i-want-more

Brand new Key

A fair amount to report. Working backwards:

PL and his young lady were in London for the weekend, down from Manchester. A few of the old guard were out to greet them, in a pub called The Easton, which couldn't decide if it was a gastropub or not. I caught up with TS and PM about their work and the conversation turned to friendship. We chatted about friends falling away (a matter I know I've discussed here before but can't be arsed to find a permalink to). I agreed with PM that our ever-decreasing circle of pals is simply a matter of the cream rising to the top.

Devon, to Nephew #2's wedding to the lovely R. What a lovely day we had. It was a pity that the weather wasn't a bit more cheerful, but at least there was no rain. We also saw most of the rest of the family over the course of a couple of days, and of course, the Greatest Dog in the World was delighted to see us and even sat on my lap, which is quite a rare event.

The end of January I saw The Horne Section at the Lyric, which was a delightful evening out. The Horne Section are basically a jazz comedy performance party, which makes them sound abysmal, but bear with me. They are a group of talented musicians fronted by tall, gap-toothed comedian Alex Horne. Some highlights of the evening: the band doing a morris dance version of Single Ladies, Tim Vine firing out hundreds of puns and playing drums on The Girl from Ipenema, Mark Watson doing a cheeky song about being on a bouncy castle, a brass band doing Bohemian Rhapsody in an oompah style, and a bald man climbing inside a balloon.

And of course, there was Tim Key. Where to start? He is a shambolic weirdo genius, and simply has funny bones. Many of his poems are too filthy to repeat. He did an appalling one about two characters from Wind in the Willows becoming involved in a sordid affair (final line: "Rat kept winking at Toad across the courtroom"). He balanced a bottle of beer on a cymbal (and made it look easy), gave the band impossible directions ("could you make what you're playing sound more...mathematical?") and ended his set by performing a song by Russian punk band Leningrad. Wonderful.

To Clapham, nightlife hellhole of SW London, to TL's surprise 30th birthday party. Some good company, even though the evening was short.

2011's social whirl continues.

Labels: friends, tim key

posted by deafdisco @ 1:06 pm