6 posts tagged “urban”

What will Boris do?

 

Many Londoners are wondering the same thing I am, for better, for worse, for whatever. Boris Johnson is our new Mayor, and I’m looking forward to watching these things unfold, living under this new leadership:

Buffoonery

There is going to be a lot of it, and I get the feeling that Boris, in addition to outsourcing his entire professional team, is also recruiting a top comedy performance coach to keep his public laughing, as we get dragged along for this ride.

Comedy Sketch Shows

Can’t WAIT to see what the top British comedy talent comes up with. Will Matt Lucas step up to the plate on this one? There is plenty of material for him already.

Fancy Dress

Festival season, fancy dress parties (hey Americans, that means costume party) and club nights are going to be sprinkled with Boris look-a-likes. I suspect the fancy dress shops are now stocking up on floppy blonde haired wigs. Better get my order in.

Documentaries

I suspect that brainstorming is now in progress among Channel 4’s Dispatches, the BBC’s Panorama and all the other fantastic British documentary producers, who are planning for the next investigative piece about how and why Boris Johnson won the London Mayoral election. I’m looking forward to some hilarious ‘docudrama’ about the subject, and wondering who will be cast as the lead role for...Boris the West End Musical, or for Boris the Movie? Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis could dye his mop blonde, gain weight, and give a fantastic OTT moving performance, something he is great at, as a bonified card-carrying member of the Overactors Annoynmous. He won't take the gig though, as for him to play Boris, it would require him to do some actual acting.

Virals

I’m already seeing some citizen-created viral campaigns appear in response to this election, such as the folks over at I Didn’t Vote For Boris, who invite non-Boris voting Londoners to tag a photo with ididntvoteforboris and add it to the Flickrstream. The conservative viral online campaign viral Boriswatch, has had its day, and now I’m looking forward to other Citizen Journalist reports, such as the eye view of Sunny Hundal, from the frontlines of what may be a new sport in London of Boris Watching. Clearly with 2,000+ already signed up to the Facebook group, it will be a popular activity here.

Celebrity Commentary 

“Boris has as little knowledge of multiculturalism as I have of life on Jupiter. He used to go to this club in Oxford called the Bullingdon Club, full of snobs and creative conmen. The man has not only no physical ability to run anything, he is immoral and a bully. Boris as mayor would be like discovering you had piles and there was no cure for it.”

Vivienne Westwood

“In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, there is a scene where a character is talking

about another who is a card player and he’s described as ‘a fucking liability’. That’s my idea of Boris. The mouth engages before the mind does. He doesn’t have any sense of diplomacy or tact. London is a cosmopolitan city. You can’t have someone who makes quotes like that [Johnson’s “piccaninnies” comment] representing London, regardless of the fact it was in the past [Johnson wrote the comment in 2002]. Of all the things people say about Ken, in my view he’s done a lot for London. When you go into the city it looks like a European capital now with all the regeneration, and it didn’t before. Trafalgar Square is a much more welcoming place.”

David Mitchell
Comedian, Peep Show

“Boris is mad. He wants to bring back bus conductors, but that’s never going to happen. I think he talks rubbish. He’s

out of touch and he doesn’t understand Londoners. People say Ken is obnoxious, but what can you do? One thing about him is he knows London.”

Charlie Brooker
Guardian columnist and Television Presenter

Thanks to this election result, I’ve now got a powerful retort to the next Brit who blames me for the conservative politics of George Bush, because clearly it can happen here as well, and I will not be surprised if David Cameron is this country's next Prime Minister.

 

I’m watching Boris,

-Lisa

 

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've got some breaking news this week from an individual that I support here in London, both with PR services from time-to-time, with my agency the Hai Media Group, but also because I'm simply just a fan of Dr. Richard Barbrook.

Next week, Richard is headed to Vienna, where he has been invited to be a guest speaker in the Austrian city's annual May Day celebrations. He'll be taking the podium to speak with a crowd of 100,000 on Thursday, May 1st 2008, and is an honourable guest of Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl, who has invited Richard to talk about his ideas from his book The Class of the New, a popular title among many urban dwellers, who have interest in a thought leadership initiative surrounding the concept of 'creative cities.' If you are in the USA, you may have heard of an author by the name of Richard Florida, who is also known for his ideas about the urban creative classes, and yes, these two authors do share some similar views, but haven't met in person -- yet.

Much like Richard Florida in America, Britain's Richard Barbrook is both an author (his newest book is Imaginary Futures) and a lecturer of politics at the University of Westminster here in London. Prior to relocating to London, I also had the opportunity to meet and see the inspiring Richard Florida speak in the USA, and I think both academics have a lot of food for thought for people, especially urbanites, to consider. When it comes to Barbrook, I think the number one reason I most value the impact he has in this city, is because he is truly a great supporter of so many creative people, projects and entrepreneurs in London.

He is an early adopter, and is credited with being the first instructor to introduce students, and get them thinking about, the wild wonderful world of the web, with his founding of the Hypermedia Research Centre back in the mid-1990s, an academic department that was formerly based at the University of Westminster. He also conceived of, and set up Cybersalon, an organization that fosters thinking toward cyberpoltics, as well as exploring the intersection between art, music and technology with its festival Cybersonica. Over the years, many of his students have become his idea fans, and quite a few have gone on to produce some terrific things in the interactive world, as well as in the media, music, arts and entertainment worlds, including the fantastic animated rock band The Sancho Plan, which emerged from Cybersonica. Now he is getting up to something NEW:

This Weekend in London: Saturday,

High NOON at The Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park, come along and play Class Wargames

If you are in London, I'm pleased to invite you along to witness a new project that Richard Barbrook has been developing this year, called Class Wargames, a performance art gaming project of sorts that sees a group of academics, artists and gamers re-create Guy Debord's Game of War at The Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park, at 12 NOON this Saturday, April 26th 2008. *Please note that the park has re-scheduled this event from an evening time slot, to take place in the afternoon.

Who's Guy Debord? This is background from the group's website: Guy Debord is celebrated as the leader of the Situationist International and as the author of the searing critique of the media-saturated society of consumer capitalism: The Society of the Spectacle. What is much less well known is that after the May '68 Revolution, Debord and his partner - Alice Becker-Ho - quit Paris and went to live in a remote French village. Over the next two decades, Debord devoted much of the rest of his life to inventing, refining and promoting what he came to regard as his most important project: The Game of War.

I’ll be debuting my new comedy cabaret show with the Finger in the Pie cabaret festival at Madam JoJos in the heart of London’s Soho this weekend. Come on down for my:

                   Doors open at 7 PM

                   Tickets £8

You can expect to have a hee haw! of a good time if you come down, where there will be plenty of a hooting ‘n a hollering in hillbilly style.

We’ve got a fantastic little cast of Londoners including:

    Simon Harris, who is the head of the Hand of Glory record label and a co-organizer of fantastic random clubbing nights with events like The Human Zoo, inviting people to get in touch with their inner beasts, and the Nativity Hoedown. This spring he debuts a new CD from artist Mary Epworth and the Jublilee Band. Connect with Simon over at myspace.com/handofglory7.

James Whatley, who studied drama and spent a few years working in television before finding his niche in the mobile technology industry where he is fondly known by his colleagues as Whatelydude. Connect with James at whatleydude.vox.com

Tiara Diamond, who is studying drama at Thames Valley University, is a graduate of BWI’s Ultimate Burlesque Workshop and performs burlesque under her stage name Tiara Diamond. Her play ‘Breakers’ featured at the cornerHouse festival. You can find her on The BurlyQ Blog at tiaradiamond.wordpress.com

Our stage hand for the Hee Haw! Whore House is my husband Dr. John Fraser Laird Devaney (he’s smart

Rehersing to Hee Haw! At the Finger in the Pie Cabaret Festival www.fingerinthepie.com

because he has a PhD in physics, and is figuring out some crafty set challenges we’ve had). We’ve also got our own stylist and costume maker Diana Munauru who sews bespoke costumes and clothing for theatre performers, fancy dress and gowns for charity and society functions. You can book Diana by emailing her at Diana.langa@hotmail.co.uk

And me! When it comes to entertainment experience I don’t have any real formal training, except having studied improvisational comedy with the fantastic Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City, a group that can claim a number of comedy stars, and having absorbed knowledge from being around show business since childhood, with my father, who was a Julliard-trained Broadway musician. I’ve also performed a one-woman show, having turned myself into an online/offline cartoon girl of the New New York who took to the stage and became known as (((Futuregirl))), or the FutureG among some. With that adventure I pulled my friends into my art project (those who were willing and surprisingly no one declined to be turned into a cartoon) by giving them cartoon ‘treatments’ and having them come out for a party dressed in their self-created cartoon selves. It looks like I'm up to similar tricks here in London, and I'm really looking forward to being on stage with others this time.

No sparkly star studded cast and crew is complete without fans, so we’ve even got an entourage coming along, with the fabulous Miss Risk (Kate Risker) planning to attend, and others.

I’ve produced this Americana slapstick-style comedy, with a bit of old fashioned British pantomime influence that I hope will entertain London audiences. With this show, I’ve also unofficially anointed myself as being:

America’s Alternative Cultural Ambassador!

Having witnessed British people really adore a bit of down-home American-style music and entertainment, when I
was part of the Nativity Hoedown, I’ve decided to carry on with this theme, presenting a bit of hilarity with my new cabaret act.

Made with inpsiration from: The Original Hee Haw! Television Show. View clips here:

Hee Haw - Pfft You Were Gone

Hank Williams Jr on Hee-Haw

HEE HAW

For those of you who remember American sitcoms in the 1970s, you may recognized this performance is inspired (not at all copied as an fyi to any copyright cops reading this blog) by that popular show Hee Haw! that I watched often, while growing up with my family in America. Having lived here nearly  four years now, at a time when my country is terribly unpopular,  I'm inspired by the inevitable upcoming political change that will happen in November, and  I'd like to be a  little bit more courageous in  offering up  examples of the more positive things about America  that I feel have been extremely overshadowed by  these year's under an unacceptable presidential leadership in my country. So hee haw! for my America and hip hip hurray for whoever takes George  Bush's place in November.

A bunch of London hillbilly's rehearse for Finger in the Pie cabaret festival. 6th April 2008. www.f

1 comment

If the Hee Haw! Whore House is well-received with this performance, expect to see more hee hawing here in London in the future.

Practicing my hee haws for Sunday night,

-Lisa

Hai Media Group Logo by Dan Boultwood

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performing two sold-out shows over the weekend at The Jazz Club in Soho, London got

the welcome return of one the city’s own sisters, the jazz singer Tessa Souter. Seducing audiences with a fully packed repertoire of classics and original material, this daughter of an English mother and Trinidadian father, offered up a glimpse of her soul and passionate style that combines Flamenco and world music.

Lingering on lyrics and notes, she transforms familiar songs into new experiences, like dipping them in chocolate fondue. Of her set, my favourite was her rendition of classic rock favourite White Room by Cream, because she brought attention to all the beautiful poetic verse and stunning imagery contained in the song, making us pause, be in the songwriter's moment, and wonder about being “in the white room with black curtains near the station.”

Her interpretation of other compilation choices offered a night of rich musical story-telling,

with highlights that included The Island by Alan Bergman, Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles and her signature number Listen Love, which is also the title of her CD. With her voice as her brush, Tessa painted the audience vivid pictures and dropped countless images of beauty, love and sometimes sadness into our minds. Her expressive body movements match the impressive notes she carries and her show hails back to the bygone era depicted in Casablanca when the film’s stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman begs the pianist to "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake." Tessa will give you that feeling of being somewhere that is dripping with glamour, gorgeous décor and plenty of dry martinis on the offer. Joined by her drummer Winston Clifford for one number was a highlight of the evening, with him backing her up with beautiful vocals.

Only A Lifetime Of Good Times And Bad Can Let You Sing With This Kind of Depth

Getting her start ten years ago, she’s an artist that has quickly earned praise, accomplishing success that some have to plod along for a lifetime before achieving. Now making her base in New York City’s Harlem, clearly the jazz influences that ooze out of the cracks in the pavement in her adopted home have made their mark on this artist’s vision. Having seen Tessa first perform in New York City about five years ago, I thought she was very experienced, someone who had been delivering mouth-watering lyrics from the earliest days of urban jazz. As it turns out, I was lucky to catch one of her first performance ventures when she was just beginning her new journey to become a professional jazz singer. Tessa hit a turning point, following a long career as a writer, and a busy time raising her son, and decided to focus on her strongest dream that had nicked in her head for many years – to sing. It is rare when any of us have the chance to realize that we are, in fact, actually doing what we dream about all the time, as a fulltime pursuit. Along the way, she’s earned the attention of major music critics, receiving positive reviews and the respect of jazz legends, some who have helped wean her talent:

"Extraordinary authenticity. Musical sophistication. A must-see for lovers of world class jazz vocalizing." -Los Angeles Times

 "Talented English jazz singer who runs her set through various kinds of territory."-New York Times

 "British-Caribbean jazz vocalist Tessa Souter brings new life to time-honoured standards, while also mining a creative spark from the unlikeliest quarters.'"-TimeOut New York

Soul jazz singer Jon Lucien said of her CD Listen Love. "Magnificent! I couldn't stop playing it over and over. She blew me away!"

Tessa Souter Performs at The Jazz Club, Soho, London, 15th February 2008

Observing Tessa’s personal journey has been fascinating to watch, and very inspirational to anyone who is trying to accomplish anything creative that doesn’t follow an obvious path. Tessa shares her own personal inspirational journey in her book Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better, available for purchase here. Still a correspondent journalist for prestigious titles, Tessa’s by-line appears in top media outlets from time to time, with her occasionally serving as The Guardian’s Brit-Eye-View to New York City, with her penning articles in between gigs on her increasingly busy touring schedule.

Tessa comes to London at least twice a year to perform, and is on stage regularly in New York and San Francisco, so sign up for her mailing list at www.tessasouter.com to catch her next show. You can also find her on MySpace at www.myspace.com/tessasouter. In London, Tessa usually performs at The Jazz Club, a respected London venue that plays host to many jazz legends who keep this style of music alive for its millions of fans, having opened in the basement of the Pizza Express restaurant on Dean Street in 1976. Pizza Express’s venues showcase live music for hundreds of fans, with also performing at Pizza On The Park, near Hyde Park.

Here’s Tessa Souter’s full biography:

Born in London of Trinidadian and English parents, New York-based vocalist, composer, and lyricist Tessa Souter (soo-ter) infuses jazz with the soul and passion of flamenco, Indian and Middle Eastern music. There's no one doing what Tessa does," enthused Village Voice and New York Sun critic Will Friedwald. "One of the most imaginatively programmed vocal sets of recent memory." said the Los Angeles Times, in a rave review of her California debut at the Catalina Bar and Grill in 2002. And it's not just the critics who admire her. Taught to sing at the age of three by her mother, Tessa took up the guitar at 12. She was encouraged in her early teens to pursue a singing career, but took a detour - early motherhood, university and journalism. In 1992, she moved to San Francisco, where she wrote for the British press, including Vogue, Elle, The Guardian and The Times, and became one of the original six members of The Writer's Grotto, along with Po Bronson (who cites her in his best seller What Should I Do With My Life), Ethan Canin, Ethan Watters, Josh Kornbluth and David Munro. After moving to New York in 1996, she started sitting in at jazz jams, before winning a scholarship to study at New York's Manhattan School of Music in 1998. She left to study privately with jazz vocal legend Mark Murphy.

Since her professional debut in 1999 Tessa has performed with some of the world's jazz greats, including Mark Murphy, Joe La Barbera, Marvin Sewell, Larry Koonse, Latin Grammy nominee Bobby Sanabria and jazz tuba legend Howard Johnson. WNPK Radio FM says: "It's hard to believe she only recently became a vocalist, because she sings with the authority and passion that usually comes from long experience." To quote Los Angeles-based guitarist Larry Koonse, "Tessa Souter has all the qualities I value most in a musician: great time, beautiful phrasing, gorgeous sound, a respect for silence, an emotional connection to the moment, and a wonderful ability to tell a story. She is the 'real thing' in every way."

Listening to Tessa Souter,

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

 

 

There it was, dressed in shiny patent leather and resting peacefully on a display shelf in the middle of Shepherd's Bush Market in London, off of Goldhawk Road. I spotted a

Bathing Ape 'Bape Sta' in the window, and found out that the store showcasing the rare breed of Japanese trainers (American translation = sneakers) is one of only two places in London that sells the brand. Plenty of Bathing Ape lovers have been visiting Global Sports US to check out, and buy, the coveted kicks from Japan, most being hip-hop fans. The shop's owner Ismail Khan, recognizing his customer's taste for music and fashion, has set up turntables in the store for your listening pleasure and even brings in local DJs on the weekends. His store's collection includes trainers covered in Swarovski crystals, hard-to-find issues of Nike, Adidas, and urban street wear with a USA style focus.

The Bathing Ape clothing line, also known as 'BAPE', got its start in 1993 in Tokyo, by Tomoaki Nagao, a young fashion editor turned designer who is better known as Nigo. Nigo's direct influence for the line comes from the 1968 classic movie Planet of The Apes. With his heroes also being Run DMC and other East Coast USA hip-hop greats, he seems to have followed a Russell Simmons business model, having sold limited edition t-shirts to launch the brand, and got artists to wear his clothing while performing. All being similar tactics used to launch the Phat empire. Nigo's Bape Sta design captures a lot of the retro flair of old skool hip-hop attire and is highly valued among trainer afficinados.

Purposefully elusive, Nigo produces limited edition one-of-a-kind merchandise that has increased its street value because it is hard to find. The brand has also branched out to include hair salons, cafés and rumour has it a Bape hotel will be opening soon. A-listers maintain loyalty to the brand, knowing that their fans won't be able to easily rush out and copy their wardrobe because Bathing Apes original products are nearly extinct once they hit the shelves.

I love the Wonder Woman pair, and will be saving my pennies to buy these someday, as at Global Sports US the retail

price is £160. The other location in London for Bathing Ape is at the official store found at 4 Upper James Street, Soho London, W1F 9DG, a posh address. I'd suggest visiting Global Sports US first to check out Bathing Apes, and make an afternoon of discovering the Shepherd's Bush market, where, after shopping, you can stop for a middle eastern lunch at one of the many international food stalls. 

 

Saving up for a pair of Bape Stas,

 

-Lisa

 

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based

in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. For a reference key to this blog, visit this post. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

Just getting back from the hip-hop loving Bloom festival, where I discovered that this music genre is thriving and alive in

the UK, I received breaking news from the US hip-hop entertainment world about a company that's putting a modern twist to the old concept of the mixtape.

Today Cellfish Media, teaming up with New York City's Hot 97 DJ Envy, goes live with mixtapes for download to cellphones, putting a now legit stamp on what has continued to be a controversial music distribution tactic among urban music fans.

This is a first for the mobile entertainment content industry - and a first time for seeing entertainment companies seek licensing rights to songs for use with this mobile version of the mixtape. Here's some mixtape facts:

• Over 500,000 mixtapes are sold every week, mainly to 18-to-24-year-olds who prefer organic DJ stylings and hard-to-find remixes to traditional record label artist releases.

• New artists rely on mixtapes to gain credibility and buzz, including 50 Cent, who said in an interview with MTV.com, “Mixtapes are the entry level of hip-hop.”

• The mixtape popularity was an iconic moment in cult movie hit Napoleon Dynamite, who got passed a cassette mixtape by his brother's girlfriend...inspiring his unforgettable dance performance:

Napoleon Dynamite Dances to a Mixtape