Charlie Parr

Isn't it cool when you go out with absolutely no expectations and end up turning it on it's head and having a really great night? And there was absolutely no alchohol involved at all (I'm having a brief hiatus).

My friend gently cajoled me into leaving the (relative) comfort of my house, even though I was tired and in a pretty bad mood tonight, to see his friend's band, My Two Toms, play at the 12 Bar club on Denmark Street. I decided this course of action was better than twiddling my thumbs at home and was duly rewarded with some great Banjo/Slide Guitar action.

My Two Toms and the other act, Adrian Crowley, were pretty cool, however the main act, Charlie Parr, was a class apart (no offence chaps). His guitar playing was pretty unbelievable and his songs were heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time in that way that Country and Blues manage so effortlessly. The only minor drawback of the night being that when the Steel guitar came out and the rhythm got going, whoops and yelps started to eminate from the audience in a very peculiar and slightly stifled and embarrassed manner only the British could manage. Not very Country. There is a profile on him here and some sample MP3's on his site here.

Plus, the bus ride home over Waterloo Bridge reminded me how good the Dan Flavin show at the Hayward Gallery is, and that generally experience is a good thing. Dan Flavin's kind of experience is much the same as Charlie Parr's - visceral yet disarmingly beautiful. This led me to muse over the inexorable fact that you should never really let yourself be guided by your preconceptions of what experiences may give you, otherwise you might miss out on some really great stuff. And stuff is good.