THE HEARTLAND - BBC RADIO FESTIVAL POEM BY SALENA GODDEN

THE HEARTLAND: Poem written for the BBC Radio Academy, RadioFestival 2010 -
‘Festival Gatecrash’ Performed and written yesterday in response to the question ‘What’s wrong with radio?’ and delivered live on a panel plucked from the world of politics, piracy, philosophy and social media. Other 'radio rebels' on the panel included DJ Johnny Jay (Pirate Radio) John Morter (Save 6 Music and the mastermind of the Rage Against the Machine Christmas number one campaign) Andy Spinoza (SKV) and Ken Livingstone among others. The debate was chaired by the brilliant Mariella Frostrup and recited in front of packed theatre audience of senior executives, programmers and producers from the BBC, commercial, local, community and internet radio stations. Video footage on YouTube and BBC website links soon come.

THE HEARTLAND 
 it’s been nearly 20 years since i first held a mic
put it to my lips and said what i like
and in 20 years i bared witness to the evolution a literary explosion,
the publishing revolution but the revolution will not be televised
slipped between art and comedy and demoralised
poetry is all cream tea and margarine-a-lised
rinsed and bleached and sanitised
 its not what’s wrong with radio
but surely what is write right
but it seems so scripted and stuffy and far too polite
for at festivals it’s the writers who stay up all night
and there is a rise in literary salons where words really bite
There is a heartland in-between the rap dream;
the coming of age teen and the rock and roll scene
and the booker prize winner in the back of a limousine
and the struggling poet drinking ink and gasoline
know what I mean?
all we hear is radio ga-ga
lady ga-ga in a meat bra
all we hear is radio ga-ga
lady ga-ga in a meat bra
all we hear is radio goo-goo
elton john and lady lulu
lady madonna, now there’s a lady
 graham norton and paul o’grady
will the real slim shady please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up!
The revolution will not be televised
 but its resonating on Resonance podcast and twitterbooked
The revolution will not be televised
its there on my i-tunes and overlooked
The written word spoken with honest intentions
even though its not mainstream or in the times lit. sup. mentions
Actions speak louder than words
the pen is mightier than the clean page
there is this heartland of undiscovered writing
between the underground and the hay-on-wye stage
what is required i feel
 is a literary john peel
 to open the gates and let in some air and light
 because this revolution should broadcast
and that’s what’s right with radio right?
write, right, write, right!

 © 2010. Salena Godden


*Hey, there wasn’t time to thank the radio shows and producers who do programme slots for poetry and short fiction - but you know who you are and this poem salutes you. Thank you to Radio 4's Today programme for asking me along, kinda scary, but great fun!

THe BCB Returns to HOSB, Autumn series 2010 - Oct.8th - GOLD PARTY!

Dear BCBoutiquers,
It has come to my attention that we will be instigating an offensive of Books, Booze and Boogie-Woogie on the House Of St Barnabas in the Englandtown of Soho next Friday October 8th at 7pm. Cleverly we will cover our tracks, cunningly disguising ourselves in gold and shiny things and all things that glitter like stars. This will put them off the scent. They will gaze upon the shine and glamour of our golden attire and completely forget the ghastly war. What i need to know is will you please all get naked and spray yourself gold and dance like the lady from 'the tales of the unexpected' please? Kidding? Come to The Book Club Boutique GOLD show... We will hear a five star, gold star, sneak preview of NIKESH SHUKLA's debut novel 'Coconut Unlimited'

And we will celebrate the launch of THE MECHANICS INSTITUTE REVIEW, MIR7 published by Birkbeck featuring new work from BERNADINE EVARISTO, XAVIER LERET, JOHN LUCAS, SALENA GODDEN and out this month too + we will high-five and salute the debut album of the utterly fabulous DEAN ATTA's "Missing Piece' too! Plus as if all that isn't exciting enough this will be The Book Club Boutique Band's FIRST gig with a NEW mystery member to the army...our NEW guitarist...mysterious indeed....but ALL will be revealed...!!!

 Dress Code GOLD - Goldfinger to Bollywood - think golden oldies, think golden brown and all that glitters is...And of course upon entry you will be served specially designed free 'Midas Touch' cocktails, liquid gold, golden nectar? yum! love.life.live.long.alive-o The General and now a short commercial break:

ARE YOU MISSING THE SUMMER? As you know in August at Standon Calling Festival The Book Club Boutique curated the BCB's own stage for the first time - 3 days of Books, Booze and Boogie-Woogie - dressed as gangsters and cigar-chewing molls.

We also produced the first Book Club Boutique Radio shows live on Diesel Radio. Here is a half hour clip, a taster of our summertime! Hosted By Salena Godden &Max Doray, featuring BCB stars, live interviews & live on site! http://www.mixcloud.com/dieselumusic/book-club-boutique-live-at-standon-calling/ 

WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE? Remember, Remember, the 5th of November...

"Books Booze & Boogie-Woogie..." in The Bookseller: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/124748-page.htmlwww.myspace.com/bookclubboutique 

Please visit the BCB facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55814894329
twitter: @BookCBoutique

"The Book Club Boutique is the bomb: It's not as much as on the grapevine as the entire vineyard." LEMN SISSAY 

"The Book Club Boutique is single handedly bringing the literary salon back to its gloriously pissed-up Soho-basement roots.” DAZED MAGAZINE

A LETTER FROM YOUR GENERAL: FROM MOORISH MOUNTAIN TO DUBLIN

Dearest Darlingheart,

My heart leaps to even begin this letter! This very eve there is a scent of night blooming jasmine upon the air! With it wafts great luck as your letters reach me to fill my heart with such joy. Oh my Darling, it pains me that I haven’t been permitted to reply until now. You must have been worried sick but fear not, your general, that is me, I and I, is alive and well. Following the great battle of Standon Calling, I was posted here to this Moorish land, a safe house in the mountains. I have been forced into solitary confinement for the duration it seems. I have been watching the life of the ant and the life of the eagle and contemplating the blue space between them. I wake most mornings to watch the sun rise and then spend the silent waking hours, writing and reading and writing and reading and writing…books are my saving grace! Thank God and Queen we continue to fight so hard for them! The heat is terrific, you will hardly recognise my Arabian skin. I live on mostly fresh tomatoes and basil. And I have discovered that the local goats manage to strain an egg-shaped cheese out of their beaks, which is somewhat a local delicacy too. The battle of The Book Club Boutique at Standon Calling was an enormous triumph, a three-day BCB stage of brilliant music, readings, performance and DJ’s and we can only thank our almighty army! How wonderful and how brave everyone fought, how courageous! What a fiesta! Jam-packed with lively new friends and pretty faces, many of which I see have joined our army! A very warm welcome to you! My turtle dove-love, it has come to my attention that photographic evidence of the great Standon battle is now readily available on the community pages - Taken by Private First Class, Rosie Sherwood, The BCB Official Field Photographer - you will note most of us are heavily disguised as gangsters and hoodlums so please don’t be alarmed. During this great war for books, booze and boogie-woogie this behaviour is deemed necessary. There are video recordings and radio telecommunications also posted up and more to come - our field archivist codename:Redman recorded much of the weekend. In fact ‘Diesel Radio’ have been broadcasting a tasty 30-minute archive sampler of some of our BCB radio show recorded live from the Standon trenches, featuring BCB heroes, live and alive! Oh my treacle-pie, I am sure you can put your bridge game aside, raise your gin and salute your wireless to hear your BCB on the front line transported to the home hearth.

Fine tune into this channel here: www.mixcloud.com/dieselumusic/book-club-boutique-live-at-standon-calling

My fox-glove, I must admit I was startled by the silence and the solitude at first. I don’t mind telling you, my heart longed for your kippers, for little Johnny to hop on my knee and ask me to tell him silly stories of blood and guts and gore and gallant and for Lucy to hide in the wardrobe looking for witches and lions. Home fires seem so very far from me. I haven’t spoken the Queens English for so long. However I have managed to get a signal for the BBC world service so I know England Town is still almighty, which is a great comfort. Be brave my love, I will be home again before you know it. What I do, I do for books! I find I have confidently replenished my coffers with new material, new writings have been carefully edited and prepared for yet further forays and adventures into publishing’s - so hip hip hooray for that. Darling, the other night, when the moon was full, a group of bandits disguised as ‘musicians’ took it upon themselves to rescue me. They bundled me into a van and drove me for miles to another mountainside to play a ‘gig’ in the town square’s Fiesta – just like a church fete, dear, but held at night time and seemingly without any scones or cup cakes – it was my duty to sing songs, about some fellow from "Guantanamera" and someone they called “La Bamba” and I don’t mind telling you I have no idea who this La la la la la Bamba fellow is, but he seemed pretty popular with the local villagers! Alas! The escape was a total failure! To play along with the scheme I sipped upon iced and minted drinks they called mojitos and although I saw a boat out in the calm moonlit ocean, it was not for me as I had suspected all along. Dumbfounded, I toyed with the idea of making a run for it, diving off the rocky cliff and swimming to Dover, damn it, if I had to, but it was not to be - and they brought me back to my confines again. Worry not my little apple-blossom-puff!

There is light on the horizon, for we have made a connection with Ireland and one will be in the land of Dublin to meet the BCB troops for the battle of The Electric Picnic. This is a certainty - There is a picnic that they are electrifying and we have been called upon to do our duty for this cause - I have heard word from Wing Commander Mulligan and Major Max that I will be smuggled across the border to meet The Book Club Boutique at The Electric Picnic! From there I am sure we can electrify the picnic and still make it home in one piece. It won’t be easy but we’ll use the powerful tools of Guinness and the currency of Jamesons to find safe passage back to blighty: http://www.electricpicnic.ie/tickets/ Tell your dear mother I keep her photograph with me always. My Cherry-moon - until I kiss your face again - you must know, I kiss it one hundred times before I fall asleep. And rest assured we will be reunited, the BCB will return to the heart of England Town and The House of St Barnabus when golden leaves fall upon Soho Square. Ama la Vida! Viven! De largo! Vivo! Ole! or rather…

Love. Life. Live. Long. Alive-o
Yours Generally,
General G.

"Beyond living and dreaming there is something more important: Waking Up." 
Antonio Machado 


And here are some links for excellent further reading material: http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2010/8/23/4611743.html or http://urbandistrictwriter.blogspot.com/

BCB AT THE ELECTRIC PICNIC

I couldn't wake you from your slumber / Letter from your General / Standon No.1

Dearest Darlingheart,

As I write this I am watching you sleeping softly and how angelic you look, how peaceful. I dare not wake you, my love, so you will find this letter on your pillow and when you open your beautiful eyes I will be gone far, far away to fight in this beastly war. It’s a bookclubboutique thing, it is our duty, each and every one of us, to fight in these battles for the love and the freedom and the joys of books, booze and boogie-woogie. Apple-pops, my dear skies, you know you would have only cried, if I had let you see me off at the station and I cannot stand long goodbyes nor to see you tearful. I will be back and under your feet, leaving the top off the milk and toast crumbs in the butter before you know it. Dear Sugarcheeks, we mustn’t make a fuss, we must all keep a stiff upper hip and put our best book forward. Thank you for the extra pair of clean socks and the photograph of your Mother I find you have slipped into my kit bag, this is most kind and thoughtful of you. Please tell little Johnny the General said he must eat his greens if he wants to grow big and strong and read and write the big books like his heroes. And tell dear little Lucy there are no monsters in the wardrobe! Ah dear Lucy, she is growing so fast, I do hope she will remember the General when I return and dare I say I hope she will include me with fondness in her childhood memoirs one day. Buttercup, I promise I will send correspondence from the front line as best I can. Please don’t find these missives from the trenches too strange. But heed that these letters will reach you from a war torn mind. You cannot imagine what I now face, how all that mud and hay, the barrage of constant bright lights and loud music, what that can do to a human being. Don’t fret I will spare you the grimy details, the agony of gangrene, trench foot and the weevils. Luckily we have Colonel Boris McNabb in charge of the mess and rations, so we’ll no doubt be well fed, there will be decent tea and tiffin’s a-plenty. Major Max and I have ensured that the BCB will be able to broadcast to your wireless and stereographs via radio telecommunications from the front line to you and all of your friends and families in the England Town, the city of Europe land and beyond.

The first ever BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE RADIO SHOWS will be aired live from STANDON CALLING on DIESEL RADIO. On line, On site, On it! We will play archive BCB recordings, going back from the early heady Dicks Bar shows in Soho up to the present, live at Standon Calling, including clips from our show, backstage chat & star interviews! You will hear TWO Book Club Boutique Radio broadcasts: The archive hour: Friday 1pm - 3pm The live hour: Sunday 10am – 11am Just go to: www.dieselradio.com And so off I go to war whistling “Oh pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile smile!”

Keep your powder dry and your ink wet!
love.life.live.long.alive-o Y
ours Generally General Godden


TOP SECRET INFORMATION FOR BOUTIQUERS ONLY For those of you that will be at Standon Calling…Disguised heavily as ‘cigar chewing gangsters’ and ‘whiskey sipping molls’ The Book Club Boutique Speakeasy Standon Battalion roll call and battle plan is thus:

SCARFACE! THE AL CAPONE SPECIAL Friday Nights Grand Opening 7pm: DJ Redman Host: Salena Godden & The Book Club Boutique Band Amah-Rose Mcknight Nikesh Shukla Moustache Man Stuart Evers Orlando Seale & Band DJ Carbo & Hydrate Amber Marks Sara StockBridge Jont Trash Money The Book Club Boutique Band finale’ DJ Boris McNabb

MA BARKER’S SAFE HOUSE SET Saturday’s Daylight Robbery 12:00 DJ Zion Bru Hosts: Amah Rose McKnight & Oli Spleen Xavier Leret Orlando Seale Kim Sherwood Amber Marks Niall O’Sullivan Ray Shell Fran & Josh Moustache Man Kate Daisy Grant DJ Matt Gross THE JOHN DILLINGER SUITE Saturday Night Watch 8pm: Hosts: Nikesh Shukla & Salena Godden The Book Club Boutique Band Stuart Evers Nikesh Shukla Kate Daisy Grant Moldeviant Lisa Lore Salena Godden (spoken word set) Claire Nicolson Band Pink Narcissus host: The Book Club Boutique Band finale’ DJ’s Carbo & Hydrate

DON’T WAKE THE BABY! BABY FACE NELSON’s Sunday Lunch Out 12:00 chill out in the hide out and lay low Wise words and mellow tunes from: Jont David J Kate Tempest Kim Sherwood Karen Hayley Lisa Lore Salena Godden Delirium Tremens Amber Marks Central Reservation plus a Sunday roast of BCB DJ’s & open mic too!

BLOW THE SAFE! THE BONNIE & CLYDE FINALE Sunday (after Buenavista Social Club) Did you know Bonnie & Clyde took 50 bullets when they were finally caught?! And so we bring you the 50-Bullet All-Star Super-Jam! THE BONNIE &CLYDE GRAND SLAM FINALE 50 quickfire surefire sets, last man standing… The Book Club Boutique Band / Salena Godden / Sara Stockbridge / Amah-Rose Mcknight / Kate Tempest / Vashti / Kim Sherwood & Pink Narcissus / Oli Spleen / Nikesh Shukla / Xavier Leret / Moustache Man / Trash Money / Lisa Lore / Orlando Seale and Band / Claire Nicolson and Band / Niall O’Sullivan / Jont / David J / Karen Hayley / Central Reservation / The Book Club Boutique DJ’s Followed by the J Edgar Hoover-up! Tune into Diesel! Over and out! Pip Pip!

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BCB SPEAKEASY AT STANDON CALLING?

A LETTER FROM THE GENERAL DELIVERED VIA EAGLE UPON THE EVE OF THE AUGUST OFFENSIVE TO THE BATTLE OF STANDON IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD TWENTY TEN: For the eyes of Boutique Army only, please burn your lap top and poke your eyes with pencils after reading: Dearest troops, Following the battle of the Fort of Port Eliot they did me a mischief and did manage to capture me once more! I cannot believe my bad luck! This time they have me under lock and key up some mountain in a Godforsaken place they call The Peak District. I am sure its a cover up and that them mountains are made of cardboard! I am surrounded by purplish and green hills and paper mache sheep. i know these sheep and believe they are the same ones from last time! I have very little time to write this missive before they do cut me off by the goolies and sense the signal...I have managed to get a signal by dangling this lap top out of my cell barred window and attaching it to the wings of a duck...but while i have signal i must say 'twas an awesome battle we did fight upon the barricades of St Germans! Port Eliot was amazing! Thank you and hurrah to all Port Eliots! You who were so kind and generous in spirit and body and soul and cider and hay. I thank you for all the kind words which have reached me via code, via pigeon and telepathically, thank you, we loved the Port Eliot too, so many fine shows were seen, such wonderful poets, authors and musicians, oh how i love thee all. I have a bunk bed and a cell not much bigger than a tea bag box where i do share bunkers with Dockers, otherwise known as Ms Laura Dockrill to you. They also captured the brilliant author Nii Parkes who is down the corridor from us. We have been up with the larks to climb mountains with our bare hands and we have drank from rivers - a copper taste meets upon the tongue with a hint of heather and gorse weeds - At the peak we looked down into a rainbow and were not without praise for this creation and the spinning earth that is this planet upon which we fight for freedom of books and booze and boogie woogie. I have no idea how long they plan to keep me inside this time. As you know the next battle is that of THE STANDON CALLING FESTIVAL on the AUGUST 6TH, 7TH & 8TH...our soliders for this are fearless, our barricade strong, our fortress without holes and our army is almighty, we will see you there, my love, we will fight and we will dance, we will sing hurrah for books and booze and boogie woogie and we will have the most wonderful weekend of it at the Bonnie and Clyde speakeasy! Your disguise should be that of cigar chewing moll or gangster or cop! Do you have your papers and passes for this weekends battle sorted and your disguises and uniforms ready? Boots polished and guns greased? Are you ready to hide out and lay low at our tasty crime themed speakeasy literary extravaganza at Standon Calling festival! Only 5 days to go! We'll be there, disguised as whiskey sipping gangsters, Bonnie and Clyde, baby, prohibition has never been sexier! oh cuff me! When you come by the Book Club Boutique Speakeasy at Standon Calling you can have your very own mug shot taken! We'll be booking 'em, hauling 'em in, and posting you and all your cronies on our very own Wanted page. Styling tips? Check out these glamour-pusses:http://picsdigger.com/image/f57fb464/ And what an almighty army we have too, this will be one magnificent and glorious 3-day books, booze and boogie-woogie extravaganza - check out the line-up! AUTHORS & POETS: SARA STOCKBRIDGE; AMBER MARKS; RAY SHELL; SALENA GODDEN; AMAH-ROSE MCKNIGHT; DAVID J; NIALL O'SULLIVAN; KATE TEMPEST; XAVIER LERET; OLI SPLEEN; KIM SHERWOOD; NIKESH SHUKLA; STUART EVERS; MOLDEVIANT; KAREN HAYLEY LIVE MUSIC: THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE BAND FEATURING THE NEW YORK CHIC OF MS MAX DORAY & THE LEGENDARY COBALT STARGAZER SUPER STARRING: JONT; LISA LORE; CLAIRE NICOLSON; TRASHMONEY; PINK NARCISSUS; ORLANDO SEALE; KATE DAISY GRANT; MOUSTACHE MAN; CENTRAL RESERVATION SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCES FROM: DELIRIUM TREMENS, SOUND OF RUM AND FRAN & JOSH DJ's: CARBO & HYDRATE; DJ REDMAN; BORIS MCNABB; MATT GROSS; DJ ZION BRU FILM & VISUALS: SALLY DUNBAR THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE's SPEAKEASY LOUNGE MENU! SCARFACE! THE AL CAPONE SPECIAL Friday Nights Grand Opening / 7pm - 3am MA BARKER’S SAFE HOUSE Saturday Afternoon's Daylight Robbery / 12pm - 7pm THE JOHN DILLINGER SUITE Saturdays Night Watch / 7pm - 3am DON’T WAKE THE BABY! BABY FACE NELSON’s SUNDAY SESSION The Book Club Boutique's hide out & lay low / 12pm - 7pm BLOW THE SAFE! THE BONNIE & CLYDE GRAND FINALE’ The BCB fifty-bullet bust! All-Star Super Jam / 7pm - midnight THE J EDGAR HOOVER-UP - We Get Busted! Get out of there before the dawn raid! get your documents and mission papers here: http://www.standon-calling.com/tag/the-bookclub-boutique/ see you in the trenches, love.life.live.long.alive-o The General

THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE WEDDING!

THE HOUSE OF ST BARNABAS, 1 GREEK STREET, SOHO. FRIDAY JULY 2ND, 7PM.
We invite you to: GET HITCHED! GET COMMITTED!
A marriage of Books, Booze and Boogie-Woogie!
Dress Code: Strait Jackets / Top Hats & Wedding Dresses / A Ball and Chain.

Starring: MELISSA MANN. ROBERT AUTON. CURIOUS.STUART EVERS. TONY WHITE. MALCOM BENNETT Plus we'll hear from our very own... MICHAEL CURRAN of Tangerine Press and DWANG 2 superstars: JENNI FAGAN. JOE RIDGWELL. THE DERZ PLUS live music from goddess poetess singer songwriter: LISA LORE and BCB favourite the wonderful CLAIRE NICOLSON Hosted by Yours Generally, SALENA GODDEN Starring the New York chic of Ms MAX DORAY and the legendary COBALT STARGAZER in THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE BAND!

You will be welcomed into the wedding party with a FREE speciality GET COMMITTED cocktail. The actual (mock) wedding will be held by our very own Reverend Major Max Doray. There will be deliveries of tongue-in-cheek wedding tomfoolery. Expect brilliant bad best man and impromptu additions to the bill with some wild objections. There will be a plethora of poetry, songs and stories on themes of mad mad mad love, that crazy thing called love...love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like...
 

Our special guest publisher for this event is the brilliant TANGERINE PRESS to celebrate the issue of DWANG 2 out now! Dwang 2 features: Fred Voss, Billy Childish, Gerald Locklin, Salena Godden, K.V. Skene, M.J. Duggan, Joseph Ridgwell, Adelle Stripe, Rob Plath, Ben Myers, K.M. Dersley, A.D. Winans, Charles Plymell, Jim Burns....and many, many others! http://www.eatmytangerine.com/dwang.html "It's a nice day to start again, come on, It's a nice day for a white wedding, It's a nice day to start again...."

£6 for BCB members with membership cards £6 for HOSB members £8 for newcomers

*not only are you supporting great books, artists and writers, you are helping the local Soho homeless with a percentage of entry fee going to the HOSB charity!

THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE RETURNS TO SOHO! LAUNCH OF NEW SUMMER RESIDENCY AT QSOHO!

THE BCB RETURNS TO SOHO WITH A NEW RESIDENCY AT QSOHO. 7PM. JUNE 1ST. QSOHO, HOUSE OF ST BARNABUS 1 GREEK ST, CORNER OF SOHO SQUARE, BE THERE! THEME: WAYWARD WOMEN DRESS CODE: Mae West & Vivienne Westwood. High Heels & No Knickers. We are pleased to announce that THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE has secured a new Soho base with a new monthly residency, taking our special brand of Books, Booze and Boogie-Woogie to The House Of St Barnabus, QSoho, 1 Greek Street, right in the pumping heart of Soho. We launch our summer series at 7pm on June 1st with the theme WAYWARD WOMEN and launch with an all-female line-up of outspoken, outlandish and outsider writers, authors, poets and musicians. STELLA DUFFY will read from her brand new 12th novel and first historical fiction. 'Theodora, Actress. Empress. Whore.' Published by Virago and out on June 3rd. “From Constantinople Hippodrome whore to Egyptian desert epiphany to Empress of Rome - 1500 years ago Theodora outdid Madonna in performance, Diana in sainted celebrity, and Sinead O'Connor in horrified headlines.” We are thrilled to be hosting readings from BCB favourite bad ass ladies, brilliant authors AMBER MARKS, SARA STOCKBRIDGE and LOUISA YOUNG and also a reading from rocky guitarist of the uber-cool band Trash Money, MOLLY DOOLITTLE and poetry from the wonderful AMAH-ROSE MCKNIGHT too! We will hear from left-wing feminist MP and acclaimed journalist SUZANNE MOORE too. Plus there will be live music from the wonderfully dark and delicious DELIRIUM TREMENS and the quirky and lovable KATE DAISY GRANT. With wicked new work written just for the night, your host will be SALENA GODDEN with the ultimate wayward woman MAX DORAY and THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE BAND. The live performances will take place in the chapel, offering wonderful acoustics, cushioned alcoves under stained glass windows. And there is a leafy courtyard, a secret garden to smoke and sip cocktails and meet up with your fellow Boutiquers. Overlooking this, we have the garden room, where we will have the bar serving delightful drinkys, where you can peruse the book table whilst the brilliant BCB DJ’s play a wicked and wayward soundtrack to a film montage by our resident visual artist SALLY DUNBAR. Upon arrival you will be served with a tasty concoction, this summer's Book Club Boutique signature cocktail beverage...all will be revealed on the night and created by the QSoho team at The House of Wayward Women! The House of St Barnabas has been working in partnership with Quintessentially to launch one of London's most exciting charitable ventures. Recently the House underwent an intense period of renovation and redecoration, in order to restore the building to its original Georgian glory. Since then, The House of St Barnabas has hosted Quintessentially Soho - a not-for-profit charitable members' lounge and events space, aimed at raising funds for The House of St Barnabas Charity and The Quintessentially Foundation. The partnership looks to alleviate the problems associated with homelessness in London, and to help improve the health and education of disadvantaged people and communities worldwide. "The Boutique is the bomb: It's not as much as on the grapevine as the entire vineyard." LEMN SISSAY “The Book Club Boutique is single handedly bringing the literary salon back to its gloriously pissed-up Soho-basement roots.” DAZED & CONFUSED MAGAZINE "Salena Godden — The Mae West madam of the salon” THE SUNDAY TIMES Note: We have one more superstar act still to confirm and further details to come...a percentage of your entry fee will go to THE HOUSE OF ST BARNABUS charity too! Find links to any of the above BELOW and on our group page, band sites...and watch our twitbookspace...as we are watching yours!

LETTER FROM ARVON: TOP SECRET S.O.S THE GENERAL / MAY 2010

LETTER FROM ARVON:
TOP SECRET S.O.S THE GENERAL / MAY 2010

Good Morning Troops! Hello can you hear me? Bleeeep! This is The General, Hello General calling England Town? Hello! Hello? Book Club Boutiquers can thee hear I and I? Hello!? They have caught me again, Arvon, this time I and I is being held captive at the concentration camp in Devon, bloody isolated, miles from civilisation or pub, the silence is deafening. As you know I am no stranger to war and love and all is fair... just as it was last summer at The Hurst - The John Osborne Centre – they too have a torturous continual recording of twittering birdsong playing from hidden speakers in the hedges. Tweet tweet go the birds but I can see right through them. And there are herds of cardboard cows in the distant fields. But The General, as you well know, is not so easily fooled! There is no phone signal nor internet and so I am sending this via a bribe to a native here. The General, I and I, had to do unspeakable things to get access to this line to the outside and I do hope you can hear me. Please pass this word on to all parties concerned, all the troops and citizens of BCBoutique - although understand you do this at your own peril! Beware and have stealth and the Queens own thumbs up you. As I type this, right now, they are playing a soundtrack of rain, soft and constant, and there is a lavender mist lining the woodland on the edge of what I imagine to be the Dartmoor. And also as I type this I plan my escape, waiting for a opportune moment to make the break for it. Perhaps I could find my way by foot to Jamaica Inn or some such place. If only I could steal a torch and a brolly, I believe I could make it to the Cornwall in a week and find some respite or pub, but I know allowing myself to have these thoughts is a fools paradise. The author and scriptwriter JEREMY SHELDON is also captive here, we harbour some hope, but have little faith of freedom, memories of the outside world fade somewhat. We alternate workshops and this seems to keep us all on our toes. We are forced to eat lovely meals they prepare for us daily. Although one knows they are lulling us into a false sense of security and fattening us up for slaughter. Every morning we breakfast, and then sit at a long table with notebooks, studying and scribbling things - it is un-nerving to say the least. During these tortures they seem to think one knows something about books, booze and boogie-woogie but I keep shtum. I bid them to write, to write poetry and prose and ask them to read it aloud to each other and so far this seems to keep them distracted. I have made secret notes that I keep well hidden beneath my mattress. It occurs to me that this is a safe haven for real books. There are books here from before the war, before the invasion, books from the outside. I have been reading the two O’Connor’s, Frank and Flannery, in my what-shall-we-call-it ‘free’ time, but I know I’m being observed, that the cameras and the electric fences keep me here for a reason: the books, booze and the boogie-woogie. Each afternoon I am interrogated on a one-to-one basis. They take it in turns to come to talk to me in a small library room at the top of the main building. This room is filled with copies of books by you all, real books, made with paper from trees. In this library I spotted my friends, dear friends, you are there, Maggie Gee and Lemn Sissay, Stella Duffy and Sir Brian Patten and that Apples and Snakes VELOCITY anthology so many of us are all named in...I cannot help but think it was those 20th century anthologies and old skool fanzines that got us in this damnable trouble in the first place. Nevertheless, it seems I am permitted in this library whenever I please and these books have brought me great comfort in my confines. There is light at the end of the tunnel, last night, most cleverly JOE DUNTHORNE sneaked in under the genius disguise of ‘guest speaker’ My eyes could not believe themselves that he fooled them all so brilliantly. He read beautifully from his wonderful novel SUBMARINE. He also read from a new poetry collection which is out today, this very day in May with FABER publishings. Boutiquers, if you can find a real booksellers, you must seek it out. Joe also brought bright word from the outside - that the HOMEWORK series of monthly live events starts this month with the Aisle 16 fellows in the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. This brought me great happiness and with fresh hope I now look forward to breaking out of here and witnessing some of these miracles of which he speaks. Long live books, booze and boogie-woogie! Sadly, however, this morning Joe Dunthorne was already gone at dawn. I heard some screams, I heard some cattle, I heard the screech of tyres and I will say no more. I saw nothing, in fact, there is no evidence of his ever being here less a copy of 'Submarine' placed in the library with my other friends. Let me take this opportunity to tell you, he, Joe Dunthorne, was so brave, a brave soldier to come here, a warrior in fact and let us never forget that. Deep down I harbour a hope that he has escaped on the locomotive engines to England Town - but I won’t kid myself until I see it with my own eyes.

At night I barely sleep suffering the most terrible torments. These nightmares are a nightmare. Memories of books, booze and boogie-woogie ravage my mind and vibrate in my very soul. I wake up screaming ‘I SAY BOOK CLUB AND YOU SAY…BOUTIQUE” It doesn’t help that this prison is haunted by long ago authors, the Ted Hughes and the Philip Larkin types, carousing and bantering in the lofts and arbours. Their ghosts play football with the severed heads of jobbing writers, waving bloodied workshop notes in my face and caterwauling lesson plans through the gaps in the woodwork and doorframes. Blue cheese and stilton at midnight do little to stop these carry-ons. I will end with correspondence with an up as they say and the best news of all - I have heard word that on JUNE 1ST 2010 The Book Club Boutique will march valiantly back into the SOHO with a new summer season, a series of assaults which will take place monthly in the pumping aorta of the heart of England Town. That’s a whole new residency and a new venue for the summer season. Therein we will expect to find the finest examples of exemplary authors, the most wonderful and wild poets and the most inspiring musicians all performing live for our own eyes and ears and hearts, alongside DJ’s in a pretty bar and a garden to sip cocktails in... I cannot tell you anymore now for walls have ears and ears have eyes and legs have tables...but I cannot tell you enough how happy this news makes me and as soon as I break out of here I will announce the location and line-up for the first battalion to go up over the trenches upon my return to the England Town.

I ask for you to just remember this part: JUNE 1ST 7PM. BCB. SOHO and then set fire to your lap top. Now I bid you well, the lion sleeps tonight, in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. May the spirit of BCB be with you all. May the books, the booze and the boogie-woogie rise and rise. Now do wish me luck dearhearts and fellow citizens of BCB, there is a good chance I will have to crawl on my belly commando style across marsh and moor to get to you, but by Jove it will be worth every stinging nettle and cowpat.

love.life.live.long.alive-o!
Yours Most Generally
The General

A TRANSMISSION FROM YOUR GENERAL UPON AN APRIL MORN

Good Morning BCB troops, good morning indeed, upon this fine April morn in the year of our lord twenty ten upon the green, green land of England Town, Now, I do hope you can all hear this missive as it is being dictated aloud and typed live on air by my kind doctor who has the nerve for such things, Good morning, Oh i already did say that, now where was I, ah yes, April and the troops... Dear troops, It is still April! Hurrah, I keep thinking i is later in the life of loving long and living life alive, but i am mistaken, for we are still young and it is still spring. Summer is not here yet, this section is named spring, because of the spring it puts in your step and the bounce in your bed and the curl in your tail, but before we know it, summers frightful war will be upon us and we will need to be prepared, armed and forewarned, with strawberries and fizzy drinks, ready for battle upon the beer tents and trenches of frenzied and fried festivality, I was in the bunker yesterday for secret mission talks. Viewing site maps and overhead plans for the STANDON CALLING festival, whereupon twas remarked that the troops had not heard word from the General for quite a while and that it might rouse morale. So, Well, Here i am, your General at your service and i can tell you, the organisationals for STANDON CALLING festival go swimmingly, i confirm that on the weekend of our lordy AUGUST 6-9TH the BCB will be at the lush green fields of Standon with the BCB's own stage and bar area, that's 72 hours, 3 days of programming and hosting BCB at STANDON CALLING..our line-ups to be announced shortly! All BCB Festival news will be updated as it comes in and can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113099038722657&ref=search&sid=627782451.1785200847..1 From the BCB Fortress, the doctor has alerted me that as a BCB army we are over two thousand fold! Perusing the profile images i see so many new faces! So many sexy faces, kissable faces, cheeky cheeky faces, hauntingly beautiful faces, mysteriously alluring faces, take-me-roughly faces and god damn it i am grown up and demand fun faces - and i take this opportunity to welcome you to the Book Club Boutique, you are in the right place and you are welcome in this, the home of all things books, booze and boogie-woogie. Currently the General, which is me, writes to you from the BCB fortress where i am generally in hiding for the month of April. There is much to do, I have been making headway on new writings, filling in applications, writing proposals, editing and completing my first year working for FIRST STORY charity and booking the summers festivals and missions. I have also been rehearsing my bayonnet and growing my own tomatoes. I planted some forget-me-knots lest we forget, amen... Here it is so peaceful in peacetime, the silence of planes overhead has been quite eerie, volcanic ash? did you see what we did there? yes, quite, but the volcano was the only way, there was no other way, you have to make these kind of decisions sometimes and God and Queen knows it was the best shot we had, it was the volcano or else - and we send best of British luck to all and hope they get home to their families and homesteads soon. Each morning the doctor draws my bath, brings me my tea and then reads to me a selection of your correspondemails - Thank you! Such warm responses have been pertaining to the wireless transmissions on the BBC Radio 4's 'Saturday Live' its always a great challenge to write poetry within the time limit and within the themes, keeps your noodles on their toes and your toes in the noodles so to speak....In fact, as i write this, i am tuned in, hearing Wing Commander Luke Wright in action - jolly bloody good show old boy! Did you know Luke Wright has his own imprint NASTY LITTLE PRESS and that there will be a slim copy of my very own poems published by aforementioned publishers next year. Later this summer we will also see a collection of my short fictions published by the uber-hip Trolley Books too. As for the memoir 'Springfield Road' we have no idea what the Gods intend for the publishing of that work. I can only thank you for all your kindnesses when i did read from it at the last BCB at Blacks, the memory and memoir event, that was terrific and i appreciate your comments. Maggie Gee and Ray Shell and Hannah Pool and Bloodaxe and all that performed I salute thee! I also salute the crew of WIYART and MERCY for that wonderful event at Shoreditch Church earlier this month, it is always a thrill to be on the bill alongside the divine David J, Nathan Jones and Ross Sutherland and the likes. When will we return to Soho? Ah yes, thank you doctor, i forgot that question, this is the burning question, this is the one i be asked a great many times a day, when will BCB return to Soho? Well - the short answer is very soon...We have something up our sleeves, a place in Sohemia, where books, booze and boogie-woogie will occur, perhaps monthly, throughout the summer. It is perfect, darling, there is a stage for the performings, and decks for the vinyl appreciations and a bar and the bar has many drinks like gin and vodka and wine and beer and ice cubes...but not vodka ice-cubes i am afraid they are only available here in the BCB fortress. Oh yes, thank you doctor, The Book Club Boutique newspaper, it is currently being edited...it is taking longer than expected, seeking funding, but rest assured all submitted work most excellent..watch this space! The doctor is so kind, the staff here are wonderful, very accommodating...but now i must bid you adieu and water my rocket seedlings and talk to my tomato plants. Today is a brave new spring day for all, it is still April and it is still today, the doctor has assured me it is still today - but we all know tomorrow there will be tent, there will be hay bale, there will cider and there will be men in bright green and orange waistcoats asking 'wristband?' 'wristband?' and we will swerve them and climb commando style through the hedges to pee, and they will chase us saying 'wristband?" 'wristband!' and we will not know of what they speak and run freely among the cabbages and chai tea cup cake stalls to the dawn chorus of loving-living-lively-alive-o! The doctor will now attach a list below of some of the aforementioned links and other places of interest you might like to visit during your time on the interwebage. toodle pip! doctor thank you for your typings now peel me a grape and massage my bayonnet arm it aches like bugger... love.life.live.long.alive-o Yours Sincerely and Generally, General G xxx * First Story fosters creativity, literacy and talent in young British students by supporting acclaimed authors to run creative writing projects in schools. www.firststory.co.uk * So we can all spot each other in the frenzy of festival life we have launched our own brand of luxury Book Club Boutique goods; T-shirts, hooded tops, mugs, aprons for the messes and book bags here: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/bookclubboutique * Adopt a Word? It's a great campaign, for the I-CAN charity giving individuals the opportunity to buy and exclusively own a piece of the English language - see www.adoptaword.com * Nasty Little Press brings you new work from poets best known for their live performances. Pamphlets already available from Luke Wright and John Osborne: www.nastylittlepress.org *Trolley Books is an award winning independent UK publisher of brilliant art and photography books: www.trolleybooks.com * MERCY & WIYRT www.mercyonline.co.uk ...now doctor, darling, please, peel me a grape and massage my bayonnet arm it aches like buggery...

ONE LAST TRANSMISSION BEFORE WE ENTER WONDERLAND...

HELLO THERE TROOPS...I AM NOT SURE IF YOU CAN HEAR ME...HELLO? HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE? CAN I GET A WITNESS? WELL I MUST SOLDIER ON IN THE FAINTEST GLIMMER OF HOPE THAT SOMEONE OUT THERE HAS THIS CONNECTION AND WILL PASS ON THIS MISSIVE...THIS IS YOUR GENERAL SPEAKING...HALLELUIAH! BOOKS BOOZE & BOOGIE WOOGIE...BURN YOUR LAP TOP WHEN YOU HAVE READ THIS! FOR THE EYES OF BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUERS ONLY! 'Tis March a golden March dawn, frost upon the rooftops and a coppery light of earliest spring, upon the year of 2010. Who knows what is out there. Indeed who knows where we will end up or where we are heading. Who knows indeed? i love you though and if you can just for once hold on to that, just remember that perhaps we can brave all difficult and treacherous times. Please note: This will be my last transmission for a while, they are moving me to another barracks, a secret location, where the blighters will never find me! But God knows when the British Telecommunications Limited will give me a green light to enable me to transmit to you again. Urgent news - it has come to my attention that we have to go to Wonderland tomorrow, i rest assured that the troops will fight as we always have with valiance and with truth on our side. The truth is our love for books, booze and boogie-woogie, the basic needs of any boutiquer, man, woman or child and meddling with these things is an infringement of anything decent, just and indeed fun. And so it has come to this! In this glorious modern age of 2010 we will deliver tomorrows LOST IN FAIRYTALES? GO ASK ALICE! event totally acoustic. It's a cruel war experiment. However we are fully confident that the spirit of Book Club Boutique was never in the volume, never the plugs and never the wires...the true spirit of The Book Club Boutique is in each of us, in all you beautiful people, the books, the booze and the boogie-woogie is within us all, one and all! Please do bring acoustic things, tamborines and drums and your strongest singing voices for our united finale of Sha-boom Sha-boom for when we 'MAKE LIGHT' we will make it together, with our bellies, with our lungs and with our hearts....SHA...BOOM! SHA...BOOM BOOM BOOM... The disguise for tomorrow's event - DRESS CODE: ALICE IN WONDERLAND. How many Alice's will we get i wonder that will confuse the snipers! This does make the General smile, indeed and how many will dress as White Rabbits...white rabbits...white rabbits....some pills make you smaller...and some pills make you tall...but the pills that mother gives you...don't do anything at all....go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall....FEED YOUR HEAD....FEED YOUR HEAD....FEED YOUR HEAD........!!!!! LOSING TRANSMISSION NOW....ONLY ONE LAST REQUEST....HOPE SOMEONE CAN READ THIS....DOES ANYONE KNOW THE GRAMOPHONE BOYS....FROM STANDON CALLING FESTIVAL? DOES ANYONE KNOW THE NICE LADS THAT PLAY GRAMOPHONE RECORDS...IF YOU KNOW THEM??? The ones who play gramophone records....brass horn....top hats....gin.....ASK THEM TO CONTACT BRIGADIER RACHEL RAYNER OR WING COMMANDER ALI TOD...OR MAJOR MAX DORAY....WE COULD...USE... GRAMOPHONE....RECORDS...COUGH COUGH....GRAMOPHONE IS STILL ACOUSTIC....practically.....PLANE GOING DOWN...GRAMOPHONE LADS...SEEK THEM....TELL THEM WE NEED THEM...GRAMOP...RECORDS....INSTEAD...practically acoustic isn't it? SPLUTTER....GOODBYE TROOPS...SEE YOU IN WONDERLAND...remember i love you, remember...i will see you in the trenches, i will see you on the sofas, i will see you in the backroom of Wonderland...EAT ME! love.life.live.long.alive-o General G xxx

a word from your General upon the eve of battle...

Good Morning Ladies and Englishmen and Good evening to our men in the Australiasia and have lovely lunch our allies in The New Yorker and 欢迎我亲爱的朋友 to our Chinese brethren and bienvenue à mon cher ami... Hello to all! I'm writing you this missive upon the eve of the first Book Club Boutique for 2010 and the debut at Blacks on Dean Street Soho. I have noted that our troops have swelled and to all new faces i take this opportunity to welcome you most warmly. It has come to my attention that one is putting together another newspaper, excellent, the deadline is MARCH 1ST. please submit work CC'ed to: bookcboutique@myspace.com very important! i remembered last years almighty rush of submissions took 3 of us to read and sort out and i am very much your man for the poetry page anyway...good-o. Been receiving much post about entry fees and memberships so i shall clear that up now. No you don't have to be a member of Blacks to join us. Yes we will be charging on the door. We always wanted BCB to be free, so any pocket money will be spent on comics and sweets, books, booze and weapons of mass inspiration, clearly. However performers must be paid - i believe we produced over 40 shows in 2009 for free and i cannot expect my fellow authors and poets to entirely give up their Saturdays in the name of the best salon in town forever ever, ever ever, ever ever...where did that echo come from? Entry Fee starts at £7.00 thence you will be given a numbered membership card which is very slick and you must keep very safe. The next time you visit us if you show your card it will only be £5. Also at the end of each BCB there will be 3 numbers drawn out of a hat and those 3 lucky membership numbers will receive a goody bag of CD's, books and signed beer mats etcetera from the worlds greatest poets, authors and performers. How does that sound? Also BCB Members will have treats and discounted VIP entry to other events later in the summer. Jolly bloody ticketty boo and three cheers for that! Oh yes and tomorrow we have an addition to the launch bill - ORLANDO SEALE will be playing live with his handsome crew of well fit gorgeousness so pucker up ladies and get down the front for that. What a killer line-up! My dear fellows, i will salute thee in the trenches as we go over the top and into the battlefields, i expect tomorrows war to be outright, bloody and glorious, fight bravely my valiant friends and fight on! Together we are books, we are booze and God and the Queen bless us all, for we are boogie-woogie! I must go and lie down now and mentally prepare for tomorrows dawn raid, remember, your General needs YOU! live. life. love. long. alive-o General Godden JAN 30TH: BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE AT BLACKS. 3PM DRESS CODE: KILTS BCB MENU SPECIAL: HAGGIS RAY SHELL, NIKESH SHUKLA, STUART EVERS, KIM SHERWOOD, SOPHIE WOOLLEY, KATE TEMPEST, SALENA GODDEN. DJ REDMAN. 'NASTY LITTLE PRESS' 'WHAT IF MEN BURST IN WEARING BALACLAVAS' JOHN OSBORNE, LUKE WRIGHT, HANNAH WALKER, LAURA DOCKRILL, CLAIRE NICOLSON, ORLANDO SEALE, THE BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE BAND & DJ DAN CARRIER! ITS BEGINNING...ITS BEAUTIFUL...ITS BOOKS, BOOZE & BOOGIE-WOOGIE! BOOOOOTIQUE! Ooh and thanks to DC! We got a right lovely write-up preview: http://www.islingtontribune.com/reviews/books/2010/jan/books-event-book-club-boutique-blacks-soho-starts-sat-jan-30th