England

I have really been enjoying England since arrival. There is so much to do here and so many people to meet. I have been staying at the YHA in Bristol, which is a very busy place. They seem to sell out all the time and have huge groups of students coming and going all the time. I think I am the only one that has stayed for more than 1 week. Bristol is a really nice city because it is relatively small, full of great music, and very beautiful. All the houses here have spanish tile and when you are on a hike or someplace looking down at the city it is very pretty. England is full of small cities surrounded my lush green countryside. My first week I met many people and mostly stayed in Bristol trying to get into the swing of things. I went to the Bristol University and saw an exhibit featuring a local graffiti artist known as "Banksy". Some of his art is up on my YouTube. I though his style was very interesting and creative. I have become a regular at a local bar and cafe called Mackenzies, which has the best food i've found yet. I went to London for one night and visited a world famous nightclub called Fabric. Fabric was a lot of fun there was 3 rooms of music and one of my favorite current artists from the UK "Silkie". This was definitely a highlight so far. The weekend after Fabric I was mostly just hanging out walking around and visiting new places around Bristol including some local records shops. I met a group of local DJs at a bar called the Tube which was really exciting because I have heard of a few of these DJs all the way from CA and it was cool to just get to hang out with some accomplished musicians. I am going back to the Tube on Wednesday the 22nd to see a few more DJs that are on tour right now. I have been trying all different types of ciders, which is what the English drink instead of beer. It is brewed with apples and pears in the same way you would brew a beer and is delicious. My favorite so far is a local brew called the "Old Bristolian" and is nearly 8.5% so you can only drink one or 2 but are very good. I have been going to different places meeting new people but some have been slightly strange. Some guy came up to me at a bar and licked the whole side of my face. He said his friend dared him to lick my sideburns. This was really strange and uncool and I think he was just looking for a fight. Some words were exchanged but nothing happened and they got kicked out of the bar. Very weird. Some people have had some very weird reactions to the beard. Anyways, I couldn't stay at the YHA on last Wednesday so I walked up the street to another hostel called Full Moon Backpackers Hostel. This hostel was much smaller but had a friendlier vibe. I only stayed one night and the next day met up with a group of kids that I met online that live in Bristol and we took a charted bus to Glade Festival. Glade was absolutely insane. I didn't think I could handle it and wondered "What did I get myself into?" on Thursday night because it was raining really hard and was cold and seemed like it wasn't going to be very fun. I lasted through the night and the next day was really excited to hear some good music and meet some new people. I met so many people over the weekend it was overwhelming. I've always been kind of bad at names so I have been making a point to get better while I am on my trip. Even the friends I was with were surprised at how easy is was for me to talk to anyone there and how much people would come up and talk to me. It was very fun and I had a bunch of good conversations with a lot of people, mostly the English. Thursday was the hardest rain we experienced throughout the weekend but it still rained here or there. I bought some wellie boots which were crucial to stay dry and out of all the mud. I was so dirty by the end of it, all I wanted was to take a shower. There was 10 different stages playing music, and all sorts of smaller tents and private set ups playing music for nearly 20 hours a day.

Friday I saw a bunch of DJs and musicians including:

DJ Ben & Lex
Ollie 303
Mystery
Lukie B
A Skillz
The filthy dukes
The egg
DJ Zinc
Alkemy
Ironside
Stivs
Femi Kuti
DMZ - Coki, Mala, Loefah, & Sgt. Pokes
Pinch
Mutant Clan
Dave Clarke

Saturday I saw:

Beardyman
Jazzsteppa
Hudson Mohawke
16 Bit
Milanese
Squarepusher
Carl Craig

Jazzsteppa then Hudson Mohawke and then 16bit was an amazing line-up definitely a huge highlight.

Sunday was the best line up. I never left the same tent except to catch a few artists I needed to see. The Overkill tent line up was:

downshifter
MarkOmen
Reso
Channel One Soundsystem
Mumdance
Raffertie
Starkey
Rusko w/ Rod Azlan
Tayo
Drop the Lime
Benga

Wow, I couldnt believe that line-up all in the same tent. 11 hours of awesomeness. I also saw that day:

Stereo:Type
Noisia
Andy C
Underworld

Overall amazing event and I had a great time. I didn't sleep very much during the weekend. But I did make this video: (I am so awkward on camera its hilarious)





I love my family. You are my strength and my backbone. I cannot thank you enough for being so supportive of this trip. You are all very important to me there are not words to describe my undying love for you. I miss you all so much but am excited to be here and have been having a really good time so far. I have just been relaxing since the festival and I am going to a few shows later this week. I am so excited to be going to Italy and then Spain! More to come...

Love,

Alan