STANDING UP TO POLITICAL POLICING AND SURVEILLANCE: Weds May 7th

Radical History Network public meeting STANDING UP TO POLITICAL POLICING AND SURVEILLANCE Wednesday May 7th 7.30pm, Wood Green Social Club 3 Stuart Crescent, N22 5NJ [off High Rd Wood Green, near Wood Green tube] – How and why are the police used to try to suppress public dissent and any challenge to the capitalist ‘status …

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February updates

1. SPATIAL INTERVIEWED BY JOHN EDEN An interview I did with Hackney-based producer Spatial is now published exclusively and for the first time at The Liminal. This piece was originally intended for issue 5 of Woofah, but has been fully updated. (It’s the last outstanding thing I wrote for Woofah, which makes me a bit smiley …

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Eastman Connection

Uncle Dugs on Rinse FM with a blazing 1991 selection. But even better than that, he gets Kool FM founder Eastman in for an extended interview. (interview commences at about 1:37:00) Some proper history, covering North London reggae soundsystem, early raves, Jungle Fever, and the full story of Kool FM. An amazing bit of …

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The Story of Lovers Rock film

“The STORY OF LOVERS ROCK is a feature length documentary tells the story of an era and a music that defined a generation in the late 70s and 80s. Lovers Rock is romantic reggae that was uniquely British. It developed from a small UK scene to become a global brand through the likes of UB40 …

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The secret Ska history of Stamford Hill by Malcolm Imrie

Stamford Hill is right at the northern end of the London Borough of Hackney, bordering Haringey/Tottenham. I’ve lived around there for about 15 years now and have always had an interest in its history. Last May, Richie (Maharishi Hi-Fi / Musical Fever) hosted another one of his excellent nights, this time at the Mascara Bar …

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Grime responds to the riots: ‘They have to take us seriously’

Just when you’d thought about giving up on Grime, Dan Hancox pulls this essential piece out of the bag for The Guardian: In the wake of the riots, British urban music has been accused of promoting a culture of entitlement. Here, Professor Green, Lethal Bizzle and Wiley describe a world that politicians have chosen to …

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Hackney riot notes

Sunday The Hackney One Carnival was due to commence at midday with a parade from Ridley Road Market to Clissold Park. We met some friends en route and saw stewards but no sign of the parade. One of the stewards told us he’d just been informed that the whole thing had been cancelled by the …

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Smiley Culture RIP: Day 26

A slightly odd article by Dr Perry Stanislas has appeared in The Voice entitled “Why We Must Not Rush To Judgement Over Smiley Culture’s Knife Death”. It’s odd because it wastes no time in arguing for the case that David Emmanuel may have killed himself and pouring scorn on others who say he may have …

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Hackney Downs reggae

(Original LP released by Santic in 1974) “London was more forward as well because music that was recorded back home… some of them were reaching here long before they were released in Kingston. I put together the ‘Harder Shade Of Black’ album in London from the singles and put it out with Bert… I never …

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Colonel Gaddafi’s Kentucky Fried Britain

Jez: Look Mark, I’m a musician, in case you’d forgotten. Yeah? I answer to a higher law. The law of “if it feels good, do it”. Mark: Oh, that’s a great law isn’t it? What’s that, Gaddafi’s law? Jez: It’s the musician’s law. Colonel Gaddafi could not lay down a bass hook, Mark. That should …

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