Late Supper at Hoi Polloi with an installation from Jeffrey Hinton Thursday 1st May

Jeffrey Hinton is hosting a midnight supper this Thursday 1st May 2014 at Hoi Polloi. He will be showing an installation of his work based on his recent screening at BFI Flare from 10 till 1am. 

Event link here

Book a table at Hoi Polloi 

And here's an excerpt I wrote for Hoi Polloi's menu paper issue #22...

'Today we take a glimpse into the world of deejay and archivist Jeffrey Hinton whose main interests revolve around music... dance music predominantly. Think of a club and he's either deejayed there, been seen flinging himself around the dance floor or propping up the bar imparting wise words. A deejay career that spans over 3 decades and a back catalogue of club life he's clearly in the realm of 'legendary legend' status. His residences include  Taboo, The Daisy Chain and Queer Nation, fast forward into the present and he is often seen playing at the Dalston Superstore, Vogue Fabrics and East Bloc.  Along the way he's recorded via film and photography an unfolding visual diary of his social life that has included the many creative people he has encountered, a disco family who have stuck a chord with Jeffrey. He's a passionate soul, enquiring and genuinely enthralled and excited when he 'clicks' with old and new friends alike. 

In the past few years Jeffrey has tackled his archive resulting in a fascinating exploration into the world he inhabits, scenes of experimental performance, moments captured with people long gone an informed legacy that continues to inspire a younger generation. Within a kaleidoscope of moving image characters continue to live in the lens of Jeffrey Hinton. His most recent edited archive result's in a film, Life's a Drag (a celebration). His montage of rare footage includes amateur drag performer Rose Marie, Hot Peaches performance troupe, disco diva Space Princess and and even himself in drag from the 80's married with todays stars of drag, Jonny Woo, Ma Butcher, Gay Bingo and Sink The Pink to name just a few. Jeffrey takes a dreamlike look inside a world that addresses gender and sexuality over three decades, exploring the fringes of self expression where flamboyance and glamour can be interpreted with a serious and reflective social agenda.' 

Jeffrey Hinton

Luke Howard

Sink The Pink

Space Princess

Rose marie

Alasdair McLellan's new book 'Ultimate Clothing Company'

Alasdair McLellan takes pictures, he takes a lot of them, mostly fashion based, portraits and at times personalities. He works around the world, he never stops working. He drinks tea (not alcohol), drives a very sporty car, dresses quite casually and is a very handsome chap with a winning way about him. This month his new self published photographic book 'Ultimate Clothing Company' reaches the shelves. 

I had a flick through it's pages and I discovered a lot of pictures of northern boys enjoying themselves and local landscapes. It really is a very beautiful book. Limited edition of 2,000. 

Yorkshire born Alasdair's reportage captures the essence and uncovers a rare thing, the intimacy of what it's like to be a young man, a contemporary glimpse into the male world of 2014. 

Alasdair McLellan.com

The Jean Paul Gaultier Road Show

Yes she's arrived The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier from the Sidewalk to the Catwalk  newly opened at the Barbican. I got a nice VIP invite for Monday's gala presentation. Rumors of Madonna in attendance rustled through the singing ringing tree, was she there? No dears. JPG turned up with a HRH Queen lookie likey, crikey! Jean Paul has got a sense of humor ain't he! We got a nice few glasses of bubbly and some canapes as you do and popped into the JPG photo booth before we had a look round the show. Very jolly indeed...

Omar and I in the JPG photo booth waiting for Madonna

Now then seriously Jean Paul Gaultier has got a major body of work to choose from, his archive is vast... 40 years vast, his first solo show was in 1976. I was thinking to myself, if this is the final edit imagine what they had to leave out. There's some bits from a 1977 collection that actually look very contemporary, inspired by punk he managed to successfully capture  something of the movement in chic way. There doesn't seem to be any chronological order rather collections are gathered together to create a mood, specialist numbers (Madonnas conical tits, Grace Jones' inspired pant suit, the Boy George moment, Beth Ditto's sparkly frock, that sort of thing) placed in the upper level booths and artworks hung around and about. 

Early punk inspired look

I'm always fascinated to peer close up at the amount of detail that goes into the creation of this kind of work, and I liked the fact that next to the description of these clothes went the number of hours of intensive labour that has gone into their fruition. Mostly everyone was taken aback by the mannequins projected moving facial expressions. Yes they are quite spooky. And I was amused by the fashion conveyer belt, very Are You Being Served? As the mannequins trundled and cranked round they gave us a bit of a wobble. 

Life-like - animated mannequin

The JPG fashion conveyer belt

Later on in the proceedings JPG took to the stage to give us an animated ramble and we were given a star turn from Rufus Wainwright. Go and have a wonder round the JPG show it's quite a thing!

Tinder Issues

Over the past few months I thought I'd give this Tinder dating app malarky a go, I signed up quite on the spur of the moment at a dinner party at the recommendation of an excited friend who seemed rather enthusiastic at the time. As a confirmed single person I do every now and again imagine what it might be like to be in some sort of intimate relationship but well having been single for a good few years I think I can give or take that sort of thing by now. 

Anyway it's quite an efficient system this Tinder, meandering your way through a series of profiles you can either swipe left or right or touch symbols 'X' or '♥' meaning you either like or don't like said prospective. Hopefully at some point you will get 'It's a Match!' which means you can go on to the next stage and start a DM (direct message).

Well I have got a few matches and I'm happy to say I've got a bit of queue going on but I'm not to sure how you get past the conversation part. Bit of chit chat, bit of banter some of it a bit saucy... *tip, be careful how you describe yourself on your profile, is there some sort of Tinder etiquette I haven't quite cottoned onto here? Some say this is Grindr for straights but you can choose your sexual orientation and go either way. Other people tell me they have friends who have found relationships from this app. 

So anyway, blimey I thought, 'I see a window of opportunity here' and told said match okay, 'lets meet for a drink'. It was in the middle of London Fashion Week, we arranged the meet. He was late, not a good sign, it was somewhere I don't usually go to on the Kingsland Road, Saturday evening, a pub of no account. So yeah, it went okay... after a splash of red wine we went our separate ways. Fine, we obviously exchanged phone numbers so ping, that's when the texts went a bit 'Carry On' in my mind. 'So can I ask are you a little bit submissive?' He asked. Oh gawd, where did that come from? I'm Miss Vanilla in my mind, there was no sort of lead up to the line of rhetoric that ensued. In the end, because I thought it was a bit of a joke, the descriptions of him tying me up and rendering me helpless got a bit tiresome and vaguely hysterical. I suggested he take a visit to Torture Garden to but to no avail. 

Tie me up? What Like this?

In the space of 24 hours I got bored of him and a bit bored of Tinder. I'm still on Tinder btw.

'What Would Julia Do'... news on my forthcoming book

'What Would Julia Do' by Rebecca Thomas is a contemporary photographic account of my life over the past 5 years, a vivid visual diary of how I combine my many interests, where I go and the people I meet, of course dressed for every occasion. I always try and make the best of myself and through the years have maintained a personal style and image, for instance I would never go out (even on a local jaunt) without my lipstick on.

For me 'dressing' is a way of life, it's as natural as breathing. Exploring potential is a continual challenge and it's a challenge that I thrive on, I take everything into consideration and applaud the daring people who follow their dreams and inspire me and those around me. I have a creative community outlook on life and spend a great deal of time encouraging others to realize a world where anything amazing can happen even when things don't appear to be going so well. My attitude may seem adventurous but it's led to a life full of surprise and wonder, a life where the smallest detail causes excitement and the bigger picture is simply mind blowing. 

Forward written by Paul Flynn, 'What Would Julia Do' is self published by Rebecca Thomas and will be out in the next month or so...

Rebecca Thomas website