Fopp

Fopp, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Never mind Bill's and YO! Sushi! What Brighton needs is a Fopp record shop, and one is coming to North Street soon!

Mrs D's pies

Mrs D's pies, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

I bought this vegetable pasty from Mrs D's on Gardner Street, Brighton for my tea on Sunday after the Clarion bike ride. Very tasty at £1.50.

Giants of Steam

Giants of Steam, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Spent a few precious moments on the platform of Sheffield Park station on Sunday at the Bluebell Railway's Giants of Steam gala weekend, during a Clarion bike ride from Lewes. Some of the locos were built at Brighton loco works, including this BR Standard 2-6-4 tank No.80151 - built in 1957.

Some girls are bigger than others

Some girls are bigger than others by Anonymous Society. I'm so glad I don't have to write reviews for a living! This one would be difficult and I think on balance I'm neutral on this one. I so wanted to like this musical celebration of Morrissey and Marr's (darker, sadder) songs, and had high expectations of this production. I have to agree with the Argus review about the treatment of some of the songs, as flamenco, torch song or jazzy blues, in the style of Tom Jones or Joss Stone - there was even a duet! - but they were strong enough to transcend any repurposing. Peter and Lisa did like the interpretations, but I would have preferred them done straight. It could have been much better, but I'm not offering any suggestions. The Smiths were such a great band, head and shoulders above all the others, and deserve a better tribute. The stage was set with a last supper on the left (the tablecloth to be used in the action) with a large wall with door behind, and what looked like a radio half way up. To the right was a coffee table area with mirrored 'changing room' and behind that on a raised platform, the string quartet in DJs (the cellist did look a bit like Mozza in profile!). Behind them was a projection, mostly of a young boy stripped to the waist - a bit too homo-erotic for my taste. Sitting at the side of the Royal circle, we couldn't see this at first, so moved to more central seats - there were plenty of empty ones to choose from. I have no idea what the dance was all about (never understood the language of dance!), the retching and falling over, nor the spoken word stuff, but the songs were superb, though despite what it says in the Guardian review, we never got the title song, nor any of Mozza's wittier pieces. The Colonnade next door to the theatre does a fine pint of Harvey's - a real foamer. And it's the place to spot celebs - as well as members of the cast (we asked why no trapeze at the Theatre Royal?), Ardal O'Hanlon from Father ted was holding court as we left.

Preston Place

New flats built on historic site are courting controversy: 'The mock Tudor mansion, built in the Thirties for the family who owned the Palace Pier, was a Brighton landmark because of its position on the main artery into the city.' I've been photographing this development, which takes up every inch of the land where the house and gardens stood.

Argus review of Nyman

Nyman does little to enhance his profile, says Karen Dugdale, who didn't enjoy the subtlety of Monday's show.

Mark Power exhibition

A system of edges. Call me old fashioned, but I'm still not sure about exhibitions of photographs in art galleries. Books is where they should be IMHO. One of the great charms of the recent Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh was seeing his original photos, in various shapes and sizes (mostly small) and tints, alongside the magazines they were reproduced in. The accompanying new prints next door with their uniform large formats and tonal range, looked sterile in comparison. Mark Power's exhibition at the University of Brighton Gallery is a set of photos taken just off the map, one for each of the pages that fringe the edge of the A-Z Atlas of London. He's a bit of a completist - he sets himself an arbitrary systematic task, and when it is complete, like a stamp collection, so is the artwork - a past project was to document all the areas mentioned in the BBC shipping forecasts. The pictures themselves show often quirky bits of suburbia, unpeopled, and though cleverly composed lacking the wit of fellow Magnum photographer Martin Parr. As a piece of conceptual art, obvious comparisons include 'The Great Bear' by Simon Patterson, which takes Frank Pick's schematic underground map of London, with each station a 'star' be it a philosopher, footballer, scientist or actor. The A-Z atlas was covered coincidentally this week by Map Man (BBC2) Nicholas Crane, who investigated some of the spoof streets they include to protect their copyright. The underground map was covered in the last series of Map Man. (Incidentally, I once worked with Nick Crane many years ago at an architects in Gomshall called Hutton + Rostron.) The A-Z is undoubtedly an icon of London (a 2D colour-coded schematic with widened streets, flat green spaces and little else). But I do think it a little London-centric in an Iain Sinclair psychogeography sort of way, to say a trip beyond the limits of the map is 'a journey into the unknown'. Powers lives in Brighton, for goodness sake, and was born in Harpenden. But maybe it's the artspeak-bollocks-writing curator to blame? The photos themselves are OKish and some would make good postcards, though Caravan Gallery do it much better! I'd just like to see a little more effort - drawing or painting the suburbs, perhaps, like George Shaw, seen last week in the excellent The Secret of Drawing series, also on BBC2, who meticulously draws, from photos, banal suburban scenes around Nottingham nooneelse would think of recording. Don't get me wrong, I love photography, and I don't want to diss a fellow Brighton immigrant, especially now he's a Prof at Brighton university, but photography just seems too easy. Let's have some real painting and drawing on show for a change, after all there's even some (by Gillian Carnegie) in the Turner Prize this year!

Low-tide dash

Low-tide dash, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Did a completely mad thing last night - took part in the Brighton to Hove low-tide cycle dash! We gathered at Black Rock by the marina and walked our bikes down the pebbles to the exposed (just!) sand at around 6.20. It didn't look doable (some had done it before a few weeks back), I confess, but we headed off anyhow, dodging rocks, quicksand, sewage outlets (probably), surges of tide, deep water around the groynes, the lost rivers of Brighthelmstone, and later the lines of sea bass anglers. Got my feet completely soaked (and probably ruined my vegetarian shoes), and my bike was sounding very rusty, but it was great to cycle underneath the Palace (Brighton) Pier and get right up close to the collapsed part of the West Pier. I chickened out just inside the Hove border at a groyne too far, went squelching home to change socks and shoes and was late for the NUJ AGM - sorry comrades! More photos (in the dark!) on Flickr. Probably won't see you next time!

Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

I used to have a head massage to Gattaca or Carrington (it's Lemon Jelly these days) and last night's concert by Michael Nyman at the Dome was an aural massage. There was the odd thumping piece, reminiscent of his early pounding classics like The Draughtsman's Contract and Zed and Two Noughts but mostly it was how slow can you go with his recent film works from 1993 onwards: Wonderland, Diary of Anne Frank and his greatest hit, The Piano. It was as the ticket said: The Piano Sings. Like Man with the Movie Camera at the Festival Hall back in 2002, he played along to black and white films: first off a series of East End photos by Phil Maxwell, then at the end of the first half (over a backing track) to Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler's poetic Manhatta, complete with Titanic lookalike and fabulous steam engines. At the end of the second half (after songs from The Piano) we had Jean Vigo's surrealist A propos de Nice, and then a couple of encores. In between was a distracting blank blue screen (echoes of Derek Jarman?), but after the disappointment of my last Nyman outing, to Man and Boy: Dada at the Almeida last year, this was sublime. And I even got him to autograph my new CD in the Colonnade bar afterwards.

Catalyst Club

Another top 3-quid's worth at the Catalyst Club last night down the Joogleberry: a large prossie in tight corset called Letitcia talking about hiring male escorts at £250 an hour to pleasure her (or not!), some amusing anecdotes from 'Brighton's only full-time musician' and Arthur Brown's fiddler Nick Pynn (who also played with Rich Hall, Steve Harley and B*Witched!), playing not only the violin beautifully but also the Appalachian dulcimer (held together with gaffer tape) he built and 'cocolele' (made from half a coconut!) too - and Tim Pilcher, author of 'The Essential Guide To World Comics' talking about Indian comics! Plus a free CD of ape-related tunes. Shame about the 'beer'!

Ray Davies at The Dome, Brighton

Ray Davies at The Dome, Brighton, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

An unexpected pleasure last night when Curtis Tappenden phoned me to say he had a spare ticket for Ray Davies at The Dome (a ticket I'd tried to buy, but was sold out). Seats not great for views but the sound was crisp and clear. He came on (late) after an unannounced support act without ceremony and started to sing, soon joined by a full electric band. The first half was mainly new stuff, plus songs from the Muswell Hillbillies and his 'flop cult' album The Village Green Preservation Society: 'Picture book' and 'Johnny Thunder' and the odd hint of a 'retro' session to come. In the second half, he did most of The Kinks hits, some acoustic, some electric, ending with encores of 'Lola', 'Waterloo sunset' and - with barking dog guitar (but not a patch on Dave's) - 'You Really Got Me' which got the mainly oldster audience standing and dancing in the aisles. Not as much chat as when I saw him acoustic in Edinburgh a couple of years ago, but Ray is a national treasure and long may he rock. Curt was sketching throughout! Spotted Bob Mortimer outside afterwards with mini-skirted dolly bird in kinky boots, far too young to have remembered the originals...

Sir Henry at Steyning

Sir Henry at Steyning, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End by Vivian Stanshall adapted by Nick Linfield, performed by The Orion Players at Steyning Grammar School. What an excellent night out! Paul Cemmick drove and we found it thanks to Google maps, which oddly enough didn't show the school (it doesn't show railway stations either!). After we'd worked out the system of beer tickets, met Robert Rankin, the noted author, and secured seats on the front row. Great fun: Sir Henry was just right (once he'd found the corrrect moustache) and the song and dance routines were wonderful (loved Reg Smeeton's guitar solo to a Nice and Tidy song). Lots of ukulele action, and a good smattering of Bonzo songs to sing along to including 'Hunting Tigers out in INDIAH', 'Sport (The Odd Boy)', 'Look out, there's a monster coming', 'My *partner* makes the noises for the talkies' (by Nice and Tidy), 'I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight'... along with Viv favourites like '*Scrotum* keeps his clips on'! I don't know the Sir Henry scripts verbatim, but recognised many great lines from the radio series and film, tho strangely the one about 'If I had all the money I spent on alcohol, I'd spend it on alcohol' wasn't included (someone's going to tell me now it wasn't even in Sir Henry!). A fine tribute to the ginger English genius. Edinburgh next year? I hope so - go and see it tonight or tomorrow! More photos on Flickr - they're a bit static cos the moving ones were all blurred cos of low light!

Bill's

Bill's, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Brighton changes by the day and a whole new 'cultural quarter is opening up around the new library. There's a Starbucks opposite Wagamama, now Bill's Produce Store @ The Depot - Brighton's latest foodie emporium - has opened down the road, straight from its success in Lewes. Wonder how long the Foam Shop (formerly The Red Lion) will be around?

Patrick Caulfield RIP

Patrick Caulfield was one of my favourite painters. Saw a couple of retrospectives: at the Tate and the Serpentine - every picture a gem.

Price of pint proves costly

Price of pint proves costly: "Pub goers in Sussex are paying some of the most expensive prices for a pint of beer in the UK." Too right! - I paid £3.60 for a pint of young-person's continental lager at the Fortune of War the other night when down there for a BiG meeting at Castor and Pollux! No proper beer was being offered. I'm sure they used to do Harveys...

Brighton Critical Mass

Brighton Critical Mass, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Brighton Critical Mass on 30 September 2005 approaches the Palace Pier. A bit blurred cos of low light! Around 50 people took part. More photos on Flickr.

Website wisdom

I was trying to think of the absolute cheapest and easiest way for an illustrator to have a web presence (the subject of tonight's BiG meeting). A lot of people are frightened of html and programs like Dreamweaver are daunting and over-complicated. I've been interested in the web since the earliest days of Prestel-based Micronet 800 in 1983 (using an acoustic coupler to connect a Sinclair Speccy or BBC B to a telephone handset!) and the pioneering NUJnet in 1992, when I had to dial in to Manchester (from Brighton!) using my little US Robotics Sportster 44k 'stylophone' modem. When Pavilion opened in Brighton in 1994, and offered graphical browsers (NUJnet was entirely text-based - hard to believe now), I was one of their first customers! And when Mistral offered a cheaper service, I moved to them - then to Freeserve (cos it was free!), BT Home Highway ISDN, and now ntl broadband. Someone introduced me to the once free webspace of Geocities (never the same since the Yahoo take-over) and I've had websites there ever since. The first one just comprised centred text and images on a white background (I still have sites like that!), modelled on the clean lines of Salon (which looks so cluttered in its present form) and written in html using PageSpinner to help out. I feel sorry for people starting out now, expected to learn CSS and use scary programs such as Dreamweaver. It seemed so simple back then... 1 To get a toe in the water, open a Flickr account - it’s really for photo sharing, but what’s to stop you uploading illustrations? http://www.flickr.com You’re allowed a 20 Mbyte monthly upload and 3 photosets before you have to upgrade to a paying service ($25 a year). See how other illustrators use Flickr on http://www.flickr.com/groups/35468132865@N01/pool/ NB the terms and conditions say: ‘Flickr is intended for personal use and is not a generic image hosting service. Professional or corporate uses of Flickr are prohibited.’ If you post published material, get the permission of the client or copyright holder. How much? it’s FREE! 2 Start a blog (a web log, or online diary) http://www.blogger.com/ Blogger will host it for you or you can host a blog in your own web space (see below). A nice example of an illustrator’s blog: Jago http://jagoillustration.blogspot.com/ Flickr has a ‘Blog this’ button that automatically puts images into your blog, along with a caption. To get the most out of a blog, you may have to learn a bit of html, for example this piece of code places a link in your text: Here comes a link: <a href="http://www.website_address.com/"> the link text</a>. Homework: learn about Technorati, RSS feeds and stat counters! How much? it’s FREE! 3 Create a portfolio website There are various freeish portfolio websites on the internet, but are limited in scope and appearance and usually want you to upgrade. An example is Voodoochilli, but do a Google for more. http://voodoochilli.net/about.php The most respected pay site (apart from BiG’s own!) is the AOI website http://www.theaoi.com/ How much? a self-managed portfolio of up to 20 images/animations costs £47 a year for AOI members; £60 for non-members. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) - the company you dial into or buy broadband from – will usually give you ample free web space to host your website – check out their website for details. You can also have your site hosted somewhere else, but it’ll cost you (unless you open a free Virgin account). How much? it’s FREE! You can design your own website by learning a program such as Dreamweaver, GoLive or (for Macs) the easy-peasy wysiwyg Freeway http://www.softpress.com/en/freeway How much? $89 for the starter product. Freeway 4 Preview is a FREE fully functional time-limited version that expires on 16 October 2005. But you can also create your own portfolio site using a program such as JAlbum – a bit fiddly but you don’t need to learn any html. http://jalbum.net/index.jsp How much? it’s FREE! A typical portfolio site will consist of thumbnails (little versions of your image) which when clicked will produce a page (or pop-up window) showing a bigger version. For a neat site, make sure all your thumbnails are the same size, ie 120 x120 pixels and the big pictures are all the same width, ie 550pixels. They only need to be 72dpi, ie screen resolution. Get them ready in Photoshop, with logical names, ie potato.jpg for the big one; potato_t.jpg for the thumbnail. To upload your website from your computer to your free webspace, you’ll need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program such as Fetch http://fetchsoftworks.com/ How much? it used to be free, but now it’s $25! 4 Get your own domain A domain name such as www.yourname.co.uk will look professional and you’ll be able to change ISPs in future without having to change your stationery every time! A domain is like a PO Box – a message goes to your domain and then gets redirected to your ‘real’ address. This works for websites and email. 123-Reg will let you manage your domain online. Beware of your domain being held to ransom by firms with hidden charges. http://123-reg.co.uk/index.shtml How Much? £6.08 for 2 years for a .co.uk domain; £21.12 for 2 years for a more desirable .com domain 5 Pay someone else to do it If you can’t be doing with all the above, pay someone to do it, but make sure you’ll be able to update your website whenever YOU want to. Tips Learn some html! You’ll need it one day. Learn about CSS (cascading style sheets) – it’s the future! Use Google to find online tutorials. Keep your website simple and accessible. No music! Avoid using Flash, unless you are a Flash animator advertising your wares. It does annoy some people! Avoid an ‘Enter site’ page, let the punters get stuck in straight away. Don’t be shy! Go for it! How to be top of the Google listings Everyone wants that! Google’s algorithm judges the popularity of a website by, amongst other things, the number of other sites that link to yours. So, be generous and link to lots of other sites, then ask them kindly to reciprocate! Homework: learn about Meta tags. Disclaimer: There are other photo sharing etc websites available, but for the sake of simplicity I have given one example of each kind of service or program. Use Google to find others.

Quornish pasty

Quornish pasty, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A Quornish pasty from Grintz -- good value at £1.30. I shall enjoy this for my tea tonight. Thanks to Peter Chrisp for the tip-off.

Giant garden spider

Giant garden spider, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

My tiny garden is full of giant spiders at the moment - busy weaving webs after the rain - I wish they would learn to eat the snails that have been demolishing my beans!

Bring Omar home

omar_1, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A demo to bring attention to Omar Deghayes, a Guantanamo Bay hunger striker with connections to Brighton, outside the Brighton Centre.

Hurst cow

Hurst cow, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A painted cow outside Hurstpierpoint College as part of the Hurst Festival. Spotted on today's Clarion bike ride.

Labour Party conference

Labour Party conference, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

The Labour Party Conference is in town (begins tomorrow) and there's a ring of steel around the Grand, Metropole and Brighton Centre. Apparently any cycles found parked nearby will be blown up! I went down the seafront to take some snaps and was 'stopped' (but not searched) and given a ticket by the Bill for taking a snap (on Flickr) of the bridge between the Metropole and Grand! The cop had a good look through my photos but luckily didn't delete any!

Waitrose vegetable pasty

Waitrose vegetable pasty, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A lovely chunky potato-based pasty from Waitrose, nicely packaged too – a bargain at £1.55.

Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness: some odd signs and instructions from around the world. Also an example of a simple portfolio site, powered by JAlbum.

Who Ate All the Pies: Barnsley poet Ian MacMillan travelled the country to sample local varieties of pie. In the final programme, Ian visited Mousehole in Cornwall to find out why, every 23 December, the village celebrates Tom Bawcock's eve at the Ship Inn with starry-gazey pie, so-called because the heads of pilchards poke through the crust. This one is suitable for fish eaters. The fourth episode (missed it!) found him in Forfar where Bill McLaren's family has been baking Bridies since 1893. Ian investigated their origins: were they served at weddings, did someone called Bridie invent them or does Bridie refer to the shape of these broad pies? And the poet W N Herbert from Dundee introduced Ian to the infinite variety of Scottish pies, including such culinary attractions, or abominations, as the Baked Bean Pie and the Macaroni Stovie.

Northern food

northernfood1, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Lynne Truss would not be amused at this label - it could have been worse, however: Pets Peace's, for example. I did manage to pick up a big bag of black peas (maple peas, pigeon peas, parch peas) for 49p for 400/500g. More photos of black puddings, tripe etc from the world famous Bury Market on Flickr.

Blue pillar box

Blue pillar box, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Today's quiz. This is a genuine working pillar box on the streets of Manchester, but why is it blue? No photoshopping has been used on this photo!

Well, nobody got the right answer! It is a homage to the 'Air Mail' pillar boxes back in the days of yore. It's outside the Air and Space Hall of The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester's Castlefield.

Butter pie

Butter pie, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Butter pies from Bury indoor market (Redmond's?) - at 65p each! The filling is sliced potato with a hint of onion - and presumably butter. Could be improved on, but what a bargain (especially if you buy three). Also sampled a vegetable pasty from The Pasty Shop on Manchester Piccadilly station - very nice traditional Cornish pasty filling of potato and swede, but with sweetcorn instead of meat. Pastry a bit greasy. Yummy, but dear at £2.49

Embassy Court restoration: Bluestorm is inviting the people of Brighton and Hove to join residents at an event called Vive Moderne on Saturday to celebrate the completion of restoration work on Wells Coates' block of flats. Unfortunately I'll be Up North at a wedding! Yesterday, trolled along to Bona Foodie for a veggie pasty, but none were available because of the bank holiday. Made do instead with a vegetable pie from the pie shop on Baker Street (now there's a strange street full of odd shops!) - quite acceptable for 95p, despite the uninspired filling of broccoli and carrots in a tomato sauce. Served with steamed spring greens, reduced to 34p from the Co-op.

Here come the pie shops

Here come the pie shops, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Here come the pie shops. Gardner Street alone now has (or will soon have) three! First was Pokeno Pies - it seems only yesterday that the Cornish Pasty shop opened in Duke Street, now they're everywhere! One day I'll try to document the shops that come and go in the North Laine, which won't be easy since the demise of street directories like Kelly's (superseded by the phone books, I suppose?). I love pies and pasties, tho not eating meat, ones for me are hard to find. And I've never liked cheese and onion ('do I have to spell it out?'). Saisbury's used to do a lovely Savoury Pasty but it's gone now. The only place I've seen with a decent pasty is Bona Foodie in Kemp Town (and now Hove, actually). I also miss suet puddings (and faggots in gravy). I did have a gorgeous suet pud one Xmas at Terre a Terre, filled with wild mushrooms and dark gravy, a bit like this recipe. BTW went on a Clarion bike ride yesterday and ended up at a pub with a carvery! Did manage to negotiate a meat-free meal, and was treated to a plate of English over-boiled veg (but the Yorkshire pud, stuffing and roast potatoes were very welcome)!

EPIC 2014: thought-provoking film about the future of the net and the end of journalism as we know it.

Brunswick Festival

Brunswick Festival, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Popped along to the Brunswick Festival in Hove this affy to meet up with some chums down from London - didn't even know it was on! Bought some weird vegetables.

The route taken searching for the Burry Man.

Edinburgh festival

Edinburgh festival, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Just got back from a week in Auld Reekie during the festival. Highlight was seeing the last night of Fawn Again by John Shuttleworth where he sang 'Can't go back to Savoury now' amongst others in a slightly shorter show than the one I saw in Brighton (that's the Edinburgh Festival for ya!). Guess who was in the queue, standing right behind us? Jim (3-2-1 Bullseye) Bowen! So that's where he gets his jokes – there is a facial resemblence too! Also saw a preview (not the premiere) of It's nice up North, the collaboration between John and Martin Parr. Graham Fellows made a rare public appearance to introduce it, saying the DVD of the latest cut was still burning. So we got half of an old version then after much fast forwarding, the second half of a newer version.

Martin Parr was only there on 'celluloid', but I saw him in person at the National Gallery giving a free talk about his work and collections of boring postcards and Saddam Hussein watches! I asked how he got on with John Shuttleworth (no mention of the film in his talk) – he said they were great friends. Phew! That's a relief.

Another highlight was a visit to the Thermos Museum in the New Kirkgate Shopping Centre in Leith. Catch it if you can – curator Neil Davidson and his lady assistant are saving up for a tent to take it touring. Local scientist James Dewar invented the vacuum flask.

Finally we saw the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the Pleasance – great heart-warming gig. Highly recommended – and there's a free badge! That swung it for me.

Also saw the Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Dean (crowded!), the Bacon exhibition at the Modern Art museum (boring), and various other art exhibitions. Saw The Odd Couple in the Assembly Hall (not the Rooms!), with Alan Davies and Bill Bailey (and a few others!) which was much better than the critics said. Simon Munnery at the Stand was great, as usual; and Daniel Kitson was hugely entertaining (but expensive) at the Traverse with his stories for the lonely. His delivery reminded me of John Peel, and he didn't say cunt once. He must be after a radio show! The Ceasar Twins (a spin off from La Clique, which we couldn't get tickets for) were really one for the ladies – impressive but cheesy. The free comedy with Peter Buckley Hill at the Canon's Gait [or is that the Canons' Gait] can't be faulted – it's free and the beer's good – only one poor sod lost it, the others were very good (Bennett Arron and Patrick Monahan were the best two). Much better value than the Comedy Zone at the Pleasance, which we had to pay for and only 2 of the 4 comedians (Mark Oliver and Matt Green) were funny.

Low point was our fruitless search for the Burry Man at South Queensferry last Friday. Despite schlepping up and down the High Street, there was no sign and we had to run for the train at Dalmeny to catch John Shuttlworth at the Pleasance! (We also didn't see Rebus at the Oxford Bar!) Next year maybe...

Brighton Pride

pride1, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A few snaps from Brighton Pride. People kept getting in the way! Shame about the weather.

Building site graffiti shows off hip hop artists' work: "The largest collection of graffiti artists ever assembled in the UK descended on the city at the weekend as part of the Brighton Hip Hop Festival."

Woo! Yay! The new (4th) edition of my book Production for graphic designers is Book of the Month in Computer Arts magazine. Get it here.

Barratt sales centre

Barratt sales centre, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

A Des Res in Central Brighton - have you got any country cottages like yours? No, we only do flats (aka luxury apartments)!

Like those going up over there...

Meanwhile, in the Bohemian North Laine Quarter (how many quarters can a city have? more than four?), Vegan ice 'cream' from The Hemp Shop, Gardner Street, Brighton sold from recumbent bike.

Graffiti event

graff1, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

There is some kind of graffiti event (or Graff Jam as the young people call it) going on around the new Station building site - part of the Brighton Hip Hop Festival, tho I can't find any web reference to it -- took these photos on my way home from a Clarion bike ride. More on Flickr.

Eric Idle - Idle Bytes: Ouch! Biting satire?

Library fans' fury at bargain book sale: yes, where are all the books in our new award-winning library? I'm conviced there were more on display at the temp library at Vantage Point.

Two hills

Two hills, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Hmm, keeping a blog up to date isn't easy! On Sunday was in the sweep van for the Capital to Coast bike ride (so didn't see many cyclists!) on a very hot day. Didn't take many photos, but here are two hills – Box Hill (below) near the start and Devil's Dyke (above) near the end.

Been wasting too much time today on this excellent game: Escape from Brighton Pier -- give it a try! Bl**min' seagulls!

seagulls

seagulls, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

These are some of the blighters who stomp around on my studio roof and whose parents, I suspect, knock over and drink my milk!

Yvonne's Diary part 2 clears up the mystery why Neil Innes was so alo-ho-ho-hone supporting the Rutles on Wednesday 8 June. A great read! Looking forward to the comeback tour...

Inspirational address by Steve Jobs who never finished college to Stanford University, who says: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Austin I

Austin I, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

On our regular Sunday Clarion bike ride, we stopped at a pub – The Laughing Fish, Isfield –right by the Lavender Line and I couldn't resist a quick look, especially since I'd heard the toot of a steam loco. It was 0-6-0 saddle tank Austin I, built in Leeds in 1932 by Kitson & Co Ltd. I had a quick look in the sheds and spotted a Sentinel vertical boiler loco.

Make Poverty History in Brighton

Make Poverty History in Brighton, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Brighton's Make Poverty History demo aimed to form to a human white band around the Royal Pavilion. Well, unfortunately there weren't quite enough folk to do that, so we walked around it instead!

Great David Devant and his Spirit Wife interview by Dave Gorman last night (Wednesday) on BBC 6 Music - hear the whole show here while it's still available, or collect MP3s from the Chat Board courtesy of Mr Tim. Includes live tracks 'Distant stars', as featured on Mikey's blog and 'About it'.

Michael Chapman

Michael Chapman, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Michael Chapman is still going strong, and was playing at The Greys last night. Despite being rude about Lancs – his Yorkshire humour comes as a pleasant contrast to his songs, which can be a bit on the gloomy side – I really enjoyed his set. I last heard him around 1971 (I have a white-label acetate of 'Window', given to me by someone – Lynne Boot? – at Blackhill Enterprises, when we shared an agent). In Neil Innes style, he did a medley of his greatest hit 'Postcards of Scarborough' ('they 'ate me there', he said!) and many other favourites. He's a great guitarist too, doing a couple of instrumentals and finishing with a 'pastiche' (his word) tribute to John Fahey. He had a story about that great man too, but it was a hot night and after several pints of Harveys and a hay-fever pill, I was beginning to nod off and can't remember it! I must be getting old…

Embassy Court

Embassy Court, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Went on a tour of Embassy Court today, part of Architecture Week. Embassy Court is a grade II* listed building designed by Wells Coates and opened in 1935. The tour cost 6 quid and was conducted by Stuart Adams, who has a small flat in the building – a Canadian like Wells Coates, its architect. We started in the boarded-up lobby, which once had a mural by E McKnight Kauffer, a walnut desk and a doorman. Jo Moore, Chloe and Laurence also turned up. Then we went up to the roof (I took the lift!) for some magnificent views. Then down the outside stairs to a couple of empty flats, then to the 'office' down below. It's being restored with the help of Terence Conran's name, in the person of Paul Zara and is now owned by Bluestorm, a company formed by the residents. Once the residence of Laurence Olivier, Rex Harrison, Diana Dors, Graham Greene and Keith Waterhouse, but more recently a dilapidated eyesore full of junkies, it now looks pretty good! More photos on Flickr.

Another Embassy Court site, which doesn't seem to be working at present.

Michael Munday

Michael Munday, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Michael Munday has swopped watercolours for plasma screens for his Architecture Week installation 'Exploring the Labyrinth' at Brighton's new Jubilee Library. Went along to his PV last night (must go back and have a proper explore with my reading glasses!) and also found myself at an awards ceremony – for Art Plus 06. Deaf people were well served by subtitles and a signing person – tho the software that produced the live subtitling needed a bit of tweeking, some of the phonetic attempts at people's names were unfortunately hilarious. It was also a bit ironic in that some of the awards were for sound installations! Must muse on this a bit more, a bit controversial, but… when we all know that art is therapeutic by its very nature – like birdwatching, engaging with art can uplift the spirits – and we all want inclusivity, but why oh why, when it comes to public funding, does art always has to relate to disability? Forgot to return my CDs while I was there…

West Pier by moonlight

West Pier by moonlight, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Took a few photos of the amazing moonrise, after attending the solstice NUJ Brighton Branch beach barbie at Norfolk Groyne on the Hove border, where I got to chat with Carol Cleveland, she of Monty Python fame! Big thanks to Jemima for organising the bash...

Free enterprise: a feature on Freecycle.

Archetype

Specimim, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Archetype is part of Architecture week: It was a serendipitous meeting while sending off the G8 cyclists. Jeremy Radvan was walking his Dulux dog on the prom and mentioned he was in a performance that night down the sewers. How could I resist! So at 7pm I turned up with sensible shoes and was led though a door under the Palace Pier and into the Victorian sewers (with hard hat and rubber gloves) to see 'Vestige': Rajyashree Ramamurthi emerging from the 8ft tunnel followed by a clarinetist and being drawn on live by Jeremy with Wacom.

Outside, bumped into Guardian photographer Roger Bamber, who very kindly took a photo for my publishers on my camera. He was part of a Sarah Heyworth gravy train that also included Foz? (from David Devant and His Spirit Wife) and Mrs Foz? (or should I say Max and Mr Max). Over to Frank-in-Steine for a pricey cappuccino (£1.70 in paper cup) and another Archetype performance, this time by Mim (Miriam King) and bloke on roof, called 'Specimim'. A quick visit to the Unitarian church, wine cup in hand to don spirit spex for Liz Aggiss's 'Men in the wall' 3D video starring Jedi Bassan, then back to the grassy Steine for band and chat with Foz? about ukuleles – top night out! A big thank you to the lovely Lisa O'Connor for my badge!

More pix on Flickr.

Train-home ban for big bike ride - it is ridiculous that bikes will be banned on all trains in the South East because of the London to Brighton bike ride! Surely Southern can bring back a few slam-door trains, or goods vans to carry all those passengers?

Indymedia UK - Critical Mass Brighton: a write-up of last night's critical mass. There's a G8 blog too.

g8 bike ride

g8 bike ride, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Got up early this morning to give the intrepid people cycling to the G8 protest a send off from the Palace Pier. Cycled as far as St Peter's church and left them heading for Ditchling Beacon.

Brighton critical mass

Brighton critical mass, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

I'm a big fan of The Bill and would happily go for a pint with Reg or Tony Stamp, but for a middle-class Independent-reading cyclist like me it comes as a bit of a shock to come face-to-face with real policepersons at work. After a pleasant ride around town with a few friends (a critical mass event actually), we were stopped and told off for causing an obstruction to traffic just as we were all about to go home. One poor chap was arrested, handcuffed and taken to the nick. We were all asked for our names, birthdays and addresses on pain of being arrested under Section 25 of PACE or so Sarge 728 told me! Why weren't they having a word with those impatient van and car drivers, who are normally happy to sit in traffic jams chatting on their mobile phones, driven to making wreckless and dangerous manoeuvres at the sight of 20 or so cyclists using the road - or perhaps it was the tantalising glipse of the open road ahead? More photos on Flickr.

Afterwards, popped along to The Bugle to see (North) South African legend Solani S Mthombeni play guitar and sing, accompanied by Risenga Makondo on drums. Foot-tappingly sublime.

John Shuttleworth was in fine fettle - and fawn - last night at the Garden, err Gardner, Centre in Falmer. There was more chat than songs, and many of the songs were new, to me at least! 'Biscuits and confectionery', 'I can't go back to Savoury!' (my titles) along with 'Shopkeepers in the North', 'Eggs and gammon', a nice animated 'Unaccompanied lady', and of course 'Y reg' and 'Pigeons in flight' for the encore. We also got the trailer (on the website) for 'It's nice up North' widescreen, and a set by Dave Tordoff. Bought the Jilted John CD, but we really need a follow up to 'The Yamaha Years' with all the new songs on! Plenty of artists on the front row - inc. Jon Mills and Andrew Mockett; me and Alan Buck were on the second row, right in the centre. Tip: get your beer at the student bar opposite! No photos cos it was in a theatre venue!

Argus letter: EDO protests turn nuclear: "EDO is also closely involved in the development of the Storm Shadow SCALP E, a long-range, cruise missile".

TV's Time Team dig into the past near Worthing: what could be one of the most significant Neolithic sites.

Scuffles and arguments as marchers take to the city streets: the Argus take on the protest demo against EDO MBM Technology.

EDO demo

EDO demo, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Today was a demo march against EDO, the local arms firm that make release mechanisms for bombs on planes. Not too many people there, considering it was a national demo. Loads of police tho, and there were one or two confrontations – under the station tunnel by the Prince Albert and also on Queens Road, where we were hemmed in by lines of police all round, but generally it was good natured and I was even asked by a very nice WPC outside the police station if I'd enjoyed myself! More photos on Flickr, tho it's not easy to take good photos of a demo, when you're in the middle of it and not allowed out!

Popped along later to the Phoenix to view an exhibition by Greg DaVille called Covers. People had been invited to re-create their favourite album covers – what a great idea – and some fab photos produced. Unfortunately today was the end-of-show wrap party. Loved the King Crimson one.

Wreckless Eric

Wreckless Eric, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

After a quick PV (missed the wine!) in the old Argus basement - a sort of Brighton v. Worthing art show, with Worthing represented by RAG (Dan and Steve - love your work!) and Brighton by Contemporary Gallery (no website?), popped along to the Marlborough to see Wreckless Eric, supported by the very versatile Paul Stapleton and his other band Pog, Annalise playing a very cute heart-shaped lilac bass.

Eric was in fine form, just him and 3 guitars on the intimate (but hot under the lights) stage. The audience seemed to be mainly old men (myself included) and he was receptive to requests (except he refused do the Cliff Richard hit 'Broken Doll'), doing 'Joe Meek' straight after 'Reconnez Cherie'. For 'Whole Wide World' we had to wait for the end of the set, but in between we got an empassioned 'Same' and '33s + 45s'. And then there were the stories - about his crap French (denied later by his Mum who was also in the audience), the perils of playing on home turf (followed by 'Local'), singer/songwriters and lots lots more, usually accompanied by his trademark chug (but nothing about Elvis Costello this time!). A national treasure, can't wait for the sequel to 'A Dysfunctional Success'. More photos on Flickr.

(NB www.wrecklesseric.com doesn't seem to be working at the mo)

Flickr: Photos from fred pipes: I think I have this Flickr thing sussed now!

The Rutles 8 June 2005

The Rutles on stage 8 June 2005, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

There was already a queue at 7.15 last night when Nick and I arrived from The Angel on St Giles High Street (beer at £1.70 a pint - in London!). I'd picked up a Rutles DVD at Fopp for a fiver and the anticipation of the first night of the last London appearance of The Rutles was electric. We managed to get a table on the far side of the stage - Neil's set-up however was at the bar end and the grand piano was covered.

The first half of the Neil Innes double bill at the 100 Club was billed as 'with Friends', but Neil was All Alo-ho-ho All Alo-ho-ho-hone (except near the end when joined by Rutling Ken on 'Ego Warriors'). Where were they? He kicked off with 'Protest Song', followed by all the old favourites and a good portion of the new CD. Finale was 'The Philosophers Song' for the Monty Python fans.

For the second half, the stage was full of men in black: John Halsey (Barry) and JJ Jones on drums, Rutlin' Ken Thornton on lead guitar , Mickey Simmonds on keyboards and Mark Griffiths on bass. They started with 'Major Happy' and it was rocking and singing along from then on. I tried to keep a set list but, what with trying to take photos and getting carried along, it soon lapsed! They must have done 25 or so numbers by the time 'Shangri-la' and 'Get up and go' (appropriately) finished the set. First encore was a tribute to George Harrison with 'Isn't it a pity', followed by 'Back in '64', featuring Barry Wom on paper tearing. I can't even remember the second encore (too busy taking snaps) but it wasn't 'Love Life' despite the chanting from the delerious audience.

I was determined not to miss the encores like last year at the 100 Club when I had to run for the last sensible train - and I'll always regret leaving The Only Ones gig at the Lyceum back in the 80s before the end. So I managed to get the five past midnight train back to Brighton clutching my Legalise Tea mug (with tea bag!) and lots of happy memories of a fantastic gig. Is this really the end of the Rutles?

There are some more photos on Flickr.

Neil and Barry do 'Back in '64'

Karis has launched a website for people to have their say on the Frank Gehry development on the King Alfred site in Hove. Lte's hope it's not all from the 'not in keeping' brigade!

Towers get go-ahead: "councillors agreed to take a 'leap of faith' in Gehry's design team and trust that problems with the scheme would be ironed out before the development was built." Hoorah! But how much will the daring design be compromised before it gets built?

Lights, camera, er...: "The reason the project makes so much sense is that, for all their artistic dissimilarities, Parr and Fellows are both brilliant observers of middle England in all its quirky, eccentric glory." A Telegraph feature on the forthcoming Martin Parr / John Shuttleworth film 'It's Nice Up North'.

Letter: Let Gehry take us to the next level: a eloquent reply to the moaning minnies that keep banging on about the fabulous Gehry design being 'not in keeping' with Hove's Regency architecture.

I've just received advance copies from my publisher Laurence King of the Fourth Edition of my book Production for Graphic Designers! The US Prentice-Hall edition has a different cover. But the hardback US Overlook Press version has the same groovy acid yellow Frost Design cover as the UK LK edition. Now back to work on my current project Drawing for Designers!

Neil Innes has got his solo gigs down to a fine art, pleasing loyal fans and first-timers alike. Last night, he starts with a full-length version of his greatest hit Urban Spaceman then launches into Bonzos stories and songs, complete with audience participation (And then he kissed her! Who did? He did! Where?). There was the usual red-nose false-moustache, changing-hats comedy, Crystal Balls (zum, zum, zum, zum), French dernkeys, Beatles/Abbey Road anecdotes, Monty Python, Protest Song ('I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn!'), How sweet (with quacksy), Godfrey Daniel (always gets the biggest laugh) and the inevitable Rutles medley, starring Cheese and Onions (watch out for the musical Rutalot!). He even managed to swear in a few more Ego-Warriors. Then there were the 'new' songs from the new album Works in progress (not available in the shops) - buy it if you can, the Eastern European (?) musicians backing him on these recordings are a revelation. 'One of those people', 'Face Mail', 'Eye Candy' and the poignant 'All Alone'. Encore was Back in '64, alas without the paper-tearing. The Greys once again hosted a living legend on its tiny stage. The images without flash were a bit blurred! Didn't like to distract the great man, so only flashed at the end of songs! - Fred the Responsible Flasher! Yvonne (Mrs Innes) - Roadie for the night