John Eden: BM Box 3641, London, WC1N 3XX, England UK
Archive for the ‘politricks’ Category.
Agit Disco 20 by Neil Transpontine « A G I T D I S C O
Neil is involved with the Transpontine and History Is Made At Night blogs.
Agit Disco is Stefan Szczelkun’s collaborative series where people make a compilation of their favourite political music and then write a commentary.
Neil’s contribution is great: lots of interesting ruminations on his own political history and culture in general. And some cracking tunes to boot.
Hackney Heckler No 2 now available for pdf download | Hackney Solidarity Network.
Check it out folks! All yer news and views from London’s most exciting borough.
Including: Top Ten Hackney Novels centrespread!
Red Bull Music Academy – London 2010 – Blog.
From rooftops to chart-topping, the music’s never been more popular, nor harder to hear in public. Dan Hancox on the Met’s attempt to banish grime from the capital’s clubs.
Great stuff as usual from Dan.
Issue 2 of Hackney’s best (and only?) radical lefty rabble rousing free-sheet is out now.
This time it includes:
Copies will be available in various places around the borough over the next few weeks. I’ve got some as well, so let me know if you want a copy (or a small bundle for mates/co-workers/neighbours).
"Quick, Sarge! They're having one of them Bashment Parties!"
“We know there are disputes between gangs, and gangs have affiliations to certain promoters and venues,” Sergeant Strange told the South London Press.“We are taking steps to keep warring – and I don’t use the word lightly – factions apart,” he continued, “This has been a problematic club and the main reason is the type of music that is played . . . ‘bashment’. We know it attracts gang members.”
via Brixton Cops Ban ‘Bashment’ & ‘Funky House’.
(via Gabriel Heatwave on twitter)
Let’s rewind that: “the main reason is the type of music that is played”.
Are we back to heavy metal albums forcing innocent kids to shoot themselves in the head? Really? It’s all down to the malevolent influence of the music, is it? So the most effective way of keeping gang violence under control is to control the music? How come that never applies when there’s trouble at football or the opening of an Ikea store? “It’s the mid-price flat pack furniture. We know it attracts knife-wielding headcases on the look out for a bargain.”
The article linked above is mainly about the inconvenience this caused to the goth/fetish club The Torture Garden which was using the same venue.
Which is a slightly odd collision for me – I have an honorary lifetime membership card for the Torture Garden somewhere (though I haven’t used it for about 15 years). Obviously it’s great that fetish clubs are no longer subject to intense police scrutiny, but I think it’s a bit short-sighted not to note the downside of a climate in which an entire musical genre can be criminalised and events banned. First they came for the bashment ravers…
This is simply yet another admission that the police are unable to maintain public order without resorting to blanket censorship and inconveniencing the majority of law-abiding club-goers.
Also this week: London venue Cargo warned off DJs from playing any Grime.
As first reported by Dan Hancox in Woofah issue 2, the Metropolitan Police’s notorious Form 696 has lead to quite a few events being shut down and general harassment of artists and promoters.
Interesting Hackney news and politics blog found via twitter. Worth a look!
UNITED COLORS OF BLAGGERS ITA – RE-RELEASE – Blaggers ITA’s MySpace Blog
Classic album now available again with bonus tracks.
Hollow Earth: Social Trends 1950-2010.
Matt comes correct with some hard data (and kittens).
