Jubilee Extravaganza Day 2 - BOATS!!

After Day 1 of Jubilee weekend, I'm surprised I even woke up on Sunday.

Watching Telly - Did you know that primetime television is on Saturday and Sunday evenings here? I don't get it, in a country that boozes so much you would think everyone would be down the pub, but this is a serious thing! As I had completely destroyed myself the day before, staying in and watching the flotilla river pageant jubilee thingy indoors was a brilliant idea. 

Yes we had freshly delivered pizza for breakfast, no we didn't change out of our PJs all day, yes many cups of tea were consumed whilst it rained all over the fools that stood outside to get a short glimpse of what we saw on BBC for 5 hours - but this level of lounging seems to be the standard for when big events are happening on your doorstep.

Without further ado, here's the best recap of that day

Oh my days, I've just linked to something from Perez...

The better part of this bit is afterwards when John Oliver flails excitedly talking about the boats and gets rained on/beans'd on/toast'd on.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Queen Who Stares at Boats - Royal Jubilee
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On a side note, the BBC wasn't much better than CNN as far as coverage.  My favourite bit of flotilla commentary: 'Well, what some people don't realise is that driving a boat isn't like driving a car.'  

FFS.

Jubilee Extravaganza Day 1 - Field Day and Fin Fest

Since 2009, I've been lucky enough to live in London during some fairly exciting and historic events and the first weekend of June 2012 was certainly one of them.  While the world and the media set its eyes on Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, I celebrated HRM's 60 years in the most British way possible...by doing everything BUT participate in the Jubilee.

Don't get me wrong, the boats, and Tom Jones and the processions are all very lovely, but you have to be crazy to sit through the hours of rain, hunger and anticipation just to see that - and I think most Londoners would agree.

For most of us, the Jubilee was celebrated from our homes, in a nearby pub, or even out of the UK. I however, spent the 4-day holiday weekend doing things that have come to define the British (although arguably more English) way of life for me.

Festivals - before moving to London, I rarely heard of music festivals. In Columbus, we had the free ComFest each year and that was the extent of my knowledge.  I mean I'd never even HEARD of Glastonbury.  Then I moved here and I really think there's no going back, I'm totally addicted to all things including music, in a field/park with lots of cider and at a fee.

With no Glastonbury on this year, I'm trying to find ways to replace this empty musical hole in my heart.  I started it with Camden Crawl in May and carried it on to Field Day in June. Field Day only lasts for one day so no camping required.  As I didn't take any photos, here are some tunes from the bands I did see that you should check out.









Franz Ferdinand apparently don't want us to embed their songs but here's a link.

And of course, the loves of my life, Spector:



I finished off Field Day and carried on with the festivities up North at The Finsbury just after midnight.  This place deserves a post of its own, and I will do eventually but I just want to say it is quickly becoming one of my favourite spots. They regularly have live music and on this weekend they put on their very own festival!

No clue who was playing when I came in, but they were a pretty awesome Turkish rock band.

This girl, DeLooze BLEW MY MIND. She's got a great voice, and I could really hear her + a DJ happening in the future.



Lazytalk reminded me of something circa late 90s - very entertaining bunch!

I'm not sure how it happened, but life lasted until at least 3.30am that day and I fit in two music festivals.  This, is how One celebrates a Jubilee in London.

Shopcade Competition

I was recently contacted about Shopcade, a platform that looks like what Pintrest should be. 

I'm not that big a fan of Pintrest, it's a bit niche and lame IMO, but I do think it has massive potential to influence shopping through social media.  Shopcade, seems to have already picked up on this idea and are running a competition over the Jubilee Weekend to win some of their British themed products. It starts today at 11AM BST and ends on 6th June at 10AM.  

Click below to see the competition but if you don't want to enter I would recommend having a sniff around their site at least. It's quite interesting!

Olympics Overload

I'm probably a bit numb to all of the Olympic and skirt-around-using-the-word-Olympic advertising who-ha going on in the Capital these days but I thought I'd share this overload.

London 2012 Olympics - Indoor Volleyball

Before the resale every bus seemed to be wrapped in Olympic ads

Olympic Bus, and another one in the background

New uber-hybrid flashy retro style London bus. Tourists will love this.

Are you heading to London for the Olympics? Sick of seeing Olympic-themed-everything? Let me know in the comments!

Spector at the Electric Ballroom

Argh, I've fallen behind in updates again but I can tell you it's not for lack of content! I definitely haven't been at home long enough to sit down and put all of the great things happening this glorious month in writing so I'll try to play some catchup.

To start, just 11 days after Camden Crawl had competed, I made my way back to Camden for probably the greatest gig I've been to in a while.  It should be of no surprise that I'm ab.so.lute.ly. in love with Spector as I've been banging on about them since I first heard Never Fade Away.  Love them - LOVE THEM.

On a whim, no that's a lie, after 3 weeks of asking people if they wanted to see this band but no one knowing who they were to commit to the cause, I snatched up some tickets for a ludicrous £10 each to see them at the Electric Ballroom.

I arrived in time to see Eugene McGuinness taking the stage. I knew that I knew the name, but I didn't know that I knew the songs as well.  Take this one for a ride - it sounds like Halloween meets the 80s/Weird Science to me sometimes.

If that song wasn't your cuppa, don't worry - they have a few different styles in their set. Worth a watch.

And then on to the main event, the musical loves of my life for 2012: Spector.  No words can explain how I felt that night so let the music and the photos do their magic.

Highlight: Fred jumped in the crowd and I touched him *faints*

Album launching August 2012 - GET IT