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June 29, 2005
SAJ2 reviewed in Time Out this week!
Strange Attractor Journal Two
Time Out (London), June 29-July 6 2005
Reviewed by Gareth Evans
In the necessarily obsessive, hermetic, lo/no budget world of small press magazines, tone is everything. The often miraculous perseverance of unsalaried collectives, of garret individuals with too much passion and irregular access to fresh air counts for nothing if the voice of their beloved publication does not sing its own singular song. Think of The Idler, Smoke, The Chap, Inventory, and Ephemera, to name a five-finger handful of the most recently distinctive.
Now to their idiosyncratic ranks must be added this very special organ.
Pilkington's triumphantly diverse and choicely illustrated collection of musings, speculations and ponder pieces (these are not the same thing) wonderfully fulfills its self-declared objective of celebrating "unpopular culture" while maintaining pleasurably high standards of printing and production. The positive indications start with the cover, the Kirlian image of a fly agaric mushroom suggesting a luminous prejudice towards novel ways of looking at material that itself is far from stale anyway.
Browse the extensive contents (420 pages) and there's no denying the quirky breadth and heartfelt advocacy of the enterprise. Where else (no, really - where else?) could one find entertaining, informative evocatively scripted takes on Nepalese shamanism, the secret history of the Temple Mount, robot pride, animism and underground London, or essays on such visionary mavericks as Richard Jefferies, Boris Vian, Waldo Sabine and Maya Deren. Rambling the weird paths that wind from psychogeography through the counterculture and on into edge science and arcana, Strange Attractor voices its concerns with leftfield reverence and wit. The chances are very high you will find yourself... strangely attracted.
Posted by Mark at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)
Psychotropic Carousel: North
OUR SOUTHERN GIG HAS BEEN CANCELLED - SORRY ABOUT THAT!
North: 8th July, 8pm. The Klinker, The Sussex Arms, Culford Rd, N1
Featuring The Man From Uranus (tapes, synths, theremin), Mark Pilkington (synth, voice, box'o'tricks), Alistair Strachan (trumpet, eyebrows) Ninki V (harp).
Posted by Mark at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)
Kosmische Club's 9th Birthday Party!!
Kosmische Club's 9th Birthday Party!!
LIVE:
Circle (Finland)
Jean-Herve Peron (Faust)
Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom (DFA synth genies)
Amal Gamal Ensemble (Shock-Headed Peters/Cyclobe/Guapo/Alabama 3)
Now
Kosmische club djs, Barry 7 chamber, whacked-out films, liquid lighting by Lightning Rod from Bubble Vision, strangeness and surprises
From 9pm > 6am at a top secret central London location!
* £12 tickets ONLY available in advance from here
Posted by Mark at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)
The Battle of the Beanfield: Book launch
The Battle of the Beanfield: Book launch and talk by the book's editor, Andy Worthington, on 'The legacy of the Beanfield', The Moot with No Name, upstairs at the Devereux pub, Devereux Court, London WC2, Wednesday July 6th 2005, 7.30 for 8 pm.
It's 20 years since the police closed down the Stonehenge Free Festival with unprecedented brutality by ambushing, assaulting and arresting a convoy of travellers, peace protestors and festival-goers at 'The Battle of the Beanfield'.
As well as suppressing the festival and introducing a summer solstice ‘exclusion zone’ around Stonehenge that lasted until the year 2000, the events at the Beanfield also marked the start of a concerted effort to ‘decommission’ the whole of the new travellers’ movement.
To commemorate the anniversary, historian Andy Worthington, author of Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion, has edited the first full-length book on the topic.
Published by Enabler Publications, the 14 chapters in The Battle of the Beanfield feature extracts from the police radio log and in-depth interviews with a range of people who were there on the day – including travellers, journalists Nick Davies and Kim Sabido, the Earl of Cardigan and Deputy Chief Constable Ian Readhead – as well as Lord Gifford QC, who represented 24 of the travellers at the Beanfield trial in 1991. These accounts cut through the myths, misconceptions and propaganda that have built up around ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’ to present a detailed picture of what actually did happen.
Also included are many previously unseen photos, a description of the making of the documentary ‘Operation Solstice’, and chapters which set the events of the Beanfield in context. These look at the evolution of the free festival scene, new travellers, convoys and peace protestors, ‘raves’ and road protests, the campaigns for access to Stonehenge, and the wider implications of the events of the Beanfield, through increasingly draconian legislation, on civil liberties in the UK.
Further info on the book
The Devereux pub: off the Strand, opposite the Royal Courts of Justice, down an alleyway next to the George pub.
Posted by Mark at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2005
Shroom reprieve
From Transform
Commencement of new law on magic mushrooms delayed until after Glastonbury Festival
Rumors have been circulating since the Drugs Bill was enacted as to the date on which fresh magic mushrooms would move from there current legal status to become a Class A drug, as specified under clause 21 of the new Act. It was thought that the new law would commence before Glastonbury Festival 2005 (24th-26th June) which last year witnessed the arrival of open sales of fresh magic mushrooms. It now appears that although an announcement of the commencement date can be expected in the week before the festival, the actual date for the change will be a week or two after this (but before the parliamentary recess) meaning that this years festival will again have legal sales on the site.
There are various possible reasons for this delay:
The drafting of the statutory instruments (the detail of how the law will be enforced including how to deal with land owners on whose land magic mushrooms grow) has been quite challenging and is only now being finalised.
It has been suggested that there was no appetite in the home office for harshly enforcing a ban at the festival when the law was only a few days old.
There is an injunction being sought by lawyers for the entheogen defence fund to allow time for a full judicial review of the decision. This would potentially delay the change until the after the summer parliamentary recess, or if successful see the move abandoned
Posted by Mark at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2005
Continuity
Click the image for the bigger picture.
Click the image for the bigger picture.
Posted by Mark at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
Shrooms now Class A
In time for Summer Solstice and the festival season too - charming!
Via Transform
*MAGIC MUSHROOMS*
Made a class A drug in the Drugs Bill 2005, now Drugs Act 2005 (passed on the last day of the last parliament) the law is set to be commenced on the 21st June (unconfirmed) . This means that possession will be punishable with an up to 7year sentence. See Transform's Drugs Bill page for more info: <> Paul Goggins MP recently said specific information will be issued regarding whether you would be prosecuted for magic mushrooms growing naturally on your land. It is unclear at present how this dilemma will be negotiated - they grow on grasslands across the country.
Posted by Mark at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
Robots & Rock Art: Doug Skinner on Richard Shaver
What's This? A Shaver Revival?
By Doug Skinner
FATE Magazine - June 2005
Richard Sharpe Shaver died 30 years ago. He was never famous in the usual sense of the word, but the “Shaver Mystery” and the “rock books” were once hot topics in certain circles. That was a long time ago, however, and Shaver ought to be forgotten by now. Surprisingly, he has remained stubbornly alive, and in an unexpected place—the art world. Maybe it’s time to reassess him; maybe we can even clear up a few puzzles and misconceptions.
You can read the full article over at Fate Magazine
Posted by Mark at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
Psychotropic Carousel this week
Psychotropic Carousel – Man From Uranus, Adrian Bronson, Mark Pilkington, Nicole Nagel – play two London shows this week:
Thursday 9th June, The Spreadeagle, Kingsland Rd/Shoreditch junction, with Now. Free Entry, from 8pm.
Friday 10th June, The Drones Club at The Others, 6-8 Manor Rd, Stoke Newington, 8pm onwards. £6
With Special Glamystery Guest, Owls, Morning Bride
Here's a nice review of our last PC gig in Cambridge by one Thomas Highstreet:
" Man From Uranus, Strange Attractor and Adrian Bronson (PSYCHOTROPIC CAROUSEL) play the portland arms, cambridge (a 'Bad Timing' event) 11/05/05
If I was asked to sum up their sound in a nifty little package I'd chuckle to myself and tell you it just plain couldn't be done. Going under the name 'Psychotropic Carousel' the two americans and london native play music/sound in probably the most obscure way I have ever come across.
Apart from the obvious; MFU's theremin, strangeattractors sequencers and adrians cello, their sound is hugely unconventional not just in their choice of instruments, but also in their arrangement composition. They base their shows and music on improvisation using pre-recorded tracks on reel to reel magnetic tape, playing it back, re-layering new sound over the top, then re-recording it, and often using it in their next piece.
Regardless of if you have knowledge or fondness of this experimental noise/art noise/electronica (whatever you want to call it) I think you would benefit from getting to one of their shows, the sheer strangeness of them is enough to inspire even the dullest mind. "
Posted by Mark at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2005
Brockley Jacking
Via Scott Wood of SELFS
We have put on a program of talks on Magic, Mystery and Hidden History for the Brockley Max Festival. Those taking part either live in or around Brockley or have something to say about this part of south-east London. This set of talks will run from 3pm to 8pm on Saturday June 11th at the Brockley Jack Theatre, above the Brockley Jack pub, Brockley Road, Brockley, SE4 2DH.
11th June:
Brockley Max Festival: http://www.brockleymax.co.uk/
Brockley Jack: http://www.brockleyjack.co.uk/
Magic Mystery and Hidden History is also part of the excellent festival of mapping 'YOUR ARE HERE but why?' Web: http://www.mdx.org.uk/mapfestival.html
The event is free. The running order below is, like all things, subject to change. Please contact SELFS with any questions or to reserve yourself a place.
3.00pm: Doors Open
3.10: Alex Hodson: Down With the Fences: The Battles against the Enclosure of Sydenham Common and One Tree Hill.
Local people have a 400 year history of fighting to preserve open space against development and destruction. Some they lost... but some they won!
3.30: Neil Gordon-Orr: Brockley Footpath - an ancient track-way?
South-east London Historian Neil Gordon-Orr traces a possible sacred path to and through Brockley.
4.00: Break
4.15: Scott Wood: Ghosts and Monsters of Brockley and Surrounds.
SELFS organiser combines two of his favourite things in a talk on supernatural beasties in south-east London.
4.35: Steve Wilson: The Brockley Thing.
In the mid 1920s The Woodcraft Folk broke away from the Kibbo Kift, Britain's first modern working class pagan group - over "The Brockley Thing". What was this thing? What sort of thing was it?
5.10: Break
5.30: Chris Woods: Merriton and Brockley - The town in the marsh and the clearing in the wood.
A possible prehistory of the landscape of Brockley and Deptford Bridge from the Iron age to the Middle ages, "common greene" to Brockley Common.
6.00: Andy Worthington: The Battle of the Beanfield.
The local author of "Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion" remembers, twenty years on, the events of the Battle of the Beanfield, the bloody end of the Stonehenge Free Festival.
6.30: Break
6.45: Kate Waterfield: Runa Megin.
Kate Waterfield discusses and performs pieces from the Runa Megin; an evocative exploration of the musical possibilities of ancient runes is rich with echoes of an Eastern European folk heritage and an experimental "extended technique" vocal approach. A "musical delight to the ears": Pentagram Magazine
The Brockley Jack is served by Brockley Station, Honor Oak Park Station and Crofton Park Station.
From Honor Oak Park Station turn left and walk to end of the road. Turn left at the traffic lights into Brockley Road. The theatre is situated 500 yards on your left. (Approx 10 minutes walk).
From Crofton Park Station turn left out of the station, then cross the road at the pedestrian crossing. The Jack is 200 yards on your right. (Approx 2 minutes walk).
Buses: 171, 172, 122 and P4 (stop in front of the theatre
Map: http://www.brockleyjack.co.uk/brockley_jack_theatre_map.htm
And on the Monday:
13th June: Panel Discussion: Paganism & the Counter-Culture
Is another world possible? What place does paganism, magic and the supernatural have in the struggle for a better, greener, fairer future? Does it have any place there?
Steve Ash of the Dionysian Underground & Wyrd Walks, Adrian Harris of the Dragon Environmental Network, author, writer, speaker Jocelyn Chaplin and Andy Worthington, author of 'Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion' will be taking questions from the floor and joining in the discussion.
SELFS meets every second Monday of the month (except this August) upstairs at The Spanish Galleon, 48 Greenwich Church Street, SE10 9BL. Talks start at 8.00pm and costs £2.50 / £1.50 concessions.
A map is here: http://tinyurl.com/9l7ul
Web: www.selfs.org.uk
Posted by Mark at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)