I made quite a day of it yesterday. Well it's Spring. Last day of March and best day weather wise of the year. I'd decided to see Gnoomes at the end of it at Cumberland Arms. It's was a Wandering Oak event organised by Walter Allison. Walter's a nice man and an Event Organiser for the better venues in the Newcastle area. It's worth making an effort to go out and give his events a try. I've struck it lucky on many occasions,
After church I wandered into town. I won't bother you with detailed discussion of church. This is a music blog not quite Good News For Modern Man just yet. St Andrew's the oldest church in Newcastle was full, the crowd were in good voice and the minister, Mike Hills, 'to whom I owe a great personal debt I'll never be able to repay climbed up onto the pulpit for a change and gave the world some choice words. Let's face it, the world deserves it right now. It's letting itself and all of us down.
Anyway, after the service I didn't tarry. I had a few words with Matt, with Rosemarie and with Marion. Parishioners I care for. I met Mike at the gate. He tried to get me to stay for some champagne. But I never care for champagne much and it was a lovely day. I thanked him and headed off to The Bridge.
I'm heading into a new chapter in my life right now. I've recently finished working with a company that I grew not to care for and left after fifteen years in their service. I'm not sure I care to be fully in anybody else's service again. I'll work with people that I respect and who respect me. But I'm freelance now and I think it makes sense at my stage in life. Until I retire. Maybe I won't properly retire. I like teaching which is what I do best. I want to concentrate on that from now on.
I like The Bridge. It's one of the best pubs in Newcastle. A city which is blessed with fine pubs. I've got so many personal memories of the place and find my legs leading me there at least once a week. I like the regular barman there. He's a man of few words but the words he does say are generally funny ones.
I get my non alcoholic beer. I rarely drink actual alcohol any more. I made a decision a few months ago and generally stick to it. I feel I've done my bit for the cause of drinking over the years, I have no regrets but thought I'd done my bit and have come to like the control I have over my decisions, my thoughts, my finances and my life in general.
The sun is streaming through the windows at The Bridge. I could sit out in the gardens but I've always liked sitting in dark pubs on bright days for some reason. I get out my books.I'm reading a lot at the moment and that's good. I've always liked reading. I like learning about things I don't know about.
Currently I'm following a formula and it's paying dividends. Twenty five pages of three books every day. One a music related book and I post my reflections here. At the moment Sly Stone's memoirs. Fascinating man Sly. I suspect the ghost writer has done much of the actual writing but it's an incredible story and document. Also two novels.
Currently I'm making my way through two absolute crackers. Richard Ford's Canada. A sparse elegant book in the Great American Novel tradition. Also Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd. I've always loved Hardy and his plotlines and poetry. I know the films of Madding Crowd inside out. It's great to be making my way through the actual novel for the first time. Every paragraph is alive. You are forced to interact with the words. The description of character. Of nature. Of events. Hardy is something else at his best.
I make my way across the High Level Bridge to continue my reading at The Central on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne. Newcastle is a city defined by its bridges and if asked to choose one it would be The High Level Bridge for me . It's the way to my Book Club. A walk I take every month. On the first Monday of the month. But more than that. It reminds me of a special person in my life. Some incredible moments which I'll always treasure. Every time I cross The Bridge.
Anyway, after The Central I make my way down the hill across the busy thoroughfare which crosses The Tyne Bridge and the cars rush by at breakneck speed meaning you feel like you're taking your life in your hands every time you cross. I pass the Sage which appears to be closed for some reason.
I stop off at The Baltic for a comfort break. Have a Portuguese Custard Tart, I forget the official name And a hot chocolate. Then after a quick look aroind the Baltic's fine shop I cross Millenium Bridge back onto the Newcastle side. The Millenium Bridge has a good memory of the same special person but I'm not planning to tarry.
Anyway, I won't trouble you with every tedious detail. About half an hour later I find myself in The Cumberland Arms. It's another of Newcastle's finest pubs. It has a terrace garden here you can look down the stone staircase at the Ouseburn Valley from. It also has two good sized old school pub rooms downstairs where you can sit and sup your ale.
Today Stagger Lee Fisher is spinning some tunes as he generally does on a Sunday afternoon, I enjoy Velvets I'll Be Your Mirror, Gram's Hot Burrito # 2. Give Stagger Lee a thumbs up. Then I'm off because I'm peckish. Down the stone staircase and when I get to the valley, up the hill again. For a burger and a Sol and a chat with a pretty barmaid with a lovely smile at The Tanner's Arms. Life's small pleasures.
By the time I get back to The Cumberland Arms it's dark. Proceedings for the evening have begun. Walter is at the door upstairs and a small bunch of Indie types in sweatshirts, dresses and t-shirts they've chosen specially for the occasion have gathered.
I like this kind of crowd. They're my people. You get the feeling you could sit down at a table together and enjoy an evening discussing Television, Suicide or Fairport Convention. Or else Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene or Surrealism. They're nice people who let you through if you want to get to the front of the stage to get a better view or take a photo.
There's a Scottish guy in a cool Bovril T-Shirt which I covert. There's a cool and beautiful young woman who I have a chat with about Gnoomes excellent trousers. They're setting up the stage. These are just as much part of the experience of going to great gigs as the bands themselves. You can go alone but you're not alone. You're in a safe place. A wonderful one
The bands. Dextro, the support is a middle aged man with glasses , a beard and a bank of keyboards. His set is one continuous electronic piece. It feels like we are orbiting the earth and he has a slideshow that compliments that sensation. I don't find the music that engrossing so don't make an effort to follow the slideshow. Besides I'm leaning at the bar. Conserving my energy.
Gnoomes are more to my liking. I've loved listening to Ax Ox, their splendid album from last year which I started listening to in preparation for being here since Friday. They're Russian. I'm surprised to see them in the flesh after listening to the record. It struck me as being rather exciting. And a new sound to me. The Brothers Karamazov or Rasputin's family meet Tago Mago Can.
I was half expecting a bunch of heavily bearded and sombre monks. Instead they're a rather cute and appreciative couple. A young guy with a keyboard but also a guitar. And a fringe hanging down across his face. A cute young woman behind a bank of keyboards.
Anyway they're pleased to be here. Thank Walter who they refer to as their fairy godmother, ask the crowd nicely to move closer to the stage. And we're off. Into a set that seems a third early OMD, a third early Kraftwerk and a third their own brewing and invention.
It's Poppy. It feels like a machine warming up slowly and then suddenly bursting into life. A cult Post Punk duo suddenly deciding they wouldn't mind having a chart hit, appearing on Top of the Pops and the cover of Smash Hits in 1982. If they were a song from that period they would be Radio Waves from OMD. I really like them.
Anyway I've had a great day and a good evening but my thighs are beginning to ache. I say my goodbyes to Walter and head for the bus.
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