On Saturday evening, finally back with La Isla Flamenco (having had to miss a couple of theirs) for A Sip of Spain: Flamenco, Folk & Copla at Pulse & Pickle CIC.. tickets from Humanitix. I decided to go straight from Islington, although I had a ton of time to kill - to while away some of it, I elected to go by bus, although it'd take over an hour.
And a hot journey it was too, the sun beating down. By the end of it, I needed the loo - I alighted at Walthamstow High Street, and walked down it till I found my destination. I was hours early though, so sought a pub to hang out in and whose loo I could use. By 'eck, they're thin on the ground there - I eventually came up with Friends Lounge, further down the street. When I made my way down there, a few people were sat at tables outside, but the inside was pretty empty. I chose a table, checked with the server that it was ok just to have a drink, and used their loo.
When it was about 7, I figured it was close enough to the advertised start time of 7.30 that I could head off. Now, I'd been on my phone all day, and it was nearly run down - so I decided, before the battery level dropped critically low, it'd be an idea to check my route home. Google Maps, with its helpful information about travel time and cost, for all the different combinations, informed me that the cheapest way to get there in under an hour was the Weaver Line to Liverpool Street, and a bus from there. The station was quite close - but what a time I had finding my way to it! There were roadworks, and barriers, and a sign that said you couldn't walk that way - well, after I'd walked around in a big rectangle to find the entrance, at the other side of that sign, and seen people walking through in both directions.. I said sod it, walked back through that passage, and vowed to come that way later.
And so back to the Pulse & Pickle cafe (which, yes, is vegan), where the performers were rehearsing. I saw a few people already sitting inside, so went on in, running right into Maria de Huelva, who runs the Meetup group to advertise her own performances. Got a great big welcome from her - she always remembers me - and she told me to sit where I pleased. Also present was the kid in a wheelchair whom I always see at these with her family - she has a passion for flamenco, and always nearly loses her mind when it starts! Anyway, I dumped my coat and got a drink - all the wine here is organic, and I wasn't mad about the taste. Improves with the drinking, mind. When the person finally came around asking for tickets, I explained to her about my phone, and she just checked off my name.
Well, there was a mixture of music, as promised - and lo, Maria came out with what looked a very medieval combination of pipe and drum (my phone did have enough power for a couple of photos):
Pasodoble, fado (Portugese, as she explained, but then the Spanish and Portugese are like family to each other), copla, which, she explained, was popular during the dictatorship.. and whenever she played something that her colleague felt she could dance to - she did! (She performed percussion - castanets and drums - otherwise.)
Maria was playing guitar and singing as well, as you can see. And it was terrific - and, as you can also see, very up-close and personal! The shoppers outside must have been able to hear a lot of it, and many stopped briefly to watch and listen. In the second half - which involved an outfit change for the dancer - Maria tried to get us up and dancing. First, she played - and a couple of people danced - Sevillanas, which actually looked fun, but no way was I trying it! Then she was on to rumbas, and I lost interest - not a keen dancer, me, although some more tried these. But it was a terrific night, as always, and I was glad I came!
Except I had such a trek home.. but anyway, my previous research paid off, and I soon got to the station, and had a cold wait for the train. Only four stops, but I was glad to get in at last. Too tired to blog that night, though.
For yesterday, a friend asked whether I was interested in Patel's Millions 2, a Bollywood-inspired musical comedy (sequel, by the sound of it) about the owner of a corner shop who comes into money, then loses it, but his family are still spending like there's no tomorrow. Does sound good - showing in the Beck Theatre, which I've discovered I can get to in under 1.5 hours. Isn't that nice? However, she's selling two tickets, so she said she'd try to sell them as a pair, and would sell one to me if she couldn't. Failing that option, it'd be cinema again, and I was looking at My Father's Shadow, in which a father shows his young sons the sights of Lagos during the inflammatory election of 1993 - closest showing to me (that's not too early) was in Picturehouse Hackney.
Ah, but then Movie Roadhouse London advertised a trip to see Father, Mother, Sister, Brother in The Barbican. So I decided to go to that instead, fourth day of Meetups in a row - the trailer did look good. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, I saw from the trailer that it stars Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Charlotte Rampling, and Cate Blanchett, looking more like a librarian than I've ever seen her.
I headed out in good time, but the organiser beat me to it - he was early. I joined him, then went to the bar, where I spent a very long time waiting for a drink - unfortunately, I'd come right behind someone who'd asked for a coffee, which took forever. We had a big group yesterday, actually - and when they'd all arrived (except for one who went straight to the cinema), we started.. a film quiz! Now, this was just my second one with him, but it seems it's become a habit - and of course, this one would have to be about Jim Jarmusch. Whose film catalogue I have almost entirely not seen, the only exception being Only Lovers Left Alive! which was a good film about two aged and world-weary vampires, Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton.
But hey, you know, it ain't what you know, it's what you know relative to everyone else.. we were in groups of three, and one of our group in particular had some good knowledge. Throw into that some good guesswork by all of us, and some helpful hints from the organiser.. and would you believe, we won! Well, none of the others knew Jim Jarmusch's back catalogue either.. We had to cut it short though, we were a bit tight for time.
Ahh.. the film starts with Spooky by Dusty Springfield! Ends with it too - I adore that song, which really helped with my enjoyment of the movie. Lends a mellow feel to the entire proceedings. Now, this film tells three stories.. three family stories, about grown-up children, their relationships with their parents, and their relationship with each other. And they're three very different families..
1. Adam Driver and his sister are going to visit Dad (Tom Waites), somewhere in the northern US, by the look of it. It's the most disfunctional of the families - the siblings hardly know what to say to each other, and while Adam Driver seems to have a better relationship with his dad than his sister does, still, neither of them seems to know what to say to the old man..
2. Charlotte Rampling is a successful writer, who's decamped to Dublin - Stoneybatter, it seems. Her daughters (the elder is Cate Blanchett) have moved to Dublin as well, ostensibly to be near her, but still they only visit once a year, for afternoon tea! Their annual visit is due, but honestly, she sees it as a chore, possibly even more than they do. Their relationship with her is strained - but although they hardly ever see each other either, they do retain an affection for each other.
3. A pair of twins - brother and sister - travel through Paris to their recently deceased parents' rented flat. It's not theirs any more - they were behind on the rent, and he's taken it upon himself to clear the place out. They're very close - you can see it in the way they are with each other - and he's helping her through the grieving process. There's an easy way about them together - they move through the city like a breeze..
There are common elements. At least one person from each family, driving to meeting their parents (or the twins of the last segment, driving to their parents' flat) sees skateboarders, perhaps personifying a freedom they don't feel themselves. A Rolex features in each segment, and is commented upon. And they all have tea (well, the cool twins have coffee), with which they make a toast. All three segments film this "tea ceremony" from above.
It's hard to derive a common theme from the three segments. Obviously, they all deal with family relationships - perhaps they get less stiff as the film progresses. And it has its flaws - for one, the actor playing the younger daughter in the middle segment is Luxembourgish, and you can hear it - it just doesn't fit, and isn't explained. However, I did love the mellow feel, and enjoyed the character exploration, if not explanation. Ratings from the group were high, and some of us went next door to Cote Barbican for dinner, where conversation was good. A good evening, all told! And I shopped on my way to Liverpool Street, knowing that most shops are closed on a Sunday evening - this Tesco slightly confused me, since the machine doesn't even require you to scan your purchases.. Ran too late to blog last night, though.
Tonight, second evening in a row, I'm also looking at film - and thinking of Project Hail Mary at last! It's one of those that a lot of people I know have seen, but I haven't gotten around to it - stars Ryan Gosling in a dystopian future where the sun is dying, and he has to go into space to perform a kind of rescue mission. Along the way he meets a cute little alien being. I've heard people rave about it, and he's always watchable, so perfectly happy to give that a shot! Closest showing to me is in the Everyman Borough Yards - I just booked, for convenience. I can walk, and it's a decent day for it.
On Saturday.. well, someone from LoMAZ suggested creating an event to eat sachertorte. Apparently the Lanesborough Hotel is hosting a temporary pop-up, giving you the chance to eat sachertorte and apfelstrudel prepared to the original recipe of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. However, wouldn't you know it, that's the only day this month that suits James to meet! And he, Mark, and Martin aren't members of that group, and it's a private group event.. the group is headed to a ceilidh that evening, but I said I'd skip it and hang out with James and Mark and Martin, if it suited.. ah, the difficulties of scheduling!
But then, when I asked about timings, the organiser said he'd completely forgotten about it - and was it on Saturday or Sunday? Well, I didn't have anything for Sunday, so asked for that, and he was fine with it.. but a couple of others weren't. Unfortunately, I was outvoted.. and then someone else couldn't do Saturday, so now it's on Sunday after all, phew! Sorted.
Comments
Post a Comment