I woke up at Midday (don’t judge) to see heavy duty rain pounding down on guys in flimsy waterproof(ish) jackets trying to put up the remainder of the disya jeneration sound system. On the street were a mere handful of very brave carnival attendees bracing the horrendous weather. It looked like it was going to be a washout. But ultimately you cannot crush the carnival spirit. It is more powerful than anything the skies can throw at it…
It stayed that way for hours and as a result it was probably the quietest carnival I have ever seen. The weather might have knocked out as many as quarter of a million people who stayed away as a result. You couldn’t blame em. It was grim but carnival was never for the feint-hearted. It is a magnificent experience but its a big beast and you have to be willing to get stuck in. Rain or shine. From the vibe on the street it was clear that this lot were not going to be put off by a bit of rain.
I did feel sorry for everyone who puts so much effort into putting it on and all the stall holders who are trying to make some money from the event, which is what the carnival was invented for in the first place. To give the local community an opportunity to earn some cash. After such a long hot summer it seemed a bit cruel but fuck all you can do about it. And soon enough, it didn’t matter. People were getting seriously stuck in to their daytime dance off. Normally the street is mainly used for walking along and here it was, as if my magic, transformed into a full-on street rave with a killer sound system with giant speaker stacks at either end of he road and around 2000 people jammed inbetween them all rockin out like their lives depended on it.
And just like in previous wet years the ones that didn’t shy away were the proper party people who aren’t staying away unless there is force 10 hurricane and even then they might still come along, just in heavier boots so they could still dance without getting whisked up in the air.
The rain did eventually subside and the latter part of the afternoon was dry and all those bold enough to come in the first place were amply rewarded by another spectacular block party from the Disya gang and Boiler Room.
The atmosphere was brilliant and nothing but good vibes all day. It was pretty full on as usual and everyone went for it big time despite it technically being a warm up day. You always get to the end of sunday and you suddenly realise, oh shit, this is just Part 1, we gotta do all this again tomorrow! Having just got back from Lost village, this marathon race weekend was just hotting up…
Lost Village 2nd time around although I was only there for one night before and so was great to go back and spend a bit more time there. Like Houghton it is also a great size and very manageable although they had upped the capacity a few thousand on last year, not that you could really notice. I’d had the good sense to bring a large umbrella. The heavens erupted at The Bureau of Lost just as we arrived on the friday, a sound system hidden in the woods. We very quickly made friends as a whole gang of guys who joined us underneath to shield from the rain. We had been there literally minutes and we were being hugged and offered all manner of stuff by this lovely lot who were clearly off their head. It was a very warm welcome and summed up how friendly everyone was (induced or otherwise) throughout the weekend.
What I hadn’t realised about LV last time was that a lot are there for the food and there was even a pop up Dishoom, (a very trendy restaurant in London apparently) and was slightly stunned to see a very large queue of people trying to get in. I also saw joggers for the first time at a festival (see full gallery) which left me fairly slack-jawed. They have a wide variety of stuff on offer at LV including stand-up, theatre and art installations. What sadly they don’t provide (and this was my main gripe of the weekend) is any entertainment past 1am. I couldn’t actually believe it when someone told me. A festival that finishes at 1pm? Is that even a festival? All the acts finish at this inordinately early hour and after this moment there is only one tent open, the Hay bale tent, where you can dane to a Spotify playlist. That doesn’t sound very enticing but when there is literally nothing else on, you would be amazed what you will tolerate.
It actually sounded like it was being selected from someone’s phone as some tracks were occasionally cut short as they would be at a house party with nothing but the machinations of a wasted phone user as dj. We actually went round the tent, which was full to the brim with about 2000 people, looking for someone with a phone making the decisions on what these festival revellers should be dancing to. Whoever it was went for the big hitters, and almost everything played was a banging hit from now or yesteryear. And the crowd went suitably nuts to every cheesy tune that came their way, not caring who or how they were getting them, as you can see in this short video…
I am not blaming the organisers as they are restricted to a curfew which just seems so sad. There is, according to a steward, very little going on in this part of the country so you would think local residents would be ok with a wee bit of noise pollution for one weekend a year. Clearly not. It just bothers me in society that ‘quiet’ always wins. Its a shame as Lost Village is a really cool little festival and would definitely be up for returning…I might just now have the foresight to bring a loaded up device with a speaker to be able to listen to some tunes in the later hours rather than crowd round a poorly connected iPhone, desperately trying to squeeze out an entire track on the streaming bandwidth available in the middle of a field whilst everyone else is trying to do the same.
2nd time at Houghton and I have to say, two years in for both the festival and myself and I still have no complaints. We actually spent a lot of the car journey trying to find something that had been wrong over the weekend and the only thing anyone could muster was that a piece of lemon cake that had been consumed was a bit too ‘lemony’. You can’t really knock anything. The venue and location are stunning, the layout is very well thought out, the lighting, festival design and decorations are bang on, the people, both the crowd and the staff are all lovely, the music curation is second to none and it is a very very manageable size and just the right amount of people. And that is essentially all the ingredients of a great festival. Job done.
Even at festivals I have really enjoyed I generally still have a few gripes (see tmrrow’s post) but Houghton just keeps on delivering. Even for a M.A.R (Middle Aged Raver) like me. In fact, the mostly younger crowd were very welcoming and friendly to us older folk which is just how I was in reverse when I was first going to raves so its nice to have that bit of karma returned to me intact. What is the difference between a 20yr old raver and a 40yr old raver? A: 20 years. (drum roll put-lease). Truth is it turns out that nothing changes and no-one cares. And even if they did, who cares? You should never stop doing something you enjoy for some perceived notion of what someone else is or isn’t thinking. You’ll never know anyway so it really doesn’t make a shit of a difference…unless you let it and that’s down to you and you only.
Should I have found something better to do? Maybe but I didn’t. So why fight it? I think one of the reasons why rave culture is not ageist is that all of their favourite djs, like Andy Weatherall and co. are now all in their 50s and no-one could give a monkeys. It is generally accepted that you have to be a bit old in the tooth to have had enough time to get a decent record collection so its ok for djs to be middle aged, and if you are an original raver in the same age group, that is kinda ok too. Or so it would seem…
Once again Craig Richards put together an incredible line-up of djs who were all allowed to flex their stuff as were given long sets, 3.4 hours + to be able to build their musical journey at their own pace and desire. And we were all in for the ride they wanted to take us on. They are encouraged to play what they want rather than just known crowd pleasers and as a result every sound system feels like a big house party. The other great thing is that every little sub-genre of dance music is represented in some way and what is on offer is some of the best of its kind. Whether you’re into minimal tech, breakbeats, grooves, banging beats, disco heaven, dirty house..its mostly all catered for and if you don’t dig one dj you are only moments from another. Highlight of my weekend was Coleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy who did an absolute banging set in the little Stallions tent. David Mancuso’s protege is a force to be reckoned with and she was nothing short of spectacular.
On the saturday it chucked it down a bit and we went from stage to stage looking for a bit of rain respite, protected along the way by my trusty Samurai umbrella. Just as the heavens opened and the floodgates opened we were in a tiny tent on the hill (i think it was on a hill) where Awkard Moments were playing. They gave a mesmeric performance which was aided by a hypnotic projected animated sequence which beamed onto the gauze in front of them. I watched and listened, utterly captivated as the rain added some meditative percussion on the tent. It was a bizarre and quite beautiful moment of serenity amidst the carnage of the weekend.
My other highlight was Horse Meat’s Disco mammoth 6hr daytime set on the Saturday afternoon . Just joyful. A perfect daytime affair with the sun shining and everyone beaming.
The other good thing about Houghton, which I noticed also last year, is they don’t really flag up who’s playing where – they want you to discover music rather than just head to the big names and the process works. We stumbled upon a brilliant set by Jake Manders in the record shop which was called Demitri’s or Vinny’s or something like that and also heard some amazing sets by djs who we had no idea who they were. They do supply a printed schedule with all the various set times on it but the font is unfeasibly small and I think that is deliberate. Add in myopia and a bit of an eye wobble and and we coudldn’t make out a single word. This was one downside of being a M.A.R. and desperate to find out when Coleen Murphy was on, I commandeered a young person with fresh eyes and made them read my programme out to me. Ah the joys of ageing…
I can’t think of any reason why I would not return next year and I sincerely hope I do. For me now, there is Houghton and there is everything else. And I think the reason that it attracts the right crowd is that it is ‘music first’. People are there first and foremost for the tunes and a lot of festival crowds are no longer geared that way and you can tell. It creates for a different experience but when you are all together, united in your love of music, nothing can stop you…
My first ever Brighton Pride. I have to say I was pretty stunned by the sheer scale of it all. It was very apparent that over time it has built and built to become a pretty gi-normous event as the LGBT+ community and those that support it, descend on this seaside town. Brighton has basically become a mecca for inclusion and for celebrating who you are. I would go as far to say that maybe even up to 50% of those present were gay friendly rather than gay (didn’t do a survey so obvs can’t prove) which is astounding in itself and just shows quite how much progress has been achieved in such a relatively short space of time. Only one full generation ago homosexuality was still illegal in this country and today it has been fully incorporated into the mainstream. For most of the younger generation its not and ever has been an issue.
This was demonstrated, in some ways, by the sheer amount of corporate floats present. Everyone from American Express to Sainsbury’s were present. You could obviously see it with cynical eyes and they say they were just jumping on the bandwagon for positive PR purposes. This may very well be the case but I think it really just shows the level of acceptance there has been in our society and that can only be a good thing. What got me the most was seeing the Police float with a special Pride Police car and all the officers marching along, with beaming smiles, decked out in rainbow & glitter. They were being cheered by the crowd and it welled us up to see them part of it. When you hear horror stories from around the world of victimisation and attack of those not considered ‘normal’ by their societies you realise how easy going it is here. Most people just don’t give a shit anymore. Its not perfect by any measure but its a fuck sight better than a lot of places and for that we should be thankful.
There are still so many countries where gay people are persecuted and abused, where they can still be imprisoned and where they do not feel safe to be themselves for fear of attack you have to commend this little island for taking a massive step towards progress. I will say though, that if everyone is quite yet on board, that also requires a level of acceptance and understanding. Change has been rapid and so many, especially from previous generations, who were conditioned to believe it was wrong and the fact that it might take them a while to get their heads around it should be tolerated. They shouldn’t necessarily be heavily reprimanded for struggling to deal with the change in outlook and opinion within their society. Its not their fault, its wot they were taught. And it is very evident, especially now, that cultural norms are constantly shifting from gen to gen and if you stick around long enough you can see that some ideals which seemed permanent are far from it and beliefs that appeared to be an integral and fixed part of society actually come and go.
Social conditioning is a very hard thing to unravel. We are all at the mercy of it and to be genuinely free of imposed thought we must dismiss what we were taught as impressionable children and reevaluate as adults what we feel is right or wrong and not to be swayed by the guidelines of our cultural or national identity. Most of us are willing to leave behind the prejudices of old and eventually that becomes the new norm and those who still have issues become confined to the periphery. The minority becomes the majority but in doing so, we must be kinder and more understanding to those who don’t think like us than they were. This is genuine progress.
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
I’ll be saying cheerio for a while as am taking my usual month off during August in line with European tradition…yes, we are still technically in the Union, well, just about. Hope you have a great rest of summer and see you in September!
And to you Agent K, hope you have a magnifico birthday..it’s a beautiful day..I’ll give you that! xx
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
Shots this week show people in a paused moment. The world never stops spinning and if you don’t take the odd time out you feel you won’t stop spinning either. If I could have any superpower it would be to be able to freeze time – it would be bliss. You could mooch about doing whatever you needed to without having to deal with people doing the same thing at the same time, which is what happens in a big crowded city like London. We are all trying to get our shit done and we’re all basically in each other’s way.
This would be like “flexi-freeze time” (patent pending). I’m not sure how this could exactly work if we all had that power mind…could be slightly problematic logistically. I guess I was really just selfishly thinking of myself. Just thought it would just be so great not to have to actually do anything or have anything demanded of you for even just a little bit. The world in stasis. Its a beautiful thought. The tricky bit would be wanting to unfreeze it… maybe its this heat, it makes you so lethargic you don’t want to do anything . To be honest, even just talking about freezing is cooling me down a bit…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
All the shots this week were taken at the Portobello Summer festival which was on weekend before last and was a free fest and the first time it had ever been thrown. It was an amazing vibe all day, helped undoubtedly by the relentlessly good weather. It was like carnival but just for the locals and everyone trotted out from the area to hang out and have a day of listening to great music and basking in the sun. Grooverider and fabio really kicked it off on the square and there were two more stages on Portobello Green and also in Acklam Village featuring acts such as Audio Bullys and Jazzie B and an inspirational Akala. I never found out who the guy was in this shot but he looked and sounded brilliant. They even turned Portobello rd into an outdoor cinema and filled it with deckchairs and wireless headphones. As I mentioned last week this area is starting to get its positivity and energy back a year after Grenfell which this event was actually dedicated to. The tragedy plunged the neighbourhood into misery and despair and there is still a massive fight underway to get justice for the survivors but like suffering personal grief and loss, at some point you have to go forwards and reinvest in life. You have to participate again and remind yourself that we are all just lucky to be here no matter what is going on . You exist, you’re winning. End of.
The Daily Mail yesterday described the attendees of the Anti-trump March on Friday in London as a ‘rag tag band of left wingers’. This was predictably fake news. For a start I don’t actually think you can actually use the term ‘rag tag band’ to correctly describe 100,000 people. Everyone there would agree that there was not just one type of person present. It wasn’t just left wingers, it was representatives of every single different group you can possibly think of from all over the entire world. And if there is one thing you could draw from the event is that it isn’t just one demographic that hates Trump. Its all of them. And not little niche factions of society. Entire continents and genders have been maligned by his rhetoric and his policies. He has literally managed to piss off everyone and they were all there to inform of this fact. Here are a few of the ‘rag tag band’ nominees in no particular order…
Latin Americans
Believers in Human Rights
The Palestinian Movement
The whole Muslim world
All Parents
The entire female gender
Dog lovers (woof)
Workers of the world.
The LGBTQ+ community
The much persecuted Gingers of this world
He even managed to alienate some of his own kind
…and basically most of Britain who clearly don’t like him.
And every group and protester expressed their dislike of the man in different ways. Some went straight up insult.
Is it a coincidence that Trump basically rhymes with ‘Cunt’? Hmm, I’m not so sure…
Some went for the jugular..
And some went for the surreal approach…
Umm?
Okay..and sorry, how is that going to help?
Am a massive fan of Jarvis but don’t quite see the connection between him and Trump. Anyone?
I don’t get this but sure someone will..
Or this one for that matter…although the person next to me thought it was hysterical so there you go…
Stansted gag..clearly
And my personal favourite…
“Yesterday Trump flew over my allotment and look what happened to my courgettes!” Exactly!
The march was very good natured. A wonderfully positive spirit despite the crowd having joined together in hatred of one man. I have been on a lot of marches before but never against a single individual. It is astounding how much animosity he has generated. Someone had even brought a Trump shaped punch bag that you could take swings at. And many did…
Even Trump himself had a go..clearly hating himself as much as everyone else did
The irony is that this gi-normous crowd had joined together in hatred of a man who stands for hate.
As the quote goes: “There is always a lot of hate at anti-hate rallies” and this was no exception. You need to be able to see the oxymoron present…(Not the moron, he was golfing in Scotland – drum roll put-leeeease!) …even if you hate the haters you are still a hater. Trump has become the ultimate bogeyman, the focal point for all the anger for everything that is wrong with the world. Is he responsible for all of it? No, of course not but he has managed to be so divisive and destructive he has galvanised his opposition. So in some ways, if you ascribe to the butterfly effect, he is so bad that he has actually got people off their arse and sprung them out of their apathy and into action. He has succeeded in bringing energy to movements and ideals that have become complacent so you could actually argue he has become an (inadvertent) positive force in the world.
But this was a mostly positive I do have to commend a lot of the banner makers for maximum effort, humour and inventiveness…
Incredible likeness wouldn’t you say…
Tell it how it is
For some they made it about themselves. Give yourself a pat on the back…
well done. we really appreciate your sacrifice…sure Donald would to.
well done also. Really proud of you.
And good to have the Scandinavians on board…obvs.
This one perplexed me as it seems like she is actually for it, which I’m not sure was the intention…
And just in case anyone was in any doubt what she was referring to, here is the flip side…
Some were very confusing/confused
Umm, he is a lot of things but I’m pretty sure he is a man
I’m pretty sure you get Brexit but there you go…
I can only think the one on the right sounded better in their heads but they might want to look at their faecal obsession..
And I don’t know why but this one just really made me laugh.
And there was only one banner that actually annoyed me and it was The Guardian’s attempt to get in on the action…
Could you say anything less wishy washy if you tried? Why even bother? Love what someone scrawled on it. Think they must be referring to the removal of the process that created the copyrighters who came up with that bullshit slogan.
And so the marchers marched. And songs were sung. And protest was made. Did it help? Who knows? It did succeed in making him feel unwelcome and it made him skip London as a destination on his visit so guess that’s job done. Will our government take note and listen to the voice of these people? We are, as a country, poised between America and Europe and he is trying to force us to decide. Is he really the way we want to go? A man who clearly cares about nothing other than himself, his donors and his own administration? We surely needed to be guided not by trade repercussions but by our moral compass. We need to use it, above all else, to navigate through the next stage in this country’s history and to follow the path that leads to a society for all, regardless.
There are two ways the human race has survived and evolved. Competition and conflict which Mr Trump clearly ascribes to. Or alternatively cooperation. The greatest achievements of our species has come from cooperation, our greatest divisions from competition and our greatest tragedies from conflict. Which sounds like the best way to go in your opinion? Do you want to get on the Love Train or the Hate train? All aboard?
And, finally I will leave you with a cute picture of a dog to keep this piece on the fight against facism light and fluffy. Snookums (name changed to protect her identity) here clearly felt very strongly against Trump’s visit. Although I do think that is slightly disrespectful to pigs and I will be mounting a campaign to ensure this canine does not spread hate and division in the animal world… #pigsagainstdogswhothinkpigsareliketrump
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london
As the old saying goes, give a person a fish and they will eat for a day, give that person a fancy pineapple filled with smoothie juice and a mini umbrella and they will shoot the shit out of it for their social media.
Are we at the stage when sharing what we consume is more important than actually consuming it? Are edible items being chosen not for their taste but for their aesthetic appeal? Is getting ‘likes’ now more valuable than eating? Will people’s food buying decisions now be dictated by how good it appears on camera?
The answer from me to all of the above questions is “I don’t know, maybe but I’m starting to think so….”
More slices of summer this week. When the weather is this good it is difficult to think about anything else. And that’s a good thing. Forget the dismal political doom n gloom. Forget about major sporting tournaments. Forget about the crapola that is your life. Just bask in the sun and all your troubles will go away. People seem happy. Relaxed. Without a care in the world. The shots from the last few weeks have all been mostly from west london, around Portobello Rd and on Golborne Rd and wanted to show the good summer vibes here at the moment as it feels like the area is starting to get its mojo back. And I am pleased about that…
