History is made at night

Still a few days to go of the Twelve Days of Christmas festivities. In the 16th century though, protestant churches in Scotland sometimes tr...

I know millions of people have been partying and having a good time in the past 24 hours (from a free party in Kent to Melbourne where 40,0...

I am hoping to get to the Photographers Gallery (London) next week for an exhibition on 1950s Soho Nights which apparently includes some im...

'Police in Peru were searching Friday for the person who threw a tear gas canister into an unlicensed discotheque early Christmas Day, c...

The Police in Arua district have detained Nyadri district Police commander Benedict Ojingo and Police constable Rashid Nyakuni over murderin...

From Latin American Herald Tribune, 26 December 2008 : 'A 16-year-old boy died over the weekend in the central province of Cordoba after...

I am a bit of sucker for Christmas carols - well, even uber-atheist Richard Dawkins enjoys singing along to them . And of all the carols, my...

Soundtracks can make a film, or certainly enhance it. For instance, the soundtrack to Juno is excellent, with its indie pop/anti-folk vibe ...

England (London): squatted pub evicted ( Islington News , 19 December 2008) 'Bailiffs have evicted squatters who turned an empty Hollow...

I've posted before on Excavated Shellac, a site dedicated to '78 rpm recordings of folkloric and vernacular music from around the w...

I've been spending a lot of time searching through the treasures to be found at the recently released Life archive of photographs . Amon...

In the new journal Nyx - a noctournal (produced by people associated with the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College, New Cross...

Tempting as it is to make cheap jibes about the torture of having to listen to Limp Bizkit under any circumstances, musical torture is a ser...

The death this week of children’s programme maker Oliver Postgate (1925-2008) has prompted an outpouring of nostalgia from everybody raised...

Like many people around the world, I'm trying to get my head round the 'credit crunch' financial crisis. Six months ago there wa...

Form 696 sounds like the name of a Belgian industrial outfit (oh no that was Front 242 ) but is actually a pernicious example of bureaucracy...

Something for World AIDS Day tomorrow, 1 December: Simon Reynolds has efficiently scraped off his shoe the 'vigorously polished turd ...

Shocking Pink was a feminist zine put out by a collective of young women in London, including my friend Katy Watson who died in the summer....

For the umpteenth time, the future of Notting Hill Carnival is under threat, with complaints from the police and the Conservative Council of...

Last week - 18th November - people gathered outside the Royal Exchange in the City of London (financial district) for a mobile clubbing even...

An excellent event in Berlin last month (October 31st) to mark the launch of the 10th issue of Datacide magazine (see programme). The venu...

In the ongoing documentation of the history of London nightlife, I have mentioned before the cellar coffee bars of the West End in the 1950...

South African singer Miriam Makeba died yesterday. An outspoken opponent of apartheid, she had her passport confiscated by the South Africa...

The Soho jazz clubs of the 1950s (discussed in previous post) act as the setting for the film Beat Girl (1960), in which art student Gillian...

A great piece from 1958, I believe from the Daily Mirror - journalist Anne Allen goes on a tour of London jazz clubs to try and understand...

'A cleric's call to ban partying and dancing in the Shiite holy city of Karbala has triggered a heated debate among residents, just ...

In April 1974, decades of fascist rule in Portugal were brought to an end in a coup staged by left wing military officers. In the weeks and ...

Australia: Riot Police called to Sydney Rave ( In the Mix, September 1 2008 ) 'A secret warehouse party in Sydney’s Inner West was shut...