the lovebox festival

helter skelter

this weekend was the lovebox festival in victoria park, hackney. i was lucky enough to get a ticket as a birthday present from shaun for saturdays line-up.

ed and me sheltering from the sun

this day i think had the best line-up and who was playing......

THE B52'S! yes! THE B52'S!

damn fred, that shirt is smok'n

kate you're a super sixties vixen
we saw a few bands: 'adem', 'hot chip', 'the rapture' and as the day came to its close we were waiting with baited breath for fred, kate and cindy to storm that stage and give us those classic tunes we all love so much. and they delivered, they did play 4 songs from their 'new' album, i forgave them, and as they played 'planet claire' i enjoyed bopping down the front with as much wild abandon as i am able to muster. they also gave us 'rock lobster', 'love shack', 'private idaho', 'strobelight' and 'give me back my man' - they were amazing.

thank you shaun for a great day and to top it off the weather was amazing (especially after all the rain we have had).

note: i saw the B52'S in 1990 in good'ol festival hall in brisbane, australia and i can say with all honestly they haven't lost any of their enthusiasm, voice or charisma. they will stay up their in my top 5 bands of all time.

oh and i had to add this moment of fashion hell....NO! NO! woman, just 'cause you are at a festival doesn't mean you can wear......well THAT!!!ANYWHERE!!!

coco electrik

anne played one of her last gigs with 'coco electrik' last weekend at the proud gallery in camden before she has a little baby booty.

they keep getting better and it was great to see her after so long.

classics

i have always had an interest in gritty, english films from the 60's so i thought while i still have a few months left in london i would try to find as many of of these films i have read about on dvd (re-released dvd's in london are on the whole pretty cheap).

'poor cow' by nell dunn is about a young girl who is married to an incarcerated thief and longs to be with another thief, she has a small child and as circumstances play out she begins to rely on male strangers for money and nice clothes. you never see a way out for her and the film ends, well with no end; life will continue on this path with no way out, in fact she never has dreams of escaping the life she has fallen prey to; her only dream is to have money and a man to take care of her.

'billy liar' by keith waterhouse is in contrast about a young man who wants to escape from his working-class life, living with his parents and dodging his 2 fiancees he escapes into a fantasy world.

i have yet to find 'taste of honey' by shelagh delaney or 'a kind of loving' by stan barstow but my collection is slowly growing and i will be thoroughly depressed by the time i have finished them all - but loving it.

other dvd's i've aquired recently along the same lines:

'whatever happened to baby jane'

'get carter'

'alfie' the original!

'brief encounter'

'vivre sa vie'

my 33rd birthday

a day full of fun, food and culture:

first off we went to see the antony gormley exhibition at the hayward gallery. what an amazing exhibition; a mixture of interactive installations and works on paper.

ed sneaking behind a room full of cement stuctures

one of the 27 figures dotted throughout the southbank standing on top of buildings - they look like they are about to jump or do they look like they are observing? a very strange sight for those who don't know that they are sculptures.

this was our favourite part of the exhibition; a room full of mist and light so you cannot see more than 5 centimetres infront of you. it was very moist and my shoes got wet and my hair frizzed but what an experience, a must if you are visiting london before 19th august.

and then for lunch we went to my favourite patisserie laduree a full lunch including a wonderful sandwich with the crusts cut off and my favourite sweet: macaroons mmmmm mmmmm oh and some delicious tea. this shop is just amazing; look at this picture, i want to frame it!

me with tea

ed with a gormet macaroon

and my plate mid-way through a plate full of macaroons

and then in the evening ed surprised me with tickets to shakespeares's globe; 'the merchant of venice', it was 3 hours long but a great experience (thankfully we hired cushions, but my back was still tired after the long sit with no back support - how did they cope?)

the end of a wonderfull day :)

33

gone to the dogs...

i started my 33rd birthday celebrations on saturday evening by going to walthamstow dogs.

it was interesting and scary. the place was packed with all sorts of people and for such a wet night i was surprised the dogs didn't slip more, the only dog to slip was one of the dogs i bet on: 'mystical sloth'...i should have known.

other great names were: 'toosey tina', pinta magners', 'witches petal', 'look here dan', 'arry olt', 'droopys majella' and 'not so jolly' who won me a whole £9!!! after the night of betting on these strange whispy creatures i came out £4 down so not so bad, some of us weren't so lucky...yes ed i'm talking about you, at least you stuck to your budget.

the culinary choice was 'interesting' but the one thing that caught my eye was second from the bottom - bovrill, yes you can still buy bovrill from canteens like this - bovrill if you don't know is a meat extract drink, think of drinking a hot mug of vegemite and your half way there eweewwwwwwww

ed was brave enough to order something: chicken and mushroom pie (upside-down of course with a splattering of tomato sauce mmmm mmmm

see the guy below with the flat cap; he spent the entire night signalling to the bookies over the other side of the track the odds which constantly kept changing - hence his hands being a blur - he was fascinating to watch.

would i go again? no

but i did have a great time :)