tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-385195012024-03-16T18:52:42.062+00:00History is made at nightThe politics of dancing and musicking and other dark mattersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-56405709985782135422024-03-08T07:36:00.017+00:002024-03-11T18:56:26.511+00:00Institute of Goa 1995 (plus Trends/Trenz in Stoke Newington)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A couple of flyers for London parties I believe I went to in 1995 (sometimes it's a bit hazy) . The first one I think a free party somewhere on 8 April 1995, 'The Cave Club' summer party featuring Institute of Goa and Chiba sound system. Not sure where in 'central London' this was.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDUnlmwgJxbXEOeU0f7AmsXYUj6isSLW4kHW02cSLVTWRmYt2eqYCQ5aWmgQv4N73lraWTfeDp8BZS8oGLy6g56iIKmAyzQGn6qNpicQi2HdI0MStZxc1rCur6wdwk8UeoKO6jAsj4i_H1QUADb-2DtnQFTJTAo0QewTZKvvlsN46HnFhlN12/s672/IMG_6967.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="672" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDUnlmwgJxbXEOeU0f7AmsXYUj6isSLW4kHW02cSLVTWRmYt2eqYCQ5aWmgQv4N73lraWTfeDp8BZS8oGLy6g56iIKmAyzQGn6qNpicQi2HdI0MStZxc1rCur6wdwk8UeoKO6jAsj4i_H1QUADb-2DtnQFTJTAo0QewTZKvvlsN46HnFhlN12/s16000/IMG_6967.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The second one is an Institute of Goa Halloween Party, I think in October 1995, at 240 Amhurst Road. I can make out some DJ/performer names there - Liberator DJs, Aztek (ex-Spiral Tribe), Brides Make Acid...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_Xe_1Gx1V6GX5U2QjwhNT7RYWd9SBtMwnVc0bmopnUKhEyh05gRE_uDWqi45cSLbmG9eSzsIxElhv1V23heDARJzAQ-W0DaLs798w1ox0iSKyh3CzouCu-gtmAmqne8W0GFZsc7nTiW7QOeZbV3c1XTVe0Bczck9rJy8lWND92v3XYl7jw42/s2098/IMG_6968.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2098" data-original-width="1498" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_Xe_1Gx1V6GX5U2QjwhNT7RYWd9SBtMwnVc0bmopnUKhEyh05gRE_uDWqi45cSLbmG9eSzsIxElhv1V23heDARJzAQ-W0DaLs798w1ox0iSKyh3CzouCu-gtmAmqne8W0GFZsc7nTiW7QOeZbV3c1XTVe0Bczck9rJy8lWND92v3XYl7jw42/w456-h640/IMG_6968.jpeg" width="456" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Although the name might suggest a pyschedelic/goa trance vibe, something that was emerging as a distinct sub genre at this time with clubs like Return to the Source, I think that 'Institute of Goa' was more on the harder edged London free party techno/hard trance tip. I beleive it was run by a guy called Chico who also DJ'd as Whirling Dervish. I'm pretty sure I also went to a night they put at Labyrinth (ex Four Aces) in Dalston Lane, or maybe that was something else. They also seemed to have taken part in the Deptford Urban Free Festival which I went to in 1995, on the Innervisions sound system. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfMdb577kt5Xud9VSH95DnnDDusfinVstf8mnOkdTBTY52I7M41CL3zkbsXhK1NNNqG4J4EjZAz5dQfs9Gb3XbsrJDgk8F4jXBaO7CZHptTBf3capHUHszVXr_2qQ9w7dqTLpT2Snj3uhbV0D93OQGCN_FRmEYXL0CNWuwtp6e3YNr9iQZf9L/s744/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20074425.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="401" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfMdb577kt5Xud9VSH95DnnDDusfinVstf8mnOkdTBTY52I7M41CL3zkbsXhK1NNNqG4J4EjZAz5dQfs9Gb3XbsrJDgk8F4jXBaO7CZHptTBf3capHUHszVXr_2qQ9w7dqTLpT2Snj3uhbV0D93OQGCN_FRmEYXL0CNWuwtp6e3YNr9iQZf9L/w344-h640/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20074425.png" width="344" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/deptford-urban-free-festival-1995/page/n5/mode/2up">Deptford Urban Free Festival 1995</a>, held in Fordham Park SE14 <br />('Anti CJA=Freedom')</td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Amhurst Road: Trends/Trenz nightclub [post update 10/3/2024]</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Thanks to Blackmass Plastics for recalling that the venue at 240 Amhurst Road was a club called Trends at this time. Events there included in October 1994 an 'All Hail Discordia' all-nighter put on by Sublminal Revolutions (which I believe was run by <a href="https://festival23.org.uk/2015/09/23/lisa-lovebucket/">Lisa Lovebucket</a> and <a href="https://lovelyjonnightzone.wordpress.com/about-3/">Lovely Jon</a>), during the <a href="https://archive.org/details/sparrowsnest-2721/page/6/mode/2up">Anarchy in the UK Festival in London</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7w3F0PTqdGXKc5TIutO8smBHNXtPcnnY3n2H1Rmmkg-bfCxleXQ6x21Z5qaRKlC3WLzo7MEx1HZY00JgFWshjqDKMtQOyRXld9qqXz1rQso25p_FjV543IV6L2OVJzhvpX0Xe5oJWwq0rEhQFx-qFAeEi6PNM4xAEGXgL0_v79qGhnYOJNw4y/s424/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20064721.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="343" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7w3F0PTqdGXKc5TIutO8smBHNXtPcnnY3n2H1Rmmkg-bfCxleXQ6x21Z5qaRKlC3WLzo7MEx1HZY00JgFWshjqDKMtQOyRXld9qqXz1rQso25p_FjV543IV6L2OVJzhvpX0Xe5oJWwq0rEhQFx-qFAeEi6PNM4xAEGXgL0_v79qGhnYOJNw4y/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20064721.png" width="259" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Later the spelling changed to Trenz, as mentioned for instance in this listing for Undergrowth there from Muzik magazine, April 1999:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqsXiBV_Xs1gyq-JV_l5kPvOBjoiehwS0Cgi9j6Rz-o7vTe_v4-VmoX2DkRKuFR56duYhXykkXJ8IZ9Kh1EWB6tf9IXbb3cDFTj7hZmdttgN4SB4YUWEcUcO61xE2mk_rWYtihz13zw0PSGXtjJc8YK-qQ7ECfpwEO1CpUHl1lF1kggYvUj5R/s572/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20070213.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="572" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqsXiBV_Xs1gyq-JV_l5kPvOBjoiehwS0Cgi9j6Rz-o7vTe_v4-VmoX2DkRKuFR56duYhXykkXJ8IZ9Kh1EWB6tf9IXbb3cDFTj7hZmdttgN4SB4YUWEcUcO61xE2mk_rWYtihz13zw0PSGXtjJc8YK-qQ7ECfpwEO1CpUHl1lF1kggYvUj5R/w400-h331/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20070213.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Must admit I've got a bit confused about identifying this location. 240 Amhurst Road E8 was the address of the longstanding pub The Amhurst Arms. It has had various incarnations this century including De Bysto, Oro and most recently The Hand of Glory.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But down the road in a separate building 240a Amhurst Road N16 was a hall that was the headquarters of the Hackney Spiritualist Church in the 1900s and then the Hackney Jewish Lads Brigade. In the 1960s it became the Regency Club, <a href="https://thekraytwins.fandom.com/wiki/The_Regency">notoriously associated with the Kray Twins</a>, then later became Willows, an African Caribbean Club. So I assume it was this building, rather than the Amhurst Arms, that became Trends/Trenz. Apparently it's now been converted to flats. This was presumably also the location in 1970s of Phebes 'Reggae, soul and funky club' famous for its Jah Shaka sessions as well as its own Phebes Hi-Fi (thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/johnedenuk/status/1766747935797117275">John Eden</a> for info about this) - but again there's some confusion as address is given as 240 not 240a, though elsewhere I have seen Phebes address given as 240a! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXstb1S_U3iQOXlpfShANG5gLC0aK7T3Qucgiai1qrZG3dlIdqC5jQrs3UuCiPL1VnTnxEVkvM63zSZTcIYZE4UtWN8i1NB0aXUf4CV6gQaF22Xy9csycBXa9ew9DpjZV4OoCZbbl6DPdsjqvxQ50cntGMS3T9JrMwXvu4VuCqyQsNyOd8Ceiz/s1200/GITceH1WkAA-8UP.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXstb1S_U3iQOXlpfShANG5gLC0aK7T3Qucgiai1qrZG3dlIdqC5jQrs3UuCiPL1VnTnxEVkvM63zSZTcIYZE4UtWN8i1NB0aXUf4CV6gQaF22Xy9csycBXa9ew9DpjZV4OoCZbbl6DPdsjqvxQ50cntGMS3T9JrMwXvu4VuCqyQsNyOd8Ceiz/s320/GITceH1WkAA-8UP.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Flyer archive <a href="https://www.phatmedia.co.uk/flyers/event/reel-ii-rumble-in-jungle">Phat Media has one for a 1993 event</a> there which names the venue as The Jungle Club, so maybe it was know as that for a while too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJuSUU16PRNz5m-0umcSmlug-PUMUol5vYFgQsJYH_GlygEo8A5Wr_U0CkJ9JAlKBO7JfJ2vcEVYT7iumuTjxrqloQ2Q0BvvATn9RoBwoyYiwTHYDLIAi7egxCbUK-8zhf3gSPvRTkjP74tjG_kLGLXGwlCusD6L06y-b99xmatIf56Ok5oy1/s600/jungle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="423" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJuSUU16PRNz5m-0umcSmlug-PUMUol5vYFgQsJYH_GlygEo8A5Wr_U0CkJ9JAlKBO7JfJ2vcEVYT7iumuTjxrqloQ2Q0BvvATn9RoBwoyYiwTHYDLIAi7egxCbUK-8zhf3gSPvRTkjP74tjG_kLGLXGwlCusD6L06y-b99xmatIf56Ok5oy1/w283-h400/jungle.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The club was the scene of a fatal shooting in 1997, as reported in Birmingham Mail:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WyH9MQVVqK1Ok1VfrLcKga1LjHJZFbUaULcC2o8U0vCrF0eSH2oHvqp5L0KyrYRDmC0DPObNwwgVbAyCKeneXjWZDr5fHcruRagIJ3Ot-8t0Tr49_o4NCemd5bN_SJBSLbRleLRbybde8X3IUp0u63Hxq4o-M9Co3pA2owq00GbmZty5kEcw/s861/trends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="861" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WyH9MQVVqK1Ok1VfrLcKga1LjHJZFbUaULcC2o8U0vCrF0eSH2oHvqp5L0KyrYRDmC0DPObNwwgVbAyCKeneXjWZDr5fHcruRagIJ3Ot-8t0Tr49_o4NCemd5bN_SJBSLbRleLRbybde8X3IUp0u63Hxq4o-M9Co3pA2owq00GbmZty5kEcw/w640-h214/trends.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">See also:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/10/high-rise-at-pembury-tavern-hackney-1998.html">Breakbeats & Benefit Gigs at 1990s Pembury Tavern, Hackney</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-nights-in-hackney-police-and-free.html">Two Nights in Hackney: police raid parties 1996</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/10/hackney-volcano-festival-2000.html">Hackney Volcano Festival 2000</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2010/05/george-robey-lost-london-venue.html">Far Side at George Robey</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/05/some-brixton-nights-199495.html">Some Brixton Nights 1994/95</a> (Club 414, Fridge etc)</div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-3666346653708670242024-02-27T21:36:00.004+00:002024-02-27T21:46:47.422+00:00Melancholic Troglodytes on Star Trek, Dune, Capitalism and War<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A couple of sci-fi infused critiques of capitalism and war from Melancholic Troglodytes from the early 21st century.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'Neither Species 8472 nor the Borg: No war but the class war' (2001) uses Star Trek as a framework to understand the impending conflict between the US (the Borg) and the Taleban (<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Species_8472">Species 8472</a>):</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'The Borg's diplomatic panache seems to have been pirated by the US Bourgeoisie. American military radio broadcasts to the Taleban carry an ominous message of doom and assimilation: “You will be attacked by land, sea and air...Resistance is futile”! The Taleban (species 8472), for their part, are quite oblivious to the tractor beams and photonic charges of their nemesis. Their mastery of fluidic space has conditioned them to thinking of themselves as pure, superior and invincible. Even as the bombs rain down on them, the Taleban insist on viewing the Borg as decrepit and decadent, hence their battle cry: “The weak will perish”!'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgKD8z5TsmywmQN4az4FfovOkMZrHV1C39eInWOac-inChSoNPjzj8hvg6AqIgSITQ-5_sGGZMM-G7SLk7FC68vD-6O87DVZHe5h6e5zFyy4t1Gakqd-9lxeyZqn-2X-VjiCIl-vxXFSlt_pubvZX1biCoOOYOc9bvWvd8pLcfgtRzwcSWrQD/s1465/IMG_7452.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1465" data-original-width="1130" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgKD8z5TsmywmQN4az4FfovOkMZrHV1C39eInWOac-inChSoNPjzj8hvg6AqIgSITQ-5_sGGZMM-G7SLk7FC68vD-6O87DVZHe5h6e5zFyy4t1Gakqd-9lxeyZqn-2X-VjiCIl-vxXFSlt_pubvZX1biCoOOYOc9bvWvd8pLcfgtRzwcSWrQD/s320/IMG_7452.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/borg_20240227">Full text at Internet Archive</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>No blood for spice melange</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'God Emperors of Dune' (2003) switches to the Duniverse in the lead up to the Iraq War, with the war for oil now being fought over 'Spice melange: The second most precious commodity in the known universe (after labour power)'... 'Paul recounted the efforts of House Atreides to counteract the falling tendency of the rate of profit. His father the Duke had increased the mass of surplus value by raising the intensity and duration of the working day and at the same time decreased the mass of variable capital by depressing wages and expanding foreign trade. Paul would continue this good work by decreasing the mass of constant capital through raising the productivity of labour in the capital goods industry (Caffentzis, op cit.) and by launching the holy Zensunni Jihad. The Jihad, in particular, would catalyse innovation in technology and open up new areas for profitable capital investment.'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Will the proletarian Freman upset the schemes of the rival houses? 'There was only one force they had not reckoned with and that was the mysterious Fremen. Intelligence could not predict their behaviour, although recent reports of Fremen children chanting, ‘No war but the class war’ were ominous. They seemed impervious to both Imperial Conditioning and the Great Voice. How do you control slaves that you rely on for profit? For as the orientalist Nietzsche once said: ‘There is nothing more terrible than a class of barbaric slaves who have learned to regard their existence as an injustice and now prepare to avenge, not only themselves, but all generations'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsy3DeYfehrJuNok9pHDFHdNB5wM2xP1BWNSOk6JdtvNLDNKe8YB_UIUAy9T83mhGIHpPiBiuUjePYfDHdDBH7oEQFH0LeSkpPqIsJx4LafvmDorMU7bk2QCLkNRQk_w3gnB1oy6PJgDkOKaUS3e9TdnExjV5WY5KddN838E58YCpXKUD-EOg/s1561/IMG_7451.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1561" data-original-width="1139" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsy3DeYfehrJuNok9pHDFHdNB5wM2xP1BWNSOk6JdtvNLDNKe8YB_UIUAy9T83mhGIHpPiBiuUjePYfDHdDBH7oEQFH0LeSkpPqIsJx4LafvmDorMU7bk2QCLkNRQk_w3gnB1oy6PJgDkOKaUS3e9TdnExjV5WY5KddN838E58YCpXKUD-EOg/s320/IMG_7451.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/dune_20240227">Full text at Internet Archive</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">See also from Melancholic Troglodytes: <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/07/star-trek-myth-towards-historical.html">Star Trek: Towards a Historical Materialist Critique</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-27436674806071354242024-02-22T00:30:00.014+00:002024-02-22T22:32:14.631+00:00The Cavern Club 1963 : an 'alternative to this world'?<p><i>Interesting article from Peace News, 20 December 1963 in which Richard Mabey writes of his visit to the Cavern Club in Liverpool and reflects on its then newly famous sons, The Beatles. Mabey of course is now well-known as a writer on nature. You can read the</i><a href="https://archive.org/details/peace-news_1963-12-20_1434/page/6/mode/2up?view=theater"><i> full article he</i>re</a>.</p><p><b>Twist and Shout</b></p><p>'[...] In the Cavern Club, the heart of the Liverpool beat music scene, the first and inescapable impression is that the whole thing is fun. The groups, some of whom play themselves out in this stifling tunnel-like cellar for expenses only, really enjoy it. Most of the numbers they play are requests from the girls in the audience, an audience they dance amongst during the intervals, and which loves their noise, horseplay and histrionic Northern humour. There’s none of the phoniness and self-pity that used to characterise so much pop music, when hip-wiggling, lamé jackets and the lonely boy in the lonely spotlight were the things that used to fetch in the screams.</p><p>The audience in the Cavern seems to be almost completely classless, not only in social terms, but also in terms of the trends and sects which the teenagers set up themselves. Mods (those who assiduously follow the very latest crazes in fashion and jargon) and rockers (who normally stick to leather jacket and jean gear) mix with an ease that would start a certain riot in almost any dance hall south of Luton. The only types missing are the more vicious yobs that usually turn up at Saturday night dances with the sole intention of starting a fight, and the floppy-sweatered traditional jazz addicts. Most are dressed in the smartly eccentric mixture of Italian and beatnik styles that has become the uniform of beat music followers; denim shirts with very high or button-down collars, knitted ties, collarless jackets, tight trousers that run dead straight from hip to ankle (sometimes flaring at the bottom), and of course those great fluffy piles of brushed-forward hair. The girls conform less to their pattern, which, when it appears, is long skirts that reach to below the knee, short-sleeved jumpers, fiat heeled shoes, and sometimes French jockey caps.</p><p>The Cavern can cram about 700 of these devotees into a space not much bigger than a couple of nissen huts, and consequently ordinary movement is a real accomplishment. Which probably accounts for the new dance - in different towns I've heard it called the Shake, the Blues, the Noddy and the Twitch - that has come in with this music. In it the kids stand quite still on the floor, but shake every other part of their bodies bodies like manic clockwork toys. Dour commentators from the Guardian and New Statesman have just shaken their heads, and have read into the expressionless faces of the dancers signs of incipient Fascism and 'wilfully created vacuity'. Perhaps if they tried it themselves they would find that it is as all popular dance should be, totally physically involving, making facial expression superfluous.</p><p>[...]The Beatles are avowedly non-political. But their music, and the craze that they have started, is blatantly subversive. On the surface it is brash, and by our conventional standards, uncivilised. But it revels in gaiety and abandon. If the Beatle people have rejected the drab world of adult responsibility and obscure political squabblings, it is because they have formed for themselves - in the dance halls, at parties and even just singing in the streets - a revolutionary alternative to this world. If they can find laughter and enthusiasm on their own, even for just one evening a week, then the efforts of the politicians become irrelevant.</p><p>Pop music stands or falls by the degree to which it is wild, loud and exciting. Critics who are obsessed with banality, materialism and selfishness in the words of the songs, have completely misunderstood the level at which young people accept them. With what seems to be irrefutable logic, teenagers will argue that if you want sophisticated orchestration or serious words, go listen to classical or folk music. Leave pop to its proper province, the stomach'. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4ydZTh7WHCfKGs2pz_YYvI2k5TO5dZPV6qZF2dk66qio00fjXzKPHhkqzQVVoksdjCdTqXCJO-_HUh2vS4BigE99zNvOiMtWFAQ21B7INihlR3B-qXNRwfFZIa1slgGI-PR5AP2UsyteqqTQKlLhdAJnSTyO5jI78vuwIQeKOMdIXsMLAyc3/s1742/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20104539.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="1742" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4ydZTh7WHCfKGs2pz_YYvI2k5TO5dZPV6qZF2dk66qio00fjXzKPHhkqzQVVoksdjCdTqXCJO-_HUh2vS4BigE99zNvOiMtWFAQ21B7INihlR3B-qXNRwfFZIa1slgGI-PR5AP2UsyteqqTQKlLhdAJnSTyO5jI78vuwIQeKOMdIXsMLAyc3/w640-h369/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20104539.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><i style="text-align: left;">Mabey's reference to the dour commentators of the New Statesman was a response to '<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/archive/2021/01/ns-archive-scouse">Scouse: The brutal reality of Liverpool in the early 1960s</a>' by John Morgan, published in New Statesman on 1 July 1963. Morgan also visited the Cavern but was horrified by what he saw:</i></div><p>'The violence lies in the stunning volume of sound, in the incoherence of the dance, and in the wilfully created vacuity of facial and verbal expression. The darkness is almost total. A faint red light plays over the heads of dancers at one end of the smoky, airless room, but three arches further along it dissipates. So tightly are the boys and girls packed together, 750 of them at 4s. 6d. a ticket, that there is no room to dance anything but the Cavern Shake. Ideally, to judge from the techniques of those girls in leather gear – the height of fab – the neck is held rigid while the head moves quickly and tensely from side to side. The arms jerk, puppet-like. The zombie effect, the acute nervous condition, is enhanced by the look on the face. This is not ecstatic, but empty. Vacuity is more than make-up or a mannerism – it is a philosophy. Sweat pours from walls and faces. To force your way from one end of the narrow cellar to the other, pummelled by elbows, breasts and twitching knees, is one of the more nightmarish of current experiences. I suppose I’ve been going to jazz clubs for 15 years and I’ve seen nothing which compares for noise, discomfort or hysteria. On stage all the while, the young men (I never saw the Mersey Birds) play their electronic machines and shout like mad, some for little money, some for none, praying that they can follow the other Mersey groups, like the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers, into the fortune of the charts'.</p><p><i>(interesting this condescending meme of 'vacuity' in sub cultural writing, to be defiantly thrown back by the self defined pretty vacant punks of the next generation) </i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-90832125851274678512024-02-16T17:06:00.004+00:002024-02-16T17:13:35.854+00:00Coventry Working Men's Club 'Colour Bar' (1971)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An everyday tale of 1970s racism in England involving the Barras Heath Working Men's Club in Coventry and its efforts to keep out black people. The Race Relations Act 1965 may have banned discrimination in public places but there was an ambiguity about the status of members clubs - were they private spaces and therefore not subject to this law, or in providing for the public were they prohibited from discrimination? This played out in a number of court cases and local disputes in the 1960s and 70s. In the Coventry case, the local Community Relations Officer made a complaint about the club in 1970 after it advertised that a dance would be subject to 'house rules' that were understood to include 'a clause forbidding citizens entry on grounds of colour'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOit4jIbU6v9hhJK_RKpQm5oP6Jh7aTG4vJ8AK913Fl8TQ0EmYC6N-Rhf5h4zHcfym2AiZc0IDLj-wAJzxsrwqKKBI9vMxWYRcXze_nu2yN4ROdX2zyKTcsKYA8PpfTn2X9AXIPr-RfWvLn76X7A-Au4Dq1qniEKtA3yfoP8D_1aIyJWHAlKV/s763/cov1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="271" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOit4jIbU6v9hhJK_RKpQm5oP6Jh7aTG4vJ8AK913Fl8TQ0EmYC6N-Rhf5h4zHcfym2AiZc0IDLj-wAJzxsrwqKKBI9vMxWYRcXze_nu2yN4ROdX2zyKTcsKYA8PpfTn2X9AXIPr-RfWvLn76X7A-Au4Dq1qniEKtA3yfoP8D_1aIyJWHAlKV/w228-h640/cov1.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the following year a group of young people from the local Methodist Central Hall discotheque club picketed the club after one of their members - 'A 20 year old Indian youth' - was refused a drink in the working men's club. According to their leaflet, 'The club uses coloured men to help build its extension yet it will not allow them inside when the job is done. An Indian member of our group worked at the club as an electrician but when he came back in the evening he was refused a drink'. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEWFxe0IwHJgHpFV6_nETJ1zCiF8xiy7ttdBsriGt2YkZDYeFZKT_-Fabwmk12tTwxjIgo6a7f3ukfQlAI3bjulrLjxCVyzY7J0PtrQaG-lUtK9zzbAn3xzHT1AecEhnEWwAognbfnal_jMAM-9MUAPq-_mDvF5jAt3jaxL7SfefYSIUrBGYAU/s1628/cov2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1628" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEWFxe0IwHJgHpFV6_nETJ1zCiF8xiy7ttdBsriGt2YkZDYeFZKT_-Fabwmk12tTwxjIgo6a7f3ukfQlAI3bjulrLjxCVyzY7J0PtrQaG-lUtK9zzbAn3xzHT1AecEhnEWwAognbfnal_jMAM-9MUAPq-_mDvF5jAt3jaxL7SfefYSIUrBGYAU/w640-h342/cov2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A few weeks later it was reported that 'Members of a Coventry church discotheque club are taking their campaign against racial discrimination to the Home Secretary Reginald Maudling'. They argued that the existing law 'left a loophole for clubs such as these to continue to discriminate on racial grounds' and that 'it should be against the law of this country for any club of whatever sort to so discriminate' (Coventry Evening Telegraph, 18 August 1971).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKDLKqewwfSqUcgdB7eDRS0Ye64tQAeCdVh7TrBMLpClhy5nh8D-Zyk_pwCWfzMhHSPtQZURcMWjo_PHbMYDFViBQUThx6v1lV9CKP9mzVMkUlksRZLOq7w5sqSZxW1Rsf1bCQlCqdI_TvVCf9R5czx1TtHRw8yTcoWlf850i_YYIKzPoTSPG/s1102/cov3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="566" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKDLKqewwfSqUcgdB7eDRS0Ye64tQAeCdVh7TrBMLpClhy5nh8D-Zyk_pwCWfzMhHSPtQZURcMWjo_PHbMYDFViBQUThx6v1lV9CKP9mzVMkUlksRZLOq7w5sqSZxW1Rsf1bCQlCqdI_TvVCf9R5czx1TtHRw8yTcoWlf850i_YYIKzPoTSPG/w328-h640/cov3.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Five years later though the club was still 'notorious for its racialism' according to a report in Workers Action, refusing to 'book any black artists' or allow 'membership or entrance to blacks'. Seemingly they must have slipped up in their bookings 'and one night a black member of Equity turned up at the Barras Heath - and was turned away'. Equity, the actors' union, then called for its members to boycott the club and for a picket involving '100 local trade unionists' which performers refused to cross.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjhOTEAvRRrWGIV98PyrvgOBUgoOTD2OYD05G7noSj_n_nQKj80B8ZbyDm7d6yAKfsmTubY9bwubGPTzD7ohTvd751lhV_rTN4N51vJU_nOtyd-38LXpyWpZF_UWNU4Doh5STR5Wd10Nx8L3zugnj2Hsl1gZ0j3RwrvsFhNxnDNxgCw13NZ9m/s971/cov4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="648" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjhOTEAvRRrWGIV98PyrvgOBUgoOTD2OYD05G7noSj_n_nQKj80B8ZbyDm7d6yAKfsmTubY9bwubGPTzD7ohTvd751lhV_rTN4N51vJU_nOtyd-38LXpyWpZF_UWNU4Doh5STR5Wd10Nx8L3zugnj2Hsl1gZ0j3RwrvsFhNxnDNxgCw13NZ9m/w428-h640/cov4.jpg" width="428" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This case was by no means unique. As Camilla Schofield has described 'While the working men’s club now looks like a vestigial social institution of by-gone days, it was at its high-water mark in the 1970s with over 3.5 million members of the CIU [Club and Institute Union, the umbrella body for working men's clubs]: CIU numbers were never as high before nor since. In some towns and cities, particularly in the industrial north, working men's clubs were regarded as the centre of social life, the beating heart of labourism. In County Durham, ‘To exclude coloured people would be to institute apartheid’, wrote a club member in a letter to the Daily Telegraph. Yet in some towns and cities, even in highly diverse areas, clubs held long-standing explicit or unwritten whites-only policies—or ‘some form of colour bar’'. Schofield suggests that 'w<span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">hite solidarity and exclusion' in such clubs was a factor in the construction of an image of the working class as white, male and industrial - an image bought into this day by parts of the left as well as the right. Easy to romanticise this past, but large parts of the working class, including women and black people, were never invited to the party. See <a href="https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article/34/3/515/7190576#415325832">'I</a></span><a href="https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article/34/3/515/7190576#415325832">n Defence of White Freedom: Working Men’s Clubs and the Politics of Sociability in Late Industrial England</a>', Twentieth Century British History, Volume 34, Issue 3, September 2023.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-18591768335464855592024-02-09T20:46:00.001+00:002024-02-09T20:48:22.787+00:001995 London Clubs<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJQLsez3eXxhRPsQV2GRZRZthEqV9OuwuMzYH25c7SxvAjqdEJ3sGWzkrz2tOqMkjZm9nttDfP-69yIS9PCWN4VGDYEGbhkfiip0z-H67Z35RQ1AGOiv0WSQVohj877eU0uKaOBxKAGb185crMzETwK6SuLl_HLVrMxinriydEr9604OnYG4N/s883/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214110.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="410" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJQLsez3eXxhRPsQV2GRZRZthEqV9OuwuMzYH25c7SxvAjqdEJ3sGWzkrz2tOqMkjZm9nttDfP-69yIS9PCWN4VGDYEGbhkfiip0z-H67Z35RQ1AGOiv0WSQVohj877eU0uKaOBxKAGb185crMzETwK6SuLl_HLVrMxinriydEr9604OnYG4N/w186-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214110.png" width="186" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;">From the 'Capital Guide: London for Londoners' (Boxtree publications, 1995), published in association with the London Transport Museum, Elaine Gallagher writes a guide to London clubs. Quite a few of those mentioned sometime haunts of mine at one time or other.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Flipside at Iceni in White Horse Street W1 was very much on an acid jazz tip when I went there in 1993, with Young Disciples DJs. Were there 'board games and a chill out area complete with tarot reader'? Well yes I recorded in my diary that there was Risk and Buckeroo, but missed the tarot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I loved the Leisure Lounge in Holborn, promoted by Sean McClusky, 'a converted former snooker hall, now boasting 2 dance floors' and according to this 'offers raucous punk, funk, and hip hop for fashion victims with lots of fun fur and blue hair'. Second half of sentence vaguely correct, though more fashion slayers than victims. But the music when I went was always house, house and a bit more house.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">McClusky also promoted Club UK (which <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2009/02/club-uk-in-wandsworth-love-ecstasy-and.html">I've written about before</a>) and fellow South London club Minstry of Sound inevitably gets a mention. <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/03/turnmills-closes.html">Turnmills</a> in Farringdon obviously a legendary 90s venue, mainly went to Gallery on Fridays, also Eurobeat 2000 but famous for gay nights FF and Trade.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Mambo Inn at Loughborough Hotel in Brixton - 'world music with a little lambada and merengue thrown in', not to mention African sounds - was a big night for me a few years before.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Subterania, under the Westway in Ladbroke Grove. Never went clubbing there as such, but did see Lush and The Chills (from New Zealand) at an indie gig which google shows me was on October 11 1989. Once went to the Tearooms des Artistes in Wandsworth, ambient vibes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IFJYrxOAEb15CndxGVnZqj4QPE6hQkEDsaaN7JIBo8Zz-nNu54SdfLeD4XYCtvimh3BzMYb_TySbJ5MhyphenhyphenyXDtnqyhdSkeFdQPGZ6smgQ57mHISoJTHErkIhyphenhyphensZwD1EW5j9YPV3Q3aNyGLND8W-coj6m0AK7LE-vqCiBUoFrzEL4faZLBjiuW/s873/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20213929.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IFJYrxOAEb15CndxGVnZqj4QPE6hQkEDsaaN7JIBo8Zz-nNu54SdfLeD4XYCtvimh3BzMYb_TySbJ5MhyphenhyphenyXDtnqyhdSkeFdQPGZ6smgQ57mHISoJTHErkIhyphenhyphensZwD1EW5j9YPV3Q3aNyGLND8W-coj6m0AK7LE-vqCiBUoFrzEL4faZLBjiuW/s16000/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20213929.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNP9W0XYsKiUhrHN1_PzEFEntZuVnIi9QYDsnv7cdfFSqOg4a-grhOEi13Ea1AHjAZlws5GwkAgLqnTiWW82uXpiEUHfAqQQbrJbACmZzd8nFvhmduPJKLoe-TXIMI5yqZ4tW1S7E4EW6evCcW3mRdZHdtt9SpV6V-SuVUWA7F4H_-j41PSyi/s887/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214215.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNP9W0XYsKiUhrHN1_PzEFEntZuVnIi9QYDsnv7cdfFSqOg4a-grhOEi13Ea1AHjAZlws5GwkAgLqnTiWW82uXpiEUHfAqQQbrJbACmZzd8nFvhmduPJKLoe-TXIMI5yqZ4tW1S7E4EW6evCcW3mRdZHdtt9SpV6V-SuVUWA7F4H_-j41PSyi/s16000/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214215.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs_ivgsiZDxHC7W1iMM-ZMiW8T100npaoOs19gCpAV4PsckLl1eQ97KMew7wGTz6DqQTHIgtELcGqCF8uGV7_6YDoxuojOSsCAz9Qe8Xl0plyH099c1-8vbSmrfZnudNWtFzk3XbagRd9_keC18b3z-Wo4ayK7D9rWPJCKgrZg9knnI1ws50F/s913/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214229.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs_ivgsiZDxHC7W1iMM-ZMiW8T100npaoOs19gCpAV4PsckLl1eQ97KMew7wGTz6DqQTHIgtELcGqCF8uGV7_6YDoxuojOSsCAz9Qe8Xl0plyH099c1-8vbSmrfZnudNWtFzk3XbagRd9_keC18b3z-Wo4ayK7D9rWPJCKgrZg9knnI1ws50F/s16000/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20214229.png" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFs8Z19o5gk0itBFhIJ9qoS-OlSYiL7gS_eKktOdXN3mgB6GhLZa4ODbXyhCopRCv0vq8osD9lglvTM7GSu_zPyzLth_wqW4RKq9MdI0cA7OtQAuBYCAFHWGAb44rOqxoQs7r3yX2AD2F8kkSkkKrhDARLCJhNxnI6FZbLZQytDYkFxLbJj62_/s449/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20213843.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFs8Z19o5gk0itBFhIJ9qoS-OlSYiL7gS_eKktOdXN3mgB6GhLZa4ODbXyhCopRCv0vq8osD9lglvTM7GSu_zPyzLth_wqW4RKq9MdI0cA7OtQAuBYCAFHWGAb44rOqxoQs7r3yX2AD2F8kkSkkKrhDARLCJhNxnI6FZbLZQytDYkFxLbJj62_/s16000/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20213843.png" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">See also other listings posts:</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/09/lunch-magazine-london-gay-disco-1972.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Gay Disco 1972</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Disco</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978-gay.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Gay clubs</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1979.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Reggae</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/03/london-club-listings-1982.html">London Club Listings 1982 - Time Out</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-london-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in London i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-sheffield-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Sheffield i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-manchester-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Manchester listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Luton, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/09/1987.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1987: Dancing in Brixton and beyond</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/12/do-not-play-acid-london-club-listings.html">1988 London club listings: 'do not play acid'</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/face-club-listings-march-1989.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Face London Club listings, March 1989</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/06/speed-and-other-club-listings-i-d-1995.html">Speed and other London clubs, i-D 1995</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html">Muzik Magazine 1995 club listings</a></div></div></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-64944682883006990492024-02-03T21:36:00.005+00:002024-02-03T22:01:32.914+00:00Jeremy: a London gay magazine features skinheads (1970)<p style="text-align: center;">The fantastic Bishopsgate Institute LGBTQ+ archive has <a href="https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/archives/our-archives-online-2/jeremy-magazine">digitised issues of Jeremy</a>, a London-based gay lifestyle magazine from the late 1960s and early 1970s. A 1970 issue includes 'A lingering look at skinheads' (vol.1, number 8).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63fCD6FIJ6EWGS9pc1Ye2ZcUCiA4m56zPS3MKy1brqw6XC-Zh4cpRhyphenhyphenpWVEl66LNwAOqfr9JxAzGSbcf6QxCP5VlMtTLQKkdJ8ouDiv7TPE1XN99Stmxk4zb2r6kkNxeExMdA78DDILgfkFD6OS9WJYajo00ohy9uoVoY82JcrQVQ6XiU5LvI/s796/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20182131.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="597" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63fCD6FIJ6EWGS9pc1Ye2ZcUCiA4m56zPS3MKy1brqw6XC-Zh4cpRhyphenhyphenpWVEl66LNwAOqfr9JxAzGSbcf6QxCP5VlMtTLQKkdJ8ouDiv7TPE1XN99Stmxk4zb2r6kkNxeExMdA78DDILgfkFD6OS9WJYajo00ohy9uoVoY82JcrQVQ6XiU5LvI/w300-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20182131.png" width="300" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3oA-CVFIQ7MoHo_-lsKSWxyhERutaBGsdmApqo8UXL8AoCzPFj1OXBI-vaOr4ZnuBw7QZG4SpOBq5lomW7QizAAlXss8n0NpsMSEvtcvG6u3yAq1k9Gc35ZLBCxQ0o2B0_Z2hnkUe0ug6mPkwdiBLa5IOgI2AVmPfom1meijy5wLVNjh9VyPT/s965/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20063811.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="746" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3oA-CVFIQ7MoHo_-lsKSWxyhERutaBGsdmApqo8UXL8AoCzPFj1OXBI-vaOr4ZnuBw7QZG4SpOBq5lomW7QizAAlXss8n0NpsMSEvtcvG6u3yAq1k9Gc35ZLBCxQ0o2B0_Z2hnkUe0ug6mPkwdiBLa5IOgI2AVmPfom1meijy5wLVNjh9VyPT/w494-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20063811.png" width="494" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'The 'in' music is Reggae and Blue Beat - energetic and uniform, almost monotonous - and the dance steps are simple and regular. The complications of progressive pop and all the with-itness of that world "pisses them off" and can lead to aggro. Big dance halls, like Mecca and Top Rank, are skinhead palaces'<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6datj8T3thTjoeFJVvA2PnogWiLdddhmwgZfKFZUiJzffRh41F2V55skJO6-wY-rBKG49FSn9fDPjT-PNWDQ4qHUOxkCP3_G2V5-Xv-goVG8ez_Cu03YIKtRVoJn3s0DT8odTLrYxI13V9A5yQwcFycik7zqSka5mcSrQ7p7GdIKbIlAwFjX/s962/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20063634.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="777" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6datj8T3thTjoeFJVvA2PnogWiLdddhmwgZfKFZUiJzffRh41F2V55skJO6-wY-rBKG49FSn9fDPjT-PNWDQ4qHUOxkCP3_G2V5-Xv-goVG8ez_Cu03YIKtRVoJn3s0DT8odTLrYxI13V9A5yQwcFycik7zqSka5mcSrQ7p7GdIKbIlAwFjX/w323-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20063634.png" width="323" /></a><br /><br />Jeremy included a 'Gay Guide' to London clubs in a period when gay clubs had to be discrete and generally members only. This issue from 1970 mentions The Toucan in Gerrard Street and The Masquerade and The Boltons in Earls Court the latter's regulars 'a pretty mixed bunch, some stunning, some just stunningly weird, some in semi-drag, some just a drag, but all full of shrill bounce and life'.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF36gZKGvGCw_3TWgo-QNqnwMW6PY6GHWSADPlChZBShxZ5zWb3aXC7Fk9WIvo4m-Mf6s0MDYeAdpd3NMYsn-Svn1x3UaYgiEyCO7v_ASy3rtdaimJX82ouJHWVpezm52YIU8x5E5pppAF18xXpaqyzd2UarN0qUL6uohQA1EqHWXC5nIMicSL/s927/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20064008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="866" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF36gZKGvGCw_3TWgo-QNqnwMW6PY6GHWSADPlChZBShxZ5zWb3aXC7Fk9WIvo4m-Mf6s0MDYeAdpd3NMYsn-Svn1x3UaYgiEyCO7v_ASy3rtdaimJX82ouJHWVpezm52YIU8x5E5pppAF18xXpaqyzd2UarN0qUL6uohQA1EqHWXC5nIMicSL/w598-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20064008.png" width="598" /></a><br /><br />Intriguingly The Union Tavern is Camberwell New Road is also mentioned with drag nights three times a week plus 'Reggae (skinhead night)' on Tuesday. Doubt if this was a specifically gay skinhead night, but there was obviously a crossover with the gay scene. The skinhead article describes skins' enthusiasms as 'football, clothes, girls (not always) and music'<br /><br />The skinhead photoshoot includes one shot taken outside the Union Tavern and the Jeremy Gala at Kensington Town Hall in September 1970 included a discotheque with the DJ Mickey 'The skinhead from last month's Jeremy'. So can only assume as well Mickey was also DJ at the Union Tavern skinhead night.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTvgcACfoY2Oz_ud_iTVcrVfDBZ6oaLTaQ-ZzWfgvp7vVQMQ_WZf3J6-WrmuwhD9Ba6Urp4BC4YgcXjlqQuNW7snQZ4gCZhIwZNjHFafM1VNs5SBfDOKLXi1YdX5gbpP4BtL0gxQYLw8Bfaz9Yv_uxqtwcOzs8fo9PmRBgpna2HGk5chux9JI/s669/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20184157.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="669" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTvgcACfoY2Oz_ud_iTVcrVfDBZ6oaLTaQ-ZzWfgvp7vVQMQ_WZf3J6-WrmuwhD9Ba6Urp4BC4YgcXjlqQuNW7snQZ4gCZhIwZNjHFafM1VNs5SBfDOKLXi1YdX5gbpP4BtL0gxQYLw8Bfaz9Yv_uxqtwcOzs8fo9PmRBgpna2HGk5chux9JI/s320/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20184157.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">(outside the Union Tavern - I used to drink there and recognise its distinctive frontage)</div><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5i5bpW2nrsF3UfO9prBYJ8zmlwA5lxBFKq6D8lgbXbp54c2g5EIJjTo3mRe4MyW5YIoLTJG4rHN3_11prYA_Msuny41G2t19PMcq_g-gBRDY28VXxK3ch1bNohJXpKLg-OTNYbCpqPI3vUC66Apgmr3UffC4nWacDWqPiOa-eqmKLaeUgguSd/s891/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20064451.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="692" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5i5bpW2nrsF3UfO9prBYJ8zmlwA5lxBFKq6D8lgbXbp54c2g5EIJjTo3mRe4MyW5YIoLTJG4rHN3_11prYA_Msuny41G2t19PMcq_g-gBRDY28VXxK3ch1bNohJXpKLg-OTNYbCpqPI3vUC66Apgmr3UffC4nWacDWqPiOa-eqmKLaeUgguSd/w311-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-03%20064451.png" width="311" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[When I was at school the term 'Jeremy' was used as a homophobic slur - 'a bit of a Jeremy' etc - which I assumed was related to the Jeremy Thorpe scandal in the 1970s (Liberal MP accused of plotting to have an ex-lover killed). But was the term in circulation before that, associated with the magazine?]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Union Tavern is now the Golden Goose theatre. The Union Place Resource Centre - a radical community printshop - was a couple of doors down, and I drank in the Tavern after popping down there sometimes. I remember one night meeting <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/3fi051tv7g77ut0/Libertarian%20Socialists%20pamphlet-%20Life%20And%20Times%20Of%20Joe%20Thomas-%20Alan%20Woodward.pdf?dl=0">veteran council communist Joe Thomas</a> in there, as he died in 1990 I think this must have been in 1988/9.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-51449014204317798182024-01-25T23:39:00.008+00:002024-02-01T23:48:48.572+00:00Luton punk squat party 1985: 'Revolution is the Festival of the Oppressed'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In November 1985 there was a squat gig in Luton with local punk bands. Unusually for that time some people actually took photos of it which have popped up on facebook and other places over the years (including I think the old <a href="https://uk-decay.co.uk/heritage/">UK Decay website</a>). So we have a lovely snapshot of the some of the beautiful people of my home town and I still have the flyer, which promised a lot:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'On Saturday 16th November an attempt will be made to put on a squat gig in Luton featuring local bands Karma Sutra, Penumbra Sigh and Party Girls. The reasons for doing a squat gig are many and varied. The bureaucratic organisations of the political elite do nothing but spout dead dogma and empty rhetoric about the young and what they think we need. All these schemes do nothing except reinforce our feelings of powerlessness. This attempt to reclaim disused property and put it to constructive use is an attempt to put into practice our own feelings of power and humanity and to do things for ourselves when all around us we are offered nothing except misery and destruction. Here is a constructive attempt to create something of real importance in an atmosphere of love and cooperation as an alternative to what we see around us... we cannot do it alone but we can do it together, come along and participate'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPt7QMP91ss1CQy6eMiXr48q9KZul36T6xmpX_V3r_lLJrzOHGXfBLvdlO1t-UwwVHbfj7xP4OmLnmdkswqXFz1QtEy8u-OKYX-u3WBLMuOHtHc7IJ-F2wCv2haZrGK-PjYseLkGDtu-0J7-Vo1dWlnUpM4LE1L-l-K2lib3ZGWwRRf-NaMgY/s934/squatflyer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="699" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJPt7QMP91ss1CQy6eMiXr48q9KZul36T6xmpX_V3r_lLJrzOHGXfBLvdlO1t-UwwVHbfj7xP4OmLnmdkswqXFz1QtEy8u-OKYX-u3WBLMuOHtHc7IJ-F2wCv2haZrGK-PjYseLkGDtu-0J7-Vo1dWlnUpM4LE1L-l-K2lib3ZGWwRRf-NaMgY/w478-h640/squatflyer.jpg" width="478" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The venue was the TUC Centre for the Unemployed, or rather the building that they had been using at 17 Dunstable Road, Luton, but which they had recently moved out of. Most of the Luton punks were on the dole at the time and many of us had been helped out with our claims and housing issues by the advice workers there - though earlier in the year we had fallen out with the Centre's management when our rowdy protests became too much for them (see previous post on <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/01/luton-punk-squat-party-1985-revolution.html">Dole Days in Luton</a>). I think the perception was that the centre was being closed down to punish our ingratitude but actually it reopened later in a different location.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It was a great gig/party, the place decorated with banners, loads of people turning up and three fine bands. Luton's two main anarcho-punk bands from the time, Karma Sutra and Penumbra Sigh (the latter sadly never recorded), plus Party Girls who I guess were a bit more what was becoming known as goth.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12wuEq5fXhl8T28msj5eqdueJzFOXMAza9Ts361wxYq4dQ1t-M9qNu0Hy23SB_71pczjpojeC666vHhygPiLJVg08ZzW49a7VKQqD_NsJ12dz_L2kEBQWd1CR1dCzXsSxLzFi8EpenhKqt3-LD1v7Vp9fiCUPuiVGQvC1fH5DAYkvcUv_yBmU/s640/karmauk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="640" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12wuEq5fXhl8T28msj5eqdueJzFOXMAza9Ts361wxYq4dQ1t-M9qNu0Hy23SB_71pczjpojeC666vHhygPiLJVg08ZzW49a7VKQqD_NsJ12dz_L2kEBQWd1CR1dCzXsSxLzFi8EpenhKqt3-LD1v7Vp9fiCUPuiVGQvC1fH5DAYkvcUv_yBmU/s320/karmauk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NR_Z5-VGeywiOsYH4brZyGybPP2YHQFKrzjolL9xnC_zU2T3imHV036GG0FB2ZkCbRB4A04mPPL6zH2Ed-Cmfm4RVmCrgwlt3H50xXzNQYfVMl5w061i1WEsQ74bdc3V4plIa56B1NJQp_DTNdDQjxgCAemZkes4OxeftZTzOpjXPjzFe6uF/s604/karma%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NR_Z5-VGeywiOsYH4brZyGybPP2YHQFKrzjolL9xnC_zU2T3imHV036GG0FB2ZkCbRB4A04mPPL6zH2Ed-Cmfm4RVmCrgwlt3H50xXzNQYfVMl5w061i1WEsQ74bdc3V4plIa56B1NJQp_DTNdDQjxgCAemZkes4OxeftZTzOpjXPjzFe6uF/s16000/karma%20(2).jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karma Sutra - Graeme, Dave and Neil in shot</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhMuJAHzK3wkzQDN8Ff0QQZLZXBMB2zSYwTfAE1NHkjiiIqDpj4qGGJ4-cJ3ZitOrdJjc2lDYyodYhFgkdr8YwpokGG21fIRLUbl-rsWVPfY2yQFN-G7XUOe7yfIYL5qhCBZd7PjYOmNu83FmcbDJvSj5CwoCoYFLcNq_hxmlvP5qr-ZNSccV/s640/penumbrasigh.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhMuJAHzK3wkzQDN8Ff0QQZLZXBMB2zSYwTfAE1NHkjiiIqDpj4qGGJ4-cJ3ZitOrdJjc2lDYyodYhFgkdr8YwpokGG21fIRLUbl-rsWVPfY2yQFN-G7XUOe7yfIYL5qhCBZd7PjYOmNu83FmcbDJvSj5CwoCoYFLcNq_hxmlvP5qr-ZNSccV/s16000/penumbrasigh.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penumbra Sigh - the late Karen Tharsby, Steve, Pete and Mark</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9AGsJSbB0WDTFoj2taKWAU38OtvzF7cxawRnKxueGwJSqZTRctpYEiXOybruZthek2tyMAH8M8FKBL5loV7o2BRAUwZlhbHhjZ5WG_W5Qaz2nRf9MDcYa7O1td0BrSVCFHXuKKOS_QcgxyGdv4qL-zt1K2RBGdhRWbiq3Z7lk3c6qXb6G_ym/s604/party%20girls.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9AGsJSbB0WDTFoj2taKWAU38OtvzF7cxawRnKxueGwJSqZTRctpYEiXOybruZthek2tyMAH8M8FKBL5loV7o2BRAUwZlhbHhjZ5WG_W5Qaz2nRf9MDcYa7O1td0BrSVCFHXuKKOS_QcgxyGdv4qL-zt1K2RBGdhRWbiq3Z7lk3c6qXb6G_ym/s16000/party%20girls.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Party Girls Dan and Pete</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">All the bands played in front of a banner declaring 'Revolution is the Festival of the Oppressed'. Looking through photos I can also see 'Alternative Luton', 'Revolution is Every Day Life' and 'Where does the enemy hide?'. The latter question comes from London situationist punk funk band Slave Dance, whose song of that name features the answer '...if not in our everyday lives?'. Yes we'd all been digesting the Situationists, mostly via <a href="https://libcom.org/article/spectacular-times">Spectacular Times</a> booklets. I can also spot a couple of Karma Sutra banners: 'Here lies the world destroyed by greed, profit and envy' and a chained up figure inside a globe cage, plus a red and black flag.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I can also see a poster declaring 'Wickham 19 are innocent'. The gig was actually a benefit for this defendants campaign supporting those arrested in a series of South East Animal Liberation League raids on vivisection related companies in Hampshire. One of our Luton crew was among those arrested, hence the graffiti saying 'hello the Wickham One!'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I don't remember all the names of the people below, but not going to name the ones I do remember (you can out yourselves in the comments if you want). Hope nobody minds though being included in the photo gallery I think it's very evocative of a time and place that seems both recent and a million years ago. Obviously if anybody does object to use of pictures let me know and I will edit accordingly,</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uEXVCfTPsmOu-pAngAGQZPipIRfcN5yGoUvBbBHSOftlFj6mNuLJnOBlf7bqIU-7YoFKxpJ4AggTbZvg4-baV4lgXa2ZA5IhckNDpNBSP6WMDUhxnk3-gU71fv8_8vF_Yk6aGc1JIspStY5NGensc8jPQj947A60nUk7teusWz16ufXv3Rh3/s1000/donna.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="1000" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uEXVCfTPsmOu-pAngAGQZPipIRfcN5yGoUvBbBHSOftlFj6mNuLJnOBlf7bqIU-7YoFKxpJ4AggTbZvg4-baV4lgXa2ZA5IhckNDpNBSP6WMDUhxnk3-gU71fv8_8vF_Yk6aGc1JIspStY5NGensc8jPQj947A60nUk7teusWz16ufXv3Rh3/w400-h287/donna.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwzh3zDDKhDyfmKtR5eQMCFNOocwWhpx_6QrcRI__vev7c1IWwqgxSUYB67oM8qEekVYRB99PaC8mKYcVcvB7dkBui_2216SutmT9fOYqxZSYqxKvi934E8i7xUjj5cee75ztN3um9mgMY0spgrFStRLWuWykWbRcyytC10JuXJXQRFNICpaH/s604/squat3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="604" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwzh3zDDKhDyfmKtR5eQMCFNOocwWhpx_6QrcRI__vev7c1IWwqgxSUYB67oM8qEekVYRB99PaC8mKYcVcvB7dkBui_2216SutmT9fOYqxZSYqxKvi934E8i7xUjj5cee75ztN3um9mgMY0spgrFStRLWuWykWbRcyytC10JuXJXQRFNICpaH/w400-h261/squat3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9aKYG1WLAgL2e11bVtzCYqPpi7G-sRY9oHkqMoW7E7YA3dQjqwI0eZyhuuD1NyREhKfeLDQZV-1L1giu_JZv8zepByFZf-BBVzLT04JeB9le9mEGbiDoz2PWc6KC9BVwVdPFkb1P34t-tPdhTd0rjso2DvE8AM0qxBYg8zSuXS6k8pBBhLaX/s604/squat4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="604" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9aKYG1WLAgL2e11bVtzCYqPpi7G-sRY9oHkqMoW7E7YA3dQjqwI0eZyhuuD1NyREhKfeLDQZV-1L1giu_JZv8zepByFZf-BBVzLT04JeB9le9mEGbiDoz2PWc6KC9BVwVdPFkb1P34t-tPdhTd0rjso2DvE8AM0qxBYg8zSuXS6k8pBBhLaX/w400-h275/squat4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67Mu-tn8ynvCq3zhjfsL3vlo5GVEt7OwHSs-Ft12hEluaX51sZ_j6YPlxx6mg_H-xBbQh9a0_Ovp56Qyj2ZMGX4chuO4yNtXaYKXQ6N5CU_r3kx-wHEOh5jHDpLpZDgiEwBlsCbV37jmKJWx4w4KjgQ6fZru_LiYnogRtmS_ZeRfbVKoTIAB-/s604/squat5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="604" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67Mu-tn8ynvCq3zhjfsL3vlo5GVEt7OwHSs-Ft12hEluaX51sZ_j6YPlxx6mg_H-xBbQh9a0_Ovp56Qyj2ZMGX4chuO4yNtXaYKXQ6N5CU_r3kx-wHEOh5jHDpLpZDgiEwBlsCbV37jmKJWx4w4KjgQ6fZru_LiYnogRtmS_ZeRfbVKoTIAB-/w400-h266/squat5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVsWSvvfPXJ579A18upfZUp_kaayCSGpLnZtN7FErUOawOSlfflYk3k1gdlOZL_h6qrmVWEAJMEZL2ezMXZv_XhlEdkmUOISbVtLTotylG0Xcdc1ZoBH_BDCdU7Oyj39XtSGEF-5KVg3IV0wuJQbVSxct6TeRd3FyUhe3w4YH03V7TNzQPqqN/s604/squat6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="604" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVsWSvvfPXJ579A18upfZUp_kaayCSGpLnZtN7FErUOawOSlfflYk3k1gdlOZL_h6qrmVWEAJMEZL2ezMXZv_XhlEdkmUOISbVtLTotylG0Xcdc1ZoBH_BDCdU7Oyj39XtSGEF-5KVg3IV0wuJQbVSxct6TeRd3FyUhe3w4YH03V7TNzQPqqN/w400-h278/squat6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_u-K0z-lEh4XJXSGv2-mT2-et8wYnCoas0Y9Cu7AgZoqrU-XZiL7cM0CPrJ5r3i5ZImSVzXnqTAwzt3ECmum3Edcb61gTimQUCNi3JqJl9r2r66ehAX5hHYTGMBAMqdTLHe8ejG8fsVOveYksnFHqqbmc3JcX_ZNO5VJkcj7Bpfj8j6pqYEhQ/s604/squatgig2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="604" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_u-K0z-lEh4XJXSGv2-mT2-et8wYnCoas0Y9Cu7AgZoqrU-XZiL7cM0CPrJ5r3i5ZImSVzXnqTAwzt3ECmum3Edcb61gTimQUCNi3JqJl9r2r66ehAX5hHYTGMBAMqdTLHe8ejG8fsVOveYksnFHqqbmc3JcX_ZNO5VJkcj7Bpfj8j6pqYEhQ/w400-h272/squatgig2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4P9Vb1i78Xo_Y-j-O6uyiSppPnh584Vd8dxVmHU15bpVP4OPsmGyXRIDHrMOZ1K0JfEOmPjo2ZyfcJBKOVQJeMTU76ew1HRYuwbAEcN_DY70iWWWnQxhaxxua8ipcYBNkvXMHwOpV6UfB950kLIDfy7g5dmBchy1I6RlgwHj1waJpqjw2-SP0/s448/dave_louise.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="448" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4P9Vb1i78Xo_Y-j-O6uyiSppPnh584Vd8dxVmHU15bpVP4OPsmGyXRIDHrMOZ1K0JfEOmPjo2ZyfcJBKOVQJeMTU76ew1HRYuwbAEcN_DY70iWWWnQxhaxxua8ipcYBNkvXMHwOpV6UfB950kLIDfy7g5dmBchy1I6RlgwHj1waJpqjw2-SP0/w400-h297/dave_louise.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm2ola46Va-QGQnBfCTPMHJVehQQy2i-cx3FIjPXxpqBYDvjctjDoLLJsrp9R7mN6nDydOic-kJYpORpzG7S1ptsHb1-EPsxmUTXQr3380Rj1d_y_vGKpEoa3z8JXTlOeUIpjQprHbNA2YU93sIz5MFV7HDqO9LuB5HKmdvVBxVFZq53fn5k8/s604/sqyatgig.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="604" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm2ola46Va-QGQnBfCTPMHJVehQQy2i-cx3FIjPXxpqBYDvjctjDoLLJsrp9R7mN6nDydOic-kJYpORpzG7S1ptsHb1-EPsxmUTXQr3380Rj1d_y_vGKpEoa3z8JXTlOeUIpjQprHbNA2YU93sIz5MFV7HDqO9LuB5HKmdvVBxVFZq53fn5k8/w400-h265/sqyatgig.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I was recently in touch with Dave G. who helped put on the party who has kindly contributed his recollections:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'It took place a very short time after the building was emptied. A group of us went down there one evening (in the dark) to gain access. We knew that breaking and entering would be a criminal offence but entering through a window without causing any damage was “merely” trespass and a civil matter. That said, we also knew that the police usually made mincemeat of these distinctions. I think we knew the building and how to get in via a dodgy window then open the doors from inside. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I remember being very surprised and impressed that someone – I think from Karma – knew about electricity and fuse boxes. I seem to recall that fuses were missing or something had been done to remove power but that this had easily been rectified.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We worked out that entrance to the gig should be via the back of the building to avoid attracting attention with the front available as a fire exit. You’d pass through a kitchen where food had been made and upstairs there were two rooms – one where all the instruments of the bands were kept and another where people could sit and chat.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I remember bits of the evening itself and that at a certain point the police tried to get in but were blocked. They claimed it was about health and safety then said, “don’t blame us if you all burn to death” and disappeared. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I think the event was considered a “success” and there were initial plans to do more. For example, the big old Co-op building opposite St George’s Square had been empty for years and some of us went in via the back one Sunday afternoon and talked about repeating it there – perhaps on Carnival Day - but it never happened. I think one reason is that the momentum of doing something like the squat gig the first time had now gone. I definitely wanted it to happen at the Co-op and went back a couple of times alone to check things out but it was probably just as well it didn’t happen because the Co-op would have been too high profile to pull off successfully without more people involved and better organisation. I also think that the first squat gig popularity was because the centre had done so much to help people in practical terms and that closing it down was regarded as a spiteful injustice. The people who organised the gig and others who turned up – so many of them had received support and the closure felt more personal and something to be challenged - the gig seemed like “having a go back”. Perhaps, having done it once, people didn’t think it had been worth all the effort. Certainly, if you are involved in something and it comes off, there’s a degree of wanting to repeat and scale up the same experience, whereas if you weren’t central to it, you are less invested. I don’t know…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">To me, the idea of squat gigs/events felt like we were “reclaiming” space, highlighting the waste of resources during a housing crisis and creating our own cultural spaces as an alternative to “confected entertainment” but there were many weaknesses with those theories… [soon] there were other things to be getting on with like Anti-Apartheid, Section 28, the Alton Bill, pickets at Wapping, local strike action at Vauxhall…'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If you have any memories, photos, flyers related to this or similar nights get in touch</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Other Luton writings:</i></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-it-all-began-for-me-teenage-anti.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">How it all began (for me): a School Kid against the Nazis in Luton 1979/80</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2019/08/blinded-by-light-and-memories-of-1980s.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Blinded by the Light - memories of racism and job cuts in 1980s Luton (including the Luton Youth Movement)</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-luton-riots-of-1981-brixton-comes.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Luton Riots of 1981 - 'Brixton comes to Bedfordshire'</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-hunger-strike-irish-war-and-english.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Hunger Strike, the Irish War and an English Town</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/12/luton-anarcho-punk-and-hunt-sabbing.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Karma Sutra, Luton anarcho-punk and hunt sabbing</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/01/dole-days-in-luton-claimants-action.html">Dole Days in Luton: Unemployed protests in Luton 1985</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Clubbing in Luton 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/we-are-luton.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">We are Luton - opposing the English Defence League in 2012</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://datacide-magazine.com/angry-white-people-coming-face-to-face-with-the-british-far-right-by-hsiao-hung-pai-book-review/" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">'Angry White People' book review (at Datacide magazine)</a></div></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-88210398155298439322024-01-12T23:52:00.015+00:002024-01-25T23:50:53.058+00:00Dole Days in Luton: unemployed protests 1985<div style="text-align: center;">In the turbulent mid-1980s - 1984 to 1986 to be precise - I was unemployed like most of my punky friends in Luton. <span>My 1985 diary has the same entry on almost every Thursday – ‘Sign on, Switch’. The weekly ‘Giro Thursday’ routine consisted on signing on at the dole office, cashing in our ‘Personal Issue’ cheque at the post office, buying in our vegan supplies for the week, and 'then going home to crimp our hair before heading to the pub and then The Switch Club, the town’s only regular alternative night. </span><span style="background: white;">There to drink and dance to songs like Spear of Destiny’s Liberator, Baby Turns Blue by the Virgin Prunes, the Sisters of Mercy’s Alice, Dark Entries by Bauhaus and The Cult’s Spiritwalker. In a departure from the general gothdom the last record was usually 'Tequila' by The Champs' (<a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html">see more here on Luton nightlife at this time</a>).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white;">Many of us were living in bedsits in the town’s London Road area owned by the late Gerry Cremin, a generally amiable Irish landlord who nevertheless thought it necessary to collect the rent accompanied by an Alsatian, a baseball bat and his burly sons (my dad had coached some of them at St Joseph's football club). The deal was that in return for providing a nominal breakfast which hardly anyone got out of bed for, the landlord was able to charge the Government's Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) a higher rent, and the tenants got a little bit more on their dole – so we took home a massive £39 a week. It wasn’t exactly paradise, but it was too good to last.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;"><p class="MsoBodyText" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘In Luton hundreds of unemployed people under the age of 26 are being
made homeless by new government rules on Bed and Breakfast accommodation. The government
and their friends in the media claim that these new regulations are to stop
people taking free holidays at the taxpayers’ expense. The reality is that most
people live in B&B because they have nowhere else to go. Who’d take a
holiday in Luton?’ (Luton Bed and Breakfast Claimants Action Group leaflet,
June 1985)</span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1985, the Government decided to change the
rules so that young people under 26 could only stay in board and lodging for
four weeks before their rent and benefits were cut – for those of us living in
the Costa del Cremin this threatened homelessness. Actually it was no joke –
the Luton News reported that Michael Ball, a 24 year old from Marsh Farm,
hanged himself when he was forced to move by the new regulations.</span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0vagC-9wHR5uP7m0-D4coPO_Xi8WD1y7LeHE-a3ggAghzAlO8UgbnEZk4h0wo_JG1pDwJRnak5rK72GpYra9JNvGGTLY_opVdB6ntvtnN-cVZRKLibp-_2KEI76CQAYEADXuVicdiow_oDWr63hSVAGzBsf4TNSjvpPQlkUrUaAQrP1zr6sg/s1952/IMG_7106.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1952" data-original-width="1610" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0vagC-9wHR5uP7m0-D4coPO_Xi8WD1y7LeHE-a3ggAghzAlO8UgbnEZk4h0wo_JG1pDwJRnak5rK72GpYra9JNvGGTLY_opVdB6ntvtnN-cVZRKLibp-_2KEI76CQAYEADXuVicdiow_oDWr63hSVAGzBsf4TNSjvpPQlkUrUaAQrP1zr6sg/s320/IMG_7106.jpeg" width="264" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In June 1985, a Bed and Breakfast Claimants
Action Group was set up at a meeting at the TUC Centre for the Unemployed (17
Dunstable Road, Luton). This was a trade union sponsored centre which offered benefits
and other advice, and for which Luton bands including Karma Sutra, Click Click
and Party Girls had played a benefit at the local college (now University of
Bedfordshire). I wish I still had my ticket for that, as they were hand printed
by Elizabeth Price who went on to be in indie pop band Tallulah Gosh and then to win
the 2012 Turner Prize for her video art. </span></p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Centre was one of around 200 similar projects around the country in this period set up with the support of the Trades Union Congress and local unions. An oral history of this movement has recently (2023) been written by Paul Griffin (</span><a href="https://heyzine.com/flip-book/077d0b4293.html#page/1" style="font-family: inherit;">Unemployed Workers Centres: politicising unemployment through trade unions and communities</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">). There was a political tension in these centres - were they top down, even paternalistic, welfare service </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">for</u><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the unemployed, or were they centres for agitation and organising </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">by</u><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the unemployed? That tension certainly played out in Luton, as we shall see.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIY-AYQhwuZnWRzmOhxXzCoL_TsHDc0S6M2QUgEiW_agODBvIkV6UWrwrYt4XOR22JrN1WporEWvHQYqD1II3_0iyky_3HpuSl6M8jaDEaaZDPULp3cxL7LHp4mkf-J1uTLYHpxymQqH3DSQ2celGVHubagifQl6yuS_pSyOJbzl0B0KpOKgj/s1713/DOLE%20LEAFLET.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1713" data-original-width="1233" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIY-AYQhwuZnWRzmOhxXzCoL_TsHDc0S6M2QUgEiW_agODBvIkV6UWrwrYt4XOR22JrN1WporEWvHQYqD1II3_0iyky_3HpuSl6M8jaDEaaZDPULp3cxL7LHp4mkf-J1uTLYHpxymQqH3DSQ2celGVHubagifQl6yuS_pSyOJbzl0B0KpOKgj/w288-h400/DOLE%20LEAFLET.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Flyer for the first meeting on 10 June 1985</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">A campaign of action followed on quickly from that first meeting. Over the next few weeks, we occupied Luton DHSS
and the Anglia TV office in the town, and disrupted council meetings (Luton had a Conservative Council at the time). Betw</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">een 20 and
50 people took part, mostly drawn from our punk circles but not just the usual anarcho activists. When Prince Charles visited the town's Youth House we occupied the
Radio Bedfordshire office in Chapel Street, while Karen Tharsby (singer with Luton punk band Penumbra Sigh, who
sadly died in 2013) was arrested for sticking her fingers up at the heir to the throne. The clip below includes short Radio Beds reports of one of the town hall protests and an interview with Pete K. about the Prince Charles visit.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PZh5q1zyIds?si=G2dY84NvmrBgfUo1" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Transcript of BBC Radio Bedfordshire clip: '</span>There was a demonstration outside Youth House where Prince Charles was on a tour. The demonstration was by young unemployed people from Luton protesting about the government's new board and lodging rules which they claim have made them homeless. One person was arrested. One of the protesters explained why they tried to disrupt the Royal day: 'to show we're angry about people being thrown out of their homes, made homeless while people like Prince Charles can visit Luton and like £50,000 be spent out on someone like him to visit Luton. People like myself, people in bed and breakfast accommodation all over Luton are being made homeless. I don't see how can they can justify spending all this money on him'. [and how would you prefer the money be spent?] Well for a start I think it should be spent giving people houses, renovating houses, Council houses whatever… hospitals, kidney machines, things like that things that, things that are worthwhile'</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Plans were also laid for squatting – a list of empty properties was put
together at the Centre for the Unemployed and circulated in the name of ‘Luton
Squatters Advisory Service’ (‘Jobless Encouraged to become Squatters’, Luton
News, 27 June 1985). </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQfjAX1hpXGAF9uvc2irz5KkvU9NN_WnDh4fanwx39pUNGHew-Dnq43-lrwN0f-hsAm1YonSS0pKtTMt6l638O48Awp9n_5ghslqafuDxphlONj6U5nIKctJsVPtKeW4Z4U0idarefeIreb-XqExfvrrvFirbfYgb4mCAzyp1CPsK6QoXOyTN/s2286/IMG_7105.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="2286" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQfjAX1hpXGAF9uvc2irz5KkvU9NN_WnDh4fanwx39pUNGHew-Dnq43-lrwN0f-hsAm1YonSS0pKtTMt6l638O48Awp9n_5ghslqafuDxphlONj6U5nIKctJsVPtKeW4Z4U0idarefeIreb-XqExfvrrvFirbfYgb4mCAzyp1CPsK6QoXOyTN/w640-h384/IMG_7105.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Things came to a head in July 1985 when during a protest at another council meeting in the Town Hall there was a scuffle with councillors.
Gerard Benton – an advice worker at the Centre for the Unemployed - was arrested and
later jailed for six months for ‘actual body harm’. Gerry was definitely innocent of the charge of hitting a councillor, he had just stayed around after others had left and been the one there to be picked up. After he was convicted,
some of Gerry’s friends repaid the councilor who they believed had given deliberately misleading evidence against him with a number of pranks, including
placing an advert in a local paper offering prison uniforms for sale, with their
phone number. On his release, Gerry continued in advice work until his untimely
death in 2005 at the age of 47.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was all too much for the respectable Labour
Party types who ran the Centre for the Unemployed. We were banned from meeting
there anymore, and even before Gerry was jailed he was told by the management not to associate with us. One of the contradictions of the unemployed centre movement was that staff were often paid with funding from the Manpower Services Commission - a kind of Government job creation scheme - so there was always a limit to how far they could go in opposing the state. Not </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">long afterwards the Centre moved buildings - leaving the original one to be squatted for one night for a great Luton punk gig <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/01/luton-punk-squat-party-1985-revolution.html">(see post here</a>). </span></p>
<div style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Jobless
Protestors Occupy DHSS Office - A demonstration at Luton’s DHSS office against
new Government rules for the unemployed ended when police were called in to
break it up. Around 40 unemployed people occupied the Guildford Street office
on Thursday… They occupied the offices for two hours and hung up banners in
windows until police were called by the manager’ (Luton News, 20 June 1985)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘furious
councilors and demonstrators jostled and argued when a protest got out of hand
during a committee meeting at Luton Town Hall last week. Around 30 punk-style
protestors objecting to the new bed and breakfast laws were ejected by police.
One arrest was made after coffee cups were broken during the row’ (Herald, 11
July 1985)</span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I believe that the Centre for the Unemployed continued elsewhere in Luton until 1999, and then changed its name to Rights - this <a href="https://lutonrights.org/about-us/">advice service </a> is still going 40 years later. Looking back I can see that we were sometimes quite obnoxious to some of the no doubt well meaning people running the Centre for the Unemployed, but equally we felt justified in our anger at their failure to support actual unemployed young people fighting back against cuts to our benefits.</span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Another leaflet advertising the first meeting on 10th June 1985:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEb74n-HhEvpN6l0OCxbnXEyhtO7ztR87A47rwUWPGw8vVHAMs2M_eHUqUwwQRVu0J82p98CWkel6TlHakBgPoyYQG7fAFYnoobJCIiEa2HmIXu_LYCY4nykuyvZOlQ0tDMFp-NMgf2W-a2_YakX5u6CRKubLCoxCfdZnMePD1idMgNw9q-DFK/s1928/IMG_6712.JPEG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1928" data-original-width="1453" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEb74n-HhEvpN6l0OCxbnXEyhtO7ztR87A47rwUWPGw8vVHAMs2M_eHUqUwwQRVu0J82p98CWkel6TlHakBgPoyYQG7fAFYnoobJCIiEa2HmIXu_LYCY4nykuyvZOlQ0tDMFp-NMgf2W-a2_YakX5u6CRKubLCoxCfdZnMePD1idMgNw9q-DFK/w482-h640/IMG_6712.JPEG" width="482" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Report on the campaign from Black Flag magazine:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTWvY8cgK7xB_umHusEmQmKmX_-vRF9J1l1LbXPoaG58bcNFiQIXg4TK_abgZECMBJeq7vOi8y8UCVBde2S0zXOuzma-rKThfOpE85oEG82nZ7xt7-f8L7zjG6M2H_DcmgzXeSCVeICDln4JUe3dnAuI7s03vhY1idAWRIlmoZ4qMy65SbGvu/s684/dole%20black%20flag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTWvY8cgK7xB_umHusEmQmKmX_-vRF9J1l1LbXPoaG58bcNFiQIXg4TK_abgZECMBJeq7vOi8y8UCVBde2S0zXOuzma-rKThfOpE85oEG82nZ7xt7-f8L7zjG6M2H_DcmgzXeSCVeICDln4JUe3dnAuI7s03vhY1idAWRIlmoZ4qMy65SbGvu/s16000/dole%20black%20flag.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp59bOj-GsTnQuqjNqSPwUYghcgxDkkXW-KEpYoN9-BNWspBrBUTkkpz48Ihz08GtRxOJV3z-n9NqRffjFdRpWxdGJNJ08-p0SstVy3z1o9lLbaTwRXJtQtp9rCXboe3iJrKovqHSwOBALbsu5LdMFnHb6MpXdyYCdJFfZKFLIUo4p2g_RM65d/s918/b&B3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="683" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp59bOj-GsTnQuqjNqSPwUYghcgxDkkXW-KEpYoN9-BNWspBrBUTkkpz48Ihz08GtRxOJV3z-n9NqRffjFdRpWxdGJNJ08-p0SstVy3z1o9lLbaTwRXJtQtp9rCXboe3iJrKovqHSwOBALbsu5LdMFnHb6MpXdyYCdJFfZKFLIUo4p2g_RM65d/w476-h640/b&B3.jpg" width="476" /></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>'Youth Dole Sit-in Demo' - Luton and Dunstable Chronicle & Echo, 14 June 1985</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAg-_i60qwrsrfnBUDX5uDjBcItPqPUhFI58leu4-HmDCFiFrXmhVe0Xl6lqgctDq0BpZ7ygPr2PLCFiN1PzF5kjTyaP9gfqgMQm8fxmuC8XhswmWUvBzHZoqA3DqmQJ_IO3u35p6ouIrM45jhQCpLUXUNSS0_YLWyi2i8AmaxN4uEncGQQTi/s1604/IMG_7100.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1604" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAg-_i60qwrsrfnBUDX5uDjBcItPqPUhFI58leu4-HmDCFiFrXmhVe0Xl6lqgctDq0BpZ7ygPr2PLCFiN1PzF5kjTyaP9gfqgMQm8fxmuC8XhswmWUvBzHZoqA3DqmQJ_IO3u35p6ouIrM45jhQCpLUXUNSS0_YLWyi2i8AmaxN4uEncGQQTi/w640-h564/IMG_7100.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr46H3m_iubYyd7ADvjwup8CSmSaOoUdvW6GMVWV6GIietI4pKxRI8nLEa1kp4c5RE1QTirc0fMrmUtVuy_30m8Pb-oaJi4Wyxvd5qtfZqfr1T_0ehhZaL_ivo9XNcPS-i1mV-FyTWGdevRghzi-HeQEoGwf26Ce6_j7JxGtxhP-yB-Qdm23Sp/s2806/IMG_7101.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2806" data-original-width="1122" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr46H3m_iubYyd7ADvjwup8CSmSaOoUdvW6GMVWV6GIietI4pKxRI8nLEa1kp4c5RE1QTirc0fMrmUtVuy_30m8Pb-oaJi4Wyxvd5qtfZqfr1T_0ehhZaL_ivo9XNcPS-i1mV-FyTWGdevRghzi-HeQEoGwf26Ce6_j7JxGtxhP-yB-Qdm23Sp/w256-h640/IMG_7101.jpeg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNfbcu64hYywD0fHDxJsPIgIqnDEv0Kxc5CgNqAsK3SqbzV520OqLEHbGls9sxzHbBVCrzby4Y7THKhbwkfsMFXpmz514kikhC-uwGxP55q9AcX5tY_vO2JbPXEPk1Q8bJhAHNdSHJ-OQvBRfZk8Vm4iJfvXYS7EMZcn-lpb86pnOYnyw311r/s666/IMG_7102.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNfbcu64hYywD0fHDxJsPIgIqnDEv0Kxc5CgNqAsK3SqbzV520OqLEHbGls9sxzHbBVCrzby4Y7THKhbwkfsMFXpmz514kikhC-uwGxP55q9AcX5tY_vO2JbPXEPk1Q8bJhAHNdSHJ-OQvBRfZk8Vm4iJfvXYS7EMZcn-lpb86pnOYnyw311r/s320/IMG_7102.jpeg" width="124" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfedemi_0YMaS8zWaTKb7_ZdQkdSJUdjToo3QwhIpX7mxhxowXJbnAkk_2MJlXCKbhoNvoG1l71sDoPjTgTYNfsI-CX-qjhkaxwE-odo2RMTVMPcGKGFVLB9WCbHjPg39jj8qRQIyvnSPVj4_Yy0319AGHFaYlV3OGlBCBVBKTspbK-F9_aA8/s1850/IMG_7107.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1850" data-original-width="1696" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfedemi_0YMaS8zWaTKb7_ZdQkdSJUdjToo3QwhIpX7mxhxowXJbnAkk_2MJlXCKbhoNvoG1l71sDoPjTgTYNfsI-CX-qjhkaxwE-odo2RMTVMPcGKGFVLB9WCbHjPg39jj8qRQIyvnSPVj4_Yy0319AGHFaYlV3OGlBCBVBKTspbK-F9_aA8/w366-h400/IMG_7107.jpeg" width="366" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCDQ5lbZIoD_OXteck8nKg9Chq26CywWYu0_fTPgwEupgnrzHrNOtRDcJKT1JDgxO5Blji3f70CBjnDTSnBCjzc9QgCVEaICItpB7OOfNf9QWHouM02XU1TYTLFXn1BlO5k2IAnD7qxszcBWZlfXxb-abXAHw5FYRfUyW8p78QQoq_U-ZI0qA/s1952/Luton%20Leader%204%20July%201985.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1610" data-original-width="1952" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCDQ5lbZIoD_OXteck8nKg9Chq26CywWYu0_fTPgwEupgnrzHrNOtRDcJKT1JDgxO5Blji3f70CBjnDTSnBCjzc9QgCVEaICItpB7OOfNf9QWHouM02XU1TYTLFXn1BlO5k2IAnD7qxszcBWZlfXxb-abXAHw5FYRfUyW8p78QQoq_U-ZI0qA/w400-h330/Luton%20Leader%204%20July%201985.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ui5PMl02_u2LZtzvhF9iXLiGrqyJyRnHqB0NxrxYjXFWYTC1FEtG5RS-hD5j7TPQj4bhiSZ7RED71JKfvFThnGSFM1pWmIMRwWtYRcooOa_tsQax57mda20xyVx9vRaNWL1IhLDN_ZnIVDUnsMgUCtQT-tV8SeRIM48kTaxiIv1JHo59JB1v/s867/Luton%20dole%20leaflet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="630" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ui5PMl02_u2LZtzvhF9iXLiGrqyJyRnHqB0NxrxYjXFWYTC1FEtG5RS-hD5j7TPQj4bhiSZ7RED71JKfvFThnGSFM1pWmIMRwWtYRcooOa_tsQax57mda20xyVx9vRaNWL1IhLDN_ZnIVDUnsMgUCtQT-tV8SeRIM48kTaxiIv1JHo59JB1v/w466-h640/Luton%20dole%20leaflet.jpg" width="466" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A <a href="http://www.ukdecay.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3210">bit more here about Gerard Benton</a>. A definite Luton character, I first met him when I was at school and had joined the Labour Party Young Socialists for a while. Gerry arranged a coach trip to the Welsh seaside resort of Llandudno for the LPYS conference, with us all being put up in a hotel. A lot of people came along for the ride, some of whom never even stepped foot inside the conference, with no questions asked about ability to pay. We got to see Steel Pulse too. It was only when we got back that we found out that Gerard had simply arranged for the hotel bill to be sent to Luton Labour Party, who weren't very happy but paid up anyway.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Footnote: a Tory landlord and an imaginary strike in Luton</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Another Luton landlord at the time was Mr Mason, a Tory councillor with shabby accommodation in Stockwood Crescent and elsewhere. Some of his tenants took to painting graffiti or otherwise vandalising his office on the way back from the pub and a group of them got arrested in the process. A couple of them were members of the Socialist Workers Party and one of their leading members locally, Ged Peck, was believed to have reported them to the SWP's control commission (their internal disciplinary body). Those involved were furious at what they saw at this lack of support and the response was to submit a fake strike report that was unwittingly printed in Socialist Worker in July 1984. The bad employer was a fictional Pecks Publishing in Luton - named for Ged Peck (who <a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/obituaries/ged-peck-1947-2015/">incidentally had played guitar at the Isle of Wight Festival</a>). Gerard Benton was named as the shop steward at this imaginary firm and the person named as the author of the piece had nothing to do with it. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read in the archive - let future historians note there was no such strike in Luton! I believe those held responsible for this fake news were suspended from the party.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNR-y4NX7Kef3GVbr6IqhRBKalZA_TDLEbGYqKS6NCJ33u-StA9jvhc86E4hdnuLtmObwMwXMYoLjvps14t29sC69KmSa78XSYQlj3Mns-0qk93x4cHzjo8I2hPjuF7EzgJEPMX5hLCD6kl851BvFnoNLvLi67BLp1-SmPh_da9nTxi1yCLeLV/s506/pecks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNR-y4NX7Kef3GVbr6IqhRBKalZA_TDLEbGYqKS6NCJ33u-StA9jvhc86E4hdnuLtmObwMwXMYoLjvps14t29sC69KmSa78XSYQlj3Mns-0qk93x4cHzjo8I2hPjuF7EzgJEPMX5hLCD6kl851BvFnoNLvLi67BLp1-SmPh_da9nTxi1yCLeLV/s16000/pecks.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span><i><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">[</span>This is an edited extract, with some additional material, from my article - Neil Transpontine, Hyper-active as the day is long: anarcho-punk activism in an English town, 1984-86 in 'And all around was darkness' edited by Gregory Bull and Mike Dines, Itchy Monkey Press, 2017. The full article goes on to look at more Luton activism covering animal rights, anti-apartheid, the peace movement, Stop the City, the miners strike and more. The book is a</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><i>n excellent collection of participant accounts of the scene including The Mob, Crass, Flowers in the Dustbin, anarcho-feminism and Greenham Common etc. <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255030190108" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">You can buy copies of it here</a> and recommend you do if you are at all interested in this kind of stuff.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; text-align: center;"><i>One of the criticisms sometimes levelled at the anarcho-punk scene of that time is that its politics were a kind of militant liberalism in which activists always seemed to be seeking to act on behalf of others – whether animals or people in far off places – rather than confronting their own position as young, mostly working class people in a capitalist society. There is some merit in this, though a counter argument could of course be made that they refused to be confined to their narrow sectional interest and instead tried to embrace a more global critique of oppression and exploitation. But I guess in the above episode at least we were directly self-organising around our own needs in the context of unemployed benefit cuts.</i></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioHUnxKrr-qroCaB0E7BTcUx0rA5iFSsajBxd0zs6SbAoJp0ngWP1VZiqUxqxCCop4JRSfND4SUeV3mZyUjk6VUMBS-iHM1nw-_M0IYt7qBUTT6qsRYTpw_Y3ivLpWU5I4Jj11UtMAI7fqfjiF6cqpgq-PbOHsKKuviZ_ELEdCaTqkI2GWIVuy/s1146/darkness.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="790" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioHUnxKrr-qroCaB0E7BTcUx0rA5iFSsajBxd0zs6SbAoJp0ngWP1VZiqUxqxCCop4JRSfND4SUeV3mZyUjk6VUMBS-iHM1nw-_M0IYt7qBUTT6qsRYTpw_Y3ivLpWU5I4Jj11UtMAI7fqfjiF6cqpgq-PbOHsKKuviZ_ELEdCaTqkI2GWIVuy/w276-h400/darkness.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br /><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Other Luton writings:</i></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-it-all-began-for-me-teenage-anti.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">How it all began (for me): a School Kid against the Nazis in Luton 1979/80</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2019/08/blinded-by-light-and-memories-of-1980s.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Blinded by the Light - memories of racism and job cuts in 1980s Luton (including the Luton Youth Movement)</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-luton-riots-of-1981-brixton-comes.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Luton Riots of 1981 - 'Brixton comes to Bedfordshire'</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-hunger-strike-irish-war-and-english.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Hunger Strike, the Irish War and an English Town</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/12/luton-anarcho-punk-and-hunt-sabbing.html">Karma Sutra, Luton anarcho-punk and hunt sabbing</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/01/luton-punk-squat-party-1985-revolution.html"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/01/luton-punk-squat-party-1985-revolution.html">Luton punk squat gig 1985</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Clubbing in Luton 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/we-are-luton.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">We are Luton - opposing the English Defence League in 2012</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://datacide-magazine.com/angry-white-people-coming-face-to-face-with-the-british-far-right-by-hsiao-hung-pai-book-review/" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">'Angry White People' book review (at Datacide magazine)</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-36060958557267243912024-01-02T01:00:00.003+00:002024-01-02T01:00:00.132+00:00Left at the Pier Festival, Brighton 1994<p style="text-align: center;">A feature of the 1980s and 1990s in England was officially sponsored free music festivals, usually one day affairs supported by local councils or other organisations such as trade unions. One such event was the Left at the Pier Festival held on the seafront at Brighton as a 'festival to celebrate public services' and sponsored by Southern and Eastern Regions of the Trades Union Congress and the Workers Beer Company.</p><p style="text-align: center;">The bands playing at this festival would have been familiar at many summer festivals in this period, including Dreadzone, Tribal Drift, Bhundu Boys, the Oyster Band, Co-Creators and Transglobal Underground. I remember seeing the latter two on a hot afternoon, with a big screen showing action from the World Cup then taking place in the USA. I was staying in Brighton at the time taking part in an international conference (AIDS Impact: Biopsychosocial aspects of HIV Infection).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g6mtdym5bGkSe9v9n2weSUyKVE_-yNrxUohR5jAVPTyrvdtncRGdY_Huo8hkbp4fAlAJDs6wyHSXOxysWjXRDi4Td-yxU8IsrTkHWK49HiFXM5Q3Xx1qEqL1VlZPiB-R0CxUhZ0HVhMaPN_DpiqMBiYiSLBfL5txMY9RguVDQl-UM3NW7-eH/s2790/IMG_6965.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2790" data-original-width="1126" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g6mtdym5bGkSe9v9n2weSUyKVE_-yNrxUohR5jAVPTyrvdtncRGdY_Huo8hkbp4fAlAJDs6wyHSXOxysWjXRDi4Td-yxU8IsrTkHWK49HiFXM5Q3Xx1qEqL1VlZPiB-R0CxUhZ0HVhMaPN_DpiqMBiYiSLBfL5txMY9RguVDQl-UM3NW7-eH/w258-h640/IMG_6965.jpeg" width="258" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuCjBL5VeXi7jvBJteK2_YYbktX4zXkvLBddtEF5mWmxZk8vLsmP8OXfqe4s3ucaPN4x219H0VwYsmas_gZJg-nH9Eb-dNyoi71jeUNVNfsUNxiSEwfeQFea_1V-whI7QOVwhxgfV9bo3GCxxe_IDl5ogJYDHYJuG6wD9cwFEkQATfD2rJuWs/s2868/IMG_6966.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2868" data-original-width="1096" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuCjBL5VeXi7jvBJteK2_YYbktX4zXkvLBddtEF5mWmxZk8vLsmP8OXfqe4s3ucaPN4x219H0VwYsmas_gZJg-nH9Eb-dNyoi71jeUNVNfsUNxiSEwfeQFea_1V-whI7QOVwhxgfV9bo3GCxxe_IDl5ogJYDHYJuG6wD9cwFEkQATfD2rJuWs/w244-h640/IMG_6966.jpeg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-61531540046710649922023-12-26T09:05:00.012+00:002024-01-02T17:09:00.501+00:00My London musical/radical soundscape 2023<p style="text-align: center;">Reading other people's end of year lists is like listening to people talking about their dreams - occasionally interesting but mostly very much not. So this round up of musicking and political activity from (mostly) London 2023 is really for my own benefit and to document a few things which might otherwise vanish from the historical record or at least my memory.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Best gig of the year for me was Kneecap at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, a giant mosh pit in a sold out gig for Belfast Irish language rappers. Just up the road at the Roundhouse in December, Lankum were also excellent. Irish hegemony in my music tastes for the first time since the 1990s. Love the Roundhouse (also saw Big Moon there in May and a couple of years ago Laura Marling), not so keen on the cavernous Ally Pally where I saw Sleaford Mods with John Grant, but a good gig.</p><p style="text-align: center;">On a jazzier tip, loved Ezra Collective at Hammersmith Apollo in February, and <a href="https://transpont.blogspot.com/2023/10/music-monday-laura-misch-sample-sky.html">Laura Misch's mellow cloud bath performance</a> at the Peckham Old Waiting Room. Nearby at the Ivy House pub SE15, The Goose is Out continued to curate some excellent folk nights including Martin Carthy and Stick in the Wheel. They also put on a monthly singaround session where people take it in turns to stand and sing one song at a time; I sang there earlier in the year and also at Archie Shuttler's Open Mic at the Old Nun's Head. Strummed the banjo and mandolin a bit.</p><p style="text-align: center;">In terms of my own music making the highlight was taking part in the Wavelength Orchestra event on the beach in Gravesend in June, an improvisational performance where assorted musicians sustained notes based on the duration of waves (although it was low tide and they were more like ripples). I took along my old Wasp synth, my dad's bagpipe chanter and my grandad's harmonica to add to the mix.</p><p style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzHYsdC6cds?si=TbFic1L-KJgxlSL7" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMfS9rwfNJ5VMVoo33Dx86M3ACz3538B-Wh7YoAr7j5FtkIh9P5RPwFJ2rSVK-EtJ3OkQqmMcHz6tGQAaTiWR3YakOCemN5OMWsDIWUz0AKOg6H_hLbTYZC2InTeAweHNG0m3_dBcOEyWdnT7InzB0cQWgJ0kPCTO_XgWbZb8kjHpHzvlkyzT/s2048/IMG_5491.JPEG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMfS9rwfNJ5VMVoo33Dx86M3ACz3538B-Wh7YoAr7j5FtkIh9P5RPwFJ2rSVK-EtJ3OkQqmMcHz6tGQAaTiWR3YakOCemN5OMWsDIWUz0AKOg6H_hLbTYZC2InTeAweHNG0m3_dBcOEyWdnT7InzB0cQWgJ0kPCTO_XgWbZb8kjHpHzvlkyzT/s320/IMG_5491.JPEG" width="240" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;">Went out for my birthday to a Mungo's Hi Fi night at the Fox & Firkin in Lewisham, checked out my local Planet Wax record shop and bar in New Cross. Enjoyed giving a Peckham anti fascist history walk for around 30 people in October, and chatting about my own history on <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/06/tales-from-disappearing-city.html">Controlled Weirdness' 'Tales from a disappearing city'</a> podcast.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I always appreciate the unexpected random encounters with music in the city, like coming across an Italian hip hop collective (Hip Hopera Foundation) performing in Beckenham Place Park or bumping into <a href="https://transpont.blogspot.com/2023/03/kitto-road-folk.html">morris dancers by my local pub</a>. Loved dodging the rising tide on the Thames shore for a dark 'Noise TAZ' in the summer.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEaLEWMpz6JxYEZ_lcQ6BRbuaBmo8RxWLJ8Nz8ltGVDY1g64oCr-fHbaexYsRary7Yc8nM7QyD70MKEMLdup71dT1z5XRKMlFEowICwWiNq6zXrocQhYQyPFOg6uCmnHx1ZMFwC0A1jfDYMu-bA7SznjjodjGfHFOVdcuXUKO_j3W9q_ZgA2m/s2048/IMG_6046.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEaLEWMpz6JxYEZ_lcQ6BRbuaBmo8RxWLJ8Nz8ltGVDY1g64oCr-fHbaexYsRary7Yc8nM7QyD70MKEMLdup71dT1z5XRKMlFEowICwWiNq6zXrocQhYQyPFOg6uCmnHx1ZMFwC0A1jfDYMu-bA7SznjjodjGfHFOVdcuXUKO_j3W9q_ZgA2m/s320/IMG_6046.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;">Politically I am not a super activist at the moment but do try and get myself out there in times of emergency - and with climate change, war, anti-migrant racism and transphobic 'culture wars' it feels like that is most of the time at present. Or as Benjamin put it, 'The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule'.</p><p style="text-align: center;">The year started with ongoing strikes from NHS, rail workers and teachers, I popped down to various picket lines and protests. It has been hard to keep track of the endless state onslaught against refugees, including the 'Illegal Migration Act' which criminalised seeking asylum. Protest too becoming increasingly criminalised with climate emergency activists being locked up for months or even years just for walking in the road or doing a banner drop. My most sustained activity was turning up regularly to defend a drag event at the Honor Oak pub in South London from far right opposition (which I <a href="https://datacide-magazine.com/defending-drag-south-london-is-still-anti-fascist/">wrote about at Datacide</a>). I got increasingly fed up with anti-trans nonsense from fellow old lefties<a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/03/in-defence-of-billy-bragg-and-trans.html"> and said so</a>. The end of the year dominated by the massacre of October 7th and the seemingly never ending massacre in Gaza ever since - highlighted by both Kneecap and Lankum at their gigs.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Perhaps it remains true, as Frederic Jameson said, that 'it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism', but the neo-liberal capitalist utopia of a world united and pacified by globalised markets has vanished too. It is not hard to imagine a kind of end of capitalism as we know it, at least as a global system, replaced by endless ethno-nationalist violence and conflict for shrinking resources like water and arable land. Harder sometimes to hold onto a politics of hope for a better world, but what is the alternative?</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8Knva26nSk0xqOrh7CfqYvROJpDsuha2NK7s4SPE15ITeRdgQ5a8K_z_cGvM5Sp6aBe_q4_bKAc8wBCWnAyEvr1ERjuyxQE69rZWL0qxv2GVrmyXSfyULO20hdJDrEKRs0HAG7y86fYdgNFOJg04XM6kcitmBG0iC2q92OnzSH-HIOO-xZK4/s1024/03f712a7-ff40-4b33-9268-f60cb99e69ab.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1024" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8Knva26nSk0xqOrh7CfqYvROJpDsuha2NK7s4SPE15ITeRdgQ5a8K_z_cGvM5Sp6aBe_q4_bKAc8wBCWnAyEvr1ERjuyxQE69rZWL0qxv2GVrmyXSfyULO20hdJDrEKRs0HAG7y86fYdgNFOJg04XM6kcitmBG0iC2q92OnzSH-HIOO-xZK4/s320/03f712a7-ff40-4b33-9268-f60cb99e69ab.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'South London Loves Trans People' - at the Honor Oak pub in May<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheP6y0Fhc3cxnZrAZHhsSIjFM3qnn9N_f7i7dy0Ks_WVZqm_OFd_Lee9H7E4zxgf7Is9o16T-pw5AeXKv5I4t-ioYqX8FtQg5KN7HM8VG9DHeRabUiaDsFw-qbiqELg-TvqNhGGiJo69HivpKcGjn1z24GRyk6SX4EqFVne_u1np3P3tSPlCtF/s2584/B84C1BAE-7A0D-452E-8000-552069A6267B.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2584" data-original-width="2067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheP6y0Fhc3cxnZrAZHhsSIjFM3qnn9N_f7i7dy0Ks_WVZqm_OFd_Lee9H7E4zxgf7Is9o16T-pw5AeXKv5I4t-ioYqX8FtQg5KN7HM8VG9DHeRabUiaDsFw-qbiqELg-TvqNhGGiJo69HivpKcGjn1z24GRyk6SX4EqFVne_u1np3P3tSPlCtF/s320/B84C1BAE-7A0D-452E-8000-552069A6267B.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stop the Migration Bill protest at Westminster with speakers on Fire Brigades Union fire engine (13 March 2023)<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGxXs5X7PFQG20I_uweaES9iVnQtZGxqjeX2Jq3b6JOnbSR3WVCsBhRFALK1O5-lCieM4KekjaGjhvg5y1h_zKkxd6HHbSyp22SoLUNCAYByZKsCbwCjIjN2VukyHxKvb9_2plubEig3prp_RZ8_h-VO_iyO0gxGDFhCY3Nfe-zNIMWxsw4DGR/s2048/IMG_4711.JPEG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGxXs5X7PFQG20I_uweaES9iVnQtZGxqjeX2Jq3b6JOnbSR3WVCsBhRFALK1O5-lCieM4KekjaGjhvg5y1h_zKkxd6HHbSyp22SoLUNCAYByZKsCbwCjIjN2VukyHxKvb9_2plubEig3prp_RZ8_h-VO_iyO0gxGDFhCY3Nfe-zNIMWxsw4DGR/s320/IMG_4711.JPEG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Refugee solidarity on London anti-racist demo, 18 March 2023</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_a4GQvVPaktWpOGY3jW62Px8OPaYtkowLOo2cn63THLxw-9eGD0KwMDYr3LNkaRrjESIVNJhEO_R7VeA44tqhO1FxLBKc9DIV6APxILs-7X5Wpq9XuM54luSXuPUAa-_8Upr68fqP22Tcrp89befJet5NBI6lO5ooGN33rXVykw38H31DQPY8/s1890/IMG_6898.JPEG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1890" data-original-width="1664" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_a4GQvVPaktWpOGY3jW62Px8OPaYtkowLOo2cn63THLxw-9eGD0KwMDYr3LNkaRrjESIVNJhEO_R7VeA44tqhO1FxLBKc9DIV6APxILs-7X5Wpq9XuM54luSXuPUAa-_8Upr68fqP22Tcrp89befJet5NBI6lO5ooGN33rXVykw38H31DQPY8/s320/IMG_6898.JPEG" width="282" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaza ceasefire demo blockades Carnaby Street, 23 December 2023</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;">Anyway here's a slice of London's musical/radical soundscape as experienced by me in 2023:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZILpN6LH1g8?si=lZzsmOCM1MX4OLU1" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Seen and heard in film above:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><p>1. Striking Lewisham teachers, January 2023.</p><p>2. Ezra Collective perform Space is the Place, Hammersmith Apollo, February 2023.</p><p>3./4./5. Extinction Rebellion demo in London, April 22 2023.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div>6. Martin Carthy singing High Germany at Goose is Out folk club at the Ivy House SE15, April 2023</div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p>7. Wavelength Orchestra in Gravesend (OK not actually London) on beach next to St Andrews Art Centre, June 2023</p><p>8./9. Dancing in the streets in Honor Oak, defending drag event from far right opposition, 24 June 2023</p><p>10. Stick in the Wheel at at Goose is Out folk club at the Ivy House SE15, June 2023</p><p>11. Torquon on Thames Beach, Noise TAZ, 19 August 2023 </p><p>12. <a href="https://khabatabas.com/">Khabat Abas</a>, Thames Beach Noise TAZ, 19 August 2023 (Kurdish experimental cellist)</p><p>13 <a href="https://soundcloud.com/laborvillage">Leslie</a>, Hilly fields, September 2023 (pop up electronic performance in the park)</p><p>14. <a href="https://www.blancsceol.co.uk/">Blanc Sceol</a>, Deptford Creekside Discovery Centre, September 2023 (acid sounds on self made acoustic instruments as part of 'Thorness and Green Man' autumn equinox performance with artist Victoria Rance)</p><p>15 Cyka Psyko - Sardinian rapper with Hip Hopera Foundation, Beckenham Place Park, 24 September 2023</p><p>16. Laura Misch in Peckham 21 October 2023</p><p>17. Palestine demo, Battersea, 11 November 2023</p><p>18. Kneecap, Electric Ballroom, 29 November 2023</p><p>19. Sleaford Mods cover West End Girls at Ally Pally 2 December 3034</p><p>20. Lankum singing The Pogues' Old Main Drag to remember Shane MacGowan at the Roundhouse, 13 December 2023.</p><p>21. Palestine demo, Carnaby Street, 23 December 2023</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-1546930503133508472023-12-24T07:58:00.002+00:002024-02-09T21:02:55.598+00:00'Do not play acid' - London club listings October 1988<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">London Club Listings from a local paper in October 1988 (Westminster and Pimlico News) in the midst of the acid house upheaval. KISS FM crew 'know how to make a rave swing' at Second Base at Dingwalls 'but steer well away from acid'. Meanwhile at Memphis/Legends DJs Rajan and Tim Archer 'do not play acid' but do mix in some Chicago House with their P-funk and r'n'b. Cafe de Paris offers 'salsa, soul and Balearic beats for a packed dancefloor of sloanes, trendies and those who know the doormen'. ACID! very definitely promised though at Asylum at the Harp Club (later the Venue) in New Cross with 'total mayhem, surprises and visuals'. Not sure of the exact music policy at The Rok at Brixton's Fridge but there's 'delecatable deejays' and 'dishy dancers'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">('Top Twenty' chart here is just a pop listing from HMV, not representative of club sounds from the time).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uJjNQlko4CAABgVIG-_iDmXCMGL5RIULrXZNlkRh2CAcS8DpUBZn1MgwH4cIaMckL43jDr5AfubFrMmgcOKbXKjJxyq_OkDF8vJSflRvE1swPVdIgOuNN3bKkB7aSJgCR_ei_MHoEsySGsd6uatWeTOa3smGTCpQJqM_pcdxkBCJuMcO8wYU/s981/GAxJsFaWEAAL-jS.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="981" height="515" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uJjNQlko4CAABgVIG-_iDmXCMGL5RIULrXZNlkRh2CAcS8DpUBZn1MgwH4cIaMckL43jDr5AfubFrMmgcOKbXKjJxyq_OkDF8vJSflRvE1swPVdIgOuNN3bKkB7aSJgCR_ei_MHoEsySGsd6uatWeTOa3smGTCpQJqM_pcdxkBCJuMcO8wYU/w640-h515/GAxJsFaWEAAL-jS.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">See also other listings posts:</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/09/lunch-magazine-london-gay-disco-1972.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Gay Disco 1972</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Disco</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978-gay.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Gay clubs</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1979.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Reggae</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/03/london-club-listings-1982.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Club Listings 1982 - Time Out</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-london-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in London i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-sheffield-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Sheffield i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-manchester-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Manchester listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Luton, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/09/1987.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1987: Dancing in Brixton and beyond</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/face-club-listings-march-1989.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Face London Club listings, March 1989</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/06/speed-and-other-club-listings-i-d-1995.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Speed and other London clubs, i-D 1995</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Muzik Magazine 1995 club listings</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/02/1995-london-clubs.html">More 1995 London Clubs</a></div></div></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-13363834470089338862023-12-22T13:19:00.005+00:002024-03-04T08:16:27.093+00:00'How to produce a feminist magazine': Bad Attitude - radical women's newspaper (1992-97)<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Bad Attitude was a London-based radical women's newspaper that ran from 1992 to 1997. It was put together by a group of women (mostly friends of mine) operating for much of this time from an office in the anarchist squat centre at 121 Railton Road, Brixton. The paper was an ambitious project, aiming for high production values and international coverage while having no funding and no paid staff. Unsurprisingly it eventually ran out of steam but not before many great interviews, news stories and other articles.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">The story of Bad Attitude is told in some documents in the <a href="https://56a.org.uk/">56a infoshop archive</a>, which also has a collection of the paper. The first document is a letter promoting Bad Attitude to potential sellers (bookshops etc). It promises that it will be 'wicked, witty and wild' and 'will inherit and expand the success of Shocking Pink and Feminaxe - members of the collective worked on both these publications... with a mission to overthrow civilisation as we know it Bad Attitude will put blander publications in the shade'. Distribution was handled by Central Books, originally set up in the 1930s to distribute Communist Party publications.</p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVZgPXJE4w-UjStZN7tDTscyicrGnvIshYviUrrfarar8EVFaygppUs5BxXAbixsIVnU1Z7VBq_efQUEdl9aLwxekloD1IpTilydZmmAgHo4-_CVV0gKVjmqnj04OP1OiwCq_MIhKGxGa2AlU3P5nmv3fAkoOLvPo6FLI1dcOpearA6ph6qGF/s2040/IMG_4171%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1542" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVZgPXJE4w-UjStZN7tDTscyicrGnvIshYviUrrfarar8EVFaygppUs5BxXAbixsIVnU1Z7VBq_efQUEdl9aLwxekloD1IpTilydZmmAgHo4-_CVV0gKVjmqnj04OP1OiwCq_MIhKGxGa2AlU3P5nmv3fAkoOLvPo6FLI1dcOpearA6ph6qGF/w484-h640/IMG_4171%20(1).jpeg" width="484" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Five years and eight issues later the collective issued a 'Bye Bye Bad Attitude' letter to subscribers. </div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> 'BA brought a class struggle, anti-state approach to feminism that is scarce in any nationally distributed publication, and we managed to have few laughs along the way. It was something worth fighting for! But life is change and the core of BA members have moved on in different ways — in some cases, out of London. Lack of enough money and lack of energy have re-inforced each other, though our low overheads have enabled us to carry on longer than others. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Most imporant, we're feeling the knock-on effect of changes in the benefits system. It's no easy to sign on, keep going with the odd earner on the side and devote yourself virtually full-time to a project like BA. With wage cuts, pressure on low-rent housing and squatting and all the other survival hassles, it's also become more difficult to live on part-time employment. This has made it difficult to find new collective members who can make the commitment to a regular publication on the scale of BA... Still for the overthrow of civilisation as we know it'</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJsVJMMsIljZeH7pbTfyrMnspkviiciv5OLCqClHcu1D8rSUiE0wXIh4ay-tYE7Fq9nkAKLo-c-6jrHqLQT2euMyIO3XA0YNnq0YJof2K1Z7ycLkDtAQdq25NA777l6UuzX3iJJQi99h6WRWNcspvqOysOznmh-7TeGfhAoOsCAWURzamOPwc/s2033/IMG_4169%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2033" data-original-width="1547" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJsVJMMsIljZeH7pbTfyrMnspkviiciv5OLCqClHcu1D8rSUiE0wXIh4ay-tYE7Fq9nkAKLo-c-6jrHqLQT2euMyIO3XA0YNnq0YJof2K1Z7ycLkDtAQdq25NA777l6UuzX3iJJQi99h6WRWNcspvqOysOznmh-7TeGfhAoOsCAWURzamOPwc/w488-h640/IMG_4169%20(1).jpeg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The group hoped that others would pick up the torch and with this in mind they 'How to produce a feminist magazine or how we did BA' with various practical points and 'advice from burnt-out baddies': 'Don't be over-ambitious. When we started as a bi-monthly. we roughly kept to schedule for a year. We also got ill! In retrospect. this sense of burn-out hung over the rest of the time we published. even as we went to quarterly. to bi-annual. to....non-existent. It's better to start off with a publishing schedule you know you can stick to without giving up the rest of your life. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">At the same time, photocopies won't get the word out. Printing an attractive. well-produced publication makes it more accessible to those who don't already have a determined mission to read extremist tracts. And remember partially-sighted women will be interested too in what you've got to say. Try and get as many people as possible involved from the very beginning. We started off as a group of five or six, with the idea of involving more women when we published. But women coming in often didn't feel quite the same commitment. even though we tried to work out ways of including new volunteers. When we were overstretched we got stuck. We didn't have enough women to work regularly and train new volunteers which made it difficult for new women to get involved. which meant we didn't enough of us to open the office. put out the paper and train volunteers...and so on'.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZm17hnSuBrjyTHqTNj8GJrWajA6TG0IxV4nWG68EqmE-EAZL83rU5vqLaJDiPcvD0jEHtWD8diz9u_0n59f22l4uh-Ive1uSanvGD-YYfeyjY-XmajVrTLNU3dYAIToLiPVnxY4jjjiv9fRL2pTshhd6E7n4b0esr7FgydahzHPUoEfBv4ko/s2034/IMG_4170%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2034" data-original-width="1545" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZm17hnSuBrjyTHqTNj8GJrWajA6TG0IxV4nWG68EqmE-EAZL83rU5vqLaJDiPcvD0jEHtWD8diz9u_0n59f22l4uh-Ive1uSanvGD-YYfeyjY-XmajVrTLNU3dYAIToLiPVnxY4jjjiv9fRL2pTshhd6E7n4b0esr7FgydahzHPUoEfBv4ko/w486-h640/IMG_4170%20(1).jpeg" width="486" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5ImsmbcMhZ24qP8CwCzHqT8lAGHegcFS9bZimh3lNP7xxNKNFajjiG8Dl8_As5ujSqmOYcYgF3ga0vHKi6LBJgArMlLyia9NVJ_0afs-DtsSkjAD1mx894KW2YIQrCd7hdZjMC8ZzLwcgRcULWEt9okdYRq-wtFaHun5QFrqNUdVwX9wDtmB/s1602/IMG_7513%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1602" data-original-width="1288" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5ImsmbcMhZ24qP8CwCzHqT8lAGHegcFS9bZimh3lNP7xxNKNFajjiG8Dl8_As5ujSqmOYcYgF3ga0vHKi6LBJgArMlLyia9NVJ_0afs-DtsSkjAD1mx894KW2YIQrCd7hdZjMC8ZzLwcgRcULWEt9okdYRq-wtFaHun5QFrqNUdVwX9wDtmB/w321-h400/IMG_7513%20(1).jpg" width="321" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQhT9-oJJJbwqicpIAC9biTINPPbBIHbGDEPip9kt70v8F12DvFcMM8NJ4-jsrUbmfWwJPY_Qpn-s8c2SNrn9d81kYkKT_7EzUkUUQhFtDOeYzhyr3q0iGvwLRVdFyIpad4t5GI0uQ8aFOk3_eES-_CPLEhTuXxznpMIj4sWSTBlPLr_QB800/s1672/IMG_7515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1672" data-original-width="1356" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQhT9-oJJJbwqicpIAC9biTINPPbBIHbGDEPip9kt70v8F12DvFcMM8NJ4-jsrUbmfWwJPY_Qpn-s8c2SNrn9d81kYkKT_7EzUkUUQhFtDOeYzhyr3q0iGvwLRVdFyIpad4t5GI0uQ8aFOk3_eES-_CPLEhTuXxznpMIj4sWSTBlPLr_QB800/w325-h400/IMG_7515.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ4aojw9CBDFCvMQUxm6Duf2pPkJ3goO4aLk9Oi8wMsk0TTlLugjUEzNrk-PR28S3JEavPKMzLJvGV8ZvuSTofRubf7PB6kdSjrWPqsvX4bWnbPGvkLxjUv9TGvgSZ1THmwS4ECxVEbBT5GAOhl2lvyy3K8tA0fFiZeacOZlAvimmEQilSkmK/s1690/IMG_7516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1690" data-original-width="1376" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ4aojw9CBDFCvMQUxm6Duf2pPkJ3goO4aLk9Oi8wMsk0TTlLugjUEzNrk-PR28S3JEavPKMzLJvGV8ZvuSTofRubf7PB6kdSjrWPqsvX4bWnbPGvkLxjUv9TGvgSZ1THmwS4ECxVEbBT5GAOhl2lvyy3K8tA0fFiZeacOZlAvimmEQilSkmK/w326-h400/IMG_7516.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBD4PyfXNQAtlFtvYavBz9pxBVRrXTIlZOzuL9SB2_Nh27hmZI96qfZL6ALSYAmcBghFazpIpdXOdNjfTyAXoiQNngscNglbj_3c-sHlQkW-1VFgxtQIkQkixnhJjcnrEm9jY0VlVDUDSNBt0soY8iMKQfw4kayHvMXHbgV2MrxWI_y8MboFg8/s1490/badattitude.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="1212" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBD4PyfXNQAtlFtvYavBz9pxBVRrXTIlZOzuL9SB2_Nh27hmZI96qfZL6ALSYAmcBghFazpIpdXOdNjfTyAXoiQNngscNglbj_3c-sHlQkW-1VFgxtQIkQkixnhJjcnrEm9jY0VlVDUDSNBt0soY8iMKQfw4kayHvMXHbgV2MrxWI_y8MboFg8/w325-h400/badattitude.png" width="325" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmynEXcnJIYzvnBQseYpcX1jiRTGvwaI3hKVXty9K0BBfAAAlGTNS1RYR_XeAnoWIbsVo9ctFCpmdVgBt-WRN-Mi5ToxO-ECcowr65k49Sy7CI7zl56mWcW4BvYGgrtKNwfY0HgCcK8Nsw8yW3ARWvovcG5yE4zIOEhIM6ZFlV4Cm8p6vym0T/s994/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20072842.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="807" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmynEXcnJIYzvnBQseYpcX1jiRTGvwaI3hKVXty9K0BBfAAAlGTNS1RYR_XeAnoWIbsVo9ctFCpmdVgBt-WRN-Mi5ToxO-ECcowr65k49Sy7CI7zl56mWcW4BvYGgrtKNwfY0HgCcK8Nsw8yW3ARWvovcG5yE4zIOEhIM6ZFlV4Cm8p6vym0T/w325-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20072842.png" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUUfrmh7I6kslAdBUYav0vIIEWQCJFsG6-cx6f5SwqZ5EqnVnuggC0Hwvu4RnkyhaGJFtScYTX3YeSjTRdDAuVDSFal4ZurlVvJZX8A1L5-yYrxzxkLqTFU7PWGLw9Xvv2Iv5GrTZU1e6l6oicMQPtHvUS4Eg47ejuoG9QKq4K84c17M2xfhTN/s969/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20072732.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="778" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUUfrmh7I6kslAdBUYav0vIIEWQCJFsG6-cx6f5SwqZ5EqnVnuggC0Hwvu4RnkyhaGJFtScYTX3YeSjTRdDAuVDSFal4ZurlVvJZX8A1L5-yYrxzxkLqTFU7PWGLw9Xvv2Iv5GrTZU1e6l6oicMQPtHvUS4Eg47ejuoG9QKq4K84c17M2xfhTN/w321-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20072732.png" width="321" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KXKTjSh-xTy4A5MRE00iv9qOWedmm1dKIBSTETMymVurs1rIuvh48GS8LmeG6M6PPw0icf01Se3NZB0-ZCgDkMX9cAbTbcpEtErRipbl1YlUclonyCxQwxOAHoX3VLsjnAIFp9BLtE4wJsH28w6CmuunIrEhk8sbvTxNnJxTfb-mdxgdo4Nb/s873/Screenshot%202023-12-23%20081908.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="873" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KXKTjSh-xTy4A5MRE00iv9qOWedmm1dKIBSTETMymVurs1rIuvh48GS8LmeG6M6PPw0icf01Se3NZB0-ZCgDkMX9cAbTbcpEtErRipbl1YlUclonyCxQwxOAHoX3VLsjnAIFp9BLtE4wJsH28w6CmuunIrEhk8sbvTxNnJxTfb-mdxgdo4Nb/s320/Screenshot%202023-12-23%20081908.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bad Attitude benefit party during Hackney Anarchy Week 1996, held at the Factory Squat in Stoke Newington (more details of the Week at <a href="https://hackneyhistory.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/hackney-anarchy-week-final-programme-1996/">Radical History of Hackney</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWv-aF8eR2G-zzkIqVWbmwa6r9QK7SZxS29567fSEv269oemgItoCSS-ujJ4wr8aOmmgy6qu0bg0Z1KGfxVCeIaJyQBYl2RZaaLIuhytFKc-4OEtW-P55xay2t5dRWB_liOHSmjvjEE9zkR2ohRyIZTRh27K_oW48bDILvZv0QPP6qT6L-1kF2/s960/badattitude1993.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWv-aF8eR2G-zzkIqVWbmwa6r9QK7SZxS29567fSEv269oemgItoCSS-ujJ4wr8aOmmgy6qu0bg0Z1KGfxVCeIaJyQBYl2RZaaLIuhytFKc-4OEtW-P55xay2t5dRWB_liOHSmjvjEE9zkR2ohRyIZTRh27K_oW48bDILvZv0QPP6qT6L-1kF2/w400-h300/badattitude1993.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bad Attitude stall at Pride, Brockwell Park, 1993 - with Rosanne Rabinowitz (left) and Katy Watson</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Bad+Attitude%22">Sparrow's Nest Archive have scanned some copies of Bad Attitude</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">See previously:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Bad+Attitude%22">Remembering Katy Watson</a> (Bad Attitude collective member)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2009/02/bad-attitude.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bad Attitude Music Reviews</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/11/london-queercore-1995-vaseline-up-to.html" style="background-color: white; color: #3778cd; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">London queercore 1995: Vaseline, Up to the Elbow, Sick of it All</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-9129194256682461332023-11-24T22:07:00.009+00:002024-02-09T21:03:30.770+00:00Muzik magazine issue One: 1995 club listings and Drexciya <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLBIqSeEmUBiJuChGn7epdIl71ApRJkzRkCmWU61HNL8qZkUQJ625-uW2aKnvaJxEgA8JdLWGsPyPczy8cSx_2lyZ_nnVpB9UrWhKyStrb6AkoxtmBWM75JF13BtMzF-hPxR115WE26GOxSz6wij7oFbhY72t2F7lmXrPQfG9Vea4pUhAWWMX/s3466/IMG_6688.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3466" data-original-width="2761" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLBIqSeEmUBiJuChGn7epdIl71ApRJkzRkCmWU61HNL8qZkUQJ625-uW2aKnvaJxEgA8JdLWGsPyPczy8cSx_2lyZ_nnVpB9UrWhKyStrb6AkoxtmBWM75JF13BtMzF-hPxR115WE26GOxSz6wij7oFbhY72t2F7lmXrPQfG9Vea4pUhAWWMX/w319-h400/IMG_6688.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Muzik magazine was launched with this June 1995 issue by IPC magazines, the publishers of NME and many other established publications. The mainstream music press had been caught hopping by the massive dance music explosion of this period, outflanked by magazines like Mixmag, DJ and Jockey Slut. Muzik was IPC's attempt to get a slice of the pie, and to me it felt a bit of a step backward. Or what I no doubt ranted about at the time as a musical counter revolution applying usual culture industry techniques of elevating cover star music makers out of the relatively anonymous masses of DJs, dancers and producers. It was all about 'proper' musicians (even if electronic ones), making proper albums filed neatly into product categories of techno, garage, house or even, as in this issue, hardbag. Of course Muzik didn't start the 'superstar DJ' trend but I think they went further than before in separating out the music from the experience of dancing to it - it was less clubbing focused than say Mixmag.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Still there's extensive record reviews and the club listings are evocative, even if very far from the 'definitive club listings' promised on the cover. Here's an extract for a weekend in May 1995 with some of the many places (the more obvious ones) I was going to at the time: Leisure Lounge in Holborn, the Cross at Kings Cross, the Mars Bar, Ministry etc.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbySIlzsURbpTV5bE0ifgBpw7ElKIODHIo16ZU3B3M6eWSotQW3N071y09WQ4aq885AMe3Pu-8DTpvUxGaAdZQrNR0-JBOHNO71u5qjLb2Ap-8oSLt7ua2dhI82LDQo44i_-bTbNm_PCxIFAS6jZnbG7VO10i7svcYnY3gBxgxOP6yz05YuA99/s4032/IMG_6691.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbySIlzsURbpTV5bE0ifgBpw7ElKIODHIo16ZU3B3M6eWSotQW3N071y09WQ4aq885AMe3Pu-8DTpvUxGaAdZQrNR0-JBOHNO71u5qjLb2Ap-8oSLt7ua2dhI82LDQo44i_-bTbNm_PCxIFAS6jZnbG7VO10i7svcYnY3gBxgxOP6yz05YuA99/w480-h640/IMG_6691.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZeRu7QMF3ppavw4XTAjn-BCXNMAZ13YLd0_aCY4cgHUodeRhJQsVmxJSEArqosY23ZkesSUeQnHnoGZRmOR0IKaoYMQ1OQoKDEN49LvD7ciW7FwnudnwLOEsEFXU4fgQRnBOKhyvdlCSBphNJGasXVvHJucoCFdRFJ6KLtlWHuD_ehVnPsdZK/s4032/IMG_6690.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZeRu7QMF3ppavw4XTAjn-BCXNMAZ13YLd0_aCY4cgHUodeRhJQsVmxJSEArqosY23ZkesSUeQnHnoGZRmOR0IKaoYMQ1OQoKDEN49LvD7ciW7FwnudnwLOEsEFXU4fgQRnBOKhyvdlCSBphNJGasXVvHJucoCFdRFJ6KLtlWHuD_ehVnPsdZK/w480-h640/IMG_6690.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Techno reviews section does at least include a critique of the state of music from the late James Stinson of Drexciya:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Too many people focus on what label a record comes out on, rather than what the track actually sounds like. To me, that means there's something wrong. I remember the days when nobody cared if you were on Warner Brothers or Booty Up, just so long as what you were doing was good. When you throw a party, what are you spinning? Are you spinning the middle of a record where all the writing is at or are you spinning the wax? You know what I'm saying? When a group comes to perform, who's up on the stage? Is it the business people punching their little computers or is it the artists themselves? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Drexciya won't be putting records out for a while now. We'll still be making music, but not records. We won't allow this form of music to just stop where it's at, but we're not even satisfied with the quality that we are producing. And I have to say that I really wish people wouldn't follow us. Be inspired, sure, but please don't follow. The minute we hear footsteps following us, we switch our style. We'll totally abandon what we're doing. We won't release any records or perform anywhere until things change'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqG9OmljE89pE9UAoetgVQLR6MYlQg2Tok0_X0eg4bkZ1DQueAr9_Ruuk5qcdyCUGM5H4Lgw4FXqgkh6LKV6SNA6o8n-uYRHQ3-QGxdAL6FSS74EgUq9Vg0XTMhpc1FtBuakBwTtFgA8yP5KzwZxJSbXGZAsTqA8G-OtOPQL5BmczSHS_GA8e/s4032/IMG_6689.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqG9OmljE89pE9UAoetgVQLR6MYlQg2Tok0_X0eg4bkZ1DQueAr9_Ruuk5qcdyCUGM5H4Lgw4FXqgkh6LKV6SNA6o8n-uYRHQ3-QGxdAL6FSS74EgUq9Vg0XTMhpc1FtBuakBwTtFgA8yP5KzwZxJSbXGZAsTqA8G-OtOPQL5BmczSHS_GA8e/w480-h640/IMG_6689.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I believe the magazine continued until 2003, and having fiddled around taking photos of my one surviving copy I see that <a href="https://www.dancemusicarchive.com/muzikmagazine">Dance Music Archive</a> have scanned in the lot. So if you want to read more go there!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">See also other listings posts:</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/09/lunch-magazine-london-gay-disco-1972.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Gay Disco 1972</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Disco</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978-gay.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Gay clubs</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1979.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Reggae</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/03/london-club-listings-1982.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Club Listings 1982 - Time Out</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-london-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in London i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-sheffield-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Sheffield i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-manchester-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Manchester listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Luton, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/09/1987.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1987: Dancing in Brixton and beyond</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/12/do-not-play-acid-london-club-listings.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1988 London club listings: 'do not play acid'</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/face-club-listings-march-1989.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Face London Club listings, March 1989</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/06/speed-and-other-club-listings-i-d-1995.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Speed and other London clubs, i-D 1995</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/02/1995-london-clubs.html">More 1995 London Clubs</a></div><div><br /></div></div></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-26543287448440331582023-10-06T23:00:00.005+01:002023-10-07T07:53:19.394+01:00100 years of anti-fascism in BritainMussolini's ascent to power in Italy in 1922 was the start of a terrible period in European history, followed by similar far right dictatorships in Germany, Spain, Romania, Hungary and other places - leading to war and genocide. Mussolini's admirers in Britain set up their first organisation, the British Fascisti, in 1923. There was opposition from the start, so 2023 marks the centenary of both organised fascism and anti-fascism in Britain.<div><br /></div><div>In his excellent history of 'Anti Fascism in Britain', Nigel Copsey dates anti-fascism here from efforts to disrupt the founding meeting of the British Fascisti in London's Hyde Park in 1923: 'The roots of Britain's anti-fascist tradition can be traced back to 7 October 1923, when Communists disrupted the inaugural meeting of the British Fascisti (BF). This rally of Britain's first fascist organisation, attended by some 500 people, ended in 'pandemonium'. Two further meetings, both held in November 1923 in London's Hammersmith, were also disrupted'. These early British fascists were a wannabe paramilitary outfit with a main focus on anti-communism and defending King, Country and Empire (with anti-semitism never far behind). </div><div><br /></div><div>Their public launch in October 1923 followed several months of secretive organising but it was described in the Daily Herald (8 October 1923) as 'British Fascisti's Comic Show' interrupted by hecklers:</div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGIzZRA82rsj4IMcCnQ0Wm6eitaxZ3B7rrzgZc-SI-05sse98QYcKkesgyxFUryxNMUlrrwjKKxjpIcmGxOOUv-4tnj3phcI2wOCaROG_cIC7AeYPCh02NNbtQOxntlMKGjbKaOtKzPkrudQfMU3XsaaMTMjzM6lDPEUznECxUPYY1OtxeI4p/s544/1923.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="544" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGIzZRA82rsj4IMcCnQ0Wm6eitaxZ3B7rrzgZc-SI-05sse98QYcKkesgyxFUryxNMUlrrwjKKxjpIcmGxOOUv-4tnj3phcI2wOCaROG_cIC7AeYPCh02NNbtQOxntlMKGjbKaOtKzPkrudQfMU3XsaaMTMjzM6lDPEUznECxUPYY1OtxeI4p/s320/1923.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>There does seem to have been a slightly earlier anti-fascist effort in London associated with the milieu around Sylvia Pankhurst's Women's Dreadnought (later Workers Dreadnought) paper. Sylvia, the most radical of the famous suffragette family, had by this point helped established a Communist Workers Movement independent and critical of the mainstream Bolshevik inspired Communist International.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uDJZsOge2kJH1FoL-VZPDmt3ddTiT94kN4DVcWAg3mEIWDMSP62vmkKcUNLgyieCm2e84OiaiEF2dcquIkt8mKteT84dL1kh3CBVTWe8TvYjivxCjE_eC2iQz5AJ7t-VvkZ8X8XF13kLORskaMA4jz_mHL-2bwu1aHIMlTPIQQrCGdoW-ltG/s1002/F7oWkbhWwAAVFxs%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1002" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uDJZsOge2kJH1FoL-VZPDmt3ddTiT94kN4DVcWAg3mEIWDMSP62vmkKcUNLgyieCm2e84OiaiEF2dcquIkt8mKteT84dL1kh3CBVTWe8TvYjivxCjE_eC2iQz5AJ7t-VvkZ8X8XF13kLORskaMA4jz_mHL-2bwu1aHIMlTPIQQrCGdoW-ltG/w640-h384/F7oWkbhWwAAVFxs%20(1).jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>In March 1923 Sylvia Pankhurst spoke at 'A protest meeting against the fascist reaction in Italy' held at Signor Dondi's Club in Clerkenwell (Eyre Street Hill). Also on the bill was Pietro Gualducci, a long term anarchist exile in London who had once been jailed in Italy for singing anarchist songs.The paper also advertised 'Il Comento', an Italian anti-fascist newspaper. <div><br /></div><div>In May 1923 it was reported that 'An Anti-Fascist Organisation, specially appealing to young people between 15 and 30 has been formed. It proposes to attend demonstrations, carry banners. collect, sell literature, and so on on. It will organise classes and meetings for the young. A Red Shirt uniform is being discussed. Secretary, Mr H . T. Noble. 157 Church Street, Stoke Newington'. Copsey dates the first anti-fascist organisation to 1924 when the People's Defence Force was established in Soho, but this seems to predate that. How long it lasted is unclear but this does seem to be the first specifically anti-fascist organisation in Britain.<div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcjrew_AvK_uKYpIPs1dMExMb3IqIvviXzqPT7rZ5CeteIFAeL39qNj0Zc-TNEBwTalIuvN9hralt-mJudQTj8aGx-I_lia96pgBCWHRRvUbVsW0Q6D_Kdq3dpMEPPEi7sJib17aG73bNP9VAtcBfAFq-oliWJU4bQ75t-8FoHd34P9z5hyp2/s718/antifa23.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcjrew_AvK_uKYpIPs1dMExMb3IqIvviXzqPT7rZ5CeteIFAeL39qNj0Zc-TNEBwTalIuvN9hralt-mJudQTj8aGx-I_lia96pgBCWHRRvUbVsW0Q6D_Kdq3dpMEPPEi7sJib17aG73bNP9VAtcBfAFq-oliWJU4bQ75t-8FoHd34P9z5hyp2/s320/antifa23.jpeg" width="287" /></a></div><br /><div>Interesting to see that the Dreadnought crew held a series of jazz dances in this period at Circle Gaulois in Archer Street off Shaftesbury Avenue. The fascists too were dancing, with a Black Shirt Gala Ball held at the Cecil Hotel in the Strand with Italian fascists and their supporters in February 1923.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>[sorry to have missed Alfio Bernabei’s exhibition “Sylvia and Silvio” is at the Charing Cross Library earlier this year, which covered some of the above - <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/first-fascists-and-first-anti-fascists-london-100-years-ago">see his article here</a>]</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-85792317941256827442023-09-19T07:01:00.002+01:002023-09-20T17:45:28.282+01:00Sheffield Gramophone Shops<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sucker for old gramophone record sleeves, advertising the shops they were bought in. I found these examples in a Peckham charity shop, both of them from Sheffield I'm guessing in the 1920s. Cann the Radio Man sold musical instruments and record players as well as records, while Goddard's Pianos in the same city clearly also sold instruments too. If you want to know more about these places check out the exhaustive <a href="https://sheffieldmusicarchive.co.uk/record_shops/sheffield-record-shops-g/#">Sheffield Music Archive</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIdTGPEYFsUyrVEbZSdHAryddquLl9uZtBWtWXJoalmCdt_Tc2TWZpACarQ8rdwowDOWFB53-oRHM1l5u043wTHp0euSrxkY5SfhEjls4Pqm9nVa77fFWGp1rtIrvpNMV0hHLOvuleZrRAU2S7OAGzf0jH7Y-ApAya4u1j77jqJGl0cNcG394/s1719/IMG_6226.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1719" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIdTGPEYFsUyrVEbZSdHAryddquLl9uZtBWtWXJoalmCdt_Tc2TWZpACarQ8rdwowDOWFB53-oRHM1l5u043wTHp0euSrxkY5SfhEjls4Pqm9nVa77fFWGp1rtIrvpNMV0hHLOvuleZrRAU2S7OAGzf0jH7Y-ApAya4u1j77jqJGl0cNcG394/w358-h400/IMG_6226.jpeg" width="358" /></a> i</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-j0MF17znkpAoiaHDeGvRyTWhaKrTXLeXJj4bFoWoiOlYK8SrAF6NFUZYsdnV2WnU3z3zrf0EWCmpiis_VZQzoQypM9bOtYJ7N4A3wY3RBxCyMfQ4wUCKDIaxPojhpWbYoKiyKBI_LtMtcp7T1Ia32VmgrIe3S_I30AQ4Uthw1CAlEsiOQbw/s1599/IMG_6227.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1599" data-original-width="1509" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-j0MF17znkpAoiaHDeGvRyTWhaKrTXLeXJj4bFoWoiOlYK8SrAF6NFUZYsdnV2WnU3z3zrf0EWCmpiis_VZQzoQypM9bOtYJ7N4A3wY3RBxCyMfQ4wUCKDIaxPojhpWbYoKiyKBI_LtMtcp7T1Ia32VmgrIe3S_I30AQ4Uthw1CAlEsiOQbw/w378-h400/IMG_6227.jpeg" width="378" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-68572914657511794822023-09-16T07:49:00.003+01:002023-09-16T07:54:52.993+01:00Birmingham Stop the City 1984<p style="text-align: center;">We've previously covered the Stop the City demonstrations in London of 1983/84 when a couple of thousand people, mainly young anarcho-punks, attempted and partly succeeded in bringing chaos to the financial centre of the city. The biggest event was in March 1984, by September 1984 heavy policing more or less shut it down with nearly 500 arrests. </p><p style="text-align: center;">The idea spread around the country. Leeds Stop the City in August 1984 was by all accounts quite successful with around 400 people taking part, 100 of whom were arrested. Later, in 1985, there was a decentralised Stop Business as Usual with events happening simultaneously in different towns and cities.</p><p style="text-align: center;">But the attempted Birmingham Stop the City on October 11th 1984 was generally viewed as a dismal failure. Less than 200 people turned up and were contained by a large police operation, only occasionally managing to break away to little effect. Getting nicked in the Tesco meat department by plain clothes cops was not my finest moment. The night before some doors were glued up at banks and there had been some graffiti too.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjg7-LYqU0xcszFWMvUFZkVkSuRvKtvNVVY5Gi3j1RPDz9jTecqNq6JNOHKbHxrJyqP_9D4fJ7RRlNrM4rtvYAT4473-Kv0i4cHTP3fMrLjeJLBq6XlPvqFIVzitRNaSjfA2PlDn_mPzSCbXgX1HcjGhcX-bKO1ytydnlJTecEPHtIsp33zKF5/s1005/birmstcblackflag10dec184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjg7-LYqU0xcszFWMvUFZkVkSuRvKtvNVVY5Gi3j1RPDz9jTecqNq6JNOHKbHxrJyqP_9D4fJ7RRlNrM4rtvYAT4473-Kv0i4cHTP3fMrLjeJLBq6XlPvqFIVzitRNaSjfA2PlDn_mPzSCbXgX1HcjGhcX-bKO1ytydnlJTecEPHtIsp33zKF5/s16000/birmstcblackflag10dec184.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Report from Black Flag, 10/12/84: ' 'We decided to meet at Chamberlain Square on the way noticed many banks had excessive numbers of security guards, shops had their windows greased to prevent paint getting on. A few people marched into Barclays to leaflet but got escorted out quickly. Leafletting was done on many matters. Several supermarkets had meat thrown about, people filled trolleys and either dumped them or took them to the cash register and refused to pay, saying no South African goods'.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5PVydp2O6T2BZqpCd7ytWyvixmFgH9sQxZ-Ix7TPzaMlYNQHP1KMY39sv1YAbxhDZNH3YZUbFq0FI5-Xw-x1p4GQE1r2CQYkdXFvWDodi89M_Ltaj0pZGZ0jj6AZX-YZn8qz_vKCKe9RKIRmFWukLB4EucovBqALQ6P5kRdCxoonG7L3yoAP/s893/brumstc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="893" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5PVydp2O6T2BZqpCd7ytWyvixmFgH9sQxZ-Ix7TPzaMlYNQHP1KMY39sv1YAbxhDZNH3YZUbFq0FI5-Xw-x1p4GQE1r2CQYkdXFvWDodi89M_Ltaj0pZGZ0jj6AZX-YZn8qz_vKCKe9RKIRmFWukLB4EucovBqALQ6P5kRdCxoonG7L3yoAP/w400-h359/brumstc.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Report from Green Anarchist, November 1984 - "Stop the City: we couldn't even stop a public loo"</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;">The night before eight people who had travelled from London for the protest were arrested when their van was stopped by police. Charged with conspiring to cause a public the case dragged on for many months, with a committal hearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court in July 1985 and a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in December 1985 (I haven't been able to find out outcome of trial - does anybody know?).</p><p style="text-align: center;">'The so called evidence in relation to this charge is that the eight travelled together to Birmingham the night before Stop the City and during their stay in police custody the eight refused to co-operate and some shouted and sang for much of the time. During this time the police found a leaflet on the police station floor, not even on or near any of the defendants. The leaflet suggested actions for Stop the City such as sit-ins, blockades and causing damage to oppressive property. It went on to suggest that if arrested disruption should continue, non-cooperation with police and making lots of noise in the cells. The police are trying to claim that because the eight were 'carrying out' the second part of the leaflet they must have been intending to carry out the first and disrupt Birmingham so cauusing a public nuisance... if the eight are found guilty this will mean that to conspire to cause a public nuisance you need only to travel with others to a demo where anything like this might happen'</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHvaMxrbO_gYiPcNDLrU4XS5zWkS6hA1KznV85sAwP32H8zWDgKcrcukkinK_7tPv75wa5noQ4MFkkQopBluwCJ10uhSox-MKA49SwTvnxqGSgP-tUDHsJdyi7_0EiQl98i5HGJwk_1nXV9LBKApxMBB7pBGJ9EWhig15O2GRpQVJ7mNtSFg-/s779/birminghamstcblackflag12aug85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHvaMxrbO_gYiPcNDLrU4XS5zWkS6hA1KznV85sAwP32H8zWDgKcrcukkinK_7tPv75wa5noQ4MFkkQopBluwCJ10uhSox-MKA49SwTvnxqGSgP-tUDHsJdyi7_0EiQl98i5HGJwk_1nXV9LBKApxMBB7pBGJ9EWhig15O2GRpQVJ7mNtSFg-/s16000/birminghamstcblackflag12aug85.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Flag 12 August 1985</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36SakOMNbJTGCqH-IqcHsayb-8Osi-EVb8MMxkrtjhHrdNwRjtQGdoAWgfXlx-MHUaGMOS6FMTBvVNB_9JYBgwF7LAD2gm7MsdolX2ffIpxSCDS6CQL0sdfZk0HXfBL9zdeGqJprzIfcR1tC5S2Xx2acMCdEBvVbCqU4Xa7lrAhNp_eEFqxjE/s953/freedomdec1985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36SakOMNbJTGCqH-IqcHsayb-8Osi-EVb8MMxkrtjhHrdNwRjtQGdoAWgfXlx-MHUaGMOS6FMTBvVNB_9JYBgwF7LAD2gm7MsdolX2ffIpxSCDS6CQL0sdfZk0HXfBL9zdeGqJprzIfcR1tC5S2Xx2acMCdEBvVbCqU4Xa7lrAhNp_eEFqxjE/s16000/freedomdec1985.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freedom, December 1985</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;">See previous posts:</p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/10/stop-city-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Stop the City, London, March 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/09/stop-city-london-september-1984.html">Stop the City, London, September 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/12/luton-anarcho-punk-and-hunt-sabbing.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Karma Sutra and Luton anarcho-punk</a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-52525887751863557282023-09-07T20:33:00.010+01:002023-09-09T10:03:59.582+01:00Stop the City, London, September 1984<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxU3S83tO7soWbbdAD8girJek3_kI0OJiiXJ8hW-GxgJRrgFnkYRp9s9JLdsAJBSYnsyaMbOsK0YmX9szmZnbniz1Lpds-54TeQ_CRJ-6nda62LkBF57AHg640AW-9lKn1ZX1Thbm7he40TVsQA0vZSjF_jrKZkKHR5kEKqJvJrl3H9VZxnRKd/s929/stcseptflyer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="652" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxU3S83tO7soWbbdAD8girJek3_kI0OJiiXJ8hW-GxgJRrgFnkYRp9s9JLdsAJBSYnsyaMbOsK0YmX9szmZnbniz1Lpds-54TeQ_CRJ-6nda62LkBF57AHg640AW-9lKn1ZX1Thbm7he40TVsQA0vZSjF_jrKZkKHR5kEKqJvJrl3H9VZxnRKd/w450-h640/stcseptflyer.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1983/84 saw a series of anti-capitalist 'Stop the City' actions focused on the financial centre of London and other cities too, including Leeds and Birmingham. In London, momentum built with large protests in September 1983 and March 1984 (<a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/10/stop-city-1984.html">I've written about the March one here</a>). A fairly half hearted one in May 1984 didn't amount to much, but a more serious attempt to organise and mobilise led up to the action on September 27 1984. By this point though the police had got used to this mode of protest and had developed their own tactics for dealing with it - largely mass preventative arrest. 470 people were arrested, most of them later released without charge. A high proportion of people came from the anarcho-punk scene, but there was advice to dress in more casual clothes to avoid being singled out by the police. I did so, not sure I would have passed for a city gent but I didn't get nicked!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There were occasional short lived breakaways from police lines, as reported below: 'There was a small rampage not far from the Stock Exchange where windows were smashed and cars jumped on and later Barclays Bank off Cheapside had windows broken'. I recall somebody stepping up on the window sill of a bank and kicking the window in. Other than these brief moments there was a lot of wandering around aimlessly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Dave M, who helped organise the London events as part of London Greenpeace, summarised the day as follows:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'On Sept 27th, maybe 2000 came - mostly anarchists and unemployed, as well as some peace and animal rights campaigners. Police repression was well organised and strong. It was impossible to gather at the City centre (St Paul's and the Bank of England, used previously, were cordoned off). Individuals and isolated small groups who were 'looking for the demo' were threatened with arrest, and soon left, disillusioned. Anyone looking like a punk was particularly harassed. 470 were arrested and held hostage (only 35 were charged) to break up the collective strength.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">However, many people who'd organised into independent groups were able to do quick actions all over the place (graffiti, smashing bank windows, a quick occupation etc). 2 or 3 times 3-400 people came together for a march into the centre… Hundreds who were dressed up smart continued to float about (giving out leaflets, passing messages, doing actions...). But generally the City became a no-go area almost for us. Many demonstrators therefore decided to go to Oxford Street, and Soho in central London and were able to make quite a few effective protests at various banks, offices and stores etc.' (<a href="https://libcom.org/article/brief-account-stop-city-protests-dave-london-greenpeace">A Brief Account of the Stop the City Protests)</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFbk6ALmpSe6xmJVrvZGUA79nS10t-06MRVl_TIYOMlMsS97pAyJb2g_zaBlvq8di78RA-n0A7qdLW2lmHVwLBdYiI8yiegqHU2xUSTA5vdFityyz1sAZyR9fkgL35Kyu4SLt75sgPp0uYDxsW3qPB-ov3hs0PZs3PS0XyXfGZL30MiqCVxZN/s1382/IMG_6164.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="1382" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFbk6ALmpSe6xmJVrvZGUA79nS10t-06MRVl_TIYOMlMsS97pAyJb2g_zaBlvq8di78RA-n0A7qdLW2lmHVwLBdYiI8yiegqHU2xUSTA5vdFityyz1sAZyR9fkgL35Kyu4SLt75sgPp0uYDxsW3qPB-ov3hs0PZs3PS0XyXfGZL30MiqCVxZN/w640-h498/IMG_6164.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Report from Green Anarchist, November 1984</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-u04efhfmsH_jiH0Rmm75Gvpwr2LPTiNLUR_e3_eryuWlg4C9ndrtOh62MDiDqskgMxTxHNcWFhDVqBkepGciUl1mOq8wLSBvnBTOo-uLgVu_TyHanCVILhdiMOmVPep8PJKbYCco1Y9CtRBdSwoldC9vHg1z836AdotY80zmLWtXSS0s0rM1/s679/ga84.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="483" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-u04efhfmsH_jiH0Rmm75Gvpwr2LPTiNLUR_e3_eryuWlg4C9ndrtOh62MDiDqskgMxTxHNcWFhDVqBkepGciUl1mOq8wLSBvnBTOo-uLgVu_TyHanCVILhdiMOmVPep8PJKbYCco1Y9CtRBdSwoldC9vHg1z836AdotY80zmLWtXSS0s0rM1/s320/ga84.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There was quite a lot of soul searching afterwards. The following chronology from anarcho zine Socialist Opportunist (October 1994) ends up asking 'People put months of planning into all this. Was it worth it?'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdLszxaiY5UqLsySWDFme2Yy9eQeL_XdSllCrvxcrSSxFEnJm18mOW3U6N0_vdco06GGbpeQeTGy6M1P3nRiydG8cjyhnIUdJNwZMSe020Uj1naFWswRjuak0WMfZ9lzG24jvQF8zYH1xOBCfUWNVj2nekPXTUgFkqKKmKohvnNahE3tWiHBF/s1014/stcsept84.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1014" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdLszxaiY5UqLsySWDFme2Yy9eQeL_XdSllCrvxcrSSxFEnJm18mOW3U6N0_vdco06GGbpeQeTGy6M1P3nRiydG8cjyhnIUdJNwZMSe020Uj1naFWswRjuak0WMfZ9lzG24jvQF8zYH1xOBCfUWNVj2nekPXTUgFkqKKmKohvnNahE3tWiHBF/w640-h512/stcsept84.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The general consensus was that it was 'time for us to move on, having learnt from Stop the City' as expressed in this response written on the day:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FeOJa_r7Rbr8i-_XXZz6TZGyss4S2VJomsDqpIUPd0ppueZS37sqs_YZ3iGZLhIjc5hWgjaKmsUKNZfVookvjLzaK6StRHJoB6z7errXuXluR9mfZmbkmVlGCnsUcGHW7JYVWzfm17nEkL93ycj5bfmopbrIDdLPFqOKmxTrVVOg3E00qMqr/s1212/stopthecity%20socialist%20opportunist%20oct%2084.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1212" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FeOJa_r7Rbr8i-_XXZz6TZGyss4S2VJomsDqpIUPd0ppueZS37sqs_YZ3iGZLhIjc5hWgjaKmsUKNZfVookvjLzaK6StRHJoB6z7errXuXluR9mfZmbkmVlGCnsUcGHW7JYVWzfm17nEkL93ycj5bfmopbrIDdLPFqOKmxTrVVOg3E00qMqr/w640-h400/stopthecity%20socialist%20opportunist%20oct%2084.jpg" width="640" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(there a couple of other responses in the same issue, full copy of which can be read at the excellent <a href="http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/16639.pdf">Sparrows Nest Archive</a>).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Q_849sDl267oU1anEPx-SOEQakcl0xucXpLk-UQx71qzjd0HyP6NtAoZQ9EVTjY7iWI-p09JwpXPOw7ydIQ24PYl9QDFOQUZOilHMdnjUwEmLaasLdWfjtj2YAOaOt7LybY-88ViVSYK_uSaxr3cu4aTiWoAnZRjnjLjcE5VzCOya0o6_ETT/s1016/socialistopp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="747" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Q_849sDl267oU1anEPx-SOEQakcl0xucXpLk-UQx71qzjd0HyP6NtAoZQ9EVTjY7iWI-p09JwpXPOw7ydIQ24PYl9QDFOQUZOilHMdnjUwEmLaasLdWfjtj2YAOaOt7LybY-88ViVSYK_uSaxr3cu4aTiWoAnZRjnjLjcE5VzCOya0o6_ETT/w294-h400/socialistopp.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Press coverage</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSbFIrVAycQnv59iB-X5uPBVt7WVfInrJ9eKKnngma9c0Bkq3L6H2c2U9OtbO26EF2DTw9KnqKXUppX1JMQOcDpDiErYu5NR3_mevjzY0PXUuawokDEsEZIXYkLFeR2VMJAj5-S_Bf1OMOqFVH-o3nDKF25ldsgzxrSuzagN-nnzkEKxcuh3L/s1834/IMG_6725.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1834" data-original-width="1715" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSbFIrVAycQnv59iB-X5uPBVt7WVfInrJ9eKKnngma9c0Bkq3L6H2c2U9OtbO26EF2DTw9KnqKXUppX1JMQOcDpDiErYu5NR3_mevjzY0PXUuawokDEsEZIXYkLFeR2VMJAj5-S_Bf1OMOqFVH-o3nDKF25ldsgzxrSuzagN-nnzkEKxcuh3L/w598-h640/IMG_6725.JPEG" width="598" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrdKdsuHBrlQ0a4WmjYk94okbDbIlerOOknxTh2HqTm1P71TE7RLVx-oiObeD9zIL9ujMbqAIdWJ1_WuR4PlnXJPopcAzvhSxgUSFADymSBBtG1TYzWM5gVz75KDUC4sqXAOqFkRv0Es9AuFD24-NBd17eI1bOiG5_cc2DbFKqgcDu1JMeD5o/s1125/IMG_6727.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="652" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrdKdsuHBrlQ0a4WmjYk94okbDbIlerOOknxTh2HqTm1P71TE7RLVx-oiObeD9zIL9ujMbqAIdWJ1_WuR4PlnXJPopcAzvhSxgUSFADymSBBtG1TYzWM5gVz75KDUC4sqXAOqFkRv0Es9AuFD24-NBd17eI1bOiG5_cc2DbFKqgcDu1JMeD5o/s320/IMG_6727.JPEG" width="185" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Evening Standard calls for police to move in on the organisers</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6syTcll_L8owNlvfdvlPNndBi9LH38WnFyIkRGpemT6bkxm5otz8CeqGnocdnb3RZAIO6FNeVPKxa9ro7bXzpeHq43-XjyJf2YBlqTPsRQLqhG64_8qDHxEKcVDS8QjeW6AG18x783jx2IDDvtNVMUdi_I7UwQ9no1Iu--sHR5S0Mj_GoFGvS/s1869/IMG_6726.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1869" data-original-width="1683" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6syTcll_L8owNlvfdvlPNndBi9LH38WnFyIkRGpemT6bkxm5otz8CeqGnocdnb3RZAIO6FNeVPKxa9ro7bXzpeHq43-XjyJf2YBlqTPsRQLqhG64_8qDHxEKcVDS8QjeW6AG18x783jx2IDDvtNVMUdi_I7UwQ9no1Iu--sHR5S0Mj_GoFGvS/w576-h640/IMG_6726.JPEG" width="576" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guardian: 'Police swamp City's 2,000 anarchists'</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Benefit Gig</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The night before there was a benefit gig for the Stop the City Bust Fund in Camberwell at Dickie Dirts, featuring among others Conflict, Subhumans and Stalag17. The venue was an old Odeon cinema that for a while had been a Dickie Dirts jeans warehouse before being squatted. I think there may have been some Stop the City planning meetings in the same venue.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There's a little confusion about the Conflict/Subhumans gig, the flyer is clear that it was the night before Stop the City though some people (mis?)remember it as being on the night of the protest. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBGOjjtijJaHHoy76yuhN6sclMcB2XeMCSRLUXm12ym4PT3eEM4WLmzY_EbxItGcGwwnSK7YS7SPlaX6i14yqRyEWE3bHliZjH8pOfK49UMltKooENkwqQrCGsOCLUVPm1_29litgKxWop1U0MsXLAsYKSnWzCKDl-7gJhEg5uSyq0u1p50XH/s817/stcgig.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="602" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBGOjjtijJaHHoy76yuhN6sclMcB2XeMCSRLUXm12ym4PT3eEM4WLmzY_EbxItGcGwwnSK7YS7SPlaX6i14yqRyEWE3bHliZjH8pOfK49UMltKooENkwqQrCGsOCLUVPm1_29litgKxWop1U0MsXLAsYKSnWzCKDl-7gJhEg5uSyq0u1p50XH/w472-h640/stcgig.jpg" width="472" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Earlier that Summer Subhumans had recorded a song Rats about Stop the City, having taken part in the previous London actions. As lead singer Dick recalls:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"We're talking about thousands of people — a lot of them punk rockers, hippies, alternative types — all turning up, dressed up, making a lot of noise... bells, whistles and drums, that sort of thing. It was an angry party atmosphere, and it was just really refreshing. It was one of the first protests I'd been to that wasn't a CND march, and it felt slightly more relevant, more 'everyday' than a protest for nuclear disarmament. That was a one-subject protest, but this was against the exploitation of people across the world by the people who press all the buttons and control all the money — it was about the very hold that money and profit and greed have got on society in general. It felt more urgent to be there. I went up there on my own, and met up with lots of people. I remember the band Karma Sutra from Luton were there. At one point, people were being violently thrust around by the cops, and I overheard one of them say, 'If you act like rats, you'll get treated like this... ', which became a line in the song and is the reason the song's called 'Rats' , which may not be an obvious name for a song about protesting against capitalism" (quoted in 'Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans' by Ian Glasper).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The lyrics of the song do capture the feeling of those days (maybe especially the line 'Co-ordination was not so good, But everyone did just what they could'!):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">A sense of enterprise is here, The attitudes that conquer fear</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Stability, togetherness, The feeling cannot be suppressed</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Hand in hand we had our say, United we stand but so did they</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Hands in handcuffs dragged away, To cheers of hate and victory!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We fought the city but no-one cared, They passed it off as just a game</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The city won't stop til attitudes change, Rats in the cellars of the stock exchange</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Co-ordination was not so good, But everyone did just what they could</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Unarmed with inexperience, We had to use our common sense</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If you act like rats you get treated like this, Said a policeman like we didn't exist</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">When the force of law has lost it's head, The law of force is what you get</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We fought their calculations, Money gained from third world nations</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">All that money spent on war, Could be used to feed their poor</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The papers played the whole thing down, Said there was nothing to worry about</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The rats have all gone underground, But we'll be back again next time round</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/14h2_kobufQ?si=CSvs4VzxoDTswqxo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">See also:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/10/stop-city-1984.html">Stop the City, London, March 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/12/luton-anarcho-punk-and-hunt-sabbing.html">Karma Sutra and Luton anarcho-punk</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-49096033583893603842023-08-26T15:55:00.008+01:002023-08-27T13:21:18.782+01:00Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger interview (1978)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An interview with folk singers Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger from 1978, published in the socialist newspaper Militant (28/7/1978) after the couple had played at a Militant Folk Night at Wallasey Labour Club. The interview includes McColl's reflections on the mass trespass movement of the 1930s:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span data-tt="{"paragraphStyle":{"alignment":4,"writingDirection":1}}" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span data-tt="{"paragraphStyle":{"alignment":4,"writingDirection":1}}" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">'The earliest songs I wrote were for factory newspapers, from 1928 onwards. At one time I was writing satirical political songs for five different newspapers. Only some were folk songs, but by the time I wrote "The Manchester Rambler' in 1933 it naturally slipped into that style. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I wrote four songs for the Mass Trespass that we organised over Kinder Scout [in 1932]. One was for the Ramblers rights Movement, which was affiliated to the British Workers Sports Federation- but that's history now. the only one that survived was the "The Manchester Rambler' Another one started:(sings)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"We are young workers in search of healthy sport, We leave Manchester each weekend for a hike,
Oh 'the best moorlands in Derbyshire are closed, to us, we ramble anywhere we like.
For the mass trespass is the onlv way there is to gain access to mountains once again".</span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's a very crude song as you can hear- but expressed our feelings. Nearly all the open areas were closed off. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">There were more than 3 million unemployed, and nearly half a million were young workers or had come straight from school at 14 on to the dole... A big hiking movement developed out of the young unemployed and from this all the best of the young militants came'</span></p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmfOa_E030kdjhUSSYpCQHKmGBK6jIAtEl8UHdRBfdNiVqcVT8xCFqaeD8kAr7FLh1d5gjcwjHltyQ1ch9pB5Ib8U6RqxnZv0nghH-g0gxLYYHk6JG8V1-IptoK6Bnb1B9l9rZVH97Efq7arSfvMKZ-GAgYVmHOeLi6SrocIaL8mTXzMbtM_v/s1267/ewanmccoll.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1267" data-original-width="1007" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmfOa_E030kdjhUSSYpCQHKmGBK6jIAtEl8UHdRBfdNiVqcVT8xCFqaeD8kAr7FLh1d5gjcwjHltyQ1ch9pB5Ib8U6RqxnZv0nghH-g0gxLYYHk6JG8V1-IptoK6Bnb1B9l9rZVH97Efq7arSfvMKZ-GAgYVmHOeLi6SrocIaL8mTXzMbtM_v/w508-h640/ewanmccoll.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-45927436833628229922023-07-19T06:00:00.005+01:002023-07-19T06:00:00.150+01:00Marcuse - the barricade and the dance floor<p style="text-align: center;">Happy 125th birthday Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) , born 19th July 1898 and still spooking fascists from beyond the grave - see how he features in their ridiculous 'cultural marxism' conspiracy theory.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv487wotlHzArhNV_wueEsjiCTd4yG2VnW7cCggEPO1hWc3KXXjPASJeP5FpHDPE4Z9TWh2_-Bsu4PIyUQTjSd9RRhrdKnwJGhtfzek3DvQtBLsCLuqxpzSwc0YwrXoWlYDRn2kMKawnpgocWJqFY4DzyHXj-BBtoCi7_rXZXEsIh_DfgqQkxF/s550/Herbert_Marcuse_in_Newton,_Massachusetts_1955.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="550" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv487wotlHzArhNV_wueEsjiCTd4yG2VnW7cCggEPO1hWc3KXXjPASJeP5FpHDPE4Z9TWh2_-Bsu4PIyUQTjSd9RRhrdKnwJGhtfzek3DvQtBLsCLuqxpzSwc0YwrXoWlYDRn2kMKawnpgocWJqFY4DzyHXj-BBtoCi7_rXZXEsIh_DfgqQkxF/s320/Herbert_Marcuse_in_Newton,_Massachusetts_1955.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Marcuse took a more positive view of the counter culture and the radical movements of the 1960s than some of his Frankfurt School contemporaries, as he articulated in his 1969 'An Essay on Liberation':</div><p style="text-align: center;">'the hatred of the young bursts into laughter and song, mixing the barricade and the dance floor, love play and heroism. And the young also attack the esprit de serieux in the socialist camp: miniskirts against the apparatchiks, rock ‘n’ roll against Soviet Realism. The insistence that a socialist society can and ought to be light, pretty, playful, that these qualities are essential elements of freedom, the faith in the rationality of the imagination, the demand for a new morality and culture – does this great anti-authoritarian rebellion indicate a new dimension and direction of radical change, the appearance of new agents of radical change, and a new vision of socialism in its qualitative difference from the established societies?'.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-38418299965010170472023-07-11T09:04:00.004+01:002023-07-12T22:12:38.273+01:00Radio Citta Futura 1976<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> 1976 article about Italian radical radio station <a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Citt%C3%A0_Futura">Radio Citta Futura</a> (Radio Future City) from Red Weekly, paper of the International Marxist Group in the UK. The Rome-based station began broadcasting regularly in that year and played a role in the tumultuous events of that period. It was temporarily closed down by the state while covering the riotous demonstrations of the Movement of '77, as was the another Rome based station, Radio Onda Rossa. In 1979 five women involved with the station's feminist programme Radio Donna were shot and seriously injured in a fascist attack on the station.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwnZEaYRxnf5GDKfoWGveN1oA9aiCDrdLQo2BlXly0nOSJ4-0tkSmpRRdAnP4rV3Ig9hcD0mzXREVv2lxz0YRVnHrNp35nuF56z4hKTH0sEnjPiNZuTUiLxie3QmTGdxMPGn4qiC9XWk26SP12ro0fGAR7I_l1qI-7I3Rno80B_8rwDlgZmwu/s920/radio2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="920" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwnZEaYRxnf5GDKfoWGveN1oA9aiCDrdLQo2BlXly0nOSJ4-0tkSmpRRdAnP4rV3Ig9hcD0mzXREVv2lxz0YRVnHrNp35nuF56z4hKTH0sEnjPiNZuTUiLxie3QmTGdxMPGn4qiC9XWk26SP12ro0fGAR7I_l1qI-7I3Rno80B_8rwDlgZmwu/w400-h289/radio2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8VDSruHlMtTgP-67zr2A-qARM7TZMTcUECU_bnDc4UMPJd4drJLyK7XZuP46rwkJNt-upNh6xQzj5GkP2wrUAqav3nPodKbgylt_JKrvl1JSrCVKUTqtIwisbhwnspf7ySzwLqgaHJoiFIb2VwpvV8xdVoxauc--LQM6vdDGGf3TwLZyA8ls/s955/radio1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="935" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8VDSruHlMtTgP-67zr2A-qARM7TZMTcUECU_bnDc4UMPJd4drJLyK7XZuP46rwkJNt-upNh6xQzj5GkP2wrUAqav3nPodKbgylt_JKrvl1JSrCVKUTqtIwisbhwnspf7ySzwLqgaHJoiFIb2VwpvV8xdVoxauc--LQM6vdDGGf3TwLZyA8ls/w391-h400/radio1.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The scan of the article is incomplete but there's some interesting information including the daily schedule for the station. This includes 'The Night of the Comrades' a late night programme where 'each worker on the station in rotation can broadcast what he/she wants' ('the freakier part of the station') and 'Programme for night workers' based on taped interviews. As mentioned in the article the proliferation of 'Free Radio' followed a court decision in 1975 that ended the state's monopoly on broadcasting - leading to the legal creation of commercial stations as well as political projects like this one. The interviewee - Sandro Silvestri - estimates that at this time there were 800 new radio stations 'in the whole of Italy and there are 52 in Rome alone... at least 120 stations are openly declared to be left wing stations, calling themselves "democratic" radio'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The <a href="https://www.radiocittafutura.it/index.php/italia/3029-pnrr-obiettivi-lontani-il-governo-approva-modifiche-ma-la-quarta-rata-rischia-di-slittare-al-prossimo-anno">station is still broadcasting online </a>(its correct name is Citta Futura not Future as stated in this article).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bVxgJn15xzpfnr9KX1wWjIa-rnPS8BrKHW0GLc8fgRDGr_rQqm3n4erCYFlXTaA9LJp4oaraxfnKIDKzWWMxhQOwo852jC2QmVdzoEbSzYri4B5n56fbDAyMZ3cwJo9RHWV3H3P7xLnHhVXnkLcAPDgnnIz7KPs1wzqgHSK9dHtFjoT0UjDX/s450/radio3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bVxgJn15xzpfnr9KX1wWjIa-rnPS8BrKHW0GLc8fgRDGr_rQqm3n4erCYFlXTaA9LJp4oaraxfnKIDKzWWMxhQOwo852jC2QmVdzoEbSzYri4B5n56fbDAyMZ3cwJo9RHWV3H3P7xLnHhVXnkLcAPDgnnIz7KPs1wzqgHSK9dHtFjoT0UjDX/s16000/radio3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/redweekly/rw-no171-oct-21-1976.pdf">Red Weekly, 21 October 1976</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Other radio posts:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/05/milan-1992-parco-lambro.html">Radio Evasione (prisoners radio show)/Parco Lambro 1992</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/03/portugal-197475-radio-and-revolution.html">Portugal 1974/75: radio and revolution</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2013/10/radical-pirate-radio-in-islington-1969.html">Radical pirate radio in Islington 1969</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-1363551074059477572023-06-29T21:42:00.004+01:002023-06-29T21:42:45.947+01:00Feminist discos/male violence (South London 1977)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">An account of violence against women in the vicinity of feminist discos 'in the South London area' in 1977. Slightly frustrating for a South London based historian that there are no details of the location or venues, but I guess the point is this was happening in many places.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF97KQxtf_ol6MqRLP3pDiLV--QVBrgaOoBSUrFH02aazxpxK7qQ0kMUBoO9yr-7T0tqbIeW60SaPW32NUNI7QnuBuzg8h3K0mxS__eX5wM1X3u9-ArfVHwAHpAAdHK6iL20asBcAlUMTCPv49DHgn3eyE1VduKXBiXS1U8vmVvVIW5L1ZylAL/s898/wv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF97KQxtf_ol6MqRLP3pDiLV--QVBrgaOoBSUrFH02aazxpxK7qQ0kMUBoO9yr-7T0tqbIeW60SaPW32NUNI7QnuBuzg8h3K0mxS__eX5wM1X3u9-ArfVHwAHpAAdHK6iL20asBcAlUMTCPv49DHgn3eyE1VduKXBiXS1U8vmVvVIW5L1ZylAL/s16000/wv.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Source is Women's Voice, August 1977. The women's magazine of the Socialist Workers Party was controversially closed down by the Party leadership in 1981 as it sought to centralise its control.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbAOzyw78RxxMoarQ8wG1p3xrnjTSkeYAOPNa2TBIQu6lcNVIG7-vRBqcM9c_xnEk7PqVoaFd9IojEB0p2io6CwqPf29xkLQ8BQ8rBI8KFsvXDbOxwdFHOGMzfnuIg-Bd9HP8sUUtJRmHOwQp0biBDes0p5gVbuKglqgkt-NN6FAlbizoUGTc/s809/wv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="566" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbAOzyw78RxxMoarQ8wG1p3xrnjTSkeYAOPNa2TBIQu6lcNVIG7-vRBqcM9c_xnEk7PqVoaFd9IojEB0p2io6CwqPf29xkLQ8BQ8rBI8KFsvXDbOxwdFHOGMzfnuIg-Bd9HP8sUUtJRmHOwQp0biBDes0p5gVbuKglqgkt-NN6FAlbizoUGTc/w448-h640/wv2.jpg" width="448" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-50499788536202451102023-06-18T21:04:00.005+01:002024-02-09T21:04:16.270+00:00Speed (and other club listings), i-D 1995<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Club listings from i-D magazine, no. 135, April 1995, covering lots of places in Britain and Ireland, but with the photos all from legendary drum'n'bass club Speed, including shots of DJ Kemistry and Goldie. I remember dancing to the former there alongside the latter on the dancefloor. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Tony Marcus writes: 'For the last couple of months, Speed (Thursdays at Mars, Sutton Row, W1) has been playing London's most futuristic, raw, experimental and sci-fi grooves. Resident DJs Fabio and LTJ Bukem spin the latest drum'n'bass sounds on dubplate for a crowd that regularly includes junglist heads like Goldie, 4 Hero, Nookie, DJ Rap, DJ Ron, DJ Crystl, Deep Blue and A Guy Called Gerald. The sounds are immaculate: divine harmonies and crystalline breaks that wash, float and massage the dancefloor. A few stray hippies and tantric types take the floor for some wildly expressive dancing, while small groups of skinny boys lean against the speakers and solemnly nod to the rhythms. The vibe is relaxed, chemical-free and unites musicians, music lovers and dancers for a few hours of sonic bliss. And at times it looks like a scene from William Gibson, as sci-fi skate and B-boy fashions collide under sounds for the next millennium. Recommended'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFxl1uRlwndThMUfZme9fU1BXYuXqdylmnozLyWM27yflgZPKFjEVjq51CCA7ve2kHIv-6K6lNd3qMhK2C7_LgBhblhMUS2Rdd5LFi1tK3rkkOrC4uWvmbSi9lFbxyUnGZimt1vjt266IIlJaVfFsEkoNRK9R1schY5z3L69N6va59tObVR7A/s1620/id1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="830" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFxl1uRlwndThMUfZme9fU1BXYuXqdylmnozLyWM27yflgZPKFjEVjq51CCA7ve2kHIv-6K6lNd3qMhK2C7_LgBhblhMUS2Rdd5LFi1tK3rkkOrC4uWvmbSi9lFbxyUnGZimt1vjt266IIlJaVfFsEkoNRK9R1schY5z3L69N6va59tObVR7A/w328-h640/id1.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtSd4R9oLLYXIkjZbyIZeaTgKCDF80C9KWG8FWzQV3aBpuO-v4scgLgkDAcXRElmnbFgpbi5TQCEUGtFPl-U5rw0HhyjpSh191-P2dkFrnWpiTenIZ92ONhrAfq67pDyX4QaceHsJSeqvCSJr8HyuuRm5mWNptod5ohRyPcHQyd-kiIsrwEY8/s1417/id4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1042" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtSd4R9oLLYXIkjZbyIZeaTgKCDF80C9KWG8FWzQV3aBpuO-v4scgLgkDAcXRElmnbFgpbi5TQCEUGtFPl-U5rw0HhyjpSh191-P2dkFrnWpiTenIZ92ONhrAfq67pDyX4QaceHsJSeqvCSJr8HyuuRm5mWNptod5ohRyPcHQyd-kiIsrwEY8/w470-h640/id4.jpg" width="470" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigGjGvCvn4eEeGnwlgCvbsxDHO-rVEvQBcLImOYdvHcksQd52U0qk_W-cjAGY6aoDx0lqVhuH3jNVmHk9-2fiJAGR9sHJ3wqBgK4A9ZdiOR3VtPPEH5kpKPF6KC6G7lgrQ7pf47qAhmRzPeTtrKuRnUzGdUodDXRuQFNNi2iZUwmnyb-_prWbQ/s1427/id3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1427" data-original-width="1032" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigGjGvCvn4eEeGnwlgCvbsxDHO-rVEvQBcLImOYdvHcksQd52U0qk_W-cjAGY6aoDx0lqVhuH3jNVmHk9-2fiJAGR9sHJ3wqBgK4A9ZdiOR3VtPPEH5kpKPF6KC6G7lgrQ7pf47qAhmRzPeTtrKuRnUzGdUodDXRuQFNNi2iZUwmnyb-_prWbQ/w462-h640/id3.jpg" width="462" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyt3-xIS21LRBQHOOHttyVFDkhgABf2DeB-sF7sp7zvB0IOpN5q2cyCegWB9wVq6_Gc4RvfbuXbvO4-whlxeG_FuiYL31xBBuMfn-f7mIZcHEHYDfu_6d6JGdxeUXgemgPUMo3Fk2a3J3avI90kUkHL_yaF7JIWke2d2EBSEtuZUK57m07Coj/s2017/id2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2017" data-original-width="519" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyt3-xIS21LRBQHOOHttyVFDkhgABf2DeB-sF7sp7zvB0IOpN5q2cyCegWB9wVq6_Gc4RvfbuXbvO4-whlxeG_FuiYL31xBBuMfn-f7mIZcHEHYDfu_6d6JGdxeUXgemgPUMo3Fk2a3J3avI90kUkHL_yaF7JIWke2d2EBSEtuZUK57m07Coj/w164-h640/id2.jpg" width="164" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dw6hfaSw6bE2Y5ae3r2uV5XhkY0h4-W5HDKF5-lpHatefWfD3QCg8OIAtLvM4PPiAPZxyq-CR46jq5Q0eHH_Afvbn6pe60mzQb37YW-9i624EV8KKOaI3KtSd8Osw5Q99fIdfRH4uzguAN_7wwMitCXyJkhqVuO7l5VZmymjnbZh43CNHw/s1733/IMG_5570.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1141" data-original-width="1733" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dw6hfaSw6bE2Y5ae3r2uV5XhkY0h4-W5HDKF5-lpHatefWfD3QCg8OIAtLvM4PPiAPZxyq-CR46jq5Q0eHH_Afvbn6pe60mzQb37YW-9i624EV8KKOaI3KtSd8Osw5Q99fIdfRH4uzguAN_7wwMitCXyJkhqVuO7l5VZmymjnbZh43CNHw/w400-h264/IMG_5570.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpulY0LJo_SQvBKrlSdFhuMuvUzohLzsiK8KzZ3S3O4m2IF3-L5ZKPnRvJZLaHOmpRs51cJt4RGejyh-7IA_6sPgWi7krGpcRZEwwAz3tYrNT_FQzxkeobIvovRq1dUAtRq3x2TCclcfJY1hMHRrjZustMxaLoG6RPeHrgSUZ_L_JwNcG5Lg/s2021/IMG_5431.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2021" data-original-width="1555" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpulY0LJo_SQvBKrlSdFhuMuvUzohLzsiK8KzZ3S3O4m2IF3-L5ZKPnRvJZLaHOmpRs51cJt4RGejyh-7IA_6sPgWi7krGpcRZEwwAz3tYrNT_FQzxkeobIvovRq1dUAtRq3x2TCclcfJY1hMHRrjZustMxaLoG6RPeHrgSUZ_L_JwNcG5Lg/w308-h400/IMG_5431.jpeg" width="308" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i-D, April 1995, cover star Nikki Umbertti</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Speed reviewed by Dom Phillips in Mixmag, January 1996:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'Speed was the brainchild of a young man called Leo, formerly employed in the dance department of A&M Records. He met Bukem hanging out in the legendary Basement Records in Reading, through breakbeat producer and shop owner Basement Phil. "Just basically wanted to hear the music I was into under one roof," explains Leo. "l didn't want no big PR, just word of mouth. Because musically it's intelligent and it's Central London, you're gonna get the people you want".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So you get an older, more mixed crowd, into the music, there to dance, not show off nor take their shirts off. At |Speed there's a quiet, determined appreciation of the best drum n' bass has to offer and the hands and feet are frequently flailing in delight come midnight. No attitudes, just good vibes and even better sounds. No wonder peed is perhaps the best midweek night London has got. </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"It's a personal thing down there," says Leo, paying respect for the hard work put in by his resident DJ crew of Kemistry and Storm, DJ Lee and of course Bukem and Fabio. "l didn't want to turn it into a trendy West End thing. It was just a room that felt good. I was lucky because I knew [club owner] Nicky Holloway..." </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtW7j6woKGn8zAGpEuBZjQAfTlur9t18BiGI4oowRHRXGWZVddAKkuRlNtIJ4cZPcUSAP8iQlxhOejyciPj7vsPLVCxLs5Lhlyj3wnW2IpkugkwI43Mf64TKeyf-9EAW5apQJV8t6Pd5UACxdR5S3P5I-OErwK13lbt1u5C-wnNggBHguQ9Dl_/s2580/IMG_6974%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2580" data-original-width="685" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtW7j6woKGn8zAGpEuBZjQAfTlur9t18BiGI4oowRHRXGWZVddAKkuRlNtIJ4cZPcUSAP8iQlxhOejyciPj7vsPLVCxLs5Lhlyj3wnW2IpkugkwI43Mf64TKeyf-9EAW5apQJV8t6Pd5UACxdR5S3P5I-OErwK13lbt1u5C-wnNggBHguQ9Dl_/w170-h640/IMG_6974%20(1).jpeg" width="170" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTnGNMtqRyzADDcFAvIW1TfQ3sbGPXMsBRi3AU2_SFQcWborLcddMH8k8jQzhPjs0SLwmYcprRaFBgDzntcZOAbSu1KtO2uvl5Wu4GAkTcRWUbXj0Ph7wTw1U0dYGjvJxFgpHX9gc5htXHUzDakF8cVhaaeeetu_bZ7CHcYu5SLm8YjLaXsRl/s874/speedbukem.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="874" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTnGNMtqRyzADDcFAvIW1TfQ3sbGPXMsBRi3AU2_SFQcWborLcddMH8k8jQzhPjs0SLwmYcprRaFBgDzntcZOAbSu1KtO2uvl5Wu4GAkTcRWUbXj0Ph7wTw1U0dYGjvJxFgpHX9gc5htXHUzDakF8cVhaaeeetu_bZ7CHcYu5SLm8YjLaXsRl/s320/speedbukem.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br />[post last updated 18/12/2023 with added Mixmag article]<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">See also other listings posts:</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/09/lunch-magazine-london-gay-disco-1972.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Gay Disco 1972</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Disco</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1978-gay.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Gay clubs</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/05/nme-guide-to-rock-roll-london-1979.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Reggae</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2022/03/london-club-listings-1982.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">London Club Listings 1982 - Time Out</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-london-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in London i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-sheffield-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Sheffield i-D listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-manchester-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Manchester listings, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Clubbing in Luton, 1984</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/09/1987.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1987: Dancing in Brixton and beyond</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/12/do-not-play-acid-london-club-listings.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">1988 London club listings: 'do not play acid'</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2012/06/face-club-listings-march-1989.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">The Face London Club listings, March 1989</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2023/11/muzik.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;">Muzik Magazine 1995 club listings</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2024/02/1995-london-clubs.html">More 1995 London Clubs</a></div><div><br /></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-75846922059248541622023-06-11T08:46:00.005+01:002023-06-22T13:57:58.483+01:00Tales from a Disappearing City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-KhRchfid6VPrTW7DLHq3YNElSPAwMhCRrStJEJCo5idgiFSgNwmGzbfaTNhiIV1xGgFMvfIOpxGxj949s_IVb29T0RYPqF32wPEn13SweSWZlUhHzImFZA_fnwUDyXfZGs8KlSbtjl_o2FOXz-iTnXRht3OFuIx9ie-AQ1-oIUq1G66Ow/s1101/tales.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1101" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-KhRchfid6VPrTW7DLHq3YNElSPAwMhCRrStJEJCo5idgiFSgNwmGzbfaTNhiIV1xGgFMvfIOpxGxj949s_IVb29T0RYPqF32wPEn13SweSWZlUhHzImFZA_fnwUDyXfZGs8KlSbtjl_o2FOXz-iTnXRht3OFuIx9ie-AQ1-oIUq1G66Ow/w400-h243/tales.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz8RhsBC4f6M42DTyPXmjkhtNoH81aDVS">Tales from a Disappearing City</a> is a new youtube podcast from DJ Controlled Weirdness (Neil Keating) exploring untold subcultural stories from subterranean London. First few episodes have featured Ian/Blackmass Plastics and Howard Slater and centred around 1990s techno and free parties, with a common thread being the Dead by Dawn club in Brixton. But an emerging theme is that people are not confined to one scene and there are lots of connections linking apparently separate subcultures - each of our lives being a thread that join the dots across time and space.<div><br /></div><div>So now it's my turn, in the first of two episodes me and Neil focus on the early/mid-1980s and my experience of growing up in Luton, in the orbit of London but with its own scenes. We covered a lot of ground including:</div><div><br /></div><div>- being a 'paper boy punk' - slightly too young to take part in first wave punk and first encountering it in tabloid outrage;</div><div>- punk in Luton (including UK Decay, their Matrix record shop, and <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/12/luton-anarcho-punk-and-hunt-sabbing.html">anarcho-punk band Karma Sutra</a>);</div><div><div>- the open possibilities of post-punk, as exemplified on the Rough Trade/NME C81 compilation (which I misdescribe as C82 in the interview!)</div><div>- seeing Mark Stewart and The Pop Group at the Ally Pally and at CND demo</div><div>- GLC festivals and events including the one where fascists attacked the Redskins and the Test Dept extravanganza (which Neil went to but I didn't)</div></div><div>- Luton 33 Arts Centre - a link connecting the later 1960s Artslab scene through to punk and beyond;</div><div><a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2019/08/blinded-by-light-and-memories-of-1980s.html">- racist skinheads in Luton area and the general climate of violence</a>;</div><div>- the influence of 1950s style in the 80s, clothes shopping at Kensington Market and Flip;</div><div>- <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2008/02/clubbing-in-luton-1984.html">Luton alternative club nights and warehouse parties</a>; </div><div>- seeing Brion Gysin speak in Bedford library;</div><div>- Compendium bookshop in Camden;</div><div>- Anarcho punk including Conflict at Thames Poly and my hobby horse about No Defences being the greatest band in that scene even if they never really put out a record;</div><div>- the limits of the Crass and Southern studios sonic/stylistic/political template and how the actual scene was more diverse;</div><div>- punk squat gigs at the Old Kent Road ambulance station and at Kings Cross.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hM5_BmXQT4k" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the second episode me and Neil move on to late 1980s and 90s and discuss things including:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/09/1987.html">Pre-rave clubbing</a> - rare groove, Jay Strongman's Dance Exchange at the Fridge, Brixton; Wendy May's Locomotion in Kentish Town; the PSV in Manchester;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- the early 90s 'crusty' squat scene - RDF, Back to the Planet, Ruff Ruff & Ready and related squat parties at Cool Tan (Brixton), behind Joiners Arms in Camberwell and <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2011/05/priory-grove-squat-in-stockwell-199192.html">school in Stockwell</a>;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- the free party scene partly emerging from this, parties in Hackney Bus garage etc.;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- 'world music' clubs including the Mambo Inn (Loughborough Hotel, Brixton) and the Whirl-y-gig (which I went to at Shoreditch Town Hall and Neil in Leicester Square at Notre Dame Hall, also scene of famous Sex Pistols gig);</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2007/09/dead-by-dawn-brixton-1994-96.html">Dead by Dawn at the 121 Centre, Brixton</a>;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2021/01/revolt-of-ravers-movement-against.html">Criminal Justice Act</a> and getting into history of dance music scenes; </div><div style="text-align: left;">- Megatripolis at Heaven and emergence of psychedelic trance;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- 1990s clubbing explosion - so called 'Handbag House' clubs - Club UK, Leisure Lounge, Turnmills, Aquarium etc.;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- 'clean living in difficult circumstances' - glam house clubbing wear as extension of mod sharp dressing continuum;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- superclubs and superstar DJs including Fatboy Slim vs Armand Van Helden at Brixton Academy (1999)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2018/06/reclaim-streets-brixton-party-june-2018.html">Reclaim the Streets- Brixton party</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">- the Association of Autonomous Astronauts -<a href="https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2020/12/everybody-is-star-disconaut-association.html"> Disconaut division</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-o9PjZKawoY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-1401381562243743532023-06-03T00:39:00.005+01:002023-06-03T07:44:01.313+01:00Soviet Union Disco Style 1982<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGYrY1FljVUQoO4VQU7M1YVYH10Whmni0CPeysoVzVX4kj1ES0Gu-evXSoO58O-wZ-TRbx6LKH5dkUup4ig69EaIDAEBFLqbNXfFIjg1hQU_JZLcOimg1NlMdAaW4uHyCogq4QQZkdvQJ4Ydzu6Rra_yImnU1x-2KqClHboLqnBfrwAP5fQ/s968/disoc1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="712" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGYrY1FljVUQoO4VQU7M1YVYH10Whmni0CPeysoVzVX4kj1ES0Gu-evXSoO58O-wZ-TRbx6LKH5dkUup4ig69EaIDAEBFLqbNXfFIjg1hQU_JZLcOimg1NlMdAaW4uHyCogq4QQZkdvQJ4Ydzu6Rra_yImnU1x-2KqClHboLqnBfrwAP5fQ/w470-h640/disoc1.jpg" width="470" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDz5GoFkBq6mXNdNYb99HQVwT_gns8PQJOLn8Y7j2oH_ab7MEtPgz2P4K10UYJhu7yJe2y6NmnNLPv4TJfQ2YDChLvIJ-qLeoSkV8XHXKorw8oQwub6NE2FOBisPW7LFgr8YKw1jrfme-RWnv8LS7e9lH4yVLPJBEMvtZcFRCEkC5JPsc0w/s1319/disco2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="1319" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDz5GoFkBq6mXNdNYb99HQVwT_gns8PQJOLn8Y7j2oH_ab7MEtPgz2P4K10UYJhu7yJe2y6NmnNLPv4TJfQ2YDChLvIJ-qLeoSkV8XHXKorw8oQwub6NE2FOBisPW7LFgr8YKw1jrfme-RWnv8LS7e9lH4yVLPJBEMvtZcFRCEkC5JPsc0w/w640-h450/disco2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'the showy disco style caught on and is now seen in dance halls and at parties. The long dress, inconvenient for modern dances, has given way to narrow satin trousers and all sorts of tops'. This is clearly a fashion shoot, not sure how much this represents what people were actually wearing out in clubs.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nFDt8XgTaLxzs6G5KEwexiBW-SUwanqIDw7Row8R3SRXie0cZUJBWsOd_zmwmAksvpuxV56xHd12Zq2Aa_JsRZmtvi0N0B1UfWzjRv4qcAtA9p2N_5mJjnTLG77Z5eEX2w3EcDfG2MZZMkLVXL-uHX9EnY40Szu5fV-UOGwuEWtOtduaGQ/s1349/discoussr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="1349" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nFDt8XgTaLxzs6G5KEwexiBW-SUwanqIDw7Row8R3SRXie0cZUJBWsOd_zmwmAksvpuxV56xHd12Zq2Aa_JsRZmtvi0N0B1UfWzjRv4qcAtA9p2N_5mJjnTLG77Z5eEX2w3EcDfG2MZZMkLVXL-uHX9EnY40Szu5fV-UOGwuEWtOtduaGQ/w640-h448/discoussr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/art/print-media/sputnik/1982/Sputnik-1982-12.pdf">From 'Sputnik - digest of the Soviet press', December 1982</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwc2Bg_9xP5swqwwbsJM6FMtmaSk-dv6wuzYLkNwsMPBDlhd2aRdRy6hMY3H2zNyYz8d7vyvgMmiafE2tbg0BmIQaRx2iJMhsJ_t0XQ3HgkcrGmyyksfr1EEAZ8C-pxilt6xHaFzzfzwjVkDCdrBm9hwsgmxycAboNyYuP9Yd2npVpWl4kQ/s835/sputnik.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="614" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwc2Bg_9xP5swqwwbsJM6FMtmaSk-dv6wuzYLkNwsMPBDlhd2aRdRy6hMY3H2zNyYz8d7vyvgMmiafE2tbg0BmIQaRx2iJMhsJ_t0XQ3HgkcrGmyyksfr1EEAZ8C-pxilt6xHaFzzfzwjVkDCdrBm9hwsgmxycAboNyYuP9Yd2npVpWl4kQ/w294-h400/sputnik.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The article was apparently originally published in<a href="https://deepbaltic.com/2018/06/25/siluett-the-estonian-fashion-magazine-that-took-the-ussr-by-storm/"> </a>Siluett, a long running fashion magazine produced in Tallinn (now capital of Estonia), a place 'sufficiently far enough away from the Soviet mainstream to allow relatively liberated experiments in popular culture to take place' according to an<a href="https://deepbaltic.com/2018/06/25/siluett-the-estonian-fashion-magazine-that-took-the-ussr-by-storm/"> article about the magazine</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrst9DC5rPvtZ_lVwm2iWMbzaMBlBaLGdbFkiCLNhYGOswjzs9ehFZRj_KCERSJGv2iZJLIbqVKY_lBOHVcqxFU43NuOZJWEJMndZUZBQDbisxstz8sFpDOIhg1ZtKBg_0pOgAIiTvs6uDhMRw9sPcEtXP10MLbqGcsYWuGHEMBNsyJ3aEw/s971/siluett2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="763" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrst9DC5rPvtZ_lVwm2iWMbzaMBlBaLGdbFkiCLNhYGOswjzs9ehFZRj_KCERSJGv2iZJLIbqVKY_lBOHVcqxFU43NuOZJWEJMndZUZBQDbisxstz8sFpDOIhg1ZtKBg_0pOgAIiTvs6uDhMRw9sPcEtXP10MLbqGcsYWuGHEMBNsyJ3aEw/s320/siluett2.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4JhKztOmYeK6HatM7Zo489E4m-gEOiHSq0Zpib51dS844ID_IvFhF53I-rMs4uWHChgRE-xgYzagJKpbgkgyRYpKljTkUt-ESSb800aHmksGSLFa5gHv4HmFMpX1J8ChFbSx4k4Ds8KBXbCvrDoQ9AqBVhu1jMHbLoOyf-3Ueop19evx1g/s978/siluett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4JhKztOmYeK6HatM7Zo489E4m-gEOiHSq0Zpib51dS844ID_IvFhF53I-rMs4uWHChgRE-xgYzagJKpbgkgyRYpKljTkUt-ESSb800aHmksGSLFa5gHv4HmFMpX1J8ChFbSx4k4Ds8KBXbCvrDoQ9AqBVhu1jMHbLoOyf-3Ueop19evx1g/s320/siluett.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="764" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJH2mfqzKG182evkzCqQ7qwfNRxsKlFHJUTh4q856c-_HZ0vwxfUFrnTuE9Fcr62B3-iMK8vOUG485Q5aniOu_fq3f9EcCGqTCRIOh2Ret7j_Liq3xy-Y-ZCmsYfIFFIP6sUbaK9et7wcDLot4BjSv8LD33lbaBqWW9h49WtwYp4PiAtid0Q/s320/silu.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38519501.post-19992680676481780772023-05-25T15:53:00.004+01:002023-05-25T15:56:44.809+01:00Bedroll Bella: Geordie raver<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqZOQy0pdwpn8o0E4AaCHpAa3iQCyR-GmmB_Ep2z1d8Dwq7s95W-VWYuVcldvEb2OPR_JV546PaHfUGMXg6JXLWohfgT5c4aNK9TUE5YXBuhtJ9NcydvpPna_43FVGhPeeVMk/s1600/SCAN0027.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqZOQy0pdwpn8o0E4AaCHpAa3iQCyR-GmmB_Ep2z1d8Dwq7s95W-VWYuVcldvEb2OPR_JV546PaHfUGMXg6JXLWohfgT5c4aNK9TUE5YXBuhtJ9NcydvpPna_43FVGhPeeVMk/s400/SCAN0027.JPG" /></a> </div>
<p>Bedroll Bella by Sid Waddell (Sphere, 1973) is the story of a feisty, foul mouthed, hard drinking, 'right raver' and proud Geordie 'lass' who runs away from home in search of teenage kicks. She falls in with a bunch of 'bedrollers', itinerant hippies who drink, fight, screw and sleep rough in the ruins of Scarborough Castle by night and shoplift by day (carrying around their rolled up bedding - hence the name).
Published in the <a href="http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/sex/gensexco.htm">youthsploitation</a> publishing boom, it sits alongside the works of Richard Allen and Mick Norman in depicting a world of 'knockers', 'birds' and 'having it off' in alleyways and pub car parks; a world of casual violence, with scraps with Hells Angels and rugby club types. The book was apparently barred from the shelves of WH Smith when it came out.
Bella is also a poet on the side, composing a sonnet in lipstick on a bathroom window. Like her the author also has higher literary ambitions. Naturally a visit to Whtiby entails a mention of Bram Stoker. </p>
<p>Other than the sexual politics, the thing that jars the early 21st century reader is its industrial background. The backdrop is the shipyards and mines of the north east, presented as being at the heart of local identity. The freaks are not middle class drop outs (as 'hippies' are usually portrayed) but have taken to the road as an alternative to dead end jobs, the dole and stifling conformity: 'She wanted faces and figures with style, animation, excitement.... anything different. There had to be a lifeline somewhere, a raft to sweep her out of boredom and the prospect of the dole'.</p>
<p>Class is at the heart of the novel. Bella, whose dad is a boilermaker, argues with a teacher's comments about greedy strikers: 'them and the miners only get a living wage by striking - and striking hard... So feeding me and my mother and seeing we've got shoes and coal is greed, eh, miss?' .</p>
<p>Spider, the main male character, is the son of a miner (like the author). When he reads in the paper about miners dying in a disaster in Poland, he is consumed with rage: 'The death of a miner is about as important as the death of a worm under a spade. Both are an occupational hazard. Self-pity welled in Spider's breast. How could society expect a pitman's son to be anything other than a dirty, sweaty, scruffy hippy? He had never known anything better. And if he followed his dad into the hole, who would have thanked him? Alf Robens? Ted Heath? Harold Wilson. No, not fucking likely. They were the coal-owners now. They didn't give a monkey's nut. Spider wanted to talk. To get some of the green bile of class hatred of his chest.' He manages this by having sex in a train toilet with the posh 'Weekend Madonna' character, a part time hippy who slums it at the weekend and then returns home in the week.</p><p>In a key section of the book Bella and co. head to the <a href="http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Krumlin-festival-1970.html">Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival</a>, a real event held at Krumlin near Halifax in August 1970, reputed to have been hit by some of the worst weather even seen at a British festival. Before the rain comes down, Bella has that festival epiphany feeling: 'Bella was tripping out. She had never felt so entirely conjoined with society before. She was part of the primeval soup, and Spider was the umbilical cord stringing her to this wild, wondrous world. Being part of it was quintessence. It was not a case of wanting the kicks of drugs, music or men. It was deeper, more heady, wine, the scene was feeding her. This was the pure juice of the fruit. She was on her way to Heaven, and by Christ she was gonna be moved... Bella wanted to cry. For the first time in her life she knew why sparks like Wordsworth and Chaucer and even that maniac Swinburne, who she'd had to study for O levels, had written poetry. It was all here on the grass, naked and pulsating. The Daffodils, the Pardoners and Summoners and even the Hound of Heaven... The pale, streaked bleached look of the moorland sky and turf was enhanced by the gear the kids wore. Vests and stained blue jeans, Army surplus anoraks, nothing that quite fitted. Clothes had to hang, so that the loose slim bodies could flow along as freely as their hair swung... To be alive was very heaven'.</p><div>Bella eventually flees the freak lifestyle to return to the bosom of the close if restrictive working class community, symbolised by her first act on coming back to the city: putting on her black and white scarf and going to watch Newcastle United beat Leeds. </div><p>I believe this was Waddell's only novel, though he went on to find fame as a TV sports commentator, his name being synonymous with coverage of darts in Britain up until his death in 2012. His politics remained intact until the end - asked in 2007 to imagine 'If you'd been present as a commentator when Maggie Thatcher left No 10 for the last time, what line of commentary would you have given?' <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/an-email-conversation-with-sid-waddell-phil-said-he-couldnt-take-the-pressure--but-still-won-his-title-back-765512.html">he replied</a>: "Sooo the poor little Iron Lady ends her years of vicious tyranny sobbing in a posh car. She took the kids' milk, made the rich richer and she smashed the coal miners... what a magnificent legacy!" </p>
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHY3PUCOy0tZpuz9BzvyWOxFIjXeEUWoS3Y_m0nMoEZ4IbYRL2248yX_1gM6WD0HxziBtTYdguhsAKajdq-RwfGSwLKhnjDr1-GQnJZXdt6nsXtKAwVnG2fW7HAInJU9tkil5/s1600/SCAN0028.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHY3PUCOy0tZpuz9BzvyWOxFIjXeEUWoS3Y_m0nMoEZ4IbYRL2248yX_1gM6WD0HxziBtTYdguhsAKajdq-RwfGSwLKhnjDr1-GQnJZXdt6nsXtKAwVnG2fW7HAInJU9tkil5/s400/SCAN0028.JPG" /></a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0