Chad arrives at my place at 6:45 on Friday. Following Anja and I to Pretoria, it initially looks like he's the only JHB friend that will be pulling through for
tonight's KRNGY gig. Along the way Patrick calls to say he will actually come as well so Chad pops off to go fetch him.
For the drive through Anja's put together a great compilation. It's one third Anja songs (see Alkaline Trio), a third Ben songs (see Algernon Cadwallader) and a third Ben and Anja songs (see Hole). This soundtrack speeds us through to Pretoria in the most enjoyable way possible and before we know it we're back inside the faux cave that is Shiva's. I'm really happy that we're quickly joined by Christian, Kyle and Olivia and spend an awesome little bit just hanging out. Before I know it, the time has come for Tennyson and I to take to the stage.
What follows is one of the best times I've had in ages. With only one full practice under our belt, it's understandably pretty messy fun. The only song with really well worked out vocals is "Run like Kenyans" which we played at
Get a Room last year. The rest the lyrics I'm using range from rough ideas, freely arranged, to pure improvised spazz-outs. The crowd that's gathered to watch us are really sweet. Honestly, for my first full show doing vocals since the demise of Johnny Neon in 2008, I couldn't ask for a more perfect little audience to help me get back on the horse.
Before I know it our set's over and all that's left to do is enjoy the 3 awesome band's that'll complete the night's rock and roll. The Make Overs are next. Unsurprisingly they tear their way through a set of totally brilliant noise.
Next is The Frown. Starting up late last year, the band immediately generated a lot of buzz for their crazy live performances. Needless to say I wanted to see them as soon as I heard about the band, but I somehow missed every show so far. Now, finally seeing them, the band don't disappoint. Eve's performance really is pretty mad, Tim's electronics sound massive and tonight they're debating the addition of live cello to their show.
After The Frown leaves the stage it's time Pity Fucks. Like The Frown this is a band I've never seen before, but unlike them I had no idea who was involved or what I should be expecting. I was really happy to discover Pity Fucks are yet another Sticky Antlers spin-off band. Antlers guitarist Andreas plays drums, bassist Martinique is now on vocals and drummer Jaco plays guitar. What follows is totally sweet. It's somehow in the same vein as the sloppy poppy rawcousness of Make Overs, but at the same time something different. I'm super impressed by how well Andreas and Jaco are playing one anther's instruments and Martinique's vocals, run through a bunch of guitar pedals, sound insane!
After they finish Anja and I say our goodbyes and head home. We spend Saturday at my parents' place. Play with little birds, look at rabbits running around the garden and eat some of the best food ever.
In the evening we head home. Patrick, Phil, Cam and Lindi come over to watch a movie and eat Chinese. We get the dinner thing right, but fail on the movie front. Land up having way to much fun just chatting and the night flies by.
Next thing we know it's almost 4, the kids dash home and Phil passes out on our couch. For some reason I only sleep for a few hours, wake up way before everyone else and take this opportunity to put a dent in the mountain of comics next to my bed. Later Anja and I watch a documentary on the great Annie Leibovitz.
And then in the evening something magical happens. Matt and Nix (our terribly dear friends that have just gotten home from 2 years in London) drop by for a surprise visit. Cue most awesome times, lols and 2 player Ilomilo joy! "Fuck yeah" for special friends being re-united!
It was the last night he'll be spending in the place before moving to Pretoria. So he's rounded us all up to celebrate the opposite of a house-warming (a house-cooling?) Cue a whole evening of knee-slapping good times.
Anja wants to stay later than I do, but, knowing we have quite a big day tomorrow, I drag her home. On Saturday morning she packs up her stuff that's been living in my room the past two months. It's a pretty crap feeling, knowing this is her last day living in Joburg, but we make the most of it, reading comic and watching TV shows. By 3 we head up the road to Cafe Mexico for Anja's farewell. Most of the usual suspects are there and as usual a jolly old time is had by one and all.
After we've stuffed ourselves full of chessy, chilli goodness we head home and rock a final session of Ilomilo and Alan Wake.
Jason and Franci come by and we drive through to The Bioscope. The cities greatest independent cinema has just opened the doors of The Chalkboard Cafe, the little coffee shop that's moved into the space previously held by Malva. We meet up with Matt and Nix and head into the cinema still waiting for Shannon and Matthew (who as it turns out never show up). We've come through to see a screening of the new Zeitgeist film, Moving Forward.
The film turns out to be pretty absurdly long, separated by interval (!) which features Darryl giving me a complementary cup of Etheopian coffee which I promptly ruin by accidently mistake incense crystals for sugar. Luckily Russle saves my life and points out what I've just done before I take a sip. So, without tasting this exciting new bevrage I head back in to finish the film. Credit roll, we head home.
Anja and I wake up early on Sunday, grab some breakfast and head through to Patrick's. We have a cup of tea, then Anja and Patrick climb into Anja's little car and head off on the long drive across the country.
I head home, once again a Ben who's girlfriend lives in a far away city. Trying not to feel to down about this I console my self by eating chocolate peppermint cupcakes and finally playing through the totally stellar last two hours of Mass Effect 2.
Now, with one of the best video game endings of this generation under my belt, i head off to Hyde Park. Meet up with sonja, ADK, Koos and much later Liz, who's hooked up tickets for the 5 of us to see a preview screening of Black Swan, which, as I'm sure you've heard, is a pretty damn great piece of cinema.
