Greetings Britlings –
Are you celebrating yourselves, after all it is BRITWEEK?!
It of course is “more than just a week”, it’s a couple of weeks of great British culture, arts, design and music. I was fortunate enough to attend the BritWeek Innovation awards this week at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, honoring the best in Innovation. It was so nice to see so many BiLA members there, including Kim Morgan Greene, Guy Salisbury, Adam Beach, Claire Bullivant, Chantel Rickard and Matthew Wiseman from BAFTA/LA. I was a guest of Air New Zealand and got to sit at the table with one of the winners. This year’s winner of the last American Idol, Trent Harmon performed a couple of songs and Nigel Lythgoe led a Q&A with the evening’s honoree, Simon Fuller from 19 Management who has had quite the illustrious career, from creating and guiding the Spice Girls, to managing David Beckham and Annie Lennox, and creating Pop Idol and American Idol. He’s not quite as famous on these shores at that OTHER British Simon but he’s been called a ‘pop svengali’ in the UK and he most definitely deserved the recognition he received Wednesday night.
There are tons more BritWeek happenings on the agenda, including The British Invasion – a glittery gala celebration of BritWeek’s 10th Anniversary on May 1st, an in-store promotion at the suave British clothier Ted Baker, a Blind Scotch Tasting at the Pikey (both May 4th) and a performance by local rocker Steve Cooke on the 7th. I’m especially excited at the MonologueSlam UK event on May 3rd, – showcasing some great British talent – at The Chinese 6 theatre in Hollywood. A few tickets priced at just $10 are still available, so come join us there. Visit www.britweek.org for all the deets!
You may have noticed there is an election building steam in this country. I’m looking forward to hosting my Hillary Clinton fundraiser next week on May 4th… the event is titled May The Fourth Be With Her. It’s taking place at the Hollywood home of Maria Elena Infantino, who will be singing a couple of numbers for us. Keynote speaker will be the mayor of West Hollywood John Duran. Tickets are only $28 and available here – www.hillaryclinton.com/events /host/VWBUBBAWPVYCFJDU
Finally spare a thought this week for our Mayor of Breakfast, Bernard Skibbens, as he retakes his driving test this week. I gave him a tip to remember to check his blind spots as I remember failing as a cocky 25 year old just after I moved here. Never again. 😉
And remember as George Formby used to say “If I don’t see you through the week, I’ll see you through the window”.
Cheers and Brit On!
Craig Young
