Flew out of a very rainy Singapore this morning to a very sunny and warm Bangkok.
Metallica finished their Asia Tour with two great shows firstly in Hong Kong then Singapore. The Art Fair was on in Singapore, so I went to have a look and the highlight was Roger Dean who I met and was very nice considering he had a bad cold. I could have talked to Roger for hours but Kazuyo pointed out I had to go to work.
I've had a great time in Asia, Photographing Metallica on the Great Wall at Mutianyu was a highlight. I went to Tiananmen Square and found the Communist Figures fascinating. The one sad part was a nice young girl of about ten wearing a coat that said 'Teen Cunt'. I took a photo and she was sweet, so were her parents getting her to pose for me. I felt awful after mainly because they were so genuinely nice to a foreigner and they could speak no English and the young girl liked her new coat and I'm sure none of them knew what it meant. Maybe anyone wearing Superdry should get your logos looked at.
Hong Kong I feel in love with, I've been through many times but this was the first time I spent any real time there. Nathan Road was like being transported to a Wong Ka Wei film. I could seriously live there. Plus I fell in Love just wandering around on a Saturday morning. And on Sunday I went and photographed the War Memorial .
This morning saw the post by Ian Hunter on the Death of Pete Overend Watts. Look I loved Mott The Hoople and saw them in 1971 as a teenager. George Michael was a shock but I didn't know him. This has ruined my year, I grew up with them, I finally met Pete Watts at a Def Leppard show at Wembley in the '90's he was sooooo nice, I was the gushing fan. After Mott The Hoople reformed for the Hammersmith shows I got to know Pete and we'd trade emails... they suddenly stopped early last year. I saw Ian Hunter for a pre-Christmas dinner and he told me Pete was in a hospice with throat cancer. He did not want to see anyone. So go and find Brain Capers put on The Moon Upstairs and think of Peter 'Overend' Watts, who's left the building and is shining down from the moon tonight.
