email problems
If you emailed me (or Woofah) in the last 24 hours and got an error message, please try again now.
Sorry about that, problems with my mail and web hosts.
Archive for the ‘uncategorised’ Category.
gallery is working again
You probably haven’t noticed but my gallery has been down for a few months. I’ve now got it working again and added some new stuff. Some it is just snapshots taken with my phone (as above) though.
comments
I’m having some problems with my internet connection right now. For some reason this slowing down means that my blog entries show up with comments turned off. It’s a wordpress thing, nothing personal!
Use the contact form linked from the top of this page if you need or want to…
moving around like a human flood
It’s been an anxious few weeks.
I found myself standing in a room, talking to my Dad about moving into this new flat in Dalston. He didn’t look very impressed, giving it the old “Well if that’s what you really want to do, son… But what about that big hole in the ceiling?” I looked up and there was this massive, huge, tower of air going up 30 stories, like about 20 foot in diameter. “Oh… I never noticed that before…” I said, shuffling my feet uneasily like an eleven year old.
Outside we were packing up for a holiday, but before I managed to get the first bag into the borrowed car, the wheel-clampers had turned up. “How are you today sir? That will be £170 please. Cash.”
Under canvas watching the globules of water coalesce, run into each other, divide like amoebas. Drumming on the ceiling. “Part of me thinks he’s putting it on”. There’s a weird mash up going on in my head of every song off the first Macka B album (except the girl one, mercifully) and every single song I have ever heard about rain. As you can imagine it takes quite some time to come to an end.
At some point I was transported to a room which resembled my local from the waist down and Brixton’s legendary 121 Centre from the waist up. I seemed to be dj-ing but had brought the wrong box of records with me. It didn’t go too badly, I just had to make choices between tunes like The Adult Net’s “Waking Up In The Sun” and that Jonathan King gold flexi disc. Brix Smith was on that Gok fashion-psychosis programme on the telly the other night, so it was a no-brainer.
Then I found myself standing in a room, talking to my Dad about moving into this new flat in Dalston. He didn’t look very impressed, giving it the old “Well if that’s what you really want to do, son… but what about that big hole in the ceiling?” I looked up and there was this massive, huge, tower of air going up about 30 stories, like about 20 foot in diameter. “Oh I never noticed that before” I said, shuffling my feet uneasily like an eleven year old, thinking “Hang on, this seems familiar.”
We visited a village which seemed entirely ordinary, but not really for us. There was a vast Conservative Club which looked like a Greek temple, that sort of thing. We got odd looks, especially those of amongst us of darker hues. One of the charity shops boasted a copy of a tome entitled Hitler – The Victory That Almost Was. I placed it back on the shelf carefully. Across the road was a seemingly innocent shop selling souvenirs and beach tat.
Inside, hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at me. Garish white smiles. The shop sold a lot of things, but a lot of the things it sold were Gollywogs. Pens, fridgemagnets, badges, massive cuddly toys, little cuddly toys – everything you could conceive of was present in the form of a racist caricature. It was like a scene out of Darius James’ Negrophobia.
Suddenly everyone around me started throwing up. The air was awash with the sounds of paper sick-bags being opened up and then filled. I was oddly transfixed by it all, trying not to think about my breakfast. Macka B toasting “Beans and Egg, between two thick slices of bread” into my ear was not helping matters very much. Good tune, but y’know – give me a break Macka! I tried to sleep.
I found myself standing woozily in a room, talking to my Dad about moving into this new flat in Dalston. He didn’t look very impressed, giving it the old “Well if that’s what you really want to do, son… but what about that big hole in the ceiling? I looked up and there was this massive, huge, tower of air going up about 30 stories, like about 20 foot in diameter. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” I said.
The bar is arranged for midgets. If I stand up to my full height, everything from my nipples upwards is obscured. This makes ordering a drink very difficult, so I stoop like some crazed hunchback. I still don’t get served but at least I can now make vague eye contact with the barmaid and wonder how come I am the most sober person in the place. Everyone is dressed as cowboys and they all seem to be drinking vodka out of test tubes, mixed with chocolate. Lots of cowboy midgets, ripped to the gills on vodka, dancing to “Boom Boom Boom” by the Venga Boys. Fair play to them. The last time we were here there was a guy dressed in vast purple wig going by the name of Alvin Sawdust. Singing the old time songs.
I went to the toilet and then stepped outside for some air. Someone asked me to lie down in a trench. They were pretty friendly about it and had all these kids with them so I was happy to oblige. Then everyone started covering me up with stuff – shells, seaweed, sand, you get the picture. I wasn’t able to move, so I drifted off.
When I woke up I was standing in a room, talking to my Dad about moving into this new flat in Dalston. “Jesus, look at that big hole in the ceiling”, I exclaimed. “I’m fucked if I’m moving in here!”
Round Up
Not enough hours in the day right now. A few things planned, maybe. Maybe not, the sun’s out!
Stuff to read:
Bevin Fagan RIP (Matumbi singer passed away in April…)
BEYOND THE iMPLODE: July Watching Post
Bridget Penney interviewed about her book Index by Stewart Home
Demo against “Estates Plus” at Hackney Town Hall, 23 July
Stuff to buy:
The Bug – London Zoo (woah!)
Showcase Part 1 Roots Garden UK 12″ (superb modern roots mini album produced by Mannaseh)
Musically Mad – DVD (UK Reggae Soundsystem documentary)
Sub/Version 013 – Vile Enginez: Cycadelic 12″ (from Praxis sub label)
Devotional Dubz 12″ – single of the week at Boomkat (Paul Meme running tings!)
Stuff to Hear:
IGrime podcast by Aza T, number 1 featuring Durrty Goodz and Logan Sama!
Blogariddims 43 / Deep in Bludgrooves by Sir Loris of Crowthorne
Immediate Sounds @ The Others, N16 (July 2008) | The Heatwave Events – dancehall reggae and bashment
(new Heatwave night playing “JA rave music” in Stoke Newington, includes preview mix for download).
Linkage
Really pleased to see Gutta’s continuing posts on dub ancient and modern.
Kek wins my full respect for taking direct action against Van Morrison. Hand that man a medal!
After a hiatus from blogging in which Martin has been getting into shape for the summer, he’s back with some great tips for healthy urban living.
WOOFAH issue 2 is selling really well – check the website for details of new stockists! Grab it while you can…
Farewell Woebot
So it’s goodbye to Woebot – no more of them massive posts with huge amounts of scans and even more great comment, no more hugely ambitious projects like woebot.tv and well, all that.
I think it’s fair to say that in our little corner of the web a lot of people had been reading Simon Reynolds’ site, and then blog, but it was TWANBOC that played the bigger part in showing people they could do it themselves – Woebot just seemed a bit more accessible in some ways and proudly amateur in the sense of not being a paid journo / published author.
In his usual style, Paul Meme weighed in early with an arsey email.
The various interblog posts which followed from Heronbone, K-Punk, silverdollarcircle, gutterbreakz, the original soundtrack, skykicking (and my and Paul’s efforts) were in retrospect golden times for me and t’internet. Lots and lots of great blogs followed.
And when the sidebars all got a bit unwieldy, Dissensus came along…
So, respect where due.
feel positive yet? you might be waiting there a while…
I’ve noticed that in my haste to move to a new web host, several minor things have stopped working.
The first of these is the search function on the index page of the “archive” bit of the site, which has now been fixed.
The second is the uncarved shop which will be back in due course with a load more stock.
The last thing, which I don’t think I can fix, is that the permalinks for this blog have now changed. That means any links you have to old posts probably won’t end up where you expect them to. That’s quite annoying as a load of people have linked to things here over the years, but there it is. Apologies, I shall see what I can do.
reading
expletive undeleted – Some great accounts of seeing Crass and Jah Shaka in the north of England in the early 80s. Also some nice observations on the film Babylon. Works for me!
Martin on the Crass reunion/tribute
(and this interview with George Berger on his Crass book, via greengalloway)
Dub Voyage: A Jamaican Offshoot’s Journey From Studio Accident to World Power
Blackdown interviewing Trim and worrying about the inevitable compromises being made if dubstep and grime going overground.
Stelfox on the possible end of reggae vinyl.
Droid on pop reggae.
DSCGB - The sordid story of an ex blagger and ex neoist meeting downtown.
My employer’s new policies on computer usage, which include “no blogging” and “no use of online discussion forums”.
