The Jazz Lounge is open (and The kitchen is closed: night 7)
I have given up eating between 11pm and 7am for Lent.
Last night we went to Body and Soul, the new jazz night that debuted on 6 February at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Jonathan Paul Hellyer (the man inside the D.E. Experience) was performing a double set and we were very curious to see him perform sans drag and captive audience.
Jill Manly hosted and opened with a couple of songs (the classic On Broadway and Not Gon' Cry from Waiting To Exhale). As massive and warm as a silver-haired Dawn French, with just as much presence on stage.
Then Jonathan came on stage, in a simple pinstripe suit, white shirt (and black man's shoes, rather than the stilettos we had seen on some promotional shoots). God was he nervous, but he managed to pull it off, thanks no doubt to a very warm audience with a good balance of jazz aficionados and die-hard D.E. Experience (his Sunday afternoon drag act) fans.
He opened with The Lady Is A Tramp, followed by The Man With The Child In His Eyes, then went through some Ella and Dinah, and ended the first set with It Had To Be You (with a Bohemian Rhapsody contained within).
It was with the deepest regret that I had to leave before the second set was due to start at 10. I was very tired, and the Cava fizzy wine was making me fall asleep.
But actually all I wanted to do was cram some more food in before 11 o'clock and the ban on food during the night. I stopped at the corner shop on the way home, and as I put my bread and cheese and Jaffa cakes on the till, the cashier's 'And how are you today sir?' alerted me I might be indulging too much these days.
Friday 2 March 2007 at 3:46 pm
And I was sure you indulged in the RVT's 'hand prepared' free sandwiches, but I must have been mistaken…