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
31 Tuesday Dec 2019
Posted in Books, Film, Lana Del Rey, Music, Poetry, Politics, Television, Updates, Writing
≈ Comments Off on My Hopes and Fears for 2020
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1st September 1939, A Year in Books, A Year in Films and TV, A Year in Music, Art Decades, David Lynch, Dear Christine, Donna Tartt, ES Updates, Everlasting Star, Fan Phenomena, James Gray, Jeremy Corbyn, Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Monroe, Marion Cotillard, Poetry, Socialism, Soledad, The Goldfinch, The Immigrant, Twin Peaks, Ultraviolence, Video Games, W.H. Auden
As a new decade beckons, I’m deeply worried about the way our world seems to be heading. As W.H. Auden wrote on ‘September 1, 1939‘ (a poem deemed so prescient he tried to bury it …) Continue reading
26 Thursday Dec 2019
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Music, Profumo Affair, Television, Updates
≈ Comments Off on Merry Christmas To All My Readers
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BBC, Christine Keeler, Christmas, Dear Christine, I'll Be Home For Christmas, Kacey Musgraves, Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Monroe, Profumo Affair, Scandal, The Trial Of Christine Keeler
Just a little note from me to wish you all a merry Christmas. If you thought you’d seen off my lists for another year, make room for one more as in a few days, I’ll be looking back at the end of this decade in music, books and film. But first, let’s enjoy this nostalgic carol from Lana Del Rey and friends.
As some of you may know, The Trial of Christine Keeler is coming to BBC1. First announced here, the six-part drama starts at 9 pm this Sunday, December 29th. With the exhibition Dear Christine heading to London in February, and Scandal set for reissue by the BFI, the women of the Profumo Affair may finally get their due in 2020.
15 Sunday Dec 2019
Posted in Books, Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music, Non-Fiction
≈ Comments Off on 2019: A Year In Music
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A Year in Music, All Mirrors, Andrew Ridgeley, Angel Olsen, Billie Holiday, Debbie Harry, Downhill Lullaby, George Michael, Lana Del Rey, Madame X, Madonna, Marina and the Diamonds, Mirwais Ahmadzai, Norman Fucking Rockwell, Odetta, Prince, Remind Me Tomorrow, Seventeen, Sharon Van Etten, Sky Ferreira, The Shangri-Las, To Be Human, Tricky, Wham!
This year brought defiant statements from masters old and new: the iconoclastic Madame X, reuniting Madonna with ‘disco god’ Mirwais; and the epochal Norman Fucking Rockwell from Lana Del Rey. Continue reading
13 Sunday Jan 2019
Posted in Film, Lana Del Rey, Magazines, Television, Updates, Writing
≈ Comments Off on From ‘Soledad’ to Hope, With Lynch and Lana
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Aaron Darc, David Lynch, Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It, Jeremy Richey, Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Monroe, Remix, Soledad, Twin Peaks
SOLEDAD is a new journal from my good friend Jeremy Richey, the maestro behind ART DECADES. Soledad is (of course) the Spanish word for solitude, which is one of my favourite things. It can be sad, but also beautiful – a state of mind reflected in the magazine’s black and white imagery. I’m proud to have contributed a sixteen-page article about David Lynch’s return to Twin Peaks for the first volume. It’s the opening instalment in a two-part series, and while I can’t promise to unlock all of its mysteries, I hope fans of the show will enjoy my personal impressions. Continue reading
