Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
I don’t know what it is but I seem to have a habit of pissing off 80s pop stars by taking their picture when they’re not expecting it. Why they would be pissed off I can’t imagine? This is probably the closest I’ll get to being a pap..and its plenty close enough. Its also about as close as I want to be to Paul Weller as he looks like he’d prob take a swing if you got too close…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…a man was playing the cantina music from Star Wars on a tuba …well, no, not really, it was actually on the Uxbridge Road just the other day and I was at the bus stop and he was in his room but for a moment I was transported simultaneously back to my childhood and into outer space in the time it took for the 94 bus to arrive…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
This is in the Ben Sherman shop on Carnaby Street. They were having a little in-store party. As I was uploading this I noticed the blond head popping up below the counter. Now, this is either a woman on her knees, an incredibly short woman or the head of a mannequin stuck on a table? I have no idea. All of these options are weird. I guess it will have to remain a mystery…unless anyone recognises the back of this head? If so, please come forward.
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Pt II of II in My “Best British Pies” series . Two consecutive days, two cracking characters. Its a bit like buses… (not sure 2 exactly constitutes as a series, more of a duet but anyway…)
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
There was an organised protest at Parliament Square this morning to help convince the government (crucial vote next week) to ban the pesticides that are dwindling bee numbers in scary proportions. This will in turn will have a catastrophic knock-on effect on everything else. As Einstein said.”If the Bees go, we’re all fucked” (or something like that). This is not an altruistic endeavour..this is pure self-preservation.
Like all good protests, there was as many people documenting it as participating. It was more like one big glorified photo shoot than an actual protest and as the passersby just sort of passed by it occured to me that the coverage of the event was in real terms more important than the event itself. The protestors had gathered to be photographed, uploaded, blogged out, tweeeted and shared in order to raise awareness on a global level rather than at street level.
Did it matter that no-one surrounding them paid attention? Not really. They did a bit of singing (Give bees a chance) and even pretended to march for a bit but it was all really for the cameras.
The digital world has finally become more important than the real world. Reality is dead. Long live the Internet!
And yes, just like everyone else, I was doing as much documenting as protesting…
lots of bad bee pun placards but below was my favourite by far…such a brutal apocalyptic message delivered by such a smiley faced bee..
bee-lieve it (sorry-couldn’t resist one more) or not she was actually playing the flight of the bumblebee..I kid you not.
There was a generally friendly and good natured vibe to the proceedings and despite the machinations of the media circus the seriousness of the protest was also plain to see…
As I was leaving I saw this guy and he stared straight back at me with a grave “The End is Nigh” kinda look…it gave me the shivers. I should add that its highly possible he was just eye-balling me cos I was pointing a camera in his face. Less poetic but worth mentioning…
(p.s if you want to bee selfish (sorry, had to throw one more in) and save our sorry hides, add your signature to the petition to vote for a ban on the pesticides here. Lets hope those weak, self-serving politicians (too harsh?) make the right decision..for all our sakes, not just the bees.)
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
World Record store day used to be vinyl geeks shuffling around in shops buying up limited edition releases but this year, for some reason, it spontaneously become a party “event”…it does seem that young londoners will find any excuse to “large it up” and this was no exception. Soho became an instant inner city dance festival with street parties springing up all over the place.
It even kicked off outside a clothing store on D’arblay street where they were playing some pumpin tunes causing an impromptu mini street rave…this is why I love london.
And then it kicked off again in Phonica records when 2manydjs did a blistering in-store set. It was rammed to the brim and as hot as a sauna. The crowd went suitably nuts and turned a shop into a full-blown niteclub. Some of the punters were handing them their purchases and they were throwing them into their set as they went along…it was kinda wild.
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london…
Dexys last night at the Duke of York Theatre. They performed their new album in entirety and in order. It runs like a story from start to finish and they delivered it as one. It was amazing. The songs are incredible, the performance was stunning, the band were spectacular and Kevin Rowland’s voice has never sounded better. He is also one of the coolest and most talented cats around. They did play a few older tunes at the end but their new material sounded much better in my opinion, something you will rarely hear said (if ever) when describing a band back from the 80s. But this is no nostalgia trip. This is just great new music. To here their new album click here
