Shop at Maison Bertaux is Soho's best kept secret...but word's spreading fast! We're now one year old and our regulars can't get enough of our APC, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel Eley Kishimoto and Obey with jewelry by Vivienne Westwood Yura and Princess Tina. You'll love our taste, you'll taste the cakes upstairs and then you'll be HOOKED!
You remember ages ago I showed you a still from Nicholas Abraham's Lee Hazlewood video which he shot in Iceland and where I styled the girls? Well, last night he sent me the finished wonderful video....so beautiful, looks quite David Hamilton I think, which is a very good thing as far as I'm concerned. I was a little worried how much he dwelt on those socks and plimsoles though, very keen on those.......
That was before everyone had a stylist, a hairdresser and a make-up artist to make them a photo-perfect consumable product...you could tell her style was all hers, like Madonna in the early days, I always loved it when she was a little bit off, as you could just tell it was her own mistake....actually that's what I love about Amy Winehouse, she's the first pop star in AGES who doesn't seem to have a stylist and she looks better than anybody else out there.
Anyway, went to see Wendy's new band Racine at the bowling lanes the other night, which was such a fun night as I saw lots of mates I hadn't expected to see there, danced and laughed a lot AND discovered a new band to love! It was great to see Wendy who is still like a little peroxide pixie with HUGE self-belief and attitude, I couldn't stay for the whole gig due to babysitting duties but I saw the whole show of support act, the Plasticines, an all-girl rock and roll band from Paris and LOVED them!! God, they're all jaw-dropping beauties, in fact the lead singer looks like a very young Nancy Sinatra (and they did a cover of These Boots Were Made for Walking in case we hadn't noticed at first!) and they looked like they might explode they were having such a good time, it was like The Donnas crossed with Brigitte Bardot which is good enough for me! Wednesday was such a good day because Jasmine took the day off from her Portobello duties and came for a Soho visit, in fact she was so ready for the 'ho (not me, Soho), that she came for breakfast, a cheese croissant from Maison Bertaux of course, and we nattered ALL day, stopped for a fine macrobiotic lunch from the cafe on Meard St (can't remember the name of it, or find in on Google, that's hippies for you, they're too busy eating that expansive food to bother with a website!), had some quality time with Sonja, then picked up an inadequate snack to walk along with to meet Emma, Max, Caz and Paul in the Queen's Larder (or the Queen's Lard was it Jasmine?) for a pre-gig drink... We met Sonja again at the gig, who'd been yawning and protesting exhaustion then walked in all glossy and amazing... Emma wouldn't let me photograph her as I think she was protecting her photo-face copyright but Caz had a go at one and I think it worked very well, not typical due to closed eyes but she still manages to look great! Big surprise of the evening was running into Nikki, who used to be our Saturday girl about three years ago and has had so many adventures since I saw her! She moved to New York, worked at Nylon (both things she used to fantasize about as we nattered on Saturdays so it just shows you, if you visualise your dream....) and evidently became best friends with Wendy: ....and is about to get married! Not to Wendy.... Off I went leaving Jasmine dancing down the front, so good to see her in Soho again.....
I was just flipping through all our Maison B videos this morning [I'm actually waiting for Pippa to get back to me about some further developments for the Maison B website] and I was reminded that the clothes we recorded on the buying trip I went to at A.P.C. are the ones that are in Maison B now. So if you didn't see this video, or need a refresher, check it out now.
I mean, I'm not saying that Pippa and I are good or anything, but neither of us really knew how to use Windows Movie Maker and iMovie at the beginning of last year... Don't forget you can see all our videos on the VIDEO page back on the main shopatmaisonb.com site. which reminds me, I can spend another 10 minutes waiting to hear from Pippa updating that page!
I'm EXHAUSTED after a weekend of jumbling and djing! Friday night it was Basement Slaxx which turned into such a fun night! Sarah surprised me by showing up late.....I'd been playing throbbing electro all night with minimal dancefloor action, finally I had given in and Baccara, Cheryl Lynn and Kylie started to get a look in and voila - dancing with actions all over the place! This was the point Sarah arrived, or rather her ghost.... Tryg was on form as usual, he's a self-confessed "boozebag" with a heart of gold and when we're together we dance more than anyone else, i usually manage to hit my head on the celing speakers at least five times due to excessive leaping! In fact I even managed to lose my head entirely at one point... On Saturday we had a table at the Village Fete in Dalston http://www.myspace.com/fete_dalston_oldboysclub which is an amazing space, and I think the first of many more....keep a lookout! The boys bought a few accessories and had very sophisticated face-painting: I invited Liliana to come down, we both bought 1950's conical bras which this girl bought in India, apparantly still a best seller there! So fantastic! I don't quite have enough to fill mine but it's so effective, gives you a torpedo sweater girl silhouette, actually they'd look fierce under a sari too.... Then Lili suggested we nip to the George and Dragon for a drink and a dj workshop for the boys courtesy of Nuno... The boys were very excited to see where I go to dj and sing and couldn't believe their luck when introduced to the pub cat! They're pet-mad at the moment so I like having pets they can visit......we don't even have the room for a fish! I thought they would terrorise the poor thing but it actually chased Joe around for a bit which was hilarious - for the rest of us! We left before the drag turned and I let the boys stay up very very late because E.T. was on telly (also guaranteeing a little bit of a lie-in on Sunday morning!)....of course I was sobbing like an idiot - haven't seen the movie for years and didn't know it'd still leave me emotionally spent and puffy-eyed.....
Sunday was the Wills-Moody jumble sale http://www.willsmoody.com/ which we've had a table at every month for a while and is the best day out! Max took the boys for lunch as he lives round the corner and then got the boys Wonder Woman and Doctor Who dvds so that I could concentrate on my pool-table pitch which I have to say is my favourite as you have the lovely long lampshade spotlighting your wares! Etienne came by with a few bits of his own to sell but ended up leaving with TONS more than he arrived - an ice-crusher (but who could turn down an ice-crusher for £1 !?!), a jacket, a plastic flower light and in the end Nathaniel let him take the spanish ladies home as he was lusting after them all day.... Maybe he's thinking of becoming a prostitute.....
So back in the days before The World According To... and before Shopgirl was SHOP round on Frith Street that was a little laundry next to Bar Italia where Max and Pippa first set up business doing service washes and selling clothes from a couple of rails in the window of the laundrette. Weird huh?
And here are the pictures of them from then: Pippa Brooks in a cross between Madonna [the rosary] / Fiorucci model [the shades]
And here is Max Karie No comment from me about the nipple ring. The thought of any body piercing except in the ears terrifies me!
A fabulous piece of press from Max's club DJ times With 'Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...' in at number 4.
And speaking of Max's music taste, we are OBSESSED with this song at the moment.
Love Synchronicity by Sandy Marton. It is too incredible. I think Sandy Marton is too skinny to be wearing such a baggy outfit but the mullet is a killer!
There are more photos to come but I just don't want to give them all to you at once! Besides, I have to see how much Max and Pippa are going to kill me for this first.
What a delightful Friday night...Stevie Stewart invited us to the screening of Baillie Walsh's first feature film "Flashbacks of a Fool" at the Soho Hotel (which I didn't even know existed!) because she did the costumes - AMAZING! - the flashback part is set in the early 70's, Bowie, Roxy Music....the stuff of my youth. He certainly tapped into something inside me, reminded me of my old bedroom wall with the huge David Bowie and Brian Ferry posters, my crappy record player on which I played Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars for the first time, mincing in front of the mirror while experimenting with make-up....in fact tapped is the right word, the second time they showed the slo-mo Roxy sequence my tears started and would NOT stop! Running down my face, neck and onto my dress!! Of course what I was crying for was my lost youth....I do realise that..... Stevie did such an incredible job...I was in awe, and what a clever idea to get Anthony Price to re-make (re-model) the Roxy gold and black zebra jacket for the lead to wear in my favourite sequence - PERFECTION! Go go go go go see it!
I was snooping around looking at Baillie Walsh's back catalogue (you all know the amazing Massive Attack one-take video) and found something I'd never seen before which is divine and I had to share with you..
I found it here http://www.gainsburyandwhiting.com/film/kate.html which is worth a look with pieces from Sam Taylor Wood, Nick Knight and others.....
So lovely to see everyone afterwards, the Rellik crew were there, Mark C O'Flaherty, David Holah of course and Stevie and Anthony hosting...The other lovely part was that Iris, Hughes and Olivier from A.P.C. were in town so I invited them along, Iris and Olivier made it to the movie and Hughes and his boyfriend had a disco-nap first then came for the drinks, we had such a laugh....Olivier showed us the detail on his A.P.C. trousers, luckily he had on very good socks - love a good sock! Hughes and I have decided we will have a dj battle at his club night in Paris! ...although here he looks like he may be regretting the decision.... Iris came too, so lovely to see her again, we always do our appointments with her in Paris, so great to do something social together for a change! Looking gorgeous on our way to a car park (long story!)...but we'd have fun in a paper bag I tell you!
New video when I've fixed my darned video camera, feel very bereft without it.....
Well no-one wants to ever really be in a jam I guess but I tell you - if there was a bath full of this stuff I would be so straight into it with a pile of toasted muffins like you wouldn't believe!
Les Confitures Extra de Christine Ferber are like Heaven in a jar - one of the loveliest jams ever. [Except for all the jams our Nanna's made us.] I bought the 'Confiture pour Madame' because I thought if I eat enough of it I would grow up to be able to walk in heels as high as Madame herself [it's morello cherry GORGEOUS.] The other one I got, 'Nougabricot' is apricots, honey, almonds, pistachio nuts and pine nuts. I have been sending Pippa random texts about this jam every time I eat it cause I just can't believe how good it is!
I bought this jam at Le Péché Mignon, my favourite French deli in North London for when I can't get into Maison Bertaux or when I want a Croque Monsieur. God - imagine if they did home delivery and I could get a Croque sneaky supper tucked up in bed?! Obviously I still don't have a new boyfriend... LOL.
In other culinary news from the life of Lektrogirl, I went to Borough Market for the first the other day and had my first ever Scotch Egg. By all reasoning I should love a sausage covered boiled egg, but I gotta tell you - I think I will only ever have a Scotch Egg again if someone makes it freshly and it is still warm in the middle and the outside crispy. I think that is the key. After that disappointment, I discovered a GERMAN deli! Man! I mean Heren! Ich moechte ein Bratwurst on the days I'm not after a Croque Monsieur. I bought 4 bratwurst sausages for dinner and some HOT senf to go with them. The senf blew my head right off! THE BEST.
P.S. I don't always eat my food off a plate sitting on a plastic bag.
So I made a new video - this time of Pippa's band All About Eve Babitz. One night they performed at Paul Gorman's Lost Society party and Superduck and I filmed it. And another night I chased Pippa around Soho and then left it a few months. Finally yesterday I edited it all together.
This is my favourite All About Eve Babitz song. And I am really pleased with the video. I was on the phone to Superduck last night while he was stuffing envelopes at his high flying desk job and he told me that to edit the video's we shot together would be easy. I didn't tell him that I was actually trying to sync the live performance to an MP3 studio track and that the songs were at different tempos. FYI Nick Abrahams. Then he went on to tell me about bee keeping in Iceland...
Paul Raymond died today. Every day a little bit of the Soho I love seems to disappear but his death is a huge full-stop, a real end of an era...there's going to be some wonderful documentaries coming, all that black and white footage of stilettos, neon, hairspray, dark suits and cigarette smoke.... Oh Soho.........come back.
This morning I woke up without a hangover but felt I deserved one. After hanging out with Max all day, talking about Pantie Wetters, Nannies, Turncoats and Dead or Alive, we went into Soho to see Pippa and Nathaniel and drink some wine. A more wine later at The Three Greyhounds [my first blush since 'The DJ Assualt Night' that I could finish] and then some Geisha Rocks at Abeno Too I was sending random texts about spiritual vibes to God only knows who.
Lovely! So pretty - like sour cherries.
Max had cooked me an Apple and Rhubarb crumble. Until then, all I had heard about Max's cooking capabilities was from his old flatmate Neil who had seen Max take the top off a yoghurt pot and that was it.
But check this out:
I am Max's fantasy girlfriend. But he is always asking me if I had sex with a woman. I always get out of answering by asking him if he ever had sex with a woman. He never answers either. Man of mystery.
Look at the AWESOME temperature guage on the oven! It reminds me of Gary Numan or The Buggles or something. So jealous. And such a neat crumble.
YUM. And by now, Alex T had come over to Max's too so we all sat and ate crumble together like naughty school children telling naughty jokes.
Here is Max's knicker drawer. No he isn't at all anal.
And check this garden out that Max made. It used to be just rocks and weeds and nothing. It was just nothing and it is so beautiful now.
I'm totally jealous that Max and Pippa are off to Paris this weekend and I couldn't afford to go to. They will be eating Omlettes washed down with Rose without me. :(
A.P.C.
