My 15 year old self patted my present self on the back when I got asked out for dinner by the lead of a popular band from the 90’s. It had come completely out of the blue and as a complete surprise. We’d only met briefly and when I received a friend request from him on facebook I just thought it was his manager doing promotion. To be honest I don’t really date musicians (high flying musicians). My instinct tells me that they’d be a total nightmare. Always on the road. Drinking. Drugs. Chasing women. Yes the stereotype puts me off. However, I wasn’t going to let my own prejudice get in the way of a potentially rewarding date with a handsome man who plays guitar. So of course when I was asked to dinner my 15 year old self told me to go for it. So I did.
We sat at the sushi bar and he took charge and ordered… ‘oh I love sushi!’ he exclaimed… ‘I’ve been to Japan many times… we had a big fan base there…’ he’d certainly had an interesting life. And was certainly charming, charismatic and all those things. But the topic turned.. to ex partners. I’m certainly wary of talking about ex’s on the first, second, third or even any of the dates I go on! But you can tell a lot about a person by the way they speak about their last dating escapades. I dipped my salmon and avocado roll into a bit of wasabi… and put it in my mouth. ‘So yes, I have a child with my ex partner and a child with a recent woman I was sleeping with for a couple of months’ I started to choke. ‘Too much Wasabi?’ he smiled at me. I slurped some water.. and replied….‘er yes’ I said…. ‘erm… So…you’re a bit like Bob Marley then…’ I smiled… ‘with your many children with different mothers’ I queried nonchalantly. I saw a hedonistic glint in his eye. He smiled devilishly and chuckled to himself ‘Yes why does that put you off…’ he looked me deep in the eye and grinned. I’m sure I saw a flicker of fire… but perhaps it was just the reflection of someone striking a match as they lit a cigarette behind us. I saw a future vision of myself standing in the doorway of a council flat pregnant and broke shaking my fist as he scuttled off in to the distance with his guitar on his back. Yes I said to myself. Yes it does.
A few days later I went into Poundland – I can’t remember what for. I was amazed to find some CD’s by some of my favourite musicians in there. Pink Floyd.. Lily Allen.. I saw his. I took a picture and texted it to him. “Look what I just found in Poundland!” I wrote. And that.. was the end of that.
And in other news! The alternative stage for the Reading and Leeds Festival has been announced.. which is on on the August Bank Holiday weekend – 23rd to the 25th..
What’s standing out for me is the film about Snoop Dog – entitled Reincarnated which traces his life and career and follows him on a journey of spiritual reawakening, eventually resulting in his reincarnation as Snoop Lion. Makes me want to go to Jamaica. And also my favourite new band Haim will be helping out club night Propaganda with an audio visual extravaganza.
Also performing:
Russell Kane * Seann Walsh (L) * Rob Delaney * Mark Thomas (L) * Shappi Khorsandi (R)
Josh Widdicombe * Paul Chowdhry * Trevor Noah * Jamie Kilstein
Carl Donnelly’s National Novelty Dance Off Finals * Nathan Caton * Jarred Christmas (L)
Andrew O’Neill * Joel Dommett * Katherine Ryan * Idiots of Ants * Tiffany Stevenson
Romesh Ranganathan (L) * Tom Deacon (R) * Ellis James * Rob Beckett *
Lucy Beaumont (L) * Luisa Omielan * Suzi Ruffell * Mark Simmons
Daniel Townes (R) * Jim Smallman (L) * Andrew Ryan
MC DOOM * Shlomo & The Lip Factory * Jeffrey Lewis & The Rain * Reeps One
Transgressive * Rebel Bingo (L) * Boogaloo Stu (L)
Buttoned Down Disco (R) * Propaganda with special guests Haim
Snoop Lion: Reincarnated (Film)
(L) Leeds only, (R) Reading only
More at www.readingfestival.com
Becki Bxx
Who are we going to interview, Becks?! Is *HE* there? 😉