Finest wine words, 27th August

Me, my best friend and 100 wines. Carnage right? Well, not quite. For I was at a wine tasting, not just an all-you-can-drink extravaganza and I wanted to take it seriously. The reason for the wine tasting? To forget for a while all the professional bottle descriptions listing fruits you might never have even tasted, let alone discern in the wine you’re drinking, not to mention references to minerality and silt. And instead invite some people to just say whatever popped into their heads when they drank different wines. To get the lay person’s perspective. Having spent hours doing a similar thing in Sampler of my own accord in times past, I was absolutely delighted to be invited to such a wine tasting, on a grander scale, and wanted to make sure I did it properly. And that meant not just necking as many glasses as possible, but being considered with our measures so we could taste a wide variety, and being considered in our drinking so we could really decide what we thought we tasted and felt with each mouthful. We were asked to describe each wine we tried with at least three words and submit them, and we had a notepad to also keep tasting notes for our own reference.

Not that I want to give you the impression I didn’t get drunk. I did. I mean come on, we’re not going to waste all that lovely wine, swilling it about our mouths and spitting it out. We’re going to drink it. But we managed to not get properly drunk until the end, and in the course of doing so we tasted some very wonderful wines. They were all from Tesco’s Finest range, and the majority were in the £6 - £10 bracket so pretty affordable. My favourite was a Chablis. I think Alison was particularly struck by a Muscadet. We definitely drank more whites than reds, and then alighted upon the champagnes and much posher wines at the end of the night. A rioja was a particular celebrity of the night, and there had also been a very lovely rioja blanco. The range was quite overwhelming.

When I was invited to this I hesitated - Tesco? How corporate! But let's be honest, I pop in to a Tesco practically three times a week on my way to work so to turn it down simply for not being an independent's wine tasting was a bit hypocritical. Of course I would much rather buy all my wine from places like Sampler or Bottle Apostle on principle but the truth of the matter is that good wine is good wine and I'm more likely to end up buying it from Tesco (or Sainsbury's) as my local independet isn't all that local to me, in my non-gentrified area. 

I drink enough wine now to know what I like, and this tasting didn’t really change my mind, but it was a good way to know that if that’s what I want, I can get it easily from my local supermarket, and it was a fun way to really think about what I'm tasting when I drink it. I thought the set-up of the event was really good - the opposite of a stuffy, serious tasting, they had divided the wines into different categories such as 'Maverick', 'Outrageous' or 'Classic'. In the end we probably tried 16-18 different types, some of which were very drinkable on their own, others I could imagine pairing well with food. Food for thought. And speaking of food we had some lovely canapes to make sure those of us actually drinking the wine didn't get too tipsy (well, it helped). 

More (and better) photos to follow!

Black Cat Cabaret, 20th June

This. Was. Fabulous. And I do not say that lightly. I’ve been wowed and awed by some pretty stupendous acts, especially at the London Wonderground which seems to curate its shows with such care – Limbo and Boom Boom Club. And the Black Cat Cabaret was pretty up near these giddy heights.

I think what sets this show (and others like it) apart from other cabaret revue nights is that there is a story to everything. Each act is its own little vignette. And it’s coupled with a banging soundtrack to keep things sizzling. And of course, there’s a lot of sex to it. Not necessarily in nudity, but in the attitude it exudes.

Dusty limits is a debonair and devilish host as always. His risqué humour was perfect for this show. However, as with other appearances he has made, I do think one song is really the maximum he should be allotted. He’s a great performer but he’s not the best singer in the world.

Unlike the second act Lily la Scala whose voice is tremendous. She portrayed a boozy, libidinous, living doll, managing to wobble in a rigid, artificial way all over the stage and into the audience, while singing opera. This climaxed with, well, a climax for one poor (lucky!) sod in the audience who got to have Lily astride him as her song, and she, peaked.

Before this we had been wowed with an act I hadn’t seen before – Joe Moss did what I would loosely call acrobatics with a giant hoop, turning and twirling it while balanced inside. Hoops made another appearance later on, this time in normal ‘hula’ size. I’ve seen a few hula hoop acts before and they’re always quite fun. Jess Love made this one different by having a whole heap of attitude to her like she found the whole thing a drain on her free time. Oh, we're all clapping now? How very dull. And then she messed up! Oh no! Or did she…??

All the acts were good but one that I found rather stirring was Vicky Butterfly’s performance – it started out with a pretty standard burlesque act of wings, this time lighted, that she wound and wended about her, but then she climbed aboard the moon at the back of the stage and proceeded to ride it as if it was a big seesaw, holding on with ropes to an emotive? soundtrack of the theme to Requiem for a Dream and Edward Scissorhands. Beautiful.

Cabaret rouge were the ‘house’ dance troupe popping up to do quick routines such as an homage to the can can, or a tribue to Degas and his ballerina girls, alluding to what life was really like for an aspiring Parisienne ballerina trying to make ends meet and ending up on the wrong side of a coke addiction. The dancing was fun, funny, outstandingly good, but you couldn't forget its dark undertones.

Tom Baker who crops up at a lot of things (especially It’s Your Funeral) was a part of the band but also did a solo stint, engaging the audience in a singalong, which I have definitely seen him do before but I can’t pinpoint when – maybe at Boom Boom Club. Anyway, it’s a great song about the end of the world, fun to sing and it was no less fun this time.

I also liked the way they messed with gender roles - a love triangle involving a man and two women was danced out with all three parts played by women, and the aerial act was performed by a man and woman - but the man started out in a dress and the woman, in trousers, seduced him.

I enjoyed the night so much I am very tempted to go again as I feel I didn’t even have as good an experience as I could have, had I not spend half the acts writing notes about what each performer was doing for the blog!

BUG at the BFI, 28th February

So, BUG turned out to be quite different from what I was expecting, not least because Adam Buxton who normally hosts it was replaced by Doc Brown. But it was no worse for this (I imagine). Doc Brown was a really funny host who'd obviously put a lot of effort into making sure any Adam Buxton fans (or 'Buckle' to his friends) were not disappointed. 

Having watched Adam Buxton's Kernel Panic, I thought BUG was going to be more of the same - lots of YouTube clips, with Adam's witty commentary surrounding them. Instead, it was a showcase of some amazing music videos - many of which were quite hard-hitting, interspersed with Doc Brown's comedic efforts keeping with the theme of videos and film to lighten the mood.

We were shown 12 music videos, in chunks of two or three. There was also an interview with the music video Josh Cole who has directed videos for Rudimental, Chase N Status and Louis Matters to name but a few. To be honest, for me, this was the weakest point of the night, though I did enjoy watching some of the videos he'd made.

I rarely watch the videos to songs I like and I had either forgotten or dismissed the emotional impact they can have and how once you've seen a video, listening to the song will provoke those same feelings again. Or how music videos can so enhance a song by forging this emotional connection to it, even if that's just one of humour. I wasn't the biggest fan of Rudimental's song Not Giving In but after watching the video, I can't get it out of my head, and that's a good thing.

There was one other song that I couldn't get out of my head after BUG but we'll come to that.

Also, I must say, the actual songs that these music videos belonged to were brilliant. Many were songs I already knew and liked but the ones I was introduced to instantly made it onto my download list.

First up we had J Cole's She Knows - a tale of two youngsters pricking about downtown before one of them making an awful discovery when he comes home earlier than expected. Burning House's Post Party Stress Disorder was a great animated representation of what its like going to a house party and getting mashed up - although it does get pretty surreal (perhaps the guy took shrooms). And keeping with the headscrambling theme we had the video for Julio Bashmore's Peppermint (above) which had some screwy visuals to go with the pumping song. 

Then we had Doc Brown's injection of humour - he took some emotional scenes and, taking the idea of incidental music one step further, overlaid lyrics on top of it (sung live). Heart-swelling moments such as when Will Smith gets a job in The Pursuit of Happyness and when Daniel Day Lewis has to shoot his friend in Last of the Mohicans had words spelling out exactly what was happening on screen and how you should be feeling. Oddly, the music in the Mohicans scene was very upbeat and jaunty, clashing with the dark, traumatic scene on screen, and was exploited by Doc's lyrics, most notably, the final line (repeated to fade) 'killing his best friend to save him from suffering'. These words, and the Irish jig tune they were set to, I cannot get out of my head.

Next up was my favourite trio of videos, starting with the touching story of two long-time lovers in New York who bonded over a mutual love of gigs in the video for Elbow's New York Morning. Then came the clever (I thought) video for Oneohtrix Point Never's Boring Angel - a video telling the story of a person's life completely done with emojis. And finally, the hilarious video for Fidlar's Cocaine featuring the guy from Parks and Recreation... and a fake appendage (see below).

We had another interlude of entertainment collated by Doc Brown, namely the bizarre interview held with James Brown, before he went on tour, after he was arrested for assaulting his wife. Has to be seen to be believed. 

The final four videos included Damon Albarn's Everyday Robots, Jon Hopkins Collider, Disclosure's Grab Her (the more I hear of them, the more I like) and The Last Skeptik's Pick your Battles, which features the hero befriending a bear who attacks him in the woods but then turns out to be quite nice. Or does he...?

There seemed to be an 'epicness' to these final videos, and in recognising that, Doc Brown thought it only right to introduce us to the most epic scene of the most epic of epic movies. If you haven't heard of Singham, you better rectify! I have to share this little treat with you all.

I've included links to all of the videos. They were all awesome so do check them out. And definitely go to a BUG to discover more, I certainly will.

Westminster Bridge Road, 21st July

After my breakfast at Maltby Street Market, I strolled along up the Southbank, taking in a few of the spots on my Map of London Peculiars, and working towards Westminster Bridge Road, another thing on my list from Time Out’s 1000 Things to do in London. I was already beginning to feel a bit peckish and remembered that Engine hot dogs is now perched outside the National Theatre. I’d wanted to try them so I stopped by and got myself a regular hot dog. They had three other variations with various toppings, but I thought it was best to keep it simple to determine how good it was. All I added to it was ketchup and the interesting-sounding lager and lime BBQ sauce. Alas, even these two basic condiments were too much for the Engine hot dog. They completely overpowered the flavour of the dog itself. Now, you might think that it is my fault for choosing sauces with their own distinctive flavours, but I think if you’re going to have a choice of condiments, you shouldn’t be serving hot dogs that are all too easily masked by them. I tried a bit of the frank on its own and it wasn’t up to much – it seemed like a typical English attempt at a hot dog: weak and watery in flavour. The bun itself was quite dry. Rather than waste calories on it, I actually threw half of it away! The other versions you could order had stuff like coleslaw and chilli-salt pickle spears, or teriyaki sauce and wasabi mayo. Perhaps the hot dogs are intentionally bland and in fact the main event is the unusual toppings you can put on them? I’m not sure, but I’ll be sticking to Big Apple Hot Dogs in future.

So I went up to Westminster Bridge and walked south down it. Soon enough I came to no. 121, a gothic looking building that doesn’t disguise the fact that it looks a bit like a railway arch. This is because it used to be the terminus for the London Necropolis Railway, which opened in around 1850 to transport corpses from London to the outercity cemetery in Brookwood. The London Necropolis Company hoped to be the sole transporters of bodies to outer London but it didn’t really take off, and after the London station was bombed in WWII the line was closed down and the terminus reinvented as an office.

I then wandered a few feet further up and came to no. 100 Westminster Bridge Road, a building that is the antithesis of the ex-railway station being all modern, curvy and shiny. This is a block of flats called The Perspective Building and used to be where MI6 called home, and instead is now where Kevin Spacey and other rich people live.  I was actually quite underwhelmed by this building. I was expecting something more imperious. Perhaps the façade hides lots of ‘spy’ type touches inside.

The Scoop. 13th June

I follow 3guysonalondonbus through my blog and yesterday they did a post on The Pantaloons putting on their production of The Importance of Being Earnest at The Scoop. From the write up urging people to go see them, I decided spontaneously to do just that. The Scoop at More London was on my List and this seemed the ideal production for it. The weather was . . . reasonable for the moment, and knowing I was supposed to be away the next two nights, I grabbed the chance.

The Scoop is an outside amphitheatre at the location known as More London on the Southbank. Every summer they have a programme of free theatre, music, film screenings etc and as I love free stuff, I wanted to check it out at some point.

The very name The Pantaloons together with the description reminded me of another act I’d seen who I’d never heard of before but had been very pleasantly surprised by – Pappy’s Fun Club. Funnily enough, when doing a bit of research on the troupe today, I discovered that one of their founders also was a founder member of Pappy’s. He must like things beginning with P.

Anyway, so I dashed off straight from work, expecting people to flock to a free showing and wanting to be sure of getting a seat. I needn’t have worried as there was plenty of space, and indeed it didn’t end up filling up. Maybe the grey clouds scared people off. However, my promptness did mean we got to sit very near the action. Set and production-wise, the show was bare bones – a few props and no mikes, so sitting close was sensible if you wanted to see and hear everything. Not only do they act but they play instruments as well.

I am happy to report, that for my first show at The Scoop, I don’t know if I could have picked a better one. If they’re all of this quality then this is definitely worth checking out, and for free as well! As people filed in the actors got in amongst the crowd to entertain us while we waited. At around 6:30 the play began – with a song of course. A song in which the audience sang the chorus “Have a banana”. What else would you expect from a version of The Importance of Being Earnest?

This very much set the tone for the rest of the play. It was very silly and very, very funny. They ran through the whole thing without breaks, using song montages and ‘gameshows’ to seamlessly segue into the next act. There were five performers in total, playing all of the roles, and not above giving a wry nod to the fact that this sometimes meant that two characters couldn’t appear on stage at the same time. Oh – did I mention they had a ‘gameshow’ at one point? Yes, halfway through, to avoid Wilde witticism fatigue setting in, they had an ‘X-factor’ style competition to see which part of the audience could best perform the infamous line ‘A Handbag?!’ We were divided into three sections; section A was the right half of the audience, section B was the left half of the audience, and section C was one unlucky lady in the middle called Vanessa. Section A was called upon to recite the line (which we did very well. I had been rehearsing for this, little did I know it, my whole life, loving as I did this line as a child). Section B was called upon to better us. And then poor section C had a go, rising to the challenge wonderfully. Unsurprisingly, and deservedly, she was awarded the prize. 

Another delight was when, after this break in the action, they did a 'movie recap' managing to shoehorn in an impressive number of catchphrases while they reminded you what had happened thus far, with the appropriate movie theme music being played in the background.

I thoroughly enjoyed this romp of a show. I even almost forgot I was sitting on cold stone for a good two hours (they hire out cushions for a pound but these are minimal comfort). Towards the end of the evening the cold was setting in a bit, making it a little hard to concentrate, but at least it didn’t rain as I’d feared. There were programs for sale (I didn't buy one) and at the end of the performance, they asked, if you enjoyed it for a donation (which I gave). If we ever get some more summer weather, do check out the Scoop's line-up and give it a try. If it's anything as good as The Pantaloons, it will be well worth it.

Below, a few photos...

Lady Bracknell is dismayed at the engagement

Miss Prism and The Rev flirt

The entire ensemble in the denouement