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Tag Archives: daniel romano

The Last Day Of May

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Neil Clasper in Diversions

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daniel romano, Fuji X100T, stone roses

Back from Oxford via a short tour of Jericho and a Lebanese lunch, only to discover midway back on the Jubilee line that I’d left my bag (with camera) on the train. We are now at the mercy of the kindness of strangers and the efficiency of First Great Western’s lost property organisation. I try to be stoical about these things – they’re only possessions, in the end we’re all dead, etc – but it’s a Fuji X100t and they’ve not even been replaced by an upgraded model yet. I’ve had two cameras stolen before, so I’m not particularly sentimental about them as possessions, but previously the annoyance of losing them has been tempered slightly by the thought of newer, better replacements. Fingers crossed that FGW has the bag and manages to connect it with my lost luggage claim.

Otherwise, a dull, damp afternoon spent playing the records I bought over the weekend while logging the loss of my bag through various systems – pleased to find Daniel Romano’s ‘secret’ new album (by his side-project(?)/alter-ego(?) Ancient Shapes) tucked away in the sleeve of Mosey (which, incidentally, is split over two 45RPM 12″s. In mono…).

Failing to swim

I should have gone to the lido for the first day of the nominal summer swimming season but a combination of bad mood from losing my bag and the weather put me off; finding out what they’ve done to upgrade the cafe will have to wait (I can’t say that I’m optimistic – this is the lido cafe that doesn’t have a view of the pool from inside the cafe: a work of particular genius on behalf of the architect. But maybe they’ll have shrugged the functional provincial leisure centre cafe of the early 90’s vibes and come up with something a bit more welcoming).

Other things

I enjoyed these photos from the 1960’s of workers in a Suffolk village going to the pub after work on the Guardian.

I didn’t enjoy the new Stone Roses single, which I’d somehow managed to avoid since it was released. My hopes weren’t high, but really…What were they thinking? We shouldn’t expect people to keep making the same music they made briefly decades before, but it’s hard to imagine that they’re really satisfied with what they’ve put out; none of the lightness of touch or melody that they had once in evidence, and none of the style left in the guitar playing. Quite a sad way to end up. But maybe they’re having the time of their lives?

Daniel Romano – Mosey

The Last Bank Holiday Monday of May

31 Tuesday May 2016

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daniel romano, oxford

To Oxford on Bank Holiday Monday to see a friend and a gig. London was grey and seemed pretty quiet on my way to Paddington, operating at Bank Holiday public transport pace. I missed the 11.10 train having forgotten, like an amateur, that the Bakerloo line isn’t stopping at Paddington at the moment; funny how even an escalator replacement project in tyr opposite corner of town can make south-east London feel more cut off from the west of the country. 

Oxford seemed quiet too, not packed with tourists as I expected. I was there to help out a friend who was promoting a gig by Daniel Romano, a Canadian singer-songwriter who changes a significant chunk of his concept and aesthetic from album to album: a cause of delight and confusion amongst his fans, we learnt later.

With time to kill we walked up the wonderful Cowley Rd taking in Truck Records (where I bought the latestWoods album, which I’d been listening to on SoundCloud for a while), past a ‘speed queen equipped’ laundrette, and had a pint while watching simultaneously two great (well, maybe…) sporting occasions: England finally closing out a match against Sri Lanka that should have been won much sooner, and Wimbledon beating Plymouth in the League Two play-off final.

Back to the venue to sort out the band’s rider and various other admin, off to get changed, back to the venue, then the doors opened and I found myself working the door, which I enjoyed far more than I expected. I would definitely put my hand up and volunteer for that task again. The gig went well, with more people through the door than expected and the band and crowd seemed happy (we’d heard that some of the crowd had walked out of a previous night’s show – expecting, presumably, Romano’s Stetson-wearing, handlebar-mustached, pedal steel-accompanied persona). Vive la DIY!

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