Nott What You'd Expected...

Life-changing London and a Killer Kweller Concert

In what can only be described as the best weekend of my life (i know, overboard? i was thinking maybe high school graduation, etc, but it's hard to compare)- this past post-less exended weekend i went down to London for a few West End shows (equivalent, if not better version of US's Broadway) and good times with KTC buddy Heather and the Notter guys...

To briefly summarize before diving into the full details, i'll create a much-appreciated list as to the weekends happenings:
1) almost missed bus, met up with Brandon's friend Irene
2) stayed in mouse-filled apt
3) saw Bent, starring X-Men's Nightcrawler, Alan Cumming
4) saw Wicked, starring Rent's Idina Menzel
5) Met AvWicked star Adam Garcia (see photo) as he tried to leave the show
6) Saw Avenue Q, winner of Best Musical in 2004 (beating wicked) with Heather
7) Ben Kweller concert on Sunday night- took a guitar pick, got some sweet vids

So, in essence, the most entertaining and exciting weekend of my life, spent in a city that is not as big as it seems at times, being screwed by the Tube system, meeting up with old friends, and hearing the most amazing musical talent anywhere on the planet.

Brandon and I left for London a tad late on Thursday night, and while I won't blame Brandon's love of the Echilada on the fact that we were 2 minutes away from finding a different way to London, it may or may not have played a contributing factor in our close call.... As can be imagined, the bus ride from Notts to London was action-packed. That is to say, boring as hell and full of Asians. Not in a derogitory way, but that was the truth. The bus (again, in no way related) the bus was a symphony of smells- ranging from the Ramen-noodlesque scent of chickeny noodles to the putrid black-currant mentholy blend of bad cough drops that wafted in my direction every few minutes. Not as bad as the smell from the WC that Brandon endured, but noticable nontheless.

Irene (drama buddy of Brandon's) had agreed to house us, help us around the city, and more importantly, show us how the tube works. Don't call it the subway, and for god sakes, don't accidentally call it the tram (carryover from Notts, my apologies Heather and Irene).
We bought our Oyster cards (prepaid, like our Nottingham bus passes), and navigated our way back to Irene's place up in Kenzal Green (NW of Picadilly, Buckingham, Victoria, the lot). It was great just to be in the city.
I was overwhelmed at the mass of Asian restaurants that seemed to line the streets, as well as the expanse of appartment complexes that are almost nonexistant here in Notts. A quick dinner at a Portugese Chicken place and an adventure with a mouse in the house later, we called it a night and prepared for a busy Friday in the city....

Friday I was finally able to meet up with Heather. Heather is pretty much my bff from KTC, my summer job at Johnston this year. She's been staying at the Vanden House, a hotel right in the middle of West End that Central College owns and operates as a study abroad center for students all over the US.

We made our way to one of the thousands of Half Price Ticket Centers in the area, and bought tickets for Bent, a play about the holocaust starring Alan Cumming and newcomber Chris New. As always, the tickets were a little pricy, but looking back, I can honestly say that it was all worth it...

Brandon and I were abandoned by our experienced Londoners to explore the city, and we did a decent job of not getting lost. Covenant Gardens, Leiscter Square, the Theatre Museum, the National Portait Museum, the Tate Modern Museum, etc- all without the protection of an umbrella- proved to be a physically draining day. Tate was awesome- the new slide exhibit, along with more Monets, Dalis, Miros and Pollocks than you can shake a paint brush at.

Bent was amazing. It was crude at times, hilarious, disturbing, and topical. Apparently it had been written years ago, but the revival has been getting amazing reviews, especially thanks to Alan Cumming, who was great. It was incredible to be sitting in the 6th row, so close to the action and so close to the actors. The topic, homosexuality and the holocaust was about the most depressing possible topic for a play, and as anticipated, the ending was pretty depressing. not to ruin it or anything...

Afterwards we were able to meet up with Aaron and Ryan who had taken a very roundabout way of getting to London and came out of Spamalot the same time that Bent was ending. Apparetnly, about 200 yards outside of the bus stop, their bus totalled a small compact car. Thus compacting it even further. An hour later, they were well on their way to London. Ryan took advantage of a very gracious Tim Curry, and got an autograph after the show, while Brandon made use of the now popular pee-pods. In this case, a picture will suffice:

Back at the flat in Kensal Green, I thought about the prospects of living in a city where people were so numerous and so uncaring. How could you even make friends, let alone a living, a mark? I didn't get homesick by any stretch, but London definitely offers a change of perspective that outside of New York, most Americans have not really experienced.

Saturday was the greatest day of my life. Hands down. Birth? nah. Graduation? not a chance. Although the day started slow (aka, Brandon and I got on the wrong train and headed to Euson station in NE London instead of to Notting Hill), the day could only get better from there.
Notting Hill was the retro capital of the world, full of consignment shops, antique stuff, and more Atomic Garage-type stores (that's for the DSM crowd) than i've ever seen in one place.
I managed to buy a new coat (4 times cheaper than it should have been), and a sweet puma shirt.

Despite our uncanny understanding of the tube system, Heather had to come to the rescue in order that we could make our way to Wicked on time. Grabbing all of our bags in a crowded Victoria Centre Tube station, Heather saved us the trouble of running up to her place and back.

Wicked was beyond anything I could have expected. I had seen it before in Chicago, and had listened to the soundtrack from Broadway with Carl in Ylvi every day of freshman year, but nothing compared to hearing Idina Menzel live on West End. I won't go into the geeky musical details, but just know that it was exponentially better than Chicago, and I only wish that my May 2004 Wicked gang could have been there...

Aaron and Ryan decided to go for Idina's autograph, so we split in order to finally get something to eat (the show was at 2, over at 5ish, and we really needed lunch). Brandon and I headed down Victoria looking for places to eat when something caught my eye. In a dark nook of the theatre, a guy had his back turned, looking like he was smoking or talking on his phone- he turned to the side and shut a double door marked "EXIT ONLY", and inconspiciously made his way to the street. Two little girls, maybe 12 years old, asked the guy "Hey, Mr Garcia, can we have your autograph?" At that point, 2 and 2 had been addified, and Brandon and I realized our position- two feet away from the actor who had just finished a mind-blowing performance of Wicked, as the leading male role, Fiero. Needless to say, Brandon and I took him to the nearest pub, we talked about America, and he had to cut and run early in time for the next performance.

nah, i awkwardly fumbled for my camera, and through a barrage of compliments and awed praise of the show, managed to get my picture taken with him.
In a last-minute decision, Heather and I grabbed some tix to Avenue Q with a friend of hers, and proceeded to have my mind blown for the second time in 5 hours. For a little background, Wicked is considered to be one of the best musicals out right now. Avenue Q beat it for the Tony in 2004. So, there you have it. Called "Seseme Street on Crack", Avenue Q is a really adult-themed puppet show with amazing music. Songs like "The internet is for porn" and "Everyone's a little bit racist" make for a great show. There were hookers, 'bad idea bears', death by penny falling from the empire state building, etc. Our 6th row tickets were unbelievable. At one point, the cast comes out into the audience, and on several occasions, the cast accosted us. that is to say, felt us up. really grabbed hold. i don't want to talk about it.

It was one of the cast member's last nights, so tears filled the second act. The actress playing "Christmas Eve" had been with the production since its debut 3 years ago on Broadway. Every aspect was better than i could have expected- every character was better than the Broadway equivalent (based on my knowledge of the soundtrack)....
This is a video created as a promo for the West End version, so all of the actors here were the ones at the show on Saturday:

*in a sidenote, it's interesting to hear culutral differences in lyrics as the playwrites bring the musicals over to the UK. In wicked, for example, "We were all in school together" turns into "We all went to Uni together" whereas Avenue Q replaced tons of words or innuendo. Instead of "frat boy" they used "drunk guy". "Pollock joke" was replaced by making fun of the French. In a really random one, "Korean Deli" was replaced by "Chinese Restaurant".....who knows.....

After the show, I nearly had a "Sean Connery in Finding Forester" moment on the Tube, as thousands of people jammed their way into the stations following the shows....
I made it out alive, and after a quick stop at the pub Shakespeare's, we headed back to the Vanden House for a viewing of the UK's popular sketch series, Little Britain.

Yesterday I saw the typical touristy sites with Heather. It was great to be able to see them all in one walk, on a beautiful sunny day in London. Picadilly Circus, Big Ben, Parliament, Downing Street, and Westminster. I really appreciated the chance to say in such a centrally located place with my good buddy. If she's lucky, she might make it up to bask in the glory that is Nottingham...

Another smelly bus ride back to Notts later, I arrived at the flat to find the girls soaking in their own girliness. Luckily, we had missed out on their slumber party on Saturday night, although the piles of food (cheese, various breads, cookies, some kind of shrimp?, chocolate) would have been nice....

The night concluded with a concert from Ben Kweller, a 25 year old singer songwriter on the same level as a ben folds or ben lee. He had actually been to Notts before, 10 years ago as part of the band Radish that he formed in his early early teens....
We were first in line, front row slightly right of center, and he literally stared us down the entire show. I felt like a douchebag for not knowing all of the words, as he kept looking at us, but it was amazing nonthesless..... The piano he used on his slower, signature piano songs was within reach. I've never been so close before..... I got some great pics and video, and in the excitement we (Brandon first, then Mary and I) were able to grab some guitar picks, and Anna got her hands on a playlist..... not too shabby.....

Whew.
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The week doesn't slow down from here.....
A paper due Tuesday and a big one next monday, in addition to some reading for American Lit, John coming into town on Wednesday, A big Crosscountry social on wednesday as well, Thanksgiving meal on thursday (cooked by our very own flatmates), a friday filled with..... entertaining Johnny, Saturday Forest game, and all the crap in between...... it really just picks up from here......

pics to follow, once internet picks up......

posted by Kevin @ 12:49 PM