The Goose is Out and other South London Folk

I went along to the Goose is Out Singaround last Sunday at the Ivy House in Nunhead and sang a couple of songs. The format is very egalitarian, you put your name down on the door and everyone gets to sing one song each in turn, then a second song in the same order. There was a lovely mix of old and new songs, and styles of singing. There's no stage - most people just stand up at the table where they've been sitting - and no amplification. Most sing unaccompanied though it's OK to bring along an acoustic instrument and a couple of people did. Brendan Behan's centenary was marked with a singing of the Auld Triangle, other songs included Sweet Thames Flow Softly, Arthur MacBride and Fleetwood Mac's Songbird.

The Goose is Out has established itself as one of the top clubs on the London folk circuit. I went to some great nights of theirs at the Ivy House last year including Eliza Carthy and Fay Hield, and they have some amazing performers lined up this year including Martin Carthy, Stick in the Wheel and Andy Irvine. All of these will no doubt sell out fast so get your tickets early.

People are always talking about folk revivals even if it's never gone away. There are still veterans of the 1950s/60s scene out and about in clubs today - and a new oral history project 'Sweet Thames' has been capturing people's experience of the London folk scene from the 1950s onwards. But there is undeniably some new energy about with younger musicians bringing a new take on traditional material. We've mentioned Broadside Hacks here before, who have done sessions at Skehans SE14 as well as making a video at the Rivoli. Shovel Dance Collective are celebrating the launch of their new album 'The Water is the Shovel of the Shore' this Saturday at the Ivy House. Its already sold out so will miss this, but I saw their banjo player Jacken Elswyth do a great set at The Goose is Out last year. The nine piece band take an experimental approach to the 'queer histories, proto-feminist narratives and the voices of working people' to be found in the folk archive.

There's just so much going on in terms of  folk sessions and clubs in South London (and beyond of course).  As well as the Goose is Out in Nunhead there's Dulwich Folk at the Castle SE22, a Scottish session at The Clock House SE22, the Thursday night Irish session at Blythe Hill Tavern and a newish monthly folk session at the Hill Station SE14. Check out Folk London to try and keep up!

Telegraph Hill Festival 2016

It's the 22nd annual  Telegraph Hill Festival next month, with more than 120 events taking place from 5 – 20 March 2016 at various venues in the New Cross/Brockley border zone.  You can check out the full programme here, but for now here's a few of the events that caught my ere.

Red and Pink

'Painting & Sound Improvised Performance – audio - visual action - interaction. First meeting of reknowned painter and performer Pauline Amos and English experimental improvising musicians Mark Browne and Richard Sanderson.

PAULINE AMOS - (painting and sounds) Pauline Amos is an internationally renowned artist. She has collaborated with William Orbit, Poppy Jackson and dancer Anna-mi Fredriksson amongst others. She says of her work: “The paintings are documents and a recording of an event that happened - the action, the performance, the life, the improvised and impulsive moment is the work.” Her work is dramatic, her subjects: the female body, feminism, war, global politics, the environment, women, sex and relationships – the human condition.  She has featured on YouTube and bill boards around the UK using her naked painted body to promote democracy.

British improvising musicians Mark Browne (saxophones and collected objects and Richard Sanderson (amplified melodeon and small instruments) have been playing together off and on for some 20 years, including in the quartet Fraction and the trio Browne/Thompson/Sanderson - creating instant and constantly changing music from instruments, objects and debris described as probing, adventurous, and uniquely textured exploration, haunting and fascinating. Together with Amos they will craft a totally immersive show.

This unique collaboration is presented as part of the Telegraph Hill Festival. The evening will include a discussion with Pauline Amos of her work. Admission £5 on the door.

Photos at The Hill Station Cafe

Punk Rock Karaoke

At the Montague Arms on Saturday 19 March, band My Midlife Crisis will be backing various singers having a go at songs from the golden age of punk. As they didn't have any Crass songs on the list, I have gone for 'Boys don't cry'.

Prefab Walking Tour -  Saturday 12 March 12 noon-1.00pm 'Meet at Brockley Station exit, Mantle Road Free but donation to museum funds gratefully received This moderate walk visits post war prefab locations past and present, derelict and inhabited. Finishing at the Ivy House, London’s first community-owned pub. Booking essential, email elisabethblanchet@hotmail.com'

Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March) 8.00pm-11.00pm Skehan’s, Kitto Road (Free) 'Skehans is proud to invite you along for bowl of our delicious Irish Stew with soda bread (while stocks last and daytime only). From 9pm The Clarkes will rock the joint in their customary style'

Funerals and remembrances

A couple of ceremonies this week for people who in their different ways made a difference to their local areas.

The funeral of Alan Porter (pictured below) takes place tomorrow, 1 July 2014, at Honor Oak Crematorium. Alan helped out at the Hill Station/Telegraph Hill Centre in Kitto Road SE14. Details here.

Later today (around 2:45 pm), the ashes of Peter Flack will be scattered on the Thames, his friends gathering first at the Cutty Sark pub in Greenwich. Peter was a Crossfields Estate resident in 1970s Deptford, responsible for poetic graffiti in the Creekside area. Details at Crosswhatfields?

Lines from Shelley's The Daemon of the World in Creekside, courtesy of Peter Flack

Deptford Misc remembers the life of Richard MacVicar (MAC), who died earlier this year. Richard was a key figure at Deptford Adventure Playground from the 1970s until a couple of years ago.

Richard MacVicar (1947-2014)

New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival

From Friday 27 April to Sunday 6 May the New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival  will be screening films in some very unusual places including two parks, an adventure playground, the walls of the tiny white-tiled prison cells at Deptford Old Police Station and from a 40ft lorry turned mobile cinema. Events include bike-powered open-air family screenings, film-based discussions on topics of local/global concern, and screenings of local filmmakers' work. The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival is organised and run entirely by volunteers with guidance and support from the Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festivals group. Highlights include:

- Bike-powered cinema courtesy of the amazing Electric Pedals. Come along and help power the film. Everyone welcome to have a go. Bring a bike to join the fun. The film won't run without YOU!

 -Freedom Cells. A weekend of films by human rights filmmakers and artists. Old Deptford Police Station

- NO DVD. If you have old home movies stashed away in attics or cupboards then we’d love you to bring them along. Submissions must be on either VHS or Super8 and a maximum of 10 minutes in length. Films shot locally will be particularly welcome. New Cross Library, New Cross Road SE14 6AS.

- Attack the Cross. An all night celebration of aliens and bass music in the heart of New Cross! Release Nightclub, 23 Lewisham Way SE14 6PP.

The full festival programme is at http://www.freefilmfestivals.org/. Events are free, but obviously it's going to cost the organisers to put it on so please make a donation at http://www.sponsume.com/project/new-cross-deptford-free-film-festival

Cinetopia Events

As part of the festival, local purveyors of cinema culture Cinetopia are putting on three events:

Film in the Garden, Sandbourne Rd Community Garden, SE4 2NS. Sun 29 Apr, start 7.00pm ends 10.00pm. For one night only, Cinetopia will transform the garden into a magical outdoor cinema. Bring a picnic, dress as your favourite character from Alice in Wonderland and join us for a Mad Hatters Tea Party, followed by a screening of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. There will be some simple seating but guests are advised to bring picnic rugs, folding chairs and warm clothes. Maximum capacity 50. Entrance is first come first serve. No toilet facilities.

The Lost Cinema of Deptford at Big Red Pizzeria (next to Birds Nest Pub), Deptford Church Street, SE8 4RZ. Mon 30 Apr, start 7.30 end 9.30.100 years of the moving image in New Cross and Deptford  - Whe was Deptford's first picture palace? What was the scene of South East London's WW1 cinema disaster? Which local nightspot was once a major cinema and palais de danse? Which angry young man flick features Deptford market? What about 'last tango in New Cross'? An illustrated talk by local historian Neil Gordon-Orr with clips, and  images. Maximum capacity 35. Entrance is first come first serve.

Craters and Mirrors at The Hill Station Cafe, Kitto Road SE14. Thur 3 May. 8.00 - 10.00, featuring two films: 

- Some Foreign Field: The Lochnagar Crater On the first of July 1916 a powerful explosion beneath the German trenches resulted in a massive crater. It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Sixty years later the crater was bought by an Englishman. This new short film by John Whitfield tells its story.

- Sound Mirrors explores the monumental remnants of a dead-end technology and the people who visit them. The three concrete 'listening ears' at Denge near Dungeness in Kent are the best known of the various early warning acoustic mirrors built along Britains coast. This is the first film produced by director/ photographer Morgan O'Donovan with architect Stephen Beasley. Filmed August 2009.

Further details from cinetopia@hotmail.co.uk

Words at the Hill Station

The next 'Words at the Hill Station' (Kitto Road, SE14) takes place on Wednesday 8th February from 6 pm to 8 pm. It's a chilled alcohol-free spoken word/acoustic music open mic: 'Come to the Hill Station and tell us a poem that you have written, sing us a song, read us something or just come and listen'.

If you fancy taking part, Ian Convery from the cafe would appreciate you letting him know in advance: ian.convery60@gmail.com