Arsenal 2 - 1 Brentford…

The sight of Ramsdale cupping his ears towards the Brentford fans last night after Havertz's late winner was a clear indication of his relief.  And ours. 

Arsenal had been in utter control in the first half. Rice scored a beauty after 19 minutes. Things were going great.  

But then Ramsdale allowed Brentford back into the game just before the break, dawdling on a backpass under little pressure and taking an extra touch which allowed a sliding Wissa to block the attempted clearance.  

Ramsdale could only watch aghast as the ball looped back into his goal, leaving him looking distraught and stunning us all into silence. WTF!  

Brentford’s game plan kicked in in the second half; fall to the ground at every opportunity. And if proof be needed that this was trickish behaviour, the Brentford physios didn’t come on - which if they did have would have meant each player would have had to leave the field of play for the usual 30 seconds.   None did. 

So hilariously, when Havertz pulled us ahead again after 86 minutes those diving Brentford players suddenly all then turned into Benny Hill characters running around like ants on a hot plate! So funny.   

A great result. 

Top of the League (for a bit anyway).   

Onwards and upwards, my friends.   

@Arsenal  

#COYG 

#ARSBRE

Nye @ National Theatre...

Last night Stuart and I went to see Michael Sheen take on Nye at the National Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

The casting director needs an award, Mr Sheen is in his element as Welsh Labour politician, NHS founder, and left-wing fire-brand Nye Bevan. 

 

Born in a Welsh mining town, Bevan was bullied by his teacher as a young boy for his stammer, and spent some time working down a coal pit.

 

His beginnings in local council and union politics saw him eventually progress to Parliament. There he became a fierce but lone vocal critic against Churchill during the war.

 

Sheen's performance is electrifying. There is a fantastic ensemble too.

 

The set design is also very clever. Sliding hospital curtains tumble around as if in a dream. And indeed, most of the action takes place as Bevan lays ill on his death-bed in bed having morphine-induced fever-dreams remembering his past.

 

My only minor quibble might be we don't get to see or hear quite enough of Bevan the man, what makes him tick. Aside from his sense of (in)justice. 

 

Sharon Small too, who plays his self-sacrificing wife Jennie Lee (also an MP for a number of years), gets all too brief a crack of the whip.

 

That said, it's a thrilling show with a climax that is rousingly poignant.

 

If you want to know how the NHS started - this is the show for you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hotel…

Stuart said, "you treat this place like a hotel!"

He'll regret saying that when he sees the low score I give him on Trip Advisor for "rude staff".

The 50 LGBT+ Venues London 2023…

Been to 32/50. How about you?

(That said, some have since closed 😔)

The 50 LGBT+ Venues London 2023

 

Admiral Duncan

Arch Clapham

Buker Bar (formerly East Bloc)

Central Station (King's Cross)

Circa

Circa the Club

CMYK

Comptons of Soho

Dalston Superstore

Dome London

Duke of Wellington

Eagle London

Fire (including Lightbox and Protocol)

Freedom

G-A-Y Bar

G-A-Y Late

Gays the Word

Glory, The

Halfway to Heaven

Heaven

Karaoke Hole

King WIlliam IV

Ku Bar  (including Klub and Lounge)

Little Ku

New Bloomsbury Set

Queen Adelaide of Cambridge Heath

Retro Bar

Rose and Crown

Royal Vauxhall Tavern

Rupert Street

She Soho

Taco Queer

Ted's Place

The Apple Tree

The Bridge Bar

The Chateau

The City of Quebec

The Cock Tavern

The George & Dragon

The King's Arms

The Two Brewers

The Underground Club

The White Swan

The Yard

Union

Vault 139

VFD (Vogue Fabrics Dalston)

Village

West 5

Zodiac Bar

 

Sheffield United 0 - 6 Arsenal…

The Steel City showed precious little mettle last night. Within minutes we dominated the play. Taking the Sheffield team apart like a wet tissue. 

Like an oven-baked horse chestnut tree seed soaked in vinegar we were a tough nut to crack. We came, we saw, we conkered. 

But enough of the similes. 

Our boys had a field day at Bramall Lane. Six goals, clean sheet. 

Arsenal are now two points off the top, from what was their seventh successive Premier League win.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. 

The goals as they came:-

Ødegaard (5'minutes)

Bogle (13'minutes og)

Martinelli (15'minutes)

Havertz (25'minutes)

Rice (39'minutes)

White (58'minutes)

@arsenal

@regenersaurus

#COYG 

#SHUARS

The Musical Box @ Eventim Apollo…

Great music ✅

Great visuals ✅

Silly outfits ✅

 

Last night Colin, Paul and I went to see French-Canadian Genesis tribute band The Musical Box perform prog classic Selling England by the Pound on a 50th Anniversary Tour at the Eventim Apollo in London's glitzy Hammersmith.  

 

Selling England by the Pound is one of my favourite Genesis albums so it great to hear it performed live. Let’s prog!

 

The Musical Box formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1993 and they recreate exactly performances by the English rock band Genesis during the 1970s. They sure know their stuff; their history; the visuals were spot on and the music note perfect.  

 

The band take a lot of time and effort on staging Genesis shows as accurately as possible, including lights, costume, and recreating Gabriel's on stage persona and dialogue.  The show we saw was an all-out performance of live visual signature stunts, a museum-worthy array of vintage instruments and a dizzying pace of iconic tracks and stage rarities. Their unique perspective comes from not only their skill as performers but as the only band ever licensed and supported by Genesis and Peter Gabriel.

 

The set-list:

- Watcher of the Skies

- Dancing With the Moonlit Knight

- The Cinema Show

- I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

- Firth of Fifth

- The Musical Box

- Horizons

- The Battle of Epping Forest

- Supper's Ready

a. Lover's Leap

b. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man

c. Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men

d. How Dare I Be So Beautiful?

e. Willow Farm

f. Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)

g. As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)

 

Encore: 

The Knife

Porn - Dated…

So you get home and your cleaner has organised your vintage graphic gay porn collection by volume number. 

And your condoms have been ordered by expiry date too. 

She’s a keeper, right?

#porn #condoms #meatmen #gaythreads 

The Picture of Dorian Gray @ Theatre Royal Drury Lane…

Last night Stuart and I went to see one-woman show The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. 

Wow!

Starring Sarah Snook (yes, Shiv Roy off of Succession) the play sees the actress play 26 characters in the show, which is based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel. 

It’s beautiful, brilliant, breathtaking and maniacally unmissable.

 

Technology plays a central role, with Snook surrounded by a multiple camera crews so her performance can be beamed on to overhead screens. Often, these screens display pre-recorded performances of Snook portraying other roles, so that she, and the characters are all able to interact with one another. 

The result is technically adroit and complex - the team of stage managers play almost as important a part as Snook.

It’s fantastically done and the vision mixing makes it hard to say where the live feed ends in the pre-recorded imagery begins. It’s very funny too as Snook, in character, starts to argue with herself. 

It’s as much a joyous cutting-edge piece of mixed-media art as it is a Wildean debate on morality versus self-expression. 

As Dorian Gray, whose picture ages in the attic while he remains forever young, begins to realise his own invincibility his use of selfie filters and Instagram digital doctoring is a dramatic masterstroke by director Kip Williams. 

The vanity and image-consciousness, that lies at the heart of the tale, is fantastically realised live before our eyes. 

If you like your Victorian melodrama camp yet cutting - this is the show for you. 

It is a virtuoso performance from Snook and an astonishing piece of theatre. 

We loved it. Go see. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Come Again?…

How’s your hearing? 👂

You can test it here. 

https://rnid.org.uk/information-and-support/take-online-hearing-check/check-hearing/

Say the 3 digits you hear over white noise. 

The Human Body @ Donmar Warehouse…

Last week Stuart and I went to go and see The Human Body at the Donmar Warehouse in London Galaxy West End

 

Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport star in Lucy Kirkwood’s romantic drama which is in equal measure a postmodern take on Brief Encounter, the birth of NHS, and a fight for a woman to be heard and to live the life she wants. 

 

The Brief Encounter aspect follows a similar plot to the film, two married people meeting on a train, and their forbidden love that follows. On stage camera work sees projection of the lovers in close-up so their large faces loom behind them as we were in a cinema. It is very effective. And seems to be in theatrical vogue at the moment.

 

The stage action was beautifully realised - the actors were grey and every bit of props and scenery was blue. It was quite aluring.

 

The language was natural and the story compelling. 

 

Hawes’s character is a doctor, and an aspiring politician. A Socialist. Someone who is fighting for the birth of the NHS. And fighting to be listened to.

 

The action takes place in 1948. Attitudes of the time are on keen display as her husband, recovering from the war, fights to keep his ‘little woman’ by his side. More conflict after The Conflict.

 

The love story was genuinely arresting and beautifully played. The political points were gently introduced but clearly stated. The fight of our heroine to be heard both in her working environment, and domestic environment seemed as true to life as they were painful to watch. 

 

It was a wonderful show. Very funny.  Incredibly moving.  Brilliantly acted. Not only our two leads, but by the three adult supporting actors Pearl Mackie, Siobhan Redmond and Tom Goodman-Hill who each played multiple roles. 

 

Go see.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️