Master Shipwright's Revelry

Kit & Cutter's ambitious folk nights at The Deptford Arms are much missed (I took part in their fine May Day Spectacular). Tomorrow night (Sunday November 7th) they are back in Deptford for a one-off special, a unique musical event at the Shipwrights Palace. To be honest this will be worth going to for the venue alone, never mind the diverse menu of top-notch music. There's only a few tickets left, but there will also be a few on the door. Ful details follow:

'Master Shipwright's Revelry: Sunday November 7th 2010, Watergate Street, Deptford, SE8 3JF, 4pm til late, £15/£10

So Kit & Cutter was cut adrift from our home on Deptford High Street and in the intervening months we’ve been mulling and floating along, wondering where we might wash up… And now we're back with a lifesaving hand from our friends at The Magpie's Nest for the biggest event we've ever attempted:

A twilight festival of sea songs, sessions, fireworks and folk on November 7th. In a secret Palace. In Deptford. The Master Shipwright’s Palace in Deptford, is opening its doors for the evening’s events (which take place in the private house's grounds, unique riverside wooden theatre and ballrooms), include performances by artists from the esoteric end of modern folk and world music, and art noise including: Spiro, Princes In The Tower, Mamane Barka (from Niger), Perunika Trio (from Bulgaria), City Shanty Band, Boat Band, Kidnap Alice, Keith Kendrick & Sylvia Needham, Ladywoodsman, Nick Hart …and more

Musicians amongst you please BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS as there will be an open session and opportunities for floor spots. Throats and hips will be necessary for the singing and dancing.

There will be food, there will be drink, flotsam, jetsam, sparklers, spectres... There’ll also be a fire-lit ritual for a drowned sailor with river burial procession (we're not quite sure what this is yet but it will be invented shortly), plus lectures on London’s river faring traditions.

Tickets are £15 (bargain!) available from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/95723

Unless you arrive via the river in which case you get in free'.

Once upon a time it was a pub

The sad state of the former Deptford Arms, which closed last month after at least 150 years of drinking, socialising, music making, meetings and much more. Will history be made in the bookies that is set to replace it? I doubt it.

While I have previously voiced concern about the potential gentrification of Deptford High Street, to the extent that I would hate to see it become an extension of Greenwich, the equally threatening opposite pole is its social decay whereby public spaces such as pubs are turned over to the crudest ways of extracting money from the poor - bookies, pawn shops etc.

Kit and Cutter May Day Special

Kit and Cutter's May Day special at the Deptford Arms last night was really special. It was packed, as indeed it should have been for the presence of one of the most important figures in the last 50 years of English music - Martin Carthy. His two sets were great, a mixture of some of the finest played guitar tunes you are ever likely to hear with awesome folk songs. As a nod to his South London audience he sang Georgie, a song about poaching and gallows on Shooters Hill. A few years ago I sang this on Shooters Hill at the start of a South East London Folklore Society walk. Let's just say his version was better!

But his was not the only good voice on display. Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham were a revelation to me, they sounded amazing. Highlight for me was Ball O'Yarn - a song that begins 'In the merry month of may, when the men were making hay...' is followed by a predictable end nine months later.

Club hosts Kit and Cutter also sing beautifully - would like to see them do a full set some time. The Belles of London City coped admirably with the small and crowded stage to perform some high energy morris dancing (they recently explained it all to Paul Morley - check video here).

So obviously it was a great privilege for me to share the bill with this lot. The Neil Transpontine contribution was a short talk/slideshow giving a quick history of May Days in South London (will post up the talk later in the week).

That was the last Kit & Cutter at the Deptford Arms, as the pub looks set to be bookiefied. I am sure putting on a folk club there with its smelly toilets and noisy drunks in the public bar has been a bit of a challenge, but it's great to see this kind of music filling rooms in high street pubs. Hopefully they will find another venue soon not too far away.

(see also review at Crosswhatfields?)

365 days of Live Music

Hugo Simms has finally finished his epic exploration, 365 Days of Live Music in London. As he recounts in an article in The Evening Standard (16 April 2010), last April he made a vow to experience live music every day, taking him on an odyssey of streets, pubs, churches, concert halls and various improbable venues. All of this written up in his blog, and one day to be a book.

As Hugo lives in Nunhead, a lot of the performances were in South East London. The Birds Nest, New Cross Inn, Amersham Arms, Jam Circus, Old Nun's Head and Ivy House all get visited. There were several posts where I cursed that I hadn't heard about the gig beforehand - I mean, seeing Viv Albertine of The Slits at the Glad in Borough?

Hugo's effort should serve as a reminder of just how important pubs are for the culture of low key musicking - which is why it is quite right to get agitated at things like the threatened closure of The Deptford Arms.

Deptford Arms: historical notes

With continuing uncertainty about the future of the Deptford Arms, I've been looking into its history. Searching at Google Books, there are a couple of references to 19th century travellers stopping off at the Deptford Arms. But this is misleading, as the present pub at 52 Deptford High Street has only been called by that name since 1965 (I am guessing that the older Deptford Arms must have been on the Broadway).

There's some more information at the useful Dead Pubs site, which has a historical list of local pubs, inns and taverns. Here it clarifies that the current Deptford Arms was previously known as the Duke of Cambridge. It includes census information from 1881 which shows that most staff in the pub were living on site at that time - in addition to the landlord Richard T Stringer and his wife Matilda, three barmen, a potman and a servant were living there, as well as a wet nurse (presumably for the Stringers' baby son).

The pub was something of a radical meeting place. In the Deptford Infidels, Terry Liddle's short account of SE London secularists, we are told that in July 1871 'at a meeting in the Duke of Cambridge, Deptford High Street, a Mr Bishop lectured the Advanced Liberal Association on taxation and expenditure' and that in '1874 the National Reformer was advertising meetings of Deptford Radical Association in the Duke of Cambridge'.

According to Liddle, the Greenwich Advanced Liberal Association 'formed in 1869 at a public meeting of 500, wanted independent working class representation in Parliament, and so found itself in conflict with mainstream liberalism. A leading member the secularist William McCurly stated: "It was now time for the working classes to think for themselves and manage their own affairs"... Following a local agitation in support of farm labourers, members of GALA formed the Deptford Radical Association'. Jim Connell, who famously wrote the socialist anthem The Red Flag, was a member of the DRA.

As well as a meeting place, the pub has also been a music venue at various times. As mentioned before Squeeze had an early residency there in the 1970s.

The latest news on the pub, incidentally, is that Lewisham Council has given planning permission for a change of use from a pub to a bookies, but has refused planning permission for Paddy Power to make changes to the front of the building, including putting up a sign. This doesn't mean that the bookies won't go ahead though - Paddy Power may appeal, or come up with other plans. The pub will be staying open for a while longer at least, and will definitely still be open for the Kit and Cutter event on May 1st with Martin Carthy. Meanwhile, there is a similar issue in Peckham where Paddy Power are also planning to convert the last pub in the road, The Hope, into a betting shop.

Death of the Deptford Arms?

Sad news that the Deptford Arms, one of the last pubs in the High Street, looks set to close. Crosswhatfields? and Deptford Dame have the lowdown, but it seems that Paddy Power are hoping to turn it into another bookies (though they have been refused planning permission to make some alterations to the outside of the building). I am not one to assume that bookmakers are the source of all evil but a high street with seven bookies (there are already six) and only one place to drink and socialise is seriously out of balance, and the pub has also been a significant music venue.

Recently it has hosted the Kit and Cutter folk club, with a gig last month by Scottish singer Alasdair Roberts and a planned May Day event with Martin Carthy - let's hope the pub at least lasts that long. Back in the 1970s, Squeeze had an early residency at the pub.

The pub has recently come under pressure from the local police, who initiated a review of the pub's license by Lewisham Licensing Committee following a police raid to close down a music event with underage drinkers in November 2009. The Committee imposed a new license condition that the pub should supply police with details of any event at least 14 days in advance.

In other local pub news, Simon Nundy - landlord of the New Cross Inn - is standing for the Tories as their candidate for Mayor of Lewisham. Funnily enough there's been a close connection between the NX Inn and the Deptford Arms - for a while they had a joint facebook group and the same promoter (Tristan Scutt). Are they owned by the same people?

A Saturday in Deptford

I was sitting in the sun outside the Deptford Deli on Saturday when I came across the article in the Guardian about Deptford and its creative juices. I certainly soaked up enough of them at the weekend, starting with picking up a few books on the market followed by a gorgeous mixed meze for brunch at the Deli - the food there is excellent.

Next it was on to Laban for the end of year children's show. On account of the heat I had to have an iced coffee in the cafe there first, also run by Feast Your Eyes (who run the Deli) - not quite such a selection of food, but hey nobody ever got rich selling food to skinny dancers.

In the show there was some good dancing of course, but to be honest it's just a pleasure to sit in the Laban theatre listening to good music on their awesome sound system. The soundtrack to the performance included Squarepusher, Transglobal Underground, Nitin Sawney and The Prodigy - oh and a completely different tip The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams.

Then we went to the Deptford Arms for a bit to take in some of the Deptford Independence Festival, featuring music all day and most of the night at the Arms, as well as at the Birds Nest and the Albany. Highlight for me was Anthony.Love, a singer songwriter accompanying himself on a semi-acoustic bass. He did a good cover version of Bloc Party's Flux as well as some of his own songs (mural below is in the garden at Deptford Arms - same artist who did the recent Brockley station mural, I believe).

Finished up in the Duke, labanistas pub of choice, recently refurbished by the people behind The Dartmouth Arms in Forest Hill and the The Dolphin in Sydenham. It feels like it's about twice the size as when I last went there a few years ago, nice and airy with very comfy sofas. All in all a good day out in SE8.

Deptford Arms Talk

Tuesday's talk at the Deptford Arms on the musical history of New Cross and Deptford threw up a few new (to me) local connections.

One of the emerging themes of my research into this is that the amount of sustained musical activity in the area is not a result of some magic creative dust (well there might be some powders involved, but whether they promote or impair creativity is another matter), nor is it solely due to having Goldsmiths in the middle of the area (though that is definitely one contributor). A key factor has always been the availability of cheap/free places to live, rehearse and play music, with for instance local housing co-ops like Nettleton Road and Sanford being significant musical hubs.

So it was good to hear of some recent Sanford musicians. Apparently the bassist of New Young Pony Club lived there until recently...



... as did a couple of members of Spektrum (this is Kinda New):

.

Some other stories people came up with:

- Richey Edwards sometimes hung out on Crossfields Estate with Detpford-based Manic Street Preachers roadies.
- Futures nightclub was on Deptford Broadway where the Lady Florence Institute is now.
- The shop at 21 Deptford High Street that was the 1960s Soul City (Europe's first specialist soul shop) was later used as the base for Deptford Fun City records.

As always, keep the stories coming in if you have memories of any of this or related tales.

Artful: New Cross/Deptford history, music and weirdness talks

Artful 2008 runs for all of October, with lots of music, art and other happenings in New Cross and Deptford. The programme is being finalised but it will include a couple of talks by friends of Transpontine.

On Tuesday 14th October, Neil Gordon-Orr will be giving a talk (with music and visuals) on 'Deptford Fun City: the musical history of New Cross and Deptford', covering everything from music hall through to punk, reggae, Britpop and beyond. It takes place in the Deptford Arms, Deptford High Street at 7:30 pm, and admmission is free.

Thursday 30th October sees Scott Wood leading The Dark Arts Walk, starting outside The Hobgoblin Pub, opposite New Cross Station, at 7pm. The walk will take in New Cross and Deptford's strange and ghostly folklore and history. Ghosts and ghost hunters, witchcraft and the devil, an exploding chip shop and boozers from beyond the grave.The walk will take approximately an hour and a half and will end with a pint at the Dog & Bell, Prince Street.

Boozin' of the 5000: free punk festival

This weekend (Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th of September) sees the "The Boozin' Of The 5000", a punk festival taking place across 4 venues in New Cross and Deptford: The Birds Nest, The Deptford Arms, The Goldsmiths Tavern and The New Cross Inn. Around 60 bands will be playing everything from anarcho-punk to dub reggae, psychobilly to ska-core. More details at the festival myspace site