...and the Native Hipsters

One of the things we do here is gather together the musical history of south-east London so it's with great interest that Richard Sanderson has bought the continued existence of ...and the Native Hipsters to Transpontine's, and everone elses, attention on his livejournal blog.

Interesting history and sound:

"Tom Fawcett was also multi blessed with the ability to force squawking sounds out of inanimate objects. He played the early synth Wasp on Concorde. He throttled that thing to death, wringing every last ounce of twiddleiness out of it. Tom was squatting with Jim Moir in New Cross. They recorded a few things together. Tom went on to form 'Design for Living'. I'm not sure what happened to Jim."

Like all right thinking folk, they're now planning "the future". Only Forward, as I used to say. I expect to see them gigging at the Montrgue Arms pretty soon.

Sunday Night

If you tried being nice to someone near Deptford Bridge on Sunday night, and they were distracted by a broken phone, a bit tired from morris dancing and, frankly, a bit rude, I'm sorry. Please go here.

Fantasmagoria

New Cross's premier troubadours Fantasmagoria return to south-east London on Thursday 29th September to gig at the Montague Arms, the dusty old, skeleton strewn, stuffed-animal decorated venue that probably suits their crusty-gypsy-tango-goth sound the best.

No time, but time in the Montague is always fun and no details on cost but they're well worth seeing. If you don't know where the Monty is, (why not?) it's on Queen's Road, SE14, nearest stations New Cross Gate and Queens Town Road, Peckham. Look it up here.

Stick Around for the Gluerooms

The Gluerooms is one of our favorite local clubs, providing experimental music once a month at the Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Road, across the road from New Cross train and tube.

This Wednesday, 28th September, they have Craftwork, described as a "performance piece Dr. Polly Fibre (Christine Ellison) creates rhythms, loops and shadows by manipulating sewing machines while producing cloth "manuscripts" from interfacing fabric."

Obfuscator: "Improvised Laptop duo."

Temperatures: "Drums & Bass duo With a bit of synth for people who know they like sound relatively great in volume"

DJ's Body Damage & Possibly Sick and regular house Dj's Tendraw & The Gypsies

Avast!

The slightly cliquey local zine group the Greenwich Pirate are launching their fifth issue, Neighbours, on Tuesday 27th September at the New Cross Inn with gig putter-onners The Public Gets What The Public wants, putting on Theoretical Girl, I couldn't find anything sensible written about her so read "stylish chic has some classy vignettes in her post punk box of delights" (sounds good, I think) and punkers 52 Pick Up plus djs Greenwich Pirates vrs Knight of the turntable.

The numbers: 8pm to 2am. £3/2 nus entry.

Punk Rock Breakfast

Here's a thing, a morning gig this Sunday (25th September) from 9am to noon. This'll either be for those fresh faced sorts who're up with the wrens or the crazy kids who've been out all night and are trying to work out if they want to go to a gig or go back to a super-groupie model's penthouse to snort coke off her tummy in the company of reality television programme presenters (or something).

The Line-up is Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches, Strand of Oaks, Debbie from cardiff (one of them, anyway), Truly Kaput "enthralling folk--inspired solo performance of sharply-written and earnestly executed songs", Grip Right Swing Right andToby ( I've no idea where Toby is from).

This is put on by those fine sorts at The Bakery, costs £2, which includes tea but bring money for Breakfast. The venue is The Pullens Centre, 184 Crampton St, SE17, off the Walworth Road, map here, nearest tube and train is the Elephant and Castle or Kennington Tube. Many, many buses pass this way.

Morris Man Alert

Richard Sanderson infroms me that "Blackheath Morris, have their End of Season/Byron Daniels Memorial Tour on Sunday [That's 25th]. This involves going to three pubs in Greenwich, dancing outside them and drinking some beer. It'll also be the last chance to see me dancing in public before Boxing Day.12.00 Noon- The Ashburnham Arms, Ashburnham Road.13.30- The Morden Arms, Royal Hill.14.30- The Richard 1st (Tolly), Royal Hill.We will be accompanied by our guests- the excellent local ladies team Dacre Morris and the redoubtable Royal Liberty Morris."

3-D Images in Crystal Palace

Ping Pong

Flat Sort of Day? See Films!

I'm suprise people aren't dancing in the street to this one but this Friday, 23rd September, from 7.30pm, Bob Godfrey is giving a talk and presenting a selection of animated films at the Lewisham Arthouse, on the Lewisham Way for a mere £2.50/£1.50 concessions.

Who is Bob Godfrey? Only the greatest living British animator after Oliver Postgate and the man who gave us such sublime works as Roobard and Custard. BLOODY ROOBARD AND CUSTARD! This is the man who MADE the cartoon. Ring 0208 2443168 for tickets.

Now, if you're mad, don't like wonky cartoons of a green dog humiliating himself in front of crows and a pink cat or if you think we should all just bloody well get over the television we watched as nippers then perhaps the films at Café Crema, put on by Fresh Films might be more your thing.

They're celebrating their first anniversary with an evening of shorts, animations and live music on the same Friday night (23rd). Starts: 8.00pm. Doors open 7.30. Price: £4.00 includes meal.

The animations include Last Rumba in Rochdale which includes the voices of "Anna Friel, Jane Horrocks, Timothy Spall, Peter Kay, [...] and Radio I djs Mark and Lard", Jo Jo in the Stars and the film Dog Years (more dog fun there).

Screenings will be followed by live music "a chaotic mix of music stuff going on/some open mic, some planned, in a smoky café crema style".

To reserve tickets phone 020 8320 2317 during café opening times Mon-Fri 9.30-6.00. They can only hold reserved tickets until half an hour before the screening start time. Or guarantee your place by coming to the Café and buying tickets in advance. Café Crema, 306 New Cross Road. Close to New Cross and New Cross Gate tube stations on the East London Line.

P.O.L.E. Dance

P.O.L.E. Dance and The Dirty Pins, Little Death and OK Junior this Saturday, 17th September, door 9pm to 2am. This is within the be-tiled walls of The Walpole, New Cross Road which is right by New Cross tube and train station and not too far from New Cross Gate tube and train and Deptford Bridge DLR.

Not heard of Little Death but, le Petit Mort, like it, that name promises wry and kinky fun or pretentious nonsense. Who knows? Could help you out with OK Junior either.

Still, it's music, its late drinking on a Saturday night; it's a possible boogie and brush against someone with asymmetrical hair and a pleasing, patterned nylon top. It's what life's all about.

I Want to Tell you a Story

It's not all blues soaked wizards, god killing punk rockers and anarcho-psycho-geographers at Transpontine, y'know. Well you probably didn't know, probably because it's not true, we're old and cheese-ridden and folky. We like beardy things like morris dancing, real ale and entering pickling competions (I am, in fact, holder of first prize in the 2004 Dog & Bell Pickle festival, Pickle section.)

As well at the Dance of the Morris, the folk sessions in Greenwich and chugging the old pint of Sarsen Stone Ale, we also enjoy a good story-telling session and, while it's easier to do than play the melodian or expertly pickle a shallot, a would-be story teller does, often, still require a bit of guidance.

So here comes the "People Like Us" Storytelling workshops for adults at the Old Royal Naval College.

Details are: "An introduction to storytelling through the lives of the ordinary folk who have given Greenwich its rich heritage: immigrants and emigrants; slaves and pressed men; women where you’d least expect them: all travellers on the Thames and beyond.


This short course introduces basic storytelling techniques using traditional tales, and goes on to look at how those skills can be used with historically based stories.

Workshop leaders: June Peters, a nationally renowned storyteller and Rich Sylvester, creator of the “Journey Through Time” Greenwich story walks

Dates:
The workshop is being run three times, offering a choice of day and time:

Friday 23 September 10.00am - 2.00pm

Sunday 25 September 11.00am - 3.00pm

Wed 28 & Thurs 29 September 7.30pm - 9.30pm

Cost:£5 full price, £3 concessions

The workshops are part of the Greenwich Maritime Stories Project run by the Storytelling-in-Hope Club, in partnership with the Greenwich Foundation, which has been researching local, maritime stories.

The climax of the project is Yarns, Shanties and Good Red Herring, a community storytelling performance of these stories in the Admiral’s House at the Old Royal Naval College on Sunday 27 November 2005.

Workshop participants will be offered the opportunity to take part in this performance.

For more details and bookings please contact Pennie Hedge, telephone 020 8699 0675 or email."

Story-telling is the greatest, lo-fi, scaled down form of entertainment there is and it would be great if this was a sucess. I am thinking of tootling along myself.

London Geek Glory for Deptford Man

We are, let's face it, a bit geeky about London town and our own niche of it. It's a big city, full of stories and wonders and our interest almost certianly doesn't do the place justice.

Here's a story from the BBC about one Deptford resident's own London adventure. It's not how I'd get about but, heck, they did it becuase they could, I suppose:

Tube station visit record broken

record for visiting all 275 London Underground stations has been broken by 43 minutes. Geoff Marshall, 32, from Epsom, Surrey, and Neil Blake, 31, from Deptford, south-east London, recorded a time of 18 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds.

But they finished so late - 0005 BST - that they could not take a Tube home and had to hire a minicab. It was seventh time lucky for Mr Marshall, whose earlier attempts were scuppered by train failures and injury. Taking no chances this time, Mr Marshall spent about six days of practice runs before being joined by Mr Blake.

The pair are keeping their exact route a secret to protect the record, but they did begin at 0529 BST at Amersham in Buckinghamshire on the Metropolitan Line and ended at Upminster in Essex on the District Line. Mr Marshall told BBC News Online that it became a personal challenge after completing the task for the first time for Cancer Research.

"We did not break the record that time, but it became something I became obsessed with," he said. "I tried many times before, but not managed it because of the trains or injuring my knee."

It took four months for the Guinness Book of Records to acknowledge the feat.
"We had to send them digital photos with the time on from every station - we even got the driver of the last train we were on to confirm it," Mr Marshall said.

Microcosmographia

Art is often at its best when it meets nature so the new exhibition at the South London Gallery looks a good one. ‘Microcosmographia’, by American artist Mark Dion is a show running from 9th September to 30th October.

The blurb says: “The centre piece of the exhibition will be a life-sized replica of a beached prehistoric aquatic animal, known as Ichthyosaur, with relics from the history of the natural sciences spilling from its belly.”

"The work of Jean Henri Fabre, provides the inspiration for Les Necrophores-L’Enterrement. A giant mole, crawling in giant beetles, will be suspended by a noose from the Gallery ceiling.”

"Biological Field Unit, a team of botanists, entomologists and artists will conduct a detailed survey of plant and insect life in the SLG’s Secret Garden. Working from a specially constructed research station, the team will collect, document and display their findings using traditional hand illustration and photographic methods.”

Entry is free; South London Gallery is on 65 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH. A map and direction is here.

South London Gallery.

Saucy, Sacred, Secret, Scary Southwark

John Constable, who spoke at SELFS waaaay back in July 2003, is the shamanic poet of ‘The Clink’, the area around Borough that was once the sex, drinking and gambling den of London during it’s time under the Bishop of Winchester (we’ll skirt around the prostitution and bear-baiting here).

All sections of the city has their own spirit, created by history, psycho-geography and goodness knows what else. John has truly been captured by his part of London and will be taking some guided walks around this ‘outlaw borough’ of London.

See and here more of John at the Southwark Mysteries site.

Details of each walk are as follows: each walk in on either on a Tuesday or Wednesday from 7pm. Assemble in the covered area outside John Harvard Library, Borough High Street, SE1.

Borough tube.

Each walk lasts roughly 1½ hours and is free.

Tuesday 13th September: The Outlaw Borough: The medieval Liberty of the Clink, outside the law of the City of London - prisons, theatres, bear-pits, taverns, and stews - outlaws, actors and Winchester Geese.

Wednesday 14th September: The Ghost Walk: Haunted inns, a Roman cemetery, Cross Bones graveyard and the legend of Mary Overie.

Tuesday 20th September: The Bermondsey Walk: Celebrating people, crafts and industries from Roman times to the present.

Wednesday 21st September: The Secret Elephant: Magic and myth around the Elephant and Castle

Tuesday 27th September: The Healing Walk: Guy's Hospital to Bedlam - via parks on the sites of former prisons andthe Cross Bones people's shrine.

Wednesday 28th September: What The Dickens? Marshalsea Prison, Lant Street and The Mint - the criminal underworld ofDickens' childhood.

Avalon in London Autumn Equinox

It’s the Autumn Equinox this month and The Avalon in London Autumn Equinox ritual will be held on Sunday 18th September 2005 at Stockwell Studios, Annie MacCall Close, Jeffreys Road, Stockwell (close to Stockwell tube station on the Victoria and Northern lines) at 5.30pm (for a 6pm start).

Here’s a map: http://tinyurl.com/aytty

The theme is “Banbha: Blessings of the Fruit of Autumn”, so bring “along fruit for the feast and any items representing Mother Earth which you wish to place on the altar. These will be returned to you after the ritual.”

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

Avalon in London and a friendly and open group and Jacqui, who runs the group, welcomes any enquires about the rituals.

Contact her on 07711 515017 or join the Avalon in London email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Avalon_in_London (for announcements only join the list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Avalon_in_London_announcements)

Bonjourno Bopp-Fans!

The August / September issue of the Rocklands Star described Transpontine as "the essential local news site" so, um, we'd better get our acts together and post a bit more.

The Wolfganf Bopp, fine and witty gig put-er-on-ers are back at the The Montague Arms this Thursday, 15th September, from 8pm with two bands, each scintillatingly named Envelopes and Objects.

If I could pass you over to mein hosts: "Objects are an electro-punk 3-piece on a mission. Expect debauched synth n roll shenanigans a-plenty. ENVELOPES are so impossibly lovely they make us want to curl up in the foetal position and eat cake. This Swedish/French, York-based outfit make suitably quirky, lo-fi indie-pop to fill your heart with delight".

Wolf Gang DJs playing out twisted rock n roll, retro grooves and bleak disco. Thursday 15th SeptemberDoors: 8.00pm – 12.30am

Price: £3. The Monty is on, if you don't know, 289 Queens Road, New Cross, London SE15 2PA. Nearest Tube: New Cross Gate. Nearest BR: Queens Rd, Peckham.

I've now stuck a review of this gig here.

Phantom Black Dogs

12th September: Simon Sherwood - "Phantom Black Dogs: A psychological perspective"

Phantom Black Dogs have been reported for centuries and are still being reported today. Parapsychologists have concentrated upon human apparitions and there is very little consideration of animal apparitions, let alone apparitions of Black Dogs. This talk will consider the extent to which psychological/parapsychological theories of apparitions can explain these phantom Black Dogs?

SELFS meets every second Monday of the month upstairs at The Spanish Galleon, 48 Greenwich Church Street, SE10 9BL. Talks start at 8.00pm and costs £2.50 / £1.50 concessions.
A map is here.