JR of Pierrot Le Fou yelling from his Amnesty soapbox/booth across the square: Hey Andy! Andy Martin! Come and Sign our Petition for the Monks of Burma!
Andy: Nah.
JR: why not?
Andy: I Don’t Care!
Indie Kids (Collectively): WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?
( we went back and signed it sortof, but it was fascinating to see a bunch of sari attired (come on, the Burmese don’t wear tied-ey sari’s) look so ethically disgusted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/world/asia/28cnd-myanmar.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Today I saw a girl wearing about 32 yards of rich, butter-coloured toile embroidered jacquard. It was bunched around her waist making a ballgown skirt, and had curtain tasselling up the back, large balloon sleeves, and a medieval neckline enhanced with a selection of more frothy fabrics. I was telling Andy about it on the way to the library today because I felt really sorry for her even though I know she’s probably in the Swords and Quills clubs with lots of friends. Im sure she has lots friends even though she looked really lonely. Andy said she was dressed like 1000 years too old hence some degree of isolation. Segregating yourself so historically can’t be that great of an idea. He then did an impression of himself trying to avoid being befriended by an student dressed in chainmail.

I like both these coats a lot. They are from topshop. I need a winter coat.

Say I’m not in Provo and I went to Blockbuster to get some whack old movie I saw when I was 10, i.e.Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood, it would be there No Doubt. What WOULD be missing would be Vampire Seductresses III, American Pie or xXx (ft. Vin Diesel)- none of which I care to see believe it or not.
Or say you’re at a movie, say……ANY MOVIE. You hit a mildly funny part that warrants a smirk, and before you execute it, the entire theatre is in uproar guffawing obnoxiously. At home, you might get the odd wally that’d yell when something happened, or laugh ‘too’ loud, but for the most part, it was actually an enjoyable experience. Attending the cinema in Provo has redefined my definition of annoying cinema behavior.

And what about pumpkins? Its well over a month and a half before Halloweed hits us and you know that if you don’t snag the pretty pumpkins on the pile already, they’ll be gone before you can think of a costume. Its so insane.

Andy made a really interesting comment. Because few people drink here, the economy booms. Everyones money goes into “wholesome activities” such as bowling, go-karting, movie watching, pumpkin carving, tennis court hogging etc etc. Seriously, I mean theres only 1 liquor store I can think of in Provo. (you didn’t NEED liquor stores back home, Tesco had all your alcoholic needs covered). But seriously. there were always silly movies available because most people wanted bad ones. The cinema was always fairly quietbecause people hadn’t seen Napoleon Dynamite 43 times already and wanted to laugh 3 seconds before each joke. There were always pumpkins because Halloween equated to thinking of the sluttiest/sexiest costume you can get away with for some drunken party – not oversized vegetable knifing.
Boo. Down with all you Cougs turning life into some feverish frenzy to get to the movies 2 hours early, get your pumpkin 2 months early and reserve a movie two years in advance.

I have felt a little bit homesick recently. It’s kind of a strange feeling because even when I sit and contemplate that recent case covered on BBC of Teeny Teenager Liverpool Gangs shooting each other down, or the rape incidence rate in manchester, or whatever – I’m still left missing some part of being in England.
Christmas was kinda difficult because we were really stressed, and I dont think Andy was too happy because it was weird, and not his home, and the weather was gloomy. But it’s not always so weird there.
I don’t really know what Im missing to be honest. Theres no Denny’s or Family Owned equivalent (i’m excited to go to King’s in PA!) for teenagers to hang out with friends and munch junk food. Theres just cold, orange streetlamp lit streets to smoke narcotics under.
If the government could isolate thugs from regular humanity, England would be lovely.
I really miss lots of things including the following:
Tesco’s. Just Tesco’s in general. Whether it be going there late night for a snack just because there was nothing else to do, or to specifically buy their chocolate chunk cake.
English (aka Danish) Bacon
Lurpak adverts at Christmastime
Complaining about how much Thornton’s is a total waste of money while purchasing a single Vienesse truffle with Nicky
Nicky mistakenly thinking Astley park was actually safe
The fact there had to be 10ft chainlink fences up around my high school
Having to go to HSBC because online banking wasnt so hot yet
Having a pretty, unique Temple 20ft away from me most of the time
H&M/Topshop
Roundabouts
Bus Stops
Open Air markets
Old Towns
Pharmacies selling sasparella drops and sticks of that gross rooty stuff my mum liked so much
Green carpet in the family room.

Last year, Maht, Matt and Giff organized a festival of local art and music which they names Sego. I didn’t get to go last year because I was in England working my face off at various projects hoping the dollar stayed at 2 to the pound. Anyway. Andy was fortunately placed at a great time of day and played up at the Ampitheatre behind the mental hospital. This year, Andy played at the kick off show. He played second, which was perfect because the crowd was full and people were ready for something more lively following Good Day Maxfield. Andy gave a seriously great performance.

Alex Long (yeah, i’m talking foghat-morrissey Alex Long), commented totally out of the blue, that Andy was what Lou Reed would have sounded like, if he’d understood the concept of melody… Andy’s had his voice compared to Lou Reed’s before but coming from Alex, rather that some Amy Cooper somebody I didnt meet anyway it meant a lot more. Especially being familiar with his extreme music eliteness. Alex is the one that said quite frankly that “girls just don’t understand Beck”. really like Andy’s stage presence. Theres nothing cocky about it, but its confident and you know he knows what he’s doing. He’s so tall, but it works really well for him on stage. The show was out on the street too, so that was really good fun. They blocked off 150N off University.

The only bad thing about the entire night for me, was that a performer in Saturdays Sego line up distracted a collection of indie kids from attending a good show simply because Sego Organizers could let his non-Provo friend play at a Provo Music festival. That ticked me off. The crowd was massive though. Actually yeah, it was really big and a lot of fun. a lot of people danced through Andy’s set, including a selection of love-smitten freshman girls I watched drooling after my husband bwahaha.

Thanks to Jessie Huish for these lovely pictures!