Bartolomy’s Diary

Here are some kissers from Sept 28th and Brian Haw shot last night, did not even make eye contact w. him, he was in his own world…..

I have a bad case of food poisoning, since yesterday morning and I have had little relief….David Caggiari who was supposed to be coming over for dinner on Tuesday eve has felt rough as well and therefore had to cancel, altho his is flu related, mine is from the Italian cafe in Mayfair whose lasagne wasn’t properly heated. Lorn Monet who ate the same dish had the same problem……will have a word with this lot tomorrow…..
Will try and shoot some Brian Haw, some tough times ahead for him as he wont get a juduicial review for the implenementation of the socpa law, and it could be over for him one way or another….but I know they must have something on their sleeve……the coppers are getting tough with them as well….to be cont.

These are black and white scans from the Fez Club which film I picked up last night from the b/w processing lab….and scanned in… Apartment @ Fez Club Reading Black and White scans
They paint an intimate picture, not a bad set……….something went wrong at the end of the 2nd roll and the film and did not transport back proper and got fogged on a few shots, then for some reason the third roll I managed to get one frame of Tom and then it failed to work during the groupshots, which I covered mostly in color anyways…but still…….Need to find out what is wrong.
I have shot maybe 15 rolls of film since the expensive repair just over a year ago and this is the last thing I need right now….

Sunday I get up early to go to Southfields, near Wimbledon to pick up some doors, only my contact doesn’t show up till an hour later as he had heavy night out…..thankfully I had Chips Chipping to keep me company and help me get these babies back to N16…

We arrive back in Stokey to pick up Terri to go to Stokefest in Clissold Park, there are about 15/20.000 peeps there and on a nice sunny day such as this the lager flows like no other, and the bar-b-q grub as well……we hang for roughly 3 hours and make our way home to pick up my camera kit to go to the Camden Lock tavern to see Apartment’s final gig of the tour which is an acoustic set at the Clash Magazine event. I meet and greet the band and they are jaded, moody, moany, you name it, clearly a week’s drinking and late night antics has taken its toll……and the band looks forward being finished with the tour….I on the other hand think this gig could become something special..
The set starts ok-ish with slow tempo/lower voiced versions of “10.000 Times” and “My Brother Chris”, the band sound good, it is just that Terri and I both are not that keen on the lower voice David “you should allow comments on your blog, you are a coward” Caggiari uses…..
“Fall Into Place” in my opinion the weakest song on the album (”The Dreamer Evasive” out in Jan. 2007) sounds tons better acousticly it clearly was made to be presented like that, the crowd is lapping it up, but it is George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” that creates a magical moment I have not witnessed before at any other Apartment show and David Caggiari has the crowd in the palm of his hand……..

The crowd want another song and the band play “People” which is only played the second time this year (York in July was the first) and the first time in an acoustic version, and this gets the band, esp. David Caggiari, and the crowd in an estatic buzz, it is the type of stuff people will talk about many years to come……awesome show!!!!!!!!!
Not many pix but the crowd shot is one of my faves, the couple kissing in the door opening means I will add it to my the-kiss project as well, DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!!!

Speaking of kissing, I snagged two couples outside on the roof terrace, one of them were soo out of it and they were touching eachother up it even made my missus blush……kids huh

All Apartment shots here:Apartment @ Camden Lock Tavern

Here is the entire set of Apartment @ Fez Club Reading

I am going to pick up a set of Georgian doors I have been given by a m8 who was going to throw them away, I am going to replace the crap doors in our house with them, should look real nice.

Thursday left for Reading around 3 pm, and met up with Apartment about an hour later, they had just arrived from Bournemouth, they are kinda subdued coz they have been @ it and did not get to sleep till 5 am, after a short stroll thru town they all go back to the venue (Fez Club) to hang in the dressingroom, a filthy sofa, a chair and a shelve is their domain for the next 8 hours……
I am informed the band will go to Germany by the end of this month, also Tenerife is on the books, so is NYC, well well well……..

While Delays are soundchecking we chat and I take some shots of David Caggiari and Tom Gillet who are toying with some ideas and recording them, Davide DeSantis is on the blower constantly…..
The soundcheck takes ages and the band does not get to the stage with their kit ’till after 7 pm, and after a lot of sound problems the band just about finishes just before 8 pm (their showtime) so not a lot of time left to do any shots, I intended to take some extreme close-ups but there is simply not a lot of time, I take a few quick bandshots and that’s it, it is also better that way as the band lose interest rather quickly after 2 shots the fun and games begin, after the show same thing, maybe I ought to bring a whip or a gun along……………heh heh.
I have been “warned” by David Caggiari not to slag them off too much on my diary as this would strain our friendship………………yeah yeah yeah………as a matter of fact the sarcastic and stinging remarks fly around like never before….it’s code for that they are happy to see me
So just after 8 pm the band hit the stage and the setup is different, David Caggiari is on the left (normally Davide Desantis’ spot), Liam Fletcher is in the middle with Tom Gillet and Davide DeSantis on the right…
Between Tom Gillet and Liam Fletcher is a massive pillar talk about waste of space, anyways……
The band start of with “Paid In Full” and soundwise there are troubles galore but Apartment’s soundman Ash is correcting it all nicely so by the second track its parteeee time…..shame there are not a lot of peeps about but during the gig this steadily grows……
The lightshow is dreadfull, typical support slot yada yada, I wish they had installed their infamous white lights coz the house stuff was plain anoying… My fave album track “June July” is played (their 3rd time on this tour) and it sounds excellent, I am well impressed, also nice to see David Caggiari drop everything and grab the mic and take center stage (”I headbanged quite a lot”) he even manages to go up close and then put his hand in front of my lens.
I manage to shoot some b/w as well, did about 3 rolls which still need processing….
The gig ends after roughly half an hour where I take another band shot (the idea was “dry&wet”) and I am thinking of sandwiching one before and one after-show shot. ……will keep y’all posted.
Right after the gig I meet my old m8 Steve Champion who lives/works in Reading “I wanna come back to London, I have had enough”, he invites me to a heavy techno do next door, which I politely decline. He said that he liked Apartment, just like my brother Eric who I played the album to 6 weeks ago, caught on after one listen…………
What defies my belief is that between Delays and Apartment is a DJ who plays a 45 min. set, the DJ in question is Eddie TM and I must say it wasn’t bad, as a matter of fact I thought it was pretty good, but it was completely wrong to have him on the bill, wrong place at the wrong time, ’nuff said. Apartment should have had a 45mins slot simple as that.
Delays are on around half 9, and I must have missed several meetings here coz I don’t like them much, they are not meaty enough for me (that explains perhaps why there are quite a lot of female fans in the Fez Club), their sound in the back is dreadfull, and Steve Champion and I give it all a miss after 45 mins, and so do a few others, who are die-hard Delays fans… While I walk towards the front the sound is significantly better but too little too late, I hang with Apartment in their shack and decide to go for a bite to eat with Alex Most, one of the band’s managers, it’s half 10 and almost everything is closed in Reading, all we can get is some KFC type rip off……huraaaaaaaaaaaah
At midnight I climb into the band’s bus, as I have been offered a ride back, this takes almost 3 hours, as everyone has to be dropped off at various locations in London. The seats are spartan and not even half as comfy as the “My Brother Chris” tourbus so trying to sleep in them is HELL.
What is good fun is Liam Fletcher on the acoustic doing all kinds of impersonations…
The band are off to Sheffield today and back tomorrow where they are playing an acoustic set at the Clash Magazine party in Camden, no doubt many posers there, can’t wait to join ‘em…..

Friday went to Green Park and managed to snag a couple of kissers, now it had rained all day so I did not expect to catch anyone so it was a nice suprise. Then at Parliament Square I see a large group of people, and I am going owwwwww this could be interesting, but Brian Haw is not there, it’s Mark Thomas who has gathered a crowd of people to defy the Socpa regulations and they use a megaphone to say/sing all kinds of funny stuff. I see about the last 5 mins of it…. They do this every Friday, good luck to them, the coppers do not give it a lot of attention….

One couple that was kissing I managed to snag and a few more of Brian Haw who was pacing the grass on Parliament Square making a phone call when I arrived, stayed for about 10 mins………..

I am off to Reading to shoot Apartment supporting Delays, trying to shoot some b/w for a change as well….the old Nikon F5 has been dusted off for the occasion :-0

I shot Brian haw last night at around 11 pm, he was having a sleep as he was very tired from all the events of the past few weeks. I played around with flash, flash and slow shutter speed and also took shots with just the street/car lights….
I like ‘em

I was supposed to work today but it has been delayed, so I shot a couple of rolls with flowers instead….prolly going to take another 2 months to have them processsed/contacted/scanned :-0

I spoke to Alex Most who is on tour with Apartment, and it looks that I will only do their Reading gig this coming Thursday. There is no space for me in the hotel or the bus, Alex himself kips on the floor……it is THAT low budget.

I also had a word with Errol Jones who is the art dir. of Spa Secrets Magazine, and the issue with my story comes out next week, but I have been told I have lost the cover (it has become some sort of insert instead) and the story has been reduced from 8 to 6 pages……I hope they dumped my two least favorite shots….

The sale site wont go live for at least week until I have sorted out all the wording of terms/shipping and whatnot out…..

DIY galore, as itiz da weekend off course :), finishing the glossing and also been sanding off a fireplace I was given 10 days ago, it looks really nice, I will take a shot when finished.
I am supposed to be given some Georgian doors this coming week as well, which I will try and get dipped later on…

Have booked a 5 day trip to Pisa (IT) from Jan 11-16, for the missus’ b-day (on Jan 14th). Florence is only an hour away, and Sienna is not far away either, should be nice and quiet in Jan., shame it aint hot and sunny but I am looking forward to another break….. It was dirt cheap (thru Ryanair) and just had to be booked :-0

Apartment have left on tour with Delays without me, after some serious miscommunication and a few shouts from me on the phone, things have settled a bit…..it looks I might even join them in about a week’s time to shoot a few gigs in Reading and Sheffield.
They will feel my lurve……especially Liam “LORD” Fletcher:-)
It looks like David Caggiari and I are making a “perfect” couple, if only………………

Jackie Beeke, from True Love Always rang and has plans for more pix, and also wanted me to come along the Skin two event early Oct., i have been to one be it many many years ago….should be fun.

Meanwhile the remaining flowers, I am off for a run:

Paperwork, more paperwork and some photoshopping, boooooooooring but it has to be done.
I have decided to go live with the archive sales site on Monday as well, no more excuses, it’s about bloody time too. Just have to upload about 100 images and sort some text out and that ought to do it….

I tried to snag some kissers close to Liverpool St. station but I was way too early (I had a meeting with stylist Valentina Tiuribini earlier in Brick Lane) 11 pm is more of a right time coz that’s when they all stagger out the bars all pissed………….say it aint tr00

Besides that I have scanned most of the flowers in, here are a few, I shall add more soon.

I finally got my finger out and had the flower stuff processed (must have been in the fridge for more than 2 mths, way to go barto……. ). I shall scan some in tonight and add them….
Furthermore some meetings planned and I wanna try and see if I can snag some kissers in The City (only a busride away….) Should be good on a Thursday eve.

Will shoot some more flowers this afternoon,the season is almost over so a few more wont hurt…..

The entire weekend has been used for more glossing, and I can say that I am pretty much done with it, besides a tidy up almost everything is done.

I also had some time to work on the Apartment shot which I think should have been used for the promo of “10.000 Times”, yesterday morning genius here lost it with all its retouching and had to redo all of it…….

Add on @ 18:45 pm;
I did not know I was going thru such a bastard of a day, but absolutely nothing worked or got arranged that I wandered about in Green park in a stinker of a mood, shot one couple in Green Park and moved on and I also photographed Brian Haw for about 2 mins and left as well, made no effort to have any contact whatsoever took a few shots and fucked off……

There is a lot of anger inside of me, one way or another it’ll come out……..I hope it’ll be creative

I am knackered, literally shot to sjeete…..it has been going on all week….

I saw Apartment on Wednesday eve. at Jamm in Brixton (da hood….) which was a bit of a strange one…..
The band looked really good and played the new single “10.000 Times” along the new one (which is starting to grow on me), and “Ghosts Of An Unforgiveable Past” (still do not like the way they play it live………), “Everyone Says I’m Paranoid”, “Beyond My Control” (both great songs) and a couple more….
The biggest shocker to everyone in the crowd was the kiss shared between David Caggiari and Tom Gillet, it happened soo bloody quick I only got a blurry shot there, been enlarging/looking @ it and am wondering if Tom slipped him the tongue…………………………
The white lights were there again, which created a lot of flare in the shots, also drove my metering/focusing systems bonkers, I can live with it, altho I have bitched to David Caggiari about it :-0 Fellow photographer Elena did not like it one bit……….
Liam Fletcher and I exchanged some looks/laughter during the show, it was pretty funny.
Managed to take some fine looking pix, here are a few.

View the whole set
Apartment @ Brixton Jamm

Also snagged a couple outside Brixton Station just before jumping on the bus towards Jamm

I did not feel at my best at all yesterday so I had to skip an invitation to see Ben Drakeford last night, I had been out drinking two nights in a row and felt like a sponge…..
I saw a nice short film called “Guilty By Nature” by Joe Barnet last Friday eve on Columbia Rd., it runs just below 10 mins and it was really well done, have look: http://www.guiltybynature.com/

Then Saturday and all day today it was DIY time, and I mean DIY…glossing, glossing and more glossing oh and some paint stripping….:-0 To tell you the truth I am fed up w. it and I know coming weekend I have to do it again, and I know for a fact that I wont be finished then either It is just one of those things that need doing as the house has not been properly looked after in the 15 years it has been around…the front looks great tho, without sounding like the big bragger I normally am, but ours looks the best in the street…..for now that is heh.

Apartment played the Hoxton Bar and Grill last night, now I used to have loads of meetings in there, but this was all way before the refurb and little did I know that there was a proper sized gig venue in the back….
I meet da band 15 mins before showtime and must say that they look really good. Davide DeSantis even spots a new haircut (”I am scaring you again?”, not at all son :-0), Tom Gillet has grown a full beard, which suits him, I should have done a band shot were it not that there were any proper places to do so…
The band starts with a new song which does not have a name yet, and they also play “Ghost Of An Unforgiveable Past” which in my mind still does not sound right, speaking of sound, it was very low on the volume and I could barely hear Davide’s lead parts…..
The set is 35 mins and is also way way too short for my liking, and the crowd’s as the response is very good.
The band has also purchased some lights which they have placed along the backline and it freaks my light meter out big time, especially as they have dimmed the front lights. Still some nice shots, some w. flash and some without. Next week the band play in Brixton and after that they are touring with Delays, who no doubt will be blown off the stage noite after noite

View the entire set here: Apartment @ Hoxton Bar and Grill