Hunter S Thompson - Gonzo.

We went to see this small collection of prints from Hunter Thompson's collection, being sold off by his estate as limited edition pieces, and also as a coffee table book.Thompson's writing is something I have long admired for his style and politics, the Nixon baiting Fear and Loathing on the Campaign trail being one of my favourite collections. The prints here contain a selection of shots of the man himself, in various states from wide-eyed peering over the windscreen of his convertible to contemplative with typewriter next to the cliffs of Big Sur. There are also photos taken by Thompson of the Hell's Angels, prowling through the streets but generally showing their more human side, not least the shot "Hell's Angel and Chick".Some nice shots it must be said, showing a light side to people who usually get tarred as being uncontrollably violent, something Thompson could probably relate to.Mind you the price of the prints (and even more so for the Fashion collection downstairs) blew me away. I must get my camera out.

London - A life in Maps - British Library

I had not been to the British Library before but it is somewhere I will be going back to, I think it would be very easy to spend a few hours browsing the works and free exhibitions on offer here. London - A life in Maps charts the history of London by using a collection of detailed street maps and more graphical illustrative works done to show the skyline and how it has changed. I'm fascinated by maps, a good one can make you think of a place in a different way because it gives you a different viewpoint and wider image of somewhere you might know differently. To see how somewhere has changed over time is even more interesting, and London has changed a great deal in it's long history. The effect of the fire is clear to see in some of the maps, and others depicting areas affected by Cholera are also interesting.I think the most fascinating thing is how small London once was and yet was still considered a major world city. To see Southwark as mainly fields, and north of High Holborn as essentially the countryside makes you realise that the sprawling metropolis we know these days once consisted only of the very centre and the surrounding suburbs, if they existed at all, were tiny villages or hamlets. Some of the viewpoints are fascinating as well, I work on the Strand and used to cross the river at Waterloo quite regularly. From the ground it isn't obvious how much of a curve there is in the river at this point with it essentially turning back upon itself. I shall be looking out for this the next time I take a stroll.

Trip Tych Swap Shop - Fred Deakin - Pure Groove Records

Fred Deakin, one half of Lemonjelly(http://www.lemonjelly.ky/), held the mic and the decks at this promotional event for his new Mix album, 3 CDs of random stuff he has collected over the years. I'll post a review of the album when I have had chance to listen to it properly but this event was a lot of fun in it's own right. Following on from a number of swapping nights that seem to have sprung up in London over recent months this event was partly run by the Airwave graphic design collective that Deakin is a part of. So they were swapping T-shirts for Jokes and rare vinyl was being exchanged while sweets were handed out and party tunes were being played. I wasn't expecting Pure Groove to be quite as small I must say but it did lend itself to a fun atmosphere and the black russians they were handing out helped as well.I can't imagine there was more fun to be had in Archway of a Saturday afternoon anywhere else - and going to watch the rugby afterwards pretty much confirmed it!

The Big Chill House - New Orleans Charity event.

Rob da Bank and Joe Driscoll were the pulls for us to this event - although having seen Driscoll the previous Thursday and flagging from Saturday night we didn’t actually stay late enough for him. In fact we didn't see much of the "event" and the only reason I'm writing about it now is to talk about Mama Cherri's Soul food which was being served especially for todays event. We shared a platter of ribs, chicken wings, sweet potato salad, chicken jambalaya, catfish goujons and salad. It was excellent, more than enough for three of us and with an awesome mix of flavours, perhaps not as spicy as I expected although I did avoid the big slices of chilli.
Yum anyway..!