Book Launch of Stanley Donwood's 'Humor'

Humor by Stanley Donwood

What a rare treat this almost secret event at 'The Social' in Little Portland Street was on an otherwise dreary Monday night. It was only through my love of Stanley Donwood's art and a minor addiction to all things social network based that meant I was even aware that it was occurring. I'm not sure if it was a tweet or from one of my many many mailing list messages that led me to discover this evening of pure enchantment - but either way it was totally worth all of the offers of cut price spa weekends and discount viagra.

Organised by the Faber Social arm of Faber and Faber it did exactly what it said on the tin - with bells on. We were entertained and captivated by beautiful story telling,  dramatic readings and sublime music in this unusual venue in the heart of London.

Stanley's book is a collection of micro narratives with an underlying tone of dark humour which was brought beautifully to life by Rik Jerrom. The audience listened transfixed as he took us into Stanley's slightly surreal but strangely grounded world. So captivating were the tales that in between performances we were all scanning the prose.

The second contribution for the evening came from Paul Kingsnorth, author of recent Booker Prize nominated 'The Wake'. He began by sharing an extract from his Dark Ecology writings. His second stage appearance opened with him giving a brief description of the premise of 'The Wake' - a post apocalyptic tale set at the time of the Norman invasion. He explained how he had irrationally decided to not only incorporate old english - but create a kind of hybrid language intertwining modern english and old english. In my head I imagined spending the next fifteen minutes in a no mans land of non comprehension. I couldn't have been more wrong. Paul's reading was clever, funny and engaging. His accent seemed to weave a little west country with a little cockney and a little street. There was a beautiful staccato rhythmic quality to it. I shall be buying this book. 

John Matthias - This musician was completely new to me. I had a little google and checked him our prior to the evening and really enjoyed the samples of his tracks. They did not prepare me for how sublimely beautiful his live sound would be. No banter with the crowd - but no banter required. With echoes of John Martyn and a smattering of a Ben Christophers' vibe, and perhaps a little nod to Sam Beam, this still came across as some very distinctive.
http://www.johnmatthias.com/

Weaving some beats into the John Matthias magic.

The mighty Stanley Donwood himself. I had the good fortune to attend a couple of events recently exhibiting Stanley's individual art work. The first of these was 'The Drawing Room' - an accompaniment to the Atoms for Peace performances at The Roundhouse. The upstairs room in The Enterprise housed some stunning prints of the album art work as well as furniture upholstered in Stanley's design.  Some of his original tree pictures were also shown in conjunction with his earlier book 'Holloway' in an exhibition in central London earlier this year.

Tonight was definitely the cherry on the cake...and I left with my copy of 'Humor' tucked under my arm - happy reading!

Thank you for obliging me with this pose on Monday Stanley.