JazzRefreshed: Organism

I learned about this jazz club via myspace before I left Atlanta and I
finally checked it out the other night. This band called Organism
played and they were really good...particularly the organist!

The Tube

I've gotten quite familiar with the tube at this point and for the
most part I thinks its a good system. Luckily I dont use it for my
daily commute to work as it gets really crowded and stuffy. Most
Londoners complain about that aspect of it - and that it closes too
early (around midnight). But for most jaunts its worked well for me. I
have an Oyster card that I prepay which gets me everywhere within
zones 1&2 (central London) for about $3 a trip.

Play at Home Plate

 

I tried to make the play at home plate but couldn't.... I did get some applause for my efforts nonetheless.

The CNN Thrashers

I joined the CNN thrashers softball team today for their preseason
game against MTV. I pitched three innings and hit a single. We lost
badly but still had a great time. The logo above has a bat instead of
a hockey stick in case you can't tell. Tomorrow is the first real game
against some big ad agency. I'll be there if I can.

Little Venice

This is a very quaint area of London where two or more canals meet up - appropriately named Little Venice. I walked by here yesterday and a full sized swing band was playing on one of the little islands. Many of the boats you can see here sold crafts or food they were cooking on the deck. It was really nice.

Pub Golfers

These guys identified themselves as Pub Golfers... I never saw them
swing the club but they sure looked the part. They asked me to join
their gang based on my cap alone!

View From Primrose Hill

One thing I've noticed about London is that there are very few open vistas of the city. Its mostly flat and quite dense and so you just see the buildings in front of you. I was told the top of Primrose Hill had the best view of the city and I was not disappointed. Many people were hanging out at the top having picnics and taking in the soft sunshine. It was good to get a general overview of landmarks I see from all the time, but rarely together. The other view I got was from the top floor of Mark and Aurea's home in the south of London - also very nice!

Softball in Regent's Park

I was walking through Regents Park this afternoon on my way to Primrose Hill to get a view of the city and I heard the familiar "crack" of a well hit fly ball. I turned to my left and noticed this group playing softball. They are the London Business School's intramural team. There were several Americans coaching them on the finer points. I stuck around watching them for a while - they looked pretty good!

Impressions of Denmark

Well, I'm back in London and about to embark on new adventures here as we have a bank holiday coming up on Monday and thus it should be a big weekend. But I still feel I have not given the Danes their due. They are mostly physically fit, well kept, stylish, and they speak English perfectly. It's humbling. I did not hear or see one grammatical mistake the whole time I was there, other than a few that came from me.

Copenhagen is a very well preserved and beautifully designed city. It's much quieter than London, and has a smaller, cobblestone vibe in the center, shown here. I must say that they really love statues of horse-mounted soldiers!

Of course, they are also very adept at modern architecture with unadorned and clever design concepts, particularly the interiors and functional components. The first thing I noticed in my hotel room was that you couldn't turn any lights on until you placed your key card in a slot - thus there was no way to leave the lights on. Obviously smart from a green perspective, but it's also user friendly because you always know exactly where you key is (an issue for me, I admit). In Turner's office in Lyngby (a northern suburb easily reached by train) with the touch of a button my colleague's desks rise up about a foot or so to counter height enabling a convenient standing meeting (which are more efficient since you're more likely to waste time if you're sitting). It was so cool... maybe you had to be there!

These are just two small examples of an intelligence society that has figured out smart solutions to common challenges. They are also really into American culture - skateboarding, break dancing, graffitti, jazz, blues, and rock music are all practiced here at a high level. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point.... I like Copenhagen.

Vespa DK

There are not as many scooters in Copenhagen as there are in London
(the Danes prefer bicycles, for which they have special lanes) but I
did see a few choice vintage ones. This Vespa GS struck me with its
unusual two tone color combo and the soft worn leather saddle seats.

I'm curious how it would handle on these coblestone streets.

Smorrebrog

I asked the good people in Turner's Copenhagen office to suggest a
traditional Danish dish for lunch and smorrebrog is what we got (split
three ways). Its an interesting combination of egg, beef, herring,
eel, Danish brie and various fruits and veggies all on a hearty piece
of bread. Yummy!

Funky Blues in Copenhagen

Arrived in Copenhagen this afternoon to meet up with Danish business
development team and hopefully finish up some deals. An Irish
bartender told me where to find decent music on a Monday night and I
took his advice. Ended up seeing Miss Delta, shown above, who laid it
down thick and with a very authentic, well played vibe. They sounded
like they could have been from Memphis, but when I spoke to them in a
set break I learned they were locals, as was evident by their Nordic
accents. Very impressive.

British Joker

This guy was out in front of a pub just taking the piss out of
everyone and generally being a loud, obnoxious, vulgar attention seeker.
He was so unrelenting and witty that he eventually won Chris, Maria
and me over!

Grupos Jovenes de Inglaterra

After work I wandered around Camden Town eventually striking up a
conversation with a Spaniard who was reading El Pais. He took me under
his wing and we joined up with a group of people from Latin America
over here teaching Spanish. We all went to this rock club Underworld
to watch local thrash metal bands have at it. Not exactly what I
expected from this group in terms of musical tastes, but it was a fun
night.

British Telly

After three weeks I finally turned on the television that sits in the corner of my living room - mainly out of curiousity about whether it would work. Up to that point I had been watching the final season of Arrested Development and various Adult Swim programs on my iphone. Anyway, although most Brits have just 5 channels to choose from, all five are high quality, particularly the 2 BBC channels. My favorite show is "Later with Jools Holland" where bands play live and then chat (or sometimes play) with Jools, who is also a top notch piano player. He picks from all genres and sometimes has a no-name player right after a big star. I can't see it ever happening in the States as its just too random, and frankly too musically adventurous for most Americans.