Memory of a free festival

At the turn of the 1990s I was living in the South West London district of Tooting on a street which contained a row of housing association houses/ flats now sadly demolished to make way for a car park. Every summer, the adjoining gardens of the residents made way for a stage and a day of music, booze and general good-mannered mayhem known as Maybury Fest (and subsequently Longley Fest).
Like the Field Farm Festival, this was a fantastic event that ran on community goodwill and enthusiasm. The police would usually show up and stick their heads round but cheers to ‘em, they never intervened.
I have particularly fond memories of the Maybury Fest as I made my debut musical performance there playing a mix of Stones, Velvet Underground and Doors numbers in a combo tragically (but also brilliantly) named, The Velvet Underpants. The following year The Fables (see review right) made their live debut to an appreciative late summer crowd. Read the rest of this entry »

Mick Jones’ Rock n’ Roll Public Library

No, it’s not a comic strip from Viz, it’s a real life exhibition of stuff – books, magazines, clothes, instruments, posters etc. from Mick Jones’ personal collection.
Imagine The Clash/BAD/Carbon Silicon guitarist/front-man went on holiday and asked you to house-sit for him. Well, this is what it would be like – free to root around in his vast collection of music mags, poke about at his samplers, drum machines and synths, sit down and watch his videos, go through his wardrobes and nose around in his office. Read the rest of this entry »

Antichrist

I feel compelled to say a few words about Lars Von Trier’s latest film having seen it yesterday. I’m not giving much away but it’s probably better not to read this if you haven’t seen it.

The first thing I will say is that the controversy surrounding this film, though understandable is misplaced. The level of graphic violence is no worse than say, for example the opening scene of “Goodfellas” but because it is directed towards their procreative organs, many will instantly find it more disturbing.  For me, the sight of a person repeatedly smashing their own head against a toilet bowl is equally, if not more disturbing to view. If you want something truly horrific why not try “Irreversible“? As for the other accusation – to dismiss Von Trier as a misogynist on the strength of this film would be trite and disingenuous.

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Hurricane Woman

A few years ago I started noticing these intriguing notes in my locality, the first was attached to Vauxhall Bridge. Last Sunday I discovered two similar notes both stuck to bus stops on Wandsworth Road. Read the rest of this entry »

Banksy vs Bristol Museum

I’ve been visiting my home town this weekend; you know, the one that’s “famous for trip hop and slavery” (that’s what the programme for this exhibition says anyway).
Banksy is surely now Bristol’s most famous son; eclipsing Cary Grant, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Thomas Chatterton, Russ Conway, Massive Attack, The Wurzels, Tricky and even Fred Wedlock. There is no greater evidence of this than the several hundred person long queue that has stretched down into Park Row all day, every day from the 13th June this year and will no doubt, continue to do so until 31st August when this free exhibit ceases. I took the opportunity to experience the phenomenon and  joined the hoards at 10.15 on Sunday morning, finally entering the gallery about 70 minutes later. Glancing around during this time I realised that the line was largely comprised of fairly conventional looking Bristolian families, the kind of people who 10 years back would probably have denounced the work of a graffiti artist as a social menace. Now along with a revisionist Bristol City Council they have embraced the celebrity-friendly recidivist as a symbol of unity and prosperity for a city starved of national attention since the early 90s trip hop halcyon. Read the rest of this entry »