Something for the Weekend (23rd/25th October)

The autumn half-term holidays begin in France, meaning another relatively quiet weekend in Paris. Nevertheless, here are a few suggestions to keep those staying in the city warm as temperatures begin to drop.

Please add any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself in the comments, and let me know if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

FIAC
The star of the weekend with enormous events at the Grand Palais and the Louvre as well as a host of more minor spin-offs is undoubtedly the FIAC (Foire Internationale de l'Art Contemporain – contemporary art fair). However with an eye-watering and elitist 28 Euro entrance ticket, this seems to me more like the very worst kind of commodity fetishism. Perhaps more interesting therefore is the lower-priced and more accessible Slick event organised at the same time at the 104 Arts Centre.
From Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th October
http://www.fiac.com/?lg=en

The Paris Burlesque Festival
Paris has always been intrinsically linked to the burlesque, but it is only very recently that it has become fashionable again. The Bellevilloise has long been associated with this art form, offering both lessons and performances, so it is no surprise that the first edition of this festival should take place here. Over the four days of the festival you should expect the unexpected, ranging from photo exhibitions and films to updated versions of peep shows. A piano bar will create the necessary atmosphere for the shows, and DJs will ensure that the party continues long into the night. You can even sign up for striptease lessons yourself!
From Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th October
La Bellevilloise
19-21 Rue de Boyer, 75020
http://www.parisburlesquefestival.fr/

Mark Eitzel

Whenever my favourite artist comes to town it is always an important event for me, but this time it really will be different. For over 20 years he has been producing critically acclaimed by criminally overlooked albums both as a solo artist and with his band the American Music Club, but each time he has played in Paris, he has always brought his guitar along. This time he will be accompanied just by a piano, and will be playing in the intimate and cosy Sentier des Halles club. Eitzel always offers a humerous and self-deprecating stage presence which makes his dark songs and soulful vocals all the more surprising and effective.
Sunday 25th October, 7.30pm
Sentier des Halles
50 rue d'Aboukir ,75002
http://www.markeitzel.info/

Shopaholics
For those into shopping, two events this weekend. Firstly the re-opening of the self-proclaimed ‘largest computer equipment shop in the world’, Surcouf on the Avenue Daumesnil. Some kind of large ‘meteorite’ will fall outside the shop, and early visitors will be able to pick up the pieces and claim a number of gifts. Surcouf state that prices will be as low as on the internet, but will they be as low as the neighbouring Chinese traders?
Surcouf
139 avenue Daumesnil 75012

The second event is the start of a new monthly rendez-vous known as the Pop-Up Shop Oberkampf. This large space on the Rue St Maur will offer the products of little-known designers at competitive prices.
113 rue Saint-Maur 75011
Saturday 24th from 2pm to 8.30pm and Sunday 25th from 11am to 7pm

The Theatre de Belleville

The evolution of a city is a gently flowing stream, turning over old stones and rolling them down to new positions. As fashions change and tastes diversify, buildings are transformed or pulled down and newer models spring up in their place. The city always wants to display its most modern face, but often clues are left behind which betray the past. Such is the case with the Theatre de Belleville.

Little pictorial evidence exists of the original theatre built in 1826 on the Cour Lesage off the Rue de Belleville, but by all accounts it was a magnificent building both inside and out. This was a time when Belleville was one of the suburbs of Paris, a place of leisure where Parisians went to enjoy cheaper entertainment and more relaxed licensing laws, and the theatre became one of the most important in the region.

It was particularly popular amongst the working classes, and the theatre repertoire reflected their tastes. Vaudeville, historical plays and melodramas were the most successful, keeping audience numbers high for many years. So popular was the theatre in fact that when it was badly damaged by fire in 1867, the necessary money for repairs was very quickly found.

The theatre continued to thrive into the twentieth century until a new competitor came along that would prove more dangerous than fire - the cinema. The theatre stuggled to adapt and keep up with fashions, until in 1932, Paul Caillet, the owner at the time, decided to demolish the old theatre and put up a new building in its place. Using the most modern art-deco styles of contemporary architects, no longer could it be said that the Theatre de Belleville was behind the times.

The new building incorporated not only a theatre, but also apartments, a dance hall and a garage. However, the new venture wasn't the success that Caillet had hoped for. The theatre was certainly one of the most modern around, but it lacked the charm that its regulars had always appreciated. Soon it found itself sharing the auditorium with film screenings, and by the end of the 1940s, cinema pushed drama out of the building forever.

However, even as a cinema it was not a great success. There was too much competition in the neighbourhood (there were upwards of 30 cinemas in Belleville and Menilmontant in the 1950s), and the theatre de Belleville was too large. The end came in 1962 when it was sold off and transformed into a supermarket. It hadn't finsihed its evolution yet though, and today the supermarket itself has become a chinese restaurant.

So what is left today of the theatre? The attractive art-deco building still stands with its impressive central column. The two lowest levels still show the form of a cinema frontage, even if they have been decorated in a more chinese style today. What is left is one final clue. Although the theatre became a cinema, a supermarket and a restaurant, the pharmacie at the beginning of the street saw no reason to change. And that meant that there was no reason to change its name either.

Signs of the Suburbs

One of the biggest differences between France and the UK or US is the role of the suburbs. In Britain or the States, the inner city has traditionally been synonymous with low incomes and crime, whereas the opposite is true in France. The city centre is the domain of the rich, and it is the 'banlieue' or suburb which has the negative connotations.

Parisians rarely venture out into the suburbs. Many though are obliged to quit the city on a daily basis to go to their place of work, but even on these occasions they are whisked in and out by car or train, and spend as little time as possible in this neighbouring environment.

I am one of these people, taking a train each day away from Paris. My morning commute takes me beyond the city limits, over the peripherique and across the Seine, out into another world. As I leave Paris, the heights of the buildings drop, and I can begin to see a broad skyline, punctuated with the straight lines of the overhead power cables.

Entering the world of the suburbs does not mean fear for me, but often a kind of ennui. With a few rare exceptions, the suburbs of Paris are not attractive places. They are scruffy, the result of inexistant urban planning. Fast roads send cars thundering through what were their historic hearts and viaducts carry streams of trains through industrial estates or over back gardens. And yet there is something endlessly fascinating about these places if you scratch through this opaque vision.

It is the raggedness that gives these places their charm. Paris with its strict planning rules and its facade of wealth makes for a very homogeneous picture which in itself can become dull. The suburbs, with their tower blocks neighbouring quaint houses and Parisian style Haussmannian buildings makes for a much more disorderly spectacle. As you walk through the suburbs, you literally never know what will be around the corner.

Often it is the car that has dictated how these towns have developed, and as a result they are not particularly pedestrian friendly. Nevertheless, taking a walk here gives many rewards to the curious. Even the street signs are different here. Collapsing against a wall, a crumbling relic in solid stone and cracked enamel from several decades ago.

Pasted around the town, an affiche for an upcoming event. In Paris, this poster would have been laughed out of town for being so uncool, but here it is a celebration of a local community. Those that will attend this event care little for the snobbery of their more illustrious neighbours, and simply want to meet friends, eat some traditional foods and dance to the music they grew up with and have always known.

It's a sign of the suburbs. Defiant, unfashionable, proud, untidy and authentic.

Something for the Weekend (16th/18th October)

A quieter weekend this time in Paris, although the scent of burning candles will be in the air. For some unexplained reason, several birthdays are being celebrated - to which you are all invited of course! Other events include an exhibition, a ‘flair’ event and a somewhat grimmer anniversary.

Please add any events or activities you think should be promoted or which you would like to promote yourself in the comments, and let me know if you have any events in the coming weekends you would like to promote.

Happy Birthday Point Ephemère!
The Point Ephemère alongside the Canal Saint Martin is celebrating its 5th birthday this month, but the birthday party is this Friday night. If you have never been before, this is the moment to check out this unusual and unusually well-situated venue which operates as a bar, restaurant, concert hall, night-club and rehearsal space. If you have been before, now is the time to go again. If you go regularly, you won’t need reminding!
Point Ephemère
Quai de Valmy
Metro Stalingrad
Friday 16th

Happy Birthday Baron Samedi!
The Baron Samedi bar is a younger sibling and will only blow out two candles this Saturday evening. Situated on a quiet street at the lower end of Belleville, it has managed to build itself a reputation as the ‘local’ for everyone in the area. The owners are fantastically friendly, and the regulars will also draw you into their conversations. It offers regular events to keep people coming back, including poker nights, themed crosswords and northern soul DJ sets. More on this bar and its owners soon!
Baron Samedi
12 Rue des Goncourt, Metro Goncourt
Saturday 17th, 9pm

French Flair
Remember Tom Cruise in Cocktail? Apparently this activity is known as ‘flair bartending’, and this Sunday evening you will be able to see the 20 of the best bartenders in competition to become the Champion of France on the stage of Le Reservoir! It should be quite spectacular, and the venue is a nice place to go at any time.
Le Reservoir
16 Rue de la Forge Royale, Metro Ledru-Rollin
Sunday 18th, 8pm

Salon de la Photo
The Salon de la Photo is the biggest photography show in Paris, featuring just about everything connected to the subject. You’ll find exhibitions of top photographers, some of whom you’ll be able to meet, and the widest possible selection of equipment and media.
http://www.lesalondelaphoto.com/
Porte de Versailles
15th to 19th October

Top tip: For a free ticket, click here, choose ‘amateur’ then enter the following code: PGPC9. Fill in the form and you should receive a printable invitation by e-mail. (Offered by http://www.photographie.com/)

Secrets and Lies
Not all anniversaries are happy events. This Saturday marks 48 years since what has become known as 'the 17th of October massacre' took place. In 1961, during the tail-end of a conflict between France and Algeria, a demonstration of Algerians living in France and protesting against night-time curfews degenerated into pitched battles. The French police had been targetted over the previous months by radical Algerian groups, and many today see this day as the moment the French authorities took an extreme and bloody revenge. Many protestors died, but the exact number has never been revealed nor exactly how they met their death (although several were known to have drowned in the Seine). This is still a very touchy subject in France and a story with many murky elements. Perhaps the full story will come to light for the 50th anniversary. In the meantime, annual commemorative events take place across the city to ensure that people do not forget, including this manifestation near Saint Michel.

Pont St Michel

Saturday 17th, 5pm

La Java

Tucked away at the back of an attractive, but now little-used 1920s shopping arcade is La Java, one of the oldest nightclubs in Paris. Follow the art-deco curved iron staircase underground, then take a wander back in time.

It's 1923 - the jazz age, but Paris is dancing to another tune. The immigrants from the Auvergne have brought their own style of music with them known as the Musette, built around the notes of the accordeon. The workers who have come from this region want places to meet, drink and dance to this music. Within a few years, hundreds of small venues spring up across the east of the city where most of these workers live.

One of these venues is La Java in the Rue du Faubourg du Temple. The Java also happens to be the most famous type of dance associated with the Musette, a kind of speeded up waltz invented in Paris to enable people to dance in the tightly packed spaces of these small clubs. The venue was almost certainly named after the dance, advertising to prospective clients exactly what they could expect from a night out there.

Although the club sits in the heart of Belleville, not the most salubrious part of town, it is situated underneath a recently built shopping arcade and it manages to attract quite an upmarket crowd. The success continues into the 1930s, and now the walls are witness to the beginnings of a new breed of artist. Young singing stars plucked from the streets of Belleville take to the stage and take the Musette in new directions. Edith Piaf makes her debut here as a young girl and Maurice Chevalier is a regular. From here they will take on the world.

In this same decade jazz does finally arrive, played on a guitar in a manouche style by the scarred fingers of Django Reinhardt. The public come in ever increasing numbers to this small place which has become known as an initiator of new styles, but after the rise must come the fall. The end of the decade sees war break out, and the venue will see many years of decline.

In the 1960s and 70s, the venue becomes a popular hang-out for gangs and wideboy criminals, with Mesrine being a regular visitor. Hidden away underground and out of sight, and probably after greasing the palms of a few local policemen, illicit gambling is the main centre of commerce keeping the venue alive. It continues trading, plodding into the 1980s, until an unlikely saviour appears.

The city's Latino crowd adopt the venue, and it becomes one of the hottest salsa clubs in the city. Young dancers from across Paris come each weekend to sway to the sounds of leading DJs and furious live bands. Men of all ages who have mastered the salsa swing come to find young girls to dance with, but with their adroitness and wide smiles they are never short of partners.

Today the venue has been cleaned up and renovated, but the history is still written on the floor and walls. La Java is displayed in the floor tiles as you enter, and the walls are painted with scenes of an imaginary Belleville where the stars seem to glitter in the lights. The sounds have changed though, and you’ll be more likely to discover alternative rock bands or stand-up comedians early on in the evening, then a more eclectic range of dance music after midnight.

Take a drink at the bar then sit down in one of the booths. The venue is thoroughly modern now, but it is still easy to picture yourself in any one of these snapshots from 80 years of a very rich history.

La Java
105 Rue du Faubourg du Temple, 75010
http://www.la-java.fr/