Paul in London

Monster music on Good Friday: St Matthew Passion Caught the (near) sell out concert of St Matthew Passion with the City of London Sinfonia and BBC Singers last night. Richard Hickox conducted, and the Evangelist was played by Tom Randle who was superb. The first time I had seen someone treat the role as though it was retelling a drama and not reciting an oracle (although the music at times does tend to lend itself to being the latter). At three hours in length however it is a marathon effort - for the performers and the audience. It is one of those pieces that can work really well or fail spectacularly. I was in a performance of the latter once, so it was nice to see the former happen last night. For those in the audience that didn't feel like DVT was setting in, they rewarded the performers with a raptuous applause. They had definitely earned it, and you could sense the relief in the faces of the orchestra members and chorus that it was over. They certainly earned their performa

Music: Musical Theatre Students Thursday night caught a performance of this year's Musical Theatre Students at the Royal Academy of Music . It was ninety minutes of songs from musical theatre from this year's class that includes Ian H Watkins (or H as he is known). He wasn't a star for this performance however - it was the class and the ensemble on show. I went with a group of musical aficionados which meant while they were appreciative of a good performance, they was also pretty ruthless when some individuals chose songs that just didn't work for them. Beware the group of musical aficionados if the costumes look too tight, there is a milky white stain on your trousers, or if the song isn't right for you... On the other hand I was wondering whether they were getting marks for degree of difficulty, such as the man who couldn't pronounce "H" singing the Billy Joel song "Say Goodbye to (H)ollywood" or the woman who just didn't have the not

Scenes from Euston Square Station 19:03.  

News: Bang! Bang! and Pussy Galore Last night was a bit of an odd night really. First a man gets attacked by a large black furry thing while he is looking for his kitty, and it is assumed that another 'Big cat' is on the loose in London Then at Brixton Academy two shots were fired in the air during a rap concert causing a situation and stampede out the exits . Gun crime is a hot issue at the moment in Brixton so this sort of publicity was the last thing that was needed. Fortunately there were no injuries in all the kerfuffle, but the English language took a bit of a bruising with this music critic's account of the evening and the "spewing muzzle" ... Bleah! Life Miscellany Ran into the old Australian flatmate from Haringey last night. It was one of those chance meetings that in such a big city you would never believe would happen, but hey Charing Cross can be like that! He has been on a six month holiday around the world and back in London to li

News: Gypsies and other wedge issues The phony election campaign will last for at least a couple more weeks, but it is Howard that has been getting all the dream press. Today it was the plan to crackdown on gypsies and travelers on illegal campsites ... There is a serious issue here but you can't get too bogged down on that during an election campaign. The mastermind behind the Tory campaign is Australian Lynton Crosby and the Guardian has been asking can he win one for Michael Howard? You would have to say the smart money is no, but there is always the problem for Labour seeking a third term in office that nobody showed up to vote for them... Garden variety Labour voters might be bit prissy like that after the war and things like university fees and may just take their ballot and ball point pen and stay at home...

Scenes from the Northern Line 20:41: It sure aint rush hour... 

Scenes of Paul: Apart from retail therapy on Saturday also got standard issue gay mens short haircut. My hairdresser is straight, so does that make it a straight gay mens short haircut or a gay mens straight short haircut?? Whateveryoucallit, I look like everyone else at the gym (except for those one or two horrid people who have long hair, which on men should be banned unless your name is Meatloaf)... 

Music: LSO and Elgar One of the nice things about London is that You can go online Sunday morning and see what's on, and book a ticket to see an evening of Elgar . It was the Elgar Violin Concerto and Symphony No 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox (conductor) and Tasmin Little (soloist for the violin concerto). It was a fabulous performance. You can get a cheap seat at the Barbican to see it. Mine was £5 because I couldn't see the full orchestra, but I could see the double basses very well (for what that was worth) and the sound was excellent. You can show up to the concert wearing any old thing including sandals with socks. I didn't, but the man next to me was in sandals. He was with his wife and they looked like they had been together for some time so that may explain why they let themselves go. Incidentally I wore a smart new jacket that I picked up yesterday for a song while doing some retail therapy. Forgot to bring glasses however so I have no idea i

Scenes from Old Compton Street, Sunday 5pm. The temperature dropped on this smoggy day so arms were covered. 

News: Delusions The Socialist Worker put it at 200,000 people - so it was at least half of that that turned out in London yesterday to protest against the ongoing military presence in Iraq. The Washington Post put the figure at 45,000 (based on actual police estimates). Does it show that the ongoing military operations have ceased to be a hot issue for the election? I suspect so... Interestingly it was lovely how the Socialist Worker article could use "civil liberties" and Iran and Syria in the same sentence. Why does the looney left always have to side with the criminals? There were a few protesters with left-over placards in Covent Garden yesterday. As after a jolly good protest to relive your baby-boomer rebellious youth, there is always great coffee and cake in Covent Garden (or the all you can gorge pizza deal for £20)...

Scenes from Covent Garden 13:54: Behold the fine weather - warm enough to show bare arms for the first weekend this year. Also note the signs. Human statues and people holding very large signs are the prominent feature in the street behind the Royal Opera House... Not really that keen to take up the crap pizza deal, or the crap rock memorabillia... 

News: Last orders still at 11 and other bloody stories Since February when pubs have had the opportunity to apply for extended trading hours there hasn't exactly been a rush of applications ... To the surprise of many. Not that they could have opened for longer until November this year, but the application process is such a long and involved process that they need almost 10 months to fill out the form. So no extended drinking hours look likely in the foreseeable future. That article appeared in many papers, but it is always fun to read the Sun as apart from the tits, you get a very different slant on the world of England (not much more either for that matter)... By the way despite that axe murder on Monday Eton Avenue is still a lovely street with nice friendly people . Just keep away from the ones with the large heavy implements. Meanwhile the Hamstead and Highgate Express is calling it Bloody Monday as a nice Jewish pensioner was also killed the same day in what is

Scenes from Tottenham Court Road 10:12pm. Being St Patrick's day there were plenty of punters out on the street - all wearing Guinness drinking hats ...  

News: Axe Murder latest * The victim was gay * The killer worked at upmarket west London department store Peter Jones The story unfolds... Weather The weather started getting hot today. The first t-shirts on the street were sighted. By lunchtime even singlets displaying bare arms were in view. It was a glorious sunny day and from 8am until 7pm I was inside away from it all... Ah well. It isn't as if I haven't seen the sun before!

News: Murder, pollution and feeling peckish Found the Evening Standard photographs . Still no motive for the public murder. One other thing I didn't know about the Swiss Cottage corner (that I used to walk by) is that it is the second most polluted spot in the UK ... So what's the first??? The other smashing story is about the man who was sentenced to life for two murders - and one of the victims he started eating the brains of (fried in butter). He killed the second while on release from being sectioned, but there are no systematic flaws in the mental health system Weather: Spring is here Well actually, from the 15th it is officially spring, but today was the first day it really felt warm. Winter may have been cold and harsh, but you can always wear something fabulous and warm... Not anymore... It was a balmy 15 degrees today... Theatre: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Caught a fringe production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change tonight. It has been pla