Betrayal at the Donmar

I love the Donmar, I really do. In fact, I must remember to get membership there as it's so goddamn hard to get tickets for any of their productions these days. Anyway, Betrayal looks excellent - lots of notquitethirty themes i.e. love, infidelity, commitment and the rest. Oh yes and apparently some bloke called Harold Pinter wrote it. On till July 21st. 0870 060 6624.

Regina Spektor

One for me and LGG? She's playing at RFH on 7th September...

Kings Cross music festival in August

So I've failed to make Glastonbury but this Kings Cross based festival on 25th/26th August looks pretty cool.* There appears to be some confusion about the dates but it looks like it's happening around the bank holiday weekend...



* my proxy: metronomy are playing. nuff said.

Jarvis Cocker at Meltdown

In case I get stood up on the 23rd, which at this stage is looking quite possible... Jarvis' curating of Meltdown looks ace this year, I'm sorry that I've missed it all, but at least here I might get to hear the great man himself. Been really digging his Pulp stuff again recently, so could almost live with being stood up for him.

Oh my! Dragonette are playing again

This time, supporting a band who I *think* are called Chromeo, but to be honest their graphic design is so awful that I can't even read it. Anyway, Dragonette as support stood out. They're playing at the super cool Rivoli-esque looking London Bush Hall on 27th June, which clashes horribly with a work dinner, but hey, maybe I can get out of it.

Joan as a Policewoman

One for me and C? On 11th July at Shepherd's Bush... credit cards 0870 400 0688 or online at www.livenation.co.uk

Panic Attack at the Barbican

On till Sept 9th, finally the punk show is on the road. Sounds like a pretty cool exhibition, taking in lots of the punk stuff in relation to gay liberation and feminism as well as music and the rest.

Hmm. Well I had high hopes for this one but went to see it today with Ix and we agreed that were we writing the reviews, it would be: 'ok but not great' for the Times and 'a lot of cocks but not enough tits' for NOTW. I was really excited about an exhibition that included the political dimension of punk - but annoyingly this show does that to the massive exclusion of music, visceral anger and safety pins. It felt a bit wrong walking around the gallery in hushed tones, everyone refusing to laugh at the video of the man beating himself up before smearing his arse with tomato ketchup. Hmm. Anyway we had a fun day and I do love the Barbican. every time I go there I have a little fantasy of my life as a mildly eccentric writer living on the top floor of one of the tower blocks. one day, one day...

Paul Chan at the Serpentine

Potentially a little pretentious, but in a way that I suspect I might rather enjoy. This exhibition is on at the Serpentine till 1st July. Lots of video projections, colour, symbolism. Time Out claims the theme across all of them is the fall of man and the return of religion and irrationality. We'll see. If I make it.

John Soane museum

T has been going on at me about visiting here for years now. In fact, when we finally made it there a month or so ago we wondered if it would mean that we could no longer be friends - what else would we talk about now we didn't have the prop of planning a visit to this ace museum? Well - it seems to have worked out ok, and we had a really excellent time at John's house. He was quite a dude, this guy: an artist, architect, thinker, collector, general polymath. Things I was stunned by: the passion of the museum caretakers; the queues outside (the place is only open in the evenings once a month, on the first tuesday, and clearly time out readers have decided it's cool); and the sheer quantity of crazy stuff on show there. Great. Go when it gets dark in the evenings so that they light the candles. But be prepared to be patient to get in.

STOP PRESS 19 Princelet St open for one week only

OK, so the Museum of Immigration and Diversity really isn't open that often. So June 17th-24th is a special time when the effort really must be made to go there. The building has been a mosque, synagogue and church in its time. It struggles to keep going but by all accounts is a bit of a magical Tardis-like building. And I love that they market themselves as London's 'museum of conscience'. I'm there.

Don't panic

Cool-sounding exhibition from The Architecture Foundation, including stuff from JG Ballard (whose book High Rise was the main reason my parents decided to sell up their beautiful riverside flat), plus other films and installations exploring themes around fear and fragility - and The Future Of London. Serious stuff. On until July 13th at the AF's Yard Gallery, 49 Old Street (same tube) Tue-Fri 10-6, Sat 12-6.

Rye

Queen's best 1970s song was about this place, loads of inter-war arty lesbians lived here, so it's clearly a place I'm going to like. A total pig to get to, but once there it's kind of fun. Very near Camber Sands, which has a cool hotel and fantastically sandy beaches with excellent dunes which you can hide and snog in.

Box Hill

Well if it was good enough for Jane Austen's characters, it's good enough for me. Great views, and less than an hour from Victoria.

Groombridge Place

Although I got rave reviews from M about this place (he went to a wedding there) I won't hold that against it, as it does sound cool. It's near Tunbridge Wells in Kent (another strike against it, but again... let it go...), and is the most fantastic stately home with the usual amazing manicured gardens. And an enchanted forest, says the website. According to my friend T, it was bought by a wealthy American, which is what saved it from going to ruin, and for some reason that's been lost in the mists of time, it is a detour for the people who participate in the vintage car rally that happens every year...

Postman's Park

This is a place that has been on my to-do list for a very, very long time. It's great: a small, little known park within the square mile. To get there you need to follow Little Britain towards St Paul's cathedral - not that easy to find but so worth it as it really is magical. Very Demos too - with a wall of plaques commemorating 'everyday heroes'. I like. Note: turns out (as i discovered) it risks being quite romantic. Careful who you go with...