Hello everybody, and welcome to another very occasional (because you get
quite enough spam) update on what Gay Abandon's doing.

We've had a great summer, what with our "I heart gay abandon" 10th
birthday concert (lovely to see a sell-out audience again), singing for
the Beeb in Hull (http://tinyurl.com/4g5aek), singing at Leeds and
Bradford Prides, and of course launching the CD.

If you want to catch us at our best this year, you /could/ join us in
Dortmund (November 29th) or London (May 1st-4th). Or you /could/ wait
for our summer concert.

But no, what's this? 2008 Eisteddfod Choir of the World finalists [*]
the White Rosettes have asked us to sing in their winter show "It's
Snowtime!" at Leeds Town Hall on Sunday December 7th. The concert starts
at a very civilised 5 pm, so you can enjoy the Christmas Market on
Millennium Square first, and features three choirs and three champion
quartets.

You can book through www.leedsconcertseason.com or the
Town Hall Box Office (Carriageworks, Millennium Square, Leeds
0113 224 3801) or by email to tickets@...



[*] Oh, they've got shedloads of other awards too. Just look at their
website www.whiterosettes.org.uk - while you're there check out the
costumes, we may need to glam up even more than usual. And if you
thought our choreography was better than usual at this summer's concert,
that was largely due to some coaching from the ladies so you're in for a
real treat.


--
xx
Henry

• This Friday, the 26th, we're having a skills auction and a bit of a disco at the Queens Arms on Harrogate Road. Yes, this is your chance to mingle with your favourite chorines and help us raise a bit of dosh so we can afford to make our tenth anniversary CD that extra bit special.
• On November 10th we're singing at the Raise Your Banners festival of political song in Bradford, and on November 25th at the Words of War literature festival at the Royal Armouries here in Leeds.
• And on 19th July 2008 - put it in your diary now so you don't accidentally book the holiday of a lifetime and then lose your deposit because you'd rather come and see us - there's our Big Birthday Bash at Leeds College of Music. Come and help us celebrate ten years of Gay Abandon, and save up your pocket money to buy all your friends a copy of the CD that we'll be launching on the night.

-- xx
Henry

Gay Abandon? Over-organised and bureaucratic? Left hand always knows
what the right hand is doing? Us?

As some if not most of you already know, our summer concert "Class
Act" is this Sunday afternoon (24th June) at Leeds College of Music.
It's a bit of a corker, focusing on the more classical end of our
repertoire with guest mezzo Jaime Jo Hallam treating us to some diva
and the world première of another new piece by Ian Akroyd. Book online
at www.lcm.ac.uk/concert-season/how-to-book.htm - tickets are a
bargain £9.00 or £7.50, and include a glass of excellent cava and a
few strawberries. I'm really sorry, somebody else tried to tell you a
month ago but was understandably baffled by the yahoogroups website.

And don't forget our grand almost-the-end-of-term Saturday night disco
and skills auction at the delightful HQ Club on July 21st. Get down
and get groovy, and maybe get someone to fix that shelf or cook you
the perfect quiche or coach you in interview techniques or teach you
to tap dance or something.

In other news – the website was looking decidedly old-fashioned so
I've tarted it up with our new logo and some technical stuff, and Mike
Robinson's rewriting the whole thing to be deeper with more to
explore. Get yourself to www.gayabandon.org.uk and see what else we're
up to.

Imagine our excitement, turning up to rehearsal last night to be told
that we were being recorded for Radio Leeds tomorrow.

Bob Walmsley ("sounds like Friday afternoon, every afternoon") is
recognising World Aids Day at around 3.35. We laid down four tracks for
them to pick and choose from, old pros that we are, and improvised a
jingle for the presenter. Camilla and Tim are going to be interviewed
live.

If you're somewhere on the other side of the world you'll still be able
to catch the broadcast by logging on to Radio Leeds at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/radioleeds/index.shtml - in fact there's a
webcam of the studio so you might even be able to see Camilla and Tim.

This is a v-e-r-y occasional email from
gayabandonannounce@yahoogroups.com. The next one will probably be when
we've got some definite dates for our rather exciting Gay History Month
gigs in February, so I'll get the Christmas greetings in early!

--
xx
Henry

Hi folks

Time for another very-occasional bulletin from Gay Abandon. The big news
is that we're off to Paris in May for the Various Voices festival
(http://www.variousvoicesparis.com/GB/index.php?menu=festival).

I know a lot of you won't be able to make it - it's a tough swim - so
we'll be singing our Paris sets for our Leeds chums at the West
Yorkshire Playhouse on April 16th.

Why such early warning? Well, the tickets go on sale this Saturday at
our Valentine's Extravaganza. It's a sort of disco-party thing, not a
gig at all, at the Becketts Park Sports Bar
(http://www.lmusu.org.uk/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=37).
We're quite used to parties, but I think it's the first time we've done
a public one so woo and probably yay for us.

As ever, details and stuff at our web page. In full it's
http://www.boudoir.demon.co.uk/GA/comingup.htm
but if you're typing or memorising use www.gayabandon.org.uk and take it
from there.

--
xx
Henri

Tomorrow night is the first rehearsal of what promises to be an
exciting year for Gay Abandon.

(If you've been wondering about singing with us, that would be a
great night to just turn up - none of us will know any of the songs
either, so you won't feel left out!)

Dates are on the web page at www.gayabandon.org.uk - with two
exceptions:

Most years we join up with other lgb choirs from around the UK and
Ireland for a weekend of singing. That's not happening in 2004, so
we're trying to get a few of the choirs to come to Leeds for our
summer concert. We think it's the first time that the public's had a
chance to hear more than two or three lgb choirs together in the UK,
and believe me it's a special experience. More details when we have
them.

And then of course there's what will now be the second-queerest
weekend of the Leeds year - the Rainbow Weekend. Except we don't know
when it is yet. But we'll be there.

Hope to see you. We like singing, of course, but we like singing to
our wonderful audiences even better.

xx
Henry

I know, I know, it's a terrible pun. But with three guest choirs
there'll be FOUR PLAYing at our concert on June 7th.

Or should that be FOUR-SING?

Anyway, more details at
http://www.boudoir.demon.co.uk/GA/comingup.htm

Tickets are going fast now, but are still available from choir members
and through Shout http://www.shout.connectfree.co.uk/contact.html .
There may also be a few on the door, and I can reserve them for you
until about 7.15 on the night.

--
Henry Tickner

Hi folks

If it seems like ages since you heard anything from this group, then
that's because it /is/ ages since it was last used. As you probably
know, our MD Jane took her other choir Deep C Divas to Australia for the
Gay Games and she and her partner Rhiannon took the chance to have the
trip of a lifetime by coming back the long and scenic way.

In Jane's absence we've continued to rehearse with a number of guest
conductors, all of whom introduced us to new techniques and repertoire -
and one of whom even wrote a piece specially for us.

We'll be showcasing some of this new material, and revisiting some old
favourites, after Jane's return next month. We've booked the Great Hall
at Leeds University for Saturday 7th June. More details to follow, but
you can pencil the date into your diaries now.

And if you'd like to feel part of the event (and save yourself a few
quid while you're at it) then become a FLOGA. Friends & Lovers Of Gay
Abandon help out on the day: setting up in the afternoon, front-of-house
stuff like selling or checking tickets, meeting & greeting, and striking
the set in the evening. You'll be asked to help with one or two specific
tasks, you'll see the concert for free, and sometimes we give away FLOGA
t-shirts.

If you'd like to be a FLOGA for the night, please email Addie Orfila
<addie_orfila@...>; put FLOGA in the subject line (because you
don't want to be confused with all the spam that gets into hotmail) and
let her know whether you're available for the afternoon, the evening,
either, or both.

--
Henry Tickner

The lgb choir from one of Leeds' twin cities, Dortmund, is coming to
sing with us.

They're called "Sang und Klang: los!", which is almost as witty a pun as
our own name and translates as badly as I assume ours would into German.
They specialise in the music of Friedrich Hollaender, best known over
here for Falling in Love Again, and I'm particularly looking forward to
hearing their version of HoJoHoToHo which isn't by Wagner at all. Check
them out at http://dortmund.gay-web.de/sangundklanglos/

It's all happening on Saturday October 20th. I'm afraid you won't all be
able to join us for a cup of tea and a bun with the civic dignitaries,
but we'll be singing alfresco sets in Dortmund Square (at the top of
Allder's department store on the Headrow in Leeds city of Leeds) and
there's an evening concert called <fx: roll of drums> Twin Sets in Leeds
Uni's Conference Auditorium at 7:30. Tickets are £7.50 / £5.00
concessions from any choir member or on the door if there's any left (or
you could reserve tickets by e-mailing me).

It should be, look I've got to get this out of my system, a /pearl/ of
an evening. Twin cities. Groups of songs are called sets. Twin. Sets.
And Pearls. Geddit? Oh, please yourselves then.

--
Henry Tickner

for Gay Abandon, Leeds
http://www.gayabandon.org.uk

Hi folks

No, this newsgroup hasn't disappeared. It's just that we haven't been
singing locally recently - our last appearances were in Manchester at
the end of last year and in Berlin (!) in May.

RAINBOW WEEKEND

As many of you will know, neither Hyde Out nor the Pink Picnic are
happening this year. However a few community groups such as ourselves,
and a few energetic individuals, still want to see some sort of local
event over the summer and so The Rainbow Weekend will be happening from
the 20th-22nd July - ie the weekend after next.

This isn't some big impersonal organised thingy with dance tents and
stages and stuff, it's just whatever people want to put on. The main
event is a picnic on Hyde Park on the afternoon of Sunday 22nd (expect
the Lavender Cafe Orchestra at about 2 o'clock, ourselves singing at
about 3), but there's also a cabaret at the old Trades Club that evening
and any number of other things happening over the weekend - see Shout or
watch out for fliers. Turn up, relax, meet friends old and new.

SANG UND KLANG LOS

Leeds, as you may or may not know, is twinned with Dortmund in Germany
(along with other cities in other countries). A couple of years ago they
formed a lesbian and gay choir, and we're very proud that they've chosen
to make their first foreign trip to - Leeds!

The concert's on October 20th, so you've got plenty of time to clear
your diary for what should be a very special event. We've booked the
University's 700-seat Conference Auditorium (the old West Yorkshire
Playhouse), and we're hoping to welcome the Lord Mayor and assorted
luminaries. More details nearer the time.

In case you were wondering about the Dortmund choir's name - literally
it means 'Singing and playing: let's go!'. But like 'Gay Abandon' it
includes a play on words. Add 'mit' (='with') and you have the phrase
'mit Sang und Klang', which means 'in style', 'with panache'. So the
missing 'mit', like the 'with' in 'Gay Abandon', makes all the
difference, and a freer translation might be 'Let's do it in style!'.

--
Henry Tickner

for Gay Abandon, Leeds
http://www.gayabandon.org.uk

Hi Folks

Welcome to the first of an irregular series of mailings about what Gay
Abandon's up to. Well actually it's the third; but I've only just
discovered that after writing the two last year I should then have
logged on to egroups to authorise my own posts. D'oh, as Julie Andrews
sang.

We finished 2000 with what was generally agreed to be our best-ever
concert, the culmination of the Millennium Workshops. We'll be building
on the work we did then over the coming months; and it looks as though
there'll be a couple of small barbershop groups starting up within the
main choir.

Rehearsals start at 7.45 on Tuesday 9th January at the Swarthmore
Centre. If you're one of the people who's interested in joining us then
feel free just to turn up - we'll probably be learning new music for the
first few weeks so this is a good time. Email me if you want directions;
and if you're uncomfortable about walking into a room of 50 strangers,
then I'll be in the coffee bar on the ground floor of the centre from
about 7.30. We'll be in the Joseph's Well next door from about 9.45!

We're still looking for a pianist. We have a couple of accomplished
players in the choir, but they far prefer to look on Tuesdays as a night
off and just sing. At concerts we sing most music unaccompanied, so if
you or anyone you know would be willing to notebash in rehearsals that
would be a great help - but accompanying at concerts would be even
better. We might be able to stretch to a small honorarium.

No concerts confirmed for this term as yet. We're going to Berlin for a
European lgb choirs festival in May. Our summer concert will be in June
or July, and we're probably singing at Hyde Out in July. We're looking
at putting on another December concert in 2001, probably instead of
singing at the World Aids Day vigil which is becoming a bit overloaded
with singers.

We're linking up with the dozen or so other UK & Ireland lgb choirs; the
first public "Sing Out" event will probably be at a Gay Arts Festival in
London's South Bank sometime in 2002, but look out for a number of
visits to and from other choirs before then. We've already invited
Gloria from Dublin and Sang und Klang Los from Leeds' twin city
Dortmund, but no dates yet.

Most of us will be going for our annual weekend rehearsing at a youth
hostel sometime in February. After being bowled over when we attended a
rehearsal of the White Rosettes last year (did you see them in the
finals of the Sainsbury's Choir of The Year on BBC over Christmas?
They're even better live!), we're inviting them along to one of our
rehearsals this term.

Lynn Daniel is interested in starting a Friends of Gay Abandon group. If
you can't sing with us but would like to support the choir (fundraising,
backstage, front of house, any other skills you can offer) and didn't
fill in a form at the Millennium Concert, then let me know and I'll pass
a message on.

Wishing you all the best for a prosperous and music-filled 2001,

--
Henry Tickner