Madrid

Madrid for Christmas. Good fun, was only actually in Madrid for about 3 days. It was a nice enough city. I felt as tho I'd seen it in the 3 days I was there. Barcelona feels better and is more friendly(that's could be winter compared to summer)

I have a friend living and working there now, so maybe I'll get a longer trip in and see it from a locals perspective and change my mind.

Sunrise over Palma de Mallorca

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Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

I'm in Palma de Mallorca for a conference.(life sucks eh?)

This is the view from my hotel room at 7am. Actually life does suck - 7 days living out of a suitcase getting up at 7am, and then doing work/socialising/networking till late at night.

I've managed to catch a cold by swimming in the outdoor swimming pool.
Mallorca is pretty nice. As always I wish I had time to see more of it, but needs must. Chopin lived here for a year and composed much of his later stuff here, there looks to be some more interesting scenery elsewhere on the island, Palma is basically a tourist resort, except for a small old town, a nice cathedral, and an old castle.

Zurich - From the bridge

Zurich - From the bridge
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

Zurich, Switzerland. Its my first time in Switzerland and it didn't start well. In order to not miss yet another Dutch lesson, I decided that the 7am flight was a good idea. This was then cancelled by KLM, so I waited around and arrived in Zurich late for the conference. The airport is really strange, its like a time warp back to the seventies. It looks a bit like a James Bond film.

Things got worse when I decided to walk home from the conference(I find it the best way to see a city), and discovered that my hotel was not 1 block from where I was, but one vertical mile stretched across 1 block.(If only they had gradient lines on street maps), so like a good stubborn male I climbed about three million steps, and finally got my head down for the night.

Zurich isn't bad, it was some strange blend of Germany and France. The Swiss identity still escapes me, but I wasn't there for long.

I'm afraid there's not much to see. Well I'm sure there is, but not in the town centre on a rainy Sunday.

Sagrada Familia - Barcelona

"dos boletos a la sagrada familia. por favor."

Conference time again. A group of us had to go, which is always more fun. A school mate was also in town at the time, so all in all this was a great trip. Went to the Sagrada Familia again.(I was in Barcelona in 1998) Its as amazing as always. Very inspiring, and the steps are such good exercise.

I like Barcelona. It's huge, but I like it. The weather was lovely just warm enough to be in shirts wandering around Parc Ciutadella.

Cycling round the canals of Amsterdam

Cycling round the canals of Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

This is the view from a pedal boat going round the canals of Amsterdam, with my brother and his girlfriend on a beautiful summers day.

MC5, Paradiso, Amsterdam

I've decided to start going through my iPhotos and writing up some of the past stuff like concerts. I Usually had a description in my email anyway.

This is from MC5 at the paradiso.
I'm not that into going to see reformed shells of bands who once meant something to someone. All I really knew about the MC5 was that they wrote "Kick out the Jams", which is a damn good song, and has been played at one point or another by almost every Band who picked up a guitar. They were one of the original loud garage bands who paved the way for punk(UK bands like the who and the yardbirds were a bit earlier) along with the stooges and iggy pop. The sound was raw, and very similar to what we called grunge when I was a wee wean!

Why did I go? Well three reasons(In reverse order):

1. I'd get to hear kick out the Jams.
2. Mars Volta have convinced me of late that garage band rock might be of interest.
3. Evan Dando was singing back up.
4. Mark Arm was singing backup.

Now getting to see some hasbeens play a classic wasn't enough to go to the show, but both Evan Dando and Mark Arm was.

I've always loved the lemonheads. Evan Dando is a great chilled song writer. Now that he's less popular I've seen him in some really small venues in Glasgow. His music really suits small venues. I've also seen him out in glasgow with some other vaguely famous musicians. He's a pretty cool guy all round.

Mark Arm. What can I say. Mudhoney are one of the most phenomenal bands of all time. Refusing to be cool, and being cooler because of it. I think they stand the test of time far better than Nirvana, and they tend to pop up in my brain every time someone mentions grunge. They are one of those bands which are just so much fun. They are simultaneously the most and least talented band on the planet, and they have that essence of what it means to be in a band. The who gives a fuck attitude, as long as we are having fun.

Anyway. Mudhoney is another story. The paradiso is a strange venue, the stage isn't as high as I feel it should be and it manages to be more intimate than a venue of its size should be. You get very close to the musicians.

The support act was some stoned out acid casualty beat poet from Detroit(but now living in NL somewhere - Rotterdam??). He knew Timothy Leary and Ginsburg. It was quite good fun, and was a kind of a good aperitif for MC5, kind of made you feel like you were in the 60's

The MC5 then came on they did a few numbers with just the core band. Wayne Kramer(Pictured), while having far less hair than in most MC5 pictures was a damn good guitarist, we wasn't a bad singer either. Still a lot of energy. Sometimes, no matter how good the band are, if they are feeling a bit fed up and down in energy, it comes across to the audience. Tonight that wasn't a problem, everybody felt alive.

They were even more alive when Mark Arm joined in.... See below.....

Mark Lanegan, Melkweg, Amsterdam

Life ain't too bad. Its certainly ain't as bad as it could be. That's what Mark Lanegan(Or the Mark Lanegan Band as they were now known) convince you of.

I've seen lanegan about 3 times now. First time was in about 98' with about 50 other people, when he was touring "scraps at midnight" (Mike Johnson - guitar, Ben Shepherd - bass, Marc Olsen - guitar, Mark Bouquist - drums). His music has got much heavier, probably due to his time spent with queens of the stoneage, and much more popular, definitely due to his time spent with queens of the stoneage.

Now we have full protools drums etc. Which is a far stretch from the traditional blues which he verged on before. He has however lost none of his angst, pain, hurt, and he still doesn't open his eyes when he sings.

The Melkweg was full to the brim. The more electric band makes it a far darker sound(Well it was dark before, but now its loud and dark). They played mostly from the new album "Bubblegum", and it was pretty good
I preferred it when it was 50 guys who liked screaming trees who had all went to the gig alone tho.

Mark Arm singing with the MC5

So on comes Mark Arm. He's a got a big nose, he usually wears bad shirts, I wish he was playing guitar, and also throwing in a few mudhoney songs, but tonight Matthew, I'm going to be Rob Tyner of the MC5.

You could tell me was just like a little kid. He was delighted to be playing all these songs from his childhood with his heros.

I remember when mudhoney played at the Melkweg(Another Amsterdam venue, just round the corner from the paradiso), I had only been living in Amsterdam for a few months and to my shame didn't know which door you entered to get to the Bands part of the Melkweg. I walked past the front and saw mudhoney and the catheters sitting at the bar and decided I must be in the right place. I offered to buy them a drink, and they told me that they had free drink and bought me one. Which I thought was pretty cool. They then talked about there car breaking down coming from Paris and having to get it fixed or something. Just a completely down to earth set of guys having a beer. It felt great to confirm that they were just some guys who enjoyed being in a band.

Anyway. He was as good and full of passion and energy with mudhoney as he was with MC5. We even had the in the crowd with a microphone singing to women Jim Morrison style(Maybe its Rob Tyner style - I don't know)

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

Las Palmas
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

A trip back to relative civilisation. This is the capital of Gran Canaria. Its quite a busy bustling city. Not that much to see, but I needed to see a little more than sand and water after a while(I couldn't switch off completely!)

Aranaga beach

Aranaga beach
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

I'm not much for beach holidays, but I'm in gran canaria following a busy two weeks in Paris. I have a friend who lives here, so I'm in a nice quiet local beach reading books, playing guitar, swimming, and generally chilling out.

Louvre Bum - Paris

Louvre Bum - Paris
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

In the Louvre again. I prefer the Musee D' Orsay, but I cam here with some good friends and I particularly enjoyed it. We wandered aimlessly, which I think is the way to do it. The first time I pretty much ran round, to make sure that I saw everything

Scarey Church - Paris

Scarey Church - Paris
Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

Paris again, for a conference. This time in July. This was a big scarey gothic church near our hotel. There was also a French steak restaurant just across from it that was pretty damn good.

Paris was a joy as always. Three of us in Paris, so there were a few good beering sessions(Paris is very Expensive!!!), and some very good meals.

Music Conference in Munich

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Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

Its a whole cow on a spit, it must be bavaria. Munich in March, very nice city. Everyone seems to speak english when you speak to them in German, this could be for one of three reasons:

1. My german has got worse(very possible)
2. Germany as a whole have developed better english in the time I was away and now want to show it off
3. Munich is a friendlier, younger city.

Personally I think It's a mixture of all three

Who says you can't have a beach holiday in scotland

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Originally uploaded by furbyx4.

New year 03/04 was spent back in scotland with some dutch friends running around trying to see the whole place in 4 days.

This is a beach outside edinburgh where we took a walk to blow away 2003's cobwebs and hangover's.