Tonight, yet more storytelling from the Crick Crack Club (CCC)! This one was Downright Rude! with TUUP (wow, it's ages since I'd seen him), Sarah Liisa Wilkinson, and Nell Phoenix, in Folklore. (How they'd all fit in there, I didn't know - it's tiny!) Booked to eat beforehand in The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch.
You know, it wasn't forecast to rain.. well it did, as I went for the bus. Typical. And the bus was doing its magical disappearing act, now on the board, now not.. it did come in reasonable time, and deposited me near the Blues Kitchen at about the right time. More rain, of course. I was immediately seated.. and lo! They've changed the menu! Sadness and grief.. Gone is the delectable fried chicken - in its place, a "half roast chicken", a number of things I wouldn't be bothered with, or a couple of steaks - a 200g fillet, or, for £5 more, a 400g sirloin. I had the fillet - 200g is fine for me. With fries.
Meh, the steak isn't all that, but it's ok. The sauce that comes with it is gorgeous, mind - it's worth having the steak just for that! And the chips are lovely. Douse the steak in the sauce, it's lovely too.. so I did have a great meal. They were reasonably attentive until, of course, I wanted the bill - I had to go to them to get it. Meanwhile, I was watched over by sundry blues icons:
Mercifully, it had stopped raining by the time I was to head up to Folklore:
As I queued at the bar, I noted their horror credentials:
Tickets were from Dice, but there was nobody to take them. Inside, I took my usual seat on the side bench - and indeed, as they passed, Nell asked, again, whether I was OK there! Yes, as I told her - lots of space for my wine: I buy two glasses going in, because the bar is impossible at the interval. And they all trooped up to sit at the side of the stage - no Tim Ralphs tonight: I swear he was never on the CCC page, but he was advertised on the Facebook event..
Ah, they were all good, in this anarchic night with, well, a lot of sex stories - one of which I had heard before. Nell was the wild woman of the bunch - but TUUP, for me, stole the show: not only with his delivery, but with his constant low drumming to the side while the others were speaking, lending a backdrop. The stories were explicit - the delivery was rich, full of life and vigour. It's good to hear these, once in a while - one of those things on everyone's mind, rarely spoken. Thanks, CCC, for reminding us what it's like to be scandalous..!
On Friday, Movie Roadhouse London are finally having a social again! Ah, it's been so long.. so, back at the BFI Balcony Bar, and I've booked to eat at The Archduke beforehand. I tell you, without the main organiser in town, these things don't happen.. strange that numbers are limited, mind- never happened before.. Sadly, it isn't in conjunction with The Hideout any more, and also the cap on numbers means some were excluded.. perhaps it was an oversight.
On Saturday, The Hideout organiser was talking about heading to a cat cafe.. and that evening I signed up to go with him, and The Hideout, to a new slasher, Corporate Retreat. However, I just found out that's been pulled from release in the UK - and he's got a lot going on, so Saturday is off. Well, that's a shame..
..but it does leave me free to go to London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ)'s next Dracula-related thing! So, an idea developed during the pandemic, based on the fact that the novel, Dracula, is written as a diary. Anyway, a website was set up whereby you could have the section of the novel corresponding to a particular day emailed to you on that day! So.. LoMAZ has decided to read along. Oh, but that ain't the half of it.. We also have a couple of tie-in travel events.. because the action moves to Whitby in August, and to Transylvania in November! And I had so many ideas for the trips.. I was asked to be a co-host. This is going to be a record-breaking Meetup - and with a terrific bunch of people. And the next Dracula-inspired event is a trip to the Cutty Sark on Saturday. Because, you know, Dracula arrived in England on a boat, and this is the best we can do.. Meeting in the Hung Drawn and Quartered, and taking a Thames Clipper from there.
On Sunday, talking about heading back to The Lanesborough for sachertorte, this time with Mark and Martin.. our monthly catch-up. Waiting on Martin to confirm a time.
Then I have two appropriately vampiric days! On the 28th, I'm back with The Hideout for Vampire's Kiss, an old comedy with Nicholas Cage, in which he thinks he's been dating a vampire, and is now turning into one himself. Showing in the Prince Charles of course, and we're meeting in Victory House beforehand. I've booked to eat in Bella Italia before that - took two goes though, the site was down the first time!
And on the 29th - well, one of the things LoMAZ were talking about doing for the series of Dracula events was going to a ballet - and sure enough, there is a Dracula ballet in town! Supposed to be good, with a classical soundtrack - and sure enough, when I checked, it was almost completely booked up. The only tickets left were Tuesday evening - which I couldn't manage - and the matinees of next Wednesday and the 29th - so I'm taking the 29th off, being a Friday, and will go to it that day! Can't see I'll persuade anyone to go with me though - they'd either have to take time off work, or if not, they might not be in work, and might baulk at the price! Showing in the Palladium - I had to take the Second Circle to get the lowest price, and as legroom is reportedly tight, I made sure to get an aisle seat.
On the 30th - back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for his Nooks and Crannies of London walk - and damnit, Meetup is charging for RSVP again! (plus an extra charge, of course). And afterwards, back with The Hideout for Backrooms - the film version of Backrooms on Creepypasta, a series of liminal horror stories about featureless, unending rooms and corridors, sometimes with hostile beings in them.. stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, as his psychiatrist, as - well, he might be expected to need one, with this kind of tale. Details TBA.
On the 2nd, back with London Fun for Churchill's Urinal, about a female Chancellor of the Exchequer wanting the urinal in No. 10 removed.. showing in the King's Head. The organiser bought the tickets - and later informed us we'd been upgraded. As he says, another reason to buy the cheap tickets! (Much discussion in the group today on the relative merits of Churchill himself.. always a heated topic.)
Comments
Post a Comment