I have just given You Whores a cursory glance for the first time and I was amused soon enough. The idea’s seeming unoriginality quickly dissolves once you recognise the quality of craft and content (simple but stylish and effective design, very funny submissions from the interweb’s finest assortment of mostly anonymous menkos – awarded a ‘black star’ for a proposal deemed creative enough by the site’s maker.
Another hit for Bill Drummond then, who made an appearance at St Luke’s church in Old Street last night as part of the Clerkenwell Literary Festival’s bill to promote his latest online venture. This was my first encounter with the great man in the flesh. I did not know what to expect and did not care too much frankly. I had heard about the site but not had the chance to check it out before. After brief performances by Giro Playboy (spoken word recitals over non-descript ambient tones – some nice bits but an overall meh) and Adam Buxton in his playful if somewhat hackneyed Pavel the angry Latvian poet guise, Drummond bounded on stage and set about his task in a very business-like manner.
Explaining the origin and reison d’etre of You Whores via smirk-worthy anecdotes (it was partly inspired by a Tracey Emin piece who it seems clear Drummond is quite a fan of) and logical reasoning Drummond established the appeal of the project quickly and successfully. However, there was something a little unsatisfying about this casual demystified approach for me, and the blatantness of the way Drummond touted his wares – well composed but totally ordinary posters detailing the site’s purpose and very little else. And some T-shirts, ’10 to you mate. Hmmmm. When he asked what should be done with the bottle of unopened champagne he’d brought along for some reason I resisted the temptation to suggest burning it. Charmingly, if unspectacularly, it was given to the first person in the audience who asked if they could have it. This seemed to go against the general theme of ‘whoring’ but I will forgive him for this, and the site, which can only grow in size and popularity in the coming months.