The next two weeks will undoubtedly fly by as well. In the lead up to Christmas, of which in two weeks from now it will all be over already... I know from endless experience that all the good bits of life normally fly by faster than the not so good bits!
In the two weeks that I've been silent, many good things have been going down! Last weekend alone I had three Christmas parties, my entire amount of invites for 2007 crammed into one weekend. One of which was glamourous enough to be in Paris. I even managed to sneak a peak at the Sacre Coeur as I ran up the hill to Montmarte in the pouring rain. My iPod playlist complimented the moment perfectly, and staring at the massive white mound of church sitting on that hill completed the special memory that I was indeed in Paris, albeit for a few hours of a day!
From there I Eurostar'ed it back to the UK and down to Basingstoke for the next party of turkey and trimmings. Only to head back to London the next day for the 3rd and final Christmas do! Sunday was carried out in honour of the very rainy weather, and many movies were indulged in!
Back to the 'weeks before Christmas' though. And this may be a good thing due to the busy time of year. But I am left wondering - "Where are all the South African bands hiding? Is it hibernation time, or are they doing their Christmas planning and present shopping too?"
Or perhaps, is it that they have followed their innate sensibilities and headed south to the sunshine. Hhhmmm, I think the latter option is a sensible guess. Along with all the Uk-based South Africans clutching their golden Christmas flight tickets, waiting for their Heathrow haggle of queues and security checks... so too are a few overseas bands doing the heading home thing!
Most notably is the mass SA-exodus from the US! Three of SA's top export bands have all headed south... Just Jinjer have already landed and performed on 1 Dec at Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert for Aids Day in Johannesburg (following a show in London the night before). Then there is Seether, the first of the SA bands to truly break the US. And most recent of bands to climb into the mouth of the LA music tiger, being Wickhead!
You can catch all these bands around SA over the festive season. So keep your ears open if you're heading home! One of the most exciting events being the Phoenix Rising festival in Kenton (near Knysna) where Seether will be headlining!
But if you are still London-bound, fear not... for some good SA music is still going down on the next two Fridays. This Friday sees the Clapham Grand kick into life with Feral Sun and Starseed, and the following Friday at Mass in Brixton will be Starseed again as well as Free State Prophets.
Catch Starseed while you can as they will soon be stepping stateside to dip a toe in the US market and suss the scene over there! Indeed, all the best to them and their sound which I feel will match the market hunger nicely!
In the last two weeks that I missed, there was also Woodstock festival which happened at home. Aaah, summer festivals. I guess its only fair now for the South Africans to enjoy summer and music! And for us in the UK, we already have the line ups being dangled in front of us for upcoming festivals in 2008! I for one will definately be at Jack Johnson on 2 July in Hyde Park!
A long overdue catch up, and more to come near the new year! May your next two weeks be as sane as possible!
Rock on silly season!
x
