there is no roseability – The White Russians at The Excelsior

there is no roseability.

The White Russians at The Excelsior

// 23rd November

It’s exam time. Some days in exam time are great, others are lame. At one point last week I was having a terrible day. And by terrible I mean that I wasn’t revising anything. And I was tired. My brain wasn’t working, and I fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon. A similar occurrence the day before, incidentally, was the reason I was so tired–long afternoon naps and very late nights are not ideal. I woke up during the evening to discover via Twitter that Pinky Beecroft was playing a gig at The Excelsior, for the launch of The White Russians new album. With my brain feeling like mush nothing useful could happen if I stayed in. So I called Crin, who I don’t think ever turns down an invite to a gig. We headed into the city, a touch early to the venue as we needed door tickets. After securing tickets we went for a wander, we both wanted a beer and Crin wanted cake for some reason. We found a muffin at a dodgy convenience store, where the Arab clerk made jokes about it being my birthday cake, and offering to sell us candles as well. Those muffins look like they have been in a deep-freezer somewhere for years.

Crin’s cake-craving sated, we wandered into a kitsch looking pub, where I were promptly pounced on by a lass who wanted to know if I would like, “a free beer to start off my night”. She definitely looked like she was gonna try make me sign up for something though, but after establishing there was no catch I was all heck yes. So she led me over to a machine that had ‘ABM’ (Automatic Beer Machine) on it, and said that if I inserted my ID in the slot, a beer would come out. I found this somewhat astounding, but also quite hilarious, and was trying to figure out how on earth that could work, but she kept talking to me and also wanted to take our photo, which I didn’t really question as by this time the night was turning out to be full of unexpected hilarity. I inserted my ID, and sure enough a beer came out. Unfortunately it was a Pure Blonde. Free is free. But we were still pretty curious, so Crin walked around behind the machine and discovered a man inside it, whose job it was to check IDs, grab a beer out of his Esky, and drop it through the chute. Of course.

Back at the gig I figured I’d buy a copy of the new album at the merch table. Lucky I did, turns out there is no physical release of the album, aside from 200 signed copies sold at gigs only. I got number 5.

Turns out it’s a great album. Very different from the first one, this one is much more mellow. But like the last one, it’s a sensational blend of wit and heart.

They played two full-length sets, back-to-back. The first was an acoustic set, which was made up mainly of material from the new album. The second was a bit louder, and was mostly material from the old album. Like last time I saw them, Pinky was very funny, and the rest of the band just did a good job of looking funny. The last song of the encore was Fabulous Driving, which I enjoyed immensely, and as Pinky went to sing the very last word his voice gave out. he croaked, “Ya gotta be kidding”, and tried again. Could have been faked, but I felt like I had got my money’s worth.

On our way out Crin tried to ask the guest trumpet/harmonica player a question, but he kept squinting funny and didn’t answer the question properly. No idea what was wrong with that kid.

You can buy the album from iTunes. Or you could just buy one of the songs. In fact, go look under the cushions on your couch right now. Now, see that $2 coin? Good, now, buy any one of those songs (I recommend Letter From Ward Five, True Love Lies, You Make Me Nervous, or Roses Under My Feet), they are only $1.70. Okay, now, I have just made you 30 cents richer. Yeah, you can thank me later. Now, listen to the song a few times. Now you know that you want to buy the whole album! Or if you don’t want to buy the whole album that’s okay–we can stop being friends now.

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