Recent events

Have been really busy with work and so haven't made time to sit down and update the old blogspot.

Briefly the high-lights have been, Rufus Wainwright (again) at The Sheperd's Bush Empire. A great gig, really polished. I get the feeling that Rufus is starting to get a bit tired of touring, he has been on the road for ages promoting the Want albums. His voice was great, the band was really tight, but it felt just a little bit slick and perhaps not quite as spontaneous as past gigs. The boy needs a holiday!

That was followed on Sunday by Gay Bingo, The Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High St E1. It's hosted by Santanica Pandamonia with John Sizzle on the decks playing the kitschiest classics between games. We didn't win anything, which is a damn shame as the prizes are all gay porn! Santanica was working a Space theme, although how that realtes to him ending up naked and covered in blue paint, I have no idea. It finishes at 9.30 and so we decided to stop off on the way home at Big Jim's Sunday club, Horse Meat Disco. There is always a great mix of people there, fashion students, bears, people who haven't made it home from Saturday night and the DJ's play a random selection of music. I eneded up talking to a tall skinny young thing from Hackney. To save him the long journey home on his bike I offered to let him stay the night. He accepted.

On Monday I went to Dinner at the W'Sens with a couple of agents from New York. It's another Philippe Starck style interior, and the food is delicious but the portions are tiny. I was not as sparkly as the interior and spent much of the evening stifling yawns and trying not to let on I'd rather be at home in bed to catch up on sleep I had missed the night before. (Ahem)

I had arranged to meet Hackney Boy on Wednesday, but he called me as I walked through the door on Tuesday evening to say that he had just become an uncle and was planning to go and see the new baby on Wednesday. I thought this was a polite brush off, but far from it. He actually wanted to meet up that evening. Flattie was eavesdropping and told me I had to summon up my energy reserves and head out for the 5th night in a row. One quick shower later and I was on my way back into town.

Now if truth be told I was a bit drunk on Sunday evening and so I could really remember much about Hackney Boy, and I had shoved him out early on Monday morning as I had to get up for work. I arrived at The Edge and saw him reading a book near the door. First impressions, he was cute, with floppy brown hair and VERY tight jeans. He looked about 23. I grabbed a beer and went over and joined him. The conversation flowed fairly easily, he is 23, a student studying in London for a MA in French Literature. He is from Sheffield was at uni in Cambridge and spent a year living in Paris. He doesn't know London very well. We walked down to Boheme Kitchen for Steak Frites and he fessed up that the new nephew thing was a ploy. He was not going to see it tomorrow, he just wanted to meet up sooner! How sweet!

After dinner we popped into Trash Palace, but it was empty and so we rounded the evening off by walking arm in arm to the river and over the Hungerford Bridge to Waterloo. Very successful!

I stayed in on Wednesday.

On Thursday it was over to the Barbican to see Julius Caesar that my friend Tom had designed. It's directed by Deborah Warner and stars Ralph Fiennes (Not very good) Fiona Shaw (amazing) Simon Russell Beale (vg) and Anton Lesser (also vg). The set was vintage Tom: glass walls, empty spaces, video projections and for the second act he interprets images from the conflict in Afghanistan. Very powerful. I was all hyper afterwards. Probably should have blogged about it when I got home!

We went for usual post work drinks at the Box on Friday, but I wimped out early and went home with a bag of chips! So tired.

On Saturday I cleaned the flat, tidied my room, did laundry, mucked around with Lulu Laptop and cooked a huge pot of Moroccan stew. Went to meet Hackney Boy at the cinema. We went to see the Korean version of Dangerous Liaisons because his current essay is all about the novel. It's a beautiful film, but it's quite long. We missed last orders by the time it finished and so I made my way back to Clapham and met up with the gang who were just heading off to Duckie. Duckie sober is a strange experience. Got home at 2.00 and flattie and I sat up and watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch, till Flattie fell asleep.

Sunday I slept in late and then got up and did constructive chores like de-scaling the kettle and buying a new clothes dryer from the pound shop. So glamorous! We were supposed to be at Martin's Tapas birthday dinner at 5pm on Sunday, but I couldn't find the instructions to my camera and so Michael went on ahead and I slammed doors and drawers. I still can't find the manual.

Dinner was fun, although we waited for over an hour for Paul, Amir and Fox to join us. Very bad form! We had clubbed together and brought Martin a mini iPod, which he was thrilled with. (Yea! Good friends!) We ate loads, some people drank many martinis, some drank wine. Everyone teased Grumpy David about his Thomas Dolby hair. ( He has since shaved his head!) We left the restaurant and wandered along to the Kazbar, met Fox and Cosgove and Cosgrove's new boyfriend Tim. (see previous posting about Duckie Triumph) I spoke to Tim for the first time properly. He seems really nice, but he was very indiscreet about a mutual friend of ours. V flattering for me tho!

Hackney Boy was bored with his essay and so had cycled to Horse Meat. He wanted me to come over and meet him and so suddenly we were all in taxi's on our way to Vauxhall. The gang all like Hackney Boy, but do feel that it will all end in tears! He said they all seemed very friendly. He stayed over and of course I felt like rubbish all day on Monday!

Tonight I have a presentation at GQ, they are talking to me about their new magazine GQ Style.

Ha ha! Have just had internal email: X Tv show are ...are filming at the agency on Friday.

So please have a tidy up, make the place look as professional as possible, put your best TV friendly clothes on (no 'screen clash' patterns) and remember 'blusher is our friend'!

The mischievous Men's Division have all decided to come to work in fancy dress!

Old Maid

I went on a date last night. It was a guy I met last weekend at a bar. He seemed quite nice, but I wasn't sure if it was a romance date or a work thing as he is a journalist. (Well he writes for a sort UK version of the Enquirer, which I do not count as journalism, in fact I think it's quite revolting, but hey, a date is a date and I haven't had one for a while!) Anyway, we got round to coming out stories and I was explaining how I came out to my parents when I was 30 and I could see by his expression I had said something surprising. He asked me how long ago that was and I realised that perhaps in the dim light of the bar I had appeared slightly younger than I was. I explained it was 6 years ago and he did one of those cartoonish eye popping gulps, "You mean you are 36? Really?"
"Erm, yes. How old did you think I was?"
"Oh, I had you as about 28"
Part of me was triumphant, part of me crestfallen. I had to ask, "How old are you then?"
"Guess!"
Anyone that says "Guess" when asked there age is obviously very young or very proud of the work they've had done. I looked hard and realised there had been no work, that wrinkle free skin had not been peeled or pulled. "You about 23 aren't you?"
"Oh, you guessed!"
"OK, now that we know how old we both are, do you mind if I ask if this was a work date or a romance date?"
"I thought it was a romance date."
"And now you know I am ancient, is it still a romance thing?"
He smiled and said he hoped so. We kissed a bit and I ignored the voices in my head that said, "Nooooo, noooo, nooo!"
He's gone off to dig up the dirt on some footballer's wife for a few days and so I can sit and stew about if I should take this further. I never expected to become a daddy figure, but I guess it was inevitable.

Royal Wedding

So Camilla was so laid back about the whole thing she turned up at the church wearing her dressing gown! I think she was also making a point about not being officially being called Queen by wearing a crown of twigs and not a proper diamond tiara.

I picked up the wrong coffee on the way into work. When I got to the office I noticed that I was holding a watery concoction and not my usual soya latte. I walked back round to Cafe Nero and the Ukrainian Trainee Barrista laughed and said, "Ah, so you are the spare Soya Latte!" Oh, crikey I have started blogging about what type of coffee I drink. This is bad.

I am going to see the film adaption of JT Leroy's, "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" tonight with Fox and Flattie. JT will be having a Q and A after the screening. I didn't actually believe JT was a real person, a bit like the young author in Armistead Maupin's book The Night Listener, but if he is there in person I stand corrected.

My back still hurts. Mark+drink+stairs is such a bad idea. I am going to try and eliminate at least one of the factors in future.

Flattie has an audition to day for the orchestra at The Royal Opera House. He has been practising hard all week and he has been forced to play bits of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, much to my delight! I hope he gets it, discount tickets! Huzzah!

Right better get back to trying to find accommodation for two cute French boys arriving tomorrow!

Ouch!

I am very sore. It's the kind of pain that even two Nurofen Extra doesn't seem to have made a difference to. I slipped on the steps at Duckie last night and landed with a resounding thwack on my back. My ribs hit the corner of one of the stairs and seemed to take most of the impact. I was winded and so staggered outside gasping and wincing. The nice securtiy ladies came over to check I was OK. One even went inside and retrieved my glasses which miraculously had survived in one piece. I don't want to sound like a hypochondriac but I think I might have cracked a rib. When I woke up this morning and yelped as I rolled over I realised that I had done some damage!

Apart from the spectacular finale the evening had been fun. I met the Johns at Balans for dinner. They had been to see Dorian Blue at the Film Festival and had enjoyed it as much a I had the week before. We had a corner table and so could ogle the comings and goings and marvel at the turnover at the place. They must be making a fortune. After dinner we walked over to the Retro Bar, where one of my Friendster's Sean was having his birthday party. Sean is mates with Chris who I had a brief thing with and who I still have a soft spot for and was trying his hand at being the DJ. His mixing skills need to be worked on but he played some great tunes and soon the packed bar upstairs was swaying. Sean was dressed as if he was about to take a cruise on a liner, all blue and white stripey jacket and YSL shorts. He was having a bit of trouble with his Miu Miu belt, (a birthday present from Chris) but helped him fix it in the toilet, as you do. Wendy (my drama teacher when I was 15) runs the pub and rolled her eyes when I arrived, "You two know each other? I might have guessed!" she said, before scooting off to collect glasses and organise the buffet. Fox was already there and shortly after us Cosgrove arrived with Little Tim. They may be an item. I saw someone who I recognised but couldn't figure out where from and then I realised it was Kiki (Of Kiki and Herb fame) but in what I would imagine you would call daywear. I always thought that the front part of Kiki's hair was real, but Justin has very short hair and so it must all be wig. Fox had taken a shine to the assistant DJ, who of course was straight and I liked this slightly swarthy looking guy, who explained was there with his girlfriend. Sigh.

Liscencing Laws being what they are in the UK last orders were called at 10.45 and a plan was hatched for everyone to move onto Shinky Shonky. The Johns are not big fans of the Indie gay scene and so they headed off to Bar Code, where the men are beefy and wouldn't be seen dead wearing a jaunty silk scarf. Little Tim said he was tired and so he and Cosgrove went home, which left Fox and I to party on. We arrived at Shinky Shonky ahead of the throng and just as we got to the bar they announced that there would be no draft beers. Grrr. The lights above the dancefloor had also fused and so it was looking too good. Still the DJ is good and soon I was leaping around to the B52s or something similar. Unfortunately there was a guy standing behind me with a full pint ( i think he had the last one before the pumps failed) and I knocked his elbownd of course emptied the full pint all down his front. Whoops! I apologised profusely and brought him another beer and he was very civil about the whole thing. Phew! Fox of course found this all highly amusing. However the no draft beer and poor lighting situation was starting to wind me up so I dragged Fox out and we caught a cab down to Duckie, where they do have draft beer and the lights work. Fox did good work with a Liverpuddlian, who unfortunately actually lives in Liverpool, and you know of course that I fell over. I did find a business card in my jeans pocket this morning. Someone called Leon gave it to me. I wonder who he is.

Film, Dance, Art! So cultured!

I seem to have fitted quite a lot in this weekend. I met up with Mike who was over from DC and we saw the dreadful film Sugar at the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Based on stories by Bruce Labruce, it was one of those innocent boy falls in love with crack head hustler, who abuses him and then dies leaving the innocent a wiser man films. The strongest character was the innocently young sister. A wise cracking Ritalin dosing 10 year old. After the film we headed to Trash Palace and then went onto Popstarz. I think I must be getting old as the crowd at Popstarz seems incredibly young, still I had a good time.

On Saturday I went to Tate Modern where they have a really eerie sound installation: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/nauman/ As you walk down the length of the Turbine Hall you hears all these voices and sounds. Well worth a trip and it's free! We also went to see the Joseph Beuys exhibit http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/beuys/ which is pretty disappointing. The Pack is the best thing in the show, but I wouldn't spend £8.00.

In the evening I went to the Opera House to see the Royal Ballet in a Mixed Bill. I brought the ticket ages ago as they were supposed to be premiering a new work by Chris Wheeldon. I really love his work, and a friend, Jean Marc was designing the piece. Unfortunately Chris had been ill with a virus and had not been able to complete the work so they had two other Pas de Deux, an old Wheeldon and a Balanchine. The casting was brilliant, with all the big names, but I just felt the evening was a bit flat, I didn't really like any of the work. I left the theatre and met the Johns for pizza. They had been to see a film at the South Bank, Summer Sun, a German film which sounded much better than Friday's offering. Flattie had been filling in at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and so we went over to Trash Palace to meet him, Matt the Violinist, Tim the Writer and Iain Mac who was there with Andy. TP was busy and they were doing glam rock make overs again, we resisted! David Corby was there with his cute Aussie mate Ian and he put me down on the guest list for Wig Out at Ghetto. Mike and Jason turned up too and so we stayed at Tp for a few more drinks and then Flattie and I headed over to Wig Out.

It was their birthday party. Badges and Laughing Gas. Hmmm. We jumped around a lot. I thought there was a remote chance that I might get a snog off Cute Aussie Ian, but unfortunately just as I geared up to move in he slumped in a drunken heap at the side of the dancefloor. My timing sucks. Flattie and I scooted home.

On Sunday I was meeting the Breeders for lunch. Lou and Ian are over from DC for a week with the kids and had organised for Simon, Alison, New Baby, Spencer and I to come over for lunch. They are house sitting for some friends in a huge place in Tooting. I misread the address and the taxi pulled up outside a rather grotty looking council house. Realising there must be some mistake I reread the text and noticed that I was supposed to be at Streathbourne Road, not Streatham Road. I was only half an hour late, which for me is pretty good on a Sunday! The food and wine was delicious. It was a lovely relaxed afternoon. We have almost come to a decision about New Baby's name. It could be Tom or Theo or Caspar. However, it could all change. Alison can't decide and Simon doesn't want to be the one who chooses because he feels in 6 months time he will be blamed if the name is wrong!

We all left at 10 and I nipped into the Kazbar on the way home, the boys had said they would be there. Iain Mac was at the bar chatting up Tim the Writer, whilst the Johns, fraser, Fox and Martin looked on! Ed the Tennis Player came over and was being very flirtatious. I don't think he is interested, but he is very witty and has such twinkly eyes, so I really don't mind the flirting!