Hi there,

Last nights gig went very very well indeed.

I was deeply touched by my friends, Will, Daniel, Justin (he of Jennifer Street, New Atom Soul Generation and now the author of a fascinating new book on the subject of Earth energies), Lynton and Ben turning up with their friends and loved ones. It made it all the more special for me to perform in front a group of such wonderful people.

Please see below a superb blog from Ben from his wonderful site www.benvslondon.blogspot.com recounting the entire event.

"I've often said that London is a city in which you have to seek out adventure whereas New York is a city where adventure seeks out you. London is so vast and its pockets of "hip" nightlife so over-capacity, that to find something truly novel, something truly strange and beautiful, you have to know about it in advance and have a solid command of the public transportation system. Simply wandering through the city, more often than not, will get you nowhere - unless drinking Carling Extra Cold at a Weatherspoon's is your idea of a wacky night on the town. Manhattan, by contrast, is denser; you can stumble across the unusual fairly easily. Something wonderful can lurk behind the unmarked door beneath the blue lightbulb on Ave C...

But if you can be disciplined and targeted, the rewards of London's oddities can be just as great as those of New York. In previous posts, I've mentioned things like the Horse Hospital and the Shunt, both remarkable finds. To this list I now add the Montague Arms in New Cross, Southeast London (pictured above). Getting there is nothing short of a mission. It took Amber and me 45 minutes to an hour from Islington by way of 2 commuter trains and the tube. It is an island unto itself. As far as I could tell, there was nothing else around it, which made it all the more strange.

It's a sort of cabaret pub, hosting live music, stand-up comedy, performance art, etc. Its interior is decorated like an unself-conscious TGI Friday's, walls covered in stuffed animal heads, nautical detritus, Xmas lights. Apparently, Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer played there back in the day. It reminded me a lot of Bullwinkle's in Rochester. Located on the rougher side of downtown Rochester, Bullwinkle's has a similarly eclectic and frozen-in-time feel. The centerpiece of the bar is Betty Meyer, an ancient songstress banging out old standards on a creaky piano. The audience is encouraged to join in on the singing and, if you happen to know a standard or 2, you can take the mic and do it karaoke style. Feather boas, fezes, masquerade masks and all manner of vintage costume circulate the room, lending the bar a decadent, speak-easy vibe. I've only been once, but it was one of the most memorable nights of my life.

The purpose of my visit to the Montague Arms was to catch my former colleague Chris Jones on stage. Chris performs under the moniker Sheer Zed. A sort of renaissance man, he dabbles in experimental psychedelic electronica, spoken word, tone poetry, stand-up and conceptual sketch comedy. Last night, he gave us a little taste of all of these things. Two of the songs he performed, "Living in the Streets" and "Monsters of Evil," can be streamed from his MySpace page. But perhaps his most inspired moment was when he recreated the shower scene from Psycho with fresh fruit. Long story short, an orange Janet Leigh is stabbed to death by a butterknife-wielding clementine Anthony Perkins.

Immediately following Chris's set was a performance art piece that I can only describe as "wack." The "artist" set up a pile of twigs, a piece of drift wood, a bowl of water and a sponge, strapped a horn to his head and proceeded to writhe all over the stage topless. At one point, he removed the horn, poured water into it and drank from it. The piece ended with him lying in a corner of stage motionless and seemingly waiting for the audience to feel awkward enough to start clapping. At first, I thought he was imitating a chameleon or something, but as I said, the horn came off and he made use of the sponge, as well, so who knows?

The remainder of the evening was spent outside chatting with Chris and some other former colleagues. I spent a good 10 minute speaking with one of Chris's friends who's writing a novel about the "new science" of "earth energies." As he describes it, it's a fictionalized autobiographical account of his experiences going to primal, spiritual places around the UK, like Stonehenge. He claims to have made contact with Hecate, the Greek goddess of wilderness and crossroads, and the ghost of Charlemagne, the Christian king who worked to demonize her. His recollection of this event was remarkably vivid, down to the kind of shears he thinks were used to cut Charlemagne's hair. When a man speaks with such conviction, it becomes more difficult to not believe him.

Too often, life falls into a holding pattern, a monotonous routine. Too often, we make safe, practical choices. For me, a brush with the surreal is a welcome tonic, washing away the humdrum. Chris bills his music as "weird music for weird times," but he once said to me that he didn't choose to be weird, it just worked out that way. It's somehow reaffirming to know that weirdness is out there, at the margins, emerging organically and keeping the often tepid broth we call life spicy."

I also wish to thank the amazing Frog Morris. He has created something truly wonderful with his night Second Thursday. Please go to his site www.frogmorris.net and also his MySpace page which is featured on my top 40 friends section.

Big love to one and all.

Electronically Yours,

Sheer Zed :)