Another Year Older

Another year, another birthday. As of approx 11am last Saturday, I am 39. It was my first birthday on a Saturday for ages, I remember being very peeved at being cheated out of one by a leap year, presumably about 7 years ago. Anyway, usual Saturday night at Duckie, but it was rather an average night in terms of the stage act and the music, but more than made up for by the company. As well as Gareth & Tracey who are no strangers to the place, Tony and Ian came along for the first time in ages and Doug finally lost his Duckie virginity too! Of course, the best thing about birthdays and advancing age is the added wisdom and maturity acquired, leading to increased quality of life.

Is it bollocks - the best thing is getting compilation CDs from your mates (though surely that in itself is a sign of maturity; 10 years ago I would have said it was getting drinks bought for you all night). Ian showed admirable restraint in not putting a single track by the Human League on his; perhaps he thought I would be more entertained by not one, but two songs by Larry Grayson. Anyway, here are all the musical highlights, in no particular order:

Favourite Tracks From Tony's CDs
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David Dundas - Jeans On
Small Faces - Itchycoo Park
Linx - Intuition
Lord Rockingham's XI - Hoots Mon
Radio Stars - Nervous Wreck
Mama Cass - Different
Lynsey De Paul - No Honestly
Driver 67 - Car 67
Albert Hammond - Free Electric Band
The Pentangle - Light Flight
Stereo Total - I Love You, Ono
The Pearls - Guilty
Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Jackie Blue
Springfield Revival - It Doesn't Cost Much (To Make People Happy)
Yellow Dog - Just One More Night
Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - Kites
Lulu - The Boat That I Row

Favourite Tracks From Ian's CD
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Theme From K9 And Company
B A Robertson - Maggie
Terry Dactyl And The Dinosaurs - Seaside Shuffle
SHAKE - Invasion Of The Gamma Men
Rip Rig And Panic - You're My Kind Of Climate
Brute Force - King Of Fuh
Natasha - Sally Go Round The Roses
The Very Things - The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes
A Flock Of Seagulls - Quicksand
Larry Grayson - Shut That Door (the shame of it!)

The Bourne Identity

Last night turned out to be an unexpectedly interesting night at Duckie. I didn’t know it until I arrived, but the borough of Lambeth is having a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered History Month this month and it was Duckie’s turn to provide a contribution. If I had have been aware, then I would probably have realised it would be an extra busy night and made the effort to turn up a bit earlier; as it was the night for me started with a queuing nightmare; 15-20 minutes to get in; another 5-10 to check jacket into cloakroom; and perhaps yet another 5-10 to get first drink. (NB since the new owners bought the pub, they have replaced several members of the bar staff, and the new lot frankly don’t seem quite up to the job. And they seemed woefully short-staffed last night; perhaps the size of the crowd took them by surprise as well as me).

But I digress. Whilst I was waiting to get served, the first act came on, none other than Bette Bourne. I say ‘none other’ as if I’ve idolised him for years, though in truth it’s a name I’d only heard in passing a few times and until last night I hadn’t got a clue who he was. And so, I got quite an education on the life of a much-loved actor & drag queen who has been around for decades and consequently has several tales to tell as befitting an LGBT History night. His ‘act’ took a chat show format; he was accompanied on stage by a journalist (sorry, can’t remember his name!) who was there to interview him Wogan-like, though once he got going the interviewer could hardly get a word in edgeways! Not that that was a problem; what we got was a stream of wonderful stories of his life that were in turn informative, touching and funny. For example, stories of him and his friends forming “Drag Communes”, of being harassed and arrested by the police (yet often still managing to have the last laugh); of “scaring the shit” out of homophobic school bullies. It made a refreshing change from the drag acts of today who, on the rare occasions I find myself having to watch one, I generally find nasty, racist and misogynistic. Not only that, from an educational point of view, it was a reminder of just how different things were for gay people only a few decades ago, and how people like Bette were willing to stand up for their – and by extension, our – rights, to give us the freedoms we take for granted in 21st Century Britain. If he hasn’t done so already, then he really ought to write and publish his memoirs; there’s only so much that could be told in 20 minutes and I was left with the impression that there’s much, much more to hear.

The rest of the night was pretty good too – perhaps Bette had got us all into a happy frame of mind or something. The second act was an Australian bloke (another case of sorry, can’t remember his name) who did a strange sort of dance piece called “Split” to a Bjork track; the “split” of the title was represented by one side of his body wanting to do one thing whilst the other side wanted to do something else, lots of jerky side-to-side movements etc. I never really quite understand these things properly, but it was well-executed anyway. In the absence of Amy, the night was hosted by Christopher Green, the man behind Ida Barr & Tina C. It was the first time I had knowingly seen him as himself.

And I still haven’t worked out which of the two Duckie trannies (Gina Love & Maur) is which – despite once having been directed to a photo of Gina. Only one of the two of them was there last night; at one point I spotted Ms. Right Nasty from a distance and meant to go and ask her which one it was but never got round to it. Next week maybe…..which is my birthday too, not that I’m dropping any hints *cough*

Fan Of Fixit

I think I am going to have go back on my earlier assertion that all digital TV is crap, for since Monday night I have officially been in lust with Alasdair Jeffrey aka The Ferocious Mr Fixit. God knows there are some people in my workplace who could do with being slapped around by him for a while, and after getting all that sorted he could then come to me for some erm....de-stressing.

I'm also ecstatic to see that BBC3 are now repeating Series 2 of Night Night - otherwise it just gets nasty, presumably. Twisted Tales is quite good as well; although I haven't seen it yet, apparently last night's episode features a gay ghost who can't stop haunting the boyfriend he left behind. Hurrah for gay ghosts!

Duckie - Keeping The Faith

On Friday I attended yet another Duckie one-off special event; this time it was a rather more cultured and sedate affair at Tate Britain. Called Duckie: KEEP the FAITH it was themed around religion and art and also featured more gay vicars than you could shake a stick at! Apparently it was part of the Tate's Late At Tate Britain series of events, which happens on the first Friday of each month and where the doors are kept all evening for special events such as this.

It sounded like an interesting thing on the face of it, but it didn't quite work for me. I seemed to spend quite a lot of time wandering aimlessly around looking for something interesting to do or see. I don't think the layout really helped either - it mainly took place in a single large long hall, divided into sections. The bar area was in the middle section, with the stage at the end; unfortunately this meant that you could hear the general hubbub from the bar whilst you were trying to watch something on the stage, so unless you were quite close to the front the stage performer was difficult to hear. I did at least get close to the front when Tommy Angel took to the stage; he is a "Gospel Magician" - so lots of hellfire, brimstone and flames. Once he got going, I actually realised I'd seem him before, at the Duckie event in Bexhill last year.

Other random observations and findings of the night:
1) Gay vicars tend to be posh and cultured
2) The drinks were bloody expensive
3) I kept seeing people I was sure I recognised but not from Duckie or The Retro
4) I am not the only person who struggles to record digital TV channels
5) Toby looks very different with a beard
6) The cake ran out too soon
7) I got home in time for Footballers' Wives Extra Time
8) I want to go to the Tate's forthcoming Gothic Nightmares exhibition