Category Archives: Travel

Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa Announces a Contest to WIN a Table to The 25th Annual Little BIG Holiday Celebration #2015 LittleBig Party

July 20, 2015 straightlinepr Leave a comment

The Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa located at 1 Old Golf Course Road in Monterey announces the a contest to win a table for 8 to the 25th Annual Little BIG Holiday Celebration at Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa!

Monterey, CA, July 20, 2015 – The Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa located at 1 Old Golf Course Road in Monterey announces the a contest to win a table for 8 to the 25th Annual Little BIG Holiday Celebration at Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa!

Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa wants to get you out of the office and into the #LittleBIG2015 Party! Win a table for 8 for your office to the LittleBIG Party on December 4th and celebrate the holiday season in style! Enter on our Facebook page by nominating one of your co-workers for making a BIG difference! This can be at home, in the office or in the community. Simply post a picture on our Facebook page and tell us why your co-worker is awesome! On September 1st, the winning post will be chosen to receive a table for 8 including a night of dinner and dancing! *Enter between August 1st- August 25th. Winner announced September 1st.

About #LittleBIG2015:
Hyatt Regency Monterey invites all Monterey County businesses to celebrate your companies Holiday Party in a BIG way! Let the team of Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa experienced event planners do the work while you enjoy the party.
Package Includes:

• A Festive Dinner Buffet, Carving & Dessert Stations
• Non-Alcoholic Beverages
• Champagne Toast
• DJ Entertainment
• Raffle Prizes
• Festive Holiday Décor
• Complimentary Self-Parking
• Party Reservations require a minimum of 8 guests
• Cost is $74 per person inclusive
• Cash Bar and Wine by the Bottles will also be available for purchase.
• For more information, please contact the Events Department at 831.657.6540 or email Hyattmontereycatering@hyatt.com

About Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel& Spa on Del Monte Golf Course:
Nestled in 22 acres of soaring Monterey Pines, the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa on Del Monte Golf Course is a destination resort providing the discerning traveler the quintessential Monterey experience. Its location offers guests close proximity to downtown Monterey and Monterey Airport and easy access to some of the Peninsula’s most well-known attractions. With its warm, contemporary ambiance, elegant furnishings and convenient amenities, the hotel offers both leisure and business travelers a Northern California respite of unmatched serenity and comfort. Features include 550 guestrooms including 32 suites, and the President’s house, TusCA Ristorante, Knuckles Sports Bar, Fireplace Lounge, a 2,000 square foot fitness facility, tennis courts, pools and whirlpools, and 12,000 square foot full service spa. The hotel is located at 1 Old Golf Course Road in Monterey, California. For information call (831) 372-1234 or visit www.hyattregencymonterey.com.

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox Public Relations
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.hyattregencymonterey.com

Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Travel

A Sweet Spin on Moonshine for Bloomery Distillery

July 3, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

Charles Town, West Virgina, July 03, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — FlipKey.com, the vacation rental company of leading travel site TripAdvisor has published its list of the 50 most loved and most talked about food and drink tours in almost every state across the U.S. And in West Virginia, the winner is Bloomery Plantation Distillery.

Capitalizing on the craving for locally sustainable craft distilleries and the nostalgia for moonshine, Bloomery’s SweetShine line of naturally flavored liqueurs are handcrafted from farm-fresh roots, fruits, and nuts.

The freshness of the line’s ingredients cannot be questioned, with all agricultural ingredients grown at the distillery’s own farm, local neighboring farms or other small American farms.

To date, more than 60,000 premium drink devotees have toured the distillery to savor an artisanal cocktail – whether it’s the ‘moonshine milkshake’ innovatively called Cremma Lemma or the chilled Chocolate Raspberry (a shot in hot coffee is bound to change one’s morning routine). With more than twenty-one international awards and too many cocktail enthusiast praises to count, the company is doing its part to take the restaurant, bar and hospitality industries to tasty new levels.

The entire process of creating the SweetShine line is handcrafted – from the hand-zesting of every lemon to the hand-chopping of the ginger to the hand-making of syrups to the actual handwriting that goes on every bottle of every label. Company founder Linda Losey claims with pride, “Consumers like a little bit of the unusual and appreciate our whimsical approach, but quality and taste are paramount – this is why we grow our own Italian lemons and Hawaiian ginger as well as our own black walnuts, pumpkins, and raspberries. Losey goes on to say, “Our fans trust our brand…and are comfortable and confident that when they grab a bottle of SweetShine, they can add it to any of their current cocktails and they’ll create a fresher, higher quality, premium cocktail that was a breeze to make.”

Bloomery SweetShine is currently distributed to retailers, bars and restaurants in 42 states and is on the fast track to further expand distribution.

About Bloomery SweetShine
Since opening as a mini-distillery in the agri-tourism industry in September of 2011, Bloomery Plantation Distillery has been capitalizing on the craving for locally sustainable craft distilleries, the nostalgia for the prohibition-era and the explosion of fruit flavored liqueurs through its hand-crafted, award-winning SweetShine line. With a sweet spin on moonshine, the company makes moonshine drinkable through its award-winning liqueurs that are hand-crafted from farm-fresh fruits, roots and nuts. To date, more than 60,000 premium drink devotees have visited the distillery to enjoy a SweetShine artisanal cocktail of their own amid affable company.

The distillery boasts a wildly unique, imaginative and fiercely dedicated staff led by company founder, Linda Losey. For staffers, SweetShine represents far more than just a product line but rather is regarded as a foundational philosophy—an adventurous and even risk-taking way of doing things…a spirited and amusing outlook on life. This viewpoint guides everything the company creates, and Bloomery’s passionate one-of-a-kind team attracts customers from around the world who believe in, connect with and trust the SweetShine brand.

The distillery, located two miles east of Charles Town, West Virginia, is situated on a 12-acre parcel of land where they grow farm-fresh ingredients used in the elixirs, including ginger, raspberries and lemons, among others. Putting their unique spin on the process of making moonshine, Bloomery’s all natural SweetShine is crafted using time-honored recipes with 190 proof ‘shine, pure cane sugar and garden-grown ingredients. The entire process is hand-crafted—from the hand-zesting of every lemon, to the hand-chopping of the ginger, to the hand picking of raspberries, to the hand-making of its syrups, to the handwriting that goes on every bottle of every label. Each batch is individually proofed; the finished liqueurs range from 40° to 70°. Truly handcrafted. And it shows. Just a touch of SweetShine quickly creates a classic cocktail with a twist—goodbye to boring unadventurous drinking! Bloomery SweetShine is currently distributed to retailers, bars and restaurants in 42 states, and continues to expand distribution nationally.

Learn more about the brand and its admirable approach online at www.BloomerySweetshine.com

Contact-Details: Merilee Kern
Ascendant Group Branding
merileekern@ascendantgroupbranding.com
858-577-0206

Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Music, Society, Travel

Lua Hadar with Twist Swings it in French at Society Cabaret Bastille Party

July 3, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

San Francisco, CA, July 03, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — To celebrate French Independence Day, Lua Hadar with Twist returns for an encore performance of their popular French Music Hall show, “C’est Magnifique!” This Bastille-Day-with-a-Twist features Lua on French and English vocals, Music Director Jason Martineau on piano, Dan Feiszli on bass, Kelly Park on drums, and special guest Dave Sturdevant on guitar and harmonica. Saturday, July 11 at 8pm (seating from 7pm) at Society Cabaret at the Hotel Rex Union Square, 562 Sutter Street, San Francisco. Tickets start at $25 (NO FEES) at Ticketmaster or societycabaret.com Or call 415-857-1896. Full bar, great food. More info at www.luahadar.com.

The show presents a variety of songs from the popular traditions of Paris, including those of American songwriter Cole Porter; hence the title “C’est Magnifique!” a song from Cole Porter’s 1953 musical, Can-Can.

Dave Sturdevant’s harmonica brings a Toots Thielemans-style to the show, in addition to the gypsy sound of his swinging guitar.

French songs by Charles Trenet, Maxime LeForestier, Edith Piaf and Serge Gainsbourg round out the set list, and as ever, Lua’s fun and quirky stories provide her personalized bridge to the songs, whether you speak French or not.

Hadar is no stranger to France or French music, having just returned from teaching a master class in France on American Jazz Standards.

[VIDEO: https://youtu.be/EuohiSigShk]

[TICKETS: http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/229943/1911076?Brand=societycab]

ABOUT TWIST:
Since its inception in 2007, Hadar’s cosmopolitan jazz ensemble TWIST has developed a multi-lingual world jazz fusion that twists the styles of international standards and brings new material into the jazz idiom.

Lua has charmed audiences from New York’s Iridium Jazz Club to Bangkok’s Thailand Cultural Center to the Swan Bar in Paris, where, on a return engagement, she previewed “C’est Magnifique!” to an enthusiastic full house before bringing it to San Francisco’s Society Cabaret for its first run in November 2013. The show was reprised last year and became a Society Cabaret tradition, presented each time with a different featured instrumentalist.

Hadar has released three CDs with Music Director Jason Martineau and Twist. The most recent, “Like A Bridge,” was recorded in 2012 as the centerpiece of her Bridges Project. The “Like A Bridge” DVD was nominated for an Independent Music Award and was released at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland in September of 2013 after its premiere at San Francisco’s Historic Balboa Theater.

“…such a lovely variety of songs from cabaret traditions of Paris (and beyond), that we might as well have been in a brick-walled basement room in the Quartier Latin.” – Talkin’ Broadway

“First call band of international talent and an innate gift of swing.” – Critical Jazz

For more information on Lua Hadar with Twist, see luahadar.com, iTunes, youtube, facebook, twitter and most major music sites.

ABOUT THE HOTEL REX AND SOCIETY CABARET:
The Hotel Rex is San Francisco’s answer to New York’s legendary Algonquin Hotel, located at 562 Sutter Street between Powell and Mason. Surrounded by 1920’s and 30’s style artwork and glamour, guests can linger in the Library Bar for cocktails and conversation. A menu of American classics with a European influence is available in the cabaret room as small plates or dinner. Society Cabaret patrons are immersed in an ambiance of arts and culture, in a true cabaret setting. Society Cabaret has received acclaim from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office and has expanded this year with venues in San Diego and San José. (http://societycabaret.com)

Contact-Details: Lua Hadar

Travel

Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa Weddings Announces Indian and Southwest Asian Wedding Celebrations

June 24, 2015 straightlinepr Leave a comment

Hotel also Hires New Wedding Specialists Samantha Davis and George Romero

Monterey, CA, June 23, 2015 – The Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa wedding planning offers something for everyone, from traditional wedding ceremonies to Indian and Southwest Asian wedding celebrations.

Whether you envision a simple gathering with a few family and friends or an elaborate formal affair, you’ll discover just what you are wishing for at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. Our team of expert on-site event planners will assist you from beginning to end, from selecting your wedding site and caterer to ensuring that no detail is overlooked.

Our event planners are well-versed in the unique requirements for Indian and Southwest Asian wedding celebrations.

“Our mission is a simple one…we aspire to exceed all of your expectations, creating imaginative and memorable experiences that will delight all of your senses,” said Jerry Malone, Director of Catering at Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. “Our dedicated professional staff brings experience and desire to every event and thrives on making sure our clients are extremely delighted with our service.”

From an outdoor baraat reception, Indian catering offered by two premiere Santa Clara Catering Companies, and the Hyatt’s world-renowned service, the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa will bring your Indian Wedding dreams to life!

Indian Wedding Package Includes:
* Largest ballroom in Monterey and surrounding area
* Perfect path for the baraat
* Ample space for Mendhi & Brunch the day after the wedding
* Spacious, resort feel
* 550 rooms, including 32 suites, for the three-day long celebrations
* Ability to bring in outside caterers
* Large garden terrace for your ceremony or cocktail reception

Now when you celebrate your special day at Hyatt®, you can earn free honeymoon nights on us. Whichever honeymoon destination you choose, you’ll make memories that will last a lifetime. Simply book and hold your wedding or commitment ceremony at a participating Hyatt hotel by Dec. 31, 2015, and you will earn Hyatt Gold Passport® bonus points. Points are redeemable for free nights with no blackout dates at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide.

Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa Weddings are treated as a one-of-a-kind event, and include:
• A professional wedding specialist
• A tempting array of food and beverages to fit whichever type of reception you select, including hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, plated dinners and wine service
• Choice of wedding sites throughout our Monterey hotel, for ceremony and reception
• Complimentary honeymoon suite for the bride and groom
• Variety of dining options featuring TusCA Ristorante and Fireplace Lounge
• Extensive activities for you and your guests, including golf, tennis, pools and more
• Beautiful backdrops for photographs, including our gazebo with fireplace and gardens
• Special rates in our spacious guestrooms for family and friends from out-of-town
• Complimentary parking
• Great location, adjacent to Pebble Beach Company’s 18-hole Del Monte Golf Course, with direct access to Cannery Row and Monterey Bay Aquarium

In addition, the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa has hired Samantha Davis and George Romero as its new Wedding Specialists.

Upon graduation from Arizona State University in 1998, Sam started working for Hyatt Regency Phoenix. Since then she has more than 16 years of hospitality experience, including previous assignments at Hyatt Hotels in Lake Tahoe, Huntington Beach and Denver.

Sam brings extensive knowledge and coordination of both social and corporate events to the position. Sam’s past clients and groups have outstanding praise for her organizational skills, creativity and attention to detail. They also appreciated the personal care she gave to every special occasion.

Originally from Australia, Sam currently lives in Monterey with her 7-year-old pitbull mix Gracie.

She is looking forward to exploring the area with her canine companion, as well as enjoying local food, wines and the spectacular scenery of the Monterey Peninsula and its surrounding areas.

George is originally from Phoenix, Arizona and has worked for Hyatt Hotels for almost 17 years, starting as a Deli Café attendant at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix.

He has worked in and helped manage casual and fine-dining restaurants, bars and banquets during his 17 years, and is now in his dream job as a wedding specialist in the hotel’s Event Planning Department.

George comes from a large family — he’s the middle child of eight brothers and sisters — and calls himself an “extreme socializer,” a talent that comes in handy in wedding and event planning.

He says he “loves taking pictures, dogs, cooking, traveling, ‘Orange is the New Black,’ green tea, dancing, real Mexican food, making people laugh, tennis and a great cocktail!”

Although usually fearless, George admits to being scared of heights and “Bridezillas.” And he has unusual taste in cocktails. His favorite drink is the unheard-of red wine with Coca-Cola!

Wedding Locations
Choose the perfect spot for your wedding from our extensive array of locations, ranging from outdoor gardens to elegant ballrooms. From the opulent Regency Grand Ballroom to our romantic Outdoor Gazebo, you’re sure to find just the right wedding location to suit your style and needs.

• Regency Grand Ballroom — Our largest wedding location, this expansive yet welcoming ballroom can accommodate the longest of guest lists. Enjoy a formal banquet, complete with dance floor and stage for entertainment, with seating for 800. The room easily divides into several separate salons, with capacity to seat from 70 to 400 guests.

Bordered on two sides by outdoor heated terraces, with natural lighting and vaulted ceilings (the highest ceiling of all hotels in the area), this ballroom provides a wonderful Monterey Bay location for both wedding reception and ceremony.

The adjacent pre-function foyer includes an outdoor heated patio and retractable awning — perfect for your cocktail hour.

• Monterey Ballroom — Prominent indoor and outdoor function space conveniently located adjacent to the hotel lobby and Main Building. Designed for that more intimate feel, select the entire room for a seated banquet with 300 guests or 600 for a classic reception. For smaller groups, the ballroom can be configured into various combinations to fit your needs. The ballroom is complete with an outdoor terrace and is located adjacent to the main building.

• President’s House — This very unique residence offers a secluded hideaway, perfect for a newlywed couple. This historic and luxurious residence offers over 2,500 square feet of living space, including four master suites, living room with stone fireplace, and library with fireplace and gourmet kitchen. A large covered lanai, extensive stonework and landscaping surround a private swimming pool. Select this one-of-a-kind locale for a special rehearsal dinner, cocktails for the wedding party or other exclusive events surrounding your wedding.

• Gazebo — The perfect location for your wedding ceremony, this gracious gazebo overlooking the gardens offers a romantic Monterey Bay setting not to be missed. In cooler weather, a fireplace provides a warm glow to the festivities.

About Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa on Del Monte Golf Course
Nestled in 22 acres of soaring Monterey Pines, the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa on Del Monte Golf Course is a destination resort providing the discerning traveler the quintessential Monterey experience. Its location offers guests close proximity to downtown Monterey and Monterey Airport and easy access to some of the Peninsula’s most well-known attractions.

With its warm, contemporary ambiance, elegant furnishings and convenient amenities, the hotel offers both leisure and business travelers a Northern California respite of unmatched serenity and comfort.

Features include 550 guestrooms including 32 suites, and the President’s House, TusCA Ristorante, Knuckles Sports Bar, Fireplace Lounge featuring live entertainment, a 2,000-square-foot fitness facility, Monterey Bay Racquet Club, two pools and whirlpools, and 12,000-square-foot full-service luxury spa.

The hotel is located at 1 Old Golf Course Road in Monterey, California. For information call (831) 372-1234 or visit www.hyattregencymonterey.com

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox Public Relations
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.hyattregencymonterey.com

Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: London landscapes celebrated in new exhibition

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

South London parks are the subject of new photographic exhibition at the Horniman Museum.

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — A new photographic exhibition celebrating London’s lesser-known landscapes open this month at one of London’s friendliest museums. South London Landscapes is now open at the Horniman Museum And Gallery this week and runs throughout the summer, featuring photographs of the Horniman itself as well as other picturesque public spaces in and around south London. The Horniman is one of London’s liveliest small museums, boasting excellent natural history and music galleries, a small aquarium and extensive landscaped grounds. For more information, and to see the latest deals on London hotels, see LondonTown.com.

South London Landscapes features photographs taken by London-based landscape photographer Max A Rush. The photographs, which include pictures of the Horniman Gardens, are taken in unusual and beautiful weather and capture how the passage of the seasons and the forces of the weather transform the appearance and character of the local landscape. Areas featured in South London Landscapes include Brockwell Park, Crystal Palace Park, Dulwich Park, Dulwich Wood, Ruskin Park and the Horniman Gardens.

Max Rush says: ‘These are a few of my favourite locations around south London. I’ve continually returned to them over the years, watching the seasons pass and the elements batter, freeze and occasionally warm their well-worn faces. I’ve witnessed moments of transcendental beauty in familiar places and endeavoured to capture them as truthfully as I can. So many people fight their way out of the city every week for the sake of nature, but perhaps what they’re looking for was here all along.’ For more information on this and other exhibitions and events taking place at the Horniman this summer, see LondonTown.com.

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About LondonTown.com
LondonTown.com is the number one Internet site for London. With over 18 years of experience assisting visitors to the capital, they pride themselves on their customer service and editorial independence – no banner advertising or paid for content is allowed. The LondonTown.com team assist in finding cheap London hotels, sightseeing tours, ticket information and events. Trusted and with a loyal following, LondonTown.com is a very reliable source of recommendations and advice on what to do in London. http://www.LondonTown.com

Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: Groundbreaking London exhibition looks at post-war Black British artists

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

Guildhall Art Gallery explores the work of little-known but pivotal Afro-Caribbean artists

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — A groundbreaking new exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London will look at the little-known and rarely exhibited history of 20th-century Black British art. No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 runs from 10 July 2015 to 24 January 2016, and will explore the history of art produced by Britain’s Afro-Caribbean citizens, reflecting their experiences in the country after the major emigrations that occurred following the end of the Empire at the conclusion of the Second World War. For more information on this and other exhibitions in London this summer, see LondonTown.com, where you can also find information on London events and cheap London hotels.

At the heart of the exhibition will be a recreation of the Bogle-L’Ouverture Walter Rodney bookshop, created by renowned artist and curator Dr Michael McMillan (West Indian Front Room) and sound and visual specialists, Dubmorphology. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in a stunning multi-sensory, multi-visual experience including works of art, sculpture, photographs, paintings, letters and other artefacts from more than 25 prominent Black artists during this period including Eddie Chambers, Sonia Boyce, Denzil Forrester and Chila Kumari Burman.

Influenced by the emergence of newly independent African and Caribbean states, global liberation struggles, the fight against unfair discrimination and an insistence on dignified citizenship within Britain, these artists found expression by way of ‘creation for liberation’. The exhibition will explore these struggles and celebrate their contribution through four themes: ‘Elbow Room’, ‘Broad Shoulders’, ‘Clenched Fists’ and ‘Open Arms’.

Throughout its tenure, No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 will also play host to a series of scheduled events enriching the visitor experience through a diverse range of educational talks, workshops and gallery tours. For more information on this and other exhibitions in the City of London, see LondonTown.com.

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Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: Cutting-edge US artist receives first major European show in London this summer

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

Raven Row gallery in Spitalfields hosts a retrospective of ground-breaking US artist Larry Johnson.

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — One of America’s most interesting contemporary artists is to receive his first major European exhibition at a new gallery that focuses on cutting-edge, avant-garde art. Raven Row is a non-profit contemporary art exhibition centre in Spitalfields that is housed within two eighteenth-century merchants’ houses integrated with new galleries and its next exhibition, Larry Johnson: On Location runs from 11 June to 9 August 2015. It is directed and funded by Alex Sainsbury of the Sainsbury family, whose family have funded many great art projects in London, such as the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. Raven Row is a very different enterprise, offering thoughtful shows on lesser-known artists and allowing visitors to explore the fascinating quarter of Spitalfields. The area is filled with fashionable boutiques, great shops and cool bars and restaurants. To explore its attractions, see LondonTown.com, where you can also find the latest room rates for hotels in London.

On Location brings together a selection of works by Larry Johnson from the early 1990s to the present. The show’s uncontested star is Los Angeles, the city in which Johnson has lived and worked all his life. For over thirty years, LA’s physical and imaginary appearance has served as the set for the artist’s photo-based investigations of the glamour industry, replete with fading stars and premature deaths. Johnson’s work bears the marks of a generation of artists sampling readymade images and texts to create seductively laconic pictures. Yet the colourful sheen of Johnson’s photo-based works is also a foil for sexual, political and semantic tension. The artist’s pictures are encryptions of a Hollywood demi-monde, referring to the cultures from which his work emerges – queer, political, filmic and theoretical.

The exhibition is curated by Los Angeles-based writer Bruce Hainley, and by Antony Hudek, Curator and Deputy Director of Raven Row. Commie Pinko Guy, a publication edited by Hainley with new essays by Morgan Fisher, Lisa Lapinski, Hainley, Hudek and Wayne Koestenbaum, as well as reprints of classic underground queer writing, will accompany the exhibition. For more information on this and other exhibitions in London’s cutting-edge contemporary art scene, see LondonTown.com.

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Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: Classic London cinema at the Southbank all summer

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

BFI Southbank unveils new season dedicated to films exploring the UK capital.

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — London On Film is a new major season of films at the BFI Southbank that will explore and celebrate the capital for four months from 1st July to 9th October. This is the first time the BFI has ever celebrated the city in which it is based, and will feature 200 films, a number of which have been unseen since they were first filmed, offering an extraordinary perspective of the city from the past 120 years. The BFI Southbank is the national home of cinema, featuring three state-of-the-art screens in Waterloo on the Southbank.For more on this vital cultural quarter, as well as the latest rates forLondon hotels, seeLondonTown.com.

The London On Film season will include events such as a Soho Weekender (24-26 July) to celebrate the unique culture of Soho captured in films from 1896 – 1985 such as West End Jungle (1961), The Small World of Sammy Lee(1963) and Sunshine in Soho (1956). There will also be a discussion event Vanishing Soho on the state of Soho today in the light of current major changes for those who live and play there. It will include some of the earliest films ever made, such as RW Paul’s Blackfriars Bridge (1896(. Films from major filmmakers include Anthony Asquith’s evocative Underground (1928), the first feature to be shot on the underground and Nicolas Roeg’s Performance (1970), which takes us into the dangerous realms of psychedelic and sexual experimentation. There will also be films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Winterbottom and Otto Preminger.

Black experience is highlighted in a series of key films including Earl Cameron’s pioneering role as a black sailor in the crime drama Pool of London (1951) with fine use of locations around Tower Bridge, Poplar, Southwark and the City; Cameron also stars in the little seen The Heart Within (1957) another crime thriller set in London’s Docklands. Sapphire (Basil Dearden, 1959) is a film-maker’s response to the Notting Hill race riots wrapped up in a murder mystery while Babylon (Franco Rosso, 1981) shows the demoralisation of black youth, and offers an eerily prescient portrait of the situation in Deptford which would give rise to the Brixton Riots of the same year. For more information, see LondonTown.com.

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Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: British Museum gets its medals out for the great French Sun King

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

Free exhibition at the museum showcases remarkable 17th-century emblems of Louis XIV’s reign

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — The British Museum is holding a new exhibition that looks at the medals drawn from the reign of the great French Sun King, Louis XIV. Triumph and disaster: medals of the Sun King runs from 4 June to 15 November and marks the tercentenary year of the death of Louis XIV. It is one of several free exhibitions that are held at the British Museum every year to draw attention to the many easily overlooked marvels within its collection and to present them in new ways to mark anniversaries or to reinterpret the material. For more information on the full programme of exhibitions at the British Museum, see LondonTown.com, where you can also find the latest information on cheap hotels in London.

The Louis XIV medals are preserved as they were in Louis XIV’s own day and includes contributions from the British Library which has a unique manuscript scrapbook of drawings and notes on the creation of the history, and the V&A. The medals were a way for the king to portray his reign and the greatest writers (including Jean Racine), historians, artists and medalists of the day were brought together by the king to ensure that posterity would see his rule as Louis wished it to be seen: the reign of an ideal and ever victorious monarch.

The early medals portray a dazzling image of a ‘Sun King,’ who is represented as hard-working, accessible, generous and just; a king that worked for the benefit of the people, glorifying as much in their happiness as in victory over his enemies. The picture changed as war succeeded war and defeat succeeded victory. The later medals, though careful to represent only French successes, are so numerous that they give the impression not of victory but of endless and draining warfare.

Elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, medals were produced that mocked and satirized the official French medals. These rival medals showed the French sun eclipsed by the zodiacal signs of his enemies, and Louis as an old man being roundly beaten by Queen Anne. Collectively, these medals and attendant literature present a fascinating and unique self-portrait of a regime which dominated Europe for nearly sixty years, and which established the primacy of French taste and French culture for over a century.

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Art, Entertainment, Travel

LondonTown.com: Art film screenings at London’s best gallery this summer

June 8, 2015 EPR Network Leave a comment

Tate Modern screens new and classic avant-garde and artists’ films this summer.

LONDON, June 08, 2015 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — The Tate Modern has announced its summer season of cinema screening and film premieres, which will take place in the gallery between May and July 2015. The Tate Modern is one of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries, and its extensive programme of events includes a summer film season that introduces new art film as well as rarely-seen work by inspiring and maverick filmmakers. The screenings cost £5. The gallery is located on the South Bank close to Blackfriars, London Bridge and Waterloo rail stations. For more information on things to do in the area, and to see the latest rates for cheap hotels in London, see LondonTown.com.

Films programmed this summer at the Tate include Agnes Martin’s Gabriel on 5 June, which takes place in conjunction with Tate Modern’s retrospective of Agnes Martin. This evening presents the artist’s only completed and rarely screened film. It follows the wanderings of a ten year old boy in rural New Mexico, where Martin lived and worked, in a contemplative study of landscape and nature. On 12 June, Sharon Lockhart will present her newest body of films and photographs in a unique opportunity to see this ambitious work in progress, followed by a conversation with Tate’s senior curators Catherine Wood and Andrea Lissoni. Created in collaboration with a group of 15 young women in Poland, the project empowers the authority of the girls’ voices and their perspectives on the world. Over the weekend from 19-21 June, Parviz Kimiavi will feature. Spanning four screenings over three days, this will be the UK’s first major survey of maverick filmmaker Parviz Kimiavi, a pioneer of alternative cinema in 1970’s Iran. Kimiavi created surreal and hallucinatory films, using non-professional actors and harsh desert landscapes.

On 26 June, A Night at the Pictures: An evening for Larry Johnson will honour the legacy of artist Larry Johnson. Curator Bruce Hainley and writer Wayne Koestenbaum will discuss his work, followed by a specially selected cult film. On 8 July, Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc’s new film will be screened. This addresses political issues alongside scientific and anthropological histories. Drawing on a personal photographic archive, the film presents a young fictional researcher who leads a group between the IFAN Museum in Dakar and the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. The screening will be introduced by a live concert by the electronic music act PAL. Finally, over three days from 10-12 June, The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists on Screen will explore the film work of key artists in South Africa. It begins with a rare showing of William Kentridge and Angus Gibson’s Freedom Square and Back of the Moon 1986 (part of the Johannesburg Free Filmmakers’ Co-Operative) and ends with the UK premiere of Robin Rhode’s Recycled Matter 2015. For more information on this summer of screenings, see LondonTown.com.

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