some scribbles
7 years ago
27.4.04
Woo! Yay! my modest blog has been linked to by the blog of Simon Thornton: A Mutual Misunderstanding -- one of the first people in Brighton to be on the internet and a great mac tech help to me when I was starting out! A handful of us Pavilion/Mistral pioneers used to meet in the Greys (we had to sit outside cos Tom Hadfield, inventor of Soccernet was only 12 and Tom Shepherd was only 16!) -- I was the oldest there -- but I don't think Simon ever turned up!
'Can you spare five minutes for charity?' -- the chugger debate rattles on -- why don't they ever stop me and ask me for dosh? Maybe I don't look rich enough....
Peter and Jane go the art gallery -- the Ladybird travelling exhibition finally hits Eastbourne. Hope to go on Thursday.
26.4.04
23.4.04
Kevin Ayers is appearing at Brighton's Komedia end of May. In Edinburgh last year I had a fit of nostalgia and bought one of his early CDs Shooting at the moon at Fopp, followed by another one back in Brighton (lots of extra tracks!). What a line-up: David bedford, Lol Coxhill and a very young Mike Oldfield! The babies on the cover of Whatevershebringswesing was coloured in by Adrian Boot -- I was round his house when he was doing it!
22.4.04
Natasha Kaplinsky features in one of the songs on my nephew-in-law Richard's band Anal Beard (which apparently isn't rude but a reference to obsessive record collectors). I'm going to write to her for an autograph!
Searched high and low for an Endofstory book yesterday, even went on a wild goose chase to the Marina cos a lady in the One-stop bus ticket shop at the bottom of St James's Street said there was a Waterstones near Cliff Richard's Walk of fame plaque. There is no Cliff plaque and no Waterstones at the Marina! Eventually got one thanks to a BBC Southern Counties compo, which I just picked up! Was on the wireless yesterday at the crack of dawn talking about cycle lanes...
16.4.04
My wildcard for the festival: Save Fische!, an exhibition in ex-German minesweeper on Shoreham riverbank
5.4.04
A good resource for finding that quiet real-beer pub down the back streets of central London: fancyapint? - the guide to London pubs
Some photos I took on my APS Canon Ixus of The Rutles at 100 Club, 30 March 2004. We missed the encore to run for the 12.05 train back to Brighton. According to fellow blogger Nick, I missed: Let's be natural, Get up and go, and Back in '64 with Barry Wom doing his paper-tearing routine! Support was Wreckless Eric and I bought his autobiography from the man himself, signed and all. Bit of a long day -- up for a meeting/lunch in the Channel 4 canteen, then on to a combo ticket at Tate Britain for Pre-Raphaelite vision (disappointing mainly landscape paintings, lots of toffs with magnifying glasses) and In-a-gadda-da-vida with Damian Hirst et al. Liked the big fish tank with (plastic?) meat; the rest a bit puerile, esp. Sarah Lucas's Smam 'n' ciggy stuff. With a pint or two on the way, finally at a pub with amazing stained glass windows and ample portions of chips called The Champion.
3.4.04
The first full-frontal portrait of an Egyptian pharaoh has been discovered -- also an early use of the grid!
31.3.04
28.3.04
A new blog by fringeguerilla planning a protest over the fragmentation of the Brighton Festival and the amount it costs to get into the brochure!
Jack Vettriano�s just an illustrator � and the problem is? - [Sunday Herald] Muriel Gray on why galleries prefer vacuous conceptualism to breathtaking art!
27.3.04
Statue marks a triumph for ordinary humanity: great letter in support of Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper statue.
25.3.04
It was only yesterday when Brian Grimwood dropped his slides off for tonight's BIG meeting that I discovered that one of my favourite illustrator/artists -- Glynn Boyd Harte -- had died! Here are some of his own words, written just before his last exhibition Apples and Artichokes. RIP.
24.3.04
22.3.04
Bought John Lennon's jukebox from Amazon -- great selection, but disappointing that The Big Three's 'Some other guy' is on there rather than the original (which was on the South Bank Show!). What I'd like to see is a compilation of all the originals covered by the beat groups of the mid-60s...
19.3.04
Went to the launch of the Brighton Festival Fringe brochure last night at the Sallis Benny -- top nosh from Moshi Moshi and Redeli, lots of good red wine and congenial company. Shame they chopped the festival in two tho: an elitist set of concerts in the Dome complex for the toffs with parades and fireworks for the plebs in the main festival; and everything else marginalised into a Fringe ('the biggest in England'!).
18.3.04
At long last!! David Devant and his Spirit Wife have a new record out!! on the Outstanding Records label.
Pregnant applause? -- an Argus feature about the Marc Quinn sculpture of Alison Lapper due to fill the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. I remember vividly seeing her degree show at Brighton Polyversity of photographic self-portraits -- initially a bit shocked but now full of admiration for her bravery in sticking up for non-standard people.
16.3.04
Great piece of scheduling last night: on Five at 7.30pm, Demolition Squad blew up three magnificent cranes in Liverpool, while at 8pm, over on Channel 4, Salvage Squad restored... a crane!
12.3.04
My dear Manchester friend Lois Blackburn has done some cards and e-cards for Darlington -- gorgeous!
Forget Starsky and Hutch, went to see the bizarre 70s film Thundercrack at Brighton's other art cinema, Cinematheque. It wasn't at all the two chairs and a video TV (as in Monkey Dust) I imagined, but a comfy little cinema with proper seats and real film. Stella Starr and entourage were there, her shrieking with laughter thoughout this odd and very rude film.
The great Stewart Home, author of Cunt and publisher of Smile, amongst many other works, has a website -- at least I think it's his.
11.3.04
10.3.04
Well! an old photo of me made the front page of a nostagia site called Potato Academy -- my potato year was 1968!
8.3.04
My old Guildford chum Jackie Wills gets a good mention in this Argus piece on poetry: It's poetic justice for women wordsmiths
Great video clips of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band on this Associated Rediffusion and Rediffusion London - Programmes (TV Ark) website -- doing Monster mash and The sound of music with Viv Stanshall never looking camper. We want a DVD and we want it NOW!!!!
29.2.04
The Field installation by Richard Box of several thousand fluorescent tubes 'planted' at the foot of a Bristol electricity pylon looks amazing -- shame I'll miss it.
22.2.04
13.2.04
12.2.04
Popped in to see Gavin Turk's maze at the White Cube -- not for the claustrophobic! Also some bronze painted binbags and a sleeping bag -- according to the handout, there was something called But, but I must have missed it. Was up in Town for an AOI Rights Grab seminar at the AOP. A street nearby had been dressed as Old Compton Street in the 50s/60s complete with old police cars and mocked up massage parlour. London, eh. Bomb scare at Farringdon tube on way home...
6.2.04
Historic railway in line for revival -- Volk's railway could solve some of Brighton's transport problems -- and it's been staring the planners right in the face all along!
5.2.04
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Broadcast | Swearing -- useful chart on what words to avoid when on TV! Johnny Rotten said 'fucking cunts' the other night during the live bit of 'I'm a celeb, get me out of here' when they tell who's gotta leave...
4.2.04
2.2.04
My review of Daniel Kitson last Friday. The laconic guy on the front row was my chum Toyboy Toni! Action-packed weekend: first the PV of Jon Mills metalwork and Andrew Mockett woodcuts at the Museum -- about time they had some art in there, and local art to boot! Then Kitson round the corner at the Pav Theatre. Saturday did a fab bookbinding workshop with Open House regular Nicola Jackson and then down the Freebutt to see Avy's band The Fuck You Planet Earth with Shark... Car gone for its MOT today -- not looking good!
27.1.04
25.1.04
BBC - Burns Night - Homepage -- och aye! it's Burns night -- sadly I couldn't find a veggie haggis at Sainsburys so had to pay the extra at Sunny Foods. My neeps (swede) and tatties are at the ready, as is my wee dram of malt..
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
23.1.04
21.1.04
20.1.04
Just been to see Lost in Translation at the Duke of York's -- wonderful film -- can't praise it enough -- the perfect love affair: grumpy old man (like me) and gorgeous young girl, ends after the first kiss... bliss!
Cartoon Laws of Physics -- defying gravity and Newton's Laws of Motion plus other assorted weirdness in the cartoon universe.
17.1.04
Gill Pyrah interview with Vivian Stanshall -- Christmas 1988 on a London radio station, probably LBC, reprinted in Mojo magazine as Viv promoted the Stinkfoot musical.
13.1.04
9.1.04
Woman who brought The Strokes to Britain -- three cheers to Anna! She's what makes Brighton a great place to be!
7.1.04
Last night I was invited to the the Dragonfly House of Marc and Angie to partake of a Galette du Roi from Brighton's Real Patisserie. Yum! Louis found the kangaroo and thus wore the crown. It's a French custom for Epiphany -- Twelveth Night. Who were the Three Kings? Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. And what on earth is myrrh?
6.1.04
American Splendor | Fine Line Features -- went to see American Splendor at the Duke of York's last night with Rick and Toni -- not as good as I was expecting (what DO you expect to see in a film about an irascible old man and his nutty wife?), tho good to see R Crumb's graphics -- and got a free cool 'Genuine nerd' badge or two in the bar. Not exactly the same as the one in the film, but never mind! Even worse!!! -- when I staggered home I caught the contestants in Shattered -- C4's see-who-can-stay-awake-longest version of Big Brother -- life drawing a (not young) nude model! The art teacher was a real cliche -- with a Viv Stanshall ginger beard and faded patchwork shirt!! (Where do art teachers get their shirts??)
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Canary Island whistles again -- the ancient whistling language of the Canary Islands is to be made compulsory at school.
2.1.04
10.12.03
How punctuation became sexy
Lynne, who has lived in Brighton, for ten years, began her war against bad grammar as a sub-editor for The Times, meticulously checking other people's writing for punctuation gaffes.
Her lowest moment, which prompted her to action, was seeing a banner at the Tesco Metro at a petrol station in Dyke Road near her home. It read: "Come inside for CD's, video's, DVD'S and book's."
The Royal Academy of Arts : : Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters
I took the day off yesterday to visit the Metropolis and see the Andrew
Lloyd Webber exhibition at the Royal Academy -- I'm a big Pre-Raph fan
and I was in two minds about this one, but i was very pleasantly
surprised by a) how big the exhibition was and b) of the quality of
the paintings and drawings! I'd expected 3rd rate rejects with
curiosity value only, but this was a fabulous collection -- he must be
seriously rich!!! There were whole galleries of Waterhouse, Burne-Jones
and Rossetti (I was surprised at the amount of R, cos I'm going up to
Liverpool next week to see the 'definitive' Rossetti exhib at the
Walker) as well as lesser seen artists such as Atkinson Grimshaw (plus
there's one strange room of odds and sods, including a Lowry and a
Picasso!!!). Lots of pots, furniture, tapestries and books too. Highly
recommended, but only on until 12 Dec!! No queues...
keep going to Cats, folks, so he can buy more...
also took in the Thomas Jones (not the singer!) exhib at the National
-- small but wonderful..
the London xmas lights were cr*p!!
3.12.03
14.11.03
12.9.03
5.8.03
31.5.03
30.5.03
29.5.03
28.5.03
16.5.03
Go west -- my letter about the West pier -- but how those few lines at the top crept in, we'll never know!!
13.5.03
8.5.03
We were very interested to read the comments of Alan Phillips (Letters, April 29). -- letter from the 'real' Fringe festival!
6.5.03
30.4.03
Teachers63 I had a dream last night about a cricketer called Albert Pipes -- I typed this into Google and this is what I got!
17.4.03
15.4.03
25.3.03
Steve writes: Now that all the roadworks at Old Street in London have been finished, a very bizarre cycle lane has popped into existence. There don't seem to be any others nearby. It's not the shortest, but it's surprisingly comprehensive.
21.3.03
20.3.03
12.3.03
Fietsersbond Afdeling Maastricht -- just added some more Dutch pix. Ivo Miesen just got word from the webmaster of the website of the 'fietsersbond maastricht' that he has two pictures of good bikepaths on his site. Both are taken in the town of Maastricht.
Ivo and Tim have been having quite a discussion about UK and Dutch cycle lanes... should install a forum!!
3.3.03
21.2.03
A mention of my weird cycle lane website in this week's Big Issue! ain't seen one yet... you can never find an Issue seller when you want one!!!!
16.2.03
BBC - Radio 4 - Comedy - Homepage -- The Shuttleworths new series has started -- dash! but you can catch up on the first episode on the wonderful R4 website, trouble is, after Thursday, they'll be Realplayer broadcasting next week's episode!!
15.2.03
10.2.03
8.2.03
Cyle emptiness -- (sic) blimey! fame at last! After the feature on me on page 3 of the Argus in Tuesday, a disgruntled letter writer tells me to get a life!
5.2.03
23.1.03
22.1.03
23.12.02
14.12.02
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