HarshReality: European Escapade Blog [20]
Going Off!
Written By: Shane Fenton.
I know, I know… it’s been a while since a blog though for bloody good reason, Cate and I have been neck deep in Off Festival press commitment awesomeness for SoundStageReview during the past week. It’s such a tough life at times!
I won’t even bother trying to catch up on a week of blogs, way too much has happened so let’s just get to Off Festival, which was incredible.
So we made our way to Katowice for a week of musical media misadventure, Katowice is a town of total confusion for me, the public transport system, buses especially, left me wondering how the town functioned on even the most basic level, seriously, neither one of us could make heads or tails of the strange coordination in place. Public transportation was so insane eventually we just walked to the AWF Hotel on foot because the bus lines were that much of a joke, I guess the moral lesson here is, owning a car in Katowice is best!
The AWF hotel is also a strange place, obviously, during the schooling months this hotel is a student house so I wasn’t expecting much, this was confirmed when we had breakfast the next morning. In all honesty for the price we paid for breakfast I shouldn’t complain, it’s just in Australia I would expect a very different breakfast, this is one of those cultural differences I have simply not become use too quite yet, though I am working on changing my attitude to such things.
So moving to the festival, seriously, I was left impressed with the co-ordination and professionalism of the event, from the time Cate and I arrived at the media tent on Friday to the time we left Sunday night neither one of us had any serious complaints about the event, with the exception of the weather and a few of the bands over the weekend, cause some of them really did suck!
A few groups that didn’t such were Meshuggah, Primal Scream, The Liars, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, YACHT and ofcourse Public Image LTD headed by the infamous Johnny Rotten which lived up to their reputations. With that being said the Polish artists were nothing to be short of praise with, performers such as Lech Janerka, Dezerter and my new favourite polish group Czesław Śpiewa Tesco Value were seriously incredible to witness and film live.
Personally this was just a great weekend for myself, for years I had wanted to film bands with Cate, this is why SoundStageReview was created, so I could film live bands by her side, finally, after years of waiting I have and it was awesome. Watching her work, seeing her results though most importantly being challenged to produce images as good as hers, it’s one of the most satisfying experiences I have ever had professionally, anyone that argues she doesn’t have a natural gift, just look at the images she produces, its breathtaking to experience.
If it wasn’t for the lousy weather Off Festival would have been perfect, sadly by the end of the event the grounds had become a quagmire of muddy filth, the thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday really effected the mood of many in attendance, additionally the power outage on Saturday also played havoc on the event though none of this was the festival’s fault, it was just shit luck!
Though these were small issues, honestly, as I mentioned on SoundStageReview.com the true highlight of my time at Off Festival, with the exception of all the photography I shot was a completely unknown French band called GaBLé. If you haven’t heard this band do yourself a favour and have a listen, this brilliant group will flood your senses with originality and an unexplainable Joy, like witnessing a teletuby riding a horse.
Ahhh… it’s a long and amusing story!
So after 72 hours, 2044 photos and a kilo of mud on my shoes Off Festival was over for another year, the next day we made our way back to Koźle where we have been enjoying the quiet and comfort of Cate’s Home, something very welcomed in all honesty, after 5 countries in 6 weeks, the constant travelling is wearing me down just a little, so this is a great time to just relax with friends.
The next stop for Cate and I will be Krakow and then Prague, ahh Krakow, the centre of Poland’s social scene and home to a select handful of distressingly superficial and pompous students that have nothing better to do than read blogs and focus on their self-induced educational related poverty… Sucks to be you!
…and dinner on the terrace was delicious!
Krakow is also the location where the great Oregano Chicken Culinary Challenge will be taking place in the coming days, for those of you unaware of this grand event, Cate’s friend Diana foolishly made a challenge a few months ago that she could produce a better Oregano Chicken dish than I, sadly for her she has bitten off more than she could chew, her confidence is already bruised after experiencing my Chicken Parmesan dish, as lovely as Diana is her chicken Oregano will sadly go down in flames. Regardless of the outcome, this event will be documented for the history books and a winner will be crowned on HarshReality, it will be glorious!
Oh… I’m not sure if this is the place to make such a statement, though last night South Park has just been renewed for another 2 seasons and additionally it was also South Park’s Birthday, it’s been an amazing ride, it’s far from over, if you don’t like it… well you suck on my chocolate salty balls!
Until Next Time… Toodles!
Written by: Shane Fenton.
Photo by: Shane Fenton.
©2011 HarshReality Photographic Studios ®™
