Return of the Daisy Age

It has been brought to our attention by Drumz of the South (who were drawn to our attention by Uncarved) that hip hop legends De La Soul are playing for free in Croydon this weekend.

Whatever happended to the cosmic dream?

Shame about Syd Barrett. Its well known that he went to Camberwell Art College, but did he play music locally with any early Pink Floyd incarnations? Where did he live/hang out when he graced the streets of South East London? Was 'Piper at the gates of dawn' inspired by a night wandering on acid through Burgess Park? (OK I'm making this up). Who knows?

Held

A dark (ex) Church, all that is visible are ten glass bowls, each containing an image of the sky. Lift up a bowl and the sounds of the place are triggered, the significance being that each is a location marked by a death. Over the past two years Graeme Miller has visited places around the world where migrants have fallen from aircraft - stowaways who have hidden in the wheel bays of planes, only to fall to their death as the planes approach airports and lower their wheels.

Miller's installation 'Held'is a very powerful work that breaks the silence about the many deaths caused by the efforts of Fortress Europe to deny sanctuary to those fleeing war, persecution and poverty. United Against Racism have tracked more than 7000 such deaths since 1993, including the death of a man who fell from the sky at the Sainsburys in Richmond pictured in one of Miller's images shown above.

'Held' is on until July 16th (Thurs - Sun, 11-5) at Dilston Grove, the former Clare College Mission Church, in the Southwest corner of Southwar Park (see map). Try and get along if you can.

Lewishambles People's Day

Too much to do this weekend, as well as stuff we've already mentioned it's Lewisham People's Day Festival tomorrow in Mountsfield Park, Catford, with a Rocklands stage showcasing south east London talent including STREET VIBES + CHET + THE DARLING REDS + INDIGO MOSS + DEXY + THE FAIRIES BAND + FRUIT MACHINE BLUES + CERI JAMES / DREZONE / MALMO + THE MOON (all for free).

In the evening, Tom Hingley (from Inspiral Carpets) is DJing at Dirty South, while down the road at the Fox in Lewisham there's a 2bob night with J D & The Longfellows, The Singing Loins + Blah Blah Blah (also free entry ).

Austin Osman Spare

South East London Folklore Society presents

10th July: Geraldine Beskin – The Life of Austin Osman Spare

The proprietress of Atlantis Bookshop casts her research skills on to the life of south-east London’s own artist, magician and god-less father of Chaos Magic, Austin Osman Spare.


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.

Greenwich Mainline & DLR: Turn left from the main exit, walk about 5-10 minutes, the Galleon is on your right, at the cross-roads.

Cutty Sark DLR: Turn left from the station, right when you get to the road, the Spanish Galleon is across the road.

Buses: 177, 180, 188, 199, 286, 386.

Bopp Hops on to World Cup Bandwagon (but late)

The unredoubtable Wolfgang Bopp just popped this into our electronic box:

"One week has nearly passed since England’s ignominious exit from the World Cup and we at the Bopp feel it is only right and proper to offer a musical pick me up to the disenchanted residents of London.

To fulfil this task we have engineered a line up of immense quality, if we do say so ourselves.

The Wolfgang Bopp presents

Fury of the Headteachers
Hailing from Leicester we have we have Fury of the Headteachers a band with an astonishingly brilliant name and a portfolio of tunes to match. They have already featured in session on 6music and their live show has been called “breathtaking” by Soundsxp. Intriguingly described as sounding like “the Buzzcocks underwater” by the Daily Record we look forward to them gracing The Montague.

I've never met a normal person from Leicester. I've met some nice people from Leicester, don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are from Leicster, but none of them are ever anywhere near what you'd call 'normal'.

Anyway, back to the Bopp:

Redcarsgofaster
From Sheffield in the Peoples Republic of Yorkshire Redcarsgofaster who were so good when they played the Bopp last summer we have asked them back. Described by Drowned in Sound as “utterly fantastic” they are recipients of probably the best line of any review I have ever seen courtesy of Joyzine; “People are shaking their heads in disbelief; looking at each other the way couples do after the birth of their first child” high praise indeed. Needless to say it seems we are far from being the only ones who love this band.

+ Wolf Gang DJs playing out twisted rock n roll, retro grooves and bleak disco… Date: Friday 7th July Doors: 8pm – 12.15am (bands finish 11pmish) Price: £3 Venue: The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Road, New Cross, SE15 2PA
Nearest Tube: New Cross Gate
Nearest BR: Queens Rd, Peckham

Red Thread

Here's an interesting thing that came my way via the SELFS chat list and Rocklands. Bonnington Square is nice, it feels like how the sixties must have been.

"""""" let's get straight to the point... i'm putting a kinda 'secret' red thread festival on on the 9th july in bonnington square, vauxhall,and i'm gonna need some help!! it's got a good chance of being fairlychaotic but it should be a riot if everyone get's on board.. the square itself is a really quaint slice of urban bohemia, just south of theriver and well out of the public eye. everyone's invited and it's allfree so START TELLING EVERYONE!!!

we ain't gonna do much traditionaladvertising so it's up us lot to get a crowd down.. doing it this meanswe should only attract cool heads!! the line up so far reads.. LIAMFROST, THE MONKS KITCHEN, THE BRIAN JACKET LET DOWN, JOHN STAMMERS and PETE GREENWOOD. plus a load of eccentric locals who wanna do their ownthing! IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT AND UNIQUE DAY OUT! things kick off with apaganesque animal procession round the square at 2 o'clock [damn work means I'll miss that, I love a procession, I do], then music all day. there's beautiful community gardens to lay about in and loads of random entertainment planned, feel free to get involved, if you wanna dress up, do magic or be a human fruit machine?!? your welcome to!! spread the word and enjoy!!! x x x """""""""