The Americans Are Coming, The Americans Are Coming!

Actually 'the Americans' (my mother-in-law and our niece) arrived yesterday afternoon. As all good houseguests should, they came bearing gifts: a couple of rather festive Fender-branded T's and a pair of Ray Bans, styling circa 1970... retro-chic straight out of Carrie Bradshaw's closet.

Now, I'm more of a Gibson meets Prada kinda guy, and green isn't really my colour, but y'know, I think I can work with this stuff!



Sometimes, being one half of a bi-national couple has its benefits. Family don't drop in every day, and when they do they bring cool pressies!

The flip side is that today I'm suffering from 'passive jetlag'. I may not have crossed time zones but my delightful-but-hyper 8-year old niece did... my required (or at least desired) 8 hours sleep was significantly shortened by her 6 hour time difference! So, it was a Fender T, retro Ray Ban, two coffee kind of morning, and I'm downing my third java boost with lunch.

Still, last night was a lot of fun. My niece loves the fact that 'Uncle Kenny' plays guitar and she tried to put together an impromptu concert. She even wrote a new song for the show, which had pretty damn good lyrics, considering the vintage of the source. A tale of forlorn longing and the loss of intimacy. I'm not kidding!

As she already knew the lyrics to "Proud Mary", remembering them from a road trip we took at the tail end of last year, I set to learning the chords and trying to remember the rhythm. Sadly, the show per se never actually got off the ground due to a scheduling conflict with din-dins. Dinner itself was less than nutritionally balanced and included a lot more chocolate than I'm used to.

Tonight is the debut gig and album launch party for Twickenham-based rockers Magic Ship. I was hoping to head over to Barnes to catch the gig, but with the arrival of the in-laws that doesn't seem likely. For any of you who are local and at a loose end I heartily advocate getting down to The White Hart to check out the band.

Trust me, you're going to like what you hear, you'll get to meet the band and, last but definitely not least, you'll be able to buy their hotly-anticipated debut album at a special reduced rate.



Oh, and while I think about it, I'd like to send out a special 'hello' to all the Rufus Wainwright fans who've stopped by over the last couple of days! I didn't realise that the boy had such a following! I've not had such a huge spike in my page hits since I mentioned having seen Pete Doherty walking down our street! The cynics amongst the blogging community will doubtless accuse me of milking the keywords 'Rufus Wainwright' and 'Pete Doherty' to boost my traffic, but, frankly, if that was the case then I'd have pointed out that I posted a 'review' of his 'Hampton Court' gig yesterday. Oops... I just did. Sorry...

I wonder what a duet between Pete Doherty and Rufus Wainwright would sound like... (okay, not really...)

Rufus Wainwright Live @ Hampton Court Palace

Last night we caught Rufus Wainwright's show, which is part of 2008's Hampton Court Palace Festival. The festival includes such esteemed artists as Jools Holland, Van Morrison, the Buena Vista Social Club... the list goes on. If you choose the VIP package then you're even treated to hospitality by Gordon Ramsey.

For those brave enough to weather the English summer, guests were invited to picnic in the stunning palace gardens. We weren't feeling brave, and since it poured right up until the show started, we made a good decision. As soon as we were asked to take our seats, though, the rain ceased and we were lucky enough not to get soaked despite the open-air seating.

For those familiar with the palace, at one time the favourite home of Henry VIII, the sound stage was set up in the first courtyard as you enter from the West Gate. For those unfamiliar, here's an aerial view, courtesy of Google Maps.



You've got to love Google Maps. The Festival setup is actually shown in the picture, with the blue covered section clearly visible. It's an intimite setting with surprisingly good acoustics.

Prior to the concert I only really knew Rufus from one song: the cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which appears on the soundtrack of the movie "Shrek". A year ago we were treated to an impromptu recital of the song when he was pulled out of the audience at one of our favourite Christmas-time shows, Kiki & Herb.

I had expected a rather dour, seriously musical show, but in fact Rufus's personality shone through his playing, singing and audience patter and the evening turned out to be part concert and part camp cabaret. Rufus sang, Rufus played piano and Rufus even strummed on the guitar.

Even though I didn't know any of the songs, save the perfectly-timed encore of the aforementioned "Hallelujah", it wasn't a problem. The man has such a great voice that he could sing the phone book and still be captivating.

I normally find it hard to get into concerts when I don't know the material, but the performance was so good that I was hooked from the get-go.

Concert Alert: Robert Randolph @ Borderline

Just the other day I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't want to go pay VIP ticket prices to see the upcoming Eric Clapton show in Hyde Park. When I heard that Robert Randolph and Jason Mraz had been added to the artist roster it made me mad as it felt like the promoters were TORTURING ME!

This morning I heard that Robert Randolph is playing a side gig at Borderline on Manette Street, just off Charing Cross Road! It's not clear whether The Family Band will be with him or not. The concert info just says 'plus guests'. Hey, maybe Eric'll sit in?

Credit card out, logged onto Ticketmaster, pair of tickets purchased!

Side rant:
Ticket price is £13.50... but...
Booking fee is £3.25 per ticket...
Postage is £4.95 (and the tickets will doubtless be delivered at a time we won't be home so we'll have to chase around London trying to find them)

All up price comes out at £38.45, or £19 plus change per ticket. So, on a pair of tickets you end up paying 42% over and above face value. If you just bought 1 ticket you'd be upcharged 60%. Consumer rip-off? I think so!

Any road up...

We don't have many concerts lined up this summer due to work and study constraints. So far our schedule looks like:

12 April: Oli Brown Band
3 June: Rufus Wainwright
27 June: Robert Randolph
5 July: Dolly Parton

Also thinking about going to the Skinny Molly gig (organised by Pete Feenstra) on 3 May.

Assuming it's still on (!) I plan on going to the blues jam at The Old Explorer pub, Oxford Circus, tonight. If it's good I'll make it a regular Thursday night gig.