WILLIES AND WHEELIES
If an event was ever quite so ‘Brighton’ as this, we’ve yet to hear about it. The fourth annual Naked Bike Ride takes place on Saturday 14thand even for a city whose eyes sure take some popping, it’s an amazing spectacle.Last year’s participation more than doubled 2007’s, as 400 riders braved the saddle sores for some celebratory birthday suit biking.
Vulnerability may be a concern as you feel the wind in your pubic hair, and this is just part of the thinking behind the event. Ever increasing car culture has brought about massive clogging of our roads and a horrid carbon fugging of the supposedly fresh seaside air we breathe. The constant gridlock, vastly exacerbated in the summer when London types decide to join us en masse, makes two-wheeled travel hazardous to both lungs and limbs. Despite our enviable network of cycle lanes you take your life in your hands when you take to two wheels.
Protest doesn’t need to be about trustafariansbusting in McDonald’s windows and trying to get punchy policemen to star inYouTube videos. There’s a nicer way to highlight the wrongs of Carmageddon – it’s with your bare arse on a bike. Things start off at the Level at noon for naked lunch and bodypainting, then there’s an eight mile ride around Brighton and Hove, ending up with a picnic and naked swim at Kemptown’s nudist beach (see SOURCE Virgins for more on that). Saddle up and save the world.
GET PAV SAVVY
Nosey types with an eye on the historical might like to snoop around areas of the Pavilion that tourist oiks never get to see, at 11am on Saturdays 6th and 20th. From Basement To Bottle is an exclusive behind the scenes tour, which takes in a Scooby Doo-style secret underground tunnel (possibly haunted) and other hidden places including the actual inside of the roof dome. We’re pretty certain this opens up to reveal a massive and deadly laser gun trained on the heart of the sun, so that could be quite interesting.
NEW BOOKS, OLD MARKET
The blogosphere has changed forever the notion of writers in a room, writing for months on end before they experience any interaction, other than someone knocking on the door asking if they want a cup of tea. Now we expect our authors to connect with us and generally be available for any daft question we care to put to them. The Old Market is allowing us that opportunity this month; with Chris Stewart (Tues 2nd), Sarah Waters (Mon 15th), Paddy Ashdown (Tues 16th) and Glen David Gold (Tues 30th) all presenting their new books as part of City Books At The Old Market.
PINK AND BLACK PUSSY
Like their furry namesake when it wants feeding, the Pussycat is returning.It’s their 14th birthday party extravaganza at Digital on Saturday 6th- The Pink & Black Party promises all kinds of loveliness including a giant birthday cake food fight, pyrotechnics, a dressing up box, massage and pamper areas and a whole bunch more. Stephanie Scarlet, of Miss Alternative Brighton and the-sides-of-buses fame is your hostess. Wear pink and black, turn up from 11pm, and you’re away.
TWISTED TEAPOTS
This caught our eye for its title alone, which can’t have been an accident. Deviants is a Crafts Council touring exhibition arriving at Hove Museum & Art Gallery from Sunday 6th, showcasing 16 crazy pieces from the UK’s leading ceramic protagonists, including a teapot with legs, a pot with ears and a glove with 25 fingers. According to the zany official guide, the pot, for instance, ‘spies on its owner by covertly eavesdropping on conversation’. Actually it doesn’t do this at all, but it’s free to get in and might be vaguely interesting if you’re passing.
QUIZEE RASCALS
We spend a lot of time each month telling you what’s good around town, but can you really trust that we know what we’re talking about? Would you feel more assured if we told you that we came third in David Quantick’s fiendishly hard Great Escape music quiz (out of about 30 music industry teams)? Good, cos that’s the only reason we’re telling you. We’re not boasting or anything.
LADIES LEG IT
The Martlets Hospice in Hove is staging its third annual Midnight Walk on Friday 19th at, er, midnight. It’s a ladies only event, and the women walkers are hoping to top the 150 grand they raised last year through generous sponsors. Not only would you be helping raise dough for the hospice, but finishers of the 13 mile course get a nice medal and a big breakfast to replace all the calories they’ve just burned off. Register at martletshospice.org.uk.
HIGH AS A KITE
Brighton Kite Festival enters its 31st year on the 11th/12th of this month, filling the skies above Stanmer Park with a variety of kite-based creatures and craziness. There’s nothing like tugging on your string for a bit of wind-powered stress relief, and the festival offers all manner of kite-making workshops and stalls, where you can get a decent flier for a fiver. Parking will be a nightmare because of the stupid stumps all the way round the park, but it’s a great day out nonetheless.
TYRED AND EMOTIONAL
More biking news now, this time with pants on. Journey On and Melting Vinyl are teaming up a week from Sunday 14th to celebrate the love of the cycle. Bike shops in town are hosting live music, there’s a fancy dress parade along a new Hove Park cycle lane, bike breakfasts and free film screenings at the Duke Of York’s. Journeyon.co.uk and meltingvinyl.co.uk have more information.
LOOP FEVER
Fever Ray is the latest addition to July’s Loop festival. Betterknown as the vocal half of The Knife, Karin DreijerAndersson will bejoined over the weekend by former Source cover stars The Qemists,Telepathe, The Juan Maclean, Zomby and Riton. Taking place on 11th and12th July, the festival will showcase bands and DJs, alongside digitalart and culture, while on Saturday night Loop Late will be keeping thecity awake until the wee small hours.
SPACES GOING PLACES
Live & Unsigned 2009 has a worthy Brighton finalist this year – 900 Spaces have emerged from the 10,000 entrants as one of the last 20 standing. The final takes place on Saturday 27th at Portsmouth Guildhall in front of a celebrity judge panel. The stakes are pretty high – the winners get 20 large worth of support for a single release tour and management deal. So get down to Pompey and support your local music scene so there aren’t 900 spaces in the audience.
