Editor

Editor

Artists Taking The Lead

If you haven’t heard about it yet, Artists taking the lead is one of the largest commissioning funds launched in the UK - offering 12 commissions up to £500,000 each across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Games and change the cultural landscape of 2012 and beyond.

Interview: Lost Dog / Ben Duke

To tell physical stories
To find the universal in the truly personal
To entertain
To be relevant
To excel at what we do
To show the epic in the everyday
To say what needs to be said and dance the rest

Feature: ‘The Concierge Club’

Ladies and Gentlemen - there’s a new club in town. Not one, but five boutique hotels launch themselves as a home for the arts – their connection? The Concierge Club – a new hub for those in the cultural know, and their like-minded pals. Jamie McLaren takes a closer look.

SAVVY STUFF

Hg2: ‘A Hedonists Guide to Life’ Edited by Fleur Britten

A Hedonist’s guide to… LIFE

Edited by Fleur Britten

Available in all good bookshops from Tuesday, 23rd October 2007.

A Hedonist’s Guide to Life is a manual to all life’s pleasures, be they simple or guilty, the thrill of rebellion or the thrill of religion. The unifying principle is simply the very great importance of pleasure itself. So come on – smoke a cigar! Get off on altruism! Throw a fancy breast party!

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. The Rabbit shows up again in the last two chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts.

We’ve gone on holiday by mistake

... and some other quotes from rather a good film. If you can name it, I'll buy you a drink. Just one, mind you.

• We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here, and we want them now.

• I feel like a pig shat in my head.

• I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze.

• I want something's flesh.

• Don't threaten me with a dead fish.

• I'm going to pull your head off, because I don't like your head.

• I have a heart condition. If you hit me, it's murder.

Macavity – The Mystery Cat

a poem by T S Eliot

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -

Grunts for the Arts – Sports Day 26 May

It's time to face up to the inevitable. Time to acknowledge the true nature of what we face. Time to stare at the naked forces of life.

We will have to lay down the pens and the paintbrushes. Have to buy sports shower gel and knee supports. We will have to turn off the computers, the studio lights and the PA systems. I-Pods and pedometers will be turned on. Some us will even need to buy sports bras.