One of my British coworkers, who I have southernized by changing his name to Bobby John, has a side project called WOMP, Word of Mouth Promotions. He and some friends put on different shows in their town of Watford. These shows showcase different types of art (music, poetry, art, etc) all done by local people. This weekend, there was an event where local bands were playing so I told myself I had to go and see what the locals of Watford had to offer.
As Watford is a good 30 miles outside of the city, I had to tube it to the Euston station and then get on a land train to Watford. Bobby John had warned me that there were two types of trains, the express that stopped at 5 stops in 30 minutes time and the regular which stopped at every stop and took 50 minutes. As I am new to the train system, I couldn’t really tell the difference and figured I would just get on the first one I could find. Wouldn’t you know it, I got on the regular train. 20 or so stops and 50 minutes later, I finally ended up in Watford. I am sure that if it were daylight, it would have been a beautiful ride. I did get to meet a few of the locals so it was worth the extra time.
Once I got to Watford, I grabbed a cab to get me to the event even though it was in a fairly close walking distance. I enjoy talking to cab drivers and getting the lay of the land. This particular cabby was great and gave some recommendations on where I should spend some time outside of the music event if I were to hang out in Watford proper.
Bobby John was manning the door at the event so he was the first person I ran into. He was actually the only person I ran into the entire night that I knew to be truthful. I grabbed a drink and made my way to the front of the auditorium where one of the artists was already playing. I am not sure if you would call him a one or two man show as there was a singer with a man behind him on a Mac computer who was mixing the tunes. He had a Matisyahu (the singing/rapping Rabi) about him. The next band to come on was awesome, although at this moment I cant seem to remember their name. In my mind, I felt I was watching one of the early Rolling Stone performances when they were in high school.
The crowd was very much a mix of people. On the side lines were the biggest supports of the groups, their parents. Throughout the night, they had to be my favorite group of people as they knew every line to every song and sang their hearts out. Then there were a couple of younger groups who filled in the middle of the auditorium.
As the band finished up their last set, I decided it was getting late and if I were to see all that Watford had to offer, I had better head out. I said my farewell to Bobby John and told him I was off to see the town. He recommended I not visit a club called Destiny, which of course put that at the top of my list of places to go. The auditorium opened directly on to the Watford promenade so it wasn’t that hard to find my way around. I walked down the row of club after club after club with a few fast food eateries here and there. One club had a line of 30 people waiting outside and wouldn’t you know it, it was Destiny. I guess that is THE hot spot in Watford. Who knew that Watford was such a clubbing town? As I wasn’t in the mood to dance, I figured I had seen and conquered Watford and knew it was time to call it a night and head back to the city.
