Thursday 5 August 2010

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!