Kitto Road Folk

At the Hill Station Cafe on Kitto Road SE14 Hannah Elizabeth Young and George McNaughton Ellis are hosting a monthly 'Folk Sessions on the Hill'. Next one is on Sunday 19th March 2023 from 6 pm onwards. First time I went along a few months ago it was quite quiet, but it has quickly grown into a very popular night. The February event was packed, with lots of great performers - format is basically an open mic with a wide range of acoustic song styles.

 They are also taking part in the free folk festival that is happening on the afternoon of March 25th as part of the Telegraph Hill Festival, in the churchyard of St Catherine's next door to the Hill Station.

Down the road at Skehans there's lots of live music too including Irish sessions, a songwriters circle and live folk music on Sunday nights. Last weekend (Saturday 25th Feb) there was a different flavour with 

Dacre Morris and Greenwich Morris Men starting their tour of local pubs at Skehans, with dancing on the pavement outside - before heading off to do similar at the Golden Anchor, the Pyrotechnists Arms and the Old Nun's Head.

 

Gill Roth and Andrew Clarke - Make Believe (and 30 years of making things happen in London)

Opening this week at Lewisham Arthouse, Gill Roth and Andrew Clarke present their joint exhibition 'Make Believe'  Gill and Andrew 'make work that blurs the edge between abstraction and representation, where the observable world meets the environment of the imagination. While drawing forms the core of Gill’s practice, Andrew’s figures emerge through a process of collaging and assemblage. Both work on paper in a way that embraces intuition, accident and play with recurring motifs hinting at inner bodily functions or states of mind' (see website for further details).

I had a chat with Gill and Andrew last week. Apart from the intrinsic interest of the exhibition itself, I want to highlight their role as long term 'cultural activists' in London (for want of a better word), helping to make interesting things happen for more than 30 years.

Gill and Andrew met at Maidstone College of Art in the 1980s, where their contemporaries included Tracey Emin, moving up to South London - where Gill had grown up in West Dulwich - shortly afterwards. Andrew did a printmaking course at Morley College, where Gill worked for a spell too.

Gill and Andrew at Maidstone College of Art

Andrew (left) at Maidstone graduation - Melvin Bragg warns art students of the 'hostile world' of market forces

This was a time when cultural work was enabled by a (fast disappearing) economy of benefits, free/low cost adult education, cheap housing (they lived for a while in the Gypsy Hill Housing Co-op) and cash in hand jobs. Like many other art students before and since, Andrew subsidised his own work by life modelling including for the artist Maggi Hambling.

Andrew got involved with legendary Brixton club the Mambo Inn, which ran at the Loughborough Hotel from the late 1980s to 1996. The club was best known for its African and Latin American music but also had a jazz thread running through it which Andrew helped contribute as DJ ‘Danny Polo’. He also designed some of the banners which defined the club’s strong visual image (I had some great nights out there myself in my Brixton clubbing days). Andrew was also able to combine his musical and artistic interests in this period by doing illustrations for Paul Bradshaw’s influential Straight No Chaser magazine. His involvement in music has continued ever since, including singing in 1990s bands Matilda and Charm.

Andrew at Mambo Inn at Loughborough Hotel

Answering an advert in Time Out which asked ‘Why Work’in 1985 led to Gill and Andrew joining ‘Build Hollywood and Film It’, a film/theatre collective operating out of an empty school in Chelsea. Build Hollywood worked for a couple of years making a movie that was never released, but they did make short films including a promotional video for Brixton Cycle Co-op. They also put on events including a comedy night at the Hackney Empire featuring Jonathan Ross and his Last Resort sidekick Dr Scrote. Later the pair were involved with putting on the Umbrella Club at the Diorama Arts Centre near Euston (where Andrew DJ'd along with Charlie Gillett and others), and organising a fundraiser variety night featuring Vic Reeves and Jack Dee performing early in their careers.

Umbrella Club banners and 1991 flyer - 'funk/soul/house/African/jazz/reggae/Latin/raggamuffin/rare groove'

Andrew's own acting involvement led him to perform at that most prestigious of South London venues - the old Den, home of Millwall before its demolition in 1993.  As part of the Bargain Bucket theatre company, Andrew provided pre-match children's theatre. They also put on a children's circus on Ladywell Fields. Alongside his creative work, Andrew trained to teach English as a Foreign Language and has been working with refugees in this field for many years.

Having worked for spells at Morley College, Camberwell Arts College and as an Edinburgh Festival volunteer, Gill meanwhile pursued a career in freelance journalism and arts PR, working initially with Julia Hobsbawm (thanks to an introduction while showing Quentin Tarantino around town on his first visit to London - it's a long story). Over the years she worked for many clients in the arts and museum world including Artangel, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum

In 2005 they launched Cinetopia, a film night with a quiz, initially at the Crown and Greyhound pub in Dulwich. Later they moved it to the Hill Station Cafe on Kitto Road. This led on to them starting the popular New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival, bringing their expertise in film, promotion and events.

Gill and Andrew had continued to practice their drawing and printing at various times through the 1990s, including exhibiting in an open show at the famous Cool Tan squat on Effra Road in Brixton (I went to some great parties there too but that's another story). Their relocaton to Telegraph Hill in the early 2000s with its thriving Open Studios scene inspired them to make more work and show it publicly.

Andrew Clarke mural at the Hill Station SE14  - Procession of the Manimals (2014)

Gill Roth paints scenery for Telegraph Hill Pantomime 'Babes in the Wood' (2012)

Andrew and Gill appreciate Lewisham Arthouse as one of the vanishing places offering cheap studio and exhibition space with a minimum of bureaucracy. While they don't have studios there, Gill has attended life drawing classes there for some time as well as more recently attending events organised by the London Drawing Group (who among other things run Drink and Draw sessions at Buster Mantis in Deptford). Gill says I have 'drawn people since I was a kid' but highlights the work of artists such as the London Drawing Group and Nicola Tyson who are doing interesting contemporary work in this medium and showing that 'you can draw in 2018 and still make sense)

Gill Roth, 'Anatomical Venus'

Make Believe runs from Saturday 1st September to Sunday 9th September 2018 (Opening Times: Weds – Sun, 12 – 6pm), with the Private view on  Friday 31st August. 6 – 9pm. Lewisham Arthouse is on Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD. Full details here: http://www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk/project-space/make-believe/

instagram: @rothgill @clarkesville.art

Folk on the Hill

Tonight - Friday 15th May at the Hill Station Cafe (Kitto Road, SE14) presents 'Folk on the Hill', with live music from Byron Biroli, Harry Dickson and Pigeon Heroes. Entry is free/donation, food and drink available.

Here's Pigeon Heroes in the Goldsmiths Music Studio, New Cross Road:

Nepal earthquakes

Various initiatives have been going on locally in response to the disastrous earthquakes in Nepal. The Hill Station Cafe in Kitto Road SE14 collected donations for an emergency airlift:

Tomorrow (Friday) there's a film night Nepal benefit at the Kagyu Samye Dzong Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Spa Road, Bermondsey: http://www.london.samye.org/programme/all-events/new-calendar-event-56/

Lene Lovich at the Hill Station

Singer Lene Lovich was on Stiff Records during its late 1970s hey day, and had a big hit in 1978 with Lucky Number. But one way or another she has been making music and writing songs for forty years.

She's apparently been recording locally and is playing a one off gig in the intimate surroundings of the Hill Station Cafe (Kitto Road SE14) on Friday 18 July. Tickets £12.50 from the venue or from www.lenelovich.net

Music Mondays: Elephants and Castles

Elephants and Castles is a newish band made up of Robin Spencer, Christopher Anderson and Adam Lucas. The band, who played in New Cross at the Hill Station Cafe earlier this month, 'Met near the Elephant, became friends, became a band. Songs of, for, about, because... Concrete gems, hot air, medal-less martyrs, knee trembling, tv off, that goal against Liverpool, my dear tattoo, trunks and turrets...'.

Here's a demo of their song, Concrete Love, 'A nod to the architect Erno Goldfinger and his importance in some of the buildings round our way'.



Oh and hear they are performing it in the Elephant and Castle subway itself:



Listen to more on Soundcloud. There's also a song about Justin Fashanu.

Day of the Dead Silent Disco

Friday 1 November 2013 is Mexican Day of the Dead, and the only Day of the Dead Silent Disco in London (probably) will be happening in SE14. According to the organisers:

'The Hill Station Café (Kitto Road SE14) will be transformed into a Fabulously Fluorescent, Luminously Lovely, Ultra Violet, Psychedelic Disco.  Tickets £15.00 in advance from www.brownpaper.com, include:

Wireless headphones  tune in & turn on

Competing DJ's  wig out to your fave raves

Free Deadly Cocktail  there'll be blood on the dance floor!

Entry into Special Day of the Dead raffle 

Prizes for best dressed Senor and Senorita 

A top line-up of local DJ's will keep your feet firmly on the dance floor with a selection of the best banging party tunes, decadent disco hits and old-skool hedonism.  It's a fancy dress thing - the more skulls the merrier (but of course you don't have to).  The best dressed Senor and Senorita will be crowned "King and Queen of the Dead". Everybody gets a free cocktail on arrival, and there'll be lots of extra scary stuff too. Proceeds go towards funding the New Cross & Deptford free film festival 2014'.

Also at the Hill Station, a new season of Cinetopia starts next Friday 18th October - the night with a mystery feature film, a two course themed meal and a film quiz. The first film in the season is described as 'a funny and honest tale of Brooklyn bohemians behaving badly. Artistic failure leads to marriage break-up which affects adolescent sons in different ways. A quirky and wise American indie'. Further details on facebook

In the Neighbourhood

A few things going on locally that people have asked us to mention:

Hill Trader Community Shop 

'The Hill Trader Community Shop is an exciting new pop up shop in the Hill Station Café, run by local people for local people. As part of what we’re doing at the Hill Station, Kitto Rd, SE14 we have opened this shop as a pilot for 4 months, selling locally handmade things as well as bread and milk. We are working with local people who are giving us some of their products to sell, and in return will volunteer at the shop for a session a week. This means we all get lovely things to buy and they get valuable retail experience without the financial risk of renting a stall or shop.

Our vision is to provide a space for people to both buy and sell locally produced goods, share skills and inspire others who want to create things to sell. We have aimed to be as inclusive as possible and are trialling a range of different items produced by people of all ages and backgrounds. We’re excited about starting this new venture and we are keen to hear whether you agree a shop like this would be a great resource for our community. Please do also get in touch if you have something you would like to produce for the shop.

Please feel free to talk to one of the volunteers running the shop, Stephen, Jacqui at the Hill Station Cafe counter or Sarah Bickers directly at sarah@thehillstation.org'

May Day Social

The Death of Thatcher(ism?), Sunday 28th April 5pm –9pm at Harts Lane Studios, SE14 5UP (Behind T K Maxx, New Cross Gate). Entertainment starts at 7pm. Lewisham People Before Profit say: 'An opportunity to celebrate May Day and chat about how we can work together to end Thatcher’s legacy, so eagerly continuedby Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, Clegg. Bring your works of art, films, photos and poetry for display from 5pm'. Food and drink available, with Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir.

Something Human: Performance Artists wanted

From Mirabelle Spreckelsen from 'international curator-collective Something Human':

'Something Human, in partnership with Brockspace, is seeking live performance artists for a line-up of live performance work entitled FRESHLY PACKED / ALWAYS CHECK THE LABEL (working title). This programme will take place across the summer of 2013 and aims to bring new work and build new audiences for live performance work in Brockley, south-east London and beyond.

Submissions should respond with the following: Original performative work that explores themes surrounding notions of the biological, corporeal, flesh, food, sustenance and mortality'.  Details including applications from and proposal guidelines available at www.something-human.org

Freeforming Contact Meditation

'Freeforming cuts through distraction to bring you alive to the moment. It makes you present. Practitioners connect their attention though movement and voice. This synchronises your mind and body to open to creative possibility. Freeforming was developed by Peri Mackintosh drawing on Zen, Aikido, Gestalt and the improvisatory arts.

Beginners always welcome. Come and try! 6:30-8:00pm Tuesdays, Edmund Waller Primary School, Waller Road, London SE14 5LY, Cost £10'. More at www.freeforming.net

Winter Solstice SE14

I reckon there were around 50 people, including lots of children, on the Winter Solstice Night of the Beasts parade in New Cross last night. Some people started off from the New Cross Learning Centre (the old library), but it grew in size after a stop at the Telegraph Pub in Dennetts Road. After a vist to the candlelit Common Growth community garden in Sandbourne Road, the parade finished up at the Hill Station Cafe at the top of Telegraph Hill.

The parade was headed by a fine stag (perhaps a reindeer stag).

The stag was giving off some mysterious powerful energy!

A swan was also present...

Alice in her party dress

Coming up at the Hill Station SE14 next week:

ALICE by Jan Svankmajer

'You've seen the Tim Burton version and probably many others, but this is by far the best version of Alice in Wonderland ever filmed. Created by Czech animator Jan Svankmajer in 1988, this what he says about his beautifully animated film:

"While a fairy tale has got an educational aspect – it works with the moral of the lifted forefinger (good overcomes evil), dream, as an expression of our unconscious, uncompromisingly pursues the realisation of our most secret wishes without considering rational and moral inhibitions, because it is driven by the principle of pleasure. My Alice is a realised dream."

Proper hot dogs (veggie ones as well), popcorn and a bar. What more could you want. 8pm THURSDAY 23RD AUGUST Admission free. No children please.

AT THE HILL STATION . KITTO ROAD . LONDON . SE14 5TY Tel: 0207 635 2955'

Two folk nights in New Cross

Coming up at the Hill Station Cafe (Kitto Road, SE14) on Thursday July 12th,  'A night of americana roots music by canadian band Broken Down Suitcase' supported by Toma Banjanin, lead singer of london band Canaan Land. £5 in, details here. I saw Broken Down Suitcase last year and they were really good.

Meanwhile tonight (Wednesday) at the Amersham Arms in New Cross, there's a 'Folk Me Hard' night with Slow Wolf, DU Bellows and Last of the Barstools.