Author: davebushe

R.E.M. in Hyde Park this evening was…allright. Similar problems to the RHCP last year. The sound is shit, it’s as simple as that. I was far back, I could see ok but the sound just faded in and out. At many times you could carry on a normal conversation. The setlist was excellent and we had special guest Patti Smith for E-Bow The Letter but the sound throughout was terrible. That’s the last Hyde Park gig I go to that isn’t Gold Circle.

The roller coaster continues and continues to take the most unexpected curves.

Next week should be interesting. Everything over the past few weeks could simply be the buildup.

I’ve already decided to relax the discipine part a little bit. If I want to post more than once a day, then I will. But the photos continue.

I’ve just spent about 15 minutes tearing my room apart. I needed a picture to go with this entry and I knew *exactly* what it had to be but did I know where the book was? Hell no. Anyway I found it and I got what I wanted so I’m happier.

Today overall has not been a bad day. Some of yesterdays problems have been sorted out and I’m pleased with that. Work is generally going really well and I’m pleased and optimistic. The coming weeks will be interesting.

I was in a presentation this evening, one of the guys was talking about our next big project and I was there to talk about some of the timelines and other things around that. So we are sat in the room and Mike is doing the demo. Once we reach the radio part, he moves off “All Metallica” which I thought was an excellent station to show the navigation and that. So up comes indie rock who are playing none other than Elliot Smith. Sometimes the world gets things right.

I’ve been meaning to talk about Elliot Smith for a few days. I only got into him sometime towards the end of last year mainly due to Robot Fist and others on the V talking him up a whole lot. I had heard of him before that, the first time I heard the name was in this Metafilter thread which was news of his suicide. For some reason it stuck with me but not enough to check out the music. Once I finally did, I was such a convert. I wish I’d been there from the start, I wish that I had known the music when he was around so that I could have the appreciation for him then that I do now. I know that it would not make a damn difference but it’s all I have to offer.

I don’t often talk about people up here, at least not in a meaningful way. I’m not quite sure why, some of it would be down to not being sure that what I write would be what I would say to them. While it’s less true these days that I would have a problem saying it, at least when I say it, it’s not words on a sheet with no background, no chance for a follow up, the words just sitting there. It can be hard enough in email or IM so it’s one reason I avoid it. The other is that it’s often more important and just the sorta of things I am generally less inclined to talk about.

My broadband was finally upgraded on Monday night. It made me so happy for a short time. It’s so nice to see the numbers ticking down that much faster.

I figured it out. It struck me earlier today what I need to do to keep this going. It’s very simple, I need some discipline.

I wanted to post a photo from last night to go alongside the piece that I wrote. So I did and I like the way it turned out. I was taking some more tonight while listening to Bright Eyes. He’s been called the “New Dylan” all over the place and it’s not that bad a label. The lyrics are there and they get to me sometimes. Tonight they got to me for a while and it had me thinking about a lot of things and I settled on discipline.

So starting yesterday here is the plan for this place.

One post a day max, with a single photo. The photo in someway should reflect what’s going on in my head. It could be a simple as a photo from a gig, or a picture of my desk. I won’t necessarily take it on the day, afterall I have close on 1300 photos up on Flickr to choose from.

Each entry will now be it’s own archive and I’ll put something up so that the last five entries or so on the side. That will probably be it for the time being. It may just be time for a fresh start for a while.

Anyway, that’s the plan. I’ll see how it goes.

It’s been a hell of a time at work these past few days. I’ve kinda changed team except I don’t know what I’ve changed to. I don’t work in localisation anymore, I’m not even a developer anymore. I’m doing two jobs as an “acting” at the moment and I have to say, I’m loving it. This is what I want to do. It’s stressy and it’s hard work but it’s good and it’s where I want to go. So I’m talking to my boss about making it official in some way. That’s all going pretty well and I have some hopes there.

Had a bit of jolt this afternoon. One of my projects fell apart in a fairly spectacular way. It’s not that serious and it’ll be back on it’s feet by tomorrow evening but the whole process that lead to hit flopping over was really poor and I have to get into that tomorrow. I was very unhappy for a while this afternoon.

I have decided that I want a good camera. I do want to go out and get myself an SLR, I may see what sorta deal I can get somewhere on that with a laptop and pay it off over a year or so. I’m not so good at the saving part of things. But I do want it, and I think I’d use it. Part of the reason I want to get a photo up here a day is to make myself use a camera more. I always feel like a twat stopping in the street to take a photo but at the end of the day no-one gives a fuck and I should just stop and take my photo and move on.

I’m trying to figure out what to do for holidays this year. I might have some money later on towards the end of the year and I’m keeping some days to make sure I can afford to travel somewhere nice and have a good time. But I’m also very strongly thinking about a week in Dublin at the start of August. I think it might help me to figure some things out and it would be good to not feel that I have to rush and get everything done in a few days.I don’t know, it all may just be an excuse. I’ll be back for a very short time in November, family wedding but if I were to do all of that, then that would be my holidays gone for the year, which actually means now as I type that and realise what it means, I probably won’t be doing it. I guess I should give my real holidays some serious thought and work it all out from there.

There are times when all it can take is a piece of music to restore every bit of faith I have in humanity.

I was expecting big things from Sigur Ros last night. They are stunning live, the first time I saw them was fully seated in Hammersmith in Feb 2003 and it was breathtaking. I have a recording of the gig and it’s every bit as amazing now as it was then. There is quite simply silence, they finish a song and the audience is held so much that no-one remembers to clap. There are seconds and seconds and seconds before the spell ends and then my god do the crowds roar.

Last night was a little like that. The entire price of admission was worth it for Hafssól. But even before then, it was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. It’s so amazing what a perfect piece of music played live in front of you and a crowd can do.

Even the new songs which are not the easiest thing to have a crowd into at a gig sound so good. I was always going to be excited about the new album but now I’m even more so. This will be an up and into work early so I can hit a music shop along the way.

No other band can make me feel so good, so alive, so happy so easily.

Faith restored. Nothing else matters.