SEVENTY TWO HOURS OF LO-FI MADNESS…. Aoteara Runnings No. 4

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Paul Brad

7AM Tuesday morning… Da Bei Qigong under the eaves of a building in Myers park. When it rains it Aukland it rains. Things were about to get busy!

The PIYN project was scheduled to kick off at Bizdojo at 10.30am and there were 25 people registered. The initial idea for the project materialized when I first met Gareth Farry in London. He was on a scouting mission and I was interested in doing a project that united various disciplines that would result in a some kind of publication. The prospect of holding a “master class in creativity”  was a little daunting, especially as we had no real idea as to who we were dealing with but, as Swifty and myself had worked on Straight No Chaser with an ever shifting, diverse group of contributors  I felt we were primed to pull this off.

I’d  emailed in advance a bunch of comments /questions to those signed up for the session. The intention was to set loose ideological and cultural perameters but in reality the project would be defined by those involved on the day. That said, the main thrust of the project would be to produce a goodie-bag of stuff without the aid of new technology. Everyone, including ourselves, were to operate outside of our comfort zone.

At Bizdojo we all crammed into the glass box of a room and everybody introduced themselves.  In the mix was Jason – a creative refugee from Farnworth in Lancashire, Amanda a food forager and “doer” , Jason and Sanya – graphic designers, Steve, Kate & Greg (photographers), Tosh – Cut Collective, Nadine – designer, Jeremy – zine producer/blogger, Tessa ( printer) … it was mixed crew and  I was somewhat relieved that the full quota of 25 had not materialised. To illustrate the lo-fi task at hand, Swifty & I  showed them early editions of Straight No Chaser, original punk fanzines from 1977 like Sniffing Glue, 48 Thrills and Ripped & Torn, old NME’s, early copies of The Face and other mags we’d brought with us.

Yea Nah – Tosh & daughter

We then hit the white board. We needed a name and I believe it was Tosh from Cut Collective who came up with Yea Nah… a common colloquial saying in the city. Swift immediately pounced it’s logo potential. From there we explored the potential of doing a map –  a job that ironically fell to an out-of-town Brisbane based zine-head called Jeremy and a local wood-cutter Tessa (who also took on the logo). A swathe of issues were discussed and kicked around people and gently nudged into taking on various stories and generating images. Phew! Heads were reeling at the of that day but we were confident that we had the bones to build on.

Jeremy gets busy on the map

From Bizdojo it was back to Conch for the evening session. While Swift got busy I got chatting to Mark James Williams aka  ‘Slave’ from Fat Freddie’s Drop.  He told me the story behind the ‘Singalong with the Yoots’ LP and how, with the permission of the Maori elders, they taken the traditional songs that all New Zealand kids learn at school and turned them into  ska instrumentals. He described The Yoots  debut gig in a school with Lord Litchfield bashing away on the school piano, the Maori kids dropping the songs on the ridim and doing the Maori dances. The scene had brought tears to his eyes.  I immediately asked him to write it up for the ‘Yea Nah’ mag. Top story!

That evening we stepped next door to do a interview with Recloose and George Booker on the Hit It & Quit It radio show. Also in the house was another Londoner, Bill Brewster, who had penned the book A DJ Saved My Life. Unfortunately, I had recently  discovered that Bill’s DJ History website had slated Mark ‘Snowboy’ Cotgrove’s book, ‘From Jazz Funk & Fusion To Acid Jazz: A History Of The UK Jazz dance Scene’ . As I’d published Snowboy’s book I was seriously irate that it had been casually dismissed without any discussion on the remarkable history that Snowboy had painstakingly documented. Basically, it was disrespectul  fuckeries and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it! In the end, rather than confront Bill there and then I decided to let it ride. It would definitely would have marred his trip and, more importantly,  distressed mine! The last thing I needed was a serious dose of negative vexation.

Having championed Matt Chicione aka Recloose in Straight No Chaser it was indeed a pleasure to meet the Detroit techno don in person and take part in their radio show. He’d left the Motor City and settled in Aukland after successfully applying for the post of  project leader on  the DJ EMP – Dj’ing and Electronic Music production course. – at the SAE Instute. Wow! Another wicked story which I immediately allocated to photographer Jason Kyle. It was definitely coming together but the next day’s sessions at Alphabet City and Cut Collective would prove to be a make or break. Would have enough copy?

T0 be continued….

Pics in the distinctive funky curved corner frames are by Swifty instagram!

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HIGH TIMES IN AUKLAND… Aotearoa Runnings… Part 3

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Paul Brad

Singapore – Sydney – Auckland…. gotta  say,  the aerial view of Sydney was pretty impressive… all those inlets and coves lined with yachts… life-style is undoubtedly king. It’s clearly changed  a lot since the Tolpuddle martyrs were transported there, given a loaf of bread , a knapsack and a pair of boots, and told off you go.  Ironically, despite seeing myself as an heir to the tradition of resistance that the Tolpuddle martyrs represented, design-don Swift and I are being transported to these  former British colonies, by the British government, not for sedition, but for the purpose of a “master class in creativity” which “involves aspiring artists and performers from Auckland’s diverse communities, working with the best of contemporary UK talent, to collaborate, create and celebrate.”

I still feel lucky when it comes to traveling. Having met and worked with kids who never been out of Hackney… not even to the West End… I feel privileged to be touching down places on the other side of the world. I like to go to places where I have a mission, a purpose. You can get into the place on a deeper level and from the moment we step out of the airport in Aukland it’s deep runnings.

On the way from the airport our driver, Tom, who hailed from Ealing and had arrived in Aukland after 5 years in Japan, suggested we check out One Tree Hill. It’s a vantage point that gives a 360 degree view of the city and its located in Cornwall Park. In fact, it felt like Cornwall, the neat stone walls and  fields dotted with sheep and cattle.  We pass the  Stardome Observatory and ascend to the peak which hosts an obelisk dedicated to Sir John Logan Campbell.

“OK… where the the tree?” I ask Tom only to discover it had been chopped down. The original tree on this sacred Maori site of Maungakiekie had been an indigenous pohutukaw and it was cut down by the colonists. Attempts were made to reintroduce indigenous trees to the hill but all failed. Only two pines survived and both were felled by Maori activists on two separate occasions.

Maori inspired artwork – Cur Collective

Therein ended our first lesson in Maori resistance against British colonialism. It gave us an indication of how vital Maori culture has been in shaping this unique country on the edge of the world.

We dropped the bags at the hotel and headed straight off to Conch Records in Ponsonbury where Swift was booked to do some live painting based on our forthcoming UK exhibition Word Sound & Power: Reggae Changed My Life. Basically, time was tight and everything had to locked down tight if were complete the tasks in time.

As we park up there’s huge billboard featuring a poster by NYC based artist Ron English advertising the Semi Permanent conference . Against a backdrop of  the stars and stripes made up of a collage of comic strips the hulk – as baby! –  stared out at us. It was a slightly nerve wracking, daily reminder, that Swift was scheduled to speak  at this seriously high conference on  on the Friday.

Ron English: Baby Hulk

Conch Records is an Aukland institution. It’s situated on a four lane highway flanked by two storey buildings that look more like the mid west than the UK. It’s in a block that houses restaurants, cafes, an award winning women’s bookshop and the local radio station – George (where we were to hook up with Detroit legend Recloose).  The Conch crew are pretty much all present and correct. Dustin was on the Mac sorting out orders, ????  has a the rep for making a wikkid flat-whites and organic de-toxifying juices, Bobby Brazuka of LatiAoteara was in and out and hard at it, working on a cafe extension, at the back of the shop was Brent. The only missing link was Cyan.  He was scheduled to be spinning some tunes across the road later.

Conch is cultural watering hole and the cafe extension remind us that diversification is vital if you want to stay in the game. A glance round the shop reveals that along with CD s and vinyl – new and 2nd hand – they sell ‘Brixton’ stingy brim hats and caps (sadly, all too big for my tiny head), tees and sweats, art-prints  and books  (Soul Underground, Karnaval, Black Britain: A Photographic history).

It’s like a less packed version of Soul Jazz in Soho. The ethos is the same and the range of music equally eclectic. There’s a fabulous Doze Green original painting in the coffee area at the front of the shop and Swift was planning add his artwork to the Brent’s handiwork in the re-vamped yard space. Once the boards were measured up, spray paints and pure turpentine secured we head across the road to eat, drink a couple of beers from the local micro-breweries and say hello to Cyan and Gareth Farry – our man at the British Council and instigator of this mission.

Tom + Street Fighter

Upon leaving the bar we encountered Aukland’s, tell it like it is, hip hip hop crew – Home Brew.  Famed for being a bunch of rowdy, outspoken, caners they appeared to dragging a street-fighter game up the street. But before they could get into the pop up shop they’d acquired for the launch of their excellent double CD, ‘Fruit & Veges’ they spot Neil Finn – the lead singer and songwriter of Crowded House exiting a nearby restaurant. The man is a local legend.  “Who are you guys, ” he asks us. “Are you street gang? “No man… we are Home Brew!” is the  response of a geezer in a black hoodie proclaiming Young Gifted & Broke!  “I like Home Brew.” Finn says with broad smile. Enuff said and he’s off into the night, the same as Swift and myself.

Monday  began, just after dawn, in Myers Park adjacent the hotel. Several rounds of the spiralling Chen family xin jia taijiquan form was exactly what I needed after that flight. I needed  to get some life into these old bones. The task of the day was  to familiarise ourselves with the city and the venues that we were planning to use for the PIYN project. We dropped in on Bizdojo and the hard working Cut Collective who introduced us to their numerous and ambitious projects like Public Access: Picture Perfect In A World Of Chaos.

As time was tight we decided it was better to check Ron English’s exhibition at Webb’s Auction House sooner rather than later. Ron is  one of the forefathers of NYC street art and famed for  ‘liberating’  commercial billboards which were altered to broadcast political messages. Over three decades, much like Banksy and Shepherd Fairey, with whom he has collaborated and exhibited, his work continues to morph. The show consisted mostly of large laser prints and included his controversial Abraham Obama piece which was produced large scale for the 2008 election and provoked some serious debate but four years on I’m not sure what it’s saying.

There was a series of big Warhol pieces which focused on the iconic hair and included a prepubescent Warhol and a dead/skull Warhol, a couple of Marilyn Monroe pieces with Micky Mouse breasts –  his nose for nipples and the Macdonalds clown amongst other smaller pieces. Ron is a skilled painter and has a serious track record, he loves his comics and cultural icons but as we left I could help feeling the shows’ immediate power was undermined by a paucity of ideas. It was slick and, for this viewer, disappointingly vacuous.

Ironbank

Tuesday morning began with Da Bei Qigong under the eaves of a building in the park. The heavens had opened and believe me, when it rains it Aukland it rains. In fact, it rained pretty much for the rest of the week.

Our first stop of the day was Bizdojo which  is housed in in the architectural icon that is the Ironbank Building in Auckland’s vibrant Karangahape Road. It’s an innovative, creative and business comunity where you can rent a space and connect with others and as the PIYN project we were facilitating was aimed at uniting Swift and myself with aspiring artists and performers from the city it was good place to start the ball rolling.

To be continued….

The Pics in the distinctive funky curved corner frames are by Swifty instagram!


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WARNING! Beware the Blandford Fly… Vicious little fuckahs migrate to the ‘hood!

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Paul Brad

Last year, I was training outside in Camden and sustained a bunch of nasty bites. I thought, is it me that’s just susceptible to these little bastards? No-else seemed to be getting bitten. I finally sussed out that it was a tiny black fly that seemed to hover as riding the air currents. Further research revealed it was the the dreaded Blanford Fly or “Blanny Bomber” as its known in Dorset. After a sustained attempt to eradicate it in and around Blanford Forum it has now migrated to the ‘hood!

An enlargement of the bloodsucking Blandford Fly!

Just this morning, I crushed two of these 2-3 mm bloodsucking black flys. Its bites  often occur on the legs, as they tend to hover at that height  – but believe me not exclusively – and are  painful. Expect a severe localised reaction around the area of the bite….  swelling, blistering… even a high temperature / fever and joint pain.

Hackney people… you have been warned!

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Mid-day Musings a trip to Aotearoa… Singapore… Part. 2

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Paul Brad

Art Science Museum – Buddha Palm

Swift and I touched down in Singapore at six in the evening.  It’s was a welcome one night  stop-over on our way to Aukland and intended to ensure we arrived at our destination ready to roll. Stepping out of the air con of the airport we hit a wall of tropical heat. It was humid as hell but neither of us was complaining. We were only hours away from a wet and miserable London.

A few years ago Swifty was invited to show his work in Melbourne. It was organised from  Singapore by Jonny Kiat and his crew and after e.mailing him he’d offered to be our guide to his  city. It was a happy re-union and once we’d registered at the hotel and changed garms to suit the climate we headed off to his neighbourhood. Jonny’s place is located on Tanjong Katong Road but the streets that feed into it have English names like Bournemouth  Street or Poole Road. Our colonial past is never far away.

PB, Cherri, Swift, Jonny

Prior to an opening at the adjacent Phunk Studio that evening we stopped off at a favourite street corner cafe to savour a few culinary delights that Singapore is famous for. There was fish… a snapper…  prawns, pork and Marmite chicken!. Jonny and Cherri are knowledgeable hosts and they filled us in on all aspects of life in the city from ladies night to the machinations of the design and music worlds.

Jonny Kiat is a very modest fellow who failed to explain that he is something of a pioneer and a don in the Far East drum ‘n bass and electronica scene. He has long championed the darker side of electronica with quality breaks, rolling bass-lines and leftfield influences. With more than 17 years of DJ-ing experience behind him, it was inevitable that he moved into music production.

After opening for Goldie at Homeclub, Singapore, Jonny’s tunes caught the Metalheadz don’s attention and were immediately courted for release on the Rufige imprint. A collaboration with Brazilian producer S.P.Y.  –  “Close Encounters” – made a solid impact on the saturated electronica scene while Goldie voted it as his top tune of the summer 2008!

Check out his soundcloud site (http://soundcloud.com/kiat) to get a taste of where this man is at. He’s  never takes the same route twice when creating his music and maintains that new breed of producers such as Low Limit and Flying Lotus are definitely a source of inspiration.

Phunk Studio crew

By the time we reached the gallery the opening has spilled out onto the pavement. The show featured work by a range of young artists, all being mentored by Jonnny’s contemporaries Alvin Tan and Melvin Chee amongst others. Introductions were made and that resulted in a barrage of big-ups for Straight No Chaser. Swift’s work was well known and respected by all the the design dons in the house. These guys were collectors. They were attuned to the history, the music and the graphics synonymous with the scene that Chaser represented and helped create. They remain dedicated to their version of the Freedom Principle.  It’s always amazing how far Chaser traveled and the impact it’s had on a generation of hungry, open-minded creatives.

Back in the day former Chaser scribe Mo Wax’s James Lavelle sunk roots into the Singapore scene. Another long standing Chaser contributor and close friend, Gilles Peterson, has maintained strong links in the city. He has hosted one of the city’ s most radical musical events – Worldwide Festival  – since 2008 and  last year’s  impressive line-up included Alice Russell,  Ramadanman, Jeremy Ellis, Kyoto Jazz Massive/Shuya Okino, Kon & Amir, Floating Points, Mala, Lefto  & Mr. Earl Zinger. This September’s event is set to be as impressive as ever.

Like all cutting edge creative communities the Singapore crew have found a spot on the margins of the city centre and it’s only time before others follow. As the opening wound down and we retired to  Alvin’s flat. It’s in the same block as the gallery and like Jonny and Cherri’s it’s on the top floor. It had been opened up to reveal a high ceiling and create a loft like space. While Swift was button-holed by Lucinda, who’d interviewed him in his shed in Ealing I discovered, that the host’s collection of Chaser’s was destroyed when his whole archive – apart from a few treasured copies of Emigre magazine – went up in flames when his storage space mysteriously burned to the ground.

Swift & Lucinda

Despite that fact that Singapore is without a strong reggae scene there was considerable interest in the Word Sound & Power: Reggae Changed My Life exhibition that Swift and I are working on. Interest was such that one misguided fellow quietly suggested we forget about our hosts gallery and check out his far more appropriate and larger space. Bad move mate! Any Chaser follower would know that we value loyalty and friendship and have a deep respect  for the community that allowed us to thrive as long as we did. Besides, why would you trust someone who drinks your beer and hustles behind your back. Swift was not impressed!

Alvin’s place!

We kicked off the next day back with a walk around the botanical gardens before heading back to Tanjong Katong Road and another  local dish  – Hainanese rice – which combines  poached chicken infused with ginger and  rice cooked in chicken stock . It was served with fresh ginger, chilli and sweet soy sauce  and  accompanied by chilled, fresh coconut milk. Classic! From there we headed off to the Buddha Palm – an offbeat 21st century architectural space that currently hosts a comprehensive Warhol exhibition.

As we drive down the road that doubles as the track for the Singapore Grand Prix Jonny revealed he has access to tickets. Swift is knocked out. Janine – his partner (who organises Gilles’  Dingwall’s classic sessions) – is crazy about the Grand Prix and he would love to bring her to Singapore for the race!

At the Buddha Palm we meet another of Jonny and Cherri’s associates who was on release from his two year long national service. Maybe because of it’s past and it’s strategic positioning –  hundreds of ships sit just offshore from this the city –  it remains a very militarised nation and I was a touch surprised to find out that most people didn’t mind doing national service.

As Cherri was in the process of organising an event at the museum we got a squeeze on entry and once inside got to see how this extraordinary inner and outer space was constructed. The Warhol show spanned his whole career from his earliest magazine illustrative work through the explosive years of the Factory with a soundtrack courtesy of the Velvet Underground. Nico’s vocals on ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ bounced gently off the concrete walls and made my day while Swift was clearly made up with the glass cabinets that housed the gizmos and gadgets which were Warhol’s tool’s of the trade.

The stay in Singapore was short but sweet and I have a feeling that we’ll be back there sometime in the not too distant future. Or maybe Janine will!. The collective creativity of the Singapore paved the way for the next stop – Aukland, New Zealand – where we would follow in the footsteps of illustrious individuals such as Charlie Dark and Akala. We were the next in line to take on the  PIYN project  a “master class in creativity” which “involves aspiring artists and performers from Auckland’s diverse communities, working with the best of contemporary UK talent, to collaborate, create and celebrate.”

Awoahhh… stay tuned….

Flash It! The Pics in the distinctive funky curved corner frames are by Swifty instagram!

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Pre Dawn scribblings on a trip to Aotearoa… this is Part 1… Nuff more to come!

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Paul Brad

It’s 3.15 am. I’ve been off the digital radar for the past ten days.  Swifty and I were working on a couple of British Council funded projects in Aukland, New Zealand aka Aotearoa. Arrived back in London town  yesterday. Got an Addison & Lee cab from Heathrow to Stokie dropping Swift in Ealing on the way. It cost £91.00. A  rather deranged and sobering welcome back to pre-Olympic / Golden Jubilee Bighty n’est pas!

Anyway, I’m wide awake and my head is buzzing with the after-shocks of the Aotearoa trip. I’m sat at the computer sporting my Day Of  The Dead  Cut Collective designed LatinAotearoa sweatshirt and I can’t quite believe that the LatinAotearoa trio of  Bobby Brazuka, Isaac Aeoli and Jennifer Zea – who I met at Conch Records –  are booked to play the Ridley Road Market Bar in Dalston in June! Aukland – Dalston. Wordldwide 2012.  LatinAotearo in E8…  choice!

Jennifer Zea at Conch Records checking the Doze Green artwork!

Hey Bobby!

Woke up at 3am dreaming about fracking…. Hydraulic Fracturing… yes, fracking… fracking hell! Just saw Josh Fox’s  film ‘Gasland’. It was in the Art House section of films available on the flight to Aukland. They’ve got an issue with fracking in New Zealand which is not surprising as the two islands are volcanic and the city  of Christchurch was recently flattened by an earthquake. In fact, we’ve also had an issue with fracking here in the UK. They suspect fracking caused an earthquake in Blackpool…. let’s pray it didn’t damage the Tower or shook some bolts loose on those mental “fairground” rides. Also isn’t Blackpoool a stones throw away from Sellafied, that nuclear reprocessing facility on the edge of the Lake District?

Yes, fracking. In fact, prior to flying to Aotearoa I recall seeing a short news interview with hard-hat-wearing Yankee muthah-earth fuckah, somewhere in the north of England, telling the nation that it’s all good… safe as houses…. of course he didn’t say that but that’s what he mean’t.

I woke up this morning, mind racing, thinking the people need to know the truth. They need to see Josh Fox’s film. They need to know the impact it can have on the land, the rivers, the wild life and the people. They need to see the incredible scale of this thing in the USA (it’s massive!) and know that Dick Cheney – what a scumbag – sidestepped the crucial Clean Water Act (don’t we all need clean water?) giving free reign to a rapacious, profit driven energy industry who operate under the guise of nationalism and the promise of energy that leaves the nation less open to terrorism.

Jet lag is a strange one. I feel like I’ve been jet lagged for about a week now and right now… 4.30am… I’m in a kind of nether world between dark and light and I’m convinced that the dark forces out there need to be confronted by the light.

I’m thinking,  let’s face it, ‘Gasland’ might make it onto Storyville on BBC4 but the powers that be in broadcasting will never hype up  ‘Gasland’ with lots of juicy trailers and show it at peak time straight after The Voice… and then as I flicked though the UK news, which I’ve  hardly seen for nigh on two weeks, I discover that that Cameron and his Lib Dem Energy secretary have backtracked on fracking! It appears that the experts have determined that the UK’s reserves were smaller than first thought and could be uneconomical to extract.

Too much controversy for too little return! The last thing Cameron and his cronies needed is an rebellion in the shires. Besides, the PM loves nothing more than a gallop through this green and pleasant land on a retired police horse, loaned surreptitiously from the MET, with his mates (think:  Rebekah & Charlie Brooks… an arrogant duo, both of whom seem to be looking at jail time!).

We need to give thanks for those vigilant Green activists who were onto fracking like a dog on a bone and while the “Shale Gas Bubble” may have burst vigilance is still the order of the day.  Hydraulic Fracturing may have slipped from the government’s energy strategy but will this stop these companies from pursuing the practice of fracking in order to access what natural gas exists? Or is it business as usual?

For example, only a month ago, an MD at Centrica declared that UK shale production was not “going to be a game changer”. However, he still maintained it was important and “we should develop it”.  A further statement from Shell yesterday accepted that development will be a bit slower in Europe because of problems of both “geology and community impact” but despite UK shale gas being unproven geologically they are still “taking a look to see what the potential might be.”

Large areas of the UK are threatened with extreme energy extraction. Particular hot spots include Lancashire, Scotland, South Wales, Somerset and the South East. More info check: http://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-hell/frontline/

Vigilance is clearly the order of the day. When I think of ‘Gasland’ I think of man he could set fire to water coming out of his tap and Woody Guthrie singing ‘This Land Is Your Land’…. when I think of England I currently think of David Hockney. Think about the thousands of people who flocked to the Royal Academy to see Hockney’s paintings and the impact of that show. It’s impossible to quantify the sheer enjoyment people had in savouring both the artists’ unique take on nature and the splendour of the Yorkshire Dales where he grew up

People from the countryside love and care about where they live. People from the cities flee to the countryside to recoup their energy and, while they little intention of doing so, constantly fantasize about living in the country. Neither want it fracked up… so, we still need to send a message to the energy barons at Centrica and Shell.

The message should be loud and clear:  ‘FRACK OFF!’ and invest your money in radical renewable alternatives!

Enuff … it’s 7am others are about to rise… time for some breakfast…. Trip to Aotearoa Part 2 … first stop Singapore… the palm of Buddha… soon come…

Flash It! The Pics in the distinctive funky curved corner frames are by Swifty instagram!

Swift, Paul Brad & the Singapore crew!

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Shocking! Listen to Arnie Gunderson’s Fukushima Update

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Paul Brad

Chatting with a friend last night she raised the issue of nuclear power in Japan and what a relief it must be that they’ve finally shut down the nuclear power plants in Japan. While that’s all good, an ongoing disaster continues to unfold as a result of TEPCO and the Japanese Government still not being in control of the devastated Fukushima Daiishi plant

For a pretty shocking update on the Japan situation check this broadcast from April 24th where Denny Smith of Indianapolis’ WIBC radio hosts Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds. The interview begins with an in-depth analysis complete with straight-talk discussions of the nuclear power generating process. Also, Denny and Arnie discuss the catastrophic radiation releases at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility including the results of random samples taken by Arnie while in Tokyo for a recent book launch.

This interview is a must listen.

http://www.fairewinds.org/content/arnie-gundersen-and-indianapolis-wibc-denny-smith-discuss-radiation-releases-fukushima-daiic

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MARLEY… The short life of a Natural Mystic…

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Paul Brad

Midday – last Friday. Got a phone call. “Meet me at 2pm… Screen On The Green…  Bob Marley… the film… my shout!” How could I refuse? I’d seen the trailer and was vibed up. I’m a fan and despite knowing the man’s history and music inside out I was ready to kick back and see what Kevin Macdonald had come up with.

Over two and half hours we followed Bob’s journey from Nine Mile in the parish of Saint Ann to Dr. Issels clinic in a Bavaria. It’s a roller coaster ride which had my companion wiping the tears from his eyes at the end. Bob was only 36 when he was taken from us, ravaged by cancer, but his legacy is large enough to ensure that the film featured prominently in the BBC 10 o’clock news on the day of its release.

'Captain' Norval Marley

The early part of  ‘Marley’  sees Macdonald boldly  home in on Bob’s mixed race background and the pressures and prejudice that he suffered as a result. His father, “Captain” Norval Marley,  was a charlatan who basically took advantage of  a sixteen year old country girl and then abandoned both her and her child. The shadow of slavery and the legacy of the licentious, colonial overseer was something that Bob Marley had to carry with him for the short life.

The reality was harsh and the film maker’s research reveals that Bob’s father had not vanished from Jamaica but had his own family. In fact,  the teenage Bob discovered this while living in Trenchtown and approached the family for support. After incident of outright rejection he reached for his King James Bible to write a song. It was called ‘Cornerstone’ and predicted  “the stone that that the builder refuse will always be the head-corner stone”. How right he was.

Above: The Wailers – Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh

The Wailers acquired musical notoriety during the post independence era of the rude boy. Despite recording a bunch of hits for Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd they grew up rough behind zinc fences, in yards on unpaved streets with no lighting and a stand pipe. I can just visual the trio conquering their fears by singing and harmonising for the “duppy” in the cemetery under Joe Higgs’ watchful eye. They often went hungry and the only person in the film to convey that was the impish  Bunny Wailer.

Bunny Wailer

Bunny’s contribution to the early part of the film is crucial. Him and Bob go back to Nine Mile and like both of his now departed brethren he maintains a no-nonsense, feisty, militant spirit. Ironically,  the only surviving Wailer, seems to have been written off by a bunch culturally ignorant film critics as an eccentric clown. In reality,  nothing could be further from the truth.  I met and interviewed Bunny for the NME at the dawn of the  Eighties, around the time of  ‘Rock & Groove’ and ‘Sings The Wailers’, and believe me, he is one very serious person with a stare that can cut you in two.

Macdonald admirably gets to grips with the impact of the early Rastafari on Bob’s world view. Check the film footage of HIM Haile Selassie’s arrival in Jamaica. Look at the Rastafari in that footage and what you see are DREAD-locks… not pretty locks… proud but penniless sufferers who found their roots in Biblical prophesy and the words and actions of Leonard ‘Gong’ Howell and Marcus Mosiah Garvey. They were outcasts,  hounded and beaten on the instruction of  Prime Minister Bustamante.  As Bunny Wailer says, they were the “Blackheart” men who lived in the gullys of the city and as the film shows, it was through a Rastaman, the legendary Mortimo ‘Kumi’ Pla.no, that Bob received the framework for the vision he would take to the world.

Mortimo 'Kuni' Planno

A combination of  vision, self belief and action ensured Bob Marley and the Wailers became juke box and dance hall stars in Jamaica. They cut their teeth at Studio One but it was the alliance with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry which produced some truly mind-blowing music and also gave them the confidence to set up their own Tuff Gong imprint. From there it was a short step to meeting  Island records boss Chris Blackwell.  He had a vision for these soul rebels that manifested itself on the seminal ‘Catch A Fire’ album. Even though Blackwell was heavily involved in this film,  I found it gratifying that his crucial role in taking the Bob Marley and the Wailers onto the world stage his  role was not overplayed.

The flip top sleeve and Chris Blackwell’s post production signified The Wailers moving onto a whole new level.

The Wailers: Old Grey Whistle Test

Thinking back to that interview I did with Bunny Wailer, it took place in the yard at the back of Neville Garrick’s house/artists studio in Hope Road, and it’s Neville who is one of the most compelling and insightful interviewees in this documentary. He appears throughout the film and there is an intimacy to all his contributions that not only illustrates his love and respect for his brother in arms but allows the viewers to venture below the surface. Neville’s description of daily life at Hope Road and the attempted assassination is a case in fact.

Bob & the late Claudie Massop - JLP

Hope Road was open house and Bob was familiar with all the enforcers from both sides of the political divide. They are all onstage at the Smile Jamaica concert when Bob pulls Michael Manley and a very uncomfortable looking Edward Seaga  onto the stage and makes them join hands. It’s an incredible moment and Bob, who had escaped death only hours before, is like a shaman, a man possessed… totally out there, in the same way he was when playing live at at the Zimbabwe Independence ceremony in 1980 when when the freedom fighters who’d invaded the stadium were tear gassed.

‘Marley’ illuminates the mission. All over the world, wherever people were suffering, his music found receptive ears. However, in the USA his audiences were predominantly white and having been schooled on R&B and the harmonies of soul artists like the Impressions this was deeply frustrating. Bob had his fans – Stevie Wonder for one – and as part of the US leg of the Uprising tour in September 1980,  Bob Marley and the Wailers rolled into New York City for two consecutive sold out nights at Madison Square Garden as part of a bill featuring  rapper, Kurtis Blow, Lionel Richie and the Commodores. With no costumes, no choreography and no over-the-top set design they took to the stage and blew the place apart. This was an audience schooled on slick moves and Soul Train but Marley’s intense, electric stage  presence had them on their feet. For the  headliners, the Commodores, they were an impossible act to follow.

Only days after those triumphant Madison Square Garden concerts Bob collapsed while jogging in Central Park. He later received a grim diagnosis: a cancerous growth on an old soccer injury on his big toe had metastasized and spread throughout his body.  Bob decided to fight it to the end and there is moving, never before seen images in the film of Bob – minus his dreadlocks – at Dr Issel’s holistic clinic in Bavaria. Neville Garrick describes the ice on the lake so thick that you could drive a car across it. Less than eight months after he collapsed, on May 11 1981, Bob Marley passed away in Miami

Bob & his mother in Bavaria.

One thing that keeps coming back to me are the interviews in the film with two of his eleven kids. Ziggy was grateful for the time he got with Bob but Cedella looked intensely unhappy. Her father’s life was full on and as they didn’t live together she saw him all too infrequently. Maybe, as a result of him not having a father of his own he found it difficult to fulfill that role but either way, she and her brothers and sisters were robbed of a father that they had to share with people from all over the world.

‘Marley’ is a film that needs to be seen. Thirty years have slipped by since he died and he would have maintained that you have to know your history to know where you’re going. His contribution was profound and relevant in this troubled word of ours and as such Kevin Macdonald’s film is a potential source of inspiration source to generation who weren’t even born when Bob Marley & The Wailers reigned!

Nine Miles: The Resting Place!

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JOY IN PEOPLE – ARE YOU DOWN WITH THAT?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Paul Brad

Bring back the art of Banners!

To tell the truth, when we arrived at the Hayward Gallery to check the double header of David Shrigley and Jeremy Deller I knew very little about either. Basically, I knew Shrigley was one whimsical dude while Deller had studied art history at The Courtauld, notched up a Turner Prize, and had a brass band rock a bunch of acid house anthems. That said, our little posse was open and quite excited about both shows. I was especially enthusiastic about Deller’s reproduction of Valerie’s cafe from Bury Market – a place I’d frequented as a kid.

One enters the Joy In People show through a replica of bedroom that Deller had thrown open to the public in his family house, when his parents were away. As participants in this show it was our first stop and a little unnerving. It struck a deeply resonant chord in relation to a project I’m currently engaged with and the cultural framework gave us a foretaste of the artist’s pre-occupations with diverse manifestations of English culture. Turn a corner and a projection entitled Jerusalem featured ecstasy inspired rave-dancing in Deptford alongside Morris men strutting their stuff.

In 1988, Jeremy Deller was 22. He is a product of the feisty, e-fuelled and trance inducing rave culture that swept across the nation. It permeates his world view and as an observer, thinker and facilitator – as opposed to painter or sculptor – he readily gives voice to others alongside his own. A piece on the Manic Street Preachers tunes into their fans and their obsession and Deller gives them free reign. He collects memorabilia and maps out his search of the legendary Bez in Manchester. He overturns musical preconceptions on Steel Harmony by having a steel pan band play the music the Buzzcocks and Joy Division, and his combination of The Fairey brass band and Acid House has definitely proved inspired.

While sitting in Valerie’s cafe, sipping of a hot tea with 2 sugars (Bury market style) we scrutinised the wall emblazoned with his classic flow chart. It links Acid House to electro to Psychic TV to the SummerOf Love to Clapham Common to Ibiza to superclubs to advanced capitalism to privatisation to the miners strike to Brass Bands! It’s a mind-map that underpins a large part of the show.

Having grown up in the hinterlands of Manchester I am hard wired into an age of Trade Union banners and Wakes Week walks and I found Jeremy Deller’s curatorial take on the culture quite moving. However, I was totally unprepared for the impact of his Battle Of Orgreave piece. My memories of the Miner’s strike remain vivid. One of my best mates was a former Yorkshire miner and the impact on his family was deeply divisive.

Having passed through a room of miner’s memorabilia including badges (and their relevance), posters showing the actual extent of the closures and the reality of Thatcher’s lies to the nation, we progressed to Mike Figgis’ film documenting the re-enactment of the the actual Battle of Orgreave.  Staged like any other historical re-enactment the cast of 800 featured battle hardened nerds from around the country along with 280 former miners who 18 years earlier had gone toe to toe with a militarised police force.

The Battle Of Orgreave- The re-enactment!

Memories of Peterloo & Orgreave - The Re-enactment!

The real Battle Of Orgreave - - 18 June 1984 Photography: Don McPhee

The actual “battle” was an emotional and enlightening event that inevitably brought back a lot of dark memories for the miner’s involved but was also clearly cathartic for people who saw their communities destroyed, never to recover.

For me, the film brought back memories of a head on, bitter, physical clash between the miners and the Met on the Grunwick picket line in north London where I ended up getting a roughed up by the police and then was suspected of being an agent provocateur. I never did thank the photographer who proved it wasn’t me who shoved Arthur Scargill into the arms of the Special Patrol Group!

Another brew was needed at Valerie’s before taking on Deller’s trip around the USA with a wrecked car that had been employed as a car bomb in Iraq, a former Marine and an Iraqi refugee.  In each city and town they recorded responses and conversations with curious passers-by.  Deep stuff.

Reeling from the USA, we happily picked up our glasses, took a seat in the dark and awaited the arrival of an alternative 3D world that was occupied by bats.  At that point, we were on overload and contemplated making a move. We tried an encounter with David Shrigley’s artwork but couldn’t handle it. We needed to come again! However, as we were poised to leave we noticed that one of our fellow travelers was mesmerised by an installation that we’d overlooked.

Exotic Adrian Street visits his old man and says - Fuck life down the pit!

Film plays a serious role in Deller’s repertoire. It serves to document a myriad of projects rooted in grass-roots culture – Deller calls it “social surrrealism”, and this final piece was a classic.  It documented the life of “Exotic” Adrian Street – an extremely camp and flamboyant champion wrestler who would have graced our Saturday afternoon TV screens in the 60s. Interviewed in his home in Florida and spliced with archival photos and film, we are confronted with an extraordinary life which starts in the coal fields South Wales. This was time well spent and the perfect end to an incredibly engaging afternoon.

It’s on until Sunday 13th May!

PB/ 17.04.2012

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SOUNDZ OF NIGERIA – Enter the world of the Groovemontzer

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Paul Brad

Reeeeespek…  got to give it to the Groovemontzer… the man just keeps on diggin’ and the deeper sounds of Nigeria keep on coming… sign up to  the man’s blogspot and Youtube page…

For a little taste check Ali Chukwuma’s  ‘Eje-Anabu-Isi’… 15 minutes of heaven on a Monday morning!

http://groovemonzter.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/user/groovemonzter

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LAST CALL! FEEL FLOWS @ the Bayeux

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Paul Brad

Mos Def meets Pharoahe Monch

N'Dambi + Angie Stone + Leela James

If you’re a Camden Town Jazz Cafe regular or a late night  Soho wanderer you might well have come across a camera totin’ Siobhan Bradshaw.  After studying fine art at St. Martins she traded in painting and drawing for an SLR and an F3  film camera and true to her Soho roots, in 2010,  she held a successful central London show in Cuts – yes, the hairdressers, it’s a Soho institution! That show attracted the attention of veteran music photographer David Redfern and two years on she  has collected together a host of music inspired images for a brand new show called Feel Flows at Bayeux.

Siobhan’s photography and film making embraces the spirit of those classic 50s and 60’s jazz album sleeves and the intensity of film noir. As a photographer she equally at home in the moment and at one with musicians and singers in full flight as she is with desolate, late night cityscapes – places and spaces devoid of people but fused with an undefinable energy.


Above: Joyce Sims

Feel Flow shows the artist’s commitment to that art of photography. While she has moved with the times and taken on board digital technology she clearly loves the power of a well crafted print. Drawing on the dozens of live sessions, the final mix of shots in Feel Flows includes an elegant and pensive portrait of reggae legend Alton Ellis,  the mighty Pharoah Sanders, funk and soul legends Maceo Parker, Bobby Womack and Reuben Wilson. Rap artists Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch share the same frame as do N’Dambi, Angie Stone, and Leela James  but it’s the solo shots of  powerful women like Meshell Ndgeocello, N’Dambi, Angie Stone, Leela James, Jean Grae, Adriana Evans and Joyce Sims that provide the core of this show.

Alton Ellis - Rock Steady Don!

Unfortunately, I’ve come onto Feel Flows a bit late in the day and it finishes on 20th April. So, don’t sleep on this.  If you’re in London’s West End  head on down to Bayeux in Newman Street which is off Oxford St.

Feel Flows @ Bayeux, 78 Newman St, W1 3EP. Tel: 0207 436 1066

PS: If you can’t make it check The Jazz Cafe’s Facebook page which is overflowing with Soibhan’s images. Also her web page is http://www.siobhanbradshaw.co.uk/

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