Salami English

Thursday, 23 February 2012

The Pearly King

The Crypt at St Matin-in-the-fields

If you head to Trafalgar Square whilst on your tours of London, head to the St Martin-in-the-Fields Church adjacent to the square.

In the 18^th century crypt you’ll find a delightful cafè where both Londoners and visitors hang out at all times of the day. Whereas if you take a stroll around the crypt, you’ll come across a statue of a man by the name of Henry Croft.

The Cafè in the crypt

Henry Croft was the first Pearly King of London. You may be asking yourself what the devil is a Pearly anything. Well, it’s a tradition that goes back to 1875 and Henry Croft, who at the time was a very little lad. Henry Croft was an orphan living in a London orphanage who at the age of 13 started to work in London markets to earn a living. That’s where he met the ‘Costermongers’ ( a fairly tough breed of market trader) who were kind, caring and generous with their fellow traders. They distinguished themselves by wearing clothes with sewn on smoke pearl buttons.

Henry Croft was so fascinated by them and their way of helping one another that he took to the cause of using this generosity to try and make some money for the orphanage and those in need. He raised money by getting the attention of passers-by. As he swept the streets, he collected all the pearl buttons he found and sewed them onto the likes of his cap, waistcoat and everywhere until his outfit (the first smother suit) was completely covered in pearl buttons.

Statue of Henry Croft in the crypt

Henry Croft became his own charity, and was very highly demanded in many of London’s hospitals, workhouses and orphanages. He was so much in demand that his fellow Costermonger friends joined him in his cause.

This tradition has carried on right through to this very day, and is a registered charity operating under the London Pearly Kings and Queens society.

Enter the pearlies home page at http://www.pearlysociety.co.uk/index.html

Visit St. Martin-in-the-fields at http://www.smitf.org/page/cafe2010/cafe.html

Monday, 13 February 2012

Gosh! The culture of comics

The last time Miss Salami and I were in London we found a wonderful comic store, “GOSH!”.

The shop is situated in 1 Berwick street, Soho. We were surprised because we have been to Soho together so many times and our eyes had never fallen on it before.

But after a quick web search, we discovered that the shop has actually been open for 25 years, and has just moved premises and is well known amongst comic book lovers.

Salami isn't into comics so much, neither am I but sometimes I love reading some well designed and well written graphic novels, and to be honest there are a lot of classical ones that I would love to read. To tell you the truth, the shop isn't just a comic store. As they say on their site: “..we’re always striving to source new and interesting products, whatever the genre. From translated European albums to mainstream superhero antics; vintage children’s books to contemporary graphic fiction; compulsively readable manga to cutting edge small press: we’ve got something for everyone”.

They're right, we have been there and we can honestly say that they have something to please everyone's illustrative taste, with a wide selection of authors, styles and periods (and prices also!). In the basement there's the more “commercial” stuff (batman, x men and stuff like that to be clear) and in a corner on the first floor there's a shelf with interesting indie comics and fanzines at reasonable prices.

Obviously the shop has just been refurnished; It resulted to be really luminous thanks to its gigantic windows and minimal furniture and almost everything is made with wood and metal. The shop assistants were friendly and helpful.

In conclusion, from what they sell to where they sell it from and who sells it, the place seemed to be really nice to us, it's definitely worth a visit whether you are a comic reader, an illustrations lover or not, you're surely bound to buy something!

Visit Gosh! London at http://www.goshlondon.com/

Monday, 30 January 2012

Corsi di conversation English - Salami's Story

Da metà gennaio sono partiti i corsi di conversation English “Blabbermouth” al bar Ribeca in via Moroni 16 Bergamo; come funziona? Si arriva al Ribeca, ci si siede e si ordina un drink, semplice!

L'organizzatore è Salami English, a.k.a. Maria Adamo. Non fatevi ingannare dal nome: è una londinese D.O.C. innamorata di Bergamo e diventata nostra concittadina. Il progetto di Maria, Salami English, ha preso vita nell'aprile del 2011; da subito il suo obbiettivo è stato chiaro: insegnare ai propri studenti un uso corretto della lingua inglese,con un approccio pratico e con un occhio di riguardo alla conversation. L'obbiettivo dei corsi è quello di insegnare l'inglese di uso quotidiano, rendendo in grado chi li segue di cavarsela senza problemi quando parla in inglese. Che siate studenti, lavoratori o semplicemente dei viaggiatori accaniti, riuscirete a chiedere e dare indicazioni, a sostenere una conversazione sensata o ad ordinare in un ristorante.

La scelta di tenere delle lezioni in un bar è stata presa appositamente per l'ovvia atmosfera informale, che consente di avere delle condizioni realistiche, simili a quelle in cui ci si troverà ad utilizzare ciò che si è appreso: in un bar, per strada o in un negozio ed in ogni altro posto in cui sono presenti rumori e distrazioni.

A marzo inizierà un “crash course on London” mirato a chi sta organizzando un viaggio a Londra, sia esso di breve o lunga durata. Miss Salami si occupa anche di piccole traduzioni, revisioni e di rendere più autentici i testi in inglese siano essi per lo studio o per il lavoro.

Per contattare Salami English andate su www.salamienglish.com, troverete, in inglese, tutte le informazioni necessarie.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Gesamtkunstwerk: New art from Germany

Gert and Uwe Tobias Untitled 2007

Back in December when I was in London I visited the Saatchi Gallery to see their latest exhibition Gesamtkunstwerk: New art from Germany.

Fourteen galleries filled with the artwork of 24 young and quirky German artists from sculpture and craftsmanship to oil on canvas to woodcut on papers to welded steel to oil on wood to media prints and watercolour and one especially curious mirror wall by Jeppe Hein which moves slightly when you approach it.

The artwork is wacky, bright, some politically related, others made from recycled materials and junk. There’s no end for admiration here and the artwork in at least one gallery will suit each artistic aesthetic eye.

It’s an exhibition that will take you no longer than a couple of hours if you attentively stop and admire all the artwork. It’s on until the 30^th April 2012.

This is an insight into what German art is today.

I give it a huge thumbs up!

Take a peep at some of my favourite pieces


Andrè Butzer Ahnenbild 2411

Dirk Bell Wolf Hamlet Madonna Elmex 2006

Friedrich Kunath Untitled (detail) 2007

Kirstine Roepstorff You are being lied to 2002

Visit Saatchi Gallery http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/index.htm

Friday, 6 January 2012

SALAMI'S BOYFRIEND MUSIC HUNTING IN SOHO


Sound of the Universe

Phonica

Hi, I'm Maria's boyfriend, the military-mad one from the article about the Imperial War Museum.

I've been asked to write something about my music shopping when we go to London. Obviously nowadays you can buy all genres of music in any format you prefer on the net, but as you know, for anyone who really likes music, there's more pleasure in music digging. I buy music on sites like Boomkat and Bleep, and also on Amazon and similar sites, but every time I'm in London I love to look around a few music shops. I don't consider myself to be a great knower of London's music shops but there are a few that I really love, two of them are in the famous Soho area. As you might know, Soho has been the “fun” district of central London for many years; theatres, sexy shops, restaurants, clubs, bars of every kind can be found there. However, in the last few years other areas of London have aimed at being Soho's successors of the “underground” scene (musical, artistic and fashion), like Dalston, Shoreditch and Brick Lane. I like Soho because it's an area where almost every aspect of London is present, like an open air museum of London. You can find old pubs, vintage shops, fashion design shops, exotic restaurants, cool music shops, clubs and bars. That said, I am supposed to tell you about music shops (all the introduction was an ode to a place I like and suggest to visit!), there are two music shops in particular that I always visit: Phonica and Sound of the Universe.

Phonica is a shop where you can get the best contemporary electronic music, Nu Disco, House, Techno, Dubstep and UK Funky in particular, and then you can find a smaller selection that goes from Jazz to Hip Hop to indie rock. They are specialised in vynils but you can also find quite a good selection of cds; if you are a dj, or simply someone who wants to be sure about ones purchases, Phonica is the right place because they have quite a lot of listening posts where you can listen to everything before buying. If you are interested in dj equipment you can find quite a lot of stuff, from headphones to record bags, slip-mats, t shirts and some heavy equipment (speakers and so on). To conclude, the staff are kind and always ready to help, it's definitely worth a visit.

About Sound of the Universe, well there is a lot about this shop to be said. First thing, this shop is related to one of the best labels ever: “Soul Jazz Records”; if you don't know this label, shame on you! I'm joking, no I'm not, no I'm really joking, no I'm really not joking (yes... I am)! Why I think this label is so great? To keep it short (maybe it will be longer in another post) they publish almost every kind of modern music from all over the world and, from all over the world they republish great music from the past. In the shop they obviously have almost the entire catalogue of Soul Jazz records that goes from reprint of great ska and root reggae albums to blues and soul, dubstep and future bass (one of their seminal compilations of the past years). Of course, being a record shop, they have quite a lot of music coming from other labels, similar things that you can also find at Phonica. But while at Phonica, electronic and contemporary music are the protagonists, at Sound of the Universe there are no protagonists; it's a melting pot of past, present and future music available on cds, vynils, dvds and books. Regarding these last two, yes, you can find interesting books and dvds about specific music scenes published by Soul Jazz.

http://www.phonicarecords.com/

http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/

If you are leaving for London, have a nice hunt, a music one!