Islington LGBT History Month 2008

Another year, another LGBT History Month. The Pink Singers small group has semi-religiously been a supporter of the celebrations, and this year Charlie has booked us into the commemorative events over in Islington Council. This year's theme is 'Claiming our Past, Celebrating our Present and Creating our Future', and the council's laudable aims are to create an environment where 'LGBT people are seen as positive role models for young people and can live free from hostility and prejudice'. This is broadly in line with the aims of the Pink Singers, even if we haven't really asked to be role models and our celebrating all things LGBT is a somewhat inadvertant side effect of our singing.

Anyway, we'll be performing a few songs from our winter concert including Come What May, Hymne A L'Amour and Abba Pink. So come on down and see us strut our stuff this Friday night at Islington Town Hall. Details are over on the Pink Singers website.

Countdown To Summer And 25!

The timetable for summer 2008 is out on the Pink Singers website, and I am really looking forward to the 25th anniversary ball. Yes, the Pink Singers are a quarter century old - and we are celebrating on the 12th of April 2008. I am always tickled pink (oh ho ho!) when I read Mark Bunyan's diary of 1983 describing that very first meeting of the Pink Singers. I know Liang been in touch with Mark to try find out who the original 15 Pink Singers were, but even our esteemed founder no longer remembers, or has lost contact with them. So, if you are a Pink Singer, from any year really, and would like to join in the festivities, get in touch. Leave a message here, or contact the Pink Singers via the website. And remember, the summer season starts on the 2nd of February - we're counting down now...

Various Voices Is Picking Up Steam!

Things really are picking up pace on the Various Voices front. Adam, the Pink Singers liaison on the committee, has just posted on the resurrected Team London blog over on the Pink Singers website. As he says, although we are at the early stages of planning, things are beginning to take shape, with loads of behind-the-scenes developments in terms of financial and IT structure. Now's the time for members of the stakeholder choirs to get on board though, and the first step is with host accomodation. Also, if you are a choir reading this, then it would be really helpful if you could fill in an indication of initial interest form as well. That will help us with planning for numbers - and I would personally be grateful!

Positive Feedback?

I guess there are people out there more boring than me. I love eBay, as Simon will undoubtedly confirm, and I have an unhealthy obsession with prehistoric gadgets which the on-line auction site unfortunately feeds. Even I, however, do not trawl the nether regions of eBay for amusement value. That said, a mysterious chappie called CapnWacky has compiled a list of the more unusual feedback some buyers have given sellers.

My favourite?

NEUTRAL: Item shipped promptly and in good condition, but I should not have to bid on birthday presents from my parents.

Succint, with just the right amount of pathos!

P.S. Although, since the season ended we have had a bit of a lull, things are actually still happening on the Pink Singers front - we have a gig coming up next Friday for Islington Council. I'll post stuff once we've had a rehearsal.

Register Your Interest!

Things really are proceeding apace over in Team London, the group made up of the Pink Singers, London Gay Men's Chorus and Diversity to organize Various Voices London 2009. I think everyone is now really aware that we have just over a year to get everything in place. I met with Chris D this evening, and we went through a whole load of technical details pertaining, in the main, to setting up and linking databases between the server and the website front end. It involved words like MySQL and ASP.net, neither of which I am familiar with. I have dabbled in HTML and CSS before, so there is a base from which to start, but I fear I am getting relatively lost in the new terminology. I'm continuing to tinker though, and Chris is a patient teacher.

That said, the main development over on the Various Voices London 2009 website is the new initial indication of interest form (or eye-eye-eye form as it is begging to be called). Basically, it lets Team London have an idea how many places to plan for, and the relevant contact details for each of the choirs across Europe. Obviously, since 2005 there are many more new European nations, as well as the rumoured establishment of LGBT groups in the hitherto gay choral wastelands of Italy, Spain and Portugal, so we are expecting the numbers to be even greater than in Paris.

Time to spread the word, especially if you know of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender choirs in farther flung parts of the continent. Get them to fill in the form!

Steampunk + Star Wars + Lego = Magic

Time for another random post, this time about the ultimate combination of three of my favourite things! The first is all things steampunk. If you are into manga cartoons and have ever seen Steamboy or Laputa: Castle In The Sky you'll know exactly the look and feel it refers to. Wikipedia gives a great summary of what this is, but essentially, "steampunk" is

"[a] term [which] denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date."

The second is of course Star Wars - so good I saw it as a child but went back while at university, driving all the way from Oxford to High Wycombe, just so I could see the rerelease in a THX certified cinema.

The last is, of course, Lego, everyone's favourite childhood toy (or at least mine).

Anyway, these three ingredients have all combined into a fantastic competition over on FBTBforums, where contestants are asked to build some of their favourite Star Wars vehicles in steam-punkified Lego. The combination is really far too wonderful to describe here, and I suggest you head over there to see more of these creations.

Who knew you could do such wonderful things with Lego, and who would have thought a site like From Bricks To Bothans could ever exist, except in an internetified age?

Amour And More Album Art

If you are as obsessive-compulsive as me about sorting out your digital music collection, you might want to download my attempt at album art for this season's music.

Feeling The Love - What A Winter Concert!

Well, that is it! What a great climax to nearly four months of rehearsing. Despite some of the tribulations on the way it was really great to see everyone mucking in and turning out what I think was one of the best concerts we have ever done.

The festivities actually began on Friday when a whole lot of the Pinkies went down to St. Pancras station to pick up Equivox. Lynne, in quintessential tour guide mode, was carrying our placard from the last Various Voices. This led to repeated random people coming up to us and saying, "I am with the Pink Singers". Oh ho ho. What hilarity.

Equivox must have been at the Parisian end of the train because it took them an eternity to emerge, and when they did it was en masse. Stéphane, Simon's and my host when we were in Paris, arrived sans his partner, but came with Alain instead, the Pink Singers' guide when we were in Paris in 2005, so there were no strangers. We drove them back to the flat and went for a swift half pint at the local pub.

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast before our French guests had to escape and find a decent espresso. I had been to Monmouth coffee house the day before where I picked up the Colombian medium roast, but for some reason it came out rather dilute from my stove-top espresso pot. Even I found it disappointing. Still, the four of us met up again for lunch at Masala Zone just of Carnaby Street. Unfortunately my tolerance for spiciness exceeds that of my continental friends and I fear the whole dietary excursion was quite an adventure for them...

The warmup started at 4 p.m., and thanks to last weeks' dress rehearsal, everything moved much more smoothly and in an almost leisurely way. All too soon it was 7 p.m. and time for the doors to open! Equivox opened the first half after Philip R's usual laid-back but oh-so-professional introduction. He managed to pick out a few unsuspecting members of the audience, including Anthony's friends who were seated in the front row, for a bit of good-natured banter.

Then Equivox came on stage. They never cease to amaze me with their stage presence - this time they really ran with the idea of the beach party we saw in Paris and there were members of the choir dressed in everything from swimming trunks to hula skirts to scuba gear. Their movements on stage are as dynamic and Babette, their musical director, really led the way in a very relaxed but exciting performance.

The songs I really liked were Aline and Amore. Compared to their performance in Paris, this performance was even better - musically they were much tighter and the space on stage also meant they could go wild. There were several moves which provoked spontaneous laughs in the audience. I couldn't suppress a laugh when some of the women took out sun-tan mirrors in the opening song!

All too soon it was our turn on stage - we opened with Dies Irae, the song I think most of us were worried about because of the difficult lyrics. Perhaps it kept us on our toes because it did sound amazing, even if I say so myself. We are an amateur choir where the majority of people do not read music, but I really do think we sound good by any standard. The performance was punchy and crescendoed beautifully.

One slight difference this season was the involvement of several members of the choir in making announcements. It was fantastic to see how different people took personalized spins on how they would approach introducing their sections. Philip and Hsien were relatively serious for the Latin pieces, Johnathon spoke in French for the French songs, Joey and Susan camped it up for the showtunes and Andrew and Lynne did a bit of bum wiggling for their intros.

I won't go through the songs individually, but the ones which I thought were wonderful were Come What May which had some members of the audience in tears, and Dirait-On which had a wonderful understated elegance about it. I especially loved the tenors' little coloratura. I also want to highlight the sops' ultra high notes in Lacrimosa. You did us proud girls! The other person who deserves special mention is Zane, our sign-language interpreter, who made all the difference with his enthusiastic jumping and jiving to our music.

The after concert passed in a blur. I met up with my friends in the bar of the Royal Academy of Music, then some of us went on to G-A-Y. Simon and I decided we were old fogeys and went to Chinatown for a very late dinner instead. Needless to say none of us made it on time to the post-concert brunch the next day (due to begin at 11.30am apparently). By mid afternoon, however, there was a sizeable number of people there, and it was a chance for the two choirs to mingle and slap each other on the back.

Then it was time for Equivox to leave. Liang, Simon and I saw them off at St. Pancras - I was just a little sad to see them go, but more overwhelmed by exhaustion than anything else. We just collapsed on the sofa when we got home and watched Heroes. Whew!

A couple of highlights of this concert which I haven't yet mentioned:

1) We were sold out! This is the first time it has happened, and I think was a combination of many enthusiastic new members, a January concert (rather than December) and the increased reach via the publicity team, Facebook and MySpace.

2) It was Marina's last concert with the Pink Singers after a decade of membership. We will be very sad to see her go - all the best in Oz! We'll sing with you again. x

A Countdown Of Blogs: On The Seventh Day

We did not rest! The tension and excitement really is building, and instead of a relaxing Saturday a couple of Pinkies have created a fitting conclusion to the Pink Singers MySpace Blog-A-Day challenge. Yes, it is another double bill and Liang and Philip have both written about what they're looking forward to in this concert.

Philip says:

[P]eople say what is the difference between a homosexual choir and a heterosexual choir and I always reply well, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a heterosexual choir.

Witty as ever! And there is Liang's quote:

[T]he girls were putting the finishing touches to Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.The girls moves were so good I wish we could join in!

It is still not too late to come along and watch both Equivox and the Pink Singers wow you with our performances. Get your tickets on the door tonight! It is only £12, £10 concessions!

A Countdown Of Blogs: Sixpack

We're all hunkering down with less than 24 hours to go before the performance, and it is Joey's turn to exercise his creative talents over on the Blog-A-Day challenge over on the Pink Singers MySpace page. It is the sixth, and final entry before the concert, and definitely not one to miss. Andrew describes Joey's entry as original, I'd describe it as very Julie Andrews!

Here's a snippet (sung to the tune of My Favourite Things from the Sound of Music).

Big dykes with small fems
And butch boyz with kittens
Basses who tease me
And tell me their smitten
Mladen, who leads us,
He's SO hot, and sings!
They are a few of my favourite things...

Makes you want to go climb ev'ry mountain...

On-line ticket sales are now closed, but you can still get yours on the door. Remember, we're on at 7.30pm at the Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT. Hope to see you at our concert tonight!

A Countdown Of Blogs: The Famous Five

Or should that really be six? The Blog-A-Day challenge continues after posts from Andrew, Jo C, Hsien and Jenny, this time with dual posts from Kate and Amy. Both are new this season, and both are really enjoying being with the Pinkies. It can't be easy, especially with all the new choreography, five songs in Latin and two songs in French to learn, but they have been coping admirably.

Here's what Amy said:

I'm a little concerned that I'll wobble over whilst doing the moves to Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend and ABBA in stilettos but I guess that will just be more entertaining for the audience!

And here's a bit from Kate:

I like being a Pinkie because it really is a wonderful community. Even though I'm relatively new to it, everyone has been so welcoming and helped out with learning tricky lyrics and those dreaded dance moves.

It will be a fun evening, so give the n00bs your support. Get your tickets now. OMG, it's tomorrow!

A Countdown Of Blogs: Vier

It's day 4 of the Blog-A-Day challenge over on the Pink Singers' MySpace page. This time It is Jenny's turn to talk about our dress rehearsal on Sunday: getting dressed in all our finery, getting on stage and then getting to the pub afterwards!

She concludes:

Mladen has a difficult task in choosing repertoire which is broad enough to keep everyone interested. He sometimes says, with cheerful exasperation, that he can never please us all. It's a difficult balance to strike and we probably do need to start exploring some new avenues. Importantly, the focus is always on how we can keep both ourselves and our audience interested, entertained and challenged. A really good choir – and I'm proud to say that the Pink Singers are – achieves this balance.

Come along and hear how we've struck that balance this season - we have as much fun singing as you will have hearing us. The concert is just two days away, so get your tickets now!

Last Rehearsal, Dramatically

Well, we had our last rehearsal before the performance date yesterday, and due to a last-minute venue crisis, magnificently averted by Lynne, we ended up gathering at RADA. You know it is RADA and not RAM when the receptionist is wearing a Madonna-esque headset and has light blue tinted sunglasses (undoubtedly prescription, but with great effect!)

After passing through several hermetically sealed doors, and down a multitude of corridors and flights of stairs, we got to the actual venue itself, a theatre cum rehearsal space in the bowels of the building, reminiscent, as Johnathon says, of the set from Rent. Actually, it reminded me of the stage from Jerry Springer, and I was half expecting someone to descend from a staircase stage right. "I bitchslap you girl!"

The rehearsal started off a little rough - our nerves are clearly somewhat raw since we will be performing in a couple of days, but once we got used to the change in acoustics, and each other - we sat with the tenors and basses on one side rather than behind the sopranos and altos - things settled down nicely. Most of the evening was spent polishing, polishing and even more polishing - just picking up on the odd places which needed fine-tuning.

The choreography is now looking especially precise and the music is sounding wonderful. And Zane, our sign-language interpreter, is also learning some of the dance moves, and will be jiving along with us. Excitement is really high - hope to see you there on Saturday!

A Coundown Of Blogs: Ménage à Trois

In a burst of self-reference, the third of the Pink Singers official Blog-A-Day Challenge is up. Hsien is looking forward to the concert, and here's why he thinks you should be too:

Every season I think our singing gets better, the harmonies are tighter and the choreography slicker.

What are you waiting for? The Pinkies winter concert is at 7.30pm this Saturday the 19th of January 2008, so get your tickets now.

Nanohazard!

As you probably know from my previous posts, I am an armchair critic of design. I really like my signage clean and simple. That's why I really like the Pink Singers logo: it is familiar, but has just the right amount of 'tweakage' to make it unique to us. At the same time, it also scales well and is readily identifiable.

These characteristics generally make the ideal logo, and you can apply them to the on-going competition to produce an international sign for 'nanohazard'. In these dangerous times, most of us have probably seen the 'biohazard' and 'radiation hazard' signs. Here is your chance to vote on a sign which most of us will hopefully never encounter.

A Countdown Of Blogs: Part Deux

Well, it looks like Jo has succumbed to the loquacious convincing of our webmasters and written the second blog post in the Blog-A-Day challenge in the run up to our concert.

I just had to quote this little snippet from her:

The tickets are cheap for a fun night's entertainment, the drinks are cheap and the venue is warm, what more could anyone ask for?

Hahahaha! So true! And it will be a superb night out. The Pinkies winter concert is at 7.30pm on Saturday the 19th of January 2008, so get your tickets now.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine...

...oh and I'm just about to lose my mind.

As we are entering the final stretch before the concert it is rather hard to think about what the next season holds. The Pink Insider is not prone to posting rumour, but after a bit of digging and careful investigation, we've come up with a tentative list of new songs the Pink Singers are likely to be jiving to for summer 2008.

1. Introit from Karl Jenkins' Requiem
This is the last full choral song in the Requiem, and since the sheet music cost in the region of a tenner, we'll have to get our money's worth out of it! Seriously though, of all the pieces from his Requiem, Introit is the most famous (at least, it is a Classic FM favourite), and we will at last be tackling it.

(P.S. The video has nothing whatsoever to do with the pictures. It looks like someone was performing the Elephant Man, took loads of pictures and set it to an abbreviated version of Introit).

2. Motown Medley and Son of A Preacher Man
One style of music we've never really attempted is Motown. Our actual motions may be stiff, but our rhythms are not, and this may well get us into a foxxy mood. We're also pretty good at medleys, so this seems like a great choice.


3. Somewhere from West Side Story
Hmm. I'm not sure about this one. I mean, I love the song, but there is a real tendency for any performance of it to be overblown (I'm lookin' at you Babs). Simon has a version of Ms. Streisand performing it with Il Divo, quite possibly the most traumatic combination I have ever heard for this piece of music. Gimme Natalie Wood any day.

Mmmm... Yummy! And with karaoke lyrics to boot!

There is other music we attempted in the past but which never made it into a stage performance. Age of Aquarius anyone? Perhaps that will sneak it's way into summer? Will there be others? Undoubtedly, but for Pink Singers it is still not too late to get your requests in!

Nice Quote

I am at present in the midst of coming up with a decent intro for Karl Jenkin's Requiem for the concert. Thank goodness for Wikipedia! Anyway, while rooting around in the nether regions of the internet, I chanced upon this wonderful quote by John Rutter, another of my favourite modern composers, if not perhaps the most cosmetically appealing. The pictures are of John Rutter (on the top) and Karl Jenkins (on the bottom).

It is wonderful to go to a choral concert, to hear a choir sing. But I think the deepest joy of all is to actually sing.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

Almost There... Amour And More!

Well, it has been an exciting season, and everything culminates this Saturday at the Royal Academy of Music when we finally put all those hours of rehearsal (and drinks in the pub) to good use. Yesterday's rehearsal was quite reassuring. We appear to have plateaued in some of the songs, which is great because it means we are nearing the limit of what we can achieve, and there were others where you could still feel an improvement.

What really worked to our advantage this time was getting the chance to go on stage to practise the both the singing and the choreography. In past years we have had to rely on getting to the stage on the day of the performance which leads to a huge amount of stress as we never have enough time and nerves mean we inevitably make a mistake in the warm up. This time we could get a feel for the space and the sound a week in advance.

It was also a chance for our resident pro photographer Mike K to take snapshots of us in our performance gear. It is always interesting to see what people choose to wear, and I do like the diversity on parade. Over the years there has been a trend towards more formal clothing - this is a formal performance after all. I really loved Amy's outfit - you're so pretty! Still, there were a few too many pairs of jeans on show, some of which were dark grey rather than black, and some pinks were quite noticeably not the bright fuschia of the Pink Singers. Ah well, these things can still be addressed.

I also now have the names of my guests from Equivox, who are thankfully, my own hosts for when I went to Paris. I instant messaged them last night and they're really pleased too. On Saturday mornings I am still semi-religiously running with the Front Runners and so I invited my French guests along since they will be here. While they were initially hesitant, they seem to have been won round to the idea. Perhaps the promise of 60 men and just two showers did it for them?

See you at the concert!

A Countdown Of Blogs: Premiere

Last season, Andrew, one of the webmasters, decided to do a blog post a day on the run up to the concert. This year, he has invited a 'select' (basically anyone who can be cajoled into doing it - I know about these things!) number of Pinkies to chronicle the run up to our winter performance on the official Pink Singers blog, found on our MySpace page. And, doing the noble thing, he has kicked it off with a post he himself wrote. Here'a a snippet:

Singing with the Pinkies reminds of a jigsaw puzzle, it might take time to put it together, but the end result is always amazing and worth all the effort.

Whether you are coming to the concert or not, and of course I hope you are, it is a great window into the what makes Pinkies tick, and what it takes to put together a performance like we do!

Let The Sunshine In

Liang has been a busy bee and uploaded a recording of Equivox and us performing Let The Sunshine In at the post-concert brunch on the Sunday. It brings back great memories of our trip to Paris and the fantastic people we met there. And what a great time it was too!

A Week Into 2008, A Fortnight To Go

There is no hanging around this season! Normally we have a concert in December which gives us time to breathe over the Christmas and New Year until we reconvene in February. This winter though, because of Paris, our own concert is in just two weeks' time. That's why we had a rehearsal yesterday, the second of only two before we perform at the Royal Academy!

Despite the relatively short break, it was quite clear that our voices had come a little undone over the festive season (too many mince pies and mulled wine), and Mladen had to take us through what felt like an eternity of warmups before we got even close to our pre-holiday sound. As Cilla said later "some of the cobwebs needed dusting off".

Although the vocal cords were a little rusty, thankfully it seemed that almost everyone had learned the lyrics off by heart. We opened the rehearsal, as we will the concert, with Jenkins' Dies Irae, and the intensity now builds up into the piece rather than (as in the past) petering off when people make up the words! I know I have been going on and on about it, but I really do love the piece, and we are now doing it justice.

We aren't performing everything we have learnt this season - the remarkably difficult When I Fall In Love being a case in point - which does give us a bit of a breather. The French songs Dirait'On and Hymne à L'amour seemed to be sung without a hitch, and the only song which caught me off guard was Fields Of Gold where I kept getting the "among" and "upon", and "walked" and "lie" lyrics mixed up. Easily repaired!

The end of the rehearsal was choreography again, and it was the sopranos and altos turn to polish up Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend. One thing I have noticed is that no matter how simple the choreography designed for us is, we have to make it even simpler, because it just works better that way. Diamonds was originally to have rather complicated marching band formations on the stage, but it was looking rather messy, and we are now much more comfortably standing essentially in two or four rows. That's better!

Kudos especially to sweet, sweet Karin and Charlotte for their vamping up the moves and looking so sexy.

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

The end of the year is such a busy season, with the celebrations of Christmas and New Year tripping over each other. Traditionally for me, Christmas was about family and New Year's was about friends, but since my exile both occasions are a great excuse to get together with mates for feasting and general merry-making. Family is so very far away, but the magic of broadband and internet phone calls means I can still listen to my parents rant on for hours on end, but with the advantage of being dressed in my pyjamas while folding and putting away the laundry. Multitasking for you!

My other extended family is, of course, the Pink Singers and although we have officially 'broken up' for the holidays, I have continued to see the likes of Mladen, Paul, Michael and Liang for a variety of different reasons. We even had a small group performance on the 28th at the commitment ceremony of Rebecca and Fiona, two former members of the Pinkies. Mutual recognition only occurred between the couple and Philip R and Michael, both of whom have been in the choir longer than anyone else, but there was warmth and affection for all from the shared experience of being in the Pink Singers. "Edifying" is perhaps overstating the relationship between old and current Pinkies a little, but singing Happy Together and Hand In Hand with Fiona and Rebecca joining in certainly gave me a fuzzy feeling inside!

Looking back on the 2007 we've had our usual run of concerts, U.K. and international performances, Prides and small group gigs. Every year is different though, and this year my highlights have included events outside our official calendar like Lynne and Annie's and Nathalina and Jackie's weddings, watching Something Fishy's debut at Bar Wotever and their runaway success at our summer concert, and boogie-ing down at the Soho Revue bar and Dingwalls with "I can't dance by myself!" Paleday.

Best of all is the old friendships which have been strengthened, the faded friendships with returning Pinkies which have been renewed, and the new friendships with the newbies which have been formed. Life is a tangled skein, and the Pinkies are a microcosm of that. 2008 brings the 25th birthday of the Pink Singers, and the first birthday of In The Pink(ies). Here's looking forward to even more memories!

P.S. It is New Year's Day! I am allowed a little soppiness!