New York - London - Manchester

Yesterday morning, I arrived in London, delirious and tired, and none of it really sinking in yet. Blame an overnight flight with little sleep and the still present effects of Benadryl I had taken to try to sleep on the flight. Jacob and I met up with David at his apartment and walked around Southbank, stopping in to look at the shows at the Tate Modern. Of particular note was Taryn Simon's show, "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters." From there, we walked over the Thames and headed into Soho to hit up some gay bars. It was here that I really started to wake up, to become more aware of the pulse of London, to feel it, to get excited about this trip, the fog from my flight having worn off.

We went to happy hour at G-A-Y. We had pints at Admiral Duncan. We bought mixed drinks from the corner store and drank them in a park. And then we went to Village, a very cheesy gay bar, overpriced, but this was the site where a beautiful moment happened last evening. They played Pulp's "Disco 2000." I sang along and got so insanely excited to be in London and singing along to this Pulp song and recalled when I first heard this song and fell in love with it, sometime in high school, a free promo CD of the single passed out at a concert to me, my only knowledge of Pulp at the time, and I played this one song over and over again, very much in love with this song. All of that enthusiasm came roaring across the decades last night in this gay bar. It was a very, very beautiful moment that I know I am failing to accurately convey.

Oh well. I am in Manchester now and there are other things to worry about, things to do that do not include sitting behind a computer and diarying every feeling that crossed my mind during the hearing of this particular song. We took a train here this morning and are in town for the next two nights for the Manchester International Festival. Tonight, we are seeing Bjork perform Biophilia, and I will probably be a sobbing, emotional mess because this woman moves me like no one else and I encountered her during those vulnerable teen years and she got her hooks in me then and hasn't ever let loose. I am so fucking excited for tonight. And then tomorrow, we are going to see The Death and Life of Marina Abromovic, a new opera being performed by Antony, Marina Abromovic, and Willem Defoe. Also so insanely excited for that.

This afternoon, we had a really bland burrito and went to see the 11 Rooms exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery. I am listening to Bjork now, am about to take a shower, and soon will meet up with Toby for some food before going to see motherfucking Bjork perform!