Frankenstein and Skeleton Boy

Dulcie: So, what do you play?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: I play the drums.
Dulcie: Do you like the drums?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: ??? No, I hate them that's why i play them for a living.
Dulcie: So what sort of drums do you play?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: ???
Dulcie: So are you playing on many of the dates on this tour?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: Well, yeah, all of them.
Dulcie: Oh right, so they don't just hire you in for when they're playing locally?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: No, I'm a part of the band...
Dulcie: Yeah, the jazz band.
Drummer of Friendly Fires: Jazz band?? I am the drummer for Friendly Fires
Dulcie: Oh, so you're not a session musician?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: No! I am the drummer for Friendly Fires.
Dulcie: Oh! So... ...does being in a band pay well?
Drummer of Friendly Fires: What are you actually doing here?

Something like a phenomenon

On Wednesday I went to see Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Manchester Academy, a venue which is conveniently located about one hundred metres from my halls. Despite not having all day to get myself totally psyched and pumped, due to a three and a half hour compulsory screening of Schindler's List directly beforehand, I was rather excited once waiting in the darkness.

Karen O failed to disappoint in a neon pink gimp mask emblazened with a spiral of fairy lights, tribal print dress with snatches of trailing gold holographic swathes of fabric and pink fishnets. The set list was, as far as I can remember, 'Heads Will Roll' followed by 'Black Tongue' and then, in some sort of order, 'Phenomenon', an unidentified cover, perhaps 'Addicted to Love', 'Dull Life', 'Down Boy', 'Gold Lion', 'Soft Shock', 'Zero', 'Y Control', and then for the encore: 'Maps' and 'Date With The Night' - for which she changed into a red and blue kimono. 'Gold Lion', 'Date With The Night', and 'Zero' were definitely the highlights of the evening for me, and seemed to go down explosively with the crowd, especially when O put on the studded leather jacket that she wore in the video to 'Zero'. I was also surprised at just how smiley they all were, how indefatigable, and how rapidly after the concert I began to question whether I'd actually really been there at all...

In other news, Jian Wei and I have received confirmation from Dave and Aralynne McMane that we can rent their Parisien apartment for our first ever summer holiday. It's going to work out to be three hundred euros for seven nights which is rather good value in light of the current unfavourable exchange rate. I have also got a little plot at the Student Union Market on May 5th where I can present the assortment of charity shop finds, second hand cast-offs and donations I amounted over the Easter break and hopefully profit from gullible students, well-endowed with bulging loans. And finally, I applied for the Creative Writing: Poetry module next year which is judged on the individual students' submissions, so, wish me luck!

Enjoy the sunshine. x

The Thorncliffe Manifesto

Whilst enjoying the mid-afternoon sunshine today in my generic Mancunian student halls of residence, I happened to notice a circular blue plaque affixed to the wall that I previously been blind to. This metallic disc read as follows, 'Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) Social philosopher and writer lived at No. 6 Thorncliffe Grove which once stood on this site.' and suddenly Whitworth Park no longer felt as crushingly uninspiring. How fickle I really am...

Anyway, to wiki I ran and discovered all sorts of interesting things about the co-author of The Communist Manifesto and editor of Das Kapital. In 1842, the 22-year-old Engels was sent to Manchester, England to work for the textile firm of Ermen and Engels in which his father was a shareholder. Engels' father thought that working at the Manchester firm might make Engels reconsider the radical leanings that he had developed in high school. During his time in Manchester, Engels took notes and personally observed the horrible working conditions of English workers. These notes and observations, along with his experience working in his father's commercial firm, formed the basis for his first book The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844. I had absolutely no idea of his presence in the area and so the discovery of this plaque felt immensely significant to me. Maybe I should put a little more faith in Whitworth Park...