an intimate post ofF Under Constant pressure to Komply OFF

[Eric Siegerman]

On Fri, Jun 01, 2001 at 11:49:30AM +0100, Samantha Kirwan wrote:
> This is a really sad story.  It was my 30th birthday on 29th December 2000.
> Ring any bells  - yep, Astoria, Charing Cross Road - should have been the
> best day of my life.  I've been going to see Hawkwind as often as poss. for
> 15years now and just my luck that this would be my sh1t gig.  We were let
> down with the happy beans - I felt rough so couldn't even have a drink and
> then we got one of the worst places in the place to sit (yes it was that bad
> I was actually sitting at a Hawkwind gig).  I was soooooooo sad the next day
> - everyone else seemed to have had a great time and I'd had a really pants
> time - gutted.   It was probably partially my own fault - I'd really built
> myself up for it and was convinced it would be as good as Brixton the
> previous month.  Oh well - Hawkwind were not at fault that much I do know
> but I never want to turn 30 again!!

I can sympathize, Sam, believe me!  That's pretty much how I felt
after the Hawkestra.  No birthday, but I'd been waiting *decades*
to hear Lemmy and Simon H play with HW, and flew from Toronto for
the occasion, and ...  had a mediocre time.  Besides the problems
a lot of people had with that gig, I had shitty foam earplugs
chopping out all the highs and midrange; I was right at the back;
as you say, I'd built it up into something the band couldn't
possibly live up to (in retrospect, rereading Time of the
Hawklords was a BIG mistake); I was probably already fighting the
flu that clobbered me a couple of days later; I was in a bad mood
because of stuff that had happened the previous week ... Fuck, if
I'm honest, that night wasn't mediocre, it was pretty lousy for
me.

Part of why the Astoria was so excellent, brilliant, amazing by
contrast:  Brixton got the anticipointment out of my system.  Oh
yeah, it also convinced me to stop procrastinating and buy good
earplugs in time for the Astoria gig.  Hideously expensive ones,
but the best $300 ($200-ish U.S.) I've spent in years.

BTW, 26-May-58, as mentioned.

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        erics at telepres.com
|  |  /
With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not
necessarily a good idea.
        - RFC 1925 (quoting an unnamed source)