Is It Me You're Looking For? FRIDAY
Y'alright?
Plans were open for Friday Night to begin with; we couldn't quite decide on whether or not we would be going to the opening night celebrations at the new "We Are Birmingham" shop in town. We Are Birmingham officially opened on Saturday this weekend, and is a centre for all things independent and artistic. I suspect it will become our one-stop shop for cards, badges, artwork and so on, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I wish them the best of luck. It can't be easy running a shop in this climate, let alone opening one from scratch. They seem like a worthy one and so it's in my interest that they stay around. With a "hanging out" section at the back of the shop complete with sofas, a downstairs gallery for rotating exhibits, and a third floor as-yet unused (but maybe suitable for film screenings or performance space?), they seem in a good position to do so.
I'd gone to bed late on Thursday night (Question Time and then gamer time does that to me), and so I was unsure if, by the end of Friday's work-day, I would be up for an in-town outing, but as it turned out I was awake enough, come 5 o'clock. However, after some discussion with Liz, and my friend Chris who was planning on meeting up with us, we decided on a rendezvous at the Urban Coffee Company instead.
The Urban Coffee Company is rapidly becoming our hang-out place of choice when in town. Located in the Financial area, near Snow Hill Station and the Hotel Du Vin, they have free WiFi, copious cake selection, a Bookcrossing point upstairs and a good range of coffees. Every Friday they have "Cupcake Friday" (which have normally sold out by the time we get there, if we go) and live music from about 6 pm onwards.
Liz, already being in town, got to the coffee shop first. About half an hour later, at 6:30 ish, I turned up, and therefore was lucky enough to catch the band's acoustic set. It was all rather average, although the guitar player of the two-piece seemed quite accomplished. There was a Moby cover that merged into a Rolling Stones cover (Gimme Shelter). They closed the set with an "unusual" (in the QVC sense of the word) cover of The Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch", then announced they would be back in 15 minutes time with an Electric set.
In the interval, we passed the time by befriending a lovely american ex-pat lady, who was visiting the shop with her baby daughter. The baby was very friendly and seemed to enjoy shaking hands. We exchanged restaurant recommendations (she promised to help us out with New Jersey recommendations if or when we ever went back), and not long afterwards, Chris and his wife Jody arrived halfway through the electric set.
It rapidly became clear that the Electric portion of the evening was identical to the Acoustic half... just with more noise. The band literally did the same setlist. By the time we got to Moby and the Rolling Stones, it had become funny; but by the time the Bad Touch had rolled around again we were ready to get out of there.
Actually I was ready to murder someone if it meant they would stop playing. Liz went to the loo downstairs just to pass the time.
Afterwards, when the shop closed at 8 PM, Chris and Jody followed us home (they were invited), and we had some dinner and watched some trash TV. All in all a good night.
Plans were open for Friday Night to begin with; we couldn't quite decide on whether or not we would be going to the opening night celebrations at the new "We Are Birmingham" shop in town. We Are Birmingham officially opened on Saturday this weekend, and is a centre for all things independent and artistic. I suspect it will become our one-stop shop for cards, badges, artwork and so on, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I wish them the best of luck. It can't be easy running a shop in this climate, let alone opening one from scratch. They seem like a worthy one and so it's in my interest that they stay around. With a "hanging out" section at the back of the shop complete with sofas, a downstairs gallery for rotating exhibits, and a third floor as-yet unused (but maybe suitable for film screenings or performance space?), they seem in a good position to do so.
I'd gone to bed late on Thursday night (Question Time and then gamer time does that to me), and so I was unsure if, by the end of Friday's work-day, I would be up for an in-town outing, but as it turned out I was awake enough, come 5 o'clock. However, after some discussion with Liz, and my friend Chris who was planning on meeting up with us, we decided on a rendezvous at the Urban Coffee Company instead.
The Urban Coffee Company is rapidly becoming our hang-out place of choice when in town. Located in the Financial area, near Snow Hill Station and the Hotel Du Vin, they have free WiFi, copious cake selection, a Bookcrossing point upstairs and a good range of coffees. Every Friday they have "Cupcake Friday" (which have normally sold out by the time we get there, if we go) and live music from about 6 pm onwards.
Liz, already being in town, got to the coffee shop first. About half an hour later, at 6:30 ish, I turned up, and therefore was lucky enough to catch the band's acoustic set. It was all rather average, although the guitar player of the two-piece seemed quite accomplished. There was a Moby cover that merged into a Rolling Stones cover (Gimme Shelter). They closed the set with an "unusual" (in the QVC sense of the word) cover of The Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch", then announced they would be back in 15 minutes time with an Electric set.
In the interval, we passed the time by befriending a lovely american ex-pat lady, who was visiting the shop with her baby daughter. The baby was very friendly and seemed to enjoy shaking hands. We exchanged restaurant recommendations (she promised to help us out with New Jersey recommendations if or when we ever went back), and not long afterwards, Chris and his wife Jody arrived halfway through the electric set.
It rapidly became clear that the Electric portion of the evening was identical to the Acoustic half... just with more noise. The band literally did the same setlist. By the time we got to Moby and the Rolling Stones, it had become funny; but by the time the Bad Touch had rolled around again we were ready to get out of there.
Actually I was ready to murder someone if it meant they would stop playing. Liz went to the loo downstairs just to pass the time.
Afterwards, when the shop closed at 8 PM, Chris and Jody followed us home (they were invited), and we had some dinner and watched some trash TV. All in all a good night.