HALF MAN
HALF MACHINE
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHAT DOES IT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAN?

Last night for Murray's early birthday surprise night out - I took him to see a band he love - Goldie Lookin' Chain. They are goofy Welsh 80's rap group. They were great because they don't take themselves seriously - at all! There are 8 yes EIGHT of them, although only a few actually are the 'main rappers.' The rest just dance around the stage and shout out things once and while - too funny. Although I do admit that I found them very hard to understand - the bass was EXTREMELY loud and their accents were hard to decipher!

Their hits include:

Half Man, Half Machine (thus explaining Murray's tinfoil photos above). The song is about a guy who covers himself in tin foil and then tells his friends that no it is not tinfoil, he is a robot. ha ha

This is Murray in his new 'GLC' headband (how 80's is THAT!) - please notice in the background a fan who wrapped tin foil around his legs, taped some of it to his shoulders, and made a lovely tin foil hat!

They closed the show with a song called 'I got a tracksuit.' These guys are what are called 'chavs' in the UK. They always wear tracksuit, big gold chains, and act tough (and they look kinda rough - like you don't want to make them mad)!

A video from my mobile phone - another of their hits 'Your Missus is a nutter.' Oops - now I know not to take videos sideways - oh well, you can still hear their Welsh accent come out in the song!

Oh - and very important - we went to Hamburger Union for dinner. IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!! I would never eat there again. Gross tiny little burgers with no sides for £6 each - which tasted like McDonalds' freeze dried patties - gross. They have nothing on GBK! (Gourmet Burger Kitchen). BUT they did have 'dill pickles' as a side - so I HAD to get one! REAL dill pickles are hard to find here, as nearly all the pickles here are sweet. This monster came out (well it SHOULD be big for 95 pence for ONE pickle) and it was ok! It was a bit too juicy - when you touched it it bounced back like a sea cucumber. But it was sorta vinegary - which is how I like my pickles - yummmm.

OH and I almost forgot - the venue last night was ULU (the University of London Union). It felt like stepping back in time! I spent four months back in 1999 taking classes in that building - SO bizarre to go back! It's a fantastic gig venue though - TINY! There were only about 200 people there!!! Oh and the surprise was great. I am TERRIBLE at keeping surprises - but I was able to manage it and it was fun that he didn't figure out who we were going to see until we were in line and he spotted someone's ticket!