In my last post, I telnetted from London's Cyberia cyber-cafe and wrote
about my fun night jamming at the Blue Note club. A fellow list member,
Simon, replied and told me he was at the jam too! Small world, eh?
After that week, I went to Paris. I didn't do much acid-jazz related, but
I did get to meet Daniel Hirshkoff from the list and appreciated his
hospitality as he let me stay at his place when I was there. He has an
impressive CD and record collection, which I loved since he has a lot of
albums I have, as well as stuff I'd like to have. I didn't get to check
out the club scene in Paris, as I was tired after walking around and
riding the Metro all day long, but he was very helpful Merci beaucoup,
Daniel!
In London, I did some crazy shopping. Matt from Acid Jazz records set me
a line and I called him there to inquire about where I could get an "Acid
Jazz" records logo t-shirt. He set me up to go to their products
warehouse, where I met Paul, who worked there. I only asked for a t-shirt,
but he let me into their stockroom and said, "Help yourself..." Of
course, they didn't give the stuff away, but the shirts and CDs were only
a few pounds each (at cost) and I was like a kid in a candy store there.
I got some Snowboy and JTQ CDs as well as Totally Wired 11, a couple od
logo t-shirts and an old BNH shirt I found there. Thanks, Matt and Paul!
In the other stores I went crazy. I bought Jamiroquai, Incognito and
Portishead T-shirts, stuff you could never really get in America - but
I'm sure it's no big deal to you Brits.
I also bought Incognito's "100 And Rising" album (great timing, eh?) and
by the way, it's excellent. Much better than their slighty awkward '94 album
"Positivity." The Quiet Boys' "Bosh" was another purchase, and if you
live in or are visinting London, I strongly encourage you to listen to it
on your discman or walkman while riding on the BR's Thameslink rail line
- it's the PERFECT soundtrack.
I also enjoyed some UK TV...last weekend they had the JTQ on "Littlejohn
Live and Uncut", playing "Starsky and Hutch" and "Whole Lotta Love," and
joking why they are a "quartet" when they're really a 7-piece band.
On Channel 4 on Saturday, they also had 30 minutes of a BNH concert circa
'94, and I did listen to Giles Peterson's radio program on Kiss-FM. For
an American, London is simply amazing. I'm going back there soon!
Elson