Flower Power

Three new works by Alastair Mackie ensure 2009 gets off to a good start at the David Roberts Art Foundation.

There's a piece incorporating a '30s taxidermy display case, a wooden loom that weaves mouse hair, and a dolls' house made out of the wood pulp from 262 abandoned wasp nests. Sounds intriguing.

The place to be right now is France! Musically it is spawning the very best of the new up-and-coming punk, rock, indie, dance and new wave bands and DJs. Combined, these artists are rapidly engendering an exciting and innovative music scene. Tonight's headliners are Poni Hoax, five French music nerds who party like only French music nerds can: a

The eclectic Udio night returns with an extra special January edition. Tonight the one and only Greg Wilson - encyclopedia discoteca - headlines. The Udio policy is to book names on their musical merit rather than household ubiquity - a method that has proved a storming success so far. Expect a cosmic mix of disco, funk, techno, hip-hop and more

Since it first began in 1981, the annual Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition has been widely recognised as one of the best out there for discovering new comedy.  Some of the nation's finest and wittiest have been in the finals of this competition including Russell Brand, Joe Wilkinson, David Baddiel, Matt Lucas, Alan Davies, Ardal O'H

Schtumm - Brighton's legendary warehouse party - have been spreading the love London's way every third Saturday down at the high church of electro mash-up-chaos that is 333. Tonight promoter Neal Lewis spins his italo-electro goodness, plus Pete Herbert (Reverso 68) gives you a Balearic bubble bath and Rekids' Toby Tobias shuffles his cosmic funk. Resid

Bugged Out! is one of those parties that's maintained its stupendously good reputation over the 12 years its been running. Their formula is simple. Book the very best. Always a couple of steps ahead of the game, they've got a knack for booking people just before they explode: Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk are just a two of the acts who played B

A large-scale video installation this month in the basement project space at V22. Yael Schmidt presents multiple projections, each one displaying figures in a variety of - usually private - activities: sleeping, thinking, bathing. A Taylor Wood or Emin-esque exploration of the often uneasy relationship between the public and the private, this is inti

A first London revival for nearly forty years of John Antrobus' therapy comedy. Originally staged at the Royal Court in 1969 (and starring Stephen Rea) this savagely funny but ultimately compassionate piece is surprisingly modern in its attitude. While therapy, patients and therapists are all satirised, the play supports the idea of healing th

Comedy Store nights are not the cheapest in the world but they are always a safe bet and for £18 this will be well worth it - loads of excellent comics and all for a good cause too.

Political comedian Kevin Day and legendary grouch Arthur Smith are hosting the night, plus there will be stand-up sets from other leading comics like Terry Alderton, Marcus Brigstocke, Jo Caulfield, Russell Howard, Paul Zenon and Sean Lock. Other guests are expected to drop in too.

The Lily Foundation is committed to finding a cure for Mitochondrial Disease and other metabolic disorders.

Phew! Just when we were thinking that January was going to be all miserable singer-songwriters and indie bands, this Californian ray of sunshine has landed to cheer us up with their incredibly infectious reggae pop.

Sounding like a combination of Architecture in Helsinki and the Polyphonic Spree, Still Flyin' are possibly the happiest band ever and the perfect antidote to all the freezing rain, sleet and financial disasters.

If you've seen the comedy series Flight of the Conchords (and if you haven't you really should - it's amazing) you will recognise Kristen Schaal as the creepy obsessed fan Mel. Here she teams up with Kurt Braunohler to perform their Fringe hit play Double Down Hearts. 

This show was nominated for the if.comedy award and combines scenes from their woeful 'Broadway play' which got rejected, with funny sketches and video footage.  Not only can they act and improvise well but their chemistry is excellent too, as they bounce quips off each other and keep you guessing at something more sexual going on underneath all the banter.

Videopia is a music and movie night which basically nicks the idea from Be Kind Rewind.

They will screen any 'sweded' Hollywood movies submitted by folks who feel inclined. The basic idea is a 5 minute version of a famous film - inspired.

On the night they'll be remaking the '80s classic Back To The Future live and will be seizing unassuming clubbers to participate. 

For four dates over the next two months, comedian and activist Mark Thomas will attempt to answer some of the more pressing questions about the state we are in. Is Britain the new Iceland? If we own a couple of banks can we lend ourselves money and use their phones to call Australia? And what is a 'derivative' and is it possible to use the word without using the words 'Keane' and 'Travis'?

There will be stand up sets as well as interviews with guests, journalists, academics, economists and city folk in general.  We didn't think there was anything that funny about the credit crunch but yet again Mark Thomas proves us wrong.

Been wondering what Edward Larrikin has been up to since Larrikin Love split up? Well since July 2007 he's been working on a new solo project called The Pan I Am, a typically weird sound clash of art rock, minimal drone, and whispered vocals.

Playing the Victorian splendour of Hoxton Hall tonight alongside arty electronica act Stereo Art, we recommend you get tickets for this fast: a sell-out is almost a dead cert.

How timely can you get? Just as Pope Benedict XVI issues a statement against homosexuality in the Catholic Church, simultaneously proving himself as dotty and out of touch as every previous incumbent and rubbing up about a quarter of his staff the wrong way, the Donmar comes out with a sharp, touching story about a priest who's been gay for thirty years. And one who thinks he fancies a young boy, at that!

David Anderton is an intelligent but thoroughly alienated Catholic priest who moves to a hostile, boring town on the Ayrshire coast, and heartily reciprocates the locals' hostility. He's been mourning a lover for decades and the only thing that interests him is the local kids, their sense of joie de vivre, their music and their E biscuits. Once he snogs one of them, he's really in hot water.

Sounding like a cosmic space-battle between XBXRX and a copy Duck Hunt on the NES, insano noise act Gum Takes Tooth are mental, but in a kid-with-too-much sugar sort of way.

Tonight they're at Barden's, heading up a pretty amazing line up of similarly weird and wonderful thrash acts. The guys you need to make sure you check out are Dethscalator - they basically sound like a cross between The Melvins and a man being beaten with a metal crowbar.

Four sound frames and four graphic works are all that make up this intriguingly sparse exhibition at Laure Genillard.

The artist responsible is William Furlong and he's been working in sound - specifically, the recorded voice - since the early '70s.

For this exhibition, entitled 'Possibility and Impossibility of Fixed Meaning', Furlong presents apparently arbitrary words and phrases extracted from interviews that he has carried out with several contemporary artists. So there's a work called 'I Remember Having a Conversation with Liam Gillick' and, oddly, 'When you go into an art gallery, it's full of air'. Hmmm.

Another coup for the Lyric as they secure the UK premiere of this unlikely Broadway smash about adolescent boys in a German boarding school. And we do mean unlikely. There's a singularity of vision about this show, which takes a scandalous 19th century play about wanking, taking drugs and trying to have sex with everybody, and gives it a rock n roll soundtrack.

What's extra surprising is that the creators of the show (Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, working from the 1991 play by Frank Wedekind) have resisted the temptation to move the play to 50s America. Instead, they boldly lay down an anachronistic soundtrack of rock over an otherwise period piece. While the traumas and pleasures of adolescence are timeless, this play gives 19th century schoolboys a voice that wasn't even invented for another 60 years. It works.

Tempting you to attend by talking about grilled meats may seem like a pretty transparent attempt. But when you consider that lightning fingered turntable alchemist Mr Thing is playing at the Super January Mixed Meat Grill Special, plus wonderful Tru Thoughts producer T M Juke, then the grilled meat kind of pales into insignificance.

To clarify, there'll be no meat involved. Vegetarians are welcome.

Taking leave from Robin Ince's fantastic 'Nine Lessons and Carols' show at the Apollo last month, the Fix Magazine have recruited Tim Minchin and Martin White's Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra for their musical comedy gig coming up at the 100 Club.

Last year's if.comedy nominees Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler will also be there performing their kooky sketches, not to mention alternative fun and games from Brian Gittins, chap-hop from Mr B and character comedy from Waen Shepherd as jaded '80s pop act Gary le Strange.  This will be a cracking music and comedy show held in a small and central venue.

Being tipped for the top by pretty much everybody across the music industry, the Fox Cubs are noisecore party boys par excellence. Last year alone they were hand-picked by Steve Lamacq to headline his stage at the Camden Crawl, they played the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, played the Electric Proms, were made one of NME's Top 10 hopes for the future, and gigged with the likes of !Forward Russia!, Future of the Left, Goodbooks, Pull Tiger Tail, Red Light Company, and an almost endless list of others.

Support comes from Sony/RCA new boys The New Devices. One of MSN Live's top 10 picks for 2009, and remixers of everyone from Beyoncé to Britney, Christina Aguilera to Madcon, The New Devices peddle fantastic, Pendulum-esque electro.

Your Mum brings the beats and basslines back to Brixton with an all-encompassing line-up that spans many a filthy pigeon-hole. One thing unites these artists: BASS.

Be it dirty, cheeky, wobbly or fidgety, these guys dish it out in spades. First up is the glitchy, crunky 2 Bit Thugs with their trademark 'gangster house'. Milena brings her eclectic mish-mash of house, electro, dubstep and breaks, and the genre-bending Pogo DJs shake the floor with their simply mouth-watering pogo-inspired business.

And now it comes to a Full Stop. This strange multi-part project, exploring notions of the sequential and ideas about causality climaxes today. And today it finally receives its title.

This four-part exhibition kicked off in December with some drawings displayed on a wooden support and accompanied by a Bedini machine, some kind of mid-'90s effects enhancer.

The second cycle saw some small paintings, a series of prints and a lecture, with the Bedini machine in accompaniment again.

For the third round, there was a performance involving drummers and a selection of films.

Then, at last, the whole thing comes to completion in the form of a 'full stop' on 25th January. The gallery is open late and tonight the exhibition receives its long-awaited title.

Teleological, moi?

Even if you're not local, the Sunday Special is worth travelling down to Greenwich for.

A brilliant music, cabaret and comedy night with a cult following, it attracts some top drawer comedians and has a more laid-back feel than the Friday and Saturday gigs.  There is a also a house jazz band and a 'lucky dip' open spot for anyone wanting to try their luck at stand-up.

Tonight sees a string of if.comedy nominees from the last few years on the bill, including Magnum PI lookalike Mike Wozniak, cheeky Irish chappie Andrew Maxwell and brilliant (if not a bit mental) sketch trio We Are Klang.

This Sunday, four of the biggest and best comedians on the circuit, Richard Herring, Andrew Lawrence, Dan Antopolski and MC Trevor Lock will be performing in the attractive surroundings of the New Player's Theatre. A perfect way to see off the weekend.

Lot49 kick off their East Village residency with a solid line-up, headed up by the simply excellent trio of newly installed residents Meat Katie, Kid Blue and Dylan Rhymes.

Their Christmas party back in December was storming, securing them a bi-monthly slot and giving the London-based tech-funk label a chance to showcase the sounds which regularly flick their switch.

It was about this time last year that everyone was writing Late Of The Pier off as a mere Klaxons cash in act. Man, was everyone wrong.

In fact this Castle Donnington based four peice have managed to blend 'Rumours' Era Fleetwood Mac with Gang of Four with some impressively wacky results.

An exhibition exploring notions of the threshold at the Hayward Gallery this spring, and it's curated by 2007 Turner Prize-winner, and famed wearer of bear-costumes, Mark Wallinger.

On display are works by a range of artists, including Vija Celmins, Thomas Demand, Giuseppe Penone and Albrecht Durer.

Jason Donovan returns to the West End stage in a gloriously camp production of a very unusual Australian adventure.

With more than 500 costumes and 39 musical set pieces, this lavish version of the hit 1994 film The  Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the most ambitious ever to come out of Australia. Hopefully it can match the commercial success and sheer entertainment value of the last notable Aussie export, Dirty Dancing.

Three drag queens set off for a gig in Alice Springs, and are forced to pit their fabulousness against the tough but magnificent outback. They discover more than they ever dreamed possible. The residents of the outback learn a thing or two as well...