Dylan Jones
“This month Little, Brown are publishing my memoir These Foolish Things, a trawl through my forty-year career at i-D, The Face, Arena, the Observer, the Sunday Times, GQ and the Evening Standard. I’d never considered writing a memoir, as I’d used so much personal material in my other books. But then I started thinking about my own story, much of which I’d deliberately hidden, and decided I wanted to tell the truth. So, this is a book about success, about fame, about extraordinary access to remarkable people, but it’s also very much a book about trauma, abuse, violence, rape and fear. It’s not a misery memoir by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s real. There are some great stories in this book and, I think, some extremely funny ones. It’s not only a story of how the media industry has changed in the last forty years, it is a story of how I forged a way through it. Ultimately, I suppose it’s a story of perseverance. As they say, the answer’s at the end.”
These Foolish Things by Dylan Jones, Coronet, £25, published on June 10, available for pre-order from Amazon now.
Dylan Jones, Journalist
Bar: The Dover
Martin Kuczmarski’s obsessive streak, it turns out, is everywhere in The Dover: the floor, which is black and white tiled, draws on his love of the Ritz in Paris, while the wood-panelling “is kind of art deco, a little Orient Express”. He took the staff uniforms “from the design of a Sixties Savile Row jacket I’d found but made using that thicker material worn in New York’s meat-packing district”. Kuczmarksi has recently opened the Dover, which is the best place for drinks in London, a beautiful, secretive New York-style chi-chi bar in Dover Street in Mayfair which is beyond stylish. The bartenders make a wicked negroni, a fabulous martini, and a supercharged whiskey sour.
Theatre: Standing at the Sky’s Edge
The multi-award winning new musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge – winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, UK Theatre Award for Best Musical Production, and the South Bank Sky Arts Award – has transferred to the West End following sold-out runs at the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres. Richard Hawley’s musical, Standing at the Sky’s Edge, runs until August.
The story of a tower block in Sheffield (stay with us here), it involves three separate narratives, and there are various occasions throughout the show where all three sets of cast members are on stage together. Confused? You won’t be. It’s a terrific show, and a great reminder of what an accomplished songwriter Hawley is. Named after Hawley’s 2012 album of the same name, the show starts in 1961 and tells the story of three families over sixty years living in Park Hill housing estate in Sheffield, and features songs both new and old. It’s brilliant.
Art: Rob and Nick Carter
For over twenty years this husband and wife artistic duo have worked on innovative new approaches to painting, sculpture, and installation, most notably through their development of a range of camera-less photographic printing techniques and their ground-breaking approach to digital imagery and animation. A genuine power couple, their work is centred on the boundaries between the analogue and the digital and has taken many mediums including painting, installation, neon, sculpture, and time-based media.
Their gallery near Hyde Park is always worth a visit, as they not only have a continual retrospective, but regularly show project work. They remain two of the most important artists currently working in London, masters of scale and colour, making the kind of art that is consumer friendly as well as intellectually stimulating. We love all their work, although one of our favourite collections of theirs is Postcards From Vegas. They used the lurid side of Las Vegas and used this as a pivot to produce a striking series of sculptural, wall-based works. The base layers are blown-up reproductions of vintage postcards, showing off iconic landmarks from London, Paris and Los Angeles, as well as the odd airplane and flamingo. Their work looks great in a gallery, but it looks even better in your home.
Book: Impossible City by Simon Kuper
It is a given that any decent book about Paris will inevitably tell you just as much about London. Even those for whom the rivalry between the cities is a myth will admit that. The thing we learned from Simon Kuper’s enjoyable memoir about living in Paris for 20 years is the reason its Metro system is so effective. Any connoisseur of London Underground will already know this but even though the Parisian Metro was built nearly forty years after ours, it mushroomed quickly. Because rival private companies ran different lines, each had an incentive to build lots of stations. And as Kuper says, that’s why today some Metro stations are just a couple of hundred metres apart, and your train has hardly started up before it stops again. The success of the Elizabeth Line just throws into sharp contrast how antiquated the rest of London’s Tube infrastructure is. Kuper’s book is an affectionate take on Paris, by turns amusing and quaint. There are some things about Paris he doesn’t seem to understand (the etiquette of dinner parties, for instance, which are the same all over the world), but then he appears to construct problems simply so he can explain them. It’s got some great vignettes, though, and will keep you entertained on your next trip on Eurostar.
Art: Illusionaries
Illusionaries is a captivating experiential art hub where contemporary digital art breaks new ground. We are invited to immerse ourselves in a realm where the lines between reality and illusion fade as light, sound, and motion unite to create an awe-inspiring spectacle. To venture within, where time stops, and the infinite expanse of space unfolds. Entheon takes visitors through three immersive rooms and three captivating installations, each meticulously designed to engage the senses and evoke contemplation, through soundscapes, animation, projection and colour. Renowned for their profound exploration of the human condition, international artists Alex and Allyson Grey’s artwork explores the interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to delve into their visionary perspectives on consciousness, perception, and the human spirit. This will be the first time the artists will be showcasing their work in the UK, following an established career of global exhibitions and respected influence in both artistic and spiritual communities. Alex and Allyson are also the co-founders of Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a non-profit organisation dedicated to fostering creativity, spirituality and contemplation through art. If nothing else it’s a visually pleasing cultural experience that will make for some jazzy social media content.
Food & Drink: Seabird
Seabird is a stunning seafood restaurant on top of the Hoxton Southwark, in collaboration with Brooklyn’s Maison Première. And New Yorkers know how to do swanky cocktail bars surrounded by skyscrapers. They describe themselves on social media as “your no-passport-required rooftop party with secret DJ headliners, powered by Casamigos cocktails, and first-class seafood.” What’s not to love! Balmy summer nights are calling, and they’ve got the perfect place to while them away. The menu features an array of sea-to-table offerings with Spanish & Portuguese influences including a detailed oyster menu. Between 3 and 6pm Monday to Friday you can indulge in oyster happy hour paired with a classic martini. The all day menu features dishes such as a dressed lobster, sea trout ceviche, octopus rolls, wood fired scallops, gambas al ajillo as well as some non seafood treats for anyone who prefers vegetarian or meaty vibes. Cocktails, beers, ciders and a wine list to rival the best of anywhere will accompany all the foodie treats. It’s a one stop party shop and Seabird wears summer well.
Event: Kew Summer Fete
Kew Summer Fete takes place on Saturday 22nd June on the eastern part of Kew Green and is an event organised and run by local volunteers that raises money for 14 local charities. With over 100 stalls, a traditional Victorian fun fair, a beer tent and a tea tent, a dog show with a VIP judge, tug of war, live local bands, karate display, inflatables and a charity raffle, Kew’s Midsummer Fete is a quintessentially perfect summer activity and a brilliant way to enjoy the area if you don’t know Kew well. There is also a food court within the fete with over 15 different food stalls to suit everyone's tastes. Entry is free, but all the money spent within the event goes to the aforementioned local charities supporting the area and its people. Last year they raised more than £22,000 for local charities like Richmond Food Bank and the Riverbank Trust. Support local and have a fab day out in the (hopefully) sunshine too!
Exhibition: Birds: Brilliant & Bizarre
Birds are the soundtrack to our mornings, they soar through our skies and swoop around our streets, but how well do we really know our feathered friends? A hoot for all the family, the brand new exhibition Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre, at the iconic Natural History Museum for 2024, invites you into their world like never before. Swirl around with a murmuration, chirp along with the dawn chorus and see if you have the stomach to sniff a stinky seabird egg. From feeling their heartbeats to seeing through their eyes, get to know our beaked buddies better. You can meet the oldest modern bird in the world the so-called wonderchicken, find out what a pigeon has in common with a ferocious T. rex and discover how these winged wonders managed to survive the mass extinction that wiped out all the other dinosaurs. Today there’s more than 11,000 species. From pigeons to penguins, ostriches to ospreys, birds live on every single continent on Earth, so what’s the secret to their success? From sucking blood to bathing in acid, our feathered friends have found surprising, clever and downright freaky ways to survive. But the way we live our lives is beginning to affect how they live theirs. As the effects of a changing world come home to roost, can we find a way to take them under our wing and create a future where they can soar once more?
Charity of the Month: World Blood Donor Day
Every year countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The event serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. A blood service that gives patients access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity is a key component of an effective health system. The blood donation lifesaving service is required 365 days a year, and dedicated staff work day and night to process, test and distribute donated blood. In the UK, every year the NHS needs around 143,000 new donors to ensure they have the right mix of blood groups to meet patient needs now and in the future. The blood you give is a lifeline in an emergency and for people who need long-term treatments. Blood donors from all backgrounds are needed to ensure there is the right blood available for patients who need it. This means 4,300 blood donations every day on average are needed to meet the needs of our hospitals, the NHS needs over 140,000 people to donate blood for the first time this year including 12,000 new Black heritage donors, to meet the growing demand for ethnically matched blood for sickle cell patients who need regular transfusions to stay alive and more young people aged 17-35 are needed to donate, to ensure the NHS have enough blood for the future. To find out where and how you can donate blood, click here.