The ten minute walk from Liverpool Street Station, where my bus dropped me off, to Brick Lane, takes in deep-lit pubs, quiet streets lined with Georgian houses and Victorian alleyways lined with Jack The Ripper walks.
The sound of the words "Brick Lane" chimes personally for me, because my father worked there in the 1970's, at The Old Truman Brewery. I visited him on a couple of occasions when I was a boy and was shown around his workplace. The Brewery closed down twenty years ago and the buildings now house over 200 small creative businesses. It also houses bars, one of which I was going to tonight to see some music - I don't know what sort. On the way there I wondered if the venue, 93 Feet East (why that name?), was in one of the old brewery buildings.
I hadn't eaten when I got to Brick Lane, so it was something of an ordeal to walk past thirty Indian restaurants and not go in one of them. I found the venue, forgot to see if it was part of the old brewery, and went in. The barman in a cavernous front bar directed me to a non-windowed back bar of similar size, where a small, but steadily growing crowd awaited in front of a stage for some music.
Tonight I saw some no-nonsense ROCK blasted out by singer/songwriter/guitarist Dana Jade, backed by The McKenzie Brothers providing powerhouse bass and drum, and, apparently, an unseen laptop providing second guitar and backing vocals. This is what Dana said on her "Dana Jade" Facebook wall in answer to why one should come to tonight's gig. "Where else can you find a rocking power trio fronted by a fierce Trinidadian woman who isn't afraid to fuse soca and punk?" Soca, I've just discovered, is a form of Trinidadian dance music that combines the melodic calypso sound with insistent drumming. Knowing that now I'd like to go back and have another listen, but I can't because that'd be altering the course of time itself and really hard to do - I'm finding it hard enough with this quest travelling along the unaltered forward-moving course of time.
When I left the building I remembered to check out its heritage. Above it rose the huge brewery chimney with the word "TRUMAN" still printed vertically down its length. On the wall opposite the venue was a stone plaque. It read, " MESS. TRUMAN HANBURY BUXTON FREEHOLD EXTENDS 93 FEET EAST AND 57 FEET 6 INCHES NORTH OF THIS STONE". As I walked back down Brick Lane I wondered if, 35 years ago, I'd been inside "93 Feet East" before.
myspace.com/danajademusic
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