Bongo's Bingo Round 2

Goddamn, I'm hungover. I drank a stunning amount of alcohol at mine and my mate's birthday bash in Northern Quarter bar Guilty last night. But before I get into that outrageous scenario, I want to mention another absurdity from Friday night, where we dropped into the sold-out Bongo's Bingo at the Albert Hall. 

Johnny Bongo, host of the bizarre and hilarious bingo game, calls out the numbers and dishes out prizes for correct numbers, assisted by his two cross-dressing aides Sweaty Betty and Slutty Sue. Prizes increase in value from a pigeon head, through a unicorn onesie, up to £600.

Before the numbers can be called, the fat suit needs to be taken off- it's one of the prizes. He strips out of it to Nelly's Hot In Here, and pours a can of cider over himself in his boxer shorts. Then it's eyes down for more numbers.

You find as the numbers are called that your card gets really full- just before 'bingo' is called, you'll be so close to winning, as will everyone else, that the tension is hanging in the air. (Or maybe that's the smoke machines that will go off in the break when the UV rave begins.)

Absolutely hilarious. Events also take place in Liverpool, Birmingham, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Leeds.

Last night's info will have to come later- I am in no fit state.

Chilling with P Diddy's Son on a Thursday Night (Kinda)

Thursday night: started in a very busy Albert's Schloss and headed over to an equally busy LIV for their Socialite event. These two venues are unaffected by the summer's absence of students and are always good shouts.

Thursday's host at LIV: Quincy, one of P Diddy's sons, who performed one of his own songs. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for this future star.

Manchester!!!  Meet my son @Quincy now at @clubLivMCR !!!  S/O @_LIVEBASE @Mo_clubliv pic.twitter.com/drMipUsnNE

— Sean Diddy Combs (@iamdiddy) July 28, 2016

Pics from the night are here.

Me and the lovely Asha

I went with Manchester Cool Bars. You should have done too!

Redrafting Once Upon a Time in Great Britain

For the last 7 months I've been bringing a screenplay project in to Writers Connect, my writing group. It's called Once Upon a Time in Great Britain, it's a meagre 17,000 words, and it's about a graduate who is recruited into a terror faction in Manchester. I've brought it in one chunk at a time, with each section running at around 1000 words. The group have enjoyed the story although they found numerous areas for improvement. They also found it hard to keep up with the plot, considering there's a minimum of 2 weeks between each meeting.

Now that I've shown them the whole script, the plan is to redraft using the notes I made on the feedback the group gave me. Then I'm going to bring in 6 copies of the new draft to the meeting on the 14th August, where we'll perform a full read-through of the script. Nexus Art Cafe from 1pm.

This is my project for the next 3 weeks. It'll be nice to have a deadline and to have people waiting for the work, and being motivated by someone other than myself. I need people to take parts: if you fancy joining in you'll be assigned a role... and your feedback will be appreciated.

Come to Socialite on Thursday

Fancy a night in a cool club with the odd celeb knocking around? If so come to Socialite on Thursday at Club LIV. I'm going with Manchester Cool Bars. We've been a few times and it's always a good night. This week it's hosted by Quincy, one of P Diddy's sons. Don't miss out! Get your RSVP in on the site ASAP. We're starting in Albert's Schloss on Peter St.

Manchester party info update

New meetup Cosmopolitan Drinks and Dining is garnering followers fast! It's all about the nice bars and restaurants in Manchester. Their fist meetup- a few drinks in swanky Epernay- already has 40 RSVPs.

House music event series The Warehouse Project has released their 2016 lineup. Here are some impressive names playing in the roster, including Chocolate Puma who I'll be seeing in December. I'm going with people I've met on Meetup, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were meetups for events closer to the time. Many events have already sold out, and more will soon. But it's well worth keeping your eye on both Meetup and the Warehouse Project sites.

More info tomorrow.

Great Britain

Just after the UK voted to leave the EU in June, but just before the Tory leadership race got under way, I visited Writers Connect where we performed a politically-themed warm-up exercise. The title was 'Great Britain.' I was hoping Boris would make it, but hey ho. Who was I kidding?

There is no irony in this name, not even in the great upheaval of summer 2016. Britain is still great. It just isn't going to have quite as big a bat to swing, not for much longer at least.

We are about a month away from the Olympics, an international issue that for once doesn't concern the EU. It's an opportunity for our nation, as it stands, still to shine. This could, in fact, be the last time our Scottish Athletes compete with us, within our team, on an international stage. The Scottish National Party have said Scotland will leave the EU in the event of a Brexit. Well, that's happening now.

Will we need a passport to get into Scotland? Will they put extra tax on Scotch whisky? Will it lead to smuggling, and Scotch speakeasies?

Scotland is also known, if you read the news (and a lot of Irvine Welsh novels) for having a problem with heroin. Will new borders lead to more struggles to get this particular drug to users? Will this, plus alcohol smuggling, lead to more violence?

Or will everything stay more or less as it is, just with a self-aware dork with a messy haircut as a Prime Minister instead of an alleged pigfucker?

Prospective Mondays

Quiet week and weekend ahead, I'm afraid. I missed the last Writers Connect due to a party, so this time I'll make sure I go. I'm going to be reading out the final part of my screenplay Once Upon a Time in Great Britain. I'll recap the plot and answer plot questions as we go along, so don't worry about that. Get down to Nexus on Dale St Sunday from 1pm.

I have more ideas for nights out so keep checking back over the next few weeks if you want to get involved.