Oh my, regular readers must've thought something had happened to me, it's been so long! No, it's just been so busy..
Monday was The Heart of a Hero, a meetup of the Crick Crack Storytelling Club - and I usually try to get to those. This was held in the Soho Theatre, as usual, and featured an Egyptian storyteller. It was pretty full, if not completely, by the time the demure, diminutive lady came on, barefoot, in a kaftan, and stared at us for a minute before beginning. Now, Arabian-type stories can be very rambling, and this was one such: but it was quite lovely to watch her pace the floor as she wove her tale, painting for us with hand gestures the story of warriors, deserts, and camels. And her accent lent itself to the telling, of course. It's funny - she came to life during the telling; when she was finished, she just.. stopped. Stared at us again, and walked off. Surreal.
Unfortunately, it went on longer than your average storytelling event - I mentioned it rambled - and by the time I'd gotten home and eaten, it was past my bedtime.
On Tuesday, I was back with the World Music Meetup, for a concert by Varldens Band. I hadn't heard of them, but the included YouTube video clip on the Meetup page persuaded me I'd like them. Mind you, on the night in question, the last thing I felt like doing was heading all the way over to Shoreditch - it's nearly an hour each way. Google Maps suggested Tube, then Overground for the outbound journey: Tube, then bus for the return (the Overground doesn't run very late). I nearly didn't go at all, but when I got home, the place was a flurry of activity - turned out I was getting a new flatmate, and the letting agent - and someone else I didn't know - were in a flurry of activity, preparing his room. So I headed off and left them to it. Met the flatmate on the way out and let him in, making my apologies.
I was lucky - managed to grab the Tube just as it was about to leave the platform, and despite what it said on the indicator board, it was headed to town. I'd grabbed a paper on the way in - which I had completely read by the time I got off, at Whitechapel. Long way - I was glad I'd got a seat, from an obliging gent who got up for me. At Whitechapel, I went down the stairs - ironically - for the Overground; the one I wanted, Northbound, handily left from the same platform I came out on.
One stop later, I was in Shoreditch. Turn left from the station, then right on the main road, and you can just about see the bottom of the Rich Mix sign, on the left. This is a place I've thought of coming to many times, but never have before. First confusion was the large, glass sliding door.. when I finally figured out which end opened, I could go in and queue for my ticket. Well, stamp on the wrist actually. The actual concert wasn't starting till 8.30, it transpired, and with it not yet 8, I headed for the cafe to the other side of the lobby - I was starving. No dinner, y'see.
First thing I saw was an ice cream stall, with a chap choosing flavours. Salvation! I had a couple of scoops - mint choc & whit choc. And boy, were they welcome - served by a friendly woman who was good enough to take my ice cream back while I got my change back in my bag. I took a seat, had my ice cream, and by the time I was finished, the "main space" was open and I headed in, having a cursory check of my wrist stamp as I did so.
It's essentially a large-ish, pretty empty room. Stage to the right, mixing desk to the left. There are tables in front of the stage, which were already thronged, although the doors can't have been open that long. Although the group organiser had said there'd be a Meetup sign on the table.. there wasn't. A number of people later commented the same on the Meetup page - not that I could access the internet on my phone from there, it seems to be BT only. Now, I headed first to the bar (immediately to your right as you come in) and I do think I spied the Meetup table as I did so. If that was it, there was no space anyway - and when I had my drink (in a plastic container) I headed straight for the other side of the room, where I nabbed the comfiest seat in the house. In a room full of folding chairs, I had the sofa..
So there I sat, musing that I like this place. I even had a table beside me to leave my drink on - until someone grabbed it to sit on! There was a lack of chairs, and someone working there was in a flurry of bringing them from a back room until a supervisor told her she didn't need to bother, that a lot of people preferred to stand anyway.
In due course, someone came on to introduce the band. And my heart sank. For goodness' sake, he was talking about their "mission of world peace" and they even had a wee film, filled with smiling people, mostly children, in what looked like third-world environments. With a naff voiceover. And how they meant to achieve world peace? By - um - forming a whopping great band, filled with people from different continents. Jeez, U2 does more for world peace, but not even Bono pontificates like this!
And so the band finally trooped on, and my heart sank further. There were so many of them, they had trouble fitting them all - never mind mics and instruments. And when the music finally started, it just struck me as a cacophony. I recognise this type of thing from Irish trad music - a band formed of, seemingly, every passing musician, trouble fitting them on stage, and just playing a rambling piece that gives enough time that everyone can do a solo. Catchy enough, but you definitely don't get the feeling that everyone on stage is needed. I gave them two songs, finished my drink and left. I could have got the Overground back at that time, but the bus is cheaper, so I proceeded with my original plan. It wasn't long till the bus came, and I got home eventually - a three-hour evening, 20 minutes of which was spent listening to music. And when I got home, it was to a flatmate newly arrived to London and wanting local info. While my dinner went cold before I got a chance to eat it. By the time I eventually got it eaten, it was, again, too late to blog.
Yesterday, the plan was to go to a film. Unfortunately, I hadn't had much time to consider my film list, and by the time I got it finished, it was too late to go to anything! (Would've been The Martian.. bummer, the very one I wanted to go to.) And, guess what? Too late to blog!
So here we are, and it's Thursday. And tonight, I'm headed to Spem in Alium, in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, with the London European Club. Nice that they're doing my kind of stuff now! Meeting in the Silver Cross beforehand for dinner/drinks. Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.. on Saturday, we're off to Glór to see Regina Nathan in concert. On Monday, I'm back - at last - with the Let's Do London - for less! group, to see the Barber of Seville at the Coliseum. Upper Circle - it's always nice not to have to climb all the way to the balcony, in this extremely high theatre. For Tuesday, I got a cheap ticket for a play called Moments, in the Drayton Arms - honestly, chosen because it was the closest option. And on Wednesday, I'm back with Let's Do London - for less! again, for Carmen, at the Opera House.
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