Back To Shore

Lyrics: “Letter To Myself” ~ The Lottery Winners, 2023

This morning I started writing the first section for today’s blog; the prompt was sleep(less) and I was in proper bad mood. During the day I also jotted down various prompts which I had planned to elaborate on. Regular run-of-the-mill content. But then the Lottery Winners released a new song today. What a lovely surprise. They did not mention that at all, when I saw them play a gig in Oxford, UK three days ago. And what a great song it is. I saw the tweet (with the song title) and read the linked Big Issue interview . Just from the title and the few words Thom (Lottery Winners singer and songwriter) and Frank Turner, who lends his voice for the chorus, said about the song, I thought it might be one I can very well relate too. 

I had planned to check it out during my lunch break, but by then one of my music (okay Frank Turner) friends already texted me about it and shared the video and I didn’t even have to look for it myself.

OH MY GOD, this song made me cry a bit. It definitely moved me in ways not many other songs or artists have before. Frank managed to with quite a few of his songs, as my many blog posts about that should have proven by now. But there are not that many others. The first song on which the Lottery Winners asked Frank to join them – “Start Again” in 2021 – and through which I first heard of them was one of those songs. 2021 was a hard year for me and this song helped me through some of it with it’s simple invitation to “get up and start again“. The “Open Letter to Creatives” also has got many lyrics which mean a lot to me. Because even though I’m not a proper creative (as in earning my living through things I create), some of the words spoke and still speak to me. 

It’s not arrogant to be proud of yourself
It’s not arrogant to be sure of yourself
It’s not arrogant to love yourself
So love yourself

And also 

Celebrate every win no matter how small

which made it on the cover of my “good moments / gratitude” journal.

I had a really good time at their show on Friday. I might not know all the songs or lyrics yet, but every song definitely had me moving and dancing and humming along. And now this new song: “Letter to Myself”:

So many of the lyrics of this song hit home for me here. So so many! I guess that’s what a year of therapy does to you. In the best way possible. Because therapy made me realize how many “little T traumas” (as some therapists like to call it) little me had suffered through. I still very well recall the feeling of being different and of not really fitting in and of not being lovable and all that. It took me longer than the teens and twenties (in the song) to actually realize this and to work through some of this. I’m turning 48 in a week. Just sayin’. 

Anyway, part of therapy has been to reconnect with this inner child and take care of her and validate her and support her. It feels a bit weird saying this out loud. But that’s basically what it was. I didn’t actually write a letter to myself, but everything close to it. So Thom’s words feel quite real and true to me. Because once you’ve been through all of it – and the decades of reading self-help books before that – there does come the time when “everything seems smaller”. All the fears and worries about insignificant things, that kept me awake for hours and hours for too long: They don’t really matter all that much once I got some perspective. And that feels so good.

“Your going to find songs of ‘The Smith’ 
And in that a whole universe for you to exist
It’s going to teach you that others feel the same way
They’re going to be your friends
They’re still your friends today”

So many lovely people I met and became and stayed friends with through Frank’s music.I will forever and ever be so so grateful for this connection Frank and his music brought into my life. But also grateful for all the great music he brought into my life, like… “The Lottery Winners”. Fingers crossed for them getting the #1 with their new album. They so deserve it! 

Lyrics: “Be A Freak” ~ Felix Hagan & The Family, 2017

Picture the scene: The year is 2016. I’ve travelled from Germany to Edinburgh to see my 25th Frank Turner show. On this UK run Frank had brought along a rather unknown glam-rock-pop band called “Felix Hagan & The Family” as support and they got me hooked pretty quickly. I started following them as band and the various members on social media. In 2018 I was lucky to see them play three gigs: two at/around the Lost Evening Festival in London in May, one supporting Arkells in November in Germany and I don’t think they have played many more – if any – shows since. I don’t know if they ever will to be honest, because they all had / have other work or projects going on as well and we’re getting to that now. Because also in 2018 Felix Hagan and Tash Hodgson, one of the singers, started tweeting about how they teamed up with two more members of comedy troupe Kill the Beast to write a musical about a secret WWII mission: “Operation Mincemeat”. It sounded mad and fun and something I was absolutely interested in. This newly formed troupe SpitLip started sharing some work in progress videos with songs on Youtube and I enjoyed everyone of them.

For 2019 Frank had moved Lost Evenings to Boston, USA, which wasn’t a trip I was willing to take. I went up to Scotland for other fan-related events instead. But I had the foresight to schedule a stop in London on the way back home to see the first ever run of “Operation Mincemeat” in the New Diorama Theatre. 80 seats, which were only about half-filled on this Sunday matinee on their first weekend. The programme was a two page flyer (one piece of paper printed double sided). They had one person for lights, one for costumes (and props?), Felix played keys himself along with two more musicians (bass and percussion). I absolutely loved it and wrote about it here.

From 2020 to 2022 SpitLip did three more runs of the show in two more theatres. I’ve written extensively about the two I’ve seen: here (2020) and here (2022). Along the way they aquired a bit more support in ways of director and choreographer and they also rewrote quite a bit. They cut scenes and songs. They added scenes and songs. They cut / changed scenes and songs they had added before. It’s been a fascinating ride to have been along for. Assuming the ride has stopped yet. You never know with these guys.

In 2023 they’re now doing this show – their own show – in the London West End. The WEST END! With a proper set. Proper walls and doors. Two sturdy desks instead of three file cabinets. They’ve got understudies and a proper big production team. There are head and deputies in some departments! Some of the songs can be heard as instrumental score from the speakers before the show. The programme includes about a dozen pages on Spitlip as writers, extensive information on all the actors and the dozen other important people involved.

It’s mad! And I’m so so happy for them. They’ve come such a long way and they so deserve it in my opinion. We caught Felix after the show yesterday and he said that he sometimes still fears this is the biggest prank someone is playing on him.

So, what about the West End version? When the curtain opened on Saturday and I saw the new stage for the first time I admit my first thought was “Mmh. Where are the familiar file cabinets? Will this mad show work without them ?” Fear not people, it does work. So well. Even with a bigger production – and more money to it – it has kept its fast pace of changes of characters and scenes; by the drop of a hat often quite literally. Even on seeing it for the 7th time now since 2019 I’m in awe how they do that. It’s brilliant.

They haven’t changed too much dialogue or scenes from the run in 2022. The things they did change worked well / better than before. That’s the whole point of making changes, right? Thinking of the even more complex hats / phones / briefcase exchange makes me grin again. All in all everything got a bit bigger! Like the sturdy desks. The set and the props and the costumes are all just a bit more elaborate. More glitzy in the most unforeseen moments sometimes. The finale… well it’s called the Glitzy Finale for a reason. It’s big. And I really mean BIG! I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but there at least two things you probably won’t expect to see. And in typical “Mincemeat the musical” fashion you won’t have finished laughing about the first one when the scenes change and the next one will have you in stitches all over again. It might especially on Coronation Day (May 6th) is all I’m saying.

As mentioned above I’ve written extensively about the previous runs and sang the casts’ praise extensively then. I don’t want to bore you all by repeating my words from last year or the year before. Everyone is so so so good. Still a few (final for now) thoughts on some of them:

As much as I enjoyed Sean Carrey stepping in to play Charlie last year, I was glad to see David Cumming back on stage, because no one does the lolloping sidekick as well as he does. It’s his long arms and legs, I guess.

Zöe always blows my mind with the physicality of her acting and the faces she’s able to make. Just look at the waiter in the final restaurant scene with Monty and Jean.

And Tash… what can I say. I feel the urge to quote myself after all, because it’s still all so true.

Also worth noting that my ‘girl crush’ on Tash is back full force. Which seems weird, because she’s playing a straight – and let’s be honest not always very nice – man here. Just shows that gender and crushes and all are fluid and isn’t that a wonderful thing? Within seconds she always makes me forgot it’s not a man playing Ewen Montagu. The arrogance, the swagger, the outrageous confidence. For some reason this time around I also was fascinated how quickly she can change moods and give off very different vibes. From being the cold, stern superior officer, when Charlie didn’t let go of the file: “I’ve issued you an order, Lieutenant” to the embarrassed and squirming – “It’s just a first draft” – amateur filmmaker within just a few quick moments. God, she’s brilliant.

my own blog in summer 2022

I’m so glad I’ll be back for it once more in early June. And then hopefully will be able to buy all the merch. I mean ALL the merch. The cast recording will be out everywhere on May 12th. I just ordered the digital version on Amazon Germany and can’t wait to finally sing along to all the songs. For days and weeks and months probably. I’ll be annoying the hell out of everyone around me and I don’t care….

Lyrics: “The Fisher King Blues” ~ Frank Turner, 2013

I feel indeed a bit broken. Physically. When I had made and booked my plans for yesterday I obviously did not factor in any slight change in plans or any necessary detours. Or to be more precise the additional walking either might require. The plan had been to spend the whole day in the city (i.e. required a backpack not just a purse) with a guided photo tour from 10 – 12:30, some unspecific time wandering around and then head over to Battersea power station where I was booked for Lift 109 at 18:00.

Segue to sharing more context for this choice of title / song. The lyrics also include the lines

And in Battersea power station, the Fisher King
Ponders on his ruin, among many other things.

I admit neither the building, nor the history had been on my radar before or a lot since I heard the song for the first time in 2013, until I read about the new plans for it and then read about the opening of it all last year. When I looked into if it might be worth a visit, I discovered they had a lift to the top and was sold and bought a ticket. When I looked into more detailed planning of that day later, I realized I wouldn’t be allowed to take my bag pack and that there wouldn’t be any possibility to store it on site. I booked a place through Stasher near Victoria station in the end, which led to about 2-3 km more walking than planned.

The other change of plan was, that I was awake super early yesterday; possibly still a bit hyped from the day before. So I thought I could just as well have a stroll along the South bank before I met up with my photo guide at St. Paul’s. Which added another 2-3 km to my day.

In the end my smartwatch clocked 21.8 km. Ugh! Like stated above I feel a bit sore today. It was worth it though. It was just me on the photo tour, which made me feel a bit self-conscious at first as I’m such a novice photographer. But it was fine, as we didn’t really talk shop, but the guide just led me to a few good (possible a bit more unknown for the ordinary tourist) spots. Talked a bit about the bridges and history and all. It was nice and if you’re into this kind of thing I can definitely recommend this company: London streets photography. The 2.5 hours tour costed £85, which was worth it to me, especially as other tours I found in my research where so much more expensive.

Battersea power station: Well, I can say: Been there, done that. The whole “Lift 109” experience was a bit much. I enjoyed the historical exhibition as step one, but wouldn’t have needed the interactive show of something (what exactly?), before we went up the stairs to the lift. The lift going up was cool and the view from top is amazing, of course. But nothing I have to repeat. Battersea power station as such felt pretty artificial to me on the inside, but I guess that’s just the way of things.

Without further ado: a very small collection of the photos I took today in either of those locations starting with St. Paul’s