News
To see the News Archive from Year One of the Club (October 2006 to October 2007) click here.
To see the News Archive from Year Two of the Club (October 2007 to October 2008) click here.
30th November
Just Desserts for Custard Fans
For a second time the Cirque de Crme Anglaise came to town on 19th November, a musical event in which, among other performers, four NSC Members graced the stage. Organised by The Furbelows, the night is intended to have a coherent theme of dark humour, cabaret swagger and worthwhile words. (The first Cirque, in August, featured Club poet Niall Spooner-Harvey and Member the fabulous Mr B. the Gentleman Rhymer.)
This time the show opened with Mesparrow, a mysterious French lady who performs alone, either at the piano or acapella with a digital looping device, with which she built up a layered backing of her own voice. Next up was Club Member Marmaduke Dando a crooner of what he calls morose ballads whose stage image was somewhere between Noel Coward and Bryan Ferry. The Furbelows themselves played third.
Headliners were the startling Cesarians (pictured), a horn-heavy troupe whose world combines Kurt Weill, Tim Burton and Edward Gorey. True to their reputation, they lifted the roof. Thanks to all who came along.
Record Turn-Out For Gorefest
Either
vampires are a popular subject or Miss Minna is a popular ladybecause our
November meeting, at which Miss Minna delivered her talk on The Vampire and the
Modern Age, was the best attended Club Night ever, with some 50 people cramming
themselves into the Wheatsheafs exquisite wood-panelled room.
Whatever the reason, it was a boisterous and good-humoured meeting. Miss Minna explained to us how, up to the beginning of the Victorian age, vampires were viewed as bestial. Even Bram Stokers Dracula was foul-smelling and the spin-off Nosferatu was, frankly, a bald leech. It was Bela Lugosi, his dandyism and his knowledge of correct dress codes, that led to Draculas appearing dressed for an ambassadors reception, and the idea of the vampire as seductive sophisticate. Christopher Lee carried on this tradition of Dracula as a high-brow in white tie.
From there Miss Minna charted the popular incarnations of the undead dandy, including Blackula (which, she claims, is a very good film) up to Anne Rices Interview With a Vampire series. But her point was that the concept of the vampire seemed to be adopted regularly to represent whatever we might be afraid of at the time, whether it be syphilis, miscegenation or AIDS. The subject provoked great interest and many questions from the floor.
4th October
Neckwear Reinforcements Arrive in Nick of Time
As Im sure you have been all too painfully aware, our supplies of NSC Club ties ran out some time ago. I had fair developed the jitters, I dont mind telling you. Fortunately, there was a knock at the gnarled Club House portal last night and, standing in the rain, clutching a tattered parcel stood an ancient mariner type. Never found out anything about him, to be honest, because he tottered in and promptly kicked the bucket. But the good news is that the parcel turned out to contain 100 new NSC silk ties. So either this fellow had intercepted a villainous plan to steal our ties and laid down his life to return them to their rightful owners, or UPS have seriously lowered their recruitment standards.
Anyway, if youre a Member of the New Sheridan Club and youd like to own one of these glorious ties, they are a mere 15. Not bad for 100% silk, especially as they have the Club logo subtly incorporated in an ingenious shadow weave that runs along the black stripe (see picture). Contact us for more details.
