09 Friday Oct 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Books, Brighton, Music, Poetry, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on Violets, Flamingos and Heroes in Autumn
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Brighton, Christine Keeler, David Bowie, Dreadzone, Emily Capell, Flamingo, Flamingo Club, Geoff McCormack, Lana Del Rey, Mercy for Christine, NHS Heroes, Rosie the Riveter, Roxana Halls, Seymour Platt, The Skatalites, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
On New Year’s Eve, I wrote here of my fears over where the world is heading. Little did I know that only a few weeks later we would be facing up to a pandemic. 2020 has been a strange, lonesome year for many of us. Continue reading
06 Tuesday Aug 2019
Posted in Art and Photography, Brighton, Marilyn Monroe, Politics
≈ Comments Off on Brighton Shows Love (and Pride) for Marilyn
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Brighton, Brighton Pride, broken//hartist, Graffiti, LGBTQ+, Marilyn Monroe, Public Art, Richard Avedon, Sad Marilyn, Street Art, The Postman
Brighton Pride is the biggest event of its kind in the UK, and one of the most popular worldwide. This weekend, a rainbow ribbon of graffiti streamed across my hometown – including this mural at the old Methodist Church on 88 London Road. Created by The Postman and broken//hartist, after Richard Avedon’s 1957 photograph, widely known as ‘Sad Marilyn‘ – all the more touching as this Pride weekend coincided with the 57th anniversary of Marilyn’s passing, and she will always be loved by our LGBTQ+ community.
14 Wednesday Feb 2018
Posted in Anniversaries, Brighton, Film, History, Politics
≈ Comments Off on ‘Casablanca’ at the Picturehouse
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Brighton, Casablanca, Duke of York's Brighton, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Refugee Crisis, World War II
One of the finest movies ever made, Casablanca, celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. As I joined a nearly full house at the Duke of York’s in Brighton last Sunday, I wondered whom in the audience were watching it for the first time, and how many had seen it numerous times on television. Most chuckled in recognition of its oft-quoted dialogue, whether familiar from past viewings or references in popular culture. Continue reading
08 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Brighton, Fashion and Beauty, Film, Marilyn Monroe
≈ Comments Off on How to Marry a Millionaire
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Betty Grable, Brighton, Cinemascope, David Wayne, Duke of York's Brighton, How to Marry a Millionaire, Jean Negulesco, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Nunnally Johnson, Picturehouse, Travilla
On a crisp Friday morning in the first week of January, I joined a handful of people at the Duke of York’s in Brighton – England’s oldest independent cinema – for a screening of How to Marry a Millionaire. It’s part of a regular series of classic movies aimed at an older audience, with tea and biscuits served beforehand, and a fifteen-minute interval – although I think it’s fair to say they could use some promotion. (Classic movie fans, please note: Millionaire is showing at Picturehouse cinemas across the UK throughout January, and looking further ahead, There’s No Business Like Show Business is scheduled for June.) Continue reading
22 Thursday Dec 2016
Posted in Amy Winehouse, Books, Brighton, Film, History, Lana Del Rey, Music, Non-Fiction, Politics, Witchcraft, Writing
≈ Comments Off on 2016: A Year In Non-Fiction
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A Year in Books, Amy Winehouse, Another Day in the Death of America, BFI Stars, Blondie, British Witches of Sussex, Elena Ferrante, F.A. Mannan, Frances Farmer, Frantumaglia, Gary Younge, I'm Not In the Band, Jean Rhys, Journalism, Julie Christie, Lana Del Rey, Letters, Lyndsy Spence, Margaret Lockwood, Melanie Bell, Natalie Wood, Nathalie Leger, Peter Shelley, Rebecca Sullivan, Suite For Barbara Loden, Sylvia Patterson
British journalist Gary Younge has a sharp eye for how political events impact on ordinary lives. While living in Chicago, he investigated the stories behind the blunt statistics of ten children and teenagers shot dead in a single day. Never intrusive, but quietly devastating, Another Day in the Death of America illuminates with rare power. Continue reading
