Done For Now

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now 31! And to celebrate I decided I would be ill!

It had been a very busy week-end with the three performances of You'll Do For Now finally taking place after five months of hard work. This all went fantastically well and I am inclined to say that this was probably the best performance the Chorus has ever put on! The feedback from the audience was tremendous with (like after every big show) some very moving stories which remind us that we are more than just entertainment and give even more value to what we do. I will only quote from what our signer sent us about what happened to him on Sunday:

"After the interval [...] a woman approached the stage and asked me in Sign Langauge what my name was [...]. She was in her 70's and had come along with her friend and her husband, both the same age. I asked her who she knew in the chorus and she replied that they knew nobody. I asked her if she had a gay son or friend who had brought them and she responded by telling me that she didn't know anyone gay and that she had seen the concert advertised on the "deaf" page of teletext as being BSL interpreted and they had nothing to do and thought they may come. Her friend's husband, she said, had NEVER been to the theatre before. This was the first time he had been to the theatre to see any kind of show (the truth is, that is rather a common experience for many older deaf people, it is only relatively recently that theatres have thought about access and put on signed performances). They were blown away and she said that her friend's husband was (and i have to search for the nearest spoken English equivalent word here) "spellbound." She said she didn't know anything about gay people before the show."

This, along with the other (more usual) stories of gay people finding a new pride in being who and what they are thanks to seeing us, makes me very proud indeed to be part of the London Gay Men's Chorus.

Read more about the show from another Chorus blogger:
Show Minus One Day
It's Show Time
Show no2
You'll Do For Now

After Sunday's show and before the Chorus goes on holiday for a month, a party had been organised for the members at Barcode. This was both and enjoyable and quite interesting event. Everybody had a great time and the DJ (probably on request) played some of the songs we had been performing in the show with got eveybody singing along. One of the Tenor 1s had his boyfriend over for the States to see the show. At some point the boyfriend gathered the Tenor 1 section in one corner and thanked us for the support we had been giving to Scott, saying how important we had become for him. Then he proceded to say that although the theme of the moment was "you'll do for now", Scott would do for ever for him before whipping out a ring and presenting it to Scott under the screams and applause of all witnesses.

There were also several couplings between members, some of them rather unexpected. One of the readers of this blog also got (quite literally) whisked off his feet. It was funny to see him who describes himself as uptighly British being manhandled by his new beau. I hope it all goes well for the two of them. As I have told you already, I am very pleased for you, R. ... ;O)

The party finished at 12 and I was soon home, drunking lots of water to compensate all that dance induced sweating I had subjected myself to. This did not seem to prove enough as I woke up the next morning at about 6 feeling feverish and with a bad headache. A serious case of dehydration, which despite the 6 litters of water I drank, kept me under the weather all day. I am still feeling a bit rough as I write. I spent most of the day vegging and drowsing on my bed only going out for my weekly cultural outing to Tesco and later in the evening to meet up with MFD. We went to Lorelei where I was given two presents. Just before getting to the restaurant, I saw TCS who had obviously been on a shopping trip. I don't think he saw me however.

During the day I also received a few emails wishing me a happy birthday or a joyeux anniversaire as the case may be. I had a few more this morning. Including one from someone I don't know but who somehow get linked to my plaxo address book. Probably a friend of a friend... who knows! There was also an e-card from DH which gave me great pleasure. I have known him for about 8/9 years I guess. he was the first true friend I made online. I was spending hours on the net at the time, mostly chatting with strangers on ICQ. We became great friends and he even made it once from Brussels where he lives to Dijon where I lived at the time (that must have been in 1999). This is the only time we actually met. Soon after we started to loose contact for some reason which is a great shame. In his e-card, DH tells me he has just subscribed to this blog. Here is to you DH:

Thanks you very much for the card. I hope things are well with you and I really wish we could get back in touch properly... xxx