Xtra Diary - Dapper Zappa Diva has bright ideas for Soho café

Published: 11 February 2011

Dapper Zappa Diva has bright ideas for Soho café

ZANILY coloured hats, ponchos and scarves can currently be seen hanging from the walls in Soho’s homely Maison Bertaux café. They are labours of love by Diva Zappa, the youngest daughter of rock legend Frank (her full name is  Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa).

Her homespun creations are underpinned by a free-spirited artistic ethos reminiscent of her father’s, but she maintains that she is less of a thinker than he was. 

“Of course, my father and my background is a big part of who I am, but I’m not the intellectual person that he was,” she said when Diary popped in to meet her this week. “All I want is for an audience to walk into my show and feel they’ve entered a world of whimsy and magic – like their heart is suddenly lighter.” 

She described her creative process as “very organic... the yarn always wins” and said the show’s title, Bruce, derived from her passion for the Die Hard film series. 

Pointing from a sequined “couture canvas” of her father’s iconic moustache to a glittered drawing of Serge Gainsbourg as a jellyfish, she said she would encourage others to take up knitting.  

“It’s a great way to sit and be with yourself. In a way it’s quite meditative.”

l Bruce runs until June 1 at Maison Bertaux, 28 Greek St, WI. 8.30 am-10.30 pm. For more details see www.hooliganartdealer.com

Tube project back on track?

FROM Q-Whitehall to the embryonic warrens of Crossrail, a maddening medley of disused tunnels, bunkers and subterranean facilities lurk under our feet. 

For years, entrepreneur Ajit Chambers has been talking about opening some disused stations and Tube tunnels to tourists – and he has amassed at least £10million in pledges to launch his Old London Underground Company.

Mr Chambers this week said he hopes to reach an agreement with Transport for London (TfL) that will allow him to run guided tours of 26 disused stations, including Aldwych – which welcomed its last passenger in 1994. 

He would initially run tours in just one station, which he hopes will provide him with the “proof of concept” necessary to forge ahead.

He said: “There are already underground tours in lots of cities. You have the catacomb tour in Paris and the sewer tour in San Francisco, but we have the oldest Underground system in the world here, so I think the tour would appeal to a lot of people.”

Mr Chambers spent six months researching “secret” stations and has bought every book on the subject. 

He hopes to weave elements of London’s transport history into his tours and wants to reach an agreement with TfL whereby the disused stations could be hired out for functions.

Chinatown chief backing the battle against bookies

AMID the celebrations for Chinese New Year this week, Diary grabbed a brief word with Leslie Ng, the president of the London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA), and asked him what he thought about the impending High Court hearing regarding betting shops. 

CAMPAIGN group London Citizens is seeking a judicial review of a Westminster City Council licencing decision to grant permission for a new bookies to open in Chinatown.

Nikki Lee from London Citizens, who has claimed Chinese people are particularly vulnerable to gambling, has said the case is “about the Chinese community speaking up, which we haven’t seen before”.

Something else we haven’t seen before is the LCCA expressing a view on this subject. Previously, the organisation has sat on the fence, since their remit is to support all businesses in Chinatown and they are loathe to be seen to be acting “politically”. Which is why it is significant that Mr Ng replied: “I’ve told her [Nikki] that I do support it [the campaign]. I think it’s a good idea because we have too many betting shops.” A date for the court hearing has not yet been fixed.