Night with the Finns at Uncle Sams

Kevin's Finnish friends Osmo, Anu and Empu took us last night to a bar in Dalston called Uncle Sams. The bar is small, with a makeshift stage underneath an old television and a pool table. A few fake plants grow in the corners and the walls are covered with framed photos of the owner's family and friends. Osmo and Anu had warned us the place would probably be empty but, after a mellow dinner at their place, that didn't seem like a bad prospect; I was looking forward to drinking a few pints over a quiet conversation and then heading home.

When we arrived at Uncle Sams, most of the tables were taken over by young dishelved bohemian-types. Men in black, wearing severe glasses, sat by the bar. Two old men were on the makeshift stage, one of them holding a saxophone, the other sitting behind a keyboard. The football game was turned off and the two old men began to play jazz songs.

Some of the dishelved dishevelled bohemian-types were trying a bit too hard to look like Pete Doherty and Russell Brand. A few hours later, more of them began to arrive: girls in tight jeans and hair piled up to look like a rat's nest; androgynous boys in capes, with long hair and pointy shoes. They all seemed to know each other as they air-kissed and circled the pool table. When they leaned in for a whisper, their jeans slid down their bony hits, exposing tatty underwear. Some self-consciously danced to the jazz; others were as still as statues, with cigarette smoke drifting out of their nostrils.

A young guy joined the men on stage and sang in a husky voice. He wore a tight-fitting vintage Oliver! musical t-shirt. A girl asked me to watch out because her pool cue was hanging over my head. It was Mikita Oliver, from T4, dressed in a black leather jacket.

By 2.30am, I couldn't take the crowd anymore pushing against my chair or the smoke blown into my face. We said our goodbyes and took the 277 bus home, arriving at our windblown tower block just after 3am.

For That Time of the Month

The Moody Bitch Mix

1. Arcangelo Corelli - Concerto grosso in G minor op.6, cello sonata no.8
2. Enya - Caribbean Blue
3. Cocteau Twins - Summerhead
4. The 6ths - Movies in My Head
5. Broadcast - Poem of Dead Song
6. Pierre Schaeffer - Études aux Chemins de Fer
7. The Czars - Paint the Moon
8. The Long Blondes - A Knife for the Girls
9. Olivier Messiaen - Oraison
10. The Cure - A Forest
11. CSS - Meeting Paris Hilton
12. The Pale Fountains - From Across the Kitchen Table
13. Clara Rockmore - Tchaikovsky: Valse Sentimentale
14. Patsy Cline - Crazy
15. Holly Golightly - Run Cold
16. The Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

shoegazeca, I need you to stop being such a little bitch and send me your postal address.