I made it back home today after today's ten hour "white-eye" from London to SFO, which combined with the one hour train rides to and from each airport makes for a really long day. On a long haul flight from East to West, the plane never leaves daylight which makes it hard to get sleep. If you're going the other way across the country or the ocean, there's a definite darkness, which makes it easier to sleep. If you're going the other way, it seems like you're perpetually in the middle of the afternoon.
I didn't get one wink of sleep on the plane, but I made the most of the Virgin Atlantic in-flight entertainment (watching three movies and two TV serieses) and finished reading Nick Hornby's Slam, which is supposed to be a "young adult" novel, but I liked it a lot more than The Long Way Down. Which I liked a whole lot more than How To Be Good, but both of which I liked less than Hornby's previous novels.
For my last night in London, I went to see Adem Ihan at the Union Chapel in Islington, just up the road from Emirates Stadium where Nick Hornby's favorite team Arsenal play their home games. This show was suggested by a London friend whose tastes in music deviate quite a bit from my own, but she offered to pick up a ticket for me if I was interested, so I decided to give it a go. Union Chapel is an operational church with wonderful acoustics, and a amazing venue for live music.
I'm still not sold enough on Adem (who performs under his first name only) to pick up one of his CDs, but the show was worth the tube ride to Islington. I saw as many shows in 10 days in Europe as I've seen in the last four months in San Francisco. The combination of early start times and easy access makes it a lot easier for to go out than it is when I'm at home.
If shows here started at a reasonable hour and were more accessible by public transport, I'd see many more Bay Area shows than I do now.
3 comments:
To the Bay Area disadvantage of lateness, Milwaukee can add (at nearly every venue) air so thick with cigarette smoke you can barely breathe. But it's easy to get to most venues, and relative to most places in the Bay Area I'm guessing, easy to park. So you know, if you don't mind not breathing for a couple hours, and needing to launder everything you've worn, it's all good.
Welcome home--sounds like a great trip! No mention of the exciting Chelsea/Man U match, though?
You'll be pleased to know that i've heard your plea for early shows and booked us a 7:30 gig for next Friday night!
I watched the Champions League final in Lyon (en Francias) and almost didn't make it to the end, since it lasted until early midnight Eurotime.
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