Monday 25 July 2011

Sunday 24 July 2011

High Sheriff and Sheriffina

Lovely evening in a marquee at Bignor Roman Villa, Sussex

The new High Sheriff of Sussex, David Tupper and his wife Hilary continued their celebrations of his Office, with a dinner for their friends...
The venue has significance as it was a Tupper ancestor, George Tupper in 1811 who discovered the remains here. It is also one of the richest finds in the country; a very posh old farm and house indeed.

Lots of Sussex airs were heard; The High Sheriff of Sussex's March, Sussex by the Sea and by request... Old MacDonald's Farm - an old TLQ piece which the Sheriffina had caught on youtube
Everyone joined in with Sussex by the Sea, and naturally, in The Lambeth Walk...

Also we were able to show the public our new Cricket CD, as we had received the first copies just that day...

A great way to start our summer hols... tho' the second Taj weekend, a tour to Canada and a trip to Spain beckon in August.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

5 Gents & a Lady in Ghent

Let me take some time out from watching the unravelling of the Metropolitan Police and the demise of News International to tell you of...

Ah, the delights of open air concerts in the Summer.... altho' supposedly it never rains during Gentse Feesten - when the squares of Ghent in Belgium are alive with music for some sunny Summer days...
...on Saturday, it was British Night; and our tireless Belgian agent, Thomas Van der Spiegel had both us and the ever-pink Rosie Ashe involved... all of us accompanied by also tireless Paul Knight [he of the long evening...] TLQ went first for our hour plus, then Rosie followed up with hers...
The rain was on-off-on-off as it has remained here and will continue all week, which hampered our sound checks and made it difficult for the audience, who unlike us, were not covered from the rain, in the main. There was belgian beer on hand to help the inner health, but being wet inside and out does not help being an audient.... amazingly many stayed to watch us all... [and also, the rain did in the end stop!]
British Night was a great success, and there's review to prove it [if you can speak Flemish!]... a great shame it was not quite the glorious summer night in a wonderful old city that was hoped for... but the hardy Gentmen and Gentwomen made the evening a lovely splendour.

Belgian beer [and wine and Cava too] were taken by all; as was the terrific Eurostar there and back...

Monday 18 July 2011

Two Surprises

Called to Oxford on Saturday for a quickie.... in the delightful surroundings of Quod Brasserie and Bar, we sang for a famous friend of ours - offspring of whom had just graduated...
Young and old, everyone was very happy to have their meal interrupted by us!
...and when were we asked about this?
Well, obviously, 5pm on the day itself...
We were lucky the weather was a bit changeable, otherwise we all might have been out on a fine summer Saturday evening... but as it was we were sheltering from the rain, and thus able to answer our phones and get to a different city.
...and all home late on the same day... well, the latest by 12.25am... cool!

...and whilst walking along the road to the restaurant, we bumped into someone else who was there in the city (for a friend's wedding), Rupert Preston-Bell and his wife Caroline... what a ridiculous serendipity that was! We will be performing at King Charles the Martyr, Tunbridge Wells for them on September 16th this year... Hope the weather stays nice for that one...

Sunday 10 July 2011

1st Taj weekend

Two lovely nights at The Taj, 51 Buckingham Gate.... only a few minutes from my house - hoorah.
We sang songs from the West End and Broadway in their open-air courtyard... and it did not rain... a minor miracle surely!

Accompanied splendidly by Chris Hatt [only a few metres from his usual Billy Elliot pit], we had an excellent couple of evenings, and the guests at the Taj were gloriously on for a good time.

Felt a bit sorry for the people in the restaurant opposite us in the courtyard, as they could not hear us behind their plate glass walls, and as there was a private function each night, the doors could not be opened.... ah well, this at least absolutely ensured that they felt they were missing something, rather than having any chance of dashing their hopes!

Excellent to sing a few pieces we have not done in a while... our West Side Story medley, lots from our David Cullen album Music of the Night and some Guys and Dolls... as well as, for the first time since Musée d'Orsay (!)... Flash Bang Wallop - only with totally English lyrics this time!!

We will do this all again on the 5th and 6th August... what fun!