CHAPTER 6 - THE CLUB BEARDSLEY INCIDENT

Well, what can we say? It was, without a doubt, the strangest and funniest Club Beer yet. I know some of you like to get a few pints inside you before turning up and, having been faced with the sober realisation at 9pm that we're playing a load of old shite like Steeleye Span's "All Around My Hat", we can sympathise with you. But three entire people through the door by ten thirty was stretching it a little far. There is lager on sale at the LSE, you know. At a very reasonable rate as well. As little as £1.40 (ish) for the weaker, more sensible brands. So, hey, why not come earlier next time? I've got a weak heart, after all. Or I will have if this carries on for much longer.

Anyway, luckily Andrew Mueller and his two chums (Angus knows their names, but he's away at the footy, so sorry, but hey thanks lads) were there and that was enough for us. Paper aeroplanes were fashioned. Pints were sunk. We even played the theme tune to "Colditz", which was a personal highlight. And by the time everyone else turned up after the pubs were shut, we'd left the realms of decent, responsible DJ-ing and had entered a strange, semi-hysterical mindset where anything and everything was possible.

Hence we were treated to the sight of: Peter and Alex doing their now traditional dance to "Wuthering Heights"; the rowing club lads acting the goat and arsing around as is the recognised way at Club Beer; the football geezers almost breaking down in tears when we played "World In Motion" and (against our better judgement, it being a genuinely good tune and all) "Made Of Stone; Andy from Hairy Tongue getting into some seriously intense dancemoves and babbling on about setting up a tongue scanning facility for the next night (a good idea? Let us
know); Mitch and Frasier being their usual sophisticated selves when faced with metal; and Bronwyn, the noble Club Beer barmaid serving out her last night (she's the girl in the video dancing), as she's finally finished her exams.
Good luck, say we. We couldn't have done it without you.

TUNE OF THE NIGHT

We played our usual selection of hilarious toss of which "Jump" by Van Halen, that "Back Home" football song and "Since You've Been Gone" were particularly fine highlights, but one song stood bald head and saggy shoulders above the rest of them. Here's how it happened: during the day a "friend in high places" (the same pal who blagged Club Beer into Red Ken's celebratory party, which will make sense only to the mailing list members, but hey, you know where to go if you want to join), sent me a Real Player file of a tune he'd "found" on the Internet. I sent it to Angus, he sent it to another mate of his who burned it onto CD and so it was with great pride and drunken delirium that we were able to unveil. . . Blur's "Song 2", with Homer Simpson doing the "whoo-hoo!" bits. Just take a moment o imagine what that might have sounded like. It was amazing, astonishing, people stopped in their tracks, mid chatter, pint halfway to their lips and looked at us with utter disbelief. And then they cheered, hollared and generally went mental. It is that confused moment between the two reactions that Club Beer exists for.

See some strange and confusing pictures here