party on the pitch, leyton orient fc

The Girl’s verdict of Party On The Pitch

As part of the ‘Olympics celebrations’ (don’t get me started), Waltham Forest are holding The Big 6 – six free events put on for residents of the borough.  There has already been Winter Wonderland and fireworks for New Year, neither of which were of mch interest to us.

Party On The Pitch was a pop concert, free to all residents, with tickets allocated by lottery.  I thought The Girl might like it (being 12 and all that), so applied for tickets early on.  I have to admit, as the acts were annonced, my internal raver kept dying a little inside – Alexandra Burke, The Saturday, Scouting for Girls and finally Cover Drive.

I didn’t get tickets originally, but a friend did and ‘donated’ his to us (as he was off to watch West Ham) which gained us entry to the Gallery and free drinks and nibbles — which certainly cheered my mood up (It was nice to jump the long queues afetr we got off the bus too!)

I have to say, from our vantage point, the crowd seemed a little sparse, which was disappointing, as people shouldn’t really apply for these tickets if they have no intention of showing up – a good, solid crowd certainly adds to any artist’s performance!

I missed who the ‘compere’ for the day was, but I have to say, he was actually really good for the family-friendly audience.  Just the right amount of cheese and forced jollity without being too over the top.

First on stage was local girl, Mizz Camara – at just 15 she can play 6 instruments apparently, and although she only sang two songs (and played the trumpet too!) she had a very strong voice and is certainly someone to watch for the future – yay for homgrown talent

Next up were Bajan group Cover Drive, who I had never heard of, but The Girl seemed to know most of their songs and hapily sang along and danced.  They weren’t too bad at all – easy listening, a bit souly, but what impressed me most was the amazing midriff of the lead singer – my God she was totally ripped! Anyway, The Girl would now like their album, and I have no issues with that at all.

The Saturdays

We were then entertained by Kaleidisco, a rather odd five-piece act from Ibiza.  They consisted of a guy on bongos/drums, a girl on saxophone, a couple of neon-clad dancers, seemingly improvising to the backdrop of dance tracks spun by their DJ.  A rather odd choice for the venue, I must say.  However, I can imagine that they are qite effective in-situ in a proper club.

The slightly strange Kaleidisco

Then came what I was dreading most, and unfortunately my fears were completely with reason.  The Saturdays were down to four (apparently they’re usually five) as one of them has just had a baby.  They looked very good – all jewelled corsets, hot pants or short skirts and high high heels, perfectly made-up and coiffed.

I didn’t know any of their songs, but that hadn’t really made a difference with the first two acts.  They really weren’t my kind of thing obviously, but personally, I don’t really think that they ‘brought it’.  They seemed very much to be going through the motions, with no real stage presence, chemistry or character.  I guess all I have in my mind to compare them to is Girls Aloud or The Spice Girls, and although I’ve not seen either of them live, I have seen clips of shows etc, and The Saturdays were nowhere near the same league.

In fact, well before the end of their set, The Girl said she should probably go to the loo as we knew Unity UK were going to be on at some stage, and she was worried they would be straight after The Saturdays and we’d miss them!

Unity UK’s short performance was brilliant!

She was right too – even though they only did a short piece, local dance group Unity UK were definitely the highlight for me.  The Girl had wanted them to win Got To Dance – but they got pretty close!  Do check out their audition if you haven’t seen them before.

Alexandra Burke and hot dancer #2

Alexandra Burke was up next – and I at least recognised a couple of her songs, and The Girl was happily singing along, and dancing – as were a few of her friends that we bumped into…they had dance routines and everything (oh to be that age again!).  She certainly seemed to have a LOT more stage presence than The Saturdays, and a pretty impressive voice too, which I wasn’t really expecting.  She also had two VERY hot dancers, that got a whoop out of The Girl when they took their tops off.  A whoops off of lots of women and girls actually (and a fair number of men).

Then was the longest wait of the day (which to be completely honest wasn’t that long a wait at all!) and then Scouting For Girls came on stage.  At this point, I had managed to convince the steward that seeing as many people had just left (probably to get younger kids home and miss the rush), that there should be no problem with letting us onto the pitch where we managed to join one of my friends.

he’s so luverlee, he’s so luverlee…

I have to say, I always thought Roy was quite cute, and the songs were always proper pop sing-a-longy type creations.  Good for what they were meant to be, and as it was the end of a pretty nice day with The Girl behaving herself, and the band were obviously well up for it, it was quite easy to give into the pop-pressure and sing along to songs which I didn’t realise I knew the words to!

They were a good finale to a very nice free day.

Happy scouted girls!

I have just asked The Girl for a quick review:  The highlight for her was also Scouting For Girls as it really made her want to dance around, low point was not being allowed onto the pitch until right near the end.  She also loved singing along to Halleluljah and other songs with Alexandra Burke.

Now, I am especially looking forward to Urban Classic which I have managed to get tickets for.  Far more my kind of thing!

Just for balance, I bumped into the infamous Walthamstow Scene whilst there, and you should read his writeup too, as I think he has very different opinions to my own

where the bodies are buried – chris brookmyre

Where the bodies are buried

I managed to get a review copy of this, which was exceptionally great as Christopher Brookmyre is probably my favouritest ever author.

Note that this is ‘Chris Brookmyre’ though, and I believe this is to signal him going in a slightly different direction.  So, no Jack Parlabane, which is a shame really – it’s like losing a friend!  At the same time though, I am glad that it means a marked difference Pandaemonium, which I was very disappointed by (but which The Man still actually really enjoyed!!)

This story follows three main protagonists – Detective Catherine McLeod,trying to juggle her job and a husband and two young kids who doesn’t ‘do’ internal politics, and feels this may be holding her career development back; aspiring Jasmine Sharp who is helping her uncle out with his Private Detective agency and Glen Fallen, a notorious gangland member who is the only lead in one of her uncle’s cases, and whose death may have been slightly misreported.

When Catherine is involved in solving the case of a dead drug-dealer, her path crosses that of Jasmine and Glen’s and they realise that they may have to rely on each other to answer all of their questions.  The answers include corruption, deception and a history of violence that spans two decades.

I really enjoyed this, and think that Brookmyre had put a lot of effort into building up the new characters – they all felt very real.  I am always rather impressed when a male author manages to write believable lead female characters.

There were many little twists and turns and side plots that seemed irrelevant to the main story, and all came together at the end – neatly tied up in a bow that made you go “Oh yes – THAT’S what that was about!”, which is what I have always loved about Brookmyre.  Except this didn’t have the slightly surreal twist that ‘Christopher’ Brookmyre books seem to have had in the past.

One of the things I most like about Brookmyre is that he’s about the same age as me, and he chucks in little cultural references that *I* understand.  I will always remember back in one of my favourite of his books (The Sacred Art Of Stealing), he mentions 6 men dressed as clowns that perform in the town square, and then walk off ‘doing the Madness walk’, which was all I needed to put a VERY strong image in my mind!

And this book is no different – eg “It was like trying to remember what other film an actor was in before the days of IMDB.” and “Abercorn reminded her a bit of Don Draper in Mad Men: attractive in a classical way, but the wrong side of polished for her taste. Not enough rough edges: al l surface, no feeling.”

I get that!

I am very interested in seeing what comes next, I really want to know if all three main leads will be in the next book, or if they wont ever appear again.  I definitely want to read about all three of them again, and think it would be a shame if any of them disappear forever!

world book night & good omens

Last night I went to Walthamstow Library to pick up my box of 24 copies of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.  This was the book that was my first choice to give out for World Book Night on Monday (23rd April).

World Book Night is “…a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift books in their communities to share their love of reading.”   1,000,000 books are given out in total – half of these are donated directly to hospitals, prisons and care homes, and the other half go voluntary ‘Givers’ to distribute in their communities.

The process started some months ago when the public was given their chance to vote for their favourite books.  This went down to a shortlist of 100, and then the 25 books with the most votes became this year’s giveaways.

Anywone is able to apply to be a Giver, and is asked to make a first, second and third choice of book that they would like to give, who they would give it to (or where they would hand out) and why they have chosen that book.  WBN say “The greatest reading journeys start when you put a book in to someone’s hand and say ‘this one’s amazing, you have to read it’.”

The 25 books chosen this year were:

• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
• Sleepyhead – Mark Billingham
• Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson
• The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
• The Take – Martina Cole
• Harlequin – Bernard Cornwell
• Someone Like You – Roald Dahl
• A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
• Room – Emma Donoghue
• Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
• The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
• Misery – Stephen King
• The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella
• Small Island – Andrea Levy
• Let the Right One In – John Ajvide Lindqvist
• The Road – Cormac McCarthy
• The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell
• The Damned Utd – David Peace
• Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
• How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff
• Touching The Void – Joe Simpson
• I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
• The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

I have only read 12 of these, which is probably what the point of world Book Night is!  I have already been given a copy of Someone Like You by Roald Dahl, which I must remember to reigster!

I gave away 10 copies last night at the E17 Supper Club, and will be giving the rest away over at The Rose & Crown on Monday.

Everyone needs to read Good Omens – I can’t believe it is more than 21 years old now.  I remember the first time I read it, I thought it was the funniest thing I had EVER read…and yet there’s a really great story running through it about nurture vs nature – can someone be BORN evil, or are they moulded that way by experience.  a bit like We Need To Talk About Kevin, but hilarious.  And good!

If anyone in Walthamstow does actually want a copy, let me know, and I’ll keep you one – and if anyone reading this HAS got one, remember to register your copy on the World Book Night site, and then pass it on to someone else to read once you’ve finished it.

I will be reading it again and reviewing it as it has been YEARS since I last picked up my wonderful copy that my New Zealand penfriend had signed by Terry Pratchett for me!

bang: memoirs of a relationship assassin – david wailing

Bang!

I picked this up as a mutual friend of mine and the author put a message on Facebook to say that it was temporarily free on Kindle!  That was back in January – it’s currently £1.53 from Amazon.

Scott is a Relationship Assassin. Kind of like a male honeytrap. He is hired to end relationships – and he’s very good at it!

To entice each target, he becomes a different person – wearing each character like a new suit.  And he’s been at it so long, that he can’t really remember who the real Scott is.

So, when one target really starts to get under his skin, he’s wondering whether this time he has really just been playing himself.  That can’t be good, can it?

I totally loved this book.  It was light-hearted, fun and extremely easy to read.  At first I thought that Scott’s ‘voice’ might start jarring on me as he seemed so cocky, but after the first chapter, there were hints at so much more to him that I really started to warm to him.

This really is written the way that a bloke would just talk to you down the pub, so don’t expect any flowery prose!  but it’s very well done, the characters are all very realistic, and it doesn’t give in to all the cliches!

Well done Mr Wailing – I will definitely be reading more!

an untimely death – tendai huchu

An Untimely Love

I was asked to review this book back in January, but as I am sure you’re aware, I have been a little behind on my book reviews this year…I am now trying to rectify this!

Living in London on the day of the 7th July bombings, the subject matter was a complete draw to me.  Khalid Patel, a young Muslim lad is travelling to London as a suicide bomber, however, on the way he meets fellow terrorist Selina (Smokey) and is immediately drawn to her.

Is it too late to change his mind? What will the repercussions be if he does? Does she feel the same way? Could there actuall9y be more to life than he thought?

First of all I have to say, please don’t be put off by the cover – yes it totally summarises the book, but it IS truly,m truly awful.  I was a little wary about agreeing to read it at first, a large part of me was worrid that it would be chock-a-block full of religion and why the 7/7 bombers probably felt they needed to do what they did.  OK, that has it place, but as ‘entertainment’ i din’t really relish the thought of wading through it all.

It’s nothing like that though.  The voice of Khalid sounds just like any other young British lad really.  He’s a bit cock-sure, a bit ‘innit’, but doesn’t really have much life experience.  He has ideals though, and at the start of the story he is very sure that he is doing the right thing. “Children in classrooms across the globe will read in their text books of the heroic sacrifice mad eby Khalid, Imran, Selina and Tariq (I being the first by virtue of the alphabet).”

Once he starts questioning whether there is more to the world as it is though, it all unravels with shocking consequences.

I really enjoyed it. It was a very easy read, even though the subject matter was anything but easy.  It really is a story of love though – first love, familial love and the love of friends that will stand by your side.

the girl who couldn’t say no – tracy engelbrecht

The Girl Who Couldn't Say No

This book was free on Kindle when I downloaded it in mid-December – although looking today it is now £2.60.

This is South African Tracy’s own story of how she came to be a teenage mum after falling pregnant at the tender age of 15.  She was a Good Girl though, so how could this happen?

With Tracy now 28, this is written just how you could imagine a friend telling you about their past.  It’s extremely easy to read, witty, often self-deprecating and tells the story of a smart, likeable girl who made what could easily be seen as one huge mistake, but you never feel that with Tracy.  She obviously loves her kids very, very much and not at any stage does she appear to believe that her life would have been better if she hadn’t fallen pregnant at that time of her life.

Very much supported by her family, she comes across as very mature and strong-willed, which she obviously needed to be whilst dealing with some of the people who obviously treated her with disgust and/or contempt.

It was a very easy read, and a completely different viewpoint to all the ‘unwanted teenage pregnancy’ stories that you usually hear about.

Even better, Tracy is donating all the proceeds from the sale of the book towards funding Young Mom Support, a support group for young & teen mums in Cape Town, South Africa.

freaks – tess gerritsen (a rizzoli & isles short story)

Freaks

This is just a short story – in fact I think it’s probably the shortest short story I’ve ever read!  It was free on Kindle, and I thought I’d give it a bash as I have never read any Tess Gerritsen, and I do in fcat really like Rizzoli & Isles the TV series, set on her books.

It was rather comforting to get in a story and already have a very strong image of the main characters. And it’s a good job that I did as, being such a short story, there was no real opportunity to build them.

I guess this was released for Halloween or something (I downloaded it in December) as it was of a supernatural nature, rather out of keeping of any of the series that I have seen.  Of course, it’s down to Maura Isles to attempt to prove that the ‘spooky’ just can’t be true!

I have to say, I just found this all a bit silly, and by no means made me feel that I wanted to rush out and read all of Gerritsen’s books.  But I guess it would be unfair to base that judgement on a short story.

Honestly, although obviously very quick to get through, I really wouldn’t bother reading this…

the suicide effect – l j sellers

The Suicide Effect

I picked this book up free on Kindle last month – you know I’m one for a bargain.

It’s almost a month since I finished it, and it’s probably saying something that I had to re-read the blurb as I’d forgotten what the book was about!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad read at all – it’s just not very memorable.

Sula works for a pharmaceutical company, and one day overhears a shocking revelation about one the company’s drugs in development.  She is indecided whether to act on this new knowledge as she is currently fighting for custody of her young son and any trouble could be detrimental to her getting him back.

However, events are taken out of control and she ends up embroiled in something a lot bigger than she was anticipating.

It’s an interesting enough story – pacey although not particularly realistic but with enough depth to it to keep you turning the pages.

Would be perfect for a holiday read – or if you’ve recently finished something heavy!

e17 art trail (part 2)

Further to my very brief forray onto the E17 Art Trail on Friday, on Saturday I decided to go down to the library to hear some of the artists talking about the works that they have on display there.

We started off with the Knit A Year project, and saw Jay actually finish her last stitches.

The final stitches are cast

You can see her blog here, capturing a year in her life with lots of photos of the yarn she’s used and where she did her knitting. We all wondered what she was going to do next. “Sit down and have a cup of tea”.

Next we moved on to Peter Kyte’s display of photos of Walthamstow Market as he explained the world he sees through his camera lens and gave a talk about how he frames and structures his photos.

Peter Kyte shows his thought on producing an interesting photo

Next we went out into the foyer where Ron Bowman is exhibiting his latest watercolours showcasing “London: It’s places and people”. I stupidly didn’t take any photos of the woork he has on display – but do go and have a look!

Ron gives us a quick demonstration

Even better, he gave us some tips and a quick demonstration, saying “Absolutely anyone can do watercolours – you should give it a try!”.  I beg to differ, I have no creative ability at all!

Next we went to the stairs where Mark Burton and Katherine Green are showing photos of local voluntary and community organisations “Voluntary Action in Waltham Forest“.  I have to admit, this was the exhibition I had mainly wanted to hear the talk for.  I had seen some of Mark’s work before and was once again looking forward to hearing his thoughts and experiences as hearing him talk adds SO much to the actual photos.

Katherine Green talks us through her photos

I had already seen some of Katherine’s work hanging in the Waltham Forest Credit Union and she really manages to get in amongst her subjects and capture some amazing very ‘personal’ shots.

Mark Burton tells the story behind his photos

What I found particularly interesting was that Mark’s photos were about a special day arranged by the Women’s Interfaith Network where women of different faiths spent a day visiting each other’s places of worship.  This was an amazing story, and people kept pointing out how unusual it was to have so many people of different faiths and backgrounds together in that way – and yet as I looked at everyone sitting on the stairs listening, there was such a wide range of races, colours and (obviously) faiths sitting together praising the work!

After that, we went upstairs to where Amanda Doidge was showing some of her experimental ceramic work – this was a piece about Socrates – and it was fantastic hearing her thinking behind the piece, and the process that she went through to create it.

Amanda Doidge explaining her Socrates piece

It really brought the whole thing to life – and even sparked a discussion about Socrates!

Then we were back downstairs to hear from Eliana Parra Rodriguez and her love of colour which has moved her to create some gorgeous colourful abstract pieces.

Eliana and a couple of her pieces

It was great to hear her explain so enthusiastically about how colour moves her, and how the colours she uses are dictated by her moods.

We ended at the bottom of the stairs where we saw the works of Tayyaba (I hope I have spelled her name correctly!  I will have to check today), and her mix of paintings from her home and from the UK – showing great contrasts.

Tabbyah explains her processes and feelings behind her work

It was a great way to spend more than 2 hours, and I think it added so much to our appreciation of the work and experience.  This is one of the greatest things about the Art Trail – it isn’t just about goign around and looking at a few pictures and things, it’s a chance to actually meet the creative people in our community. Loving it!  Now that The Girl is back home, we will be goign around a few places today!

e17 art trail (part 1)

Arty farty Stow!

As I mentioned before, this is going to be my first year going around the E17 Art Trail.  I am very excited about this, although the sheer volume of exhibits is a little daunting!  Where do I start.

It actually officially started yesterday and will go on until Sunday – but yesterday I was at work all day and then out in the evening (I will post about the fabulousness of THAT later!).  However, I still managed to see a couple of things – that’s the beauty of the art trail, if you live in Walthamstow, then there is always something you can pop to see just around the corner!

On my way to work, I managed to see most of the Poetry Trail.  This really is ingenious — in Walthamstow, it is often a point of annoyance that there are simply SO many estate agents on Hoe Street – particularly between the station and the top of the market.  The Poetry Trail though has embarced this fact, and the majority of the estate agents have handed over prime ‘selling space’ for the period – disaplying poems in some of the holders where they usually show the house particulars in the window!

Poems in Churchills, Central & Strettons!

How cool is that?  I think it’s a brilliant idea – and fairplay to the estate agents – I think there are about 10 of them taking part.  There are poems by members of the Forest Poets, but also by 6 and 7 year olds from local primary schools.  And I have to say, THIS one was my absolute favourite.

Love this poem!

And then on my way home, I went into Le Delice to check out Martin’s underwater photos as I had been really looking forward to seeing them!  They are out the back in the ‘Moroccan Room’, so make sure that you go back there if you’re out and about. (I’m actually posting this in Delice now, and a couple oand their two young kids have just gone back there and the kids LOVED them!!)

Award-winning photos

They're looking great in-situ!

I am not sure what else I am going to do today – I want to go to Emma & Steve‘s launch party, and I am thinking of going to the talk in the library this afternoon.  It’s all just so busy, and I have had an exceptionally long, tiring week!  Wish me luck!!