[Wednesday 8th October]
Well my mood had managed to recover somewhat since yesterday's financial catastrophe, and after an initially slightly bitter outburst when I first arrived at the office I was more or less able to just put the whole thing to one side and get on with my job. I felt quite proud of myself for this - the money I had (potentially) lost yesterday was fundamentally the reward for all my hard work in this job, and definitely the previous day I had been filled with lots of "what is the point?" type of thoughts. It had been hard to muster the motivation to work having just lost such a big chunk of the pay I'd been given for doing that previously.
Today though, I very much got back on my horse.
In the evening we had booked to go to Ronnie Scott's to see my favourite living Jazz pianist / singer - Liane Carroll. We had decided to make it a double date, and invite along a friend of Chie's from work - Ruriko-san, and her husband Yusuke-san - as apparently they were both into jazz too.
It was actually a double bill as well as a double date - in addition to Liane another act was playing this evening - the Babatunde Lea Quartet. I think they were New York based, but had a slightly African flavour to their music.
Liane was of course fantastic as ever, to my delight she played the Tom Waits song Picture in a Frame, which is on one of her albums, and a particular favourite of mine. She sang absolutely angelically - particularly in one song where a fantastic vocal solo was iterrupted by someone's mobile going off - at which point she abruptly stopped and shouted "OH FUCK OFF!" in the charmingly down-to-earth Hastings accent she has when not singing. It was bloody hilarious, and in an odd kind of way only goes to make her singing all the more beautiful. I suppose it is a contrast thing - the idea of someone who can sing and play on a level that most human beings could never hope to achieve, but also having a bit of a potty mouth, is really very endearing to me.
There's a YouTube clip of Picture in a Frame here:
In the gaps between the sets my mind definitely did wander back to yesterday's financial horror, but when Liane and her band were in full swing I managed for a few minutes at least to forget all about it.
Comment 1
That mobile interruption moment sounds like a real hoot, John - it is great when thoughtless people get their come-uppance in front of an audience! The mobile phone owner must have wished the ground could have opened up...!
Posted by Bryan at 2008/10/12 11:39:38.
Comment 2
In an odd kind of way, to me at least, it ended up seeming all part of the performance - I almost wondered if it was deliberate. Liane has a great sense of humour (she tends to crack off a couple of jokes between each song) and she absolutely took it in her stride.
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