HW: Exeter Astoria and beyond

[Jill Strobridge]

Thank you for the compliment though I wish I'd done a better job of
trying to get the imagery across - I'm useless at the sensible
balanced structured review (such as Keith's excellent article which
I've just read!) and have to rely on creating a subjective feel of
the show from an audience point of view and try to convey some of
the excitement.    Actually I feel that every Hawkwind show has to
be a subjective experience since everybody goes along with a
preconceived ideal in mind of the sound they are hoping to hear.
People who already know Hawkwind usually have a preferred 'period'
while the personal music style for anyone who doesn't already know
Hawkwind is usually one that they have grown up with and these days
it's usually a trance/dance or ethnic.   It's a great tribute to
the band that at the end of a show such as Astoria nearly everyone
in the audience is saying 'that was great.  I heard just what I
wanted to hear and it created just the right atmosphere'.

In fact for me the whole thing is an adventure!   I invariably set
off for an unknown part of the country that I have never visited
before and would never otherwise have thought of doing so - wander,
usually completely lost, around a strange and alien city trying to
locate accommodation that has been chosen at random off a computer
screen and could be almost anything - establish my temporary home
in a stranger's house - try to find somewhere to eat in a facility
that bears some resemblance to something I would trust - wander
(usually in the dark) into uncertain parts of this unknown city in
search of a venue guided only by a computer generated map to which
I must trust the accuracy of and when I find the venue there's the
uncertainty of who is playing in the band and what will it be like?
It's inevitable that some aspects of the gig won't work quite as
well as they should and don't produce the right atmosphere and
sometimes that's due to my frame of mind and unfulfilled
expectations or sometimes the fault of the performance but there
are always aspects that do work and that is reward enough - to find
sanctuary in a strange city - hear music I recognise and enjoy and
see a show I can relax into and take away memories of at the end -
and come home safe afterwards.    This is a pleasure and I fully
intend to appreciate every minute of it!

Peace, safe journeys and a good festive season to all!

jill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Jarrett" <jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: HW: Exeter Astoria and beyond


> On Mon, 20 Dec 2004, Jill Strobridge wrote:
>
>> 10 moments of forever..
>
>        <snip>
>
>        I think ideally the list needs Jill and I to go to every
> Hawkwind
> gig. I'm good at reviews which tell you why you needn't be too
> worried if
> you missed it and whenever they're really really good I just post
> something like "WOW" and can't describe it at all. Then Jill
> comes up with
> something like this that reminds you why people follow them round
> the
> country, and is always too tactful to criticise for more than a
> phrase
> here and there. If we both did all gigs an important cosmic
> balance would
> be achieved :-) I couldn't make London anyway, but now I'm sorry
> I
> didn't. Thanks for an excellent review Jill, and sorry not to
> catch you this tour! Yours,
>                            Jon
>
> --
>                Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College, London
>    jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk/ejarr01 at
> students.bbk.ac.uk
>  "As much as the vision of the blind man improves with the rising
> sun,
>       So too does the intelligence of the fool after good
> advice."
>       (Bishop Theodulf of Orleans, late-eight/early-ninth
> century)
>
>