February review

In honour of Carolyn, a list-making Piscean after my own heart.

Shell and Suzy - aka clever but clueless (thanks to Jack Johnson for that great summing up lyric) - once had the idea of a "spot on.com" website where we would basically give our opinions on what we had done, seen, eaten, listened to etc in the course of our days. Thinking that we could impart our wisdom and excellent taste on the world at large... ;) Sadly the name had already been registered and the idea sort of died. So, apart from the knitting stuff, this blog could sort of become the "spot on.com" that we never had. Anyway, I digress - here are the highs and lows of February.

Gigs
Went to three, and by far the best was The Decemberists at Shepherd's Bush Empire. A sitting down, singing and smiling so hard your face starts to hurt type of gig. Beautiful songs beautifully played and sung, and they enjoyed themselves so much. In fact I think Level 1 of the Shepherd's Bush Empire might be one of my favourite places to be, as we saw The Cat Empire there soon after, although it was impossible to sit down with the beats those cats were throwing out. Plus the whole of Aussie West London in one venue - we were seriously outnumbered! On the subject of Shepherd's Bush, which can feel like a bit of a gastronomic desert for those not well acquainted with the area, we have found this little gem called Albertine's, a pretty accurate review of which can be found here. Because when one gets to a certain age, the idea of a meal and a decent bottle of wine become a little more important than catching the support band. The disppointment of the month was John Martyn at the Roundhouse, although the refurb job is fantastic, the company was lovely and the ice ceams after at Marine Ices were as good as ever. I should know better than see old blokes churning out their back catalogue to make a few quid - are you listening Bob Dylan? - but as Solid Air is such a wonderful piece of work, and he was supposed to be playing the whole thing from start to finish, we were really looking forward to the gig. Sadly he growled and slurred his way through a load of pretty unrecognisable tracks, and apart from the odd glimmer of his old self, it seemed like he was just there to pick up the cheque.

CDs
As a self-confessed girly swot I naturally had to learn off by heart the newest Decemberists (The Crane Wife) and Cat Empire (Two Shoes) releases before the gigs and can happily confirm they are both FANTASTIC! Also getting a lot of listening was Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family and Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope which is a bit too quirky for me in some places but has some wonderful tracks. Jamie T's Panic Prevention and Just Jack's Overtones were in the mix as well - so many new CDs, so little time!

In other news, film attendance was a bit disappointing - only managed to see Notes on a Scandal and found it uncomfortably skin-crawlingly excellent if a little far fetched. Judi Dench was superb and I reckon would have won a load of awards if that pesky Helen Mirren hadn't have been around.

Otherwise, ate interesting food at Magdalen (sliced pig's head, anyone?) and tried to finish up a cardigan for my mum that seems to have taken about 3 years to complete. Pictures soon!