He's behind you!

I went to the panto at the Playhouse with Anders & Nick last week. Now, I've got to be honest, at about 2 o clock that afternoon I was feeling really tired and really just wanted to ditch the panto and have a night snuggled up on the sofa watching some dreadful TV and taking it easy. Partly this was down to the tiredness and partly down to my aversion to pantos. I've just always thought they would be bawdy, childish and get infuriated by all the "he's behind you" shouting. I think I went to see a particularly bad one as a child. I have a memory of tiny me all red faced and angry being made to shout "He's behind you" for about the fifteenth time. I used to hate it when people deliberately used to pretend not to know/see things. Sounds like I was an angry child. Weird.

Anyway, off we went to see Mother Goose, rather reluctantly, had a quick bite to eat at Cast (burger, very nice) and loaded up on sweeties for the performance. About 10 minutes in I think the first "Boo!" squeaked past my lips. About 20 minutes in I was laughing along at the one liners and ad-libs. Before the first act ended I was joining in with the singing, cheers and jeers with all my heart. I loved it! It was genuinely funny, the costumes and set were bright and spangly, the songs were fun and I didn't have to repeat chants 10 times to get anything to happen. They had a really nice balance between stuff for kids and adults, between playing it knowingly and getting involved in the performance and between the different characters. I've always been pretty certain that the panto wouldn't be for me, but I loved it and would recommend it to anyone.

On Friday we were hosting two gigs - one a proper Hello Thor gig at Spanky Van Dykes, with Injured Birds & We Show Up On Radar playing live - one a Broadway gig with Anders doing the organising, a celebration of Scandinavian sounds called Nordic Noise, with a Cardigans For Goalposts element thrown in.

Thankfully both  were a great success, with lots of nice comments and some awesome performances. I won't talk about them all, but just want to record that We Show Up On Radar played with their full band for only the 3rd time. They were great. Having a fuller sound just totally makes sense and gives the songs a proper setting in which they can sparkle. The full band brings a bit more power and confidence to the performance as well as the tunes and everything just seems really right. I can't wait to see them again.

Here are a few of my favourite pics from the evening:







See more pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellothor/sets/72157625467734169/

This week I will be:

- Sewing tonight! Yeah! last one before Christmas

- Jumpers for Goalposts tomorrow - not at the Alley Cafe for one month only. Read more here: http://thesecretdiaryofjumpersforgoalposts.wordpress.com/

- Dinner at Angi & James' on Friday

- Daddy Bones' Birthday at Broadway on Saturday - This is going to be great. The Yeah I'll Play It Later DJs will be on the decks, lots of lovely people will be hanging out and dancing. FUN.

- Snoozing all day Sunday please.

See you soon!

Bex
x

Hello Gore... The Aftermath

Hello Gore. It was great wasn't it? Best Halloween Party EVER!

If you'd like to see some pics click here.

If you were on a pic and would like a copy, just let us know. There are some amazing photos and costumes, take a look!

To give you some idea of what kind of party it was... After Hello Gore (feeling green around the gills on Sunday) we swept up:

- Talc
- Straws
- Sweetie Wrappers
- Popcorn
- Cobwebs
- Fairy cake cases
- Fake Hair
- Feathers
- Plastic spiders
- Pumpkins
- Set lists
- Broken glass
- LOTS of safety pins
- A fake wound

Brilliant.

Dan T's Inferno! THIS FRIDAY!

Now I wish I could lay claim to that headline but the praise all has to go to Nick from Hello Thor. He's clearly in the wrong job. He should be working for The Sun with skills like that.

So anyway, just a quick note to let you know about the exhibition, private view, performance happening later this week:

-----
Hello Thor presents...DAN TOPOROWSKI
With a very special opening night performance from OX & LAMB
@ The Hand & Heart Gallery, Derby Road, Nottingham
Friday 18th July (8pm-11pm) Free

An exhibition with our very favourite artist - illustrator, animator extraordinaire and Nottingham legend Dan Toporowski. The man behind the Black Piñata comic, and countless Supernight and Hello Thor visuals, Dan T's work takes you on a ride that might make you afraid, but that might also make you laugh your arse off. Check out his YouTube site to see what we mean.

He calls what he does "super-doodling". Other people have called him "Dr Frankenstein with a pencil case". We think he's AWESOME. Come down to the Hand & Heart Gallery and see for yourself. Dan's got a stash of never seen before visual treats up his sleeve - all new animations and one-off prints.

Dan T's inferno will be on at the Hand Heart Gallery until Saturday 26th July, but make sure you come along on Friday 18th July (8pm-11pm) for the opening party - it WILL be a belter. Ox & Lamb, the brand new Fists side project, will be playing live to accompany Dan's films. Only their second ever performance, expect sweet harmonies and a big bag of beautiful slightly bruised lo-fi pop.

And it doesn't end there my friends...join us for the after party @ Moog featuring Yeah, I'll Play It Later DJ's and, with a bit of luck, some cake (until 3am)!
-----

So that's what's going down. It's all free and it's all going to be amazing. I'm hoping they'll let me play some records at the party. And when I say play some records I mean choose them and dance behind the DJ booth like I'm really cool while someone else actually plays them.

Becky
x

Two parties for the price of one... and that one's free!

Hello

It's nearly Easter so we thought we'd spread the word about not one but TWO awesome nights coming up.

The first is Shadowplay's next Jumpers for Goalposts. It's on Thursday (20th March) @ the Alley Cafe. There'll be all the usual fun and games including...

* A creative competition
* Me (Anders of Supernight fame) and Tom (of Not in Nottingham fame) DJ-ing
AND
* The lovely folk stylings of Becky Syson singing a few songs live

Then for Good Friday (21st March) our good friends from Yeah I'll Play It Later are throwing a big party at Loggerheads. Just like Jumpers.... it's totally free and it's going to be totally tits!

DJs on the night include Siren, Chris Barrett and the aforementioned Tom Whalley. That GUARANTEES a rockin' rocksteady, rockabilly, party jazz session of the highest order.

AND I'll be opening proceedings with a smattering of French pop, funk and tropicalia.

There'll be live stuff in the caves and free food too.

It's a good job you've got the whole bank holiday weekend to recover really!

Hope to see you there
x anders