B EAST Magazine website

Feb 8, 2010

By Vijai

Reading the respected German weekly, Der Spiegel’s article on Europe’s Dying Nightlife this week felt vindicating. Time is so speeded up these days that Spiegel toeing the B.East line on Europe’s nightlife feels a bit like Galiloe living another 150 years to witness the Church finally drop its ban on a heliocentric universe. Even just five years ago, when we launched B.East, our contrarian views that the vibe in the East is punchier, sexier & fresher than the hyped scenes in Paris, Amsterdam & London was heresy to many. However, things seem to have gotten a lot worse even since then for a mainstream newsmagazine like Spiegel to crow out in its lead paragraph, ‘Europe’s nightlife is under threat and Amsterdam is no exception. Restricted opening hours, rent hikes and increased policing are all serving to dampen the party spirit in the Dutch article.’ The article goes even further, stating in a later paragraph that ‘Paris’ nightlife is on the brink of death.’

This is all sweet music to our beastly ears. Bohemian Rhapsody. However, there’s no reason to be complacent. Many of the cities in Eastern Europe have also been gentrified and sterilised since joining EU. There’s just a whiff of the zany, mad Prague in today’s picture-perfect Old Town. Riga & Tallinn have gone into hibernation and also restricted opening hours & embraced smoking bans and alcohol restrictions. The energy’s moving even further East, to Kiev, Moscow, Shanghai, Mumbai, and other places most people haven’t heard about. Which is why we moving East also, embracing the energy of the rising East in our future issues. B.East is going to be just about the East in future, whether it’s China or East London. We’re there where things are most raw. That doesn’t mean we’re abandoning East Europe. It’ll still be our primary base and the lens through which we view what’s happening elsewhere.

Stay tuned for news on our upcoming Black&White-out issue.

Dec 10, 2009

It’s not the Hopenhagen effect, though going green and ‘being green’ are more closely linked than has been discussed. (Just roll one up and think about it. Sure, an hour or two later you’re still going to be sitting here and thinking about it instead of going out there and creating some scary carbon footprints.!) It’s the Amsterdam effect. And, since we called it years ago, we feel good crowing about it in public now that it’s come to pass.

In yet another sign that Prague is the New Amsterdam, the Czech government went one step further this week towards legalising cannabis. From Jan 1, 2010 onwards, Czechs can grow upto five marijuana plants or carry couple Js in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution. Marijuana has already been semi-legal in Prague for years, with most bars looking aside as clients rolled up a spliff, and dealers operating in the open in ‘known’ cafes and clubs. It’s never been a big deal to light one up in Prague, and, unlike its sister city, Amsterdam, the natives do smoke. It’s not just something for the stoner tourists but a local phenomenom, with 22% of Czechs between the ages of 16 and 35 having smoked. We figure it’s much higher than that, at least 50% and over in Prague.

Whatever the real statistics, the government ruling is a legaslative recognition of the realities on the ground. Since the Velvet Revolution, Czechs have been the most dope-friendly nation in Europe, even more than the Dutch, who have spent the last decade cutting back on their freewheeling coffeeshop culture. The country’s mainstream magazine, Reflex openly campaigned for dope legalisation, and its reporter, J.X. Dolezal was hailed as the Czech Hunter S. Thompson. He’s written books like ‘How to Take Drugs’ and ‘Stoned Country’, and . A medical marijuana pharmacy was opened to great fanfare in the center of Prague recently, with even the Mayor attending the event. Though the place was raided and the drugs confiscated a few weeks later, the message is clear: Europe’s dope-mecca is moving East. Now, what we need is some new strain of Beastly weed from the East!

Although I have to admit that there is sometimes a lack of glamour in Prague, it seems that times are a changing. With young fashion designers determined to push the envelope, this city is hopefully gonna be back on the fashion map.

This week, Leeda fashion house is opening their newly reconstructed store at Bartolomejska street. Here are few images from their new collection, which was made in cooperation with the emigre Czech architect Jan Kaplicky (yes, the one who made the great National library design and won the international competition, only to be rejected by the conservative political mafia) from Future Systems studio.

In our upcoming ‘East is Sexy’ issue in July we will bring you the entire fashion shoot.