If you go down to Dalston on the first Sunday of February, you’re in for a big surprise… for on this date, at the Holy Trinity Church, the annual clown church service takes place.

Held in memory of Joseph Grimaldi, the world’s most famous British clown, clowns from all over the world, all resplendent in their individual make-up and costumes, attend the service.  This annual event has been held since 1946, moving from Islington, where Grimaldi is buried, to the Holy Trinity in 1959, which is now such an important building for  the clowning community that a stained glass window of Grimaldi has been installed in the church.

The service is open to the public, but you have to get there a lot earlier than the 10am start to ensure even a standing place, such is its popularity. Fear not, if you get there late – you might miss the slightly odd sight of clowns singing hymns, but it is traditional for a clowning show to be put on after the service for all the spectators waiting outside.

The church, although not home to the large amount of clown memorabilia that it once was (due to fires and damages it has now been moved to Wookey Hole in Somerset) still has some fascinating artefacts. For example, did you know that to become a proper clown, your must ‘copyright’ your make-up, and this is done by having a portrait painted on an egg? Every single clown, from the smaller children’s entertainers to the grand dames of clowning has been immortalised in egg form. There is a cool Flickr group of portraits here, and some of the eggs are on display at Holy Trinity.

Photos by Joelle Cleveland and  Mark Auer used under a Creative Commons License

Not a football fan by chance, but stuck in the city that never sleeps?  Well what’s there to do while your American brethren cheer with beer and eat buffalo wings well into the night?  Why not dance! For a good cause, none the less.  This Sunday, starting at 6pm, Webster Hall will open its doors for a dance-a-thon.  With an entrance fee of $10, you can dance till you cant dance no more.  And better yet, 100% of Sunday night’s proceeds will go to Haiti.

Not a disco dancer?  How about an art onlooker?  This weekend New York City hosts the annual Outsider Arts Fair. If the fair this year is anything like last, we are in for a treat.  According to the the New York Times review last year, “At every turn this fair has a new clarity…Each stand contains at least one example of excellence and sometimes several.”

So don’t take our word for it.  If Superbowl ain’t your thing, there’s plenty more to see and do.

Photo by  C-Monster used under a Creative Commons License.

That’s right folks, its that time of the month again. First Friday. As you may or may not be aware, the first Friday of every month transforms into Art After Dark at the Guggenheim. It’s basically a rawkus party. The museum stays open into the wee hours, full of bars and drinking and art and DJ’s bumping tunes that float up the winding ramp and fill the entire place with sound. If you’ve never experienced Art After Dark at the Guggenheim, go. However, we recommend getting there especially early tonight, because a star DJ-duo is in town, and long lines may be in order. World-class CHROMEO will be spinning tonight at the Guggenheim. So get your high-society museum-mile suite on, and match it with some dancing shoes.

Photo by  Ian Meyers used under a Creative Commons License.

Please keep your suggestions for the site coming, and if you want to become a content editor and write your own recommendations on the site,  send an email to editor@metrotwin.com with an example review in the Metrotwin style. You can earn BA miles for each new place you add to the site!

Here are the new places we’ve added to the site over the last week:

New List

Cheap London Eats 2010 - nuff said.

New Places

Favela Chic – It’s like a Brazilian slum. But in Shoreditch. And Cool.

National Portrait Gallery – A rather shockingly late entry for this London institution.

Eisenberg’s – Big sandwiches from the little NYC shop.

Royal Vauxhall Tavern – The heart of alternative queer London

Heaven – ‘Baby you’re all that I want/When you’re lying here in my arms/I’m finding it hard to believe….’

Balans Cafe - 24 hour cafe that serves eggs benedict? Divine!

Incidentally, those last three entries are going to be part of our upcoming Gay London and NYC list. Where else do you think we should include? Let us know!

Photo by lamont cranston used under a Creative Commons License

We have been unusually social creatures of late. Hot on the heels of our meet up with US bloggers last week, last night Anjali and I went for a drink with our London-based Metrotwin Mumbai bloggers.

It was a great night for many reasons – much merriment was had, we came up with loads of ideas for Metrotwin’s lovely little sister site (check it out, if you haven’t before – as well as more ideas for cool things to do in London, you can read about a Mumbai you won’t find in the guidebooks) and I learnt lots of great Indian slang and impressed everyone by knowing the Hindi for ‘lemon’*.

Another reason it was such a cool night, was because of the venue we went to. I’m almost disinclined to mention it as it is such a well hidden little gem, but so long as you don’t tell the riff-raff… GO to Trisha’s Bar. It’s incredibly hard to find (it also masquerades as ‘Evaristo Club’), but this tiny little memorabilia strewn subterranean drinking den feels like a different world to the Soho streets that run above it. Oh, and during happy hour, glasses of wine and bottles of beer are £2! An utterly fantastic find.

Photo by Mel used under a Creative Commons License

*nimbu