TGE

It's been a while, sorry. Nothing worth reporting has really happened. Still promoting, still updating contact lists, still designing newsletters, still sending those newsletters out.

But this Thursday we will grab our backpacks, take our eagerness to learn, aim our concentration towards the speakers and unleash the excitement at The Great Escape festival in Brighton! On Friday we're putting on our The Animal Farm showcase and the rest of the time we'll go from conference to conference, one gig to another and take in as much as we can. This year's theme is DIY which is quite fitting as that is how things are done at the Farm.

Our line up is:
19.00 - 19.30 The Rocket Dolls
19.45 - 20.15 Little Signals
20.30 - 21.00 Violet Bones
21.15 - 21.45 iremembertapes.
22.00 - 23.00 The Manic Shine

It's going to be fantastic! I will obviously give a full report next week of how amazing it was.

I found a website for a company called City Academy who have musical theatre classes and singing classes and dance classes and such. I really really want to go to a musical theatre class! The beginners classes that last 6-10 weeks are between £200-300 so a bit much for my finances. Maybe I should try one of those online money raising sites and have people fund me! If even a handful of people would pitch in, it would help tremendously. I'm thinking of doing it around my birthday so there's that going for me instead of just randomly asking people for money ;)

I also had a quick meeting on Skype with my academic instructor and it seems that I will eventually graduate (I knew that, now it's just more real). My thesis idea was approved at this time, but it is just a vague idea still and needs a lot of work. And academic backing. I need to hit the library and start researching. Oh dear, soon enough I will have a degree and have to let go of my student-ness and need to find a grown up job with a grown up salary and grown up responsibilities. Scary thought!

Here's a very awesome video from our very awesome The Manic Shine!

The Animal Farm Club Night

The Animal Farm Club Night happened last night at the fabulous Zigfrid von Underbelly of Hoxton Square. It was a night of fantastic music, good wine and great company! I don't have photos (still happened!) because my camera battery is dead and my adapter for the plug is temperamental and refuses to work. Also because I'm lazy and haven't bothered to buy a new charger with an English plug. But YouTube has videos.

The first band to take the stage was The Counterpoints; new band from Reading releasing their first single April 30th. That's an exciting release as we're releasing five songs from five bands on the same day as a collaborative effort on everyone's part. Their music was good but stage presence is something they still need to work on a lot which isn't surprising for a new band; no one is born a master. Warning: the following song will get stuck in your head. That's an earworm if I ever heard one.

Next up was Red N Pink, two loud chicks from London town. To be honest, I didn't like them too much before. I thought they were a bit in-your-face trying too hard to be tough and cool. But seeing them live has now changed my opinion completely! They sounded great, were very comfortable on stage, interacted with the audience well and delivered a good show overall.

Then it was Violet Bones' turn. As always (she says based on two shows) they were fantastic! I liked them a lot last time but now that I have their album on my iPod and know all the songs, it was ever better. They have awesome energy, fun! The album is a great exercise soundtrack! Those kettlebells are getting it! Although it feels slightly wrong to be swinging them around while my iPod is blasting "let's get drunk and stay that way forever!" into my ears.

Wrapping up the night we had iremembertapes. and their fun electro-indie set and slightly homosexual dancing. We went to see them in St Albans the night before; a gig where no one in the audience remembers tapes. That was enjoyable despite some technical difficulties but last night was about 127 times better! They should definitely play more dancey clubs instead of standard rock gig venues; places where people will actually move their tush instead of standing and watching in admiration (to be fair, they're nice to look at). They're touring atm, coming back to London on Monday. Check out the website or this picture for all dates and go to a show! Here's their 80's influenced (as opposed to everything else) latest single 'All I Know'.

And here's a bonus tribute to some band who also played at St Albans and whose lead man reminded me of Corey Hart. The fact that I know Corey Hart and this song so well that random people remind me of it is probably a sign that I need to stop watching VH1's I Love The 80's. Then again, nah.

Vamos a la playa! Y a Great Escape y a Finlandia.

When I came here, I kept my options open. I had no actual plans to go back to Finland but neither had I decided to definitely stay here; I'd do whatever would suit the situation best come August and the end of my internship. Well, that was then. Now I've decided to stay. I keep falling in love with this city more and more as time passes and the thought of packing my things and leaving just seems ridiculously wrong. As of future plans - if job hunting carries no fruit, I have at least a year to figure out my next move while finishing my degree; I still need to complete few courses and of course write my thesis. It'll be tight but things always work out.

Speaking of thesis - I finally have a general idea of what I want to do it on. If this idea gets approved, I'll be working with the Farm so it'll be a nice continuation to my internship.

This spring/start of summer will be too amazing! Chronologically: My best friend is coming for a visit, the Farm is going to The Great Escape, I'm visiting Finland briefly to go to my niece's high school graduation and then flying to Málaga, Spain for a friend's wedding! And we're doing this:

Last Sunday 1.4. I went for a walk around my neighborhood, grabbed a coffee in a farm close by and then stumbled upon Stave Hill Ecological Park. And all this just a spitting distance from London Bridge so basically still quite central London. The farm has goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, geese, sheep, turkeys and a pony. They serve food, coffee, ice cream and cake. They also sell eggs; chicken, goose and duck.

Pictures!

Jaguars are native to SE London

Big cities don't have nature

My interpretation of a concrete jungle, consider this a postmodern view

South London is such a miserable place

I'm a farm girl now

My first week of interning for The Animal Farm has gone so quickly! People at the office are nice and chill, but professional of course. The atmosphere is relaxed but the environment stimulates hard work. Really an ideal place to gain work experience as the first step into the harsh music industry world. She says after one week.

So far I have: googled a lot, browsed Twitter a lot, listened to boring bands a lot to find few good ones, sent emails a lot and laughed a lot.

On Friday we went to Kensington Roof Gardens where one of the bands the company works with - Athletes in Paris - were playing. Dress code: "No effort, no entry" so I put on a skirt and heels - my new Irregular Choices. It was a super posh place, and very very beautiful. I'd imagine it'll be amazing in the summer! As the name indicates, it is a garden on a rooftop. They'd built a sort of tent around it tho so we weren't exactly outside the whole night - only about half outside. The gig was very enjoyable, they're such a fun band and a bunch of nice guys. And I really like their music too. Drinks were expensive. I paid over £10 for a GT and £8,45 for a glass of wine!

Athletes In Paris

Other great things have happened this week too: We got a new dishwasher to replace the old broken one! We couldn't use it at first, though, because it couldn't be plugged in. But we didn't have to endure that for too long as the plumbers showed up to rescue us from the mountains of dirty dishes the very next day! A dishwasher really does make life a little bit simpler.

Fun fact: There's a pretty respected rehearsal studio in the building complex and lots of famous people use it. I've heard exciting stories of celebrity spotting around there! And then I got to witness some of it myself; Little Mix came into the café to get lunch one day.