Say hello to Ed
Tuesday 22nd April

I was at a speed dating event yesterday (Tuesday). Baz had a spare ticket and invited me along. There were 7 ladies and out of them I've got 3 matches. That's good because there were 2 groups of 2 ladies who were friends and they always have discussions at the end to make sure they don't tick the same guys. So that's about a 50% success rate. There were also a few guys who we swapped contact details with and might meet up with in future to go clubbing. There's always someone not genuine at these events and this time it was a woman called Nicola. She's a fitness coach and didn't say it but came across she was looking for people to be customers – for her to personal train. It's those ladies that come across too nice and guys have an intuition that there's something not right. It takes experience to read between the lines and test them to know what they're really up to. So if you go to speed dating enjoy the dates you get out of it, don't worry about those who don't want to meet up as a few will be up to something anyway.

That was yesterday, now it's Wednesday evening and I'm driving to the city centre with Little Red Corvette by Prince playing on the stereo. I bought the Prince CD from HMV because it was 2 fo £10 and I didn't know what to get for the 2nd CD. I looked for 80's music and Jackson who was with me at the time said this Prince CD is good – Prince did Purple Rain and 1999 which were good songs so I bought the greatest hits CD. I didn't realise how obscure and camp Prince was until I bought the CD. He had a girlfriend though so that maybe makes it ok.

I park the car in the wastelands on the south side of the city and walk over to the Cornerhouse to meet Elavi.

Elavi is a guy who made his own CD of music and has it for sale in HMV. He was prosecuted for standing in one place for longer than 20 minutes while selling it with a street pedlars licence in Manchester city centre. When it reached the newspapers it gave him lots of free publicity, he's achieved a level of fame in the Northwest of England. We're meeting up because he said he'd help out and join in running a club night I'm considering starting in 3 or 4 months.

Now I'm in the Cornerhouse and he's 5 minutes late. A guy sitting at one of the tables nods and says hi.

Me: "Hi, I'm waiting for someone."
Him: "I noticed, take a seat."
Me: "Ok."
Him: "Who are you waiting for?"
Me: "This guy called Elavi, he's semi famous around here. Have you heard of him?"
Him: "No, why don't you phone him?"
Me: "I just texted him."
Him: "What does he look like?"
I describe Elavi.
Him: "Yes I've heard of him from the newspapers."
Him: "I'll keep a lookout and let you know if he comes in."
Me: "Thanks. I don't usually meet arty people on their own, I invite them along when I'm meeting up with other people because arty people are too unreliable."
Him: "Yes I know what you're saying."
Me: "What do you do?"
Him: "I'm a musician, I play saxophone." he says nodding to a box containing his instrument.
Him: "I run nights at Matt and Phred's jazz club."

Wow. This is lucky. I'm meant to be meeting up with Elavi who doesn't show, but it's ok because I randomly meet a guy at the venue who runs club nights. This is destiny, if I plan things it happens anyway, even if someone lets me down another guy shows in his place who's even better! There's so much energy behind this project the world is making things happen for me.

This guy is called Ed. We talk for 45 minutes about how to run club nights.

He invites me to the Kings Arms pub in Salford to watch one of his nights, where he plays saxophone in a jazz band with a double bassist, drummer and singer. It's a good night.


Summary and venue reviews: Wednesday 22nd April

Cornerhouse Cinema
Busy. Clientele: smart casual. Décor: 6/10.
Notes: A cinema with cafe bar and restaurant.
Cornerhouse Cinema

Kings Arms pub
Busy. Clientele: locals and jazz music fans. Décor: 5/10.
Notes: Ed plays the saxophone in a jazz music performance with friends on double bass, drums, and a singer.
Kings Arms pub



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© Alex Remizo