Surrealist Michael woods in conversation and pictures. Excavating Nic Roeg.

A very special night last night at westbourne Studios. Michael was grilled, unlike Dali's lobster which I uderstand was boiled, by Eliot Albers wearing a pork pie and a wry grin. the gentle inquisition produced more reason to think Michael well worth listening to. (Unlike the arcanely wordy woman behind me with her clever clever look at me I'm clever question she had written down for the occasion.)  the chat followed a screening of nic Roeg's  short film 'SOUND' which Michael collaborated on. It felt more like michaels film than Nic's. 

A still from SOUND

Michael woods

Michael woods and Eliot Albers and artist Barrington de la Roche.

A detail from one of Michaels Works.

Another Still from SOUND.

And finally... Hat club! The bloke in the foreground is James Simmins who I asked to take the picture. He forgot to get out of his way.

Rasta Mouse at the Tabernacle. W11.

Michael De Souza, creator of Rasta Mouse, is speaking at the Tabernacle tonight. Part of the Caribbean Film Corner.

I do not own a TV but have watched Rasta Mouse... Great fun!

Winking doll, pancakes and humps.

I found this doll in the street.

She winked.

I picked her up.

Breakfast..

I was given this for my birthday some years ago, then it blew off the roof and lay on the school roof next door for 2 years. When the fire brigade were putting out the fire in the school I asked them to rescue my sign.

Clouds, silver linings etc...

Portobello Film Festival Tonight's events.

Michael Woods (long term Nic Roeg collaborator) and friends talks about Nic's work and the occult tonite at Westbourne Studios. Plus rare screenings of Sound and Two Deaths.
Italian night at the Pop Up - a superb selection of the latest Italian short films inc comedy and animation and a film about Rudolph Valentino.
Short films tonite at The Tabernacle for second night of massively popular Caribbean Corner.
www.portobellofilmfestival.com

Miss Dynamite and bass guitar.

Some years ago I had a conversation with my younger son. we were discussing his future, I asked him what he was going to do when he left school. he told me that he was going to be a pop star. I told him that the chances of a kid from Acland Burleigh shool becoming a pop star were very slim.

"Naomi has done it". He said.

Naomi? I replied.

"Ms Dynamite".

I shut up and bought him a bass guitar!

Naomi was in the Tabernacle yesterday evening. She is a lovely woman, friendly, more than happy to chat to and sign autographs for the gaggle of kids around her and refreshingly normal. Unlike that other North London woman who died recently. not all pop stars are monsters.

Ms Dynamite has just released a new single.

Darth Vader's shed.

I met Architect David Ajasa-Adekunle yesterday. He had the biggest laptop I've

ever seen I didn't envy it but was jealous as hell. He did however show me his

shed designs. Brilliant! As soon as I get me a garden I'm going to get one of these.

from RHS Chelsea Flower Show Exhibitions Team:

tetra shed

'tetra shed' is a new modular building system which, as a single module, has been designed to be a modern garden office/atelier which can comfortably accommodate 2 people. A double module layout has also been designed to create a garden office/atelier for larger gardens. Clusters of upto 6 modules have primarily been designed as additional work, rest and play space for homes. Larger tessellations can be used for a range of applications such as classrooms, exhibition space, corporate events, tourism & leisure facilities and retail space. Designed to exceed the Building Regulations, 'tetra shed' is suitable for permanent year-round use. A forthcoming website will feature more details of 'tetra shed'. In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the system and its potential, please email david@innovation-imperative.com

From the RHS Chelsea Flower show: ‘’This year we are launching a new area within the Showground called ‘Fresh Tradestands’. The aim of this area is to push boundaries in product design and their subsequent display. We are challenging designers/artists to create a visual experience in order to showcase their innovative horticultural and landscaping products with a desire to engage the media and enhance the visitor experience. We want to bring products/work to Chelsea that hasn’t been seen at the Show before. Your Tetra Shed is exactly the sort of product we are looking for to be presented within this new area.’’

Tetra shed has also recently been chosen for a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) exhibition at their London headquarters starting next month.

The tetra shed web site is HERE

Portobello Film Festival. Caribbean Film Corner.

Caribbean Film corner, part of the Portobello film Festival, starts at the Tabernacle tonight. Entry is Free. check it out.

WED 14 SEPT THE TABERNACLE POWIS SQUARE, W11 2AY CARIBBEAN FILM CORNER 6.30-10pm FEATURE DOUBLE BILL (2 amazing films back to back) The First Rasta (Jamaica/France) Directed by Helene Lee, 90mins Thirty years after Bob Marleys death, it is time to pay tribute to Leonard Percival Howell, The First Rasta. At the beginning of the last century, the young Leonard left Jamaica, became a sailor and travelled the world. On his way, he chanced upon all the ideas that stirred his time. From Bolshevism to New Thought, from Gandhi to anarchism, from Garveyism to psychoanalysis, he sought to find his promised land. With this cocktail of ideas Leonard Gong Howell returned to Jamaica and founded Pinnacle, the first Rasta community in 1939. Documentary Hush11 (Barbados) Directed by Marcia WEEKES, 102mins Life for 15 year old Mikisha has been tough over the last year after she becomes pregnant for her boyfriend Troy. Her mother Darlene, a single mom is suffering financially. In These tough times when Mikisha needs help, she meets her wealthy dad Morris and her sister Claire. Could this reunion between Mikisha and her dad be the answer to all her financial needs or is this her worst nightmare? Drama

Full listing for the 4 days can be found HERE

Marques Toliver at the Tabernacle.

Some reviews are a joy to write. Some performers defy the laws of probability. Sometimes the Tabernacle buzzes. sometimes all these things collide to create a memorable event.

The Art Explosion opening, attended by the Mayor, in the Gallery combined with a late start to the sell out show in the auditorium ensured that the place was rammed. There had been a lot of buzz about this one. time out had made it one of their picks for theweek and tickets had sold out in advance.

Mr Toliver is impossible to categorize; a classically trained violinist with bucket loads of sass and showmanship who also happens to write and sing a kind of soul. Backed by a happy band comprising a string quartet, drums, a couple of keyboards and a pair of backing singers he produce something pretty cool and totally unexpected. He produced an auto harp for one number, referencing P.J. Harvey as he introduced the instrument. Rock n Roll.

Photographs: Thomas Pegoraro.

I noticed a number of music industry bods in the audience; an indication that this man is hot!

A great show, a great night at the Tabernacle and a joy to write about.

MARQUES TOLIVER - WHITE SAILS.

Stalked and poetry.

Stalked

I am being stalked by the coolhunter
How cool is that

She is good
she frightens death
and chills out hell

She can stalk in high summer 
without working up a sweat
she can stalk on the ice pack
invisibly
while casually clubbing seal cubs

She can stalk you at truck stops
or at Soho house
she is just too cool to be noticed.

Except by Phil Spector



And she dealt with him.

Poetry defined.

A friend calls from canada and asks: '

What are you doing?'
and I say I am drinking milk and reading Bukowski
and she laughs and it is that laugh, 

you know, 
the laugh of someone you really like
and straight away you want to make her laugh again
not to make her happy so much
as to make her laugh again
so you can listen to it.

And when she hangs up I think of poetry
and what defines poetry
It is not as if
writing a shopping list of metaphors is enough

to make a poem!

Confusion.

I find these signs a little confusing!

You know you want to go... But where to go? My advice: Piss on the lamppost.

Gateway Women Coaching group.

Dear Friends,

There are still 6 places left on the Gateway Women Coaching Group which takes place on Saturday mornings 10-11am in Notting Hill.

All the info is in the flyer below and if you click on the image it will take you to the Gateway Women website - or use this link to take you directly to the page:http://wp.me/PssHp-2W

I would be so grateful if you could forward this email to any women you know who would have liked to have had a family (or who are still hoping it will work out).

The Group is intimate, friendly and safe and completely groundbreaking.

I am now a qualified counsellor and am part way through my training to be a psychotherapist - so it's is a safe, fun and supportive space. We'll be doing exercises to help us uncover some of our unconscious issues around motherhood, and techniques for finding our missing mojo. The first week was last Saturday and the Group will be running for another 9 weeks till Saturday 26th November.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for further info jody@gateway-women.com

Thanks for your help in spreading this important work - with 1 in 5 women now not having children, there's a lot of work to be done changing attitudes around being childless -- or childfree as I prefer to term it!

Thanks again, Jody x

JODY DAY
Founder: Gateway Women

jody@gateway-women.com
www.gateway-women.com

Loco Cabaret, Jono, Wig, Rob Alder and Delphi Newman.

I'm assured it was the best night at Loco to date. I cannot possibly comment as I was part of it. It was certainly fun. Dancing took place which must be a good sign.

5 X 15 Unbound, Alan Yentob and fish pie.

The Tabernacle took a literary turn yesterday. Alan Yentob, armed with a BBC film crew, was interviewing Kate Mosse in the conservatory during the afternoon prior to a special, one off, 5 X 15 Unbound, in the auditorium.

I managed to have a chat with Alan during a break, on the theme of the evenings event; the future of the book. The word Kindle featured quite prominently. I suggested that Kindle may indeed be the way forward until we hit the post I.T. winter. It occurred to me that one day storytelling will return to it's natural medium; spoken narrative. Curious how we seem to have forgotten that books, certainly books

available to the general public, are quite a recent arrival.

5 X 15 Unbound: Here's the idea: you will be treated to an evening of riotous literary entertainment as 10 authors go head-to-head pitching ideas for books they would really like to write.

Authors include the international bestselling novelist Kate Mosse, Booker shortlisted comic novelist Tibor Fischer and creator of cult 90s TV show This Life, Amy Jenkins. Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge, Carpool) will be presenting his utopian fantasy, News from Gardenia. Graham Smith will offer up We Can Be Heroes - a lavishly illustrated insider's account of London's club scene in the early 80s.

Vitali Vitaliev, the Russian Bill Bryson, presentsCattivo Recordo, a journey through italy in search of a bad meal. Keith Kahn-Harris, a sociologist and expert on Jewish heavy metal shares Big Fish, Small Ponds, his attempt to find obscure heroes (like the best waterskier in Luxembourg). George Chopping, former Sainsbury's 'shelf replenishment technician' now performance poet unleashes Shelf-stacker Blues. Elliot Rose (aka awarding winner novelist Will Davis) reads fromDemonica, his chilling tale of a woman who loses her face (and also performs an aerial trapeze display piece). And sensational Oxford band Little Fish unveil The New Official Little Fish Paper Club Handbook, a guide to starting modern rock band and perform their new single. After they've all delivered their pitches we'll be gathering everyone's (silent) pledges.

The auditorium was packed, with a peppering of literary names and the odd rock star in attendance. It was a light hearted affair and made a change from the usual 5 x 15 format.

Chef Mark Richardson Knocked up a fish pie for the event which I can assure you was splendid.

The next 5 X 15, back in it's usual guise will be on Monday September 19th with AS Byatt, Misha Glenny, Simon Baron Cohen, Lucy Worsley and Alexander Masters

Alan Yentob's telly thing will be shown in November on the BBC.

High tide in Porchester Gardens. W2.

Actually it is yet another burst water main. details HERE

The nurse.

A year ago I was admitted to St Mary's Hospital Paddington; they got my lungs going again. the staff were great, the food not great but to misquote the fabulous furry freak Brothers:

Good nursing will get you through times of lousy food better than lousy nursing in times of good food.

I was looking through my notebook for that time. I found this:

The nurse

She leans in

and for one moment

supplements my weak breath

with hers

then whispers

Elephants graveyard, Back view and Italian sports cars. Portobello scenes!

Actually more like telephones graveyard.
I wondering if perhaps she had the dress on back to front.

The Hurlingham comes to All Saint's Road.

I'm not joking either.

I really do not understand the thinking behind the naming of a new 'nightclub' in All Saint's road. You know the place; heart of Notting hill, flash point for the riots, home to Mangrove. surely not the ideal place for a venue named after that toff's sporting club in Fulham.

It was very quiet last night, I did however get to chat with the door people. they were bored.

I guess I'll look in one of these days and report back but for the time being I shall just look on in amazement.

Charity Auction? Portobello.

I'm confused.

There is an event calling itself a charity auction today. When I asked the organizer how much of the proceeds were going to charity I was told: "30%". yet there is no indication of this on the publicity material.

Surely the bidders should be informed that the majority of the sale price will not be going to any charity.

People tend to be generous at such auctions because they assume the money is going to a good cause.

Clarification please.

Maison du Chien returns to the bumpkin, Westbourne Park road.

From the 28th of september Maison du Chien begins a residency on the top floor of Bumpkin. Expect the unusual as usual. I'll post more information as and when I get it.

Read more HERE

Michael Horovitz needs space.

At the opening of the Urban Art Exhibition at the Muse at 269 Portobello Road last night I bumped into Michael Horovitz. michael is one of the reasons I am doing what I do now... An inspiration. I nicked the following from the Evening standard:

Can you dig that? The big daddy of the British Beat movement, co-organiser of 1965's legendary Poetry Internationale at the Albert Hall and founder of the Poetry Olympics is making the scene. He is the editor of Children of Albion, the influential Sixties underground verse collection, publisher of New Departures anthologies since 1959, husband of the late, renowned poetry reader Frances, father of another poet, Adam, and friend of every cat from Damon Albarn and Samuel Becket to Patti and Stevie Smith.

Monumental chaos: “Indoor skip it may seem to you,

but compared to Francis Bacon’s studio, my pad here is

Versailles,” says Michael Horovitz of his Notting Hill flat

Michael's newsletter popped into the inbox this morning. At 75 he is still performing and painting. He does however need studio/storage space in London. I've cut and pasted the following:

ARCHIVE/STUDIO SPACE/S NEEDED
I’m still pretty desperately seeking STORAGE/WORKSPACE – if anyone knows of or might lead to anything at lowish rental (or even free as an act of patronage) by all means pass on my contact data to any potential lessor/patron, or tell me directly. Anywhere round Greater London, large or small, might be welcome (tho West/Central would be ideal).

If you can help house one of Britains national treasures please get in touch. tristanhzll@gmail.com

Layla Wiseman. Performance at Energy Lines at the Tabernacle. W11.

Layla Made a wonderful contribution to Joanna & Caroline Lazzarini's Exhibition last night.

Ah Ballerina Ballerina!

Roxanne and the Painkillers. Live at the Ink Rooms.

LOCO at the Grand Union, Tammy Weisgerber and Rob Alder.

LOCO has gone weekly, demonstrating that one can never have enough of a good thing. Despite having put out a call for cowbells none were forthcoming and I was forced to shelve my planned premiere of the 'Poem for Cowbell'. Oh well! Another time. Many thanks to Odrin for the rock n roll poem guitar solo.

This weeks surprise was provided by the appearance of Tammy Weisgerber in the audience who very kindly allowed herself to be persuaded to do a couple of numbers accompanied by Paul Greendale...  then came back on later to duet with Rob Alder. Powerful stuff.

                                                  Tammy Weisgerber.

Rob finished the evening off with, along with 'The Freak Elite', a couple of Led Zeppelin numbers. Loud, rowdy and rousing. Rob has a great rock/blues voice. Check him out!

Carnival postcards. Carnival people.

                                Gaz Mayall & Ishmail

                                                    Gaz

All photographs courtesy of CHRISTOPHER SCHOLEY.

The Golborne Variations World Premiere. Portobello Film Festival.

The 'pop up' Cinema under the Westway, Portobello Road was the perfect venue for the Premiere of JC Carroll's 'Opera'.

the evening kicked off with a couple of films. Michael Horovitz did a little of his uniquely mad somethings; age is not withering his unique madness.

JC surrounded himself with an eclectic ensemble with which to take us (with the help of a film backdrop) on a slow journey down Portobello to that wonderful place called Golborne road. Infused with Spanish and Moorish elements the 'Variations' perfectly conjured up the multicultural melting pot hidden away in North Kensington. Excellent stuff.

The 'Rice N Peas' film of Frank Crichlows funeral was shown as was (a rare occurrence) 'Mangrove Nine' documenting the attempted bullying and subsequent acquittal of nine members of this community back in the 70's.

the Popup was packed with a predominantly local crowd. Portobello road at it's best.

Originally recorded in 2010 by JC Carroll, Nick Cash, Guy Pratt, Nigel Bennett, jennifer Pearl, David M. Allen and Chester Kamen. The Golborne Variations is an Opera about the Sights Sounds Smells Shopkeepers and foods of Golborne Road. It celebrates the ethnic diversity and the unique character of a special road in North Kensington.This premiere Will hope to bring together most of the original Players plus Special Guest Opera Singers String Section Percusssionists. A Film has been commissioned to be screened in conjunction with this event... Its free.. Its an opening party for the Portobello Film festival.... JC Carroll is a Composer and Songwriter whose career has spanned Punk, Folk, and Electronic Music. he has scored soundtracks for movies had hits all over the world with his band The Members and he has also recorded supermarket commercials....... This piece of music has taken 25 years to complete.. there will be music dancing singing and poetry......Come! Its Free! MORE

Why Cocaine should be legalized.

Ok. I know I have ploughed this furrow before but it is rich soil.

Picture this at Carnival...

Scene 1: Black kids being stopped and searched on a regular basis; any trace of weed or crack and it is a nicking, the assumption being that they must have stolen something to buy the drugs.

Scene 2: Middle class white kids openly snorting Cocaine off their mobiles in the street witnessed by the police who allow them to continue unchallenged on the assumption that they have not stolen anything to buy the drugs with but have had it handed to them by Mummy or Daddy.

Scene 3: Scores of white middle class girls lying in the streets having drugged themselves stupid on a cocktail of coke, mdma, alcohol and more.

Something is very wrong here.

Here is an idea... Legalise Cocaine. Tax it highly. Spend the revenue raised on making life better for the kids in the sink estates and those on or below the poverty line. they wouldn't need to steal anything then and the little rich kids can continue self medicating in order to block out the fact that they are far more troubled than the poor kids. And the rich lids parents can continue forking out money in order to assuage their guilt.

Of course it will never happen. The government wouldn't consider real solutions.

From the Evening Standard yesterday. Carnival summary.

Carnival postcards from the Tabernacle. Notting Hill.

Photographs courtesy of

Cristopher Scholey.

Hat put to shame.

And most importantly the Tabernacle crew.

ENERGY LINES. Joanna & Caroline Lazzarini.

 Joanna Lazzarini

Caroline Lazzarini
















An exhibition of  Painting and sculpture by Joanna & Caroline Lazzarini (Often to be seen moving ethereally through this cityscape) opens on the 1st of September at the Tabernacle Gallery. W11 2AY. 10.00am - 9.00 pm.