Shepard Fairey, Banksy, and other artisitc vandals

We did a graffiti walking tour through Shoreditch and saw some works by well-known graffiti artists... and a lot of graffiti by "artists" nobody knows. This tour is best described in pictures, not words, so just enjoy.

Banksy

Banksy


Shepard Fairey's Andre the Giant peeping over the buildings

Another Shepard Fairey (also known for his Obama Hope and Vote Earth - Earth Hour posters)


Now for random graffiti:







This wall (which is now covered in graffiti is actually in front of (and thereby protecting) a Banksy rat piece. Hence why its the "rat trap."


Even some live graffiti work to conclude the tour!

Now I've had the time of my life - and I owe it all to Twitter.

Dirty Dancing - live on stage. The movie literally came to life before me.


Cost to see the show = £0, thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend. One of the girls on the trip has a friend back home who "follows someone on Twitter" who works in the West End marketing department who could somehow give away free seats for the show. He had them on will call at the theater for us when we arrived.

I honestly expected us to arrive and the box office to stare at us blankly and say that there are no seats reserved for us and that they've never heard of "random dude from Twitter." (Sarah knew his name, luckily). They found our reservation, however, so Twitter dude pulled through - good seats too - center stage, a few rows back.

I enjoyed the show. An atypical musical, actually, because most of the songs were not sung by the cast; rather, most were performed solely by the orchestra or were recordings from the original soundtrack. Lisa performed her hula song, nevertheless, and Johnny's brother busted out a few of the love songs. He was a fantastic singer - and quite possibly my favorite cast member.

The singing wasn't the highlight, however, because the point of the performance was the fantastic live dancing (hence the name of the show). Penny's dancing floored me - especially her partner work. Johnny was also very talented, but unfortunately no Patrick Swayze in the looks department.

Check out a little promo clip of the show at the top of the main Dirty Dancing London page: http://dirtydancinglondon.com. (There is a little button in the bottom right corner that turns on the sound).

So if I didn't get free tickets from Twitter, there was an alternate way to receive free tickets: National Watermelon Day
On Tuesday 4 August, the first 100 people to arrive at the Aldwych Theatre before 10am with their Tesco watermelon (with proof of purchase) and recreate the classic line uttered by Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman - ‘I carried a watermelon?!’ - will receive 2 tickets for that night’s performance.

I wonder if the little itty bitty watermelons (typically the seedless ones) would count or if you have to legitimately lug one of the huge, fully grown watermelons all the way to the theater from the grocery store. I wonder if they even have seedless watermelon in Britain. Their food certainly does not have nearly the preservatives that American food does. (My bread goes bad in approximately 12 hours from purchase at Tesco). I've heard they are also opposed to genetic modification of foods, so would they be opposed to a seedless watermelon (which I believe crosses two plants)? Just a thought.

Another thought: it would be ideal if London would stagger the releases of their plays/musicals. Leicester Square and surrounding area has so many theaters, all the plays start at around 7:30 and most last about the same time, which results in packed, chaotic Underground stations and trains. Dirty Dancing let out at exactly the same time as Oliver or something and we were queuing for a while. I believe this could be resolved by starting one at 7, one at 7:30, one at 8, etc. No one asks for my opinion though.

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*Editor's Note (for mom or anyone who is unfamiliar with Twitter): Twitter is a social media site. Essentially, its a website where I can post interesting updates about myself (or my company, organization, etc) and those updates are sent to anyone who "follows me." The updates of everyone I'm following show up on my Twitter feed. It has the potential to be stalkerish, but it really isn't. I have privacy settings so only those I approve can follow me and my posts are private. Plus, I don't update every 10 minutes with my daily activities or schedule.

Actors in the church, Preachers in the park

A church with theatrical connections:
St. Paul's Covent Garden church - better known as The Actor's Church

It is the parish church of the Drury Lane Theater (do you know the muffin man?), the Royal Opera House and other theaters in the Covent Garden area.

Looking for Frankenstein or Scarlett O'Hara? There are memorial plaques to Boris Karloff and Viven Leigh inside! Apparently, the JMW Turner - who painted so many of the works of art we looked at in week 1 - was baptized there.

My favorite part of the Actor's Church, however, was the little garden courtyard - very peaceful and relaxing.


I loved the saying on the bottom of one of the memorial benches: "Promise me you won't forget me. If I thought you would, I'd never leave.


A park with preachers on their "soapbox" - Hyde Park's Speakers' Corner


For what its worth - none of them actually had soapboxes. A little bit disappointing. "Get off your footstool" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.


Most of the speeches were on some sort of religious topic - the man in the purple suit coat was a Christian and the man in the tan jacket was an atheist. Quite a contrast right next to each other.



After you've been shouted at and verbally accosted, some young gentlemen were there to give out "Free Hugs."



Leaving Hyde Park and Speakers' Corner, we got a little distracted by a 27 feet tall horse head and the Marble Arch (the original gate entrance to Buckingham Palace) before threatening rain clouds chased us home.



(Note: The little girl is feeding the pigeons which are in mid-flight in the pic.)

Oh what a night! Hypnotizing, mesmerizing me.

I couldn't stop smiling the whole night when we went to see Jersey Boys.


A number from the show was featured on the Tony Awards this year... and ever since, I really wanted to see it live. We grabbed student rush tickets after class and a bite to eat at Ed's 1950's diner before the show. Real American burgers and milk shakes made with ice cream - not just milk! I think something got seriously lost in translation with some British milk shake shops that literally use just milk to mix with chunks of candy bars. Not exactly satisfying, so Ed's was a much appreciated stop!


Honestly, the music was fantastic - think of all the Four Seasons numbers you know:
Sherry
Big Girls Don't Cry
Walk Like A Man
Stay
Bye, Bye Baby
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
Who Loves You
Working My Way Back To You
Oh What A Night!

By the end of the show, they had us all on our feet dancing and clapping (though I must admit I was swaying in my seat for most of the show!) As I recall it ended much too soon - Oh what a night!

I've been walking around London singing The Four Seasons ever since.

The singers were phenomenal - especially the one who played Frankie Valli. We actually didn't have the guy on the poster in the photo with me - we had his alternate who floored me with his musical talent. And the guy who played Tommy (above) was a perfect casting choice!


The show wasn't like Mamma Mia, which just uses the songs of Abba to complement a new story. Jersey Boys took the audience through the lives and careers of the Four Seasons from putting the band together to American Band Stand to the band's breakup to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's an interesting story - and each "season" of their careers are told from a different band member's perspective. Well worth seeing!

P.S. The cast was mostly Londoners - and they pulled off a convincing Jersey accent. Well done!

Stratford, Shakespeare, and Swine Flu

A trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birth - and burial- place, was planned by our program advisers. The town was simply picturesque! Getting out of the city to spend a relaxing couple of days people-watching in the town square of Stratford was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of 7.5 million Londoners.

The best place to people-watch was in the courtyard square next to this swan fountain. Everyone was drawn to it - young, old, tourist, townfolk.

Just beyond the fountain we watched some guys knocking a soccer ball around. If you can't quite tell, the fellow with the ball is in fact wearing huge wellies, a neon green vest, and a gray beret. His friend behind the fountain is in neon orange trousers. (Yes I said trousers... but I can't say pants... if you say pants here, you mean underwear, and I frankly have no idea what color he has on or even if he's wearing any).

So that scene a little interesting, but not terribly entertaining. Now turn about 90 degrees.

You thought I was judging them. What do you think is going through their heads? "All those young kids these days... What are these hoodlums doing ruining our peaceful little town? Rant rant rant."

I actually think I know where the guys were going and what they were doing in Stratford-upon-Avon (and perhaps why they are dressed as they are). Probably the same place our friend Jared on the train from London was going.

We found some seats on the train up to Stratford and beside us is a guy in a Michigan t-shirt with a huge backpacking sack and a Strongbow. (Drinking is allowed on the rail trains in the UK. It was allowed on the tube until May 31 last year - and there was apparently a city-wide party on all the trains on that night).

Anyway, we heckle Jared for his preference in college football teams and he asks if we came all the way from Ohio "for this." We ask, for what?

Apparently, that weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon was a festival called "Global Gathering," which was an "unforgettable two-day electronic music and dance marathon" (aka a 48-hour techno rave that most will actually not remember because of the quantities of alcohol they have consumed).

We actually were going to Stratford to see some Shakespeare (A Winter's Tale on Friday night and a Saturday matinee, Julius Ceaser). The Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theater is undergoing major renovation, so we actually had a tour of and saw two plays in a temporary space, called the Courtyard Theater. The Courtyard Theater was built off of a previous theater space to provide a place for the RSC to perform during the 5-year renovation. (It was made with all recyclable materials, so hopefully those will be put to use when it is torn down in 2011).

The Swan
The inside of the temporary Courtyard Theater

The Courtyard Theater is the prototype for the redesigned Swan Theater. I must admit, I think the idea for the space is pretty cool - and I love the thrust stage - but those were the most uncomfortable seats to perch on for two three-hour Shakespeare plays. The railings were always in your line-of-view, so you either had to lean forward to see over them or sit in a side-bend position to see under them. Some seats were so high off the ground that your feet dangled - and I don't mean a little - I mean my feet were 6 inches from the ground. (Standing for three hours at the globe was actually more comfortable).

Dear Designer,
Please note: Not everyone is 7 feet tall. In fact, almost no one is.
Thanks.

The plays were interesting, I suppose, when I could focus on them and not how uncomfortable I was or how a bar was severely limiting my view of the action. I guess I went into them with a little bit of a bad attitude, however, because during our tour, our guide essentially bashed the Globe - which I thought was an enjoyable experience, great acting, and what I believe would be fairly authentic Shakespeare. I was going to try not to compare the two - because, to be fair, seeing a comedy versus a tragedy is likely to be an entirely different experience. I figured I would just appreciate both. However, the tour guide started the competition. Her words were something like, "Well the Globe is good for tourists, but if you want to see real theater you come to the Royal Shakespeare Company."

I guess what they consider real theater is Shakespeare's script but modern stage design, hydraulic moving bookcases, moving digital images on screens, and extremely over-the-top acting (to the point that it is no longer believable).

I really don't think the competition is necessary because they serve two entirely different purposes. One is for upholding and recreating the original staging of Shakespeare's plays and the other is for modern adaptations. Both are valid artistically. I didn't hear Shakespeare rolling over in his grave because the RSC was putting a new spin on his work.
But if you ask me which I would recommend, I say go to the Globe.


We spent one night in Stratford. I wish we'd had a little more time in Stratford. Namely, an hour. Hannah and I wanted to rent a little rowboat to go out on the Avon River.



One of the little boat renting shops had rowboats named after Shakespeare's characters. I'm not sure how many would want to row around in Ophelia... who drowned to death in a brook.


This was our hostel - a little Georgian mansion. Not bad accommodations - and they had great croissants at breakfast.



We rode the bus out the first night, but the next morning we decided to save a few pounds (in my wallet) and hopefully lose a few pounds (in my thighs) and walk the two miles into town... a little poetic walk in the English countryside.





So I've told my tales about Stratford, about Shakespeare, that leaves us with swine flu.

Many of the students with me on the trip had been a little under the weather. A sore throat here, a cough or two there, a stomach ache maybe. One girl felt particularly ill, however, with a high fever and sudden cough.

Swine flu pandemic information from the UK's National Health Services
The typical symptoms are:

• a sudden fever (a high body temperature of 38°C/100.4°F or above), and
• a sudden cough.

Well, our resident adviser tries to take her to the hospital... they aren't admitting anyone with suspicions of swine flu - big signs on every hospital proclaim this - nor are they testing for it anymore (with over 11,000 new potential cases a day), but she was quarantined.
Please note: She has since recovered!

What a weekend, huh?

From Jerry Springer to Destiny's Child

I'm referring of course to the stars of London's production of Chicago, the musical.



When we first arrived, Jerry Springer was in the role as Billy Flynn. Mid-July, he left the cast and Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child joined on as Roxie Hart.


(By the way, getting the Michelle Williams picture was quite the battle. The theater usher put the show at 8:00 sign right in front of her name, which of course you want IN your picture. Well right before I'm trying to get this shot, two girls move the sign in front of the poster right beside Michelle's. The little usher swoops down from seemingly nowhere, mutters angry words, and drags the sign back to its original position. He disappears - or so you think. So Billy casually scoots the sign over just a few inches so I can snap the photo - and literally this usher pops out and very angrily returns the sign in front of the poster again. I feel like he fought this battle all night and it likely would have served his purposes to place the sign in front of a less popular - though not necessarily less talented, of course - actress's poster.)

Anyway, one of the girls on the trip celebrated her birthday, and it was her birthday wish to see Chicago. It was my desire to see shows while I was in London, and I was a little interested in seeing the show. The story line is sassy, the songs are catchy, the movie was great, so we checked out tickets.

Actually, our professor who was taking us on our afternoon excursion through London conveniently passed us by the theater while we were examining the Seven Dials slums of Mayhew's work (which is now a fairly trendy area). He stopped us and said, "I will now proceed to give a boring historical lecture, but anyone interested in seeing the show can check out student rush tickets."

So - I love student rush tickets, by the way. £20 or so for £60+ seats. Can I forever have a student id card? We got a great view from our seats in the stalls - only a few rows from the stage. The show was entertaining, but I didn't walk away stunned. I think this is one of the few musicals made into movies where the movie might actually not only put up a good fight but win. It's hard to beat the all-star movie cast (Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifa, Taye Diggs) and really creative dramatic aspects of the movie that just couldn't be duplicated on a stage. That doesn't mean that the live show wasn't great - I actually quite appreicated the second act which deviates from the movie storyline and song numbers a bit. And for the rest of the evening and the entire walk/tube ride home the group of us sang and danced out numbers. I could appreciate the live musical separate from the movie.


Slight side note - before we went to the show, we stopped in a cupcake store for a delicious treat. I actually was quite surprised because it was actually a muffin topped with icing (sometimes I think they get things a little confused... I had a milkshake here that literally was made with milk. No ice cream. It wasn't quite as satisfying as I could have hoped, as much as I love milk).

The muffin topped with icing was nevertheless delicious though. However, the real perplexing part was this little bunny gummy on top. I didn't think anything of it at first - Easter bunny and egg in July is a little bit strange. I've only ever heard of Christmas in July? I come to find out - the British don't dye Easter eggs. They just don't. Some actually have never heard of such a thing and some are quite confused by how we do it (our resident advisor from Greenwich thought we injected the eggs with color before we hard boiled them so the color would seep out onto the shell). So why... especially in July... is there an Easter bunny holding a colored Easter egg on my icing topped muffin? Something to think about!

Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle

Look up anywhere in London and you'll find round blue signs that proclaim what famous person lived, died, or once stopped by for a cup of tea at that location.

For example, below: Charles Dickens, novelist lived here.

Or, as a boy, Charles Dickens worked here.

Which happens to be posted on a T.G.I. Fridays.


Ha! Charles Dickens' career started as a busboy.
(Or this was previously the location of the blacking factory, which could have inspired his novel Oliver Twist).
Take your pick, it can be "write your own history" like those choose your own ending books.

I'm not sure I believe this one at 221B Baker St that said Sherlock Holmes lived here. My rational side says that a character that only exists in the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's books and my imagination probably did not once live at this place where they have now created a "museum" where you can pay £6 to "see the chair Sherlock Holmes sat in." This may be an even more ingenious get-rich-quick scheme than the previously discussed postcards.




Perhaps everyone was already aware of this, but I just learned it, so I thought I'd share. The character House (from the TV show) was actually modeled after Sherlock Holmes. I didn't immediately make the Holmes connection until it was pointed out to me, but it does make sense since House is actually a sort of detective and - like Holmes - has virtually no ability to form personal relationships and is slightly addicted to drugs. So House is kind of like Holmes - but I actually think House is rooted also in the man who inspired the Holmes character - Dr. Joseph Bell who Doyle once worked for and was noted for "drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations" when he worked for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. This doesn't explain why the first diagnosis from House is always Lupus, but it does make me look at the show in a new perspective.

Anyway, I digressed. I did actually pay the £4 to tour the Dickens House, which I think was a little more worthwhile since Dickens actually existed - and I was actually able to see the table he wrote on and the garden he sat in.





Two of my favorite parts of the Dickens museum:
1. A painting of him the museum had on display

The placard said it was unfinished... but I think I would prefer it this way. It is very artistic to have only him and his immediate reality colored - the characters, novels and works he finished - leaving the rest of his imagined, unfinished stories sketches as they likely were in his mind. I believe most artists and writers will likely always have a number of ideas that never come to full existence.

2: The dress-up box.
Not to be a complete 5 year old, but it was pretty fun to put on some period clothing and wig. (I actually think the wig is on backwards. Oops). Fun fact: The attorneys here still wear wigs (real horse hair, not fake of course). Our professor Peter took us through the Inns where they train, and we saw a few just after a ceremony where they all had worn theirs. The most basic, simple one costs.... £600. Maybe I should go into that business!


Speaking of really cool houses of people who are no longer living, we visited the house of Sir John Soane, architect and crazy art/sculpture collector, which has now been turned into a museum. We couldn't take pictures, but click here for a virtual tour of just one of the many rooms. He could illuminate entire rooms - even in the basement - with natural light and mirrors - even on a typical cloudy British day.

On that note, the British are terribly optimistic about their weather... They have SUNDIALS everywhere. Why? This doesn't seem like a very reliable way of telling time where it is cloudy or rainy seemingly daily. I haven't taken pictures of all of them, but this was one pretty cool one at the Royal Observatory in the Greenwich Park.


It reminds me of the Little Mermaid when they bring the sheet music to Sebastian, and I initially thought it was just a sculpture. False. When the sun is shining, the shadow is casted and the space between the tips of the dolphins tails lands on the scroll which is marked with hours. Pretty cool, huh?

If I don't get into British wig-making or museum curating for people who never existed, I might actually go into meteorology here. I have decided to stop checking the weather because they haven't any idea. The days when it says a high percent of rain all day, which then deterred me from going to the park or outdoor market, have ironically been sunny and dry, but that could simply be the irony of life. But I figure I can say chance of rain any day and be right most of the time. I've officially gone on a tangent, and I apologize. More adventures to come.