Film: Everybody Digs Bill Evans

This evening, I'm heading to the cinema - what was coming up was GroBe Freiheit (Great Freedom), a post-WW2 German prison drama, focussing on a man who's repeatedly jailed for homosexual acts. Showing in the Close-up Cinema.

But, with more comprehensive film listings out, instead I went to Everybody Digs Bill Evans, a jazz biopic with Anders Danielsen Lie as the titular pianist and Bill Pullman as his dad. Seemed very mellow, which suited my mood. Showing in the Barbican. And I booked to eat in Cote Barbican beforehand. All nice and late, so I could attempt to catch up with myself.

I did get a few things accomplished as a result, before taking buses to the restaurant, arriving a little early, despite diversions for roadworks. I was in time for three courses - and lo, even though I'd forgotten to scan my app the last time I was in a Cote, because I'd booked, I was credited anyway! Delighted to see that claiming my free dessert still didn't reduce my points balance.. this is a good loyalty system! Now entitled to a free cocktail..

And so to the film. I don't always like jazz.. but this film has a beautiful, mellow soundtrack, which underpins most of the early scenes. It starts with the death of Bill Evan's collaborator, Scott LaFaro, in a car crash, which sent Bill off the rails for a while. He went to live with his folks for a few months, before coming back and forming a new jazz trio, and the film deals mostly with that period, with flashes of his time with his girlfriend, and later, around the time of his early death in 1980.

It's all about the feel, all about the look and the music - the 60s are depicted in black & white, the later years in colour.. like the televisions, I guess! The music becomes less prevalent in his later years, as his drugtaking is revealed, and tragic events begin to unfold.. but as a welcome counterpoint to all the misery, the scenes with his parents are alternately poignant and hilarious, as they fuss around him, and his dad shows him off down the pub. In all, a striking and memorable film, and I'm very glad I saw it.

Whee, tomorrow, I'm travelling with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again! This one is a trip to Ljubljana - which they've taken to abbreviating to LJ in the associated WhatsApp group. I booked an Expedia package - flying out with British Airways from Heathrow, direct to Ljubljana, and I checked in today - many in the group are actually flying elsewhere and taking the train, which works out cheaper. And a lot went out already, to travel around the area - some went today, and wow, have I been jealous, looking at the pictures and videos that have already been posted. I'm in an AirBnB, which will be a first for me - it's in the pedestrianised part of the old town, in Tromostovje Apartments. And would you believe, it was only last week that I got around to replying to their message, requesting my arrival time so they could be there to meet me, a request they made when I booked this, months ago! Sadly, the airport shuttle was booked out by the time I got to it, so I'll probably take an Uber - they suggest to take any taxis to the nearby Grand Hotel Union, given that the apartments are in a pedestrianised area. When I mentioned to them that I was getting an Uber, they asked that I contact them when I was in the car.

Well, Lake Bled is an obvious excursion, and we're taking a tour with Get Your Guide. Otherwise, no word of any plans yet. I'm flying back on Sunday, with Easyjet - again, booked a large cabin bag, and checked in, last week! (They let you check in very early.) Others are carrying on to Venice, but goodness knows, I've done that to death. I'll be back to London early enough, might head to the cinema on Sunday evening.. and what's coming up is Coyote Vs. ACME, a partly animated comedy based on the roadrunner cartoons, in which Coyote sues ACME, whose products always blow up in his face. It's getting great reviews - nearest showing to me is in the Genesis.

On Monday, heading to Laughter to the Rafters, a comedy show in aid of The Passage homeless charity, and starring Dara O' Briain, Ed Byrne, and Sara Pascoe, among others. That's at the Hackney Empire. I've booked a table at the Pizza Express across the road for beforehand - I've had trouble before, with them being full, and eating options around there aren't great.

Then it's six days of Meetup in a row... starting with three days of mythology. On Tuesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Bloodsport - After Helen of Troy, at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.. all about Helen of Troy, and what it means to return to your home, after abandoning it and starting a war. She's played by Michelle Dockery, and it's set in modern-day Essex.

Next Wednesday - whee, I'm hosting storytelling with LoMAZ again! The Crick Crack Club - in the form of Lucy Lill - is performing Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls in Folklore Hoxton. Female prophets, the theme. I'm eating in the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.

And on the 24th, I'm at Watkins Bookshop (yes, they have their own Meetup group) for the launch of a book called Pantheon, about the Roman Pantheon and the society that birthed it. Eating in Bella Italia Cranbourn Street afterwards, yay!

I'll probably be eating there again on the 25th, when I'm with The Hideout for Her Private Hell - a stylized, futuristic psychological thriller set in Tokyo, and starring Sophie Thatcher. Details TBC.

On the 26th, I'm back at last with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a walk entitled Heavenly Heights of Hampstead.

And - as so often on these walks - that evening I'm off to a film (second day in a row). This time, it's with Movie Roadhouse London for Bad Apples in the BFI - a comedy with Saoirse Ronan as a teacher who locks a problematic student in her basement.

And on the 27th, back yet again with LoMAZ to see The Coming of Age exhibition at the Wellcome Collection.

Finally, on the 28th, I'm back with TAC to see Who Killed Marilyn? at the Emerald Theatre. Spoiler, this assumes it's the Mafia..