gig: fanfarlo at the socal, w/first aid kit ::

Gig last night at Bodega Social, Nottingham.

First Aid Kit ::

Second up were First Aid Kit {first ups not worth mentioning}, a Swedish sister duo – Klara and Johanna Söderberg – who we missed at End of The Road this year. They pelted out some pretty great two piece vocal harmonies, supported by a guitar, keyboard and autoharp.

First Aid Kit ::

The lead singer – short, brunette, wearing a great discordant floral ensemble – had a fantastic, earthy, powerful voice, whereas the backing sister  – blonde, miserable-looking – provided a softer, perhaps a little less reliable, harmonising backing presence. They squabbled on stage like…sisters, with sister number 2 berating sister number 1 for talking too much. The set was pretty great with a nice mixture of album tracks and covers – perhaps somewhat obviously they covered Fleet Foxes Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, but very successfully. We left with their latest EP.

Half of FanFarlo ::

Headliners: Fanfarlo, a five piece band from Oxford, UK, who would’ve been more suited to an End of The Road stage and were less suited to The Social which proved somewhat claustrophobic and restrictivegig for such an energetic band with their motley crew of instruments – guitars, mandolin, violin, drums, xylophone, keyboard, trumpet… Great set: upbeat, great vocals, lively… Lots of lovely whistling, foot stamping, oooh oooh oooh-ing and teeth bearing. {Reminded me a little of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah}. Highlight: ‘Finish Line’.  And, ahem, we left with some of their vinyl under our arms, too.

Finalé: Fanfarlo w/First Aid Kit covering Davendra Banhart ‘Rejoicing in the hands’.

crunch ::

Kicked up the arse by Alice’s blog, Quaint Living, I have decided to write my own

Autumn To Do List

1. Go kite flying with my housemates

2. Begin my autumn 2009 diary {because my memory for little – and important – details is shocking}

3. Print a photo a week

4. Cook two different pies

5. Make some mulled cider {maybe with the cider my boy and I brought back from Cornwall?}

6. Cycle with my neighbours

7. Start looking after all my gig and cinema tickets – great momentos that I’m always too lazy/disorganised to look after. Shocking given that I see at least four flicks at the cinema a month and several gigs.

8. Begin our E.O.T.R. momento cd

9. Have lunch with my parents and little sister

10. Treat myself to some new autumn wear – and search out that elusive Breton striped fisherman Coco Avant Chanel-style stripey tshirt!

surplus pennies column?

And so i find myself penniless. I am a Dickensian pauper. No, strike that, things are never that bad.

We attended a wedding this past weekend, for which John was one of two Best Men, and, due to a terribly regrettable and rather wine-induced late night incident, i broke my boy’s iphone. Ahem. Yes yes, i’m very repentent and a very bad significant other. Indeed, i am so especially repentent that i have just purchased him a new one from the lovely Apple Store.

But who knew that it was going to cost me an arm and both legs?! People spend how much on these things?! How. Much.? And What.Is.Wrong.With.You.People? Yes, they’re very beautiful and very nifty. But really?

Anyway, my guilt is sufficient that i have proceeded with this purchase and will reunite my boy with his beloved iphone before the week is out.

As such, i have been terribly organised for the first time in my life – a little ironic, given that i organise for a living – and have produced a monthly finance spreadsheet which colour codes my incomings and outgoings – i even used the SUM function! Oooooohhhhhh. Very tech’ savvy.

Unfortunately, this tech’ savviness has only heightened my despair. There’s nothing more depressing than a minus number in the ’surplus pennies’ column. Boo.

The phones have stopped working at work. Marty is out of the office batting his eyelids seductively at Freshers, practising his young and hip! teen lingo and saying things like ‘whack’ and, er, ‘awesome’ a lot {granted, my knowledge of whack-lingo is limited and could do with a bituva brush up}, perhaps showing them a bit of leg {because vogue says that Leg is In this season ‘parently}, and luring innocents to the cinema. The sky is grey. Everyone is oddly quiet and making comments like ‘Oooh, isn’t it nice to have some peace and quiet?’ which makes me think that they’d not welcome my suggestion of a singalong {not good with silence}.

And so i find that i’ve somewhat subconsciously started creating a mug tower on my desk. This combines both my love of excessive caffeine consumption throughout my working day and my inherent flare and creativity. Perhaps i’ll suggets this as an office competition.

Balls. Just realised that i’m mouthing the words while typing. I reached a new level of office crazy, haven’t i.

hello autumn, my old friend ::

On the way to work this morning i got caught in the warm rain and leaves stuck to the bottom of my shoe – a sure indication that Autumn is here if ever you needed one. Though, i’ve been aware more this year than ever before that the seasons are blurring into one another, indistinctly, subtly. Or perhaps my memories of past seasons are simply just the extreme, emphasised, hyperbolic memories of childhood when summers were hot, house-pipe-ban summers and winters were snowy and perishing.

I’ve been really fortunate this summer to make the most of what good weather we’ve had – two adventure weeks, a bbq, a trip to End of The Road Festival in the sunshine…

Often one of the major downsides to working in an office is the disconnection one inevitably feels from nature and the weather outside. This is something that i’ve always suffered with and think that my S.A.D., which  i suffer from to varying degrees each winter, is emphasised by this feeling of divorce and claustrophobia. Fortunately, i’m surrounded by enormous, 360′ windows at work these days which look out over the rooftops of Nottingham. Mmmm…

But now that Autumn seems to be setting in, I am determined to purchase myself some chunkier knits, some sensible shoes, and some new warm clothes – bored of the old, in with the new! – with some new pennies i’ve been given as part of my new, mini promotion {Wah!}. I’m now no longer Communications, Events & Operations Coordinator, but Communications, Events & Operations Coordinator & Copy Writer. That ol’ job title just keeps on growning.To be continued…