Sunday Swoon. May 12th 2013.

Due to gallivanting around Dartmoor and Brixham and lack of internet access this is more of a fortnightly round-up.

1. The first book I read as an East London resident was A Hoxton Childhood by A.S Jasper. An honest and frank account of growing up poor in 1920′s from the voice of an ordinary man. No romanticising the past. It could have been wrote by my Dad from the stories he’s told me and he read the entire book in a matter of hours when I passed it on to him. A beautiful message in the book and interesting to read about the streets that now surround me.

“Be thankful that you were born now and not then. Go forward, but try to be tolerant of your parents along the way”. A.S Jasper.

2. If you ever find yourself in Torbay the only place to have seafood is Simply Fish in Brixham. Menu is dictated by availability from the boats straight in from fishing at a quarter of the price you’d pay in London. Queues rival that of restaurants such as Meat Liquor. My favourite dish is their Tempura Cuttlefish (pictured above). Managed to fit three visits in during my visit home.

3. Janelle Monae is back with Q.U.E.E.N featuring Erykah Badu. Adore everything about this woman and still lament the day I got sidetracked by an ice cream van playing 90′s dance music at Glastonbury and missed her. Makes me want to quiff my hair and deal in monochrome only.

4. Before the Devon adventures and in between moving house I managed to sneak in a couple of trips to Pick Me Up London. Just as inspiring, inventive and batty as it was when I first attended last year. I’d highly recommend signing up to the mailing list so you don’t miss out on it next year.

5. Hot on the heels of (the superior, let’s face it) Daft Punk comes a new track from Basement Jaxx which really minds me of Friends Va Fan Gor Du. Getting my dance on.

Sunday Swoon. April 1st

A week where I finished a book full of freaks and loved them all, spent hours being wowed by graphic art at Somerset House and discovered Afternoon Shift…

1. When I first started reading Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love I tweeted that I was more than a little disturbed by it. Thankfully people convinced me to persist. Yes it stems from a slightly sick and twisted imagination but the result makes the ugliest of things quite beautiful. It’s like the love child of Angela Carter and Neil Gaiman.

2. Something had to come along to stop my brain shouting “GRIMES” at me every time I paused when deciding what album to put on. Grinderman 2 RMX appears, for the moment, to be that album. The Joshua Homme remix of Mickey Bloody Mouse is something quite special. I can be guilty of dismissing remix albums as lazy but this doesn’t lack in imagination and is brilliantly produced. You can listen to is on Spotify here.

3. The Daily Mash had me in hysterics over their festival for twats piece this week. If there was ever an article I wish had come from my brain it could be this one.

4. Somerset House have hosted a contemporary graphic art fair called Pick Me Up. Thanks to good egg Jo I was able to cram in on the final day and was completely overwhelmed by the standard of artists on display. Oh to be rich and snap everything up. From Paul X Johnson’s soft and romantic figures to Zim & Zou’s paper Polaroid camera’s. Extensive, vast, varied and washed down with coffee and ham and piccalilli rolls.This really deserves a post of its own, you can find photos on my Flickr.

5. Huge thanks to @goodstufftom who put me on to Afternoon Shift this week. I will use his words “informative, clever and not stuffy at all”. For radio fans please give it a listen. ♥

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