Lewisham Concert Band

Sunday, November 23rd—Monday, November 24th

On Sunday, I slept and wrote my Shakespeare paper on Othello. I also made excellent bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). A good day to recuperate.
Monday was spent sitting through my penultimate class of Shakespeare, and after handing in the Othello paper, our professor handed us the assignment sheet for my last paper of my undergraduate career: 8-10 pages comparing at least two of the comedies we’ve read with a thesis based on one of the themes he’s provided (mostly about love). Not exactly what I had expected, but that’s fine. It’s very strange to think that in three weeks from today, I’ll be back in the States. Scary.


Saturday, November 22nd

This morning, Andrew, Omar and myself checked out the Portobello Road Market near Hammersmith, and it was amazing: seemingly endless stands full of food and antiques. I ended up getting 5 giant (and I mean GIANT) baking potatoes for Thanksgiving and 6 oranges, along with a hot sausage sandwich with onions, all for under 5 pounds. Omar and Andrew bought some sea bass to cook Sunday night.
We came back to the flat, and Omar and I got ready for our gig with the Lewisham Concert Band that day in Catford (SE6). Omar left early to try to get to ICLC, which proved extremely difficult because the Circle line and parts of the District line being closed. I thought I had it easy (I only had to get to Charing Cross on the Bakerloo line), but when I entered the Edgware Road Bakerloo station, I was turned away saying “the station is closed, no Bakerloo line.” So, I had to get down to Charing Cross in 20 minutes by changing lines 3 times, and I eventually caught a National Rail train out to South-East London.
The rehearsal lasted about 3 hours, and my face was extremely tired after that. The other euphonium player was Tony who plays in the Guard Band at Buckingham Palace. He was pretty cool, a good player and we seemed to blend tone really well. After Omar and I grabbed dinner at Wetherspoons for very cheap, we made our way back to the Catford Broadway Theatre for our concert at 7:30pm. The concert lasted about 2 1/2 hours and was full of tunes ‘from stage and screen’, including Star Wards, Mama Mia, West Side Story, Disney, Mancini and James Bond. It felt great to play with a band that was really good for a community group, and to sit next to a good player.
After the concert many of the brass players went to a pub next to the train station (after nixing the usual pub they go to because there was an Elvis impersonator singing karaoke extremely loudly). We talked about brass bands and the like before Omar and I ran to catch the last train back into central London. Overall, a great day, even if my face feels like it wants to fall off from all of the playing.


Tuesday, November 18th—Friday, November 21st

After handing in the awesome BAA paper, I practiced for a while and took it easy the rest of the night, trying to soak in everything from the lesson and process all of the information that was crammed into that one hour.
On Wednesday, I slept until early afternoon and got to school to practice. That night, Andrew and I went to a jazz club called Ronnie Scott’s in Soho for a jam session that he wanted to check out. We met up with one lady he teaches with at the Lambeth Music Service, and it was great to hear some really good jazz. We had one hell of a time getting back to our flat at 2am, as the tubes stop running around midnight. We tried figuring out the buses on Oxford Street and realized that none of them really went to Edgware Rd, so we walked over to Oxford Circus and found the right bus. We got back around 3:30am.
Thursday was full of Brit Pop and practicing, followed by a trip to wing night at the American Sports Café near Piccadilly Circus. I had 20 wings (hot and BBQ) with plenty of Carlsberg along the way. After that, we went to the ISH bar for karaoke night, and Katie eventually convinced me to sing ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ with her. We left to go check out the spectacular Christmas lights by Bond Street, and walked back to our flats. It was a great night out.
Friday was spent sleeping and practicing again (that seems to be all that I do anymore) and making food. That night I met up with Andrew at Wetherspoons for a pint, and we were accosted by about 20 Indian men aged 18-21, who were all very interested in the fact that we were American. They asked us about TV shows, movies, even what girls are better (British or American) and what race we thought they were. They told us we had to check out one of the hookah bars on our street, and went to go take more pictures and drink more beer. It was a strange night.