RVT

After a dithery early evening of abortive dates, I got in the car and drove down South to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern to meet up with Gary.

The great and mighty David Hoyle a.k.a. the Divine David was in residence, this time in musical mode.

I walked into him freestyling a sort-of Shirley Bassey primal scream over the maddest of electronica. It was – I found out – one of the founder members of Minty, Richard Torry, who was twiddling the knobs and it was blisteringly good.

At the end the grandaddy of gay protest, Tom Robinson, did a set. He was on amazing form – he’s got good pipes on him that one – and rounded it all off with THAT song.

But the real eyes-wide-open moment for me was the whiplash brilliance of Al Joshua – who was mesmerizingly good. He’s the front man of Infants and Vandals. I immediately bought the CD from the lady with the top hat who was toting them and even got him to sign it.

He is like Dylan meeting the Hidden Cameras quoting Rimbaud whilst channelling Jacques Brel. Which does not justice to the weirdly unique brilliance of it all. Listen and love.

And while I’m at it: long live the RVT.