NEWS, PLANS & GENERAL PRATTLE, 2025

A splendid start to the year with another of my chat evenings, this time at the wonderful Barakuba in Basel. An absolutely splendid and comfortable venue, run by a bunch of people who couldn't have been any more friendly and welcoming to me. Plus, a packed audience who were a real joy to talk to.

March  2025

A research trip took me to the Staatsarchiv of the Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Herisau, in the Eastern hills of Switzerland.  I spent a thoroughly rivetting morning there, perusing the documents the archivists had kindly dug out from their vast trove of fading paper.  It had been a long time since I was last in these parts, and I'd forgotten quite how strange the architecture can be here.

  2 - 4 - 2025

So, to Chichester for the fantastic Pallant House Gallery. Comprehensive Dora Carrington exhibition which covered pretty much her whole tragically short life. Uneven, I thought. Also, Maggi Hambling's new collection "Nightingale Night" (right). Plus, outside near the café a rather unexpected piece by Tracey Emin (far right).

19  - 4 - 2025

Hastings is a fine place for a day trip to have a few beers with my friend Ron. This time, I made sure to be early enough for a visit to the art gallery, Hastings   Contemporary.  Here's a piece I particularly enjoyed: Lonnie Holley's "Working in the House" (2020).

The beach  with its alluringly black and bleak architecture and the omnipresent seagulls has its own charm, of course.

And there's been a few gigs, too. First off, the surreal and ludicrously enjoyable spectacle of the Sex Pistols at the Royal Albert Hall, with Frank Carter (ex-Gallows, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, etc.) a fearless and thoroughly entertaining frontman. Frankly, I couldn 't care less what John Lydon has to say about this venture. Then, Elton John and Brandi Carlile launching their rather fine duo album at the Palladium theatre.  With all his recent health scares and troubles, Elton visibly struggled to get to his piano seat. But once his microphone was in place and his fingers hit the keys, he instantly became thirty years younger, at least. A great show consisting of a few new songs, a couple of covers and a handful of evergreens from both singers (Carlile's "The Story" was especially brilliant) ended, of course, with the euphoria-inducing "I'm Still Standing". And, finally, a mini-version of the Mekons getting in the groove for their soon-come European tour at a new venue, to me, the excellent Signature Brewhouse in Haggerston.