2010 – Issue Twenty Two – London
I am the greatest: Nik Mackey www.topright.co.uk
The Introduction
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egend’ is a term which used to apply to pseudo-historical narratives such as Robin Hood, Atlantis or Beowulf. It’s a word which conjured up images of mythical beasts, fantastical events and characters who danced a fine line between magic and miracle. In today’s parlance, a geezer down the pub who drinks a pint of Sambuca and Malibu will be declared a ‘legend’. A night on the town involving 6 nightclubs, an overdose, 3 strippers and a fight will be hailed as ‘legendary’. Etymologists might one day ponder how ‘legend’ lost its lustre and became so…..well, common. Perhaps this is natural evolution, as legends were essentially rumours which entertained enough to be repeated ad infinitum. In a world consumed by a confessional culture, status updates and 24hour media coverage, mystery is an endangered species. With so many people eager to share, the thrill of storytelling has been lost and our awe has evaporated. In the 21st century everyone can be a legend of sorts, armed with a Twitter account, a camera phone and YouTube. Billie Ray Martin experienced an intense crash course in the vagaries of fame when she enjoyed
a worldwide hit, but an ex-punk from Hamburg wasn’t entirely enamoured of the red carpet and velvet ropes. Her heart was in the underground and in this issue, she explains why her legends stem from there too.
argue are the very tenets which have proved highly lucrative for Apple Inc. Deyan Sudjic – Director of the Design Museum – looks back over Rams’ career and explains why he’s a timeless icon.
Football is a game which spawns more legends than Narnia and George Best is the most infamous. His legacy survives in the shape of an airport, a sad demise and a raft of anecdotes. Rhys Sutheran argues that Best was a mild lightweight compared to the force of nature that was Robin Friday.
Richard Young has been photographing the beautiful and the talented for so long that he’s part of the celebrity establishment. In this issue he tells us why he’s trusted by the A-list and shares some images from his mesmerising Icons collection.
Mark Simpson is credited with coining the term ‘metrosexual’ and was dubbed a ‘skinhead Oscar Wilde’ by one critic. As a highly esteemed authority on pop culture, he’s more than qualified to create ‘The Test’, a system which sifts fame from legend. Not all legends are people. Oak Island boasts a hole in the ground which has cost lives, caused financial ruin and inspired several works of fiction. Andrew Losowsky is intrigued by the treasures that have yet to be found. Dieter Rams wrote ten principles to ‘good design’ which some might
Jo Malone is one of Britain’s most successful female entrepreneurs and her candles are…..dare we say it, legendary. She tells us what convinced her to appear in a BBC reality show and who, for her, serves as an inspiration. Also in this issue, we introduce the 2010 Creatives in Residence and announce the winner of our online Maccabees treatment competition. If you haven’t seen our online Competitions page, then perhaps you should chance your arm. Not everyone can be a legend, but with a bit of luck, and some guess work, you might prove a winner.
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CONTENTS Features
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Will Holly Woodlawn be here?
26 Club News & Events
The Man Don’t Give a F*ck It’s Friday
28 Beautiful People
The Test
30 Members’ Profiles
Billie Ray Martin walks on the wild side
What’s occurring and what went down….
Rhys Sutheran salutes a proper player
A photographic cocktail
Mark Simpson sorts the gilt from the gold
Who’s who and wotnot
32 And the Winner is…
10 The Legend of Oak Island
Andrew Losowsky digs deep and finds a fable
12 Braun Again
Judged by The Maccabees
Calendars
Deyan Sudjic salutes a design legend
14 He Was There
33 Members Film and Events Highlights
Richard Young’s hot shots
20 8 Minutes with Jo Malone
The future, in words and pictures
36 Speed Dates
Scents and sensibility
22 Roots
Where to be and when….
37 Concise Calendar
Gavin Newman reviews the Manuva
Dates for the diary in one handy glance
24 Creatives in Residence Programme 2010
Young, gifted and back
Nik Mackey
Mark Simpson
Rhys Sutheran
Billie Ray Martin
Stewart Who?
Duncan Cargill
CONTRIBUTORS
Editor
Stewart Who? Editorial team:
Oliver Morton Marketa Chlebova
Fabia Palliser
Gavin Newman
Deyan Sudjic
Andrew Losowsky
Fabia Palliser, Oliver Morton Sub Editors:
Suzanne Clode, Dan Thorne Art Direction, Design and Artwork:
topright.co.uk 01737 558 990 Cover Artist: Duncan Cargill
© The Hospital Group Ltd 2008. The copyright and contents of this publication are owned by The Hospital Group and no unauthorized copies of the whole or part may be made without express permission of The Hospital Group Ltd.
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Will Holly Woodlawn be here? by Billie Ray Martin My definition of ‘legendary’ might differ from the usual suspects that mainstream culture might apply the term to.
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nd this is the point: legend is not ‘the norm’. Legend expands horizons: Jayne County, Holly Woodlawn, Billy Name, The Legendary House of Ninja, Pepper Labeija: legends. Not by personal taste do I insist; I firmly believe that true legends change the course of history in their own, unfaltering, unwavering way and they do not do so in ‘units’ sold or millions earned. They do so over a substantial period of time and they do it, often, without reaping major rewards. They leave behind a spark that alters the course of history, by changing people’s personal perspectives, a spark that never dies. Without them we would not be who we are. We would be poorer without their fabulousness. I have been known to dodge the VIP ropes at ‘high end’ celebrity parties, limboing my way out and over to where the real legends hold court, the ones that had to crash the party to gain access. I remember once sitting at a table with Marilyn Manson, Sigourney Weaver, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and other high calibre stars. A waitress was assigned to my person only, to ensure my glass would be filled with champagne at all times. Heaven for some, but after I had downed a few, I fled to the other room, screeching at Jayne County: “Ello daaahling, how brilliant to see you!” At another VIP gathering, I was bursting with excitement to meet Joe Dallessandro and chat with him at the launch of his biography. “Will Holly Woodlawn be here?” I asked the host breathlessly. “If there’s free booze, she will,” was the reply. See? Legend.
In New York, I found myself in the questionable possession of a few minutes of fame. I was told not to queue with the rest to get into an exclusive music biz event, but instead, to come via the back door. This led to being shoved down the stairs by the host who screeched: “Billie Ray Martin, as seen on the Ricki Lake show today!”
showed us how it’s done, how to survive this bizarre life and be fabulous while doing it. You put on your face and outshine the spot-lit adversity. To me there is no difference between the legendary status of an unknown ‘butch queen’ category winner of a vogueing ball and a high profile red carpet queen (of whichever sex). If you listen to the most successful legends answering questions about their status, all of them tend to answer: “I just work, I just do a job”; proving my point.
A bunch of press photographers darted out of nowhere to get a picture of someone, who I’m pretty certain they could not identify. Needless to say, I pulled a bored face and fled.
My guess is that we would prefer to call Marilyn Monroe a legend sooner than we’d apply the term to Albert Einstein. Is it because legend entails a degree of ‘performance’? That element of show business, the business of showing, without which the dullness of life would become unbearable. The divas! We love them. We want them to walk for us, talk for us. We lift them up and break them down. Their media constructed scandals render us evil hyenas, watching, waiting to eat their ageing, surgically enhanced flesh.
I wouldn’t want to give the impression that I’m ungrateful for the short-lived benefits of fame. During the period when my song, ‘Your Loving Arms’ was troubling the charts in the USA, simply walking down the street was a heightened experience, especially in NYC or Miami. Red carpets were rolled out, promising access to every show in town. I didn’t complain, in fact, I genuinely appreciated it. I remember one happy moment in New York, sitting in a high class, high bullshit bar, chatting to the waiter and in conversation, asked his name. When I told him my name was Billie. He said, “Oh, great name - like Billie Holiday or Billie Ray Martin”. I felt I‘d arrived. I felt cuddled and less alone. Legend? Hardly.
Divas. No woman in her right mind wants to be lumbered with the term. It belittles their equality and denies them the simple status of a working woman doing a job or having a vision. It’s a label laden with negative connotations. As a woman in the music industry, I’m often asked what it is like to ‘stand your ground’ to have to fight the fight of the righteous diva in a male dominated world. ‘No idea,’ I reply. ‘I just do my job and don’t subscribe to any male or female way of doing things.’ I just do, often becoming a target because of this.
There are, of course, the legends that made it into mainstream consciousness and are truly worthy of the status; Andy Warhol, Joan Crawford, Zarah Leander. Hundreds could be added to that list, who’ve 5
A woman with attitude is still not wanted for the most part, unless she scares the shit out of anyone surrounding her to the degree where she is accepted through sheer terror. But back to legends. We do not live in times where legends are still made. Trash media has dealt the final blow to that concept for once and for all. Low-rent celebs are here to stay. In recent years, even the big Hollywood stars have started looking more and more like their gutter-counterparts of the reality show persuasion. With their inflated lips and impossible tits, they soon resemble the sad, tortured souls they really are. Legend would rise above the pressures of gutter, but legend is dead, zed. The extreme nature of the sad and dangerous culture of greed and obsession we live in becomes apparent when true legends like Michael Jackson are finally and terminally killed off by a society geared to destroy for the sheer ‘news’ of it. Howard Hughes, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson - the parallels are staggering. When the way they were made to dissolve, to fade, to self-destruct, becomes public we utter, “How can it be? They were so powerful, so talented, they had money.” Gutter culture deals with them all. It’s over. So, for God’s sake, let us remember the legends we had, living or departed. And let us spare a thought for the ones we ridiculed, because there’s little point being sorry when they’re gone. Billie is a regular contributor to the website, to read more of her work go to www.thehospitalclub.com
by Rhys Sutheran
‘Legend’ is a word that is thrown around a lot these days. Nowhere more so that the notoriously fickle world of football; signed a new centre forward? He’s a legend. Striker scored in 4 of the last 5 games? Legend mate. But if they dare look to better their careers and move to another club..... scum. Always hated him. Who does he think he is? We’re better off without him.
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ometimes though, the beautiful game throws up players who actually deserve the title. But it’s one in particular that deserves mentioning in the context of ‘legend’. He never won the World Cup. Never even played for his country. Not even an FA cup medal to his name. In fact, chances are you’ve never even heard of him, let alone seen him kick a ball. He’s the greatest player you never saw. But for those people in the 1970s lucky enough to witness him play, Robin Friday was probably the greatest player to walk the earth. And for those who drank with him, one of the most prodigious alcoholics in sporting history. Born in 1952, his early life was just as chaotic as it would remain throughout his playing career. In and out of children’s homes and borstals, his rare talent with a football set him apart from the countless other troubled kids in London at the time and by 1971, he’d begun a semi-professional career with the now defunct Walthamstow Avenue FC, scoring four goals in his first five games. A year later, he moved to Hayes – as much for the fact that it was closer to his home as for the fact they promised to pay him slightly more. But it was at Hayes that Friday started showing signs of the behaviour that would come to make George Best look like a tea-sipping altar boy. One Saturday afternoon in particular, Friday’s pre-match warm-up in the pub ran late, going 10 minutes past kick-off and leaving Hayes to start the match with ten men. Arriving at the ground and just about able to stand up, Friday laced his boots, stumbled onto the field whilst ignoring the
ever dream of, he became just as notorious for his antics off the pitch (which often continued on the pitch, through 90 minutes and back out the other side). Frequently turning up to play following all-night benders, he descended into full-blown alcoholism. He smoked like a chimney, regularly took LSD and was known for his herculean cocaine consumption. Banned from almost every bar in Reading, he had a violent side and fought fans, opposition players and teammates alike, claiming he did his best fighting naked. Before one away match, Friday turned up to the pre-match team talk steaming drunk, stark bollock naked, carrying a swan he’d stolen from a nearby lake.
chastisement of his manager and put in a magnificently drunken performance, scoring the only goal of the game. Fortunately, when Hayes came to play Reading in an FA cup game, manager Charlie Hurley obviously hadn’t researched the young player’s background and signed Friday on the spot after he’d scored the only goal in Hayes’ 4-1 defeat. In 1973 he had his first fully professional contract and within weeks was a hero of the Reading terraces.
Arriving drunk to Reading’s ground on match day was an all-too frequent occurrence, often overlooked because of the unbelievable talents he showed in almost every game. In the space of a few years, he was responsible for turning Reading from a frankly average 4th Division team into a side to be feared, winning promotion to the 3rd Division. But that year, Friday was sold to Cardiff City for the knock-down price of £30,000. Commenting at a press conference that he felt like he’d robbed Reading, Cardiff’s manager was told simply: “You’ll see.”
Over the next four years, Friday played 135 games for Reading, scoring an impressive 55 goals, including one regarded by those who saw it as the greatest goal of all time. But, as these were the days before television cameras were a permanent fixture at every ground, no evidence remains save for the accounts of those who were there, including referee Clive Thomas who exclaimed “I’ve refereed at World Cups, I’ve seen Pele, George Best and Johan Cruyff; this rates as the best goal I’ve ever seen!”. Many accounts have been written of the goal, and all I can do is paraphrase them; playing against Tranmere Rovers in March 1976, Friday was just outside the box when a pass was lofted towards him. Leaping high into the air, he caught the ball on his chest while facing away from the goal, spun around 180 degrees and fired the ball hard into the top corner of the net. “What are you doing playing at this level? I’ve never seen anyone score a goal like that,” asked Thomas after the game. “You should come here more often”, Friday replied. “I score goals like that all the time.”
And see they most certainly did. Travelling to Cardiff for the first time, Friday was promptly arrested as soon as he stepped off the train for travelling without a ticket. On the night before his debut performance for the side, he decided to test the drinking establishments of Cardiff before getting an early night before the game, at 5am. But in true Robin Friday style, he scored two goals – despite being marked by Bobby Moore, who he introduced himself to with a hard squeeze to the testicles. His career with Cardiff was iconic but short-lived. One image that lives on comes from a game against Luton; having beaten four players and hammered home yet another goal, he celebrated by flicking the V at Luton’s
But where Friday displayed the kind of talent other players could only 6
keeper, captured in a photo that went on the grace the cover of Super Furry Animal’s aptly titled single ‘The Man Don’t Give a Fuck’. Probably the most notorious incident came in the final game Friday would ever play as a professional footballer. Being marked by a young Mark Lawrenson, and receiving a hard time from the future BBC pundit, Friday responded to one attempted slide tackle by kicking Lawrenson full in the face (and be honest who hasn’t spent a Saturday evening dreaming of doing exactly the same?). Sent off immediately, Friday stormed straight to the Brighton dressing room where he found Lawrenson’s kit bag and promptly laid a huge, steaming turd into it. He left the ground and never returned. Reading manager Maurice Evans once asked of Friday: “What age are you, son? If you would just settle down for three or four years, you could play for England.” “What age are you?” Friday replied. “I’m half your age but I’ve lived twice your life”. And that says it all. It’s hard to quantify exactly what makes a legend. Certainly, legends aren’t always judged on the positives; often it comes handin-hand with notoriety, infamy and scandal, and that is certainly the case with Robin Friday. In 1990, at the age of 38 and having never returned to professional football, he died of a heart attack, supposedly linked to the continued drug and alcohol abuse that haunted him throughout his life. But to this day, fans of both Reading and Cardiff remember unbelievable talent that Friday possessed. He was voted ‘Player of the Millennium’ by Reading, as well as being named as centre-forward in their all-time XI with 33% of the vote, and Cardiff City’s ‘Cult Player of All Time’. And if that isn’t the measure of a legend, then nothing is. Rhys has contributed in the past to the website, to read more of his work visit www.thehospitalclub.com
E H T AN T ’ M ON A D IVE G CK * F ’S Y A T I ID R F 7
The
A recent bloody assassination attempt on Gore Vidal, the last great American man of letters, by the English journalist Christopher Hitchens in the glossy pages of Vanity Fair made me and, I suspect, many others ponder the difference between fame and legend. Both Vidal and Hitchens are famous of course, but only Vidal is a legend. Hitchens, for all his achievements, for all his impressive, furious scribbling, contrarian controversy, and admirable G&T habit, is not and never will be legendary.
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t’s not because Vidal has written many more or better books than Hitchens, or because his essays are wittier, his sentences more elegant, or because he knew the Kennedys – and dished the dirt. Nor is it because Vidal, in a wheelchair, wizened, bitter and enfeebled by old age and a lifetimes boozing, is a much, much greater man than the much younger Hitchens. No, Vidal is a legend because it is as undeniable as his own mortality that he will live forever – or at least, as long as people care to remember anyone these days. Should Hitchens be struck down by a dodgy canapé or spiked tonic water tomorrow, after the 8
loud, fulsome eulogies have been delivered by his media colleagues, he would be completely forgotten. Hitchens is more aware of this than anyone, hence his entirely understandable yen to liquidate his onetime mentor. But of course, precisely because Vidal is a legend, such assassination attempts backfire as amusingly as Wile E. Coyote’s did on Road Runner. Admittedly, though, there’s less and less interest in anyone who writes. Unless of course they’ve left nice comments on your hilarious Facebook status update…. That said, in a universe increasingly crowded with
celebrities, applying the legendary test is a useful and humane way of thinning them out. Annoyed by someone’s ubiquitousness? Their success at making you see their gurning mug everywhere? The way they remind you of your own obscurity? Well, ask yourself this: will they be remembered and talked about when they are no longer around to remind us, incessantly, of their existence? At a stroke, you’ve done away with the vast majority of the stroppy cunts. It’s a fun game to play. By this criteria, George Best is a legend, David Beckham – much more famous than Best ever was and possibly the most famous person in the world today – isn’t. Paul Newman is, Brad Pitt isn’t (though his six pack might be). Morrissey is, Robbie Williams really, really isn’t. Thatcher is, Blair isn’t. Alan Bennett is, Stephen ‘National Treasure’ Fry isn’t. Julie Burchill is, Katie Price ain’t. Princess Di is, Madonna isn’t. Hockney is, Damian Hirst isn’t. And so on.
You’ll note that dead legends aren’t in the past tense – this is because legends by definition are never past tense. Probably the greatest legend is Elvis Presley. Hence all the reported sightings of him on Mars and down the chip shop. The ‘King’ could never die on his bog, obese and constipated. And in many senses Elvis really is alive – it’s just the rest of us I’m not so sure about.
try. Vidal, for instance, is really a Twentieth Century legend that has survived, much against his better judgement, into the Twenty-First Century – largely as a kind of bad conscience. Princess Di on the other hand is a legend in large part because she contrived to die just before the end of the Twentieth Century. If she hadn’t, we would have grown very bored with her indeed by now: Katie Price’s fate would probably seem enviable by comparison.
legends, or at least sometimes felt nostalgic about them, no one could be bothered with waiting for someone to become one. So instead the media, online and offline, creates phoney ‘instant legends’, which are in some ways even more disposable than common-or-garden celebs.
Barack Obama is perhaps the most famous recent example of an ‘instant legend’. A 1960s tribute act of HOPE and CHANGE. No wonder when he was inaugurated as President, the media – and the Nobel Today’s infrastructure of fame is designed to discourage legends. The Peace Prize Committee – behaved as if JFK and MLK were being sworn more mediated, the more wired the world becomes, the more people can in after their assassination. It was become famous, more quickly – and unconvincing then, and seems even more unconvincing now, just one year the more people are interested in later, when people are talking about fame. But equally, fame has to be the epoch-making Obama as a onemore disposable. More fame and more famous people requires a much term President. higher turnover. Legends, in other words, spoil the celebrity ecosystem Osama Bin Laden is one of the very few people to achieve true legendary because they refuse to be recycled and hog fame resources forever. Put status in the 21st Century – along with, I suspect, Lady Ga Ga. Which another way, legendary status is sort of proves the rule. analogue, not digital.
Now, you might object that this is all a very subjective business, that the legendary test is really just a way of being nasty about people I happen not to like and nice about people I do. Well, rest assured, I have plenty of other ways to do that. This isn’t about who you like – it’s about who will last. Legends aren’t necessarily good or particularly nice people, either. Hitler and Stalin are legends, and so are Bob Geldof and Mel Gibson. The 21st Century is not, it must be said, very conducive to legendary status. It’s very, very difficult to become one today – and very, very few people even bother to
Impatience is another factor. In a wired world, even if people wanted 9
By Mark Simpson
The legend
Oak
The legend goes like this:
The legend of Oak Island is at least 150 years old, has cost millions of pounds, and has led six people to their death. Nothing significant has ever been found. Andrew Losowsky peers inside.
In 1795, a 16-year-old fisherman called Daniel McGinnis landed on a small island in Novia Scotia, Canada. There, he found a strange, apparently man-made depression in the ground next to an oak tree. The next day, he returned with two friends and started to dig. Ten feet down, they hit a layer of flagstones. Beneath was a layer of logs. More logs were found at 20 feet and 30 feet, at which point they gave up.
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here is a hole in the ground in north-east Canada. That much is true. The rest depends on who you talk to. Some believe it houses pirate treasure from Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. Others claim the British – or was it the French? – buried gold there during the Revolutionary War. One book states that the hole contains documents proving Francis Bacon was in fact William Shakespeare, identifying secret codes in Shakespeare’s plays that point to Oak Island. Others assert the hole to be a creation of the Knights Templar – and you know whose body they might be hiding. Or is it a disused alien landing site? And still the digging goes on.
Eight years later, they returned with more men, bigger tools and the backing of a local businessman. More logs were found, along with layers of putty and coconut fibre. At 90 feet down, they found a large stone containing a coded inscription. They stopped work for the day, and tried to decipher the message. When they returned to the hole next day, they found it had filled with seawater. Was the hole booby trapped? Excavations, paid for by wealthy investors and involving small armies of men and heavy
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equipment, have been made by various groups from 1849 onwards, including one apparently part-funded by American president Franklin D Roosevelt. Each continued until their money ran out.
Six workers have so far died in the various excavations, one falling to his death, one in an equipment malfunction, and four overcome by machine fumes while inside the hole. A handful of metallic artifacts have apparently been found, including a miner’s pick and an axe head - though these could have been the detritus of earlier excavations - and a tiny, illegible piece of parchment. Other than that, only some coconut fibre and a few log fragments suggest that the hole ever contained anything more than dirt and rock. In fact, almost nothing about the story is certain, including whether Daniel McGinnis ever existed - the first public mention of him and his find was in a newspaper more than 50 years after the alleged event. The stone inscribed with
of
Island by Andrew Losowsky
the mystery code has long since disappeared, if it ever existed. The repeated flooding of the hole, combined with various industrial drilling efforts by keen excavators, have led to numerous shaft collapses and little definite evidence of anything.
Sceptics claim that it’s nothing more than a natural sink hole. And yet the fascination with Oak Island continues. “The mystery appeals to our childhood instincts,” says Jo Atherton, who runs Oak Island Treasure, the largest website concerning what has been dubbed ‘The Money Pit’. “It ticks all the boxes from those exciting stories which captured our imagination as children, such as pirates, lost treasure and mysterious codes.” Jo is actually based in London, and when not treasure hunting, is the website editor for Cancer Research UK. “I first learned about Oak Island from a book as a child, and remember being rather persistent in my questions,
However, it’s those excavations themselves that Jo Atherton believes may have destroyed any possibility of the mystery being solved.
which my parents were unable to answer. “For the past few years, I’ve been establishing an online archive of documents, reports and personal correspondence from each of the treasure-hunting groups active on the island over the past 150 years. Each and every one are utterly convinced that they are on the brink of discovering the treasure.”
“One thing I have learnt in reading these old files is the industrial manner in which ‘excavations’ were conducted. For me, the likelihood of anything remaining intact after such heavy plant machinery has been sunk into the earth is slim. One wonders what vital clues or scraps of evidence may have been lost or destroyed as a result of this heavy-handed approach.”
The latest group, who have bought the land that contains the hole, is made up of an 86-yearold treasure hunter from the island who has dedicated most of his life to the mystery, and four millionaire investors from 1,500 miles away in the USA. The investors have backgrounds in engineering and oil excavation – though right now, all digging is on hold while they wait for the Canadian government to straighten out their treasure trove licensing laws – laws which were originally created 60 years ago to deal with the flurry of Oak Island treasure hunters.
“However,” she adds, with an optimism that continues to surround this strange hole in the ground on the other side of the world, “I would love to be proved wrong.”
Every summer, UK-based Oak Island theorists gather at The Captain Kidd pub in East London. For more information, visit www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk
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By Deyan Sudjic
– Director of the Design Museum.
Braun Again
A quarter of a century ago Dieter Rams was still working for Braun. He headed the company’s design studio in an unassuming building on the suburban fringe of Frankfurt. Entering Ram’s inner sanctum was an experience that stays with me to this day. Every model, every pencil, every prototype, every sample, every drawing board, was in the right place, precisely aligned with the grid that guided everything from the Vitsoe storage shelves – a Rams design of course, to the floor tiles. 12
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t was a study in neutrality, the Switzerland of the design world, with white and grey everywhere. The only colour came from the orange packet of Ernte 23 cigarettes that was constantly in Rams’ hands. The pack had the same effect as the occasional injection of colour that Rams had introduced into the Braun palette. A lighter, or a coffee maker might be finished in orange, as Rams puts it, “like a vase of flowers in a room”. I was too young to remember the impact that he had made with Snow White’s coffin, the name that Braun’s jealous competitors used to try to disparage the first ever record player with a perspex cover when it was launched in 1956, under the official title of the SK 4. It was Braun’s leap out of the age of valves, and into transistorised technology and it warranted a new design language to show how much things were changing. Rams has been the most determined, and the most longlived, spokesman for a very particular approach to design. One that could be said tries to resolve the irresolvable contradiction between design as a cultural programme, and design as a commercial activity. When I first met Rams, I was only dimly aware of the resonance of the toaster that Braun made in the 1960s. It had been the subject of Richard Hamilton’s series of screen prints, and an essay by Reyner Banham. In retrospect, these were not perhaps quite the endorsements of the timeless platonic formmaking with which we now imbue Rams’s work, as a liberating quality, not deplored as profligacy. When Hamilton first started tinkering with the Braun logo, and attached a set of false teeth to the top of an electric toothbrush, (for a piece called ‘The Critic Laughs’) he
was bringing an ironic tinge. As was Banham, who complained about the authoritarian nature of a toaster that demanded tolerances of plus or minus four millimetres in the thickness of the bread. But then Hamilton suggested, in a text written for an exhibition in Berlin on Braun, that the toaster had for his art, the same signficance that the Mont Saint Victoire had for Cézanne.
designed for Braun, so heavy that the museum technicians had to reinforce the wall, especially. It is softly playing the Modern Jazz Quartett. On one level, nothing has changed. Rams’ aesthetic is as relevant as it has ever been. More so in fact, because today there are the followers, if that is how one can describe Jonthan Ive, Jasper Morrison, Sam Hecht, and Naoto Fukasawa, who work in a language which clearly reflects the restricted colour palette, and care with which Rams approached his work. On another, everything is different. The work that Rams poured into precision, restraint, care, quietness, to make objects that would be beyond fashion and beyond time has an extraordinary pathos now. It has been left beached by the shifting tide of technolgy.
By 1983, electronic calculators had become technologically redundant. Their keys and displays were reduced to a function on computers and mobile telephones. But Braun offered something else. The Braun ET44 calculator seemed to offer perfection in the radius of every curve, the sequence of buttons, the logic of the control system, the plastic wallet in which the calculator came in, the colour coordination. In a messy, complex, possibly meaningless world, the ET44 was a reassuring promise of stabilty and meaning. Standing there in Kronberg, in 1983, we were in a different world of technology. A world in which photography still depended on chemical compounds of silver, television monitors depended on cathode ray tubes. For Rams, the point of design is not to sell, but to make things better. It was not a popular attitude with marketing departments. I saw Rams in London last November, where Alex Newson, one of the Design Museum’s curators, was putting together our retrospective on him. Newson created a space within the exhibition that evokes Rams’s own living room. The floor is tiled with the very particular grid of white tiles that Rams has at home. On the wall is the reel to reel tape recorder, next to the amplifier, next to the loud speaker that Rams
There are precious few figures in the present climate of moral relavatism who would be prepared to put their names to a manifesto, in the way that Rams has done with his ‘Ten Principles for Design’. Rams’s ethos from the old days of Braun was always that design had no business manipulating consumers into desire, and yet, there is nothing more seductive that the classic Rams product, it flatters consumers by treating them as adult enough not to need to be seduced by the obvious lures. In his maturity, Rams’ world view is now summed up by his idea of less but better, that is to say that visual longevity gives us the alibi that we need to feel a little less guilty as consumers. The exhibition – The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams – runs until 9 March. Design Museum, London www.designmuseum.org For more artistic tidbits join the Art & Design Group on www.thehospitalclub.com
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DEBBIE HARRY. The Sanctuary, London 1981. Limited Edition of 50. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
by Stewart Who?
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ANTONIO LOPEZ, HALSTON, LIZA MINELLI, STEVE RUBELL, BIANCA JAGGER & ANDY WARHOL. The Savoy, London 1979. Limited Edition of 50. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
He Was There Richard Young is internationally renowned for capturing candid images of pop culture icons, Hollywood stars and remarkable talents. As he’s excelled in this field since the mid ‘70s, garnering an enviable portfolio and a highly respected reputation, Young has become a legend in his own right. He’s toured the country with the Sex Pistols, visited orphanages in Romania with Michael Jackson and photographed an earless Paul Getty Jr. following his release from Italian kidnappers. 15
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oung has published three books of his work. By Invitation Only, Paparazzo and Shooting Stars feature a unique collection of some of Richard’s most famous and candid photographs. In 2004, The Hospital Club featured a major retrospective exhibition celebrating 30 years of his work.
JACK NICHOLSON. Claridges, London 1978. Limited Edition of 50. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
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Your images tend to flatter the subjects, rather than expose them, is that deliberate?
Of course I like to take photographs of people looking good. If I made people look crap, I wouldn’t get invited anywhere! I always delete an image if it is really unflattering
You’ve taken photos of the American troops in Iraq - did that experience change your views on war…or this war in particular?
the paps. The other situation where stars complain about being photographed when they are out and about, well, don’t go to the faces places! There are celebs out there who rarely get photographed.
Who’s responsible for the downward slide in standards - the celebrities or the paparazzi?
It’s rare that today’s photographers are invited to document exclusive parties. Why do you think you were seen as an asset rather than a nuisance?
I’m not sure what you mean by this question, celebrities these days often set up deals with the paparazzi, to make sure they are photographed frolicking in the sea looking their best, and split the proceeds, so in this case the celebrities are collaborating with
The reason I get invited to all the A list parties is that people trust me. I do a great job and 95% of the celebrities know me and feel comfortable with me, that’s why I get the best shots, there’s always a certain warmth with my images.
I was not on the front line when I went to Iraq; I was invited by Vanity Fair and the USO, which is an organisation that entertains the troops abroad. It wasn’t until I went to one of the field hospitals that it really hit home that all wars are devastating and not welcome. Was Fidel Castro as charismatic as expected?
More charismatic that I expected, he is a very tall and imposing figure, and dressed in his army fatigues when I met him, he was very charming and amenable - his security were another matter! STEVIE WONDER & MARVIN GAYE. Stringfellows, London 1981. Limited Edition of 10. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
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THE QUEEN & JOAN COLLINS. Royal Albert Hall, London 1982. Limited Edition of 10. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
Is it harder or easier to document somebody when you become a familiar part of their social environment?
This issue is devoted to ‘legends’ – what is your understanding of the term, and who is a ‘legend’ to you?
Of course it is easier, when you turn up at a party and you have carte blanche. But always remember, you are still the photographer, you’re not part of the entourage, know your place.
A legend to me is someone who has achieved great heights in whatever field they work in. My legends are people who have touched me mainly through their music, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen.
It takes a certain boldness to capture people in private moments - when (if ever) have you been the most intimidated?
Is there anyone you regret not capturing when you had the chance?
I am never intimidated. I always feel perfectly happy walking into a room of people; it’s my room and my people.
No, I have captured everyone when I’ve had the chance. I would really have liked to have photographed John Lennon, but I didn’t meet him when I was a photographer, sadly!
How do you feel the role of photographer has changed now that everybody has a camera on their phone?
Enormously annoying and irritating, it drives me mad when I go to ceremonies, when we are positioned at the back of the room and in front of you all you have is a sea of arms waving mobile phones snapping away. Everyone’s a photographer now. The Richard Young Gallery is currently showing Tim Motion – An Eye for the Sound, an exhibition that has turned the ground floor of the gallery into a jazz club and covered the walls with poignant portraits of legendary jazz and blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Miles Davis and Ray Charles. Exhibition Dates: 13th April - 7th May 2010 @ 4 Holland Street, London W8 4LT
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PRINCESS DIANA. London 1981. Limited Edition of 10. 20” X 24” Silver Gelatin Print. Signed, Stamped & Numbered.
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8 minutes with
Jo Malone Jo Malone grew up in a council flat in Bexley Heath in Kent. Today, she’s recognised as one of Britain’s most successful female entrepreneurs. She started her career by offering beauty treatments in her home, where she also mixed bath oils for clients in her kitchen. Her homemade ‘Nutmeg and Ginger’ concoction proved a runaway hit, leading to extensive orders…and the Jo Malone production line began. In 1994, she opened the first Jo Malone store on Walton Street, leading to queues outside the shop. Celebrities, royalty and fashionistas raved about her candles and fragrances. She opened a larger store on Sloane Street in 1999 and in the same year Estée Lauder Companies Inc. announced the acquisition of Jo Malone. She remained Founder and Creative Director until her departure in 2006.
When and where did you last have a really good night out?
What smell would you mourn if it existed no more?
I have never been a party animal and a great night out for me involves time with my family. We recently went to see the film Invictus which I loved. Even more so because I was home and in bed by 10pm
I would miss the smells that I associate with family moments at home such as Sunday lunch and Christmas morning. If you could own any piece of art in the world, what would it be?
I have never bought a piece of art and am still waiting to find something that would inspire me to want it.
What’s your favourite item of clothing and why?
I adore my Louise Kennedy black leather jacket which I have worn for years. It has been all over the world with me and looks great with a black dress or jeans.
Who or what makes you weak with desire?
As an entrepreneur I love the thrill of building a new business and creating a new fragrance always makes with me go weak at the knees.
When did you last shed a tear?
When was the last time an unexpected source inspired you to create a scent?
I cried a few tears last week when I sat down and thought long and hard about the enormity of the show and mainly the responsibility of fulfilling so many people’s dreams.
I am inspired 365 days a year and nothing is ever too unexpected. I draw upon the things that surround me for inspiration and often translate
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people, colours and emotions into fragrance. I was once inspired by a friend wearing a red dress and it went on to become a best-seller. What did you learn about yourself from mentoring the contestants on the new BBC show?
I have learnt how much I truly enjoy helping others. I feel incredibly energised and excited about the future and feel fortunate to be in a position to use my passion and experience to nurture the business dreams of others. When was the last time you told a lie?
I told my son who is 9 that the tooth fairy still existed. Unfortunately he recently found all of his milk teeth that I’ve ever saved and now won’t let me forget that I lied to him. Have you considered having your sense of smell insured?
I have considered it but have yet to actually do it.
Emma Hart from A Woman of Substance by Barbara TaylorBradford. She possesses incredible strength, passion and determination to overcome her struggles and circumstances.
inspiration and business influence. I am dyslexic and left school at 16 with no qualifications. Gary has been my business partner for over 25 years and during that time he has taught me everything I need to know about how to run and develop a business in very simple and easy to understand terms.
Who do you regard as a ‘legend’ and why?
What convinced you to do a television show?
I adore Joseph Ettedgui who is an incredibly creative force. He continues to inspire others and give back. I particular admire Rose Marie Bravo for her incredible ability to understand and excel in all areas of business. She makes those around her look at retail in so many different ways.
For a very long time I’ve had a huge desire to help others. I also wanted to test my personal capabilities to see if I’ve still got what it takes to create a successful business. My inner jury is still out!
Who is your favourite fictional character?
If you had one beauty tip to impart, what would it be?
What would you change (if anything) about your physical appearance?
I currently have semi-permanent lashes applied every six weeks but would love them to be naturally long and thick.
Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise!
What’s the most embarrassing thing on your iPod?
What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard about yourself?
My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion
Two things: “Jo Malone – what a clever man” and “Jo grew up on a huge estate”. The reality being that I actually grew up on a council estate. What album would you take to a desert island?
Abba’s Greatest Hits to dance and sing to. What do you feel has been your wisest business move?
Working with my husband Gary. He continues to be my biggest
If you could be trapped in a lift with any 3 living people - who would they be?
I would like Barack Obama to tell me his life story, Alan Carr to make me laugh and Bear Grylls to work out how to get us all out of the lift. Jo Malone and Nick Leslau will mentor the UK’s brightest entrepreneurs as part of a new BBC 1 show in mid-May. 8 Minutes is a regular feature on the website, visit www.thehospitalclub.com for interviews with Jesca Hoop and Shazia Mirza.
by Stewart Who?
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Roots Manuva at The Barclaycard Mercury Prize Session at The Hospital Club- photo by Suzie Blake
by Gavin Newman
W
It’s not very often that you see the guy animated and after interviewing him a year ago, it’s clear why. He’s a consummate space-cadet beyond realms that you or I might even consider. However, in The Hospital Club Studio, this English wordsmith, who perfectly defines what’s great about our British music culture, was so dynamic, he could barely keep a straight face.
hat many people perhaps don’t realise is what an absolute treat it is to see some of the best bands around town playing in such an intimate venue. What’s also noticeable is that it’s a bit weird for the bands too. Most of them assume an affair at The Hospital Club is more of a bog standard press showcase where a bunch of pen-heads turn up for free drinks at random venues around London and talk their way through the set.
As he belted through tracks from his last album Slime and Reason, and a medley of tunes spanning his meteoric career with the legendary indie-label Ninja Tune / Big Dada, our Rodders was dancing like Flatley and quite literally busting his sides from good old fashioned happiness laughter. It was a little bit infectious actually. If you weren’t there, you can view the performance by visiting the Music Group at www.thehospitalclub.com
It seems that Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva, was caught a little off guard with a spanking sound-system that most venues would die for and a fully tuned-in audience waiting to be impressed. It’s important to know that Roots Manuva is a consummate professional, he doesn’t do bad gigs. But you rarely see his personality surface and that’s where he tripped up.
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Welcome, one and all, to the Creatives in Residence
Programme 2010 (CIR). Over the past few months we’ve searched high and low; meeting short, tall, young, old, male, female, brunette, blonde and, most importantly, talented - types. After the success of last year’s programme, The Hospital Club has once again thrown open its doors to welcome a new batch of creatives eager to tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience the Club has to offer.
T
his year’s intake of Residents covers six creative disciplines: Visual Arts, Fashion, Film, Architecture, Music and Theatre & Opera (together in one; we’re expecting quite an impact). The “disciples” include Alex Shepard (Visual Arts), Dean Quinn (Fashion), Destiny Ekaragha (Film), Joel Horwood (Theatre), Jordan Hodgson and Niall Gallacher (Architecture), Peter Gregson (Music) and Luc Mollinger (Theatre & Opera).
Creatives in
from Camberwell College of Arts in 2009 with a BA Hons in Photography. Working in a wide variety of mediums including film, sculptural installation and photography, his work explores our sometimes troubled relationship with geometric form. Alex’s work often takes a very formal composition, inviting the viewer to study and rethink their conceptions and approach to form.
Dean Quinn hails from a small market town in Northern Ireland, setting his sights on the bright lights of London from an early age. Graduating from Central St Martin’s in 2009, after winning the coveted Woman’s Wear Designer of the Year Award, Dean presented his first collection at LFW’s Vauxhall Fashion Scout and was featured in the V&A Fashion in Motion presentation of emerging talent.
Destiny Ekaragha studied
www.alex-shepherd.co.uk
www.deanquinn.com
www.destinyekaragha.com
Fashion
Film
Film and Communications at London Metropolitan University, graduating in 2003. After working as a runner on various TV and film projects, Destiny directed her first short film in 2008 called ‘Tight Jeans’. The film went on to be officially selected by the 2008 Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival where it was also voted the best short film shown at the London Film Festival by The Observer.
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Joel Horwood is an
accomplished playwright whose debut, Mikey the Pikey, won the Cameron Mackintosh Award before receiving a West End option from David Pugh Ltd. Since then his career has blossomed, winning awards and enjoying sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His current adaptation of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ opens at West Yorkshire Playhouse on April 16th this year.
Theatre & Opera
Alex Shepherd graduated
visual art
May we present…
Laurelene Chambovet,
2010
Residence Programme
Luc Mollinger works in theatre and opera as a Director. Recent work includes the live opera / film Tales of Hoffmann (Arcola Theatre) and as an Assistant Director on productions with Opera North and Salisbury Playhouse. Luc graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia and has lived in London since 2005. During his residency he will explore ways of engaging opera with new audiences and push the boundaries of presenting it using new media.
Peter Gregson is a cellist and pioneer of contemporary music who’s performed widely in the UK and the US, at venues ranging from The Royal Albert Hall to the Twitter Offices in San Francisco. He was recently commissioned by Bowers & Wilkins and Peter Gabriel’s Real World label to record an album of original music for acoustic and electric cellos. His work has been recognised with the 2008 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Music.
Jordan Hodgson and Niall Gallacher
are co-founders of House of Jonn, a studio for creative engagement within the city. They studied Architecture at Leeds and Cambridge respectively then together at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2009. They have worked on an array of projects and commissions in the fields of architecture, design, research and visualisation. They are currently producing new work for release at the London Festival of Architecture 2010.
www.petergregson.co.uk
Architecture
Music
Theatre & Opera
www.houseofjonn.com
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Philanthropic Manager at The Hospital Club, will be working closely, amongst other mentors, coaches and other Hospital Club team members to help the Residents define their craft and develop a stronger direction in navigating their way around the industry and commercial world. Throughout their residency the artists will create new work, challenging the Club and bringing thoughts and inspiration into the building. In the 2009 programme we worked with several members on various different projects with great success. As a member of the Club you are both welcome and encouraged to get involved with the CIR programme; it’s fun, interesting and rewarding. While helping young creatives develop their talent, you’re likely to enjoy a new lease of life and broaden your own perspective. “Working with coaches and mentors gives the Residents the opportunity to take their performance to the next level. Digging deep into their resources they are supported in a journey that can be challenging but ultimately sees them delivering on their phenomenal potential.” – Emily Man, Film Producer and Executive Coach, Club Member. “…Above all, the environment has been one of experimentation, curiosity and real mutual support. In the process, I think we all exchanged a lot and learned quite a bit from each other” – Paulo Pisano, Director for People, Pearson Education International, Club Member. If you’re interested in getting involved with the Creatives in Residence programme, please contact loloc@thehospitalclub.com or visit www.thehospitalclub.com/cir to learn more about it.
Club News
& Events We’ll continue to stack up the tempting events in the next few months, so make sure you’ve got your online profile updated and are au fait with the online booking process. Of course, you needn’t worry about being in the dark, as we’ll be sending the fortnightly newsletter to remind you of forthcoming events. To access sneaky advance information, be sure to join some of our online groups and/or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Please remember to cancel your spot when you can’t make it, to allow a fellow member to take your place. Website
CiR
Upcoming events
2010 already boasts a jampacked production schedule. The first quarter will see a focus on site optimisation and accessibility. This means we’re reviewing every segment of the site to make sure it’s as slick as a ballet dancer dipped in oil. Our aim is to improve usability and deliver design continuity across the site, so expect a face-lift this month. We’re also addressing many of the suggestions made in the questionnaire, including clearer access to content. We recently launched a new Film page focussing on industry news and gossip, films on general release and trailers for imminent films. This new section sits alongside Culture at Large and our daily Media News feed. Don’t forget to keep your eyes on the Competitions section because some really inspiring work has been submitted over the last few months and let’s face it, if you snooze….
We have introduced you to our new band of Residents and hope you managed to see some of their talents at the CiR launch on the 3rd of March. We’ll be keeping you abreast of all their projects with updates on the Club website and the magazine. Alternatively, head to www. thehospitalclub.com/cir for more information. If you’re interested in helping/getting involved in the scheme, it’s not too late. Please contact us if interested and we can point you in the right direction.
Have you had a chance to try one of the new salsa classes that’s made an appearance on the event calendar this year? Hot dancers, spicy vibe and lots of fun guaranteed, plus it’s an intimate way to meet your fellow members! Afterwards, you can head upstairs to showcase your moves in the Club!
Art During Spring we’re showcasing a series of video paintings from Open Gallery on the 2nd floor. Open have been causing a stir at recent fairs – London Art Fair, Crunch in Miami, Hay Art Festival and have also been featured in GQ and The Guardian. On the 4th floor we’re currently showcasing Julian Wild’s wall mounted ceramic sculptures. His cascading shapes are positive, fun and impossible to ignore. For sales inquiries please contact alih@thehospitalclub.com
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Are you a risk-taker? Would you go all in on a blind hand? Do you know how to play poker? If you do, come show your skills and if you don’t, then we want you to attend Poker Night as we have bills to pay! Andrew and the rest of the team will teach you….. then beat you! Head to the Poker groups for all the most up to date results to see who the sharks are… Back to Ours continues to inspire and entertain with an array of unique themes ranging from Mexican wrestling via the eccentric Frog Morris to a ‘90s Night with a difference. Our
advice? Always have your dancing shoes at the ready. Of course, glamour, excess and decadence are de rigueur at Studio 24 with our resident disco-head Stewart Who? Peruse the pictures in the online Party Nights group to see what you’ve been missing. Members’ Night is still bringing people together courtesy of your favourite Membership duo. For a night to remember and an opportunity to meet other members, there’s no better way. Creative Capital continues to offer a platform for members to share ideas on the future of the creative industries. From Fashion to the Film Industry, every discipline gets a crack of the whip, so come and expand your horizons. Other events worth looking out for include the spoken word jamboree from One Taste, Comedy, Variety and Cocktail Nights. Where else can you experience urban poetry, erotic burlesque, edgy laughter and a knockout martini created by another member- all under one roof?
Member’s events bookings Dear fellow members, if for some reason you are unable to attend a booking for one of our events, please ensure that you cancel this booking. After booking an event, it appears on your profile in the ‘My Profile’ tab listed under ‘My Events’; the event has a ‘Cancel Attendance’ button next to it. Don’t be shy or hesitant in pressing that button, you’ll make someone else very happy by doing so. This year we are going to be really hot on people not attending events that they are booked in for…you know who you are. We hope that some of your Questionnaire enquiries have been addressed and once again, we thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Finally, congratulations to all our website competition winners! There are far too many to name, but you know who you are. In particular a mention must go to Angel Tan, our winner of the Jotta sponsored competition and James Willis, the winner of The Maccabees video concept.
Marketa and Oliver Membership
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Are you one of the beautiful people in some of these shots? Here are a selection of pictures from the ßber glamorous Studio 24, the ever alternative Back To Ours; Members’ drinks - who knew ping-pong could be so liberating? - the inspiring One Taste music and spoken word showcase, and the show stopping performance from The XX. Also, see some of the pictures from the event we had to celebrate the collection of works on loan from the Royal College of Art comprised of 10 works selected by former Head of Department Chris Orr including leading artists such as Tracey Emin, Michael Craig Martin and Paula Rego. To see more scandalous photos from our events, join the Party Nights group at www.thehospitalclub.com
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Edward Rogers
Company
Indigo Mile Industry
Advertising & Media
But come on, what do you actually do?
At our core we are a communications headhunting company but we also help smart people with great ideas develop and establish new businesses. What projects are you currently working on?
We are fortunate enough to be working with some of the best advertising, digital and design agencies around. We are also involved in an exciting new lingerie business which we hope to get off the ground later in the year and an ingenious mobile technology business which promises to change the way agencies use mobile apps. So I guess we’re into ECDs, MP3s and 32Bs!
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Gareth Sibson Company
Are there any people you’d like to collaborate with?
Me, and Authoright PR
Absolutely. Anyone with a good idea that they’re passionate about.
Industry
Writer, Broadcaster and Publishing PR man
Who do you think is a legend?
My Dad. An entrepreneur who, despite a life-time of hard work with a few knocks along the way, has maintained total integrity, kept his sense of humour and given all the time in the world to his family…and his golf swing. A total legend.
But come on, what do you actually do?
I write books and pundit-about on TV and radio. I also run the UK’s leading PR agency for books, authors and publishers. What projects are you currently working on?
What do people think is legendary about you?
Working with TV production companies on new formats, legal and book based, and developing a new client base of US based publishers.
My brothers and closest mates think I’m a lucky bastard. If I were to really scrape the barrel, as a kid I also used to have a freakishly good throw. Both seem to be wearing off. www.indigomile.com
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Are there any people you’d like to collaborate with?
I would have loved to collaborate on a novel with the late George MacDonald Fraser, perhaps in bringing ‘Flashman’ to the Big Screen. Who do you think is a legend?
Peter Ustinov. Tom Selleck. David Starkey. Charles Dickens. Bertie Wooster. David Niven. The dancer and agente provocateuse, Lola Montez. And of course… ‘Flashman’.
What do people think is legendary about you?
My collection of tweed suits, panoply of scarves from around the world and assemblage of Mr Benlike accoutrements de l’homme. www.garethsibson.com www.authoright.com
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Justine Priestley Company
Triumphant Media Industry
New Media But come on, what do you actually do?
What I’m most passionate about is ‘Social Media promotions for the creative industries’… basically creating online representation for independent artists! Helping them gain leverage and credibility online. What projects are you currently working on?
Varied! Social media strategy with people such as a pure skincare start-up, a property investor, an events business, musicians, a textile design and manufacture business and even an award-winning sheep dog trainer! We’re also producing videos for a high-end men’s dresssense agency!
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Marie-Laurence Camara-Ferguson Company
Are there any people you’d like to collaborate with?
Ice Cube Design
Are there any people you’d like to collaborate with?
For my own forthcoming magazine would love to work with visionary Interior Design and Graphic Design creatives such as Tom Ford, Stark, Westwood, JP Gaultier, Hadid…; But come on, what do you for multi-disciplinary projects and actually do? installations some young creatives for ICD will rebrand in 2010 to reflect a think-tank and strong collaborative our boutique Interior Design platforms services (full scale residential and commercial) and our newly Who do you think is a legend? added branding services. Also, Alexander McQueen- always loved creating a magazine for the creative his vision and style: surrealist and community. architectural. Also Richard Rogers for his humanitarian approach to architecture, and for my beloved What projects are you currently Centre Pompidou in Paris. working on?
Any sort of creative person! We also have a side project with a team of passionate filmmakers producing short films. I’d love to collaborate with anyone who loves film and is looking to develop in any scope of the filmmaking process.
Industry
Who do you think is a legend?
A legend always keeps reaching new heights so I think Meryl Streep is incredible. This year she said, “I’ve played so many remarkable women that I’m starting to be mistaken for one”. She’s dedicated to her craft and to constantly expanding but she shows a down-to-earth attitude to success.
With regards to Interior Design an amazing penthouse overlooking Brooklyn Bridge in NYC; Monroe and Sinatra used to sip a cocktail on the rooftop bar. Also Branding- I’m working on a visual identity for a film production company.
What do people think is legendary about you?
I can make the perfect scone! Justine@triumphantmedia.tv
What do people think is legendary about you?
Uff. People relate well to my high energy; and to my fearless approach to work and challenges. My French straight-forwardness can be scary apparently and my passions very consuming ha ha!! www.icecube-design.com
To find out more about fellow members, join our social network and meet virtually at www.thehospitalclub.com
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Members’ Events Highlights
Back To Ours Back To Ours is our monthly excuse to throw a party with a theme based around exciting artists, performance and more often than not, a glut of tasty cocktails. Recently we’ve had nights of burlesque, karaoke joy and Mexican wrestling action painting. Go on, show a leg.
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April
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Centurion Director: Neil Marshall Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko UK/2010/Celador Genre: Action/Adventure/
Set in 117 AD, the film tells the story of a bunch of Roman soldiers who must fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is wiped out in a devastating guerrilla attack. Director Neil Marshall broke onto the scene with Dog Soldiers, but grabbed the hearts of horror fans with his potholing nightmare, The Descent. Expect galloping horses, brutal battles, bleak landscapes, triumph over adversity and bloody chainmail.
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highlight 08 30 Iron Man 2
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson UK/2010/Paramount
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
In ‘Iron Man 2’ the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armoured superhero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, media and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armour because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.
Cocktail Competition Bombay Sapphire
Gin Lane as depicted by Hogarth was just round the corner from The Hospital Club in the parish of St. Giles. The syphilitic residents could only dream of sipping on a quality brand such as Bombay Sapphire. Sadly for them, they didn’t have cocktail competitions either.
Quiz Night
Wise owls flock to the Games Room each month to prove their worth, intelligence and an ability to name all of the members of S Club 7. Flex those grey cells for all they’re worth, impress your peers and if you’re lucky, win some marvellous prizes.
Wall Street 2 Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Michael Douglas/ Shia LaBeouf/ Charlie Sheen UK/2010/Edwar.R Pressman Film Genre: Drama
Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf star in Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street 2’. Douglas is back in his Oscar®-winning role as Gordon Gekko. Emerging from a lengthy prison stint, Gekko finds himself on the outside of a world he once dominated. A young, idealistic investment banker (LaBeouf ) learns the hard way that Gekko is still a master manipulator – and if there’s one place where you can redefine yourself, one place where your relevance is a deal away, it’s Wall Street.
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May
Prince of Persia Director: Mike Newell Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley USA/2010/Jerry Bruckheimer Films Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
From the team that brought the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’, an epic actionadventure set in the mystical lands of Persia. A rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Gemma Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time— because nobody wants that, do they?
highlig OneTaste
Bad Lieutenant Director: Werner Herzgov
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes UK/2010/Edward Pressman Films Genre: Crime/Drama
In Werner Herzog’s new film ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’ Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who loves his drugs and isn’t so keen on the rule of law. He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order to get his way. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he reigns over the ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Do wear a bullet proof vest. Don’t mention Abel Ferrara.
The OneTaste collective momentum continues to build as we embrace their talents for the third time. A mix of musicians and spoken word performers, this will be a memorable evening showcasing gifted and unique songwriters and poets. Cast away your preconceptions and forget iambic pentameter
Members Drinks
Come and welcome in the summer with ye olde monthly ceremony of the social meet & greet and some Games Room sporting activities to give the proceedings that competitive edge. This popular social shindig is a prime opportunity to mingle with Hospital Club members and make new friends by letting them beat you at ping pong. Oh, and there’s drinks too.
04 Comedy Night
Devil dogs, debt issues, Ashley Cole and dwindling ice caps getting you down? Well, we can’t promise to change any of those, but we can offer a night of uplifting comedy from the circuit’s big hitters.
Robin Hood Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Mark Strong, Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Durand USA/UK/2010/Universal Genre: Action/Drama
Oscar® winner Russell Crowe stars as the legendary figure known by generations as ‘Robin Hood’ whose exploits have endured in popular mythology and ignited the imagination of those who share his spirit of adventure and righteousness. In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. The question is; will they wear green tights?
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Music Sessions You may have seen some of the previous Barclaycard Mercury Prize Sessions on Channel 4 on Friday nights. So far, we’ve had storming performances from the likes of Fyfe Dangerfield, The XX, The Maccabees, Florence + The Machine and Roots Manuva. Check out video highlights in the online Features section, plus if you’d like to be the first to hear about new musical events in the club, head online and join the Music Sessions group.
Killers Director: Robert Luketic Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Sellick USA/2010/Katalyst Films Genre: Action/Comedy
A retired assassin quits the business after marrying the girl of his dreams. His wife has no idea about his past until they discover that a ‘hit’ has been put on him. Are the hired killers their closest friends and neighbours? Their seemingly perfect lives suffer a wobble, but will they come out of it stronger, or in a coffin?
June
Members’ Events Highlights
hig 26 ghts 06
When in Rome
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston USA/2010/Touchstone
Genre: Comedy/Romance
An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a ‘foolish’ fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (Jon Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). That’ll teach her, or will it?
Club Art – New Hang
At the start of June there’ll be a new art hang. Previous featured artists include Dominic Beattie, Julian Wild, a series of prints from the Royal College of Art and some visually stunning video paintings. Why not join the Art Group online to get the latest news and information about the artists?
Studio 24
Studio 24 is a once monthly foray into the liberated, glittering days of disco. Inspired by New York’s Paradise Garage and The Loft, this Saturday nighter is devoted to hip-swishing soul, delirious funk and pure, uncut disco. Shimmering sounds and a sensual attitude, mixed with mouth watering cocktails and skin tight pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans- that’s what the night’s all about. Your host and DJ for the evening is Stewart Who?
Greenberg Director: Noah Baumbach Starring: Ben Stiller, Jenifer Jason Leigh, Rhys Ifans USA/2010/Scott Rudin Productions Genre: Drama/Comedy
Roger Greenberg [Ben Stiller] is single, fortyish and at a crossroads in his life. He finds himself in Los Angeles, house-sitting for his more successful married-with-children brother. Greenberg tries to reconnect with old friends including his former bandmate Ivan [Rhys Ifans]. Greenberg soon finds himself spending more and more time with his brother’s personal assistant Florence [Greta Gerwig], an aspiring singer and his chance for happiness.
For further and more detailed information, check out our ‘Events’ section at www.thehospitalclub.com
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Speed dates
April
May
June
23rd January – 18th April Royal Academy - The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London.
12 – 23 May Cannes Film Festival. 3, rue Amélie 75007 Paris – France.
19 – 4 July London Festival of Architecture.
“Salut tout le monde! Me voilà enfin! Alors, on s’est pas vu depuis Sundance...” Tim Burton is the jury head and everyone’s talking about Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life’. But will he finish the film on time?
Last chance to catch The Royal Academy of Arts’ blockbusting Van Gogh exhibition which showcases over 35 original letters, rarely exhibited to the public due to their fragility, together with around 65 paintings and 30 drawings that express the madness, depression and talent therein. www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/ vangogh/
8 Westminster Day of Dance Trafalgar Sq.
With handkerchiefs flying and bells-aringing, the 8th of May will see Trafalgar Sq transformed with a day of traditional Morris dancing. Shame it isn’t every day.
3 Cambridge Oxford Boat Race Putney Bridge, SW6 3UH.
27 May – 6 June Hay Literary Festival.
The Oxford Vs Cambridge University Boat Race, a wonderful excuse to get happily sloshed in a riverside pub. It’s been held annually since 1856 and about a quarter of a million people watch from the banks of the river. Alternatively, on the same day is the Oxford and Cambridge Goat Race in Spitalfields City Farm.
The world’s biggest literary love-in attracts comedians, scientists, writers, critics, filmmakers, musicians, historians, environmentalists….and Bill Clinton. Hay is a quaint little town famed for its second-hand bookshops, two Norman castles and the fact that it’s twinned with Timbuktu. www.hayfestival.com
19, 21 The London Book Fair Earls Court, Warwick Rd, London, SW5 9TA.
29 Eurovision Song Contest – Oslo.
The London Book Fair hosts over 200 seminars and events attended by more than 6,000 industry professionals. Highlights include Juan Gabriel Vásquez interviewed by Professor Amanda Hopkinson and bestselling South African satirist Sarah Britten explores the art of the insult as it relates to national identity. www.londonbookfair.co.uk
Oslo hosts this year’s feast of campery, tragedy and old-school rivalry. Expect the competition to be fiercer this year as the Euro wobbles and Greece attempts to regain composure via hi-NRG laïkο-pop. Once again, Terry will be terribly missed. 1 – 23 Brighton Festival.
Since its launch in 1966, Brighton Festival has evolved and expanded, no doubt fortified on all that invigorating sea air. It now hosts 200 events over 23 days. Brian Eno will be making his mark as this year’s Festival’s Guest Artistic Director and musical guests include Talvin Singh, Portico Quartet, The Persuasions, Reggie Watts and the Brighton Youth Orchestra www.brightonfestival.org
19 – 23 Alternative Fashion Week Spitalfields Traders Market, Crispin Place, Brushfield St, London E1.
A free fashion event in Spitalfields, The Alternative Fashion Week will play host to the most original and creative collections by a fresh crop of new designers with truly innovative ideas. The collections are put together by young designers who are studying at (or have recently graduated from) fashion colleges in the UK. Shows are daily from Monday to Friday between 1:15pm and 2pm. www.alternativearts.co.uk/AFW
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The biennial London Festival of Architecture offers an opportunity to engage with the city’s built environment. This year’s theme is The Welcoming City, highlighting how cities can become increasingly amenable, tolerant and engaging. The theme also responds to the Olympic 2012 slogan that ‘London welcomes the world’. www.lfa2010.org/index.php 23 – 27th Glastonbury Festival.
The ruling Granddaddy of festivals is back and celebrating 40 years of mud, messy antics, sleep deprivation and good ol’ fashioned rock and roll. This year, confirmed acts include Jack Johnson, U2, Muse, Stevie Wonder and Andy Williams. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ 21 June – 4 July Wimbledon Wimbledon Park, London.
This will be the 124th staging of the Wimbledon Championships. Without doubt, the classiest grass court tournament in the world. Roger Federer and Serena Williams are the defending champions and the question remains; can Murray win it this year? Oh, and due to an abundance of frost, strawberries are in short supply. www.wimbledon.org 11 June – 11 July
World Cup 2010 – South Africa.
The 19th FIFA World cup will take place in South Africa and it will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African nation. Now that Terry’s in the doghouse, can Ferdinand rally the troops?
Concise Calendar
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
01
Friday
Saturday
02
03
09
10
17
April
Dirty Stop Out: April Fools 8pm (ML)
05
06
07
08
Writing Salon 7.30pm (L)
Quiz Night 8pm (FR)
Poker Night 7pm (GR) Alt Classical Series with CiR 7pm (ML)
Hell Kittie Kittie (50s party) 6.30pm (ML)
12
13
14
15
16
And Then The World Presents... 7pm (GR)
Back to Ours 8pm (ML)
22
23
19
20
21 Creative Capital - Politics & The Creative Industries 7pm (GR)
26
27
28
May
30
01
Cocktail Competition 7.30pm (GR)
03
04
Writing Salon 7.30pm (L)
Comedy Night 7pm (FF)
10
17
Studio 24 9pm (ML)
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Book Club 7.30pm (L)
24
05
06
07
08
11
12
13
14
15
Quiz Night 8pm (GR)
Poker Night 7pm (FR)
And Then The World Presents... 7pm (GR)
Back to Ours with Scottee 8pm (ML)
18
19
20
21
22
28
29
Creative Capital - Venture Capitals 7pm (GR)
24
25
27
26
OneTaste 7pm (FF) TBC
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Cocktail Competition 7.30pm (GR)
Studio 24 9pm (ML)
01
02
03
04
05
08
09
10
11
12
Book Club 7.30pm (L)
07
June
Writing Salon 7.30pm (L)
14
Poker Night 7pm (FR)
15
16
Quiz Night 8pm (GR)
21
22
23
90s Night: Take Two 8pm (ML)
17
18
Creative Capital 7pm (GR)
Back to Ours 8pm (ML)
24
25
And Then The World Presents... 7pm (GR)
28
29
19
26 Studio 24 9pm (ML)
30
Book Club 7.30pm (L)
Members Events (SR) Screening Room (TV) Studio (ML) Martini Lounge (FR) Forest Room (GR) Games Room (BB) Bellini Bar (G) Gallery (CR) Club Restaurant (RR) Rocket Room (FF) First Floor (2nd) Second Floor (L) Library
Most members events can be booked one month in advance and screenings two weeks in advance. To book or to see what screenings are coming up visit thehospitalclub.com and check out our monthly film calendar, now online. Free admission.
If you have to cancel your booking please use the online booking system so that another member can take your place. 37
Make your own luck.
For great television, stack the odds in your favour. Introducing Europe’s first HD TV studio, offering a unique mix of HD, SD and multi-track sound recording at affordable rates. The Hospital Club Studios are in the heart of Covent Garden so drop by or visit thehospitalclub.com/studios. Call Anne Marie Phelan for more information on 020 7170 9110 or email studio@thehospitalclub.com