The new year began with the return of ‘Screwged!’, the RVT panto, with a one-off ‘X-Rated’ performance. It was good fun but rather messy. I for one have no recollection of the second half and offer my apologies for anyone who does! Shortly after came a very nice piece in Time Out by Paul Burston, which made my decade.
A few weeks later came the second outing of The Quicksilver Singers, a choir formed by myself and my musical director Michael Roulston for our gig last year as part of Wise Thoughts GFest at the Cochrane Theatre. This time we were joined by several new members for ‘Lavender Nights’, a fundraiser at the Rose & Crown in Walthamstow in aid of Positive East, a charity that helps HIV positive people in East London.
The whole shebang was curated by Michael and his partner, the inimitable Champagne Charlie and they pulled out all the stops with turns from the cream of London’s cabaret scene, including Tricity Vogue, Paul L Martin, Jonathan Hellyer, Marisa Karnesky and many others I am too addled to recall, including a wonderful burlesque artist who turned into a naked Bo Peep! A real highlight was the very sexy closing set from a young lady called Asya, who really will be one to watch. You heard it here first, punters!
As I walked into the building, Michael joked ‘Got your glitter?’ (meaning my holographic makeup), ‘Of course!’ I barked, only for my jaw to drop when I realised it wasn’t in my make-up bag after all! Luckily I had some green stuff Scottee had given me for ‘Screwged!’, but various people did wonder why I looked like The Incredible Hulk on a hen night. Now you know - sheer senility!
A week or so later, Michael and I performed as part of ‘David Hoyle’s Lives’, the latest run from the melancholy maverick at his home from home, the RVT. I felt so proud to be asked to take part by the show’s producer Dawn Right-Nasty. Dawn had handpicked the very best of the current cabaret and alternative music scene to complement David’s renegade performance antics and that night in particular felt especially auspicious for me as it was my birthday - marking two years since my solo retrospective show 'Three Zero', in which time I had come through high and low.
Doing the panto showed me that sometimes things come your way randomly, when you’re not trying – when you try too hard, you elude yourself. By plugging away and sometimes being second or third on the list instead of ‘top of the bill’, you are sometimes a better choice. As a venue, the RVT is a truly historic place – it’s been a home to many weird and wonderful performers over the years and I (literally) used to dream of performing there. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of many shows under its rotting roof over the last few years and I hope that can continue for a while to come.
Our set at David’s night was great fun – we started with a very gloomy number called ‘Mad, Bad World’ and I chose to walk in from behind the audience. Poor Michael was left repeating the first four bars on a loop for about two minutes while I pushed through the frozen crowd. I sang the song amongst them and there was an unforgettable moment when I felt those members of the audience who hadn’t yet realised where I was slowly turn their gaze toward me – it was truly spine-tingling! Alongside performing with Elbow and hearing Sister Wendy hear one of my songs about her for the first time on Radio Two, it’s a moment I will always cherish and feel very privileged to have experienced. David also gave me a very nice introduction which I have quoted on my website – alongside the kind words from Elaine Paige and Sister Wendy, I think I now have all my bases covered!
Next up was my first ever ‘proper’ spoken word set as part of Ernesto Sarezale’s erotic poetry night ‘Velvet Tongue’ (named after a rather saucy sexual practice). My old housemate and good friend Sina Evil opened proceedings and other readers included Jonathan Kemp, author of ‘London Triptych’, a VERY good book, so I felt a little daunted. This was the first time I’d tried out what felt like a tangible group of poems, some new, some old – but I really enjoyed it and even got a nice mention in a review from Remotegoat, which said: ‘Marcus Reeves speaks about loving despair with humour and honesty’. They say never read or believe your reviews, (especially the good ones) but I think that’s a fair appraisal.
At the end of the month, Michael and I re-united for ‘The Double R Club’, a night of dark burlesque, music and mayhem inspired by David Lynch. I’d never been before but I really would recommend it – you get a lot of bang for your buck and with its mix of the absurd, surreal and sublime, the night is indeed very reminiscent of Lynch’s dark, anarchic world.
After a rather shambolic attempt at ‘Blue Velvet’ (on my part) Michael and I performed something of an exclusive. In the film ‘Blue Velvet’, Isabella Rosselini plays a night club chanteuse who one could safely say is rather down on her luck. In one scene, a montage, she sings and we hear the last few bars of an original song by David Lynch and his stalwart soundtrack composer, Angelo Badalamenti. I suggested to Michael that we complete what they had started. I was all over the place that night and murdered the song, so I won’t trouble you with an MP3, but here are our lyrics. Imagine me channeling Marianne Faithfull and Shirley Bassey and you’ll have a good idea of how it worked out!
BLUE STAR
Lynch/Badalamenti/Reeves/Roulston
A single star, so blue in the black above
Ever cold, ever old, never knowing love
Her light falls down on the streets of this town
That I walk along alone
A stranger’s kiss and danger’s touch, I give my all
But in the fading light of day I don’t get much at all
Though I may know you well I’ll never kiss and tell
There’s far too much for me to lose
Shadows, shadows, shadows fall so blue
As daylight fades from view
For just a dime, come buy my time, my body too
And when you leave and I’m alone, I’ll dream of you
But that blue star above is all I’ve left to love
As darkness falls around the room
Shadows, shadows, shadows fall so blue
As lonely as a blue, blue star
PS. Over the next few months I am re-establishing my mailing list - I've realised I'm far too dependent on Facebook etc. If you want to be added, please email marcus AT reevescorner.co.uk (with an @ instead of AT, in case you’re stoopid), along with your postal address.
PPS: Stay tuned for a very special announcement and put April 1st in your diaries for a high profile appearance of something from the vaults! (And no this is not an April Fools!)
(Photos featured by Danny Richman, Robert Piwko, Ant Smith, AbsolutQueer Photography, Sin Bozkurt (c) 2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment