Free Energy at Windmill Brixton

“They remind me of Hanson!” shouted my friend and if we were just going on the slight frame of the lead singer then she had a point. Musically though Free Energy, who headlined at a hot and sweaty Windmill in Brixton last night, are worlds away from teen bop.

They properly rock, head banging their long hair in unison, tight vests and jeans almost constricting their exuberant jumps and kicks. They certainly live up to their name. I almost yelled “Turn it up to eleven” when they kicked off with their eponymous song, but was so close (about a foot away) they would have heard me.

After watching the excellent support, the Singing Adams (only their second gig but already definitely worth catching – the lead singer is the former frontman of Broken Family Band) in the middle of the crowd, we found ourselves at the front for Free Energy who arrived with white balloons to party.

The Philadelphia five piece, who are signed to DFA records, play catchy pop rock (three guitars=loud) and they really give it their all. I loved watching them play my favourite track Something in Common especially when the lead singer did that thing where he locked eyes and then smiled a really big smile. They were really having fun on stage and it was genuine.

Free Energy are going places. Until the frontman said:

“Big hello to the babes on the back wall....nice, very nice”.

Er, hello? What about the babes up front?

“He must be longsighted,” said my mate. I concurred. How could he have dissed us honeys at the front?

To be fair, the barnet was looking big. Just how big (and frizzy) I didn’t realise until I clocked myself when I got home. But still, there was no need for such a blatant oversight. The rubbish British weather just doesn’t agree with my mop.  And if anything, it looked quite 70s-ish which fits right in with their 70s rocker look and sound. Harrumph.

Still, the lead guitarist is a man of impeccable taste. As well as sporting a long brown mottled feather on his guitar, he was wearing my trainers (martial arts shoes Feiyue, beloved by Shaolin monks).

After an encore and much appreciation from the rammed crowd (“sweet” was the frontman’s catchphrase of the evening) we emerged from the Windmill sweatbox into the drizzly Brixton night.

We were in a party mood and wanted to carry on for a nightcap. But Brixton is as bad as the rest of London when it comes to after-hours drinking during the week. Mango Landin, The Prince, Hive all shut. The White Horse was open but dead so we finally settled on an Amaretto in The Rest is Noise, open but equally dead.

It goes to show that Brixton needs more Free Energy on Monday nights to keep the party spirit alive.

Late night games at the V&A

I heart the V&A. Every last Friday of the month they throw open their doors until 10pm for fun free stuff.

Friday night's "Playgrounds" theme included a game called An Expedition with Mr Mirrors. It promised riddles and puzzles in a treasure hunt through the galleries.

Unfortunately I didn't participate. By the time we'd reached the place to sign up, all 300 spots had gone. Boo. I'd spent a crucial half hour queuing at the bar on arrival (I'm northern, it's ingrained) when I should have been queuing there. Oh well. The Silent Relay game looked fun too (people in comedy moustaches sleuthing round the place for clues) but we didn't have the patience to line up for another 45 minutes.

We did get to pass the giant parcel in the entrance hall though. It looked like a huge egg.

I didn't see what the parcel contained as it was unwrapped in stages during the evening. By complete coincidence I met someone  who works at the V&A (the lovely Celine) at a party on Saturday night who revealed that there were hundreds of origami shapes inside. How sweet.

There's something very special about galleries and museums at night. So even though we didn't manage to play many games (just as well for my friend who admitted "I'm not a joiner" half way through the evening), we enjoyed wandering through rooms like the new Medieval & Renaissance galleries.

Digital design exhibition Decode is also on at the moment (until 11 April). Some wicked interactive design was scattered round the V&A such as the movement sensitive mirrors (pictured second from above) and these:

Up close they look like mini tower blocks of light, about 40cm high, floating on the water in the garden. The beauty of them is that they each have a movement sensitive camera which briefly displays a pixelated black and white image of you on its front, like this one of my friend:

 

Way cool. Yes the V&A Lates are a thing of joy and well worth queuing for.

Stitched Up is the V&A's next late Friday on 30th April which will explore British craft traditions to celebrate the Quilts exhibition.

Other highly recommended monthly (free) lates I like are:

Late at Tate Britain - first Friday of every month. Next one is Shards of Utopia on 9th April.
Science Museum Lates - last Wednesday of every month. Next one is Experiment Earth on 31st March.

There must be more I don't know about, so do let me know.

How to cure Blogitis

I visited the Blog Doctor with a troubling affliction yesterday.

"Doctor, I think I have blogitis. I haven't blogged in three weeks. And, ahem, what's worse....I haven't felt the need to."

The Blog Doctor looked shocked. "Well, Miss Tart, you know as well as I do that if you don't blog consistently, your readers will forget about you and go somewhere else for their cultural signposts and opinions."

"But that's the problem Doctor. I don't think I have any readers. There's no one to blog for."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, my stat counters for one, my lack of regular comments for another."

"Hmm. Are you tweeting regularly?"

"Yes."

"And interacting with other bloggers regularly?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes? Let me put it another way Miss Tart. Are you taking an interest in other people's blogs and commenting on them?"

"Not exactly. I read them (and really enjoy reading them) but I rarely comment on them."

"Hmm." Long pause. Chapel of fingers raised in front of face. "And I don't suppose you're posting any photos you've taken to Flickr? Or have joined any similar interest groups? Or created a Facebook group?"

"I've created an FB group. But...no sign of the others."

"It's very clear to me what the problem is Miss Tart. A lack of interactivity. You should aim for at least five portions a day."

"Ok. Also Doctor....there's something else."

Sigh....."Yes? Go on."

"I, well, erm, I, ah...I'm embarrassed by my basic Blogger template. And I think that's the real reason why I haven't been promoting it."

"But didn't you say during your last visit that your blog was somewhere for you to write about your interests - art, photography, music, events, film, TV etc. So the design is secondary?"

"Well, yes that's partly true. I'm a journalist so it's important the writing works. But I don't want an old-fashioned looking, constrictive blog. My HTML isn't up to designing it myself and I'm worried I'll lose my archive if I move to WordPress."

"Ah, I see." Lots of scribbling. "Take this to the pharmacist Miss Tart, and make a follow up appointment to see me in a month's time."

"Thank you Doctor."

Diagnosis: Chronic blogging constipation.

Prescription: to blog at least twice a week; to find a better Blogger template or work out how to move (seamlessly) to WordPress; to read how-to-promote-your-blog articles like this one from Green Buzz Agency; to connect with, and comment on, other arts and culture blogs.

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Has the Doctor forgotten a vital medicine?  Let me know!