Top tip for festival goers, the footwear problem is solved with the Melissa jelly shoe experience! Come rain or shine, muddy field or grassy hillock a Melissa shoe really does solve the issue for the style conscious amongst us. Tried and tested, I trolloped through 10 inch deep mud last weekend in a pair of Westwood designed bootees. Mock ye not, they stood up rather well!
When day turned into dusk and the lure of Vogue Fabrics loomed I turned to the latest strappy number from Viv Westwood, a pair of buckled plastic heels. I can see you sniggering at the though of wading through the mud slush of a camp site! But these Melissa's are of course waterproof. Ok a few wobbly moments, but these girls have grip as well.
Next day and time to slip into a cushioned Westwood wedge. Sun blazing I skillfully graced a bare shin down to the breakfast area. The toes did need a breather.
Big plus, just stick 'em under the tap and all traces of any festival disappear...
Somehow I've managed to avoid this festival of festivals, that is until this Saturday when I will be getting an afternoon train and arriving early evening to partake in what will probably be a bit of a muddy and messy experience. I'm actually djing at the Vogue Fabrics area at the night called 'Pop' and I imagine I will not be leaving this part of Glasto swampland until Sunday.
All most amusing, slightly concerned about footwear so I've booked a visit to the Melissa jelly shoes company in the hope of something fashionably waterproof. Obviously I want something with a heel of sorts!
Anyway the salacious theme of Vogue Fabrics is all a bit 'slap and tickle' so to speak, on the line up Dalstons finest will be entertaining festival goers with a multitude of goings on... i've copied and pasted here as I couldn't put it more succinctly!
'A kinky disco in a field, sensory stimulus, Benidorm or Bedlam, aversion therapy, sexual deviation, addictive obsessions, abnormal results, behaviour modification, enlightenment, aftercare. Different shades of fun for consenting adults only.We're saucing things up for Glastonbury 2011 without a burlesque routine in sight...come and get literally vajazzled.'
Bedlam will be ruled over by living Goddess, all the way from Los Angeles;
Danni Daniels www.dannidaniels.com/
Down at the Bristroteque's cabaret room things are heating up with Tessa Christians 'Foul Play', taking place every Wednesday and Thursday throughout July. It's a tale which encompasses a series of anxious incidents between three friends climaxing in a truly dark scenario. A touch Ortonesque, Christian tackles a sub text where the three manipulative characters try and outwit each other with great dollops of black comedic rhetoric keeping you firmly on the edge of your seat.
Actors Brett Brown, Sean Hart and Matt Hickey the stars of Foul Play.
The Cabaret Room / Bistrotheque 9pm / every Wednesday & Thursday in July £10 on the door / advance bookings:www.bistrotheque.com nearest tube: Bethnal Green station
Performer Scottee has a few radical ideas up his sleeve and the latest goings on take shape in the form of the Burger Queen Contest! I went down to The Royal Vauxhall Tavern this week where the contest takes place every Wednesday throughout June. I heard the first heat was a riot, this week Judges included Paloma Faith, Timberlina, the Cock n Bull Kid, The Broken Hearts, the girls from Tatty Divine and the girl with the hula hoops on Britains Got Talent Marawa all presided over by the fantastic Amy Lamé from Duckie.
Scottee thinks it's about time we had some healthy role models on the scene, 'fat is a politic not a dress size' the contest is open to all, the slant is towards finding 'the perfect fatty to enter the final'. Throughout the evening Scottee and guests performed with insight. Tmberlina did some great songs on her banjo, Scottee did an emotional piece with black tears dripping down his face and Jude Bean presented a video diary of her weekly meals, a total hit! Meanwhile the contestants got ready for their own turns.
Scottee
Two of my friends entered this week Angel Rose and Oozing Gloop along with Nina Neon and Roberto Palfrey. Nina Neon was the overall winner this week and brought the house down with a dialogue of commentary centered around her wheelchair.
Angel Rose performed her unique take on life, death and glitter.
Oozing Gloop mimed an emotional track from Hedwig And The Angry Inch.
Last nights 'do' at the Tate Modern for Michael Clark was quite something I must say, alas I missed the first section of Clarks company's dance section in the Turbine Hall. Never mind I met Michael Snipe, who introduced himself 'Hi, I'm Michael Snipe'... 'Hello dear', I said, secretly I was thinking, 'Oh, I know Larry Tee, didn't you go out with him?' That would have been too much though! Anyway I was thinking of having a fag with artist Simon Popper when the band struck up! It was Relaxed Muscle, Jarvis Cockers band of the noughties. I was well excited, I actually brought their 7"single Sexualized/Billy Jack in 2003. I bustled in to get a better view. Jarvis had a face slathered in abstract makeup, so did his band, he was working his corner with a lot of gesture, I was quite mesmerized...
Meanwhile Michael Clark did a bit of a swirl over in the disco area to Relaxed Muscles music. Couldn't get close enough though. Michael dashed off when it was all over, quickly dressing to get ready for the next part of the evening, which was another bit of the Michael Clark Company's show on the main floor of the Turbine Hall. Was bloody amazing, highlight? Kraftwerk, Bowie with a combination of his company and the his ingenious and very enthusiastic non-trained dance troupe. Love!
After all this excitement, and a couple of red wines later Jarvis struck up again...
Look at him dears! Relaxed Muscle are an experimental sideline of dark wave goings on. Anyway after there bit I stuck a few songs on for the disco dance entertainments, while making Trevor Jackson go and get me some nibbles from the chocolate fountain. Jeffrey Hinton turned up for a back to back dj session, I took full advantage of him and went off for a fag, Mr Cocker was packing up so I had a chat with him. 'Hello dear', I said, he looked bemused. 'Yes, I met you at Giles Deacons birthday party, I thought that was a great set'. 'And it will be the last of Relaxed Muscle', he said, while sipping on his glass of white wine. We had a lovely chat I must say, we talked about cats... or was that with Bobby Gillespie!
Glad I caught them then. By the way after guzzling more chocolate fountain dipped marshmallows and fruit I got back on the decks with Jeffrey till 1am. I want to do more discos in the Turbine Hall!
We made the pilgrimage to see Sade and her band perform after an absence of 18 years at the O2 Arena last night. I didn't have any preconceptions but I was hoping for a string of her better known songs from the 80's I must confess! I was also intriqued to see Sade working her definitive style... I wasn't disappointed on both counts.
Sade rules, she really does... it's all in the detail, precise, easy, she came on in a body con style outfit, plus signature 'polo neck' (I'd already discussed her wardrobe with a few friends! Bolero jacket, cummerband and capri pants were all options). She arrived on stage hair slicked backed, big hooped earrings, my favorite look really, looking elegant, modern, understated and most of all really happy to be on stage in London.
The return.
Back in the day Sade wasn't the most enthused about performing, infact she hated it by all accounts. A fashion student at St Martins around 1980, she trained in the era which produced Stephen Jones, John Galliano, Kim Bowen, Melissa Caplan, Stephen Linard and Lee Sheldrick. She soon gave it up but her looks and style were already legendary even back then.
Initially Sade was in a couple of bands backing singing - Arriva and then Pride - she then became lead in Pride co writing Smooth Operator and eventually forming her own band under her own name with some of the original members of Pride. Amazingly all members have stuck true to the Sade journey, they are Andrew Hale, Paul Denman and Stuart Matthewman.
The boys in the band.
I know she's huge in America and I knew she had an album out a couple of years ago (Soldier Of Love and now The Ultimate Collection) but I always wondered why she didn't tour in the UK over the years. I still don't know, perhaps some things are better unsaid. At the age of 52 she's really come into her own. Stylistically her vocal range is better than ever and really quite unique, without pastische, i.e. she's got her own style and she always has... which is a thing I worry about when listening to emerging singers- generally they always sound like somebody else.
Ok next 'look', Sade came striding on in flats and a natty and modish looking suit complete with pocket detail and braces, (can't find any pics alas). She worked the stage with a backdrop of video installations, films and projections courtesy of Sophie Muller, it all looked perfectly in keeping, not trying too hard or over the top, and here I go again, she looked immaculate, absolutely stylish. And you know what, when she had the saxaphone solo going on it didn't seem dated in the least... I admit to a guilty sax moment! Her next looks were much more 'my lady' a white satin floor length gown and a red number, hair down.
This is Sade now (above) but lets have a look at some of her iconic moments...
