the reason i missed a very important gathering, on saturday 21 april, is because of this:
at the bar's one year anniversary, a watchful gentleman approached me and asked me whether i was doing parties such as these, elsewhere. yes, was my reply and the proposal and exchange of info begun... i was to create a happening for his partner's fourtieth birthday, so our dialogue started with cocktail lists, shopping lists, supplier lists and pie n' mash preferences for my staff and myself...
after his desires and my suggestions, we opted for bourbon sours, deluxe margaritas, gin daiquiris and poirot martinis (hercules loved to sip his cassis, like an apperitif, hence the name and made with vodka, lemon and apple juice)... it was very very popular, among the curious and highly appreciative guests...
we ran out of booze happily and very late, with some eggs, juice and oranges left behind... and a lot of wine and bubbly replenished by the visitors...
it was a great atmosphere, super organised and easy, including fresh sushi for starter, pie n' mash with a homemade slaw for main and lots of cakes, cupcakes and the star shaped birthday cake for dessert... jazz was playing in the conservatory and the huge ice block in the shape of zia's age was melting happily, in small drips throughout the night...
we were treated, thanked, paid and after i dropped my people home, i sped to a warehouse party to meet up finally with one of my favourite people in a dancing, lazered and dark affair with double gin and tonic in a plastic cup, as there was no wine...
many thanks to andre and mystique for the help and sat, for hiring me... a good boost to add to my curriculum and extend the career...
i have known lumiere, the one and only colourful, sexy and mysterious juice bar on chatsworth road, in lower clapton, london for three years now, when i visited it for a friend's birthday before a screening at bfi for llgff...
it's totally zen! a permanent fountain with water gently pouring, calms the senses and there is a lingering flower smell, so pleasant and positive, you are in sweet yummy trance never to cease...
thare are flowers and fruit and heart shaped labels of the products and a plethora of teas, some spirits, a coffee machine, plants, a big golden L decorating the wall, before you go downstairs to another room, leading to another room, leading to another room and an outside area on one side and the loos on the other...
magic is always needed and embraced and lumiere represents this very well, as a wonderfully tucked away paradise in a middle of a gentrified community full of artists, nuclear families and old locals and the dodgy eggs and the queers! a melting pot...
so, it made great sense that i brought stav B's liquor bar at lumiere, which i transformed as dark room for fringe fest 2012!
fringe film fest, in its second year, is an alternative film festival, which started as a flippant chat on facebook (as the T club, too; the joys of facebook), when the london lesbian and gay film festival was cut to one week instead of two, because of UK's useless and conservative government (awful tories)!
one thing led to another and the festival was born, with an array of films, screenings, exhibitions, talks and events in various alternative east end venues... beautiful!
i was asked to participate with my bar in the festival, as my work is known, recognised and appreciated and generally fits the bill and the collaboration begun. last year, i was doing the bar at bob's in his pie n' mash, so when i was asked this year, i had the perfect venue in mind, which eventually fell through, because it was not structurally safe, although, i have it in mind, when it gets ready for my events, for the foreseeable future!
this year, we pushed the event further, by incorporating, along with the screenings, performances, a workshop and a catalogue launch... and we added the idea of the dark room, inspired by and emulating the dark and crusing rooms for women in the 20s, 30s and 40s in paris, berlin and new york...
so, it all fit into place, choosing lumiere, the dark room, the female ejaculation workshop, the performance with blood marking the body and fresh lillies decorating the cranium, screenings of lesbian porn and the cataloque full of lesbian female erotica, washing it down of course, with concoctions, mixed with spices and jam, fresh fruit and juices and a lot of spirit!
there was a lot of activity! upstairs, downstairs, in the dark room, behind the bar, you get the picture... we were busy and despite, the hiccups, the tiny bar, some art stalling, we did it, pulled it off, managed it and completed the task successfully... and we'd do it again and again, with passion and positive energy!
phew! and my goodness, so wonderfully exhausted!
working with spices and fire (not yet) has been on my mind for some time, so and because of this particular event, i decided to put it into fruition...
after a skype meeting with my friend and curator of the screenings, etc, where we were talking logistics and arranging details, i exclaimed that i was going to make spicy pomegranate(fertility, sexuality, femaleness, get it?) martinis and the drink was born!
OMG! it was seriously yummy, sexy, delicious...
it was a vodka based drink, with pomegranate liqueur, which i travelled to soho to get, lemon juice and the amazing cardamon sirop, which gave the drink the spiciness and roundness it deserved! very popular!
as well as the fig margarita, with tequila, lime and cointreau and a good spoonfull of figue confiture, which cost me £6.50 to buy from the local deli!
even more spice there, as the gold tequila interacted with the pulp very very well!
there were marmalade vodka collins and apricot jam treacles with dark rum, there were sours with a hearty/ frothy head and there was beer and wine and a huge bowl of mocktail punch i had made earlier with lots of tropical juice (passion/ mango/ pineapple), fresh fruit (melon/ apple/ blackberries/ strawberries/ lime/ ornage/ lemon), grenadine and sirop d'orgeat, who a lot of folk demanded it with rum, as the night progressed! the red chiili was crushed before the vermouths, the rich and scrumptious chocolate liqueur and the bourbon were stirred in for the manhattan! so good!
i used the fresh strawberries to make caipirinhas with them later on, too, as the liquid diminished and the imagination flourished!
i had a fantastic team from security to the door, the bar, the photographer, the djs! beautiful, competent people and good friends, too! blessed, or what?
lumiere left us alone in trust and love, as they fell asleep, watching the remake of the 'the thing'! cute! and i left the venue at 6am, where the dawn was cracking gently, leaving the place decent, switched off and locked, to drive down to soho and have breakfast!
look forward to the next year's fringe, as i'm sure it will be expanding more...
the dark room continues... in the liquor bar... watch this space and see you at the east london fawcett society fundraiser, which i am really excited about!
many thanks to all involved, helped, supported, especially, kaison, anka, andre, william, zbigniew, mustique, sophie, shar, sj, fahmida, ivana, derrie, noga and lorenzo at lumiere!
easter bank holiday seemed to have started early in this city of ours (london) to last for a good four and a half days; thursday 5 april, being the last day of work for some folk...
i started mine with my own party, which combined, as it has been on the cards as a natural process for sometime, art and cocktails: the Platform and stav B's liquor bar!
in brief and for the avid reader, there is a good blurb on the group's profile on facebook, i started the Platform two years ago, as an art event, focusing simply and entirely, on photography and performance art... back to basics with theory, debate and manifestation, inspired and referencing movements, such as DADA, which is the current one i am working on and surrealism, where my photography is inspired by...
the first installment went well, it had a good turnout and the work was excellent, including live and sound performance (mine), interactive representations and tailor made music to bind the whole thing together...
but the venue was not appropriate, so i put it to sleep, forever with an eye open for the next opportunity...
at vogue fabrics... an underground club in upper dalston, where queen Bees and so many other nights have been hosted, a place we all love to grace in its sweatness and delightful decadence...
so, to cut the long story short, i decided to combine the Platform with the liquor bar on an thursday night at vogue fabrics and after a fruitful meeting/ invitation from lyall and alex, who own the venue and book the events respectively...
delighted and a step to the right direction... i deconstructed the Platform group, as it was loaded with theory, quotes and photographs and scattered it around my existing groups and my wall... it felt good to edit and clear and narrow down and focus more and it was good to see the archive for future reference...
i collected the artists, two of the originals, the other two were away and two new ones, who jumped at the idea... after meetings and phonecalls and messages and notes, the program was complete... doug was summoned one more time to design the stupendous flyer and DJ, as i wanted him to have the exclusivity; he is just fitting the bill so well...
i decided to improvise on the cocktail list and keep it simple, with the stock that i already had, but precise and classic... for the ones, who know me and/ or have been reading this blog, they should know how i value my classics, as the base of everything equally beautiful and the limitation of no glass allowed, poured the martinis into teacups and the daiquiris in think plastic rocks, not my favourite, but it's good to adapt...
andre and i made maple syrup old fashioned, dirty vodka martinis, mango and passion fruit daiquiris and a lot of vodka and tequila sours with no egg white!
we witnessed ice and penguins, cold water and mermaids, love manifestos and raw egg swallowing inside a circle made of salt... we had a urinal on the wall and a smiling gioconda and we had sculpture on the bar, with a cup on it...
we listened to wagner and iranian pop, beatnic and psychedelia...
we mingled, we cheered, clapped, laughed, posed happily for the snapper and participated, we engaged happily and differently...
it worked and we are going to do it again...
some of us went to party till the small hours, among very drunk and overbearing folk... i was looking forward to my saturday, so i went with the flow and shared my time between two clubs... o, well...
many thanks to all who supported and got involved: lyall, alex, doug, danielle, justin, season, benjamin, josie, andre, mitch, zbigniew.
see you all here again after the dark room for FRINGE FEST 2012!
