Boo! Yay!...

Today is a Boo/Yay day.

• 5 Polish builders (and 1 Ukraine cleaner) in my flat! Boo! 
• 4 day weekend ahead! Yay! 
• 3 inches of dust everywhere screwing up all my computers! Boo! 
• 2 hours before the pubs open! Yay! 
• 1 thing I'm not going to think about this w/e is work! Double-yay!

Charming!...

Got The Builders In

Some days I just wish all this building work was over. Fresh layers of dust and grim everyday (sigh).

It's been over a year so far but I suppose I've started so I'll finish. It's all self-inflicted pain of course so I should deserve little sympathy. Besides, I've got the grit between my teeth now. Literally!

Mind you, what you see here is just one room. You should see the others! Ha ha.

I asked the builder yesterday as a joke, "will it be finished by Christmas?" He said "Oh, yes." But thinking about it now - he didn't say which year!

The London Apprentice...

On Sunday Andy, Kev, Andy, Tim, Andrew, Michael, Stu and I went out for Sunday lunch to The Dragon Bar on Shoreditch High Street for Sunday lunch. Afterwards we took a look around Andy refurbished loft apartment before head for a beer at our old haunt The London Apprentice.

Darren had joined us by that point and all of us were reliving our dodgy pasts. Oh the fun we had there! It's still dark, still dank and smelling of danger and sexual possibilities. It hasn't been resurrected really, just open as a pub. Still dingy but full of memories.

Arsenal Qualify for Champions League Again!...

It was a nail-biter of a game. Arsenal needed to win against Newcastle United to guarantee Champions League football next year. A draw coupled with a win at arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur home game against Sunderland would have sunk us.

Luckily, and the use the word advisedly, we won. Phew!

Needless the boys celebrated like they'd actually won the European title itself. Steady on boys. Some way to go yet!

Nightmare in Silver...

Last Saturday's Doctor Who Nightmare in Silver was an utter mess. Neil Gaiman lost it methinks. Underwritten yet over-complicated. Hated the children. Hated the plot holes. Some truly awful dialogue. Filmed in the props department. A complete waste of a cybermen story. Next!

La Bohème...

Last night Stu and I went to the ENO to see Jonathan Miller's brilliant revived staging of Puccini's powerfully popular opera La Bohème.

Atmospherically updated to 1930s Paris, this uber-romantic story of young love blighted by sudden tragedy unfolds on cinematically realistic sets inspired by the iconic photographs of Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï.

The story started with the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo meeting. Then falling in love. The ups and downs of their lives together and apart. And then Mimì was feeling a bit peeky. And then Rodolfo, who was a poet, went from being lost in her eyes to being lost for words. And when Mimì died, Rodolfo was just simply... lost.

He should have perhaps known that when a leading lady coughs in Act 3 she'll be dead by the end of Act 4. This is opera after all.

The cast were great. The orchestra sublime. And the staging simply wonderful. Five stars for Mr Miller. A great revival.

Philip Glass...

Last Tuesday I traveled down to Bristol to stay the night with the lovely Paul and Simon. The reason for the trip was that Paul and I were going to see Philip Glass perform some solo piano works - Etudes and Other Work for Solo Piano - in the wonderful St George's.

Consisting of two 45 minute sections Glass wowed us with his mesmerizing compositions and beautiful fingering. Mainly from the 1990s the pieces sounded magnificent in acoustics of the old hall.

The programme included:
Six Etudes (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 9,10) (1994-1999)
Mad Rush (1980)
Metamorphoses (Nos. 2, 3, 4) (1989)
Wichita Vortex Sutra (1990)

A still-evolving series begun in the mid-90s, recorded in 2003, the ‘Etudes’ have, says Glass, a two-fold purpose: “First, to provide new music for my solo piano concerts. And second, for me to expand my piano technique with music that would enhance and challenge my playing. Hence the name Etudes, or “studies”. The result is a body of work that has a broad range of dynamic, tempo and emotion.”

Inferno...

Guilty as charged. Dan Brown's Inferno for my trip back from Bristol.

Bristol Stool Tart...

Rick Astley...

Rick Astley will let you borrow any of his Pixar movies except one. 

Power cut in Highbury...

Woke up to power cut in Highbury. No heating, no hot water, no lighting, no Homes Under the Hammer. We start eating our own young by lunchtime.

07:02: Called National Grid to report.

07:12 "UK Power Networks Update: Our engineers are aware of the power cut and will get to site as quickly as possible; your power is affected by a blown fuse at your local substation. We're currently working towards an estimated time of 09:30. Although this is subject to change following updates from site, we'll keep you updated."

I like their chatty updating. Appeals to the compulsive communicator in me .

07:22 "Update - Our engineers are on their way to your area. We'll let you know when they arrive. We'll know the full picture when they're on site. Once we do, we'll give you an idea of when your power will be back on."

07:35 We need an International Humanitarian Aid Air Drop. Highbury is running dangerously low on pimento. I fear a repeat of the pimento riots of '94.

07:58 Oh shit, sun-blushed tomatoes! We are out of sun-blushed tomatoes. Guns! We need guns!

08:20 Thank fuck for that. Power back on. As you were.

Ice Cream Typo...

"Wer'e simply the best" Not at spelling you're not!

Top Hat...

Last night Stu and I went to see Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Now seventy-eight years after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers lit up Hollywood’s silver screen with one of the greatest dance musicals of all time, RKO Pictures’ Top Hat is packed full of Irving Berlin’s greatest hits such as Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,

The show is a giddy, glorious celebration of 1930s song and dance - with lots of tap dancing!

Sadly the chemistry wasn't quite there between the two leads last night and it fell rather flat compared to the previous occasion when Roger and I went to see the same show last summer with Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen.

Happy 7th Anniversary...

In 2005 Stuart and I went on eight dates before we finally went to the cinema together to see Batman Begins. It was dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, Batman. Happy Anniversary Stuart x

Cheeky One...

Cheeky one on a Sunday afternoon with Andy Cook and Tim Kennedy at The Bull.

30,000 Pigs...

[Thanks Paul]

Cleaner...

Це був дивний день. Я зробив переклад моєї інструкції з очищення для українського. Моя прибиральниця сміялися наді мною. Можливо, мої слова змусили мене в ідіота! (or words to that affect)

Othello...

On Monday night Stu and I went to see Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear in Nicholas Hytner's Othello at the Olivier Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

It was a wonderful production beautifully played. Lester's Othello was outstanding - in turn passionate, then raging and finally remorseful. Kinnear's Iago was equally sublime if not better - visceral in his hate, blokey in his demeanour and caustic in his concealment.

Strongly recommended. If you get the chance, go!

Canal and River by Boris Bikes...

On Saturday Bobby and I hired a couple of Boris Bikes and took a cycle ride along the canal tow-path  We stopped after a short while for a cheeky pint at a pub in Broadway Market - the fact the first leg took less than 30 mins meant it was free usage.

Refreshed we headed off again to Limehouse Basin and then joined the north bank of the River Thames cycling all the way down past Canary Wharf to a bike stop just across the river from Greenwich. There we dismounted - it took us 45 mins for this second run so we only had £1 to pay. Then we walked the sub-river footpath into Greenwich proper for a final well deserved pint at the Gypsy Moth pub.

Nice day out.

Untold Stories...

Last Thursday Stu and I went to see Alan Bennett's Untold Stories at The Duchess Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

The show consisted of a double bill - Hymn and Cocktail Sticks.

Performed by Alan Bennett looky-likey Alex Jennings is was a gentle evening of self-aware exploration.

Hymn was a memoir of music in childhood and was an autobiographical piece that focuses on a particular part of Bennett’s past - hymns and his father's attempt to make him learn the violin.

Cocktail Sticks delved deeper into Bennett's family life revealing his mother's keenness to fit in socially and the pinnacle of which for her would have been to host a cocktail party.

All good fun and although retreading some familiar ground it rather like being in the company of an amusing friend for the evening i.e. time very well spent.

The Happiest Day Of My Life...

I'm looking forward to walking down the aisle with Stu later on what will be the happiest day of my life.
3 cases of beer for £18 in Tesco.

Secularists...

Bloody aggressive secularists, going around aiming their rational arguments at people. Honestly, one day they'll hurt somebody's bullshit.

Homes Under The Hammer...

Best job in the world must be the people who write pun-heavy newspaper headlines for a living. They sit round writing awful puns, say "we can't write that can we?" to each other and then off down the pub.

The second best job in the world however must be the people who choose the songs to accompany Homes Under The Hammer. The sun comes out (fades up Sunny by Boney M), the presenter takes a deep breath (here comes Breathe by Pink Floyd), the reseller not sure what do with his house (in comes Confusion by ELO). Old rope was never so cheap.

Beautiful Thing…

Last Friday night Stu, I, Andy, Kev, Andy and Tim all went to see the twentieth anniversary revival of Beautiful Thing at the Arts Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

Suranne Jones was great as overbearing mother Sandra. The two male leads, Jake Davies and Danny-Boy Hatchard, were super as the star-crossed lovers Jamie and Ste. Zaraah Abrahams was also good as Mama Cass obsessed  Leah. And Oliver Farnworth played impossibly handsome Tony to the distraction of also everything else on stage!

At it's heart a gay fairytale, 20 years on it's still funny, poignant and has the power to shock and delight.

Brilliantly Beautiful Thing.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - The Musical Box…

Much as I love the 3 minute pop song and the 8 minute disco 12" on Saturday night Paul and I was indulging another musical love - the concept album. And not just any old concept album mind you - the 2nd best concept album of all time - the prog rock classic The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Genesis's 1974 classic was getting recreated by tribute band The Musical Box as the live (and truly bonkers) stage show.

The show had been painstaking researched to be a note for note duplicate of the original 100 date world tour that Peter Gabriel fronted before he left the band (and Phil Collin's went on to ruin it.). The music, vocal work, choreography, OTT staging, wild lighting, and Doctor Who-like monstrous costumes were all perfect and loving duplicates. We last saw this show in 2005 and this, their final performance of it, matched that performance for sheer exuberance alone.

The show has actually been endorsed by Gabriel himself, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. Which says something for it's authenticity.

We came out singing Carpet Crawlers and The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.

Let's Prog!

Oh, and the best concept album of all time? Kate Bush's Hounds of Love of course.

Oh and the 3rd best? Pink Floyd's The Wall of course.

Rolf Harris - Jake The Peg...

That extra leg makes more sense now.

Lady Thatcher's Funeral..

Lady Thatcher's funeral passed off without much hassle. I did notice that the 4000 police presence did make one arrest though - for someone speaking too loudly on their mobile phone. That's £10m of our money well spent then!

Three comment that did make me chuckle were these:-

Who'd have thought the Spitting Image reunion would be so expensive?

"Her capacity to reach out to the young" and take their milk.

Thatcher's funeral only cost a million pound. The rest is Tony Blair's appearance fee.