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