Southwark Cathedral Summer Organ Festival & Cabaret: Make It Reign for Dad

Of course, it's taken days just to get the weekend's blog post out, hence the delay in writing up other events.. The last two days were with TAC. On Monday, I was at Southwark Cathedral Summer Organ Festival. My sometime companion said she was coming too, as she has before, but in the event she cancelled.

I had planned to eat beforehand - but work is crazy busy, so I hung on to do some more of that - the concert wouldn't be over so late that I couldn't eat afterwards. Walked there, of course.. Now, I'd done something to my knee overnight, and actually had some trouble getting down the steps into the cathedral! Even getting up from a chair, and sitting again, is still a bit sore. Anyway, I got a seat reasonably near the front.

Gee, I don't remember noticing these decorations before..

And aww, the cathedral puddy-tat made an appearance! as usual. An usher was trying to persuade him into a side passage, but he only got this far (obviously keeping an eye on all of us strangers):

As usual, the concert was preceded by a chat with the performer, and the concert itself was about an hour without interval. Again, as usual, I wasn't familiar with any of the pieces - it was all lovely though. One thing that did strike me - with cameras on the performer's hands and feet throughout - is the sheer amount of physical effort involved in playing the organ! Four separate keyboards, his hands hopping from one to another, feet dancing across myriad pedals - I never played the organ, but I did play piano, and I can tell you, this is a level above in terms of the dexterity required. The cheap wine bar at the back was also much appreciated.

And so to The Sun Wharf on the way home, and was well fed.

Yesterday, TAC finally came up with cheap tickets to a charity fundraising cabaret called Make it Reign for Dad, at the Phoenix Arts Club. I booked to eat at The Royal George, Soho beforehand. Arrived on time, courtesy of a bus driver that drove like a man possessed.. mind you, as usual we had a change of drivers, and when the second one was also hard on the brakes, I came to think it must be the brakes themselves that were sharp. Mind you, I'd forgotten where exactly the pub was - it's been a while.. thank you, Google Maps!

Inside, and seeing reservation plaques on the tables, I soon came across mine, and for speed, ordered at the bar. Was soon served a delicious schnitzel - with the crowd at the bar, I decided against a second drink, and when I was finished, it was time to go anyway, so I made my way to the club. It was a bit early, but the door was open, so I went downstairs. Now, they'd been supposed to email me my ticket, but never had - the guy on the door was completely nonplussed, didn't even check I was on the list, just took me to a seat near the stage:

We had an entertaining MC:

And several talented performers:

There was an aerialist, so close to me that I got a breeze when he span:

Performer of the night, for me, was "Audrey Heartburn", who gave a raucously hilarious performance:

One performer did things with sharp objects:

And we had a fire-eater - appropriately red-haired:

There were QR codes on the table - one to order, one to tip the performers. Curiously, only the one to tip worked, and for drinks, I was left to the vagaries of a server who had admitted that this was her first night. She got to me early for my first drink, but then the place was pretty empty at that point. The second, I must have been waiting half an hour to catch her eye for. The third came a bit faster, and handily, they seemed to have emptied the bottle, because my glass was overfilled. Hey, it was a fun evening.

Right! I do actually have some more stuff planned. Now, I have a half-day today because I have a root canal this afternoon - they actually just called to move me a bit earlier, so I'll have to leave a little earlier than anticipated. Planning to have lunch beforehand, at the George, which is right nearby - they warned me to eat beforehand, saying I'd feel a bit numb afterwards and wouldn't want to. Anyway, that's going to take long enough that I didn't want anything this evening that was starting too early - which is how I come to be back with the London Wine Meetup, who are meeting at 7pm (should be ok by then) at The Victoria, Mile End - RSVPs now closed. We had to pay a deposit, most of which will be taken from our bill.

Tomorrow, back with TAC for Falla 150, a tribute to the Spanish composer, Manuel de Falla, at St. Clement Danes church - part of the Echoes Festival of Latin Classical Music. Regular tickets from Ticketsource. Eating at Cote Covent Garden beforehand.

Then it's six days of Meetup! On Friday, I'm back with The Hideout, for Roar, a comedy documentary about Tippi Hedren, her daughter, Melanie Griffith, and her husband, who directed and co-wrote it.. and some lions. Apparently Tippi Hedren is a real lover of animals. And as the blurb says, no animals were harmed in the making of this film - 70 cast and crew, including all of the above, were! It looks ridiculously OTT - and as someone says, this makes a mockery of Tippi Hedren claiming she was traumatised by Hitchcock attacking her with birds on the set of The Birds! Anyway, showing in The Nickel.

On Saturday, back with Museum, Art & Culture Socials at the Museum of Soho for an exhibition, The Magnificent Mr. Mole, about a local artist. Meeting at Cafe Boheme beforehand, and with a quick look at The French House bar & restaurant, where the late Mr. Mole used to hang out, afterwards, before a pub social.

On Sunday, hosting my first ever Meetup event, woo! It's with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ), and hey, it's where I've finally found an outlet to advertise storytelling, which regular readers will know that I love. So, this is a Crick Crack Club event, which I was going to anyway - it's Agni & Amor: Tales of Love & Fire, and happening in The Master Shipwright's House. Ben Haggarty and Steph Brittain will be performing, but there'll also be music and food - a real end-of-summer festival. Part of the Thames Festival Trust. We're meeting in the Dog and Bell beforehand, and optionally afterwards as well. A lot of newbies coming to this one - hopefully they remember to buy tickets, which are limited.

Monday is a bank holiday, so I managed to slot in my friend Helen, who wanted to come visit. We're having a long lunch at Bella Italia Cranbourn Street.

And that evening, and indeed on Tuesday as well, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats. On Monday, we're at Holy Fool at the Park Theatre. It's the story of Shostakovich, who trod a tricky line living under Stalin.

And on Tuesday, we're seeing How the Other Half Loves, a romcom at the Old Vic. Eating beforehand at Bar + Block Southwark.

Next Wednesday - I'm hosting another LoMAZ event! This one is part of our Dracula series.. The Nickel is showing Dracula in Istanbul, and I said I'd run an event. Made in 1952, it's apparently the first film to depict Dracula with fangs.. and has Mina as a showgirl! Should be fun. We're headed to The Wilmington afterwards. Connor has signed up, which is nice.

On the 3rd, I'm back with CT for Never Let Go, part of the Fringe Fix at Underbelly Boulevard. It's a comedy, one-man, gay retelling of the film Titanic.

And then - with a last-minute reschedule of what I was supposed to be doing - I finally have a weekend free to get back to Ireland, phew! Took me ages to get the flight booked, mind - the Ryanair app was down, I had to use the browser. And both Ryanair and Stansted Express have forgotten me, I book so seldom any more.. hopefully meeting the friend I usually lunch with when I go back.