Hold tight, culture vultures, as we’re hurtling into what promises to be a particularly confusing entertainment epoch.

A.I. tools – the good ones, and the evil – are supercharging the cacophony of shiny audiovisual distractions, all clamouring for a few seconds of our ragged attention spans.

(Thank for getting to the third paragraph with as yet unbroken focus, by the way.)

For anyone with a show to promote, seats, tables or wristbands to sell, and an all-important fanbases to mobilise, you’ve really gotta bring your A Game… or risk shouting into the void.

These days, our brains need messages that are extremely to-the-point.

We require concepts which are instantly easy-to-grasp - perhaps even to remember!

Requests to take any action must be simple, if you want any chance of arresting the next flick of a digit, signifying all is lost to the dreaded onwards scroll or the next email.

We’re all well aware of this about ourselves, let alone everyone else we see gawping listlessly at screens during any available moment.

Yet, so often, when trying to swiftly decipher an email sent from a cultural organisation desperate for some free coverage in Camdenist, I honestly struggle to work out what the hell they are on about.

Perhaps it’s the curse of creative minds over-thinking the concept behind their art show, to the point that the resulting word salad at best serves only to confuse, or at worst makes the whole thing sound insufferably, impenetrably pompous?

Perhaps it’s the ever-present fear in jumpy promoters, bricking it that such-and-such a singer, theme or celebration alone is never quite enough, which drives all the complicated explanations of musical history and a straw-clutching symbolism behind each festival booking?

Perhaps it’s the fault of the sponsors and partners, all fighting for inclusion of logos, brand mentions and approved-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life boilerplate text, which only ever dilute and damage the impact of the key message?

Of course, all such rambling press releases can now be fed to A.I. for a stab at some newfangled robot-assisted summarisation, but such is the state of much of these press releases that these powerful tools currently struggle - almost as much as the poor human mind - when trying to unravel a simple explanation for what we might expect from said cultural experience.

I don’t want a world where A.I’s cheery blandness dictates the lens through which we see our cultural events, but the sector does need to get a lot more concise with its flowery promotional prose, particularly if it stands a chance of cutting through the hyper-optimised slop messages all around.

For the next month, we’re truly spoilt around here, with over 400 different live shows to discover in the 2025 edition of Camden Fringe, which runs Mon 28th Jul – Sun 24th Aug.

Most of the emails about these shows, often written by the performers themselves in lieu of any external PR luxuries, are actually mercifully concise and easy to grasp.

The problem is the overall volume. To say Camdenist has been inundated with press releases for Fringe events this year feels like comedic understatement.

But in the spirit of making things punchy in order to cut through, we’ll be working with a few of the best performers and producers over the coming weeks to preview their shows and showcase their talents.

If we’ve held your attention right to the end of this piece, you’ll almost certainly be the sort of person who’ll want to buy a ticket or three to go see some of the work.

I hope all of that was clear, and (fairly) punchy, to boot. 😉

• If you’re wondering the significance of the pastry as the main pic, it felt to me like it sums up simplicity in presentation for a work of complex flavours, textures and techniques - a bit like a good press release should be, right? And also as made by Crumbs Bakery, the arrival of which in Camden neatly also leads the next section…

FOOD & DRINK

Crumbs! News of a secret new backstreet bakery opening + Italian sarni kings in Holborn

🥖 Thanks to a reader tip-off for this one - Crumbs Bakery is a brand new bread and pastries specialist now to be found tucked away in one of those lovely cobbled mews (Rochester Mews, to be exact) that run alongside Camden Road. They made a name for themselves in Walthamstow, and are already making friends in this part of town, all from their rather secret local vantage. Do go seek them out.

🐔 NYC’s Sichuan/Southern fusion fried chicken sensation The Pecking House is coming to The Standard hotel’s Double Standard bar for a tasty UK pop-up, 31st July to 14th Sept. The New York original was set up by ex-Eleven Madison Park sous chef Eric Huang as a Covid lockdown venture that went stratospheric, with signature dish the country-fried chicken with duck fat chili oil one of the highlights to have flown over the pond.

🥪 Schiacciata, the iconic flatbread from Florence, is the name of the game at Dal Fiorentino, where they stuff slices of the stuff with the freshest Italian ingredients for some very photogenic mega-sandwiches (pictured above). Their latest branch, which opened this week in Holborn, joins established locations in Fitzrovia, Brick Lane and Hoxton.

Plus, two unexpected closures…

It’s an opulent space that has had a fairly turbulent history, but I bet no one saw the closure of Victory Garvey at The Midland Grand Dining Room coming, especially having only opened in February and picked up rave reviews from all the right names ever since.

Apparently the shock closure has something to do with Marriott - which own the hotel where the restaurant and it’s equally decadent cocktail bar are based - wanting to take over the operations, according to Hot Dinners.

Marriot have just rebranded the hotel, from the familiar ‘Renaissance St Pancras’ to the clumsy ‘St Pancras London, Autograph Collection’, in one of those assaults on practical naming that only makes sense in the board room, so hopefully the next plan for the stunning dining room space isn’t quite such a bland, international fudge.

The second closure is the equally sudden loss, announced this week, of Brewdog Camden, formerly esteemed music pub The Laurel Tree. The news comes as part of a purge of 10 venues by the somewhat sullied brewery, which lost it’s B-Corp status over a number of workplace scandals.

The Unite union and other hospitality voices have been up in arms about the incredibly short notice given - the venues are slated to serve their last pints as early as this Saturday - calling the decision “morally repugnant and potentially unlawful.”

It’s yet another negative story dogging the brand that was once the darling of beer drinkers and investors, but a move that they are blaming firmly on the UK’s incredibly tough trading conditions, rather than people turning away from their (still decent) beers.

FESTIVALS & MUSIC

❄️ Celebrate ice in the midst of summer

🥶 The London Canal Museum is hosting another of it’s wildly popular Ice Weekend festivals on Sat 2nd-Sun 3rd Aug. The amazing story of Camden’s fledgling Victorian ice cream trade, the import of huge slabs of ice by boat all the way from Norway, and the underground storage facilities built for it are all celebrated. There are kids craft activities in the museum, storytelling barge and tunnel trips, and the chance to descend into the ice wells.
Then there are a series of other family fun days running every Tuesday throughout August.

🎶 Jazzie B’s Back2Life Cafe gigs continues down at Hawley Wharf after work tonight, this week with the bonafide reggae legend, David Rodigan, gracing the ones and twos.

💃🏼 The Electric Ballroom’s seasonal outdoor dance floor and food court, Camden Courtyard, is back for the summer with a solid line-up of themed parties, including an unofficial Asake open air bash this Sat 26th Jul, an over 30s indie party on Sun 3rd Aug and a deep D&B celebration at Nu:Tone presents 'The Deep End' on Sat 9th Aug.

…and some of your comments

“If we don't have some positivity and hope, we will be really broken!”

“We have a lot of freedom here. Many of those freedoms are under threat (the right to peaceful protest in particular) and post-truth politics is highly corrosive - but we remain a free and open society and we are rather nice here in the UK - there's much to be celebrated!”

“Nothing works No customer service anywhere People are rude All public services are run down and grossly inefficient. ( health, education). And government are detached from reality.”

“Here's how I feel - high-rise towers are an aesthetic blight on our big cities, and their historical architecture and character. Here's what I know - we, as individuals and certainly as a society, have got to get past that mindset and get on with building, because people need and deserve homes and the fundamental dignity they give.
We also have to get past this frankly arrogant mindset that we - as residents - know what's best for the area. The fact is, and so many kneejerk opposers to development schemes fall under this heading, we are only as selfless as our proverbial Hampstead Heath views allow us to be. It may be a grossly cynical view to have, but I stand by it. The consultation process is the furthest thing from broken. Our voices do get to be heard, but the fact is - WE DON'T ALWAYS KNOW BEST.
People won't admit that their opposition to a LTN mostly stems from the extra 4-mins it will tack onto their car journeys; nor will they admit that they oppose the new KTW regen or temporary housing hostel, because of the potential 'undesirables' it may attract to the area. Biases and privilege aren't as heavily disguised as some of this day and age's social justice warriors would like us to believe when they say, "we support the principal of an LTN / Cycle lane / regen scheme, but...".
Cities change. The visual aesthetic and character of areas change. Development is also a business. And we cannot pretend otherwise. If a new project with 30% social housing and/or low rent flat schemes loses two storeys because of council/resident opposition, then it may become financially unviable for the developer and the whole thing goes out the window - including the 30% of homes that could have housed those in most desperate needs of them. Private development often pays for social housing.
Yes, scrutinise proposals. By all means demand transparency and ask however many questions you need until you're satisfied you have all the information you NEED - not the answers you WANT to hear. And if a decision still goes ahead despite your opposition, just allow yourself a small sliver of doubt that you may not be all-knowing and that some professionals who do this for a living, actually are thinking bigger than next week - or next year - major planning decisions should be for decades, if not beyond. We cannot keep frustrating them for the now, and for our own selfish needs. To be clear, I work in the arts and am in no way, shape, or form, council or developer-employed/contracted. Thank you for the opportunity to voice an unpopular opinion.”

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