pootling

i thought that this was a really interesting post on the gay/straight debate. i’m really not in a position to comment from any personal experience of being gay, but i agree with tom here on the fact that we label the terms very sloppily, like being gay, lesbian, trans-gender, a drag queen or a huge range of others are all just aspects of the same thing - which they’re clearly not.

it reminds me of a wonderful book, “i am right, you are wrong” by edward de bono, where he talks about the limitations on our thoughts of the on/off right/wrong ways of thinking we have - seems to me that the gay/straight categorising is of the same over-simplified thinking.

it also reminds me of wittgenstein, and his theories of how the limitations of our language bring about confusion over the way we discuss particular things.

so there we go - gay/straight debate to wittgenstein in a few simple steps. but then, pretty much anything works its way back to wittgenstein sooner or later in my humble opinion.

why this has caught my interest today, i’m not really sure. i heard about the death of my uncle a few hours ago, and somehow, philosophy always seems to rear up at that sort of time. i think it’s for a wide range of reasons, not least of which is the way it takes my mind off personal issues - i guess we all have our little idiosyncrasies.

the reading festival’s on this weekend, and it’s got a fantastic line-up - i love the pixies, and a chance to see marilyn manson should not be missed…

…however…

i went a few years back - i think it was 2001 when there was no glastonbury - and i hated it. here are some of the reasons why

1. it a festival with day-trippers, so the main site is closed from the campsite - the queue to get in, both at the beginning of the day and all the way through the day is ridiculous
2. they take not only cans and bottles of you (fair enough) but also any water or plastic bottles - purely so they can sell it to you at ridiculous prices
3. the teeny-slipknot t-shirt-wearing idiots that go are annoying (this is by no means all, but it’s enough to spoil your weekend
4. the site is so tiny that you can hear what’s going on at one stage from the main stage
5. i’m sure they turn the volume down as it gets later - residential area and all that
6. finally, on the last day - when i needed to get to work the next day - i endured people knocking over toilets (oh so funny), burning everything in site (including two charmers who were fire-breathing next to our tent at 2 in the morning) and a large contingent of people playing the bins into the early hours

i would like to point out that i’m all for having fun at a festival - the problem with reading is that people are all chucked into such a tiny space that wherever you are, there’s someone nearby doing something else that’s annoying you - and that really grates over a weekend.

all that said, it tends to get the best line up of all of the festivals, and if someone could point me towards a good blogger covering the fest i’d love to see it. maybe i just had a bad experience, but i really can’t see myself going again.

so, with an achy neck from sleeping on the ground in a tent in the red campsite, i awoke to see what v had to offer me for another day. it didn’t get off to a good start.

we were let in on time on this occasion, but for no really useful reason. i saw a jimi hendrix tribute band called rooster, who were rubbish. i’ve never been a fan of that particular form of pseudo rock and roll. we left them to make our way across to see el presidente, who were also rubbish. i was not feeling as though the festival was going to get another visit.

we wandered listlessly around the site looking at the none too exciting stalls, and wishing we’d brought some suncream since it was actually beginning to get a little hot.

after this, we got something to eat and made our way over to see joss stone - not my choice, but she wasn’t as bad as i’d thought, she can sing, and she was trying (in the better sense of the word), which counted for a lot.

things really started to improve when we made our way back to the jjb sports arena, because the missus was keen to see goldfrapp. i’d never been a fan, but i have to say that they were fantastic.

it was then topped by the genius of dizzee rascal, who blew me away, and has prompted me to listen to a lot more of his music, which is fantastic.

when i really thought things couldn’t get any better, we made our way to the volvic stage (shudder) to see ozomatli, who i find it really difficult to describe but seemed to manage to cross most genres of music at some point in their amazing set, finishing off with a journey through the crowd with percussion, a trumpet and a trombone. go and see them live - your sanity depends on it.

the prodigy could never quite top that performance, but my faith was renewed. i think it was more that i came to realise that it doesn’t really matter what the stage is called, when the music’s that good, who cares what’s written on the entrance to the stage.

the v festival also has a few advantages. if you really want to, you can hang around the right of the v stage and see a load of c-list celebs - we managed to spot vanessa from the big brother before last, bez (my personal favourite), a few coronation street and hollyoaks “stars” and many a tv presenter (watching vernon kay getting pelted with bottles was a laugh).

maybe i’ll see the v festival again yet.

so, just returned from the v festival in chelmsford. i thought it was a bit mixed. to be fair to the festival, it generally suffers in my point of view for being the next festival i go to after glastonbury. it’s never going to live up to that, but there we go.

friday’s weather and the saturday line-up didn’t help much. although it started well with tom vek, and the magic numbers were their usual bashful, but brilliant selves, i was beginning to feel like it was a corporate party that a few members of the public could pay to get to.

then, the proclaimers then took the jjb sports arena (i hate having to refer to areas of the site by their respective sponsors as well) and put in a corking performance, with all the crowd wailing along to the only two songs anyone seems to know (letter from america and 500 miles, the latter of which the vast majority of people still managed to get wrong). still, i was impressed.

the kaiser cheifs were their normal, charming selves, but the return of the glastonbury dinosaur only managed to reinforce all of the things i was missing about glastonbury. i popped off early, to go and see the streets, who i love. but mike had lost his voice, and although he soldiered on, drinking loads of what we’ll call water, it didn’t improve, and either because of this, or because no-one really seemed to know who they were, there was a poor atmosphere.

all that said, the day finished on a high with the chemical brothers who were fantastic - and much better than when i saw them at glastonbury a few years back - broadly because this time around i was in a far better state to appreciate what was going on.

at the end of the day, though, i felt slightly disappointed. i’ve always had small reservations with the v festival, but this time around, i was really thinking that i wasn’t going to go back…

ok, so first blog entry. i suppose i’m supposed to set out what i’m doing and tell you all about me.

but, instead, i’m going go with the title of the blog, and pootle off to a music festival in a field down the road for a couple of days.

maybe i’ll tell you all about it when i get back.

maybe i won’t and instead forget that i ever signed up for this whole bandwagon.

stay posted to find out!!!!