Home Sick & Blogger Blues

'Tis the season for cooties, and I a got 'em!

I haven't been home for 3 days in a row since I moved to my new East London pad 6 months ago.  So in a sense, that's been nice, it's a shame it takes feeling bad to give me some chill time, but that is how it is.  I have made a new Spotify playlist that I can't stop listening to, caught up on some Piney admin,  cleaned the house from top to bottom, written 4 songs for the next album & now I'm saying hi to you.  "Hi!" After this I'm going to do one of those green face masks.  You can picture it now, ay... all 50's housewife cliché!  Maybe I'll bake some bread.

Anyway, I have a case of the blogger blues in the sense that I can't seem to blog consistently, then I feel guilty about it, then I put it off, and it's a viscous circle.  I like writing, I like putting it out there... it's just life innit?  It gets on top of you, mundane stuff gets in the way, or sometimes you're too busy doing things you could blog about to find time to blog it.  Catch 22, but a nice problem to have I guess.

So, Thursday night I went to my lovely friend Alice's opening, she's created a new shop called "We Built This City" which is currently a pop-up shop on Carnaby Street.  Check it out!  It's like an affordable art gallery or something, it's all London-specific, but not in a tacky t-shirt way, but more in a "Ain't London great?" kind of way.  A lot of artists, designers and makers are inspired by this city.  It was great to be reminded of that.

If you do go to the shop, all the pigeons within the shop were assembled by mine own hand.  It basically involved connecting the feet to the bodies, so fairly minimal effort on my part, but there were 50+ of them.  Alice sold one of them on opening night, so that bodes well.  In fact, here they are.

Kate Beckinsale's scream

For those of you who don't know,
this is Kate Beckinsale.

So, I mentioned in my last blog about how I have a new job... the other day the sound effects company downstairs came upstairs to ask a favour of me.  They needed Kate Beckinsale to scream... however in the footage they had of her she was not really screaming, instead she was doing more of a confused grunting thing.

I'm not sure why the guys downstairs thought I'd be good at screaming, perhaps they sense I have big lungs or maybe I have a loud mouth!

Anyway, I viewed the scene and they explained my motivation and I did several types of screams for them to choose from.  It was fun & made everyone laugh; a funny 5 minutes out of the day to help those guys out.

(FYI: if you see this film, my scream can be heard at a moment when you see Simon Pegg's face & Kate Beckinsale is scrambling around.)

What a funny aspect of the ol' day job, ay?

But then I felt a little sad, because I didn't realise this scream is going to be part of Robin William's final film.  It's called Absolutely Anything & he voices "Dennis the Dog."  I can hear his voice floating up the stairs all day, every day, as they splice the film and voiceover.  It's eerie, haunting, comforting and sad all at the same time.

I never dreamed I would be linked to Robin Williams, especially not posthumously.  I grew up with Robin Williams, and now my scream can be heard in a film where he voices a dog.   It is truly an honour.

Spoiler Alert: this is Dennis the Dog and Simon Pegg
from the film "Absolutely Anything"

I have a new job...

Hi there,

It might surprise some of you to know I have a day job. However, if you know any musicians or songwriters they all most likely have a day job (unless you are mates with Katy Perry or someone like that). This is by no means a blog-rant about the music bizz & the plight of the indie muso & more of a thing about my new job...

My new job is in Soho, London. I’m still getting used to that fact.

The past several years I have worked in the depths of Way West London, for some reason what I do by day gravitates to that part of the world. I have always lived in North-Northeast London resulting in epic commutes for years. I have written most of my songs/albums on the tube = FACT! 

Now I work in Soho. That’s a nice sensible place to work, no? It’s the middle of town so anyone can get there with relative ease. This in itself is a good thing! When I have a meeting, I can literally pop out and have the meeting, I no longer have to budget an hour to get there and an hour to get back meaning a 30 minute meeting really takes 2.5 hours of the day.

There are limitless options for lunch. I heard that Obama’s favourite Hawaiian burger joint opened a branch in Soho, so I tried the halloumi and sweet potato fries there = winner! Fancy a burrito? = check! Ah, I could really do with some proper Italian pizza by the slice = oh there it is! Nice, sunny day? Why not cue up for Savage Salads? (Savage Salads is my fave Soho food truck & apparently a lot of other people’s favourite food truck too). Heck, you could even meet a friend for lunch (unless you’re working up against the clock on a brief & that DOES happen - well it's a job after all).

Going for a drink after work doesn’t mean getting home super late (unless you end up at Trisha’s or The Pheonix, natch!).

But what I’m finding most interesting about working in Soho is the Crossrail project. I bet you didn’t expect me to say that!

London's historic 'Astoria' is no more.

I’m sad The Astoria is gone (although having played there a couple of times, I’m pretty sure there were plenty of rats backstage)... but all in all I’m pleased with this development. For a start it should help commuters & I’m all for that. But what’s cool is my office looks right over it. I can peer into the pit and see the Crossrail developing and changing and it’s really cool. I’m right by the hole where they discovered the Roman Ruins.  See? http://www.crossrail.co.uk/sustainability/archaeology/

What’s also funny about the Crossrail is the number of builders’ conversations I have overheard. It’s been a hot summer, so I’ve been working with my window open & I suppose they don't know I can hear them. Now, it’s not been like the famous Diet Coke Ad, believe me! BUT I have overheard chaps talking about methods they use to chat up a girl in a bar, say.  As a girl who hangs around in bars, this interests me.  This particular group of builders seems to like to watch “An Idiot Abroad” - so do I!  And I heard one of them talking about taking his girlfriend to Paris. It’s sweet & has been an insight into the mind of the average man because men talk differently when a girl is around. I seem to meet a lot of middle class fopps to be honest (that’s not a diss, I too am a middle class fopp & I’m fairly sure builders are more well-off than me and my foppish friends & our low-paid media jobs funding our flat-shares). Perhaps builders get a bad wrap. They don’t all wolf-whistle or swear like the stereotype of yesteryear, and yes it's true... some women are known to fantasise about some hot builder whisking them off to Paris, and ladies it would seem that's an achievable goal!

Xx

Piney

How to be a Punk Rock Girl...

So I might seem the most unlikely suspect to blog about being a Punk Rock Girl - I wear dresses every day, I love Dolly Parton, I recently blogged about a cupcake tour of London... these things are NOT the stereotype of what a Punk Rock Girl is, right?

But I think being a Punk Rock Girl comes in many guises... it's having a rebel yell in your heart, it's the smoking-behind-the-bleachers attitude that never leaves you (even if you don't smoke - p.s. E-cigs are not punk rock!), it's drinking cava in the park even though it's against the law because it's a silly law on the hottest day of the year.  It's telling it like it is even if it's hard to say.

A Punk Rock Girl is an outsider, she plays by her own rules.  That's not to say she's a baddy.  Punk Rock Girls can have good manners too.  I.e. if someone's glasses fall off in the mosh pit you help them find their specs.  That's just common pit etiquette!

A Punk Rock Girl has an adventurous & curious spirit and will try most anything once.  She has a strong sense of self and doesn't need to be told what to do or how to do it.  She forges her own path, even if it is the road less travelled.

So in that sense ladies and gents, I am a Punk Rock Girl.  I do my indie thing and embrace new experiences with a sense of wonder.  I find solidarity in my fellow riot grrrls and sense a new wave of feminism is upon us.  One where the Punk Rock Girls will lead the way and I mean Punk Rock in the broadest & most inclusive sense... (p.s. you can be a Punk Rock Guy too).

I'm going to leave you now with The Dead Milkmen enjoy!  And hey, do something a little crazy, something you've never done before, something a little out of your comfort zone.  I dare you...

xx
P

A Cupcake Tour of London - bon appétit!

As I type this I'm aware that this is possibly my twee-est blog topic... but if knowing is half the battle, then I'm halfway there, right?

My dear friend Katrin, some might remember her as 'The German One' from The Schla La Las.  If you don't remember who The Schla La Las are, we were a blip on the London art-rock scene a few years ago, here we are on youtube, see?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jDI6oUkudw


Anyway, I digress... so Katrin kindly took me on this cupcake tour of London, it was a touristy sort-of outing.  I so rarely stop to enjoy the city I live in.  I'm always too busy rushing around, trying to take over the world!  So it was a much needed day out.



Here she is with a miniature cupcake at Lorraine Pascale's Cupcake Bakehouse in Covent Garden

We then went to the famous French macaroonerie Ladurée of which there are 2 in London and yes, we went to them both!

Our charming Scottish tour guide took us down the real alleyway that inspired Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter Books, which was conveniently near Sweet Coutoure


We walked through China Town and I was disappointed we didn't stop at any of the odd Chinese bakeries, but I can always go back to China Town.



We passed through Soho and our tour guide told us all sorts of facts about the old Soho, the new Soho and some of the rock 'n' rollers that passed through the historic region over the years.

We had more cupcakes at The Hummingbird Bakery which never disappoints.

Then we had more sweet treats, this time macaroons, at a blue place that looks like an Aquarium and these may have been the favourite sweet treats of the day in my book!  But this is not the end of our sugary plight.




We crossed Soho to Patisserie Valerie for more French fancies and then headed to Savile Row to see where The Beatles did their famous roof-top gig.

(Apparently, it's possible
to get a vegetarian version,
but I'm not very desperate
to try one.)

Last but not least we went to Fortnum and Mason which was established in 1707 and takes credit for inventing the Scotch Egg.

As a vegetarian, I have never tried a Scotch Egg.  For the fellow Americans of you, dear readers, I will explain that a Scotch Egg is  a hard boiled egg covered in sausage meat and breadcrumbs and then baked.  Sort of weird, huh?  But normal if you grew up over here in the UK post-1707.


We then bid our lovely Scottish host Adieu and hopped in a black cab for a sugar-fuelled adventure, an adventure for another blog post, as this is getting lengthy.  If you want to see more photos of our culinary adventures, the cakes we ate are all here for you to see...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88986055@N00/sets/72157643524024644/

Meanwhile, don't forget to take some time out and enjoy the cake, the scenery, or whatever takes your fancy.  Bon appétit!

xx
Piney

Tube Strikes = Lord of the Flies

Those of you who have not lived in a large metropolis might find the issue of a tube strike un-relatable.  But to those of you who do, you will know just how our 'survival of the fittest' instincts start to kick in.  I think there's a kind of fight-or-flight reaction to it.

I am a flight person, i.e. I want to stick to the walk-able distances from my house and work from home and let the world duke it out.  But sometimes that's not possible... I.e. my day job seems to have a more 'bums on seats' mentality.  A lot of places do, spurring a cold, hard case of presentee-ism.

So, I made it... schlepping from a corner of North East London to a corner of South West London, I wasn't sure I would make it, but here I am.  And for those of you (Kansas City, home-town friends I'm looking at you) who have never experienced this, this is what it feels like...

This scene from Godzilla (1998) is not far
off from today's commuter experience

Leaving the house, the streets were overcrowded with grumpy people, late, in a hurry, rushing, and tutting when someone crosses their path.  Hostility fills the air like a thick funky fog.  There are people in suits with briefcases literally running.  There is no point hailing a cab, traffic isn't moving.  I'm not sure how to sum this up really, but if you've ever seen that film where Godzilla is crushing New York and people are running around all crazy while traffic is in a state of grid-lock, then you're not far off.

Luckily there was still a skeletal tube system on offer, slow and intermittent, overcrowded like the typical sardine-can metaphor.

I was lucky enough to get a seat, but ended up sitting next to a guy who actually urinated on the floor whilst sitting next to me (and yes, I was fast to pick my pink leather bag up off of the tube floor) the miniature yellow rivers trickling ever-closer to my suede, ankle boots; smells filtering through the carriage.  Good morning, Britain!

The mile-or-so walk from West Brompton involved, getting totally lost, stumbling onto a construction site in conjunction with icy gales of wind hailing South from the Scottish Highlands.  Oh to be indoors sipping Scotch and nibbling shortbread next to a fireplace with a hound at my feet.

This man looks very pleased
to be cooking me up for dinner

The tube strike brings out a real animal quality in people, snarling for space, pushing their way through with a sense of self-importance.  It clashes with the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do to you."

If Tube Strike = Lord of the Flies then I'm yesterday's BBQ.
xx
P

Sometimes it’s good to remember where you are from.

This lesson has taken me a while to learn.

When I left Kansas City I felt like I couldn't get far enough away.  That’s not a bad slant on Kansas City… K.C. is an awesome place to be from & a great city.  I had to grow up somewhere and I would have wanted to flee wherever I was from; that’s my nature to explore the exotic… So I went as far away as I could think to go.  London, England.  And here I am; lately I’m feeling a sense of nostalgia.  Maybe it’s the long winter nights giving me too much time to think… this heightened nostalgia could be a result of social networks like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.  There are always reminders of old school friends; it’s so simple to be a part of someone’s daily life by scrolling through their Instagram profile, or to get a little banter going on Twitter that you would otherwise have had to plan a long distance phone call, write a letter or compose a thought-out e-mail to achieve.  Technology has connected me to my roots, and now that I’ve been far away for a while… I miss it!  Dorothy Gale had it right when she said, “There’s no place like home.” 

Dorothy Gale & Toto

I’m just not sure where home really is.  The only constant place in my memory is my grandparents' farm in Wisconsin… surrounded by forest, sometimes we’d spot a wintry wolf on the trail of a fat wild turkey; in the summer if the wind was right, we could hear the Dixieland jazz coming from the river boat cruises on the Mississippi River.  But Kansas City’s different from that, it’s more cosmopolitan yet still with a friendly Midwest sensibility: there are kitsch cafes, vintage shops, velvet lounges, red-neck bars, cool little art galleries, the jazz district at 18^th and Vine, and diners!  24-hour diners where you could get a grilled cheese after a night out and all the freaky people would be there downing pancakes and fried fancies at 4:00 AM debriefing the evening's events with friends, waitresses never stop pouring coffee top-ups and driving home when the sun came up.  I miss that!

That being said, I love London; it’s a vibrant city full of culture, bursting with creativity, and plenty of quirk and glamour.  These things are what drew me here.  I’m also a big fan of vintage detective mysteries like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, but that could be a topic for another blog.  Having been in London for over a decade now, I have a lot of good friends; like a second family.  I have career opportunities, creative outlets, constant cultural stimulus… I can’t complain.  I came here and I ‘made-it’ for lack of a better word.  But it’s funny how the grass can start to seem greener on the other side of the pond.

This photo was taken in Kansas City by Nate K.

It makes you ask yourself what ‘home’ means.  Is it where you are from?  Is it where you are now?  Is it where you are going?  Or is it simply where the heart is? 

One thing is for sure… I’m not in Kansas anymore.

xx P

p.s. Yes I have the sparkly red shoes
and no, they do not work…