well hello. here I sit in durham, NC, where I am currently hanging my chapeau and waiting for fate to whisk me away in one direction or other. there is a bad drought here, and we are trying to save water (I know the rest of the world might not believe this about us yanks, but we are learning). I am trying to readjust to american society but in truth my heart is still in london, walking through waterlow park on a cool summer day, sitting in ray’s jazz cafe with a soya latte, or walking from london bridge to the NFT with lupester. I had to leave london because of visa issues believe it or not, me and a lot of other folks deemed highly skilled migrants by the home office, who have now been reduced to a simple monetary figure, and failed to measure up. london wants the young and the rich, the rest of us must go! I was supposed to be working on monocle magazine by now, but I am back in the US and possibly ready for a full-time job, a book contract, an induction into magnum or aperture, an exhibition at the national portrait gallery or the international center for photography of my mini-celeb portraits, and/or a move to portland, seattle, sf, ny, chicago or d.c. email me here if you have a job for me!
meanwhile I am still glued to the UK newspapers on the web, and it was in the guardian that I discovered some lucky kids will receive instruction from one professor johnny marr in salford, uk, which of course is also home to the wonderful montgolfier brothers. and speaking of the 1980s, alison moyet weighs in on some of her influences. it was also on a guardian blog that I learned about the latest installment of new yorker critic sasha frere jones vs. indie rock. the man is so hung up on this indie-rock-ain’t-black-enough-for-me thing I cannot stand it! more shocking is how much the new yorker lets him get away with it (ie plugging his own band ui). I believe he has the right to think what he likes because I don’t advocate thought police — especially music taste police — and generally, apart from the merritt-is-racist debacle, which is utter nonsense, he seems completely sane. but he should find newer and better things to bang on about, really. anyway, I offer the usual apologies for blogging laziness but my things have all been in transit, my computer is USA ready now but I have no monitor, so bear with me as these posts trickle in…