Remember that zine on film I told you about way back when? Well, it’s finally done! We’re selling it in our own, temporary shop (Beste Winkel Ooit, more info soon) but I also stocked up some to sell through the blog, on BigCartel.
Buy it HERE for just 1 euro!
I’ve been careful mentioning this project to anyone but I think the time’s come for me to reveal it to you all.
Ever since finding out about zine culture I’ve wanted to make zines myself. I never thought I could do it though, until we started We Promised. And though I love doing that, it already feels a little too professional/serious for me to have fun with. Which is fine, but I recently started thinking of doing something of my own. And so I came up with the idea of doing a zine about film because I love the medium. But how to make that interesting… I thought of all the people I know that I think are so talented and whose work I admire and how it’d be great if they could participate.
And so I thought of those people creating a representation of their favourite film. From a sketch over a collage to a photo: it’s all in there! I’d tell a little bit about them and they then also had to reveal what was their favourite and why. I named the whole thing Drawing The Pictures (get the pun? Yeah I love puns).
I was super lucky that everyone I got in touch with was enthusiastic from the start, though not everyone could participate due to time constraints and/or being busy with other projects.
I don’t wanna give all participants away yet but let me just tell you that I’m extremely happy and enthusiastic about all of them. To name a few though: Chad VanGaalen, Nick Helderman, Yelena Bryksenkova, Danica van de Velde and lots more.
As a taster I thought I’d show you what my friend Anika came up with.
Anyhow, I haven’t gotten everything together just yet but it won’t be long. I’m not planning on uploading the zine anywhere online as I want it to be strictly physical but if you want a copy, please get in touch around the time. I’d like to send them all around the world!
My friend Anika runs what is probably my favourite music blog out there. Not only that, she’s also one gifted photographer, doodler and all round nice person. Let’s just say I really like everything she does.
She once sent me a collection of her early comics (from before she moved to London) and ever since I’ve been hoping she’d release a proper book and now that time has come!
The book is aptly titled Anika In London as it features comics from her time in London so far. The book comes with a mixcd full of good music from several talented friends of her including the likes of She Keeps Bees, Darwin Deez and Scary Mansion. An essential accompaniment I reckon as pretty much all these songs are mentioned in her stories.
(photo by Anika, of course)
It is no surprise that the cover is filled with little triangular Anika faces.
There’s a free booklaunch for Londoners on the 12th of April at Strongrooms and it will have Peggy Sue and Laura Hocking playing! Plus, of course the obligatory cakes. The book will be available there and shortly after – also online. Make sure to get your hands on a copy cause there will only be 200 available!
I personally cannot wait.
On Monday we had a surprise party for Gisèle’s birthday and to celebrate two other friends’s birthdays (from January and December). A nice time was had by all. We watched She Keeps Bees and ate pancakes & brownies. I’d emailed the band to ask if they wanted to sing Happy Birthday and they very gladly did! Jess & Andy from She Keeps Bees are probably one of the nicest musicians on earth or something.
I had a good nightrest and decided I wouldn’t go to either Tune-Yards or She Keeps Bees on Tuesday at Botanique as I’d seen both before and didn’t know which of both to choose anyway. But mere hours later I discovered they had suddenly been scheduled to play together at the most beautiful room of the Botanique: Rotonde. Huuuge dilemma: had to get up early for class the next day but didn’t want to miss this great line-up.
I decided to be impulsive and go for it!
And boy, was I glad I did! I arrived just in time, She Keeps Bees had just started their set. Everyone was sitting down which was a bit weird. It’s happened before (with YACHT for example) and I never get why, their music’s not of the quiet, whispering kind. More and more people arrived and they all seemed really into it, even though She Keeps Bees had a bit of trouble. Jess broke a string but Andy quickly fixed it. The show went on and people were so enthusiastic we got a new song as encore.
I loved this gig a lot more then the free one in Ghent the day before. People seemed more attentive and appreciative and She Keeps Bees just played better. Jess has a really good voice live, very strong and you can tell they’re both very passionate musicians. They said they hoped to be back in the summer so don’t miss out!
In between the shows I had a little chat with the tour manager of Tune-Yards (who is a friend of a friend) called Fitz who is super nice and then went to see Tune-Yards with Jess & Andy.
I was sitting down and could just about see Merril’s face. She’s such an incredible woman. If you’d see her walking around you’d think she’s just a normal girl but put her on a stage and everyone will agree she’s incredibly talented. And such a warm personality too it seemed. She looped percussion and voice bits and sang some more on top of that. It may have looked easy but it sure isn’t to get everything just right. Alongside her there was only one guy playing bass, she did all the rest. The audience loved it and Merril seemed genuinely surprised as she asked ‘Do you guys know me from the radio?’ (as she did a session the week before) ‘No? Then how do you know me?!’. It was a real treat seeing her play so joyous and enthusiastic. She did two encores including Lions which she apparently hardly ever does live. It felt like a truly magical and unique moment.
I hope there will be much more to follow in the future…
All pictures taken by Anika Mottershaw. Couldn’t find any decent ones of the show and Anika’s are always great + it was her that got me into She Keeps Bees!
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