Summer Hiatus

Well, it all went a bit silent and dark out there on my cultural radio for a bit.

I can only apologise for the delay in my most recent updates but I have begun a small hiatus from working life and took initial advantage of such time to maneouvre by surrounding myself with beauty in scenary and company up in the Lake District.

Rejuventated and returned, I feel like I have a veritable cultural artillery to unleash, before I head once again to a dusty plain in Spain, and, to begin at the beginning, I will start with a free festival coming up this very weekend.

Celebrating Sanctuary is an event that is at the heart of Refugee Week. Despite rabid tabloid headlines regarding immigration this and asylum seekers that, the reality is that the majority of refugees bring massive contributions to our society, especially in this epicentre of multiculturalism we call London. Refugee Week is about considering this and celebrating this.

Celebrating Sanctuary brings a whole host of amazing musicians, performers and poets together on one bill. Many of these will be acts you've yet to be conscious of but will soon be blown away by.

Headlining are Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars whose story is one of triumph through adversity and whose music is a manifestation of the positivity that courses through these incredible musician's veins.

Alongside them are musicians from as far afield as Somalia, Tibet, Afghanistanand Bosnia and, from much closer to home, the incredibly talented wordsmith, a cappella lyricist and all round phenomenon that is Kate Tempest.

If you haven't seen the girl in action yet, be prepared to be astonished.

All of this and more will be happening right by the Oxo Tower in Bernie Spain Gardens and is, thankfully for my broke ass, FREE.

Medea at Midnight

                            Photo by Allan Titmuss

With every passing year it seems, changes abound more abunduntly and more rapidly. To grab our attention, things apparently need to be bigger, better, newer, different, more outrageous, more involving. .

However, it is a rare occasion that something both pushes the envelope and entices in equal measure. With the advent of partipatory, promenade theatre there have been ever more daring performances, ever increasing boldness of location and new levels of audience interaction.

Taking all this to seemingly new heights is a production in association with LIFT and The Arcola Theatre. Hotel Medea, having been put on by The Arcola last year and currently on tour in Brazil, will be returning as a site-specific performance.

Leaving by boat from the QEII pier, near the living embodiment of human horror that is the O2, the journey will begin at midnight and go through the night until 5:30am, meanwhile, the full force of the melodrama of Hotel Medea will be scored live by DJ Delores as the marathon story unfolds around London.

This is going to be intense, powerful and, undoubtedly, a unique way to experience theatre.

I'm just buying my tickets now and I wouldn't want to have to try and put the experience into words for you...

Velocipede Venture

I don't know about you but, as a cyclist in London, I can't help but notice the explosion of fellow two-wheeled commuters and travellers. I've even begun to experience bicycle traffic jams on my route to work.

This, however, is not to denigrate such things as more dashing velocipedes on our streets but to celebrate and revel in this happy happenstance and pedalled pleasure...

In recognition of this, I thought I'd tell you about The Pleasant Revolution. They have been taking epic, not to mention heroic, bicycle tours of Northern and Central America and are currently on their beautifully slow-paced way to our shores as they pedal across Europe.

Not only this, but since the very literal moniker for their journey would indicate, The Pleasant Revolution Bicycle Music Festival Tour: Europe 2010 are carrying a 1200 watt pedal-powered PA system and a motley crew of outstanding musicians with them.

Scheduled to arrive in this city of Faster, Bigger, More on the 5th June they will be taking a brief hiatus from the trip to show the ways of Slower, Less and Quality.

They will be holding a series of events as they move around East London, all of them for FREE and featuring bands including The Ginger Ninjas, CelloJoe and The Genie.

They have released their schedule as follows...

Saturday 5th June

9:00 - 10:00 Look Mum No Hands Bicycle Cafe - Smallish venue mainly for the press.

11:00 - 13:00 London Fields - Huge loads of space and lots of Bikes

14:00 - 16:00 Stepping Stones Farm Stepney

17:00 - 19:00 Surrey Docks City Farm

21:00 - late Pangea Project Stamford Hill

Sunday June 6th

12:00 - 19:00 Camden Green Fair Regents Park

It'll cost you nada and I hereby offer my own personal guarantee that the sun will be shining. I know it will because I won't be working and me and the guy with his hat on up there have an 'understanding'...

What excuse do you have? Join the Revolution...

Romper Causing a Rumpus

Now, being more of a culcha whore than a party whore these days, it is not often that I am moved to write on this page regarding another 'fundraiser'.

So I'm not going to start now. What I am going to write about though is an event that has been bubbling under the surface for a while now in the braincheese of some of our most respected compadres.

Brought to you by the estimable Mr Genochio, the irrepresible DJ Malaka and the irreplaceable Drusus Germanicus, Rumpus avoids the usual fuss and bluster and cuts straight to the chase.

Featuring a stream of performers from all parts of the artistic spectrum including the full-on swing powerhouse that is The Smoky Taps, the searing roundhouse kick of mayhem and mystery that is Reverend Zero's Medicine Show and those dashing gentlemen of action, Flay and DeVille.

This is without even mentioning the veritable ukulele hero Desmond O'Connor and chillout space designed by and featuring the kings (and queens) of Kitsch, The Immaculate Extremists.

If you're not bloated from indulging in all this then the gluttony will continue into the night with a range of DJs playing anything from Gypsy to Electroswing to Dubstep.

Taking place at Cable, near London Bridge, and for the unreasonably affordable price of £8, let the wild rumpus begin!

Celebrate the Tate

Believe it or not, the Tate Modern is 10 years old this year. Yes, it's 10 whole years since the former Bankside Power Station was reborn to great acclaim as one of the world's best homes of modern art.

I can't help but think back to what I was doing in 2000. And cringe a little. We're all a lot older and wiser now. Kind of. Right?

Anyway, as much as I am fond of riffing, scatting and circumnavigating the point, let's get back to the issue here.

In honour of this auspicious birthday, the Tate Modern are holding a free festival this weekend from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th May.

Working with the apparently 'visionary' curators Maurizio Cattelan, Cecilia Alemani and Massimiliano Gioni, there will be more than 70 international, independent art collectives creating projects in the famous Turbine Hall.

Some of these collectives include White Columns (New York), Cinemateque de Tanger (Tanger), Kling and Bang (Reykjavik) and no.w.here (London) and the opportunity to see them will be extended to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

From the information I've seen this looks as though it will be a veritable feast of contemporary art and performance and allied with the knowledge that most of you are in a permanent state of hunger for creative juices, this is surely a match made in heaven...

The First Rule of Scrap Club is....SMASHITUP!

We live in an era and a city where the stresses and strains of modern life often weigh heavy on our shoulders and it is important to have an outlet to vent every so often.

Now Michael Douglas in Falling Down had one idea but that often leads to unnecessary killing of people and scaring of people in creepy burger joints. There is another way.

Scrap Club.

The premise is that if you are fortunate enough to get a ticket, you attend and are then shown into the arena. Each round a set of names are called and a load of hallowed scrap is brought into the room ranging from volvo cars to gas cookers, from grand pianos to exercise bikes.

When your name is uttered, you are then handed a sledgehammer and a pair of goggles and, well, you go to work on it. Smash it, kill it, break it, wreck it. It's frankly primeval.

Once you've walked the walk, you step away from the arena and, hey presto! The stress and anger has simply melted away...Ahhhh....now...

I'M GOING HOME!

21st May 19:30
Bocking Street Warehouse E8 3RL
Tickets are £10 (plus £1 bastard tax)

More Than A Home For Dogs

I'm coming back to a theme that is always close to my heart here. How frickin' awesome and talented the people I call my friends are.

They're also, mainly, massive show-offs...which is lucky for the rest of us who thus have the opportunity to see the manifestations of such efforts.

One such opportunity is on the horizon and drawing ever closer as part of the Scratch Festival at that veritable and giant mine of cultural performance and exhibition, the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC).

The Scratch festival as a whole will be displaying an array of different artists in every corner of the canyon of a space they have there. To narrow this premise down, a Scratch "is a new theatrical idea developed by artists and shaped by audience feedback".

Featuring in one of these Scratches is our resident cynical font of knowledge and creator of beautiful visuals, Justin Beardsall. In collaboration with composer Caroline Devine and Dancing Brick, "A L I C E" will be a piece lamenting the decline of analogue technology, harking back to a more innocent and clunky era and celebrating these icons of our childhood.

8-bit computer games, VHS, cassette tapes, that creepy girl with the doll and chalkboard. Ah, joy! Halcyon days indeed and, frankly, I couldn't think of a more capable pair of hands to bring this back to life than VJ Meno's.

Right, I'm off to spend 45 minutes listening to preternatural screeching and vibrating lines of colour just so I can play Arcadians on my Acorn again...

May 5th and May 6th
7:45pm
BAC

Tickets £5 (plus there is a 3for2 offer)

Fork Handles

If there are any regular readers of this out there on the interweb, then maybe at least one of you can recall my bigging up of the Sir John Soanes Museum a while back.

I had good reason then to give what little kudos I have to offer to this oft forgotten London treasure and I have even more reason now...

As if the Museum itself is not amazing and atmospheric enough, there will now be extra-super-special candlelit tours of the house.

A house that features collections ranging from Neo-Classical sculpture to Egyptian Antiquities to glorious timepieces. All this within the walls of a beautiful and historical building in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Taking place on the first Tuesday of every month from 6pm - 9pm and at the absolutely spiffingly good price of FREE.

Make sure to arrive in good time as this kind of thing tends to lend itself to the great British sport of queuing...

NomNomNomNomNom!

Food. God bless food. My top three things in life are often interchangeable and interwoven but a trip to flavour country is a regular chart-topper.

What's not to love? It comes in different shapes, sizes, flavours, textures, colours and even different parents.

If you're similarly driven by culinary desires or delicious mastication then I should inform you that we are, right now, in the midst of a celebration of food.

Hosted by UCL, Food Junctions has already been running this week and is set to climax this bank holiday weekend, in Camley Street Natural Park, with events covering workshops, lectures, food creativity and, of course, royally stuffing one's face.

Go on, get stuck in, Sausage Gut!

Je t'aime the Thames

There's been a noticable radio silence over the last week and I can only mitigate this by asking you to take a look out your window and remind yourself as to how fortunate our recent meteorological circumstances have been.

Daytime is the new nighttime and I, for one, have certainly been making hay.

With such conditions in mind, there is an exceptional opportunity to make the most of such clement weather this weekend. Not only is it, of course, a bank holiday, but one amongst our midst has squirreled out an opportunity to celebrate on the fair waters of our Thames river.

Launching this Sunday, Je Thames is going to be a new regular river boat party located on the Embankment. This weeks instalment, monikered "Our Frenz Electric", sees a stellar line-up from live bands such as Braindead Collective and Gobsausage to some deep and dirty DJ sets from Dan Donovan (Dreadzone) and Tom Parker (Deptford Noise Team).

Covering two decks, plus a barbeque to feed the masses on the (hopefully) sun-drenched open deck, there will also be a liberal sprinkling of performance art for you to enjoy in-between nourishing your electrosoul.

Located on the North side of the river, right near Temple station or a short walk from Embankment station, and at the absolute bargain price of £3 (before 6pm) and £5 after, it'd be an honour to sit out on the deck with you and relax while the waves and varying floating body parts wash gently up against the hull of this good ship Electric.

Electro Retro

So, there appears to be a new scent trail in the air, a smell, a sound that is attracting many of my peers and spreading like wildfire. Incorporating many things dear to mine own heart, including dapperness, swing music and modern electro.

Yes pop-pickers, it's electroswing. As far as I can tell, this all seems to have grown out of Mr Scruff's signature tune, Get A Move On and spawned a whole movement of such.

At the forefront of this, one of the spearheads if you like, are The Correspondents, spreading this vintage gospel to all four corners of London.

They will next be popping their heads above the pulpit at Jamm in Brixton as part of an evening being run by those old festival stagers, the Chai Wallahs and I am reliably informed by one of my most eminent and esteemed colleagues that "you'd be a fool to miss it, I is tellin' ya!".

Appearing alongside this formidable tour de force are South London's finest Rodney P and DJ Skitz. These veritable godfathers of British hiphop would be worth the admission fee on their own but added to the aforementioned and backed up by the likes of the explosive Molotov Jukebox and the slick and unstoppable King Porter Stomp this could be an evening to tempt even the most hardened Hackneyite out of the East and to head down South...

Punch Upside The Head

The last few years has seen the inexorable rise of the immersive, interactive theatre experience. Audiences wanting to be transported to other worlds, to feel a part of their encountered surroundings and to really get their noses and hands in the dirt.

Leading the way has been the Punchdrunk Company who from their earliest shows in 2000 have steadily ramped up the vision, scope and imagination of their productions.

Personally, my first experience of the Punchdrunk world was The Firebird Ball that really saw Punchdrunk make a name of itself and since that point the magnitude of each subsequent show has unequivocally expanded to the point where they are now one of the most well known and oft spoken of theatrical collectives, with every new show being discussed in hushed and hallowed terms.

Now despite my tendancy to dismiss anything that suddenly comes to the verge of being popular culture, I am GENUINELY FUCKING EXCITED to hear about the next Punchdrunk project.

Aligning themselves with the English National Opera (ENO), they are currently hard at work squirreling words down, badgering routines and foxing plotlines for a collaboration that will give birth to a captivating, consuming and undoubtedly conspicuous production of The Duchess of Malfi.

Here's where I shoot you all a creepy wink, a sly nod and an unnecessary nudge by directing you to where you can be among the haughty few to find out when tickets for this will go on sale as soon as they do.

Now don't say I don't spoil you...

Have a Butchers...

                                          Photo by George Best

Ah, London's East End. Culturally and historically one of the most interesting, vibrant and diverse bits of Europe and many of us are fortunate enough to call this our home.

I am constantly reminded of this fact by the sheer amount of opportunities and new avenues to explore that pop all around us. Just when I thought I had my finger on the pulse, another previously unknown and untapped vein ruptures in my face.

Just such a spurt, is the East End Film Festival which has previously avoided my gaze and looks to be a veritable treasure trove of cinematic delights. A showcase for new stars pushing through and homegrown, independent releases, films will be shown, events will happen and music will be played all round some of East London's institutions including The Genesis in Mile End, The Rio in Dalston, Spitalfields Market and The Whitechapel Gallery.

Also taking in some of the shinier venues including Rich Mix and Vibe Gallery, this aims to be a forum and exposure for those who have created and an inspiration to those who aspire to and all within walking distance of many of our doorsteps.

How could one resist?

22nd - 30th April
EAST END INNIT

Proper Tea

                       Picture from the Taschen book 'Japanese Beauties'   

For those of you fortunate enough to be able to set your own agenda during the day, a sneaky freebie for you here.

We British have our own obsession with that esteemed and often life-resolving beverage, tea. However, the Japanese have taken the whole thing to a higher aesthetic plane, as is often their way.

In keeping with the precise, delicate and not-a-little beautiful way of Japan, their ceremony around tea gives a whole different perspective to the milk-and-sugar ways.

Go see for yourself at The Way of Tea, a demonstration of such subtle beauty.

Friday 9th April
2pm and 3pm
FREE (just drop in)
Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries in The British Museum

Hope for Haiti

It's all flooding out after a weeks absence and the news keeps rolling in.

This time it's a little something for all those kids who are south of the river, y'poor souls ye...

Although it might be out of the headlines, Haiti is by no means out of the woods. Not by a long shot. Total worldwide donations are hovering around the 750 million dollar mark which is an incredible response but still far short of the estimated billions of dollars it will take to rebuild this most stricken of countries.

Every small bit counts.

With this in mind, I know there have been a myriad of events towards this goal but given that they have all been, on their own merits, excellent evenings, what excuse is there, if you're in the area, not to go?

The Hope For Haiti Sunday Session will take place at the superbly monikered establishment, The Jackdaw and Rook on Balham High Road and will feature a whole day of aural pleasures with the likes of ToyFace, Kabuki Mono and Zac Rogers plus a raffle and an auction with super things for you to win and money raised for those without such opportunities.

Enjoy and play your small part.

Two birds, one stone.

2pm Sunday 18th April
FREE entry

Rise of The Jabberwocky

With the days stretching out ever longer and the sun rising higher and clearer in the sky, one can't help but cast at least one eye to the summer. And summer, as we all know, means festivals.

One such festival that I guess would come under the 'boutique' umbrella is the cute and welcoming GocStock. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend last year and it was evident that the seed of friends gathering and enjoying surroundings, company and music had been cultivated and bloomed here.

This year, having outgrown their previous site, KitKaboodle, the organisers, have picked out a beautiful new venue in Kent, Eridge Park. Set against a backdrop that spreads over 1000 acres and under a canopy of royal oaks and beech trees, GocStock will be bringing it's all pervading sense of fun, silliness and escapism to this corner of England's garden.

The theme for this year is the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem, Jabberwocky and costuming, mudlarking, fairy-hunting, prancing, dancing, lollapaloozing and hullaballozing are all suitably encouraged.

I know how many of you prefer getting your hands dirty when it comes to festivals, both metaphorically and, well, actually and GocStock seems to embrace such kind's of do-ocracys. Ideas for performances, projects and pieces embraced and welcomed by she with the moniker Goc.

For those of an impatient nature or for those who simply might wish to get a taster of what's to come, there will also be a GocStock warm-up party at the Amersham Arms in the much underrated area of New Cross.

GocStock Warm-up party - 29th May
£5 in advance, £6 on the door

GocStock Festival - 18th -19th June
£35 (£30 for concessions)

Go, be merry. And for less than the cost of a decent bottle of single malt...

Resuming Radio Contact

Ah, now that's better. Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated not just with the advent of Spring but after a superbly relaxing and excellent time in that bastion of inexpensive and effortless krautcool, Berlin and a memorable weekend to welcome me home to that centre of expensive and try-hard britcool, London.

So, to get the ball rolling again here I thought I'd indulge a little passion of mine that, well, I know is not everyone's bag. Jazz.

Controversial.

Nice.

Arriving on our shores in June though is a ever-rising legend on the jazz scene and using the opportunity to have the first major Jazz residency at the Barbican, Wynton Marsalis will celebrate 80 years of American Big Band with a series of concerts that should entice even the hardest of indiekid hearts.

The standout evening of this run should be the opportunity to check out some of the best swing bands and dancing from both the US and the UK at A Midsummer Night's Swing, in the newly renovated and revitalised Stoke Newington Town Hall.

If nothing else, it is a grand opportunity to get out there looking like the goddamn money...

Hackneyed History

Photography by George Best

A bit of a local one for local people this one, but fascinating to all if you are around my hood on Saturday morning.

The St John at Hackney Churchyard and St Augustine's Tower are a bit of a Hackney landmark and by far and away the oldest building in the area having originally been part of a church built there in the 16th century. If you really want to kick it old school then there has been a church, founded by the Knights Templar, on this site since the 13th century.

Having relatively recently received lottery funding to renovate and re-open to the public, it is now possible to take a little tour and find out a little bit of history to something that one might otherwise idly and ignorantly stroll by.

This Saturday, there is just such an opportunity as local historian Sean Gubbins will enlighten on the myriad of society over the centuries buried in the churchyard, as well as a climb up the miniscule stone stairs to the top of the tower where a frankly spectacular view over East London and way beyond awaits...

Saturday 27th March
11am - 1pm
FREE

Hot Off The Press

This very moment, I have just received word of the annual series of gigs that take place within the courtyard of that oft underused building, Somerset House.

The home of the Taxman, this building and it's open air square are increasingly being used for more inspiring means. A staple of this is the opportunity every summer for Somerset House to make for a superb music venue. I am often want to recall seeing Orbital there in what ranks right up there in my favourite all time musical experiences.

Having said that, the line-up for Somerset House is often mixed, and toppling towards disappointing. However, this year, they must have employed at least one person with a half-decent taste in music as there are sporadic highlights.

These are...

Friday 9th July Air

Tuesday 13th July The xx

Sunday 18th July Soul II Soul

If any of you imagined throngs out there in webland fancy a jaunt along and a singalong, then I am able to get priority booking if you get off your behind by Friday.

Come along now...

Summer Follows Spring

Having been ruminating about Spring, it is natural that my thoughts then turn to Summer. Ah, Summer. Tempting us in June with your sunny ways, full of hope and potential...only to shower us with rainy British ineptitude in July and August. Shame on you.

It doesn't stop me thinking that maybe this year it'll be different though. Maybe this year will be the year the sun puts it's hat on over our capital.

Thus to tempt fate, I thought I would mention a small summer festival happening in Victoria Park.

Field Day festival returns to the green plains of Tower Hamlets with just the kind of eclectic and well-monikered line up that I like, featuring the likes of Mouse on Mars, Caribou, the outrageously talented Chilly Gonzales and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Cheap as chips at £33.33 for this amount of good, and not a little interesting, sounds and tunes.

Occuring as it does on the 31st July, it is surely a formality that the weather will be clement. Right?