London agenda for Wednesday 27 June 2012
1. Finish one’s Homework at the Bethnal Green Workingmans Club [Le Cool]
2. Celebrate Penny Arcade’s form of sex, freedom and art at Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore [Run Riot]
3. Hear a dramatic retelling of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Richard Fitzwilliams [Ian Visits]
4. Find Lord Dowding [Tired of London]
27 Jun 2012
La Route Du Rock Announces Lineup
If you fancy a French seaside holiday as part of your festival season this year, you could do a lot worse than going to La Route Du Rock. This festival is located in St Malo on Brittany’s emerald coast, and boasts an idyllic beach stage in the daytime, intimate theatre performances in the evening, and then a big festival stage set against the spectacular backdrop of a medieval fort by night, with music until the early hours.
This year, the impeccably tasteful lineup sees The XX headline, with Squarepusher, Mazzy Star, Mark Lanegan and Stephen Malkmus also playing; new bands include Memoryhouse, Cloud Nothings, Lower Dens and The Soft Moon.
Ferry travel and a festival ticket costs only £149, all in.
27 Jun 2012
Delay Trees - Pause
A beautiful, expansive piece of psychedelic kraut-rock from this emerging Finnish quartet. This is the first track from their forthcoming album on the Soliti label, and it sounds every bit like a soft-focus Deerhunter.
27 Jun 2012
London agenda for Tuesday 26 June 2012
1. Check out the art that the kids are producing these days at the RCA Degree Show [Le Cool]
2. View the literary death match of artist Dr Brown, Mighty Boosh’s Rich Fulcher and Independent on Sunday literary editor Katy Guest at Concrete [Run Riot]
3. Buy some deck art in Camden at Bomb! [Don’t Panic]
4. Visit the most dangerous place on Earth, Berlin 1961 [Ian Visits]
5. Visit the Tech City Central tent [Tired of London]
26 Jun 2012
Time Out writers were told to go easy on Boris Johnson says former Time Out writer
In today’s edition of the British Journalism Review, former travel editor Chris Moss laments the dwindling influence of Time Out and accuses the new investors of issuing a pro-Boris agenda.
… it was made clear to many writers – including this one – that we were to refrain from attacks on the City and on Boris Johnson. The former left most of the journalists incredulous. The latter was a major turnaround as Ken Livingstone had long been Time Out’s friend and ally, even serving as its gardening columnist for a spell. But [Peter Dubens, chair of the hedge fund that purchased half of Time Out] supports Johnson and he, it was evident, was now the editor-in-chief as well as the owner of the only part of the company that was expanding. Tony Elliott’s 50 per cent was a shrinking half; appropriately, the magazine was cut to 124 pages – the thinnest it had been in years.
It’s too bad, now we’ll never know which cupcake shops Ken Livingstone prefers or have an indepth investigation on the Greater London Assembly’s views on the top 10 vintage markets.
H/T Peter Watts
25 Jun 2012
London agenda for Monday 25 June 2012
1. Discuss the Jerusalem documentary My Neighbourhood with director Julia Bacha at the Frontline [Don’t Panic]
2. Enjoy Jah Wobble and Keith Leven without Johnny Rotten at Metal Box in Dub [Flavorpill]
3. Spend a lunch break in a shifting, seething mass of intrigue, venality and violence at Literary London Crime: The Dark Eyes of London [Ian Visits]
4. Drink in the smallest public bar room [Tired of London]
25 Jun 2012
When Saints Go Machine - Mannequin (Planningtorock Remix)
Planningtorock plays the sonic ringmistress in her loopy, exciting reworking of the new When Saints Go Machine single below.
24 Jun 2012
London agenda for Friday 22 June 2012
1. Dance along to the best Baroque hits at Georgian Decadence [Le Cool]
2. Hear tropi-cool tunes, 50’s retro riptides at the Working Man’s Animal Beach Party [Run RIot]
3. Listen to ‘a standout slice of guitar pop’ with Margate’s Two Wounded Birds [Flavorpill]
4. List something in West London for once, like, say Velour + Brey at Notting Hill Arts Club [Don’t Panic]
5. Walk the catwalks of Tower Bridge (for free) as part of Celebrate the City [Ian Visits]
6. Play table tennis in Queen’s Park [Tired of London]
22 Jun 2012
London Fire Brigade Museum saved and privatisation halted
Plans to close London’s Fire Brigade Museum and privatise it’s 999 control centre have been scrapped, following the departure of Boris Johnson’s controversial fire chief Brian Coleman.
Coleman, who lost his seats on the Fire Authority and the London Assembly last month had advocated closing the museum and privatising the control centre.
However, the museum will now stay open until a new home for the collection is found. Plans to privatise the 999 centre were also voted down by the authority today.
Visitors to the museum have more than doubled in recent years with total running costs currently just £81k a year.
The Brigade estimate that closing the museum would have cost more than double that.
A spokesperson for the Fire Authority said today:
“At the Authority meeting today members decided to enter into a contract for a replacement mobilising system only. This means that control staff will remain employed by the Authority. The Fire Authority has agreed to keep the museum open until a permanent home is found for the collection or the sale of Southwark Training Centre takes place (up to three years) and to fund that from existing budgets, or from private funding, if that is available.”
Today’s decisions will be seen as a clear departure from the confrontational Coleman era.
The new Conservative Chairman of the authority James Cleverly has so far taken a much more conciliatory approach to opposition parties, firefighters and union members.
One source at Brigade HQ said of the new administration:
“Brian has definitely left the building. Confrontation is out.”
Despite today’s decisions there still remains a strong likelihood of conflict. Earlier this month City Hall briefed that there will be swingeing cuts to fire engines and stations across the capital.
21 Jun 2012
Conveyor - Woolgatherer
Here’s some nice upbeat, tightly played US indie-pop by Conveyor, courtesy of the ever reliable Paper Garden Records. Shades of Animal Collective and Bleeding Heart Narrative bubble away under glossy, sparkling production.
21 Jun 2012
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
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