Last Dance, Last Entry

Finally, we come to my very last full day in London, 4 June 2012. I can’t say anything truly eventful happened throughout the course of the day (though the evening was a different story—more on that momentarily). It was still part of the four-day Diamond Jubilee Weekend, though not much was happening—the big flotilla had been the day before, and the true celebration, including the huge concert, would happen on the 5th. Mostly, people were quiet and involved in setting-up or staking their seats for the next day’s events.

As for me, I just wandered around all my favorite haunts, snapping photos of places that I had spent the last six months loving and building memories in.

I began my meandering walk at the Piccadilly Circus stop, and moved my way through China Town, which, neighboring the local gayborhood, I had spent a fair amount of time in. One of the places I knew I’d have to get a photo of was Little Wu’s, where I had shared more than one meal with friends.

Little Wu's

Passing through China Town, I made my way into Soho, where I captured images of places I had mentioned but not visually archived yet, including Lupo’s, the salon where Youssef, the hot Palestinian guy used to cut my hair, and the Moroccan restaurant I enjoyed with TS and BH. I also ordered one last cup of coffee from LJ’s, and took my time pursuing thorough the typical coffee shop stack of magazines (<-- foreshadowing).

Alas, I was too chicken to take a photo of Youssef.

Following that, I made one more stop at the awesome comic shop Forbidden Planet, where I finally worked up the nerve to take photos of their awe-inspiring toy display before making my way to Covent Garden and the museum area near Trafalgar Square. And, as I learned upon arriving at Trafalgar Square, I wasn’t the only American in the neighborhood concerned with the festivities…

The entryway...

Robin Roberts and the blonde woman from Good Morning, America!

Finally, I began the long walk the Mall toward Buckingham Palace. As noted earlier, people were already staking out their seating claims for the next day. They were ready with food, drink, chairs, and tents. Final touches were being put on the concert stage, which now encircled the memorial to Queen Victoria, and cameras were being set up along the top of the palace. In all, there was a great feeling of excitement in the air.

Concert Stage

Since it was so close, I also hopped over to St James’ Palace, so I could snag one last photo with the Queen Alexandra state I love so much, before doubling back for more photos along the Mall.

And, of course, I took some photos of birds and the surrounding area from my favorite bridge in St James’ park, a fitting end to my last full touristy day in London…but I’m not done yet! As I mentioned, there was still the night ahead!
 

 

While at LJ’s earlier in the day, I had stumbled upon an advertisement for a special Diamond Jubilee-themed party kicking off later that night at Heaven. Now, as I’ve made abundantly clear throughout this blog, I love(d) Heaven!!!! In fact, it was my favorite club in London! But, I knew there was no way I was going to that—after all, my flight to come back to the U.S. was early the next morning, and the last thing I wanted to do was fly with a hangover…

But then I saw the name of the performer playing there:


Lonnie Gordon.

See the red wax bubble in the middle-right.

I am a huge fan of Lonnie Gordon, and have been for years! I first got hooked on her music owing to the song “Bad Mood,” and I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since. Unfortunately, she’s never really been as big in the U.S. as she was/is in the U.K. and elsewhere abroad. She also had a pretty scary cancer scare a few years ago. So, the long and short of it is this: I had long-ago reconciled myself to the fact that I would never be able to see her perform live.

And now this.

I spent the afternoon vacillating, unsure if I should say “to hell with it” and go to Heaven that night, or if I should do the responsible thing and stay in. Ultimately, with the encouragement of Nic, KG and MM, I decided to go. And I’m so incredibly grateful that I did!


I got there super-early, in the hope that she’d perform early and I could leave. Alas, that part of my plan did not come to fruition. It seemed to be no different from any other night at Heaven, with the sole exception of a drag queen coming out dressed as Queen Elizabeth and singing “God Save the Queen,” and other than the posters there was no indication of when or if Lonnie Gordon would actually go on tonight.

But I kept waiting… And drinking. And drinking. And drinking. And then, around 1:30 AM, just as I was about to call it quits, she appeared:

She was wearing a tight fitting, long-sleeved, short, sequined black dress, and she worked the stage, stomping around in fierce black stilettos.

It was magical, even though she didn’t perform for long, and I was enraptured.


She started with a powerful rendition of “Last Dance” in honor of the recently passed Donna Summer—a fitting choice (for me), because it was indeed my last bout of dancing in London, and also because it’s my favorite Donna Summer song. Next, she launched into a Gordonesque rendition of Earth Wind and Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland,” followed by a third song that I didn’t know. And that was all, but it was more than enough.


You can see most of it in the video below (though it sadly cuts off in the middle of the third song). You can also catch a glimpse of me in the video below if you look closely enough—I'm standing right next to the person at the right-hand foot of the stage shooting video on their mobile at around the 1:29 mark.

But the best parts about her performance were the following:

First, during one of the moments when she leaned over the railing (around 8:30 in the video), looking at the audience, I seized the opportunity to yell for her attention, to which she responded by looking directly at me with her sparkling hazel eyes and mile-long lashes, and said “Hey, baby.” Sure, you can't hear it in the video—but I'm telling you, that's exactly what happened.

Shortly after that, I blew her a kiss—I was all queer-drunken-fan-boy by this point. I was sure she saw it, though she didn’t respond (for obvious reasons, i.e., she was in the middle of a song and also she doesn’t know me!)—but I knew I had done it and she had seen it, and that was enough for me. But then, after walking off stage at the end of her set, she came running back for her encore cheer, ran up to the edge of the stage, leaned over to where I was standing at the front of the pack, and blew a kiss back at me! Sadly, this is not in the video either (it cuts off before the end of her third song), but, again, I know that it happened!

Oh.

My.

God.

(That.

Can.
Dance.)


I could not have asked for a more perfect end to not only the night, but my experience in London as a whole.

And so it is on this note that I bring this travel-blog to a close. Though intended primarily as a tool to help me remember this experience, I hope that, if anyone else has read it, they’ve enjoyed what they’ve found, and perhaps been inspired to do some traveling themselves. I also wish to take a second—without blathering on or saying too much else—to just say “Thank You” to all of the people who made this trip possible, and made it so special. You all know who you are!

Cheers.

Some Beautiful and Not-So Beautiful Things...

On 29 May 2012, with my time abroad quickly drawing to a close, I decided to spend some time just wandering around central London—plus, I needed to find some sort of crown to wear to a Diamond Jubilee-themed tea party I had been invited to. Because I saw so much, but nothing really new (for the most part), what follows is basically just random snippets of interest.

Let’s start, as I did that day, with an early morning visit to Buckingham Palace. I had been alerted by EN to the fact that construction had begun on the decorations for the Diamond Jubilee concert. Even so, I was not quite prepared for the radical transformation that had taken place. 

Around the large Victoria Memorial, work had begun on a staging area, from whence performers such as Sir Tom Jones would eventually perform. Similarly, all around the circle, tiered stands had also been erected for those lucky few who had been able to secure tickets to the event. (I tried, but being a non-British citizen I was not able.)

Stage and Bleachers

From the palace, I made my way down the Mall and across St James’s Park—as I have done so often during my stay—and then over to Westminster Abbey by way of Horse Guards Road. I had hoped to find some sort of suitable crown in the gift shop there but, alas, no luck. 

Leaving Westminster, I walked by the Horse Guards Parade and on over to Trafalgar Square (with a brief stop-over at Heaven which, although not open, I wanted a photo of nonetheless). 

Continuing my walk, I swung by the National Portrait Gallery—I had wanted to check out their new exhibit on The Queen, which includes a holographic version of the picture seen below, but didn’t have time—and Leicester Square (where I got a picture taken with the blue M&M), before moving over to Piccadilly Circus and then Soho.

One of my favorite images of HM The Queen!

Do you suppose he's related to Aki T. Fish?

Aside from the usual interest in the Soho area, I specifically wanted to swing by Soho Square so I could finally take a photo of the bench dedicated to singer Kristy McColl. After being killed in a freak boating accident, McColl was memorialized in Soho Square owing to a song she wrote about the area. However, I’m familiar with her through the songs ‘Fairytale of New York’ and the awesomesauceyness that is ‘In These Shoes?’

From Soho Square I trekked onward to the ritzy Mayfair area, where I finally used the  Easter money Mom sent me to buy chocolate form Charbonnel et Walker, official chocolatiers to The Queen. It was delicious!!!

We Approve of Charbonnel et Walker Chocolate!

While there, it hit me: I would get my crown from the gift shop at Buckingham Palace! So, I circled back around—passing St James’s Palace en route—and visited the shop within The Queen’s Gallery. Sure enough, there was the perfect (toy) crown! Mission accomplished!

By now, it was getting lateish, and I had plans for that evening, so I headed home to drop off my stuff and shower, before turning around and heading back out. You see, my friend LD had agreed to cut my hair and add some red low-lights. The only problem: he lives all the way on the east end of London.

But, since I had to go out that way anyway, I decided to finally take a side-excursion to a place even further to the east that I hadn’t made it yet: Thamesmead, the filming location for ‘Beautiful Thing’! 

It took a bit of time, but I finally found the exact building and area where it was set. Unfortunately, I wasn’t comfortable staying too long—it was a highly sketchy and run-down area, and I was actually a bit afraid (something I hadn’t experienced at any other time or place whilst in London). This meant I wasn’t able to re-enact my favorite moment from the film, when Jaime and Ste slow-dance in the courtyard. Ah, well, at least I was there. 

The real thing...

The best still I could grab--with the amazing Linda Henry!

And I even took the 180 bus to get there, which was kind of a big deal only because of its connection to the film (i.e., Jaime and Ste take the 180 when they go to their first gay pub, the Gloucester).

After snagging those images, I set off for LD’s, where he proceeded to give my hair one final trim before the return home.

Of Paintings and Passion Plays

I’m going to take a quick break from telling you about Morocco (really, all that’s left is my last day there) so that I can tell you about Friday (April 6).

Having been stuck in bed for most of the first week of Easter Break, I was determined to get out and do something on Friday. Unfortunately, I’m still at that phase of recovery where I get tired very easily, and so I planned on making said-adventure pretty small. Boy, did I misjudge.

I kicked things off by finally going to the Charles Dickens Museum. Now, you have to understand that this was one of those things from our 2008 trip to London that I really regretted not having time to do, and since the museum’s closing for renovation on April 10th it was kind of a now-or-never thing.

And now that I’ve been, I can honestly say: thank goodness we did not make it back in 2008, because if I had dragged Nic to this and the Royal Mews back then, it probably would have been the end of our relationship.

Seriously, even I was bored at the Dickens Museum (shocking, right?).

Entrance to the Dickens Museum

 Basically, it’s in a townhouse that Dickens lived in alongside his family for about two years. To the museum's credit, despite the short time of occupancy this is the only house of Dickens’ that still survives. Unfortunately, once inside you’re given practically no information (just one, single-sided informational page in each room). Furthermore, items are displayed within cases without explanation, and most of the furniture is replicated. The biggest draw for the proprietors seems to be the café (which takes up three of the five rooms on the ground floor), and a looping film that was so boring I had to leave after less than 10 minutes. 

Dickens' Study: the desk under the window is the same upon which he penned his last words.

Sitting Room

 All in all, I was majorly disappointed in the Charles Dickens Museum I’m sad to say. Then again, I am probably guilty of building it up in my mind over the last four years, ensuring that it could never live up to my expectations.

Following the museum, I was still feeling relatively okay, so I decided to wander around London for a bit, which I always enjoy doing. 

Soon thereafter, I found myself standing in front of the British Museum. I started to go in, but having been there before, I knew what an exhausting experience that would be. Instead, I decided to keeping walking, heading toward Trafalgar Square for some picture taking. 

I stopped en route at LJ’s for some coffee and at the not-as-skeezy-as-its-website-makes-it-look Prowler to finally pick-up a copy of Beautiful Thing on DVD (which they had on sale for £6—normally, the cheapest you can find it for in the US is $30+.)

Eventually, I arrived at Trafalgar Square...only to discover that it was packed! Apparently, a local church was putting on a public performance of The Passion of Jesus. But I’ll come back to that in a bit…

A packed Trafalgar Square and National Gallery. Note the pretty blue sky--that will be relevant later on.

In an attempt to avoid the large crowd outside, I thought this might be a good opportunity to duck into the National Gallery. It was okay—certainly far better than the Dickens Museum. As with most museums, they would not allow photography and, anyway, there really wasn’t anything there that I was interested enough in to go out of my way to record. 

That being said, there was a nice exhibition of Titan’s work that I liked, as well as some always enjoyable pieces by Seurat and Monet (including ‘The Water-Lily Pond’). The piece that I was most excited to see at the National Gallery, however, was van Eyck’s ‘The Arnolfini Portrait.’

NB: This image is not mine.

I’m realizing now, as I write this, that my attraction to this painting might actually stem from an old coffee table book my maternal grandmother used to have, and which I used to thumb through as a child. The more I think about it, I have vague recollections of stopping on a photo of ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ every time I flipped through the book, mesmerized even as a small child by the mirror in the background (without realizing at the time the significance of it). 

Damn, I really wish I had remembered this while I was there!

After going through the National Gallery, I headed next door to the National Portrait Gallery, where they had an exhibition devoted to Princesses Charlotte and Victoria (later Queen Victoria). And while it was a decent exhibit, and one which I was thrilled to see, I was pleasantly surprised to find far more interesting pieces at the NPG!

The very first piece I came across upon entering the gallery was the portrait of Princes William and Harry from 2010 (their first). I remember when this painting was unveiled I like it quite a bit, so I was thrilled to see it, unexpectedly, in person. 

My next unexpected, but totally welcomed, surprise was their collection of Tudor and Elizabethan portraits! Here I encountered more paintings that I was all-too-familiar with, as they’re used in just about ever historical documentary about Henry VIII’s famous family. Such paintings include the following:

Queen Elizabeth I Coronation Painting [NB: This image is not mine!]

Queen Elizabeth I [NB: This image is not mine!]

Queen Mary I [NB: This image is not mine!]

King Edward VI [NB: This image is not mine!]

Sadly, the famous portrait of Anne Boleyn is being restored, and was not on display.

There was also the (life-sized) drawing seen here:

King Henry VIII and his father. [NB: This image is not mine]

Though this particular one was never used (presumably a second one was created, which was used and subsequently ruined), such drawings were used as a means of facilitating the creation of life-sized murals circa the 1500s. Basically:

The cartoon is exactly the same size as the finished painting and was used to transfer [the artist] Holbein's design to its intended position on the palace wall. To do this the cartoon was pricked along the main outlines of the composition and then fixed in the intended position on the wall. Chalk or charcoal dust was then brushed into the holes made by pricking, thus transferring the outline to the wall. Holbein could then proceed with filling in his design. ~ National Portrait Gallery Description

Very interesting!

Another highlight of my trip to the National Portrait Gallery was a small selection of photographs of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II taken by Sir Cecil Beaton in the late ’50s and early ’60s, including an amazing one of her in full regalia (including tiara) and leaning somewhat wearily against the arm of a couch at the palace. 

While at the National Portrait Gallery I received a text from EN, informing me that she was also in the Trafalgar Square area—turns out, she was there to watch the Passion of Jesus performance happening outside. We made plans to go for coffee after the show, and so when I was done at the gallery I went and met her in the square.

I arrived during the telling of the Last Supper, and wound up staying until the end. I have to say, they actually did a really good job (excepting, of course, the predominance of whiteness amongst the cast). 

Two things that are particularly interesting to note about the performance:

First, the actor playing Caiaphas (the high priest who played in instrumental role in the crucifixion of Christ) sounded remarkably like the late Billy Barty, known for his iconic portrayal of Gwildor of Thenur (and more)! In fact, so close was the sound of their voices that I frequently had to remind myself that Mr Barty is dead and that it could not possibly be him.

Second, the producers did a really good job of portraying the crucifixion: before the audience's collective eyes, three crosses were raised near Trafalgar Square’s large central column. What was really interesting about this bit though, was the moment wherein the Jesus character died. I had been watching the sky above for a bit—most of the day had been warm and sunny (as reflected in the earlier picture I posted), but as the play progressed it was steadily growing cooler. Sure enough, it just so happened that by the end of the crucifixion scene it was gray, cold, and slightly drizzling. Though the play’s sponsors had nothing to do with that, it was a cool effect to go along with the performance!

'Jesus' being 'nailed' to the cross.

And it is on that note that I will close. I hadn’t intended for this entry to be as long as it turned out to be (especially since I have a lot of other stuff I want to work on today). 

Until next time…