6th February 2012

gigs clubbing art comedy theatre blog competitions

Illustration by Julie Khan

Winner Takes All

Sun, strawberries, snobbery and blazers: that’s Wimbledon. Or is it rain, Cliff Richard and another year of abject humiliation? Only time will tell, but at least Andy Murray’s got through to the third round. And now the whole nation is hoping he can emulate Fred Perry, not just by wearing a snazzy retro outfit, but by actually winning something too.

Talking of winning, there’s a few little competitions that we’d like you to be aware of. We’re offering the chance to win tickets to The Doctor’s Orders 4th Birthday Party at Herbal as well as VIP tickets to new fashion label blub night Scandalism at Scala. Both are pretty awesome prizes.

In addition, Spoonfed has been nominated for two Europa Awards, hosted by TechCrunch Europe. We’re in the shortlist for Best Mobile App and Best New Startup. So, please, click on the links and vote for us!

And finally, RIP Michael Jackson - what a hero. Apparently Londoners have planned a mass Moonwalk tribute. Jacko would be proud, or certainly confused.

Friday 26th

In association with The Sun and charity Help for Heroes, Ye Olde Watling is holding a day of activities to celebrate what Britain's war veterans have done for us all. The whole pub will be kitted out with patriotic flags and bunting and there's a raffle and auction to raise money for the charity. In addition anybody who presents an armed forces ID

A couple of years ago and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Helena Gee was on the way out. Her band the Ivories had broken-up and the success the Kaiser Chiefs had brought to the Leeds music scene seemed to have turned into some poison chalice. It really looked like it was all over. But you can never predict these things, and a few short years

The biggest sketch showcase in the country is back at the Pleasance this month with a dynamite line-up. Sketchatron is renowned for discovering great up-and-coming comics, but this will be more of a 'classic' gig. It includes favourite acts that have performed for them over the years with great success; now they are well and truly established

Pete Jordan's Spectrum imprint returns to Matter with a line-up primed to completely batter the hell out of the state of the art sound system.

Globally applauded producers and DJs on the chubby side, those brilliant Plump DJs head up the main room, with Lot49's tech-funk king Meat Katie, Herve, Duke Dumont and plenty of others.

Saturday 27th

After the hilarious success of Potted Potter, double act Dan and Jeff return in search of talking parrots and mysterious buried treasure, they’re swapping wizards for walking the plank and trading Hogwarts for the high seas... Shanties aside, Potted Pirates hits all the delightful notes you’d expect from this superbly shambolic duo. A show for

An endangered species thanks to a decade and a half of male, pop-punk domination, and it would seem that the all-girl punk band has finally been brought back from the brink. With bands like Plugs, Pens, Mika Miko and T.I.T.S all roaming the earth, it would seem that the spirit of Bikini Kill hasn't been totally destroyed by the hoards of skating

Lo Recordings launch a new project at Corsica Studios tonight: Glad 2 Know You. Each night will feature the label coming together with another label they have worked with to explore, collaborate and celebrate. This edition features Parisian imprint Tigersushi with label boss Joakim bringing his full live band, rising star Krikor and the

Sunday 28th

Smith and Priestley's summer institution is a true original which contrasts with the dingy atmosphere of most daytime parties and still retains a considerable edge over similar efforts. Today they return to Light Bar with Berlin's iconic Panaorama Bar resident Prosumer making his secretsundaze debut.

Jonny Sweet, from BBC2's Winging It and BBC3's Brave Young Men, is a comedy newcomer with bags of talent.

Part of sketch group House of Winsdor with Inbetweeners stars Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, he is a great sketch act (see Emma's review of House of Windsor in The Meeting) and we can't wait to see this solo show.

Monday 29th

One of the busiest people in the music biz, Shugo Tokumaru not only writes and record his own stellar pop tunes under his own name, he also plays in the group Gellers, rocking the guitar, backup vocals, and other goodness.

Similar in form and style to his compatriot Cornelius, he makes unique, disarming and hideously charming experimental folk that you can't help but fall in love with.

Another epic night of science and learning hosted by Robin Ince, following on from the Dawkins shows last Christmas.

Scientists, musicians and comedians will all be taking part in this charity event with proceeds going towards the Rationalist Association.

Tuesday 30th

The second woman ever to win the Perrier Award in 2005, Laura Solon (BBC 1's Harry and Paul, Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, Radio 4's Talking and Not Talking) returns with brand new character comedy ahead of the Edinburgh Festival.

Tickets can be booked through the website or over the phone: 0207 289 6054.

Dr Janusz Korczak was a remarkable man who founded an orphanage for Jewish children in which he let the kids determine how the place was run and made them the experts on their own affairs. His free-thinking ideas were a massive influence upon the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Tragically, his orphanage and the community of children he created were all within the walls of the Warsaw ghetto from 1942-44. He, and every one of his young charges, marched onto trains taking them to death camps.

This play, acclaimed on its national tour, uses the arrival of a defiant urchin in the idealised, gentle orphan community to explore questions of right, wrong - and resistance. It has received great notices and is heartbreakingly sad.

Wednesday 1st

Innovative online art gallery murmurART officially launches this July with a pop-up exhibition in The Wonder Room at Selfridges.

murmurART have put together a panel of ten important art world types - including Tracey Emin, Kevin Spacey, Zaha Hadid, Sir Peter Blake and Kay Saatchi - and asked each one to choose their favourite emerging young artist.

So there's work on display by the likes of Rose Blake, Hugo Wilson and Jo Robertson, all of which is for sale with prices starting at £1000 and 100% of that going to the artist.

Czech architect Jan Kaplicky died in January of this year aged 71, thereby bringing to a close the career of one of the most exciting and innovative designers of recent times.

Famous buildings include the Selfridges in Birmingham and the Comme des Garcons store in Tokyo. But, for many, Kaplicky will be best remembered for the fantastic media centre at Lord's, the home of cricket.

In one fell swoop Kaplicky dragged the fusty old timers of the MCC right into the forefront of cutting edge contemporary design: a remarkable achievement, and a fantastic and functional design.

One of the originators of the whole experimental noise/pop thing that took over London's East End late last year, Deerhoof are a wonderfully bizarre mix of Japanese and American pop that swerves between sweet melodic structures and fingers-down-a-blackboard noise like a drunk driver running from the Met.

Now they're making a welcome return to these shores with a triumphant show at the Scala. We saw them last year at ULU and can quite honestly report that these guys are like the head-rush you get from eating ice-cream too quickly X 1000!

Thursday 2nd

The influence of important thinkers often spreads far beyond the field in which they originally operated - look at Freud, Einstein or Derrida, to name just some relatively recent examples.

But the thinkings of few others can have had an impact quite as wide-ranging as those of Charles Darwin. This July, Fae Brauer, Barbara Larson and Gavin Parkinson have assembled leading academics from across the world for a three-day conference during which will be discussions about the effect that Darwin has had in politics, society, sex and the visual arts.

Laughter In Odd Places is a monthly (ish!) club that was set up by quirky comics Terry Saunders and Tom Bell after they'd had enough of playing smelly little pub rooms full of noisy drunk people. They've had comedy gigs in record shops, cafes, libraries, charity shops, book shops, galleries and even one in journalist Bruce Dessau's living room.

Tonight is sadly the last ever LIOP night but it is going to be a very special send-off. Held in the Museum of London, there will be tons of acts and surprise guests performing on different stages amongst the exhibits. See Richard Herring by some Roman remains! Watch Josie Long next to a model of the Great Fire of 1666! That sort of thing. Maybe. Oh, and did we forget to mention it's all free?!

Friday 3rd

Painting? In Hoxton? It'll never catch on. Well perhaps it will. With people beginning to tire of one-joke conceptualism, Standpoint Gallery presents an exhibition of painting, featuring work by five contemporary artists.

What links them all together is what the PR spiel terms 'emergent figuration'. In short, this means that the prime focus of each artist is the act of painting itself. Out of the paint (and the process) figurative elements emerge (or seem to emerge).

To celebrate four years of dosing the capital with the finest hip hop, The Doctor's Orders are hosting a series of events throughout July. Alongside their regular club nights there'll be live shows, free parties and even a pub quiz.

Tonight their party at Herbal meshes some of the top names from their wish list (DJ Vadim anyone?) with some new talent.

These guys are going to blow the roof clean off.

Them celebrate one whole year of serving London with cutting edge electronica, pure bass weight and giant beat-addicted creatures from the deep.

Yet another smashing line-up is in place to absolutely destroy Corsica Studios, with Hyp!Hyp!Hyp! hosting Room Two. Them are in control in the main room, with Mad Decent upstart Mumdance in to spin his bassline-glitch mentalism, plus Planet Mu's Irish recruit Boxcutter and a four deck, fully fledged bass assault from Rattus Rattus and Klose One.

More live acts are still to be confirmed for what already looks absolutely rinsing. Happy Birthday Them.

Saturday 4th

Iconic house and beats specialists Basement Jaxx headline the first day of the newly re-branded Wireless Festival.

Also topping an action packed bill are hip-hop acts The Streets and Dizzee Rascal as well as sets from electro/dance superstars Frankmusik and Digitalism.

What better way to while away a summer evening than with a top notch alfresco performance of this Oscar Wilde classic in a grassy corner of Regent's Park?

This vintage piece of Wilde is a classic drawing room farce of tangled love lives and mistaken identities... but distinguished with his trademark satirical slant and a seemingly unceasing flow of one liners. It really is hysterically funny, and great fun to act.

A wonderfully British night of laughter under the stars.

Wow. Christian Martin from the Dirtybird stable (which he co-runs) is flying in from San Fran to play this intimate little gig.

Justin Martin's brother, one half of their sick production duo aptly named The Martin Brothers and DJ of absolute brilliance.

This will be incredibly good, and unbelievably it's only £3. Well done Snap, Crackle and Pop.

Sunday 5th

Missoni have come a long way from their origins as producers of jersey tracksuits in the 1940s to become one of the most instantly recognisable fashion brands in the world. Known for bold zig-zag patterning and subtle use of tone and texture, Missoni is still very much a family-orientated operation.

This year it's fifty years since the company's official founding (by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni) and to celebrate Estorick Collection is hosting an exhibition that seeks to explore the techniques involved in production, as well as the sources of inspiration behind many of the designs.

For Edinburgh preview season, the esteemed Fix comedy mag is holding a series of double bills with some of their favourite acts performing every Sunday evening.

If you like weird or alternative comedy, you are in for a treat tonight. Hilarious character act Brian Gittins will be performing his new show Brian Gittins: Roadside Cafe Owner, full of latex masks, songs and bad jokes.