By now you may know that musician/visual artistAntony Hegarty (he of melancholic piano-pop act Anthony & The Johnsons) has been enlisted to curate this year’s Meltdown festival. Well, Hegarty has just announced an initial list of acts set to perform at the event, which is staged at the Southbank Centre between 1-12 Aug under the banner ‘Future Feminism’.

Alongside the diverse likes of Planningtorock, CocoRosie and Buffy Sainte Marie, the line-up thus far also features Soft Cell new-waver Marc Almond and cult singer-songwriters Diamanda Galas and Laurie Anderson, who represent the 1990s-era New York  scene in which Antony earned his own alt stripes.

These artists share the Meltdown roster with ex-Coil twosome, Stephen Thrower and Ossian Brown, who as Cyclobe will co-score four Derek Jarman shorts with David Tibet of experimental band Current 93′s new venture, Myninerest.

The festival will also feature a rare sighting of Elizabeth Fraser, who’ll play her first proper dates since her 1998 departure from the Cocteau Twins at the Royal Festival Hall on 6 and 7 Aug.

Says Antony of his choices: “I dreamed of assembling a constellation of courageous artists, all of whom have used their platforms as cultural producers to challenge us. They have exhibited a ferocity in their pursuit of beauty, and, falling like a guillotine behind it, justice”.

Further updates and ticketing info at meltdown.southbankcentre.co.uk

Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones  are to appear as special guests at the introduction of a brand new Python app.

The comedy collective’s first ever foray into the world of apps, ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus Bytes’ features multiple classic sketches and an ‘autograph’ device, which permits Python fans to have their app-using gadgets signed in digital font. A book signing for the digital age, if you will.

The meet and greet takes place at Apple’s Regent Street Store on 3 May from 6pm onwards, and will include discussion and app-based commentary by Michael and the two Terries.

And for extra reading material, why not view techno wunderkind Terry Gilliam’s discussion of “apps, ipads and interactivity” on The Guardian’s apps blog.

Celebrating its fourth year in residence at the Old Royal Naval College from 12-20 Jul, the Greenwich Comedy Festival will present eight evenings’ worth of stand-up, improv and character-based capers from some of the UK’s shiniest comic luminaries.

And what a roster it is: Arthur Smith MCs a bill divided between Richard Herring and Steven K Amos; Sean Lock acts as chair to young(ish) guns Danny Bhoy and Tony Law; Rich Hall hosts a hoedown, aka a “footstomping music-comedy mash-up”, at the festival’s close.

Further guest stars include Rufus Hound, Mark Watson, Issy Suttie, Sean Hughes, Reginald D Hunter and Shappi Khorsandi, who are also set to take over the Big or Little Top stages for their own solo or shared stints.

Info at www.greenwichcomedyfestival.co.uk

Dionne Warwick and a glittering musical horde are to perform as part of a gala evening hosted by The Hunger Project, a charity combating international famine and poverty.

Also appearing at the event, which will mark World Hunger Day, is a diverse cast covering the classic (Sir Cliff Richard, Boy George, Tony Hadley), and the contemporary (Alexandra Burke, Joe McElderry, Katie Melua), with special accompaniment courtesy of the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra and London Community Gospel Choir.

You can buy tickets for the concert, which takes place at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 May, here.

So, the London 2012 Festival is the umbrella term for an awful lot of capital-based cultural happenings (literally, there are millions) taking place between 21 Jun and 9 Sep in honour of the Olympics. This we know. What we also now know is the full extent of the festival programme’s multi-arts magnitude, organisers having just unveiled a vast list of its complete 12,000 features.

While there are simply too many goings-on to mention individually, standouts include ‘Playing The Games’, a Stephen Fry-curated fortnight of fun and drama at London’s Criterion Theatre; and ‘Tales Of The Riverbank’, a canal boat – crewed by comedians – that’ll sprout pop-up performances on its watery way from London to Edinburgh.

The (rather contentious) Mr Jeremy Hunt, who spoke briefly at the festival’s official launch, sums up the range on offer: “From Beethoven to Jay-Z; from Shakespeare to Mike Leigh; from Stephen Fry to Wallace and Gromit”, he says, adding that he was “delighted” by the level of public and media interest in London 2012.

Of course, the Olympics being a sports phenomenon for the entire nation (and world, and universe) to embrace, there are lots of similarly great spectacles striking sites across the UK, not least Tim Minchin performing a special gig at Cornwall’s Eden Project, or choreographer Michael Clark’s large-scale interractive dance at the Barrowlands in Glasgow.

Read more on those, as well as all the London-based stuff, at festival.london2012.com

Shoegazing youths SCUM are to take up a one-night residency at The Bishopsgate Institute in East London, playing live and curating a range of music, poetry and film by their artistic associates.

With the band’s debut album ‘Again Into Eyes’ set for a reissue later in the year, the event – which is titled ‘The Reading Of The Truth’ – will take place on 26 May.

And here are SCUM being very nonchalant/blurry in their video for ‘Amber Hands’:

As the above headline all but reveals, Cypress Hill are destined to play a stand-alone date at The Forum in Kentish Town.

The veteran hip hop group, who will visit the London venue on 5 Jun, are at the moment promoting ‘Cypress x Rusko’, their collaborative racket with the dubstep producer.

Cypress rapper Sen Dog says this of the EP (which, despite being billed for release this month, doesn’t seem to be out yet): “I think dubstep is a natural progression of hip hop. Especially the way that we formulated it with Rusko, there’s definitely some roughness to it”.

If you like, you can hear that rough-cut dub hop hybrid demonstrated in the below clip for ‘Cypress x Rusko’ track, ‘Roll In, Light It’:

A quip-tastic comedy line-up comprising Dylan Moran, Alan Davies, Milton Jones and radio DJ Greg Burns has just been confirmed for the opening gala of the Scipmylo Festival, an east London comedy/theatre/music/arts extravaganza taking place from 27 Jul – 12 Aug.

Scipmylo’s second ever edition will this year happen at Hackney Marshes, thus boasting a strong vantage point from which to view the Stratford Olympic park. Ever the good sport, star stand-up Alan Davies discusses his preparations for the gala: “I’m up at 4am every today being funny in training for this show. The drug-testing is intrusive but it’s part of the life of a top athlete”.

The full 2012 programme is as yet unannounced, but to give you an idea of the calibre of the acts, the main attractions of last year’s event included Ed Byrne, Stephen K Amos, Andrew Maxwell and Tom Allen.

It’s reasonable to anticipate similar great things from Scipmylo 2012, so watch this space for updates.

Camden’s sprawling Crawl music festival has sketched the outline of its first ever Crawlternative Media Expo (or CAME, if you like), which will run parallel to the main event on 5-7 May.

Co-hosted by arts collectives Alternative Press, Poster Roast and Lexington Record Fair, the exhibition will feature instructional workshops and talks on zine-making, poster design and screen printing techniques by leading experts in the underground arts.

Due to be staged at Camden’s St Michaels Church from 1-8pm each day, the fair will also feature live musical interludes from Toy, Dutch Uncles, Sauna Youth and Evi Vine.

More details here.

A brand new adaptation of Jean Racine’s tragedy in five acts, ‘Berenice’ (27 Sep – 24 Nov), will be a flagship production in the Donmar Warehouse’s forthcoming season, as announced by the theatre’s artistic director Josie Rourke.

Actress Anne Marie-Duff, who last appeared at the Covent Garden venue in the much praised 2005 production of ‘Days Of Wine And Roses’, will take the title role  in the play, which has been adapted from the original by novelist Alan Hollinghurst.

The Donmar will also stage Brian Friel’s ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come!’ from 26 Jul – 22 Sep, a production whose “portrait of youthful hope” should, Rourke explains, prove a fitting complement to this year’s Olympic festivities.

Rourke continues: “We follow this with Man Booker Prize winner Alan Hollingsworth’s powerful new version of Racine’s breathtaking tragedy, Berenice. It offers at its core an extraordinary part for a woman, and I’m delighted to be directing Anne-Marie Duff in the title role”.

Further info on the season, which also includes a production of Dürrenmatt’s Cold War satire ‘The Physicists’, are available via www.donmarwarehouse.com

The lengthily-titled London International Festival Of Science Fiction And Fantastic Film has shared the line-up for its 11th annual edition, delivering aliens aplenty and geekery galore.

2012 proceedings will begin on 29 Apr with the fest’s infamous costume parade, and continue with tens of premieres, shorts and exclusives beaming straight to cinemas across the capital until 7 May. Special events include a tribute to Boris Karloff, a ‘Geek Chic’ speed dating social, a Girl Geek Dinners Club meeting and the inevitable and highly-contested SF pub quiz.

Complete event and film listings at www.sci-fi-london.com

Pianist and stand-up (or should that be ‘sit-down’?) comi-cabaret character Tim Minchin will grace Somerset House’s grand courtyard stage this year as top-billed headliner of its Summer Series of live music. Katy B, The Temper Trap, M83, Paloma Faith, The Enemy, Tindersticks and Jill Scott will also take charge of their own individual dates, with Ms Scott playing for two nights on 9 and 10 Jul.

The events will also include a one-off Afrobeat spectacular on 14 Jul, featuring Fela Kuti disciples Olu Maintain, Cappo Snoop and Atumpan.

A number of supporting acts are still to be announced, but you can find the full listings as they look so far here.

Singer-songwriter José González is to appear alongside Saharan band Tiniarwen at a joint concert, collaborating live at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on 3 May.

The two rarely-seen acts will share a double bill coordinated by promoter SoundCrash Music, who are, incidentally, also hosting a three hour DJ set by Ninja Tune signing Bonobo on the other side of London just under a month later.

Taking place on 1 Jun at the 2932 East warehouse in Hackney, the latter line-up also co-stars Raffertie and Throwing Snow. Without wishing to steal José’s thunder, or anything.

Refer to the SoundCrash site for further details: www.soundcrashmusic.com

The Other Cinema are to stage twin London screenings of Mathieu Kassovitz’s brutal cult stalwart, ‘La Haine’, as a pertinent means of marking the capital’s forthcoming Mayoral elections.

In fact, the film will play on the very eve of said civic vote, with electronica collective Asian Dub Fundation playing their acclaimed soundtrack live as the picture plays. With the aim of engaging the community at the heart of the ‘La Haine’-esque urban violence that broke out during last Summer’s riot’s, the organisers’ chosen site for a free locals-only screening on 2 May is the Broadwater Farm Centre in Tottenham.

Londoners at large will have a second viewing opportunity at the Troxy in Limehouse on 4 May, while residents of the film’s on-screen setting will have their chance at the live-scored version’s Parisian premiere on 5 May. Find details/ticket links here.

The film’s writer and creator Kassowitz, who earned a Best Director award at Cannes upon its first release in 1995, adds: “I’m honored that ‘La Haine’ still represents 17 years later that much needed rebellious energy against a machine we don’t agree with. Burning and looting are not expressions of violence, but a scream for help and respect. No justice. No peace”.

Now see this:

Active Child is to play live at London’s Village Underground on 5 Jul, the show being staged in sustained support of his debut full-length, ‘You Are All I See’.

The electronic artist, aka Pat Grossi, takes the topmost quarter of a billing also featuring The Invisible, Hospitality and NZCA/Lines.

Tickets for the show, which is rather delightfully entitled ‘Sunsets: A Mid-Summer party’, are available here.

And if you’d like an Active Child memento that costs less (in fact, it’s costless), why not download this CFCF remix of Grossi’s sublime ‘High Priestess’:

The inaugural Balham International Comedy Festival will host headliner Harry Hill alongside a rich spread of world-renowned comics. It’s a rare chance to see famous TV types grace the ‘intimate’ stages of Balham venue The Bedford, with Marcus Brigstocke, Al Murray, Ed Byrne, Ardal O’ Hanlon and Stephen K Amos also standouts on a big-name bill.

Festival organisers Banana Cabaret will also present the best of their regular comedy night’s resident acts, also known as John Moloney, Paul Tonkinson, Lucy Porter and Adam Bloom, while exclusive Edinburgh previews will come direct from future Fringe fixtures Diane Spencer, Alistair Barrie and Paul Chowdhry.

With all this happening at The Bedford between 5-8 Jul, you can (and should) consult the festival’s official website for details and ticketing info.

The cornerstone of London’s 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the RSC’s World Shakespeare Festival will commemorate Britain’s most famous bard with a globe-scaling programme of international Shakespearean productions.

Launching its London listings today at (where else but) the Globe Theatre, a world series of Globe To Globe performances will include Brazilian troupe Companhia BufoMecânica’s re-imagining of ‘Richard III’-era battle scenes and a hip hop interpretation of ‘Othello’, not to mention a multitude of multi-lingual plays staged by more traditional means.

Download this PDF file to view the full World Shakespeare Festival brochure.

A new documentary called ‘Mission To Lars’ is to receive a limited release through Picturehouse cinemas in the UK this June, the first of which is a charity screening on 8 May at Notting Hill’s The Gate.

The film follows journalist Kate Spicer as she tries to help her brother Tom, who is diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome, a form of autism, to achieve his lifelong goal of meeting Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. The film sees the pair travel from the care home in Exmouth, Devon where Tom lives on a road trip through America in search of the musician.

Says Kate: “We had this fantasy of hitting the road with Tom and recreating some of the magic of our teenage years cruising around in £100 cars, eating Burger King and listening to heavy metal on the tape deck. We thought it would be fun, bonding. We wanted to do something good for our brother. We were also sick of him endlessly asking”.

All profits from the film will be donated to Mencap, and the soundtrack features contributions donated to the project by artists including Bob Dylan, Devendra Banhart and Blur, plus an original score written by Mike Lindsay from Tunng.

Watch the trailer for the film here:

Promoter Black Atlantic is to soon stage the first in a series of label-curated ‘Hidden Depths’ nights, partnering with electronic independent Ninja Tune to present jazz auteur Thundercat, London producer Floating Points, dub hop innovator Slugabed, and celebrated bass figurehead Offshore live at Fabric in London.

Organised in association with FACT Magazine and Tiger Beer, the event takes place on 16 May. Visit its Facebook event page here.

The notion of Dalston festival-makers Land Of Kings’ ‘Live Art Speed Date’ is one you’ll either love or loathe. Organised by Stoke Newington-based art collective International Airport, the event pits prospective daters against each other in a series of whimsical, character-driven challenges. Only those who complete said challenges will win the ‘golden ticket’ that grants access to the secret dating chamber. Like I said, it’s love or loathe with this one; a sort of lo-fi ‘Crystal Maze’ in which the star prize is (potential) romance.

Anyway. I’ll let International Airport elaborate further:

“You arrive to a flurry of neon and colour, costumes, constant movement and quizzical characters. There’s a beckoning bar and goodtime music in the airwaves. Your fellow daters are furrow-deep in strange tasks – carving faces into potatoes, offering up their DNA, forming human pyramids”.

“The ones who complete the challenges are offered a ticket by a character clad in gold, only to disappear ‘upstairs’. “What’s upstairs?”, people whisper. “What’s upstairs?”, you wonder, so you try your hand at a challenge. You succeed. One of the golden few pushes a token into your hand, and leads you upstairs, through the curtain to another, Other world”.

And so on. All this will unfold at Dalston Boys’ Club as part of the previously reported Land Of Kings festival, which runs from 4-5 May across various N16 venues. Full info on the Live Art Speed Date here.