ATP Roundup

You lucky buggers get two posts in one weekend! How about that!

Last weekend Sarah, Corey and I made our way to ATP (All Tomorrows Parties) music festival. A different band each year curates the line-up. This year was curated by Explosions in the Sky, instrumental post-rockers from Austin, Texas. They did a swell job.

But first: the venue. Butlins family resort. It's like a giant caravan park and theme park mixed together, but instead of caravans they have 'Chalets'. Butlins features a waterpark, miniture golf, Ten pin bowling, cafes, a burger king, fish and chip shop, a pizza hut, three bars and a supermarket, among other things.

The line up: Animal Collective, Polvo, Broken Social Scene, Iron and Wine, Dinosaur Jr., Eluvium, Ola Podrida Lazarus, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, The Paper Chase, Four Tet, Ghostface Killah, Western Keys, Adem, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, The Silver Jews, Mono, Jens Lekman, Tony Teardrop, The Drift, The National, Sunset Rubdown, Lichens, Stars of the Lid, Saul Williams, Battles, De La Soul, The Field , Okkervil River, Pale Gallery, Raekwon, The Octopus Project, Atlas Sound, Constantines, World's End Girlfriend, Beach House, Phosphorescent, Le Papier Tigre, Envy and, of course, Explosions in the Sky.
Wowsers.

We arrived 15 minutes late for the Constantines who still managed an amazing kick-start to the festival. Here is a few photos:


Okkervil River.
Beach Houses had a great set. Good one, guys.
Battles had two sets over the weekend, we saw them the first night and they were good, but i'm told there second set on the last night was mind blowing. D'oh! We were too busy seeing Envy, japanese metal rockers who were great too.
Drinks on a pirate ship.
The second night ended with us hosting a chalet party which lasted till seven the next morning. The guest list was comprised of anyone who walked past. In the end we told the guys from next door we'd move the party to their place and shut the door behind them when they left!


Sarah woke up the next day to lovely Jens Lekman. But the rest of us didn't get up in time (2,30). So what do you do when your hungover at a music festival while bands are playing? Mini-golf!
Corey and i watch on as our chalet buddy, Rob putts away.
Sarah makes her shot and behind our other chalet buddies, Ryan and Mel.


Iron and Wine.

My highlight for the festival: Dinosaur Jnr! They went all out and put on one hell of a show.
My dream of seeing the Silver Jews play live was finally fulfilled! David Berman was great, he made me think of what a Johnny Cash concert may have been like if it was Earl Leonard instead of Johnny Cash. He really shared a lot of mannerisms with my good buddy Earl. The hot leggy base player is his wife. There where many shots taken of her by the crowd during her sound check.
Broken Social Scene were the last band on the main stage on Sunday night. They played all their big ones and for one track all of the Constantines, Explosions in the sky and J Mascus from Dino Jnr got up and sung with them. Sweet.

Some of the other bands we saw: Animal Collective were great. Big party. Trail of Dead rocked it much more than I thought they would. Sunset Rubdown were good, but not great, though their song 'the mending of the gown' blew the crowd away. Four Tet was a little boring in stages. The Octopus Project where great fun, both audio and visually. And Explosions laid down their usual epic rock.

Sarah's pics: 'Jens was good' and the Silver Jews.

The Spring holidays blog will soon resume as normal.

Croatia- Spring Holiday Part 2 of 5

We touched down in Dubrovnik after a somewhat scary ride via Click Air from Barcelona. Seems that seat belts are not always included in their bargain rates.
After kissing the ground we were overwhelmed with the beauty of this glorious UNESCO jewel of the Adriatic. The scent of Orange and Lemon blossom filled the air and the sea sparkled in the Spring sunshine. We ended up spending 5 days after we had planned on only 3. After those 5 days we headed a bit further up the coastline via Bosnia (good place to stop to buy your essential cartons of cigarettes. Tell ya, this is the place to take up smoking!) to Split. We weren't quite ready for how touristy the place was and were followed around for the first few hours by strange old men offering us rooms to stay in and calling out "cheap cheap" as we hurried off in the opposite direction. We were charmed a bit more on the second day as we wondered around the incredibly old city (we're talking 6th Century BC!). The old town, like Dubrovnik, was riddled by tiny alleys and streets that opened onto paved squares, with tiles worn shiny from centuries of wear.
Anyway have a look at what we saw:

Split Harbour

Andy taking some inspiration

This happy fellow decided to follow us for a little while around the island town of Korcula, a day trip we took from Dubrovnik. This is the second ultra friendy labrador we have encountered on our RTW trip. The first beling in Turkey) So we named him Woofio II.

I was actually watching a photo shoot happening outside of the shot.

Korcula

Sensai Andy teaching Sarah Son the crane position

The glorious orange roofs of Dubrovnik's old town

Spain -Spring Holiday Part 1 of 5

Barcelona:
Spring was kind to Sarah and I. For the first part of our super, five part European world tour we touched down upon the glorious shores of Spain. The weather was balmy and the views were well good too. It was our feeling that the Spanish people were not unlike those from our home country: easy going and keen to please. We started in Barcelona, a great place and i think we're both keen to return.

Here is ol Chris Columbus pointing to the new world.

This photo was taken in Barcelona's Gothic quarter, a tightly knit suburb of Gothic buildings filled with trendy shops, great restaurants and better bars . We had dinner where this photo was taken from. This view was better than any TV show we've ever seen. We saw doggy deals, strange encounters and even a gay relationship breaking up. Better than Neighbours.


This was the hall to our hostel. It was well nice.



On my birthday we went to a Gaudi's gardens (Parc Guell) which were originally intended as a private community. The area was unsuccessful as no body seemed particularly keen on living there (they must be kicking themselves today!). Barcelona owes him a lot as their whole tourism industry is steeped in Gaudi's legacy.

The grounds.
The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished Masterpiece. Work began in 1886 and it is expected to be finished in 2026. Cripes.
It has many interesting statues.
And a nice door.
And a nice staircase.We took an eight hour train to the scenic San Sebastian, a stylish city in the basque region that wraps itself around two gorgeous little bays.


This was a path leading up to the fortress at the top of the mountain that overlooks San Sebastian.
A canon.
Reclining.Night time panorama.