood House which is one of the many historic estates in London. When we arrived it stayed dry long enough for us to have a short picnic and then it proceeded to pour down like cats and dogs. The rain continued to fall in buckets throughout the opening act (which wasn't memorable enough to mention here). Pools of rain kept falling off the dome covering the stage as well. Finally right before Diana Krall came out the rain finally stopped and it stayed dry nearly throughout the entire concert. She appreciated everyone being there and joked about the weather since she comes from British Columbia where it rains all of the time. At one point her husband, Elvis Costello, came on stage for a brief cameo. Since they hadn't seen each other for five weeks, Diana Krall excused herself for a moment to go snog her husband. By the end of the concert we were completely soaked through from head to toe but we had a good time trying to stay under cover.

British Summer

There are several traditions that define the great British summer. Women get all dressed up and don their three foot high hats to attend Royal Ascot, people take up every inch of sidewalk space to sit outside of the pub with a pint or a Pimm's, and everyone breaks out the BBQ to cook outdoors where one minute the sun is beating down and the next rain drops appear out of nowhere. One of the greatest British summer traditions is music festivals and outdoor concerts. Yesterday I was able to partake in this great tradition by attending a Jack Johnson concert in Hyde Park. The venue opened at 2pm and the first act was scheduled for 4pm so we got to the park at 3:30pm to stake out a spot for 6 on the grass. It seemed we arrived just in time to get one of the last decent spots that was blocked by the platform for the sound guy. With the opening acts (Mason Jennings, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Ben Harper) still 30 minutes away we decided that it was a good time to start having a few drinks.

I was really looking forward to this concert because there's nothing like being outdoors in London with a pitcher of Pimm's and some good entertainment. Unfortunately, as is likely in England during the summer, the forecast was for rain that evening so it was hardly Pimm's weather when we arrived. We started with a few beers and about an hour later the heavens parted and the sun came through. It went from brollies and wellies to tank tops and sunglasses in a matter of minutes. This was definitely Pimm's weather now so we ventured off to find ourselves some. Luckily a stand nearby had them flowing freely so we grabbed our pitcher and went back to guard our spot.

Mason Jennings came on first and although I was not previously familiar with his music, the performance was very good. It was fairly mellow with just him and his guitar but it was enough to get the crowd growing. G. Love & Special Sauce came on next, whom I've also never heard of, and didn't enjoy nearly as much. It was a little too punk and irreverent for my taste. Then came Ben Harper who was fantastic. I hadn't checked the lineup so I was surprised he was opening for Jack Johnson as I would have expected him to headline his own show. He played an excellent set with mainly songs from the new album but he did close with Steal My Kisses. Finally Jack Johnson came on but at that point I was already a couple beers and two pitchers of Pimm's in. I even managed to get my way back to the bar for a final pitcher without having enough money but the gentleman was kind enough to give me one anyway. Those who know me well understand that I could have been quite happy and buzzed after the first beer so why I thought I had the ability to absorb this amount of alcohol was lunacy. I do recall Jack Johnson playing some of his popular songs such as Sitting, Waiting, Wishing and Upside Down but as my friends would say, I was three sheets to the wind at this point. Also, in my not so "indoor voice" I kept "whispering" to everyone that I was really drunk. Even to the lovely people around me whom I'd never met before.

I did somehow make it to a very late dinner after the concert with the help of my trusty companions. They even managed to get me all the way home without any episodes. As soon as I got upstairs and into my flat there was no holding back though. I rushed straight to the toilet and unleashed everything that had been in my stomach over the last 8 hours. Not one of my finest moments but life is full of exciting experiences.

Warwick Avenue

"Warwick Avenue" by Duffy has got to be my new favorite song!
I'm not sure how popular Duffy is in the US but she's pretty big here in the UK. When she first arrived on the music scene she was mainly billed as an Amy Winehouse imitator with her soulful voice reminiscent of Etta James. At first her single "Mercy" was overplayed on the radio and even included in the Sex and the City Movie so I got sick of hearing her pretty quickly. Then her single "Warwick Avenue" came out and now I'm hooked. My coworker first brought this song to my attention because Warwick Avenue is the tube stop near where I live. Then I heard a radio interview of Duffy this morning where she was asked why she chose to name her song after this particular tube stop on the Bakerloo line (the brown line for the Americans confused by the TFL map) since there are about 100 she could have chose from. It's a very sad song that she said she wrote when she first moved to London (she's Welsh) and she had to leave all of her family and friends behind. Duffy also said that she was getting over her breakup with her hometown love Tom. I don't like all of the songs on her latest album but give "Warwick Avenue" a try. I wish her the best of luck since she seems like a nice down-to-earth gal (she's Welsh afterall) who doesn't need to get drugged up and hit the headlines all the time like Amy Winehouse.