Live Music Event

Out last night at The Loft for a Dubai Lime Live Music event. The first performer, Graeme Park, wasn't miked up too well which was a disaster because crowd volume in the background was already up quite high. Kind of folky and bluesy you got the impression that this was a tough gig and had it been in a more understated venue with a more reverent crowd I am sure his set would have been better.

Next up were Neil and Andy though I am not entirely sure who was who. Liked the secondary guitar style very much and the singer had a strong delivery but the songs did sound a bit samey after a while. They got much more audience support but there were still times when background noise threatened to drown them out too.

The last performer, Mike Ross, was a treat despite the fact that the intro to the two first songs really, really sounded like 'Dear Prudence'! Confident, great vocal delivery, interesting original material and an immersion in the performance and the situation which was captivating. So much that he almost succeeded in keeping audience attention throughout his set but even he couldn't compete with a few vociferous drinkers who were evidently unaware there was a gig in progress.

Talking of drink the ticket price included one free beverage... not quite true ... one free Bacardi Breezer was the real deal. Bit of a disappointment when you've been imagining that first cold beer sliding down your throat. Still I suppose there has to be a first (and last) time for alcopops!

Stuck to beer after that but was quite shocked at the price of a standard bottle. Leaving Bur Dubai is always a shock in that respect... the price of everything goes up the further West you go and having had no income for 5 months now I am getting increasingly concerned about money. This prompted a job search on several of the big Middle East jobs websites today. Typing in 'arts' drew a blank from Monster.com as did 'arts administration' on the jobsindubai.com site. That at least had an arts and entertainment section although it mostly consisted of web and graphic designers.

Was encouraged by dubaidonkey.com's creative and media section but you had to specify a job title from a list which included musician, writer, actor but no artist category! Eventually found an ad for English language editing/proofreading and suddenly remembered that I have in fact being doing a lot of that over the past few years so sent them an email telling them so.

For you animal lovers out there's an 'Experienced dog groomer required for Dubai' and 'Numerous aquarist positions for the world's largest walkthrough aquarium in The Dubai Mall'.