The new Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook, Plenty, will hit the shelves in early May – just in time for summer BBQ season. The last one was full of delicious salads, tarts and sweet treats that could (mostly) be prepared in advance, meaning there wasn’t any fussing about when guests are around.

I look forward to trying out the new recipes on my unsuspecting BBQ friends in the coming months.

I ended up in the basement of EastGallery this afternoon, on the promise of a slideshow of travel photos accompanied by music. Seeing as it was in a gallery on Brick Lane in east London, I figured I was safe from any kind of experience like those of my childhood – Dad with the slide projector (ours had a remote control clicker, attached by a long lead) and one of my sorry siblings bashing out a tune on the piano.

SO – this was nothing like that. It was actually quite amazing! Thanasis Lomef Zacharopoulos (aka Lomef) has travelled the world with a camera and the eye of an artist, capturing some amazing moments in some spectacular places. And as we watched a selection of snaps roll across the screen, his merry band played some great music to accompany (including, a human beatbox by way of loop pedal!). I left inspired to travel more and take photos. Now who wants to get me that Canon G10 for xmas?

You can buy his book, 11×11, by clicking the image above.

I was… umm… still watching Care Bears and my favorite toy was my Cabbage Patch doll. In 1985, James Reitano was getting busy painting walls in and around his hometown of Santa Cruz, CA. 

This semi-autobiographical graphic novel (try saying that five times fast!) is set in a Cali beach town, the protagonist is a graffiti artist whose constant run-ins with anti-graffiti locals, cops and rival crews sees him getting into mischief at an unstoppable rate. But it also recalls the characters and art influences of a 80s street art scene, that, if you trace it forward to today, probably has something to do with the artwork on your t-shirt, skateboard or favorite CD.

James Reitano is a wonderfully talented artist and animator & is one of those people who does what he does because he truly loves it. He started out as a graphic designer for Santa Cruz Skateboards, spent a short time with the corporate behemoths in LA, then went freelance in animation, graphic & web design under his studio, TFU Studios. His productions include Madvillain – ‘All Caps’, Cut Chemist ‘Spat’, Quasimoto ‘Bullyshit’, an ad for HP/Serena Williams that was shown in Times Square NYC, and many more that you can view on his TFU Studios YouTube page. 

Props to James for doing this graphic novel (and thanks for posting me a copy!). You can buy nineteen eighty five at the Stones Throw online store or the nineteen eighty five website.

Time has flown so fast, but alas, new mix ready. Enjoy & as usual I love to hear back if you liked it….

June playlist

Tracklist
1. Kidkanevil feat. Justin Percival ‘Stomp’
2. Madlib ‘First Class (the best catalogue)’
3. Moodymann ‘Shades of Jae’
4. Yo Majesty ‘Don’t Let Go’
5. Shyne ‘Whatcha Gonna Do’
6. Sa-Ra Creative Partners ‘Glorious’
7. Unknown from bellaphonic roadside… ask Mr. T ** update! T tells me it’s Dorian Concept ‘Four Teen’
8. Kraftwerk ‘Computer Love’
9. Cinematic Orchestra ‘All That You Can Give’ (edit)
10. Mulatu ‘Gubelye’
11. Mr Hudson & The Library ‘Bread & Roses’
12. Ann Peebles ‘Troubles, Heartaches and Sadness’
13. Segun Bucknor & his Revolution ‘La La La’
14. Madlib ‘The Sky (beyond sight)’
15. Floating Points ‘Love Me Like This’ (nonsense dub)
16. Nick Drake ‘Place to Be’

Soon the circus will be coming to town and come February ’10, I assure you – you won’t want to miss a thing! Find out more about the upcoming Red Bull Music Academy at this handy little taster session next week.

WHAT:
So you still feel somewhat skeptical about that thing they call the Red Bull Music Academy and don’t know what it’s all about? Here’s your chance to feel the Academy vibe to the maximum without actually attending it: a motherlode of Academy alumni and former Academy lecturers will convince even the heaviest Academy haters out there. Starting with Academy crew member Emma Warren interviewing Barcelona participant Goldielocks, plus an introduction by Tony Nwachukwu followed by Ross Allen talking to Joe Bataan and Emma Warren chatting with James pants, it doesn’t stop here. After production workshops hosted by Tony alongside Sinden and Goldielocks, we close this action-packed day with an intense afterparty featuring Sinden, Horse Meat Disco, James Pants, Ross Allen, Silkie and Goldielocks.

WHEN:
June 12, 2009
15:00 – 03:00

ADDRESS:
Cordy House
87-95 Curtain Rd
London

CONTACT:
martyn(at)redbullmusicacademy.com

My friend Andrew ‘backstory’ K gave me this book with a disclaimer that he hated the cover, so I picked a different one to post here. This one is much better I think!

So I understand why Andrew gave me this book. The man LOVES a backstory, and this book is filled with ‘em, even to the point where the footnotes take up more of the page than the actual story. It bounces around the lives of three members of a Dominican-American family and brings these stories together along with the acrimonious reality of the thirty year reign of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic (1930-1961) – a man who in 1937, ordered the massacre of over 20,000 Haitians and who also had a fetish for renaming monuments and towns with his name. Not a good time to be a Haitian, or a woman, or a monument.

If I’m brutally honest with myself, I’m not really one to pay too much attention to the history of world politics, so to have this history written into a captivating story of the lives and loves of one family is just about perfect. I learnt something new and had a great story to read at the same time. And it won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction too. Go read it!