Saturday, March 17, 2007

Meeting Carl, and meeting Caroline

I liked yesterday.
I was a bit nervous of meeting Carl after 25 years, but it seemed that we should speak face to face if we are going to release this Chefs material. I was wandering down his road looking for the address and I heard 'There she is!' coming from an upstairs window- it was Michelle, his partner, who used to be in Brigandage. So I felt welcome, straight away, and everything was OK. When I saw Carl again, I realised that there was something very childlike that we had in the band- it was still there in Carl and I realised it was still there in myself, too. We talked about how much we used to care about getting our songs exactly the way we wanted them; about how clueless we were- none of us was a leader and we just used to revolve around and around aimlessly; what a good drummer Russell was, all sorts of small things. I am still not sure exactly which tracks we will be using- suddenly, it's become a viable project and there are a lot more opinions around. We will see.
I do feel proud to have been in the band, and of what we managed to do. I was a shop assistant and Carl was a yogurt analyst: what would have happened to us if we hadn't done The Chefs?
Next, I met Caroline Coon at the Dub Vendor. I picked up a couple of good Lover's Rock compilations while I was waiting, and we walked through the Portobello sunshine to the venue where the Lost Women's party is going to be. Caroline is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, and she calls me sweetie, and of course I love that. She found the most fantastic place- an upstairs room with dripply white wax candles, cracked gold walls with treasure embedded in them, upstairs windows looking out on to fifty percent sky and fifty percent Portobello Market, rococo furniture, cruddy statues, the lot. Beautiful, and I could just imagine us all there, talking, talking, talking. Afterwards we went for coffee and cakes in a tiny sweet tea shop, two excited ladies with a plan.
What a great day.

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