Monday 29 October 2012

Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens...


...Barrie insisted that it be erected in the middle of the night to give the illusion that the sculpture had appeared by magic. Thus, the statue appeared ‘magically’ on 1st May 1912 (May Day), the very same day in which Barrie placed the following announcement in The Times:
"There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."

Sunday 28 October 2012

Massive Attack: 21st anniversary of "Blue lines"...



...today they are not the Massive Attack that made Blue Lines. Tricky departed not long after the release of the album, as did Shara Nelson, their first and greatest singer, both claiming they had not been given enough recognition for their contributions to the Massive Attack sound.
The original idea that was Massive Attack – the collective, elastic, shape-shifting but essentially tight-knit, identity that helped make Blue Linessuch a groundbreaking album has long since evaporated. The album, in all its newly polished glory, remains: a testament to a time when their vision was a truly collective one that challenged the notion of the pop group as well as the pop song. Twenty-one years on, Blue Lines still feels like a blueprint for a different kind of pop future: stranger, richer, day-dreamier.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Annie Mac, BBC radio presenter and a DJ...



When you get to that big level of proper superstar DJs, it just makes me sad. So much of that world is just about women in cages with no clothes on. I think that whole format is so tired, and it automatically puts women in the position where they're there to dance to the DJs, rather than being the people who create music. Touring with Tiƫsto for the documentary, it was just a bit depressing. It's not his fault: he likes girls just as much as they like him, it's just the way it is. I always want to be surrounded by fat, hairy men when I play Ibiza as an antidote to what's become an accepted format. Sometimes I see groupies with DJs and I just want to be like, "Nooo! Please have some self-respect! Come and talk to me!" The big sister in me comes out and it's hard. But I can't say anything. I just have to be quiet and let it happen.

Monday 8 October 2012

Hollywood is officially divorced...



One of Hollywood's longest-lasting couples, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, have separated.

Thursday 4 October 2012