Nunhead Angels

If, like me, you have a thing for the stone angels of Nunhead Cemetery, you need to get down to the ‘With words and wings’ exhibition at The Surgery. Anne-Marie Glasheen has created some beautiful images through digitally montaging photographs of angels, foliage and text. The Surgery is a small gallery hidden amongst the shops at 123 Evelina Road, Nunhead, SE15. The exhibition is open until 7 November, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, 10 am – 4 pm. Admission free.

Angular Update

South East London's finest Angular Records are keeping busy, with a new album out by Elizabeth Harper enticingly described as 'ten tracks of Smiths-esque wonderment'. Angular artists The Swear are playing for free on 31st October at St. Christophers Inn, Greenwich (9.30 pm start), while The Violets are headlining at Artrocker on Tuesday 26th October, up by Highbury and Islington tube in the Buffalo bar. Meanwhile, Angular are planning an event in December at the Venue in New Cross, a place in urgent need of reclaiming from the hordes of cover bands that have plagued it since its 1990s indie-heyday.

Corn Queene in Borough Market tomorrow

The Berry Man - 'decked with wild fruits and foliage' and the Corn Queene will be leading an Autumn Harvest Celebration on Sunday 24th October, starting at 12.00 noon at Bankside, Southwark, by Shakespeare's Globe. The October Plenty procession, put on by The Lion's Part theatre company, will also feature a hobby horse, strung with cakes and loaves. It will finish up at Borough Market, where the company will perform a number of 16th century 'Nonsensenightplays' and stage the execution of John Barleycorn. And all for free!

The Gluerooms

What does the world need?

"More noisy bastards."

Quite right. The Glue Rooms is a monthly music club that meets very last Wednesday of the month at the Catapult Club, which is round the Amersham Road side of the Amersham Arms pub in New Cross. Directions and details on getting there can be found here.

The Glue Rooms describe themselves, rather charmingly and naively in caps-lock, as "A LIVING EXPERIMENT IN SOUND AND VISION" and I'd agree with that from my seat, not too close to the stage or projection screen, taking all the strangeness in.

Their next night is 27th October, the show starts at 9pm prompt. Entry is a mere £3. The five strong line up includes improve from Afracadabra, guitar-bod Petri Huurinainen and the No Name Band.

I've not heard of any of these people but it's a darn good night.

TECHGNOSISymposium

London’s premier providers of counter-cultural weirdness Strange Attractor are coming to south-east London. They shall tie up their ferrets outside The Corsica Arts Club, 5 Elephant Road, London, SE17 1LB, enter and present, with Serpent’s Tail books, the: TECHGNOSISymposium.

19th November from 7pm

Celebrating the reissue of Techgnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Informationby Erik Davis; there will be presentations by Davies, along with authors Mike Jay and Julian Vayne. Speakers will make a 25 minute presentation on subjects relating to contemporary myth, magic & mysticism, followed by an open panel discussion, chaired by Strange Attractor's Mark Pilkington.

The night will climax with a moving philosophical entertainment involving The evening will then progress to, what the Strange Attractor site describes as “a moving philosophical entertainment” involving live mains electricity and high frequency electro-medical equipment by ::: NATIONAL GRID ::: and Disinformation vs. Strange AttractorRunning throughout the evening will be a live installation by Testcard and the event will dissolve into an informal night of music provided by the speakers, plus DJs from the ever-good Kosmische & Resonance FM.Tickets £6.50 advance, £7.50 on the door, book them here

Peckham Halloween Weirdness

Ride 'em and booze are putting on the self-proclaimed 'party to end all others' on 30th October 2004 at The Old Co-op, Peckham Rye Lane. It will feature 'Acres of space, art exhibition. live music, nightclub and theatre. Slasher movie/frat party theme'. The exhibition will be from 7-9, the party all night.

Autonomous ESF South London Info Point

In case you haven't noticed, this weekend in London is the European Social Forum, with perhaps more interestingly a whole lot of 'beyond ESF' activities for assorted global radicals happening at autonomous spaces across the capital. Most of this is happening across the river (check Indymedia for details), but there is a South London information point at 56a Info Shop, 56a Crampton Street, SE17 (5 minutes from Elephant and Castle). Pop along between Thursday and Saturday from 3 pm to 7 pm to pick up the latest flyers, news and free food. Also the usual range of books, t-shirts and CDs - surely the best place in London for music-lovers of a certain age to replace their time-ravaged anarcho-punk vinyl collections with CD reissues of Poison Girls, The Mob etc. Not to mention large bars of Green and Black's organic vegan chocolate for only £1!

Southwark Samhain Ritual

More information on the Southwark Samhain ritual on Sunday 31st October. Avalon in London, an open, eclectic and very friendly group of pagans and sympathisers who perform ceremonies around the wheel of the year are gathering with the excellent Southwark Mysteries to perform a Samhein (or Halloween) ritual.

Halloween of Cross Bones Graveyard: Honouring the Outcast Dead

The Avalon in London and Southwark Mysteries Samhain ritual will be held on Sunday 31st October 2004 at The Ragged School, 47 Union Street, on the corner of Union Street and Redcross Way, Southwark, SE1 (close to Borough tube station) at 4pm for a 5pm start...no entry after 5pm.

Avalon in London is an open group which welcomes those following any path or at any level of experience. We meet together to celebrate each festival in the Wheel of the Year and to connect to the Ancient Goddesses of the British Isles.

The Southwark Mysteries group works to bring a sense of belonging and community to the people of Southwark, and the surrounding areas, through ritual, plays, songs and creativity of all kinds.

4pm onwards - gather for Pumpkin soup communion and to make food offerings to the dead.

5pm - Avalon in London Samhain ritual for letting go and moving on.

6pm - Halloween of Cross Bones ritual conducted by John Constable aka John Crow Shaman - with songs and poems from The Southwark Mysteries channelling the Spirit of The Goose, The Goddess incarnate as a medieval prostitute, licensed by the Church to ply her trade within Southwark's 'Liberty of the Clink', yet buried in the unconsecrated Cross Bones graveyard.

This ancient graveyard, containing the graves of the forgotten prostitutes and paupers of The Liberty, was rediscovered during the building of the Jubilee line. Since that time local people have been campaigning for part of the land, now owned by Transport for London, to be rededicated as a memorial garden.
Our rituals will culminate in a candlelit procession to the graveyard to honour The Goose, the souls of the outcast dead, and the Crone Goddess who holds them in Her dark embrace. There will be Goose songs, incantations and a ceremony to release the spirits. Please bring offerings - such as totemic objects and images, petals to be sprinkled, or ribbons to tie to the gates...

If you wish to, please bring something to place on the altar which represents the Dark Goddess, or the time of Samhain, to you. This will be returned to you after the ritual. Please also bring a little food to share.

Dressing up encouraged!

We will be asking for a £5 (£3 unwaged) donation to cover costs.

For further information please phone Jacqui on 07711 515017, or John on 0207 402 1496 or email John. For updates and more rituals; join the Avalon in London this list.)


For directions to Redcross Way please see here.

South London Magical Landscape

I am doing a talk on 'The South London Magical Landscape' at London Earth Mysteries Circle on Tuesday October 26th. Basically it will be a tour of some of the ancient sacred sites to be found South of the River, including lost trackways, springs, burial grounds and temples. In particular I will be covering some of the mysteries of the Old Kent Road, and the network of healing wells (Camberwell, Ladywell etc.).

It takes place at 7 pm at the Diorama Centre, 34 Osnaburgh Street, London NW1, 2 minutes from Great Portland Street station (map here). Admission is £3.50 (£3 concessions, £2 members). If anybody's seen me do similar talks before, rest assured that there will be plenty of new material!

Skeptics in the Pub

On 21 October, David Green (a lawyer) will be giving a talk to Skeptics in the Pub about how the legal system treats paranormal claims, from the witch trials of the seventeenth century, to the satanic ritual abuse claims of the nineties. Come along on Thursday 21 October to hear David Green tell us about it (£2 admission).

Skeptics in the Pub is for all those interested in and/or skeptical of the paranormal, alternative medicine, psychic powers, pseudo-science, UFOs, alien abductions, creationism, Fortean phenomena, cult religions, water-divining, lost civilizations etc. It meets (usually) on the third Thursday of every month starting at 7.30pm at The Old Kings Head, London Bridge. Non-skeptics welcome!

Ghosts of East Greenwich and the River

Ghosts of East Greenwich and the River starts 6.30 pm on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st October. Meet top of escalator North Greenwich Tube Station
Tickets: £4.00 (£3.00 concs)
advance booking Tel: 07833 538143

Wrap up for a unique Hallowe'en walk along the riverside of East Greenwich.
Local storyteller Rich Sylvester will lead you into the murky past with ghostly tales of Greenwich Marsh and the River.

Contact: Rich Sylvester: 07833 538143 e: richs_at_onetel.com (replace _at_ with @)

Cafe Crema Film Night

Cafe Crema Vegetarian and vegan café/restaurant, 306 New Cross Road, SE 14 6AF, have re-opened and will be brining food and film to the masses. The schedule in to follow but they will be having an opening party on Friday 15th October. They promise: "a food, music and party night at the cafe".

7.30-11.30pm, to celebrate the opening of the café they have a selection of old time ska/funk/r’n b and rock’n roll from: DJ Johnny Clash and his fine vinyl, DJ Lance and his lovely collection (tbc). Entrance: £3 includes meal: veg. pasta or pizza.

Tickets can be bought on the door or in advance from the café (open mon 11am-4pm, tue-fri 11am-4pm & 7-11pm and sat 7-11pm)

Reserve a place by email: freshfilmscafé_at_hotmail.com (or go and see the Swear instead).

(Replace _at_ wirh ' in

Where is it? Café Crema, 306 New Cross Road. Close to New Cross and New Cross Gate tube stations on the East London Line. Easy on the bus from Lewisham and Camberwell/Brixton. Lots of routes, 36, 136, 177…

Deptford Park

People around Deptford Park are campaigning against a plan to build on part of the park. Lewisham Council have given the go-ahead for a housing association, London and Quadrant, to build a 4-storey block of flats, along with other buildings, a car park and access road. More information at www.deptfordpark.com.

Launching The Fucks

Thursday saw the launch of the fabulous Fucks EP at Goldsmiths Student Union in New Cross. The Fucks, for those not exposed to them, are an energetic boy/girl duo (Jemma and George) using guitars and yamaha keyboard pre-sets to head towards the whacky end of the spectrum (think B-52s, the Rezillos). The EP on Angular Records captures their lo-fi Kate Bush-in-a-garage-band sound, even if it doesn't include their cover of Kim Wilde's 'Kids in America' which sent the crowd into delirium at Goldsmiths. Also playing on Thursday were the increasingly confident Violets and The Vichy Government, the only band yet conceived able (or willing) to write a song imagining Oliver Cromwell in Weimar Berlin. Copies of The Fucks EP should be available from Morps Records, in the basement of Moonbow Jakes cafe in New Cross Road, where other South London treasures include the second Angular sampler, Rip off your Labels, with tracks from all of the above.

Mutiny at the Montague

Best local band The Swear are playing at the Montague Arms in New Cross next Friday (15th October) as part of a Mutiny night put on by Greenwich Pirate. Entrance is £3 (£2 if you're dressed as a pirate). The Montague (289 Queens Road, SE14) is worth a trip in itself with its fabulous collection of animal heads, skeletons and maritime bric-a-brac.

Southwark Witch Trial talk

South East London Folklore Society will be hosting a talk on 'Urban Witchcraft and Witch Trials' on Monday 11th October 2004. Kathleen Blackmore will be talking about a Southwark witch trial in 1701 and related matters. It all happens at 8:00 pm in the upstairs room of The Spanish Galleon, 48 Greenwich Church Street, Greenwich, London, SE10 9BL. Entrance is £2.50 (£1.50 concessions). SELFS meets on the second Monday of the month to discuss 'paganism, forteana, folklore, high strangeness and the occult'.