A long weekend in Thessaloniki

I am not doing so well at this regular blogging lark. Maybe I should increase my intake of internet bran.
Anyway, we spent a long weekend in Thessaloniki (hence the snappy title) last weekend and rather than keep repeating myself and enthusing at people over and over, I decided to blog it.
Firstly, this is a note to myself and others to remind that connecting flights and ungodly check-in times might seem like a good idea at the time of booking and indeed often afford a more cost-effective mode of travel, but they are grim. Having said that, we had chance to potter round Zürich for a few hours on the way out there, which was actually really nice. They have the world's largest clock face there, would you believe? (see photo to left).
Also, I must explain why the photos are not the best quality. It is also a misconception that you can buy whatever you like in duty free. We thought we would bag ourselves a tax-free digital SLR in the land of cow bells and cheese, but didn't count on there being exactly two cameras in the shop, neither of which were suitable. You live and learn. We found some pear-flavoured vodka though, which will take me 10 years to drink at my light-weight drinking pace.
We finally arrived in Thessaloniki at some point in the middle of the night. It was still warm though and we were met by our Greek friend, the Niki in Thessaloniki, which was all boding well for a nice and sunny four days.
We awoke on our first day not particularly early. Actually, that is a lie. We got up not particularly early but we were awoken at some undetermined time by a noise that sounded like hell itself opening. Turns out that Greek bin men have some really hefty machinery and visit every day. It also turns out that the Greek equivalent of the rag and bone man visits daily; we were in two minds as to whether to wake up our host to check it wasn't the 4-minute warning or something similar! The watermelon seller is much more melodious though and gives us no cause for concern. After a tasty breakfast involving spanokopita (I've just finished the last piece we brought home, but remembered that I have some spinach in the fridge - get in!) on Niki's balcony (see right), we set off into Thessaloniki to meet up with our friends from Holland.
Thessaloniki is Greece's second city and it's pretty large. We walked all along the harbourfront to the so-called White Tower. It was a prison at one point and it isn't very white, but we had to see it. 28 degrees, sunny weather and a nice blue sea gave us an appetite so we paid our first visit to Zythos - a bar/restaurant with very tasty food. We stayed there for ours, learning how to pronounce 'courgette fritters' in Greek and catching up on the last few months since we had all met up. Greek food rules and I'd forgotten how good Mythos beer tastes. There was a Greek musical luminary there, whose name I have forgotten, getting rather ticked off at people with cameras, and a dog asleep in a hedge, which convinced us that Zythos is the place to be.
It still wasn't cold, but it was time for bed and to see if the bin men would be coming again. They did but it didn't deter us from sleeping! After some more breakfast spanokopita we started Saturday with some wandering about. Our base is about 10 minutes on the bus from the centre of town but the buses are pretty good and we didn't encounter any traffic. We saw some older parts of the town, which was quite tourist-free apart from all the knock-off handbags (Paul Frnak anyone?). A visit to a chocolate cafe to rival Slattery's ensued, followed by a lot of sitting around. We had a birthday in our midst so felt it necessary to head to taverna-ville. Of course it isn't called that, but there is an area of town filled with tavernas and men trying to get you to visit their own taverna. Having a Greek guide, we were ushered to a much less touristy-looking one near a cobbler's manned by 2 elderly gentlemen who showed no sign of having done any work until about 9pm when the machines started to whirr. We ate the compulsory halloumi and fried courgette amongst many tasty treats and had our first experience of dakos salad (see rather poor picture to the left!) Dakos is a fried bread from Crete with all the salad and dressings on top. A large crouton I suppose. It was very tasty in any case, as was everything we ate. Not being particularly well up on Greek customs (we were advised not to start lobbing our plates around), we were amazed by the free desert and peculiar drink that emerged at the end of the meal and headed off to a rock bar to try to digest. This took a while! After some discussions about Welsh road signs, we got word that we were to meet some more Greeks in a Caribbean cocktail bar in an old house. Well, it's not often you get an invitation like that is it? Habanero was certainly an interesting place and Niki's friends were all very friendly. Due to the lack of measures in Greek drinks, and my penchant for not really drinking very much, I cautiously approached a caparainha as I have never actually had one and didn't fancy a mojito after the time when I broke 2 glasses trying to make one at home. It was like lighter fuel so I sipped at it and left most of it behind. I felt quite rock n roll to still be up past 2am so we went to a very peculiar bar called Augustus for a squash in a corner and a glass of swimming pool. Finally hit the sack at some ungodly hour and awaited the dustbinmen.
Day 3 of our Greek Odyssey didn't really get going till quite late on as we may be very rock 'n' roll staying up so late but still need our sleep. I am sure the bin men came twice. It's a Sunday, it's baking hot, what do you do? Answer: Head to the local sailing club for a very tasty lemon slush and to point and giggle at the Greek equivalents of Sienna Miller and Kate Moss. My sunglasses were far too small and I was wearing sensible shoes so I sat quietly out of the spotlight. We sat there for ages, putting the world to rights and watching some massive blue jellyfish bob past. We'd not had any haloumi for about 16 hours so we decanted to a sea-side taverna where we offended the owner with our vegetarianism, prompting him to ask if we wanted any broccoli shakes. More tasty food again and some Greek wine which didn't taste of bins. Very nice! We headed back to 'our' appartment for some chatting and a fairly night in preparation for us going out on our own for our last day in Thessaloniki.
We did it! We got on the right bus and got off it at the right stop to meet our friends from the Netherlands at the archaeological museum. It was all very interesting but we were having halloumi withdrawal and had to go to Zythos to have another go at making the waiters giggle at us ordering the kolokothekeftades. We finally found some postcards on the way though and a cart that was the nearest to a souvenir shop. Result! We met our Greek hostess with the mostess for a trip to the other of Thessaloniki's sea-side restaurants, the Kitchen Bar and I ate a big, fat, Greek salad. It was our last night there and with the prospect of a 4:45 am flight to Zürich looming, we bought some Greek chocolates and headed 'home'. Niki's mum came by for a while to see us, which was nice, and kindly brought us some souvenir spinach pie to bring home. It has all gone now as I mentioned before. We also had a ferret round some local shops for an amusingly named product to bring home but had to make do with some chocolates called Derby and some Greek top trumps about commercial shipping. Our short break was at an end, my sinuses were wonderfully clear due to the absence of British weather, and we left before the bin men had even been. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're back there and sampling the delights again but in the mean time we are reminiscing on a newly created Facebook group. We may be more technologically advanced since the last time I went there (1996) but we're all the same deep down.

Leeds Festival 07

OK so I haven't blogged for a while. It's because I have been asleep, waiting for summer to start, which it finally did on Friday when I trooped off to Leeds Festival (or the Carling Weekend, not that anyone ever calls it that) to pick up the smell of chemical toilets in my nostrils for the foreseeable future. The bill didn't look tremendous but there is always enough to keep us amused for a weekend there and we were trialling 'festival-lite' i.e. cheating and coming home to use our own toilet and have a nice sleep each night. Yeah, well, I'm nearly 30 so it's fine.
The first thing that was different about this year was that it was actually hot when we arrived. Those of you who were there would have been treated to a glimpse of my milk-bottle-white calves. That hot it was. Anyway, Friday was generally a good day from the outset, or, more accurately, once we had largely ignored Gym Class Heroes and turned my nose up at Hellogoodbye (the lovechild of Cher and Daft Punk...).
The second thing that was different was it was much easier to find people this year thanks to The Duck. Honestly -take a bright yellow duck-shaped umbrella that's been stuck down the side of a wardrobe for 5 years to a festival and people can find you! It's the way forward.
Anyway, back to the music. Billy Talent were pretty good. Seeing as they have such a rubbish name, I wasn't expecting much but they were surprising. I missed 'that song I know about leaves' to skulk off to watch Ignite on my own, leaving my less-hardcore posse with The Duck. Ignite were shouty, though seem to have started singing, like all hardcore bands do eventually. Still, it was good to see them at last.
The Used... Bert McCracken does my head in, to use an eloquent turn of phrase. I like a couple of songs, but anyone that full of themselves and actually uses the word 'spa*tic' in a song does not get my vote. Next!
Funeral For A Friend are never bad, so that was good for a bit of a singalong and I felt a bit of an idiot for not even knowing they had a new album out or more to the point that it's been out for ages. Whoops.
I ran as fast as my milky legs would carry me to get away from seeing Fall Out Boy. It would only have resulted in me swearing at the Wentz, which would not have been ladylike would it? Anyway, the mighty From Autumn To Ashes were playing and they're just great. And they were. Great. Shouty and singy in that way only they can be. Plus I got a sit down on a relatively comfy chair. Rock'n'roll excess all the way! Next was Against Me! though I needed a wee and missed the song I know. Still, not to worry. They did sound like a weird cross between Queen and any number of west cost punk bands. Good though.
NIN were on at the same time as CSS and even though I was curious to see what Brazilians do when they come to festivals and aren't Sepultura, I couldn't not watch Nine Inch Nails. Plus, they had the worst rendering on the cheap t-shirts sold by the not-so-official types on the camp site that I have seen in a while. No longer NIN, they are 9INs. Trent must be so proud. To cut a long story short, they were amazing and possibly one of the most energetic performances I've seen them do. There was some laptop-rock, cool lights and proper guitar smashing and they didn't play 'Closer' - Yesssss! Still wish they had played 'Dead Souls' though like they did at Reading. We got Trent in his fetching gloves so I suppose it's only fair. They're definitely in contention for band of the weekend, despite there being surprisingly few people there (probably because of said Brazilians).
Smashing Pumpkins were one of the bands we were most looking forward to seeing. Dreamy scuzz mixed with angsty grungy wonderment. 12 years ago that was the case but now it's all shiny lights, massive drums and fast guitars. They weren't awful but I just don't get their new stuff at all and the older stuff lacked the weight and sincerity that it used to. I'm sure Billy had a cold or something too. We couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed so we left a bit early, watched a bit of New Found Glory and went home for a really nice cuppa and possibly the best night's sleep I have had in weeks.

Saturday started off with the Pipettes who were great fun! Not your typical rock festival band but lots of fun and I'm still humming the tunes. We went to the lock-up tent and saw Riverboat Gamblers who I'd not heard of but were really energetic and lots of fun again but in a very non-Pipettes way, then went to see Sparta whose newer stuff seems less angular and more rounded. I made a mental note to dig out the cds again and listen to them because they were spectacular. I tried to make that into a pun using the words 'spectacular' and 'Sparta' but it won't work. A bit like Gogol Bordello. Ukrainian gypsy punk is certainly different but it isn't my thing really so I wandered off to see The Draft, which is basically Hot Water Music with a different singer. I think I'll try to get hold of their album though, although I kept promising myself I would get lots of Hot Water Music stuff and I never did. We met up with Phil and her pirate friends to see Gossip, Jimmy Eat World and Maximo Park and enjoy sitting in a field with some friends in the sun. Gossip were pretty much how I expected except Beth Ditto has a really delicate voice when she speaks. One hell of a pair of lungs when she sings though. Jimmy Eat World played lots of the hits and reminded me why they are so good. They have exactly the right amount of energy, melodies and 'Woh's that befits a band. Plus we were getting to see them again later. Maximo Park were good but to be honest I was distracted by pirates.
We made the journey back over to the smaller stages and saw a bit of The Subways and were very surprised to see Enter Shikari pack out the Radio One tent then saw The Bronx, who I think are great. That might have been the other way round - I can't remember. The Bronx make me chuckle because they are from California but are also a proper shouty band and there don't seem to be that many with much character around these days. Their singer still reminds me of Wayne Rooney though.
Danny got very excited next when we went to see Brand New who were, I must admit, outstanding! They're a different band live than on record and have a knack for creating an atmosphere. Then we saw Jimmy Eat World for the second time in a day and Sara nearly burst with excitement (they were ace, but they always are!) then I went home smiling and singing along with 'Sweetness' all the way back to the car. Had another nice, hot beverage, some chips and a less restful night's sleep but still got to be better than getting no sleep!

Sunday there wasn't much on that we really wanted to see so we wandered about a fair bit. We saw Paramore on the main stage and they were much better than I expected from what I have seen on videos I've seen. Hayley might be young but doesn't come across so much like Avril Lavigne live. Kids in Glass Houses were good, if very similar to Lostprophets, then there were a couple of main stage bands on that I didn't take much notice of. Angels and Airwaves were the worst band of the weekend - they sounded messy and Tom Delonge is so full of himself it's scary. I may possibly have sworn. After the abysmal performance Blink 182 put on a few years ago, I shouldn't have been surprised. Panic! At the Disco were OK: I think they are becoming less offensive to me and the guitarist appeared to be free of ridiculous face paints. Which brings me on to the subject of festival fashion. I learnt something: Retro is good, so long as you don't remember it the first time round. I remember glow sticks and t-shirts with big letters on last time so I'm not joining in with the face-painted masses in ridiculously unsuitable footwear thank you. New rave? Hmph.
To counteract that, we went to see Dinosaur Jr who played 'Feel the Pain' which made my day :) J Mascis has officially turned into Gandalf the Grey and Danny saw him in the VIP area but was too polite to accost him. We squeezed into a packed Radio 1 tent to watch some of Biffy Clyro, who seemed to play most of their songs that you can listen to without thinking too hard. I was impressed that such an unusual sounding band can get that much attention, then they played 'Folding Stars' and I remembered why. That was apparently the last time they will play it though. We went for a final mooch round and a final go at trying not to see what people have been depositing in the portaloos and attempted to watch the Chili Peppers. We gave them about an hour before I was outvoted and we had to go home. They sounded OK but without some riotous anthems, they were failing to set the crowd alight and Anthony Kiedis has cut his hair again. Ah well.
So me, Danny, Sara and The Duck trooped off home and set about eating vegetables and fruit again and I bought next year's ticket.
Hope that makes up for the lack of posts. Next gig is Chris Cornell next Tuesday. Yesssss!

Gonks!

OK so I haven't been doing much running and the race is less than 2 weeks away. Not sure if I will make it to the start line so I've been diverting myself with some nostalgia. Anyone remember Gonks? I don't mean things to do with Star Wars, trolls, or useless bits of hardware. A gonk is something you'd win at the fair and looked like a toilet roll inner with some fur on it and cardboard eyes. I found one on a Norwegian auction site and there is one on ebay at the moment but whatever happened to the gonk?
Send me your gonks!

Running...

...is a bit boring really isn't it? Well I think so. Just stubborn-ness and steely determination to claim my space blanket on May 20th is spurring me on. I've been "running" since January in an effort to get fit and to run the Manchester 10km run in May and I'm making some slow progress towards this. The training plan has been thrown somewhat into disarray this week thanks to a self inflicted bout of iffyness following excessive spice and cheese intake lately. That'll teach me and I'm on plain foods till I'm right but hoping to get out for 2 miles or so on Sunday. To make sure I carry on running for a little while at least, I'm signing up to run the Race for Life in Bolton with work in July, which I reckon will be a doddle after the 10km.
I'll be on the scrounge for sponsership at some point so watch out!

March Gig Review

I thought I'd start on a monthly gig review, partly because I forget what I've done after the month has ended. March was a fairly quiet month for gigs and it didn't help me having a few wobbly moments that meant I missed out on Deftones. I did, however, make it to see Kristin Hersh, though I was tired out after a day in Birmingham and the previous night's netball shenanigans. That must be testament to just how very good Kristin was as I thoroughly enjoyed it despite being almost asleep by the time she came on. Support was from the McCarricks as in Martin who was in Therapy?. Strings and some downright odd visuals but it worked and I found myself appreciating a sort of music I never thought I would.
The McCarricks rejoined the stage with Kristin Hersh and there was a sense of veneration from the crowd. I'd hardly heard any of her solo output but have been listening to 'Learn to Sing like a Star' a lot since the Academy 3 gig. Initially I questioned whether she had enough stage presence to engage the audience, especially those like me, with little exposure to her before, but her incredible voice and the amount of emotion in it soon laid those fears to rest.
Gazebo Tree and White Bikini Sand had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up and the vitriol in Me and My Charms showed through towards the end.
In brief - she was amazing and held the crowd in awe all the way through the set and two encores. Definitely going to see her next time she's around.
Setlist was as follows (from the message board on Throwingmusic.com):

1. Day Glo
2. Under The Gun
3. Nerve Endings
4. Wild Vanilla
5. Gazebo Tree
6. Your Ghost
7. Your Dirty Answer
8. Winter
9. Listerine
10. Sugar Baby
11. The Thin Man
12. White Bikini Sand

Encore #1
13. In Shock
14. The Letter

Encore #2
15. Me and My Charms

Only other gig I got to in March was to see ChaseHQ Allstars at the White Room in Warrington. It's not really my sort of music if I'm honest but my friend is now playing sax with them so we went along to support and to see what they were like. Though there are dub and ska tinges (why I didn't think I would like them) there's an overriding feel-good atmosphere to their music and some innovation with the samples and keyboards. I can't help feeling that having a few different singers would pick up the parts of the set that got a bit samey, but you can't help smiling when you see how much fun the band are having and I was surprised to enjoy it as much as I did.

April hopefully will bring Pelican and lots of Easter Eggs - watch this space!