mpla

courtesy Hackney Libraries

“Sounds of Ethiopia stepping out of Babylon; sounds of Zion stepping out of Stoke Newington. JAH Tapper Zukie, King of sounds and blues, rocking the musical atmosphere, under heavy duty manners…” – Penny Reel

7:00am Stamford Hill and the cold is biting into my shoulders like something highly metaphorical that I am sure I would be able to come up with if I was more awake. The train timetable is freaky at this time of day and I’ve just missed the bus. “MPLA… Natty going on a holiday”. Yes, Tappa! But what were you thinking of, eh? Conservative JLP militant pens ode to Angolan Marxists. Gets released on Virgin and lauded by Patti Smith. Dyon Dyon… Dyon Answa. De doo De doo de doo doo. You can do little version excursions in your head like that sometimes.

“King of sounds and blues, rocking the musical atmosphere, under heavy duty manners. Truths and rights from Ras Tafari inspiration- know your dread, sound say, know your culture.” – Penny Reel

Rewind to the early 90s. Tom Headbanger’s editorial mentions that it takes an almost superhuman effort to get out of a warm bed and leave a warm woman to cross the cold Denver morning and print up a newsletter. That’s it in a nutshell, Tom.

76. The seven and the six clash. On the top deck with my bag in the aisle seat. Because at this time in the morning I don’t want to be sociable with anyone elses’ outer thigh – even those cute, but sorta warrior-looking commuter girls who seem like they spend about 2 hours getting ready in the morning. And I’ve not even had breakfast yet.

“From the lickle youth of sixteen years, who made I and I jump and twist with Viego Sound System; from the iry dub vendor, feeling high at the Four Aces…” – Penny Reel

Dalston Junction. The Four Aces, formerly the Dalston Palace of Varieties – opened in 1898. Soon to be picturesque ruins. And then the East London Line. “You’re gonna wake up one morning and know what side of the bed you’ve been lying on! Loves… /A chance to do it for more than a month without being ripped off/The Anarchist Spray Ballet/Lenny Bruce/Joe Orton/Ed Albee/Paustovsky/Iggy Pop/John Coltrane/Spunky James Brown/Dewey Redman/KING TUBBY’S sound system/Zoot suits and dreadlocks/Kilburn & the High Roads/Four Aces Dalston/Limbo 90–Wolfe/Tiger Tiger–Bester/…”

“right now, I man lick I cup and you can never get a suck; right now you can only I chew the smell, as I would say- from messages to pork eaters and black cinderellas; from chalice to chalice and I live upright;” – Penny Reel

I live upright but that doesn’t mean my eyes are open all the time. Echo, phase and those blazing horns. Sleep…

“from Zukie fashionwear, and Junior Ross and the Spear with ‘Freedom’, ‘Babylon Fall’ and ‘Rasta Man A Say’; from ‘MPLA’- seven miles of Black Star Liner coming in the harbour- to rockers in a Camden Town; from them was looting down in a Ladbroke Grove;” – Penny Reel

The City of London. “Babylon you are a sore. Babylon you bound to fall.” Tappa – you knew who to get in the studio, didn’t you? Junior Ross & The Spear, Prince Alla, Knowledge. Class. Pound those riddims into the dust of the control room floor.

“from Judge I O Lord God Ras Tafari; from my father before, and his father before, and his father before, tell I about Marcus Garvey- when Zukie day ah, we all go cross the river out of Babylon.” – Penny Reel

Hold tight across Blackfriars Bridge. The wind, the moon, the water. One foot in front of the other, one step forward, two step backward, step out of Babylon. Take a wrong step and you might end up underneath, with bricks in your pockets.

“Right now the weird thing’s right and I man no care if there is no light: for right now, rhythm rule I. Tapper pon top and a weak-heart drop.” – Penny Reel

And yet, incredibly, the sun has actually risen. You have to give Ra his due, he has to go off on a big ruck with the denizens of the underworld every single fucking night. All I have to do is show up at an office and make convincing noises at a keyboard. The-weird-thing will be mollified by coffee. You must appease the beast.

“I would like idren and bretheren, Sons and Daughters of the most high JAH Ras Tafari, and all friends and fans of the star Tapper Zukie to learn their culture, as the brother would play. No matter who you are or who you may be. Make we sing great songs, down in a Babylon. Love it uni-versally; love it i-fficially. Awake from your slumber and answer this call.” – Penny Reel

pH level

Phil Hine’s online journal is now up.

Phil used to edit Pagan News, which is possibly the only thing I have ever enjoyed reading which included the word “pagan”. Perhaps not uncoincidentally, he has also written the only two worthwhile books on chaos magick. (Accessible too, if you are wondering what it is).

And again perhaps not coincidentally, he has now moved on from all that and is more interested in tantra, in a refreshingly genuine and (if you’ve met him, characteristically) down to earth way.

And he didn’t bat an eyelid when I went to interview him for Ov Magazine and my then girlfriend spent the entire evening throwing up in his sink, either.

31 million quid NOT to get in

While I was changing the daughter’s clothes after her midday nap today, she noticed her swimming trunks in the drawer and started talking about swimming and wanting to go.

Time for diversion tactics. “Hmmm, maybe Bear would like to wear your swimming trunks? See he looks really cool in them!”

How to explain to a two year old that Hackney Council has spent 31 million pounds on a swimming pool which doesn’t actually work, and looks like it never will.

And not only that but Hackney Council have systematically run down or closed down many other swimming pools (for example London Fields Lido and Haggerston) allegedly to pay for the biggest white elephant this side of the Dome?

We had lunch instead.

in da remainder shop

Went out looking for telephone cable at lunchtime and instead came back with a copy of:

Dessauce, Marc (1999) The Inflatable Moment: Pneumatics and Protest in ’68. New York, Princeton Architectural Press.

For a fiver (published at 20 quid! 150 pages! Jesus!)

Which, on first inspection, seems to be an account the much-overlooked link between the Situationists and blow-up furniture. I shit you not.

Actually it seems more to do with an architectural/design movement named “Utopie” heavily embedded in the political theory of the time (sits, Baudrillard, Archigram) and also touching on Buckminster Fuller, etc.

Pretty cool and the remainder shop on the corner of Waterloo Road and Lower Marsh still has 4 or 5 copies left in the “New Acquisitions” section. I daresay other places have it as well.

hey! what’s your name?

I say: 'My Name?'

I got an email from Dave Howard. Mental!

He rightly points out that the T&C gig featured him 2nd on the bill and not 3rd. Which is interesting given the Sugarcubes later exposure etc. He also asked me about the Yon Yonson graphic below which I was singularly unhelpful about.

I originally googled for a copy of the Dave Howard Singers ‘Yon Yonson’ sleeve and found that image instead (alongside the above). A foray into the bowels of google reveals that, before Phil K Dick, Yon may have been an american folk hero for scando-european (?) immigrants. Possibly in silent films, rescuing distressed maidens from ever-nearing buzz saws (in the lumbermill, one has to assume).

But… it’s all a bit sketchy. Can anyone out there put Dave and me out of our misery and solve the cultural enigma of the moment? Are YOU a Yon Yonson expert tucked away in a film studies dept somewhere who right at this minute is preparing a dissertation on the subject? Does YOUR family hail from Wisconsin via Norway and have wacky in-jokes about our hero? If so, get in touch!

Pounding System

Dubversion on Anthony B and On-U Sound’s “Pay It All Back vol 1” compilation, which was certanly a key crossover record for yer industrial types who liked Mark Stewart but didn’t have much of a handle on reggae.

At £1.49 for a full length LP you couldn’t really go wrong. It’s only just occurred to me but I suppose you could compare it to Joe Gibbs’ “African Dub chapter 3” (a seminal record in the punky-reggae party of the 70s) in terms of its influence during the 80s.

Good talk with Paul Meme the other night about how great some of the old On-U nights at the Town & Country Club were. More on that soon I hope.