Train of Thought

This weekend has been very football themed. Saturday started with a longstanding appointment to see Brentford vs Bristol City with the Bristol fans (I claim to support Coventry, but well, I do seem to see a lot of Bristol, thanks to Andy). That morphed into a very enjoyable pub crawl centered around the England game, and I got to meet the charming chairman of the London Titans.

Andy’s regularly trying to get me to come along and watch them, and I’ve enjoyed it whenever I go. So on Sunday I turned up at the Old Deer Park to watch them play GFC Bournemouth. 3-9 is not the best result of course, but the Titans are a new team, and visibly improving every time I see them.

If someone had told me five years ago that coming out would increase the amount of football I followed, I think I would have laughed. It is, after all, a sport not noted for its friendliness to openly gay folk.

There, I’ve confessed. Last night I went to see the London Gay Men’s Chorus “Small Group” perform at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. This was the third time I’ve seen them this year, and I’m likely to see them at least once more – for the Christmas show. Together with my own lack of musical talent, I think that qualifies me as a groupie!

I’d never been to the venue before, and you enter through a museum gallery with artefacts from London’s theatre scene. If I go again, I’ll plan on arriving a bit before the performance, and stop to read a few of the display cases. That being said, nothing jumped out and said ‘Read Me Now’.

Every time I plan to see the LGMC I’m a little nervous that I’ve seen them before, and well, isn’t it never quite the same as the first time? Every time, they blow me away. Go see them perform!

There is an obvious passion behind the performances, and quality touches throughout. Whether they sell out or respectably fill their chosen venue seems to be a bit of a lottery, which I don’t understand, as the shows are consistently good.

Last night was the “Small Group”, which must be about 15 strong (The full chorus puts around 100 men on stage), performing with a pianist to accompany them. There are quite a few solos and duets, and they always seem incredibly accomplished. I liked, in no particular order, All Girl Band, Rhythm of Life (the chorus has taught me different words for that, and they’re much more fun), Marry me a Little and Natural Woman. Seasons of Love is another favourite of mine that they perform well.

Thanks to Liam and Brett for suggesting the evening – I would probably not have seen the small group until later in the year otherwise. The rest of the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it – the group next to me started laughing at one of the jokes, and then couldn’t stifle ongoing giggles for several pieces afterward. A great atmosphere!

I still haven’t figured out what to use the sidebar/blogroll for – Liam’s looking quite lonely there. Is it something for my convenience, or is it for the audience of this blog? Who is that audience?

Anyway, while I figure that one out, here’s a few things I read regularly. The order is not significant:

• Edward Tufte – Ask ET: Discussions about information display and design.
• Slashdot: Geeks at work and play.
• Dan Bricklin: Blogger on software
• Joel On Software: Blogger on software.
• Andrew Sullivan: Blogging from a conservative gay Catholic in NY.
• The Old New Thing: Something interesting about Win32 every day.
• Dilbert: The cartoon.
• Madam and Eve: A cartoon from South Africa my brother introduced me to.
• Adam and Andy: Cartoon about a couple somewhere in the US.
• Doonesbury: A habit from my stint in the US.
• Rands In Repose: Thoughts on software management, and Vegas!
• Scripting News: Blogging on tech stuff. The first one I started reading!
• Schneier on Security: Readable thoughts on security (usually of computers).
• Steve Miller’s CultureWatch: A survey of thoughts and essays from the libertarian wing of gay culture.
• The Cycling feed from the BBC

A mixed bunch, but a few themes and stereotypes are there to be observed :-)

Last night I went to see the London Gay Men’s Chorus perform their first big show of the year. What a blast!

The show was at Cadogan Hall, and I had planned on just turning up on the night, and buying a ticket. In the end, the place looked almost sold out, so it was lucky that Liam offered me a spare ticket he had during the afternoon. Not only did he guarantee I turned up (thank you!), I also had a great seat.

If you’ve not seen the LGMC, they are an incredibly polished bunch of performers, who obviously take great pride in putting on a high quality show. They then couple this with a hugely infectious enthusiasm, which reminds me each time why I go and see them. Choir’s, after all, are not my regular taste in music.

Mind you, they seem to be turning me into a convert, and I now have some favourites, two of which were in the show – Rhythm of Life and Our Time.

If you’ve not seen them before, they are on again in London and Cardiff (among other places) this year. Highly recommended!

Sometimes I buy a book based purely on its cover.

Just before Christmas I found myself in Gay’s The Word (a very fine bookstore), looking for some holiday reading matter. I picked up several books, some of which I had been looking for, and some of which I had read other material by the same author.

Queer London just jumped off of the shelf, with a really nice cover and a snappy title.

The book covers the period 1918-1957 which is, of course, the time from the end of the first world war to the publishing of the ‘Wolfenden Report’, which presaged the limited decriminalisation of gay sex in the UK. It’s a fairly dry read at times (it shows its roots as a PhD thesis), but I was gripped by it. The stories of London from a time when being gay was very different, and yet recognisable, are fascinating.

The description of life in the East End was particularly interesting, as large parts of my family come from that part of London. A key argument in the book is that applying the word ‘gay’ to historical cultures is a tricky thing. Today it means so much more than a simple tag for people like me. The author identifies three distinct subcultures among what would now be labelled gay people in the time under question, and each is quite different from the understanding we now have of what it is to be a gay man in London.

I find information about how other cultures deal with people like me educational. I find it easy to lapse into an assumption that our current method of handling gay people is somehow inevitable, when clearly it is not. To find a different (subtly perhaps, but quite distinct) way of living with gay people quite so close to home was the surprise as I read this book.

Recommended.

Full details:

Queer London Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 Matt Houlbrook The University of Chicago Press