Dingwalls celebrates 25 years of rock n roll!

I went along to Dingwalls on Sunday for an all day rock n roll party celebrating the 25th anniversary of the club.




Throughout the day and night, various djs (Mouse, Little Carl, Tall Mark and Jerry Chatabox) played jivers, boppers and strollers. Cheeky hep cat quartet, The Caezars, kicked off the live musical entertainment before headliners Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys took to the stage.




This Camden-based club is a London institution, and it showed, by the sheer amount of people who tuned out the celebrate at the Dingwalls 25th anniversary rock n roll dance. The place was packed!


The Caezars were bounding with energy - it's brilliant to see such a fun and charismatic British band, who are so young, take to the stage with so many well-established musical greats and wow audiences. I shall look forward to seeing them again at Viva Las Vegas next month!










Who doesn't love Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys? Certainly, everyone at Dingwalls on Sunday did, and this was reflected with a lot of audience interaction (and shot taking - did someone mention tequila?) throughout the show. Good to have 'em on UK shores again.








As with The Caezars, Big Sandy will also be playing at Viva Las Vegas!

Bullfrogs, dinosaurs & hepcats!

The Piccadilly Bullfrogs played at The Blues Kitchen in Camden last Thursday night, so we went to check them out. The Blues Kitchen hosts many a great musician and most nights it is free to get in, so if you want a cheap night out with live music, this venue is a good bet.




This three-piece band was great - fun, charismatic, danceable and enjoyable to watch. There was even a washboard that featured in a few songs - need I say more?!


We had a lot of fun, and even though there was only a tiny space to dance, (due to the amount of tables and their positioning in front of the stage) we still managed to get in a few, and will undoubtably be enjoying more when the band plays at The Cat's Meow next Saturday.




Friday was non-stop museums as we went to the Science Museum, V&A and The Natural History Museum. The Apollo 10 space capsule is currently on display at the Science Museum, so we decided to focus our visit on astronauts and aviation (there is so much to see, and frankly, museums tend to drain my energy after a couple of hours, so we chose a theme to stick to).






There is a 4D Imax film about the Apollo 10 mission that is playing there at the moment - smoke, water, moving seats and 3D glasses. The film is set on the moon, and although it's not really all that realistic, it was still quite fun!








After the Science Museum we headed to the V&A for a look around. I love the marble sculptures on the ground floor. It is amazing to be able to walk through beautiful rooms and hallways filled with sculptures that are hundreds of years old and not behind any glass casing.






Finally, and saving the best til last, we went to the Natural History Museum. Exhibitions aside, this is pretty much my favourite building in London. It's soooooo beautiful and intricate, both inside and out. I love the fact that this gorgeous building is so accessible to the public - apart from being a museum, it is also free to get into (as are the two previously mentioned museums).








Saturday night resulted in some seriously achey feet on Sunday morning! We started the night at Bar Zensai for the rockabilly happy hour - great music, yummy 2-4-1 cocktails and it's freeeeeee! It got pretty packed, and as well as a couple of dances and a couple of rum and champagne cuban cocktails, we had an annoying couple of minutes when we went to leave and all our stuff had been moved by staff to make way for a group of girls out on a hen night. Apparently they thought that we were capable of leaving the venue without our bags and venturing out into the cold without our coats, so one of the managers stowed our stuff away. Annoying, but once we realised it hadn't been nicked and found it all, we hit the road and headed to Saturday Night Swing, which was fun fun fun and hours of non-stop dancing!

Kilburn takes a bite out of the Big Sandwich...

I got very excited last week, when I found out that Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys and Carlos & The Bandidos were playing in London on Saturday. I was even more excited to hear that they were playing in my neighbourhood, at The Luminaire in Kilburn.

The show started relatively early, with Carlos & The Bandidos taking to the stage at around 8.30pm. I thought their set was fun, and they won me over with their gun-popping, sombrero-wearing mayhem. I love a band with a theme and matching costumes, and the fact that theirs is Mexican makes me like them even more....mmmm guacamole....


The band were energetic and I particularly enjoyed their rendition of Ray Charles' Unchain My Heart, although in terms of hitting the dance floor, their style is not really as danceable as Big Sandy's - however, saying that, nobody danced all night anyway, so I suppose this point is irrelevant to the situation in case!


Now, The Lumi is great, because it is a nice small venue (but not too small) with great sound, so the shows here are intimate, but with enough space to fit in a good crowd with everyone getting a decent vantage point.

It was immediately apparent that everyone was very excited to see Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, and it was indeed a treat to have them come to Kilburn. But what was nice, was that the whole band also seemed genuinely happy to be there, and ended up putting on a super long show that lasted around two hours.

The band were on top form, and played a sublime set, effortlessly. Their sound was tight and Big Sandy's voice was sweet, and whilst the performance was filled with jokes and banter, they played their music with such ease and experience.


Big Sandy heard tequila calling - and indeed it was, as a couple of his friends in the audience kept plying the band with shots throughout the show! Clearly as professional with their shot drinking as with their music playing, they knocked them back without any apparent effect on their performance...


I have to admit, although I have seen the band a few times now, this was the first time that I actually stood and watched them the whole way through, as on previous occassions, I have always been busy dancing along to the music. As much as I enjoyed watching them, my feet were itching to dance, to the point of pain at hearing such fun danceable music!!!

Mid-set, two members of the audience took to the stage, taking over on guitar and double bass. These two, were in fact Boz (guitarist for The Polecats and Morrissey, to name a couple) and Lyn Boorer, and you can check out their performance in this great video that someone captured at the show:

Amongst the excitement, there was also a hen night in full effect, and the bride-to-be was invited up on stage and serenaded, appropriately, with Here Comes The Bride. What an awesome hen night (or 'bachelorette party' to my American counterparts)!


At the top of my 'most amusing moments' of the gig though, was when one of the band's friends in the audience (I think her name was Sally?) leaned over the edge of the stage during their last song, and proceeded to tuck their trousers into their cowboy boots! Hahahah! They kept on playing, and she kept on tucking, so that by the end, Fly-Rite guitarist, Ashley Kingman, and Big Sandy himself had their boots on full display. Reading this does not sound as funny as watching it, but in any case, it tickled me seeing them all dapper in their suits and then looking down to see their trousers clumsily protruding from their footwear.

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys will be back in the UK to play at Rhythm Riot in November, but hopefully I will get to go back to California and see one of their shows before then....fingers crossed....

Hot club, hot music, hot dancing!

Last week was filled with some real tail-shaking treats with two consecutive nights of quality live music and dancing.

On Tuesday I finally got to check out The California Honeydrops at Yoshi's. This was definitely a case of do believe the hype - they are fantastic! They are super fun, and really play for the crowd, with many of their songs taking on a real bluesy feel. This makes for some great down and dirty dancing...


I had never been to Yoshi's before, and had no idea what to expect. The band played in the restaurant/bar section, so I didn't get to see jazz club's concert hall, but the area that the band and dancers occupied was huge - although, given the amount of people that turned up for the event, the floor space still ended up being pretty tight. Obviously, as this was not designed with dancers in mind, the floor is not great to spin on, but this is easy to overlook, as the venue itself is pretty cool.

The decor is modern, and the room is sort of split into two, with a diving wall between the restaurant and dining tables, and the lower coffee tables and lounge seating. The stage is in the window, which is quite nice, as you can see the world go by outside, as you watch (you can also see people smooshing their nosey faces up to the window to check out what's happening inside).


The ultra high ceilings also ensure that you don't get tooooo hot and bothered when cutting some rug. Although, saying that, shiny-faced photos of me from this evening that have since surfaced on facebook suggest otherwise...

The night was super fun, and I would definitely return for more awesome nights out dancing here, likewise I would not hesitate to go along to future California Honeydrops shows.


And so, onwards and upwards, Wednesday evening was the opportune occasion to don the glad rags and hit up the Verdi Club for some non-Stompy Jones related dancing. German band, Ray Collins' Hot Club took to the stage before Swedish three-piece, The Go-Getters took over.

WOW!

Ray Collins' Hot Club were frikkin' awesome! Holy moses, they know how to rock a crowd. They are sort of a crowd themselves, taking up the whole stage, as there are around 50 billiion of them....ok, perhaps a slight exaggeration. But anyway, they were swingtastic and fun and some of the musicians even ventured off the stage with their instruments, to continue playing to the crowd as they weaved their way between all the dancers.


The Go-Getters were very energetic and played rockabilly, with a few classic punk songs by The Clash and The Undertones thrown in. I enjoyed their set, although I felt less inclined to dance to their music, and instead, felt more inclined to sip on a cosmopolitan.

I hear that Ray Collins' Hot Club will be playing in London next month, so I will be sure to check them out and spread the word to my fellow London dancers!

Mama said there'll be days like this...

Sunday a week ago was Team Brunch's last brunch, as a complete set, for a while, so we went big and tackled Mama's in North Beach.

We waited for quite a while....

....there was a long line outside....

.....and then we continued to queue when we got inside.

I went for the shrimp and avocado benedict and ate it in our window booth whilst pointing and laughing at the large group of people going past on segways.


Watching them riding over the crosswalk in single file was sort of reminiscent of the album cover for Abbey Road....but on wheels.


Whilst the food was tasty, I would have to say it was not special enough to have me rushing back to wait in line for soooo long. It is very cute and homely inside though, and the yellow decor makes it a sunny and cozy environment. One plus is that because you order and pay up front, canteen style, it makes it quicker to leave once you have finished eating. Although, what if you suddenly got an important mystery phone call, and had to rush off before the food was served to you, but you had already paid?


Before we allowed ourselves to fall into a food coma, we took advantage of the hot weather and headed for China Beach. As we approached the area, we started driving through quite a foggy patch and the temperature really dropped. This made me anxious that we were leaving the hot part of the city to hang out where it was chilly - and I didn't even bring a jacket!

Fortunately once we got there it was super sunny and nice enough to run into the ocean and splash around a bit! This was the first time I had visited this particular beach, and I really liked it! It has a great view of Golden Gate Bridge, and is in fact quite similar to Baker Beach, but less crowded.


On our way home we spotted a friend riding her bike just ahead of us, and proceeded to try and catch up with her. Thanks to all the Stop signs and red lights that we encountered, this turned into a Bullitt-style car chase across the city...

After zig-zagging our way through multiple streets, (trying to keep up with her crazy route) sometimes losing the bicycle, but then seeing it in the distance, we finally caught up with her when she stopped at a shop. We waved as we drove past, in a slightly anti-climactic end to our chase. I don't know what exactly we were expecting to happen when we caught up, but in hindsight it was a lot of palaver for a drive-by wave....

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we ended up dancing the night away at The Knockout where our friend's band Slim Jenkins played their third ever show. They pulled in a great crowd and looked very dapper up on stage, whilst they got the audience dancing and performed a great set. I am looking forward to seeing how they progress, as they have great style and make a very welcome addition to the live music/dance scene - I definitely think they're one to watch.


The Hi-Rythm Hustlers headlined the show and played an awesome set, as per usual. In fact, the first time I ever saw them play was one Sunday at The Knockout last November, and I really enjoyed myself that night too. They are just so much fun, and play the perfect songs to dance to - I am sad that I will miss their CD release party next month! Waah!


Sunday funday ended with a little photobooth action, and a strip of photos that made me nearly pee my pants with laughter. Fun times, fun times...