Significantly Late Update

Okay, so it’s 26 May 2013 and I’m back home in the States. In fact, I’ve been back in the U.S. for almost a full year, much to my sorrow.

A lot has happened since my last post, which has contributed to my lack of updates on this blog: I ran a marathon; I started my final year of school, and I finished my final year of school; I started working in a new department at Columbia, I finished working in that same department; I was named valedictorian of my class and graduated with a B.A. in Cultural Studies (minor in Women’s and Gender Studies), and earlier this week I presented my thesis project at my very first conference.

So, today is actually the first day in almost a year where I’ve got nothing on the horizon to distract me. With that in mind, I glanced at the desktop of my laptop in order to clear out year-end debris, and noticed a tiny folder marked “To Be Posted.” What could this possibly be, I wondered.

Well, it was three days’ worth of photos from my semester in London. In fact, it was my final three days’ worth of photos. So, not being someone who’s able to leave things like this undone, I am going to do my best now to pick up where I left off, and get these photos up. I’ll also be doing my best to recount what was going through my mind in these moments, but I can’t make any promises.

So, without further ado, let’s go…

Sadly, I don’t remember much about 02 June 2012, and the photos don’t offer too many clues about what else may have been going on. However, from what’s left one thing is clear: it was the day that my dear friend EN returned to the U.S. We met up at the Hammersmith stop on the District (green) / Hammersmith & City lines (pink) before making our way to Heathrow on the Piccadilly (dark blue) line.

Along the way, I snagged photos of EN’s last moments in London, both on the tube and at breakfast. An all-too-brief time later, we said our goodbyes, she boarded her flight, and I boarded the tube…

Until we see each other again in Chicago...in about three days.

[NB: In the busy year since, we’ve only managed to see each other twice, but that’s because she’s been equally busy going through her final year, graduating, being awesome and whatnot. In fact, as I type this she’s back in London visiting, as her post-graduation trip. I wish Nic and I were there…]

One other thing I have photographic evidence of from that day is that on my way back to KG & MM’s house, I stopped along the Hammersmith Bridge and watched as boats started queuing up for the gigantic flotilla in honor Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee…

Boats lining up for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

But more on that in the next entry.

Hampton Court Palace

I’m back with another belated entry!

On 28 May 2012, EN and I made a trip to Hampton Court Palace. This trip was important for me, as people who know my fascination with the monarchy have always asked if I made it there during mine and Nic’s first trip in 2008. We did not—instead, we went to Hatfield House, where Elizabeth I learned she was to be queen following her sister’s death, on that trip. So, this time, it was imperative that I visit one of the primary residences of King Henry VIII.

Me, standing outside the Main Entrance into the Base Court

Map of Hampton Court Palace, courtesy of the palace itself.

Originally built in the early 16th Century for the infamous Cardinal Wolsey, after the latter lost favor it was turned over to the king. The front half of the palace is reflective of Tudor construction, and closely resembles the other remaining palace from Henry’s reign, St James’s. 

Today, visitors to this section of the palace are able to walk through the former king’s kitchens and apartments, as well as undertake a ‘tour’ of the young Henry’s life.  

Regarding the kitchens, it was interesting to see how meals were turned out for such a large court, including the line of massive roasting spits and fireplaces, and the seldom considered offices belonging to the bureaucrats in charge of monitoring the incoming and outgoing (read: consumed) stores.

One of a line of four or five roasting fires, each of which could accommodate 7 spits.

Even more interesting to me than the kitchens, however, were the king’s apartments. 

I took a lot of photos of the Great Hall in particular. Aside from being simply gorgeous, it was also the last medieval hall of its type built for the English monarchy. 

The Great Hall, near the King's Dais and Table

We were also able to enter the Great Watching Chamber (a large room, complete with medieval board games and a bathroom), which is positioned just outside the king’s private rooms, and where courteous would hang out in hopes of catching a moment of Henry’s time. 

From there, we moved into one of two long hallways. The first features the adjoining room where paiges slept and awaited orders, and the second leads to both the King’s Council Chamber and the special room overlooking the Royal Chapel reserved for the sovereign. 

This King awaits his advisers in the Council Chamber

The Royal Pew, overlooking the Royal Chapel. (It's crooked because we weren't allowed to take photos directly.)

Now, one of these hallways is supposedly haunted—in fact, it’s referred to as the Haunted Gallery—but I can’t recall exactly which. Maybe both? I’m pretty sure the audio-tour suggested that it was the former, but I’ve also heard that the supposed ghost is that of Henry’s ill-fated wife Catherine Howard, and that she lurks near the chapel. (You can read more about the Haunted Gallery here and watch a brief video about other haunted happenings at Hampton Court here.)

The second distinctive section of the palace—an add-on, if you will—was built in the Baroque style at the behest of Queen Mary II and her co-regnant, King William III, almost 100 years later. Within this section, guests can visit the private apartments of the aforementioned, as well as the Georgian apartments.

The W&M section--you can see the edge of the Tudor section near the top of the hedge on the left.

Queen Mary’s apartments had been transformed, owing to a exhibition titled ‘The Wild, The Beautiful, & The Damned’—basically, paintings of upper-class women and kingly mistresses who modeled for risqué portraits during the Stuart era—so there wasn’t much to see there, sadly. King William’s apartments, on the other hand, were gorgeous. 

After ascending the stunning—nay, magnifispeldant (because magnificent and splendid on their own don’t do it justice) King’s Staircase, visitors cross into the King’s Guardchamber, where his protectors…well, basically hung out and showcased their hardware. 

A King ascends the King's Staircase

The King's Guardchamber

From there, guests move through a series of receiving chambers, many with corresponding canopied thrones and one which—as we saw at Windsor—was the official bedroom used for bidding the king goodnight before he retired to a private one. 

How dare they put a rope up to keep me from the throne!

I've informed Nic that I want our bed to look like this.

Eventually, we crossed through the king’s real bedroom, his private office, and even got a peek at the more intimate…ahem, throne. (That’s right, I’m talkin’ about the Royal Loo.)

Not splinters for the sovereign when he sits!

Sadly, we weren’t really able to tour the Georgian apartments—those used by Kings George I and II—because we simply ran out of time. But EN and I did run through that section, so we could at least say we were there. 

It was actually a bit creepy, as it was entirely deserted—even the docents were missing—and we both experienced an eerie ‘we’re not alone’ vibe about the whole section. I actually kind of wish we had seen a spook, as it would have added to the memories, but alas we only had the feelings to go by.

The Cartoon Gallery

Having discussed the interior of Hampton Court Palace, I want to take just a second to address the other thing it’s primarily known for: the gardens and grounds. They were beautiful! That being said, two things of particular note to be found there are the Hampton Court [Hedge] Maze—which I successfully navigated my way out of before EN, who challenged me to a race—and the ‘Great Vine’, which holds the Guinness World Record for being the largest grape vine. (If you’re wondering, it was planted in 1769, still produces a crop of grapes annually, and had at least one branch that was 246’ long as of 2005.)

The Great Vine

So, that’s the gist of mine and EN's day at Hampton Court Palace. It’s a bit expensive to get into—less so if you have a student ID, buy your tickets online in advance, etc.—but certainly worth the trip if you ever find yourself in London with nothing to do (as unlikely as that is)!

Another One Bites the Dust...

Yesterday was a sad, albeit eventful day: I said farewell to two of the lovely friends I’ve made here, AT and TvH.

The morning started early, as I was scheduled to join AT and EN in Soho for some coffee at 11 AM. Since I arrived a bit early though (big shock), I was able to wander around and snag a few photos of the gaybourhood. I’m trying to take a friend from back home’s advice and take photos of all the every day things that seem common now but which I’ll appreciate seeing again in later years. One thing I noticed while doing this is that the Diamond Jubilee decorations are really starting to crop up around London, which I think is awesome! It’s amazing being a part of history!

Diamond Jubilee decorations near Leicester Square

Diamond Jubilee and Pride decorations at Village

Eventually it was time to meet up with AT and EN for real, so I made my way back to the coffee shop. We spent almost two hours, just drinking, chatting about our time abroad, and laughing. It was great fun!

Me, AT, and EN at LJ's Coffee. (Whew, that's a lot of initials!)

Following coffee, we headed over to King’s Cross Station / St Pancras International (with a brief stop at Forbidden Planet to pick-up the second Game of Thrones book) so we could find Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. I have to say, I found the interiors of these two stations positively lovely! (Plus I’m a nerd, so I loved seeing the Harry Potter stuff!) 

Off to Hogwarts...

EN and I at St Pancras Inernational

With some time to kill still, the three of us walked next door to the British Library, which is both the UK’s national library and one of the world’s largest in terms of total number of items. Among other things, the library holds one of the only remaining copies of the Magna Carter (which I saw) and, in the middle of the building, is a four-story glass tower containing the King’s Library—65,000 printed volumes along with other pamphlets, manuscripts and maps collected by King George III between 1763 and 1820.

Alas, around 2 PM, it was time to say goodbye to AT. We walked to the Russell Square tube stop and said our farewells. It may well be that one of these days, when EN and I are back in Chicago, we will simply have to take a road-trip to Colorado to visit our friend. (What the hell, it’s only a 16 hour drive!)

EN headed out with AT, so I had about an hour to kill before meeting up for my last hang-out session with TvH, so I took that time to wander around the British Museum for a bit. I wasn’t too fussed about spending so little time there for two reasons: (1) I spent an entire afternoon there with Nic back in 2008 and, (2) I find the fact that so many of their treasures were imported (read: plundered) from other lands highly problematic. Nonetheless, I cannot deny that I enjoy being around such significant items as the Rosetta Stone—plus the Great Court within the museum is one of the most stunning museum spaces I’ve ever seen!

A flawed panoramic shot I tried to take of the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court.

What the Rosetta Stone really reveals is that I'm HOT (in the sweaty sense)!

 Around 3 PM I started heading back toward Soho Square, where I joined TvH for a bit of much-enjoyed sun-tanning, and to say goodbye.

———
 

Technically speaking, this was the second time this week I’ve said goodbye. He was originally supposed to leave the day before, and we had gone out on both Saturday and Tuesday nights to celebrate, but an airline strike of some sort delayed his actual departure. 

You can read about Saturday night here. As for Tuesday night, we went to Village for a drink or two, followed by a private karaoke place called Lucky Voice (it was awesome—the five of us in attendance had a private room for a whole hour), and then to Lupo where we met a group of lovely women from Chicago and New York (and where I had to push-off an overly aggressive Italian who was harassing one of our new female friends. That's right, I'm a bad ass—a big, queer bad ass!).

———
 

Anyway, getting back to yesterday, I feel like it’s been ages since I saw and felt the sun properly, so I loved getting out there and just relaxing under its warming glow. Plus, I had wanted to spend some proper time chillin’ in Soho Square for a while now, but just hadn’t had the opportunity.

I look tan here...but where did it go once I left?

TvH and I spent a good two hours bakin’ (the hair on my arms bleached successfully, but I don’t feel like I’m all that darker). At one point, I even dozed off for about twenty minutes—it was wonderful! Eventually, TvH’s boyfriend joined us and we headed off for a quick nosh before I had to leave for my third engagement of the day. We grabbed our food, headed into Golden Square, and enjoyed one another’s company in the open air for a bit longer.

Finally, I couldn’t delay any longer, and had to say goodbye to TvH as well. This goodbye was a bit hard for me, as TvH was one of the first new friends I made here—we started talking the first week of class, and started hanging out during the second. I have him to thank (along with his boyfriend and all of the other amazing friends I’ve met through them) for the resurgence of my late-night partying ways. I’m so very grateful for all that he and the others have done to make this hermitish soul feel welcomed!

From there I hopped on a bus and began the trek to Hackney, where I was supposed to meet one of my UEL instructors—DS—for a celebratory drink. Though it took ages to get there by bus (the National Rail system frightens me for the ridiculous reason that I’m afraid I’ll wind up trapped somewhere for over an hour while waiting for the next train), the place we met at was quite nice. 

It was called Pub on the Park, and it was just that: a pub overlooking a park.

Pub on the Park--we sat outside, around the back. [NB: This image is not mine!]

We spent about two hours outside, just hanging out and talking about everything from the state of the education system, to our mutual penchant for getting lost, to Chicago taxi drivers and the inaccessibility of London’s southside by public transport. 

Of course, conversation was slightly hindered by my annual bout of laryngitis and the fact that for some reason I turn into a gibbering idiot when I try to talk to DS. I have no idea why this is. She’s bloody brilliant, but I don’t have the same problem around my other incredible mentors from back home—just her and SM, one of my other instructors here. I think it might be because they’re bloody brilliant AND British. The combination may simply be too much amazingness for my mind to process.

So, all in all, it was both an incredibly fun and busy day, but also a very sad one. I’ve said goodbye to two good friends and I don’t know when I’ll realistically see them again, and by sharing a pint with DS I’ve quasi-officially transgressed from present- to former-London-based student.

This experience really is drawing to a close… :-(

Windsor Castle (Part IV): The State Apartments

Let’s finish with my trip to Windsor Castle, shall we? (Especially since I plan on having many more photos to discuss over the coming weeks!) After visiting St George’s Chapel and Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, I made my way—alongside EN and AT—into the main part of the castle.

The top of the Grande Staircase

We climbed the Grand Staircase—which is filled with glistening arms and armor, and dominated by a statue of Queen Victoria (that I was sadly not able to photograph due to palace officials)—and moved toward…

THE STATE APARTMENTS

Suffice to say, these Apartments are a bit grander and more formal than mine and Nic’s tiny studio apartment. In fact, you could probably fit our entire building in some of these rooms. But, such size is necessary given the functions they hold (e.g., a cozy dinner for 162 of The Queen’s closest dignitary friends). And as far as beauty goes, the Apartments house works of art by the likes of da Vinci and Rembrandt, and armor once worn by the likes of King Henry VIII.

Visitors to Windsor are allowed to visit the following State Apartments (whose names are somewhat deceptive at times):

The Waterloo Chamber: Built to honor the defeat of Napoleon, this chamber was once an open courtyard. Today it holds many famous paintings, the largest known seamless rug in existence, and is used to stage concerts and other private performances.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The King’s Drawing Room: This room features many works of art, and a clock from 1730 that still plays music!

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The King’s Bedchamber: Though there is a bed, the Sovereign does not actually sleep here. Rather, it is used for formal ceremonies (i.e., telling the King goodnight—formally—before he goes to bed elsewhere).

[NB: This photo is not mine!]

 The King’s Dressing Room: This room has served as both the Sovereign’s private bedroom and, later, as a dressing room. Now it holds a collection of Italian Renaissance paintings.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The Queen’s Drawing Room: Like the King’s Drawing Room, this chamber features many impressive works of art, including royal portraits of various Tudors and Stuarts. Also in this room is the famous Portrait of Charles I in three positions by Van Dyke. 

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The King’s Dining Room: Located between the Queen’s and the King’s Apartments, the room served as the dining room for King Charles II.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The Queen’s Ballroom: As its name suggests, this long room was used for dancing (though I have a hard time imagining so many large gowns in such a narrow room!).

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The Queen’s Presence Chamber and Audience Chamber:  The former is essentially an anteroom used by visitors before they are brought before Her Majesty in the Audience Chamber. (NB: Given that they are open to visitors, I doubt the current Queen actually uses these rooms for this purpose—though I could certainly be wrong!)

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 The Lantern Lobby: This room marks the spot where a private chapel once stood. It is also the spot where the 1992 fire broke out, which is commemorated with a large plaque.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 St George’s Hall: This room is ginormous! At 30’ x 185’, this room is used for State banquets—a 175’ long dining room table is brought in which can seat up to 162 guests. There are also panels on the ceiling and elsewhere that are inscribed with the names of various knights. According to one source, the plain white shields mark Garter Knights were have been disgraced by crime or treason.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 Also on display in St George's Hall is the black armor used by the King's / Queen's Champion from the time of King James I through George IV. It is this figure's role to act as the champion of the new Sovereign at their coronation, in the (unlikely) event of a challenge to the throne being issued. It was required of the Champion that (s)he ride, in full armor, into Westminster Hall during the coronation banquet and await any challengers. (NB: The Sovereign—by virtue of rank—could not face his or her challengers in single combat.) 

A purely ceremonial position today, Queen Elizabeth II's current Champion is Lieutenant-Colonel John Lindley Marmion Dymoke, Lord of the Manor of Scrivelsbry and the Manor of Telford—he acted as Standard-Bearer of the Union Jack at Her Majesty's coronation ceremony in 1953.

Moving on... since The Queen wasn’t in residence, we were also allowed to visit some of the...

SEMI-STATE APARTMENTS

These Apartments were created for King George IV in the 19th Century. Today, Queen Elizabeth II uses them for entertaining. These rooms are made up of the Green and Crimson Drawing Rooms, the State Dining Room, the Octagon Dining Room, the China Corridor, the Grand Reception Room, and the Garter Throne Room.

This last one is the one I’m most interested in. Before being converted, the Garter Throne Room was actually two separate rooms, the King’s Presence and Audience Chambers. Today, it is where The Queen conducts investiture ceremonies for new Knights and Ladies of the Garter prior to their installation in St George’s Chapel on Garter Day.

The Queen's throne is the white chair in the distance.

[NB: This image is not mine!]

Now, you may be asking yourself, ‘What is Garter Day, and who are these Knights and Ladies?’

Well, this is the highest order of chivalry that one can be invested with in England, and its doling out is entirely at the discretion of the Sovereign. Membership is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than 24 others at any one time (meaning that new members have to wait an existing knight or lady vacates their position). The emblem is a blue garter with the motto ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ (‘Shame upon him who thinks evil upon it’) embossed in gold. The Order was founded in 1344 by King Edward III.

In addition to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, other current members include: Prince William; the Princess Royal; the Dukes of Kent, Gloucester, York, and Wessex; the Kings of Spain, Sweden, and Norway; the Queens of Denmark and the Netherlands; the Emperor of Japan; former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major; and Baroness Soames (the only surviving daughter of Winston Churchill).

[NB: This image is not mine!]

[NB: This image is not mine!]

 Well, that’s all that I have to say about the interior—especially since we (obviously) couldn’t visit the section cordoned off for the Royal Family’s private Apartments. 

(However, you can see them from the outside in the photos below of the Upper Yard. The wall farthest away is where the private Apartments are located, and the wall running along the right-hand side is for official guests of Her Majesty. The entrance seen in the middle is the exterior entrance to that section.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little play-by-play of my trip to Windsor, and that you haven’t minded too much my geeking out!

Until next time…

Windsor Castle (Part I): The Castle and the Guards

In my last entry I stated that I was skipping over the events of Saturday, 21 April, as they deserved their own entry. Well, this is that entry. Actually, to be precise, this is the first in a series of entries all devoted to that day. Prepare to put your learnin’ crowns on, lads and lasses, ‘cause I’m about to lead you through my trip to Windsor Castle…

I was up early on that Saturday morning, as I had to be on campus by 9:00 AM. From there, a group of international students and I caught a coach headed to Windsor Castle. (For the record, I visited Windsor in 2008 with Nic, but we arrived close to closing time, and so we pretty much had to dash through the whole place.)

Now, if you’ve been following this blog for more than two seconds, you know that I’m a sucker for kings and queens and castles and all that jazz. So, as you can imagine the size of my nerdgasm at the thought of spending an entire day there! With that in mind, most of what follows indulges my love of history and royalty. No one cares about this stuff half as much as me, but I’m documenting it anyway—maybe it’ll spark an interest. Now, on with the show…

Note the 'Union Jack' on the flagpole. This denotes that The Queen is not in residence. #SadBrett

THE CASTLE ITSELF

This magnificent castle is almost 1,000 years old (originally built by William the Conqueror following his 1066 invasion). It is also the largest inhabited castle in the world. In fact, Windsor Castle has been in continuous use by varying Royal Families for over 900 years! 

Originally, it was a fort set atop a hill overlooking the Thames. Though the original structure is long gone, we can thank Henry II (1133-89) for the famous Round Tower and outer stone wall of today.

The Round Tower, as seen from the Middle Ward.

Officially, Windsor is one of Her Majesty, The Queen’s official residences (the others being Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse). It is also The Queen’s favorite, as inferred by her reaction following the November 1992 fire that decimated the castle.

That fire (which occurred on The Queen’s and Duke’s 45th wedding anniversary) was allegedly sparked by a workman’s lamp, and damaged/destroyed over 100 rooms. It required 15 hours of firefighting to put out. Fortunately, most of the valuable works of art, etc., had been removed due to ongoing renovation.

The cost of renovation was put at approximately £37 million, which the government refused to pay outright due to ongoing public concerns about money already being given to the Royal Family. (This was but one of the many issues facing the Royal Family which caused The Queen to famously remark that 1992 was an Annus Horribilis.) To help pay for repairs, The Queen agreed to open various Royal Residences to the public at certain times.

NB: This photo is not mine!

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Getting back to my own experience and away from the history for a bit, it took a lot longer to get to Windsor than expected due to construction, but it turned out—by the time we made it through security—that we were just in time to witness the Changing of the Guard.

Now, realistically, the only difference between the Changing of the Guard here and the one at Buckingham palace is…well, the locale. (You can read my description of the ceremony at the latter location here.) 

The 'official' part of the ceremony at Windsor takes place outside the Guardroom in the Lower Ward of the castle. However, we were positioned so that we could actually watch the guardsmen marching through St George’s Gate, which is the passageway used to enter the Upper Ward, where The Queen et alia have their private quarters.

Guards Marching through St George's Gate

Okay, okay… I think that’s enough nerdiness for one entry. Especially since the next one—all about the place where Queen Elizabeth II will be buried one day—is particularly in-depth. 

Until then…

What's Curry Got To Do With It?

I’m back with another entry. Truth be told, everything I’m about to say deserves a lot more ‘oomph’ than what I’m about to give it—but, I’ve spent most of the last two weeks (including most of yesterday and today) writing about discursive representations of the intersection between gayness and AIDS as part of two separate final projects. 

In other words: my brain is so far beyond mush that words do not even exist to describe it.

Nonetheless, there’s a lot that I haven’t blogged about this month, and I’m feeling a lot of pressure from ‘Future Brett’ to document it all in one form or another while it’s relatively fresh in my mind. Thus, I offer the explosion of information presented here. 

Let’s get started, shall we…

On Sunday, 15 April, I accompanied EN to a theatre performance she’s been interning with throughout the semester. The show is called Soul Sister, and is the story of Tina Turner’s relationship with Ike, as told by the former while backstage during her ‘Private Dancer’ tour. 

Most people already know the troubled tale of Ike and Tina Turner, so I won’t go into that here (though I will say that the first act in particular was far more forgiving of Ike than I expected). Instead, I want to focus on two particular aspects of the show: the actress playing Tina, and the ending:

The role of Tina was given to Emi Wokoma (who, ironically, played the sister of Tameka Empson’s ‘Kim’ on EastEnders). The Guardian reviewed Wokoma’s turn as Turner thusly: 

[Wokoma’s] impersonation of Anna Mae Bullock, renamed Tina Turner when she started singing with Ike Turner, is startling. She's got that strange, stiff-legged dance – the one that looks like a man who's left the urinal too soon – and the flutters of the hands. And she's got a voice that can strip paint or sing a lullaby within the same bar. (Soul Sister Review)

I admit that I was a bit concerned with Wokoma at the start. The opening number is ‘Private Dancer,’ one of my favorites. Wokoma’s rendition wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn’t great—I felt as if she wasn’t warmed up yet. Fortunately, after that number, the songs performed are basically in chronological order, and follow Anna Mae’s rise to prominence. This gave Wokoma the chance to warm-up her Turner impression, as her character also developed her unique style. By the time ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ was performed, audiences could be easily excused for forgetting that the real Tina wasn’t on stage.

[NB: This is not my photo.]

This brings us to the other point I wanted to bring up about the show: the ending. As previously noted, the story is told from the point-of-view of Turner, who is relating events to a friend backstage between sets. Upon concluding her tale, Turner returns to her (fictionalized) concert—whereupon the theatre audience becomes a concert audience!

The last 15-20 minutes of the show is just like a traditional concert. There is no narrative: just Wokoma—accompanied by a band, backup singers, and flashing laser-lights—recreating Turner’s early-80s comeback tour. Traditional Tina favorites—such as ‘Simply the Best’, ‘I Can't Stand the Rain’, ‘Help’, and, of course, ‘Proud Mary’—drove audiences to their feet. No lie. There were even encore songs, in true concert style: ‘Steamy Windows’ and ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’

‘Awesome’ doesn’t even begin to describe the experience. All I can say is that if you’re in London, and are even remotely a Tina Turner fan, you must see this show!

After Soul Sister, EN and I were ridin’ high, as concert goers typically are right after a show lets out. So, we headed over to Soho and a bar there called 79CXR. This particular bar was billed in one of the local rags as offering gay karaoke, and we thought it might be fun to check that out. 

I’d say we had a decent time: drinks were cheap even if the singing was painful. Also, it wasn’t crowded—almost always a perk. When the karaoke wrapped-up at around 9:00 PM, Bette Rinse (the drag queen emcee) organized a group of fellow queens and locals for a queer version of ‘Match Game.’ Sadly, it was all a bit lost on EN and I, as neither of us were familiar enough with the local drag scene to get the references to specific community members. Ah, well. It was still interesting.

Okay, I’m going to totally change topics now. (Like I said, there’s a lot to catch-up on!)

On Thursday, 19 April, two of my friends from Chicago—TS and his partner, BH—flew in to London for the latter’s birthday weekend. I was fortunate enough to see them on three of the four days they were here.

That first day (Thursday) was a bit rough for me. I didn’t sleep well the night before, and had zero desire to go to school that morning. Nonetheless, I made the long slog there…only to learn that one of my two classes that day had been cancelled. Now, this isn’t a problem in-and-of-itself. The class in question is my least favorite (‘Cultural Power & Resistance in the 21st Century’—not nearly as interesting as it sounds). Nonetheless, the scheduled lecture for that day would likely have been beneficial for my final essay. Ah, well. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I got caught in a downpour on my way home. I. Was. Drenched…and unhappy. 

Unhappy and Soaking Wet.

Fortunately, seeing two familiar faces was just the boon that my spirits needed. We headed into Soho to grab a couple of cocktails at Village, and from there we went to Maison Touareg for dinner. I was uber-excited for this, because I had wanted to check out Maison Touareg since coming back from Morocco, and was merely waiting for the right ‘excuse’ to do so. It was sooooo delicious! Wonderful company was made even better by amazing food and wine. My only complaint is that we were seated beneath the speakers, and the music grew a bit loud when the belly-dancer (whose skills were mostly lost on us) came out. Other than that, it was perfect!

Friday, 20 April, marked the last official day of classes at UEL! My exams aren’t due until this week, but classes have concluded. As my Friday class (‘Realism, Fantasy & Utopia’) was my favorite, this was a bit of a bittersweet moment. I’ll talk more about all that in a later entry, though. After class, I returned to my flat, where my housemates were already in weekend-party-mode. Ugh, it was so loud! For the second day in a row, I found myself highly agitated.

Fortunately, TS and BH invited me to join them once again! This time we went to Cinnamon, an Indian restaurant near Oxford Circus. Once again, I had an amazing time! The food was good (albeit a bit spicy): we shared a plate of ‘BALLS!’ (as listed)—potato, beef, vegetable, and Bangla-Scotch egg—and for the main course I ordered a plate of ‘Old Delhi-style tandoori fenugreek chicken’ (whatever all that means). 

Even better than the food, though, were the drinks. I stuck to water (I had to be up early the next day), but I did have a sip of both TS’ and BH’s drinks—if anyone’s interested, Cinnamon offers the best mojito in the history of forever. After dinner we headed over to the Duke of Wellington (another gay pub) for a last round of drinks going our separate ways.

I’m going to skip saying anything about Saturday, 21 April, as that will get its own entry owing to a trip to Windsor Castle. As for Sunday, I had one last opportunity to see TS and BH before they headed back to Chicago. We met for bagels and coffee at Beigel Bake in Shoreditch. Apparently, this is the oldest bagel place in London. It’s also one of the cheapest places I’ve been in London—but so worth it! I got an éclair (how could I resist?), and it was one of the most scrumptious sweets I’ve eaten since being here! Yummy-yummy! From there, we walked over to Old Spitalfields’ Market, where we walked around for a few minutes before bidding on another adieu! All in all, it was a wonderful visit, and so nice to see friends from home! 

And, on that happy note, I will also say farewell to this entry. I’ve finally gotten ‘Future Brett’ off my back for a bit, and can realx…for now—there’s still a lot to tell about, including my trip to Windsor, the results of my midterms, and my hurried escape from my flat!

But that’ll have to wait a bit longer…