I will try and keep this as brief as possible, but you never know I could get carried away and go on for hours. So here it is ... the write up on the recent London fan meeting. To be honest I was not looking forward to this meeting, merely because it had become such a headache to organise. Every venue I tried all had a disgusting fixed Xmas menu that I would not even feed my dog (if I had one) and they were asking a kings ransom for it. As a last resort I decided to take a risk and choose a venue on the day .... WHAT AN EXCELLENT RISK.
Although everyone that turned up are die hard George fans, there were three of us who proved to be a little more eccentric by travelling into London from various parts of Europe. My thanks first to Sonja who travelled into London and back home again to Belgium all in one day, and to Bianca (Holland) and Nathalie (Germany). We, (my sister, Emma and Jason her boyfriend) were all wandering around aimlessly looking for the "right" venue when I heard the dulcet tones of George singing "Do They Know It's Xmas". My ears pricked up and I decided that this was the place to be .... The Fashion Cafe.
I had arranged to meet everyone outside the Capital Radio Cafe. There
were already a few people waiting (what kind of organiser am I, I always
seem to arrive after everyone else). Eventually everyone turned up and
I was amazed to see that I had doubled the numbers from last time
... there were 14 of us:-
We had to wait about 5 mins for a table but I think it was well worth the wait. Upon entering into the actual restaurant we spotted one of the outfits used in the Too Funky video worn by supermodel Emma .. the one that was a corset that had the motorbike rear view mirrors and handlebars attached to it. (At this point Michelle gave herself a silent congratulatory pat on the back for being so clever in her choice of venue). They had a number of other wonderful outfits on display ... one which was worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Whilst we were waiting for the meal I handed out the competition ... now last time everyone complained that it was too hard ... this time I believe it was too easy ... anyway we had one first prize winner and two runner up's, so congratulations to:-
Michelle who won second prize ... a promo 12x12 flat for Star People Lucy who won third prize ... a photo of George from the Faith days. I sweet talked the waitress in getting the DJ to play at least one George record. A little while later she came back and told me that the DJ's CD and been stolen (now do I believe her ... hmmm I'm still not sure). Anyway all was not lost because Bianca bless her was brave enough to lend the waitress her CD of Older ... they played three and half songs for us. As usual I think we made a huge impression on everyone in the restaurant due to our wonderful collective voices joining George. And due to our rather animated conversation ... about .. you guessed it .... George. We finished our meal and guess what ... I managed to lose half of the fans ... what happened to them ... well I know that Nela & Michelle and Bev went home ... but what happened to Debbie and her friends remains a mystery :o) So Bianca, Nathalie, Sonja, Samantha, Emma, Jason and Moi went shopping. I guess I'm one of those people who just isn't happy unless they waste their money on things that they already have ... so I picked up a copy of the video Wham! The Best Of ... I already have all these videos ... but hey in for a penny, in for a pound. Unfortunately I had to leave earlier than I originally planned due to my sister who is 16 not feeling very well ... so I left Bianca, Nathalie, Samantha and Sonja by the funfair in Leicester Square to continue to fun ... which I understand they did. My thanks to Bev who was generous enough to donate two of her prize possessions as runner-up prizes for the competition. Okay that's it ... is everyone still awake, or have I managed to send you all to sleep? My thanks to everyone who turned up ... it was great meeting you all. I sincerely hope you all had a great time and that I will have the chance to meet you all again at the next meeting ... sometime in the Summer.
Take care all .... Michelle.
"On Saturday, 6th December 1997, a crowd of George Michael fans gathered for the second UK London-area "Yog-fest"! And what a crowd it was! There were around twice as many of us as had been present at the first lunch meeting back in the hot, hot summer.... This time it was cold, cold winter -- but that certainly didn't spoil our fun!! We ate at the Fashion Cafe in central London. As we entered, and waited for our table, we all looked at the beautiful clothes on display, among them a dress worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. But the outfit that caused the most excitement was one of the outrageous creations worn by a "supermodel" in George's "Too Funky" video!! The food was delicious (there was, thankfully, plenty of choice for vegetarians!) and the conversation was animated! And the major topic? GEORGE, of course!! Although most of the fans present subscribed to at least one Internet newsgroup/site related to George, some were not "on line", but their knowledge and enthusiasm for George's music was certainly none the less for that fact!! Gossip was exchanged, and photographs were passed around....all in all a most pleasant way to spend a few hours!! It was good to meet up with old friends, and meet some new ones!! Thank you, Michelle, for your superb organizational skills, and for the choice of venue. Here's to next time........"
Bev
"I would like to share my experience and recollection of the second George Michael gathering in London organized by the talented (she can really sing, you know!) and fabulous Michelle. All her headaches and preparations have produced a wonderful atmosphere of warmth and closeness between 14 hard-core fans. Once we met in front of Capital Radio Cafe, Michelle had already found the best spot in town that would allow such a large group to eat leisurely. You have to understand that during the Christmas season such a task becomes close to impossible. To the Fashion Cafe we all went, in a very merry and excitable state. Personally, I had arrived 15 minutes late...and everyone was patiently waiting for me, like a Queen, euh! euh! Well, what can I say, my hotel room was not ready and on the way to the Tube, I HAD to drop by George's house and give him a "French Kiss" greeting, a tradition everytime we are both in town....OUPS, Where was I, Oh! yes, meeting my wonderful "old" and new friends at Leicester Square. After greeting sweet Michelle, her beautiful sister Emma and adorable friend Jason, mysterieuse Bianca, fun Sonja, GM Encyclopedia Beverly, Capital Pop Princess Debbie, Lucy, Michelle, Julie, Samantha and those two lovely ladies from Portugal Nela and Michelle, we finally made it to the Fashion Cafe restaurant. While we were enjoying each others' company, we exchanged lovely stories and photos about the MAN. God! Ain't he gorgeous or what!! Michelle had studiously organized a wonderful (and fortunately for me, easy) contest. Nonetheless, some other foreign entity won all the prizes and I was left with nothing...snif! snif! Well,that's the name of the game...Congrats to the ones who won, Debbie, Michelle & Lucy. After approximately half an hour or so, we decided that the DJ needed our full support...Indeed, we sent up one of George's record, OLDER (Bianca had all George's discography right at her fingertips... Well, that's a hard-core fan, don't you think!?) and asked that the DJ play FASTLOVE....Well, I'm not sure if he or she knew how to stop his/her CD sound system, but he/she ended up playing just about 4 songs from OLDER!!! You can imagine our enthousiastic accompaniment to George's ballads. In fact, I was simply singing on TOP OF MY LUNGS!!! A little more encouragements from my fellow "Georgettes" and I would have stepped right up the Cafe's catwalk and did my little dance number Ha! ha! Unfortunately, such a fate was not mine and I therefore retrieved into the deepest part of my psyche and soaked my tears... Well, after an extended 5 seconds, I came back up with full bubbling energy. After our lovely lunch, we decided to hit all the records stores in the area, HMV and Tower Records. Unfortunately, upon our departure, we amazingly lost a few members of our group....Where they went remains a mystery....I have learned since that Beverly needed to catch her train home. As far as the others, well, hope you had a wonderful time..."
Nathalie
"Hmmm... I seem to be the last one to find time and sit down to write my
story about the London meeting.
I was really surprised to see Michelle had doubled the number of people
who showed up. And Fashion Cafe was a nice change, the food was good,
the dj was very nice to play some of the "Older" songs and the
conversation was great... all about George Michael of course. :)
I took a picture of the futuristic "Too Funky" outfit, let's hope it
turns out great."
Bianca
 Nathalie, Bianca and the "TooFunky" outfit George, Emma and the "TooFunky" outfit
If you were there |
|
