Das Blog

when's my birthday?

2008-10-23T23:08:00.002+13:00

so i thought the simpsons had been making it up, but no - Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp really exists! for just 6000 pounds, you could be learning to rock and / or roll from such rock has-beens as Nick Mason, Bill Wyman, Pete Best and Kip Winger. Yep, Kip Winger. where do i sign up?

the news as it happens

2008-10-17T07:34:00.002+13:00

so last night i was in a pub and friend were talking about how madonna and guy's divorce is the main story despite the world falling apart. so i say 'yeah, this morning i heard on the news that a plane in turkey was hi-jacked, so i went straight to the bbc website but it wasn't reported, what's wrong with them?'. and then this guy sitting alone at the table next to ours, replied 'well, i was working at the bbc this morning when the news broke, but by the time we were ready to put it online the whole hijack was called off'.

that shut me up.

either totally made his day or totally ruined his day.

2 weeks

2008-10-12T10:04:00.002+13:00

so we've got just two weeks left in london. we're leaving because in feb G applied for a work visa, but in may they finally replied, rejecting her application because although she had included two proofs of her previous income, she hadn't explained why she hadn't included a different proof as well. bureaucracy at its stoopidist. obviously we appealed, but heard nothing back.

until two days ago when they sent us a letter saying they've accepted the appeal and we are now eligible to fly home, pay the home office lots more money and G can have a new stamp in her passport. but we've already left our flat, given away all our stuff, quit our jobs, burnt our bridges (i haven't spoken to my manager in weeks). it's time to go home. but first we have some exciting adventures in spain and thailand planned, so watch this space.

now its 2008

2008-10-02T07:54:00.001+13:00

so i know i sing about wanting a jet pack, but actually these things look damn scary
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7637327.stm

ain't no use to sit and wonder why baby

2008-09-30T04:19:00.003+13:00

so i finally got around to watching I'm Not There, the wonderfully trippy biography of Bob Dylan. Six different actors each portraying a different dylan myth, none telling the true story, and none following any obvious chronology. Didn't always understand what was going on, but still a much more interesting film than Walk The Line, Ray, La Bamba or any other biopic that ties up a musician's life into one key theme and story. Lives just don't go like that. Besides Robert Zimmerman may have been a small town boy who moved to New York hoping to be Woodie Guthrie, but that doesn't mean that Bob Dylan was. Dylan is a fictional character by Zimmerman who can have any life story that Zimmerman sees fit.

Sometimes knowing too much truth about a musician is a hinderance. Right now i'm reading The Dirt - the Motley Crue story, where all four band members plus all sorts of hanger-ons dscribe their sordid experiences or rock, rape, drugs, stupidity, satanism, more rape, lots more drugs, and occasionally more rock and roll. As a young one i did like a few crue songs and its been interesting to have some perspective on what was going on (and down their throats) as they recorded each album. As a young music fan, i believed that if you liked a band then you should listen to all their albums and i kind of almost imagined that they were all made by the same band always trying to make the best possible album, but as this book illustrates really well, is that it was a different four blokes who made each cd, even if they always inhabited the same four bodies. they were in different places, taking different drugs (or none at all for their most boring records), and trying not to kill each other in different ways. Plus each album had a different producer with his own vision, different record company guy with his own agenda, and different wives with their own issues. I guess albums are like photos that you can't throw away, so you're stuck wearing that shirt and having that haircut forever.

These days i no longer assume that just because i like one album by a band that means i'll like everything they make. can't think of any band that has consistently made great albums. and making a bad disc doesn't take anything away from their earlier great ones. i'd love to hear anyone name a band that has made only good albums.

Shana Tova everyone

families

2008-09-29T04:28:00.002+13:00

so i just discovered my brother has a blog. actually my other brother does too. guess we're a family of bloggers. but then while i just ramble on about random stuff, they both seem to be educating the masses about the weekly Torah reading, obscure Halachik facts or dodgy right wing politics. please don't judge me by their politics. in fact, please don't judge them on their politics, because they're actually nice guys.

but anyhoo, michael recently posted about songs for our sister's wedding (oh yeah, btw, my sister is getting married in Feb). you know stuff to walk down the aisle to, first dance etc. not sure if my brother's list is particularly helpful but its definitely more helpful than this list of particularly bad songs to walk down the aisle to:

Theme from Titanic - one because of the titanic motif and two because its a particularly bad song, although having said that i have been to a wedding where the bride did walk down the aisle to that song and if you're reading this, i'm relatively sorry.

Every Rose has its Thorn - Poison - this song was used on the simpsons when otto got married, with poison really performing it.

I've had the time of my life - dirty dancing soundtrack - actually don't even remember who sang this, but past tense is always a bad idea at the start of a wedding.

Han's fiancé suggested Jaws theme, which would be fun.

Far Q by Das Ben (in fact i don't think any das ben songs would make appropriate wedding music)

Woke up this morning - Alabama 3 - theme from Sopranos - actually that'd be quite a cool way to walk up the aisle. wonder how i can convince my sister to go for it. Down in a Hole - theme from the Wire would be equally as cool, as would a bond theme.

a few more suggestions like this and my invite may be revoked.

mudwords

2008-09-26T01:41:00.003+12:00

so way back on 6 sept West London Writing Group (of which i'm a devoted member) put on a 2 hour performance of rehearsed readings at the West London Literary Festival. West London Literary Festival is such an impressive way of saying two tents on a muddy field, but the festival did feature big names like Andrew Motion (Poet Laurette) and Richard Briers (Good Lifer).

my short script Headed for a Heartbreak was impressively performed by a group of great actors, particular kudos go to David Sayers, who played the main part of Rikki Knight, and nailed the part, coming across with the perfect combination of bogan rock naivity and stoopid love-struck geek. The script tells the story of Rikki searching London for the city's finest Winger Tribute band so that he can impress the girls of his dreams. He finds tribute bands in such strange places as Southhall Indian Restaurants, primary school choirs and bag-piping buskers. but only once he finds London's best band is he able to win over Michelle's heart. Unfortunately not for him.

It was probably the first time a Winger song had been played through a Chiswick PA in years, and for that I am sorry, but the performance went well, and for that I'm proud, and in truth, as best as i can tell there are no Winger tribute bands in London and for that i am very relieved.

(btw if you don't remember how awful the song was, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzuAKBu366k )

it goes exactly like this

2008-09-24T21:36:00.002+12:00

so last night we went to see the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, a NY family who buy up old family slideshows (and corporate slides from old conferences) from garage sales and write songs about them. Dad plays keyboards and guitar, mum works the slideshow projector and daughter plays drums. it was very sweet. they performed 3 songs based on mcdonalds 1977 marketing conference slide, worried that they weren't advertising enough. they also played a game where called who's wearing the cheapest outfit in the room. not the right crowd for the game, but luckily for them someone was wearing an outfit that altogether cost less than £10

made me wonder about theme or concept shows. always has bad connotations, but maybe it is an easier way to come up with song ideas during this sahara of lyric writing blocks i'm having write now. ideas for concepts? anyone?

ketchup

2008-09-24T03:22:00.004+12:00

so i've recently discovered that someone has been reading my blog. is it you? no, its ron. unless you are ron. in which case it is you. hi ron.

which makes me feel semi-bad that i have not written up some of the fun things i've done in the past few months. so here's one of hopefully many catch-up entries.

in June i went to day 2 of the Love Box festival in Victoria Park, East London. Basically the whole day felt like an amazing Flaming Lips concert with too many opening acts because they were the motherlode whereas the rest of the sets i saw were a bit average. the first thing we went to was the new york dance party tent, a pumping sweaty nightclub filled with drag queens in cages and people in fake mostaches. it was going off like the fake tashes weren't. but it was too hot on a sunny afternoon to be inside a nightclub listening to cheesy beats so i didn't stick that out long. yup, i'm still a rock and roll boy.

Ebony Bones were a high energy funk outfit (with funky outfits) that look and sound like they are going to be huge within a year or two and deservedly so. The Dandy Warhols on the other hand looked like a bunch of grumpy has-beens who felt cheated that they weren't on the main stage, so they made the crowd suffer through average new songs which were further hampered by a bad sound system. A long time ago we used to be friends, but...

Eventually the Flaming Lips came on the main stage and holy crap were they fun. Wayne entered the show inside a giant bubble, which he rolled all the way out over the audience, and then didn't stop moving the whole show, he made the energiser bunny look like a lazy bum. meanwhile standing on the sides of the stage were 20 people dressed up in pink monk robes or iron man costumes. at the back of the stage was a screen showing old experimental films and above the stage was an impressive firework display. so i probably would have enjoyed the show even if i had been deaf. fortunately i'm not because they also sounded fantastic. rocking the crowd with Fanatical and the Yeah Yeah Yeah song and then moving us all to sing along to a slow version of Yoshimi. Beautiful from beginning to end.

Pity it had to end, but instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don'-go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

what what

2008-09-22T23:17:00.002+12:00

so each day on my way to work (yup, i've still got 16 more work days before my spain adventures begin) i walk past a person selling the Times newspaper and a person selling the Sun newspaper. they must stand next to each other for hours each morning, and i imagine their conversations sound something like this:

Times seller: Wot wot
Sun seller: Y'what?
Times seller: Wot wot
Sun seller: Whatever, do i look bovered
Times seller: I say
Sun seller: Say what...
Times seller: Wot wot

and so on, but i'll stop there because i'm finding it very difficult to transcribe different british accents.

speaking of newspaper sellers, wouldn't it be great if they returned to the old annoying days of shouting more:
'Extra extra, read all about it, Tories blame Gordon for lack of temperature stability over summer'
'Paper, get yer paper, TFL to invent new colour so they can build new tube line'
'Extra extra, Morrissey ate my budgie'

Actually, that last headline was a real one i saw in a Sunday Sport (i was reading a discarded copy on a train). Turns out some guy has a cat called Morrissey and the cat ate his budgie. There is a light that never goes out...

entschuldingung

2008-07-15T07:26:00.002+12:00

so i just made a new myspace friend today and his name is das ben, but of course he can't have myspace.com/dasben or dasben.com cause i've got them. sorry. i kinda feel bad because he's actually german and so its almost like he deserves the 'das' more than i do. but then again, if he is actually german, he should know that das is neutral and grammatically incorrect.

anyway check him out here:
http://www.myspace.com/beninouterspace

last week i went to see The Magnetic Fields play a set at Cadogan Hall. it is such a beautiful venue (i also saw Turin Brakes there a few months back). Magnetic Fields plays some of the quirkiest prettiest zombie love songs known to man, but damn they were grumpy buggers. telling the audience off for clapping or talking or pretty much turning up. their rapport was reminiscent of the Hansome Family, but not funny. i'm not sure if it was supposed to be. maybe they are just really miserable bastards. stephen merritt should stay in his room and continue to write beautiful music, but please don't leave it again

stinking apologies

2008-04-19T11:29:00.002+12:00

have you ever noticed how hard it is to sit behind a bald man and ignore that voice inside your head that tells you to draw a smiley face on the back of his head? self-restraint 1 - voices in my head 0.

this morning london stunk. stunk like the stinkiest thing i've ever stonked. like rotton eggs wrapped in a skunk wearing a suit made of poo. and apparently the smell came from a strong wind blowing the scent of manure from farms in france. that's a stinky wind.

and speaking of stink, my blogging is. sorry. since i last wrote i've seen The Cure play at Wembley Arena (and holy shit they did not stink even a little bit, although seeing our bus hit a pedestrian on the way to the gig did), i've been to yarm (its a cute small town somewhere in the industrial north - just take a right at the second nuclear power plant, past the industrial waste site, and left at the field of burning tyres), seen snow, and probably done some other fun stuff. sounds like the kind of thing i would do.

chag sameach

from hank to hendrix...

2008-03-17T06:49:00.002+13:00

so this weekend i saw Neil Young play at the Hammersmith Apollo. Holy shit i think it was the best concert i've ever been to. he first played a solo acoustic set, where he sat on stage surrounded by 8 beautiful guitars and two pianos, and just played a bunch of songs, interspersed with random comments or him just standing up to look at the painter who was painting canvases at the back of the stage. he looks like a man from another planet examining this world with an anthropological interest, kind of David Attenboroughesque, but then when he sang he had the voice of angel. After his wonderful solo set he took a break and then came back with a band and played a full noisy feedbacky set of rock and roll goodness. pure perfection. i think they're going to release a dvd of the show so you'll be able to see what i'm talking about.

florence

2008-03-12T10:02:00.002+13:00

so i know i keep saying i'll stop writing about the tube, but it is such a large part of my day and it is constantly odd. for example today they didn't turn the lights on in my carriage so it was dark. very dark. everyone could suddenly relax because no one was watching them, and at the same time get scared because they couldn't see anyone.

oh, and another thing. do pregnant women just spend all day travelling around underground?

this weekend we went to florence, which is a damn cute city filled with terracotta colours and statues with great asses. i don't know much about art, but i like it when its naked.

the art at the uffizi gallery was very impressive - botticelli's venus, and all the ninja turtles except for donatello (who designed the windows at the Duomo Cathedral next door). the pizza and gelato was also impressive. as was the river and the bridges. yeah, its true, i was impressed.

we went from florence to pisa to see some tower that's on a lean. there was a small tower in a field of tourists taking photos of themselves pretending to hold up the tower. hilarious.

people are so clever these days.

[insert bowie song title here]

2008-03-04T07:46:00.003+13:00

so i've got a new idea for a film, but i'm not going to actually make it, so feel free to take this idea and make a million dollars:

a man in 1985 gets accidentally frozen (an accident in a slurpie machine) and wakes up in 2008 and finds that everything is... exactly the same. everyone is getting excited by rambo and knight rider movies, police concerts, jackets with short sleeves and puffy shoulders, and world war three is minutes from beginning.

just an idea.

churchtime

2008-03-03T05:37:00.000+13:00

so yesterday i went to a charity gig in the afternoon in a church in notting hill, raising money for aids orphans in africa or something wholesome. we went because we knew early 80s all-girl post-punk band The Raincoats were playing. we arrived and there were a trillion very small children running around and a woman singing the wheels on the bus. we ran to the pub and returned two hours later to see a band of 14 year olds playing rock covers. then suddenly they begin covering Should I Stay or Should I go and we look up and Mick Jones from the Clash is singing with them. he then returns to playing with his baby and reading his Guardian. then the band finishes and they announce another guest and Beth Orton gets up and plays a set! then the raincoats played wonderful chaotic stabby post-punk goodness while under 5s dance along. a beautifully surreal gig.

brussel crowe

2008-01-16T09:46:00.000+13:00

so i forgot to write about brussels. last weekend we took the eurostar to belgium. the eurostar rocks. travelling by plane involves travelling a long way to the airport, waiting for ages, lining up, more waiting for ages, bit more waiting, then overpriced bad coffee, then more waiting, ok, you get the idea. but on the eurostar we turned up 45 minutes before our train left, passport check and security took 3 minutes and before we knew it we were on a train, which before we knew it was in belgium. and all with a much smaller carbon footprint (due to smaller carbon shoes).

so brussels is a city that wouldn't stand out if we had been on a big european trip - its got some nice cathedrals and paved streets and statues, but let's face it, which european city doesn't? but when visited alone it had a chance to shine. and the thing that made it shine was the food. wow. belgian waffles are amazing in belgium, whereas they're quite mediocre elsewhere. belgian chocolate - yum. chips with mayonnaise - yeah baby yeah. and then there is the belgian beer. which is my favourite beer made by monks.

the music instrument museum was fascinating. couldn't read the signs in french or flemmish so i had to depend on my eyes (ok reading also depends on eyes, but just humour me a bit) and my ears (i wore a headset that played a clip of each instrument as i walked past it). saw a piano owned by beethoven. bob beethoven. no, i mean ludwig. also saw some twisty clarinets called Serpents and some beautifully painted harpsichords.

unfortunately my lack of french or flemmish prevented me from going to the tintin or jacques brel museums.

we also went to bruges, a gorgeous little town which looks like it should be made of gingerbread. too cute to be taken seriously. loved it.

its good to be the ben

one more thing about the tube (then i'll stop)

2008-01-05T05:53:00.001+13:00

so on the tube there's nowhere to look except down at your book or shoes. which is normally ok because i have good books and i like my shoes. but sometimes when a really good song comes on my ipod i find i can't look down. because when good music is playing you have to look up. and around. which you can't do on the tube. leading to a conundrum today when Magnetic Fields came on my ipod random. people think i'm looking at them, but really in my head i'm not even on the tube, i'm in some happy magnetic field showstopping operetta. so don't worry if you thought i was looking at you today. i wasn't. nothing personal. i just wasn't.

oh and speaking of fine fine music, i had a great boogie on new years eve at an Old Man's Beard Must Go party. i believe their next show is in Hanoi. don't miss it.

one more thing about the tube (then i'll stop)

2008-01-05T05:53:00.000+13:00

singing

2007-12-16T23:39:00.000+13:00

so last night a woman on the tube just started singing, and even whistling for a bit. not busking. just singing. possibly not even aware that she was singing. but she was. it was decisively unbritish. i loved it.

for those that don't know, there are very strict rules about communication with strangers on a tube, or anywhere in public. you may not talk to anyone ever about anything. UNLESS there is something to complain about, and then you can talk about anything. For example, if a train is delayed, you can roll your eyes at someone, say something disparaging about the london underground and then once that complaint is made you may talk about anything for as long as you want. once i was standing at a bus stop silently, then a bus drove past without stopping. the woman next to me said something comlainy about the bus driver and then we talked for the next 20 minutes about travelling and our favourite cities. another time i was on the tube and someone hiccuped. that was enough for someone else on the tube to mention the hiccupping and then (and only then) was it acceptable for me to ask the mentioner about the guitar he was carrying and then we talked about the gig he had done that night.

engish. no wonder they lost the empire.

(still love this town)

me and the system

2007-11-29T02:15:00.000+13:00

so me and the system have not been getting on lately. beauracrats and administraters citywide appear determined to make my life hell. i'm trying to not take it personally because everyone has horror stories about setting stuff up in this country, but yesterday i spent the day waiting for a courier delivery that was due the day before (and didn't arrive yesterday either, despite, or maybe because of, a number of phone calls from me), and then travelling an hour and half to meet the HR man at my new job to fill out the police check form that i had already completed 4 weeks ago, but have to do again because the HR manager signed it in the wrong colour pen and the police returned it. grrr.

but in the weekend i had fun in cardiff, exploring castles and the underwhelming dr who museum, and last thursday i enjoyed Josh Ritter playing at the Shep Bush Empire (a truly stunning venue). Josh had a few moments of pure perfection, and then the rest of the show was above average alt-country bruce springsteen-lite pop. but he looked so happy to be there that his enthusiasm wore my cynacism down. if you haven't heard it, check out his song 'Wings', it is amazing.

Hank

2007-11-09T00:46:00.000+13:00

so yesterday i bought a guitar. he's black, has a warm sounding pick-up and he's called Hank (although he's really a belgian, made in china, guitar called Stagg). i've already played it til my fingers bled (well, blistered anyway). now if i can just shake this stoopid cold, i'll be good to take on some open mics and get rocking.

das ben podcast

2007-10-29T21:05:00.000+13:00

there's lots of great things on the internet - cornographic pictures, ads for cornograhy, and even pictures of baby corn. but once you've had enough of sweet sweet corn, check out this nz music podcast featuring some great bands and artists from new zealand, including Toy Love, Tama Waipara, and Tadpole, and then despite me not beginning with a T, you can still hear Das Ben track Blood on my Shoe.

enjoy.

(by the way, i'm just being silly, i don't support cornography or anything that degrades fruit and vegetables)

budapest

2007-10-27T01:23:00.001+13:00

so this week, G and i went to budapest with Dad, my brother, and my sister. Two years ago i'd been to Budapest. on that trip i saw a spring beautiful city waking up the west and tourism, i felt like i was seeing the city my grandparents loved so much in the 1920s. this trip Budapest was cold and dark, as was the weather. it was the week of the anniversary of the 1956 revolution and streets were closed for demonstrations by a Nationalist movement who burnt cars and attacked journalists and probably had no real connection with the philosophy behind the 56 revolution. we had to avoid large areas of the city and watch out for fascists. I felt like i was seeing the city that treated my father and grandparents so horribly in the 1940s.

But it was amazing, we stayed in a big apartment in the middle of Pest, close to Vaci Utce, the main shopping street (although Dad remembers it as being the poshest shops in the 1940s, whereas today there was a lot of cheap tourist crap on sale too). Dad showed us his old apartment, synagogue, his grandparents' apartment, his old primary and high schools, and the ghetto where he was forced to live in the winter of 1944. the tour was filled with ghosts as we thought about Dad's parents, aunts and uncles, and friends, and mourned the parts of the story that we'll now never know because no one alive remembers those details. Possibly the most moving part of the trip for me was being in the synagogue which Dad's grandfather helped establish. It is now a holocaust museum, dark corridors filled with pictures and movies that describe the evil events of the war, then at the end of the museum is the synagogue, white walls and brightly lit, with plaques about the importance of remembering what happened and also continuing to live.

We also saw some of the tourist sites, particularly on the Buda side of the river which was away from the demonstrations. Budapest is filled with statues commemorating everyone and everything, usually people that fought valiently but ultimately lost some battle or another, although from the statues you can't always tell that they lost the battle. Favourite statue was a depiction of King Matyas out on a hunt with his dogs and scribe. to the side of the group is a peasant woman, Helen, who fell in love with the hunter, then died of a broken heart when she discovered he was the king. unfortunately his hunting dogs weren't Hungarian Viszlers, national dog of Hungary, mascot for the Plastic Kitchen, and inspiration for the song 'you're a dog, i'll treat you like one'.

ketchup

2007-10-19T22:12:00.000+13:00

so i'm in london. its still a great town. busy noisy dirty and so much fun. there's always stuff happening which i always mean to go to, and occasionally i do. so first three quick stories about things i've done, then a quick story about what i'll do next.

Warwick Castle - two weekends ago we had a great day at warwick castle, up near Lamington Spa. can't remember who used to live in it or why its there, but if you want to know more you can wiki it here .damn its a cool castle, we ran around the ramparts, explored the dungeon, avoided the annoying madame taussauds wax displays, watched demonstrations of long bows and catapaults, and marvelled at the hedges cut to be shaped like peacocks (and real peacocks wondered around laughing at the humans and our lack of plumage). all in all a great weekend, ruined only by watching all blacks play some poor rugby in a bar filled with french people (they didn't play in the bar, although they may well have been drinking at half time).

Brighton - oh i do love to be besides the seaside, i do love to be beside the sea. get mugged by seagulls wanting our doughnuts, and narrowly avoided getting mugged by penny arcades that wanted our coins. dazzled by the pavillion, bach of king george iv (who if blackadder the third is to be believed was actually edmund blackadder), and i stared in awe in a guitar shop while everyone else shopped. still haven't got a guitar, i kind of feel like i should get a flat before i get a guitar. one day soon...

Jeffrey Lewis - one of my favourite musicians (and oddly the third new york jewish antifolk musician gig i've seen in a row), played a stonking set in brick lane the other night. on cd he plays quiet songs about his quirky miserable life, but on stage he brought some friends and made some noise. one of the oddest rock and roll moments i have ever seen was during the penultimate song when he had the whole crowd singing along with his chorus 'we don't want no LSD tonight' (its the sequel song to an earlier song 'the last time i did acid i went insane'). so the gig stonked up a storm and i went home after buying the cd of the opening act Wave Pictures (who was actually Andre Herman Dune - who i saw play last month, maybe the music scene here is smaller than i thought).

oh and i've got a job. won't write much about it, other than to say that we'll be giving out questionnaires to people, which contain this question:
Are you male or female?
Yes or No (tick box)

not sure i want to meet the 'No's.