As I was listening to BBC 4 this morning, I heard a very disturbing segment. Broadcasting House is a show airing every Sunday morning, with its combination of witty yet very poignant reporting it takes a look back at the events of last week. During the review of the Sunday papers the commentators however pointed out that not a single British newspaper decided that it was important enough to put pictures or an article about the recent tragedy caused by the earthquake that left much of Pakistan devastated on their front page. An earthquake so powerful that the death toll in the affected regions of India and Kashmir will have an estimated of at least 18’000 people. Rather they decided to put a picture up of David Beckham who has lead the English national football team to victory and a spot in next years world cup.
I’m asking myself how is it that minor events (let alone sports events) taking place in Europe or the United States take precedence over such a tragedy like the earthquake in central Asia. Has a nation that is so obsessed with sports and the idea of ‘celebrity’ become completely numb to the real issues that take place beyond the borders of this country and continent?
Throughout this year, forces of nature, rebel groups in Africa, uprising insurgents in Irak, floods and droughts throughout Europe and the US, and others may have taken a toll on the compassion that we are able to show. And any sort of uplifting moment is treasured and celebrated but in this case just like others too, when for example the latest scandals from the Big Brother House dominated the front-page headlines, I seriously think that the time has come to take a look at what is truly important in this world.

Off to meet the Aussies

So I figured after my recent success on Sunday with the Belle & Sebastian concert, I should try my luck once again. Ben Lee was in town and I decided to make my way to the Club 100 down on Oxford Street. This time, I was unfortunately not able to get into the concert for free, but i figured that having to pay £10 for a ticket rather than £15 original price are still some decent savings.

The concert was awesome. The club, which I have been to before, is this hole in basement of an office building and they have a really good gigs on every now and then. And so today I had the pleasure of listening to Ben Lee. I don't want to go too much into detail about the concert but will say that it was pretty darn good.

I did make a different observation though. It's strange how the Australian community in London comes out to certain venues and events to support their fellow Australians. And so I found myself in the middle of all this people from down-under. The entire room was filled by the accent and everybody was like 'ey mate'.

So I can look back onto this night were I got double entertained. Once by Ben Lee and then by the audience. Let's see where my next concert adventure will take me.

Wonderful things sometimes happen when you least expect them.

So, I knew that Belle & Sebastian were coming to London. But of course the concert has been sold out pretty much from the minute the tickets went on sale.

I tried until the very last minute to get my hand on some of those precious pieces of paper without any luck. Nevertheless I decided to give it a try and go to the Barbican Centre in the hope to maybe get some tickets at the door.

Even that turned out to be impossible. The only tickets that were offered would have cost me some £70. As most inhabitants of London, I could think of better things to do with that money than go watch a one-hour concert. I then decided to join a cue of some people who were in the same position as I was.

As the band started to play their first songs, some people had given up their hope already and decided to leave. But then wouldn't you know it this guy came up to us and asked us if we would be interested in press tickets they had held for some journalists. But since they decided not to show up, the thought it would only be fair to give them away rather than have them go to waste. (These are the moments when I the social thinking of us Europeans is a wonderful thing)

And so I found myself in the position of getting a ticket for free and got to enjoy the concert almost in full length. What a wonderful evening it was.

I will try my luck again tomorrow.

I was surprised, I was happy for a day in 1975
(belle & sebastian, the state that i'm in)

Last week I returned to London after having spent a few days outside of Munich at the Tegernsee. After my two weeks vacations I felt the need to take advantage of 3 days off take some more downtown.

After arriving at London City Airport and taking the bus to Liverpool Street Station I disembark the bus and walked into the main building. What I saw fascinated me that I had to take this picture. It almost felt like these masses of people were worshipping some sort of new god, but all it was, was the train time table. I couldn't help but feel sad for the people (and I might be one of them in one way too), who at the end of the day are so burned out that they are almost hypnotized and all have this empty look in their faces.

At the same time, I felt compelled to take this experience as a inspiration for a project, which I will hopefully realize at some point and share with the visitors to this site.