As part of my son Ben’s 10th birthday celebrations this weekend, we visited the excellent Rolling Stones exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, Chelsea, today. A fascinating collection of artefacts and exhibits are on show, with video screens, artwork, instruments, studio items and interactive displays all completed by a superb 3D live performance at the end. We then drove to Soho and stopped off at Ed’s Diner, where we met a group of veteran rock’n’rollers in full teddy boy dress who were in town for the 40th anniversary of the march to the BBC that took place in 1976 to demand more rock’n’roll on the radio.
Next stop was the wonderful Prospect of Whitby in Wapping for an early drink. One of my favourite watering-holes with its amazing history all the way back to 1520. I had spotted on Facebook that my old friends Julian and Julie Clapson were in town for concert of film music by the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall. They were now in The Horniman in the Hays Galleria, near London Bridge. So a quick drive and we were able to see them before they caught the train back to Ipswich. A lovely way to finish the day. The Eurovision Song Contest was running on the pub screens and we caught a glimpse of another old friend, Matt Schwartz, who had written and produced this year’s UK entry, You’re not alone. Unfortunately, despite a strong song and a good performance by Joe and Jake, the song proved unpopular with the European voting audience and the official jury.
