LONDON - Brit comedian Russell Brand was spotted attending the opening of a fetish club in East London called Porn Dwarf.
The dress code for the event on November 21 was leather, and it featured petite pole dancers, with a steamy X-rated video montage playing throughout the venue.
Brand, 34, was reportedly seen looking nervous as he kept dashing out to his car every 15 minutes to call his girlfriend of eight weeks, Katy Perry, 25, to update her on what was going on.
“Russ agreed to go to the club opening as it was being launched by a few of his mates. Everyone was wearing leather - it’s billed as a decadent fetish night, so Russell got into the spirit of things,” the Mirror quoted a source as saying.
“Dwarfs were working behind the bar and at one point Russell was seen having a deep and meaningful chat with a midget bouncer, gushing about the love of his life.
“Despite all the porn being played around him at the club, Russell didn’t seem that interested. In fact, he wasn’t drinking and was exceedingly well behaved.
“Not even the alluring pole dancing female dwarf caught his attention. There was even a rumour that Katy was going to show up too, but apparently she got wind of the nature of the club and pulled out at the last minute.
“Instead, Russell had to keep darting to his car to chat to her on the phone. So despite all the temptations, Russell was only thinking of Katy.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Friday, 20 November 2009
Clarkson Rants and a Mention of Hackney
The enclosed article by Jeremy Clarkson was in this week's Sunday Times but has since been 'pulled' - probably by the subject of the article, Peter Mandelson. So much for free speech. But poor old manglebum fails to appreciate how the blogsphere works and in no time the article finds itself going viral round the world. Wonderful. Enjoy it - and feel free to pass it on if you did.....
Jeremy Clarkson - Sunday Times 8/11/09
I've given the matter a great deal of thought all week, and I'm afraid I've decided that it's no good putting Peter Mandelson in a prison. I'm afraid he will have to be tied to the front of a van and driven round the country until he isn't alive any more.
He announced last week that middle-class children will simply not be allowed into the country's top universities even if they have 4,000 A-levels, because all the places will be taken by Albanians and guillemots and whatever other stupid bandwagon the conniving idiot has leapt
I hate Peter Mandelson. I hate his fondness for extremely pale blue jeans and I hate that preposterous moustache he used to sport in the days when he didn't bother trying to cover up his left-wing fanaticism. I hate the way he quite literally lords it over us even though he's resigned in disgrace twice, and now holds an important decision-making job for which he was not elected. Mostly, though, I hate him because his one-man war on the bright and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be taking leave of their senses.
There's talk of emigration in the air. It's everywhere I go. Parties. Work. In the supermarket. My daughter is working herself half to death to get good grades at GSCE and can't see the point because she won't be going to university, because she doesn't have a beak or flippers or a qualification in washing windscreens at the lights. She wonders, often, why we don't live in America .
Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can't stand the constant raids on their wallets and their privacy. They can't understand why they are taxed at 50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation's capital. They can't understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of mass destruction. They can't understand anything. They see the Highway Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done because it's racist.
And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort out the banking crisis that he doesn't understand because he's a small-town solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
It's a lovely idea, to get out of this stupid, Fairtrade, Brown-stained, Mandelson-skewed, equal-opportunities, multicultural, carbon-neutral, trendily left, regionally assembled, big-government, trilingual, mosque-drenched, all-the-pigs-are-equal, property-is-theft hellhole and set up shop somewhere else. But where?
You can't go to France because you need to complete 17 forms in triplicate every time you want to build a greenhouse, and you can't go to Switzerland because you will be reported to your neighbours by the police and subsequently shot in the head if you don't sweep your lawn properly, and you can't go to Italy because you'll soon tire of waking up in the morning to find a horse's head in your bed because you forgot to give a man called Don a bundle of used notes for "organising" a plumber.
You can't go to Australia because it's full of things that will eat you, you can't go to New Zealand because they don't accept anyone who is more than 40 and you can't go to Monte Carlo because they don't accept anyone who has less than 40 mill. And you can't go to Spain because you're not called Del and you weren't involved in the Walthamstow blag. And you can't go to Germany ... because you just can't.
The Caribbean sounds tempting, but there is no work, which means that one day, whether you like it or not, you'll end up like all the other expats, with a nose like a burst beetroot, wondering if it's okay to have a small sharpener at 10 in the morning. And, as I keep explaining to my daughter, we can't go to America because if you catch a cold over there, the health system is designed in such a way that you end up without a house. Or dead.
Canada 's full of people pretending to be French, South Africa 's too risky, Russia 's worse and everywhere else is too full of snow, too full of flies or too full of people who want to cut your head off on the internet. So you can dream all you like about upping sticks and moving to a country that doesn't help itself to half of everything you earn and then spend the money it gets on bus lanes and advertisements about the dangers of salt. But wherever you go you'll wind up an alcoholic or dead or bored or in a cellar, in an orange jumpsuit, gently wetting yourself on the web. All of these things are worse than being persecuted for eating a sandwich at the wheel.
I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it's been for decades, but the lunatics who've made it so ghastly are on their way out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the lecture circuit.
So actually I do see a reason to be miserable. Which is why I think it's a good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit. onto in the meantime.
He announced last week that middle-class children will simply not be allowed into the country's top universities even if they have 4,000 A-levels, because all the places will be taken by Albanians and guillemots and whatever other stupid bandwagon the conniving idiot has leapt
I hate Peter Mandelson. I hate his fondness for extremely pale blue jeans and I hate that preposterous moustache he used to sport in the days when he didn't bother trying to cover up his left-wing fanaticism. I hate the way he quite literally lords it over us even though he's resigned in disgrace twice, and now holds an important decision-making job for which he was not elected. Mostly, though, I hate him because his one-man war on the bright and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be taking leave of their senses.
There's talk of emigration in the air. It's everywhere I go. Parties. Work. In the supermarket. My daughter is working herself half to death to get good grades at GSCE and can't see the point because she won't be going to university, because she doesn't have a beak or flippers or a qualification in washing windscreens at the lights. She wonders, often, why we don't live in America .
Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can't stand the constant raids on their wallets and their privacy. They can't understand why they are taxed at 50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation's capital. They can't understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of mass destruction. They can't understand anything. They see the Highway Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done because it's racist.
And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort out the banking crisis that he doesn't understand because he's a small-town solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
It's a lovely idea, to get out of this stupid, Fairtrade, Brown-stained, Mandelson-skewed, equal-opportunities, multicultural, carbon-neutral, trendily left, regionally assembled, big-government, trilingual, mosque-drenched, all-the-pigs-are-equal, property-is-theft hellhole and set up shop somewhere else. But where?
You can't go to France because you need to complete 17 forms in triplicate every time you want to build a greenhouse, and you can't go to Switzerland because you will be reported to your neighbours by the police and subsequently shot in the head if you don't sweep your lawn properly, and you can't go to Italy because you'll soon tire of waking up in the morning to find a horse's head in your bed because you forgot to give a man called Don a bundle of used notes for "organising" a plumber.
You can't go to Australia because it's full of things that will eat you, you can't go to New Zealand because they don't accept anyone who is more than 40 and you can't go to Monte Carlo because they don't accept anyone who has less than 40 mill. And you can't go to Spain because you're not called Del and you weren't involved in the Walthamstow blag. And you can't go to Germany ... because you just can't.
The Caribbean sounds tempting, but there is no work, which means that one day, whether you like it or not, you'll end up like all the other expats, with a nose like a burst beetroot, wondering if it's okay to have a small sharpener at 10 in the morning. And, as I keep explaining to my daughter, we can't go to America because if you catch a cold over there, the health system is designed in such a way that you end up without a house. Or dead.
Canada 's full of people pretending to be French, South Africa 's too risky, Russia 's worse and everywhere else is too full of snow, too full of flies or too full of people who want to cut your head off on the internet. So you can dream all you like about upping sticks and moving to a country that doesn't help itself to half of everything you earn and then spend the money it gets on bus lanes and advertisements about the dangers of salt. But wherever you go you'll wind up an alcoholic or dead or bored or in a cellar, in an orange jumpsuit, gently wetting yourself on the web. All of these things are worse than being persecuted for eating a sandwich at the wheel.
I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it's been for decades, but the lunatics who've made it so ghastly are on their way out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the lecture circuit.
So actually I do see a reason to be miserable. Which is why I think it's a good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit. onto in the meantime.
Towards a Fluid State
Over the past couple of years Angella has been putting together great events bringing people together for fine drink and food. Called The Tasting Sessions they’ve taken place in some of London’s more interesting spaces. This year culminates in the big event. Towards A Fluid State.
Full details below. It's fully recommend if you want to have a great time…..
On Saturday 05 December an edgy food and drink festival is launching in a secret warehouse location in Dalston.
Called “Towards a Fluid State” this festival will be the first of its kind. An immersive and informative food and drink experience profiling flights of Cognac, Whisky, Gin, Sake and Natural & Biodynamic wine matched with delicious morsels of food. Also a platform for some of the UK’s hottest emerging contemporary artists, musicians, set and fashion designers this will be a truly unique experience.
It’s not a farmers market nor is it anything like Taste of London. We are working with a fantastic range of independent producers, distributors and brands to deliver unusual and compelling experiences around what you eat and drink.
The festival will run from 3-11pm with timed entry on the hour. Each session will last approximately 2 hours. The exact location will be revealed a few days before the event.
Tickets start at £16.50 and are available here: http://www.wegottickets.com/af/127/location/3570.
For the full Tasting Sessions experience, we recommend you Liberate the State. For more information check out www.towardsafluidstate.com
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Possible new Banksy piece from Homerton - London
THE elusive street artist, Banksy, seems to have come back to the borough despite Hackney Council's determination to scrub out his iconic graffiti.
A new image has appeared on a brick wall in Homerton High Street, showing a little boy crying because his toy car has been clamped by traffic cops.
The artwork, set between two unusually-placed red phone boxes, uses the stencil technique and ironic political humour for which the Bristol-based guerrilla graffiti artist, whose distinctive paintings sell for as much as £250,000, is famed.
Banksy seems to be giving the council, which considers his work an illegal eyesore, the finger with his new creation adorning Hackney's walls even though the town hall has ordered other pieces of his to be erased in Dalston and Stoke Newington.
The council's decision to black out a much-loved Banksy mural on the side of a block of flats in Stoke Newington Church Street in August divided the community, with many residents accusing officers of vandalism.
Hackney music promoter and artist, Phillip Hall, said he was convinced the new artwork had been created by the notoriously mysterious Banksy, but that it should not suffer the same fate.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Number 38 Bendy Bus changes to Double Decker on Saturday
Passengers must board through the front door only and touch Oyster cards in on the yellow reader.
Both bus services run through Dalston and the changes have been made as part of Mayor Boris Johnson's plan to scrap bendy buses.
He said earlier this year: "These writhing whales of the road have swung their hefty rear ends round our corners for the final time. Pedestrians that leapt, cyclists that skidded and drivers that dodged ... will breathe easier.
"Bendy buses on other routes are on borrowed time."
For anymore information, see the TfL leaflet.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Soho versus Shoreditch
For anyone who has spent a fair amount of time in London, Soho and Shoreditch are household names synonymous with nightlife and the cultured young. Ask anyone where is good to go out and these two names will pop up. But these two areas and the people who inhabit them are as far from each other as the West to the East – and this isn’t just in terms of geography.Soho makes me think of fake-tanned girls in miniscule dresses and killer heels. Also gay clubs.
Some of the bars have semi naked oiled men dancing about, or failing that slideshows of hot models on their large television screens.
Shoreditch on the other hand is a whole different world. Here the people are cooler than cool itself. When friends come and visit I always insist on taking them to the infamous Shoreditch - it’s an experience in itself. I used to give them one piece of advine - wear something checkered. Check shirts were so last year, yet when I take my check detector to Shoreditch it still goes off the Richter scale (my check detector is merely me saying, “check” every time I see something checkered). A typical walk down Shoreditch High Street sounds something like this: “Check, check, check, check.”
I find it amusing that such cool, individualistic, trend setting folk are in such a habit of dressing like each other. All the guys are rather skinny, with sleek side parted hair, black skinny jeans and Pimsoles. For girls it is all about looking vintage. A lot of black, dainty shoes, some fur, a bow here and there and a sultry expression.
Ahh, but you see, Shoreditch is becoming so passé. Dalston, Dalston is the new Shoreditch. Dalston is where the real alternative trendsetters head to these days. I can’t help but smile to myself; I lived in Dalston for over 3 years. Does this make me Dalston cool? I’m not convinced, but I’m going to try claim it anyway.
So you see I am a victim of my own mockery. As much as I dislike the cool kids down by Shoreditch Church, there is something about the East Side which keeps drawing me back.
There is something so dynamic, and well, cool about East London. No one takes tubes - it has nothing to do with the reason that tubes in East London virtually don’t exist. The borough of Hackney is best served by buses, or even cooler – bikes.
Failing that just walk, the street life is huge. There is such an eclectic mix of fruit and vege stalls, markets and general bric’n’brack.
Bricklane is a favourite. On weekends it is always full of trendy people, overflowing from the cafés, markets or roaming the streets eating from the huge range of culinary options.
So you see, I am a Londoner, and my heart lies in the East side. I even have the I Heart Hackney badge to prove it!
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Leona Lewis Makes Live Debut in Hackney
The U.K. singer, who became a worldwide star after winning "The X Factor" in 2006, grew up in Hackney and chose the borough's famous Hackney Empire theatre as the location for her live debut last night (Nov. 2).
"I first performed here when I was 13," she told the audience, "So it seemed fitting to come back and do my first live show here."
Despite her lack of live experience -- and heavy security at the gig after Lewis was recently attacked at a London book signing - Lewis showed few signs of nerves during the gig, even when technical problems dogged her guitar player during "Better in Time."
Beginning with "Brave" from sophomore album "Echo," due Nov. 16 in the United Kingdom on Syco/Sony Music, and a day later in the United States on J, Lewis sang nine songs in total, including three other songs from the new record. "I Got You" and lead single "Happy" -- currently No. 98 on Billboard's Hot 100 -- were trademark Lewis ballads, but "Outta My Head" marked a change in direction with its high energy dance sound.
A troupe of semi-clad male dancers featured on several songs, while at one stage Lewis performed behind a giant hologram projection of herself.
Lewis also performed "Whatever It Takes" and her worldwide No. 1 "Bleeding Love" from her debut "Spirit" album. Lewis paid tribute to "the power" of the latter song, noting "because of that song I've been able to travel and do so many amazing things." She also played her cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" before ending the set with her version of Snow Patrol's "Run," a U.K. No. 1 for her in Dec. 2008.
Lewis is expected to tour next year, although no dates have yet been announced.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Passing Clouds - THE HALLOWEEN MARCH
| Start Time: | Saturday, 31 October 2009 at 18:30 |
| End Time: | Sunday, 01 November 2009 at 03:00 |
| Location: | Abney Park Cemetery - Kingsland Road - Passing Clouds For the fourth year running Passing Clouds presents the Halloween March and Afterparty. The fabulous Strangeworks Collective are off to represent the March in Birmingham this year, but it will continue in their absence nevertheless! Don't fear - they will be back next year. Once again we will be meeting at Abney Park Cemetery at 6.30, then taking over the the streets of Stoke Newington and Dalston with a spect-acular parade of crazed spirits and ghoulish phantoms. Featuring live marching music from THE VAMP - gypsy swing band with a vampish twist. THE SMOKEY TAPS - seven piece swing band headed up by mistro EWAN BLEACH, featuring LOUISA JONES playing spooky old classics. KWAME OWUSU AND BAND - afro drumming and acrobatic masters! Let your soul awake in celebration of the dead! Dress in Black and White and come join us! Saturday 31st October 6.30: Meet at the entrance to Abney Park Cemetery 7.00: Procession down the one way system down the Kingsland Road 7.30: Procession finishes at Debeauvoir Square Tea and soup available courtesy of the TREEHOUSE CAFE 7.30: Party commences at Passing Clouds, 1 Richmond Road |
Pavegen taps pedestrians for power in East London
When we were kids, we assumed that in the future everything would be powered by tiny nuclear fusion reactors: automobiles, toothbrushes, time machines (apparently we read a lot of sci-fi from the 1950s). The truth, as usual, is more mundane than all that: some of the more promising advances we've seen in green energy has been kinetic, taking the movement of automobiles or the tides and converting it into electricity. Pavegen, for example, can be set in public walkways to generate as much as 2.1 watts of electricity per hour from the footsteps of grizzled pedestrians. Using marine grade stainless steel and recycled materials, just five of these bad boys distributed over a well-worn sidewalk should be able to generate enough energy to keep a bus stop going all night. If not put into nearby lighting, the units are equipped with lithium polymer batteries for storage. Currently being tested in East London, look for them throughout the UK in 2010.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Land of Kings on Diesel:U:Music radio
This two-day Dalston party launched just last year and a right good time was had by all. “My highlight had to be seeing Disco 3000/Erol Alkan in the Stone Cave," says Laura. "He loved the idea of doing a set in a Turkish Restaurant. It was such an amazing night, hundreds of people just raving in this cave.”
And indeed the founders of Land of Kings--Piers, Nick and Connie--have left no stone unturned. Indulge your senses in the sleazy decadence of basement club Dreams or head down to a real Dalston institution, the Vortex Jazz Club. Brimming with insalubrious night-time joints a plenty, Land of Kings have got everywhere covered.
And the music’s not bad either. “We choose artists from totally across the board, from Italo disco, to electro, to acoustic indie,” says Laura. And indeed, last year's line up saw a stellar selection of talent, from electropop whizz kids A.Human to glorious indie popsters Sportsday Megaphone, and those ear-splitting beat masters, Drums of Death. And with DJ sets from Fuck Buttons and Faze Action, amongst others, the Land of Kings collective have clearly got their fingers firmly on the pulse of new music. So if last year's line up is anything to go by, we can expect great things.....
Can’t wait ‘til April? Well the Land of Kings have organised a pre-festival warm up, in the form of a Dungeon Disco this Friday. Taking place in Dalston’s very own Stone Cave, surely there’s no better way to spend All Hallows’ Eve….
Tickets are free, just email info@landofkings.co.uk and tell them the scariest band/DJ you've ever seen or heard.
Land of Kings festival takes place next April 2010, for more info go HERE
And Laura will be on Diesel:U:Music radio tonight, tune in HEREfrom 6pm
Thousands flock to Banksy Pub
 |
| The Library pub got a creative makeover by art group Crazy Fools |
Around 2,000 people flocked to see Banksy's Portrait of an Artist as part of an exhibition by cutting edge Bristol-based collective Crazy Fools in The Library, in Upper Street, Islington, on Saturday and Sunday.
 |
| The Banksy on show at the pub |
Paul Villalba, 36, of Crazy Fools, said: "We thought it would be the perfect place because where do people like to go? They like to go to the pub.
"I'm happy with the way it looks. It's not all white walls like a normal art gallery and it's been an absolute success. I'm over the moon."
Mr Villalba acknowledged the significance of using Banksy's work, but said he wants his online gallery to stand on its own two feet without the celebrity name.
"People do come in for the Banksy piece but they actually spend more time seeing other stuff," he said.
"We used the Banksy name on the flier to establish ourselves but I think we've made enough of an impression to do it next time without."
DNT, 34, one of the artists whose work was exhibited at the show, said the pub location allowed more people to appreciate the accessibility of urban art.
"Banksy's opened up urban art and made it more acceptable," he said.
"He's almost legitimised it. People now look at our style in a new way and give it more respect."
Susie Ponter, 45, a visitor to the show, said: "I saw the blow up things outside and thought I'd come and see what was going on.
"I'd heard of Banksy before but I like some of the other works. They're very interesting."
The Library's manager Giulio Cassini, 35, said: "It's amazing, something very different. Everyone thinks it's great."
Three art installations created on Saturday will remain in the pub's garden until Crazy Fools return for another exhibition on December 12.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Restaurant in Your Home in Dalston
Some people are born for telly, others have telly thrust upon them. Mike Pemberton is both. He's great – a cantankerous, grumpy old man, who pauses only from having fantastically furious domestics with his missus to bitching about his protegees.
Restaurant In Your Home (BBC 2, 8.30pm) was, appropriately enough, deliciously tart.
For anyone who loves to watch people rowing – and I'm guessing that I'm not alone here – it was glorious.
Mike and wife Tina run a seafood restaurant from their home in Norfolk and are mentors guiding wannabes on the path to success.
It is, apparently, the latest money-making venture – spruce up your house and charge people for eating there.
The fun starts when they meet hard-to-like Hackney pair Matt and Marie, who are keen to transform their flat into a bijou diner.
Their front room has barely enough space to swing a roast chicken.
After a trial run, Matt gets the hump when they criticise his food. "I think they have misunderstood," he sniffs.
With revenge in their hearts, Matt and Marie go to Mike and Tina's award-winning home restaurant.
You can see them itching to find fault. Tina and Mike are, as usual, indulging in stagey bickering.
He's the harassed, put-upon hubby: "I haven't TOUCHED your bloody SPOONS!" he shouts. Marie can barely disguise her glee when Mike forgets to put their asparagus on the plate.
Tina, in the kitchen, remarks acidly: "Is she vocal? Or have they just had three bottles of wine too many?" Mee-ow.
Round three sees Tina "advise" Matt on his menu for opening night.
They fall out over his starters, his vegetables, his refusal to clear any space for people to sit. He is a bit up himself, this bloke. He describes salmon as "the hero" of the dish.
Removal men arrive. "Could you start with him, please?," says Tina, pointing at Matt.
"We won't get a bloody atom of thanks for this," spits Michael.
On opening night, Tina and Mike are there, lending support and constructive criticism.
"I don't think you need both asparagus AND samphire on the plate," says Marie, knowing full well that's what they served up. Mike's face, in the background, is a picture.
By the end, they've made a profit of £345. Mike is impressed: "I hated them to begin with," he confesses. You couldn't tell.
What's the secret to making money? The World's Greatest Moneymaker (BBC 2, 9pm) found the answer – not spending any.
Evan Davis's engaging profile of eccentric Warren Buffett found the 86-year-old may be one the world's richest men but he's a firm "short arms, deep pockets" kind of chap.
His daughter does deals on hail-damaged vehicles if she's shopping for a car. "He likes deals," she said.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Jack White's record label for pop-up shop in London
White's Third Man Records And Novelties store to hit Shoreditch next week
Jack White's record label Third Man Records is bringing a shop to London next weekend.
Arriving on October 30, the pop-up shop will be located in Shoreditch Church in east London.
Selling a range of records, t-shirts and merchandise from The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, and The Raconteurs, the shop will also be selling some exclusive merchandise made specifically for this London location.
In London to play Brixton Academy and The Forum with his band The Dead Weather, the pop-up store has also travelled to New York and Los Angeles, but this will be its first appearance outside of the US.
Jack White's Third Man Records And Novelties shop will be open on the following dates:
October 30 - 11 am to 6 pm
October 31 - 11 am to 9pm
Listen out for an exclusive announcement on NME Radio about the London shop on Thursday (October 29) at 4pm.
Jack White's record label Third Man Records is bringing a shop to London next weekend.
Arriving on October 30, the pop-up shop will be located in Shoreditch Church in east London.
Selling a range of records, t-shirts and merchandise from The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, and The Raconteurs, the shop will also be selling some exclusive merchandise made specifically for this London location.
In London to play Brixton Academy and The Forum with his band The Dead Weather, the pop-up store has also travelled to New York and Los Angeles, but this will be its first appearance outside of the US.
Jack White's Third Man Records And Novelties shop will be open on the following dates:
October 30 - 11 am to 6 pm
October 31 - 11 am to 9pm
Listen out for an exclusive announcement on NME Radio about the London shop on Thursday (October 29) at 4pm.
Buyers eyeing Dalston, E8 may find house prices high
Move to this part of London and you’re likely to stay — especially now the Tube link is on its way
Let's move to Dalston, east London
It's come a long way since the 90s, baby
Dalston: Nowhere near as grim as its reputation suggests. Photograph: Felix Clay
What's going for it? Is it gone? Is it over? Has it become an unbearable place of braying skinny-jeaned trustafarian hipsters hanging in underground bars discussing their latest cult night? In part. Dalston has come a long way since the 90s, when Patrick Wright wrote A Journey Through Ruins, his magnificent history of postwar Britain seen through the dusty arse-end of London – aka Dalston. It is now, says some style mag or other, London's new Notting Hill(!) and loft-style apartments at £400k a pop have invaded, the early symptoms of extreme gentrificationitis. But the old stomping ground of my Jewish grandma is vibrant enough to keep the new 'uns in their place. The Turks still have their social clubs and magnificent grocers, the Caribbeans their fish shops, there's tiptop culture (Vortex jazz club, Rio cinema, Arcola Theatre), and Ridley Road market still has the best bagels in town.
The case against Too cool for school. Move here and you'll be as instantly pigeonholed as if you'd moved to Clapham or Hoxton. Blinking expensive. The real risk that, yet again, gentrification will bleach the place of all diversity. A right old mess in parts, and crime is still a problem. Bring earplugs.
Well connected? Buses trawl north-south from Tottenham to Liverpool Street, or east-west from Hackney to Islington, King's Cross and Euston. Rail: the North London Line goes east-west (a gem – every 15 mins) from Stratford to Richmond via Islington, Hampstead and Willesden; come June, south to Shoreditch, Whitechapel, New Cross and Crystal Palace.
Schools Good – recent rapid improvements. Primaries: Holy Trinity CofE, Our Lady and St Joseph RC, St Matthias CofE and Colvestone all "good", Shacklewell and Queensbridge "good" with "outstanding" aspects. The new Petchey Academy is "good" with "outstanding" features; Mossbourne Academy "outstanding".
Hang out at… The latest bleeding edge bar (Dalston Superstore et al), probably. Give me the sizzling Turkish grills (Mangal, Istanbul Iskembecisi, etc) any day.
Where to buy Still marginally cheaper than Stoke Newington, Islington and De Beauvoir. Dalston was posh in parts before, and you'll see the traces in its grander parts, like around St Marks.
Market values Flats, £160,000-£400,000. Terraces, £300,000-£650,000. Detached four-bed Victorians, from £750,000.
Bargain of the week Three double-bedroom town house with garden, £290,000-330,000, with Douglas Allen (020-7923 1919).
• Live in Dalston? Join the debate at guardian.co.uk/letsmoveto
Friday, 23 October 2009
See latest plans for Victoria Park - Saturday 24 October
Tower Hamlets residents can see how their ideas have helped shape multi-million pound improvement plans for Victoria Park at a special event on Saturday 24 October.
Taking place in Victoria Park (Grove Road entrance) between 10am and 6pm, visitors will be able to see the latest park plans, while children can enjoy free face painting and donkey rides.
Tower Hamlets Council’s Parks and Open Spaces Team collected the views of more than 1,000 visitors during August and September. The information gained through surveys, footfall counts, consultation meetings and public events has all been used to further develop park plans.
Help shape the future of Vicky Park
Residents can still give their views on multi-million plans to restore Victoria Park.
- View the Masterplan proposed for Victoria Park
- Let us have your views. Complete the on-line survey
The information from special events and through additional surveys will be used to fine-tune the plans developed last year in consultation with local people.
Councillor Abdal Ullah, Lead Member for Cleaner, Safer, Greener at Tower Hamlets Council, said: “Last year we talked to local people to find out what they wanted to see in their park. We developed plans based on their views, which included an urban beach, improved play facilities, better sports pitches, a skatepark, restored heritage, additional café, along with more planting and landscaping.
“These plans helped the council pass stage one of a £5 million Heritage Lottery Fund / Big Lottery Fund bid, and now we need your help to develop the proposals to the final application stage. By telling us what you think of the draft plans and highlighting ideas you have, you’ll help us finalise the plans and make sure that we get them right.”
Tower Hamlets Council is planning to completely restore the park before the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Detailed plans will be submitted to the Parks for People scheme, a £90 million joint project between the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The funding bid, coupled with an investment from the council, would total £12 million.
This will represent the single biggest investment in Victoria Park since its creation in the 1840s.
Latest news
Young Mayor tells younger generation to get involved: Tower Hamlets Young Mayor is encouraging the borough’s younger generation to have their say on multi-million pound plans to improve Victoria Park.
So far more than 1,000 people have given their views on the improvement plans, however Young Mayor, Uma Akther, along with Tower Hamlets Council, is calling on more young people to get involved.
Uma, from Bow is a regular visitor to the park, she wants young people to go online and fill out the short survey on the park’s plans. Read more from the press release.
Be Counted: Visitors to Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, will be counted by volunteers from the Bow Community Centre over the coming months, as part of the council’s multi-million pound plans to improve the park. Read more from the news story.
Memories of Vicky Park: Londoners are being asked to come forward and share their memories of the capital’s first people’s park – Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets. Whether they remember splashing around in the outdoor art-deco Lido, seeing German prisoners of war housed there during World War II, or enjoying a day of world-class entertainment at one of the park’s fantastic music festivals, Tower Hamlets Council wants to hear from them.
Memories will be used to create an audio history of Victoria Park, that will be available to download, so that visitors can walk around the park and explore its past. As well as interviewing local people, the recording will also include contributions from writers and historians.
To share memories of Victoria Park, contact Barker Langham, who in conjunction with MemoryScape, are
working on behalf of the council to produce the audio walks. Contact Toby Goaman-Dodson on 020 7278
7847 or email toby@barkerlangham.co.uk
View the Masterplan proposed for Victoria Park.
Click on the image and download a PDF (1.8Mb) of the Masterplan.
To get involved come along to some of the special events planned. You can help to plan play provision, look at the design for the new skate park or input into the future list of activities for visitors to the park. Fill in a survey and you’ll be entered into a draw for a meal at a local restaurant of your choice (up to £100 in value).
Special events
Saturday 24 October: Marquee in Victoria Park 10am - 6pm
Saturday 14 November: Project tour around the boroughs
On-line survey
Fill out the on-line survey with your views on the Victoria Park Masterplan.
Fill in the survey and you’ll be entered into a draw for a meal at a local restaurant of your choice (up to £100 in value).
Dalston Junction to Broad Street - A train drivers journey from the 70's!
So anyone wanting to know what the view of the journey from new overground line would be like from Dalston Juntion to the City can watch a similar recorded journey from 1970's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrf61Iz8Bhk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrf61Iz8Bhk&feature=related
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Wind Turbine For Hackney Marshes
Hackney already experimented with wind power this past summer, and the council is now contemplating a bigger project: a public consultation is underway asking residents their opinion on a 120-metre high wind turbine for Hackney Marshes.
The proposal comes via the Olympic Delivery Authority, who envision a Hackney turbine as a quick route to their stated aim of generating local renewable energy for the 2012 legacy. One turbine is already going ahead on nearby Eton Manor, part of Waltham Forest, and the pair of them could one day power all of the Hackney's street lamps. The consultation runs until 14th December, and locals can have their say on the proposal or complete a survey. The council have also produced a lengthy FAQ page.
Wind farms have their advocates and detractors, and the siting of a turbine on the contested East Marsh, which amidst much local rancour is being concreted over for an Olympic-worthy disabled car park before reverting to sports pitches after the Games end, will be controversial.
It'll also give cause to a lyrically re-jigged version of Gus Elen's famous number, to be sung by Winehouse or Leona or whichever London crooner fancies a crack:
"'...Wiv a ladder and some glasses,
You could see to Hackney Marshes,
If it wasn't for the turbine in between."
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
ARTIST BANKSY SET TO REVEAL SELF-PORTRAIT
Son of Man by the artist Levi C. The piece will be among those exhibited at The Library bar
‘£250,000’ piece by cult graffiti painter on show at bar exhibition
CLUES to the identity of elusive guerilla graffiti artist Banksy are set to be revealed when a never-before-seen self-portrait of the artist goes on show in an Upper Street bar.
The exclusive Banksy original – worth £250,000 – and entitled A Portrait of An Artist, has until now been hanging in a private home in Bristol.
But next weekend (October 24 and 25), The Library bar will celebrate a major coup with a pop-up exhibition featuring Banksy originals, along with work by musician 3D, founder of the band Massive Attack, Secret Wars urban artist Inkie and a selection of Bristol’s finest.
A security guard will protect the Banksy pieces, which will be displayed in a private room above The Library’s bar. Alarms and cameras will also keep a watchful eye over them.
The show will feature original Banksy sculpture Watchtower and painting Heavy Weaponry, a collection of signed and unsigned prints, and a mystery installation.
The work, which is all for sale, with the exception of the self-portrait and the installation, will range from £100 to £25,000.
The show, featuring exhibits from 3Dom, Blu Bradley, DNT, Filthy Luker, FLX, Ghost Boy, Levi C, Lucy McLaughlin, Mick Hockney and Paul Insect, is to celebrate the launch of Bristol’s Crazy Fools online gallery.
Leon Thompson, of Crazy Fools, said: “It’s nice to do it in The Library because it’s not your normal four white walls space.
“We’ve got some really good urban art as well as some non-urban art including digital prints from Sarah Warren and really striking work from Anton of Shepherds Bush. We’ve got furniture, statues, and a giant glass moth table which I think we’re going to hang up.”
Mr Thompson said that the Banksy installation is a “really vibrant street Banksy”.
But all he could reveal about the self-portrait was: “The whole thing is quite secretive. It’s called a Portrait of an Artist. It’s him drawing himself.”
Crazy Fools’ Paul Villalba said: “We’ve never done anything on this scale before. We’re completely taking over The Library, with art happening everywhere possible.
“There’s going to be stuff bursting out of the windows, performance artists outside, live installations, exclusive works.”
MP Emily Thornberry, whose office is a short distance around the corner from The Library, said: “The most important thing is it’s the sort of art that young people are interested in. It’s fantastic news.”
The pop-up show runs from October 24 to 25, at The Library, 235 Upper Street. Children admitted from 2pm to 5pm. Exhibitors include 3Dom, Blu Bradley, DNT, Filthy Luker, FLX, Ghost Boy, Levi C, Lucy McLaughlin, Mick Hockney and Paul Insect. The gallery is open 2pm-10pm, free entry. www.crazyfools.net.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may be back to East London gym
Arnold Schwarzenegger could return to the gym he trained at in East London in the 1960s during the 2012 Olympics.
The former movie star, 62, worked out at Wag Bennett's Gym in Forest Gate in his bodybuilding days. The California governor was officially invited by local mayor Sir Robin Wales. He wrote: "I feel your presence at the games would be a catalyst to further inspire the thousands of young people from this part of London."
But Arnie's protocol chief wrote back to say she could not confirm the date because his diary had "not yet been determined".
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