Tuesday 4 February (6:30 - 8:30pm)

@ Rocket, 13 Old Burlington St., W1 (020.7434.3043) Tube: Green Park

Are you Parred out yet? Well this seems more like a Pet Shop Boys show with special guest star Martin Parr, like in The Love Boat! Well known for his colour-saturated, greasy, full-on visions of English life, soon to be coming to a room at Tate Modern, the Parr-ster takes a slightly different tack in this, his first video and a pop one at that! Given their art-world cred, it seems entirely appropriate that former Smash Hits journo Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe would have Parr film their latest video, London (Wolfgang Tillmans shot their last one and they've also collaborated with Zaha Hadid). The Pet Shop Boys' latest self-produced album, less bigdrumbeat adventure, Disco 3, is a ballad of two Russian lads deserting the army and escaping to London, the refrain being "let's do it, let's break the law". What's striking here is the low-key home-movie approach Parr has taken, gone are the garish colours and retro-subjects, but day-to-day, working-class London is still poignant. It seems entirely appropriate to the nature of the song, especially when a tramp gives the Boys -- playing buskers -- some change. A London song for a London band for a London site! (Show ends Sat 22/02.)

NB: On view with the video projection will be 6 photographs taken around the North Circular from a series created as part of The Big Issue residency.

Giveaway: We have three signed, limited edition, Martin Parr The Phone Book to give away. Parr curated a show of holiday camp photos recently here in London, the books will go to three randomly picked subscribers who can tell us the name of the holiday camp. We also have three signed copies of Disco 3 to give away. They'll go to three of you who can tell us what the inspiration behind the name is.

Wednesday 5 February (8:45pm)

@ National Film Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020.7928.3232) Tube: Embankment/Waterloo

Now in its third screening, Antenna has made its name in the industry as the place to watch and understand the craft of music video making. Long dismissed by purists as a lesser art form than the "short film", the NFT's bi-monthly Antenna season is redressing the balance. No lesser film-makers than Martin Scorsese , Spike Jonze and David Fincher have dipped their hand into the promo world, and the speakers at Antenna III include Top of the Pops executive producer Chris Cowley, Dan Dickenson (head of music videos at Partizan) and acclaimed Spaced director Edgar Wright. Wright will be presenting three of his recent videos: Psychosis Safari, Blue Song, and After Hours (directed for Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Mint Royale and the Bluetones respectively). Work to be showcased includes the premiere of new Beck and Tom McRae promos.

Wednesday 5 February (6:30pm)

@ Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Pimlico

Between 1959 and 1964 Gustav Metzger wrote a series of manifestos -- ahhhh... them were the days -- the most infamous being Auto-Destructive Art ('59) and Manifesto Auto-Destructive Art ('60) in which he stated, "Man in Regent Street is auto-destructive. Rockets, nuclear weapons, are auto-destructive. Auto-destructive art. ...Auto-destructive art demonstrates man's power to accelerate disintegarative processess of nature and to order them..." ('60). Influenced by DADA and Russian revolutionary art (1910-20), throw in a strong streak of radical socialism -- perhaps now an anti-capitalism -- Meztger's sixties-radicalism found it's most vocal exponent in Pete Townsend's trashing of his amps, and just general stage bashing! Today, Mezger is an institution, but his interests have never left his resistance to Capitalism -- best example being his 3 year art strike in '77, in which he ceased all artistic production -- resently he has added the globalised savaging of nature to his burdeon. Together with his Tate talk, 100,000 Newspapers, A Public-Active Installation will be Metzger's first London installation since 1996. No doubt this critique of our techonological capitalist times will bring back the spirit of the sixties: "Auto-destructive art is an attack on capitalist values and the drive to nuclear anniliation." ('61)

Thursday 6 February (Mon to Wed & Sat to Sun 10am - 6pm; Thu to Fri until 9pm)

@ National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, WC2 (020.7306.0055) Tube: Leicester Square/Charing Cross

With the development and expansion of digital photography, advertising constantly tries to convince us that there is nothing we cannot do with a photograph -- they are lying. It is virtually inconceivable that anyone could accomplish what pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron accomplished 150 years ago. Inspired by the pre-Raphaelites, Cameron developed a unique portrait format that brought her recognition as a genius in her own right, rendering her the prime photographer of Victorian personalities such as Lord Tennyson and Charles Darwin in addition to her servants and friends. Her portraits are intense and haunting, intimate and melancholic with an exquisite lighting, bordering on the surreal. (Ends 26/05.)

NB: An additional edge and interesting contrast is given to the exhibition by the parallel display of 20 modern press images entitled Iconic Women in the Press. And for information on the free special lectures and events taking place in the Ondaatje Wing of the NPG starting Thur 20/02, visit the NPG Education Departement.

Thursday 6 February (6 - 8pm)

@ Applied Arts Agency, 30 Exmouth Market, EC1 (020.7837.2632)

If, like us, you work in the media and notice headlines and names more than is either normal or recommended then you'll have noticed that there are some -- increasingly -- annoying play on words... they seem to crop up everywhere... FYI, the top two being: "Tray Chic" (all articles about trays in the Sunday supplements and Elle Deco), and "Cupboard Love" (cabinet feature? Hmmm... Every time) and it's our belief that titles such as these should be banned. Oh well. Not everyone is as twitchy about it as we are, and apart from having a title so directly unoriginal, this exhibition at the Applied Arts Agency promises to be well worth a look-in. Five young designers from the most fashionable posse of the moment (Rocky Alvarez, Carl Clerkin, Gitta Gschwendtner, Michael Marriott and Will Warren) have been invited to respond to the cupboard love cliche and provide an exhibit for the show. Each has produced a unique cabinet, box or container housing the products that are their interpretation of love. Given that these designers are all, by turns, thoughtful, quirky and cool, the results ought to be as far from cliched as possible. One definitely not to be missed.

NB: Private view is from 6 - 8pm on Thu 06/02 -- show is on until Sat 26/04.

Thursday 6 February (6:30 - 8:30pm)

@ Anthony Reynolds, 60 Great Malborough St., W1 (020.7439.2201) Tube: Oxford Circus

Unlike the last-nite-a-DJ-saved-my-life-riffing variety of Conceptual artiste, Amikam Toren belongs to the old skool, ponderous cerebral-play consensus. Since his 1976 Serpentine exhibition, the 58 year old Israeli has been re-considering the art object, be it a chair whittled-down to it's basic structure (Actualities, 1984 on), a pulped newspaper, recomposed as abstract letters on canvas (Of The Times, 1989 on), and perhaps his most visceral series, the Armchair Paintings (1989 on) composed entirely of a found canvas with a found text stenciled out of it. This time, it's simply "SILENCE". Though completely intellectual, the London-based artist's sculpture always seems to hit you in the gut first: Golem (2002) is a half-ton block of polished granite held-up by a domestic ironing board, this piece signifies, and is, danger -- Richard Serra cutyourlegsoff dangerous. In Jewish mythology, the Golem, like a robot, is a creature made of mud and stuff to serve the people, in their language it means: simpleton. Such it may be, but bearing burdens is the work of the Golem as is the ironing board as is the artist. (Show ends Sat 08/03.)

NB: Despite appearances, Anthony Reynolds is certainly a major part of the London scene. Having moved from his tiny Dering Street digs to Great Marlborough Street, the Gallery now possesses the swagger to complement his artists. It's Reynolds' canniness in choosing the right artiste for the moment that defines the character of the gallery... Keith Tyson just won the Turner, Richard Billingham was up for it last, McQueen (a Reynolds alumnus) in '99, and Wallinger nominated in '95.

Thursday 6 February (7pm)

@ Cine Lumiere, 17 Queensberry Place, SW7 (020.7073.1350) Tube: South Kensington

If Gazza had only stumbled onto Alain de Botton, then perhaps he wouldn't be playing second division footie in China today. Samuel Beckett once wrote that one should "never neglect the small things in life", yet academic philosophy seems so concerned with minutia that life seems to have entirely evaded it, after all, philosophy is about the meaning of life, isn't it? Probably not, but Alain de Botton single-handedly balanced all this by writing a series of "self-help" guides: How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy. Less prescriptive and more ruminative, de Botton cures nothing, fixes nothing, but rather offers consolations. For broken hearts, consolations come from Schopenhauer, the balm for this is not plate-breaking nor friend-slapping, but the solace of art where the personal meet the universal. And this is where de Botton becomes interesting, for he has turned the universal back into the personal, so Epicurus can offer advice on our poor bank balances, and Seneca on our frustrations. Perhaps the Gazz has been through the Consolations, after all it really does take a Man to admit he's an alcoholic, a wife-smacker, and ask for help!

NB: This talk is part of a forum designed to encourage dialogue between English, continental philosophers and the public. Alain de Botton will be discussing his new book The Art of Travel (2002) with Jonathan Ree.

Giveaway: We have two signed copies of The Art of Travel to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us what tool the Pythons used to measure the summing up of A la recherche du temps perdu in the all-England summarize Proust competition.

Thursday 6 February (8pm - 2am)

@ 93 Feet East, 150 Brick Lane, E1 (020.7247.3293) Tube: Aldgate East/Liverpool Street

Broadcast! is a one-off special night campaigning for the return of a London BBC station which reflects the true cultural and musical diversity of the capital. Hosted by the cream of London's DJ talent including Coldcut (4 deck mix), Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly), Ross Allen, Bob Jones, DJ Food, Kevin LeGendre, DK (and further guests), all playing for free - BROADCAST! is the first event in support of the growing Londumb Campaign demanding the return of diverse music and innovation over London's airwaves. Londumb campaigns to reverse the dumbing down of BBC London - once London's most upbeat station, with many of this event's guests having groundbreaking shows.
The campaign is also supported by the Chemical Brothers, Richard Ashcroft, James Lavelle, Paul Oakenfold and many, many more.

NB:Tickets for BROADCAST! are just £8 on the door and all profits go towards the Londumb Campaign! Why not make your voice heard and show your support for what promises to be a fantastic evening.

Friday 7 February

@ Various cinemas all over London

Healthy choice pudding; frequent flier miles; novelty toilet plungers; a cacophony of seven shrieking sisters; a blissfully-awkward Englishwoman; phone-sex; and at the literal heart of it all, one neurotic man-child. It must be love, or at least a smattering of the eccentric strands that converge and collide in Paul Thomas Anderson's latest offering since his six-degrees of separation classic, Magnolia. By those standards, this foray into the kinetic energy of matters of the heart is strictly lightweight -- but that certainly doesn't mean PDL comes out short on knock-out performances or in post-viewing inspiration. Adam Sandler plays Barry, a neurotic small business owner, who suddenly finds his microverse blown apart when he meets Lena (Emily Watson) and follows his heart into the perils and romance of a simultaneously surreal, yet achingly familiar, world. Their dynamic combination offers a jarring one-two punch combo which, complemented by the deft hooks and jabs of Anderson-regulars Luis Guzman and Philip Seymour Hoffman (both in Boogie Nights and Magnolia), guarantees a mind-battering that will awaken you to the desperate ferment of your own lives, and just how valuable a part love plays within it. Compelling, surreal, and resonant with a full spectrum of intriguing characters and emotional vicissitudes; there's no doubt that PDL merits being experienced at least once -- if not, there's always Ghost Ship!

Friday 7 February (Fri & Sat 8.30pm)

@ Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Southwark/Blackfriars

Looking suspiciously like that school model of our inner ear, Anish Kapoor's overpoweringly magnificent Unilever Series commission, Marsyas, which presently graces Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, has inspired a new orchestral piece by Arvo Part entitled Lament Tate. The flaying of Marsyas is the composition's theme, and you can listen to the symphonic screams of Greek mythology's unluckiest satyr at its performance, which will tonight take place in the Tate's Turbine Hall. The music will be performed by pianist Helene Grimaud and Alexander Briger will be conducting musicians from the Royal Academy of Music and the London Sinfonietta. With added advice on its realisation from one of our best-loved opera directors, Peter Sellars, the event is sure to be good enough for the Gods. (You can also catch an individual Parte performance on Fri & Sat at 7:30pm and a Sellars performance on Sun 9/02 & Tue 11/02 at 8:30pm -- see Tate & Egg site for details.)

NB: The performance is preceded by Sellars' setting of Antonin Artaud's "For an End to the Judgement of God" and June Jordan's "Kissing God Goodbye", staged as a Pentagon Press conference.

Saturday 8 February (10pm-4am)

@ Fortress Studios, 34-38 Provost Street, N1 (020.7251.6200 ) Tube: Old Street

Trust us -- 2003 is going to be the year that bhangra music makes it's way into Britain's musical mainstream. All the signs are there; the big crossover single in the charts, the trend of US hip hop and R'n'B producers like Dre and Timbaland pillaging old Indian music to spice up their works (think recent releases from Missy Elliott, Truth Hurts and Erick Sermon)and the planned collaborations with mainstream artists. Future World Funk plays host to two of the biggest names on that scene. Panjabi MC's Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware Of The Boys) is currently riding high in the national charts. Considered by all as the Don of bhangra, his 1998 album Legalised set in motion a revolution in bhangra music, mixing old Desi music (consisting of dhol, tumbi, and Panjabi lyrics) with the latest hip hop, R'n'B, Garage and Drum 'n' Bass samples. Four-man Panjabi Hit Squad are one of the biggest names on the DJ circuit, have a soon-to-be weekly show on Radio 1Xtra and have recently released their sophomore album The Streets. With DJs Russ Jones and Spiritual South in support, this is bound to be a perfect introduction to the scene.

NB: Tickets can be purchased on Ticketweb or by calling: 08700.600.100.

Sunday 9 February (6pm - 12am )

@ Cargo, Kingsland Viaduct, 83 Rivington St., EC2 (020.7739.3440) Tube: Old St./Liverpool St.

We're seeing a mini-renaissance at the moment in soulful music. Not jiggy, iced-out, bling-bling R'n'B. We're talking organic, spiritual, positive -- at times even rock-influenced -- music, taking it's cue from the music of Stevie, Marvin, and Jimi. The creative epicentre is Philadelphia, the music neo-soul, hip hop, and house. The Roots, Jazzyfatnastees, Jill Scott, Jazzy Jeff, Musiq Soulchild, Common, Vikter Duplaix, Bilal and King Britt are some of the key illa-delphians within what some have termed "The Movement". Black Lilly has played a important part in the nurturing of that scene. Set up by the Jazzyfatnastees at Philly's Five Spot, its open-mic format sees aspiring musicians and singers regularly playing alongside big names who often make a special visit whilst passing through. The launch night of the London venture earlier this month at Cargo was a complete road-block, with hundreds squeezed into the venue to catch live performances by The Roots, the Jazzyfatnastees, Terri Walker and Julie Dexter. X marks the start of the open-mic format, so prepare for some quality unsigned talent and perhaps a famous unannounced guest or two.

Monday 10 February (6 - 11pm)

@ Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Rd., WC2 (020.7434.9592) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Tony "Lips-that-put-Mick's-to-shame" Fate lead guitar of the BellRays once wanted to create an art movement called "Rat Art", this involved taking paintings behind dingy skips and leaving them for weeks... needless to say "Rat" seemed to refer to the captive audience, but that's what punk's been all about right? Keeping the rats happy! Frequently described as Aretha Franklin meets Black Flag, The Bellrays bring verve to Punk with their black humour (song titles: Stupid Fucking People, Blues for Godzilla, They glued your head on upside-down...) surf-style. Opening for Saves the Day with Hell is for Heroes and The Star Spangles, the BellRays are frequently noticed as LA's best kept secret.

Giveaway: We have three BellRays CDs to give away. They'll go to three randomly picked subscribers who can tell us who writes their music.

Monday 10 February (6:30pm)

@ The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1 (020.7434.9944) Tube: Piccadilly Circus/Green Park

Francine Houben is a co-founder of Mecanoo, the Delft architectural practice that maintains an almost modernist dedication to considering human needs ranging from "mobility to spirituality". A part of the Royal Academy's series of architecture lectures, Houben's talk will discuss the practice's recent project, the library and master plan for the Technical University of Delft, and the use of landscape in architecture. She will also talk about other projects by the 80 person practice including, the Dutch Open-Air Museum in Arnhem and the recently completed St. Maria of the Angels Cemetery Chapel in Rotterdam. Concerns with issues of mobility are relevant to another of Houben's roles as the curator of the first International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (7 May - 7 July 2003). An ambitious survey of mobility and the consequences for architecture and urban development, the Biennial will gather "architects, civil engineers, urban planners, traffic experts, landscape architects, students, filmmakers and photographers from around the world" for two months of "presenting plans and exchanging ideas in the form of exhibitions, lectures, publications, debates, films and excursions."

Monday 10 February (Daily 8pm; 12/02 & 18/02 Mat 1pm)

@ Lyric Hammersmith, King St., W6 (020 8741 2311) Tube: Hammersmith

Tiny Dynamite is a collaboration between Frantic Assembly and Paines Plough, the script for which is written by Abi Morgan, who has had much success in the Edinburgh Fringe. It is a touching and intimate piece, following two men as they go on holiday, where they meet a girl called Madeleine. Madeleine proves to be a catalyst for the pair, reminding them of the suicide of a friend years before, such is her uncanny resemblance. There is painful but humorous wrangling over the affections of Madeleine and in the tussle, friendships are broken and reformed, memories resurrected and exorcised. Frantic's unique brand of physicality complements the changing camaraderie and fragility of the trio's relationship well and the cinematic soundtrack really goes to work on the pathos and melancholia of the script. Quite touching all in all.

NB: Show run ends on Sat 22/02.

Tuesday 11 February (7.30pm)

@ Shepherds Bush Empire, Shepherds Bush Green, W12 (020.7771.2000) Tube: Shepherds Bush

Brrrayayayah-haa! Named after a city on the California-Mexico border (hence "Cal-exico") this group of experienced international multi-instrumentalists meld music to represent the culture of this unique region. What results is a kind of ethnic Mexicana and swamp surf: the traditional vibrancy of Hispanic vocals and acoustic guitars, seared by the rolling clash of the Link Wray electric could be just what you need to escape from a cold wet winter's day in Shepherd's Bush. The show precedes a forthcoming European tour in the spring which omits London dates, so catch them while you can. Support is from French artists of "intimate liquescent pop" Bed.

Wednesday 12 February (7pm)

@ Hammersmith Apollo, Queen Caroline St., W6 (0870.606.3400 ) Tube: Hammersmith

Lets just lay the cards down right, Sigur Ros are the shit. Successfully combining integrity and accessibility, they crash conventional instrumental constraints to create ultra-atmospheric Icelandic structures that carry you along their emotional narrative. But, they are not so innovative that they can escape the tag Radiohead and other granddaddies of the 30 minute prog-rock track. Mind you, they could be tagged to worse, and Radiohead certainly were at this same stage in their career. Could these guys then be something really special? Will this gig at the Apollo be a seminal moment in Rock history? (stop us if we're getting carried away here.) Let's look at the facts, they have just breezed away from the Icelandic Music Awards with Best Pop Album and Performance, they are currently no. 1 in Rolling Stone's college chart, and are amid an international tour, selling out along the way... Go see them for their string quartet Anima, or get a copy of their (only available on tour) soundtrack for the film Hlemmur, or view their haunting video art. They are the only band we've managed to watch in the non-smoking RFH without sneaking out... Bewitching and beautiful... Just GO.

Giveaway: We have two Sigur Ros CDs to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us how many albums they have released.

Thursday 13 February (6:30pm)

@ National Film Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020.7928.3232) Tube: Embankment/Waterloo

Steven Soderbergh is working on being the directorial version of a genre specialist, a most brilliant one at that. With Sex Lies... there's the art-house debut, then Out of Sight the mandatory hip-dialogue Elmore Leonard piece, ultra-flash re-make Ocean's Eleven, Oscar-winning Erin Brokovich, and of course, the masterful Traffic, we say no more. Now here's another remake, one that fuses all his other adventures, authored by Stanislaw Lem (1961) and made real by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972, Solaris is traditional old-fashioned science fiction a la Issac Asimov. Ponderous, other-worldly, and concerned with human issues, weird? It's not your usual -- go boldly where no person has gone before -- Trek. Produced by James "Terminator" Cameron, although not a Titanic, it's reframed the pulse of Tarkovsky's other-worldly -- both visually and otherwise -- ruminations over memory, loss and intelligence, into one of love and loss, all this layered over with a smattering of good-looking, old fashioned sci-fi. Drop a few stars into the equation and you have a very strange salad indeed. So catch star George Clooney in discussion with Soderberg, no doubt he's still trying to explain why he made Batman and Robin!

Saturday 15 February (7:30pm)

@ Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, N1 (020.7226.1686) Tube: Highbury & Islington

A band that are best known for being Mormons from rural Minnesota (though very little in their music reflects their religious beliefs), Low are an intriguing slow-core three piece (of guitar, bass and snare drum) that really don't fit into the cliche of rock and roll consumption. Their music is depressing, emotional, soft and delicate yet you probably won't feel down when you leave this gig -- it's more likely that you'll feel uplifted and filled with a new joie de vivre (unless of course you are a smoker as they do like to encourage a non-smoking policy at their gigs). Union Chapel is possibly the best established venue in London to see this band.

Ends Sunday 16 February

@ New End Theatre, New End, Hampstead, NW3 (020.7794.0022)

There are rare occasions when gathering up one's possessions to leave the theatre can be accompanied by a burgeoning sense of provocation at what you've just seen, rather than a vague gloom at the journey home that awaits. And All the Children Cried provokes in such a way that it leaves one wandering along the route home feeling pricked to ones very entrails. It is a remarkable assimilation between a fictional telling of two women imprisoned for killing children and real life accounts of women who have killed children, with Myra Hindley featuring prominently. This is a ruthless and incisive dramatic inquiry into the psychology of child murder by women, with no demonisation and no emphatic answers. Each night, the audience IS encouraged to debate their views in a post-show discussion. Even if you don't stay to air your views, you can be sure this piece will have you airing them somewhere else.

Scandinavian Design
Charlotte & Peter Fiell
Taschen: £19.99

Buy Scandinavian Design