Clubbin' it enfin!

Back at the end of August I was lamenting my lack of clubbing experience, primarily in Paris as I needed information for my book, but also locally because it seemed to epitomise the fact that I never go out dancing.

Imagine my delight, then, when I received an invitation to a soirée cocktail dinétoire dansant at Le Grau du Roi on the other side of La Grande Motte. It was sent by the magazine Côté Sel, who don't seem to have a website, because they did an article on Diane Rauscher-Kennedy the artist who is also President of the association I belong to as Secrétaire Générale - Promo' Arts.

The publishers produce two magazines: Le Graulien and Côté Sel. We were there to celebrate two years of the free local events publication - Le Graulien. They had invited all their advertisers and others, like us so there were around 500 people to enjoy the hefty snacks, punch, wine, champagne, dessert and 80s & 90s music. It took place in the Casino of Le Grau du Roi, a place I've never been in before and in fact I think it might be the first time I've ever set foot in a casino. Anyway, we weren't mingling amongst the black jack tables or fruit machines, but in a separate room with disco floor, lights and stage for the DJ.

Diane was feeling too poorly to attend, so I went with pal B who is also a member of the assoc. We left in torrential rain and arrived a bit early, so drove down to the beach l'Espiguette. This brought memories flooding back from my dim and distant past with my ex-husband when we had gone down there in his old black Alfa Romeo GTV and had a great time doing handbrake turns on the massive packed-sand car park which was empty at the time.

The rain had stopped but it was quite windy, so we got out and made our tentative way in the failing light on the little access path across the sand dunes to the beach. We were not the only ones there. The waves were quite energetic for the Med and it seemed to be good fishing weather because there were a number of hardy fishermen including one with his son on the beach with the end of their rods glowing eerily green.

Not the place to hang around in strappy sandals and evening gear, so back we went to the Casino, without doing a series of handbrake turns...

Most of the assembled crowd were the local commerçants I suppose - anyone who owns a local business who advertises or has something to do with the magazine. We picked out some favourites. There was 'Oldest Swinger in Town' with a classic French nose who, having asked to take a chair from our table proceeded to exchange witticisms at every opportunity thereafter. Then there were the 'Overcoat Twins' who didn't take their coats off until well into the evening.

Overcoat Senior bore a vague resemblance to Piers Brosnan, and I mean vague, but was wearing a heavy woollen coat and black scarf. I was very concerned that he would overheat and didn't seem to be enjoying himself, so asked solicitously if he was going to take off his coat. He said he liked being hot...

Overcoat Junior was wearing a trench coat and had one of those chiselled faces. He turned out to be a nifty dancer of rock in six. Eventually they came over and while pal B was getting some food, Overcoat Junior hung is coat over the back of his chair. Then, I suppose it got too much for Overcoat Senior who had to take off his coat or faint from heat exhaustion, so came up to our table and slung his coat over the back of our spare chair. At this point I cried out with relief at him that he had at last started to enjoy himself, which he took in good spirits...

Actually I was going to ask Overcoat Junior to dance a rock in six with me as payment for the rental of the chair back but he left before I had the chance, dammit. That was another reason for missing my ex-husband. He taught me to dance like that and we had many a super time at parties and weddings rocking on down. (Since discovered the Overcoat Twins have a website selling Camargue goody-filled hampers.)

Our other favourite was Miss Gypsy who was a diminutive long-haired young lady with a skill at shimmying that sent pal B's heart towards apoplexy. She looked a bitch mind, but boy could she shimmy those hips, to the general indifference to just about every other guy in the room I might add, including her boyfriend. I sometimes wonder about French men...

I managed to talk to one of the organisers and say who I was. He talked enthusiastically about his plans to do more articles on Promo'Arts artists and generally incorporate us as regulars in the magazine.

We finally left gone 1am and got back to Montpellier in torrential rain. Funny that.

It's my party...

For the first time in my life (since childhood, natch), last night I had a birthday party organised for me! The bliss of it!

NG had sent out invitations to my very best pals and invited some new and recent pals, laid out a glamorous table, wine bar and beautifully decorated room. I turned up with the boys and a lovely neighbour from down the road whose birthday had been on Wednesday. She had been intending going on to a disco bash at the beach with her friends after mine, but it had been cancelled because of the rugby match - France v Ireland. The establishment on the beach had decided everyone would be in front of their teles and would not be going out so it wasn't worth opening. I was doubly pleased then, to have invited her.

Everyone came with a bottle and something to eat so there was plenty. The boys watched dvds on my computer on the bed with the son of another friend, and stuffed pizza. I saw pals I hadn't seen in a while. We all have busy lives and when you have children it's often tricky finding time when everyone is free to get together. One of my friends is a keen runner and is often participating in competitions at the weekends - 15/10km races. As a result she's slim and slinky and full of beans.

There were about 13 of us plus the boys so it was a manageable number. I even got some lovely pressies. Last night NG had given me this fabulous painting 'Vagues' which always gives me the impression of having the water crashing down on my head, but I was also given a lovely selection of wearables, smellable/careables for my feet, listenables (MP3), flowers, and the salmon farci that we were all tucking into with such relish.

It's lovely being spoilt like that. I lost my wine glass three times despite not having had that much to drink - certainly less than the previous evening when B had brought round a bottle of Seigneurie de l'ARSE. You can imagine the hilarity and low wit that such a name inspired. Last night I quaffed champagne and a delicious Alsacien white wine.

NG had made a scrumptious coffee cake with divine butter icing and a naught for a candle so I could be any age I chose... I fluffed blowing it out the first time - trying to be clever with a short sharp puff, the candle got the last laugh and didn't go out. Everyone else laughed too! What a wimp - can't even blow out ONE candle! I managed it on the second blow you'll be pleased to hear.

Well, I had a lovely time. Spent much of it laughing, most of it drinking, some of it eating and all of it with pleasure.

Thank you NG!

Midi Libre, 24 May 2007

Here is the write-up by a journalist who was not present at the gala, but held a telephone interview with Diane the next day. It comes from the Midi Libre, 24/05/07.

There are two glaring errors:
1) We did not get 10million euros (a tad unlikely), but 10 thousand.
2) The auctioneer was called Maïtre Françoise KUSEL.I (on the right) am not mentioned, nor is the guy on the left, Franck Fontcouberte who is the conductor of the chamber orchestra. Diane is the other lady, and Professor Henri Pujol is the distinguished gentleman in the middle.

To see the articles written before the gala, see the Promo' Arts website.

The Day, Day After

Yesterday was one helluva day! It was the day of Promo' Arts gala event in aid of the Ligue Contre le Cancer.

The printer finally decided to behave and industrial quantities of programmes and receipts poured out (to be folded/cut). We had things to sort out at the Domaine de Verchant (glasses, chairs, tables) and were hard at it until mid-afternoon.

Having changed into something a little less casual, we headed back to find the caterers (best in Montpellier) doing their thing and a sense of eager anticipation. It has to be said we had the absolute best of everything: location, wine, aperitif, buffet, music, weather, teams, auctioneer.

Around 150 people came, paid for their glass, admired the surroundings and went to enjoy the Vignoble Guitard white wine. I don't think there was a single politician. Everyone had to pay to get in, you see, and we hadn't asked for any grants or other money to help us out. All our donations were made privately.

We were honoured by the presence of the president of the Ligue Contre le Cancer, Professor Henri Pujol who was very pleased with the evening. I was delighted to meet the people who made it all happen: Pierre Mestre of Domaine de Verchant (and red wine), Guy Cholet of Groupe Cholet (invitations), Charles Guitard, Antoine Peskine (logistics), Mr & Mrs Germain (buffet) and of course, Franck Fontcouberte who conducted the chamber orchestra and Maïtre Françoise Kusel the auctionner. It was fabulous.

The concert was perfect with some Bach, Mozart, Telemann, Elgar and Britten. I loved the English touch. I had played with the orchestra when it had been an amateur affair ten years ago. Franck has moved on since then and put together a wonderful team who play with warmth and enthusiasm. Funnily enough, my eldest's violin teacher is part of it. It was a surprise seeing her up there!

We had positive feedback upon positive feedback. The auction went well, the auctioneer was a riot, and I was called upon to note who bought what and at what price. The artist who had given us the most trouble had tried to offload one of her old paintings from way back in 1994 onto the auction. It didn't sell (hehe). Our guests didn't want it either, not even for a good cause!

Still we made over 10,000Eur and will give 90% to the Ligue Contre le Cancer, keeping 10% to enable us to start preparing for the next event.

Definitely an evening to remember!

Introducing Promo'Arts Blog

Promo'Arts, the association (for which I am the Secrétaire) which aims to promote 'jeune talent' and raising money for good causes now has a blog, which yours truly created this week.

It is, of course still in its infancy (both the association and the blog) but a date has been set for a fund-raising evening at the superb Domaine de Verchant to raise money for cancer research in May. Three paintings by Jean Leccia, one of the most renowned painters in the region will be auctioned, together with a raffle to win a painting by Diane Rauscher-Kennedy, who painted 'Loft', on the left there, and whose work is visible in greater numbers on the Promo'Arts blog.

For those who take an interest in such things, I decided to try out Wordpress as the blog host site. I like Blogger, but you only get one page, whereas Wordpress allows you to mimick a website by adding more pages. I wanted to be able to distinguish between Promo'Arts news, pages for participating artists, and a basic 'About' page. I have yet to write the text, but the foundations are laid.

We are especially looking for sponsors and DRK, the President, has been out banging on doors and hotting up the phone lines in search of generous companies. Generosity has certain fiscal advantages, of course, as does buying a painting through the association. For those of you who pay too much tax, you can help the association AND offset the purchase against tax, so basically everyone's a winner babe!

Most recently, Diane donated a beautiful dyptique painting called Stormy Sea to the Institut St Pierre, a children's hospital at Palavas les Flots. They invited her to a special ceremony to thank her, and laid on a lovely gouter for all the children so they enjoyed it even more! I went along as a hanger-on and made myself useful passing round sweets to the kids, although not to all, as it's a centre of childhood obesity, so those kids were, of course, privés de bonbons.

Diane makes an annual donation, when she chooses the best painting of the series and offers it to a marvellous local institution. Others who have benefitted are the Pompiers de l'Hérault to whom she gave the painting 'Garrigue en Flammes' in honour of those who participated in 9/11. As she is half-American, she felt more than gratitude for their bravery and courage. I didn't know her at the time, so didn't go to the shindig they laid on for her, which I somewhat regret, because who wouldn't want to be in a room filled with hunky firemen in boots?

Anyway, if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining the association, or being a sponsor, or buying a painting, you can contact Promo'Arts by emailing: promoarts_france at yahoo.fr (anti-spam measures, sorry).

Tele-non

The tele's gone on the blink and it's because we're trying to save the planet. I rang Darty and told them that because we were trying to save the planet by turning the tele off rather than leaving it on stand-by, the on/off button had been used way beyond its capacity, and had given up the ghost.

Luckily, when I bought the tele, I had taken out the 5-yr extended guarantee recommended by the salesman who must have known that teles in the houses of young boys are subjected to more than their fair share of rough treatment, and so as to avoid expensive repairs, an extended guarantee is worth two in the bush, as it were. Added to that, you get preferential service, which means it's quick. The guy is coming tomorrow with a new on/off switch.

You might think that we would be in despair at the prospect of a tele-free weekend, but no, we are made of sterner stuff than that. One reason for my relaxed attitude was that it was a boy-free weekend, so the darlings would be tele watching chez their dad and would just have to cope with Monday morning pre-school. Hardly a gargantuan effort...

Me? I was having a party, so spent Saturday moving friends, shopping, and flaking in bed being ill, as you do when you have a party. I had spent Friday afternoon in bed too, so I was not being a slacker, I assure you. When I came back downstairs for a cuppa, the room was transformed and clean, thanks to the RA (ResidentAdolescent) white tornado.

I had invited a few friends for a pot luck apero. This 'pot luck' term is one I've picked up from working with Americans. In the UK I think we'd refer to it as PBAD, as opposed to PPAB ('please bring a dish'? and 'please bring a bottle') although PBAD doesn't preclude PBAB as well. It did mean I wasn't having a fit of the vapours moving friends, being ill, and preparing a party for 15 all on my tod-some.

We finished putting up the lights, moved the furniture around, made some spectacularly delicious mulled wine, and yes, I did add a clementine stuck with cloves à la Jamie Oliver on the Sainsbury's advert but I'm not sure it made a lot of difference; and put out charcuterie and various bits and bobs. It was a very jolly evening and a lovely start to the Christmas season.

Today, we braved the centre of Montpellier with a quaking credit card for the annual purchase of glacé clementines. The woman who served me recognised me from last year, but didn't add an extra one for being such a fidèle client... The Polygone shopping centre was open as were many other shops, and we strolled around the Christmas market on the Place de la Comedie. We went over lunch time, wisely, because by the time we left at 3.30pm, the place was heaving and the carpark was full. Along the edge of the Esplanade is a row of flower shops where I bought some holly to adorn my DRK paintings, and mistletoe (hehe).

When we got back, we started packing presents, especially ones for the boys, taking advantage of their absence. Naturally, as soon as they bounced back in after a fun weekend with dad, they wanted to open the presents immediately.

They were quite put out when I said no!

Tell me, why is the only place you hear lovely Christmas music in the form of Christmas carols over the speakers of the local Intermarche?

Promo'Arts Promo

My friend Diane Rauscher-Kennedy has been in the papers recently, for two reasons.

The first is because she has an exhibition of her paintings in the café of Galeries Lafayette in Montpellier for two months. This is an annual event and is repayment for the work she does for the rest of the year finding bright young local artists and exhibiting their work, free, on two-month rotations. Lafayette Restaurant thus has its walls beautifully decorated all the year round at minimal cost, and unknown but talented artists are able to exhibit their work to a sizeable audience.

This charitable work has a certain cost, however, and Diane has been paying it for several years now, to the extent that she has decided the time has come to formalise her efforts into an association, which brings us to the second reason for her recent publicity.

She has started up Promo'Arts as, what the French call, an association 1911. This means it is non-profit making, but that expenses can be reimbursed and even a salary paid to enable her to spend more time expanding the assoc along the lines she has planned.

One of the ideas is to incorporate all her artists into the assoc as members and then to send them into the community, to under-priviledged areas for the benefit of les jeunes. They will start up workshops to encourage local youth to be creative on canvas rather than on someone's garden wall or car.

At present, the assoc needs both members (20€/year) and membres bienfaiteurs who give a more substantial amount. Many talented young artists have been helped along the road to renown thanks to Diane. If you would like to help her to help even more, do contact her on 06.88.17.64.22.