The ‘Pearlies’ have been part of London life since 1875; young Henry Croft, uh, came across a large colleciton of mother-of-pearl buttons (the stories are confused, at least according to wikipedia). He was a costermonger (street vendor) and they gave some added vibe to their suits with mother ofpearl buttons. With his hoard, Henry Croft pimped his suit as much as feasible:

There’s a Pearly King and Queen for each of the boroughs of London, as well as for the City and Westminster. These days, they mainly do stuff for charity, go to Jools Holland’s Hootenanny for NYE each year, and pimp around the east end. Read more about them on their ’site.

Image here released under Creative Commons.

East London, not wanting to be outdone by it’s well-heeled neighbours, has come up with an alternative.

Thanks to the excellent Made In England blog for putting us on to the Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race and for the image above. The event which is in aid of the worthy cause of Spitalfields City Farm, needs no dressing up, it is a race between two goats, one named Oxford and one named Cambridge. My money is on Cambridge as my friend’s sister’s hairdresser is casually dating Oxford (he doesn’t believe in commitment) and apparently he’s partying like it’s 1945 this Saturday at The Blitz Party in the railway arches near Shoreditch High Street.

Thanks to Art of the State for the image of Dragon Bar, as was on Leonard Street.

Whilst the arrival of more South West London remedials won’t warm the cockles of the ditch’s faithful, the return of an old friend should more than counteract the negative vibes.

Dragon bar is like a brother that was sent away as a shabbily dressed yet lovable rogue during an unnamed war to an unnamed land (read the old Dragon Bar was demolished in March last year to facilitate the redevelopment near Old Street roundabout). Just as the memories and heartache began to fade, in jaunts said toerag having undergone a spivish makeover. Whilst the red, perma pulled-closed curtains give the impression that the seedy allure of the original Dragon Bar remains, a sharp yank on the curtain shows that the new interior is more Oliver Letwin than Oliver Reed. As per the review of “local” Fred here (Fred appears to be a hot blonde (who’s reviewed pretty much everywhere in East London) rather than a rotund 50yr old, as the name may conjure), the DIY, “fuck you” attitude of the Dragon’s residency on Leonard Street seems to have been replaced by that oft-replicated, never convincing, high-end yet “eccentric” look which the Grand Union chain has officially raped, pillaged and killed over the last 5 years or so. However, out of respect and love for the old Dragon Bar, I’m willing to put my neck out and say that this place will, over time, have ditch-doers carving “I heart Dragon Bar” in trees around Hackney once again. The original Dragon Bar evolved around those that frequented it, Darwin would have been proud. The new Dragon Bar may have that “shiny new shoes” feel at the moment, but if they can ward of the cunts and find the magicians and miscreants that formally called it home, they’ll be staving St. George off for a fair while yet.

“We would also like to call an end to just plain stupid fashion pages”.

Click here and skip to page 2 & 3 (which precede said statement)…we agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments Jack.

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Whilst perusing the nether-regions of the internet, I stumbled across such a specimen. Please take the time to read his butthurt rant about Shoreditch and how a “Shoreditch Tart” doesn’t exist. Obviously this chap is from the Gradgrind school of thought. Clearly the little preppy boy came all the way down from Warwick in his skinny jeans to meet the cool kids of Shoreditch and they all but told him to fuck off, so now he’s bitching about it…boo hoo little man, boo hoo!

Whilst everyone in Shoreditch may be wankers, has anyone ever made a song to that end? Well, not yet. Whilst ‘Student Wankers’ was a catchy ditty by Peter and the Test Tube Babies…the lyrics of which are;

See those student wankers walking down the street,
their clothes so smart and clean, their hair well kept and neat.
Who wants to die with knowledge you can’t use ?
spend all day quoting Freud, but can’t do up their shoes.

Student Wankers ..

See those student wankers in the student bar,
complaining to each other other that their grants don’t go far.
With their silly student ties and their silly student scarves,
drinking draught real ale not in pints but halves.

Take heed Mr Hopwood…

PS. We remain firm fans of the Horse & Groom and it’s growing reputation, recently featured in London Lite don’t you know!? Big up my man Charles!

Cowards die many times before their death

Shoreditch hasn’t always been packed full of languishing artistes, whining musicians and general “cooler than thou” fuck tools. Some of it’s famous former residents include Jeremy Beadle (RIP), Barbara Windsor (watch the infamous Carry on Camping scene here) and none other than William Shakespeare. In fact, if the Bard was still around today he’d pretty much be the next door neighbour of the Irregulars and we would no doubt be big buddies, pulling all nighters dancing to victorian electro mash ups.

As a hat-tip to the ruff-sporting maestro, a number of performance are planned at the Old Blue Last this month. Drop by on either 2,9, 16, 23 or 30 August to be immersed in some wordsmithery which will far surpass the usual sub-normal lyrics that spew out the mouths of the bands who normally take to the stage at this venue. Check out some tickets here. If you fancy a quick read of some of his handiwork, the complete works can be found here.

No doubt the fashionistas of Shoreditch will shortly be sporting this tasty little number…

Indeedy. Thanks fo r the image, Cory.

To recant some epic scenester fail we heard on the way to Today is Boring last night, we overheard this statement:

Failing Scenester dude: Yeah I know how the Sunday night vibe goes down, Secret Sundaze, Brick Lane (languishing scenester looks over the road to Herbal) and er, Herbal.

Us: Fail. Although two outta three ain’t bad.

As regular readers will know, we’re fans of the occasional blip and beep and fellow Shoreditch residents will know that if you can’t deal with a bit of minimal house, fidget, techno and the like then you might as well stay in and watch Britain’s Got Talent.

Last year you may remember it was electro of a Parisian flavour via Sebastian, Kavinsky (and most things coming out of Kitsune come to think of it) that had us bouncing around like bunnies but since they denied us a response on Myspace, they are officially dead to us.

Now, there seems to be lots of hype swelling around the WYS vibe, and along those lines, we tip our hat to Peter Pixzel , who is often in situ behind the 1s and 2s, churning out tasty strands of ocassionally 8-bit infused tracks for party robots and night time ghouls at the Wet Yourself! sessions. To see him in action, check this Youtube video or conversely, you could get your lazy asses to Field Day to see him in the flesh alongside the glitterati that is the painfully cool line-up for the East End festival.

Check out the track below and remember to take your speedos if you do rock up at Aquarium to catch his shit.