Tuesday, June 04, 2024
Southwark prisons history walk, June 2024
Monday, June 03, 2024
Skinheads at the Savoy Rooms in Catford
The original skinheads in Britain were quite distinct from the neo-nazi affiliated boneheads that became dominant in the 1980s. The style emerged as a shorter haired and tougher looking development from the mod scene, and was characterised by a love of reggae and soul. It would be oversimplifying things to pretend that there was no racism in this scene, but there were black as well as white skins.
One of the early skinheads was Paul Thompson who for a while in 1969-70 helped put together a regular skinhead column for the underground paper The International Times, more usually associated with those of a long hair persuasion. Paul was attending Goldsmtihs College at the time, and one of his haunts was The Savoy Rooms in Catford, as he discussed in a fascinating interview ' Swimming in the right pond' with Maciej Zurowski in the Weekly Worker back in 2016. Here's a couple of extracts:
'Music and clothes were the two most important things to me. I was over the moon when I found a West Indian record shop in Deptford 10 minutes walk from my college. The reggae vinyl they had on sale had literally come off the boat that afternoon. When I came to London, rocksteady was still going, but shortly after, reggae arrived - that’s what I was mainly picking up at the record store in Deptford. Otherwise, it depended on the DJs. At the Savoy Rooms, they played the latest Tamla Motown singles, but they also kept playing older crowd-pleasers. ‘Same old song’ by the Four Tops was a favourite, as was ‘The clapping song’ by Shirley Ellis, to which we would chant our own rude lyrics.
My most important gig was Desmond Dekker live at the Daylight Inn in Petts Wood on the day that ‘Israelites’ got to number one in the charts. But generally, skinhead culture was more record-oriented. Sometimes, they had live bands playing at the Savoy Rooms, but people quickly got bored watching them. We found it much more fun to have DJs, who could change the music and respond to our moods.
... At the height of the skinhead time, there was always a bunch of West Indian lads at the Savoy Rooms in Catford, which for us was the south-east London place to go.... In terms of fashion, the West Indian skinheads largely imitated the British skinhead style, not the other way round. The other West Indian guys who hung out at the Savoy Rooms - the so-called rudeboys - had their own fashions, which were somewhat different to ours'.
For the International Times column, Paul recalled, 'We also got Steve Maxted involved, who, although not a skin himself, was the skins’ favourite DJ in south London and reviewed the latest reggae vinyl for us'
Maxted was resident DJ at the Savoy Rooms at this time, a larger than life character, who entertained with acrobatics and stunts. He also DJ'd for a while on SE London pirate Radio Sheila. The Savoy Rooms at 75 Rushey Green, SE6 had also been known as The Witchdoctor. The excellent Garage Hangover site has put together a list of bands who played there including in 1969 The Pyramids who under the name Symarip put out the classic Skinhead Moonstomp single that year
Steve Maxted in action - photo by Jozef Maxted from SMART |
Pyramids at Savoy Rooms, 1969 (from Garage Hangover) |
One of Steve Maxted's reggae review columns from International Times, no, 69, 5 December 1969 |
The Mistrale Club in Beckenham - 1960s/1970s
The Green Man in Blackheath - 1960s jazz, r'n'b and Manfred Mann
The Fellowship Inn in Bellingham
Soul City record shop in Deptford
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Black Echoes - South London nights out 1987
A window into London soul, funk and reggae nightlife from Black Echoes, 14 March 1987:
A 7 day 'Black Arts Festival' at the Cultural Centre in Woolwich with dance, drama and music with Smiley Culture, Ranking Miss P, Sista Culcha, Taxi Pata Pata and more...
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Thomas McCarthy at the Goose is Out
An Irish flavoured event coming up at the Goose is Out at the Ivy House pub next week (31 May 2024) with headliner Thomas McCarthy. I first heard Tom sing at another fine South London folk night, one of Kit and Cutter's great events at the Old Nun's Head way back in 2011. Since then his reputation has grown as one of the foremost collectors and performers of Irish Traveller songs (Ticket details here- advance booking recommended).
Nyge and Sue have built up The Goose is Out to be one of London's leading folk nights, attracting some of the best known acts on the circuit to a usually packed out room in Nunhead. In the last couple of years for instance I've seen Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Stick in the Wheel, Burd Ellen and Fay Hield among others. The club has also provided a bridge between the more established folk scene and some of the new wave of queer/pro-feminist folkies - I've also seen Sonny Brazil (Goblin Band) and both Jacken Elswyth and Mataio Austin Dean (Shovel Dance Collective) perform there recently. They also nurture local singers at their monthly singaround sessions where everyone is encouraged to stand up and sing a song, I've done so a couple of times myself.
So get along to Goose is Out!
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Becket House - an immigration prison in SE1
Protest at Becket House in 2010 |
s |
Several hundred people paused at Becket House during the March for Migrant Rights in October 2006 |
No Borders protest in 2009 |
SOAS Detainee Support, Migrants Organise and These Walls Must Fall at Becket House in 2021 |
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Russell Dryden RIP
Sorry to hear today of the passing of Russell Dryden. Familiar to many from his fish stall in Bermondsey's blue market, which he ran for more than 30 years, he championed music through his involvement with Bermondsey Beat and Bermondsey Carnival.
He also had a lovely singing voice himself. Back in June 2011 'Nigel of Bermondsey' hosted Southwark Folk, a night of South London themed songs at the Cuming Museum on Walworth Road. Nigel/George performed, I sang a few songs as did John Constable, and Russell charmed us with some of his own compositions including one I remember prompted by hearing an American accent in the market and reflecting on the ever changing area.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Hate is a Drag! - Honor Oak protest exhibition in Catford
The exhibition at Catford Constitutional Club runs from 10 May to 5 June 2024 |
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Electric Sweat at Venue MOT
Monday, April 01, 2024
Women in Revolt at Tate Britain
'Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990' at Tate Britain features a huge amount of archive material from different 1970s/80s feminist currents alongside the art works which taken together give a strong sense of the visual culture and politics of the period.
'In Print' - newsletter of Peckham Black Women's Group, at one point ran Peckham Black Women's Centre, 69 Bellenden Road SE15
|
Chain Reaction at the Market Tavern in Vauxhall, 1980s women only SM/fetish club Quite a few visitors delighted in spotting images of themselves or friends, or things they had been involved with and by the end I was doing the same with pictures from the Clause 28 demonstrations and copies of Shocking Pink zine which my friend Katy Watson was involved with and which was based for a while at the 121 Centre in Brixton. The exhibition closes on 7 April 2024. |
Monday, March 25, 2024
Music Monday: Hope 4 Justice with Eska and John Stainer School Choir
In 2022 over 1,000 young people, including students from 27 South London schools took part in Hope 4 Justice, an urgent call to action on the climate emergency highlighting issues such as air quality, ‘throw-away’ culture and housing inequality through performances of music, dance and spoken word. Created and produced by Trinity Laban as part of the Lewisham London Borough of Culture, it culminated in a performance in Mountsfield Park on Saturday 18 June 2022.
Now, to commemorate the project, five songs composed by Mercury Prize nominated artist Eska (with lyrics from Young People's Poet Laureate for London Cecilia Knapp) have been recorded at Trinity Laban with Brockley's John Stainer Community Primary School Choir and students from the TL Jazz Department. The first track. Air, was released on 15 Feb 2024, the eleventh anniversary of the death of Lewisham resident Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi Debrah who died aged nine after a fatal asthma attack. Ella was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on their death certificate.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Nunhead and District Municipal Museum 2024
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Acoustic Anarchy
Martin Howard's Acoustic Anarchy has been running since 2017 at waterintobeer in Brockley (209 Mantle Road SE4), an acoustic live music night focusing on folk, punk and indie. There's a couple of events coming up in next few weeks.
As part of the Telegraph Hill Festival this weekend, on Saturday 23rd March 2024 there's a special featuring artists including:
- Joe Bitter is an acoustic punk rocker with songs celebrating cider, football and punk rock.
- Shouting into the Dark are a prog-folk duo with heartfelt songs of love, life and grief. Their latest song features a middle English section, which will be a first for the night.
- Drew Margot is a queer singer songwriter from LA whose work tends to revolve around gender, mental health, and often, dogs.
Then on Saturday 6th April 2024, headliners are The Water Chorus 'a young folk trio with an array of instruments tackling a mix of Irish and Scottish folk with plenty of tunes from further afield. They are exciting musicians with wit and zest and quite a dry sense of humour. Support comes from Neil Gordon-Orr, who will be playing some specifically South London folk songs. Regular host Martin Howard is joined by Max for some interpretations and originals'. More details here.
Monday, March 18, 2024
Music Monday: Sahra
Brockley-based singer Sahra is another graduate of the great South London jazz finishing school that is Trinity Laban. She's been getting increasing attention for her new material, including an excellent live session on Gilles Peterson's show on Worldwide FM last week.
As she told Gilles, her soulful new single 'Alone Again' was recorded at Theo Erskine's studio in Forest Hill.