2 posts tagged “sammie”
This is what my living room looks like at the moment.
For the disaster gawkers out there. That furry brown thing will be the vest for Halloween, it still needs some stitches. In the middle the grey wings. The one on the right is more or less finished, the one on the left I just sprayed and needs to dry out, hence the discolorations. I started all this on my balcony, but it's been raining so much that I had to move indoors. Then there's a couple of cans of spraypaint, grey, silver and black. Various towels, papers, tissue, fabrics, needles, thread, pliers, drills and so on. I did myself the favour of not including the huge pile of laundry just to the left of this picture. Disaster zone.
Just called my mum, who also seems to have that feeling of relief regarding Sammie's passing away. She told me one of my nephews (4.5) had called last night in tears saying how bad he felt about Sammie dying and asking what the vet had said. It's sometimes amazing to see how much these little kids pick up from their environment. So tonight I'll be digging up some pictures I took last year, to see if I can find a nice one of her to give to him.
Oh and speaking of my nephews... I'll be getting another one April next year. There's some message in there about life and death going hand in hand or something.
Joan at the FNAC in store rocked. It was the weirdest little place, with plastic folded chairs and a tiny little stage. Joan seemed a little frustrated about not getting anything from the audience who were very polite, French and non English speaking and didn't get any of her banter.
I called Stuart on the phone to let him listening to one of the songs, because he keeps missing her concerts for some weird reason. I did get to talk to her a little after the show, which was kind of neat. She's a genuinely nice person and funny too, which helps.
My last night in Paris was a blast. I ended up sharing a room with Oliver and Mandy, both American but vastly interested in foreign culture, France specifically so. It's always nice to meet people like that, who blow the lousy American stereotype to pieces. We talked art and history and the beauty of things in general. Somehow we ended upall together sitting on the sidewalk in front of our hostel. Everybody chipped in with a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, juice, chocolate and so forth. A grand little, very spontaneous kind of party, in the heart of Paris. It was a perfect ending to a perfect break.
Back at home, things didn't look so up. My eldest dog, Sammie, is very, very sick at the moment. Alright, she's not the youngest anymore at 14, but she's always been doing quite well upto now. That seems to have changed almost overnight. She basically refuses to eat anything and just lies around being miserable. At the same time, she still gets excited whenever I come in, and will cuddle up to me, but only momentarily. The way it looks now, she's starting to slowly slip from our grip. She seems to be suffering from a problem with her liver, which basically makes her feel miserable. The problem is that we don't really know what's wrong with it, and my mother doesn't want to put her through unnecessary suffering where the treatment gets worse than the cure. She's an old dog, and too much doctoring might prolong her life a little, but "a little" is frankly not good enough. So now there's not a lot we can do, but wait and keep our fingers crossed that she'll pull through.
I did go to Antwerp sunday and monday to see Nick again. I've been to Antwerpen a few times, but for some reason never quite realised how small it really was. I wandered around quite a bit, not sampling the Belgian beers, but enjoyed watching the sights and walking along the Schelde river. The show was alright, but not great. I think it's mostly down to me hating the venue and the Belgians being a bit quiet.
Nick on the other hand... I don't know what's come over him. I don't think I have ever seen him so laid back and forthcoming. He'll walk onto the stage and spend the first couple of minutes of the show shaking hands and signing stuff, being really spontaneous about it. He almost seems.... happy.
A happy Nick Cave. There's an interesting concept. What next? The pope having sex with another man? What's this world coming to?
Next thing up is the Came So Far For Beauty thing in October. And what a stellar line up it is. I initially get excited because Gavin will be on stage, but I'm getting Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed and Nick Cave thrown in as well. What a setup! Now I'm not big on afterparties, but I bet this one is going to be hot.
A few more gigs lined up after that. Looking something like this:
04/10 - Came So Far For Beauty - Dublin
05/10 - Came So Far For Beauty - Dublin
03/11 - Cat Power - Paradiso
09/11 - Nick Cave - Nurnberg
10/11 - Nick Cave - Stuttgart
11/11 - Nick Cave - Mainz
16/11 - The Killers - Paradiso
28/11 - Muse - Brabanthallen
19/12 - Muse - Sportpaleis Antwerpen
Not sure if I'll be going to see even more Nick Cave shows... Im tempted, but I've got this cash flow thing going on at the moment (not surprising at EUR80/ticket). The Killers will be cool too, probably one of the last times we'll see them in such a small venue. Going with loads of friends too, so should be a nice night out. Somewhere in between the Crossing Border Festival is on as well, and Joan is playing a few more gigs, so I'll see if I can go to some of those. So yeah, pretty booked up right upto the end of the year. Very exciting times, but I have to keep an eye on the funds with regards to coming to America next year.
