God Damn Religion is a30 minute movie made by Sir Richard Bishop in 2006 which was one of my purchases on my recent visit to London’s Rough Trade East.
Sir Richard Bishop (SRB) was previously one of the three-piece Sun City Girls who the writer Erik Davis once memorably described as a “postpunk jazzbo tantric freakout band”. Sir Richard’s brother Alan was also in the band and both Bishops are tireless Third World travellers.
Like many, I first came across the name of Dredd Foole in David Keenan’s cover feature article in the August 2003 ‘Wire’ magazine about the Brattleboro Free Folk Festival. Foole’s album ‘Quest of Tense’ was cited as a major influence on artists like Matt ‘MV’ Valentine and Sunburned Hand of the Man so helped to give birth to the New Weird America scene. Continue reading
New Folk at Rough Trade
One of my ‘must dos’ of my recent trip to London was to visit the new Rough Trade East flagship record store off Brick Lane, a stone’s throw from the City square mile. Rough Trade were forced to close the basement store in the heart of Covent Garden due a hike in rental charges and this new shop is an ‘up yours’ to any logical economic assessment of the future of CD sales – down 10% in the first half of 2007 and continuing to slide as digital sales and file sharing escalates. In the longer term, Rough Trade’s existence as a physical entity looks to be highly fragile but for the moment it’s good to browse and look for new discoveries just like in the old days! Continue reading
The 9 year old son of a friend I visited while in England was mad on Batman. Not the latest dark incarnation or even Tim Burton’s gothic version, but the 1960s TV shows. He had all the episodes on DVD and watched them continually so was able to tell us what was coming next and quote key lines. I asked his Mom & Dad if he liked the recent movie versions and they said that he hadn’t seen them yet. This was a deliberate policy on their part to preserve the innocent pleasure he is getting form Adam West’s camp depiction of the caped crusader. I grew up watching these shows so could understand the appeal. They are hugely dated now and were oddities pretty well as soon as they were made.
Certainly, the contrast between the colourful comic strip action and the shadowy sense of menace in the new Dark Knight film could not be more pronounced. At the cinema in Brighton where I saw it, the parental guidance alongside the 12A rating said that the movie contained “moderate violence and continuous threat” which I’d say was quite accurate. Continue reading
Just back from a three week non blogging break in the UK including ten days in London-by-sea aka Brighton. A manic final three days in London proper emphasised that the quality of life in Brighton is far superior. It also has floods of tourists but somehow the town can accommodate them much better. The chief advantage is obviously the coastal location – the pleasure pier and wide beach-side promenades means that you are among crowds in a less claustrophobic way.
We were staying in Kemptown midway between the pier and the Marina. Our first walk towards the Marina complex took us past the naturist beach (bracing!) and footpaths infested with huge rats (scary!). This was disconcerting yet perhaps appropriate to the town’s quirky and slightly seedy charm which still survives despite the obvious upgrades and gentrification.
For vegetarians like me it’s always been something of a mecca but now you are positively spoilt for choice. There’s even a Vegetarian Shoe Shop where my daughter got a cool ‘Real Fake’ leather jacket.
For the record, and because everyone else has their own list, here is my top 5 choice of best all veggie eateries : Continue reading
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