Last week I was house-sitting in Barnes, which just so happens to be about ten or so minutes away from Kensington via bus and Tube, and it just so happened that there is an Ian Dury retrospective exhibition on at the Royal College of Art in the wonderfully named Kensington Gore... so it seemed churlish of me not to go. I love Ian Dury and am completely gutted that I had three separate opportunities to see him and The Blockheads live but never did. I firmly believe that he is one of Britain's foremost poets - and one of our greatest Bohemian eccentrics as well. I knew that he'd been an art student but had never actually seen any of his work - or so I thought. To get to the RCA you have to take a rather splendid walk up Kensington High Street and along by the side of Hyde Park. It was a blisteringly hot day with full sunshine so you can imagine how magnificent the full glow of Hyde Park Gates were set amongst all that lovely lush greenery - London has a stupendous amount of parks and wild spaces and I urge you to check them out!

shall i mourn your decline with some thunderbird wine and a black handkerchief? i miss your sad virginia whisper, i miss the voice that called my heart

Finally I arrived, and can now say that I've "been" to the RCA with a knowing wink. The exhibition itself is quite informal but no less hallowed and what struck me first was how strong the vibe of Ian Dury is in all his work, to the point where I felt that he was actually there. He was obsessed with lad mag style pinups and under the tutelage of his teacher and mentor Sir Peter Blake was something of a leading light in the Pop Art scene and it really shows. Movies and sex jostle with a saucy British vibe, and a lot of his paintings sing with acres of sequins around beautifully executed pencil drawings. That was the second thing that struck me - just how much hard graft he'd put into learning and executing his craft. Which brought me on to the "I never saw his work". It turns out that I had - he'd designed tons of record sleeves and illustrations for magazine articles, many of which I'd seen on my numerous excursions around secondhand record stores and in my obsessive collecting of old magazines. What I took away from the exhibit:

• I need to knuckle down and properly work on my drawing skills - Ian Dury managed all this whilst teaching, working and being in a band, so I really have no excuse
• Being true to yourself and your passion is key in artwork - without compromise and without hesitation
• You can mix the profane and the lofty with great results - and sequins don't hurt either
• The Royal Albert Hall (opposite the RCA) is a lot smaller than it looks on TV

The whole exhibition was lovingly curated by his daughter Jemima and features comments from former colleagues, band mates and teachers, and the amount of affection he's held in both by contemporaries and fans cannot be underestimated. If you happen to be house-sitting, or find yourself in Kensington, or are a fan of Ian Dury, then this is definitely an exhibition worth checking out - and it's free! The exhibition runs until September 1st 2013 at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 (link below).

And another thing

Ian Dury: More Than Fair
all the info!

My favourite Ian Dury song EVER
Sweet Gene Vincent

Hey Hey Mobile by Ian Dury
How glorious is this?!

There are two things which provide what Humphrey Lyttleton referred to as balm to my soul - complete and instant - a really good cup of coffee in my favourite coffee bar, and the music of Roy Harper (the latter I'll come back to at a later date in a more full post but more from him down below). I've always been a fan of the general romance of coffee bars, from the revolutionary meeting places in the 17th and 18th centuries, to the bohemian enclaves of the late 50s and early 60s with their frothy cappuccinos and cool jazz on the jukebox. I've heard it said in various places that the coffee bar you choose can act as the barometer of your personality, and I'd go along with that. Wherever you can relax and be yourself is going to allow the real you to show through and after a long search, I've found I can let my hair down in a tiny little coffee bar about five minutes away from where I live. My checklist was, on the surface at least, deceptively simple:

My next mission is to get them to put some Roy Harper on the playlist and then I really will be blissed out

• friendly staff (there is one coffee bar in Brighton which shall remain nameless, but the staff are breathtakingly rude. And, I've never had my existence altered by their baked goods.)
• excellent, well-made, independent coffee (chain brand coffee sits around for too long and is not too good for your digestive system. Plus I like to support the locals.)
• a playlist that surprises even me (some favourites, some obscure tracks, and some that make me rush home to do a Google search)
• funky, arty atmosphere without being too hipster and arch about it (you know the places I mean)
• really comfy couches (if I'm going to sip and daydream then I need to be able to spread out a bit)
• cakes are not a deal breaker for me (although a bit of chocolate never goes amiss)

It's taken me a year and I've encountered some also-rans along the way - the chain store plan Bs (I know) where the coffee is so bad that I ended up with IBS, the places that spend a fortune on decor and then forget about the beverages, the great coffee but uncomfortable seating, the 90% fabulous that then went out of business. It was a hell of a search and you'd think it would be easier in a place like Brighton, but alas no. I actually found Redwood (and I'm risking everything by spilling the beans on this one because you might all nick my couch) pretty much by accident. They say that you fall in love when you aren't looking for love, when you've pretty much given up and resigned yourself to living with a cat. That was how it was with Redwood. It was a sunny day, one of the first of this year, and my feet were hurting, and I was almost home but not quite, and I needed a coffee.

And there it was. Phenomenal comfy couches, fantastic coffee, insanely good playlists, really laid-back atmosphere, lovely chatty staff, AND some actually rather good cake. If you have an americano, it comes in a comforting bowl cup that you can sip and gaze out of the window, or listen to the playlist and let your mind drift. I find that I get a lot of writing and thinking done there, and then I'm all empowered and energized for the rest of the day. I've even done some sketching and painting in there with my portable art kit and some sketchbooks. I feel immensely comfortable in there and thoroughly myself, and if you happen to stop by and I'm there I will probably buy you a coffee. My next mission is to get them to put some Roy Harper on the playlist and then I really will be blissed out.

And another thing

The legend that is Roy Harper singing "Commune" on the Old Grey Whistle Test
sheer bliss here

Yet more balm for the soul with the wonderful musings of Papa Nez
on Facebook here

Hot coffee and frothy birds as Eric Morecambe used to say
cappuccinos here!