An entry without spite or swearing
I went to see Malcom Middleton (of Arab Strap fame) on wednesday evening. He was playing at Kulturhuset, on the roof, which is pleasent cause it's out in the fresh air and sunshine and you can see the true hideousness that is Sergels Torg from a distance.
I was lacking a babysitter so was forced to take Polly with me. I was nervous about it at first but she behaved better than I could have hoped. Ran around before the gig, was the first (and only) person on the dancefloor digging the Franz Ferdinand they were playing and then consented to being held through the supporting act. She finaly lost conciousness two songs into Middleton's set. She was carefully put in her pram and slept contentedly in the corner till it was time to go home. In fact she didn't wake at all, not through the gig, not on the way home, not even when I undressed her and put her to bed. A success.
A relief cause the gig was great and I'd have been dissapointed if I'd been forced to run out with her. Not really a match for the mighty Strap but lovely. Kinda punky and beautiful in equal measures. His voice grates a little, it's not good enough to be good and not idiosyncratic enough to be truly interesting (as Aidan's is) but he can get away with it cause Scottish accents sound good sung.
I bought the album to, which is also very good though perhaps not the kinda 5/5 material they claim. I don't really get all the Leonard Cohen comparrisons either but modern music reviewing always seems to be a matter of comparing.
The only rule is that you're only allowed to mention a select group of people and one of them has to be Jeff Buckley or if the voice aint all angel like Leonard Cohen.
Speaking of solo offerings from members of my favourite bands I also bought Stuart Staples new record. Or as he obviousley prefers to be known now (for reasons best left to him) Stuart A Staples. The first few songs made me giddy with excitement. I've really liked but not really loved the last few Tindersticks albums but at first I felt like this was everything I'd been missing in all it's pretentious grandios glory. And all that without an Orchestra. Unfortunately it starts to sag toward the end. Stuart's voice keeps it moving but only just. Whatever there's some wonderful songs on there esp. Marseille Sunshine which is Godly.
Polly's started day care now. It has to be done gradually though so she feels safe and comfortable with the whole enterprise. In other word there's a parent more or less present for the first couple of weeks. You start leaving her for an hour on her own and coming back and so building up to leaving her for the whole day with them.
It was Lola's turn to be parent in residence last week next week it's mine, so I'm taking a week off work (and computer time) which feels a bit of a strain. Still a lovely way to spend a week. The women we're leaving her with is a lovely women from Chile. There's only four other children under her care and they're all wonderful with Polly apparently, so it looks like so far it's been a resounding success. Polly's not even noticed her mother's absence this week.
The only person having a hard time is Lola. She's been having guilt attacks and has been missing Polly terribly. We've had a long conversation about whether she was doing the right thing. She has to work though so what's the alternative? Not paying the rent and ending up on the street? Lola's convinced that all other parents leave there kids at daycare for just a couple of hours, whereas we will be forced to leave her for an entire working day (for obvious reasons) but I reckon these other parents are working off some kinda of illegal income and we'll see how much quality time they get with their kids from behind bars. Still she's calmed down a little about it.
Polly'll be OK, we're great parents when we're around and we are around for most of the time, just maybe a few hours less than some.
I was lacking a babysitter so was forced to take Polly with me. I was nervous about it at first but she behaved better than I could have hoped. Ran around before the gig, was the first (and only) person on the dancefloor digging the Franz Ferdinand they were playing and then consented to being held through the supporting act. She finaly lost conciousness two songs into Middleton's set. She was carefully put in her pram and slept contentedly in the corner till it was time to go home. In fact she didn't wake at all, not through the gig, not on the way home, not even when I undressed her and put her to bed. A success.
A relief cause the gig was great and I'd have been dissapointed if I'd been forced to run out with her. Not really a match for the mighty Strap but lovely. Kinda punky and beautiful in equal measures. His voice grates a little, it's not good enough to be good and not idiosyncratic enough to be truly interesting (as Aidan's is) but he can get away with it cause Scottish accents sound good sung.
I bought the album to, which is also very good though perhaps not the kinda 5/5 material they claim. I don't really get all the Leonard Cohen comparrisons either but modern music reviewing always seems to be a matter of comparing.
The only rule is that you're only allowed to mention a select group of people and one of them has to be Jeff Buckley or if the voice aint all angel like Leonard Cohen.
Speaking of solo offerings from members of my favourite bands I also bought Stuart Staples new record. Or as he obviousley prefers to be known now (for reasons best left to him) Stuart A Staples. The first few songs made me giddy with excitement. I've really liked but not really loved the last few Tindersticks albums but at first I felt like this was everything I'd been missing in all it's pretentious grandios glory. And all that without an Orchestra. Unfortunately it starts to sag toward the end. Stuart's voice keeps it moving but only just. Whatever there's some wonderful songs on there esp. Marseille Sunshine which is Godly.
Polly's started day care now. It has to be done gradually though so she feels safe and comfortable with the whole enterprise. In other word there's a parent more or less present for the first couple of weeks. You start leaving her for an hour on her own and coming back and so building up to leaving her for the whole day with them.
It was Lola's turn to be parent in residence last week next week it's mine, so I'm taking a week off work (and computer time) which feels a bit of a strain. Still a lovely way to spend a week. The women we're leaving her with is a lovely women from Chile. There's only four other children under her care and they're all wonderful with Polly apparently, so it looks like so far it's been a resounding success. Polly's not even noticed her mother's absence this week.
The only person having a hard time is Lola. She's been having guilt attacks and has been missing Polly terribly. We've had a long conversation about whether she was doing the right thing. She has to work though so what's the alternative? Not paying the rent and ending up on the street? Lola's convinced that all other parents leave there kids at daycare for just a couple of hours, whereas we will be forced to leave her for an entire working day (for obvious reasons) but I reckon these other parents are working off some kinda of illegal income and we'll see how much quality time they get with their kids from behind bars. Still she's calmed down a little about it.
Polly'll be OK, we're great parents when we're around and we are around for most of the time, just maybe a few hours less than some.