Pint of Carling, please

Pub crawling, 2010

2010-02-01T15:27:00.001-08:00

I posted ages ago about what pub crawling is supposed to be about, it’s basic rules, why it is not healthy and also and more relevant, why it is such a good fun, so I’ll go straight to the point: 10 pubs, 10 pints, 5 hours. Friends, at least one (if so, preferably a good one): lock, stock & barrel. Saturday, January 30th, Reading.

The night before: Monks Retreat, O’Neills, After Dark and Déjà vu. Great fun, a million aftershock shots (more or less), beer and a stamp on your wrist.

Pre-Crawl: up and running, the first half Fosters of the day: just what you need to get nice and easy into the required mood. This one was in The Turks. Apparently one of the oldest pubs in Reading, it is quite a funny one: divided in two halves, the closest one to the main door is really cozy, with all these leather sofas, a chimney, the Victorian decoration and all the classics a boozer like that is supposed to have. The other half is more a sports bar, with its plasma TVs, its lack of character and – you got it – its football. Not memorable, but good enough for a promising start.

Food dose: Pizza Express. Another half of Peroni, but, on the top of that, nothing relevant to say about the place, neither in the positive or the negative side: I’m quite sure you’ve been in the sort of place before. Just Okish.

Pint 1 (Fosters): The Retreat. I already posted about this incredible pub (ages ago, before I moved to London, when I still posted in Spanish), so I won’t repeat here how good it is, and how fond both Gilberto (my crawling mate) and myself of the place we are. In a nutshell: we were alone there, meaning ALONE, with a jukebox that played Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen (twice), Queen and The Cream. I don’t think I’ve felt much better than at that time in a long long time (right, maybe last Sunday – cheeky bastard, don’t remind me that one!)

Pint 2 (Becks): The Lyndhurst. This is a nice gastropub with a really friendly barman… it wouldn’t bring me big memories if it weren’t for that night Richard sung and kissed that Spanglish folk singer – a big classic in crawling history. A bit pricey (3.10 in Reading is a bit too much), but relaxing environment altogether. No jukebox, though.

Pint 3 (Tuborg): Back of Beyond. One of my favourite pubs in Reading, and by a mile the best Wetherspoons in town. Cheap, they keep it simple and they keep it right: another 30 minutes of good conversation, and the first symptoms of crawling starting to be noticeable. Nothing worrisome so far. So far.

Pint 4 (Becks): The Warwick. A former traditional pub, for some reason it became a Thai pub at some point. Quite pointless, I have to say: it has lost most of its charming. Still, not that we care too much at that point.

Not sure if I’m missing a pub at this point. Maybe Gilbert, if he reads the post, may help!

Pint 5 (I think it is the 5th, Fosters): Cooper Arms. You cannot have a proper binge without some hooligans and a proper brawl or two. In this case, it was a group of BNP members (or something like that – you don’t wear skinhead clothes and a boxing tattoo with St George flag for nothing) against a group of Welsh… when we started to realize what was going on the empty pint glasses started to fly (one just 5 cm far away from my head), the knuckles started to find noses on their way, and the big arseholes started to crash pints to use them as cutting stuff. I have not ever seen anything of the like, even close to this. Obviously, we ran as fast as we could, not without waiting in the door checking how a group of yobs destroy a pub… really depressing, really, but a part of the local folklore as well.

BTW, apparently it is not the first thing something like this happens... they will not see me around over there.

Pint 6 and 7 (Tuborg and Fosters), plus a vodka redbull: Monks Retreat. Another Weatherspoon pub, not as quiet and nice as Back of Beyond (it actually stinks sometimes), but with a much nicer dose of chicks and teenagers warming the night up. We had a couple of random conversations with a friend of Gilbert who rang some friends as she was a bit scared about what may be coming up – no big reason to be worried, after the fight we were quite sobered up.

Pint 8 (Becks): The Bugle. For me, the discovery of the night. A little pub hidden in the middle of Friar Street (one of Reading’s main high streets), almost everybody inside was in the bad side of the thirties, quite drunk, but really friendly all of them. Really tatty pub with a lovely jukebox, with a guy aged over 70 playing the same Rolling Stone’s song once and another again… until we got control of it. Not that I remember all of them, but Pearl Jam and ACDC sounded for sure there
After that we tried to get into a pub where all our friends were – we weren’t allowed in, so I won’t even mention its name. Just on our defence: we weren’t really that drunk, we were really friendly with the bouncer (he also was, really), and the pub didn’t look like such a good place.

Pints 9 and 10 (Red Guinness): at O’neills, the only place in Reading where Red Guinness and terrible music meet each other. We met Cris, Olga, Raquel and some other friends over there and we stayed for a long time, really not sure how long, but long for sure. Anyway, after the 10 pints threshold it is not a pub crawl anymore, so better stop the tale here… just to say it was again Déjà vu Club where we finished the night, but you may better ask someone else for details about it.

Brilliant weekend in Reading, as usual – courtesy of old and new friends, and of course, of everlasting Gilberto. Counting the days down…

The mighty Purple Turtle

2010-01-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

9 Gun Street,Reading RG1 2JR

I just realized there is no entry on my blog about what it is, altogether with Pavlov’s Dog and the Afterdark, the pub/club that better memories brings me every single time I think about these old good times in Reading… and also about these not-that-old good times as well, with my brother several times (his famous cheeky countdown pulling a friend with a dinner at stake) or even more recently – last Sunday, for instance, in one of the most silly but at the same times delightful binges I’ve enjoyed lastly. Yes, I’m obviously talking about the Purple Turtle. Or just the Turtle. Or the Purple.

Some say that before God said ‘Let there be the Oracle’, only the Purple existed on Reading. It may well be an exaggeration, but the true fact is that everybody I know who lived there ages ago, they don’t remember too much but this pub. And very likely if it wasn’t for the fact that I go back quite frequently over there, that could be very likely my case as well – there I met very good friends for the first time, there I pulled (or there I was pulled, I have to say) by my Welsh ex-girlfriend, and there I went for tequilas with Cherra for at least a million and one times. A memorable place indeed, at least on my little drunkard memorabilia.

So, what is all this about? What makes this place so special, so fucking special? Well, call me a creep, but, you know what? This places closes at 4 am. At 3 am, on Sundays. If you’ve ever gone out in Reading, you may well know that this is late, big time. Full stop. There are alternatives, obviously, but the time I used to live there these were constrained to Mango, a dodgy and moody club demanding a 10 quid cover for the sake of listening bad electronic music and be surrounded by sweating loser. Fair enough, I’ve been there several times (I’m a creep, or a loser then?), but you really cannot compare. Music in the Purple is on the Metal side, with Metallica being a big local favourite, but you may enjoy more relaxing tunes and even cheesy electronic rhythms some times. This all refers to the main floor, where you can also find a juke box so everybody can have his pick of the day, buy a bunch of roses and seduce that little princess dress as a Lolita Goth over there. Whatever.

Second big hit – the terrace, with its gas heaters on winter. Always squashed, I’m not a big fan of it, I have to say – as when you go there, there is no stop: you just stay there. Given there’s no music in the outside, this tends to evolve into a initially interesting conversation that easily decays into drunkards grunting. Which is fine, but improvable with some music and dancing. Still, the terrace is pretty cool, gotta say.

Third one – the people. Trendiest ones in Reading, really it is one of the few places where you feel you are in Camden, Shoreditch or Kentish Town in London. Big gay community (apparently, not that I’m good spotting that sort of connotation), sometimes easygoing punks, everything is very modern but with a good attitude and friendliness that you may miss in the big city. Another point for the Turtle, there.

Fourth? If you are a crazy drum&bass chum, you may enjoy the rave sessions they have on the basement sometimes. Gigs, metal, but mainly electronic craziness is what you smell over there… quite filthy, not my cup of tea, but still another option to enjoy the place differently.

Flaws? Well, drinks are far more expensive than Reading’s average – this is, pint over 3 quid, double spirit over 5, shots over 3. Not a big issue if you benchmark the place with London clubs, but also, if you perform this comparison opening until 4, playing hard rock or getting cool people inside don’t score that well. So let’s say it is expensive.

And finally, the fact that you can’t get in after 2. Given the AfterDark – my favourite club in Reading by far- closes at 2.30, and they are not just one beside each other, really it becomes more and more complicated to have a perfect night, as you would never leave the After before you are forced to by the big bouncers. This is quite likely the reason I re-discovered the place last Sunday, after a while without enjoying it. And that is also the reason I’m going to Reading today Friday instead of tomorrow Saturday, for instance he he he.

PS: there is another Purple in Camden I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy as well (a further one in Oxford, I didn’t taste that one). Material for another post, I guess…

Discovering Hackney: The Royal Oak

2010-01-26T15:59:00.001-08:00

73 Columbia Road, London, E2 7RG

I have to be greatful to @wildebees for a certain range of stuff, but introducing me to this pub is definitely not the lesser of them – at all. A really nice eastern London pub deprived of most of the trendiness that brings my opinion down some times in that hood, but also keeping some character on it. I’ve just came from it and believe my friend, after a knackering weekend in Reading including a crazy tequila Sunday night at the Purple (remember that pub crawl? It seems like ages ago...) and an early return to London on early Monday morning straightaway to the office, it is just what I needed.

Columbia Road is located in Tower Hamlets borough and it is quite famous in London because of it Sunday’s Flower Market. There are also plenty of shops on the high street that at some point may make you think you are in Central London, surrounding Carnaby Street or any other big shopping spot. Not at all, and you will discover so as soon as you pay a careful look to the stuff they sell: overprized, maybe, but good quality and rare sometimes. A nice road to explore if looking for a different present to give away to someone you care about.

Sunday's flower market

Obviously, East London, as a friend told me once, is now the real Central London. Meaning this that the are may not be particularly nice, but it is full of people with good money on their pockets and, even more importantly, willing to spoil themselves. As a result, do not expect to pay less than 3.50 for a drink in The Royal Oak – being this its main and only flaw. But the pub is worth it, trust me. For a stack of reasons, including…

First, it looks like one of these old pubs which has been kept and preserved nicely for a long time. Apparently it's in a between-the-wars style, but it really fits perfectly well with the Victorian surroundings... that is in the outside. In the inside, it is not that it looks (or smells) old – it is that you may spot this or that little pieces of furniture or decoration that indicate you that attention to detail is something the owner reckons his patrons value the most. You may spot old pictures and paintings altogether with new adds in like origami birds hung all around the place.

The vibe over there is really friendly – all professionals on their thirties looking for a nice conversation after work, but with the eastern flavour. Do not expect ties and suits here, but neither the sort of annoying arts student on his early twenties with such a big hunger for reaping the word apart. Just young common people looking for a little corner of enjoyment.

The drinks are quite standard: Guinness, Becks, John Smiths, Peroni… the usual suspects. The also serve a warm wine called ‘mulled wine’ – I had tried something similar in Germany, but not here in the UK. I quite liked it, although it is strong and expensive too… and not completely sure if they serve it through the year or just on the winter period. Food is apparently good enough - although I have to say I haven't tried it so far.

Music is nice, but at a fairly low volume. Again, this is a place for nice conversations, not for big clubbing nights or binge drinking. Still, I’ve read somewhere that clubbing nights on the weekends are big here – I cannot say, as I have just visited it twice, and both times were Tuesdays.

The structure of the pub is a square-shaped bar, with several tables surrounding it (quite busy all of them all the time) and most of the people taking advantage of the large bar to drink some good stuff. Not very big, and because of that and because it is quite popular it is better to avoid it on Thursdays, as it gets packed.

Definitely, a brilliant pub I will hopefully become a frequent patron of.

Welcome to Shoreditch: Cargo

2010-01-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

83 Rivington St, London, EC2A 3A

Trying to be compliant with my personal 2010 purposes, let’s try to resurrect pintofcarlingplease.blogspot.com and make out of it that lovely little shelter for all these pubs in London you’d like to know about but you don’t because you are unsocial or a weirdo or because you are scared of big beer measures. Whatever.

So here we go. I went to the gym twice this week, I had salad for dinner also twice and I only had beer with my dinner once. I bought tickets for the theatre and for Opera, and also a flight for going back to Madrid in March. Writing in this blog is really the only pending issue in my ‘feel good’ list for the new year… it wasn’t that hard, really.

Next posts will be ideally cover Shoreditch based pubs. As you may or not know, I’ve recently moved to this trendy London area. No more Cricklewood / Kilburn dives, good bye crappy Jubilee line and welcome to a new life of flat sharing, student-like life comeback and overprized boozers. Welcome to Shoreditch, darling.

And first one to be reviewed, for no specific reason, is Cargo. Although a bit pretentious, I quite like this place, half-way a pub and club, in the hurt of Shoreditch… I discovered it for the first time last summer, while we repeatedly enjoyed its lovely terrace on those after work binges we used to have… true enough, Cesar Tomate was still around, and London was a sparking city where every day was a good option for sipping some lager nectar until late nite.

Its terrace is indeed one of its biggest attractions. Gas heaters on winter, wide wooden benches and tables for enjoying a quiet conversation (I remember Jason helped me out to schedule my Japan trip over there), chill out tunes as background and a consistently trendy young audience, everybody in love and in pink, it looked some times more like what you would expect at Ibiza than like a hidden dive in the dirtiest area of London. Bansky-like graffiti in the walls helped to overcome that easily committed mistake, and also makes you give it a final and conclusive thought as a refreshing beer goes through your throat: yes, London is a nice place to live in.

Later on, winter came and all that crap didn’t make any sense anymore. But still the pub is quite cool inside, based under a bridge and with a Fabric look like on it - the classic brick vaults and arches with neon lights all around the place. The music tends to be electronic, and for my taste might be slightly aloud most of the time, pounding your ears a little too much and making conversation sometimes a bit difficult. Nice place then for a handover between the early pubs and the night club, but not for some quiet drinks in a mid week binge anymore.

People hanging around there? Well – the classic arty trendy Shoreditch crew, with sporadic visits of city boys. Everybody is wearing clothes worth more than 200 pounds, which obviously mirrors how much to be ‘alternative’ is synonym of mainstream and posh nowadays. I include myself on the sort of stupid people to be blamed for it – I cannot help it.

Nice as well is the live bands playing there. I saw The Drones last November, and it was one of the best examples of how a sold out gig should be: full, but comfortable. The organization maybe thought that not overpacking the place would be a good idea not only from a safety stand point, but also taking in consideration the enjoy of everybody paying about 10 quid for watching the band. So I can only recommend the venue, as the organization was good, the sound quality was flawless and the vibe they got was quite impressive, although I didn’t like the band itself too much – not my cup of tea, really.

Anyway, the area where gigs take place is also used for clubbing nights - which I think may be cool... I never went, I was put off by the massive queues I see when I go back home.

On the top of all that, drinks are a bit overpriced (that is a constant flaw of every single Shoreditch venue) at 3.50 the pint. Lager is Amstel, and you also have a couple of other draught beers plus a wide variety of bottled ones – being Budvar the best option hands down. They also serve food – advertised as Latin, but with burguers as main topic… WTF!” -, which might be an option on summer on the terrace – again, slightly more expensive than you would pay for somewhere else, but apparently the quality is good enough, which is saying more than you rally could about some other places in the area.

Recommended place, then, particularly on summer. The fact that is located at a 4 minute walk from my place obviously helps…

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody.

One of my purposes for 2010 is to revive this blog... let's see if I finally do so or not.

In the mean time, a cool quote for this time of the year:

Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!

Love Actually (as spoken by rock singer Billy Mack, while talking to children in a Christmas related TV programme)

Be an artist, be Shunt

2009-06-19T09:02:00.001-07:00

London Bridge, London, SE1 9RL

So far so good, no club has blown away me in such a way as Shunt did when some weeks ago I went there for a random Saturday night. I had heard about the place before, true, but you know how it works, you don’t believe everything you hear, people tend to go on the exaggeration side, and so on. But they were totally right. This place is amazing.

Shunt is located in London Bridge station. Nope, not besides, either close to. In. Inside the station, in its underbelly, completely hidden. Capisci? So follow the insider tip: as you cross the barriers in order to leave the tube station, if you follow the indications toward the train station you will find a small door with a bouncer besides it, checking IDs. There may be a small queue as well, depending at what time in the evening you get there. And that is it – a tiny door, and a bouncer. And £10 to get in. And a closing time at just 2.30 am, which is not late enough at all for the price. So it doesn’t seem tempting enough, let’s be fair.

But as soon as you get in, everything changes. The place is built up behind the station vaults, which means they have lot of space. Actually, they have a massive space available, and they make use of it all – just imagine Fabric, but with wider spaces and less people, and more corridor like instead of room like. Yes, you are getting it…

There is a very big corridor (about 8 m broad and about 10 m high) with small corridors/rooms on its sides, with several artistic performances on them, each one more different and more surprising. Actually, Shunt is not so much a club but an artists space, as you can easily perceive if you browse their website. All the shows and works change on a weekly basis, so you may be surprised with something new almost everytime you go there if you want.

After all those corridors, there are two massive rooms where the party takes place, and besides them there is an additional space used as a venue room, where gigs take place. It has even several stands with chairs where you may enjoy the gig from if you feel like doing it. The day we were there we didn’t pay a lot of attention to the bands, but I’ve read in several blogs that some good ones have performed there. So maybe it is a good point to check out from time to time who’s playing in order to make the experience completely rounded.

The big room has a pool table, a football table, a couple of pianos, and several tables and chairs scattered around the place. This is so big that you may have chairs and people chatting up or directly kissing and also people dancing, or just drinking. The place fits all. It has even a little terrace where you can show up your dancing skills, if you like that, or check out someone else’s.

A cooler place to pot balls? I don't think so...

And you can also walk through the infinite small corridors coming from this big room and discovering small places with small pieces of art work too.

On the negative side, they don’t have draught beer. They have cans, though, at £3.50, which is alright for a night spot. They also do cocktails, but they seemed a bit pricey for me… anyway, I’ve never been to much into the mojito way of life. They don’t accept debit cards, either, and you may have to queue at some point to go out to smoke a fag, if you are one of them. Finally, the music is quite eclectic, and from time to time I felt lost about what that was about. Trendy and alternative places have this, I’m afraid: they don’t do the Strokes or Bruce Springsteen, or any pop music, at all. Anybody’s perfect.

The main bar

The gigs room

And another negative point: you have to get there early enough. At 11 they close the doors, while you can stay inside, so going fairly earlier than that is compulsory. 9 is a good time to be in the door, but don’t risk to go much later than that unless you are up to a potential b plan.

A really different place, this Shunt. Maybe a bit too artistic, and maybe not the cup of tea for everybody, but always worth a visit. Or two.

PS: ah, I forgot it. Mixed toilets!!! :)

Download Festival: Donnington

2009-06-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Donnington Park is one of the most well-known motorbike racing parks in the world, although the first time I heard about it was also about music. Being myself just 15 years old I was drinking with some friends in Garage, one of my favourite pubs in Getafe, when they played in the TV Donnington’s 1991 Monsters of Rock video. Since then, I’ve thought without the slightest doubt that that one was the best gig ever – ACDC and Metallica leading it, playing one right after the other, and trying to prove who reigned the heavy metal scene at that time. The countless fans watching it also impacted me in the deepest way: 1.6 million people - believe it or not - enjoying the two best bands in the world at that time, and in what still today remains in the case of ACDC as their best recorded performance, at least in the Brian Johnson era.

So when a friend of mine here in London offered me a couple of weeks ago to go to Download Festival, in Donnington, in the VIP area for three days at the ridicule prize of £45 – for the WHOLE bloody weekend, Friday,Saturday and Sunday -, I obviously didn’t think it twice. And I can say it was the best festival I’ve ever been.

Donnington Park is 1h 30min far away from London by train, besides a very close to a small town called Castle Donnington – no need to say it has a castle on it -, an not too far away from Derby, another town lost in the middle of nowhere in Derbyshire. 85,000 tickets were sold for every day in the festival, which may give a clear insight of what a massive festival we are talking about. And the crude fact is that festivals in the UK have nothing to do with our little Spanish ones…

For instance, the fun fair rides. Russian Mountains, big wheels, bumper cars… well, all you can get in your hometown local fiestas, you get it in a festival like this one as well – I cannot even think about Glastonbury, which is even bigger. Plus a 24 h cinema. Plus a million food take-away shops, ranging from the classic beef burger to the pizza alike, Thai food, Mexican food, etc. Plus ‘the village’, an ad-hoc real village with more shops, t-shirts, tattoos, heavy metal paraphernalia… build up just for the three days festival. Plus the Guests area, where we met Korn’s bass player, and where you could chill out besides the main stage and listening to the show at the earlier hours of the day when you don’t feel bold enough for those crazy goths making annoying noise in the outside :).

Plus pints of beer priced at £3.50, without any queues because yes, those guys know how to organize a festival and they are pretty aware that queuing for an hour is not fun – here in Spain we have to learn so bloody much about that. Plus the brilliant idea consisting in giving you back 20p per glass returned: you didn’t return it, but as some people in the festival short of money would do it for you, picking them up from the grass, the obvious result is that the place remains tidy and clean and healthy enough. Just like an Spanish festival, don’t you think?

Plus a camping area with grass – yes, real grass, that lovely green thing. Plus a gigs arena with grass – yep, the very same green stuff. And clean toilets. And not-too-overcrowded showers.

Plus a Guinness bar :)

And allowance to get as much booze or food from the outside as you want – no glass permitted, though. And… fuck it. Enough is enough. In a word: Plus plus plus. I’ll be back next year, VIP or not.

There were four stages:

The main one

The second one (Lacuna Coil, The Prodigy)

The Tuborg one

And the Redbull one, which, by the way, we couldn't find in the whole weekend!! :)

About the music, the gigs I went to – there were 4 stages, so some painful decisions including missing Opeth, Chris Cornell and Motley Crue had to be taken…

Friday

Bring Me The Horizon

Punk metal, I didn’t know any of their songs but they were good enough for a warm up. 6/10.

Lacuna Coil

A fairly famous band in the metal-goth circle, I had been willing to watch these Italians for a while: I particularly like some of their melodic tunes. They sound a bit like Evanescence should sound if they weren't a shitty MTV con. They performed alright, although obviously the voice of the female singer - Cristina - didn’t get to the pitch she does in their records. I didn't know all the songs, so I guess my favourites ones are not the favourites of most of their fans... anyway, a fairly good gig. 7.5/10.

Limp Bitzkit

Everybody else insisted, and I suffered just half of the gig, after I decided to go to the guest area for a beer . I hate those guys, oh dear, how much I hate them, and they’re live performance is even more rubbish than their albums. 'Chandal metal' of the worst sort. 3/10.

Korn

Well, this is excelsior stuff. My first Korn gig, they really know their racket, these guys. Pretty aggressive metal, with machine head and fear factory they created a completely different sound that still today sounds fresh, as opposed to most Nu Metal bands. Jonathan Davis voice was perfect, and the band was just a trashing machine. I particularly loved the bagpipes moment, pretty emmotive too... anyway, pretty aggressive crowd as well in the front rows, but what the fuck, this is Korn! I will survive with a couple of bruises in my legs/head :) 8.5/10

Play attention at the mike in the picture LOL

Faith No More

The best gig of the festival, and one of the best I’ve ever been. Mr. Patton comeback was amazing, and even while I’m not a big fan of the band, they won me forever. Almost two hours of an incredible gig, I simply have no words, just say that absolutely everybody I spoke with on Saturday was pretty moved about it. 10/10.

Saturday

Devil Drivers

The other big thing in the festival, a personal recommendation from my friend Kennet. These guys are extreme metal on its best, and the circle pit they created with their last song will very likely appear in the Guinness Records. I jumped around for a while in the dancing area, in the circle, under the moshing crew, and after a while I realized I just couldn’t breath anymore. And at that point, they did the circle pit thing. And I joined it, and almost died, and had fun as I didn't have had in a metal concer for a while. Have a look how the circle pit thing was in the video, from the screens in the stage...

An incredible shot of adrenaline, and an experience I effortless recommend to everybody. At 13.30 pm in the morning LOL. 9/10

The Auteurs

A punk rock band formed by four young lads, melodic enough to pass the evening alright. 6.5/10

Dragonforce

Famous because of the Guitar Hero impossible to play track, this is classic heavy metal in the Helloween best tradition. As expected, they sounded technically perfect, and a bit soulless for mi taste. It remembered me my teen days, though. 7/10.

Pendulum

Another very good surprise, this weird band is right between the goth vibe and the drum&bass one. They are not rock, either dance… but they are good. Sometimes they remember the early prodigy, but more than that I cannot describe them, just listen a couple of tracks and decide by yourself. I'd be suprised if you don't like them. 8.5/10

Marylin Manson

The biggest deception ever. I’ve seen this guy three times before, and he was incredible every single time, so I don’t know what has happened since then, but guy, you were rubbish. Just three classics, and all the other songs from his last shitty album. No respect for his fans, sniffing over the stage and just pocketing the money and going somewhere else, like the Starfucker he is. Beautiful people and Dope show give him the 4/10, but really should be even less than that. 4/10

The Prodigy

They were pretty good in their comeback. With less pre-recorded stuff than I thought, their live gig is really a live thing, almost completely performed with guitars and other rock instruments. I was quite far away from the stage, but the partying vibe was so good, and the atmosphere so high, that I really didn’t care. 8.5/10

We are back!!!

Slipknot

I don’t get how they got to be the head of the main gigs day, but they didn’t deceive. I’m not a very big fan of this totally unmelodic band, but I reckon they have energy. Again, too far away from the stage, as 85K people were there at that time. Particularly memorable when they got everybody ducked first and jumping at the same time at the shout of ‘stand the fuck up’. A bit kiddy, but cool nevertheless. 7.5/10

Sunday

Tesla

A hard rock band I didn’t know at all and didn’t pay a lot of attention either. They didn’t sound too bad, though. 6/10

Skin

A classic British hard rock band, coming back after 10 years ago they decided to call it a day. They sounded very very well, as if they had never stopped it. 7/10

Black Stone Cherry

The other big discovery of the festival. This American guys make a rare mixture of metal, grunge and blues. They were very well accepted by everybody in Donnington, and they did a particularly touching show at some points, specially in the slower tunes. I recommend them, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to see them again when they come back to London on tour in October. 9/10.

You can count me in for the next one, guys

Journey

What can I say about this classic of the classics? They invented concepts as glam rock, power ballads and so many others, that even today you feel something special when you listen to one of their ballads. They were the classic formation but the singer, which by the way was fairly good. 8/10.

Dream Theatre

With Marilyn Manson, the other big deception. The singer voice sounded like shit and their virtuoso way of playing, with long tracks and long solos, didn’t get on well with the mood in the festival at that point. And it is a pity, as I really like the music they do.

And that was all, as I had to go back… I missed three classics after Dream Theatre: ZZ Top, WhiteSnake and Def Leppard. But you can’t get everything in live… so better take what you get!

The Phoenix of the pubs: The Hawley Arms

2009-06-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

2 Castlehaven Road, Camden, London NW1 8QU

As quite a lot of you very likely remember, early 2008 Camden Town experienced a massive fire that ruined the east side of the market and seriously compromised the future of the whole charismatic London premises. Last weekend I realized that this side of the market has recently being opened again, even in a bigger shape than it ever had, as a real Phoenix emerging from its ashes.

One of the casualties of the terrific fire was Hawley Arms, one of the best pubs in the area. It reopened 9 months after the fire, with more strength and even a better vibe than it had before its closure. The owners even campaigned in Glastonbury (today, Festival of Festivals) in order to solve some bureaucratic issues related with the situation of the ladder that allows the access to the first floor of the pub, and the publicity they got was really worth it, as they were permitted to reconstruct the pub just as they wanted. I’ve been there several times since and, I can promise, this is a neat pub.

Pretty famous for having as local patrons the likes of Amy Whinehouse or Kate Moss, the atmosphere is really Camden-like in this place. One very good point, though, is that the tourists presence is less substantial than in other similar places in the main street. The fact that is not located on the main street itself, but just 20 m around the corner as you cover the Camden Lock bridge, really helps on it.

The distribution, as introduced before, consists basically in two different storeys. The ground floor is the main one, and includes a long bar and several tables and sofas to chill out, as well as a jukebox with fairly good tracks on it. The first floor is smaller, and is where the party takes place on the weekends: I’ve been there a couple of times for early beers and there is a fairly good mood there. Also there is a nice terrace on this first floor, which invariably was completely packed every chance I tried to have a drink in it. A real pity, particularly now that summer is starting to finally take off.

So, yes, this is a pub in Camden, and as so, it has some of the classic flaws that define them:

- Bartenders more worried to look like pop stars than in serving timely pints to their clients.

- Overpriced drinks, even if the situation wasn’t particularly bad here. I got the feeling that I was being charged more for the sake of not being a trendy Northlondoner, but maybe I’m wrong in that.

- Overcrowded, even as like I said before the situation is worse in some other places in the area.

They have several beers on the tap, including some guest ales. I cannot talk about the quality of those, as I went for lager, but I’ve read in some other blogs that the keeping of the beer is not as good as it should be. Shame on them if this is the case.

About the decoration, well, you cannot expect ancient stuff in a pub that was burned one year ago, can you? There are several signed vinyls, band posters and general pop music memorabilia, which is always a good thing to cover brand new walls J.

In a word, if you time your visit right you may get a pic of Kate Moss in the place, while if you don’t you’ll just be in a not too bad pub very likely quite squashed with high prices but vey good music and vibe. Saturday nights are good there. And at the end, it is completely up to you if that is enough or not…

Sonar in London

2009-05-22T02:46:00.001-07:00

25 Chalk Farm Rd, London, NW1 8AG

As I wrote once in this blog before, one of the issues I had no clue before coming to London is electronic music. Extending my trainee period in this matter a bit more, last lesson was a little piece of taste of what is according to quite a lot of people one of the best electronic music festivals in the world: Sonar in Barcelona. Before that big event some of the bands/DJs performing there did an appetizer show in London, in the Roundhouse, Camden.

The roundhouse is a former engine shed reopened three years ago as an arts hub. This is a New Labour project –even while the theatre existed quite a lot of years before - owned by the local council and this means that you will not be ripped off for gigs that otherwise might be terribly expensive, as it could be the case of the gig I’m writing about now. A fairly big space for about 3,000 people, the building is a little piece of art with all its columns, its iron work and its vibe. In three words: A Fantastaic Venue.

That specific day, I have to say that decoration was very good, with quite a lot of psychedelic stuff, lights and all the business as usual Ibiza paraphernalia. The only flaw I could spot was that the music came from the stage only, as they didn’t set any speakers in the back side of the venue. That wasn’t a real problem, and can be even considered a positive point as the place wasn’t too packed: you could go to the stage border line if you wanted to, or you could step back in order to have a chat with someone while enjoying a drink.

Talking about drinks, 3.50 for a pint of Becks is a fair price given the bands playing and the quality of the venue. No complains about that, at least from my side.

The first guy to perform was Angel Molina, a DJ from Barcelona fairly famous for experimenting with different sounds and trends. He developed a fairly progressive session, starting very chilled out and ending a bit more energetic. The problem of his show was pretty obvious, though: it started at 20:00, so no more than 20 people were attending from the very beginning – I was one of them – and no more than 100 at the end. Obviously, you can do whatever it is in your hands, but in such an empty place it is very difficult to generate the party mood that this type of music requires. So I’ll spare this one as his failure, as it really was the audience’s – or lack of- one.

Second one was Jeff Mills – more about here in this post-, and obviously, that is a completely different story. The place got completely packed for his session, and he didn’t deceive at all. He started the session with fairly innovative sounds and images on the big screen – yes, there was a massive screen – that lasted about 15-20 minutes, and after that he just played what he knows how to do better: pure Detroit techno. You could see the faces of everybody on the front line enjoying the experience really a lot, and it was real and healthy enjoyment at that point, as it was still 22.00 and not enough time to get hammered had passed yet. The vibe was incredible at that point. Obviously the classic queues in the toilets you get in these gigs were present, but I don’t think people were more fucked up that in any club any weekend.

Anyway, Mr. Mills session ended with a flash experience – we were literally flashed from two big flashes that appeared in two gaps in the middle of the screen – and everybody dancing and enjoying good techno. My lack of expertise in the matter does not allow me to give a more precise description of the music, but that is not what this post is about, you can always go to somewhere else if you want to check that.

After Mills it was time for Plaid DJ. A guy that comes up to the stage just with a Mac is not very promising- how are you mixing music then: pushing ctrl+F2? Fuck off!!!. Anyway, sort of cheese drum and bass that I didn’t particularly liked at all. A good chance to have some drinks and chat up a bit, though.

After that, my personal discovery of the night: Moderat. Those German guys know what their racket is, and they know it well. They covered the stage with DJ sets, screens, visual effects and all sort of junk you may imagine, but, at the end of the day, their music was just great. The three guys altogether mixing sounds at the same time, they generated an experience that at some point remembered me Holy Fuck, but in a harder way – stronger beats and more revolutions.

Everybody went crazy at some point of the gig, and the guys were really friendly with the crowd, more like rock stars than the classic cliché about a DJ with his earphones and ‘this is my business’ pose. Greatly enjoyable, those guys, and a personal recommendation if for some reason they come around to your town.

Finally, Erol Alkan, a fellow Londoner DJ that became famous in The End playing electro, did a good electro session. At that point everybody was quite drunk – the Moderat experience pushed us to do it -, so my opinions about it may not be very precise. I enjoyed it, that’s all I can say.

And finally, at 3.00, curfew. A great band they were… :). This is just a joke between Vlad and myself, as I asked what curfew played, and, well, if you check in your dictionary what curfew means as I did, you’ll get the meaning to the joke – and by the way, you’ll feel as depressed as I did about how many fucking different words are in this in the other hand lovely language.

Tyla and Dogs d'Amour at Bull and Gate

2009-05-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

389 kentish town, NW5 london

Some times there are gigs you go just for the sake of doing something that day, instead of staying in your place, or maybe to keep someone company. Typically on those you have no real interest in the band playing, and the real motivation is the night out and the beers that come with it. And also typically those are great nights, even the best ones.

Dogs D’Amour last Saturday was one of them, and , I can say, one of the best gigs I’ve been in London. The one to praise for the chance was Cesar, who loves Hard Rock, no matter how out of fashion it may be.

The band has more than 25 years history on the stages. To be accurate, the singer and frontman, Tyla, has been on the stages for that time, as he is the only remaining member of the original band. He always was the core of it, though, and he proved why well enough that night.
Their music is pure hard rock with some glamm dosis, something between Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, if you want. Just a video to show what I’m talking about…

The gig had basically three parts. Within the first one they rocked some of their more famous hits, and they showed off as a pretty compact and solid band, with a particularly outstanding bass player and a drummer and guitarist that did their work alright. After several hits, the drummer and the bass went to have some drugs to the dressing room and Tyla and the guitarist stayed for performing some unplugged staff, with acoustic guitars both. Here they mixed some of their classics with Tylas more recent solo songs, and even they performed a new single that apparently is going to be released in his new solo album. The concert at this point became certainly touching, as you can see someone who used to fill big venues -3,000 to 5,000 people – playing for a band of guys no bigger than 200 or 300, and at that point you realize that even while that music is not trendy any more, it is still great music that has its public and fans. The songs remembered me some of the acoustic albums of Bruce Springsteen, but with a classic British ironic wink .

The last part of the gig came when one of the acoustic guitars proved to be out of tune, reason that Tyla cashed in on to get the band together again and play another handful of classic themes. They didn’t do any encores, but at that point, having paid just ten quid, everybody was more than satisfied.

The band playing before was not too remarkable: more hard rock, but lacking the quality that the main band naturally has. They did something completely unexpected, though: on their last 10 minutes melodic song an artistic dancer came with them and, dancing on her tiptoes a complex-to-define modern artistic dance, did at the same time a strip tease. As the song was good, the girl was awesome, her dancing was pretty suggestive and elegant at the same time, and her tits were just perfect, that was one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of the night. Again, for 10 quid you usually don’t get a stripper working in London.

And about the venue, the Bull and Gate, the place is worth a post on the blog on its own. Located in one of my favourite areas in London, Kentish Town, the place is split in two main buildings: a venue room with space for about 200-250 people, and the main pub. The venue is ok, a square room with a fairly good acoustic that in this occasion was decorated with Tyla paintings – yes, he is a painter, and a poet with a couple of books published too. About the pub, I really like it. It is one of those old looking pubs with plenty of decoration, a central bar with an even distribution around it, including some sofas, tables and chairs, and most importantly, fairly prized beers starting at 3,10 the Carling. The atmosphere before gigs obviously depends of the band playing that night, but as the range they cover is always rock-related, you may expect the classic leather-attired chaps completely covered by tattoos in every single skin gap. Good mood everywhere. My friend Vlad says that those days that no band’s playing it is much quieter, and he is a guy to be trusted. Even being quiet I reckon it is a very good option, though.

Dublin

2009-04-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

“When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Dublin.” JP Donleavy

I was in Dublin more than a month ago visiting T., a friend who is currently working over there. It was just a weekend visit, hence time went by really quickly and even as we visited a lot of different places, it really seems to me know that it was really a very short time.

BTW, sorry for not posting in a while. I've had a fairly interesting social life that got me in a temporary retirement on the blogging scene :). Hopefully I'll come back a bit more regularly now...

Just a tip for any Dublin visitor – the only thing to do in that city is visiting pubs and drinking Guinness. It may sound a bit harsh, but apart of the Guinness Storehouse aty St James Gate, which is a must for the lovers of the black stuff, any other attraction – say Dublin Castle, say Jameson distillery, say St Patricks Cathedral, say whatever you want – is quite worthless, at least under my point of view. So don’t panic, don’t stress yourself, relax and enjoy a perfect and creamy white top on your pint, ideally with a clover draw on it if you get a barman skilful enough.

So let’s start with the pub crawl briefing.

1. The Purty Kitchen

34 East Essex St, Temple Bar, Dublin

This is a nice nite out pub, with live music, a club upstairs - it has 4 different floors, all of them listed-, and plenty of space and hidden corners to get your own place. Although it is not a pure traditional old fashioned Irish pub, it is not a crappy chain-owned one. Indeed, it is the sort of club you may find in London quite easily with a couple of big contrasting differences: In one hand, Guinness tastes better – much better indeed – but not THAT better to justify a 6 euro charge per pint. In the other, life music is covers of classics, which, to be honest, is a great thing if it is party and not music what you look for. I am one of those weirdos who love to listen a good band play their own themes but equally understands that covers at some point in a Friday night can change the party mood in a big way. That was the case, under my point of view, and I congratulate these guys for that.

On the top of that, the classic stuff you may find in the perfidious Islands: impossible heels, drunkards everywhere, good music and better beer. Not a surprise at all.

2. The Porter House

16-18 Parliament Street Dublin

I already wrote a post about the London representative of this Irish chain of brewery-pubs. All I said in that one applies to the PorterHouse in Dublin as well, with a couple of hints to remark. First, the guy playing live music in this place – again covers – was really, really funny. I don’t think you can find this kind of freak playing in London, and that is a shame as everybody enjoyed it a lot. Second, the mere fact of not serving Guinness in a pub in Dublin should be forbidden. End of the conversation :).

3. O’Neills

Suffolk Street, Dublin

Now, this is a traditional Irish pubs, with its pros and its pros. No cons at all, if you want my opinion. A massive place with quite a lot of different rooms, TVs, smooth music creating atmosphere, and the best pint I tried in the whole weekend. The pub has a couple of floors, and even while several tourists groups where around you could easily spot the differences between a classic English pub and a classic Irish one. To remark some of them, in an English they don’t play any music, while in an Irish one they do, and while the good mood is always present in both of them, the atmosphere is slightly more friendly also in the Irish one. Now that I think about it, there are a couple of cons in the red-haired one: the prices and the prices. Also, beer variety is much bigger in any average London pub than in a big Dubliner, and they have Heineken instead of Carling or Becks, and I prefer the latter ones. Altogether, the quality of the Guinness makes a big difference.

About the decoration, O’Neills was really a very nice place to give a slow look at. Old clocks, Guinness memorabilia, comfy coaches, horse races pictures and a thick layer of dust altogether generate an extraordinary feeling to a pub lover as I am.

4. Café en Seine

39 Dawson Street, Dublin

As lovely as bizarre, this place is a unique experience, even if it is not an Irish one at all. The places tries to resemble a French café, and it is quite clear the owners have decided to table as much cash as needed to get the effect right. The decoration is ubiquitous, expensive, and some times surrealistic. Greek statues, palms, golden carving, and so on, I’m quite sure you easily get the picture.

I confused the place with Zanzibar, a gay club I was in – by mistake – the previous time I went to Dublin. T. told me they both belong to the same chain, and it seems there are some more scattered around Dublin. So finding out where they are looks like a pretty interesting task to write down in my travel book for the next Dublin trip.

Again, prices are crazy, and the Carlsberg we had was a bit warm. So not a great value for money unless you take loads of pictures of the place, which, by the way, I didn’t – I’m becoming a lazy bastard when taking pictures is what you talk about.

5. O'Donoghue's

15 Merrion Row, Dublin

Very likely my favourite one, even while paradoxically we barely went in as we drunk everything – and this everything is sort of literal, as I cannot remember how many we took in this place. The place has a lovely indoor terrace with gas heaters, and the service attends you in your table/barrel, so no real need for having a fight on the bar all the time. Good thing, as the English traditional respect for your turn –fading nowadays, to be honest – has no equivalent on its little sister island.

Anyway, the pub inside was conformed by several narrow corridors with tables on it, and everybody in seemed to be having a great time. Outside wasn’t worse, and a nice mixture of locals, students and tourists blended in a very sweet recipe. So this is a place to be recommended to everybody to start a night with only a little flaw: you feel so good there that you may end up spoiling a night under a gas heater. Which is not a big flaw, if you think about it.

6. Solas

31 Wexford Street, Dublin

A club in Camden area– yeah, this is the name of the main street over there. Not a very remarkable one in my opinion, but with a very good bottled beer collection. It closed quite early, as almost everything in London, which is a shame, and at least, compared with the clubs around, looked like the best one and the one with an age average above 24. So good enough to end a good nite as well as a good weekend.

7. Ocean

Charlotte Quay Ringsend Dublin

This is a lovely bar in the docklands area of Dublin. Not a pub, but a quiet place to chill out, enjoy a drink or two and watch the sunset as it goes by smoothly as the whole weekend went.

Ordnance Arms: a quiet place in poshland

2009-04-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

29 Ordnance Hill, London, NW8 6PS

St John’s Wood is one of those posh areas in North London you cannot really understand what its purpose is. Not too far away from Central London but not close enough either, and surrounded by several other posh areas like Maida Vale, there is absolutely nothing special about it. Quiet, everybody’s a wasp – more likely a banker than a plumber – and it seems nothing ever happens.

The reason I was over there was I have a friend who works in a school in the area. Add to that the fact that it is on the way to Central London on the Jubilee line from my place, and you get the point about trying a pub close to the station as the Ordnance Arms is. And from the time being, it is by far the best place in St John’s I’ve found until now.

First of all, the place is unpretentious, which is a brilliant point if compared with almost everywhere else in the area. No marbles, no stupidly pricey drinks, no design food. Just a pub that has been taken care about, at least lastly as it seems previous owner was a twat. Now the atmosphere is friendly, and the decoration, if simple, is very effective. I particularly liked a custom tree with lights on its branches that loomed all the place around in a nice way. The design is cute too - the pub has a very pleasant layout, and the furniture is just right for the kind of place it is. The chimney is always an extra point, and the room is big enough to feel pretty comfortable, at least on a weekday when it’s not too stuffed. Maybe on weekends it’s a different matter, but… who cares about St Johns Wood in a weekend, I ask?

On the top of this, they have Sam Smith. Yes, the same Sam Smith they have in Cheshire or Chandos, and I already said what I have to say about it on those posts. Just as a reminder, it is very good, particularly the stout type. And yes, I know, they don’t serve any proper bitter pint, but as I’m not that much for bitter beer lastly, at this point it doesn’t seem to be such a big problem to be honest.

The best point of the place, though, is not the beer but the food. I have not tried it, true, but it looked really good, and at amazingly cheap prizes for that area in London. As soon as they get an outdoor terrace on summer I’m planning to get a proper lunch over there.
I know, this is not an impressive post.

Mueble Bar Nation

2009-04-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Two options:

a) We are taking it easy lastly, as work in progress is stacking

b) We are having too many friends visits :)

From left to right: El Coteron Irish Whiskey Cream, Cacique, Dark Vodka - home made, Barcelo a;ejo, Red Label (2, in plastic-made bottles!!!), Bushmill 10 years, McCallan 12 years, Arbelour 10 years, Talisker Distiller Edition and a Vodka bottle my brother brought from Moscow a couple of weeks ago.

And a bottle of coke to mix'em all :)

Bradley's Spanish Bar

2009-03-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

42-44 Hanway Street, Bloomsbury, London, W1T 1UP

Whenever you meet with some bloke from overseas here in London the selection of the pub to have some drinks almost always ends up asking you about an Spanish pub, somewhere where you may have tapas, Cruzcampo and chorizo. It is shellproof: it always works like that. And you, as the Spaniard you are, have to go again for the same argument: Spanish pubs in London are crap, tapas are pretty overrated Cruzcampo tastes like shit, and well yes, I know a very good place but is in Clapham, then miles away from here.

Thanks to Wessel, who is going out with an Spanish girl, I have overcome this problem with quite a lot of flair, indeed. What about a typical folk Spanish bar, completely stuffed with ‘Sevillanas’, bullfighting posters and any other paraphernalia – with a tiny distinction: music is English enough, beers are English enough, and the atmosphere is English enough.

Well, Bradley’s is the place.

First, its location surely fits everyone. Just beyond Tottenham Court road, five minutes away from Soho. Its location is very likely indeed the reason for its biggest flaw - it is almost always packed, and particularly on the weekends it may feel as it’s not comfy at all inside. Let’s go there in a weekly day, then.

Second, the decoration. It is so ‘cutre’, or bizarre, or however you wanna spell it, that in fact it is sort of lovely. Imagine a pub for tourists in Madrid and you clearly got it. I particularly like the tacky Spanish memorabilia behind the bar… it remembers me Benidorm or some place even worse J.

Third, the music. The jukebox in this place is very likely one of the best in London. It mainly covers British music from the 60s and 70s, and I can promise you that the collection they have is difficult to beat. Add to this an old fashioned jukebox – this is, one of those that physically pick a vinyl from a stack and gently lands it in the player-, and you have a quite hypnotizing experience.

Four, YES, they have Cruzcampo. Like if anybody from Spain northerner than Madrid gives a shit about it. We don’t like it, we don’t care about it, and we prefer Carling. Clear enough?

And finally, about the staff… well, friendly enough everybody. Everybody but the busybody glass collector/traffic nazi who herds customers from the road and tells them where they should stand or not. Arsehole…

Now seriously, the place is a dive. Really small, with two different storeys, the good one for me is the one upstairs, which by the way is the tiniest one. It is there where the jukebox is, and also where some nice sofas can be used. Downstairs there is more space, but the decoration is not that Spanish and it is more about people sit down in chairs and tables, which doesn’t make a very big difference from somewhere else.

The mighty jukebox

Drinks are overprized, as everywhere else in this area in London, and the toilets are the smelliest I have ever been in. They really stink badly, and that may be a problem if you are planning to have quite a lot and you are sort of picky about this kind of thing. As I’m not, I don’t really bother.

And finally… any Spanish around? Well, some of them, but mainly if you call on Wednesday or Thursday. If you just let it be for the weekend, the drunk British crew is more common. As a Spanish, would I recommend it? Yes, I do. It is a charming place, and that should do it.

Friends&Songs

2009-03-26T16:47:00.001-07:00

I have always thought about that song I am listening in some bar and how it remembers me a friend, for some weird reason. Maybe because I listened it with him at an important point in my life. Maybe because I was in a gig with him at that point. Maybe for something else. Or maybe there is no actual reason - in fact, those songs have a meaning for me, related to them. Maybe even they have no meaning at all for them. And let it be clear enough, this is not a list about good or band friends. It is just a list I can relate with music - indeed, some of my best friends are not here, as I cannot think about a song I have share with them at some point of my life that was sort of special for me.

Anyway, here comes my list - high fidelity stuff:

Yo - Last nite, The Strokes
Chus&Santi - Basket Case, Green Day
Isa- La de Ramón, Platero y Tú
Ruben - Elevator, Bad Religion
Makotogim - Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Ramones
Hermano Bro - Valerie, Amy Whinehouse
Peter PwC & Claire - Hung up, Madonna
Afri - Por fin, Platero y Tu
Santi - Self Steem, Off Spring
Chunle - A;os 80, Los Piratas
Maite - Friday I'm in love, the Cure
Santi Bel - Take me out, Franz Ferdinand
Paula & Juli - Last nite, The Strokes
Ana Reading - Another Sunny Day, Belle and Sebastian
Jorge& Agueda - Mr. Birghtside, The Killers
Adri - No sleep till brooklin, Beastie Boys
Disier- Jump Around, House of Pain
Sarriu - Oh reala laralaralarala lara lara lara lara lara laraaaaaaaaaa - popular
Marta Lu - Necesito Respirar, Medina Azahara
Sebas - William it was really nothing, The Smiths
Dxx - Fear of The Dark, Iron Maiden
Ira- Pictures of you, The Cure
Cesar- Welcome to dying, Blind Guardian
Richard - Intergalactic, Beastie Boys
Andres - La mataré, Loquillo y los Trogloditas
Simon - Du Hast, Rammstein
Tommi - La Chica de Ayer, Nacha Pop
Ebri - Sin Dios ni Amo, Extremoduro
Familia Gómez - Soy Gitano, Camarón
Roq - Vespa Especial, Luna Pop
Ivan - Estrella del Pop, La Oreja de Van Gogh
Cesar London 1 - X102, Jeff Miles
Cesar London 2 -The Ace of Spaces, Motorhead
Mike Bohan - New York, Frank Sinatra
Chaparro - El Perro verde, Marea
Mary - Bring me to live, Evanescence
JuanFran - Science in Violence, the Rifles

So, if at some point in my life I do a massive party and I get all these people in, I know what music I should play. Not because of them, but because of me.

Rat Pack

2009-03-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. I mean it, because when you wake up in the morning, that is as good as you're gotta feel in the whole day...

Dean Martin, min. 6:47

Mojinos Escozios in The Jamm, London

2009-03-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

261 Brixton Road London, SW9 6LH

Well, this should be clear enough for everybody: I do not particularly like or appreciate the music Mojinos Escozios do. Even when they moved through covers to their actual songs, I cannot say they are good musicians, or that their songs are really appealing. But mate, if it is for party for what you are up to, they are the band. And they proved it, oh, how they proved it.

The party was organized by rocksinsubtitulos, which I ever had about before - they will perform the same party in the end of April with Def Con Dos, but I'll be unfortunately in a wedding in Spain that weekend. They promised a Londoner ‘Feria de Abril’, with folk music before and after the party. That is pretty scary if you think seriously about it – it easily may have been a ‘Sevillanas’ party, with everybody in stupid southern Spanish fancy dresses, sweet wine and all those other things that – sorry all the Andaluces over there – I really despise. Add to that £18 for the gig, which I thought it was quite expensive, and you really think if this is the way you actually want to spend a Friday night. Indeed it is.

The party was in the Jamm, in Brixton. Brixton is one of those former dodgy areas that used to be completely stuffed with all sort of townies, chavs and crackheads but that, for some unexplainable reason, has become a bit trendy on the last years. Just a bit, take me well: you shouldn’t get lost over there, specially on the Stockwell side of the area. But it is not as bad as it used to be, and plenty of venues are blossoming around lastly, some of them quite good. The Jamm is one of them – I had been there before a couple of times as Ana recommended me the ‘How does it feel (To Be Loved)’ parties they do on a monthly basis. The gigs were always quite good, while to be honest never too impressive.

The club itself is quite good. It has a couple of rooms, with space for about 600 people. The main one, where the big bar is, and the venue itself, where gigs take place. The bar has several sofas and coaches really comfy for doing the first beevies of the night, and after that you can always stand up and enjoy the 80s atmosphere – classic mirror lamp included. Beer is not pricey for a club – about 3,20 the pint. And it usually closes at 4 am, which is good for those tired of early closing clubs.

In fact, they closed at 6 am in Mojinos party, but let’s go through that later on. I arrived there about 8 pm with my brother, and we met quite a lot of good friends and new ones – Alberto, Reiko, Belendi, Rima and Nico, Isaac, Cesar ‘jevi’ and his friend – hell, I always forget his name… Javi?, and some other Alberto’s friends from Guildford. On the top of that, we met Neus, a crazy girl from Barcelona – all the videos in the post to her credit – , Montse, Inma and I suppose more… sorry to be that bad with names. Nevertheless, we were a lot of people there, something as 90% of us Spanish. And as soon as I arrived and I got my first Guinness I knew the nite was going to be one of those: Extremoduro, Marea, Platero y Tu and this kind of music started to sing in the pre-concert party, everybody became crazy singing, everything was all good.

Alberto 'The Clown', with Inma, before the gig

And after that, the gig. Well, the comedy show, I may say. Not because they didn’t play good music – they somehow achieved to perform – but because the intervals between songs were even better than the songs themselves. El Sevilla presenting a ‘El Puto’ – the drummer, on the pic on the right – and his son, ‘El Hijo del Puto’ – guitarist. El Sevilla stealing the wig of the other guitarist. El Sevilla drinking shots of Anis del Mono, and the crawd shouting BEBE BEBE BEBE. The classic ‘Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol, hemos venido a emborracharnos, el resultado nos da igual’ . Hell, they even played a song in English… well, sort of. And everybody, absolutely everybody there, had a great laugh, forgot for a moment they were leaving in the perfidious Albion – not that I have anything to complain about, to be honest – and felt instead like if they have a couple of Mahou beers and an Spanish omelette in the table.

Probably the best beer of the World?

They played for a long time, they recorded it for a Canal Sur program – skip it until the end, where the gig is… the rest is quite lame – and they had everybody drunk, happy and relaxed at the same time.

Here go some videos courtesy of Neus…

Mojinos in English

Shakira Shakira!!

And the remarkable Alcoooooooohoooooooooooooool!!!

And the gig finished. And it was still about 12 o’clock at night, and almost everybody stayed for the after party. Which, I have to say, was the most Spanish party I have ever been in London. No Sevillanas, thanks to God, but plenty of Rodriguez, Loquillo, pop rock, and even a bit of Reggeton. Yes, it is a shame, but in London sounds better… homesickness, I reckon. And loads and loads of pretty Erasmus girls, and Erasmus guys, and Spanish Londoners, and everything and more, and more. Almost everybody flirting – not me, I HAD a girlfriend at that point-, and some of them even being successful –that was obviously the less Spanish thing of the night. And absolutely everybody completely drunk at the end of the night, namely at 6 am in the morning. A couple of fags in the door, another ‘Alcohol Alcohol’, and everybody to the tube to sleep and tomorrow will be another day.

Really a remarkable night.

English for Spanish: lecture 1. Chorreo.

2009-03-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Chorreo is when those guys:

Score you team 4-0, and after that, they prove why football (sorry miss) is the most beautiful thing in the world. In Liverpool, obviously.

Liverpool, you will never walk alone. Football is great, and you are the best mirror any other team should look at.

And nothing else Matters

2009-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Peninsula Square, London, Greenwich, SE10

I already wrote a post about Fabric, which is very likely my favourite club in London at the moment, at least for late crazy nights. Last year, as plenty of classic clubs as the Cross were closing all around the city – and they are still closing down some others, I’m afraid – the owners of this club decided to open a new venue in the Dome, the big mall in front of Canary Wharf where the O2 Arena is.

Did they improve the original? Well, I don’t think so. Let’s go point by poing.

Let's go in...

1. The music. We went to a Bugged Out! Nite – a classic party that previously used to take place in The End - , hosting Tiga, Josh Wink, Satoshi Tomiie and Matt Walsh. I didn’t know any of them, to be honest, but in the pre-party at Cara’s place Cesar performed sort of a demo of the stuff the may play afterwards, so I didn’t go blind. Satoshi Tomiie is the coolest by a mile, but we forgot a slightly little think: don’t drink too much if you go to a gig. Even if it is a techno gig. The real thing is that between Jagermeister, Vodka, Martini and Scotch, all of them watered the night down a bit. So I cannot really say I enjoy the music a lot, even if it wasn’t the venue’s fault.

2. The sound. Well, this is just the only fact anybody can deny this is the best place in town about. Pretty aloud sound, maybe, but that is what this sort of thing is about, I guess. The Fabric’s ‘bodysonic’ dancefloor –designed to vibrate to the frequencies of the bass speakers built in directly below it – is even stronger here, as there are as many as 10 times more of those specific speakers. Indeed, if you go into the middle of the dancing area the club dances for you, which is quite cool for the shy guys in the tribe ;)

3. Visuals. Quite cool, ci-fi at some point, but I do really love the green laser of Room 2 in Fabric. So close, but not enough.

4. Venue. Really big, about 2,500 people fit on the main room – compared with 1,500 in Fabric. The problem here is the ceiling is too high, so the somehow claustrophobic clubbing feeling you get in Fabric is not replicated again here. On the top of that, the old electric plant look of Fabric cannot easily be replied, no matter how many new materials and flashing lights you use.

5. Transport. Going to a club at 1.00 am by boat as we did is a real Mastercard. The River Thames Boat services works till late, so I strongly recommend to do it this way. You feel like fucking Rockefeller.

6. The atmosphere. Here is where Matter really loses the battle. Fabric is a place to dance, and that’s it. Some call it a meat market, but what I really appreciate whenever I go there is that absolutely everybody is up for dancing and, maybe some of them, taking drugs. At some point, Matter seems more about chatting up – even a the incredible volume the music is in –flirting and, finally, fishing. There are plenty of places for that in town, and I reckon it was something different what was really needed.

Flirting or clubbing? That is the question

And all does not mean the place is not very good. I reckon it is. But I just don’t think it is better than Fabric, which is how they advertise it almost everywhere. A second try with less booze on my veins, though, might be a pretty good idea…

Titus Andronicus

2009-02-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

2-4 Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, London, N1 6NU

Titus Andronicus is the earliest Shakespeare’s tragedy. It is about Roman times, and it is supposed to be fantastic. However, if you ask to JuanFran or me what Titus Andronicus is about, we may have a quite different answer…

We would talk you about an incredible rock band based in New Jersey that Juan discovered in a trip to NYC last year – they performed in one of those Barack Obama campaign shows. He was so utterly impressed about their performance that as soon as they came to London in tour he couldn’t leave the chance to go and watch them. And so did I, and that is what this post is about.

Titus Andronicus

The concert was at The Hoxton Bar and Grill, a bar/venue in Hoxton – Old Street – I had been before just once. The only I could remember about the place was that the food was quite expensive and that it was a bit too posh for my taste, with somehow pricey drinks and not a big range of beers. Top of that, it has a nice terrace which is quite dangerous if you go around with Juan, as it will very likely will mean you’ll be on it smoking, or being accurate, watching he smoke for most of the time you spent in the place J.

What I didn’t know is that the place includes a quite nice venue on its backyard, and that it is a quite respected one in the area: any band playing there you may expect to be quite gifted, if not a lot. And so far and so forth, there we were, both of us, pint of Guinness in hand, waiting to the support bands.

The first one, to be honest, was a bit of a disappointment. Citizens they were called. Two girls, one singing and drumming and the other one playing the bass, did a good effort and had a quite nice pitch. That is not enough to generate appealing music, I’m afraid, and a third member would be really appreciated on the future. Good enough for a warming up, though.

The second band is a completely different story: Little Death. Maybe it has been the best not-known-at-all band I’ve seen ever. They played rock that sometimes sounded like Muse, sometimes sounded more like brit-pop. The singer voice was ok, but the most impressive fact about them is how solid as a band they sounded. Each single music was great – the guitarist was a virtuoso, the drummer almost broke down the patches with his mighty way of playing, and the bass… well, she was HOT! -, but that wasn’t really the point. The point is they appealed me as one of those bands that may sell loads and loads of albums if they put some effort on it, and, obviously, if they counted with the support of the industry. Really a lot of energy not too appreciated by the audience, if you want my point of view. But everybody there was about Titus Andronicus, I’m afraid… anyway, if I didn’t buy an album of this band, I’m afraid I won’t do it in the future in any other gig.

Well done!!

And latest but not least, Titus Andronicus. Pretty cool band, indeed: a nice mixture between korn, bruce springsteen and who knows what else. More professional than Little Death, they were really vigorous in their display. Juan told me that, on his view, this London performance was better than the NYC one, maybe because they were heading the gig. Vocal distortion, harmonics, everybody dancing around the stage… this is one of those bands that transmit a good feeling and somehow improve the mood of everybody around. It is not that much about the music, maybe, but about the atmosphere they were able to develop. And I’m not saying with that they are bad musicians, which would be nonsense. What I’m pointing out is that this is not their best virtue, because they can offer something else some other bands actually can’t.

Anyway, an incredible nite of music.

The Datsuns at the World’s End (The Underworld)

2009-02-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

174 Camden High St London, NW1 0NE

Camden is really one of those amazing areas you never stop discovering new places to spend a good time with friends. None the less, at some point it starts to be difficult to find a surprising one – at the end of the day, a pub is a pub. Not the case of The Worl’s End.

Why is this a different one? First of all, because it is massive, really huge. Second, because it is busy, too busy sometimes. The amount of tattoos per square meter is maybe higher than anywhere else in the UK, and the first time you just realize you are behaving as a stupid tourist looking at all those punks and heavies with their cool attires. Try to avoid it, go to the bar, wait for a long time, pay a quite expensive price – no pint cheaper than 3.20 – and enjoy the loud music, heavy metal or punk mainly. That is what this place was built for.

On the tap they serve Carling, Carlsberg, Carlsberg Export –the one we have in Europe, including Spain-, Lowenbrau – a nice German lager -, Bombardier – a classic ale -, Tetleys –bitter-, John Smiths –best option - and Directors – another ale, slightly stronger than Bombardier. No Guinness, unfortunately, but a variety enough for almost any taste. It takes a lot to get one on the weekends, though.

For everybody's taste...

The building itself, dating from 1875, is an attraction good enough for dropping once or twice. There are plenty of big rooms and levels, with stairs all over the place. Rooms are spacious, even on the weekends when it is supposed to be really packed. I strongly recommend to go on a week day. In fact, I cannot think right now about a bigger pub I’ve been in the UK. Sure there are some, but I cannot make my mind up about it right now… anyway, and to make it clear: this pub is sort of a theme park one, but with enough authenticity to make it worth the trip. It is also really close to the tube station, so while going shopping to Camden is a really appetizing option.

All that said, and after having a couple of drinks in the pub itself, last Thursday we went down to The Underworld, the Club in the basement, to watch The Datsuns. We were Jase, Cesar&Cesar, another friend of mine and me. And after a rude bouncer in the door, everything became quite ok.

The club is nice, creepy but nice. A bit narrow maybe. This is the most obvious flaw if you like quiet concerts, and in the other hand it is a real success point if you like noisy, dirty and crazy ones. As I’m more in the second group, the place is fine for me: mossing, pushing, sweat and all the ingredients you are supposed to have in a rock/metal/punk gig. The drinks in the club downstairs are the same price than upstairs, which is fair enough. Tequila is quite expensive, though, but… who may have in mind having tequila shots on a Thursday nite? :)

About The Datsuns, they performed quite well. If you don’t know them, I recommend a listen or two to their first, self-titled album. They are from New Zealand, and they play good and aggressive rock. About the git itself, the quality of the sound wasn’t perfect, in fact it was quite far away from being good. But they played with heart and feeling, and they got almost everybody in the first rows dancing and having fun, which is actually the point. Maybe they are not one of my favourite bands, and the music they play is maybe not the one I fancy the most, but they do a god job in live.

Motherfucker from hell, as they performed it in the Underworld

Uno, Dos, Tres… Twelve!!!

2009-02-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

22-23 Denmark Place, London WC2H 8NL

This is just another of those really nice places you may find in Tottenham Court Road vicinity. Or you used to, as as a result of a new railway construction quite a lot of real classics have been recently closed: Metro -one of my favourites-, The End-for many people, one of the best techno clubs in Europe-, The Sin – a nice Heavy Metal club-, Astoria and Astoria II – once more, real classics and real loses to this city spirit-, and so on. Under this circunstances, it is indeed a real pleasure to find out from time to time that there are still places opened that are worth a visit in this area. And Twelve bar is one of them, with all the basic ingredients you may expect in this blog: good mood, good music, nice decoration, and opened til late. All those Beatles posters, old mag covers, vinyls, and so on, make this place a unique one.

I discovered it a while ago, or, being accurate, Victor discovered it. And I rediscovered it quite recently, thanks to my brother, who spent his New Year’s Eve in the place. And I’d love to re-rediscover it as many times as needed, as this is the sort of place that makes a difference.

The main issue about Twelve is music, or, to be as accurate as possible, live music. Gigs. Everyday there are not one or two, but four bands playing, some times for a small door cover, some times for free. I’ve seen here two different types of band: a new metal crazy crew and a blues jam session. That should give you an idea of how open minded the place is, and also should make you think about the type of music you really like and the one going gon the specific night you are in before going inside, as you can expect almost everything there.

The distribution is the following: a small room with tables to have a quiet drink with your girlfriend, a small and dark room where gigs take place (what were you thinking about, naughty boy?), a big room with a pool table and a small terrace where every smoker can have a fag – and get frozen in the attempt, at least last weeks… how can it be THAT cold?

If you go earlier -gigs usually start about 8 pm- you can also have quite fun. Pretty good UK music is played, including Beatles, Rolling Stones, Smiths and also some more recent stuff, and, depending of who’s in the bar, you may ask for a couple of songs if you want. One of them is a nasty bastard, the other is really very very friendly. So good luck.

Drinks are cheap enough if you think you are in Central London, on a 10 minutes walking distance from Leicester Square. 3 quid per pint, with Red Stripe as option if you like lager. Guinness and other usual suspects are of course available as well. And all in this sort of low rent look venue so common in London, where everything looks like it is really dirty but you somehow decide to like it.

And of course the pool table that, luckily enough, is almost always empty while no concert is taking place… well, it is also empty when a concert takes place, but playing pool with a band playing would be kind of a rude thing, don’t you reckon?

Gordon Ramsay’s Warrington

2009-02-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

93 Warrington Crescent, London, W9

For those who may know him, as I didn’t not so long time ago, Gordon Ramsay is one of the most famous British cooks, and, by a long way, the fouler mouthed one of all. At the end of the day he is not famous because of his several -many- Michelin awarded restaurants, or because his several pubs, each even better than the previous one. What he is better known for, and in that he wins hands down every other cook, is because of the incredible way he swears in every single TV program he presents, and he has presented several. Hell’s Kitchen -a contest like Big Brother, but with young cooks hosting a restaurant in Brick Lane- or Kitchen Nightmares – where Gordon’s visits a desperate restaurant losing money and manages the recovery and resurrection of it- are my favourite ones, mainly the former. One of his mightiest moments, here with this petulant French Chef:

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I met my friend Rima and we decided which pub to go, in Maida Vale -North West London, really close to Paddington. This area, where by the way one of my favourite friends used to live five years ago, is a pretty good example of how the best and the worse and dodgiest areas in London are divided just by a single street. As is, the posh side of street has several –not too many, though- pubs where you may enjoy an overprized pint, and the rough other side is just fried-chicken-opolis and kebapopolis. After a while walking, we decided that the posh option was quite better under the present circumstances and we entered in the Warrington.

How to summarize it? Well, quite easy: just the most beautiful pub I’ve been in London yet. Definitely not the most charming one, and very likely not the most surprising or impressing, but if it is beauty what we are talking about… well, this is the place.

The main characteristic of the place is its incredible Victorian decoration, with a great fireplace, a marble rounded bar, marble columns and crafted wood all over the place. The best of all, though, is that it is really a very comfy place to drink in, and indeed a very warm one. Patrons are just middle class, not the too upper class you may expect in a place like this, and the lack of music –otherwise it wouldn’t be a proper British pub- is really concealed by all the simultaneous and friendly conversations that take place around.

About the drinks? Not pricey, I have to say. Around 3 pounds per drink, so expect Central London prices in the Warrington… what is somehow logic, as you are still in Zone 1 and in a particularly expensive area. They have four five real ales, plus Guinness, London Pride and Fosters. It was a real pity no Carling was served, as the real excuse to meet again with Rima was sharing some of those, but you cannot have everything in life, however hard you try.

And about food… well, this is a Gordon Ramsay’s pub. So even as they are not so stupidly high as in the restaurant in the first floor, the pub food is still too overprized and, even while I will not justify the quality of it, I’m not the one to pay 6 pounds for some ham and cheese in bread.
So forget about the food, get a pint of Pride, sit down in a table, if possible close to the chimney, and forget about everything else. A great experience.

Single Malt Nation

2009-02-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

No sólo de Carling vive el hombre… or in Shakespeare´s, man does not live of Carling alone. Indeed, I´ve started recently to discover the world of the Single Malt (for a good wiki-scientific explanation of what a Single Malt is, here). Indeed, this post is about my opinion of the last ones I´ve tried (since starting 2009, while I still remember what they tasted like :=)) and the idea is update it with any other coming up in the close future… Let´s go for them.

(Just note I indicate the name of the Malt, the age, the region, the alcoholic content and the price if I know it).

1. Talisker 1987 Distillers Edition. 14 years. Skye. 45.8%. 40 pounds/litre.

I tried this one straightforward as I arrive from London to Madrid on Christmas, with Albert and Pedro. Talisker is the only distillery on Skye Island, which by the way is my favourite region in Scotland and one of the most wonderful places I´ve ever been in. This particular edition is characterized by a stronger flavour than the normal Talisker, which indeed is quite a lot to say as Talisker is very likely one of the most flavoured Malts in the range in the fairly well known and affordable ones. A bit smoky, and with a lovely dark colour given by the cherry oak barrels it is partially matured in, I strongly recommend it. As it is quite strong I recommend to taste it mixed 50-50 with water. Indeed, every single Malt should be mixed 50-50, or at least that is what I´ve been told in every distillery I´ve visited in Scotland. Ice cubes is not a good option, as the cold dilutes the flavour and makes impossible to distinguish any special touch on it. Coca Cola… well, yeah. Whatever the fuck, Pedro!!! :).

A proper tasting experience here

2. Talisker 10 years, 10 years. Skye. 45.8%. 30 pounds/litre

This one I bought it on Asda (the equivalent to Carrefour in Spain), and it is very likely my favourite one, maybe not just because of the flavour, but also for all the remembers it gives to me. I tried it first time when I went to Scotland during my Erasmus year, and it has been since then my first option whenever I want to experience a good Malt in a pub. Not as smoky or tasty as the previous special edition, it is anyway a very strong whisky with a particular and quite specific smell that somehow might remember the sea, at least compared with an insipid one as the Glenfidich/Cardhu options. In Spain, apart of in whisky shops, I´ve seen it in some superstores as Makro.

A proper tasting experience here

3. Bushmills Malt. 10 years. Northern Ireland. 40%. Invited

In Gilberto´s birthday, three weeks ago, Aitor, the host of the party, had an incredible Malts collection and at the end of the party we had both my brother, him and myself a really nice tasting experience – many thanks, Aitor, if you read this. I reckon at that point is when I thought about writing this post, indeed… this Bushmills single Malt, as opposite to both Talisker commented before, is a very light whiskey -whiskey, as Irish whiskey, and not whisky, as Scotch. Not as light as the blended Bushmills we also tried there -and another post would be worth about great blended Scotchs or whiskeys, as this one is-, this is still one of those you may try even without water on it, as it is distillated three times as most of the Irish stuff. A bit more light than what I do really like, in my opinion this is a good option if you want to have quite a lot of them, as it is not particularly strong either in alcoholic percent or in taste. I particularly appreciate Irish Whiskeys, like Jameson, with ice cubes after a proper lunch, as they don´t add up an already upset stomach.

4. Glenlivet 15 years. 15 years. Speyside. 43%. Invited.

The second one we tried in Aitor´s. A great exponent of what an Speyside Malt is supposed to be: not too strong, not too light, just balanced both in flavour and alcoholic content and a bit sweet. I´m not a great fan of this type of quite smooth Malts, as I prefer the more strong stuff, but I have to recognize that it is a very good option for the ´less brave´ ones :). A good compromise option for most of the people.

A proper tasting experience here

5. and 6. A Japanese one and a Frankenstein one. Invited.

Please, help here… if anyone around has Aitor´s mail, just send him this post URL, cause I cannot remember the name of those two. The Japanese one was really nice, quite smooth as well, more in the Speyside side. If anybody is surprised, you should know Japan is the second producer of Single Malts in the world, just after Scotland and above Ireland. Those little Japanese guys became nuts several years ago about this stuff, and currently they produce very good quality ones.

The Frankenstein, well, Aitor called it like that because it came from the Speyside region but tasted as an Islay, this is, very smoky with a very dark coal-like colour, and a very strong nose and persistent ending. To be honest, one of the best if not the best I ever tried. And one of the rarest as well.

7. Lagavulin 16 years. 16 years. Islay. 43%. Invited.

A very expensive and demanded Malt, this is the one we tried the last and the one Aitor was more proud about, not the least because as it is that demanded it is quite difficult to find it in a shop. It is an Islay (the same apply for this sort of Malts that I said for Talisker applies, but even more superlative: stronger, smokier, sea-resembling), but not a particularly defining Islay, as it is a bit smoother than most of them. My opinion about this one is that it is the best option to make a transition from light-smooth Malts to stronger and flavory ones, but it just lands in the very middle without convincing the real fans of any of both sides. And of course, that opinion must be wrong, as most people who understand about this rank this particular one on the very very top.

A proper tasting experience here

8. Ardbeg. 10 years. Islay. 46%. 30 pounds/litre

I bought this one as a present to Dave when I went to Berlin last weekend, and it was a fantastic finding, to be honest. When I said for the Lagavulin that was not what I understand as a full-bodied Islay… quite similar on the taste to the Frankenstein I tasted with Aitor, this one was even more smoky, but in a finer way, not so shocking. Not as persistent as any Talisker, I have to say. And, well, true enough we already were slightly drunk when we tried it, but I reckon we enjoyed it quite particularly, and the one to praise for it is the guy in the Malts shop in Stansted. By the way, really helpful those guys in that very specific shop: if you want to buy a present, just tell them the sort of drink you want to buy and the budget you have, and they are really fair and honest in their recommendations.
A proper tasting experience here

9. Aberlour. 10 years. Speyside. 40%. 15 pounds/litre (believe it or not!!!)

Well, I´m actually trying this one right now. This evening, when I went to the local supermarket, they had this one in offer, reduced from 25 quid to 15… if you think that is what you pay nowadays for Bells or JB blended Scotch in any shop, I couldn´t just let it go. Even when I did not really need any more whisky, as I have my Dyc 10 años for the weekends, and during the week… well, during the week I don´t drink, and definitely I don´t drink whisky at home. I´m not in such a bad shape yet, luckily. So just as an exception, I´m having a sip of it at the moment, just as a tasting experience for the blog post. And… well, it is just OK. Again, maybe a bit too smooth and light, if you want my opinion. But anyway… for 15 quid… well, amazing value for money.

A proper tasting experience here

And that´s it by now... any visit coming to London and bringing new stuff is really welcome!!! (just a joke, White Label coke is good enough)

Techno on the other side of the wall: Berghain

2009-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I paid a visit to Dave, a friend who is leaving in Berlin. I hadn’t had the chance to visit this city before, and I was really willing to do it as everybody talked very good stuff about it. My opinion about the city:

1. Very cold :)
2. Very different to some other big European capitals as Madrid, London or Paris. It doesn’t seem at any point to be a huge metropolis, and the reason for it is it is very quiet. Not too many people in the streets, not too many cars in the roads, and absolutely not too many noise anywhere. For this sometimes you really need to have a deep look in a map to realize that, yes, indeed it is a very big city.
3. The monuments over there were cool, but not as cool as London or Paris might be in this sense.
4. Former Soviet buildings are really very ugly. I liked the only remaining III Reich building, though.
5. Everything is really very cheap, even cheaper than Madrid and, obviously, shamefully cheaper than London.
6. People don’t drink beer in huge pitchers all the time. That is Bavarian stuff.

Of course, I did some tourism, pictures in the Wall and in Brandeburg Gate, and so on. So far and so good this blog is about pubs and bar, and actually the best of the weekend were, on the top of meeting back Dave after a fairly long time, pubs and clubs in the city.

a) Stäv, Schiffbauerdamm 8, 10117 Berlin

A quite illustrious and historic place, this is a german bar where you can drink Cologne brewed beer. This type of beer is quite light and easy to drink, and they serve it in small 20cl glasses… at some point you feel like you are having ca;as, but without food. The guys in the bar were quite friendly and they wrote down in a beermat a stripped mark per every drink you had, quite like I saw in Seville several years ago. Nice music and a nice place to enjoy a good conversation and a nicely furbished bar.

b) Die Tagung, Wühlischstraße 29, 10245 Berlin

Ostalgie is the term Germans use to refer to East-German nostalgia or, in other worlds, nostalgia about the Soviet times, and that is what this place is about. The pub is a nicely decorated pub with this sort of themes: communist staff, posters, paraphernalia, etc. We had Red Oktober beer, at the incredible price of €2.30 half a litre (at 2 o’clock at night, in a pub!), and music was really very good and very British. Indeed, apart of all the memorabilia the place really looked like a pub in Camden, but even better. I really liked it.

c) Berghain, Ruderhorfer St., Berlin, Germany

The name "Berghain" is a composite of the names of the two quarters, which flank the building south and north: KreuzBERG (former West Berlin) and FriedrichsHAIN (former East Berlin). It should mean TECHNO in capitals, though, as it is what it really means.

This is one of those massive clubs you cannot find anymore in Madrid. The huge building is a former power plant that currently hosts two different clubs, Berghain (main floor) is about techno and Panorama (top floor) is about House and Electro.

And it had to be good, dear, as we waited for almost 40 minutes to get through, at 2.30 am on a below zero degrees night. The bouncers seemed to be quite selective, and indeed we were quite lucky as a nice blondie jumped the queue just in front of us. As they asked to two Spaniards to leave the queue just as they were going in (and after their good share of the 40 minutes), we were really scared, as they didn’t look like particularly different or dodgy to us. No matter how, we passed the bouncer scrutiny and we were inside.

First thing: a bottle of becks was just 3.10 €. I cannot imagine any other city in Western Europe where it might be possible – maybe just in Lisbon. And the music was aloud, and good, and tequila was good as well, gold or silver.

The mood of the club is gay – friendly, this is, plenty of gay people on it but straight is also welcome. That didn’t really mind, mainly for two options: 1. I have a girlfriend. 2. The music was so good everybody was just thinking about dancing, and chatting up wasn’t really an option.
Really a very good techno club, one of the best I’ve ever been in. The only flaw… well, it was so good we arrived to Dave’s place about 9.30, and obviously there was no real chance to make any more tourism on Sunday. A good reason for go back to Berlin sooner than later, then!

Boys vs. Girls

2009-01-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks Tommy :)

Lisbon trip: useful topics about food and drinks

2009-01-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

Here go some tips courtesy of Pintofcarlingplease to enjoy Lisbon... my favourite places to drink/eat over there:

Pavilhao Chines
89 Rua Dom Pedro

Very likely one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. This is an ancient cocktails bar, of the likes of Chicote in Madrid, but as opposite it maintains intact its incredible atmosphere. Decorated with hundreds of different elements (small statues, quirky atrezzo, etc.), everything smells old here: the barmen, with their old fashioned suits and their educated manners, the pool table (one of those antiques with a net in each pot to grab the ball and ivory balls), the music, etc etc etc. The drinks menu is amazing, with plenty of cocktails and also good single malts. Prices are expensive to be Lisbon, but don’t expect to pay more than 6-7 € per cocktail, which is not too bad if you think about the quality of the stuff served. Also ham&cheese ‘tostas’ for those who feel for a quick snack. Only flaw, there are quite a lot of tourists there. But it is always like that, the same old tale of the tourist who complains about other tourists… quite lame.

Chapito
Rua do Castelo, 7

Incredible place, one of the best I’ve been in Lisbon. Situated in an incredible terrace quite close to the castle, the views are big time. This is a nice blend of a student place, a hippy place and a trendy place, incredible for having some drinks at late evening or early night on summer. While from the outside the place looks a bit dodgy, inside it is a really nice place, with art exhibitions, sometimes live music and even really nice barmaids. Don’t miss it in summer.

Café Taborda
Costa do Castelo, 75

In the basement of Teatro Taborda (Taborda Theatre), this is an incredible restaurant. Consistently cheap, the main room is located in a covered terrace with incredible views from Alfama. Food is mostly veggie, so if you are for steaks, roasts or stews, this is not your place, as they have some meat but it is not at all the best deal you can get here. A very nice place for having lunch and enjoy a long after lunch. Maybe the most romantic restaurant I’ve been in Lisbon.

Beer Terraces

All around Lisbon: in Santa Justa Elevator, in Alfama, in Chiado… everywhere. The best views of the city, for about 1.5€ per 30cl of Portuguese beer. I am a Sagres supporter, but if you feel more like a Superbock, it is equally good stuff for you buddy. Also great for having a snack, even in winter if you are lucky, while you are discovering this incredible city.

CCB- Belem Cultural Center
Praça do Império

A really horrible modern building, just climb the stairs and enjoy a quite hidden terrace on the first floor. With a small garden, the views of the river are really nice from here, and also the atmosphere and general mood is very good. Food and drinks are served inside, in a bar that resembles a Spanish university (cans of beer, trays, bad food, etc.). If you want to have a break while visiting Belem area, this is your place. Otherwise, if you are looking for a place to have food, avoid it as it is quite bad (and quite cheap, to be honest).

Pastais of Belem Café
Rua de Belém 8

A classic in Belem, where they sell their cream pies. It is in all the guides, and obviously packed with tourists all the time, but if it is not too stuffed it still deserves a visit.

Small restaurant in Alfama

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the place, not even where it was located exactly. It was in Alfama, before arriving to the castle, close to Rua do Limoneiro. It is in a corner, and it has a small terrace with sunshades on it. It looks very dodgy, and inside there are a couple of tables on the left and a small dinning room on the right. There are only (or mainly) locals there. And the quality of cod (bacalao) is impressive, I deeply recommend the ‘Bacalao con natas’ (Cod with cream), really very very good. By the way, just an insider tip about small restaurants in Portugal/Lisbon. They offer you always some appetizers in the table, and you will pay for them just if you try them. As those appetizers are always included in the menu, it is a much better idea to wait until you have a look at it and you decide which of them you prefer to have, if any. They usually table you the most expensive ones, and if you don’t know how it works you may feel a bit conned when the bill comes. Advised you are!

Rio Coura
Rua de Augusto Rosa 30

Another small restaurant in Alfama, but as opposite to the previous one, quite famous and full of tourists, most of them Spanish (this place has a lot of good reviews on Ciao, that is very likely the reason). Food is cheap and good: sardines for two (5 medium sized ones each) + a green whine bottle 12€. Maybe not the best place in town, but a quite safe bet.

Cantinho da Paz
Rua da Paz 4

One of the best Indian restaurants I’ve ever eaten in. This places honors the cuisine of Goa, a former Portuguese and currently Indian colony, and it is a great option as an alternative to Portuguese food. Very good Tikka Masala (what I had there) but almost everything looked really tasty. Very full, with queue to go in, and plenty of Indian people inside, which is always a good sign. We paid 29€ for a two people dinner, including quite a lot of beer, which is a fairly good price if you think of the quality of the food.

A little coffe shop very close to the Castle entrance

Again, cannot remember the name or the exact location. It is not farther away than 5 minutes walking, and it is a lovely tiny coffe shop. I loved it.

Jazz Bar, Lisbon

A lovely place devoted to Jazz lovers in Barrio Alto. Really beautiful decoration, brilliant music, really cheap (2€ a Heineken bottle) and… empty! I suppose the reason for that is we were there too early, as it looks more like the sort of place people who likes late opening places go. Even if you are not a jazz fan, this place well deserves a drink or two.

Small trendy mojito bars in barrio alto.

Just all of them are lovely!!! And the quality of Mojitos… yummmmm!!!

Any other tip, just comment it!!!

The Mucky Pup

2009-01-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

39 Queen's Head Street, N1 8NQ

It has been a while since the last post about a standalone pub, which by the way was the original purpose of the blog. This is due to several reasons, the main one I’m lastly quite lazy about posting and most of the new pubs I’m discovering are good enough for having a couple of pints on them but not good enough for sitting down in front of the computer and spend an hour or so writing about it. The Mucky Pup is obviously an exception to this.

The pub is located in Angel, about at 10 minutes walk from the tube station, and it is quite hidden in the middle of nowhere. It is a real classic on the area (it is more than 100 years old) and it has changed of owners and being refurbished quite a lot of times in the last years. The current owner (Angus) is really one of the most sympathetic and nice guys I’ve had the chance to meet in London, and that is saying quite a lot: he’s always up for a conversation about whatever, and he knows which is the friendly tone everybody should use to ask patrons to go inside the pub whenever they are boozing outside or to get everybody out when 1 o’clock comes and it’s time to close.

Apart of the friendly owner and barmen, the pub has some other pluses, as:

- Pool table, usually busy late but empty if you go for an early beer. If somebody else is playing you can always drop a quid on it in order to play the next game

- Darts board – the classic British one, with real darts and not that plastic crap we use elsewhere

- Juke Box for free. Indeed, this is one of the few places I’ve been with a free one, which indeed means you can listen the music you like and just the music you like if the pub is not too busy. If it is, be ready to wait for a couple of hours until your song is played, as song queues are frequently long. Music in the Juke Box, and hence music usually played in the Mucky Pup, comprehend bands as Syd Barrett, Jesus Lizard, Black Sabbath, Tom Waits, Girls Against Boys, Led Zeppeling, Nick Drake, Kyuss, Magnolia Electric Company, Cramps, Julie Driscoll, Black Mountain, Stones, Dead Kennedys, Creedence or Bowie.

What else… the food is q bit pricey, but the quality is really very good, much better than the average in a pub. This means this is maybe not the best place to have a quick burger, but a relaxed dinner (consisting in a burger, nevertheless :)). Drinks prices are OK (around £3-£3.20 per pint, and Guinness tastes especially well here, very likely because they clean the piping system quite frequently.

Decoration and furniture are quite common, and don’t deserve a specific reference. There are plenty of tables and chairs, but if you go on Saturday expect to find all of them busy. Also, it has a bicycles shed, it is, a small terrace where you can have a smoke. This is particularly nice as they have some heaters there, so if you are having some drinks with an addict you don’t freeze. Or you freeze less, depending of how hard is the winter at that poing.

If I had to find a flaw, I would say they only have Becks as lager, so no Carling/Fosters party over here. It is a silly flaw, as I know really very few people able to distinguish between those different brands, but it is really the only one I could find. Well, that and the fact that it is located in the very other corner of the city from my place.

Christmas weekend (and II): About a Brazilian restaurant, football and a long nite

2009-01-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

I should have posted this before Christmas, when I wrote it, but even if it is just for completeness I reckon it worth doing it now.

Just remember the first part of the story (Friday night): I finished sort of wasted, with an injury just above my eyebrow and another in my chin.

So Saturday comes, and we had the Christmas lunch, my first one indeed in London. This is sort of a yearly tradition of my friends over here, and as they do it only once just before going back home it was well renown for being one of the craziest events. To be precise, the tradition was supposed to be a dinner, but Cesar and my self were crafty enough to move it to lunch. The reasons, three:

1. A lunch involves an after lunch, an evening party and a night party. A dinner just a night party.

2. Restaurants are packed on December for dinner, but not for lunch.

3. Barcelona vs Real Madrid

And so we went to Rodizio Rico, a chain restaurant with a branch very close to Angel tube station. The place is one of those Brazilian restaurants that work under an ‘eat as much meat as you can’ basis, for a fixed fee. I know a couple of friends in Spain who would enjoy it quite a lot, promise!

The waiters came in rounds with different treats, as lamb or pork meat, sausages, chorizo, and so on. There was also a salads and appetizers buffer for those who preferred it (I tried just the olives, which were surprisingly excellent). I have always thought that this concept, eat as much as you can, is overrated and frequently it is deceiving. It was the case, especially because at some point the waiters visits frequency slowed down really a lot, making more difficult to grab a piece of your favourite meat. It wasn’t too expensive, though, and the really impression was that having in mind we were too many people, it wasn’t really such a bad deal at all.

Of course, the chat on the lunch was all about my wounds, Teo’s wounds –remember I left him right after some stupid bastard punched him for no reason-, and how bad the Mojito’s at that place were. And football, of course, and how good friends we all were, even when the real thing was I had met some of them just the day before. I really felt like I had known them for a while, a long while.

By the way, the people on the lunch that day (most of them carried on for drinks later): JuanFran, César, César Jevi, Jason, Vladimir, Lorena, Auxi, Pablo, Teo, Justin, Diana, Belén, Jim, Ainara and Mariana (some more people came, but I cannot remember their names, sorry). Also Isa joined us later on.

With our meat belly prominently shaped, we went all of us to an O’Neills pub which was just besides the restaurant. This particular O’Neils was nice enough, compared with the sometimes poor standard they offer: good mood and quite quiet, especially after the Premier game finished. It was fairly big and most of the people didn’t smoke, which had as an obvious consequence the fact that I didn’t have to go to the freezing terrace all the time again and again. Also, music was loud but tolerable.

We had quite a lot of drinks over there (in my particular case mainly beer and scotch) and most of us even watched the Barca-Madrid there, enjoying the trademark drink or this pubs chain: Red Guinness. The game was crap for a Real supporter, you already know that. And even while I had a great time swearing to some stupid Catalanians –stupid because they were really stupid, not because they were Catalanians, don’t get me wrong - when Casillas stopped the penalty, this at the end backfired as they had the chance to laugh at last.

Anyway. After the game we went to a classic, The Mucky Pup. I owe a post to this pub since long time ago, so I promise it will be my next post. I’ll just say here that, as always, we had an incredible time until the closing time (1am) and we drunk too much (as always too?). Just that.

As the next-and-last step, and once we realized we weren’t going to be allowed in any place in the area, such bad was our state and also our look, we went to Jason’s place, in Old Street. I cannot really post anything in detail about what happened there, not without some of the people involved permission… I’ll brief it in simply four words: We Had Big Time. I may add that we had plenty of laughs, some singstar and even a very weird conversation with an sparking lamp (or an alien who just landed from Mars, depends who you ask about). Even some tv. And we didn’t have class A drugs, if that’s something that worries you. And, eventually, after saying goodbye to Teo and Pablo, who were meant to flight back to Spain the following day, I arrived at 9 o’clock in the morning to my place. Definitely too much of a weekend.

Crhismas Dream

2009-01-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hiya!! Quite depressed after Christmas back in Spain, I have to say… of course, the reason for that is not (only) how nice all the people were over there, but also, and maybe this is a bit obvious, for the fact itself that it was holidays. I have a quite scientific theory about how a place may look like crap when you work on it, and incredibly nice when you are just on holidays (Barcelona is the biggest example I can think of about this).

Anyway. Let´s go with a quick briefing of the most knackering Chrismas holidays I can remember, emphasizing, obviously, the bars/pubs visited (yeah, this is pintofcarling, did you actually forget?)

Friday 19th: Arrive to Madrid at 10 pm and go straigth to party with former colleagues (and current friends) as Sebas, Albert, Pedro, Roquer, Sarriu, Ira, Silvia, Tere, Chema, etc etc etc. Places visited: Tatum (7) and a little dive (4) in Avenida Brasil (cannot and don’t want to remember it’s name, so bad it was. Good fun, though).

Saturday 20th: Beer with Pedro and lunch and drinks with Susana, Yago and Cristina in Ñeru (9), very close to Arenal Street in Madrid. Amazing Asturian food for a fair price, I recommend it very strongly, particuclarly if you have the chance to go there a week day and get the day menu. After that, drinks in Café Real (9), in Opera, a quite pricey place sort of the ones you might expect in Latina, but without that cool atmosphere I sometimes find so annoying. Also they serve one of the best carrot pies in Madrid (again, for a stupidly high price). Later on drinks in Pozuelo in Brujas (7), a Flemish bar in Avda Europa with a good mix of Belgian, German and British beers.

Sunday 21st: Early arrival (8am) to Lisbon. Lisbon day 1 (I’ll write a different post for the Lisbon trip).

Monday 22nd: Lisbon day 2.

Tuesday 23rd: Lisbon day 3.

Wednesday 24th: Lisbon day 4 and lunch with family. Drinks with my brother and Olsen in Getafe, in Taberna del Filibustero (9), a very nice place in Madrid with no special feature but a great atmosphere even at 8 pm the 24th of December (those guys don´t have a family, do they?). One of the best places to have some beers in Getafe at the moment, and a recent discovery. Late night, party with all Getafe friends first (Lali, Ana, Silvia, Vero, Ruben, Ivan, Angel, Maite, etc etc etc) at Chapeau (1), one of the worses clubs in Getafe if not actually the worst. Obvioulsy I left as soon as possible to join my brother and his friends (better known as Los Bolitas, somehow a myth in Getafe) in New Rot (6), where the party carried on til late. Incredible party mood til very very late, and cheap drinks. Can you ask more?

Thursday 25th. Wasted. Playstation 3 and a couple of drinks with my brother, Dani, Chaparro and Oscar.

Friday 26th: Here we go again. Coffe in Marta’s place, beers in Chus’ place, and beers&drinks in Don Jamon (8), one of the best places for ‘tapeo’ in Getafe. The tapas served there acted well enough as dinner, and, after that, we went again to la Taberna del Filibustero and late at night to Un Buen Dia (8), a nice club in Getafe where booze is absolutely horrible but music is quite enjoyable.

Saturday 27th: Friend’s official Crhistmas Lunch with Santi, Paco, Ruben, Adri, Chus, Angel and Ivan (obviously, one more year no girlfriend was allowed, for the sake of the party ;)). Beers in Casa del Jamon (3) and Ca;as y Tapas (4) in Gran Via, Madrid, and lunch in Friday’s (3), again in Gran Via. Very bad value for money, and particularly my steak was horrible. After that, drinks (quite a lot) in Cafeina (8), in Calle del Pez, and more drinks in Molly Malone (8), and more drinks in Tupperware (9) until 4 am. Tupperware is a classic alternative club in Malasa;a, and it’s main flaw is that it’s usually packed. Not that day. Even the spirits tasted properly, which is quite surprising over there… (a great example of the Spanish Garrafon). We forgot to have dinner that day.

Sunday 28th: Beers in Don Jamon and movie with Susana. We watched Changeling (8), the last one from Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie. It’s like one of those movies based in real facts you watch in Antena3 on a Saturday evening, but much better produced. Angelina is beautiful but, in this movie, too skinny.

Monday 29th: Brunch with Susana, and Bowling. She broke one arm in an ill-timed fall while bowling, and we had to go to a hospital. Unfortunately I had to cancel on of the main milestones of the week, the dinner planned with former Erasmus friends (former Erasmus, they are still friends all of them).

Tuesday 30th: after getting Susana to Burgos, Guitar Hero session with all the instruments (guitar, bass, drums and singer) in Chus’s place + Burger King + Fifa09 sesion in Santi’s place until late. One of my favourite days, I gotta say.

Wednesday 31st: Beers with my brother’s friends in El Boli (7), a nice tapeo bar in Getafe. After that, more beers and tapas with my friends in La Barrica (5) and Chilaba (10), an incredible bar where you can ask for almost anything as tapa with your beer (including burguers, hot dogs, montaditos, etc.). Later, mojitos and drinks with my brother friends again in Taberna del Filibustero, until 9. Dinner. Party in Angel’s house, where obviously PS3 and whisky where the main attractions until churros time.

Thursday 1st: Wasted (again). Quiet day in Getafe, with coffe and beers with Santi in the evening in La Cibelina (5), La Vinoteca (5) and eventually Don Jamon. After dinner, drinks with Marta, Gema, Angel and Chus in Canto Redondo (6), a fine bar in Getafe. Adrian joined us afterwards and so the Franciskaner party, until roughly 3 am.

Friday 2nd: Crazy night, starting in Mala Vida (9), one of the best pubs in Getafe where the best music blends perfectly with a nice Guinness or Murphys. Jack Daniel´s shots and Un Buen Dia later. Garage (9), my second house and the pub I´ve wasted more hours in my life, topped up the night with several calimotxo litres. Finally we went to Buen Dia again, until 5.30, when we were too tired to carry on.

Saturday 3rd: Visit to Susana in Burgos

Sunday 4th: Depression.

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Crhistmas weekend (I): About St Mortiz, a door and a long party night

2008-12-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was one of those you really hard a difficult time to recover about afterwards, and to remember as well. I’ll try my best to explain how things were, but I cannot guarantee any accuracy on it.

Part A. Ben Crouchs Tavern
77a Wells St, London, W1P 3RE

First of all, we met on the Ben Crouchs Tavern, a pub in Fizrovia very close to Oxford Street. For those not too familiar with London, Oxford Street is the main shopping street, dividing the shopping area composed by Carnabby Street and Regent Market in the south and the Soho in the north. Whatever. The fact is this pub is a really cool one, and it really deserves to be paid another visit at least. With a goth deco unanderstandably messed with Chistmas motives and fairly good music, the place is superb for several early drinks on a Friday night, and there we were to prove it. I had had a couple before with my jobmates, and as more and more people joint and the Guinness pints and tequila shots were downed, it was clear enough right from the beginning that wasn’t going to be a happy ending night. But that’s anticipating, isn’t it?

We where quite a lot of people over there, mostly the usual suspects: Teo, Pablo, Diana, Aux, Justin, Cara, Cesar, Vlad, Juan, Cesar&Cesar and myself if my memory is not failing, and I reckon it isn’t. The music type turned around quite a lot of times, as we stayed in the pub for easily three of four hours. Beers, as I said before, were mainly Guinnes (always your best mate in a nite out), Staropramen and the classic Fosters/Carling combo. Just if Diana wouldn’t have asked the Mexican stuff so far everything would have been alright…

Once they closed the pub, we had one of those Spanish discussions for 20’ about where going later. Yeah, we were something as 50% Spanish people in the group, so we had to somehow share our national tradition about being stupidly cold on the street trying to find out where ‘the perfect night’ it. This is obviously bullshit, but we don’t care and we love it, don’t we? At the end, and losing Justin on the way, we decided that a club called St Moritz, in front of Waxy O’connnors, was the best option. I had never been there, so why not trying?

Part B: St Moritz
159 Wardour Street, London, W1V 3TA

The club itself was nice enough. Located in a basement (as there is a fine swiss restaurant in the fist floor, hence the name), it was quite empty at our arrival but soon enough people came in a fairly friendly mood. The music was nice, 90’s classics as Blur, Pulp, Smashing Pumpkins and so on, and beer was alright, even when they served it in plastic glasses as almost everywhere after 1 am in London. Before I had time to settle down everybody was sort of dancing with someone, known or unknown, friend or pretty bird willing to be hunted for good. And on the top of all that, they had some tables to have a relaxed chat if you weren’t up for the global madness, which was suitable as well. All in all, a good option for a weekend in a place quieter and smaller than Metro, but mainly for that reason also more intimistic. The entrance cover was just £5, again better than average in London, and paying for the drinks wasn’t really a pain.

Just a problem about the place. The toilets door is opened towards the wrong way, if you know what I mean: from the inside to the outside. That is really clever in a place where people are supposed to go to drink booze, isn’t it?

From then on, everything is an speculation. I remember being waiting in the toilets, outside as it was one of those with a single loo you have to queue for. The next I remember is being in the floor, waking up and bleeding. These are my guesses:

1. (The annoying one).Some drunk thug punched me from my backside.

2. (The most likely one). Someone left from the toilet opening the door quite suddenly, hitting me on my temple on the way. I fell to the floor afterwards, and lost conscience for just 5-10 seconds.

3. (The pathetic one). I was so drunk I just fell off incosncious.

However it was, the result was the same one: stitches, a consistent wound very close to my eyebrow (besides the one I got in Munich, but that’s a different story) and another one below my chin. Fortunately Cara was really the nicest person ever at that time and, helped by Juan, they got me some plasters in the pub (amazing the medical aid kit they had, just as it was something common to have that sort of problems over there). My brother, by the way, was looking for someone with any blood in his garnment just in case it was the option one the one that took place (my brother is shorter than I am, so this was quite hilarious). The most hilarious thing, though, involved Cara. Just after sticking the second plaster in my face, she looked at me and, after all her help, I expected something like ‘do u want a cab?’, or ‘do you wanna go to Hospital to have a look at that?’, or something of the like. No way. ‘What do you want to drink?’ she said!!! (You have to say it in Irish accent to get the whole picture J). Of course, I asked for a Carling and I carried on partying, until I fell down from the stairs something as an hour later and my brother decided that at that point I was seriously risking my life and it was time to go home and get some rest.

The final bit involved Teo, as when we leaved the place he was in the door of the club with her sister and one of his eyes in even a worse state than mine. He went for the option 1, it seems, as he found a drunk thug indeed, with amazing punching skills to make the problem bigger. St Moritz was really trying to kill us one by one…

Best advertisement ever

2008-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

The best advertisement ever, thanks to my friend Wessel.

If you think the Church or Don Federico would allow something like this to be broadcasted in Spain, you should stop drinking.

Link:

Jeff Mills: Let there be techno

2008-12-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

I’ve never really been a fan of electronic music, of any kind of it to be fair. Very likely the reason for this might very well be the fact that there is no tradition of this kind of music in Getafe (my hometown, recently famous not just because of the football team but because of the corrupt-but-funny Mayor we have), and even If there had been any I’d always stuck to the Rockn’n Roll thing. I’ve always considered myself as a quite open minded guy when music is concerned, and so it never really was a problem to a house music club if that was the plan. Never enjoyed it too much, never suffered too much either.

This is starting to change. There are several facts that may explain my recent approach to electronic music. The first and main one is that, as opposite as in Spain, here enjoying electronic music and clubbing is not a synonym of wearing sportswear, have a shaved head with a dodgy crest and being an aggressive moron. In other words, you can be a normal chap and enjoy techno clubbing in huge places where yes, maybe everybody is having drugs, but that’s just the only point that makes any different if compared with any other type of place. And, bloody hell, everybody takes drugs everywhere here in London (easy mate, I don’t), so really that’s not a point at all.

The second, and more plausible one, is the quality of the music. It’s not the same Paco Pil than Carl Cox, and it’s not the same thing Garnier than Chimo Bayo, no matters how funny the latter is. There is no bakalao here in London, the closest thing is just Trance music, but fairly well edited and recorded. Also, it seems that almost everybody is able to spot a whole bunch of differences between techno, house, acid house, techno house, trance, drum and bass, hardcore, electro and God knows how many more different styles. I can’t, but I’m starting to improve on this as well. And when you start to pay attention, you realize that not everything is just ’chunda chunda’, but that as it seems fairly easy to tell the difference between Ska, Grunge, Brit Pop, rock or Industrial music, the same thing is in the electronic side.

Anyway, all this is about yesterday. Jeff Mills presented in ICA in London a new mix of a classic, ‘X-102 Discovers the Rings of Saturn’. And was a really amazing night, I have to say.
First, let’s frame Mr. Mills. This guy is one of the most revolutionary DJs in music. He and some friends of Detroit invented Techno music as it is understood today, something as 25 years ago. He is 45 now, and in person he really looks like more like my father than like a techno DJ. Altogether with Mike Banks he founded Underground Resistance, the foundations for pretty much all the techno we listen today. And he is an absolute gentleman and a professional of the music, indeed a musician would be the most accurate world. He does not take drugs, he rarely drinks and while performing live he doesn’t behave as a stupid overexcited clown, focusing on the music and the performance instead.

Second, let’s talk about the project (and all this was said in the Q&A chat we had later). X-102 was a project accomplished by Robert Hood, Mike Banks and Jeff Mills (the three of them alive techno legends) on 1992, and, willing to immerse themselves in an unknown world, the used the solar system and more concretely Saturn (because of the analogy of its rings and a vinyl shape) to create new sound and a concept album, one of the firsts in electronic music ever created. As the physical reality of the planets was so overwhelming that it was no possible to translate it literally into sounds, they opted for imagining what kind of sounds may hear someone who went to Saturn for the first time. As at that time no images or solid information about the planets was available, they just created a composition using the geometries and inspirations they had at that moment. It took them 3 months to create it, and I can promise it’s a lovely piece of art.

Some years later, Nasa Cassini/Huygen probe got amazing pictures of the whole solar system and nebulas, including some impressive ones about Saturn. It handed an incredible opportunity to Mr. Mills to reedit the original work and add images to it, creating an impressive effect.
And finally, he decided to go in a limited tour to show his work. Just four cities (Barcelona, in Sonar last year), Milan, Berlin and London have been lucky enough to enjoy it. And the venue he decided to do it in London was ICA.

ICA is a contemporary arts centre in London. It is one of those places that make you think how differently is culture understood here an in Spain, for instance. The opportunity of go to the cinema, enjoy live music in an amazing bar, enjoy modern painting in a museum, or attend to any type of interesting event, all of it in the same venue in Trafalgar Square and opened seven days a week until 1 am… well, that’s not the sort of thing Gallardon, Aguirre or Zapatero think about when they have culture in mind, is it? It’s more like: let’s make it boring, so they will not come, so they will not think, and so they will stay on their places watching Factor X or Big Brother. Fuck off!!!

So put it altogether, add my friend Cesar into the mix, and get an amazing night as a result. A projection of Mill’s X-102 images and music in a cinema, with the volume at maximum level in the dolby sourround system, and with a small crowd (around 300 lucky chaps) respectfully listening it and enjoying an unique experience… well, what else can I say.

On the top of that, add cheap beer you can drink while watching paintings or even watching the movie, a Question and Answers chat afterwards with Jeff Mills (as the group was small it was really interesting to interchange opinions and experiences with the man, even if I obviously not participated actively), and the afterparty in ICA’s bar, hosted by him with his always incredible Detroit techno and an also amazing guest… well, what can I really add?

Yes, the morning after the hung over was horrible. And yes, we paid 3.50 for a small glass of pistachios. And yes, you cannot do that everyday simply because at that music volume you would finish deaf off in a couple of weeks.

An incredible experience.

PS: I'll add some pictures later, and some linking as well. But I wanted to post it before the weekend, now I remember it :)

Carling Academy: anything more to say?

2008-11-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

Carling Academy Islington N1 Centre 16 Parkfield Street London N1 0PS

There is nothing more exciting and entertaining that unplanned nights. It´s been a while since I realized about this for good, but I´m nothing but confirming it here in London. You may have a huge pub crawl organized with your best friends and their she-friends and, of course, the outcome of the night will be a bloody pain in the ass. In the other hand, meet some but not too many friends in a pub for a chilling evening with nothing else than having some Staropramen in mind, and you end up discovering there is a club in London called as your nickname. And with good music, good mood and fairly cheap priced beers.

So we started, Juanfran and me, in a pub called the Camden Head, but not in Camden, but in Ingliston, an area I didn´t know at all before coming to live here and that fortunately is an endless source of Pintofcarlingplease posts. When you meet in a Friday at 7pm you know what the outcome is going to be, of course: a more blur and funny world, at least for that night. And so far so good, with several drinks and another five friends on board conforming a fairly international crew (four Spaniards, a French and Welshman), we started that such a Spanish thing consisting in wasting half of the night in order to try to decide which is the next place to go. Not this time, as Juanfran proposed a club he remembered wasn´t too bad around the corner: the Carling Academy. Of course, with that name it was a compulsory thing to try, even if it was just for a one-off. And I reckon it will not be a one-off, as we all enjoyed the place all the way through.

Carling Academy, unfortunately, is a chain... yeah, I know, this is supposed to be an authenthic blog and bla bla bla bla. You see the cross, there, in the explorer, up in the right? Just press it, is it such a complicated thing? Hehehe, just kidding... there are Academies in Oxford, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, and so on. I´ll talk about the one I know: the Islington one (there are another two in London, in Brixton and somewhere else).The club is just a typical London club, with two different rooms: an 80´s and a 90´s one. The 80´s, smaller, is more like a bar and they play classic 80s stuff: Van Allen, Aerosmith, etc etc etc. Packed with nice looking chicks, it is good fun.

However, the one I liked more is the 90´s one. Bigger, this is a real club indeed, with DJs playing music and random groups of people scattered through all over the place. They play classic 90´s stuff, that is, the kind of music they used to play on the radio while I was a teenager and I started to go out. Oasis, Blur, Green Day and all the usual suspects altogether, those guys up there know how to make you shake your ass with the music. The place is big enough (800 people is the official capacity, but I guess more people than that can squeeze there) to allow you to lose your friends for a while if you are interested on that, and, just in case you feel the music is becoming a bit cheesy, you have always the pretty enjoyable 80´s room. A good deal, hence. And if you are lucky enough, you may assist to a great gig as well. Bands as The Cure, Prodigy, Franz Fer or Muse have played there since its opening at 2003.

About the drinks (and we had quite a lot), there are obviously spirits and two beers: Carling and Carling Extra Cold . Just joking, but almost everybody drinks Carling over there. They give you custom Carling Academy glasses with just one problem (but a big one): plastic glasses. I know this is a common thing in most clubs in London (while you don´t get straight the can without glass), but I still can´t get used to it.

Prices fair, cheap even. A Carling was less than 3 quid, which is very likely the cheapest you may find in a Club in London. Not too sure about spirits, but I guess those were quite overpriced, as the cloak room (2 pounds to leave your coat there). I cannot remember how much was the door cover, but I want to remember it was around 6 pints. Again, affordable. And enjoyable, which is the actual point!

The trendy Foundry

2008-11-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

84-86 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3JL

What an unexpected surprise. Right in the middle of Old Street (not just the area, but the bloody street itself), the Foundry is one of those places you may have passed besides quite a lot of times in your life, specially if you live in London (as I do), you go out frequently in Old Street (as I recently do, as most of my friends live in that shithole) and you fancy trendy looking buildings (as the Foundry one is).

Of course, from the outside it looks just as another Shoreditch dive, with the aggravating point of looking ´modern´ (in the worst meaning of the word). Back in Madrid, when you have to decide if you wanna live for long or if you wanna die early and leave a nice carcass because all the booze you are having is just piss, well, at that time you (I) decide that going out in Malasaña is not an option anymore. When you are asked for a preposterous amount of money for a drink, and right after you get the first sip you are paying for as fucking gold and you realize it is pure biohazard stuff… well, then you, again and again, decide that going out in Malasaña is not an option anymore. And that place, the Foundry, definitely looked like from the outside as one of those again and again places.

By no means. Luckily, London is not Madrid, and Old Street is not Malasaña. In fact, Old Street is more the ´Huertas´ type of area, with an incoherent of bars mixing techno (Aquarium, opened until 11am, but that´s another history), rock, brit pop or whatever you have in mind without involving Bisbal (if you are planning commiting suicide just visit his fan club and jump) or Spanish crap. And luckily too, I can assert the Foundry is a great place, and for quite a lot of different reasons, indeed. And I am quite sure that I am (funnily) not too sure which one would I select, if I had to. Maybe its so cool deco, completely stuffed with second hand furniture randomly distributed around the place. Or maybe its so many old screens and ancient monitors and computers, playing random images sometimes poetic and sometimes just absurd, but funny and interesting nevertheless. Or maybe, just maybe, the toilets, where graffiti is allowed and everybody seems to help themselves: not a single inch of floor, ceiling or wall can be found without a clever message or a smart drawing, or, hell, the same bullshit about racists and punks blaming each other you may find wherever loo in the word you end pissing in.

The lecture room is also pretty good stuff. The poetry room they call it… well, whatever they want. Just because it has some shelves and books on it is not a good reason enough to call it a poetry room, but, hell, who am I to complain? With plenty of places to sit down and enjoy a drink and a good conversation with friends, the Foundry is, as a conclusion, a great place to go.

As I´ve said before, this place looks right this sort of place you overpay for everything. Not the case, though. A pint of Carling is just 2.60 quid (an awesome price in London in a late opening pub), and Stella is only slightly more expensive than that, 2.90. Top up that with a good looking and nice waitress who seems to enjoy her job more than she should, and you have the perfect cocktail. At least, the most perfect one you can afford with 2.60 :).

About the people, well, an incredible mixture of the classic trendy crowd and bike couriers outside enjoying a well deserved pint. Thankfully, not too pretentious any of them, and some even funny, as the self styled DJ who asked silence to everybody just to wish all of us to enjoy a great night. Everybody wears whatever they want, which by the way is not really something special anywhere in London , and everybody seems really pleased to have met themselves. Good for them all, long life for the Queen, and good for me while I can have a big mouthed laugh about how crazy sometimes they are.

Finally, the music. Sometimes is hard electronic stuff, I´ve heard, which doesn´t make much sense under my opinion as most people is just sit down and talking. Both days I´ve been there the music was sort of chill out, quite aloud but bearable all the time.

I´ll be back.

Congratulations!!!

2008-11-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

We have another potential twitter/bloger in the world (thanks to sbs and Elena), and this is something to celebrate!! Congratulations my friend, I'll have a pint on you three!!

And my best desire is Jorge will comply with this quote I read yesterday:

"The cure for unhappiness is happiness, I don't care what anybody says!"
Elizabeth McCracken, Niagara Falls Over Again.

Spot the differences

2008-10-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

It will not be possible to spot the differences... I was trying to find a picture of 'Castellana 45' (my former job colleagues back in Madrid know quite well what dodgy place I am talking about) and my new desk... 7 differences would be too many, I´m afraid:

1. Now I have light and sunshine (yes, even in London)
2. My own desk. Everyday.
3. My own PC (I hate laptops everyday a little more)
4. My 45'' wide screen (yes, it is actually mine and nobody else's :D )
5. Snooker Gran Prix semifinals in my 45'' wide screen
6. My mug, my plant and my telephone. Even if I´m not a manager
7. Leaving it while it is still daylight outside (again, yes, even in London)

Que viene el Koko!!! (Koko´s coming :D)

2008-10-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

1A Camden High Street, London, NW1 7JE
I know it´s been a long time since the last post. I have been busy (and you know what I mean ;)), sorry about that.

So Koko. This is just a great place to enjoy a night out. Apart of the problem that going to Camden involves if you are not around (we spent quite a lot of money going and coming back by cab), the real thing is it worth it the trip. And I can effortlessly recommend it to everybody who comes to London, for a month, a week or just a night out.

It didn´t look like it was going to be an amazing night, though. A friend from Madrid came to visit me, and we spent the best part of the evening having some drinks in the City (you know I love Fleet Street, don´t you)? After that we went to a pub in Old Street, where we were supposed to meet Oscar&Oscar, and so we did. And luckily for us, they where in the mood for a long hard party night, and we were too. And Victor, and some of his Portuguese and English friends as well… where to go? Koko. Just remember it. Koko.

It is an old theatre that opened for the first time on 1900 and is located just in front of the Purple Turtle (a Reading´s classic that has its bigger sister here in Camden). The queue as we arrived was certainly scaring and discouraging, but you know how it works here in the UK: everybody keeps the line, nobody jumps the queue and in a fairly civilized way you are in. You pay a quid for the wardrobe, you try to get cash from the ATM (and you are not successful at it), and you go deep in it. And as soon as you get through the main corridor, you are right in the middle of an amazing old fashioned theatre, with its 7 different floors (where the stall seats are), with several bars scattered around them.

Of course, as proper tourists, the first thing we did was going til the very last floor, so we could say ´aaaaaaaalaaaaaaaaa´ (ghossssshhhhhhhhhh, if you wanna translate it in a quite poor way). It is really impressing the view from there, even more if there is a gig going on the lower floor, as it was the case. For those who read this from Barcelona, just imagine La Paloma, and add 7 floors with seats, bars and people partying around it. Just enjoyable.

I cannot remember the band playing that nite, but they were good enough to enjoy a couple of songs and bad enough to realize at the third one that what we had to do was moving forward to the bar (any of them) and get some drinks. I had to queue quite a lot to get’em, but sometimes it seems you are supposed to wait. The waitress was nice, but clumsy. And I am one of those who prefer an efficient waitress to a good looking one… but that´s another story.

This is quite probably the only reasonable problem the club has: prices. A can of Red Stripe is 3.50 (fair enough), but spirits are clearly not affordable: over a fiver the double. Therefore getting fucking pissed before getting there is quite a good option. Listen to me: just enjoy for a while the different stalls and boxes, be a naughty guy if you have a nice chick in your side and, if you don´t, go downstairs as it is right there where the party is. And the girls. And the music. And the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums the drums…

As Susana reads this blog now I will not be too explicit :). But I have not ever been in a place with such a good nice-to-not ratio girls. Quite a lot of Spanish and Italians (it was bank holiday back in Italy), but also Nordics, English and wherever you wanted to select. As I am in a relationship the experience was just like being in the theatre (again)… admiring a very good piece of God´s work.

Between all this, Victor´s always crazy friends (I cannot ever remember their names) helped to contribute to a reckless night. Nevertheless, it seems to me this is one of those clubs you can have a good time whoever you go with. Again, while you don´t drink in the bar, but before you get in…

The music helped as well. Not the most famous songs, but mostly indie and indie-electronic music, with an DJ evolving from Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers to more Britis stuff, like brit pop and so on, and, of course, the always colossal closing for a night the ´Last Nite´ (Strokes) is. Can you really ask for something else? Yes, an Euromillon winning. That was an obvious one, dude...

Armani Metal

2008-10-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Remember how excited I was about the Metallica gig I went to in the O2?
Well...

Live music at the Dice Club

2008-09-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

Old Blue Last 38 Great Eastern St, EC2A 3ES

The first rule of the Dice Club is anybody speaks about the Dice Club.

:D

This interesting event is one of those itinerant clubs here in London, broadening music perspectives of all those who have what it takes to go out on Sunday. As my friend Victor works everyday but Sundays, for me it is a great chance to go to several gigs at least once every two weeks, which is when the club gathers...

Well, this sound as a quite stupid thing, doesn't it? We had pretty good fun. First of all, the place: this last time, at the Old Blue Last, in Shoreditch. Shoreditch, in the borough of Hackney (East London), is one of those buzzing areas in London that so easily you can love or hate. Ugly, dirty, with loads of petty fried chicken takeaways, it also hosts some of the most interesting clubs, bars or pubs in London. Quite close to Old Street as well, it is a great place for start the night out and move to the latter later on when the clubbing moods are high.

The Old Blue Last is a nice place to enjoy a night out. It has a couple of floor, the ground one where the pub itself is and the first one, where gigs take place. As an advantage compared to most places with this structure, they have a bar in the fist floor, so you can enjoy the music and have several Becks pints at the same time. And I say Becks because of the three different beers I tried, I have to say that one was the only really drinkable, I'm afraid.

The sound quality was average, even bad I'd say. That didn't matter too much, as we were there for fucking-loud-and-punk music, but maybe for a different type of concert it may be a relevant problem.

What about the bands? Here we go...

1. Joy-Rides

Awesome band, the most punk thing I’ve been into for a while. Joy-rides do not play punk music, though. Indeed, they do not play music. They use noises, loud instruments, in a weird and difficult to describe mixture. They used a megaphone in several songs, so the frontman was able to go and blend with the crowd, offering his sweat for free to everyone who wanted to be around.

All the instrument were quite discordant, and melody is a word they have to learn yet. But Energy is not. The singer transmitted really a lot every single time he pushed through in any song, specially in the anthem ‘I do what I like!’. This mate, covered in black plasters, completely wasted and trying to guess which was the next song every time, and the very well-looking bass player (she was completely drunk), were incredibly good inspiring the audience. They had a song the drummer was not good enough to play (as he was drunk as well), so they got the Guillotines guitar player to perform it… they seemed to be very good friends, both bands.

As stated, they did not play good music. They are mind blowers. But we all enjoyed the show. And that is the point.

2. Vile Imbeciles

Vile Imbeciles proved to be good musicians, lack of real spirit. Quite noisy as well, they did not really generate a big impression, even while they were much better musicians than Joy-Rides.

3. The Guillotines

Great band, and a cool mixture of both previous bands best elements as well. Good music (Great Music, indeed) and loads of energy. The very beginning was a declaration of principles: they asked the crowd if we where drunk. Nooooooooooo, we answered… so they got a scotch bottle and they started to pure booze in the front rows thirsty spectators, me one of them.

After feeling the hot stuff in our throats, everyone was ready for a great gig, and they didn’t hesitate to perform their best. The guitar player and Joe Coles (the singer) where brilliant, but all the other guys where really good as well. Bass player look (Heidi Heelz) was kind of the Crow Medicine singer, and, at the end, everything finished as a great huge punk party. Really good stuff...

Complains? Well, the delay all the gigs started with, granting me a bad hungover the next day. Such a hard life...

Credit Crunch in London

2008-09-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Call me cruel if you want, but yesterday me and a friend, before the Metallica concert (see previous post) went to Canary Wharf, to Lehman Brothers building, in order to see if any broker was living with all his stuff in a cardboard box. I know it is not a funny thing (mainly for the one who losses its job), but watching wasted yuppies queuing, some of them crying, some of them in shock, that was quite a picture.

Indeed, I don't know if people back in Spain realizes how big this thing is. Yesterday 5.000 Lehman guys were virtually sacked just in London, Merril Lynch (what the fuck... Merril Lynch mate!) was saved at the last moment, and who knows about AIG... people are even starting to talk about Goldman Sachs, wether its assets and securities situation is much better-off than all the others one... and tax-payers are funding former overwhelming risks (see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or Bearn Stearn in the States, and Northern Rock in the UK): capitalism on its worse and most unnaceptable version. Or like my friend disier says, the new trend in 'neoconomics': corporate losses nationalization.

All those Lehman guys had all their bonus (the biggest chunk in their income) paid in equity that is completely worthless now. FT is talking about 100,000 employement cuts in the medium term just in London. Those guys have no real chances to get a new equivalent job in the short term. A quite bizarre image were people waiting in line in Starbucks to hand their cv to some recruiting consultants who where just waiting there... we are talking about 2,000 pounds designer suits wearing guys.

Maybe here in London a particle accelerator was not needed to create a black hole.

But let's be optimistic. There is still beer in the pubs :D.

O2 Arena: Seek and Destroy

2008-09-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

O2 Arena. Greenwich, Greater London, SE10 0, UK

Yes, they did it again. My first concert in the O2 (the best concerts venue I have ever been in my life), and it had to be Metallica. And not the 'St Anger' Metallica, not at all... we are talking about the old Metallica, it is, the new Metallica, or if you prefer it, Death Magnetic Metallica. Whatever you prefer.

The O2 is an amazing place. It is true you feel as in El Corte Ingles as you go by the automatic stairs, and it seems quite as a commercial Mall with so many shops, restaurants and bars. But once you are inside of the venue itself, the sound quality is the best ever. And visibility is incredible, wherever you sit down (or stand up, if it is a Metallica gig what we are talking about!).

Just some ingredients for the best metal recipe on earth:

1. Tickets prized at 5 pounds. Wherever you had your location (because the O2 is just as a cinema, you have your numbered sit), it was just 5 quid. You had to register in Metallica´s website, though, or have a friend as good as Cesar, who got the tickets for me :D

2. Be a cheeky bastard. Leave your sit and, with your three friends, go to the VIP area. Row 3, just 20 meters far from James Hetfield & Co. All the superb chicks around us were famous, I am quite sure about that. In fact, we talked about buying Hello! magazine in order to check who they actually were...

It was a funny thing cheating the VIP area bouncers, too. So Spaniards, we were there...

3. Drink beer. It´s just 3.50 per pint. I remember the last concert I was in Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid (9 euros), or in las Ventas (no booze there)... yes, this is a much more civilized country. Moreover, Becks 4 is damned good!

4. Enjoy the checklist. Just one song from the last 3 albums (apart of the very last one, of course):

- 'That Was Just Your Life'
- 'The End Of The Line'
- 'The Thing That Should Not Be'
- 'Of Wolf And Man'
- 'One'
- 'Broken, Beat And Scarred'
- 'Cyanide'
- 'Frantic'
- 'Until It Sleeps'
- 'Wherever I May Roam'
- 'For Whom The Bell Toll'
- 'The Day That Never Comes'
- 'Master Of Puppets'
- 'Blackened'

- 'Stone Cold Crazy'
- 'Jump In The Fire'
- 'Seek and Destroy'

Yes, no balads. No Nothing Else Matters (I cannot listen that song anymore since Lucie Silvas horrid cover). No unforgiven (neither unf. part II or part III). Just trash metal. Just Metallica. Back to puppets and ride the lightning days.

5. Enjoy the sound quality. The best ever, and we are talking about a 25.000 spectators venue. You could listen every single instrument in every single song. Amaaaaaaaazing.

6. "Put the fucking cameras away, put the fucking phones away. You will not become famous on YouTube with a stupid Metallica low quality video. Just enjoy the experience, enjoy the metal show. You can call you mom later". James Hetfield dixit as "silly 2.0" teenagers where watching the gig by their cameras instead of by their eyes and ears.

I loved that part :D

7. SEEK AND DESTROY!!! (This was the last song, when they launched all the Metallica balloons. Appreciate the quality of the sound of the home made video... imagine it on site, 12 rows closer than this "silly 2.0" guy who was not VIP enough... paradise LOL)

8. Feel you are a good person just for once. All the tickets money went to a charity.

9. Good friends. Cesar, Cesar and Kara: I met you quite recently, but you are legends!! (pictures of the four of us coming soon, I forgot my camera)

and 10. Go back home by boat ;)

Reflexión

2008-09-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

¿Qué sale de Platero y Tú, tabaco con un poco de mezcla, Heraclio Fournier, 16 chinos, treses que hacen de reyes y doses que hacen de ases, dos botellas de whisky y dos de ron, todas ellas llenas y a la par vacías un rato después, y cuatro amig@s?

Acertaste. Una entrada en castellano en un blog que se supone está escrito en inglés.

Enhorabuena buddy!!!

Translation (requested by a friend):

The outcome of Platero y Tu, skunky smokes, Heraclio Fournier, 16 chips, 3-cards becoming K-cards and 2-cards promoting as aces, whisky&rum bottles (2x2) earlier full and now depressingly empty, and, of course, four friends?

You got it. A Spanish written post in an English written blog.

Congratulations, mate!!!

PS: Sbs, te salva que hoy no tocaban cervezas... :D

A new little piece of me: bookofcarling.blogspot.com

2008-09-04T15:20:00.001-07:00

Mates,this is the opening ceremony of a new blog:

http://bookofcarlingplease.blogspot.com/

Yes, you guessed it. I speak about books on it, more accurately, about the last book I have red. So you might expect some kind of compromise between posts in this email and in the other one as I cannot be partying and reading at the same :D

It is written in Spanish. It is difficult enough for me writing about pubs in English, but there is no chance I might get something average talking about books.

Cheers!!! or... Books!!! :D

Just Camden Town

2008-09-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Let’s forget about pubs, just for one post, even knowing I might risk the respect of some of my groopies ;). Let’s talk about something equally good, if not even better: Camden Town.

Has somebody been in London and not in Camden? Well, maybe. Indeed, the first time I came to London I went to Portobello Market instead. Bloody mistake I’ve tried to solve taking to the former, Saturday or Sunday, sunshine or rain, to everybody who comes for a visit, no matters if it’s a long or an sporadic one. Because Camden is London itself, in its most pure essence. And even being plenty conscious my poetry in English is quite poorer than in Spanish (not saying it is good in Spanish, though), I’ll try to explain as clear as possible in this post what Camden really is.

First of all, Camden is the shops and everything but the shops at the same time. Let me explain myself. You can go shopping to Camden, that is for sure. Indeed, it is my favourite place in the whole city to get garnets, snickers or, mainly, t-shirts. Punkyfish, Goth shops as Fairygothmother, AfterDark or Elizium, Cyberdog, Hexagon, EGL (Elegant Goth Lolita) or Spank, between many others. Most of them are unique shops you can just find up there, so forget about the Zara/HM/GAP way of life. You can always go to Oxford Street if that is your way of life… and you can stop reading my blog as well. I won´t really bother, mate.

But you can enjoy a supreme day in Camden even not going into any shop, even without money in your pocket, or just several spare coins to have some food and a drink. Because Camden is alive… people, colours, weird attires, music –aloud and chilling, up to you-, Blade Runner… ok, let´s go one by one.

Shops are the best asset of Camden Town, this is something completely out of question. There are several street markets (Sat&Sun only) and loads and loads of shops everyday, all grouped in the following:

1. Camden Market, in Buck Street. The first one you find on the left side of Camden Road, pretty near to Camden Town tube station. Similar to Madrid´s Rastro, it has a lot of stalls packed in really very few physic space. Some of the t-shirt shops in the first rows sell some of the finest products in the whole market. Apart of that, it is not worth spending too much time there.

2. Inverness Market. The same than (and in front of) the previous one, but worse. Completely avoidable. Restaurants and pubs in Inverness Road are really good, though. I recommend Vinyl for having a relaxing pint if it is pissing down.

3. Camden Main Street. As you go towards Camden Locks, you pass through one of the most incredible spectacles imaginable. Loads of shops with great outside decoration and, some of them, great products inside. The electrical ballroom is a have-to, with as the Dc Martens shops (the classic boots), the tattoo studios, those classic punks, dealers hushing ‘skunk’ as you pass by, or those great pubs around. Absolutely enjoyable.

It is coooooooooooooooooool!!!

4. Camden Canal. This used to be a great place as well. And I use properly used, as this is the area that burnt a couple of years ago. A real loss, but most of the shops have relocated into Camden Lock or Camden Stables. Nevertheless, hopefully it will be back soon.

5. Camden Lock. The real thing. The hurt of Camden town, with so many classics. I´ll go on it later.

6. Camden Stables. The newest part, and the northern one too. Some of the furniture shops are avoidable, but most of the rest is also incredible. The best of it, though, are the catacombs where it is located. A lovely piece of industrial architecture in London and a lovely place to enjoy the end of the Camden visit.

Well, briefed like that it doesn’t sound such a big deal. Let’s go for my top places in more detail:

a) Cyberdog

Yeah, it is a place for tourists. I know. But it is the best shop I have ever been as well. And, even while I’m not on the posh groove, that is saying quite a lot. There used to be a dancing floor/pub right on the entrance, where some go-go dancers showed up their most intimate issues. Incredible chicks, incredible music (always mixed alive), and incredible bar. Not anymore, as they have used the same space to sell freak products. But the music and the dancers are still there… after that, you just go inside and, in a remarkable industrial environment, you can find the most not-for-human (as they say) cloths. And the spaceship model. And the changing rooms. And the tattooed psycho crew. And everything.

Cyber rave!!

b) The Lockside Lounge.

An incredible pub with a great terrace and a great interior too. Fine music, fine live bands, affordable prices and an incredible vista of Camden Locks. It will have its own post in pintofcarlingplease, sooner than later.

c) Proud Camden Gallery and Bars.

One of the new spaces gained with the Stables Market, this is another place that will have its own entry. I’ve heard some great bands there, the compartment bar is great (although they don’t serve pints, you can always go for the bottled thing), absolutely fantastic photography exhibitions, lastly related with bands as Sex Pistols or Rolling Stones, and a great local and tourists mixed mood. A must.

Goose, the band I had the chance to enjoy

d) The Blade Runner food shops.

I call them like that because you really fell as Deckard there. Asian food served in a foggy atmosphere, with Chinese bartenders, neon, spicy odours and a crazy non stopping crowd. If this is not Blade Runner, let me know what it is then. The food is cheap and fairly good, but on Sundays is quite difficult to find a quiet corner to eat it.

e) The Goth shops.

All of them. I have always been turned on by Goth birds, and I have always have some empathy for that decadent mood those guys have. There was one time I loved that clothing and music as well. And here you can find some of the best pieces of Goth cloths anywhere in the world.

f) The orange juice shop LOL

But those are just some of my favourite places. Just select yours: open your eyes, have a look at the crowd, don’t take a picture of Amy Whinehouse if you see her (she lives around the corner) neither of some Goth Lolitas: you might think it is a costume, but, for them, a costume is your boring Levis t-shirt. An uniform, speaking precisely.

And enjoy Camden, please.

Cheers mate!

2008-09-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

72 Regent Street W1B 5RJ

First time I lived in the UK, four years ago, I was surprised mainly about two different things:
1. Reading is not pronounced 'riding', but 'reding', when you are talking about the London´s satellite city where I had my Erasmus internship.

2. Here in the UK they don´t use 'thank you' neither 'thanks'... they use 'cheers', some times pronounced as 'cheese'

So... cheers, Cheers! Or thank you, Cheers! Because you are a great place to be...

Kind of a confusing introduction, I reckon. I´ll try to explain myself: last Friday it was my first time in Cheers, a bar in Regent Street that is an almost perfect replica of the Cheers American sitcom. It is true enough that they serve more pints than cocktails, but, granted that, the placer really resembles the original one. Ok, as the place is in Regent Street, this is, altogether with Oxford Street the main commercial avenue here in London, it may transmit some posh feeling when you pass by it on shopping. Nothing to do with the real thing, though.

Indeed, Regent Street is really bad for shopping. All major chains with unsold cloths coming from every corner in the UK, here they always find someone to be cheated with the 'sale' label and a not good enough discount. The Apple store is really cool, that is true, and Hamley's is the best toys shop I've ever been in. But apart of that, if you want to find something exciting in the area better go to Carnaby Street, or, if you are of the posh taste, to Picadilly (the avenue, not the circus). Fuck, forget that, and just go to Camden! (I promise a Camden long post in the close future).

Hamley's way of life!

The original comedy series run from 1982 to 1993, and cast some well known actors as Ted Danson (the uncanny Sam Malone) or Woody Harrelson. However, the main star in the show was the bar itself, were all the locals met to drink. It is hence no problem the fact I have no idea how the barman of the London´s one is called, as, again, the main point is the bar itself. And it is a pretty big point, I have to say, as it is the only Cheers replica in Europe.

The venue is quite big, and it has two different bars. The first one, just as you go in in your left, has a strength and a weakness: the former, you are next to a huge window and feel you are indeed having a drink in Regent Street itself. The latter, they don't serve pints. That was not a problem last Friday, as my company CEO invited everybody to drinks (I cannot imagine how massive the final bill rated), but it might be a problem in the future. For that reason, I would go straight to the second bar, which is fact the one that resembles the original bar in its whole own magnitude. And Becks is served on the tap.

Or at least this is true if you go for drinks a Friday evening around 6. I have heard this is a real crap place if you go at nite, as it is packed with tourists, sport yobs and some other scumbag. I have no doubt there is some true in that, but... well, I just can report what I found when I was there, and that was bloody good! Blame the tequilas if you want, but I had really a great time that evening (yes, you guessed it: my non tequila absent period came to an end).

PS: Cheers is also the place to buy the I Love Soho official merchandise, if you feel tourist enough.

Astoria II: This is London!!

2008-08-26T15:55:00.001-07:00

165 Charing Cross Road, london WC2H 0EL

One of the very few things I may have missing since I arrived to London has been a place I could say: uau! I´ve been in great pubs, great clubs, and great venues, but... not that one you can be absolutely sure it will be a cracker that night you need to pary hard.

Last Saturday I did :D. It´s name is Astoria (II).

Astoria, in Soho, is one of the most famous clubs/venues in London. Great for it´s concerts and for it´s G-A-Y Nights, my brother told me once the place was quite too gay for my taste. And I do trust my bro in these kind of pieces of advice, you know... so it have been loads and loads of times I´ve gone through the door, thinking it was such a pity that such a great place had to bee so overwhelmingly gay too. Astoria II came as the perfect solution.

The venue, next to the original Astoria, has a main room where concerts take place. It is a fairly big one, with a sound quality quite good, at least for my not-expert-at-all taste. The first floor, surrounding the main one, has open spaces where you can watch the concert from. And around that, a pretty big bar with bloody good music, at least the last weekend (Prodigy, Daft Punk and that kind of stuff).

The place was formerly known as Mean Fiddler, and both Astoria and Astoria II can be joined for special events. Both were supposed to be converted in flats, offices, shops, etc. in order to cash in on the Olympic Games in 2012. As there is a housing bubble burst here as in Spain, it is not quite clear what the future for both venues is... as a new train station is also planned in the area. But stop talking about the future, let´s talk present tense...

It is very true that the reason I was so positively surprised with the venue had very likely quite a lot to do with the gig I had the chance to enjoy. From a boring night, and a 'I´ve got a friend who´s going to a gig in Astoria II, anybody wanna join?' (by Victor), to one of the best bands I've ever seen performing live: Holy Fuck (that's not how I felt, it's the name of the band indeed :)). Just a live performance:

Those guys are really good. They are something between Radiohead and Massive Attack (more of the latter than of the former), and for just 10 pounds gave a great show. I´ll go to watch them again as soon as I´ll have the opportunity. By the mean time, buy or download their two cds if you have the chance. You will not regret it.

Astoria II is not just the live bands, though. There is a great mood, scotch is just 2 quid per single (yeah, it is quite an unknown brand the one they hit you with, but, mate... 2 quid in London!), you can go out and inside again without queuing (quite useful if you friends go for a fag), and, as I said, DJ music is great too.

Problems? Well, a can of beer is 3.60, quite expensive. And single scotch in a preposterously small glass makes easy to spend loads and loads of cash in here. No credit/debit card accepted, and the cash machine inside broken (that was a pain in the ass, indeed). Not perfect, then. But close... quite close... and Millencolin are playing there in a couple of weeks. Difficult to say no!

Work Hard, Party Hard: Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes

2008-08-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Bedford Way, Russell Square, London, WC1

Work hard, party hard... that's one of my former bosses back in Spain motto. And I am starting to find out that it is a real thing here in London. At least in the company I am currently working for...

There in the company I work for they have a pretty weird habit: every single Friday, at 5pm, everybody stops working and starts drinking. As easy as that. They buy loads and loads of beers, vodka bottles, scotch, wine and watever the people prefers (the company pays for it), and from 5 to 6-6.30 everybody goes in a crazy office-binge. Some guys drink in the pool room, some others in front of their computer... it is a bloody friendly thing, and eventually the best way to meet people and improve your networking.

Yesterday was indeed one of those crazy days. After having some booze in the office, we went Leicester Square, were the company had a promotional stand. Some guys played Texas Hold'em poker (it was the Poker in The Park event, one of the most important poker promotional events in Europe), some others, more cautious, we just enjoyed the music and the well-looking hostesses.

And after that, it was Jason's birthday party. Jason is one of the bosses, and indeed a great guy. He booked a karaoke room for us in a great party place: the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, in Russel Square, very close to the British Museum (and very close to my favourite Oxfam bookshop as well). The place is a nice mixture between one of those bowling places you can find in commercial malls in Spain and an american deco Hard Rock Cafe. It had all the extras you might imagine: several karaoke rooms (I've checked today the booking prices and they are quite expensive, over 40 quid per hour, though), a pool table, a nice terrace for smokers. I met quite a lot of people, some of them Spaniards, and had a great time.

Top spots of the place?

1.The karaoke room, whith an awesome sound quality,

2.the ten bowling lanes (which unfortunately you have to book in advance)

3. the space invaders free arcade machine :D,

4. and the partying mood all over the place, stuffed with students and fresh people.

The worse things, however, are related with the actual stuff this blog is devoted to: the beer. They didn't have a wide range of them, and the only lager was Pitburger, a German one I don't quite appreciate. Even worse, they run out of it in one hour, so I had to go for the bottled types. I enjoyed Asahi, but a pint glass in your hands is one of those things that make the difference...

Eventually, I finished quite drunk, of course. This is one of the consequences you get when you go out on the UK way: drink much, hardly dance and eat nothing at all since lunch (yeah, I remember you lunch here is at 12.30...). So far, it worth it!

Sastre, Nadal, National Football Team... and The Spaniards Inn

2008-07-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

Spaniards Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 7JJ

Almost everybody here, with a mix of admiration and envy, is lastly talking about our unquestionable sports success as a nation. Rafa Nadal (I don't like him, but I love his tennis), Sastre (doped?), The National Football Team (Vicente del Bosque? hehehe), Hockey National Team, Gasol, hopefully the National Basketball Team, and so on... it is really an amazing global performance to be quite proud of, even when the Italians, those jealous bastards, start talking about doping. It was just so bad for them we beated their ass on penaltys, if you want my opinion, because... how can indeed a fellow countryman of guys as Pantani, Ricco or Del Piero (amazing how this old creep is playing now, isn't it?) even dare to talk about doping? Nevertheless...

Anyway, talking about pubs, and taking advantage of this Spanish furor, let's talk about The Spaniards Inn, in Hampstead Heath.

Hampstead, located in North West London and a part of Camden Borough, is really one of the nicest and poshest areas in London. The 'millioniare per squared meter' ratio is the highest in England, and over 20 million pounds houses are quite common.

The list of famous writers, artists or politicians who have lived here is endless, and currently some famous faces as Gwyneth Paltrow, Bjork, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie 'House', Emma Thompson, Cesc Fabregas or Jonathan Ross (the British 'Buenafuente', an incredible fellow, on the pic on the right), among many others. (the complete list here). Obviously, it is a really nice small town, with no Indian people shop, wine shop, off licence or any other aberration so common in other NW London areas (yeah, I'm exactly thinking on the area where I live).

Its main asset, under my point of view, is Hampstead Heath. It is a quite big park (320 ha) with everything a park has to have: lakes (called ponds here), natural life (squirrels, foxes and hedgehogs are quite common), and magnificent sights: Parliament Hill is indeed one of the highest points in London, and the global view of the whole City, reaching to Canary Wharf and longer, is really a have to in London. As a quite wild park (closer to 'Casa de Campo' in Madrid than to 'El Retiro'), going there on Monday-Friday is a really entertaining experience, unbeatable for reading a good book or hiking. And of course, as in any other English park, drugs dealink or any other crime is just out of consideration.

And I think that has been enough 'Lonely Planet' post for today, let's go to the pub thing. Almost in the middle of the Heath there is a great pub, The Spaniards Inn, marking the frontier line between Camden and Barnet boroughs. Built up originally at 1585, this is one of the oldest pubs in London, and some famous customers include Keats, Karl Marx, Byron, Dickens and Bram Stocker. Keat's house, the place where he lived his last years and wrote some of his best poetry is indeed on of the main attractions of the area.

Don't think it's one of those ancient pubs, though. It has been refurbished several times, looking old but not that old. Conformed by two different buildings, the tollhouse and the pub one, both are listed buildings (considereed as a part of Enghils architectural heritage). Anyway, the Spaniard's best asset is its beer garden. It is really big, and cosy, with many plants and trees and sunny areas as well. I have been there twice, and the first, on Tuesday, was really great. Last time I went there was last Sunday, and my advice is to avoid the place on weekends, as it is really packed and it is absolutely pointless waiting for 20-30 minutes to be served.

Food is supposed to be great, and in fact it has been awarded several times (surprisingly though, some people complains about frozen food in the Spaniards in beerintheevening, and my experience says this kind of opinions should be listened). I haven't tried it, though, as prices were a bit higher than average and I didn't feel spendthrift that day. The beers range is really wide, and, again, it has been awarded several times for the quality of its ales. They have more than 30 different beers if you put together tap and bottled ones, and the drought Adnams I had was really good. It cost 3 pounds, which is expensive but not particularly for this area of London.

Finally, the pub has some literary heritage with mentions in both Dicken's The Pickwick Papers and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Scary, isn't it?

Good beer or good marketing? Guinness Red

2008-07-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I had the chance to try the state-of-the-art in beers here in the UK: Guinness Red.

Before tabling my opinion, let's get a short history lesson. Guinness stout, aka "The Dark Stuff", has been brewed since 1759 in St. James Gate Brewery, in Dublin. It is actually possible to visit the old brewery if you go to that city, indeed it's its main attraction. Even when some other lisenced countries brew the beer under lisence, it is always based on a basic stuff produced in Ireland and shipped to those other countries. As the essence of the beer, the wort extract, loses some properties when it is transported for long distance, that's the reason why the best Guinness allegedly has to been tasted in Dublin itself.

Apart of that, it's one of my favourite ones, and the one that made popular the concept 'stout' more than 200 years ago. Alright, but... what's new?

Well, what is new is that Guinness sales have been soaring down on the last years, and as a result their strategic action has been the development of a new different type of beer, Guinness Red, in origin just for the British market and hoping that sales will come back with a milder product, hopefully more adapted to the youngsters market. If that's going to work out or not, that's something the time will decide...

And I have the opportunity to try it last Friday, as stated above, more specifically in an O'neills pub quite close to Carnaby Street (at the moment O'neills is the only chain offering it). My impression? Well, it's quite good, but it has nothing to do with the original black stuff, with a completely roasted barley. The colour is beautiful, that's true, but, apart of that, it's quite smoother and milder, more like Worthington or Caffrey's creamy bitters. Quite similar to John Smith's as well. My point is: if I want a creamy, low alcoholic bitter, there are several pretty good on the marketplace, so... what's the point about this Guinness-labeled one?

Spot the differences if you can...

The real point, I think, is that this is not about a new beer, but about a huge marketing campaign. And I'm indeed playing their game, as I'm wasting part of my precious time writing about it. Well done, guys!!

PS: have a look at the ad. 'Good things don't just come in black and white'... bloody hell, I would have bet my brother a couple of years ago something like that NEVER was going to be in a Guinness ad. Times changing...

PS2: have you ever asked yourself why Guinness bubbles go downwards instead of upwards as in every other drink? The scientific answer, both here and here .

They want to close down The George Tavern, I say "no no no"

2008-07-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

373 Commercial Road, London, E1 0LA

First of all, a bit of history. In a post here I said The George Tavern, in Commercial Road (east end) looked like a red-light bar ('puticlub', in the Spanish written original post). And I have actually believed it until quite recently, when I noticed several campaigns on several papers talking about... saving The George... they couldn't be possibly talking about the same dive, could they?

Well, they actually did. Just two links (of many):

http://www.vogue.co.uk
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk

So, the thing is people as Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss, Ian McKellen (yes, Gandalf!), Mick Jagger and even several MP have actually campaigned to save the place, even wearing some t-shirts about it (see pretty Kate on the right). So, what the story is about? Isn't it really a red-light bar? That were the questions I had in mind when some guys asked me about going to a 60's party on the East End. Whereabouts, I asked? Commercial Road, called the George Tavern, they said... fair enough, that was the chance I was expecting to find out!

So there we went, my brother and me, after enjoying several pints and pool games on The Castle (unfortunately the Spanish waitress wasn't around, and the pool hole to get your money back was closed). We have been told to be dressed up on a 60's themes, but, you know how it actually works: you go to the towncenter for having a couple of drinks around 4pm and, after that, you are not going back home to wear a stupid flowered shirt. Indeed, we weren't even dressed for a good night out, but... hell, we had already been in The George, and it didn't worth the fucking fancy dress. So there we arrived, and, surprise surprise:

1. Almost anybody was dressed up (hurray for us!)
2. Around 30% of the people over there were Spanish, included former Victor flatmates (that's another story...)
3. The cover was 6 quid, not as bad as told in advance (around 12)

And so, we did what we would't ever expected to do one year ago: go upstairs to the first floor, that is, where we expected some hookers to be. Of course, they were right: not red-lighted rooms, but a concerts venue, a pretty small one indeed.

Once concealed our deception, we went down again to the bar. As I've said before, Guinnes is really nasty on that place, so we went for the common stuff (Becks, Stella and so on). They have great sofas, that's something to concede the place. And decoration is quite weird... of course, if you like the Madrid's Lavapies way of life you'll love it. Bymyself, I'm done with hippies selling pretty expensive booze, pretty expensive and bad food, and trying to convince you how good communism and anarchy are as well. So, please, sweep the bloody floor from time to time, lazy bastards! :D

The concerts were quite different, the three of them. The first band was a bit boring, and Aqua Nebulla Oscilator were alright, but maybe a bit weird for my musical taste (psichodelyc punk, they call it). Volume was too up, on their defense.

The last band, The Draytons, was the one I preferred: just pop, how can it be that difficult to do that? We are in London, aren't we? Bloody hell...

Anyway, DJ were much better than live music, if you want my real opinion. They played fairly good music, and got the mood up quite a lot. Closing at 1.30 am, after paying 6 pounds, it's not a good deal, though.

Final brief? Well, clear enough, the place is not a red-light bar (it's got one attached, by the way, but it's not part of The George). And it is a quite good place, indeed... as so many others in London. Stuff is cool, DJ are fairly good, and, like'm or not, you have live bands performing on the weekends. Even a bit of history, if you believe the story saying Charles Chaplin and Oliver Cromwell used to drink there (yeah, the original pub dates from the 17th century). But from that to get Amy, Kate and all the others supporting the place and its greedy owner... well, that's maybe a bit too much.

Let there be Rock: The Intrepid Fox

2008-07-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

15 St. Giles High Street, WC2H 8LN

JuanFran, a friend of mine, took me to this pub when we met back here in London, about two months ago. And I’ve been there again, and again with him, which makes clear a couple of facts:

1. JuanFran’s got a great taste for pubs.
2. Maybe I don’t, hence this blog is a complete waste of time

The Intrepid Fox used to be kind of an institution in Soho,at Wardour Street, as one of the most famous heavy metal pubs up there. I weren’t there at that time, but I’ve heard it was really a funny place to enjoy a pint in, completely stuffed with weird goth memorabilia and shabby decoration. A classic dive in London.

But it closed, and reopened not too far away on its current location, quite close to Tottenham Court Road tube station. Hence, let’s forget about what this place used to be, and let’s talk about what it is about at the moment.

First thing, decoration is absolutely great. Imagine a hard rock café devoted to heavy/dark/goth music, and you almost got it. A huge budget is backing the place, that is clear enough, and if the investment is worthy enough, that’s something we have to explore… anyway, deco is great.

Second think: drinks. Not too many different beers, that’s true, but at least they taste decently. And that’s something important on a place like that: I am just remembering how close to be poisoned I was last week, back in Madrid on holidays, on Chill Out (Malasaña). Ono of my former favourites places in that area in Madrid, where I enjoyed great binges as a teenager, and prettily nice decorated at the moment. But don’t even dare to enjoy a drink, whatever the fuck it is. Just shit, and my stomach suffered it the whole fucking night long. I’m digressing, aren’t I? Anyway, I was saying that drinks are ok. And they pass the 10 quid trial (buy three pints with a tenner and get spare change). Good enough for me.

The most important thing in a place like that should be the music. In fact, the whole thing. And that’s a little flaw the Intrepid Fox has… as they play not just the expected stuff, but also new metal (‘chandal metal’, as I love to name it in Spanish) covering bands as POD, Korn and that kind of things you might like, but not listen in a Heavy Club. Neither Amy Winehouse is a rock band, regardless I like it or not. Nevertheless, don’t expect Bisbal, Bustamante or Reggeton… in the end, that’s still London. And there are usually live bands performing, as it is a quite famous venue as well.

Anything else? Well, one of the waitress is Spanish, but she is so fucking full of herself that trying to make up a friendly conversation is just a waste of time. I’m a heavy goth modern here in London, did you know that, bloody tursist? (You actually do that bouncing your body as Eminem, and you just have the picture). And that’s a pity, as she’s shagable enough (yeah, the blog is becoming a bit more romantic every day). Apart of that, I’ve read somewhere you might get a pentangle on your Guinness foam, but I didn’t when I asked for one… very likely the bitch I’ve talked about isn’t able to perform one. And what else… well, they have an outside area where you can enjoy a sunny day –yeah, I’m just kidding- and the corridor to go to the toilets, and the toilets themselves, are really successful.

The biggest flaw of the place, JuanFran says and I agree with him, is it has lost a great part of his original charming. Plenty of tourists are around, and you really feel like in a Theme Park instead of in an original pub. Just as I told before, as in Hard Rock. And, still, it’s a place I’ll go over and over again, ‘couse… it’s cool…

Churchill Arms: we shall never surrender

2008-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN

We shall go on to the end.
We shall fight in France,
We shall fight on the seas and oceans,
We shall fight with GROWING confidence and GROWING strength in the air.
We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.
We shall fight in the hills,
We shall never surrender.

Winston Churchill, June 4 1940.

Talking about Winston Churchill here in the UK is talking about one of this godless country Gods. I'm not going to devote a whole post here about this great man, politician and, over all, fighter. It wouldn't make sense, as there is plenty of information about him wherever you have a look at on the Internet. Just recommend three different things related with him: 'The Second World War', a six volume book describing WWII under his perspective and a wonderful piece of literacy masterpiece that can be red with absolute delight and enjoyment (and the best history book I have ever red); Churchill's museum, very close to Downing Street in London, recreating the WWII cabinet war room; and Churchill's arms, of course, a magnificent pub.

The post is, of course, about the pub. One of my favourites in London, I have to say, and that's saying quite a lot. It is located very close to Notting Hill tube station. This area, notoriously famous for the well-known Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts movie (the blue door is now painted in black, to avoid tourists taking pics), is an interesting one: it deceives notably when you are looking for something special on it, an it takes pleasantly by surprise when you just go for a walk around there. Nevertheless, George Orwell lived there, and just that should be enough to pay the place a visit.

The best day for visiting it (forget about finding the movie's famous house, they have painted the main door in a different colour to avoid the touristic vermin) is Saturday, as you can go walking to Portobello Market, a really cool one I'll talk about in a different post. However, on Saturday Churchill's Arms is packed, so pay it a visit a different day, please!!

First great thing about the pub is the outdoors decoration. Fully loaded with different type of flowers, it really looks lovely from the outside. And that's just the first impression... let's better go inside.

The pub have two different areas: the pub itself and the restaurant. The pub, obviously, is completely devoted to Churchill itself. Pictures, paintings, statues and different memorabilia object cover every single wall or ceiling inside. If you go alone (and you shouldn't go alone to a pub, that's what alcoholics do, you know?) you can just enjoy your pint while you have a look at that many different objects related with one single subject: a great English statesman. Not only that, though. There is one of the best Guinness objects collections I've ever seen in a pub, and one wall holds photos of every British Prime Minister, from Sir Robert Walpole through to Margaret Thatcher. And some old fashioned rubbish scattered around: copper kettles, jugs, coal scuttles, brass instruments, old radios, violin cases, an accordion, old manuscripts, lanterns and a long etcetera.

The restaurant is another pleasant discovery. Fully covered with literally hundreds of plants, they offer Thai cuisine there. Prices are alright (6 pounds per course, and you just need one to be fed up), and the quality of the food is more than alright: it's quite good. Again, avoid it on Saturday, as there will very likely be there so many people that you will not enjoy your meal as you should. Even if it's not Saturday, it is quite possible that you'll have to queue up a bit. Just for once, it's better to get back the Spanish timetables and drop there around 3 pm, as it will be much easier to get a place. As it is quite small, it makes quite a difference if you get a good table or a bad one.

It is a historic pub as well, as it is more than 200 years old (of course, it wasn't devoted to Churchill in the beginning :D). But it's not one of those wrecked ones you can find in London: it's quite clear the owner appreciates his business. The beers? Fuller's on the tap, including the typical stuff (Pride, etc.). They also have London Porter on the tap, which is not quite usual (it's usually served bottled). Moreover, Guinness is perfect in Churchill's, allegedly one of the best in London. Finally, beer prices, though not cheap (this is one of the poshest areas in London), are not as expensive as they might be according to the quality of the pub.

Anything else? The pub is awarded in almost every pub website (try www.fancyapint.com, www.pubs.com or www.beerintheevening.com) as one of the best pubs in London. And pintofcarlingplease agrees with them. And, just as an ending coda, a bit more of pure Churchill:

It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Churchill, May 13 1940

Let there be party: Fabric

2008-07-04T10:48:00.001-07:00

77a Charterhouse Street London EC1M 3HN

Everybody who knows me is pretty aware I am not really a fan of electronic music of any type, whatever you wanna call it: drum&bass, house, electro, progressive, Spanish 'bakalao' or any other imaginable variant. I don't like huge clubs, where everybody is completely drugged and the favourite drink at bar is just water.

But I do like Fabric. Oh, yes, I do.

What does it offer? Well, three different rooms, better known by the light colours performed in them: the blue (and main) one, green and red. Let's go after every single one...

1. Green room. If sound could be defined with an object, this one would be a huge screwdriver. Every single clubber here is dancing a weird mezcolanzza of drum&bass and some other stuff. The craziest one, so my favourite one. And the green colour effect is great!

2. Blue room. The main one, where concerts take place. Usually too crowded, good fun anyway.

3. Red room. You can avoid it if you want... they EVEN sing sometimes... what kind of club is that? LOL

But Fabric is not just the rooms... but:

1. People. Surprisingly, and really opposite to what you frequently get in Spain, people are truly friendly. Everybody is in a high mood (well, yeah, maybe some pills around have something to do with that), and you really feel you can enjoy the party the way you prefer and annoying nobody while doing it. That's basically great.

2. The toilets. Good fun. Guys and girls almost together, and in the central corridor a nice fountains collection pouring water in a non stop downloading into everybody's bottle, of course, just in order to drop thirst.

3. The sound. In their website they say they broadcast in low frequency and around the floor in order to make you 'feel' the music. Not too sure if that's true, but friend, you feel it... I've been twice and the first time my ears were burning when I came out. That bloody green room...

4. The venue itself. Built up in brick with some narrow corridors, it looks like an old maze/factory. It's brilliant, indeed.

Of course, it's not perfect. A 330ml Stella bottle is 4 quid (still, cheaper than in most clubs in Spain). Last time we had to wait two hours to go in, hence you should avoid arriving there on Saturday between 1 am and 3 am, as it is when everybody's on the queue. By the way, if you are lucky enough (as we were) to go in just after 4, you get half price cover (from 16 quid to 8 quid, again, cheaper than most Madrid clubs). And finally, there's no off licence around the queue, so, if you wanna drink there, you should bring your own booze in advance.

Some other things about Fabric are just odd. As the sectioned queue which allows to maintain all the shops doors free of people. Or the superb respect to the queue itself, as anybody jumps it (again, the bloody-prof-bouncers have something to do with that).

Anyway. Last Saturday I fabric-ed til 8 am. And it will not be the last one. Quite sure about it.

Cricklewood's crowning jewel: The Crown

2008-06-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

301 Cricklewood Broadway, NW2 3ED

As I've introduced in some post before, I live just between two areas in North West London: Cricklewood and Kilburn. Although I prefer the latter quite more, as it buzzes and offers quite better opportunities for having fun than the former, Cricklewood is not a bad place at all. And it has some interesting pubs as well. The Crown is maybe the best one I've been there until now.

First, a bit of history. The original building was erected on 1750, being called The Crown Inn, and it provided refreshments for coach drivers. The current building origin is dated 1889, and it has suffered several refurbishments and restorations since then.

What does it offer? First of all, an impressive Victorian building. Attached to a modern hotel with the same name, the building is really amazing, specially if you think about the surrounding suburb-like scary shacks built within the last years. The orange bricks create an interesting effect, and it is, without any possible doubt, the most interesting building in Cricklewood Broadway and almost sure the only one that deserves a picture as well.

Second, four different bars. The one on the right in the ground floor is the quiet one, great for having a relaxing pint. The other two on the ground floor are pretty lively, the kind of place you would like to go to watch a football game or having some late pints on a Wednesday nite you feel like an unexpected binge. Finally, the one on the first floor is dedicated to arranged private parties, so I'm not sure what goes on on it. I think they serve cocktails as well, but not too sure.

Third, live music or dj on weekends (check who's playing here), and a fair late opening license (1 am every weekday, 3 am weekends) that makes the crown an instead of clubbing alternate option.

Four, the quality of the food is fine. Menu available here.

Five, there's an eastern europe barmaid really appetizing. Hope my girlfriend's not reading this by the way.

Why it is not the perfect pub? The beer selection in three out of four of the bars is quite poor (nothing really 'british'), the prices are quite high for this area in London (hence it's not a good option for just boozing if you are not taking advantage of the 1.95 quid per foster's pint offer, between 5pm and 7pm) and the food is really expensive. And finally, too many Polish people around for my taste, quite out of control at closing time.

Did I say it was a good way for watching the Eurocup? ;)

David and my brother, enjoying another Spain's national team brilliant performance (I do really can't believe I'm saying this, but I am, indeed!)

A bit of Dublin in Covent Garden: The Porterhouse

2008-06-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

21-22 Maiden Lane, London, WC2E 7NA

Really, it is not the kind of place you think about when you have in mind a Dublin pub. Not too dark, quite noisy, and no Guinness in the menu. But the first time I called there, in Reinard's birthday party, I definitely decided that was a place worth a second visit. And a third.

Covent Garden area is quite a tourist one, as anybody who has been in London quite well knows. It has a brilliant market, some of the best shops in London, street art performances... and thousands and thousands of tourists around. Fortunately, that's not really a problem to have some of the best pubs in the West End, as Lamb&Flag (it will have its own post sooner than later) or The Porterhouse itself. Of course, they are frequently squashed, but if you have the chance to go for an early beer on a week day, just before every body leaves the office for a pint, and you find a good place to have a sit and a quiet drink... well, you can't really match that with many other things, can you?

Covent Garden... lovely, ain't it?

Porterhouse is actually a Dublin brewery, fancied as an 'independent' one on its website (while it's not independent at all). What makes them different, however, it's not the beer, but the huge pubs they build up to sell and promote it. There are three in Dublin, one in Bray and another one in Covent Garden. That last, of course, is the one we are talking about. And, as you can very likely imagine, it involves it's not just a traditional pub what we are talking about, neither an old one. You should go somewhere else if your looking for that, tough.

In fact, the place looks like the investment has been huge. We are talking about a three story building that looks like a fascinating stairs and hidden corners maze. Decoration is amazing, with loads of clocks, commemorative plaques and huge wardrobes full of bottled beer. The furnishings are of oak and leather and the wood paneled ceiling is quite cool, matching the use of gleaming copper piping throughout the interior. They also use bottled beers as a decoration thing.

Decoration is quite cool...

They have something as five or six different bars, two or three barmans on each, but it doesn't look enough as the biggest problem of the place is it take too long to get a drink, specially after job or at weekends.

Talking about the beer, they (obviously) sell different Porterhouse draught and bottled types, including Temple Brau (a nice lager) and Plain Porter (a compact stout). I have just tried those two and were both brilliant, so I imagine any other on the tap is quite good as well. Prices weren't too bad, just above 3 quid each, specially if you remember the tax increase I talked about some posts ago. If you feel like picky you can always go for the bottled ones, as they have over 50 different types, including Estrella de Galicia and the common Belgium stuff (Delirium Tremmens, Leffe, etc.).

Feel a bit Irish tonight?

The food, although I didn't try it, is quite good as well (as overpriced), or at least that's what I have red in some pub comparison sites. And almost everyday wed-sun they have live bands playing on the underground floor, non additional cover asked for. Whether there are bands playing or not, music volume is frequently quite high, but not over a disturbing volume, and that makes the place a great venue to begin a birthday party, as Reinard did, or to begin a hard long Saturday night. Which doesn't mean it's not a great place for having a relaxing one as well, of course. And on summer, you can even have a pint outside!!!

Some of us prefer inside...

... some others outside :D

Alternative tourism (I)

2008-06-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest things about London is you never stop discovering new interesting places... and, much more important than that, you never stop doing that for free. Yesterday I focused on the City, hence it was a difficult task as it is very likely the area I know better. I succeeded, though, as I found out as much as four new different things you might be interested to visit the next time you're coming to this great city.

1. Old Bailey
Old Bailey EC4M 7EH, London

The Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) is one of the few places in the world you are allowed to attend a trial. You have even brochures on the door, so you can choose the petty criminal you prefer to be jailed today... quite weird stuff, by the way. It is one of the oldest Criminal Courts in the world, and, very likely, the most famous one. Moreover, you can check on the Internet what trials are going on every single day, and decide if you feel like murdering or rape as today's dessert ;D.
Or, at least, it is supposed to be like that, because the real thing is I wasn't let through. The reason? No electronic devices are permitted inside, and that includes an ipod (fair enough) and a mobile phone (¿?¿?)... so, if you want to visit it, leave all that at your place, and forget to dress one of those cyberdog t-shirts :D

Even not going in, the building from the outside is impressing, so the visit was worthy enough. And I'll go back when Adrian (a lazy lawyer friend of mine) is coming in a couple of weeks, so he'll kindly explain all the technical stuff. And, if you are really pissed off about not surpassing the door check, you can always go back to this blog most referred movie, V for Vendetta:

2. The Guildhall
London Guildhall

The Guildhall was really a discovery. The center of the city's government since the middle age, this amazing building highlights an great square, where the Guildhall Art Gallery (a nice museum I didn't visit as it's not for free) and a couple of churches make up a relaxing hidden den in the middle of the city's din. The Great Hall is the third biggest civil Hall in Great Britain, and it is possible to visit it when no meeting or honorific event is taking place on it (I did so). If something's going on, you can always take sit and attend the event, which sure creates an incredible old fashioned atmosphere.
The Great Hall is cool. The coffered ceiling is amazing, and all the paintings, engraved statues, stained glass and embellished furniture add up to an awesome place to visit. There are some monuments to Britain Heroes as Churchill or Wellington. Moreover, as it is quite unknown, you'll be able to visit by your own, which contributes to the place's charm. And the reception workers are really sympathetic, and treated me in a really warm and friendly way (in cotrast with the bloody Old Bailey bastards).

3. The clockmakers museum
London Guildhall

This cosy museum, adjacent to the Great Hall and the Great Library in Guildhall, describes the history of clock making craft, focusing in its London history. I am not really crazy about clocks or swatches, but I have to say that it was a piece of instructive museum, this one. Founded by the Clock Makers Company (former clockmakers guild, 1631), it's not big enough to get boring, and not as small as to be completely irrelevant, I really enjoyed the visit, as the explaining panels are concise, clear and quite entertaining. You discover there that the clockmakers guild was once a powerful mafia, as chemists or taxi lobbies or associations are today in Spain ;). Again, the reception personnel were really nice.

4. College of arms
Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4BT

Well, this last one really didn't worth the visit. The College of Arms is a pompous institution devoted to armorial bearings and heraldry in the UK. Great for them. The only thing you can actually visit is the Earl Marshall Court (the one in the picture), which is nice but not nice enough for the walk. No reason to come back, really, unless you are really interested in heraldry, family trees and all those posh things.

5. Street Art (Tate Modern)
Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Tate Modern is one of the best modern art museums in the world, and one of my favourites. It worth an own post in the blog, so I won't write a lot about it now. What I visited yesterday was a new and original graffiti exposition (Street Art, as they call it) in the front walls of the museum... just have a look at the pictures I took with my mobile phone, they are cool (they are something as 15 m tall each!)

Live London: The Good Ship

2008-06-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR

As I've posted before, I currently live in Cricklewood, a North West district between Brent, Barnet and Camden borough.s Well, in fact, my place is located there... I do actually LIVE in Kilburn. Ten minutes walking down Cricklewood broadway, this originally Irish area begins, and... well, I have to say it was a nice success to select this place to live in! A multicultural feeling, but not just the pakistani and polish communities, but a quite appetizing melt including those and Irish, Spaniards, Brazilians, Italians... Plenty of shops, pubs, even some clubs and a cinema, you don't really feel like going to Central London that much once you've found out what's going on in here. And, of course, you can cash in on the beer lower prices you have in zone 2. And of course, you can enjoy The Good Ship.

First thing I did when I arrived here, I checked what kind of clubs we might have around. You know, sometimes you don't really want to get the bus to go to Central London, and you don't want to spend the huge money going out out there costs. Apart of that, you can feel cheerful a Tuesday night, and... well, you aren't going to go to Fabric a Tuesday night, are you? So I checked what we had in Kilburn, and The Good Ship, on the web, looked fine.

Yet, much better than fine, I have to say. We've been there a couple of times, and some facts surprised us. Gladly we discovered they have live bands every single day but Tuesday (Comedy Club) and Sunday (acoustic crap). Every other day you have 3-5 live bands playing between 8pm and 11.30 pm, for a 5 quid cover. 5 good bands in a cover for 5 quid is actually a good deal, depending the quality of the bands, of course... well, mate, you can be quite sure you won't be deceived. We have seen four different gigs by now (as Spanish, we never go there before 10 pm, so we systematically lose the first 2-3 bands), and three of them were awesome (in capitals). The other one was lousy, that's true, but it gives you a 75% chances to enjoy a great concert. Not that many in most venues in Madrid, I have to say...

Of those three bands, the best one, no doubt about it, was Cherri Prince (their space and songs here). A black soul singer performing absolutely great, I really can't understand why they don't have a proper contract with a big discography. Maybe their lyrics are stupid (my English is STILL not good enough to get'em :D), I can't find any other likely reason... I drop a video found in you tube, with the usual bad sound quality... nevertheless, it gives you a tip about how good they are (she is, if I'm fair).

Yesterday night the best one was Capisce? (their songs and space here), a pop-rock band with the best amateur drummer I have ever seen. That was very likely their only flaw... as the drums sounded so aloud it was pretty difficult to hear any other instrument, the singer neither. But still they were quite good, and helped us to enjoy a good nite. By the way, their songs in their space sound much better than live... they have a quite good producer, I guess.

Anything else to say? Well... they have a great site on myspace where you can check which bands are playing every night, and, going to their own spaces, decide yourself if you feel naughty enough to go there. Ah, yes... another thing I forgot... just a tiny one... they close at 4 pm every weekend, and at 2 pm every other day. Luckily I don't have much money to spend at the moment... if not I would be there every fucking single night, can be sure about that!

And beer is fairly priced (3 pounds per pint). Talking about beer prices... if you have a look on the earlier posts on this blog, don't give a shit for the prices I told you pubs had. They were ok at that time, but a recent booze tax rise (6 percent above current inflation this year and 2 further points in the following ones) has changed it everything. An average pint in the UK costs now 2.64 pounds in the pub... but that's another history to talk about (yeah, sure I'll find some V-for-Vendeta quote to stand my opinion there :D). The thing is the Good Ship charges 3 pounds per pint, whatever you have (Pride, Carlsberg, Stella or Guinness, the ones I remember now), and that's a fair price for a club closing at 4, particularly if they are served by barmaids as cute as they are. No idea about spirits or bottled beer prices, though.

Finally, the DJ. The live bands eventually finish, and after that you have a pretty good DJ playing a cool mixture of electronic/pop/rock cocktail, were Kaiser Chiefs or Chemical bro. are melted with stuff for sure you haven't heard before. And you'll enjoy it... promised.

Less waste, less liberty

2008-06-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
V

Yes, there is, I would say. When you see on the news this country has the highest cctv cameras per person ratio in the world (above one per every 14 people), you start thinking something's not alright. The same, of course, applies to speed cameras on the road, or to the recently approved law which allows the police to keep people under arrest for 42 days without charge, under terrorist suspicions. This is all pretty bad enough. You may add up some mor stuff, for instance the tv license (you've got a TV, you pay), or, even better, the tv license inspections that permit someone to enter into your house to check if you have a tv, regardless if you use it to play in your console, to watch football or to iron your shirts on it. Wherever you make a little effort to check it, you realize the liberty vs security compromise is always unbalanced, favouring the latter. Does it make any sense?

Is quite easy to carry on. Alberto, a friend of mine who lives in Guildford, told me a couple of weeks ago that local police was handing out mobile speed radars to pensioners in order to check themselves over the limit speeds in several roads. Yet, what kind of credibility have someone who's usually doing nothing , as a pensioner does, to check anything at all, less something that might be object of further prosecution if you are found to drive too fast? Does it make any sense? In that same town, Guildford (it is actually a quite posh town, I have to say), the police is breaking up youngsters gangs on the street whose only crime is to be talking... and, of course, look like menacing. So what if I look menacing? So what if I like to hung up some mates in a bench? So what the fuck if I want to enjoy a beer with them?

Anyway, the reason for the post wasn't any of those. The thing is I have read this morning inspectors are being rolled out all around the country to check random people's rubbish bins. Yeah, your rubbish bin can be checked now, in fact, it can be being checked right now, no notice required. The mighty reason? Well... national security, you know... it looks like some nasty people are wasting too much food. Yeah, food. I mean, they buy a kg of potatoes, some of it go off, and... well, you are not gonna believe it, it's so monstrous... yes, they do it. They take the rotten potatoes into the litter. Even more, those... animals... some of them don't even wait the food to be rotten to throw it out, they spoil it while it is eatable! And there are so a terrible famines all around the world, in Africa, Asia... it can't be tolerated.

So you can be checked out. Be quite careful, tear every important document in a thousand pieces, be sure someone else will know the condoms brand you prefer and remember... happy new 1984 year.

The funniest thing? They are stoutly firm against ID cards, as they are a horrible affront against liberty.

I love this country. I really do, and I think this blog is a nice piece of evidence of it. But sometimes I think... they are crazy, those romans...

Amy, Amy, Amy...

2008-06-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

I just can't stop listening this song.

So absolutely great... Amy is not too well known in Spain, but here she's a mass media superstar. Altogether with Lilly Allen (another fairly good singer) and Pete Doherty (an actual piece of shit), they are everywhere in the papers, everyday. Amy's usually portraited in one of her huge binges, smoking crack, swearing, completely stoned or drunk in her dodgy shack in Camden... and everybody's blaming her for her way of life and, maybe reasonably, because she's only 24 years old. Some times we forget how the Rolling Stones used to be when they were younger (or not that younger, if you thing about Mr. Richards), tough.

I don't give a shit about it. Every single time a listen 'amely' (video above) in a club, I realize why I came to live to London. Good enough for me.

Welcome to my place

2008-06-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Home... sweet home. Quite close to Cricklewood train station, Brondesbury overground station and Kilburn tube station (Jubilee line, zone 2), this is our little shack. Of course, I first thougth about tidying up everything for the pics show but... that's quite more real stuff :D.

First of all, it is pintofcarlingplease's place, ain't it? 3x18x440ml= 23.76 litres of pleasure ;)

Here comes the little kitchen...

The living room, which is actually now also an sleeping room.

The corridor (yeah, I know this is exciting)

...toilet... (cleaner than usual)

The larder, you definitely don't want to have a look inside
And the main sleeping room. If you are asking yourself who's the stupid one who's sleeping in the leaving room... well, we actually are quite stupid both. We just swap.

And our lost shopping time result