The Magical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away...

I would have posted two nights ago, but I haven't our wi-fi went out yet again.  I have a lot of events to cover in a short time -- I still have to make arrangements for my departure to Italy in the morning -- so I'll make this post less about text and more about images.  

Thursday, 3 May 

The Museum of Popular music -- If you've ever been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, you pretty much have been here.  Only differences are that this one is smaller, but has a Gibson-sponsored "jam room" where you can play -- or learn to play -- real guitars, drums, and keyboards.  Enjoyable, but didn't have enough content for it to be "great".  

Friday, 4 May 

This was an interesting day.  We took an early train from London to Liverpool, home of the Beatles.  We took a bus on the aptly named "Magical Mystery Tour", in which we were whisked around Liverpool to see famous Beatles-related landmarks. Loads of fun, except for Greg getting motion sickness and throwing up immediately upon exiting the bus.  

After the tour, a small group of us were supposed to take a train to Edinburgh, Scotland.  Unfortunately fate had a different plan, and a slew of complications arose to stop us.  The day was still fantastic, however, as we were able to explore the cemetery of the world's second-largest cathedral.  

The wall of the Cavern Club.

The walls of the path are lined with graves.  

Monday, 7 May

Toured the GORGEOUS Westminister Abbey.  If you're ever in London, this counts as a must-see.  I attended a brief prayer service here as well; definitely something worth experiencing.  In the afternoon we briefly sat in on a Bhangla version of The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe. 

Street performers blowing huge bubbles and playing guitar.  

Wednesday, 9 May 

Another successful Wandering Wednesday!  I set off around noon to Highgate Cemetery, the final resting place of Karl Marx (Founder of Communism for those who aren't familiar with political theory).  The cemetery and Marx's tomb were a sight to behold.  Set deep in the woods, Highgate was overrun with graves of people from all eras and walks of life.  I even had a run-in with an adorable cat named Cleo.  A tiny black-and-white furball, he was friendly enough to crawl up in my lap as I called the number on his collar.  The owner said she lived across the street, and that Cleo loved wandering in the cemetery for some reason.  My guess is that he was there to see Marx as well -- carry on, Comrade Cleo, the Communist Cat.

Okay, sorry for the unnecessary aliteration.  

Anyway, last night marks the highlight of my trip so far:  a West End showing of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  I can't imagine a way that the musical could have been better cast or performed.   

At a small park before Highgate Cemetery. 

The entryway to Highgate.  

Mr. Marx's tomb.

Comrade Cleo, the Communist Cat!

Just before Sweeney Todd.  

Today (Thursday, 10 May)

Saw the one-man play, "Misterman", featuring Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Inception, Batman Begins). A very strange, sad, and emotional play about one man's religious fervor and inevitable mental collapse.  I enjoyed it immensely, although it was hard to follow at points.  

Since the play I've been relaxing and preparing to go to Italy in the morning.  Some friends and I will be staying in Pisa, and visiting Florence.  I'm definitely looking forward to the Mediterranean coastline.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures! 

Stay safe, everyone.  

A weekend in (relative) solitude.

Last weekend was the lengthy period in which the group was split up.  Most of the gang had left for Paris by Friday morning.  This left six of us in London to enjoy a little bit of quiet.  The only planned event for the weekend was a concert:  The BBC Symphonic Orchestra, performing the works of Arvo Pärt.  One of the most experimental and renowned composers of the 20th century, Pärt is probably best known for the minimalist piece Tabula Rasa.  

I knew I would enjoy the concert going into it, but I didn't realize just how much I would end up enjoying it. The highlight of the show was definitely a piece incorporating an 88-person chorus, performing in a style clearly influenced by earlier religious works.  I can easily say that the event has been my favorite thus far.  The energy, skill, and emotion from the orchestra was actually inspiring.  I was so affected, that when I made it back home, I wrote and recorded some music on the guitar.

The only other major event of the week happened today, when we took a trip to the BBC Television Centre.  As a journalism major, I'd been looking forward to this for a while.  The guided tour was adequately informative, and took us through the major studios and newsroom area of the complex.  Although the newsroom portion was the most interesting for me, the end of the tour was the most fun, in which members of the tour were invited to participate in a fake news/game show.

Sorry this post is so short, but I have homework!  Pictures will come later.  

Bombs are exciting, right? -- Part 2

As promised, the second part of my super exciting blog post chronicling the last week.

Last Tuesday I attended my second opera(s) ever.  In my Junior year of high school I saw Turandot and left with mixed feelings.  On the 24th, however, I once again had my views of the art form rearranged by two contemporary pieces.  The event was called Opera Shots, and although there was a bar at the theatre, I played the part of teetotaler for the evening.  The "Shots" portion of the event's title referred to the length of each opera -- short, tidy, and efficient.

The first piece was as unorthodox as they come.  Rather than booming vibrato and sweeping landscapes of strings, we were faced with a combination of modern dance and harsh dissonance.  The set revolved around a three-sided "room".  Projectors were used to change the lighting and details on each wall, creating ghostly apparitions and spreading darkness as the music shifted moods.  Definitely a cool show, but the interpretive dancing ended up being nothing more than a distraction to me.

The second piece was a far more traditional piece, centered upon a military officer on his first tour with an entrenched regiment.  He arrives in the wartorn village, initially delighted by the merrymaking he sees around him, but as he heads to the nearby front, he realizes that conditions are far worse than he could have ever imagined.  The sets were expansive and used visceral details such as blood and burnt books in order to immerse the audience in the opera.  Although I thought I'd be more engaged with the modern piece, the second was really my favorite.

Much to the dismay of much of our group, our first event on Wednesday the 25th required us all to get up early.   The reason?  To see Emanuel Ax teach a piano master class at 10am.  For those who don't know, a master class is a musical learning session in which one or more students -- two in our case -- play a piece in front of a "master" musician, and then have their playing picked apart by the master in order to point out specific areas that may need improvement.  Watching the two students play for forty minutes collectively was really enjoyable, but sitting through the other hour and twenty minutes of criticism (however polite) was yawn-inducing.

Later that evening we had the privilege to see the Afro-Cuban All Stars, an eclectic Cuban jazz band that had us all up on our feet and dancing for the last half of their set.  I loved every minute of it, but the English aren't the best dancers.

Funky Cuban beats.  

The final major planned event of the week was "Big and Small", an adaptation of the German play Gröss und Klein.  Starring Cate Blanchett (Lord of The Rings trilogy, Robin Hood, Life Aquatic), the play unfolded like a contemporary Alice in Wonderland, complete with rooms that changed sizes, clever wordplay, and completely ridiculous characters (although after the play's conclusion, they don't seem so absurd after all).  Even though parts of it were so surreal that the story seemed to dissolve, the acting was mesmerizing and I'd recommend it to anyone else lucky enough to be in London.

There was, of course, one more unplanned event which occurred yesterday:  an incident involving one angry office worker, several hostages, and a homemade gasoline bomb.  This happened just a few blocks from the apartment, so it was pretty exciting at the time.  Luckily, I don't believe anyone was hurt, and the situation was resolved last night.

Click here for more info on the bomb threat.

Well, that's that for this post.  We're going to see some classical music in a couple hours, so I'll try to post more whenever I can.

By the way: My parents brought to my attention the fact that comments were previously disabled to anyone who didn't have a google account.  I've corrected the issue and now the comment section is open to everybody.  Fire away!

Bombs are exciting, right? -- Part 1

What a week it has been.

Since my last post on the 19th, a number of tale-worthy events have unfolded.  I'll try to talk about all of them to whatever degree of detail that they warrant, but don't blame me if I forget something and end up posting about it later.

On the evening of the 19th we attended a ballet called "Artifact" by the Royal Ballet of Flanders.  I had seen a ballet once, several years ago, and was not fond of it.  After attending this ballet, however, my view of the genre's capabilities has been drastically altered.  Combining the haunting dissonant/melodic  duality of Bach with apocalyptic undertones, Artifact was a great time for everyone.  I wish I could have taken pictures or video, because there's no way to describe the surrealistic journey that this contemporary ballet presented.

The 20th was an uneventful day.  A few friends and I decided to take advantage of the fair weather by heading to Hyde Park and renting a row boat.  Unfortunately the sunshine didn't last long, and we found ourselves on open   sea  lake with the menace of a thunderhead barreling towards.  Needless to say, we made it out alive and unscathed.  April 20th also happens to be international marijuana advocacy day, and on our way out of the park we ran into 2000 people enjoying themselves very much.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but gosh, there sure was a weird smell in the air over that portion of Hyde Park.

Sometimes you just have to climb a tree.

The dark sky provided a cool contrast to the color of this tree's leaves.

Tom, Nick, and Nader near the boat rentals.

Oh, what's up Luke? 

Hyde Park is usually pretty.  

Monday the 23rd was supposed to be another lazy day, peppered with a few museums as usual.  Instead, I went out on a limb and purchased tickets to see Jack White at his album release show -- with only 3 hours until the doors opened!  The choice turned out to be well-made, because the concert was definitely one of the best rock shows I've seen.  Held at the HMV Forum, the event was quite intimate; there were only around 2,000 people in attendance, and my friends and I managed to get to the front of the stage.  The crowd made up for their numbers with pure passion, and the tiny venue erupted with the intensity of packed stadium before, after, and during every song.  Mr. White returned the gesture with a level of genuine emotional investment that I've never before witnessed at a rock show.  After playing a set of solo material, as well as a lot of songs by his other bands The White Stripes, The Dead Weather, and The Raconteurs, White closed with the Leadbelly standard, "Goodnight Irene."  I was somewhere between shocked and humbled when White's eyes welled up after the last chord.  "You've always been good to me,"  he said in departure, blinking rapidly as a few tears found their way out.

Anytime, Jack.




(I have to go fold laundry and grab a bite, so I'll do the rest of this post either later tonight or first thing in the morning.  Scout's honor!)

Crypt galleries and Italian barbers.

The last few days have been full of new experiences.  Monday evening was dominated by the two-hour performance of Madreaus, a Portuguese folk band.  Comprised of a guitarist, two violinists, a cellist, keyboardist, and a vocalist, their songs were haunting and beautiful, and though I couldn't understand the language there was definitely a conveyance of love lost at sea.  Still, the melodies and chord progressions were overwhelming similar from song to song, and although I can acknowledge the talent present in each member of the band, by the intermission I was ready for a nap.  The ethereal, subdued textures of the music make it more of something that I would have playing while I write, as opposed to something I see again in concert.

Nothing was officially on the schedule for Tuesday, at least nothing that we had been told about.  Towards the end of my Writing in The Arts course, Rachel (our resident professor/flatmate) told us she was taking us somewhere.  Following her for a while, we came upon St. Pancras's church, a massive stone building.  Rachel led us around to the side of the building, where deep in the maw of an open mausoleum was a short set of stairs.  She told us that we had arrived at our destination, and began to head down into the dimly-lit chamber.  More than a little confused, the rest of us followed, only to find that we actually were heading into a crypt -- except it was temporarily being used as an art gallery!

(Click here to see some of what I saw)

Although the handful of visitors walking through its arched passages gave the crypt a slightly more "living" energy, the macabre works of art seemed to actually be haunting the place, bringing the creepiness level back to the baseline of "Wow, I'm Surrounded By Dead People." The concept was very effective in its delivery (and just plain cool), but still unsettling enough for me to relish the sunshine and fresh air once we left the exhibition.

As per usual, yesterday was my Wandering Wednesday, so I wandered on down to Greenwich.  Home of the Greenwich Observatory, and the birthplace of measured time as we know it, I was able to stand on the line that "officially" separates the east from the west.

Weird.

Besides that, I was able to visit some neat little markets, AND a genuine meat pie and eel shop.  Seriously, the only thing on the menu were variations of meat pies, eels, and mashed potatoes.  For the value and taste, I'd give it two thumbs up.  Later on I visited the National Maritime Museum (cool ships, poor execution), and Greenwich Park, which would have been much nicer had it not been midway through preparations for the 2012 Summer Olympics Equestrian events.

Today has been a quiet day of class thus far.  We're seeing some modern ballet this evening, and though it's not my forte, I'm doing my best to attend it with an open mind.  One interesting experience from today, however, was my visit to an Italian barber.  The entire event was quick and pleasant.  Never ceasing with "yes sir," and, "of course, sir," the man somehow knew exactly how I wanted my hair, in spite of my awful ability to communicate with barbers.  At the end, he offered my a warm scented towel to clean my face, trimmed the edges of my hair with a straight razor -- I immediately wondered if I was the next victim of a modern Sweeney Todd -- and applied some perfumed oil to my scalp.  He even took my coat and helped me into it!  Such service. . . I don't think I'll be able to get my hair cut in the States again.

Everything comes together

It's been eight days since my last post, and once again I apologize for my tardiness.  I know my family pretty much relies on this blog to keep tabs on me, but my excuse for this week is actually somewhat legitimate:  Wireless access in the dorms was mysteriously unavailable for a few days, and after that I was spending the weekend in a hotel where the wireless cost £5 for an hour of use.  However, here I am, and I'll do my best to recount the week's events.

The first major event of the week was our attendance of a concert featuring Chick Corea and Gary Burton.  If you'e unfamiliar with these jazz legends, familiarize yourself with them immediately.  I was never really a jazz guy before seeing this concert;  I enjoyed jazz from the standpoint of a musician who understood the difficulty of composing and performing that sort of music, but would never go out of my way to listen to it.  This show flipped a switch somewhere in my musical soul, and I doubt that it'll be turned off anytime soon.  

Corea, for those who don't know, is a master pianist whose name appears on countless jazz records.  Burton is Corea's equivalent on the vibraphone, and both have recorded two albums of duets together.  I must admit that I was initially skeptical about the set up:  Nothing but a pianist and a vibe player (though an alto sax did show up for the last few songs).  Popular music of all sorts tends to be based on a strong presence of percussion and beat.  The jazz being played that evening had nothing of the sort.  The beat was an organic entity; constantly evolving, yet still following a vein-like pulse despite the polyrhythms at work.   In spite of the music's relative foreigness, I still enjoyed it, and have developed a newfound interest in jazz.  

The other big happening of last week was our trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and the subsequent performance of The Comedy of Errors by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Stratford was the perfect counter to the hustle and bustle of London.  Although it was definitely a well-populated area, the atmosphere was so much more relaxed than that of London.  Nestled in the English countryside on the banks of the River Avon,  Stratford proved to be a nice escape from the city.

Stratford-Upon-Avon's claim to fame is its status as the birthplace (and deathplace) of William Shakespeare.  The town is small enough to walk across, but packed densely enough with stores and eateries that there's little danger of a visitor running out of things to do.  Additionally, the scenery on the outskirts of town is breathtaking,  and well worth the visit in itself.  

The Bard is buried here.

A key attraction of the town is, of course, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where we were lucky enough to have tickets to a modern envisioning of The Comedy of Errors.  Another of Shakespeare's "twin plays", this version featured soldiers geared up with flak vests and assault rifles, and wealthy men dressed in street-smart suits.  Although the play was entertaining, I wouldn't rank it in the same tier as She Stoops to Conquer, or A Clockwork Orange.  Frankly, the modernized elements of this performance only served to convolute its theme, leading me to lose interest at several points.  Even so, the visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon was fantastic, and I'd love to go back.  Next time, however, I'd like to avoid taking a two-hour train ride home at midnight...

The inside of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. That's a fish tank in the centre of the stage.  I will now forever correlate aquariums with water torture. 

Over the weekend I spent my time with the ever-lovely Alexandra Charavell.  I showed her a few museums, took her to a couple pubs, wined and dined her with a meal we cooked together, and introduced her to our happy group.  We also took a trip back to Regent's Park, where we toured the gardens, fed a friendly squirrel, and found our way to Abbey Road -- and Abbey Road Studios -- in the perfectly British rain.  Escorting her to the station this morning for her departure was bittersweet; although I wish she could have stayed longer, I know she's enjoying her time in France.  

In between all of this excitement has been a steady flow of classwork, socialization, and exploration.  I've managed to set off on my own several times in the last week, and each time I'm able to discover some new nook of London.  I visited the Tate Modern art museum on a few occasions now, and my only complaint is that too little of it is free.  I've also made a short visit to the Somerset House, a mansion-esque gallery, and a couple trips to the famous British Museum.  Tonight I'll be attending the performance of a Portuguese folk band.  I'm not sure if it'll be up my alley, but I'm willing to try anything once -- except for cocaine, heroin, meth, escargot, haggis, and those absurd drop-towers at theme parks.  

I'll post more about tonight's performance later, but until then, enjoy a bunch of pictures!

Inside the chapel housing Shakespeare's remains.  

The River Avon.

A Stratford neighborhood.

Graves outside of the chapel.

The Tower of London from a couple weeks ago.

Inside the Tower walls.

A decorative arch outside of the Tower's walls.

More of the Tower.

This was inside the Tower for some reason.

A cannon inside the Tower walls.

Some of the gang hanging out. 

 From left to right: Corey, Sara, Luke, Nader, Rachel, Regina, Hannah

Greg, looking very relaxed.  

Out at our favorite pub, The Rising Sun! 

L-R:  Keith, Greg (hands visible) Nader, Luke, Rachel, Christian, Regina, Hannah, Sara, Terrance.

Regent's Park, I believe. 

Gates outside of Queen Mary's Gardens. 

Walkway in the Gardens.

Queen Mary's Gardens.

I thought of Grandma Pestian when I saw these ducks at QMG.  

...And these ones.

More of QMG.

I wish I had this in my backyard.

QMG.

QMG.

QMG.

This would also look great in my backyard...

QMG.

A house/church? behind Regent's Park.

Hyde Park was much less pretty than Regent's Park.  Mostly just creepy-looking trees. 

At Hyde Park.  If I recall correctly, this is the monument to Princess Diana.

At the edge of the monument, bordering the Serpentine.

I pretended like I had food, and he fell for it.  Eventually he found a nut, though.  

The fantastic set of She Stoops to Conquer.

The Somerset House.

The interior courtyard of the Somerset House was full of these weird fake flowers.  

The London skyline from Waterloo Bridge.  

HMS Belfast, the largest cruiser of WWII.  

The Tower of London from across the Thames.  

Tower Bridge. 

Greg looks tired on the train to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Keith just looks perpetually concerned.  In his defense, he probably should be (ha-ha).

Arriving at Stratford.  

Yep, we went to the right one.

I'm just a faster walker than they are.

Here's where The Bard was born.  

Ducks in Stratford.  These are also for you, Grandma.