Things to do – The Cultural Exposé

What we’ve been up to… Shuffleboarding at The Little Shuffle Club

Matilda — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 18:17:05 +0000

Shufflewhatnow? That’s the reaction I got from my work colleagues last week when I mentioned I spent my Wednesday evening “shuffleboarding”. To the uninitiated, that’s a game that involves pushing discs around for points – and if you google the phrase, you’ll likely find pics of geriatrics holding broom-like sticks as they get their shuffle on (play on, playas!). I’d be lying if I said I completely understood all the rules during my hump day dalliance, but it was fun – and Londoners can give it a go on November 1, when The London Shuffle Club returns to The Truman Brewery.

In the meantime, you can swing by the club’s new permanent kid bro, The Little Shuffle Club on 2 Ebor Street. It’s currently the only bar in the city dedicated to table shuffleboarding – but if you’re not too hot on playing, drop by for the incredible cocktails or watch a tournament in action.

Find out more at londonshuffle.com and check pics from the Little Shuffle Club’s launch below:

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Somewhere you should go… summer parties in London: No Long Ting All Dayer + Room for Movement

Matilda — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 07:30:33 +0000

Man… July was a bit of a cruel one to me. My site got hacked plus I’ve had loads of housing drama (typical London). Like, ‘start a building petition and write to your MP’ drama. But it’s August, it’s “summer”, and I can finally see the calm after the storm. Thus, it’s time to get my social life back. As it so happens, it’s my birthday month (woop!) and personally, I’m all for celebrating as much as possible until the actual day (the 15th), so with no further adieu, here’s the first of two summer parties in London I can’t wait to check out this weekend:

No Long Ting All Dayer Part 2, Pop Brixton, August 7th (2-11pm)

I’ve wanted to hit up No Long Ting for the absolute LONGEST. It’s sort of like a block party / house party hosted by one of the capital’s finest hip-hop artists Ty and the good folks from the United 80 shop in the Market Village. I heard good things about the June event, so I’m expecting all of the best vibes.

Room4Movement, The Book Club, August 7th (7-midnight)

Fresh from killing another Jazz Re:fest at the Southbank last month, the Jazz Re:freshed crew is throwing the latest of their East London music jams this weekend. DJ Charlie Dark will be bringing the tunes, along with residents Bunny Bread, Top Rock & Adam Rock. These guys always come strong, so no doubt it’s gonna be a lively one!

Are there any summer parties in London you’re looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!

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One for the diary: Ethiopia Skate – photography by Daniel Reiter at Rich Mix

Matilda — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 08:30:18 +0000

In 2012, an Ethiopian teenager named Abenezer Temesgen had a brilliant idea. His plan? To get disadvantaged kids off the streets of Addis Abba through skateboarding, even though he didn’t have the funds, equipment or even a skatepark. But since then, he’s shared his mission with the help of Californian photographer Sean Stromoe, and Ethiopia Skate was born – a thriving project that’s getting love from all around the world.

One supporter is Berlin-based photographer Daniel Reiter, who met the community in 2015. He decided to create a photo series of the scene and you can now check out those pics in an exhibition at Rich Mix next month. Some of Reiter’s gorgeous snaps will be sold as limited edition fine art prints and all profits will go towards to the project, which hopes to raise enough cash to install the nation’s first skatepark.

The exhibition runs from April 6 to April 28 in the Lower Café Gallery. Find out more about Ethiopia Skate at www.ethiopiaskate.org.

Check out pics from the exhibition below:

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The new Chanel exhibition is now open at the Saatchi Gallery

Matilda — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 11:15:24 +0000

I’ve been waiting WEEKS for this! The MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ exhibition has finally arrived in London to present the wonderful world of Chanel. Set over three floors, the show will give visitors the chance to explore the history and cultural impact of the French fashion house, all at the helm of Karl Lagerfeld and the original Coco Chanel. This includes an exploration of the Haute Couture, the bling, the iconography and even that infamous scent, CHANEL N°5. There’s daily workshops too – and if you’re lucky enough to snag a free ticket (they’re released every morning and have so far gone in a flash) you’ll learn about the artisan trades of embroidery, flower creation and perfumery. Check out a film of the exhibition’s preview below:

The exhibition runs until 1st November, so for the latest news and workshop bookings, visit MADEMOISELLEPRIVE.CHANEL.COM

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Somewhere you should go… Secret 7″ at Somerset House

Matilda — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:30:45 +0000

It’s been three years since Secret 7″ arrived in the capital, inviting creatives from across the globe to design record sleeves for songs by well-known musicians. But there’s more to this project than just a very cool collaboration of art forms; it’s an open brief for a collective of renowned and budding artists to let their imagination run wild with some of the biggest songs in the world as their inspiration, while it also offers a clever way for art and music lovers to lend their support to a charitable cause. The 700 sleeves are sold at the end of the exhibition, with all proceeds going to the Nordoff Robbins charity which offers musical therapy to vulnerable children and adults. And with contributors including Yoko Ono, Martin Parr and Sir Peter Blake creating their interpretation of hits by The Chemical Brothers, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Maccabees, Peter Gabriel, The Rolling Stones, St. Vincent and The Underworld this year, the £50-a-pop sleeves are well worth the investment. Check out this show before it wraps up on the 3rd of May – the sale takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, but for more information visit www.secret-7.com. Click here to check out a photogallery of our recent visit!

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Somewhere you should go… The Chocolate Festival

Matilda — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:08:30 +0000

I’ve recently come to learn that not everyone loves chocolate. Shock, horror? Maybe, maybe not. I personally tread the line between knocking myself into a chocolate-induced coma come Easter time (the mini egg addiction is real…) and steering clear of the stuff whenever I’m reminded that a lot of it out there is pretty much chocolate-flavoured sugar. But thankfully, there’s a growing number of folk churning out superior, luxurious, A-grade, “this could change my mind about chocolate” chocolate, many of whom we’ll be at this weekend’s themed festival.

Master chocolatiers Paul Wayne Gregory and Damian Allsop will be in the mix, along with the renowned Artisan de Chocolat and RococoChocolates, and plenty of newcomers such as Lucocoa Chocolate, a duo committed to producing the confectionery from bean to bar.

The festival will also include chocolate-making workshops, displays, a market and even a Cocoa Spa where visitors can be pampered with chocolate themed treatments. So chocoholics, I expect you to be there, and skeptics – let your curiosity get the best of you; this should be a delightful way to spend the weekend.

From Friday 27 to Sunday 29 March 2015 at the Business Design Centre. For more details visit www.festivalchocolate.co.uk.

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What we’ve been up to (in Paris)… The Centre Pompidou

Matilda — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 12:30:27 +0000

I love pop art, so hitting up this show at the uber-modern The Centre Pompidou was a no-brainer. Jeff Koon is considered to be one of the world’s most expensive artists (his work can fetch for $25 million upwards) an he’s produced a collection of iconic and controversial pieces in the last 40 years, many which feature in this small retrospective. There’s the 1989 Made in Heaven piece of him and his wife, tha MJ and Bubbles sculpture and of course, the Balloon Dog (Magenta), which appears to be the show’s centrepiece and clearly a favourite amongst the visitors. It’s unbelievably metallic, but such is the incredible level of detail that you’ll be tempted to touch it to find out. While the show features plenty of fun stuff to take selfies with, one of my friends who came with me found it all a bit “meh”, and I could understand why – without

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the Koon backstory, the work here is just a pick and mix of kitsch and quirky artwork without the meaning that comes from a more meticulously curated (or larger) show. Still, it’s a whistle-stop education in a contemporary American artist who, though a bit Marmite, does what he does quite well. Had we stayed a bit longer for our €13, it might have been worth checking out some of the other Pompidou exhibitions, including a Hervé Télémaque retrospective (on until 18th May) and the What Is Photography? exhibition, an exploration of the medium in modern times (on until 1st June). www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou (Nearest Metros: Rambuteau)

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What we’ve been up to… a weekend in Paris

Matilda — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:00:50 +0000

The beauty of living in London is that Paris is just a hop, skip and a jump away – but for all the times I’ve visited the city (for work or running), I’d be lying if I said I had the chance to DO Paris. So with the weather on the brink of Spring and an opportune weekend to cheer my Run Dem Crew friends at this year’s Paris half-marathon, I made the spontaneous decision to hit the town last weekend and do as much as I could accomplish in 48 hours. I had a brilliant time – and this week I’ll be sharing all my best moments of what I did, where I ate and why, in the words of Audrey Hepburn, Paris is always a good idea:

Plane vs Eurostar

Everyone knows that travelling by Eurostar is dope – and if you book it well in advance, you can get to the Paris for less than £100 quid. My lastminute.comness meant I spent a eye-watering amount that went over the £150 mark, but I don’t regret it; the ease of just pulling in to Gare du Nord from Kings Cross St Pancras always trump travelling on a plane in my opinion, even if flights nowadays are a bit cheaper.

City guide vs apps

I bought the Time Out Shortlist Paris 9th edition guide a day before I travelled, just to be on the safe side: it’s got a quality map in the back and I found it pretty useful during the weekend, especially in learning about the different areas in the city. But I couldn’t live without Google Maps – and thanks to GPS, I could frequently conserve my data while getting an accurate location. The Uber app was also fantastic for booking quick and cheap taxis and the free Duolingo app helped me with brushing up on my (very) basic french.

Hotel vs airBnB

The last time I visited Paris was in 2013 for the half-marathon and I stayed in the uber-hip Mama Shelter in the 20^th district in central Paris (nearest metro: Alexandre Dumas). It’s got a great vibe, dope food, but it’s off the beaten track and hardly the bargain I was looking for this time round. So I tried airBnB for the first time which is so easy to use. After a friend recommended I search for spots in Le Marais or Saint-Germain-des-Prés, I ended up booking a clean and quaint apartment from a guy named Ahmed which only cost £116 for two nights and was in a fantastic location. Sharing with a friend meant I only spent £58!

Public vs two-legged transport

I ended up being one of those tourists wasting everyone else’s time when I tried to buy a Metro ticket from the machines at Gare du Nord. Eventually I figured out the system of a single €1.70 ticket per journey (so cheap!), but I only every used six for the entire weekend so avoided buying the booklet of ten. The rest of the time we walked to take it as much of the city as possible – thank you Google Maps! We also used the Vélib’ bike hire scheme which was cheap but a lot trickier than it should have been; the first hire machine we found was out of order, the second had plenty of defective bikes and once we hired, we struggled to find a place to dock them once we reached our destination in Bastille! Also, cyclists ride on the right in Paris, so there were a few hairy moments when it came to crossing junctions…traffic light crossings became our fast friends, I tell ya!

Tomorrow’s post: What we got up to… The Louvre, Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée d’Orsay

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Somewhere you should go… Makers, Haggerston

Matilda — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:00:57 +0000

You’ll be hard pushed to find events not wrapped up in the Christmas festivities at this time of the year, but there’s a few notable exceptions out there, like this weekend’s Makers pop-up in Haggerston. The one-dayer will be celebrating the East End’s creativity, beginning with 18 different workshops to get you making and doing. Names in the mix include paper crafter Poppy Chancellor and artist Lizzie King, who’s behind the acclaimed Get Rich or Tie-Dyeing workshop.

The event, which is split across different floors, will also include talks, activities for kids and good eats; in the Makers Kitchen, chef Ben Spalding will be serving up a seasonal menu featuring dishes such as Black Hand Pork Belly cooked in “Dalston Coca Cola” and Whipped mince pie. It’s bound to be memorable, if Ben’s popularity is anything to go by.

Finally, the US based vinyl members club Vinyl Me, Please will be making their London debut at Makers, offering you the chance to experience how to match your cocktails to your tunes, while Detroit DJ Theo Parrish is also scheduled to throw down on the ones and twos. Sounds like a brilliant day (and night) out to us! For more details, visit: billetto.co.uk/makers

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Somewhere you should go… The Bayou Soul

Matilda — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:53:28 +0000

At last, here’s an American restaurant which I can happily call a home away from home! The Bayou Soul launched in Camden at the beginning of the summer and impressively pays homage to all things creole from the Southern states in the US. That adds up to a menu featuring personal faves such as biscuits, grits, hush puppies, gumbo, jambalaya and even chicken and waffles; and the latter is such a delicious brunch offering I couldn’t stop tweeting about after the first bite. It was really that good.

There’s also live blues entertainment which could make the experience feel a bit more authentic or a tiny bit kitsch, depending who’s on the bill – but either way, the musicianship on the day we attended was top notch and made our Saturday blues brunch feel that little bit more special.

So if you’ve ever wanted to taste classic American soul food – plus great cocktails, they’re amazing here! – the Bayou pays an excellent tribute to a wonderful cuisine and culture. Expect to spend just under £20 for brunch, which comes with live music every weekend until 3pm. For more details, visit thebayoucamden.com. Check out pics from our recent visit below:

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