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snacks & adventure

Tag Archives: my friend kamilla

Big Night in the Big City

25 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by frannyritchie in Uncategorized

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Hollie McNish, London, my friend kamilla, Paper Tiger Poetry, poetry, Vauxhall

On Friday, I went to see Paper Tiger Poetry in Vauxhall, a neighbourhood of London I’d never been to before. It was an open mic night with two anchor poets, Donall Dempsey and Hollie McNish.  You may have heard of Hollie; I’ve written about her before on this blog and was even present at the genesis of her most recent hit, a commentary on Flo Rida’s ‘Blow My Whistle.’ I’m taking credit for having inspired the bit about zumba, as well as the last line that I don’t want to spoil.

Anyway. I invited My Friend Kamilla to Hollie’s gig.  The two anchor poets were great, and there were some notable successes who gave open mike presentations, and the whole night finished with a group singalong in honour of St. Patrick that I thought was absolutely fantastic. Also, the venue was the Tea House Theatre, which was a delightful spot.

However, there were some notable failures – enough that, when we adjourned to The Black Dog hipster pub down the road, Kamilla and Hollie and I kicked off a round of ‘which open mic poet would be your secret boyfriend?’ (it was almost all dudes) that lasted more or less until the bar closed.

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Django FanGirls

15 Friday Mar 2013

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Battersea, Le QueCumBar, London, music, my friend kamilla, my friend mary, UK

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Battersea High Street is a train, tube and bus ride away from my home. But its a place I’d been wanting to go for a while – not because the street is that great, but because if you turn off it, and walk down some nondescript residential streets for about five minutes, you will find yourself at Le QueCumBar, one of the most famous gypsy jazz venues in the world, decorated with portraits of Django Reinhardt, with tasseled lamps and surly-cute waiters with piano braces/suspenders (the poor bastards, I’d be surly too).

My friends Mary and Kamilla and I went to Le QueCumBar on a Tuesday in February, on a jam night (I have since learned that its called a Djam). the night we went, there were about ten people who rotated in and out all night – all ages and many instruments, but only one woman, who kicked off the night.  After the first few songs, Mary said ‘how do they just do that?’ And Kamilla, who is a professional musician, looked at Mary like she was nuts and said ‘practice.’

In addition to a night of amazing music in a very idiosyncratic venue, it was a night where everyone was nerdy in their own way: Kamilla talked about music; Mary talked about literature; I talked about birds (Kamilla got psyched about birds with me, which I appreciated more than she could have known.  We had a whole talk about the wingspan of albatrosses.  Seriously, these people are friends to hold onto.)

Too Much Fun for My Own Good

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

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Barbican, first world, London, my friend kamilla, my friend mary, Rain Room, UK

As predicted, having a job and a social life and a long commute gets pretty time consuming, and I’ve had less time and interest in maintaining a blog than I had a year ago.  But I love being able to look back at my own little scrapbook of adventures, so even though these next few posts are all Old News, they’re also treasured memories.

rain room

 

The best things I’ve done in London in 2013 can be mostly attributed to the all-too-short sabbatical of my friend Mary, who did a 2-month research stint in London at the beginning of the year (and is now in Paris, the poor dear). Because she was only here for such a short time, we really mobilised and did All the Fun Stuff while she was here, including a trip to the Rain Room, which had been on my list since November.

The Rain Room is exactly what it sounds like – a room full of rain. There’s a plaftorm on which it appears to be raining, but as you walk through the water stops above you.  Its the world’s most high-tech sprinkler.

Unfortunately, the five month installation is now over (apparently there were 6 hour waits in the final days).  We waited two hours (I did a Supermarket Sweep of Waitrose and made a picnic, complete with single-serving wine bottles and chocolate-chip cookies, that we ate while waiting) and then had more or less unlimited time in the room itself (people were self-regulating because of guilt, and also because you do start to get wet and the novelty wears off a bit). The whole thing was, as my New Friend Kamilla pointed out, very First World, but also totally captivating.

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