jeffthelion

It was at this stage of the week where a weird seemingly contradictory pair of realisations sunk in, (a) that the holiday was closer to the end than the beginning and (b) despite having so little time (relatively), there was still so much to cram in.

Off we go then, early as possible to avoid getting stuck in the queues at the Empire State Building, did I say queues? As there was certainly none of that, the Statue of Liberty was comparatively like a chicken coop, as we strolled into the building at around 9AM in the morning. This rigorous security check passed without incident and within quarter of an hour, we were up on the 80th floor of the building!

Has everyone already been up it or something?!

I digress, this section of my trip took up the fulcrum of my photos for the week, as I stuck my phone lens across all four angles across New York from each level of the Tower. The 80th is not as remarkable as the 86th, where you are allowed to go outside and dangle your phone over the edge, in search of a dramatic cityscape that no human can see (due to them fearing hordes of people jumping to their deaths over the edge!)



Despite the bitter, gusting wind, I retained my balance and my phone and just wondered at the sheer grandiose scale of the project. The plaque at the bottom commemorated the ‘best’ plumber, stonesmith, builder etc (how very American!) Yet, their names, amongst the thousands who worked on it (with not one fatality), are there ahead of all the others. All these people probably long dead or over a century young, all in the name of a foolhardy venture of putting a giant block, more gigantic than all the others at the time into the skyline of New York City.

This place is something else and it’s hard as guiding ostriches into a cupboard to put into words. It sounds preposterous, struggling for words, when I’m known to write a fair few of them, what makes this city so special? Something intangible, an energy, not one thing makes a great city, not one person or body or landmark, it’s that feeling that something is always going on.

As someone who loves the windows being open, the buzz from wandering round a platform eighty six stories up and taking in the fresh air is immense. After numerous ganders round, we finally ascend to the 102nd Floor.

Once again, you are encased, somehow you see the yellow matchbox taxis below, the people are just slivers of movement. On one side, the Upper East Side and the Greenery of Central Park stand out, on another the River and the docks, on another just how far it stretches off into Queens and Staten Island and finally, because Toni always has to get class involved, you can see the Manhattan Projects.

You stop off at the 86th and the 80th floors on the way back down, because hey, you can and because how often are you going to be stood in New York with the chance to do this again? It’s an absolutely staggering building. Toni also got filmed/harassed by some weird foreign national Youtube vloggers!

We also got the chance to bump into and pose with King Kong on the way down, fortunately he was feeling in a good mood and not grabbing planes in his fists stood atop the pinnacle on the roof.

I reckon our kid will be the one ashamed by our childishness, given a few years!
There were a good few more hours of wandering around, taking in the Flat Iron Building and the odd bit of shopping before it happened that we were within range of The Sex Museum. It’s a hefty charge but they do put their effort into the exhibits, a special on the NY disco and sexuality, authors who were held in institutions and their sexually provocative art, sex in the animal world, a special on the exhibits they have lying around in their vault (like a Hugh Hefner Playboy Mansion smoking jacket), the early illegal roots of pornography and then the boob Bouncy Castle!

You read that right, for all the information, like sex itself, museums especially adult ones, should be a lot of fun! We only got fifteen minutes of jumping around (although I was slowed as it had a puncture and my head smacked against the hard floor as a result!) Which considerably dampened my enthusiasm.

That aside, it was great!

All the guidebooks recommended walking Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan as the Sun went down on another cold New York day… that isn’t quite what happened!

We got the subway across into Brooklyn in good time (and stumbled across our second anti-Trump demonstration!) Keep up the good fight, America! Guided by the local NYPD no less, we ended up on the Manhattan Bridge, back into Manhattan.

This is considerably less romantic than the aforementioned Brooklyn Bridge, where you walk between the rows of traffic down a pathway just for walkers, here to the right, you have seemingly endless speeding subway trains, separated by just a chain mail fence, to the left a stone ledge then a fast fall into the murky waters below or if you’re before where you get to the water, a huge drop onto concrete and cars. It also feels that you are a number one mugging target, we saw roughly five other people in about half an hour, the lowest concentration of people probably for our entire trip, when we weren’t in our room.

It was here that my fear of heights came bounding into play, the view was extraordinary, I couldn’t deny, when I wasn’t concentrating on how far above the ground I actually was. Oh and the bastard fence ripped my coat too, the one I bought in New York a dozen years ago, bastard.

All this unwanted drama meant that we were running late to meet Chris aka wantedonvoyage, I was a bit worried about him not being there, as the oddities of the mobile phone networks meant that we were unable to text him and instead relying on Facebook (but only Toni’s phone (with depleted batteries) could see his messages, due to Windows Phone removing FB’s messenger app on my phone.

After a bizarre route back to the East Village, which gave us a chance to look through Chinatown’s sights and sounds, we arrived a few minutes late, fortunately Chris, as he is a stellar guy like that, didn’t sniff a no show and hung about.

It’s slightly peculiar, meeting someone for the first time and also having read some of their most personal thoughts on all kinds of things while not knowing some of the more obvious stuff! I’m interested on Chris’ and anyone’s thoughts on this.

At the back of your mind, is always the chance that it is going to be mind-cripplingly awkward, that the online persona edits out something atrocious about them in real life, like a filter off of an Instagram photo.

Not in this case though, it was an upmarket kind of pub-restaurant we met in, as Chris is a bit of a foodie, I did want to not just have the burger, which is part of the reason I went for the clams (which were delicious!) Gargled down with a local brew, as with most of the beers I had in New York, they were tasty too.

The conversation flowed and I did tend to sit back and let Toni also get to know Chris, as she is a lapsed LJ-er and rarely posts, they aren’t friends but thanks to her Researcher days, she is a great conversationalist with new people and the night just flew by.

Before we knew it, we were in another bar, within a hotel but with an amazing balcony view across the city, that we would have never had a chance of being aware about, you can never beat a local’s knowledge!

It was with sadness, that we had to leave early, as Toni was tiring earlier due to pregnancy but if we’re not in New York for a while, we hope that he will be making one of his European jaunts pretty soon. Hotel and then passing out time beckoned…

The bastard cat woke me up at 5.30AM this morning and I couldn't really get back to sleep, gah!

On the plus side, I was able to log on here for the first time in ages and respond to comments. I didn't really feel awake enough to read entries back to December 4th between rubbing my eyes, so I will later hopefully.

Oh and someone kindly posted this online, if you like any of the following three things - Christmas, 1970's punk and songs with swearing in them, you'll love this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlBEQGquobE

THURSDAY 13th JUNE 2013

This year’s Download was a unique one from the start, as we actually embarked on driving ourselves to the Festival campsite, rather than relying on the sold out National Express coaches!

The journey itself saw me, Toni, Jim, Stevo, Lisa, Clare and the inspired late addition of Christian powering down the motorway and the A500 ‘racetrack’ en route to the Donington site (which is an actual racetrack) with grey but rain-free skies and optimism in our hearts that the weather might not be so bad this time…

We navigated our way through the security, which is the quickest of all festivals we’ve been to in getting you from the entrance onto the campsite and headed to the field furthest from the arena entrance but which gave us space for all of us to gather.

Midway through the construction of our tent, a storm erupted, the like of which I have never seen at any festival I have ever been to. It resulted in all of us gathering in our tent and fearing for all the tents left outside.
When it relented, the whole of the site had become thick mud! Ah well! We’d perched ourselves at the top of a large hill, with a toilets and a water tap nearby (but not close enough to cause us flooding or stink issues.)

Hence we could largely stay on the hill with our beer and hope that it will have cleared up a bit by the time the bands started!

Having said that, I had been in touch with fellow LJ-er,27needles about meeting up, so we ventured down. Lisa apparently kicked off about why Toni should trust me with girls on the internet but with both of us in relationships we are happy with, what’s the harm? Guess what? Nothing in that way happened, although Louise is kickass (and wasn’t too terrified by Christian!)

Once we got back to the tent, the usual ‘gay disco’ to piss off the hardcore metallers started, my memory of it all fizzles away to nothing but a bad hangover… good night!

FRIDAY 14th JUNE 2013

Friday, is good, as they considerately let you sleep off the hangover (and give the ground time to repair itself) and bad, as in my opinion, it was the weakest day of the three…

Guided by Jim and Stevo, we opened shit up with Hammer of the Gods (6), which was tuneful metal but clearly about a load of old nonsense. Toni sat there commenting about how many men who had never touched a woman were present!

Architects (5) were similarly unmemorable, as they have been at other junctures when I’ve seen their sets but allowed time to grab some food and ‘hair of the dog’ pints.

With the choice of bands a bit threadbare and the rain coming once more, it was back to the tent to check out Akord (5), whose chirpiness and Scottish-ness attempted to cover for their complete mediocrity.

A wander over to the Jagermeister (or Acoustic) Stage yielded a little gem, in the form of Rob Lynch (9), now, if it’s the same guy who I remember playing a punk all-dayer at the Ashton Witchwood during which he ran around the room screaming while playing, his musical stylings have come a long way but the witty stage banter remained the same.

We trotted back to the Main Stage to catch Papa Roach (7) who were exactly what you would expect, faithful to the original songs, to say the least.

They get extra points though for their unintentionally hilarious promotional work for their autumnal gigs, unashamedly dubbing it ‘a dope bill’, this was endless ridiculed. Thanks Coby DICK!

Next up were Europe (5), who clearly thought that they were among friends, not at a festival, so much so that they didn’t end on ‘Final Countdown’ and played another one of their average 80’s cockrock tunes as a closer. Much to most folks’ bemusement.

After seeing the very start of Korn, which turned Christian into an even bigger sexual terrorist than normal, I encouraged Toni to check out Blood Command (9) on the Third Stage, who played out a blinding set to near enough no-one! Their punk tunes were not lost on me though, up to that point, band of the day.

Now, I presume that we went for a little wander around the Festival village at this point, as none of the bands on the line up I can remember seeing till Gogol Bordello (9) ambled on to the Second Stage gone eight o’clock.

Their set was a ramped up ‘rock’ set and including a euphoric ‘Not A Crime’, an incendiary ‘Immigraniada (We Coming Rougher) and the rousing ‘Start Wearing Purple’, brilliant and bananas as ever.

Which left Slipknot (9) to bring the metal (and the rain) coming crashing down to end proceedings, it didn’t quite reach the heights of the year they headlined Sonisphere in the wake of Paul Grey’s death but they are clearly letting him influence their work, ending the set with an empty uniform of his left on stage after they depart.

It’s heartening to see the width and variety of their work, the electronic influences are not removed from their live shows from their later songs like ‘Pulse of the Maggots’ and the stomping ‘Blister Exists’, they don’t just play the 'famous' singles but seem to know which non-singles will be well received too and the result is a storming live show.

SATURDAY 15th JUNE 2013

With the improving weather and the omnipresent reminders that Iron Maiden were headlining that night; the queue to sample the rare Iron Maiden beer snaked round like a fully grown Anaconda, pretty much from the moment we were on site.

Credit to Maiden, letting their bitter be brewed by small Stockport producer Robinsons’ and the predictable huge demand meant that they have created a number of jobs since the launch in 2013.

Back to Download, and it was time for an opener in fitting with Maiden’s style, UFO (6) were palatable enough but did little to rouse the festival out of its’ slumbers.

Youthful pretenders Young Guns (6) struggled as well, failing to match up to their efforts on their two records to date.

It took a trip away from the Main Stage before checking out a band I had only briefly heard before Earthtone9 (10) were absolutely awesome! Considering that they are only just back together after a decade apart, the fact that they were this good was astounding. Melodic metal belted out without any pretension, I will be investigating their back catalogue further for sure.

The Pepsi Max (Third) Stage kept on firing out the gems as Californian Goblin-metallers (yes, really!) Nekrogoblikon (9) complete with dancing goblin onstage launched into their onslaught. It is hard to take a band that sings about mythical creatures eating your skin fully seriously but the tunes were certainly pumping and for a good forty minutes, the tent erupted with them.

Walking Papers (6) slowed the pace back down again, with their bluesy leanings but given that the band contained members past and present of Pearl Jam, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Screaming Trees, it was far from stellar.

Whatever happened to Lit (8)? They went AWOL just at a time that their sound was taken to absolutely massive heights by folks like Green Day, Blink 182 etc. but now they are back with a huge amount of arm tattoos. It’s a shame they split as their set is entirely likeable (and danceable) and they seemed to be delighted to be there!

Inspired by a couple of songs Ed played me in London, Bury Tomorrow (6) were the next port of call, their songs were loud but the melodic touch that lifts them above their peers seemed to desert them while they were busy calling for circle pits.

Maiden’s extravagantly long set meant that all the schedules were tossed about in a higgledy piggledy fashion, Queens Of The Stone Age and Jimmy Eat World (9) was one clash I could really do without and since Toni thinks Josh Homme is one of the least charismatic men in rock, it was JEW where we went.

Arizona’s finest punk rock export have got the stage of their career where they have earned the right to do what they like, lacing in new tracks like ‘I Will Steal You Back’ with older stuff like ‘Lucky Denver Mint’ and of course lobbing in the hits to finish with ‘Sweetness’ and ‘Bleed American’, glorious!

The aforementioned shilly-shallying meant that we could catch all the three main stages’ headliners, starting with Enter Shikari (10) on the Second Stage. The amount of stuff that they try to cram into their music, it could end up being a huge bloody mess, to some it is but somehow they remain as explosive as ever while conquering the mainstream, all the while being political influenced and wearing pro-NHS t-shirts. It’s an incendiary hour or so of hardcore-dance crossover. This was the set that finished off Maggie Thatcher, probably.

As the plane in the sky proclaimed, it was time for Iron Maiden, or at least time to watch them come on stage, en-route to The Hives (10) who were justifying how great a headliner choice they are for a smaller location.

On a day when the Third Stage was blessed with great performances, the tent is packed out the sides for the Swedes and their merry form of punk, rock and roll.

Singer Howlin’ Pelle Almquist once more has the crowd eating out of his hands and guffawing at their line in self-promotional humour. There’s some planning involved but his ability to react to anything in the crowd with a lightning quip, shows something cleverer is at work.

Then they can launch into astounding stuff like ‘Supply And Demand’, throw ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ casually in mid-set and end on the titanic ‘Tick, Tick, Boom’ leaving nothing but adoration and perspiration in their wake.

SUNDAY 16th JUNE

Into the final day and with nothing really gripping us that much, we forego the opening bands and instead buy merch’, grab food and a first beer of the day, in time to catch Cancer Bats (7), as ever with them, they have plenty of riffs but still seem to be a ‘singles’ band to me, much of their stuff blending into one flavour.

After them come Coal Chamber (8) who get proceedings up and moving, their funky metal gets mosh aplenty going down the front and is a damned impressive show.

If you’d have thought Five Finger Death Punch (9) would be worried, following such a maelstrom, you’d be wrong. Not only did they play some note perfect poppy metal, there was plenty of chatter and shock horror, sense of humour between songs, I’d compare them to Lostprophets’ live show at festivals I’d seen… but bands can do without those type of comparisons at the moment!

Parkway Drive (3)’s nonsense was better best forgotten, to be honest and they were followed up by Stone Sour (6)’s worthy but unspectacular set, which draws one of the biggest crowds of the day to the Main Stage.

However, when you compare it to his other band Slipknot’s set on the Friday, you realise how average it is.
The crowd once again dissipates for The Gaslight Anthem (6), they bring the tunes and the upbeat-ness but don’t fully punch their weight. Chucking in ‘The ’59 Sound’ very early and having a bluesy middle of set lull means that few new fans are converted.

On the recommendation of Stevo, Ghost (4) were next, on paper, they sound brilliant, metal featuring a guy dressed as the dead Pope singing with the backing band of hooded ‘nameless ghouls’ helping spread the deceased Pontiff’s words… They were terrible though!

It was clashes agogo for the rest of the night with A Day To Remember, Limp Bizkit and P.O.D. all going by the wayside, in favour of Thirty Seconds To Mars (4) who are having to deal with Jared Leto possibly believing that he is actually Jesus.

Watching their set, it seems that the band are incapable of finishing a song in under six minutes and have lots of needless pissing about, that frustrates anyone not in love with them. Their set seems to go on forever...

Once again, there’s time to check out more than one headliner in a day, so Sonic Boom Six (10) rounding off the Third Stage have the hardcore present and appear to be returning to form after a few indifferent live showings.
New songs from their eponymous recent album like the stomping ‘Virus’, uplifting ‘Keep On Believing’ and the set closer ‘For The Kids Of The Multiculture’ are just as popular as long serving moshpit inducing ‘Piggy In The Middle’, in short, it’s ace!

Just about time to bound across and catch most of Rammstein (10), they are everything a Main Stage headliner should be; they have huge songs, they can perform live and bring with them a gigantic stage show.

It’s tremendously atmospheric, every instrument sounds like it’s the size of China and best of all, it produces headbanging aplenty and ends with ‘Pussy’ and singer Till Lindeman riding a giant penis squirting foam into the crowd up and down the periphery of the stage. That’s how a rock festival should end!

It didn’t end there though, the last night’s final drinks saw Christian create/inform us of a bizarre sexual encounter with a girl called Snowflake, in the sea with both their parents watching..! The man is a comedy genius!

Thanks to all you guys who took the time to wish me happy birthday, much appreciated :)!

For those that didn't and following rosie_not_rose's* deletion of me on my birthday, I propose this, if you feel you've made a mistake adding me as a friend on here, just send us a message or post a comment on this asking to be deleted, you delete me, I delete you and your comment, clean cut, no recriminations, no petty shite, feel free if you so wish!

Everyone else, post whatever you feel like on this post! Cheers for sticking around :)!

*Not that I'll miss her too much, there's only so much endlessly going on about TV shows I've never seen before it gets a bit tedious!

Typical, I was going to write a post but then I twat my head against the low ceiling of our bedroom and my head feels like it's swimming! Just a quick one then letting you know that I'm alive it is then...

Oh and a quick 'ahoy hoy' to all the newbies added recently, the ones I know in real life alanjdukes and raketje as well as all you lovely randomers - binzy, centrius, drayca, lostaddiction, metalingus, norbert_beaver thewayofthebeam and zombie_poptartz !

Well, it's a trial for 2 weeks!

Those statistics they can produce are pretty frightening. Oh and what does someone requesting an RSS feed of this blog mean?!

Apart from that it's pretty similar to me..!