<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:58:24 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Bongorama London</title><description>The World's first Social Media network site. Established 1994. Online Since 2002.</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/</link><managingEditor>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>150</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-8325815293438661878</guid><pubDate>Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-11-29T20:58:24.682Z</atom:updated><title>Royal Philharmonic Orchestra feat. Martha Argerich</title><description>&lt;h1&gt;The Hexagon&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Royal Philharmonic Orchestra&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;a href="https://secure.reading.gov.uk/peo/loader.asp?target=show_events_list.asp?shcode=5002"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.readingarts.com/graphics/booknow.gif" alt="Book Now" height="32" width="80" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div class="mainImage"&gt; &lt;img src="http://www.readingarts.com/Images/classical%200809/DutoitCharlesweb.jpg" alt="Charles Dutoit" class="" border="0" height="235" width="169" /&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Sat 2 May 2009 7.30pm    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On sale Mon 4 Aug&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Conductor: Charles Dutoit&lt;br /&gt;Soloist: Martha Argerich, piano&lt;br /&gt;Programme: PROKOFIEV Symphony No 1 in D Major OP.25 Classical&lt;br /&gt;PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.3&lt;br /&gt;PROKOFIEV Romeo &amp;amp; Juliet Suite&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The highlight of our season is undoubtedly the first appearance at the Hexagon of one of the world’s most celebrated musicians, Martha Argerich. Over the last 20 years this extraordinary pianist has made very few appearances in the UK and we are most fortunate to have her perform in Reading. What makes the evening doubly special is that orchestra will be joined by another musician whose reputation places him as one of the truly great conductors performing on the concert stage today. Charles Dutoit has recently been appointed the Royal Philharmonic’s new music director. He will conduct an all-Prokofiev programme beginning with the composer’s delightful Classical Symphony, followed by Martha Argerich’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s electrifying 3rd Piano Concerto. In the second half of the programme, Maestro Dutoit and the RPO will perform a suite of excerpts of what many regard as the greatest ballet score ever composed, Prokofiev’s Romeo &amp;amp; Juliet.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tickets:  £31, £27.50, £24.50, £19.50, £15&lt;br /&gt;Substantial discounts for subscribers booking 5+ concerts.&lt;br /&gt;Pre - booked children and students in full time education are entitled to tickets for only £10&lt;br /&gt;Student standby tickets are just £5 available one hour before advertised performance time, in person only.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;***&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2008/11/royal-philharmonic-orchestra-feat.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-1056357734202756420</guid><pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:09:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-11-06T16:10:34.180Z</atom:updated><title>KITSUNE MAISON TOUR @ HEAVEN</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/kitsunelondon-714747.png"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 242px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/kitsunelondon-714719.png" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2008/11/kitsune-maison-tour-heaven.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-5790017607005564904</guid><pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-11-04T18:34:27.376Z</atom:updated><title>Bomb The Bass @ Proud Camden</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/bombthebass2-750570.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/bombthebass2-750566.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/bombthebass1-750535.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/bombthebass1-750492.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2008/11/bomb-bass-proud-camden.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-5298792939046467288</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:59:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-02-12T16:23:41.618Z</atom:updated><title>Chris von Steiner @ Strychnin Gallery London</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/chrisvonsteiner-705444.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/chrisvonsteiner-705430.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Strychnin Gallery proudly presents: The Snow King. A solo show featuring Chris von Steiner. Opening February 15th, 7 p.m., at Strychnin Gallery London.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There's a door, somewhere. A door that opens on a white and silent world, where every secret is kept frozen under snow and ice. There's a kingdom, somewhere. A kingdom wherein there lives a sad little boy, waiting for some brave stranger to deliver him from his icy castle. There's a king, somewhere. A lonely little king willing to offer you his crown, who is not exactly who you might think he is. There's a door, somewhere. A magical door you'd better leave shut if you're not prepared to meet the child you forget you were.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Welcome to the world of French visual artist Chris von Steiner. Using his fantasies, dreams and desires, Chris creates digital fairytales out of the stories he grew up with, stories that have since turned into eerie tales of passion, fear, loneliness, pride, innocence and hope. Combining the pop icons of his youth with bold colors, elements from movies, music, books, and television, Chris von Steiner’s digital paintings have a haunting familiarity right upon first sight. Like a pop song touching your heart and sticking in your mind, von Steiner’s works invade your memory and stir up tales you can get lost in. He has exhibited all over Europe and the USA.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Von Steiner’s new series of work titled “The Snow King” takes you to an icy kingdom that visions of childhood dreams and nightmares, brotherhood, family ties, loyalty and betrayal abound in. The story told in these images is hard to make out – which of the characters is to be trusted? Who is good and who is evil? Set in a cold winter wonderland, the Queen is holding her dead son, two brothers are close but one is silenced, a stag is prancing through the snow… let your fancies take you to this enchanted kingdom and lose yourself in your own imagination.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Strychnin Gallery is proud to present French artist Chris von Steiner with his first solo show in London.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chris von Steiner: The Snow King&lt;br /&gt;Opening: Feb. 15th, 7 pm&lt;br /&gt;Show runs until: March 30th, 2008&lt;br /&gt;@ Strychnin Gallery London&lt;br /&gt;65 Hanbury Street&lt;br /&gt;London E1 5JP&lt;br /&gt;+44 207 247 5666&lt;br /&gt;Contact: Iris Bitter// Public Relations&lt;br /&gt;Mail: production@strychnin.com&lt;br /&gt;Web: www.strychnin.com&lt;br /&gt;Open: Fri - Sun 12-6&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With galleries in three bustling hotspots – New York City, Berlin, and London – Strychnin Gallery is a playground for artists from all around the globe. It is a place where collaboration is encouraged, new projects are constantly developed and creativity is the one and only thing that truly counts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Owned by charismatic curator Yasha Young, Strychnin is dedicated to presenting emerging American artists to the European art world and vice versa. It features a variety of artists with particular individual styles rather than artists belonging to a collective “hip” movement. If you insist on putting a label on them, try lowbrow turned highbrow, pop surrealism or fantastic realism among others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Founded in Brooklyn in 1998, the gallery opened a European showroom in Berlin in 2002. The US gallery has since moved to a location in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, opening with a group show featuring over 70 artists in October of 2006. Strychnin opened a third location in East London’s vibrant art scene right off of Brick Lane in October 2007.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2008/02/chris-von-steiner-strychnin-gallery.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-3119761720906380766</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-20T08:36:31.887Z</atom:updated><title>NEW SAATCHI GALLERY OPENS 2008</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/chelseabarracks-797863.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/chelseabarracks-797861.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SAATCHI GALLERY TO MOVE TO DUKE OF YORK'S HQ, CHELSEA&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Saatchi Gallery is moving to Chelsea, and will open again in early 2008.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Duke of York's HQ, Sloane Square, offers an ideal environment to view contemporary art, with very large well-proportioned rooms and high ceilings. The Gallery will occupy the entire 50,000 sq ft building giving the gallery scope for a book shop, educational facilities and a café/bar. It is ideally located in a central London location on Kings Road, Chelsea.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Triumph of Painting will be on hold until the new Gallery opens. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/12/new-saatchi-gallery-opens-2008.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-5146919057736961936</guid><pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:35:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-19T22:36:03.813Z</atom:updated><title>Peter Hujar @ ICA</title><description>&lt;div class="mainimage"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.ica.org.uk/thumbnail.php?max=408&amp;amp;id=3133" alt="" /&gt;Susan Sontag&lt;/cite&gt;, 1975. Gelatin-silver print. © The Peter Hujar Archive, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York."&gt;     &lt;div class="mainimagecaption"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Peter Hujar, &lt;cite&gt;Susan Sontag&lt;/cite&gt;, 1975. Gelatin-silver print. © The Peter Hujar Archive, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;          &lt;div class="calinfo"&gt; &lt;!-- for normal date events, listings the dates in scattered ranges --&gt; 5 - 23, 27 - 30 Dec 2007, 2 - 27 Jan 2008&lt;!-- for seasons, that get the date range from the peernav, ie via the keywordsearch --&gt; &lt;!-- not used, can be taken out  5 December 2007 - 27 January 2008--&gt; &lt;/div&gt;                      &lt;!--WHATS ON imported fields--&gt;   &lt;p&gt;"Surprising and memorable. *****" &lt;cite&gt;Evening Standard&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This is the first UK retrospective for Peter Hujar, one of the most important American photographers of the 70s and early 80s, whose work shows the life of New York at a time when the city was financially impoverished but artistically rich. Hujar, who died in 1987, is most associated with his black-and-white portraits of the city's avant-garde stars, but his subjects also include nudes, animals and the streets of night-time Manhattan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hujar's studio portraits reflect his background in fashion photography. He first made a name for himself with his male nudes and portraits from the gay scene, and this exhibition contains a number of portraits of transvestite performers such as Divine and Candy Darling. Other sitters include figures from New York's cultural aristocracy of the day, as well as younger scene-makers such as Susan Sontag and David Wojnarowicz. Many of his subjects are shown reclining, posing with beautiful insouciance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The exhibition also includes photographs of New York itself, including haunting images of the abandoned streets of Downtown Manhattan at night. Finally, there are striking images of animals, using the same square format film and the same singular approach that Hujar brought to his human subjects. Hujar's work received little recognition during his lifetime, but was an important influence on Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe, among others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;***&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/12/peter-hujar-ica.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-7915005962312913210</guid><pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-19T08:20:39.808Z</atom:updated><title>Covent Garden Map</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/map_for_web-725023.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/map_for_web-725016.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/12/covent-garden-map.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-6761809825827621517</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-18T10:16:07.054Z</atom:updated><title>Tube Map</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/tubemap-756890.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/tubemap-756882.gif" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click to enlarge. Right-click to print.</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/12/tube-map.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-3555201232116990845</guid><pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-17T12:57:22.564Z</atom:updated><title>The Franklin Hotel, Knightsbridge (Opening 2008)</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/thefranklinhotel-755960.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/thefranklinhotel-755956.gif" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/12/franklin-hotel-knightsbridge-opening.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-2799105959886332492</guid><pubDate>Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-11-24T20:09:56.741Z</atom:updated><title>Cazals @ Durrr Club</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/cazalslive-794085.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/cazalslive-794081.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="text"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;26th - Hatcham Social (LIVE)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With a string of sold out limited 7's already in their wake, Hatcham Social make great, catchy art-rock. Current single 'Til The Dawn' is out on Waks records. &lt;a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm15c3BhY2UuY29tL2hhdGNoYW1zb2NpYWw="&gt; HATCHAM SOCIAL MYSPACE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;CAZALS (LIVE)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Luca, Phil, Dan, Martin and Warren are East London's premier purveyors of Mod tinged post punk. Having just completed recording in Paris, they recently signed to Kitsune records who were so impressed by them they bent their electro singles only signing policy to release their debut album. Tonight they'll be previewing their new material - renowned for being one of the best live acts around, new single 'To Cut A Long Story Short' is out on Kitsune on ..h. &lt;a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm15c3BhY2UuY29tL2NhemFsc3Vr"&gt;CAZALS MYSPACE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/11/cazals-durrr-club.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-2998459926800250707</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-11-13T14:06:20.727Z</atom:updated><title>Queen opens new £800m St Pancras</title><description>The Queen has opened a transformed St Pancras station and new Channel Tunnel rail terminal for Eurostar.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Her Majesty said the £800m St Pancras International was "magnificent", and hoped people would consider it as not just a station but as "a destination".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Developers have called it the jewel in the crown of a £5.8bn project to bring high speed rail to the UK.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;St Pancras will house high-speed services to Kent, Midland Mainline, Thameslink and six Tube lines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen offered her "warmest congratulations" to all those involved in the renovation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7081809.stm"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read the full article on the BBC web site here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/11/queen-opens-new-800m-st-pancras.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-2611626696597384171</guid><pubDate>Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-11-11T16:34:08.776Z</atom:updated><title>St Pancras is restored to international glory</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/ray-385_230273a-768585.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/ray-385_230273a-768583.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Having opened one venerable British institution yesterday morning, the Queen reopened another last night. And this is one that even the French admire.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guillaume Pépy, head of SNCF, has described the majestically rejuvenated St Pancras, a cathedral of High Victorian engineering, as possibly the best station in the world. This, from the boss of possibly the best railway network in the world, is praise indeed, especially as it’s not one of his.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After years of parsimony and dithering, the nation that invented railways has finally caught up with the fact that trains are enjoying a 21st-century renaissance. The Queen’s official opening last night of the 68-mile (110 km) high-speed link from Central London to the Channel Tunnel marked not only the completion of Britain’s largest construction project but also a determined effort to reunite the train with the concept of romance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Declaring the station open the Queen said: “The remarkable reverse of this great and gleaming station means that people across the whole of Britain, not just the South East, are suddenly quite a bit closer to Europe.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In a showy ceremony involving an orchestra, singers and giant screens, William Barlow’s 1868 iron-and-glass train shed was transformed into a theatre with 1,000 invited guests, including the movers and shakers of modern railwaydom, politicians and hangers-on desperate to see a bit of a spectacle. Gordon Brown was on hand to welcome the Queen into a station that positively sings its £800 million restoration. David Cameron also shook the royal hand, as did Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, who never lets his socialist principles get in the way of a chance to meet his monarch. Timothy West – thespian, real ale gourmet and steam train buff – played Barlow the architect in a short tableau telling the history of a station that has virtually risen from the dead and that puts the Gare du Nord, at the other end of the line, to shame.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Above the Queen and the guests, the roof of the station soared 100ft like a medieval cruck barn, except that its iron ribs had been repainted in their original baby blue – the idea, apparently, of St Pancras’s first station-master, who wanted his passengers to have a reminder of the open sky.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;London and Continental Railways (LCR), which restored the station and built the link to be known as High Speed One, may be sold, broken up or part-privatised after finishing the £5.8 billion project to shave 20 minutes off the time to Paris. But they have been determined to restore St Pancras not just to a station but to an experience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh saw the huge Meeting Place statue of two entwined lovers, the statue of Sir John Betjeman, whose campaigning saved St Pancras from demolition, and the undercroft, which once stored Burton beer but is now a shopping arcade as well as the departure and arrival point for Eurostar passengers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Queen met the architects, railway chiefs and others who have toiled for nearly ten years to ensure that Par-is-bound trains can travel at 186mph on this side of the Channel as well as the other. In France, the line built in 1994 has trains hurtling through the open spaces of the Pas de Calais; here, it will now burrow at speed beneath East London instead of being stuck behind the 8.16 all-stations-to-Folkestone. But St Pancras remains a British station serving, from next Wednesday, Thameslink trains between Bedford and Brighton as well as the Midland Main Line.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rob Holden, chief executive of LCR, said: “The opening of St Pancras International is a great source of pride for the thousands of men and women who have been involved in one of the most significant projects in UK railway history.” So, Monsieur Pépy, as the Eurostar moves from Waterloo next Wednesday, you can no longer complain about the triumphalist name of the station at the British end. And, by the way, don’t you have a station in Paris called Austerlitz?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/11/st-pancras-is-restored-to-international.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-7022185995408139008</guid><pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-11-05T20:24:19.745Z</atom:updated><title>Scritti Politti Xmas Party, 17th December 2007</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.doublegandthetraitorous3.com/"&gt;Scritti Politti&lt;/a&gt; [&lt;a href="http://www.myspace.com/scrittipolittiofficial"&gt;MySpace&lt;/a&gt;] have announced their only gig of 2007 - just as it's coming to a close...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They'll be playing a fun-sized set at a pint-sized venue - &lt;a href="http://www.theluminaire.co.uk/"&gt;The Luminaire, Kilburn&lt;/a&gt; - as part of a Scritti Christmas party on the 17th December, alongside various guests and friends.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More details to follow. Tickets are available here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.wegottickets.com/event/23437&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/11/scritti-politti-xmas-party-17th.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-7095498288387150351</guid><pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:40:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-03-06T22:42:10.741Z</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>Regents Park</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>Frieze Art Fair</category><title>Frieze Art Fair @ Regent's Park</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.friezeartfair.com/"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/banner2007-760926.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/10/frieze-art-fair-regents-park.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-2449340485487540043</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:16:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-17T19:18:35.364+01:00</atom:updated><title>Matthew Barney @ Serpentine Gallery</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/Drawing-Restraint-9-2005-781988.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/Drawing-Restraint-9-2005-781980.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Matthew Barney&lt;br /&gt;DRAWING RESTRAINT&lt;br /&gt;20 September – 11 November 2007&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Matthew Barney (born 1967, San Francisco) is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation. His practice encompasses a diverse array of media including drawing, sculpture, photography, performance, film and installation, which are presented in exhibitions that are conceived by the artist as a gesamtkunstwerk or total work. Barney’s exhibition at the Serpentine presents works from his Drawing Restraint series, which he began in 1987 while still in art school. Inspired by the idea of resistance training, he applied restraints to his body while drawing, exhibiting the resulting drawings, props and video documentation of the performances in the spaces where the actions had taken place. The Drawing Restraint series investigates the relationship between resistance and creativity and artistic and athletic bodies working at the threshold of physical limitations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More recent works in the series continue to explore ways in which the body can be transformed, incorporating scripted narratives and diverse references ranging from Greek mythology to Japanese tea ceremonies and whaling The exhibition at the Serpentine explores, in some depth, the sculptural cycle related to Barney’s recent feature film DRAWING RESTRAINT 9, 2006, which is being screened at the Gate Picturehouse cinema during the course of the exhibition. The Serpentine has worked closely with the artist to realise this ambitious presentation of work featuring sculpture, drawings, film, photography and video. Barney has also made a new work, Drawing Restraint 16, for the Serpentine; drawings and other residue of this performance fill the Gallery’s large central space.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Serpentine Gallery exhibition will be accompanied by Drawing Restraint Volume V. The publication will include new texts on Barney’s Drawing Restraint series by New York-based writer and curator Neville Wakefield, Serpentine Gallery Chief Curator Kitty Scott and a short story by the award-winning Icelandic poet and lyricist Sjón. The book will also include previously unpublished images of Barney’s recent artworks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Barney was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 1996 and has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in the USA and internationally. The complete Cremaster cycle was the subject of a major exhibition organised by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2002 that travelled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More recently, the Drawing Restraint series has been presented in different incarnations at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, both in 2005; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2006.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/09/matthew-barney-serpentine-gallery.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-861781859799252747</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:45:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-18T16:45:48.040+01:00</atom:updated><title>London Design Festival 2007</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/ldf_sign-731788.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/ldf_sign-731779.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/09/london-design-festival-2007.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-3304957928576960568</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-02T07:19:59.643+01:00</atom:updated><title>"New Build" @ Terrace</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/newbuild-777504.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/newbuild-777499.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Private View Friday 6 September, 6–9pm&lt;br /&gt;Open 7–22 September 2007,&lt;br /&gt;12–6pm Saturday &amp;amp; Sunday&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rob Dowling&lt;br /&gt;Bruce Ingram&lt;br /&gt;Ocean Mims&lt;br /&gt;Michael Pybus&lt;br /&gt;Jack Vickridge&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.terracestudios.co.uk/"&gt;Terrace &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4-17 Frederick Terrace&lt;br /&gt;London&lt;br /&gt;E8 4EW&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;07913 681 286&lt;br /&gt;info@terracestudios.co.uk&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/08/new-build-terrace.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-8492426867000295476</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:46:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-02T06:47:30.104+01:00</atom:updated><title>"The Vending Machine" @ ICA</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/vendingmachine-736413.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/vendingmachine-736410.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3 - 23 Aug 2007 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Vending Machine encourages those buying sweets to think about the impact of their choices as they buy apparently insignificant consumables. You choose how much you pay, and rather than affecting what you get, it affects what the next person gets. If you pay more, you act for the greater good, if you pay less, someone else gets less. The Vending Machine is going to spend a year touring the UK, visiting pubs, community centres, leisure centres and galleries, pretending to be a normal vending machine. Its first location is the ICA bar and Team, the design collective responsible for the Vending Machine, will celebrate the start of the tour with a night of music and sweets on 3 August. Team are currently hoping to get the vending machine adopted by a major sweets company.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Entry free with Admission Ticket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/08/vending-machine-ica.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-1670626471644268066</guid><pubDate>Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:57:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-30T15:01:31.029+01:00</atom:updated><title>The 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/shoreditchfestival-756998.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/shoreditchfestival-756995.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Scenesters, cheapskates, hark! For some reason there are more festivals in London this summer than there are chalky clods of pigeon shit. Which is all good n' all, but ultimately leaves you with either an empty wallet or a sense of having 'missed out' on something. Want a festival without having to tackle these quandaries?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The '1-2-3-4 Shoreditch' festival will debut in east London this Sunday 5th of August, pitching tent FREE four-fold in Shoreditch Park.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fun will run from midday to 9pm. Here's the line-up:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MySpace Main Stage&lt;br /&gt;Special Guest Headline TBA&lt;br /&gt;The Paddingtons&lt;br /&gt;Shy Child&lt;br /&gt;The Whip&lt;br /&gt;The Bishops&lt;br /&gt;Man Like Me&lt;br /&gt;Ali Love (Acoustic)&lt;br /&gt;Neils Children&lt;br /&gt;Florence and the Machine&lt;br /&gt;Lightspeed Champion&lt;br /&gt;Littl'ans&lt;br /&gt;Christine&lt;br /&gt;The Mighty Roars&lt;br /&gt;The Idle Lovers&lt;br /&gt;Underground Railroad&lt;br /&gt;Hosted by Queens of Noize&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sensitive Youth/Pix Magazine Stage&lt;br /&gt;Selfish C*nt&lt;br /&gt;Twisted Charm&lt;br /&gt;Bono Must Die&lt;br /&gt;Blondelle&lt;br /&gt;Bolt Action Five&lt;br /&gt;Tiger Force&lt;br /&gt;Forty Five&lt;br /&gt;Lost Penguin&lt;br /&gt;Trafalgar&lt;br /&gt;Hatcham Social&lt;br /&gt;Talk Taxis&lt;br /&gt;Ratty Rat Rat&lt;br /&gt;Pull In Emergency&lt;br /&gt;The Daze&lt;br /&gt;Methodist Centre&lt;br /&gt;No Picasso&lt;br /&gt;Velofax&lt;br /&gt;Lion Club&lt;br /&gt;The Fear&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Weekender Records Stage&lt;br /&gt;Dogs&lt;br /&gt;The Lea Shores&lt;br /&gt;Look See Proof&lt;br /&gt;The Runners&lt;br /&gt;The Indelicates&lt;br /&gt;Kingsize&lt;br /&gt;People's Revolutionary Choir&lt;br /&gt;The Puzzle&lt;br /&gt;Subliminal Girls&lt;br /&gt;The Rocks&lt;br /&gt;The Dash&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Accelerated Youth Dance Stage&lt;br /&gt;Gucci Soundsystem&lt;br /&gt;Autokratz (Kitsune) (Live)&lt;br /&gt;Ulterior (Live)&lt;br /&gt;Hannah Holland &amp;amp; Mikki Most (Trailer Trash)&lt;br /&gt;Whitey (DJ)&lt;br /&gt;Ben Trucker&lt;br /&gt;The Infadels (DJ)&lt;br /&gt;Errorplains (Live)&lt;br /&gt;The Lovely Jonjo (DJ)&lt;br /&gt;Sonic Mclusky (DJ)&lt;br /&gt;Joe and Will Ask (Live)&lt;br /&gt;Mean Eyed Girl&lt;br /&gt;Lasse (The Rakes) (DJ Set)&lt;br /&gt;Disastronaut&lt;br /&gt;Techno Peasants&lt;br /&gt;Party Shank&lt;br /&gt;Flash Louis/Lazy Guns&lt;br /&gt;The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove&lt;br /&gt;Pinky Brown&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Festival organiser Lewis Rainsbury had this to say:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"If you like water, and you like cream, THIS IS THE FESTIVAL FOR YOU!"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tasty.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sites:&lt;br /&gt;http://www.myspace.com/1234records&lt;br /&gt;http://www.the1234.co.uk/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[via Drowned in Sound]&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/07/1-2-3-4-shoreditch-festival.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-8319105562885387310</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:51:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-28T09:53:10.077+01:00</atom:updated><title>St Pancras regains the Gothic glamour</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/st-pan-585_190955h-776146.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/st-pan-585_190955h-776144.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;It’s been an awfully long time since British rail travel has been what you’d call alluring. Sleazy, filthy, cramped – maybe. But sophisticated, romantic, with a dash of Agatha Christie, a sparkle of Trevor Howard, finished off with an eccentric sprinkle of John Betjeman? Any relationship between the words “British trains” and “glamour” is long estranged.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But then there is St Pancras. I’d forgotten what it was like. As long as I’ve been alive the station’s famously phantasmagoric architecture has been veiled, cobwebbed, caked in soot and neglect. George Gilbert Scott’s gargantuan Midland Hotel out front has been derelict since I was in short trousers, haunting the Euston Road with its Gormenghast gloom and purposeless air. The hotel and the station werevictoriously snatched from British Rail’s demolition ball in the 1960s with the help of that great railway enthusiast Betjeman (unlike Euston down the road), but, for decades since, that victory has turned out to be a pyrrhic one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/architecture_and_design/article2125027.ece"&gt;Read the full article the Times here. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/07/st-pancras-regains-gothic-glamour.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-1799040253599961765</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-10T13:45:58.876+01:00</atom:updated><title>The Chap and Hendrick's Olympics</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/horse-704725.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/horse-704722.gif" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/zidane-704944.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/zidane-704940.gif" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Since its inception, The Chap magazine has tirelessly dedicated itself to the preservation of the proper English gentleman. To this lot, an umbrella, a pipe and a dry martini constitute life's true essentials. It's no surprise then that &lt;a href="http://www.thechap.net/olympics.html"&gt;their annual Olympics&lt;/a&gt; have little to do with lycra, personal bests or, indeed, any real sport. Instead, expect a sea of tweed, the odd three-legged limbo contest and possibly a spot of competitive gin-and-tonic making. Decorative facial hair is strongly encouraged, but not essential.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/07/chap-and-hendricks-olympics.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-8164544365148200373</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-03T05:55:45.752+01:00</atom:updated><title>IHT London Travel Blog</title><description>Welcome to our world — and an invaluable travel resource! Globespotters is an online resource where IHT reporters and editors (and readers too) share up-to-the-minute tips and recommendations about the cities where we live and visit. We're jumping in with 6 of the world's great cities — &lt;a href="http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/travel/globespotters/?cat=5"&gt;London&lt;/a&gt;, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kong and Bangkok, but plan to expand quickly.&lt;br /&gt;Here's how it works: Just find the picture of the city that interests you on our main page and the information flows. For each city there are two resources: First, if you click on "Travel Basics", you'll find current information about things like transport from the airport, hot restaurant suggestions, advice on taxis, cell phones, internet connectivity and tipping. Second, you can click on the city "blog" page, which provides entries about events occuring right now: what foods are in season, a new museum opening, a strike this week, a quirky walk if you have an hour free, where to buy the ultimate memento (here in Rome that would be a golf ball that is also a Vatican souvenier). So join us, we all have lots to share!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Elisabeth Rosenthal, reporter IHT, Rome&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/07/iht-london-travel-blog.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-1081412837248093650</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Jul 2007 08:52:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-01T09:55:00.440+01:00</atom:updated><title>Julie Nord @ Houldsworth Gallery</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/julienord_roommates-732409.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/julienord_roommates-732406.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;JULIE NORD&lt;br /&gt;Afternoon at the Fringe&lt;br /&gt;22 June - 22 July 2007&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.houldsworth.co.uk/"&gt;Houldsworth Gallery&lt;/a&gt; is delighted to present &lt;a href="http://www.houldsworth.co.uk/julienord/work.html"&gt;Danish artist Julie Nord’s&lt;/a&gt; first UK solo exhibition Afternoon at the Fringe from 22 June to 21 July. Since completing her education at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2001 Nord has received tremendous national and international success with recent exhibitions at AroS-Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark 21C Museum, Kentucky, Malmö Kunsthal, Creative Center, Shanghai and Singapore Art Museum to name but a few.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Julie Nord’s ink drawings and watercolours have achieved critical significance due to their exploration of a surreal universe. These scenes appear familiar to us through our recollection of childhood literature, a land of fairytales and fantasy, and yet they are darkly resurrected from this period of innocence – appearing almost apocalyptic in their kitsch-gothic reproduction. Nord’s interpretative works create a space between the unquestioning innocence of youth and the cynical awareness that develops from maturity. Still the works remain inherently fictional due to Nord’s play on proportion and caricature style. The viewer is lured into a false sense of security then shocked by the newly sinister scene. The effect is one of entrapment – simultaneously captivating and disturbing. Nord’s drawings conjure a nostalgic past poisoned by the unsettling reality awoken to in adulthood.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Julie Nord has enjoyed global success with major group projects including Through the Rabbit Hole: Sleights of Scale and Flights of Fancy at 21C Museum, Kentucky; Girlpower &amp; Boyhood at Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; MALM 2 at Malmö Kunsthal, Sweden; Fiction@Love: Forever Young Land at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai; Ultra New Vision of Contemporary Art at the Singapore Art Museum and Fairy Tales Forever at AroS-Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark. Solo shows include Elsewhere at Mogadishni; The Cycle at la Caixa Foundation, Spain and From Wonderland with Love at AroS-Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Resources:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dazeddigital.com/incoming/item.aspx?a=575"&gt;Dazed Digital&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/07/julie-nord-houldsworth-gallery.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-1970276360963215522</guid><pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-06-29T12:10:20.993+01:00</atom:updated><title>Car bomb found in central London</title><description>&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6252276.stm"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/carbomb-702257.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;A car bomb planted in central London would have caused "carnage" if it had exploded, police sources have said. Officers carried out a controlled explosion on the device left in the busy Haymarket area of the capital. &lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6252276.stm"&gt;More&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/06/car-bomb-found-in-central-london.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27008432.post-2282375236535599806</guid><pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-06-26T14:09:04.574+01:00</atom:updated><title>Hannah Starkey @ ICA</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/starkey-733444.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.bongorama.com/london/uploaded_images/starkey-733442.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;At first glance, the staged tableaux of &lt;a href="http://www.ica.org.uk/Hannah%20Starkey%20in%20conversation+13721.twl"&gt;British photographer Hannah Starkey&lt;/a&gt; might look like something you'd find in a high-end fashion magazine. Look past the gloss, however, and a disturbing universe populated by isolated young women slowly reveals itself. Though these carefully constructed works are notoriously difficult to interpret, you can get a peek into the artist's mind tonight when she discusses her work and inspirations with Charlotte Cotton. As a bonus, keep an eye out for previews of Starkey's first full-cover monograph, due to be published later this summer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.bongorama.com/london/2007/06/hannah-starkey-ica.html</link><author>rockerbande@gmail.com (Ronnie)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>