The Gangster's Ball... date
So, unsurprisingly I went to the Gangster's Ball. I even took a mob with me, and we all dressed to the nines! But even better? Bachelor #1 (Rhys) decided he would like to come along too, as I had mentioned it at our Brunch Date and it certainly piqued his interest. He's interested in vintage, swing dancing, dressing up, and other such fun things, so it seemed only natural to invite him. The poor poppet, he was a bit worried his costume wasn't going to be good enough.
So our posse of 6 met at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel on Bathurst St in the city for a quick bite before the gig. Now, us girls aren't always punctual, especially when we have to recreate the glamour of another era. We weren't horribly late, but Rhys had arrived (knowing no one but me) and managed to identify Warwick - I'm going to guess the Gangster outfit might have helped. So we all settled down for a drink and some really good pub grub.
Just after 8pm we made a move toward the Metro expecting to line up for some time before we got in. To our great surprise and relief, there was no line at all! We headed in and decided to take advantage of the space before people crammed themselves in to every nook and cranny and took photos of everyone, as we'd all gone to the effort to dress up.
For me, I had my lovely pink headpiece with veil I'd picked up at last year's Fifties Fair, the long string of pink beads I bought in Beijing with Sara and I knew Miss Charlie had a great pair of pink shoes I could borrow which would match those. So the only thing I had to do was buy a dress to match the accessories... these things are important, and any excuse for a new dress is a good thing ;) I'd popped by Retrospect'd on Friday night and found a great little number I knew looks good on me, because I already have one, it's just a size 16 instead of 12. So, clearly I needed to buy a size 12 in the right colours ;)
I might have looked a little like this:
And us motley crew of patches collectively might have looked like this:
Overall, I think the night's attendance was down, but that was fine by us, it gave s a bit more room to move. Rhys and I took to the dance floor and tried not to get walloped by the many, many swing dancers. Although he's interested in Swing dance, he actually hasn't learned any, and I find it hard to lead while dancing as a female. But we had fun and that's all that really matters. I did have a dance with Warwick as he's a veteran Swing Dancer, I just couldn't keep up, and he didn't really want to use me as a weapon to assault the surrounding dancers.
The shows were quite impressive, I particularly liked Mark Winmill & Fez - those two are highly entertaining, Jamilla Deville did a fabulous chair dance, Kelly Ann Doll showed off her trademark fastest dance moves and sparkly outfits with a whole lot of flair, and the aerial work was all quite enjoyable. The magicians were less than impressive - but it was also getting late so energy was flagging.
But I suppose none of you really want to hear about the night (though it was great fun, you all can no doubt tell), you'd like to hear more about Rhys. He was the perfect example of a gentleman, dressed very dapper in a white shirt, grey slacks, red suspenders and a fabulously patterned red tie and a hat, plus the huge over coat. He looked completely the part. In fact as we were sitting down talking, a chap came and complimented Rhys on his costume, as most guys wear the typical black and red or black and white combo, and Rhys therefore stood out among the crowd. We danced quite a few times, until my feet got sore and he'd accompany me to sit down for a while, until we'd get up and dance again. He was also incredibly considerate of my lovely girlfriends who were with us that night. It's pretty hard to talk a lot in the ball atmosphere, but we did well to chat about some bits and pieces while dancing or in between acts. And he was very patient with me taking a million photos of everything.
Rhys may or may not look like this:
Gotchya!
By the end of the night, all of us gals had sore feet and it was decided that if we left just before the end of the ball, we'd stand a better chance of getting a taxi easily. So we all left and on George St at after 1am Rhys and I parted ways, and me and the gals cabbed back to my place.
I text him later, after the girls had gone, to thank him for a lovely night, and he responded with much the same, that it was a shame we didn't get to talk quite so much and that we should try to catch up again some time.
So we have another date this Thursday, we're off to see the Schelling Point at the Old Fitzroy Hotel which has the ever glamorous Lauren LaRouge in it. And I won't be surprised if we end up heading to the Ruby Revue on Sunday as well, as he mentioned he was keen to go, I hadn't even realised it was coming up so soon!
So things are looking up. You can see all the photos from the night on Flickr, and the edited highlights on my facebook.
As for Sam, I've tried to contact him and have had no response so far. He's not out of the running, maybe just taking a different route or detour briefly.
So our posse of 6 met at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel on Bathurst St in the city for a quick bite before the gig. Now, us girls aren't always punctual, especially when we have to recreate the glamour of another era. We weren't horribly late, but Rhys had arrived (knowing no one but me) and managed to identify Warwick - I'm going to guess the Gangster outfit might have helped. So we all settled down for a drink and some really good pub grub.
Just after 8pm we made a move toward the Metro expecting to line up for some time before we got in. To our great surprise and relief, there was no line at all! We headed in and decided to take advantage of the space before people crammed themselves in to every nook and cranny and took photos of everyone, as we'd all gone to the effort to dress up.
For me, I had my lovely pink headpiece with veil I'd picked up at last year's Fifties Fair, the long string of pink beads I bought in Beijing with Sara and I knew Miss Charlie had a great pair of pink shoes I could borrow which would match those. So the only thing I had to do was buy a dress to match the accessories... these things are important, and any excuse for a new dress is a good thing ;) I'd popped by Retrospect'd on Friday night and found a great little number I knew looks good on me, because I already have one, it's just a size 16 instead of 12. So, clearly I needed to buy a size 12 in the right colours ;)
I might have looked a little like this:
And us motley crew of patches collectively might have looked like this:
Overall, I think the night's attendance was down, but that was fine by us, it gave s a bit more room to move. Rhys and I took to the dance floor and tried not to get walloped by the many, many swing dancers. Although he's interested in Swing dance, he actually hasn't learned any, and I find it hard to lead while dancing as a female. But we had fun and that's all that really matters. I did have a dance with Warwick as he's a veteran Swing Dancer, I just couldn't keep up, and he didn't really want to use me as a weapon to assault the surrounding dancers.
The shows were quite impressive, I particularly liked Mark Winmill & Fez - those two are highly entertaining, Jamilla Deville did a fabulous chair dance, Kelly Ann Doll showed off her trademark fastest dance moves and sparkly outfits with a whole lot of flair, and the aerial work was all quite enjoyable. The magicians were less than impressive - but it was also getting late so energy was flagging.
But I suppose none of you really want to hear about the night (though it was great fun, you all can no doubt tell), you'd like to hear more about Rhys. He was the perfect example of a gentleman, dressed very dapper in a white shirt, grey slacks, red suspenders and a fabulously patterned red tie and a hat, plus the huge over coat. He looked completely the part. In fact as we were sitting down talking, a chap came and complimented Rhys on his costume, as most guys wear the typical black and red or black and white combo, and Rhys therefore stood out among the crowd. We danced quite a few times, until my feet got sore and he'd accompany me to sit down for a while, until we'd get up and dance again. He was also incredibly considerate of my lovely girlfriends who were with us that night. It's pretty hard to talk a lot in the ball atmosphere, but we did well to chat about some bits and pieces while dancing or in between acts. And he was very patient with me taking a million photos of everything.
Rhys may or may not look like this:
Gotchya!
By the end of the night, all of us gals had sore feet and it was decided that if we left just before the end of the ball, we'd stand a better chance of getting a taxi easily. So we all left and on George St at after 1am Rhys and I parted ways, and me and the gals cabbed back to my place.
I text him later, after the girls had gone, to thank him for a lovely night, and he responded with much the same, that it was a shame we didn't get to talk quite so much and that we should try to catch up again some time.
So we have another date this Thursday, we're off to see the Schelling Point at the Old Fitzroy Hotel which has the ever glamorous Lauren LaRouge in it. And I won't be surprised if we end up heading to the Ruby Revue on Sunday as well, as he mentioned he was keen to go, I hadn't even realised it was coming up so soon!
So things are looking up. You can see all the photos from the night on Flickr, and the edited highlights on my facebook.
As for Sam, I've tried to contact him and have had no response so far. He's not out of the running, maybe just taking a different route or detour briefly.