Saturday 22 May 2010

Summer has arrived, for the time being at least: it’s genuinely hot and after a visit to the farmers market and cutting the grass I feel that I’ve done quite enough for the day.

Last night I met Sushil and Alison at the Banana Leaf for giant dosas, idlys, a spectacular vada curry, a few other things from the menu that we couldn’t resist, all washed down with Coke (which I never drink and which left all of us a bit wired), and then Sushil drove us to Edinburgh to join the healthy crowd of people of exceptional taste who’d gathered to hear Fred Frith and his guitar. Alfonso joined us, Robert McFall and Su-a Lee were there, even Noel O’Regan sneaked in before the end. There were a few other Edinburgh University staff kicking around, including Simon Frith of course: I don’t think either of them qualify as ‘brother of the more famous …’, although when were nattering outside in the interval I’m sure Fred transformed into a ‘wee brother’.

I discovered a new genre of band watching The Geordie Approach play: if you remember the shoegazing bands who were around when Sushil and cohorts were in their baggy phase, then I reckon the new thing in the improvised music world is going to be ‘pedalgaze’, as by about 5 minutes into their set all three guys were just staring at their effects pedals with a look of intense concentration. It was a beautiful summer’s evening so Sushil and I joined Alison and Alfonso outside for some light relief, and then Fred joined us too and we stood around making each other laugh in the summer air while I tried to resist asking him too many fanboy questions.Sushil was tempted to reach for his camping stove, but we decided that his cold needed the benefit of some sleep and we headed west along the M8: the stove came out at Harthill for roadside chai instead. Katherine would have been 40 yesterday. I think she’d have enjoyed the evening’s entertainment.