August 3, 2002
The final Henry Fool rehearsal before tomorrow’s gig at Whitchurch.
Finally, it all comes together. From having no material, we end up with an hour and twenty minutes worth.
The sound is no longer Foolish, but, by necessity, Samuel Smiles with rhythm. At our best, we create a fresh vocabulary for the band (a kind of contemporary variation on John Martyn’s late 1970’s Jazz-tinged, Ambient singer-songwriter material) and at our worst, we no longer sound like The Mission.
Richard begins to feel more integrated, I pretend I can play like Segovia and the mood is good.
In the evening, before travelling to Cambridge, myself and Peter see Men In Black II. Loud and stupid, I’ll have forgotten it by tomorrow, but it’s ideal to wind down to (Peter didn’t want to go to the party). One feature of the film is its highly contemporary digital look. With even Rip Torn appearing more like a video game character than a human being, I’m sure that this heightened artificiality is what will date and define big budget films of this era. Unlike the brilliant Amelie where the artifice (such as a digitally ‘cleansed’ Paris) was intrinsic to its labyrinthine plot and skewed dialogue, MIB II’s look seems merely flashy.