Armistead Maupin

At the announcement of the new book in the 'Tales of the City' series 'Mary Ann In The Autumn' I e-mailed the 'Gays The Word' bookshop to see if Armistead Maupin would be signing books at their store. The reply was yes but the agony was prolonged as they weren't going to announce the tickets sales for a month or so and then it would be on a first come first served basis..

I have loved the 'Tales of The City' books since i first read them in the early nineties, during that time I worked in hotels, the life within the gates of Barbary Lane was not too dissimilar to the life i was leading in hotels. I know it sounds like a stretch but we were a young group of people living under the one roof sharing our day to day adventures. We were a mixed bunch some gay, some straight and some unsure... So these books found me at a perfect time in my life. On occasion we would have 'Tales of The City' evenings - this comprised of a group of us getting together with wine and beer and spending the evening watching the whole of the first series all the way through. Lots of my friends then read the books and fell in love with the world as much as I did.

Now all these years later I have in my life my own Mrs Madrigal, a lovely lady called Margaret who either I have adopted or who has adopted me, she is 91, fit as a flea, great company and doesn't give a damn about who people are and who they love.

It was with great excitement that I called 'Gays The Word' on the morning the ticket sales were announced, hoping against hope that I would get to meet Mr Maupin surrounded by a group of friendly like minded people and hosted by the lads from the book store, as opposed to the cold walls of your average book signing. It took a while but I got through, Uli said how pleased he was that I had managed to get tickets.

Sunday 28th November, we wrapped up warm and headed off to the 'New Bloomsbury Set' Bar it was already jam packed when we got there. There was a 'Mrs Madrigal' selling cakes in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. We weren't sure if they were laced or not... The audience, as expected, mainly comprised of men but there were a few token women. Armistead arrived at 7.30 accompanied by his husband Chris Turner. He was introduced firstly by Uli who shared all our sentiments by telling us what a life changing event it was to discover that there could indeed be a world where people like us could happily co-exist with straight people and have a wonderful life whilst we were at it.

Uli was followed by the Mayor and Mayoress of Camden, Amy Lame and Jonathan Simpson. Jonathon told us of a flight back from San Fancisco. He was reading 'Michael Tolliver Lives' he was sat next to an older lady who smiled at him when she saw the book, he naturally assumed it was because of the gay content but read on and when he got to an emotional part and actually shed a tear the lady looked at him and remarked: 'I knew you would get upset at that part!' Proving that Armistead crosses many boundaries - basically he writes a damn good book that is suitable for all!

Armistead then stood and read a part from the book that he said he wouldn't have been able to read at the normal book signings. For those who have read the book it's the Sound Of Music section :-) There was such a great atmosphere in the crowd, we have all shared this journey, after the reading he answered lots of questions from the group, ranging from how does he make all the characters so loving, to does he want to shave his moustache off for charity!

Armistead was very generous with his time and his answers. After the Q&A we joined the huge queue to get our books signed. I joined the queue at the end as I had bought ten books with me hoping Armistead would sign them all! About four of mine but also ones for my friends who enjoyed the book as much as I did.

I rambled on inanely to him in my nervousness but he didn't seem to mind!

So all in all it was a wonderful night spent with a rather wonderful man! Oh and if you haven't read the review yet check it out here. It's a wonderful book and I was very sad to read the final page and leave those friends behind until the next time.

On Saturday Liz and I headed up to London to meet up with Liz's friend John. He is a keen photographer and decided to take us to the London Photographer's Gallery which turned out to a lovely old building down a back street off Oxford Street. John had warned that sometimes the gallery show images that could be a little disturbing.... but here's the thing, the main focus of the work of Sally Mann, is focused on her children, to quote the bio from their website:

Sally Mann (b.1951, USA) first came
to prominence for Immediate
Family(1984 – 94),
a series of intimate and revealing portraits of her three young children Emmett,
Jessie and Virginia. Taken over ten years, Mann depicts them playing
and acting to camera in and around their
homestead in Virginia. Capturing their childhood in all its rawness and
innocence, both this and the later series Faces were born out of a
collaborative process between mother and child.

But John was telling us that in America there had been big controversey about these images as most of them feature her children naked. It made me very sad that in this day and age this was deemed inappropriate, due to actions by a few people. I have to say that initially I was guilty of thinking the same prior to arriving at the gallery which saddened me but as soon as I knew it was a mother taking pictures of her own children I was ok with it. Is this right? You tell me. The photos were actually wonderful! Theplace where she lives is just beautiful and she has captured both the scenery and her children with such clarity! I highly recommend it! But anyone who knows me will know the highlights for me were the images of the trees..... just beautiful huge black and white images of these trees that had no doubt born witness to all sorts of history in deep southern America... Oh the stories they could tell. Be warned if you do go to visit her exhibition there are some very disturbing images included.. Funny that the ones of lively lovely children made more of a fuss than these darker ones!

Having visited the gallery it gave me the inspiration to have a morning walking round Epping Forest the next day and take some snaps of our ancient friends over there. Alas not a patch on Sally's but here they are all the same.

Skyriding Around London

What a wonderful day we had taking part in Boris's Sky Ride around London.... I must admit I was really looking forward to the opportunity to see those wonderful landmarks that we all know so well from the vantage point of my bike, with no cars to worry about! We set off from Enfield station, having cycled into town and found we

were not alone in this notion, lots of families got on with their bikes at the station - we had decided the easiest thing to do was to get to Liverpool Street. I must say it was very odd to be wheeling my bike round a station in London and let me tell you it's not actually that easy to get a bike up an escalator! Liz took me through all the back streets as it's right near where she works. Suddenly we turned a corner and there we were in amongst literally thousands of like minded people in bright yellow tunics, madly cycling round London. We later learnt that approx. 85,000 people had turned out for the event! So as you can imagine the going was not exactly fast paced but that was fine as it gave us the opportunity to look at all the sites. We went under a tunnel that they had designated the loud zone - people rang their bike bells in sheer joyous abandon. Liz was very sad to discover she hadn't actually got one! There were also people on weird and wonderful bikes, a very cool lady adjacent to us for a time had a tricycle on which she had added a massive speaker! She played some awesome music as we peddled along, I really wanted to stay by her but she was soon swallowed up by the masses. We passed alongside the Thames and got a wonderful view of the Millennium Wheel, as we reached Big Ben we came to a grinding halt as lots of people like me wanted their picture taken beneath it... The pace picked up as we zoomed past Buckingham Palace and decided to see if the Queen was in, judging by the flag she was! That was my favourite part of the journey, there was more space and it felt rather wonderful to be hurtling through London on those red roads on my bike from Rugby! We had a spot of lunch in St James Park and they had laid on a bike repair centre where we got our tyres pumped and Liz's bicycle saddle fixed... All too soon it was over, I was in half a mind to go round again, but instead it was back to Liverpool Street! Can't wait for the next one Boris!

Hampton Court Flower Show

We headed off nice and early for the flower show, having watched it on the telly the night before we had a small idea as to what we were in for but the reality was just amazing!! Sooo many wonderful flowers and things to do to your garden - the imagination of some people is just amazing!

There were some lovely hanging glass features. We had a great chat with a fella about Bumble bees for a while and was lost in nostalgia when I stumbled upon the lego garden, years of birthdays and Christmasses when Mum had wanted to get me a doll when all Ireally wanted was the latest beach boy tape and lots of lego!

The theme this year was Shakespeare plays, so lots of people had put their imagination to great use coming up with floral ways of displaying a play in a flower. Some were rather lost on us but some like the one below were just beautiful! When I asked the lady what the flower with a white bottom and red top was, she replied 'Hotlips' to which I replied 'Hoolahan'. This could be lost on those not old enough to remember MASH!

The day was a scorcher, at least 32 degrees. We wandered about and got more and more laden down with plants and ornaments, a splendid day was had by all. I highly recommend it! So although it's all over for this year make sure you take the time to purchase a ticket next year to visit the largest annual flower show in the world at Hampton Court.

War Horse

War Horse

Based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Nick Stafford
In association with Handspring Puppet Company – A South African adult puppeteering company established 1985



The play is set during the outbreak of World War One when Albert’s beloved horse, Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to France to assist in the war. Albert is heartbroken and can not forget his trusted steed so enlists with the cavalry even though he hasn’t come of age. This set’s the scene for Albert’s enduring search for Joey and Joey’s time serving for both sides.

The puppets are truly amazing. They have the mannerisms and behaviour of the horses spot on. There is a particularly dramatic scene when a horse gets caught up in barbed wire; the puppets reaction to this is so realistic that you totally forget it is a purely a puppet.

The stage is minimalistic but warrants being just that. The actors’ performances are great but the real stars are the puppets! Each horse is operated by 3 performers – 2 inside the puppet and 1 who operates the head of each horse. Their skill in operating the horse as a whole is mesmerizing.

A powerfully, moving production that takes you through many human emotions along the way – laughter, tears and joy.

A play for all the family just bear in mind really young children might find some of the play disturbing. I strongly recommend it - it's a must not to be missed!



'So exhilarating it makes you rejoice to be alive. Its sheer skill and invention are awe-inspiring.' The Times

'War Horse only confirms the National's extraordinary knack of turning children's literature into the finest drama. Stunning.’ Sunday Times

'An extraordinary piece of theatre which is both epic and intimate. Guaranteed to move the heart.' Sunday Express

John Grant @ The Jazz Cafe

Liz and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Tuesday night of the 'Mojo Honours' concert at the Jazz Cafe in Camden.

I have been a fan of John Grant's work for many years now. I never had any hope of seeing him perform live however as his band 'The Czars' split up a number of years ago and I had read that John had lost his way somewhat. But thankfully the band 'Midlake' found him and gave him the support, musicianship and studio time to be able to create his first solo album - 'The Queen of Denmark', which I have reviewed here.

As ever Liz and I were way too early but this was fine as we found a nice spot in the bar to people watch. I can freely say that there is certainly not a 'type' of John Grant fan. A wonderfully eclectic bunch of people passed through the entrance to the Jazz cafe which I had never been to before. It was a lovely venue, only small, but intimate and with two bars as far as I could see. You can also book to have dinner in their restaurant which overlooks the stage and if we had known this is definitely something would have liked to do.

John came on stage at 9, he is a lovely big bearded American who exuded a great calm about him! The songs he played were mostly taken from the aforementioned solo album which is a birds eye view of John's world - songs filled with a bitter sweet irony in places. His voice just soared and sounded even better in person than it does on record!

John was backed by a fantastic band of young Americans they really did rock and really brought the songs to life. The highlights for me were 'T C and the Honeybear', 'I wanna Go to Marz' & the sublime 'Where dreams go to die'.

About an hour into the performance the band left the stage and John was left with just his piano and played 'Drug' one of the best Czar songs. The concert was over way too soon but I felt very privileged to be there for John's first solo performance in the UK and well done to the Mojo for bringing him over here!

Night at the Boogaloo

Last night Liz and I had the great pleasure of attending the first lesbian music night at the ‘Boogaloo Pub’ in Highgate. We had been told of the event by its organiser Vanessa and had gladly mentioned it on our website. Therefore we thought it only right to go and check it out, especially with our love of music. So armed with the sat nav some great tunes and my gorgeous girl off we went.

We had no idea what to expect, we found the pub very easily, propped up the bar for a while and then Vanessa came over to say hi. She is a lovely french lady and made us feel very welcome at her event. I checked out the 'famous' Boogaloo Juke Box and have to say I was VERY impressed! It had some very eclectic tunes, I popped on a little Gram Parsons, Etta James, and of course the Beach Boys – ‘Here Today’, which sounded great!

At nine Marvin Gaye was interrupted by the start of the live music, his very appropriately named – ‘What's Going On’. Well the first act to go on were called 'Nice and Loyshk' a female duet armed with acoustic guitars and melodious songs, they reminded me a little of the 'Indigo Girls'. All the sets were kind of brief, but I liked that as it gave us a good variety of sound. After a very brief interlude a very nervous Vanessa took to the stage with her friend Miri, the reason for the nerves was Vanessa had been roped in to play the guitar and she hadn't played in quite a while but I have to say you never would have guessed. Miri was my favourite act of the night, found she had a lovely voice and good stage presence, she held our attention and played some great songs. That was it for the ladies it was then the turn of two men, the first of which was 'Phil McKay' to me he was very reminesent of The Sterophonics, he certainly upped the volume of the whole event and sang with great passion. He was then joined by his rather drunk friend Toby August, who played an awesome 12 string guitar whilst regaling us with tales of his recent song writing trip to Nashville. As he was rather hammered (self confessed) it was kind of a shame as he had the talent but tended to drift, so I must say we left during his set.

But all in all a great night! We met some lovely people, heard some great tunes and are looking forward to more nights at the Boogaloo!

Thanks Vanessa, you put on a great event.....