Keane - Sovereign Light Cafe

Can't resist posting on Keane's new song:



May seem a little song , but damn catchy it is, and with strength too. Springsteenish vibe to me, don't know why. Sung for the first time on Sept 19th, apparently still on the works, so open to changes.
Thanks so much to the person who's posted a link to download the track (I believe bootleg sharing is legal? specially if it's unreleased material), found it through lastfm , worked for me (and I do buy their cd's).
And thanks so much too to the person who originally uploaded it to youtube (and so fast!), hope this one is it. Because yes, what's the deal with all those youtube polluters who insist on copying other people's videos and re-uploading them over and over again only in worse quality? Some kind of ego problem, laziness or what? They only make it harder to locate the best copy and dilute the number of plays while at it. Bad practice -am sure they're all really nice people, they just need to stop doing that (by the way, some of these replicators posted the lyrics to the song).
Now that I'm "removed" from the music scene it's great to find these things on the internet through others, my biggest thanks to them.
And yes, Infotaupe made it safe to the other side of the ocean. Infotaupe now hates cardboard boxes and houses with a small number of cupboards! (her things arrived not 2 weeks ago). Wish they sorted themselves out alone like in a Sara Lov's "A thousand bees" video fashion !!.
And now I'll disappear into the ether again.....gloops glooops gloooooooops-----------
Back to the song, it's funny how we don't want to lose what we've already lost. Silly people we all are.

Goodbye Philadelphia

Time to go...

Many memories and so much music, my three years in Jersey (so close to Philly) have been a fantastic experience.

No idea if I'll keep posting. Still have a lot of stuff on Philly venues etc as well as other things, and I always wanted to do a giveaway too, had these cool cd's back in February but time flew...
Whatever. Have a great summer!!.

Hearings for parking tickets in Philly

Drafted july'09, post activated a little later...
Yesterday I had a hearing for a parking ticket (Philadelphia). Figured I'd write about it since I tried to do a little research on the web before attending and couldn't find anything.
So, I got to the Parking authority half hour in advance but signed in anyway. They told me to sit and somebody would call my name. They said it would be 1 hour wait, give or take. Room was crowded, I left and came back 15 minutes later. I had printed photos, etc (they said to bring "evidence") but once they called me (aprox. 30 minutes after sign in) I was in for a surprise: a woman showed me a paper with my ticket nr and amount owed and asked if that was the ticket I was disputing. I said yes. She asked if the vehicle was in my posession (had been towed! -uggg. Got it back the same day after paying the towing), I said yes and just like that she said "The city of Philadelphia would like to cancel this ticket as a courtesy". No showing photos, no explaining....seems the money collected for the towing was enough. I asked about a refund for the towing amount since I didn't agree with the fine, she said impossible (!!!)
Hearings are usually scheduled approx 3 months after the fine. My ticket was a relatively small amount ($45), and it was defective (they said I was parked in the wrong street). They had no reason to issue it either because the signs were not where they should have been. In fact they towed like 20 cars at once...
It would have been easier to me to pay that fine than having these adventures, and if I had been guilty I certainly would have. But quite a few of the people in charge of traffic fines in Philly are of the highly predatory, abusive and cheeky kind (NY too), and that should be fought, if it's a nuisance. Abuse is never something one should remain passive about.

And just for the record, traffic officers in general have all my admiration (once my car stopped dead in the middle of the Walt Whitman bridge, electric everything not working -battery-, couldn't even turn on the lights or use the car horn to signal (yep, really really scary). I managed to place the emergency triangles with cars speeding by and making gestures to me and blowing their horns -like it was my idea to stop there!-, and officers showed up really soon, pushed my car with theirs all the way to a safe location, and made sure I got it under control. But there sure are some rotten apples in the basket.
Just info...
Tags: disputing parking tickets Philly

Elizabeth and the catapult at the World Cafe FAN

Another fantastic concert by them, this time with a bassist. A great last FAN for me. Setlist: Just uploaded a bit of "Rainiest day of Summer" to youtube (ahem, the whistling, pre-recorded, right?), which I love, so really glad they played it this time. Impossible not to think of The Carpenters and a bit of the Beatles' Abbey road-ish vibe, but all put to use for the best.

Elizabeth has one of the most beautiful voices I've heard (even better live). And fat chance that she hits a wrong note with it.
Can't believe they aren't more known. Can't believe that song was not on youtube yet (I checked 3 times, still can't believe it). They've even made it to a popular movie soundtrack ("New in Town", Renee Zellweger...ahem, not supposed to admit that I watch those silly movies. But lately I even enjoy some of these quite a bit (watched "Penelope" and "In Brugues" last week and really enjoyed them -thought I wouldn't, you never really know).

A few weeks ago they did another concert here in Philly (posted about it below), and I asked her which of her songs was her favourite. She told me but then by the time I got to write the post I wasn't sure (I have this terrible memory that mostly remembers what it shouldn't. The other stuff, it doesn't really care much about!). So I asked her again this time: it's "Golden Ink".