FAP London Sat 1st May 2004 - wenickedtheideaoffthepeople'srepublicofdisco

(yes, i've said that on the other thread, but i figured it wasn't too hard to say it again)

i do not want the address. i'd prefer to wander around north london with that picture printed out, asking people if they know where it is, kind of like a scavenger hunt.

actually, considering that i'll be drinking from noon, this might actually happen...

1. bring FIVE songs on the format of your choice (we will have two CD players, two decks, one or possibly two minidisc players and even a cassette machine I think).

2. Pick up your raffle ticket

3. drink and talk rubbish to random strangers, til you hear either
a. your raffle ticket number being shouted out, or
b. one of your choices being played.

4. If you hear b. it means you've somehow missed hearing a.

5. dance to your songs, sing along, smile self-indulgently at your terribly clever choices etc.

6. dance some more, talk some more rubbish to some more random strangers, drink some more etc

*Caveat for post-tennis people - if you arrive smelling like you've been huffing around a court in the sun all afternoon, you will be thrown in the canal. Shower, dammit!

oh, and by the way, we've asked everyone to bring five songs, but it's very likely you'll only get to play three - that's just insurance just in case hardly anyone actually bothers to bring anything at all...

by the way, if there is a gap between tennis and the party and anyone doesn't want to go all the way home in the meantime, people are welcome to come back to my place for a while. it's not too far from highbury fields and if anyone needs a shower to prevent charlie throwing you in the canal, that's cool as well.

(especially to south london people, but anyone is invited, esp. as my flatmate is away all weekend and i feel like i should have people over! woo!)

Incidentally, the Approach is a grebt pub - definitely worth popping in for a pint first.

i'm dumb today. sorry.

My first song is Where Are You Baby? by Betty Boo. I'm wondering who will step over the line first and cause Charlie to rescind the invite in fear.

Sounds fine to me - I was considering playing "(Hey DJ) I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing" but I'll retire gracefully this once.

I'm wondering who will step over the line first and cause Charlie to rescind the invite in fear.

Y'know, I'm not scared at all! The most scared people seem to be that section of my friends who think I'm an insufferable snob, and not the reckless come-one-come-all inclusionist I really am. People keep saying, "but I'll just play cheese" and I'm like, "Great! Bring what you want to hear" and they're all, "but you'll hate it" and I'm like, "unless it's Dido or Celine, that's extremely unlikey - I like pretty much everything" and they're all, "Hmmm, that sounds like a challenge..."

Oh.

Dear.

Such is the nature of the beast, young Kate, that it'll be as good as you make it - the music makes the party innit!

Otherwise it's just a house full of (admittedly probably very nice) people looking for a point.

*nb. This might all be nonsense. Black Books has annexed my head once again...

hey colette before going to charlie's i think that chinese restaurant that was shut the last time has to be visited again!

Time to start scheming about my five songs. You should be warned - one of my songs at the peoplesrepublicofdisco was WE BUILT THIS CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL...

that'll be the Ted Milton remix, then

which means this stuff is all happening tomorrow...

so, are we meeting at the pub in the picture at a certain time, before wandering over to the party?

anyone? anyone?

am i making more sense to other people than i am to myself today?

::ducks::

btw Matt DC, you need directions an' ting? Is that a real address up there?

Hey people, I have my five songs burned, and I am ready to rock.

i am very ashamed to admit that i went home early, and thank god martin was on the bus with me so i didn't fall asleep on the way to stamford hill - except i fell asleep straight after that and somehow woke up at Finsbury Park, but going the OPPOSITE direction! wtf! i must have done a round trip. some girls on the bus took the piss.

And also ILX SQUARE DANCE!!!!

Groo, my head. Lovely to see everyone. And apologies to everyone I called a Beaker Person.

(And finally, fun to see Rob be not the only Canadian in the room, thanks to my IRL friends...)

*although I never witnessed the legendary Gut War as described by Lixi last night.

there should be more square dancing in the world. do-si-do, indeed.

isn't the swimmer in fact the approach relocated to north london, ie they are owned by the same people and the approach was first?

sounds like a lovely time, i was eating GIANT PORK CHOP at st john with my lovely wife, what with it being our actual anniversary and all.

also, oh no, GUT FITE, oh no!! chris is the champion 4 eva i reckon :)

my fave bit was unexpectedly running into a friend there who knew charlie - the whole small world thing...

For future reference, I do not recommend combining bitter, Pimms and cava with duck pate and then sitting on the top deck of a bus for 1/2 an hour. Hence the going home early.

Ha ha, now I remember Lixi and I planning to do a linguistic study of the interweb! (This may be the academic version of my usual drunken "let's start a band!" type plans...)

Amazingly, all damage to the house was merely cosmetic (apart from the plumbing crisis, the merest mention of which elicits storm-cloud faces from the poor flatmates who somehow fixed it in my (family-insisted) absence yesterday.

Thankyou for all the lovely tunes you brought! And apologies to those of you who didn't get to hear your chosen songs due to (I think) general laziness on the part of my fellow DJs - I played the first hour-aand-a-half but I feared if I'd stayed on any longer I wouldn't haave actually been able to talk to anyone at all - that said, I only have a dim recollection of talking to people at all anyway :-(.

If anybody would like their CD returned, let me know and I shall endeavour to do so. I will also, at some point, post all the choices I can find on here, so people who missed the extravaganza can feel extra-silly for having done so.

So lemme see. Police doing handbrake turns outside my door at 5am having received a report of a stabbing (I shit you not)? Check. Irate neighbour in his pants turning up at the door and threatening "you're a big lad, and I bet there are a few more like you in there, but I'll have you all"? Check. Sounds pretty par for the course to me.

Can't believe I missed the square-dancing...

Did someone introduce your flat to the wonders of the Upper Deck?

I don't even remember the technical term for voiced versus dropped 'R's which you so kindly told me, either.

Curse drunkenness!

Yes, to Lixi. That would be it. (Get it mixed up with the Glottal Stop, Ba'al and Cockerney Bottle and all...)

He arrived quite late, looking dishevelled in a foppish haircut and a floral Liberty Print shirt. I think he stumbled into our square dancing session and demanded to know where Chuck was.

Is this a case of mistaken identity? I thought he was called Hugh, but the only Hugh there was down in the kitchen (he was in Australia at the time of the Hoxtonposhrowing, so it couldn't have been him.)

That would indeed be Adam. We went to school together.

There was I believe only one Hugh at my party, and that was my mate Huey, who has never been to Australia. And in any case, he'd never argue with anyone (except possibly me).

Thinking about it, Huey's an ILX lurker - you there dude? Absolve yourself immediately!

too bad you don't live in michigan or somewhere else where there's a bottle/can deposit, charlie. surely you'd make enough money to be able to come out tonight with the remains of your fridge...

When I finally saw the inside of fridge at 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, it contained the following:-

various dodgy-looking foodstuffs we'd foolishly not cleared out before the party
1 can Special Brew
1 bottle Bacardi Breezer (which has been there since before Christmas)
that's it

However, on the counter next to the fridge are about 50 empty wine/cava/spirits/beer bottles. We have recycling round here, but they don't pay us for anything - this is Tower "poorest borough in the UK apart from Hackney" Hamlets after all.

but i'm sure you meant it in a nice way :)

although you weren't as rude as the guy in the blue shirt. humph.

kate, did you hear me say goodbye? once the porch/stairs got as crowded as the kitchen i kind of ran away just shouting goodbye as i went down the stairs...

I don't actually know if you said goodbye to me or not, Colette. I kept trying to leave, and then someone would say "hey, I'm leaving too, wait for me" and then disappear. And I'd be stuck for another age. But this was alright due to the pricelessness of the Poshadam actually being nice to me hell freezes over moment!

Aha! You touched a nerve, is all (even though in reality, I tell people to fuck off with such frequency it's become a totally devalued and meaningless phrase). I probably took umbrage because a. I only recognised about half the people within eyeshot at any one time, and b. even though it may seem on the surface that I know loads of people, I hardly actually *know* anybody - I've just *met* a lot of people, which is a very different thing.

Either way, please don't take offence, as none was intedned.

Kate, on the other hand: naturally, I meant every word. No, really. Not really, obviously - you are hardcore cos you got there very bloody early and stayed the distance, and organised squaredancing (allegedly) and made me happy insodoing. To thanks!

Xpost I take it all back - I probably told you to leave to extricate you from Adam's clutches...

(xpost. that was to kate, not to charlie. i have no idea if charlie fancies crazy posh guys or not)

if anyone wants to host these pictures so we can directly link to them, let me know and i'll send them to you.

(as usual, feel free to be snoopy and look at the other photos. just not the 'murder victim burial sites' folder, please)

must . avoid . having . pictures . taken . whilst . drunk

IMG649 was supposed to be matt and martin square dancing. sadly, all i got was martin's back. i think they were getting ready to 'swing your partner round and round'

actually, i only have pictures of martin's back! how did that happen?

(xpost-- most people won't recognize anyone else from the picnic pics unless you recognize people from dean parties. but several were at ATP, so should maybe ring a bell?)

Nothing smartass about it - seventh picture across...you figure it out.

my favorite is the one of me and matt, with our matching tshirts and ken giving us devil's horns. awwww.

I remember the bleached hair guy, he was a party random. His choice of tunes included You Can Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac.

Also, a dancing picture of me where I don't look like an utter twat! Yay! Was that upstairs or down?

Starry's bloke and I spent a good proportion of the night attempting to touch each other on the neck while staring into each other's eyes and going "Olé!" Aaah, sweet bouze.

G'n'R - Appetite For Destruction
Paul Simon - Graceland
The Cure - Staring At The Sea
Hole - Live Through This
The Sultans Of Ping FC - Casual Sex In The Cineplex

Honest answers only, please - can anybody claim these as their own?

(xpost-- no, but if nobody claims it, can i have the GnR?)

It is possible that Charlie was asking how you took a photo of yourself.

You have odd fish where you come from! And no, that's not exactly what I meant, but it'll do for the time being.

I am loathe to separate the 5 CDs as I'm pretty sure they belong together in somebody's addled mind. I am however ripping a copy of the Sultans album as I type, since I only ever had a cassette copy!

I do recall talking to lots of nice people, but nothing is crystal clear. Poor, feeble brain...

is there a better way to do the fish face?

Probably not. That wasn't necessarily my point. Fuck this shit, I'm outta here.

sorry, this made no sense in context. just meant i'm logging off. apologies for unnecessary use of vernacular.

Chewing off his own arm to get away from us, perhaps? ;-)