[LMBTO] Eurovision gets local - Bristol Calling

Regular readers will know that I have been ticking off 'Eurovision things to do' since the start of my blogging experience:

Normally being closest to the venue means you often end up being the last to get there but I was in fact second.  Too early?  It gave me a chance to chat with the organiser of Bristol Calling and host of MDE Radio, Jason D'Arcy, who has hosted similar events at Manchester and Brighton.  As more people arrived, it was time to put on my wristbands:

There was a decent number of OGAE members who turned up from all over the place, not only locals like myself but also quite a contingent from the North West and London, including the OGAE President Alasdair Rendall, who seemed to have one of these when we all ordered food:

Maybe it just looked that big!  A very pleasant hour or so was spent getting to meet and chat with members old and new, together with eating and drinking, accompanied by some very chilled Eurovision ballads playing in the background.  There was surprisingly a lot of room, with the dance area just for ourselves and the nearby tables kept for those (like myself) who rarely venture onto the dancefloor:

It did get busier as the night went on, with music for everyone.  A superb selection took us on a journey from Kathy Kirby to Poli Genova:
 Teddy and Pearl (I think they were in there to get people to go to the bar) to Loreen:
 and Cliff to Justs:
To be fair, 99% were 'hits in colour' but as these were tracks chosen partly by those attending, you have to say that they are all someone's favourites!  I personally went for my absolute stonewall certainty when it comes to choices for Eurovision discos:
And I did hear it played, even if I didn't get up there and give it the full fistpump!  To get a flavour of the ambience, a quick vid shoot was in order, just as Ira Losco was playing:

I had a good chat with quite a few members that I had met before at Eurobash (Adam, Philip, Patrick and John - all of whom have been involved, one way or another, with the amazing Eurostars talent contest) and also a few who I had not chatted with before (Jonathan and more 'Stars veterans in the shape of Kesh and Jon).  We could have almost had a 'Eurostars Reunion', there were so many there on Saturday night!  Some were probing me to see if I would be interested, as I had mentioned that the Eurobash Facebook event page had revealed there were a couple of spaces - after hearing how some felt their entire Saturday at the 'Bash was wrapped up in preparing for the singing, I think I'll give it a miss, at least this year anyway!  I'd need twelve months preparation to rehearse and learn the words!  I'd also need time to find either an Austin Powers outfit or some adventurer harem pants and boots - I'll leave you guessing as to who I would consider being on stage!  Talking about Eurobash, everyone there was excited about October, as am I.  As for my favourite subject (my blogs), apologies to anyone I chatted with that ended up having to hear about them - I did get the feeling that Eurovision Beauty was getting some welcome attention though, which has finally convinced me NOT to bring my two blogs together.  More work for me but it is obviously appreciated...

After quite a few drinks and as everyone else in the pub left to wonder out into the Bristol drizzle, I too took my leave from a very enjoyable evening, saying my goodbyes to everyone I could (apologies to those I didn't say cheerio to or haven't mentioned here) and waited for my lift outside:

I suspect that the night continued for most still there, continuing as they made their way down Whiteladies Road to their accommodation - hopefully everyone had as good a night as I did.  Thanks has to go to DJ D'Arcy and everyone involved in setting Bristol Calling up, to the Kings Arms and to everyone there on the night, including the dogs (I know it is an old picture on the FB page but they were still on their cushion!):