Jonathan Adler on Melrose, Los Angeles

To quote Jonathan Adler's own website : 'Iconic potter, designer, author, and personality Jonathan Adler is dedicated to bringing style, craft and joy to your life'. 

Right opposite Fred Segal on Melrose in LA, there is a Jonathan Adler shop! Not sure how long it has been there but we bring you the scoop on what's in store this spring.

The products are not just great design, but they are also beautifully made and packaged :

A sneaky peek :

You can see everything in the online store : www.jonathanadler.com

Alexi Murdoch

Alexi Murdoch has been cropping up a lot lately, one song Through The Dark was on House, and this one is in the new Sprint advert in the US, it's called All My Days :

Kohls

Having visited several trade shows in January, and had the chance to see what is in the shops for Spring in Hong Kong, New York and Frankfurt, there is a distinct lack of fun graphics for the kids market to start this year off ! To be frank it was really really disappointing, children's clothes should be all about great colours and graphics, and what was in the stores was bland, and printless in the main.
Some might say this is playing it safe, but there is a huge difference between playing it safe and just being plain boring. I am sure mums want to get excited by the choice of clothes out there for their kids, but so far this year they are going really have to hunt around. Of course there should be good plain basics to mix in with the prints, and there are plenty of these !

Kohls !

One store that always has lots of great prints and graphics on their kids's apparel is Kohls. We have not had chance to see what is in their store for Spring yet, so here are some of the photo's from just before Xmas :

Older Boy

Toddler & Baby Boy

The Cure : Not just for Mondays !

There was a time when The Cure were always on our tv's and the radio ! Of all the bands that were around in the '80's they were one of the most creative and visually exciting ... living art ! The singles that came out one after the other just got better and better, and the video's were truly inspiring !
I was looking for other music on Youtube at the weekend and quite by chance stumbled on some live recordings by the Cure, and the quality of the sound is excellent !

This first one (yes there may be more this week:) is Pictures of You :

The bass players arms are so thin ! 

St Patrick's Day : Irish Phrases !

It's not known by many but Northern Ireland has it's own language ! As it is St Patrick's Day, here are a few phrases and words to make you smile :

Bake = Mouth / Face ... Shut your bake !
Bout Ye = How are you ... Bout ye big lad !
Catch Yerself On = Get a hold of yourself ... Wise Up !
Cracker = Good ... Great !
Craic = Fun Pronounced Crack ... have a good time !
Clipe = Slice ... Clipe of cake !
Da = Father
Dander = Walk ... Let's go for a dander !
Dead On = Alright, Good ... he's dead on !
Eejit = Idiot ... You're an idiot !
Faffin' = Messing around ... Stop faffin' around !
Gub = Mouth ... I got a sore gub !
Hoak = Rummage ... He's always hoaking in the rubbish !
Is Your Head Cut = Are You Wise ... How much for that car ? Is your head cut ?
Jam Jar = Car
Kex = Underpants ... I'll have to buy some new kex !
Lamped = Punched ... He got lamped last night !
Lamps = Eyes
Lump = Lazy ... Get a job you big lump !
Lifted = Arrested
Ma = Mother
Minger = Ugly ... rude way to descibe how someone looks !
Mucker = Mate ... He's me mucker !
Neb = Nose ... You should see the neb on him !
Norn Iron = Slang way of saying Northern Ireland !
Oul Doll = Old Lady ... I haven't seen the oul doll in ages !
Oul Lad = Old Man
Poke = Ice Cream ... Can I have a poke and a flake please ?
Ragin' = Angry, Fuming ... He drank my Guinness, I was ragin !
Scundered = Embarassed ... She wasn't going out with me looking like that, she was scundered !
Tae = Tea ... A nice cup of tae !
Tele = Belfast Telegraph ... Newspaper !
Till = To ... I'm going till the shops !
Windee = Window
Yarn = Talk ... I had a good yarn with me ma !
Youse = You Lot ... Will youse be quiet  ?!

I am sure there are many more too !

St Patricks Day : Luke Kelly and Dubliners

We've been lucky enough to see the Dubliners live a few times, though not ever with Luke Kelly who died young at the age of 44, and was one of the founding members, This song is The Wild Rover, and sadly the only one still alive from this video is John Sheahan the fiddle player : 

Happy St Patricks Day ! 

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty at the Grand Opera House, Belfast

There was a BIG bit of magic going on at the Grand Opera House last night. This was the first night in Belfast of Tchaikovsky's ballet  Sleeping Beauty, choreographed brilliantly by Matthew Bourne. The Grand Opera House perfectly suited this Gothic version of the classic fairytale about a young girl cursed to sleep for a hundred years. This version was sold out at the Sadler's wells theatre in London and it's great to see it out on tour. The ballet has been given a modern twist, the costumes were amazingly designed and full of colour, and the sets were simple but brilliantly effective. All this accompanied by Tchaichovsky's beautiful music made for an enthralling nights entertainment that just flew by.
If you have never considered going to see a ballet, you should try and catch this one while it is on tour, you won't be disappointed !

Tour dates are available at : www.new-adventures.net, and the photo's above are the property of new-adventures website.

Suede at Belsonic Belfast August 2013 !

It's nice to see Suede are one of the bands headlining at this years Belsonic Festival in Belfast. There are several days of gigs, and they are held in the Custom House Square in Belfast, here is the line up :

Tickets go on sale on the 15th of March at 9.00 am ! 

Suede : Wild Ones

Here is a track by Suede from the mid-nineties called Wild Ones :

Hope we can get tickets ! 

Lego Sculpture in Salt Lake City

We've all grown up with colourful Lego and heard about the inventive Lego villages in Copenhagen and Windsor. While exploring Park City in Utah we went into the Kimball Art Centre with our friends Lamont and Jeannine and we came across an exciting Lego exhibition by Nathan Sawaya. His creations are collectively called Art of the Brick :