Concert: Faraj Suleiman

Tonight, back at last with The London Jazz Meetup, who were off to the London Jazz Festival for a concert by the Faraj Suleiman Quartet at King's Place. UK premiere, apparently! As usual, I got waylaid on my way out the door - happily, I was still in plenty of time.

The bus dropped me across from King's Cross, and as I passed I saw a most enterprising busker, playing what sounded like an Irish jig on his fiddle, while simultaneously tapping his foot, to which was attached a tambourine. Haven't come across that before. I subsequently had an interesting time picking up my ticket at the box office, where it turned out they had - not my last postcode, nor the one before, but the one before that! She asked whether I remembered it - not a chance. She finally dug me out on the system, and gave me the ticket when I could confirm my email address. Lordy - but you see, some websites just don't let you change your address! She's now done it for me.

The bar has completely changed since the last time I was there. Gone are the parallel, high tables - in their place, arced tables follow the line of the bar, and behind them, smaller, standard tables and chairs. Now an impossible place to meet people. The section down the back is now reserved for food, and the bar section was absolutely jammed! Passing back through, I spied the organiser with her well-advised Meetup sign - everyone should have one. I got a glass of wine, and we chatted - when another arrived, it was obvious that they knew each other well. Unfortunately, I was somewhat excluded from the chat at this point, not being the jazz afficionado that they both obviously are - but I have always found the members of this group lovely, and once they'd got the important topics related to the jazz festival out of the way, they switched to topics I'd be more interested in.

A couple more arrived just as we were planning on heading down to the hall, and we all went down together - several more had signed up, but, as so often happens, left the organiser hanging. Most rude. A good job we moved when we did - a queue had already formed by the time the doors opened, and when we went in, we could see that seating was extremely limited! Half the seats had been replaced by standing tables - we dashed for seats, and were lucky to get seated all together, on the far side. I did get a bit of a crith in my neck, looking across the stage to the piano, but never mind.

They started late. During the first couple of numbers, I had to fight the urge to doze off - in my defence, I didn't get enough sleep last night, and it was a busy day. I woke myself with a moderate coughing fit - jeez, is this going to happen at every show now? At least it's not as severe as it was, and it subsided after some minutes. I was awake enough for the rest of the show to notice the interesting, Middle-Eastern vibes tinting the melodies from the piano. Unfortunately, for most of the numbers, the piano was pretty much drowned out by the drums, which I was closer to. I wasn't too upset when they finished, after about an hour.

The others dispersed, mainly, afterwards, with the organiser heading off to buy a cd. I made my way home. Tomorrow, with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) at the Garrick for Don Quixote, with the RSC. The only cheap tickets left for this were terrible, so I went a bit upmarket. A bit - I'm still behind a pillar!

On Friday, I'm on a Paranormal Activity Tour - ooh! Now, for this one, we get ghost-hunting equipment, which could make it interesting - I don't fancy the dowsing rods, myself, but we'll see. Walking in London, again. Therefore Funzing, so discounted by 20%, again, with the code Funzing_Fb20. And this was after my loyalty discount - so I got it at better than half price! which is good, considering the price.

On Saturday, I'm off on my own to see A Small Place, at the Gate.

On Sunday, back at last to Winter Wonderland! That evening, I'm off to Cirque Berserk - an annual tradition for me. The latest show is the cheapest, so that's the one I booked.

On Monday, I'm back with UITCS for Programme Three of Pinter at the Pinter - Landscape / A Kind of Alaska / Monologue.

On Tuesday, I'm going to see Company, by Sondheim, at the Gielgud. No tickets available for the upper levels on the official site - they must all have been bought up by resellers! Cheapest I found was with OfficialLondonTheatre, run by See Tickets.

Next Wednesday, I'm with Walking in London again for the Haunted London Pub Tour. 

On the 29th, I'm back with UITCS at the National for Hadestown. Then back to Ireland again for the weekend.

On the 3rd, I'm back to the National for I'm Not Running.

On the 4th, I'm off to the Bush, for Drip.

On the 5th, LDN Talks @ Night and London Speaks Sessions (both Funzing) advertised a "Winterville" talk on The Science of Santa, where we get the scientific explanation of how he does it. Taking place at The Windmill. However, seems they meant the day before, when of course I'm busy. So instead I'm going to True West, with Kit Harington, at the Vaudeville. Cheapest tickets from the venue. 

On the 6th, Hazel of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts, London Guided Walks (and, indeed, Walking in London) has a Christmas Carol Tour. Now, the last two events I booked with her turned out to be no-shows.. the first might not have been her fault, as she was advertising someone else's event, but the second, she just missed the ball on and left three of us standing on a street corner. Whether this event happens is anyone's guess! Now, it's technically more expensive if you book on Funzing - but if you have my discount ;-) it comes down to the same price she charges on her own site, without the booking fee! So I did it that way. But then Henning, with the London European Club, advertised a Happy Xmaths evening at Imperial College, the same night! Festive fun for maths geeks. Plus it's free - you just have to register with Eventbrite. I thought it'd be great to get back with this group. And since I booked the walk with Funzing, I've cancelled and will get a full refund. And I feel no sadness at missing an evening with Hazel, after what's been happening. But gee, this evening is proving to be one of the more popular- now a colleague has booked it for his leaving do. So I'm now going to that instead. Nibbles arranged at The Enterprise.  

On the 7th, back with UITCS at the Royal Court, for The Cane. Got the very last ticket, phew!

On the 8th, with them again at the Orange Tree Theatre for The Double Dealer.

On the 9th, the Crick Crack Club is back at the British Museum for I Know Not, a full afternoon of Sufi legend.

On the 10th, I'm off to the Bridge Theatre for A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter, by Martin McDonagh. Starring Jim Broadbent, this is a dark take on Hans Christian Anderson!

On the 11th, I was going with North London Friends to The Convert, at the Young Vic. Discounted top-price seats, it seems! And then, the Crick Crack Club sent around an advertising email yesterday - and damnit if they haven't arranged a meeting that night! The House of Nine Lives is at the British Library, and has Nell Phoenix, Tim Ralphs, and TUUP talking about pussycats. Irresistible. However, I don't get my money back for the play unless they sell on the ticket - hopefully they can.

The 12th is our office Christmas party, but Let's Do This has now advertised a Christmas dinner- which sounds a more attractive prospect. So I'm doing that instead. 

On the 13th, I'm thrilled to be going to Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, at Sadler's Wells, with UITCS. He's a fantastic choreographer, but I've never before gotten around to seeing this all-male version. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. 

And on the 17th, the Crick Crack Club is performing Gilgamesh, at Soho Theatre. With Ben Haggerty in the spotlight, this will be a treat! Sold out, of course - you have to book these things early. Meeting Helen for a meal beforehand.