NUN FUN SUNDAY ~ Fundraising Launch

Salutations!

Firstly, welcome to my blog. I've been meaning to keep one of these for ages now but somehow never got round to it. I do have a good reason this time though so fingers crossed! What's that good reason you ask?

Well, for about eighteen months I've been writing a new show, called Postcards from God ~ The Sister Wendy Musical. I'll elaborate more on what it is and how it came together as time goes on, but right now I'm at the beginning of approaching the "F" word. No - not that one... FUNDRAISING!

It's been a huge learning curve so far and I now have a lot more respect for people who put on shows - even for a fringe production like mine, the budget is not inconsiderable. So I've devised quite a few schemes to make some cash for my Sisters. The first being NUN FUN SUNDAY on January 29th.

I've performed at cocktail lounge Kinky Mambo a few times as part of Scottee's regular Sunday social nights so I was really pleased when they said I could hold NUN FUN SUNDAY there. Joanna who runs Kinky Mambo even came up with some especially tasty themed cocktails for the night, which went down very nicely.

I invited a lot of my friends to perform and in the end we had quite an impressive line-up,starting with the acoustic stylings of Zeff, Finn Bonel (and his Thai Pin) Steve McCusker, then the lovely Keith Anderson (left). Miss King (below) was up next.

I love her songs - she's like a cross between Kate Bush and Siouxsie Sioux, punky but kinda wistful.

Mackenzie Taylor came next with his own brand of irreverent stand-up comedy, with an appropriately religious bent.

Speaking of bent, my Dad said that my skills as a compere reminded him of Graham Norton, which I'm sure was meant to be a compliment of sorts. To prove the point, here's a picture of me sitting on a pouffe (left).

Tallulah (right) came next, dressed as a mermaid, to tell us the sad tale of a whale who got lost and ended up in the Thames. Entertaining as well as topical! Scottee performed a mime piece called Silent Movie, where he came to a rather sticky end, then Tallulah returned to tell us of her love for the modern dandies. She got so hot she lost her wig.

Jonaflid (right) descended from the gilt staircase to show us his own brand of electro-punk. Bless him, I think he was really worried that he was a bit too aggro for the assembled masses, who had been lulled into a stupor by the cocktails and chilled out cabaret. But his performance certainly went with a bang, all the boys and girls enjoying his topless punk stomp-romp in equal amounts.

My own Mother Superior supplied a batch of cup cakes to mark my birthday and everyone tucked in as DJ Dan delighted our eardrums. I was pleased to see all the cakes go, partly to avoid adding to my expanding girth, but also as Mama Reeves had tried about eight different recipes and was sick of the sight of them!

Performance artist and poet Richard Dedomenici (left) was the penultimate act, with his whimsical observations on modern life and politics. But the stars of the evening were undoubtedly Afterworks (below), a nine piece a cappella group, who sang some of their own compositions, ending with Oh Maria from Sister Act and a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday which brought a tear to my eye.

After the cabaret, I dashed off to give a secret performance in the bar upstairs and then the drunken stragglers (including myself) danced the night away to DJ sets from Dogdriller, Ian H Le Pouf Celebre and Junklady, climaxing with an impromptu karaoke session where I did my best Pete Burns impression - "Yow are everthing that is repoolsive to may..." etc.

A big thank you to Kinky Mambo, to all those who performed and to the very friendly crowd who came to show their support. Between us we raised the tidy sum of £500.00, which is a great kick-start to the fundraising effort, but more importantly everyone seemed to have a great time.

All the pictures on this post were taken by Michelle Brooks and a big thank you to her too for capturing a great day.

I'll be back soon with details of the next fundraising scheme which will hit the streets of London (literally) on the last Sunday of March.

Stay tuned!

Blessings,

Marcus