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London’s cultural highlights this month
Halloween might be back in the box for another year, but that doesn’t mean you should pack the costumes away just yet. Our November begins with a splash of ghoulish Dia de los Muertos to kick things off, swiftly followed by an explosion of neon, lashings of cultural infamy, a slice of conceptual cuisine, an 80 year old design icon, a modern Jewish deli, and of course a couple of serious hip hop deities to round things off. Not bad for the penultimate month of the year.
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PARTY: URBAN JUNKIES X CAZADORES DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Nov 2
We’re back with our fabulous (even if we do say so) annual Dia de los Muertos throwdown with the folks at Cazadores. If we’ve already confirmed your guestlist spot, then congrats and we’ll see you there in your DDLM finery! If you haven’t heard from us – or if you couldn’t make it anyway – then fret not: we’ve put together a go-to, quick-hit list for bringing a juicy slice of Dia de los Muertos love to your own house-party, complete with Cazadores cocktail recipes, food recommendations, where to shop and what to buy. Either way: Happy Dia de los Muertos everyone!
Click here to see our DIY Dia de los Muertos round- up. |
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ART: GOD’S OWN JUNKYARD
Nov 7-16
The Old Hardware Store, 136 Regent’s Park Rd, NW1 8XN
Neon. What’s not to love? And Chris Bracey, master of the electro-lightform has worked with everyone from McQueen to Tim Burton, been sold alongside the likes of Jeff Koons, and now he’s here with his own (no doubt brightly lit) pop-up until January. Bracey’s handmade pieces ooze pop-culture, Americana, rock ‘n’ roll, and exotic poolside glamour. Pick up your own sign – anything from retro pieces to vintage originals – to add a bit of illuminated ‘50s glam to your own space. Just be sure to bring the shades.
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TALK: TECHNOBABBLE
Nov 2-5
St. Peter’s, Kensington Park Rd, W11 3DB
£10
Technobabble is just one of the events in the week-long First Direct Dialogue schedule. And while the full roster includes names like Adam Buxton, Robin Ince and Will Self, tonight’s do is the one we’ll be booking. Curated by comedian Richard Herring who’ll be leading the comically vitriolic rant on technobabble, the line-up also includes a live tweet off and, the piece de resistance, Perez Hilton and guest bloggers presenting a Pecha Kucha. Perez Hilton + Pecha Kucha? You can’t make that kind of thing up. |
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ART: TWENTY YEARS OF DAZED & CONFUSED MAGAZINE
Nov 4
Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA
Free
When Jefferson Hack and Rankin launched Dazed & Confused way back in the heady days of 1991 (not that that makes us feel just a little bit old), it embedded itself almost instantly as a cultural icon. Celebrating a whopping 20 years at the top of its game, this exhibition – curated by Emma Reeves and Hack himself – highlights some of the mag’s most notorious visual stories. If creativity is your thing, with work from Rankin, Nick Knight, Sam Taylor-Wood, Nicola Formichetti, Vivienne Westwood and more on show, you’d be a fool to miss out. |
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FOOD: DINE AT COB
Nov 4
COB Gallery, 205 Royal College St, NW1 0SG
£40 adv
Camden’s COB Gallery is busily turning its hand from art to eat, hosting an on-going series of conceptual dinners in the middle of the gallery space itself. Co-hosted by the current exhibited artist, Walter Hugo, numbers are kept to an intimate minimum, while the menu is the creation of ex-Ritz/Maze chef Daniel Morgan, including the likes of squid quavers with wasabi pearls, watermelon tartare with honeydew yolk, popcorn guinea fowl with smoked sweetcorn and maple foam, and a delightfully curious apple pie screwball, rounded off with apple chewing gum. |
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MUSIC: DOOM & GHOSTFACE KILLAH
Nov 5
Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Rd, NW1 8EH
£29.50
Ghostface Killah? Doom? Roundhouse? Maybe we should leave this one where it is. I mean, what more reason do you need to snap up those last tickets to catch two of rap’s most infamous icons – namely Doom (here without the ‘MF’ or ‘Danger’ prefixes that he sometimes champions) and the Wu’s very own unstoppable Ghostface Killah – tear it up in one of Camden’s grandest venues as part of Lex Records’ 10th anniversary? You want more? What are you, crazy? We say bag yourself some tickets immediately, and remember why and how much you fell in love with hip hop in the first place. This is gonna be one for the books. |
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ART: TERENCE CONRAN: THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Nov 16
Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, SE1 2YD
£10-£11
To help celebrating the inimitable Terence Conran’s 80th birthday, the Design Museum are throwing a major exhibition at theirs, examining his impact on contemporary life here in the UK. Charting both his success as a designer and entrepreneur, The Way We Live Now explores his life and work from the post-war 1950s through to the design boom of the ‘80s and onwards into the 21st century. There aren’t many British designers out there who have had anywhere near the kind of impact on our everyday lives as his royal Conranship – something this show should demonstrate with great aplomb. |
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ART: RCA SECRET
Nov 18-26
RCA, Kensington Gore, SW7 2EU
We know you know (and you know we know you know, etc.). But once more it’s time to brush off your urban sleeping bag and join the queue early: it’s postcard time! For the 18th year now, the RCA are back with everyone’s favourite mini art-buying extravaganza – and once again, we’ll see you there, fighting tooth and claw for one (or four) of 2,800 works by 1,000 artists, including the likes of Tracey Emin, Paul Smith, Yoko Ono, Grayson Perry, Jake Chapman, Olafur Eliasson… And sure you could just end up with a watercolour of a phallic teapot by an as yet un-famous RCA grad. But at least it’s an attractive looking phallic teapot. |
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OTHER: HYDE PARK WINTER WONDERLAND
Nov 18
You know it’s Christmas when the Winter Wonderland rolls into town, its lashings of merriment and joy in tow. (And yes, dear Grinch, it is indeed that time of year already – bah humbug and all that.) So skates at the ready, folks, as once more Hyde Park plays home to London’s largest ice rink, a brand new rollercoaster never before seen my mortal eyes (or something like that), a Bavarian Village, authentic Spiegel Saloon, English Food Fair, Santa’s Grotto for the sprogs, and enough mulled wine to sink a battleship. Now that’s our kind of Christmas fair. |
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FOOD: MISHKIN’S
Nov 21-23
25 Catherine St, WC2B 5JS
It must be tough being Russell Norman. Having all that weight on your shoulders; all that creative freedom, the sense of style, the impeccable culinary taste, and his finger on the gastropulse of a city as famously fickle as London. Sigh. And once more he’s got us chomping at the bit for his latest restaurant, Mishkin’s – and it hasn’t even opened yet. Moving on from the Venetian bitesize offerings of his Polpo group, Mishkin’s promises to be “a kind of Jewish deli with cocktails.” Salt beef on rye with a rye on the side, here we come! |
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THEATRE: HAMLET
Nov 21-23
Barbican, Silk St, EC2Y 8DS
£16-£42
Even if the very notion of watching Hamlet on stage fills you with a kind of bored dread (not again! please!), we still beseech you to read on – or better yet, to actually consider buying a ticket. For this is no typical run-of-the-mill production, we promise. Dark, visceral, muddy, modern, soaking wet and unstintingly physical, Thomas Ostermeier’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s paranoid tragedy is memorable, moving and already highly lauded. A walk in the grass it sure ain’t – but if you’re willing to let some high drama into your life, get thee henceforth. |
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| SPOTLIGHT |
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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN'S GIN O'CLOCK BOOK LAUNCH
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Bombay Sapphire Blue Room, Vinopolis
Last Monday saw the launch party of Her Royal Highness’s debut book, Gin O’ Clock, and UJ were there with her in all her regal glory. Her majesty (of Twitter) attended clad in appropriately turquoise attire, pearls and all. Tipple came in the form of Bombay Sapphire-based cocktails, much to Her Royal Highness’s taste: the Ultimte G&T, Tom Collins, Bramble and Wild Sapphire Martini and the specially-created Gin O’Clock cocktail (we rarely saw Queeny without one of these in hand).
Gin O’ Clock, available from all good book stores, £12.99
For more imaginative evening ideas visit www.facebook.com/bombaysapphire
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LINK TO THESE FEATURES: ART & CULTURE
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AC and JC |
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2011 Urban Junkies. All rights reserved.
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