Defying convention, the (largely) techno band ‘Cassette‘ will be performing live at Lark in the Park, this Wednesday.

You can download their singles from the Myspace site above – I’m particularly fond of the Erasure cover.

With a small army of vocalists, lead by the talented Lucy, a guitar, a bass and a synthesizer (how can you ever turn down a synthesizer?!), it should be a blast.

Weds 23rd August / 8 pm
Lark in the Park, Islington

http://www.larkinthepark.co.uk

60, Copenhagen Street, N1 0JW
Angel Islington

From the National Theatre Gallery:

Quentin Blake/Roald Dahl – The Illustrations

16 August to 30 September

This features the 19 books that Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake have collaborated on together, including some whose publication pre-date their partnership, and for which Blake provided illustrations for only after Roald Dahl’s death in 1990. This exhibition coincides with the inaugural Roald Dahl day on the 13 September, which would have been the great man’s 90th birthday. In honour of this, Quentin Blake has done two new drawings especially for this exhibition. A pod cast interview with Quentin will also be available to download from the NT website.

Monday to Saturday, 10am to 11pm, FREE

Another symbol of bygone technology is the gasometer at London’s Oval. A testament to pre-North Sea gas Britain, it has watched over countless England cricket victories and defeats, as fans harboured idle fantasies that a lofted six might land on the top. And yet as distinctive as it is, it recently faced the threat of demolition as obsolete technology. However, its current owners say there are “no immediate plans to do anything to it”. It is safe, for now.

That would’ve easily been my first choice. Anyone else? (Battersea Power Station is not allowed)

In my 21st century quest to discover everything possible about my new neighborhood neighborhood, I stumbled on the Stockwell Partnership. A nonprofit group dedicated to improving the local community.

One of their project is this blog – a series of photographs taken in the neighborhood. Really lovely stuff…

I’m a little disappointed by the ‘look at us! we’re making a big, big ad!’ hoopla around it (I think ads about ads is a disappointingly self-indulgent trend nowadays), but, I must confess, it’s working. That’s a LOT of paint…

The Tacticians’ single about London living is in the Spare Room competition over on BBC 6. It’s a great track about the highs and lows of our patron city, and worth a listen (…and a vote). Support your local band about your local city!

Vote for them here and learn more about the band at their own web site, here.

It’s run by a handful of wonderfully chirpy Australians, who, quite definitively, make the best latte in London.*

I go through Richmond at least twice a week, and now mandate an extra half hour of travel time, purely so I can visit them. If you don’t go through Richmond, it’s a cheap round trip ticket from Waterloo, and it’s right by the train station. Worth the pilgrimage.

*And they do that nifty trick where they draw flowers in the foam.

Back in those big square states in the middle part of America, a restaurant challenge is a pretty common on the menu.

You know the sort of thing: ‘Eat all 80 oz of our porterhouse – and we’ll give it to you free!’, ‘Finish a bucket of shrimp, and you can keep the bucket!’. I once guzzled a 30 oz cheeseburger (with the trimmings) in 10 minutes, 26 seconds (narrowly missing the free t-shirt).

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the equivalent in London – has anyone else? I’d like to try for the 80 oz porterhouse while I’m still young and elastic…

Here’s a couple less aggressive ways to fill up:

Bodean’s (go for the £10 special – rack of ribs and a beer)

List of the top burger joints in London – plus my resounding personal endorsement of Lucky 7′s (W2).

(Image from the classy Alien Loves Predator)

One of London’s most famous courts — where suspected terrorists, petty thieves and prostitutes mingle with the ghosts of Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence and generations of killers — is closing Friday.

With the end of Bow Street Magistrates Court goes a living monument in the development of British justice and a tangible link to the genesis of the capital’s police service, descended from a posse created in 1749 by a former magistrate, the novelist Henry Fielding.

The old court and police station at Bow Street, opened in 1881 opposite the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, has been sold and may become a hotel.

(The complete article on Yahoo – is well worth reading, as it’s an interesting history of the court and its visitors – famous and notorious)

Type in your daily route and see if someone’s crushing on you, or, better yet, search for others. So far, over 1000 years, even though it’s only started this morning!

Really feeds off of the British mentality of being unable to talk to people on public transport…