Talk: Vampires, Desire & the Queer Imagination

Tonight, the first of four days of horror, with a talk about Vampires, Desire & the Queer Imagination. It was happening in the Blues Kitchen Brixton - tickets from Eventbrite. And I booked to eat there beforehand. Livestream tickets also available, in which case you also get a recording.

I could get buses - except my first bus was delayed so much it made more sense to walk to where I was to catch the next. I was just in time to see it go.. but got another quickly enough, to Elephant & Castle. Where I was to catch the #133.. when it came, however, it was so packed the driver wasn't taking on passengers! Happily, Google Maps informed me that the #333, right behind it, would do just as well - and it was empty (I believe it starts there). What they didn't say was that it wouldn't be quite as direct - more time lost! Happily, the Blues Kitchens often text if you're running late, to check you're still coming - this one texted just before my scheduled time. So I was confident enough that I'd have a table when I finally got there.

Actually, as I might have expected, I had the place almost to myself! and was shown immediately to a table - where I ascertained where the talk was (there's a door beside reception that leads to an upstairs space), and that yes, although the ticket said 7pm, the talks tend to start at 7.30.. phew!

Again, they don't do the fried chicken any more either.. however, it occurred to me to look at the "sandwiches" (burgers). The chicken one sounded tasty - I asked for it without pickles. And she pointed out that they don't include sides, so I also ordered fries. With their £6 cocktails on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, well, that was a spicy margarita for me!

And so the fried chicken lives on - in a burger. It was gorgeous, and the margaritas went down very well. What's nice about here - as opposed to the branch in Shoreditch - is that the same server serves everything, which speeds the process up considerably; in Shoreditch, different people do drinks and food..

She brought a dessert menu without asking, but by now it was 7pm, so I paid and headed upstairs. And as I did.. she gave me a keyring. Lovely, I thought - but it's more than just a souvenir. It entitles you to no less than a 50% discount on Sundays and Mondays in any Blues Kitchen! I had only just started my second drink, so took it upstairs with me. Stool seating unfortunately, which was uncomfortable for me without back support - the only alternative was the bench by the wall, but that was already mostly full, so I stayed on my central stool.

I hadn't realised it was a Seed Talk:

Our speaker, as I understand it, has written one book (based on her thesis) and contributed sections to others:

Several images were taken from Bram Stoker's Dracula:

After a long discussion about the origin of the word "queer", and how to determine whether a film is considered queer (queer actors, or crew, or themes..), she presented us with an example of a "deviant" burial - not anything to do with queerness, as she said, but rather a burial that deviates from the norm - as in this case, with the skull removed and placed at the feet. As she explained, these burials were generally to prevent people returning from the dead:

And crikey, vampires have been represented in literature since 1751!

Even John Polidori got in on the act - he was Byron's personal physician, and represented him as a vampire.. she made a good case for one of the characters, who has a secret fascination with the vampire, depicting a homoerotic relationship between Polidori and Byron..

And of course, Carmilla made an appearance, with its female vampire seducing a young girl:

And then we were onto Dracula!

and its homoerotic references (I was rather taken by her reference to fangs as phallic symbols):

There was even a suggestion that Jonathan's inability to see the vampire in his shaving mirror is a metaphor that suggests that the monster he's afraid of is truly himself, as he is the only one he sees.. and that the scene with the vampire women, he acting passive, like a woman, represents a homosexual bent:

She made a good point that vampire fiction greatly decreased in the first half of the 20th century, suggesting that the real-life horror of the world wars was enough for people - she did give one exception (again, homoerotic):

And then she brings it up to something like the present day, with The Lost Boys, about a town full of vampires (Kiefer Sutherland is one of them):

The Hunger, where vampire Catherine Deneuve has both David Bowie and Susan Sarandon as lovers:

Interview with the Vampire (the book):

..and the contrasting screen versions - Tom Cruise's, played very straight, and the newer series, which is truer to the book:

This one, written at the time of the AIDS epidemic, has an AIDS sufferer be cured by being turned into a vampire:

She's a very entertaining speaker, and held her audience's attention throughout - honestly though, I could have done without the Twilight references! Anyway, as with any good talk, she ended with a summary:

Very interesting, whetted my appetite for the next round of vampire activities! (See below.) Took me an age to get home though - Google Maps suggested a route that I knew was impossible because of roadworks, and the bus change I ended up making ended up leaving me with a half-hour wait between buses! At least, although the second bus was diverted, it did do that after dropping me where I needed to be!

Next, three more days of Meetup. Tomorrow, back with Museum, Art & Culture Socials (MACS), for a Phantom Femmes ghost tour with Herstorical Tours! We're meeting at Costa in Farringdon, and finishing in a pub. Which, according to their website, is the Viaduct. And hallelujah for a guided walk on a Thursday, for once, I don't have to go into the office, so I don't have to lug a laptop on the walk - the power is out in the office building! Whee.. also means that I haven't (yet) run past my bedtime by staying up to finish this, because I don't have to get up early to catch a bus!

Then two days of London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ). On Friday, another LoMAZ Dracula event - we're off to see the uncut version of Dracula (AKA Horror of Dracula) (1958) with Christopher Lee - the cut footage was apparently originally considered too scary for the general public - showing that night only in Cineworld Leicester Square and now sold out. Eating beforehand in the Marketplace Food Hall, and heading to the pub afterwards - many thanks to Dar, who went to Dovetail with The Hideout and recommended it to me! So we've booked a couple of tables there.

And on Saturday, I'm hosting more storytelling, courtesy of the Crick Crack Club - this time it's Daniel Morden, who's telling The Luck Child & Other Strange Tales in Jacksons Lane.

That being in the afternoon, I've also booked something for the evening - The Hideout is off to Hallowe'en at Kew, so I've signed up! We're meeting in The Tap on the Line beforehand, and I'm coming early to grab a bite to eat.

Then it's three days of music with CT, the first two of which are classical music. On Sunday, I'm in Conway Hall for their Sunday concerts - on this occasion, it's a choral concert entitled In Sweet Music is Such Art. 

And on Monday, I'm going to The Liberal Club, of all places, to the David Lloyd George room, where they hold all their public events, for a piano concert called Norwegian Seasons. Fun thing is, CT made sure to warn me that it was formal dress.. but I checked online, and both the club website, and AI, seem to agree that it's smart casual! Well, that means I shouldn't have to go and buy an evening dress.. if they throw me out, I guess they throw me out!

And on Tuesday, I'm at the Albert Hall for The Moonwalkers, with a score performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and two specially created films about space exploration, the titular film narrated and co-written by Tom Hanks. 

Next Wednesday, I'm back with London Fun at Leicester Square Theatre, for Rosie Holt: The Illegal Aliens Have Landed! Eating beforehand, of course, at Bella Italia Cranbourn Street.

And then I'm on holiday for the rest of the month! And thus begin 13 days of Meetup, and 11 straight days of horror.. On the 22nd.. I fly to Dublin for the Bram Stoker Festival (starts the next day)! Again, part of the LoMAZ Dracula shenanigans. Flying to/from Gatwick - out with Ryanair, back with Easyjet. I'm flying a day early and returning a day late, to make sure I don't miss anything - and am hosting a group there. I'm meeting up with an old, Dublin-based friend and her fiancé that evening. We decided to have dinner in the Good World Chinese restaurant, which was always a favourite of ours. Now, when I was booking this, it had to be by phone or internet form - it was noisy where I was, so I filled out the form. Never did get a response, so I finally rang them - no record of the booking, of course, but we're now booked. Anyway, I'm staying in Staycity aparthotel in the Liberties.

The festival kicks off on the 23rd - and one of the group just flagged a series of events, including a free guided walk - Life, Disease and Death at Collins Barracks, which I might go on. Seems it used to be part of the festival, but not any more. Do you know, as we were browsing the schedule, events were selling out in front of us! So the only thing I managed to get booked in the festival that day is a live horror podcast called Petrified, showing in the Project Arts Centre. Eating at Smokin' Bones afterwards - and with people in the group arriving at different times, I only have one companion for that, at time of writing. How bad! I started out with bar seating, but when I amended the booking to two people, I got standard seating.. much better..

On the morning of the 24th, again as part of the festival, there's a treasure hunt in the National Library. Tickets are free, and were supposed to be available from midday today - but when I checked, I discovered they're not available today because of industrial action, and indeed, they have to check whether the event is still happening!

That evening, a couple of us are going to a play that's running throughout the festival - Stitch is billed as an homage to Frankenstein, and claims to explore our capacity to be both monster and maker. Playing at Smock Alley Theatre - some of us are eating at Lundy Foot's afterwards, which is right beside it, and wouldn't give us a booking after 8pm! which is when the play finishes. So we're rushing right there.

On the 25th, we were talking about starting with brunch/lunch in Doyle's - another internet form, another non-reply. But behold and lo, I hadn't noticed that they don't open that early there on Sundays! Shelley, who's also coming, found us an alternative, and we're now brunching/lunching in Cafe 1920 at the Fleet Hotel. Anyway, it's convenient to Trinity College, where we're headed to a couple of talks that afternoon, in the Graduate Memorial Building - to which, I must say, they provided excellent directions! First up is Dacre Stoker, a relative of Bram, with a talk called Stoker on Stoker.

Later, there's a talk on Stoker on the Runway: The Gothic in Contemporary Fashion.

And that evening, again at Shelley's suggestion, a few of us are dining at Fallon & Byrne. All these eateries are new to me, BTW!

For those of us left, there's a Macnas parade ("Fiáin", which means "wild") on the 26th. We might head out of the city a bit on one of these days, for some sightseeing..

I fly back on the 27th, and am rushing off, with The Hideout, to the Prince Charles Hallowe'en Quiz that night. Victory House bar beforehand, as usual.

On the 28th, well, Clare from LoMAZ flagged a different storytelling group to me - so I'm hosting a trip to see the Bloomsbury Folklore Club talk about vampires and the undead, downstairs at Waterstone's Bloomsbury. Tickets from Eventbrite. And there's a bar down there too!

On the 29th, the Prince Charles (PCC) is doing a vampire day! So I said I'd take the day off for that.. and with the first two days of the week off as well, why, I said I might as well take the whole week off! so I am. This vampire day has a variety of vampire films.. I'm starting with From Dusk till Dawn, because I've never seen it - stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Juliette Lewis, Tarantino (would you believe), who also co-wrote it, and Salma Hayek.. it's about a couple of criminals who hole up in a truck stop that turns out to be populated by vampires! With Salma Hayek's character name of Santanico Pandemonium, I have to wonder whether she isn't one of them.. 

Then I'm seeing Sinners, because I just love it. Afterwards, I should just have time to eat in Bella Italia..

Before I join The Hideout for The Lost Boys, which I've also never seen! Back to Victory House again beforehand, of course.

On the 30th, second day in a row with them, back with The Hideout for Crawlers.. the latest spider horror! Details TBC.

And on Hallowe'en itself.. I have two Meetups! First up is Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, with a walk around Sensational Soho!

And that evening - I couldn't resist Hallowe'en at the Museum! Happening at the Natural History Museum, with a vampire theme - they have a vampire wedding, a vampire council, vampire bands.. and I am so dressing up for it. I'm hosting with The Hideout (making it my third Hideout day in a row of four - and the first time I'll have hosted for them), and also with LoMAZ - fewer on the LoMAZ side. As of now. Well, tickets are £65..

On the 1st, back with MACS for the Korean exhibition at the British Museum. Pub social afterwards, location TBD.

I can't stay long though - back that evening with The Hideout for the director's cut of Ken Russell's The Devils, at the PCC! Couldn't resist, I love this debauched vision (even censored) of the possessions at Loudun, where a hysterical group of young nuns gave testimony that the magician responsible was one Fr. Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) - the fact that he'd gone up against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu probably didn't help. Also stars Vanessa Redgrave. Meeting in Victory House beforehand, as usual.

And finally, two days of Up in the Cheap Seats - on the 2nd, at Dogstar, at Hampstead Theatre.

And on the 3rd, Five Days in the Sun at Sadler's Wells. Eating at The Wilmington beforehand.