While the teen's away ...

As my teen's been away for the past few days in Rome, I thought it only fair that I too had a bit of a special weekend. So, in between the boring adult stuff like grocery shopping and a trip to Ikea, I went out to a couple of slightly more fun things ...

James Veck-Gilodi (Deaf Havana)

First up was an afternoon appearance by Deaf Havana at Nottingham Rough Trade to promote their new album, All These Countless Nights. Now, they've long been a favourite band of the teen's and she's seen them live several times, but I hadn't.

The audience space wasn't very big, and was absolutely jam-packed, making it difficult to see the band but, after so many years of listening to Deaf Havana cds and vinyls, it was great to hear them live at last.

Kevin Devine

Monday night (this was a long weekend after all) was time to head to Bodega, where US acts Kevin Devine and Laura Stevenson were playing, supported on the UK stage of their tour by The Lion and The Wolf, and, in Nottingham, by local singer/songwriter George Gadd. It was actually the opportunity to sneak out on my own (without the teen) and see George Gadd that drew me along, but I seem fated to always miss him - previously events have clashed and this weekend confusion over timings plus traffic problems on the way meant we arrived for just his last song. Strange to say, of the other acts, I enjoyed The Lion and the Wolf (actually one guy, named Thomas George) most, maybe because I've heard his music on line, and was certainly surprised that after three quiet-ish, acoustic acts Kevin Devine proved to have a noisier rock sound. All great fun though (and maybe one of these days I'll get to see George Gadd)



Walking back to the car it wasn't possible to miss the Big Wheel in the Market Square, but that was something I wasn't going to try - I'd rather take photographs from safe on the ground.