Daniel Lanois at Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Got up this morning and had to get over to Shepherd’s Bush to find the Empire theater for tonight’s concert, Daniel Lanois [LINK]. I didn’t even have a street name so when I got off the Tube I asked a guy at McDonald’s and he pointed across the park at these two tall buildings. He said it was on the other side of the buildings. Ok, easy enough. One hour later I’m still walking around Shepherd’s Bush and finally ask someone else. Where’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire? Oh, it’s on this street a few blocks down, just keep going. Oh, ok. I finally get there and I realize that across the park I can see the McDonald’s where the first guy gave me horribly misguided directions. At least I knew where I was going now. Better to be lost here in the daylight than later tonight.
Hopped a train back to Kensington and went to the Serpentine Gallery to see the John Currin exhibit. Here’s a little info [LINK]. It was great and I walked through Hyde Park to the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. Then took the train back to Piccadilly and grabbed dinner. After a little shopping and some rest I hopped back over to the Shepherd’s Bush area a little early in case there was a line. Not to bad, and for about 45 minutes the lined up crowd was entertained by the two local homeless guys who preceded to berate everybody who walked by. Seriously, the drunkest people I’ve ever seen. It was all non-threatening until they started in with the line and I was the subject of attention for about 10 minutes. Finally the police came and took care of the situation as it was starting to escalate and get unruly.
Finally the concert started and Daniel Lanois came out and put in an awesome set. Since I got there early, I was able to watch the show from the front of the stage. I placed myself right by his steel guitar so I could watch him play it close up. It worked out perfectly especially for the encore when Bono came out and joined him onstage for a drunken version of “Falling At Your Feet”. Bono was so out of it he couldn’t even sing the song even when given the lyrics written out on a sheet a paper. After the song was over Daniel said, “That kids got a future”. Then Bono left the stage and Daniel said, “He’s gonna kill me later”. Well, after that drunken display I would have too. I didn’t bring my camera tonight but some guy up in the balcony did [LINK]. You can even see my head in one of the shots. Me below the red star, Bono below the white star. Great to see the show after having met him back in May [LINK].
Said my goodbyes to Ireland this morning and onto London. I’m really starting to hate London more each time I go. Between Heathrow airport and the flu and virus toxic zone known as the Underground, I can think of many other places I’d rather be. I am here for concerts though, so that’s good. After taking the Piccadilly line into Piccadilly Circus, easy, I tried checking into the hotel. The line for doing this wound through the lobby and out the front door. All around the lobby were notes posted apologizing for the recent evacuation because of the fire alarm. Great. After about 45 minutes I got my key to my crappy room. The bathrooms and showers are down the hall and you have to call them when you want to take a shower. All this for the wonderful price of $100 a night. I was pretty beat so I thought I’d try to take a little nap. About 20 minutes into laying down and just about to fade off, the mother f’in #%#&$ #&*% fire alarm goes off! See for yourself. [








That’s me, Joe Jetsetter. How could I resist a Shag post to say I’m outta here. “Haunted Mansion” [







The last Cinespia [
Had to get up at 6:00am this morning to catch my flight back to L.A. I’ll never fly in and out of San Jose ever again. San Francisco airport, although much bigger, is able to handle its capacity. The fashion police have yet to arrive in the Valley to strip everyone of their Bill Gates look. The button down shirts, khaki pants and tennis shoes or Dockers are still the style of choice. It looks as dated as a “Members Only” jacket now. Finally got on the plane and grabbed a window seat so I could sleep a little. A guy who was on his phone out in the terminal thought he wasn’t going to get on the flight. He got on and grabbed the middle seat in my row. He proceded to invade my space for the next hour as he constantly wanted to look out the window. Next time buddy, get to airport earlier so you too can have a window seat. I tried to discourage him by leaning really far forward while looking out the window and blocking most of the view. This only seemed to encourage him as I could feel him lean against me to struggle to get a view. I turned and looked at him and damned if he was five inches from my face. Get the hell off of me! How rude. The backup non-confrontational plan of leaning away from him and sleeping worked much better. As we were flying over Ventura he looked at me and said, “Very sick crowds”. I stared blankly for a second. Did he just say “very sick crowds”? He could tell I had no idea what he was talking about. So he repeated slower this time like it was going to help. “V e r y s i c k c r o w d s”. I looked at him and repeated very slowly, “very sick crowds” with a puzzled looked. He pointed out the window and said again “very sick crowds”. Oooooohhhhhh.. “Very THICK CLOUDS!” Yeah, no shit, you’ve been crawling over me to look at them the whole trip. The ever so subtle language of Engrish. [






















