Skye Nicolas, The Explicit Artisan.

 I found this image online in An interview with Skye in Frank 151It is well worth a visit. Skye is New York based so what is the Notting hill connection?  Marlon and the Cow!

Wills and Kate: Not so much a Royal wedding, more an impending divorce.

Caught up in the National euphoria over the idea of a royal wedding I immediately asked my 'Princess' to marry me.


'It's an idea'. She said. 'At least you wouldn't be able to give evidence against me in court.'


It strikes me that, such is the track record of royal marriages that they would keep the damn thing quiet; give two human beings the opportunity to make something almost impossible (in this day and age) work.


I bet the bookies are already laying odds on when the divorce takes place.

Kyoki.

                                Photo: the Urban Island


I don't know how this is going to work out.


I've had so many problems with unruly Muses of late (the muse is never satisfied with her initial role and quickly tries to take over) that I decided to go online and find an Avatar Muse... Kyoki.


I do not know which planet she is from, my stellar charts do not have the necessary range.

Alain De Botton at 5 X 15.

Bloody hell.

I'd gone along to 5 x 15 with the sole purpose of listening to, and looking at to a lesser degree philosopher Alain De Botton.
He arrived on stage, announced himself as Swiss (images of Orson Welles and Henry Cotton on a big wheel in Vienna flooded my brain) then promptly tried to sell us holiday lets. He tried to convince us that 'new build' was Modern and therefore good.he failed to convince me that he was anything other than another property developer on the make. reminding me somewhat of the 'Britart' movement in his desire to capitalise on gullible admirers.

5 X 15 in the first part this evening was hijacked by an overstretched property developer selling puppies.

Alain. New does not mean modern and modern does not mean new. Snake oil is snake oil however you label the bottle.

Interesting to see a good architect in the audience wincing philosophically as the philosopher tried to do convincing Architecture. And failing.

The rest of 5x 15 lived up to expectations; All of it was not every ones cup of tea but it was well brewed, well blended and well poured.

Hilary Spurling dispensed, along with Michela Wrong, enough to convince me that, forgive me; wrong was right. Suddenly 15 minutes was enough, not because it was badly presented but because it was, as a human animal, hard to bear.

Simon Singh hit the spot with his codes.

Valerie Grove convinced me that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is not an oncoming train, it is Valerie coming back to 5 X 15.

At the end of a splendid evening I got to reminisce about Stig of the dump, followed by humming the guitar solo from Comfortably Numb on my way home.

And none of this happened in the West End where theatres were full of tourists being told by translators that the butler did it!.

Tony Butcher photography.

In The tabernacle, to the left of the bar is the Gallery; Rather under-signposted and tucked away (but I gather that is about to change) and used as a showcase for both local and more established Artists and Photographers. Well worth popping in for a look.

Currently photographer Tony Butcher is exhibiting his studies of the black male in the form of dancers, and they are an energetic collection of young men; hardly a foot on the floor in the entire show and plenty of rippling muscle. There is no Mapplethorpe edginess or homoerotic undertone to proceedings though, just a keen and professional eye at work on an obviously well liked subject.

To quote Tony: 'My photographic journey began in 1989, progressing to a fellowship of the royal Photographic Society in 1990, with a panel of images of the black male.

"Studies in black" have been published in many books, magazines and journals throughout the world as well as my monograph of the same title. Exhibitions have taken place in San Francisco, Amsterdam, Paris, Birmingham and Oh yes, The Tabernacle, Notting Hill'.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Hein Hoven. Sometimes During Eternity.

In the early hours; an email from Hein (now in California), you know. The man who brought his own Hill. It read: 

 too much time on my hands. I took this off of your FB page Tristan.

                                  It inspired me to write this bit of nonsense.

                                  Lawrence Ferlinghetti reading "Sometime During Eternity"

                                  Hh x

The internet can be a truly wonderful thing in creative minds and hands.

10 centuries in 5 minutes

The Young Satellites at Atomrooms Gallery.

Atomrooms Gallery presents an exhibition curated by Brett Walker

showcasing the works of young photographers Jack Davison, Lydia Roberts

and Conor Williams. The exhibition will run from 8th – 24th December 2010, 6-9pm at AtomRooms’

Portobello Road Gallery.

Sacred Monsters No. 1: Kenneth Tynan.

Monday 24 September 2001
The Guardian 

Tynan's gift was to make criticism glamorous and sexy Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington recalls an exceptional talent  No one, they say, ever erected a statue to a critic. But Kenneth Tynan has bequeathed something even larger to posterity: a legendary life. This year has already seen the publication of a revelatory memoir, Life Itself, by his first wife, Elaine Dundy. The Tynan Diaries are imminent. And, as a prelude, we have an extraordinary last interview by Ann Louise Bardach. As a result I suspect a certain image of Tynan will prevail: the spanker, the star-fucker, the sexual obsessive, the suave and ultimately ailing hedonist. He comes to seem like a Marlovian over-reacher who was finally the victim of both emphysema and his own fixations. The danger is that we shall soon forget the very thing that made him famous: his ability to write about the theatre with a voluptuous commitment. Most dramatic criticism is as ephemeral as the work it describes. Very little survives as literature. Hazlitt's essays on Kean and Kemble have a vivid, bloodshot urgency. Shaw's Our Theatres in the Nineties memorably demolishes Irving and paves the way for Ibsen. Agate wrote about great actors with gusto and allusive wit. To that select list one has to add Tynan, who not only had the gift for pinning down a performance but also, as both critic and National Theatre literary manager, helped redefine British

READ MORE.

Knock 2 Bag.

In the old days comedians would often start a show with the words: 'A funny thing happened on the way to the theatre'. Well nothing funny happened to me on the way to the theatre tonight, but a funny thing happened at the theatre; I laughed! 

I never laugh. Ask anyone.

knock 2 Bag prides itself on its claim that it is more than just a knock about open mike type thing that most comedy nights have become. it wants to be taken more seriously as a considered showcase for real comedy as opposed to a bunch of studenty amateurs standing by a mic using the c word and jokes about Down's syndrome. By tonights' showing it is doing that; of course I did not laugh at everything and nor should I; comedy like everything else is a mixed bag indulging various tastes.

The first act Phil Kay was great, arriving in an anarchic physicality and ending in a virtuoso display of quick minded lyrical hilarity. The headline act: The boy with tape on his mouth was seriously good; a mime artist with a gash of tape across his mouth, surely a metaphor for Chaplins' moustache. He relied on nothing more than observational art and fantastic timing, involving members of the audience with sensitivity and great skill, producing a show that had me crying with laughter. The bit with the cup and ball on the end of his nose with a blindfolded stooge from the audience was priceless.

Between the beginning and ending high spots was a hard place to be for anyone but there was plenty of meat in the sandwich. On the strength of what I saw, Knock 2 Bag is a refreshing change from the unfunny comedy nights where the only people laughing are the promoters on the way to the bank.

A seriously hilarious night.

Oh. and if you laugh like a drain at everything you have a mind like a sewer. 

Victoria Bean. Art & Language

I met Artist and Poet Victoria Bean  today at an impromptu lunch. She was armed with something bubble wrapped. Another member of the party said: 'Have a look'.  

My heart sank. Was this going to be one of those embarrassing, awkward, yes its lovely through gritted teeth moments?

No it wasn't.

Her work is sharp, concise, intelligent and well executed.  Have a look at her website; click on her name above.

Gratuitous photograph.

My Notting Hill. Thank you.

A wonderful day in Notting Hill. Surrounded by the the people that make the place memorable; Chris and the Tabernacle especially, the barrister who shared a bottle of wine and advice, the journalist, the writer, the reliable academic and to my mind rock star, the locals, the perfect bum guy, the big Kiwi, the regulars and bar staff in the Cow, my friends. and the police too.


Hey everyone, thanks. Think I'll hang around.