[kj] OT: Those crazy Brits....

[Amy Moseley Rupp]

> > My absolute favourite is Snow Patrol, from Northern Ireland.  Now, have
> the Brits done a smashing job there or what?
> 
> No ...LOL

I hope you see my point :-)

I was wearing a t-shirt which read "Somewhere in Texas a village
is missing its idiot" when I met Gary Lightbody, lead singer from
Snow Patrol and my total idol at the moment.  He told me that
Ireland was also missing him ;-)  oh those (Northern) Irish, so
droll.... and I had an amazing bullshit session with the lead
guitarist Nathan Connolly, who is a babe but a baby at 23.  When
I so much as mentioned that I'd not voted for Bush, he immediately
said "No politics!!!!!"

I found out later that a) the Brit bands were warned not to talk
politics AT ALL here at SXSW and b) people from Northern Ireland
are especially (naturally) reluctant to talk about the subject.

And I find it especially amusing that there's this yearly
exodus from the UK to Austin, where suddenly bands from all
over the British Isles get massive BBC exposure.  Ya hafta
come 5,000 miles just to get to talk to a presenter who lives
a couple hundred miles away from you year-round?!  The individual
countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland)
(and yes I do know Ireland is NOT part of the UK) really work
together *here* far more than they do at home.

I'm enduring massive Brit withdrawal syndrome :-(