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Browse back copies of great magazines in a pop-up reading room at The London Edition, sip on tasty wines and play summer games at The Three Crowns or find a free jazz festival in Canary Wharf. Have a hoot this weekend with the list below!
Things to do
Plaza Latina, Nursery Row Park, Sat, free. Forget you're in a park in Walworth and let the Plaza Latina festival whisk you away to warmer climates with traditional music, food, dance and craft inspired by Latin America.
The Elephant and the Nun, Burgess Park, Sat, free. A day-long family-friendly festival in that will see Burgess Park filled with lively musical performances, an African market, family-friendly activities, a food village and huge funfair.
70th Anniversary of VJ Events, Horse Guards Parade, Sat, free. To mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of the conflict with Japan (and effectively WWII) the Ministry of Defence is staging an RAF fly-past of Horse Guards Parade.
Spotlight Festival, Seven Dials, Sat, free. Spotlight returns for 2015, taking over Seven Dials for an afternoon of live music, comedy, dance and street food. Local shops will be providing in-store discounts, drinks and promotions, plus a pop-up lawn with deck chairs and games will be waiting for tired shoppers to rest their feet.
Clay Cargo, Granary Square, Sat-Sun, free. This weekend of creative workshops is your chance to help Clay Collective turn five tons of the sticky material into a giant sculpture as a tribute to our changing city and the hands that built it.
Red Bull Air Race World Championship, Royal Ascot Racecourse, Sat-Sun, From £30. The loud, fast and frankly terrifying Red Bull Air Race returns for 2015, with the British leg of the Championship being hosted for a second year at Royal Ascot.
The Wick, The Old Baths and Cr8 Galleries, Sun, free; £10 after 6pm. This weekly market in one of London's more happening areas combines a farmers' market, local art sales, vintage fashion and new designers with DJs, gigs and a 'beach' and hot-tubs.
SUNday Yoga, Hyde Park, Sun, free. RUSSIANSinUK organise regular outdoor yoga classes in Hyde Park on Sundays, each conducted by a certified yoga instructor. The sessions are suitable for all levels and donations are welcomed.
Focus on the Wild, Gallery@oxo, all weekend, free. Roger Hooper has travelled the seven continents of the world to take awe-inspiring wildlife photos. Having worked extensively for WWF, much of his shots focus on preserving the beauty of endangered species.
The Print Is Dead Library, The London Edition, all weekend, free. The Punch Room at swanky hotel The London Edition will be transformed into an eclectic reference library to showcase a collection of sold out copies and back issues of magazines including Twin, Cherry Bombe, Little White Lies and The Travel Almanac.
…or check out more events happening in London this weekend.
Eating and drinking
KinoVino, Palm 2, Sat, £32. The artistic spirit of the late Soviet Armenian-Georgian filmmaker, Sergi Paradjanov, is the inspiration behind this multisensory dining experience. The meal will consist of a playful twist on Soviet-Georgian and Persian-Armenian cuisines and will be accompanied by a wine tasting.
Urban Food Fest, Euro Car Parks, Sat, free. International street food options fill a Shoreditch car park with great food and a fun crowd.
The Three Crowns Urban Wine Fair, Old Street, Sat, free. This fair returns to Old Street Roundabout from noon-10pm followed by disco in the pub until late. Expect great food, games on the astroturf and a live music stage.
London Craft Beer Festival, Oval Space, all weekend, £38.50. The London Craft Beer Festival is back at Oval Space for a third year, bringing great booze and street food to a huge crowd of beer enthusiasts and fun-seekers.
…or check out the latest restaurant reviews.
Comedy
Colin Hoult – Messing With Ouija Boards, Soho Theatre, Fri-Sat, £12.50. Superb, often macabre character comic and spooky comedy maestro Colin Hoult presents a brand new show. In 'Messing With Ouija Boards', Hoult tells the tale of what happened with his mother made contact with the spirit world.
Eastend Cabaret: Perverts, Soho Theatre, Fri-Sat, £10-£15, £12.50 concs. Cabaret circuit stalwarts Eastend Cabaret are back in London with show 'Perverts'. The musical comedy cabaret mash-up has Bernie and Victy providing a risque hour of filthy songs and saucy goings-on.
Comedy Virgins #INGTEIGTSHAWSCI Summer Competition, The Cavendish Arms, Sun, free. Wondering what #INGTEIGTSHAWSCI means? It stands for 'I'm Not Going to Edinburgh I'm Going to Stay Here and Win Some Cash Instead.' While most comedians have decamped to the Edinburgh Fringe, this London comp is for newbie comics who have decided to stay down south.
…or check out all the critics’ choice comedy shows.
Live music
Robert Glasper Trio, Ronnie Scott's, TONIGHT, £45-£65. Like some hip fusion of J Dilla and Brad Mehldau, jazz-bending pianist Glasper is one of a kind. He brings his intricate, fractured hooks to life with a fluent technique, a peerless understanding of rhythms and plenty of compact chord sequences.
Dornik, Jamm, TONGHT, £9. Mining the ’80s for his sophisticated synth-funk, Dornik was Jessie Ware’s drummer until her label PMR signed him up to record some slinky tracks of his own. The velvety, Michael Jackson-esque ‘On My Mind’ is typical, and sounds like both the past and the future.
Canary Wharf Jazz Festival, Canada Square Park, all weekend, free. Do you like free jazz? No, not that kind of free jazz – we mean the opportunity to catch some of London’s best and most envelope-pushing jazz acts live, gratis. Canary Wharf Jazz Festival offers that opportunity, bringing top acts including Sons Of Kemet, Eska and Yazz Ahmed and Neil Cowley Trio to Canada Square Park.
…or take a look at all the live music events in London this weekend.
Nightlife
Gloria's, XOYO, TONIGHT, £15-£20, £13.50 adv. Furry DJ duo The 2 Bears bring their inimitable bass bounce to Gloria's, alongside disco and boogie from Krystal Klear. Advance tickets are sold out, so get down early for door tickets.
Britney vs Britpop - Blur & Oasis Anniversary Special, Concrete Space, TONIGHT, £3-£8. A night of great '90s and '00s indie and pop sounds to mark the 20th anniversary of the Blur & Oasis chart battle
Machinedrum, Birthdays, Sat, £12.50-£14.50. One of the most innovative producers around, Machinedrum excels in crafting everything from ambient garage (in his Sepalcure project), rave-dashed house and footwork under his solo moniker and choppy, soulful funk via his JETS collab with Jimmy Edgar.
Reverb, The Roof Gardens, Sat, £15. This mini-festival is set in Kensington's lush Roof Gardens venue, and features DJs, live music and comedy taking place throughout the day, plus cocktails and barbecue food to see you through.
2020 Vision Day and Night, Studio 338, Sat, £15-£22.50. Leeds-based house label 2020 Vision throws a day and night double-header of a party. The action starts at 3pm and finishes at 6am, all taking place in Greenwich club Studio 338.
…or see all the parties planned this weekend.
Mistress America
Film
Amy Grimehouse: Rosannadu, Hackney Picturehouse, TONIGHT, £10. Film-club-cabaret-costume-theatrical-etc. provocateurs Amy Grimehouse present a tribute to one of the all-time great TV comedians, Roseanne Barr.
The Nomad: 'The Lost Boys', Victory Park, TONIGHT, free. This ludicrous but enjoyable attempt at comic horror, deriving from an initial project to rework ‘Peter Pan’, plays fast and loose with vampire mythology.
Visions from the Past: 'Barefoot Gen', Goethe Institut, Sat, free. The ‘Visions of the Past’ festival explores how Japanese cinema dealt with the ghosts of the Second World War in cinema, with a programme of rarely seen films from the 1980s to the present day.
The Luna Cinema: 'Some Like it Hot', Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Sun, £18, £16 concs. Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy is still perfect after all these years. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis star as musicians who flee the mob in Chicago disguised as women in an all-girl band.
Or at the cinema...
Mistress America ★★★★★ Greta Gerwig shines in this loveable low-budget comedy about a uni student and her new, cool step-sister.
The Man from UNCLE ★★★★☆ Guy Ritchie gives 007 a run for his money with his reboot of the 1960s TV show.
The Gift ★★★★☆ Actor Joel Edgerton makes a confident directorial debut with this enjoyably old-school, compellingly nasty home invasion thriller.
…or see all of the latest releases.
Theatre
Carmen, Soho Theatre, Fri-Sat, £15-£45. OperaUpClose re-imagine Bizet's opera with in-yer-face results.
My Children! My Africa!, Trafalgar Studios, Fri-Sat, £15-£25. Athol Fugard's unsettling play set in apartheid South Africa gets a strong revival.
A Midsummer Night's Dream In New Orleans, Arts Theatre, all weekend, £25, £22 concs. A 'Midsummer' that heads down to the jazz-tinged Big Easy.
…or see our theatre critics’ choices.
This week's best new art
Summer Graduate Show, Anise Gallery, Fri-Sat, free. Five recent BA and MA graduates from two of London's top art colleges: Goldsmiths and Royal College of Art present works in various media including video, installation, photography and print.
Andy Hollingworth: Running from Greenbaum, Snap Galleries, Sat, free. For two decades Andy Hollingworth has been snapping comedy talent. Delving into his considerable archive, he presents a new series of portraits along with photographs of chuckle-makers including Rowan Atkinson, Bill Bailey, Eddie Izzard, Steve Martin and Sarah Millican.
Construction Industry, APT, all weekend, free. Artist Geoff Rigden curates this group exhibition of 15 artists who make constructions, assemblages and reliefs. Including Willard Boepple, Lee Tribe, John Gibbons, the artists embrace a sculptural tradition by using conventional materials from stone to wax in intriguing and unorthodox ways.
…or see all London art reviews.
And finally
Win... a nine-night holiday in Brazil for you and a friend or a luxury trip to New York with the Royal Academy of Arts
Grab... £16 tickets for four cocktails at the Fentimans pop-up bar at L'Escargot
Book... these gigs while you still can
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