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Our tips to help you plan ahead and get the best out of your weekend in the city: Friday 13 - Sunday 15 November.
Music
A mix of concert premieres, unique collaborations, free performances and workshops is in prospect as the London Jazz Festival kicks off this weekend, bringing roof-raising rhythms and oh-so-cool melodies to venues right across the capital. All the big names are present and correct: improv master Sonny Rollins, Blue Note veteran Bobby Hutcherson, Miles Davis collaborator Marcus Miller and piano star Chick Corea, paired here with banjo player Bela Fleck. The line-up also encompasses world and contemporary music in keeping with the festival's intention to widen its remit to bring in non-committed fans.
In addition to singing, Baaba Maal plays acoustic guitar and percussion
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Our weekend picks reflect this and include Mercury Prize-winning rapper Ms Dynamite in a special neo-soul acoustic session; the virtuoso pianist Zoe Rahman drawing on her Bengali heritage in a solo outing, and Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal in conversation with C4's Jon Snow. Ahead of all this, rising vocal star Louise Golbey plays for free at the Barbican, one of the many participating venues - others include the Bull's Head in Barnes, Dalston's Cafe Oto, artsdepot in Finchley and the 606 Club at the far end of the Kings Road in Chelsea. Louise Golbey, Friday 13 November, Barbican FreeStage, Silk Street EC2, 6pm. Ms Dynamite, also Friday, with Yolanda Brown & Shola Ama, Stratford Circus, Theatre Square E15, 8pm, £12 on door. Zoe Rahman, Saturday 14 November, The Red Hedgehog, 255 Archway Road N6, 8pm, £14. Baaba Maal with Jon Snow, Sunday 15 November, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1, 2pm, £10 plus booking fee. The London Jazz Festival continues to Sunday 22 November. You can also listen live and listen again on BBC Radio 3.
Out and about
Colour, pageantry, a 250-year-old gold coach and a three-mile long procession winding its way through the streets of the Square Mile.
The Lord Mayor’s procession winds through nearly 800 years of history
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It's the Lord Mayor's Show, a celebration of culture and history in which Nick Anstee, the 682nd incumbent of this mostly social and ceremonial role, pledges allegiance to the Queen at the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand. The day begins with an RAF flypast and ends with fireworks involving a team of eight pyrotechnicians; in between come guided walks of the labyrinth of the City's ancient streets. Use the official site below for tips on what to do and see, maps, timetables and where to stand. The Lord Mayor's Show, Saturday 14 November, beginning at Mansion House EC4 at 11am; fireworks display between Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges at 5pm. Free admission, some grandstand seats available at £27, book on 01908 300106.
Take part
40 years after the first connection was made, we know only too well how the world wide web has dramatically shifted the way we find information and communicate with each other.
Tim Berners-Lee started the web to help scientists communicate
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But has it also affected the way our brains are wired? The question is being asked in a social experiment run by new BBC Two techie series Digital Revolution, which is looking for volunteers to take part in a 15-minute test organisers describe as "fun" and "groundbreaking". The test will be filmed for television and rushes from the day will be uploaded to the series' website where they can be downloaded and edited; participants could also find themselves appearing alongside Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Al Gore and Bill Gates in the final edit. You'll need to be aged either 12 - 13, 17 -18, between 25 - 34, 45 - 54 or 65 - 74; web novices are as eligible as the web-savvy. Web research morning, Saturday 14 November, DMS Watson Science Library, University College London, Malet Place WC1, 9am - 11am. Info 0208 008 3985.
Art/exhibition
With its small scale ethos and open submission, the Discerning Eye Exhibition is a show with a difference; more so as all the work is selected each year by six prominent figures from the art world.
This piece by Karolina Larusdottir was chosen by Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen
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Among the selectors for 2009 are collectors Peter Bowles, the actor, and design guru Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, each of whom has curated one section of the exhibition; the result is an opportunity for work by lesser-known artists to hang alongside that of more established practitioners. There are more than 500 pieces from over 200 artists on show. Be honest, too: haven't you always wanted to see the sort of art that tickles Laurence Llewelyn Bowen's fancy? A clue of sorts comes in the picture image, right. ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, ongoing to Sunday 22 November, Mall Galleries, The Mall SW1, open daily 10am - 5pm. Free admission.
Bag a bargain
Hot on the heels of Camden Council's 'From bin bags to glad rags' campaign, showing
how old clothes can be re-used,
comes the celeb-packed Really Really Great Garage Sale in aid of children's charities around the world.
A newly pregnant Denise Van Outen will support the sale
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The emphasis of this Mothers4Children event is on covetable items of fashion and music memorabilia, donated by patron-mums like Louise Redknapp, Trinny Woodhall, Yasmin Le Bon and their friends and family; a supercharged jumble really with up to 45 stalls and accessories, homewares and a luxury tombola thrown into the mix. Stallholders on the day will include Liz Hurley, David Walliams and Denise Van Outen; if you fancy a good old gawp with your shopping, you know where to go. The Really Really Great Garage Sale, Sunday 15 November, First floor, Selfridges car park, rear of store off Duke Street W1, 12noon - 4pm. Entrance £5 adults, children under-12 free. NB: sale is cash only.
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