Clayton Littlewood Meets Maggie & Martin!
The Launch of Union and Goodbye to Soho
8pm – late • £5
Latest Music Bar, 14-17 Manchester Street, Brighton, BN2 1TF
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Following on from a wonderful, exceptional and unique performance at Madam JoJo’s in May, author Clayton Littlewood and pop legends Maggie & Martin join up to celebrate the release of the book Goodbye to Soho, and the album Union.
Join Clayton and actor Roger Lloyd-Thompson for readings & performances from Goodbye to Soho, as well as Maggie & Martin for songs from Union performed live.
Click here to find out more about the venue
Click here to buy advance tickets
BACKGROUND
In 2006, Clayton Littlewood and his partner Jorge Betancourt had a shop on Old Compton Street in Soho called Dirty White Boy and every night, once the shop had closed, Clayton would sit by the window and write about the strange characters who’d been in the shop that day. He started to post these diary entries up on Myspace and it was through reading Clayton’s diary entries that Maggie and Martin met.
The diary entries led to a book (Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho) and to a play. When Clayton was looking for music for the play he asked Maggie and Martin if they would be willing to contribute a set of original songs. This collaboration led to the duo writing and recording an album’s worth of material. The result of which is Union, a labour of love, it’s creation spanning a two-year period, with Martin in Manchester and Maggie on the South coast.
Thus, this event is both a showcase of songs from their album and stories from Clayton’s new book (a sequel) entitled Goodbye to Soho.
Union is released on Beauty Box Recordings.
Goodbye to Soho is available (in hardback, paperback and e-book) from all bookshops and online booksellers.
PRAISE FOR UNION
‘In a music world plagued by nostalgia, talent show fodder and Glee-inspired cover versions ad nauseum, it is wonderfully fresh to encounter a unique collaboration such as Maggie & Martin.’ —Polari magazine
‘The album oozes great songwriting skills from the poppy rock that is ‘Destiny Calling’ to the Bowie-esque ‘Wu at Heart’ and the bi lingual single release ‘Night of a Thousand Stars’. The result is a stunning compilation of pop, rock, ballad and dance tunes that really do have to be heard.’ —Dusty O (QX magazine)
Click here to see the first video from the new album
http://www.youtube.com/
PRAISE FOR GOODBYE TO SOHO
‘Clayton has been seduced by Soho’s sleazy magic and through him so are we.‘ — Marc Almond
‘As scurrilous and entertaining as ever.’ —Rupert Smith (Man’s World)
‘Like Isherwood’s Berlin, Littlewood’s Soho comes to life right off the page.’ — Jonathan Kemp (London Triptych)
‘Downright Dickensian…not simply a good writer but a great writer.’ — Polari Magazine
‘That dirty old whore Soho has no better pimp than Clayton Littlewood.’ — Tim Fountain (Resident Alien and Rock)
‘Beautifully composed vignettes…observed by a ravenous, compassionate, amused voyeur of the first rank. — Nicholas de Jongh (Plague Over England)
‘It might sound strange to be comforted by the daily trials of prostitutes, trannies, prisoners and street sweepers, but that’s what Clayton does – brilliantly.’ (Stewart Who? Twisted)
MAGGIE
Maggie K de Monde’s music career started in Swans Way whose single, Soul Train cracked the charts. Their album yielded five singles, culminating in appearances on The Tube, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops. Maggie’s follow up group, Scarlet Fantastic, spawned the hit single No Memory which became a rave generation classic anthem,the band also appeared on The Tube, Top of the Pops and MTV amongst others.
MARTIN
Martin Watkins is well known for his collaboration with Marc Almond as pianist, co-writer and arranger spanning two decades. In 1991, Martin produced, mixed and arranged Marc’s Absinthe album. It was around this time that Marc and Martin toured together as an acoustic duo. Martin has played and performed on many of Marc’s albums and DVDs including ‘The Willing Sinner’, ‘Live at Union Chapel’ and more recently has co-written, performed and arranged all the strings for Marc’s most recent studio album,Varieté.
CLAYTON
In 2008 Clayton released his first book: Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho. Reviews compared the book to the diaries of Samuel Pepys, Virginia Woolf and Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories. In 2009 it was named Gay Times Book of the Year and was endorsed by celebrities such as Sir Elton John, Stephen Fry, Holly Johnson and Sebastian Horsley. In April 2009 Clayton turned the book into a play. It sold out at London’s West End Trafalgar studios and then returned a year later for an extended run. www.claytonlittlewood.com
ROGER
Clayton will also be joined by Roger Lloyd-Thompson (aka Dexter Clark, Celebrity Hairdresser) who will be bringing to life some of the characters from Clayton’s book. Dexter Clark is currently appearing in London’s West End at the Leicester Square Theatre in his own ‘one man’ show, ‘Dexter Clark’s Fabulous Head.’ (Sat 16th June, Sun 1st July & Tues 31st July)
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The DJ for the night is non-other than the world famous and multi-talented Mr Hifi Sean!
Check his bio/website below … he’s done a LOT!
