Weekend Festival Highlights

Published by Melanie | Filed under Art, Events, Guest Author.

Greetings once again dear readers.  I bring you information about what’s hot and happening in the Camberwell Arts Festival this weekend.

On Friday you’ll be spoilt for choice.  Local artist Steven Appleby will be offering an insight into the extraordinary
world of one of the country’s leading cartoonists.  Stephen is a regular contributor to The Guardian, and has published books such as ‘Steven Appleby’s Normal Life’ & ‘The Secret Thoughts of Cats’.  You can catch him at the Library at 7pm.  Meanwhile, at 8pm on the Green, the Scratch Choir of random passing souls will perform the songs they’ve been practising over the course of the week.  The songs all have a connection to Camberwell in one way or another, apparently.  And for the keen photographers out there – we know who you are – your challenge is to ‘Shoot Your Own Damn Festival’ – the results can be displayed at the Arts Bar.

Saturday and Sunday bring the famous Open Studios – all the artists who are squirreled away in Camberwell’s nooks and crannies all year round, throw open their doors and invite you in to take a peek at their work.  They might even offer you a glass of wine and a canape.  Hell, they might even sell you some of their work.  There are studios all over Camberwell, in collective buildings like Vanguard Court, or in the artists’ own homes.  Check out the names and addresses on the Camberwell Arts website (http://www.camberwellarts.org.uk/).  And if you’re a little shy and prefer to travel in a pack, a tour of some of the open studios will be meeting at Vanguard Court at 3pm on Saturday.

Meanwhile on the Green on Saturday will be Camberwell’s first Arts and Crafts Market.  Organised by Camberwell Community Council this could become a regular event if well supported.  Whilst you’re there it’s the last chance to enjoy the Camberwell Piano – there’ll be an All-Comers concert at 12noon, and then a stripping down of the thing to find new ways to play it at 2pm.  At the same time, in Butterfly Walk, deaf performance artist Aaron Williamson will be busking, but with a twist – he’ll give money to anyone who stops and listens (only 5p mind)!  Saturday night brings Wet Sounds at the Swimming Pool – an evening of underwater entertainment which invites you to float or dive through water to hear a collection of especially made sound art.

Come Sunday it’s wind-down time, and there’ll be an artist’s encampment on Camberwell Green.  More than 40 artists will be coming and going, creating art works, giving performances and leading interactive activities.  In the tradition of the historic Camberwell fair, the event will end with a puppet fight – Puppet Wars.  And then we can all go home.

More details and information about times and locations can be found at http://www.camberwellarts.org.uk/.

Make Your Own Damn Festival!

Published by Melanie | Filed under Art, Events, Guest Author.

Peter has very kindly agreed to a guest post to let you all know about what’s happening in the Camberwell Arts Festival over the next few days. 

The Big Event in Myatts Field on Saturday was a wonderful opening to the Festival ( HUGE thanks to Laura and the team at Home Live Arts) with a real celebratory feel.  The piano on  Camberwell Green is also proving to be a hit – around 20 people were gathered there for the Scratch Choir practice yesterday evening.  Fitting the Festival’s theme of ‘Make Your Own Damn Festival’, the Scratch Choir is made up of any random soul who turns up, and will be giving a final performance on the Green on Friday evening.  In the meantime, the piano is there for all other random souls to play and sing as the mood takes them.  On Thursday evening there will be an ‘All-Comers Concert’ so get down there if you can play, or even if you can’t.

If you fancy being musically creative in other ways, on Wednesday evening the Complaints Chorus will be setting people’s Camberwell moans and groans to music in the Arts Bar.  Drop in to air your grievnaces, and hang around to see comedian James Sherwood’s take on the area later in the evening. 

If music ain’t your bag, then no fear becuase there’s other ways to get creative instead.  This evening people can drop into the Arts Bar to make posters to hang in windows (you can do this at other venues around Camberwell throughout the Festival too, such as Hosue cafe).  On Wednesday there will be a life drawing class with a difference at the Castle – burlesque artistes and others will be your models as they perform.   And, if you’re still not satisfied with these creative opportunites then get down the Sun and Doves on Thursday evening for a spot of knitting as the Stitch and Bitch crew challenge you to ‘Knit Your Own Damn Festival’!

For those of you not seeking creative outlets, then you might want to try some of the more traditional events – the kind where you can just sit back and appreciate other people’s artistic talents.  Every evening from Tuesday to Friday there will be tours of the Camberwell School of Art Summer Show given by artists and others who will pick out their favourites from what is always an exciting show.  Be in the Art School foyer at 6.30pm to join a tour. 

For something really civilised, then head down to the Grove Chapel on Thursday evening for a concert of ‘light classics’.  Alternatively, head over to the Marlborough for a bit of madness at Creative Routes’ Muses Cafe.

Hopefully, that will be enough to keep you busy over the next few days.  We’ll post again soon to let you know what’s coming up over the weekend.  We’d love to hear comments from anyone who has attended any of the events in the meantime.

All events in the Festival are free.  Full info and details about venues can be found on our website here: http://www.camberwellarts.org.uk/ (apologies for poor links – just scroll down the page to see everything).

Melanie (Camberwell Arts)

Let the bacchanalia commence

Published by Peter | Filed under Art, Crime, Events.

First, the bad news: A man was stabbed to death in Paulet Road on Sunday.

Second, the neutral news: I’ve installed a new comments system; it needs tweaking but should be working properly. Let me know how you get on with it.

Third, the good news: It’s party time! The Camberwell Arts Festival kicks off on Saturday with The Big Event in Myatt’s Fields Park, and continues through the week until the Sunday after. I’ve contrived to be away for launch weekend (every damned year; I swear I don’t plan it that way) but I’ll hopefully have somebody reporting on it for me soon.

You can download all the details here (PDF, 530KB).

Also this weekend, the Marlborough pub (67-69 Sedgmoor Place) are hosting Marlborough Fest, a three day festival of music. They have a “large beer garden with two sheds, benches, flora & fauna, bbq, the occasional squirrel”.

Enjoy yourselves

Faded glories and wild schemes

Published by Peter | Filed under Development, Eating & Drinking, Events, History.

Hello, everyone. *Tut.* Politics, eh?

Right, I don’t want this to turn into the Le Petit Parisien blog, I just wanted to say that I went there for dinner on Saturday and had a delicious lamb shank, while the wife enjoyed a really good steak. Definitely worth a visit, even though I think they’ve set their price point a little high; but then, I think that of almost everywhere I eat.

If I could make one small suggestion to them: get some more typical French specials on. I’m a huge fan of hearty classics like boeuf bourguignon, so seeing something like that would have made my night.

On to other matters: I may just have come up with a plan to recapture the faded glories of SE5; let’s bottle and sell Camber Well water! The famous restorative nature of the waters would go down a treat with today’s health-conscious, work-hard play-hard middle classes.

By the way, those aforementioned faded glories may well be represented in the Lost Southwark exhibition at The Cuming Museum. If topic for debate should ever be required, try this: my contention is that no post-WWII building in SE5 has added positively to the area’s character; discuss.

Camberwell Library is Southwark Council’s Library of the Month! There’s a series of events on throughout June, although it’s almost the 10th already so you’ve missed some of them.

If I may move on to housekeeping matters briefly:

First, I may try out a new commenting system shortly. Nothing radical, but it should allow for more flexibility in discussion. I’m sure you won’t be timid in letting me know your feelings about it.

Second, I am still looking for contributors, no matter how occasional. Mail me (peter@camberwellonline.co.uk) if interested.

Enjoy your days off, anyone who is using the tube strike as an excuse not to go to work.

Le Petit Parisien respond to criticism

Published by Peter | Filed under Eating & Drinking.

Note: This was left as a comment for the previous post, but I thought it deserved a post of its own. – Peter

Hello all.

My name is Matthew, and I am the FoH Supervisor at Le Petit Parisien.
I’ve been reading with horror some of the stories on this post, and would like to address some of the points raised, if I may.

Firstly, to Peter, the writer of this popular blog, you were correct that when we first opened, just over two weeks ago, we did not have any French or Belgian beer on tap.
Sadly, we are tied to Punch Taverns on our beers and ciders, and Punch’s only French beer is Kronenbourg, which we now stock in place of Carlsberg.
We also have (this morning in fact) installed Leffe Blonde, and Hoegarden, much to our excitement.

We are hoping to start a revolving selection of Real Ales (I am an enormous Real Ale fan), on our single beer engine, and some interesting Ciders on draft from the fridge. This will hopefully be ready by this weekend!

Thankyou for your well wishes, it does mean a lot to hear reserved judgement and constructive criticism! I am very glad that you enjoyed your steak baguette, we are very proud of the meat that our butcher provides- we have worked with him for many years.

Monkeycat: I am sorry that your Mixed Grill didn’t live up to your expectations.. The Parisien owner has assured me that it is something that one does see in authentic Parisien brasseries, and *I* can assure you that the grill is cleaned every evening, but I apologise if you way you were spoken to upset you- you’re quite right about us needing to listen to our customers!

Yak: Oh dear! There are only three staff members Front of House, including myself and the Owner, so it seems as though you
must have asked about the crepe to our young trainee barman.. I will arrange a staff meeting to discuss the menu in detail again. Also- I really do believe that our food does represent good value for money.. Everything we produce is fresh, made on the premises, and never frozen (well apart from the frites and the ice cream !).
Our Nicoise Salad has a fresh tuna steak on top, our Cote de Boeuf is over 1kg for sharing between two people and can be cut with a butter knife! I do hope you try us again soon, and haven’t been put off completely!

Copeywolf: I don’t really know what you mean by saying that we’re a gimmick.. We’re owned by a Frenchman (the ’small
parisien’ himself), and our Chefs are both French, one from Paris and the other from Algeria. I assure you they all speak French! I do not speak much French, but the Owner is teaching me slowly! We do now have Punch’s only French beer, as discussed above, and I can whole heartedly assure you that none of our food is ‘plain crepe’, unless you ask for one .

Vix: I’m so sorry! You seem to have had a dreadful experience! I suppose your feelings about the painting, interior design, and the staff are subjective, but I’m sorry that you hate it so much.. I am confused about how you could have waited an hour for an omelette(!), and have been told there was no sparkling water when we have cases and cases of it downstairs. This is all a mystery to me. However, it is entirely likely that our barman hadn’t heard of a St Clements, or even bitter lemon. He is young and has not worked anywhere before in his life. However, what he might have lacked two weeks ago in knowledge he makes up for in enthusiasm and hard work. We are giving him a chance and training him up; ‘Employ enthusiasm and teach skills!’, my father used to say!

Just a couple more things before I go (for fear of monopolising this post!!): I think Mark Dodds is right about hitting the ground running. We have experienced teething problems, and we are ironing them out. We are planning on rolling out some new menu items (FISH!!), a cocktail list and NHS discounts. We are also going to start opening our upstairs room for private hire, doing live Jazz on Sunday evenings, and getting our Algerian Head Chef to prepare delicious Cous Cous nights.

One last thing: It is very easy to read and write bad reviews of a place online. I speak to as many customers as I can, and as far as I can tell, nearly all of them are very happy.. I really am sorry for the bad experiences that some of you have had, and appreciate that some people won’t like that way we have decorated the place, but we DO care about what people think, and WILL respond to your feedback, so come in and see me (I’m the ‘non-french’ speaking guy with red hair) and we can have a a glass of wine and a chat.

Thanks for your feedback, hopefully I will have the time to be a regular visitor to the Camberwell blogosphere (I have lived in Camberwell myself for almost 4 years).

Sorry for taking up so much room!

Bye!

Down and out in Le Petit Parisien, London

Published by Peter | Filed under Development, Eating & Drinking.

I dropped into Le Petit Parisien, Camberwell’s latest bar/bistro, last weekend, for a steak baguette and a pint of cider. Please bear in mind that the following notes are now almost two weeks out of date, so things may have changed since then, but I found the whole place to be a little half-hearted. The exterior has been tastefully redone, but the interior is largely unchanged from the Dark Horse days, with only a lick of paint as the major differentiator.

The paintwork seemed to be a little hurried, the menus still had price stickers on the back, there were light fittings missing; it gave the impression of having opened in a hurry. However, my major problem with it is that it doesn’t feel French, largely due to the fact that there are no French (or even Belgian) beers at the bar. When I think of France I think of glasses of foaming Kronenbourg or Kasteel; sadly missing from the bog-standard selection at LPP. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the food as well, although my steak baguette was very tasty.

I don’t want to sound like I’m slagging the place off, as I really hope that it does well; Camberwell could do with a(nother?) decent brasserie/restaurant. I just think they need to do a bit of work on the atmosphere of the place; something that I hope will come with time. Anyone been more recently want to correct my initial impressions?

Enjoyed the best of Camberwell this weekend, too; went to Edwardes to trade in the wife’s bike for a newer model, where we were pleasantly surprised with the deal that was offered; then to Cube for a haircut (has been sold, so will be staying open); then Johanssons for a fruit smoothie; with the only disappointment coming from Cruson, where all the English asparagus was sold out. Season’s almost over.

Picked up a copy of the Quarterly from the newsagent; highlights include news that the old green buildings at the foot of Grove Lane have been sold and will be developed “in a traditional architectural style… [which] will outshine” the Mary Datchelor development; and that the old Camber Well has been rediscovered, in the garden of 56 Grove Park.

I’m off for a dirty weekend with the wife; will hopefully have a new face chipping in to the blog when I get back. TTFN.