At approximately the same time The Sun hit newsstands this morning, I was on the other side of the planet in a plane touching down in Rome, Italy to meet up with a few Cornellians studying abroad. For the next two weeks Claire Moser ’11, Danny Solomon ’10 and I will be gallivanting from Paris to Amsterdam to London having the extended Spring Break of our lives (I hope!).As we planned the trip over the last few weeks the three of us seriously debated how to divide up our travels between each chosen city. Claire was advocating for more time in Paris, Danny for Amsterdam and myself for London. Why London? Thanks for asking. Purely because nearly every album I’ve poured my heart into loving over the last two years or so is a product of England. The Maccabees, The Cribs, Mystery Jets, Jamie T, Good Shoes, Bombay Bicycle Club, Florence and the Machine, Jack Peñate, Fanfarlo, Little Comets, Jamie Lidell, Maxïmo Park, Scouting For Girls … you get the point. Each of these Brits has made me sing in a terrible fake English accent at the top of my lungs, even when people were around to listen. That’s how much I love them all (and resultingly how much all of my friends probably hate them). But back to the point: Since I’ve fallen in love with these wonderful English music engineers, I went to bat for the central city of their country. Clearly, thinking with my ears, I just felt that something magical could happen if we spent the bulk of our time in London, England.Well, I came out of the battle tied for first! I’m getting four days and three nights in London. And you know what? Not a single band I have a major crush on will be playing in the city during those three precious nights. Not. A. One. Don’t get me wrong, I know I should just go to Glastonbury Festival and get seeing all of the Brits I adore out of my system in one weekend; but I don’t have the friends, money or tickets for that. So I reverted to wishful thinking and jeez-Louise how that failed. But it’s not stopping me from thinking a musical miracle is going to take place between now and March 24th when we role into London town.In all reality though, the only reason this is such a big deal is because the Brits I love don’t get the proper time of day in America and so they rarely tour across the pond. And if they ever do get to come to the grand old U.S. of A, it’s for showcases like South by Southwest, which inconveniently occurs this week … the one week when I’m not in America — UGH frustration. However, maybe this year, the music critics will finally hear what I’ve admired and gushed about since ’07 and the blogosphere will explode with SEO’s of Britpop galore! — Yeah, that’s my ridiculous wishful thinking again.Anyways, while Austin, TX is eating up whatever they can get their music loving fingers on, I’ll be way across the Atlantic until you see my bi-line again in two weeks. And if anything goes according to my London calling (get it?) plans, I’ll return to you, dear reader, with extraordinary discoveries from afar that I can proudly praise on this here page. And who knows, maybe the rest of the time I’ll be spending in Rome, Paris and Amsterdam will teach me a thing or two about what other music the continent has to offer and I’ll be a changed listener.In the meantime, I highly recommend you go to YouTube and give any of the previously mentioned British bands a look. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with what you watch. Plus, it’ll be an act of good karma when you charitably move each dandy band one view closer to getting the rich American following they deserve. Until next time — here’s to practicing my British-speak, cheerio!
Original Author: Justine Fields