Tuesday, April 18, 2006
w/end
Robbie Williams on Thursday nite at the Greenpoint Stadium (friend of a friend selling one ticket).
Very good show, very professional.
the circus is back in town
The sound was good, the band pumping, the entertainer suitably entertaining with plenty of laddish scruffiness and inter-song banter[1].
But somehow I didn't connect emotionally with either the music or the singer.
The problem is that, as the lyrics to Come Undone make clear, he's 'so self-aware'.
Yes, sure self-awareness[2], self reference, post modernism 101, blah blah.
But isn't that the purity we look for in music - for it to have come from somewhere unexpected?
And when they proceeded to slaughter There She Goes[3] I couldn't help feeling that while Lee Mavers certainly was aware of what he was doing[4]; when he first banged out those chords and the bizarre falsetto that it came from somewhere beyond what he could have intended.
With RW everything, every little jig and mug and bounce, is intentional.
Still, he deserves the money.
What I did connect with emotionally was the Two Oceans Half Marathon (or as someone pointed out - the No Oceans).
Whoo-he! fantastic race. fantastic course. ~10 000 people proceeding up along main road Wynberg as the last streetlights go out. I can't wait for next year.
My time wasn't great - 1:35:something - I was hoping for 1:32:something.
I was too conservative on the first 12kms.
But I'm now sure that I can get under 90 minutes and am going to try to do one more race before deepest winter to get there.
[1] I was impressed by his use of profanity, especially the c-word. That certainly didn't make it onto the Knebworth DVD.
[2] Something that I'm still trying to shake is how self-aware I feel about these posts. It sucks - I'm aware that I'm aware and that I'm trying to not be aware of it and how much it worries me. whatever.
[3] One of two covers in the evening - the other being an excellent re-animation of Back For Good
[4] Authentic 60's dust on authentic 60's mixing desks? come on.
Very good show, very professional.
the circus is back in townBut somehow I didn't connect emotionally with either the music or the singer.
The problem is that, as the lyrics to Come Undone make clear, he's 'so self-aware'.
Yes, sure self-awareness[2], self reference, post modernism 101, blah blah.
But isn't that the purity we look for in music - for it to have come from somewhere unexpected?
And when they proceeded to slaughter There She Goes[3] I couldn't help feeling that while Lee Mavers certainly was aware of what he was doing[4]; when he first banged out those chords and the bizarre falsetto that it came from somewhere beyond what he could have intended.
With RW everything, every little jig and mug and bounce, is intentional.
Still, he deserves the money.
What I did connect with emotionally was the Two Oceans Half Marathon (or as someone pointed out - the No Oceans).
Whoo-he! fantastic race. fantastic course. ~10 000 people proceeding up along main road Wynberg as the last streetlights go out. I can't wait for next year.
My time wasn't great - 1:35:something - I was hoping for 1:32:something.
I was too conservative on the first 12kms.
But I'm now sure that I can get under 90 minutes and am going to try to do one more race before deepest winter to get there.
[1] I was impressed by his use of profanity, especially the c-word. That certainly didn't make it onto the Knebworth DVD.
[2] Something that I'm still trying to shake is how self-aware I feel about these posts. It sucks - I'm aware that I'm aware and that I'm trying to not be aware of it and how much it worries me. whatever.
[3] One of two covers in the evening - the other being an excellent re-animation of Back For Good
[4] Authentic 60's dust on authentic 60's mixing desks? come on.
// posted by werner @ 8:10:00 am 
