Thursday 21 January 2010

Modest me, no immodest!

Last night I went to the premiere of Burlesque Undressed, with a promised appearance by Immodesty Blaize. Although this event had her stamp all over it, the appearance was more the fact that she was sat in the audience.

The film was really interesting. With the history and interviews with burlesques' golden girls being a highlight. It was filmed at events that I have actually seen so in one respect it didn't hold anything new, but it was good to see close ups of the acts, and the audience - in which a friend of mine features.

The camera work was a bit low budget and all over the place occasionally, and my advice to Immodesty would be not to go into acting! Sometimes speaking ruins the mystique. She is stunning though, and its a stunningly colourful film. Oh and as always, Dirty Martini you rock!

100 club, 100s of people

I went to the beacon of Oxford Street, the 100 club last week to see Macavitys Cat and the Men They Couldn't Hang. It was a packed night and lots of exuberant bouncing ensued. I had a slight sense of humour failure when a drunken bouncer managed to simultaneously knock my drink and step on my feet repeatedly. After managing to shimmy away my mood improved, although perhaps it didn’t for those who were now standing around her.

Macavitys cat have been around in various guises over the years. They are lots of fun, and it increases proportionally to the amount of them on the stage. They seemed a little unhappy in there early time slot, and referred to it frequently in a good natured way!

When the Men they couldn't hang came on, serious politically rousing tunes commenced, well for a while anyway. It turned into a moshing, throng of beered up bodies, and we all went home happy.

Monday 11 January 2010

Turner, a bit of a copycat

I went to the Tate Britain at the weekend to see the Turner exhibition and I have come to the conclusion he was a bit of a sod.

He used to find artists he liked, and copy their work, attempting to make it bigger or better. He also used to find out what people were due to exhibit and then paint the same subject, he made final touches to works, and even turned up to exhibitions with a blank canvas, that he filled when he had looked what everyone else was doing.

I admire that kind of steely determination, however, the exhibition made me realise that in 9 out of 10 cases I preferred the original, and that's why this exhibition was so good. A must see for compare and contrast purposes.