The Good Ship

My very good pal Mark Dandy was back on stage last night, at The Good Ship - Kilburn, for the first time in a while, doing what he does best, telling very rude and very, very funny jokes. There's even a Ruby inspired joke in the routine now that made me feel very proud.
Thank you Mark - you were absolutely brilliant.
There were some other good acts too especially Darren Ruddle as Kev the builder.

Classified

There's lots of really good reasons to go to Tate Britain right now. Eva Rothschild's 'scribble in space' installation in the Duveen Gallery is absolutely thrilling but there's also the beautifully curated Richard Long show, three Bridget Reilly's are getting a rare airing, there's a stunning Mary Martin piece and a good measure of good, old fashioned, Gilbert & Georges.
But the best thing, right now, is a free show of recently bought works called 'Classified'.
The climax of the show is a head-to-head, mano-o-mano, face-off between Damian Hirst's 'Pharmacy' and The Chapman Brothers ' The Chapman Family Collection'. Both pieces are magnificent and are as good as any art made in Britain in the past 20 years, although it's the Hirst that probably wins the bout on points.

Eva Rothschild

Damian Hirst 'Pharmacy'

Chapman Brothers 'The Chapman Family Collection'

Peter Roseman Paintings | Opening Night 7 July, 6-9

Nothing beats a good bit of viral marketing so here's an invite to see the latest, brilliant, work by my mate Pete.

Ghost of a Flea, detail

Peter Roseman Paintings

7 July - 1 August 2009

Tuesday - Saturday 11-6

Opening night 7 July 6-9

5 Seymour Place

London W1H 5BA

www.proseman.com
www.alternativearts.co.uk

Ruby Swings

Here's Ruby, Ibolya, Georgi and I, on Saturday morning, in Roundwood Park, taking Ruby on the swings in the cafe, for the first time.

Other Bits of Our Weekend

The sun shone and it was a very warm Harlesden this weekend. On Friday I had a wonderful day with Ruby, just the two of us, having fun and loving each other's company. I absolutley love my Ruby Days. Saturday morning, we caught up with Andy and Ava and took Ruby and Georgi to Roundwood and gave Ruby her first go, with us, on the swings. I then got a severe case of Hydrangea envy (almost to the point of rage) on the way home. There are Hydrangeas, in full, glorious bloom, all over Harlesden right now.

Saturday afternoon we had our friends Jess, Adam, Jerry, Samia, Robyn, Danny and Holly over for a BBQ. We managed to get everything cooked and mostly eaten before we had to take shelter from a hailing thunder storm.

Sunday, I took Ruby out in the morning and then we all spent the afternoon on the floor in the lounge watching Glastonbury.

Andy, Ava and Georgi

came to stay with us this weekend and it was wonderful to see them all. Andy and Ava were seeing Neil Young in Hyde Park on saturday night.
Georgi is maturing into a really special doggy, she's so well behaved, lovely and delightful, she's very much part of our family. Ibolya and I got such a big kick out of taking her for a walk on Saturday morning with Ruby in Roundwood park. She's even a lot better with the cats now and keeps her distance.

Glastonbury

Glastonbury, the greatest annual celebration of music on the planet. Every year since I last went, I say to myself I'm glad I'm not going, then watch the coverage on telly and wish so much I was there. This year has an awesome line up and fantastic that' there's so many great, outstanding, new British artists like Little Boots, La Roux, Ladyhawke, Friendly Fires and Florence and the Machine.
I can't wait to see Blur tonight and the performance I've enjoyed most so far was this astonishing turn by The Ting Tings, they're from Salford! Check it out and just wait until that all girl horn section starts to blow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/tingtings/index.shtml#emp

We spread a rug out on the floor of our lounge and spent Sunday afternoon, just the three of us, watching the coverage on the red button, Florence and the Machine's set was glorious and we all sang along to her dazzling cover of 'You've Got The Love'.

I also loved Friendly Fire's (my current favourite album) funked up set (more horns too!) and thanks to the BBC I can embed one song here for you.

Michael Jackson

I can't let today's news of Michael Jackson death pass without mention. He formed part of the soundtrack of my life and was without doubt one of the greatest and most influential recording artists of all time. He was also a very funky man and I've had more fun dancing to his music over the years than was probably good for me.

I'm having a Ruby Day today and have just been playing her the 'Off the Wall' album. We couldn't help ourselves from having a dance and getting a bit emotional.

I spoke to my twin sister this morning and we remembered the first time we heard the 'Thriller' album, on a European Studies trip (our first time abroad) to Holland and Denmark in 1983.

It was the only cassette we had on the bus and it was played non-stop , back to back, for a whole week. We'd never heard anything like it before and none of us, on the entire trip, could get enough of it. It's an album that is impossible to tire of, no matter how many times you hear it. Just wonderful, wonderful, life enhancing, brilliant, music.

This is probably my favourite track and I love this video, when Jackson was young, black, with all his career and success ahead of him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrPTDU40hO4

and back to Paris

We got up at 6.00 on Sunday morning, after just a couple of hours sleep and drove back from Auxerre to Beaunne, dropped the car off, had a quick breakfast with Christophe and Camille.
We got then got the TGV from Dijon, back to Paris. Hopped on the suburban train at Gare De Lyon for the two stop to Gare de Nord, but found ourselves going in the opposite direction. After a tense wait for the train to stop and catch another going in the right direction, we caught our return Eurostar train without much time to spare.

Abbaye de Regny, Vermenton

In a convoy of hundreds of other cars, we drove to Vermenton and to the Abbaye de Regny, a stunning complex of 14th century buildings where the wedding reception was taking place in the monk's old refectory. We drank, ate, chattered and danced into the very early hours and had a thoroughly extravagant and marvelous time.

Mailly Le Chateau

Saturday afternoon at 3.30, we took our places in St Adrien's Church, Mailly le Chateau for the grandest (and longest) wedding service, we've ever been too. Ingrid and Tanneguy looked beautiful and so did all the wedding guests.
It seemed like the whole village had turned out to watch and we felt very honoured and privileged to be a part of it.