Monday 17 December 2012

FA LA LA LA LAA. LA LA LA LAA!


At last I'm starting to feel Xmassy.
Friday lunchtime and it was the Music Publishers Association lunch.
This is always a good time. Good food. Excellent company and funny speeches. It's also one of the few occasions where I don a suit and don't mind.

This year the entertainment consisted of a Swedish accapella group who sang with gorgeous precise harmonies. Admittedly in their native tongue so no idea what they were singing about.
Each year there is a theme. This year it was 20s/30s prohibition America.  So as we took our seats we were allocated a hat or a fascinator to get us into the swing of things.

However probably intentionally no notice was taken of gender. So to my delight there were a selection of burly blokes clumping around with feathers in their hair. Or if they had none. Just attached to their domes.
There was a comedian from Hove. Think his name was Steve. He'd been on the TV so I recognised him. Who did a good gag about CSI Hove. "41 deaths all from natural causes."
The final entertainment came from a French gypsy jazz group that featured a couple dancing nimbly. Sadly for them the booze had kicked in by then so they faced a wall of indifference.
Saturday and it was a charity do in my home town. A carol concert at St. Augustine's which is part of St. Michael's Hospice. I was there in my role as President of S.A.F.E which provides respite care beds.
Not blowing my trumpet but just think end of life care is very important and naturally I'm delighted and honoured to be involved.
Plus it gives me a chance to bore total strangers with clunky jokes and lumbering anecdotes. In order to ring the changes in future I may work up some choreography as well as maybe a song.

Friends Unlimited provided the music. They sounded excellent despite having various members missing due to colds.
Luckily for them it didn't impact their performance as it did the four girl dance troupe I saw in summer season on Eastbourne back in 85.
I noticed I was sitting next to a woman with a bandaged ankle. Turns out she was a quarter of the chorus line.

The curtain rose to reveal 4 doors on stage. As the music swelled each door opened to reveal a dancer. Until it was the turn of door four which remained resolutely closed. The trio tapped and pranced round the stage eventually forming up for that chorusline staple. The turning. Arms linked cross formation. High kicking around in circles to wild acclaim.
On this occasion it was a rather forlorn T shape that traced the patterns in front of us.
That's showbiz loves! 

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