1960s Jazz and R'n'B in Blackheath

Interesting interview at Coventry Music History with Colin Richardson about the Jazzhouse Club in Blackheath, which he co-ran at the Green Man pub in 1962/63. As Colin recalls:

“The jazz club was held at the Green Man pub in Blackheath every Sunday evening, upstairs in what was euphemistically referred to as the "Banqueting Suite". It was a decent sized room, which originally had a tiny triangular stage across one corner of the room (though this was later enlarged to an oblong area which extended right across one end of the room). The 'house band' was the Ian Bird Quintet... Every week a different 'star' soloist would be booked... Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell, Tommy Whittle... all the current premier league instrumentalists of the day. They all got paid the same fee...£5 (which was about 3 times what the resident musicians took home!) The resident band would play the first half, then, after the break, the 'star' would play, backed by the house rhythm section. Sometimes (depending on the whim of said 'star', the other guys would return for a jam session end to the evening. The atmosphere was always friendly, the audience usually around the 100 mark, depending on how strong a draw that week's soloist was. There was a bar at the rear of the room, but the audience, though enthusiastic, was always well-behaved and knew their jazz.”

Manfred Mann also played early gigs there with his band of the same name. In 1963, shortly after arriving in the UK from South Africa, he played a jazz gig at another club run by Richardson and friends at the Hackwood Hotel in Bromley. Soon he switched to R&B:

'Next time we saw him, he pitched up at the Jazzhouse one Sunday and told us he had switched to Hammond organ and was playing R&B as Manfred Mann (he probably deemed his real name, Lubowitz, too unwieldy). He suggested that we open a 'rhythm and blues' night, saying that they would play every other Friday for a straight 50% of the door take (such was his confidence that they would draw a good crowd, which turned out to be well-founded)...

On the first Friday, I turned up at my usual time of around 7 pm...30 minutes prior to opening the doors. Normally, on a Sunday, I would arrive to find maybe 15 or 20 people waiting in an orderly queue. On this occasion as I was approaching the venue, I noticed that there seemed to be a crowd milling around and wondered if there was a problem of some kind. As I got closer, I realised that it was 'our' queue...which stretched from the club entrance on the first floor, down the stairway, out the main entrance and around the block! Around 300+ fans were waiting (with incredible patience, it should be mentioned) to get in. We were, as they say, 'gobsmacked'! The gig was a resounding success and we cleaned up! Not every group did quite as well, but nevertheless, we always made money, whoever was on.

As fate would have it, the success of the R&B night, with its much larger crowds, was indirectly the cause of its demise. It happened thus: On Saturday nights at the Green Man, a slightly dubious promoter used to stage what he described as "A Battle of the Bands", when he would assemble a bill of 5 or 6 local 'beat groups' (as they were known then) who would 'compete' for the title of the night's best group. They would 'win' the prize money of about a tenner..the rest got zilch! The promoter, of course, always made a bomb! There were often minor scuffles on these evenings...nothing serious...but one Saturday a fight broke out and a knife was used...enter the 'fuzz', who promptly closed ALL the clubs down... even though we were unconnected and had never had any trouble on our nights... [the jazz club was eventually allowed to continue]

So, our venture into the world of 'commercial promotions' came to an end..but , at least we had made a bit of money, which we used to fund the formation of a 'big-band workshop', the brainchild of Clive Burrows, co-leader of the resident quintet. The rehearsal band eventually evolved into the New Jazz Orchestra'.

The Green Man at the top of Blackheath Hill, replaced with Alison Close housing in the early 1970s, was obviously an important local music venue. As mentioned here recently, it also hosted a folk club where Paul Simon played.

As for Manfred Mann (the man), he went on to have many hits with Manfred Mann (the band), and eventually bought a music studio at 488 Old Kent Road, called the Workhouse. Many great records were made on that spot, now covered by the Asda supermarket. Incidentally, Mr Mann/Lubowitz once lived in Southbrook Road, Lee.

Keeping the South London connection, here's Manfred Mann in 1967 performing the title song to the film Up the Junction (set in Battersea) - looking here like they pretty much invented Oasis's look!

Henry Miller and Crystal Palace

A fine day off work spent on the book and coffee trail, starting off at the excellent Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace, then on to Kirkdale Bookshop in Sydenham and the various charity shops nearby (with refreshment stops at Domali in Crystal Palace and Blue Mountain in Sydenham). Came home with Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers and Adorno's The Culture Industry (the latter a 50p snip at the hospice shop), among other things. Pleased to report that Kirkdale still got lots of second hand London books downstairs, at Bookseller Crow they are doing a good line in new paperback editions of beat classics (Burroughs, Kerouac) at three for a tenner. What are you waiting for?

Anyway in a brief conversation with the Bookseller himself, I mentioned that the American author Henry Miller refers to Crystal Palace in his novel Sexus, first published in Paris in 1949. Here's the quote:

'It is to Covent Garden I go a few hours after landing in London, and to the girl I single out to dance with I offer a rose from the flower market. I had intended to go direct to Spain, but circumstances obliged me to go straight to London. A Jewish insurance agent from Baghdad, of all places, is the one to lead me to the Covent Garden Opera which has been converted into a dance hall for the time being. The day before leaving London I pay a visit to an English astrologer who lives near the Crystal Palace. We have to pass through another man's property to get to the house. As we are walking through the grounds he informs me casually that the place belongs to Thomas Burke, the author of Limehouse Nights' .

Of course the work is novel, albeit a fictionalised account of episodes in the author's life. So did Miller himself visit the Crystal Palace area? Quite possibly, as he was a friend of the writer Lawrence Durrell. According to Norbert Blei's blog 'Durrell had come to London with Henry Miller, another writer whom Dylan [Thomas] greatly admired. They were at that time editing an English language magazine in Paris together, originally called The Booster and later Delta.'

Durrell's novel The Black Book (1938) was written in 1935-6, a period during which he lived for a while at the Queens Hotel on Church Road, Crystal Palace (the work features local scenes). So as a friend of Durrell it's quite likely that Miller would have visited and been familiar with the area. The Covent Garden Opera was indeed turned into a dancehall at the start of World War II in 1939. Thomas Burke (1886-1945) was a South London born writer of books set in London's Chinese communities.

In a post on The Crystal Palace in Literature, Sarah J Young discusses other literary references, including George Gissing’s The Nether World (1889), E Nesbit's The Ice Dragon, or Do As You Are Told (1900) and The Enchanted Castle (1907), and Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988). She has also discussed the differing perspectives of the Russian authors Dostoevsky and Chernyshevsky on the Crystal Palace itself, and even pondered whether 'Dostoevsky was thinking of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs when he wrote ‘The Crocodile’'.

Emile Zola's stay in Crystal Palace is covered in a previous Transpontine post.

Nollywood Now in New Cross

Nollywood Now, the UK's first festival of Nigerian film, is taking place at the Moonshot Club in New Cross in October. According to the organisers:

'The Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, exploded at the beginning of the 1990s and is now the world’s second largest film industry in the world in terms of number of annual film production. The industry has an estimated turnover of US$250 million, and produces around 2400 films a year. Films are rarely released in cinemas, but are distributed in DVD and VCD format in markets and shops for home viewing. In London, many Nollywood fans rent or buy their films from shops in Deptford, Peckham and Dalston...

Nigerian film is popular with audiences from across Africa. In 2006, 42% of Nollywood films were made in English language, 37% in Yoruba and 18% in Hausa. The industry has taken influence from all around the world (including Bollywood melodrama, Latin American soap operas, low-budget American/British horror and Hong Kong gangster flicks) but transform these influences to address local concerns.'

The festival runs from 6 to 12 October, with the launch event on Wednesday 6 October featuring a panel discussion and screening of the documentary Nollywood Babylon. The venue is the Moonshot Centre, Fordham Park, New Cross, London SE14 6LU

Full details of all events at the Nollywood Now site.

New Cross: handy for Millwall

Another groundbreaking piece of social research in Monday's Evening Standard, looking at the impact of the East London Line on house prices:

'Exclusive research for the Evening Standard today showed the value of properties in areas such as Haggerston, Shadwell, Wapping and New Cross have risen sharply over the past two years.
Estate agents along the route from Dalston in the north to Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south have seen a flood of enquiries from workers looking for quick transport links into central London'.

It includes summaries for some of the areas along the line, including New Cross and Brockley:

'New Cross/Gate [Average House] Price: £286,036 (+22.7%). Best roads: Billington Road and Pepys Road for Victorian houses. Why live there: Excellent if you are a Millwall fan. Good pubs include the Amersham Arms. “Outstanding” Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College. Who lives there: Musician Steve Harley grew up here.

Brockley [Average House] Price: £294,157 (+7.8%). Best roads: Five minutes' walk from the station, Wickham Road is rated one of the area's best. Why live there: The area is not short of green spaces with Blythe Hill, Brockley and Hilly Fields. Who lives there: actor David Haig and musician Nick Nicely'.

The article is based on the totally unbiased view of housing offered by local estate agents, who as usual are peddling two contradictory stories:

1. South East London is always already cheap, you can afford to live here.
2. House prices in South East London are always already rising, if you buy here you will be able to make money in the long run.

There's no questioning of the assumption that rising house prices are intrinsically a good thing - no interviews with people who might now not be able to afford to live locally (perhaps despite growing up round here) because of rising prices and their knock on effects on rents.

Anyway the fact that the Standard article highlighted the Millwall connection, complete with a photo of banner waving fans, should help to keep New Cross more affordable for a while longer!

Telegraph Hill Skate Park Latest

Earlier in the summer, the streets, pubs and cafes of New Cross and Brockley were abuzz with arguments about the potential location of a skateboarding area in Telegraph Hill top park. At a packed public meeting, the general consensus amongst skaters and park lovers was that it would be better to try and locate it in Telegraph Hill Lower Park. Since then a Skate Park Working Group has met three times and has come up with a proposal, as this report from Skate Park Action Group explains:

'The Skate Park Working Group includes: local councillors, Skate Park Action Group, designers, Park Users Group, Save Our Park and other interested people.The proposal is to use the path area on one side of the basketball court (East) and a small section at either end of this.

The Skate Park Working Group had a site meeting in the Lower Telegraph Hill Park and looked at all of the possible spaces. The site we agreed was best was to use the strip of path along the top side of the basketball court with a piece opening out at either end of this. It would create a dog bone / telephone type shape. The site benefits from banking and planting which screens views and noise, as well as being a good distance from houses. The fact that there are already activities (basketball / football) in the area was also seen as a plus. There is a path on the other side of the ball court so it wouldn’t affect access. The space chosen was far enough away from trees not to create problems, although drainage will be a consideration for the groundworks'.

The proposal will be put to a public vote at the next Telegraph Hill Assembly on Tuesday 21st September 2010, 7:30pm at Haberdashers’ Askes’ Hatcham Road College ( Jerningham Road site - lower school).

Upstairs in the Amersham Arms

Many bands have played at the Amersham Arms in New Cross over the years, and upstairs in the pub a few of them seem to be commemorated with their promotional photos framed on the wall (click to enlarge). Bit of a random collection - from top there's Beki Bond (also known as Beki Bondage from punk band Vice Squad); Attila the Stockbroker & John Otway; and The Barely Works.

Naturally this selection has got my musical archaeologist brain working. Obviously these photos date from the pre-internet days when a band's idea of self-promotion amounted to sending round black and white glossy pictures of themselves. London folkies The Barely Works existed from 1988 to 1993, so that narrows it down to a five year period. The caption on the Beki photo says Beki Bond (Bombshells) - the band she played with after Vice Squad and Ligotage from 1986 afterwards. Otway and Attila have been gigging for decades around London, separately and sometimes together. But in 1991 they made an album together called 'Cheryl, a Rock Opera'. So I am guessing that the Amersham Arms photo collection dates from around then.

Anyway back to the future, American songwriting legend Jonathan Richman is playing at the Amersham Arms on October 9th. Expect to hear the words 'One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six...'

172 to Brockley Rise

MC Jimit is seemingly an American house/hip hop MC and producer who was in London last December. He enjoyed his bus trip across town so much that he made this track '172 to Brockley Rise' (there's a sample of the title phrase at the end - obviously recorded on the bus). Not sure if he ever made it as far as Brockley, but the film shows a trip across the river, round the Elephant and Castle roundabout and down the Old Kent Road.

Melodica, Melody and Me

Brixton-based Melodica, Melody and Me have a sweet folkstep sound that combines folk and reggae influences. Their new single, Piece Me Back Together, is more towards the folky end, with a video shot at various Brixton and Herne Hill locations, including Brockwell Park (the front of the Prince Regent pub puts in an appearance).

Ballroom Boot Fair at the Ivy House

The next Ballroom Boot Fair at The Ivy House is happening on Sunday 29th August, 12 - 4 pm with 'art, wares, bric-a-brac, records, vintage clothes & cool junk!'.

Entrance is 50 p (kids free) at the Ivy House, 40 Stuart Road, Peckham Rye SE15 2PL.

Jude Cowan - Doodlebug Alley

Singer Jude Cowan kindly sent me a copy of her album and very good it is too - lots of uke-accompanied theatrical/melodramatic melodies. Jude played at Transpontine's legendary South London Songs day at the Telegraph Hill Centre a couple of years ago, where she performed her song Doodlebug Alley -named after the area of southern England/South London most vulnerable to Nazi rocket attacks during World War Two. This song is now the title track of the album, and here she is singing it:



More details at Jude's myspace site. You can catch her at the Montague Arms on 9th September.

Beautiful South Benefit

'Beautiful South' is a planned 'new free-of-charge anti-authoritarian South London newspaper', with the first issue due out in later this month. To raise funds for it there's a folk gig on Wednesday 18th August, 7.30pm @ The Windmill Brixton, 22 Blenheim Gardens, SW2 5BZ .

The line up includes:

* GRACE BANKS [ http://myspace.com/gracebanks]
* HANNAH SCOTT [ http://myspace.com/hannahscottuk]
* GABRIEL MESH [ http://myspace.com/gabrielmesh]
* MILLA TRAYLEN [ http://myspace.com/millatraylen]

Suggested donation: £3 waged / £2 unwaged.

For further information about the project contact beautifulsouth@riseup.net

Lewisham Booze Ban, No Thanks

As reported at Brockley Central, Lewisham Council is proposing to trial 'a borough-wide Designated Public Place Order (or Drinking Control Zone)' which 'will give police discretionary powers to stop people and confiscate, demand and dispose of any alcohol within the boundaries of Lewisham borough'. Failure to comply with a request from the Police to hand over alcohol would result in arrest and/or a fine of up to £500.

Is SE London now Straight Edge London, by order of the Mayor? Is Lewisham the new Saudi Arabia? Maybe not, but this is a pernicious plan

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with drinking in public as such. Sitting in the park watching the sunset with a drink in your hand, sipping from a can on the way to a party - these are some of life's harmless pleasures.

But wait, says the Lewisham press release, 'The DPPO is not a ban on alcohol consumption in a public place, and does not make drinking in public an offence, but is a measure that can assist in tackling problematic street drinking linked to anti-social behaviour'. So it's OK for some people to drink in parks and streets but not others, with the police deciding who can and who can't. If that's not a recipe for discrimination I don't know what is. In practice, as well documented for instance in Brighton, DPPO powers have been used to implement de facto bans on public drinking in some places, with people having drink confiscated while sitting in parks and on the beach, or even having unopened cans and bottles taken off them while walking back home from the off licence. The implementation certainly hasn't been restricted to 'problem street drinkers', but it has been used to target people who the police may not be so keen on, such as protesters.

Yes, say the advocates but this is just about tackling 'problematic street drinking'. It is true that there are places, such as outside betting shops, where heavy street drinkers tend to congregate. Some of these people clearly have alcohol problems, but for the most part don't cause anything more than minor inconvenience to other people most of the time. Sometimes drunk people do get aggressive and violent - but when they do, the police already have plenty of powers to deal with them.

There are some broader issues at stake here. The first is the use of arbitrary police powers. The historical relationship between police, courts and the individual in the UK requires the police to present evidence of wrong doing to a court, with the person accused having the right to defend themselves before a judgement is made on their guilt and a sentence passed. With the DPPO, the police officer is judge, jury and 'executioner' - they can impose a punishment on the spot, such as pouring away somebody's drink, with the person affected having no right to question their authority or decision before 'sentence' is implemented. Worse, under the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2001 (which gave Council's powers to introduce DPPOs), these arbitrary powers can be extended to other 'authorised officers' such as park wardens.

The second wider issue is the creeping hyper-regulation of public space. The nature of public spaces is that people engage in lots of different behaviours and activities, some of which other people may find irritating, annoying or even mildly offensive. As long as people aren't actually harming others, they should be left to get on it. Just because some people disapprove of others' actions is no reason to ban them. Just because a few people engaging in an activity do cause harm to others is no reason to band everybody from that activity. In this case the 'drunk and disorderly' behaviour of a few people, already covered by existing laws, is being used as the basis to affect everybody's right to drink in public. It may not be a total booze ban, but it does mean that drinking in public is only permitted if the police choose to allow it.

A further comment on the consultation. The Lewisham press release states that the plans 'have been given the go-ahead by the Mayor, Sir Steve Bullock' but that 'Before the implementation of any DPPO, the Council is required by law to consult with the public'. The whole tone of the press release suggests the consultation is an afterthought to a decision already made. The consultation information provides no real rationale for the decision, or evidence that there is a major problem that requires it. It doesn't ask for view, but only a 'yes' or 'no' on a survey monkey questionnaire. If you want to take part in the consultation, you need to do so at the Lewisham consultation site before 27 August 2010.

The Manifesto Club have lots of information about Designated Public Order Orders and their implementation elsewhere, as well as some good arguments against them.

See also Deptford Dame on this.

The Only Living Boy in New Cross

Indie outfit Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (or Carter USM as they were often known) took SE14 into the top 10 of the UK singles chart in 1992 with 'The Only Living Boy in New Cross' - it reached number 7, though the album it was on, '1992 - The Love Album', reached number one.

Must admit it was years later that I realized that it was a pun on the lovely Simon & Garfunkel song, The Only Living Boy in New York. Puns on South London locations were Carter's stock in trade, with other songs including '24 Minutes From Tulse Hill' and 'The Taking Of Peckham 123'. I think they were actually Brixton/Streatham based - one of them used to live on my road in Brixton when I was over there.

With its reference to 'gypsies, the travellers and the thieves... grebos the crusties and the goths', I always imagine that this song was inspired by the 1990s scene in The Dewdrop Inn, a pub with just such a crowd (just as the Crystal Palace Tavern in Tanners Hill had in the 1970s, according to an interesting recent comment at this earlier post). Anyway here they are on Top of the Pops in 1992 (the original video for the song is here):



Sang this great South London folk song a lot when I was with the Brockley Ukulele Group.

Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance

Just starting off, complete with new blog and Facebook Group, the Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance. They say:

'On 27/07/10 several local trade unionists, former councillors and local campaigners met to discuss ways to fight the cuts in services that both the Con-Dem Government and Lewisham Council have planned. The people at the meeting resolved to all they could to campaign in Lewisham and work with community campaigns to defend services that we all rely on'.

More to come, no doubt.

Tidemill Parents Question Academy Plans

A campaign has been started to oppose plans to turn Tidemill Primary School in Deptford into one of the country's first primary 'Academies'. Legislation to create Academies - independent schools funded by the government, but outside of any influence by local authorities -has been rushed through by the new ConDem government.

In the first instance, concerned parents are campaigning for a proper consultation about the proposals. They say: 'To consult with and inform parents, it has been suggested that over the summer holiday a random selection of 5 parents from each year followed by a one hour meeting by the Board of Governors is adequate. This petition is for a full and unbiased consultation with all parents and the local community before this important and far reaching change is pushed through to become an Academy'. They further argue:

• 'The decision to become an academy can’t be reversed,
• It affects whole community, not just current parents
• Some claim it will mean more money, but others say this will mean taking money off other local schools
• Some claim it will mean more freedom but other say parents will lose rights over Special Educational Needs etc
• The school will be run by a ‘trust’ – a private company set up by the governors. We may like the current head and governors, but what happens when they leave?'

A public meeting has been arranged for Monday 6th September, 7 pm at the Albany, Douglas Way, SE8.

Truth to tell, the full implications of the ConDem Academy plans are still unclear as so little detail has been published. But what is clear is that the plans are driven by an ideological imperative to create a market of competing schools, with a greater role for private business, and a reduction in the already limited input for parents and the community on governing bodies.

South London Folk Clubs in the 1960s

Folk music in London (and elsewhere) is going through one its periodic revivals, with banjos and mandolins flying off the shelves of the capital's music shops.

Over at folk music site Mudcat they've been discussing the London folk clubs of the earlier 1960s revival, and a few SE London venues get a mention.

In the early 1960s, there was a Friday night folk club at the Railway Tavern on Catford bridge, and a club run by the Young Communist League in Forest Hill. Seemingly, 'There was often a sing song in the Three Tuns, Blackheath... a fine 'alternative' pub in those days'.

In 1967/68 venues for folk clubs included the "Rising Sun" at Catford, the "Mansion House" in Deptford, the two "Tigers Head" pubs (Old & New) in Lee Green, and a club called Tramps & Hawkers at a pub on Blackheath Hill. This may (or may not) have been at The Green Man at the top of Blackheath Hill, where a club was held in the mid-1960s with notable guests including Paul Simon. The pub has long gone, replaced by housing in Alison Close (according to Edith's Streets, developed in 1972).

There was also at some point (early 1970s?) the Quaggy Folk Club somewhere near Manor Park.

As with all SE London musical histories, would be interested in any memories of these or similar places.

Thais, Jhoselin and Justina belong in Lewisham!

Hope it's not too late to highlight the plight of this Lewisham family, facing imminent deportation. According to Lewisham Anti-Racist Action Group:

'Thais and Jhoselin arrived in the UK with their mother Justina Grajeda and their father in 2002. Their father died tragically in 2007 in a bike accident. The girls were 8 and 9 when they arrived, and have done very well in two Lewisham schools. Now aged 16, they are described as grade A students, and both have places at local sixth forms. The have integrated well into their schools and the community, and have made significant friendships.

Since coming to the UK, the girls have become disconnected from the customs and the way of life in Bolivia. Their education and future well-being would be severely affected if they were removed from the UK at this crucial time in their lives.

The family’s application to remain in the UK has recently been turned down by the Home Office. This decision has brought great stress to this family, especially to the girls, who have been trying to come to terms with the unexpected recent death of their father. We call on the Home Secretary to grant this family the right to stay in the UK, where have built their lives. They are an asset to our community'.

There's a petition here.

Deptford spooks

Following on from the recent Brockley ghost tales, here's a couple from Deptford. The first comes care of Old Deptford History which recently reproduced a story from the Woolwich & Charlton Mercury 1994 (reprinted later in the Fortean Times). It tells of a resident of Watergate Street in Deptford who apparently suffered around that time from eery footsteps, doors slamming and a flying mirror, not to mention the sighting of a ghostly 'little girl with blonde curly hair'. The poltergeist activity was reported as coming to an end following the intervention of Gary Stock, a medium from Thames Street, Greenwich.

A more sceptical account of a Deptford ghost story comes from an interesting book entitled The Lone-Star of Liberia - Being the Outcome of Reflections on Our Own People by Frederick Alexander Durham. Published in 1892, this book by an African man living in London attempted to turn racist attitudes to Africans on their head by arguing that the natives of London were at least as superstitious and credulous as his compatriots.

The story, from 1891, is of a crowd of thousands turning out at St Pauls Church in Deptford to try and spot a rumoured ghost - said spirit apparently no more than a trick of the moonlight on some flyers posted on the church door.

The account remarks 'Just imagine the good people of Deptford believing in Junabaes!' The latter is obviously some kind of ghost, but does anyone know anymore? I googled that word and could find no trace of it.

Update 31 October 2016:

I have found a further account of the 1891 Deptford Ghost, from Maitland Daily Mercry (New South Wales) 15 July 1896. It adds the additional detail that 'a well-know local man who had committed suicide under somewhat romantic circumstances was at that very time awaiting inquest in the mortuary adjoining' and that this had fuelled belief in 'a ghost garbed in a flowing white sheet':

Goldsmiths Postgraduate Art Show

Some good work as ever in the Goldsmiths Department of Art MFA Fine Art exhibition last month. Coincidentally or not, a lot of my favourite work was by Korean students.


Highlights for me were Jin Hee Park's range of Ikea-like furniture with a twist...


... Hee Seung Sung's paintings (this one entitled 'The Garden of Eve')

Jin Yen-Lee's elaborate photo collages...

...and Hye Young Ku's performance/film piece, featuring Gaga-esque dance scenes shot in New Cross Road in that gap between Prangsta and the old Deptford Town Hall.