Wednesday, 29 May 2013

The War of The Worlds Ball & The Legend of Stuart Draper


Seems like bumping into pretty girls in town while having a gob full of food has become a recurring theme for me in 2013. Then comes the ‘what you been up to’ conversation when suddenly I can’t think of anything vaguely interesting to talk about. So far my answers have been, ‘well sorting out the garden’ or ‘went down the pub Friday – had a KFC’. Surprisingly these kinda clumsy, unplanned chat up lines often get a good response and looking into a little lady’s misty eyes as they talk about how lush Kentucky Fried Chicken is, seems a great reason to be late for work. I can’t help but nod when people say the gravy is an ‘absolute dream’ and I find KFC a perfect venue for a second date.

Turns out my life has actually been very interesting lately. But its only when they walk away I remember this– Hey I’ve just been to a wedding in Texas… Come back so I can tell you how Cool I am! So I got to thinking why not write a blog about it all, if only to help me remember what the hell I’ve been up too.

So the other week I went to see my pal Hannah in a production of ‘The Boyfriend’ at Brighton’s Little Theatre. A tongue in cheek comedy set in the 1920s with singing and dancing- the whole Shebang! I wasn’t sure that I would like the show, I’m not use to going to the theatre, but I really, really enjoyed it! Hannah’s singing voice was a lot stronger then I was expecting and I was glad that a recent ankle injury from a Netball game didn’t stop her from dancing. I realised I’m just not use to that warm feeling inside from watching something inherently good natured. Seems such a novelty these days.

Last weekend me and my good pal Stuart Draper (name drop) attended the War of the Worlds Ball at Scala, in London. Stuart, a screenwriter and one of the best Quiz masters ever, is always going out somewhere interesting. The War of the Worlds Ball: essentially a chance to watch live music but with everyone dressing up with a space age theme. My favourite costumes included a girl as Daryl Hannah’s character from Bladerunner, The Clockwork Androids from Doctor Who (Episode – The Girl in the Fireplace) Princess Leia…. now I’m trying to remember who else, but all I can think of is scantily clothed ladies. I guess this was just a chance for people to dance and go a bit mad!

Stuart Draper is known as one of the great dancers of our time, he has won awards for it. By awards I mean he won a hat once at the ‘Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar Film Quiz’, where he beat a group of semi drunk contestants (including Pete from Big Brother 127 or whatever) by dancing to ‘I Just Cant Wait to Be King’ from Disney’s the ‘Lion King’… I’m sorry that sentence just got away from me there. Our quiz team didn’t do very well that night, but it definitely rates in the top 53 most exciting moments of my life so far. For those of you who have seen Stuart dance you probably can’t work out why he hasn’t featured in a Fatboy Slim video yet. I suppose his style is far too Electro for all that jazz !?! People keep telling me he is the ‘King of Cool’ and I’m getting really bored with this now.

The evening featured some intriguing cabaret acts, but things kicked off proper with the glorious ‘Sam and The Womp’, a Balkan sounding dubstep group featuring a brass quartet. What’s not to like about that? They are a great live band and after them we saw an enigmatic and energetic performance from the Correspondents just back from a 4 year hiatus. The night finished with some awesome DJ sets and with battle clad attendees and alien esque dancers jumping on stage. At 4am the lights came on and we were gradually forced from the dance floor like a sad exodus of Martian settlers from their war torn lands.

So many people put effort into their costumes: from the girls who had white lights under their dresses and in their hair, to the futuristic Imperial Guard or the giant Green Alien. Although myself and Stuart going as Superman and General Zod was no doubt the ‘Sexy Option’ we really didn’t spend too much time thinking about it or making our getup. A really fun night out which was largely down to great music as well as the atmosphere. I would definitely do something like this again….


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