The Great Fire Of Camden: Hawley Smoke

Amid much OMGing from news sites' comments forums, the full extent of the devastation visited upon NW1 on Saturday night hit home.

Confusion amongst some news organisations was the only light relief from seeing a well-known part of Camden engulfed in flames. On BBC News 24 the newscaster referred to the Hawley Arms as a "nightclub". No, it's a pub. Here's the evidence:

Better still were the names of celebrities listed as regular clientele. Heard of "Neil Fielding" or "Neil Gallagher"? Me neither.

So yes, along with just about everyone from London who has anything to do with music, I've of course been to the Hawley too many times to count. Yes, the beehive was there more often than not, sat on her own, eating lunch and not being interrupted. I've interviewed artistes there (on one occasion the beehive interrupted proceedings) too - the upstairs area being popular for such activities during daytime.

Despite the pub's reputation in mainstream news media as some fantastical glittering nirvana for "troubled" singers, it really was just a decent boozer. Probably a tad passé for some of the more trendoid tendencies of this world now, but it had charm, especially in the afternoons when it wasn't too packed.

The people behind the Hawley had only a couple of weeks ago launched their second pub, Clerkenwell's Wilmington Arms, which has a gig space, and a small record label, which had just released its first single.

They're sure to recover from this, as are the Canal market traders whose livelihoods are also threatened by the inferno of 9th February. There will be a rallying round. And some time soon, when the refurbishments are complete, the Hawley will have an excellent excuse for a big relaunch party. Hell, they might even attract some slebs along. Here's hoping it's not too long before we can toast the Hawley's reincarnation. And maybe it should consider a name change to herald its new era. The Phoenix, perhaps?

Olivier Awards

Well, the nominations for the Olivier Awards have been announced and there's a surprise in the Opera category, with the inclusion of Pelleas and Melisande as Best New Production.  While I didn't hate it as much as some people did, I would never have put it there (or La fille du regiment either).  Here are the nominations:

Best New Production: La fille du regiment, Agrippina, Turn of the Screw, Pelleas and Melisande

Outstanding Achievement in Opera: David McVicar for Agrippina and Turn of the Screw, Natalie Dessay for La fille du regiment, Gerald Finley for Pelleas, Angelika Kirchschlager for Pelleas

Finley and Kirchschlager are both real favourites of mine but I don't think they deserve it for this production.  I think my line-up would have been:

Best New Production: Agrippina, Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice (ENO), Gianni Schicchi (ROH)

Achievement: David McVicar, Deborah Warner (Death in Venice), Richard Jones (Gianni Schicchi), the RO's revival of Katya Kabanova

A shame that Opera Holland Park doesn't qualify or I'd have got L'amore dei Tre Re in there somewhere.

Anyone else have a view?

Camille - Money Note (and other funnies)

Maybe on a cybertrawl you've caught American comedian Sarah Silverman, playing her guitar and pouting into a camera as she tells boyfriend Jimmy the way things are, in this video:

Who'd have thought Matt Damon could do such a good job of a duet while playing himself so convincingly? Well I never. Quite the multi-tasker.

Anyway, I mention this by means of circuitously coming round to the kind of track I rarely hear. It's not only technically brilliant and full of hooks, but it's screamingly funny too, and at the expense of all the right people. Money Note is a first taster of Camille's new album Music Hole, which is due over here on 7th April. (Check out Wikipedia's explanation of what a money note is.)

Camille's last album Le Fil (2005 in France, 2006 in the UK) was an extraordinary recording based on a 'thread' or note, with the sometime Nouvelle Vague vocalist stretching and breaking her voice to create all sorts of sounds. These she'd then layer and loop into a modern-day symphony for vocal sounds and marry these to French and English lyrics. Björk's similarly a capella Medullah came nowhere near it. If Money Note is anything to go by, Music Hole looks like taking her on to another level again. I for one absolutely love it.

If, like me, you can't wait to hear Camille's new material, Money Note is available on a compilation CD (those round, silvery things people used to buy) called French Talent 08. Better still, Camille plays London's KOKO on 14th May - ahead of a series of concerts at Paris's beautiful La Cigale. So this time the French are letting les rosbifs in on the act from the off - what generous spirits they are. À votre santé.

More, naturellement, can be found at her MySpaz.

Applause

In a recent review of an orchestral concert, my colleague Dave Paxton wrote, of a round of applause between movements, “(it’s) something that I greatly approve of incidentally: a warm, spontaneous show of appreciation seems to me far more preferable than the deadly reverential silence called for by some”. Hmm, it’s an interesting point. If it is a genuinely spontaneous expression of appreciation, then maybe, but more often than not applause seems to be a way of an audience proving that it’s still alive, which doesn’t seem altogether necessary and is seldom welcome to those who have actually listened to the music. It can be extremely insensitive, as intrusive as the mobile phone ring that ruined the end of this particular concert. I’m not a big fan of applause generally. I quite often leave a performance without having clapped (or very little) and I don’t think that’s disrespectful to the performers. It seems to be something people do just because it’s what you do, because it’s expected. I tend to think of silence as less of an infliction than noise is (a bit like fresh air; no matter how unpalatable to some tastes it may be, fresh air seems to be less of an imposition on smokers than cigarette smoke is on non-smokers). But I’m aware that imposing things like silence, fresh air, good manners, freedom etc could be deemed as fascistic. I guess you can’t please everybody – one person’s poison is another’s life blood and we have to tolerate some behaviour that we don't like. I would like people to think, though, about the act of slapping their wrists together (often resembling a performing seal), rather than just doing it automatically and indiscriminately. If you think about it, it’s a pretty daft thing to do. Like quite a few habitual human activities.

More new music

Following Michael's blog about the new music that's tickling his fancy, so to speak, I thought I'd chip in with my favourite new acts of the moment.

First up, The Gadsdens - a four-piece from London who actually don't sing in a regional accent, have piano based songs that don't sound like Keane and are fronted by a man with a voice that's a dead-ringer for none other  than Tracy Chapman. Songs like Stalker's Tango and The Confession are stark, dark and moving, while Sailor Song just sounds desperately moving. They're unsigned at the moment, but that's sure to change pretty soon.

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/thegadsdens
Key Track: The Sailor Song

There are a hell of a lot of female singer / songwriters out there right now, but one that I keep coming back to is the appropriately named Emmy The Great. Emma-Lee Moss was born in Hong Kong and has been a regular fixture on the London gig cicuit for the last three years.

She's collaborated with the likes of Jeremy Warmsley and Lightspeed Champion, and Kate Nash can't seem to get through an interview without plugging her. Her MySpace page will give a pretty good idea of the literate, yearning folk on offer, but at the time of writing is missing Canopies & Grapes, a heartwrenching account of a relationship breakup.

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/emmythegreat
Key track: Canopies & Grapes

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip probably don't really count as a 'new act' anymore, but they're still a lot less well known than they should be. Le Sac provides the slightly barmy electro-pop backing over which MC Scroobius Pip quickly garbles out quick-fire, articulate rhymes. The Beat That My Heart Skipped should have been a much bigger hit than it actually was, but it's Thou Shalt Always Kill that proves the most addictive - a series of 'new commandments' which range from "Thou shalt not think any male over the age of 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a paedophile" to "thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals" before reminding us that The Clash, The Beatles and Arctic Monkeys were "just a band".

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip
Key track: Thou Shalt Always Kill

Black Kids have been touted as a mix as The Cure and Arcade Fire, and as strange as that hybrid may sound it does actually work. They've already been blogged to death (helped by the free download release of the excellent Wizards Of Aaah EP) and are due to support both Sons And Daughters and Kate Nash in the next month or so. Expect to  be bouncing around to Hurricane Jane and I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (the latter already covered by Ms Nash) for the remainder of the year.

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock
Key track: Hurricane Jane

And finally, Glasvegas have already caught the attention with their dramatic Daddy's Home single, released at the tailend of last year. Feedback aplenty, waves of noise and broad Scottish accents all combine to create something some startling. The aforementioned single was a haunting tale of parental abandoment, but the forthcoming It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry will surely grab all plaudits - and not just for that memorable title.

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/glasvegas
Key track: It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry