Babylon Wales

Astrid Proll in Llangollen

2012-01-28T10:00:00.002Z

Having recently outed myself as a teenage fan of the Baader-Meinhof gang I was interested to learn that one of the group, Astrid Proll, once gave a talk at the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. The event took place in 1999 as part of the fringe festival. There was also an accompanying photo-exhibition which provided a pictorial history of the gang’s terrorist shenanigans during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Some of the snaps were taken by Proll herself and were included in her book Pictures on the Run 67-77 (see pic). Astrid Proll might seem like an odd choice of guest for such a gathering but by the time of her appearance in Wales she had long since renounced her terrorist beliefs. In fact her political apostasy fitted perfectly with the festival’s harmonious ethos. The International Eisteddfod was established in the aftermath of WW2 to promote peace and reconciliation through music.

*If anyone has any photos of Astrid Proll in Llangollen or any posters or other promotional literature from the event I would love to see them.

Carl Mydans in Swansea

2012-01-28T09:59:00.003Z

In 1954 legendary American photojournalist Carl Mydans visted Swansea to conduct a shoot for an article on ‘Britain’s Prosperity’. I’m guessing Swansea must have been enjoying some kind of a post-war boom, or something. Anyway, to illustrate the piece he took as his main subjects: workers in heavy industry; and folks out shopping. The above snap is from that shoot. You can see the full and quite extensive Swansea set over at the Life magazine archive. Mydans is perhaps best known for his WW2 photographs. His shot of Douglas MacArthur wading ashore in the Philippines in 1945 is especially iconic. During his long career he also completed memorable portraits of Thomas Mann, William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, and a butterfly hunting Vladimir Nabokov.

The Virgin Soldiers

2012-01-25T16:52:00.004Z

Talking of smutty books written by Welsh people, here’s a cool edition of The Virgin Soldiers (1966) by Newport’s own Leslie Thomas. I was somewhat startled the other day to hear culture critic, Tony Parsons, referring to Thomas’s sex & soldiering comic novel as “the British Catch-22”. He went on to place it in the same bawdy tradition as Chaucer and Benny Hill! I’ve never actually read the book myself so I can’t unfortunately attest to the veracity of TP’s analysis. However, I have seen the film version which was kind of a cross between a Carry On flick and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. One curious factoid about the film is that David Bowie appeared in it very briefly as an extra. You can see the amazing clip on YouTube here. In 1975 Thomas wrote a sequel, Stand Up Virgin Soldiers, which was also filmed. David Bowie actually auditioned for a leading part and even underwent a radical haircut to improve his chances. Unfortunately for The Thin White Duke his trip to the barber’s was in vain as he failed to land the role.

*The above book cover is from a 1967 reprint.

Up Tight

2012-01-25T13:20:00.003Z

This is the infamous front cover of Welsh writer Molly Parkin’s 1975 novel Up Tight. The back cover shows the same knicker-clad model but from the rear. Harri Peccinotti is credited with the book’s cover design and photography. The shamelessly tacky aesthetic is quintessentially mid-seventies especially in its preoccupation with sex and hairiness. It would, I'm sure, have taken a certain degree of front to march into one’s local bookshop, pluck Up Tight from the shelves, and present it to a smiling till person. Apparently Hatchards dealt with any potential embarrassment by actually selling the novel under the counter. For the record Parkin’s book is the tale of a young woman, fresh out of art college, who finds sexual adventure in London's bedsit land.

Independent Tropical Wales

2012-01-11T17:18:00.003Z

It’s May 1999 and Queenie and Phil the Greek are en route to officially open the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff’s Docklands. Their Ascot landau can be seen gliding up Bute Street – once a notorious haunt of prostitutes but also a haven for sailors from around the globe. Look closely at the railway wall in the background and you can see the proud graffito: INDEPENDENT TROPICAL WALES (now sadly gone). From a compositional point of view this forms an amusing and sweetly subversive juxtaposition. The photographer, Nick Treharne, clearly armed with local knowledge must have been laying in wait to capture this exact moment. Puzzlingly we don’t have a National Photographic Gallery of Wales, as such, but if we did then this excellent image would surely be in it.

This photograph is the copyright of Nick Treharne.

Bob Marley at Deeside Leisure Centre

2012-01-09T16:54:00.004Z

Bob Marley’s open-air concert at Ninian Park, Cardiff, in 1976 on his Rastaman Vibration tour has gone down as one of the great damp squibs in the history of Welsh pop culture. A Biblical downpour ensured a poor turnout and a bleak atmosphere. Reggae in the rain just doesn’t work. Nor does reggae in a monsoon. A far happier affair was Marley’s often overlooked 1980 show at Deeside Leisure Centre, north Wales. There he performed in front of 4,500 joyful punters on his Uprising tour - one of his last ever tour dates, in fact. Above is a ticket for the Deeside gig and here is a bootleg track from the show.

Ceri Richards by Ida Kar

2012-01-09T16:21:00.002Z

This is a photograph of Swansea Surrealist Ceri Richards looking very dapper taken by Ida Kar. Kar is famed for having snapped some of the greatest artists and writers of the twentieth century. Amongst her illustrious list of sitters were Chagall, Man Ray, Le Corbusier, Giacometti, Yves Klein, Braque, Sartre, Breton and so on. Her portrait of Ceri Richards was done in 1960 during his solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Far be it for me to pick holes in Ida Kar’s work but I would have shifted that potted plant. Kar also photographed Augustus John.

Ken Kesey in Swansea

2012-01-04T16:33:00.007Z

In 1999 Ken Kesey (author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962)) turned up in Swansea in a replica of his famous Magic Bus. He was in the UK to celebrate the solar eclipse and to search for Merlin. Merlin, it was said, would reappear before the start of the new Millennium. Swansea would be the only Welsh stop on Kesey's Where’s Merlin? tour. By all accounts his psychedelically painted vehicle was parked on Castle Square, while the Beat/Hippie legend himself spent the day chatting to Welsh fans and inviting them aboard his bus. In the evening he gave a talk on Merlin at the Brangwyn Hall and did something vaguely theatrical. The event concluded that year’s Dylan Thomas Festival.

In 1964 Kesey and his Merry Pranksters had steered his original Magic Bus –FURTHER – across America on an era-defining trip. That LSD-fuelled epic journey was immortalised by Tom Wolfe in counter-culture classic, The Electric Kool–Aid Acid Test (1968). His 1999 jaunt to the UK was funded by Channel 4 who were filming proceedings for a projected documentary. Not sure if that doc ever saw the light of day but it probably means that there is footage knocking around somewhere of Ken Kesey in Swansea. Which is, like, Far Out. Kesey died in 2001, aged 66.

*The above photograph shows Ken Kesey in Swansea in 1999 and is the copyright of Jeff Morgan/Alamy Images.

Atheist Xmas EP

2011-12-19T12:33:00.009Z

It’s that time of year again when rampant capitalism meets Jesus and an orgy of bad taste ensues. My deepest sympathies to you if you're currently engaged in a paranoia-fuelled arms race of tat buying. I won’t waste time patronising you with fake bonhomie or misplaced sentimentality, instead I'll just point you in the direction of Gruff Rhys’ marvellous Atheist Xmas EP. Tear off the wrapping paper and inside you’ll find his ‘chirpy’ Motown-tinged ditty Post Apocalypse Christmas (see YouTube). Also on offer At The End of the Line, and lugubrious suicide number Slashed Wrists This Christmas. Eat your heart out Leonard Cohen. The EP goes on sale today and would, ironically, make a very cool Christmas pressie.

And don’t forget... Santa is an anagram of Satan.

Iggy Pop in Cardiff

2011-12-16T16:45:00.007Z

This photograph shows Iggy Pop performing at the Students’ Union, Cardiff, in 1979. He was promoting his recently released album, New Values. He arrived on stage in a leather jacket and tee-shirt but soon stripped them off and, typically, unbuttoned his trousers. There was no rolling around on broken glass but those down at the front could see the scars from his previous self-mutilating excursions. Highlights of his hour-long set included The Endless Sea, Girls and Billy is a Runaway. His version of the Batman theme also went down well. Pop picked out individual members of the audience for verbal abuse and occasionally gobbed at the crowd. Whether this was Iggy Pop being all rock’n’roll or whether it was a hangover from the recent(ish) punk explosion, I’m not quite sure. Later that same year he was back in Wales to record his not-very-good-at-all album, Soldier. See this previous blog post.

Baader-Meinhof Graffiti

2011-12-16T16:42:00.006Z

When I was a kid growing up in Cardiff the ‘coolest’ terrorist group to impinge itself upon my consciousness was Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction), or as they were known in the tabloids - the Baader-Meinhof Gang. They didn't just want to épater les bourgeois they wanted to blow them all to smithereens. Which was absolutely fine by my pubescent self. Leading members of the group were Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, and Gudrun Ensslin on whom I had a terrible schoolboy crush. Ulrike and Gudrun were like terrorist versions of Charlie’s Angels. To my naive mind they seemed impossibly glamorous as they went around Europe robbing banks, kidnapping industrialists, executing bankers and planting bombs. Members of the group would sometimes get captured and then manage to escape again, usually in a big shoot out. There was an unreal, almost cartoonish quality to their exploits. Of course, what they were doing was horribly real as they were responsible for the deaths of dozens of entirely innocent people. Eventually the leading members of the gang were caught and incarcerated at Stammheim prison. In 1977 a Lufthansa plane was hi-jacked by Arabic terrorists and the release of Baader et al demanded. Their plan was thwarted when a team of German special police stormed the aircraft and shot them all. Andreas Baader, Jan-Carle Rasp and Gudrun Ensslin responded by killing themselves in a prison suicide pact. In Cardiff, in the wake of their deaths, pro-Red Army Faction graffiti began springing up around the city. The main targets were university buildings. The anatomy department of UWIST at Cathays Park, for instance, was daubed with huge slogans in red spray paint: 'RED ARMY' 'BAADER WAS MURDERED' (see pic) and 'BAADER LIVES', which seems to contradict, somewhat, the previous statement. Eventually the graffiti attacks stopped and the slogans faded away. The perpetrators were never caught. Pretty soon you could purchase RAF tee-shirts from Cardiff's punk emporium, Paradise Garage, just like the one that Joe Strummer used to wear.

9-9-9 by Heatwave

2011-12-16T11:03:00.003Z

9-9-9 by Welsh band Heatwave featured on an interesting recent compilation Do What Thou Wilt: The Satanic Rites Of British Rock 1970 – 1974. It was originally the flip side of a single on Harp Records that came out in the early ‘70s entitled One-Eyed Man. Information about the band is scant – they were led by guitarist Mervyn Selby Read and they may have hailed from the Swansea area. The song itself is damned fine - garagey, proto-punk in places, with a hint of Black Sabbath. If you have any further info on the band please get in touch – I would love to know more.

Interview with Jim Burns 2004

2011-12-13T10:45:00.009Z

I've been a bit lax in doing interviews recently - hopefully this situation will be rectified in the new year. In the meantime here's an old interview I did with brilliant sci-fi artist Jim Burns back in 2004. Jim's art has adorned the book covers of such futuristic authors as Robert Silverberg, JG Ballard, Michael Moorcock, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Philip Jose Farmer, Harry Harrison and many others. I notice he has a website where you can actually buy original artworks of his and even commission stuff! Check it out.

Did you have an interest in sci-fi and art when you were a kid growing up in Cardiff?

Jim Burns: Certainly an interest in art way back as far as I can remember. As a child of 5 or 6 I recall my next door neighbour (with the unlikely name of Mr Pead or Peed!) furnishing me with vast heaps of paper he brought home from his workplace... Cardiff Docks I believe - the paper had a printed schematic on one side of a ship's hold or somesuch... something to do with cargo manifests or the like. Whatever they were - they had beautiful, white, blank reverses and provided me with what seemed to be an almost infinite resource and I was able to scribble and daub away to my heart's content! My children have enjoyed a similar benefit - the reverse sides of the countless manuscript copies I've received over the years.
My parents were always encouraging too, providing me with whatever I needed to keep me amused (and quietly out of my mum's way as she did the housework!)... and I think it was the fact they thought I may have had a 'precocious talent' that made them 'show off' my scrawls to neighbours etc - hence the Mr Pead connection!
I always - even at that age - loved drawing cars and aeroplanes. This fascination with the appearance of things mechanical and technological generally stayed with me and at some point subtly transformed itself into the love of science-fiction. I used to love making up fanciful designs for futuristic cars and aircraft - trying to improve on the real thing. My first memories of a particular interest in sf seem to be around the late 1950s when I was perhaps 8 or 9 - and started taking the Eagle comic (Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future!!!). I adored the storylines - but even more, the fabulous artwork of Frank Hampson, and later Frank Bellamy. I still see their influence in my depictions of hardware in particular.

You joined the RAF when you were 18. What specifically was your job - were you actually flying aeroplanes?

Jim Burns: Common sense dictated that I should have gone straight to art college. But my heart spoke louder than my brain! By my mid-teens I wasn't only interested in drawing aeroplanes (real or future evocations). The real things became a total obsession... military, high-speed, aggressively-purposed, fabulously exotic ones... not the commercial variety.
I joined the RAF as a trainee pilot aged 18 in 1966. I was only in for 18 months but during that time acquired 140 hours flying time including solo flying on De Havilland Chipmunk primary trainers and Hunting Jet Provost basic jet trainers.

Giving up a decent job in the services to go to art college is an unusual change of direction (it must have horrified your parents!) Can you remember why you took the leap?

Jim Burns: I didn't give up the RAF - it gave up on me!! I wasn't a very good pilot! Very high skills are required of RAF pilots, possibly the highest in the world - and whilst I could solo a jet I wasn't able to get through the later more advanced stuff within the alloted time frame of a flying training programme (flying jets is an expensive business!). I could perhaps have stayed on in a non-flying capacity - but that held no appeal for me - so 'voluntary suspension' - followed by application to Newport School of Art for the Foundation Course in Art and Design.

Do you regard yourself as an illustrator or an artist?

Jim Burns: I've argued the toss for thirty years about this one! And I'm left with the feeble fob-off I'm about to give you... I don't know! My instinct is to say 'illustrator'. I work almost 100% in a commercial milieu to briefs largely formulated by others, the images I create being born chiefly from the written words of others - not as 'expressions of my soul' or the 'heart-felt expression of deep, inner turmoil' or (etc. etc.)... I'm happy with the description 'illustrator'. If others want to call me an artist - that's fine as well... sorry to shilly-shally around this touchy area!!

Your work is renowned for being 'super-real' - how did your style evolve?

Jim Burns: It's where my 'personal muse' has always taken me. By the time I was at art college in the late 60s I had still only progressed to the less-than-ultra-sophisticated medium of coloured pencils! By the time I came out of art college I had at least progressed (partly) to water-colours and gouache. My first commercial book jacket job was however executed in coloured pencils! I realised eventually that if near-photographic rendering was where I wanted to go - then I had to experiment with other media. So over the years I went from coloured pencils, through water colour, gouache, an unsuccessful flirtation with acrylics, oil paints and then a serious engagement with acrylics - which has been my preferred medium since 1980.
However I've recently acquired some water-based oil paints - I feel that I've gone as far with acrylics as I can - and I feel like a change after all these years. The most useful single step I made in respect of 'photo realism' was the acquisition in 1974 of an airbrush - definitely part of the standard repertoire of a science fiction artist and a hugely useful tool once mastered for realistic rendering. If I say so myself, I have developed a fair measure of skill with the tool - though it's a frustrating love-hate relationship I must say!

How do you approach each commission? Do you try to capture a particular scene from the book you're illustrating or do you attempt to evoke mood, atmosphere, ambience?

Jim Burns: Both of these things in varying measure. Principally though my preferred way forward with a commission is to read the manuscript - which unfolds in my mind's eye rather like a film - and then to 'freeze frame' a moment - or perhaps combine elements of several freeze-frames - to carry some sense of the story line on to the cover art. I've been told that I have a knack of locating pivotally important moments for this process. I think one owes it to the writer and of course the reader to at least present some accurate narrative snapshot of the story on to the cover - though one is often stymied by other considerations handed on to one at the briefing stage by the art director. Design and marketing considerations sometimes get prioritised over accurate narrative illustration!

What tools and materials do you use... and to what extent have you embraced computer technology?

Jim Burns: See a couple of answers ago for most of that! And yes - 6 years ago I purchased a PowerMac - a cutting edge 8500 at the time - now incredibly slow and limited....but which gamely goes on coping with everything I can chuck at it. I'm a great fan of Macs and can't understand why anyone would want to mess about in the frustrating world of Windows! The Mac gets used at various points in the creation of artwork these days. Certainly the sketch and design stages heavily use the Mac. Some illustrations have a mixture of painted and digital elements and sometimes, though not often, an entire painting is created on the Mac. I actually paint on gessoed mdf. Hardly an artist's traditional material - but it suits me!

Do you use models for the figures in your paintings or is everything drawn from the imagination?

Jim Burns: If one is trying to create a photo-real impression of say, cities, planetary landscapes, aliens and spaceships etc - you can't drop stylised or cartoonish made-up figures into those worlds and expect them to work! So I've always relied on models. I don't have that enviable skill for spontaneously being able to generate convincing human forms. If I did then my work would have gone off in a completely different direction. I employ professional models, use my family and friends and also have amassed loads of useful reference material over the years from all sorts of places. I've become quite adept at manipulating found-material - and this is another area where the Mac proves useful.

Figures, landscape, futuristic hardware - you often combine all three in a particular painting but which do you enjoy depicting most?

Jim Burns: These days it's the combining of all those elements into convincing wholes what gives me most pleasure. Figures are easier now than they used to be. That was the bit I always left till last! Hardware is fun because it's easy and no-one can tell you it's wrong. If I decide that a Space battle-cruiser built by the mantis men of Betelgeuse looks like that - who's to tell me I'm wrong? But a nose that's slightly askew on a pretty girl's face is immediately obvious - and everyone has a legitimate excuse to bring it to my attention!

You've done covers for books by Asimov, Clarke, Ballard, Silverberg, Sladek, Moorcock, Barker, Wolfe, Bradbury etc and picked up numerous awards in the process. How do you keep the work fresh and yourself motivated?

Jim Burns: Motivation gets difficult sometimes. I do worry about becoming 'stale' and like any job one does for 30-odd years without a break - it can become a bit 'stuck-in-a-rut' at times. But I feel myself fortunate that I'm one of those lucky people who turned a childhood pastime and pleasure into the means to make a living, so I shouldn't gripe. I'll believe you if you say the work still looks fresh! I can only say that, on the whole I still enjoy the work. The day it becomes a chore - then no doubt the freshness will go out of it. I'm not the huge fan of sf reading I used to be - I tend to read other kinds of literature these days. But that doesn't seem to have impacted yet on my desire to create strange sf imagery. I love the challenges it offers still.

Ever get any feedback from the authors as to how succesfully they think you've interpreted their work?

Jim Burns: Occasionally yes. I've become associated with particular authors whose books I've become the 'default artist' for - so these days I have good working relationships with people like Peter Hamilton and John Meaney - all of whose output to date I've covered. I enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration with Robert Silverberg who always seemed very happy with what I did for his books and has sent many letters, emails etc over the years to express his satisfaction. It's a nice 'icing on the cake' element of their work!

Do you sell the resultant artworks, and if so, how much does a Jim Burns fetch on the market?

Jim Burns: I'm a commercial artist - everything is for sale! I've sold originals for anything between £10 and £10,000. Not a lot of the second figure though (I wish!). And £10 will only get you the most abbreviated of sketches! Most of my paintings fall into the £1500 - £3000 bracket.

You did a bit of work on the Blade Runner film back in the Eighties. What did that entail exactly?

Jim Burns: Here's the story in brief. Ridley Scott got in touch via my agent. Early days in his film career, Alien under his belt and a new project gestating. That project was Dune. He saw my illustration for 'Colonel Kylling' in the joint book project Planet Story that I did with the sf writer, Harry Harrison - and thought that this depiction was perfect for the Baron Vladimir Von Harkonnen character in Dune. Shortly before I was supposed to fly out to Hollywood and participate in early concept work on Dune - that project was shelved and Ridley Scott found himself instead with a script based on the novel by Philip K. Dick called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. This of course became Blade Runner. The offer to go and work on early concept material for this new film was held open for me - and so I went over to Hollywood for ten weeks and found myself involved mostly on design work for the police spinner and the various city design details. The police spinner found it's earliest incarnation in a machine I painted for a book a few years earlier called Tour of the Universe - actually a 'flying ambulance' in that story. Ridley turned the image upside down and said "Hey Presto - there's the police spinner!" - or words to that effect. Eventually the hugely talented Syd Mead was taken on and he basically took on the look of the whole film - very successfully indeed. But I like to think that some germ of my original police spinner resides in the version you see on film!

There's an erotic element in a lot of your paintings, not just in the figures (Philip Jose Farmer books for instance) but in landscape (Dream Archipeligo by Christopher Priest springs to mind) and in the depiction of futuristic hardware. Without getting too Freudian Jim, is this intentional?

Jim Burns: No!! Though - as the question has been asked so many times I am more aware of the emergence of these motifs as a painting unfolds than I used to be. I think it's more that my paintings have an 'organic' quality that sometimes approximates recognisable forms - and that is as much in the eye of the beholder as in the mind of the creator.
Having said that - I am interested in the possibilities (and in the best possible taste of course!) of erotic symbolism and, what the hell, plain old erotica itself. Thinking of future directions - as sf work is tending to dry up out there somewhat as more and more publishers produce their covers 'in-house' - I suggest you 'watch this space'!!

When compiling your collections Lightship and Transluminal you must have, in a sense, reassessed your career - which particular works are you most proud of?

Jim Burns: Most artists will give variations on the same answer. None of them really! They always - in some measure - 'fail'. This acts as a great spur of course for the 'next one' which is always going to be 'the best one' and never is! It's kind of necessary to the whole creative process I think - this constant disatisfaction with what one produces. However, lets not get too mealy-mouthed and anal-retentive about this. I have some fond regard for the Bantam and Gollancz Silverberg covers I did during the 80s and early 90s.
The Planet Story project with Harry Harrison was a pivotally important venture for me and I have a lot of affection for some of the work I did for that collaboration. Individual pieces such as The Lovers, Artificial Things and Seasons of Plenty still stand up I think as good examples of a species of genre art from a particular moment in late 20th Century illustrative art - and I'm pleased to have painted them. Yes, even a little proud of them!

Thanks Jim.

©Anthony Brockway/Jim Burns 2004

Hoagy Carmichael in Cardiff

2011-12-08T16:51:00.004Z

In August, 1948, legendary American singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael (ask your grandad) was on tour in the UK and did a show in Cardiff at the Capitol Theatre – his only appearance in Wales (see ad). Carmichael is probably best known for having written such classic songs as Georgia On My Mind and Stardust. Carmichael was also an actor, appearing in about 14 films, the most famous of which was an adaptation of Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not (1943) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. He died in 1981.

David Conway

2011-12-08T11:31:00.009Z

One of the key texts in the esoteric canon is David Conway’s Magic: An Occult Primer (1972). It is an introduction to the practise of magic, but not the cheesy kind performed by the likes of Paul Daniels or David Copperfield. Instead, Conway’s tome is a handy D-I-Y guide to the occult. Not only is the reader initiated into the secrets of magic but there are handy hints on astral travelling, constructing curses, interpreting prophecies and conjuring demons. The book also contains an occult who’s who.

The author himself is a bit of an enigmatic figure. David Conway is a pseudonym. He was born and brought up near Aberystwyth where his parents owned and ran a grocer's shop. Later in life he earned a diplomatic posting to Brussels; and then went on to become Principal Director of the European Patent Office in Munich. He has also worked as a civil servant in London. He currently resides in Wales.

Over the years Conway has written other books which are of esoteric interest: The Magic of Herbs (1975); Secret Wisdom: the Occult Universe Explored (1985); and, most recently, the autobiographical Magic Without Mirrors (2011).

Conway’s classic, Magic: An Occult Primer, has been reprinted several times with the 1988 edition (see pic) carrying an inevitable introduction penned by Colin Wilson. Wilson said of the Welsh author: 'There is nothing of the phoney or the exhibitionist about David Conway. He is not merely a magician, but a genuine mystic, an intensely private person who is absorbed in what Blake called the inner worlds and their mystery.... David Conway was brought up in a remote country district of Wales.... When he was four he was taken to see a local farmer, Mr James, (who) remained his chief mentor, introducing him to the basic principles of magic... Someone should persuade him to write about his apprenticeship; from the hints he has dropped, I suspect it would be as fascinating as Carlos Castaneda's accounts of Don Juan, as well as being rather more truthful.'

Anthony Reynolds: A Small Spit of Land

2011-12-03T11:41:00.005Z

Just a quick reminder that one of Wales’ best ever songwriters, Anthony Reynolds, is doing a show at Chapter Arts Centre on Saturday, December 10 (at 8pm). Entitled Anthony Reynolds: A Small Spit of Land, this work in progress will feature a song cycle based around the singer’s upbringing in the capital city during the ‘70s and ‘80s. This might sound like self-indulgence but a strong sense of personal mythology has always pervaded Reynolds’ work - it’s a trait that puts him firmly in the Jacques Brel and Scott Walker grand tradition of balladeers. We are promised a low-key and intimate performance with possible guest appearances. Also an accomplished writer, Reynolds is the author of biographies on Leonard Cohen and The Walker Brothers. He has recently been adding his vocal talents to a musical production about Sigmund Freud. Tickets for Anthony Reynolds: A Small Spit of Land cost just £6 which, in these dark days of economic recession, is an absolute bargain.

The Raconteur

2011-11-29T11:43:00.006Z

Latest edition of literary magazine The Ranconteur (in its new bi-annual paperback format) has landed in the shops. Weighing in at a door-stopping 300+ pages it will keep book lovers and culture junkies enthralled for the entire duration of the Xmas period (and beyond). The theme of the new issue is ‘America’. Inside you’ll find original San Franciscan Beat poet Jack Foley discussing the first ever performance of Ginsberg’s Howl. Journalist and political historian Godfrey Hodgson on the beast that is the American political machine. And an interview with best-selling author Allegra Goodman. Contributions from Wales-based writers, as ever, are strong: Robert Lewis explains how Noir exploded the American Dream; and Dan Tyte takes a peek at the history of Gonzo journalism. There is much else besides, including articles on the Civil Rights era in Queens, NY, and Afro-Cuban/Latin Jazz. I do believe there is a magazine launch at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, scheduled for December 7. The magazine costs £10 and would make an ideal stocking-filler for that special culture vulture in your life.

Lawrence Langner and James Cagney

2011-11-28T16:22:00.005Z

Here’s a fine photograph of Swansea-born theatre impresario Lawrence Langner enjoying a chin-wag with actors James Cagney and William Bendix. It’s a 1947 behind-the-scenes publicity shot for the film The Time of Your Life. Langner was a hugely influential figure in American theatre. He co-founded the Theatre Guild in New York in 1919, which, in turn, contributed to the success of Broadway itself. Langner also co-founded the Washington Square Players and later set up and ran the Westport Country Playhouse. Furthermore he was founder and chairman of the American Shakespeare Festival. Weirdly, Langner was also a prominent patent attorney and expert on inventions. Amongst his most famous chums were playwrights Eugene O’Neill and George Bernard Shaw. He died in 1962.

Going Underground

2011-11-24T16:36:00.004Z

The above photograph is from an historic set taken by Londoner James Jarche for the Daily Herald in June 1931. It was the first time that flash photography was employed underground in the UK. The pictures were used to illustrate a series of articles entitled In Search of Wales, penned by H V Morton. In his 1934 memoir People I Have Shot, James Jarche elaborated on his groundbreaking Welsh commission:

“We got permission to go down one of the deepest coal-mines in Wales, the name of which I deliberately withhold, owing to the controversy that arose by my taking shots by flash. For it was the first time that pictures had been taken in an explosive area with the new safety-light, now, however, extensively used in photography. This is not a naked flame though it looks like one. It is shaped like an electric bulb, and is full of magnesium foil, ignited by a 2 volt battery, synchronised with the camera. Before permission was given me to descend the mine, I had to demonstrate with the light to experts on the surface. They themselves made experiments with it, holding the light over a gas-ring to see whether it would light the fumes. Of course nothing happened, and when they were satisfied as to its safety, they gave us permission to go down.” And later underground: “There was a most tense moment before I shot the men at work. Then the flare went up, and simultaneously I shot. There was absolute dead silence, followed by a sort of hum of relieved talk, for never had that mine expected to see itself by clear light.”

Crazy Sked Moaners

2011-11-24T11:55:00.008Z

Manic Street Preachers currently have an album in the shops entitled National Treasures, a run through of their back catalogue of singles. Given the amount of scorn heaped upon them by some sections of the music press/media down the years I can’t help but think that the title is somewhat ironic. Take this toe-curling interview by Rhona Cameron, for instance. Or the Melody Maker’s Manic Street Preachers Fan: A Diary – in which your average MSP fan was depicted as a pretentious, misery-obsessed, teenaged brat. Admittedly the column was actually quite funny but you get the picture. A combination of MSP's anachronistic sound and their intentionally provocative public statements have regularly invited derision. One of the more imaginative parodies of the band appeared in a Judge Dredd story (Muzak Killer: Live! Part 3) in June 1993. In the strip we observe Clarence of the Crazy Sked Moaners lasering 4 RALE (sic) into his forehead (see pic) on a TV show. It is, of course, a parody of the infamous incident in 1991 when Richey Edwards razored 4 REAL into his forearm for the benefit of NME journalist Steve Lamacq, who had suggested MSP were a cartoon band. By all accounts Edwards was a big fan of Judge Dredd and even had a drawing published in 2000AD when he was still a kid. The band’s song Judge Yr’Self was also influenced by the comic. Furthermore the character of Domino in the 2000AD story Zenith Phase IV Part 2: Blind Justice (Aug 1992) was based upon Nicky Wire. Seems like MSP might just have been a cartoon band after all.

Hywel Bennett in Percy

2011-11-18T10:19:00.004Z

Percy (1971) was the first ever film about having a penis transplant. It starred Welsh actor Hywel Bennett as Edwin Antony the recipient of a new, generously proportioned, todger. In the film Bennett’s character sets out to road test his new member and discover all he can about his dead donor, who turns out to have been an outrageous philanderer. If you think this sounds like a ridiculous idea for a movie you’d be absolutely right. The flick was made during the early ‘70s – the so-called golden age of the British sex comedy and the result is not much better than your average Carry On film. Percy also starred Elke Sommer and Britt Ekland. The most curious (and interesting) thing about the film for the modern viewer is the specially penned Ray Davies soundtrack, performed by The Kinks. At one point a woman does a striptease to an instrumental version of Lola. The soundtrack also included the hit God’s Children. As for Bennett’s performance, he did his best to add a bit of existential gravitas to the role but ultimately floundered in a quagmire of sexual innuendo.

Alison Statton Front Cover

2011-11-11T15:43:00.007Z

This edition of music paper Sounds is from May 1980 and features Alison Statton of Cardiff post-punk band Young Marble Giants on the front cover. She is subverting expectations by being all jolly. On vinyl her cool, dispassionate vocals provided a perfect complement to the eerie sonic meanderings of the Moxham brothers. The band’s one and only album, Colossal Youth, still sounds astonishingly fresh today. If you don't own a copy buy it -it's phenomenal. Their most famous fan was, of course, Kurt Cobain. Listening to melancholy records by the Young Marble Giants certainly never did him any harm. Ahem.

Black Junk by Exit International

2011-11-04T12:34:00.009Z

Exit International's Black Junk is a hip-thrusting, filthy beast of an album. Lurid, anarchic and gloriously trashy, it is impossible not to love this debut offering. Most of the songs featured are body-centric. EI get physical on Glory Horn, Sex W/ Strangers, Shake Your Bad Ass, Body Joyrider, My Mouth is Your Mouth and Blindfolds. An air of menace is pervasive with imagery culled from horror films and the murkier corners of the fairground. Psychosis, claustrophobia and sexual perversion are all present and delightfully incorrect. No room here either for gloomy introspection - Black Junk is as much a trip through the fun house as the mad house.

Exit International consist of TWO bass guitarists and a drummer. Such self-imposed instrumental limitation serves only to bring the best out of the band. The vocal delivery, especially, is highly inventive, shifting from ‘in character’ theatrics to schlocky screams to outbursts of percussive, stabbing speech, where every word hits home like an expertly wielded knife. Carl Bevan who recorded, mixed and produced the album deserves praise for eliciting fine performances from the trio and for capturing their expressionistic verve. Like being chased around your house by a chainsaw-wielding maniac Black Junk proves to be a hair-raising but ultimately invigorating experience.

*The excellent Black Junk by Exit International is out now on Undergroove Records. Watch a video for the track, Bowie’s Ghost, here.

Desert Flower Trilogy

2011-11-03T14:38:00.008Z

Howells department store in Cardiff is where the posh people of south Wales do their shopping. The well-heeled have been purchasing horrendously expensive goods from there for decades. For mere commoners like myself the huge emporium functions only as a convenient means of getting from St Mary Street to the Hayes Island pissoir without getting wet during bouts of inclement weather.

In 1961 Howells did something unexpectedly cool – they exhibited 3 Salvador Dali paintings on their premises. Known collectively as the Desert Flower Trilogy, the artistic creations had originally been commissioned in the 1940s to promote a new brand of perfume (Desert Flower). American cosmetics firm Shulton’s were behind the original venture and it was they who were doing the Howells promotion.

The 3 paintings (The Invisible Lovers, Mirage and Oasis) had arrived by plane at Rhoose airport and were given a police escort into the city. They were insured for £75,000. Inside the store the artworks were hung near the cosmetics department. A small railing was erected to keep shoppers at a safe distance. An ex-commando was employed by Shulton’s to guard the pictures for the fortnight’s duration of the exhibition. Shop assistants were briefed on the connection between the art and the perfume which they were then able to impart to curious customers.

*The above painting is Mirage which formed part of the Desert Flower trilogy.

The Subterraneans in Cardiff

2011-10-26T12:47:00.013+01:00

It was one of the earliest punk-related events to have occurred in Wales. In May, 1976, music scribe Nick Kent’s band The Subterraneans played two theatrical gigs at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. As you can see from the above advert the shows were billed as: ‘Songs of Random Passion’ and ‘the Dance of Romance’.

Kent had formed The Subterraneans after splitting from a very early version of the Sex Pistols. Included in his new band were Rat Scabies and Bryan James who would soon go on to form The Damned. On vocals for the Cardiff shows was Hermine Demoriane.

She was one of those interesting arty types on the fringes of the punk scene. She’d written stuff for counterculture rag International Times, including an interview with Jean-Luc Godard. She also had a career as a tightrope walker and performed with COUM Transmissions. She would later show up in Derek Jarman’s punk flick Jubilee in which she played Chaos. At the time she and Kent were an item.

In his ‘70s memoir Apathy For the Devil Kent stated that the Cardiff shows were in two parts. In the first they played “nasty misogynistic numbers” such as Under My Thumb by the Stones and The Crystals’ He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss); in the second they ran through some brand new songs, the most significant of which was, soon to be punk classic, New Rose. According to Kent this was the song’s first ever public airing and all to an audience of about 8 people! Punk history made at Chapter Arts Centre.

After the Cardiff gigs The Subterraneans split-up. A different line-up would reappear circa 1980 with Nick Kent on vocals. They would release just one (these days) much sought after single My Flamingo/Veiled Women before splitting for good. They sounded like a cross between The Only Ones and The Pretenders. In fact, Chrissie Hynde was briefly a member of The Subterraneans having also once been Nick Kent’s girlfriend.

The punk revolution would arrive in Wales in more recognisable form later in the year - September '76 - when the Sex Pistols played Cardiff (Top Rank), Newport (Stowaway) and Swansea (Circles) on successive nights. Despite his own failed career as a rock singer Nick Kent continued as a highly successful and much esteemed music critic.

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that Kent was a former denizen of Llandaf, Cardiff. I recently checked out his old gaff on Prospect Drive. His family clearly weren’t short of a few quid. With regards the current occupants, not sure if having Nick Kent as a former resident adds value to your property or knocks a few grand off.

George Harris: Photographer of Presidents

2011-10-25T10:17:00.004+01:00

George William Harris was a photographer of Presidents. Originally from Dowlais he and his family left Wales for the USA where he embarked upon a career as a snapper. From 1900-1903 he worked for the Hearst News Agency in San Francisco. Later he was part of Teddy Roosevelt's press entourage. The president personally urged him to start a photographic news service in Washington DC. It would help disseminate pictures of political events and personalities from the capital to the rest of the USA.

So, in 1905, along with Martha Ewing he co-founded the Harris & Ewing photo studio in Washington DC. Within a year it was the largest studio in the city, selling photographs to media outlets throughout the US and beyond. In 1915 Martha Ewing sold her interest in the business to Harris. He continued to run the news service until 1945 and stayed in the portrait game until 1955.

By the outset of WW2 George Harris had 100 employees working under him and five million pictures in his files. When he sold the news service in 1945 it was the busiest studio in the USA, photographing an estimated 10,000 people a year. His studio took official portraits of American presidents and many other figures from the political (and occasionally non-political) world.

Harris, though, never forgot his Welsh roots. Down the years he was a regular visitor to his homeland. Not that he ever viewed Wales through rose-tinted spectacles. On a stay in south Wales in 1929, for example, he lamented our lack of initiative; our lack of education; and in our mean streets and terrible housing conditions, our lack of civic pride. He continued: "It is heartbreaking to see the potentialities of the Welsh nation, the excellent material from which the nation is made, all running to waste simply because the Welsh people fail, or perhaps refuse, to see the power that is within them. I am glad of the fact that the American people have no tradition and no aristocracy. Value is set upon the man rather than on his lineage or his calling." Commenting on the American-Welsh, he said: “We certainly have our Welsh societies, but the Wales we pay homage to is that of Llewelyn the Last and Owen Glyndwr. The Wales of today – no!”

George Harris died in 1964, at the age of 92, leaving 700,000 negatives to the Library of Congress. The above photograph of Harris was taken by George Skadding for Life magazine and is the copyright of Time Inc.

Hitler - Memoirs of a Confidant

2011-10-24T16:51:00.005+01:00

One of the more interesting historical books to have been written in Wales during the twentieth century was Otto Wagener’s Hitler – Memoirs of a Confidant. As the book title suggests he was a former chum of Adolf Hitler. Unsurprisingly he was also a Nazi, having joined the party in 1929. By then he was already a member of the brown-shirted SA. During this period Wagener is credited with having persuaded a German cigarette company to produce Sturm cigarettes, the gasper of choice for Nazi stormtroopers.

Slowly but surely Wagener progressed through the Nazi ranks and in 1932 he was appointed personal economic advisor to the Fuhrer. From April to June, 1933, he became Reich Commissar for the Economy. His economic policies were based upon Social Darwinist principles and were formulated in hundreds of discussions he had with Hitler. Unfortunately for Wagener he fell out with various leading industrialists and Nazis (notably Hermann Goring) and was eventually ousted from his position.

He did, however, manage to avoid an even grimmer fate during the Night of the Long Knives (1934). Although briefly detained he escaped execution in Hitler’s bloody purge and returned to a low-profile business career in Saxony. In 1939 he rejoined the army (he had served in WW1) and eventually attained the rank of major general. He surrendered to British forces on the island of Rhodes in 1945.

In 1946 he found himself at Island Farm, a prisoner of war camp near Bridgend. It was there that he wrote his memoir, an account of his working relationship with Hitler during the years 1929-33. His written narrative filled 36 military exercise books (approx 2,300 pages). These notebooks weren't penned secretly - they bear the inspection stamps of the POW camp's officials. Before leaving Wales he placed his memoirs inside a suitcase and asked a Red Cross representative to send it to his wife in Germany. The suitcase eventually arrived in a battered state but the notebooks remained intact.

These days Otto Wagener's book is regarded by historians as one of the few written accounts of the era that provides genuine inside knowledge of Hitler and his rather odd personality. The memoir also sheds light on, amongst other things, Hitler’s relationship with his suicidal niece Geli Raubel (bizarrely, he attended her autopsy); his drug use (which included belladonna); and his views on homosexuals (don’t even ask). Wagener was a Hitler apologist so you’ll find nothing in his reminiscences about concentration camp atrocities.

Hitler – Memoirs of a Confidant was first published six years after Wagener’s death in Bavaria in 1977.

The Joy Formidable on Letterman

2011-10-12T17:39:00.003+01:00

Check out The Joy Formidable on the Late Show with David Letterman. Following a very poor production team gag involving a pun on Wales, Ritzy Bryan et al tear the place up with a rumbustious rendition of their magnum opus, Whirring. Their fine performance is aided, no question, by the magical properties of their strategically positioned inflatable sheep and Welsh dragon mascots. A great band.

Snoop Dogg v Ian Neale

2011-10-12T16:49:00.003+01:00

It’s like Snoop Dogg was trying to out-GLC Goldie Lookin’ Chain with his recent pre-Cardiff gig marketing campaign. After giving a video shout-out to champion vegetable grower Ian Neale, from Newport, the two horticulture enthusiasts finally met up in Cardiff. Ian presented Snoop with some root grow while Snoop gave Ian a jazz cigarette. 68-year-old Mr Neale then blissfully recounted the events of the previous evening to a Sky TV news reporter. He did this wearing the best fruit and vegetable-themed shirt ever. See YouTube.

Shirley Bassey and Kirk Douglas

2011-10-07T17:16:00.001+01:00

Here’s a nice backstage pic of Shirley Bassey with a moustachioed Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne Buydens. It was taken after the opening night of Our Shirl’s two week engagement at the Empire Room, Manhattan, in 1967.

Rhys Ifans v Voodoo Mama

2011-10-04T11:40:00.005+01:00

Here’s a nice fake ad in which Rhys Ifans plays a sexual pervert. We see him casting lascivious glances at a black woman while suggestively licking out a chocolate ice-cream cone. The lady takes her revenge by applying Voodoo Mama Hot Sauce to an egg. Usually a female symbol the egg here represents Ifans’s balls. When the woman bites into the egg the magic sauce takes full effect and the perv is left doubled-up in agony. Thus, using the exotic powers of voodoo and foodie metaphor, her vengeance is complete.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

2011-10-03T14:48:00.012+01:00

You don’t have to have read Michel Foucault to appreciate that the madness industry is a crazy business. Can insanity really be measured and quantified? And who gets to decide upon the criteria? Such questions are at the heart of Jon Ronson’s latest book, The Psychopath Test. As the title suggests it is the field of psychopathy that particularly interests him. We quickly learn that it is a total misconception to think that all psychopaths are cold-blooded killers. What psychopaths actually suffer from is a complete inability to feel empathy. And there are thousands of such people at large in the UK. Your boss, schoolteacher, bank manager or local member of Parliament might just be one.

So how do you identify them? Well, you could use Bob Hare’s twenty point PCL-R checklist – a kind of field guide for psychopath spotters. His list includes such human flaws as: grandiose sense of self-worth; pathological lying; and a failure to accept responsibility for one's actions. Ronson meets Hare and, to much comic effect, learns how to spot psychopaths after completing a course in west Wales. Intoxicated by his new powers Ronson begins to identify psychopathic traits in all kinds of people, notably himself.

The people Ronson interviews during his investigations are typically eccentric. There are the guys from Oak Ridge Hospital for the Criminally Insane who dosed psychopaths with LSD and put them through marathon group encounter sessions. We also meet Al Dunlap – one of those hard-nosed bastards brought in by failing businesses to make the tough decisions. Those decisions invariably involving laying off hundreds of workers whilst pocketing a large fee. David Shayler the cross-dressing former MI5 officer makes an appearance; as does the criminal profiler whose information helped convict for murder the unfortunate and entirely innocent Colin Stagg. Many other colourful characters are encountered.

Forming the main subplot of Ronson’s book is the fate of Tony. He claims to have faked his own psychosis in court in order to gain a lighter prison sentence. He did this by quoting extensively from such films as Blue Velvet and A Clockwork Orange. So convincing was he that he failed the Bob Hare checklist and ended up in Broadmoor. The difficulty in accurately assessing Tony’s mental state perfectly sums up the pit-falls of measuring madness by lists. He might be innocent or he might just be a clever psychopath manipulating well-meaning liberal types in a bid to gain freedom. You’ll just have to read the book to discover the veracity of Tony’s insanity.

The madness industry is subtly satirised by Ronson in The Psychopath Test but it is a non-sneering, non-superior kind of satire. You don’t ever get the sense that Ronson is looking down on his interviewees, even though readers might well be drawing their own negative conclusions about them. Nobody in this book is more mocked than Ronson himself who allows the reader to constantly laugh at his own foibles. Much has been made of Ronson’s brand of ‘naïve’ humour and of how ‘knowing’ it actually is. What his self-mockery certainly does do is win him the confidence of his subjects. He renders himself seemingly harmless and thus gains access to all the good stuff.

*The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson is published by Picador and is out now. It’s both a fascinating and a funny read.

Snoop Dogg in Cardiff

2011-09-27T14:50:00.008+01:00

In this link you can see hip-hop Colossus Snoop Dogg posing in a Cardiff City shirt like he’s about to set off for a pre-match pint down The Corporation or something. It comes as no surprise to learn that Dogg’s sudden sartorial affiliation with the Bluebirds coincides with a forthcoming show that he is undertaking at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, on October 8. It remains to be seen whether His Dogginess will be droppin’ rhymes about Craig Bellamy’s recent defection to Liverpool; or celebrating Cardiff’s triumphant Welsh Cup final victory over Hednesford Town in 1992.

There is another connection between Snoop Dogg and Wales. The rap star appeared in Welsh film director Marc Evans’s excellent 2007 documentary In Prison My Whole Life. The film is an examination of the life of imprisoned political activist and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal. As well as Snoop Dogg, other interviewees included Mos Def, Alice Walker, Steve Earle and Noam Chomsky. It is worth noting that Marc Evans’s documentary has a cracking soundtrack which contains a couple of tracks with lyrics especially written by Snoop Dogg himself. See YouTube.

Truth Seekers Review

2011-09-26T16:37:00.004+01:00

Truth Seekers Review was a magazine that initially came out of Wales in the early ‘90s. It was concerned with paranormal phenomena. One of its editors was Matthew Williams from Ton Pentre. A former civil servant, Williams became interested in UFOs after spotting one on the side of the Bwlch mountain near his home while driving to work. He estimated that it was about 300ft high, though his passenger completely failed to notice it. Williams avidly began reading books on UFOs and in his spare time he became an investigator of paranormal activity. He got into the whole Roswell incident thing and even travelled to the Nevada desert to check out Area 51 – the US government’s top secret airbase. Williams interviewed UFO spotters and people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. He started writing reports on his findings and pretty soon became an acknowledged expert in the field, much in demand by the media and on the esoteric lecture circuit. He also went around the UK visiting military bunkers. Truth Seekers Review sold for £1.70.

Sympathy for the Urdd?

2011-09-26T15:43:00.006+01:00

In 1972 Bala hosted the Urdd Eisteddfod. The finance committee, headed by the Rev H E Jones, had been successful in raising the £10,000 required to fund the Welsh-language event. The Rev Jones had hit upon the idea of sending out hundreds of individual letters to potential donors asking for cash. One of the recipients of these begging letters was Rolling Stones publicist Les Perrin, who happened to own a holiday home in Bala. A donation from the Rolling Stones duly arrived: £15. The Urdd’s finance committee had probably hoped for more but… you can’t always get what you want.

David Bowie's Early Welsh Gigs

2011-09-20T11:55:00.008+01:00

I’ve recently been reading Kevin Cann’s, Any Day Now, a comprehensive account of David Bowie’s life between 1947-1974. It is crammed with hitherto unseen photos and items of memorabilia relating to the singer. It also contains an exhaustive list of Bowie’s early live performances. Naturally I was keen to see if he had gigged in Wales during those formative years.

He first showed up in Wales in 1965. Apparently he travelled down to Cardiff alone to make a personal appearance at an unspecified record shop to promote his new single I Pity The Fool. Back then he was hardly a household name and so there was zero media coverage of the event. Cann’s book, though, has a picture of a painting by a local art student called Michael John which was used to promote the occasion. Beneath his portrait of Bowie (then still David Jones) are printed the words: David Jones, Personal Appearance, April 15th, 1965.

Bowie’s next visit to Wales occurred on July 23, 1966, in Chepstow at an unknown venue. He performed there as David Bowie & The Buzz. Later that year (October 11) with the same band he played Aberystwyth University. They drove to Aberystwyth in a converted ambulance, stopping off en route at his then manager’s parents’ home in Forge, near Machynlleth. Apparently they went for a walk in the hills before returning to the house where they tinkled about on the family piano. At the gig itself they performed two 45 minute sets for which they were paid £50. They were supporting mod band Unit Four Plus Two.

The singer returned to Aberystwyth University on May 3, 1972, on his David Bowie & the Spiders From Mars, UK tour - one of the key tours of his career and probably his stand out Welsh gig.

*If you live in either Chepstow or Aberystwyth why not check out your local newspaper archive for the above dates to see if these gigs were advertised and in the process grab yourself some interesting Bowie memorabilia.

20th Century Musical Man

2011-09-19T13:54:00.006+01:00

Quite intrigued by a singer/songwriter from Tredegar called Alan Phillips. In the early ‘70s Alan knocked around in various bands which did precisely zip, such as Steppin Out and The Uncertain Kind. Legend has it that at one point he was set to become a guitarist for Mott the Hoople but - at the last minute - the guy he was meant to be replacing changed his mind. Bad luck seemed to dog him. When he opened a folk club in Chepstow it folded within a year – that town not being especially famed for its love of the genre. Then he got a proper showbiz break. He was signed up as a songwriter by the Robert Stigwood Organisation. He didn’t manage to write any hits for them but he did put together a demo of 12 of his own songs which he hawked around various record companies. The upshot was that at the grand old age of 23, EMI, Decca and RCA all offered him a recording contract. He plumped for RCA and in 1972 released an album grandly titled 20th Century Musical Man. One track, Like in a Movie, was released as a single. It was remixed by Andrew Powell who later did production work on Kate Bush’s debut album The Kick Inside. Also featured on the single was renowned session musician Big Jim Sullivan. Phillips released another couple of singles before slipping off the radar altogether, so I’m presuming they all bombed commercially. If you have any idea of what became of Alan Phillips get in touch.

Rucksack 'n' Rifle of Wrexham

2011-09-13T15:08:00.007+01:00

The provocatively named Rucksack 'n' Rifle was an army and navy type store in Wrexham that specialised in selling Survivalist products. No doubt, it was a handy outlet for those bearded north east Walians who like to stockpile weapons ready for when society collapses.

In the '80s it was run by anglo-Irishman Michael McLaughlin, a former head of the far-right British Movement. During his stint as the BM's boss (1975-83) he had been responsible for moving the organisation's HQ across the border into Wales to Shotton, Flintshire. How charming. He was also involved in the publishing of The Survivalist magazine.

McLaughlin set up Rucksack ‘n’ Rifle in 1983. The shop was located on Abbot Street. One of its catalogues proudly boasted that it had ‘the biggest display of knives in Britain’. Air rifles, cross-bows and slingshots were advertised. You could also get hold of warfare manuals and Better Dead than Red sweatshirts. Amazingly, punters could even purchase nuclear, biological and chemical warfare suits from him.

Naturally such an emporium raised a few eyebrows in the area. As did McLaughlin’s extremist political views. MPs called for tighter controls on licences for the sale of weaponry in such establishments. McLaughlin himself, though, was unperturbed. He told one local newspaper at the time: “It is a matter of particular annoyance to me that youngsters today don’t know one end of a gun from another. I would do all I can to encourage people to come and buy weapons. This is not a wimpish nation – it never has been.”

Rucksack ‘n’ Rifle no longer exists but one wonders whether there are still paranoid men hunkered down in underground bunkers in the Wrexham area waiting to emerge blinking into a post-apocalyptic dawn. I like to think so.

Otis Redding in Cardiff

2011-09-13T12:16:00.002+01:00

Now that must have been a gig and a half. Unlike the Motown package tour of 1965 which turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, the Stax-Volt revue of 1967 was a huge success. I’ve met a couple of old timers who were at the Top Rank show and they reckon Otis Redding was immense – almost as if touched by some divine spirit. Tragically, about 9 months after the Cardiff gig he, along with most of the members of the Bar-Kays, died when the plane they were travelling in crashed into Lake Monona, Wisconsin.

Scientology in Wales

2011-09-02T11:52:00.004+01:00

During the 1960s Scientology, which was founded by L Ron Hubbard in 1953, started to permeate the Welsh public consciousness. A widespread moral panic about the ‘religion’ was already in full swing. A report by the Australian government in 1965 concluded: “Scientology is evil, its techniques evil, its practice a serious threat to the community, medically, morally and socially, and its adherents sadly deluded and often mentally ill.” In 1968 the British government banned foreign Scientologists from coming to the UK to study or work. Retrospectively, whatever your opinions on Scientology, this all seems a tad extreme.

Scientology made its first proper foray into Wales (that I'm aware of) in 1968 with a lecture tour that took in Newport, Cardiff, Porthcawl and Swansea. Lectures were conducted by an Australian Scientologist called Peter Gilham who was a former chartered accountant. These lectures were well attended by a curious Welsh public. 400 people turned up at Newport's Little Theatre; 200 packed out a function room at the Park Hotel, Cardiff. At the Cardiff event newspaper reporters were apparently expelled from the room and questions from the floor banned. Scientology literature was on sale, though purchasers of the material were asked to provide their names and home addresses. E-meters were also available for £50. Organisers hoped that at the conclusion of each lecture study groups would be set up by new converts.

It’s difficult to assess what long term impact, if any, these lectures had in Wales. Steve Andrews (AKA The Bard of Ely) was a leading Scientologist in Cardiff from 1986 – 1990. He was responsible for handing out flyers, sending off letters and hosting introductory meetings. He even had his own E-meter. He is pictured above in a wonderful, homemade, bright yellow Dianetics boilersuit – on one leg/arm it says Dianetics and on the other L Ron Hubbard. In his excellent article - Bard of Ely’s Scientology Years - he writes honestly and in an even-handed way about his conversion to Scientology, the Welsh Scientology scene (and beyond), and his gradual disillusionment with the movement at large. It’s a fascinating story and one of the most insightful articles on Scientology that I have read.

*Steve Andrews now lives in Tenerife and is the author of Herbs of the Northern Shaman. I’d like to thank Steve for his kind permission to use the above photograph in which he is pictured alongside Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band.

Pooh Sticks - Last Ever Welsh Gig

2011-08-25T13:57:00.006+01:00

Indie legends The Pooh Sticks, who originally hail from Swansea, will be performing their last ever gig (in Wales) at the Globe, Cardiff, on Saturday, September 3. Famed for such ironic gems as IndiePop Ain't Noise Pollution and I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well, The Pooh Sticks have been both indie darlings and arch subverters of the genre. Also on the bill are Tender Trap and Cardiff’s finest exponents of Sixties influenced girly pop, The School. The gig starts at 7.30pm sharp, thus enabling you to catch the last bus/train home. Don’t miss out!

Evan Walters

2011-08-25T13:56:00.008+01:00

Talking of Joe Dunthorne he is one of a number of contributors to a new art volume, Moments of Vision, in which contemporary writers and artists respond to the work of Llangyfelach painter, Evan Walters (1893-1951). Other contributors include Rowan Williams, Jan Morris, Peter Finch and Iwan Bala.

Flicking through the book I was struck by just how varied Walters’s output actually was. I’ve always associated him with portraits of colliers and his striking political painting, The Communist (1932) (see pic). It was these industrial-themed works that earned him an early reputation. But there are many surprises here. The Blind Pianist (1920) and Portrait of a Young Woman (1920) (which ought really to have been titled Portrait of a Young Woman with Extraordinary Hair) are both fine pieces.

And then there are his ‘double vision’ paintings in which he experimented with optical affects. They appear fascinating now but at the time they were a critical and commercial flop. A New Bond Street exhibition of these works held in 1936 bombed – the critics preferring his earlier pictures of miners. The best of his double vision oeuvre is the vividly coloured, The Stout Man With A Jug (1936).

One of the most interesting paintings featured in this book is Blackened Face With Reclining Nude (1945). The viewer sees a close-up of a collier, his mask-like face dusted with coal, and in the background a nude woman with orange hair. The miner’s voluptuous red mouth and the sexualised nature of the female completely overturn our usual expectations of what industrial art is meant to be. An excellent analysis of the transgressive qualities of this piece is provided by artist Peter Finnemore.

Evan Walters: Moments of Vision, published by Seren, is out now. Apparently all profits from this book go to a children’s charity which probably explains the otherwise strange choice of a foreword by Charlotte Church.

Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne

2011-08-22T17:19:00.010+01:00

In Wild Abandon author, Joe Dunthorne, doesn’t stray too far from the themes and concerns of his hugely successful debut novel, Submarine. Relationships in peril, growing pains, and the idiosyncrasies of the middle-classes are once again explored. But this time using a shifting third-person narrative.

Most of the novel’s action takes place at a commune, Blaen-y-Llyn, which is peopled by a group of English idealists. At the heart of the community is the Riley family: patriarch Don, his long-suffering wife Freya, and their children Kate, 17, and precocious Albert who is 11. Although they have elected to opt out of mainstream society Don and Freya (they met at uni) could be any suburban middle-class couple going through a marital crisis.

It’s not just Don and Freya’s relationship that is disintegrating. Ageing stoner, Patrick, has fallen out with Don over TV adverts. Pat wants the commune's 2 kids to understand how ads are constructed and thus render them (the ads) powerless. Don, by contrast, would prefer to draw a veil across them. Literally. His Ad-guard invention – a converted shower rail – blanks out offending materialistic temptations whenever they appear onscreen.

Dunthorne chooses not to make too much of Welsh/English cultural difference. Which is a relief. The borders that really interest him are those that separate the realms of childhood and the adult world. Albert, for instance, is looking forward to the onset of puberty by regularly smelling himself for signs of development. In his portrayal of Albert, Dunthorne captures perfectly the sometimes odd logic of children, their inventive use of language and their strange preoccupation with violence and death.

Not only is Albert a brilliant comic creation but with his conviction that the world is soon to end (picked up from esoteric Marina) he moves the novel forward toward an apocalyptic conclusion. The apocalypse in question taking symbolic form in a rave organised by Don to reinvigorate the commune and win back the admiration of his estranged wife. It is worth imparting that the choreographing of the rave denouement is expertly handled by the author.

Although there are undoubtedly many satirical moments in the novel Dunthorne doesn’t appear to have a polemical axe to grind with regard to communal living. He is neither discernibly for or against such a lifestyle. However, with Kate, Freya and Patrick all making escape bids we can conclude that Blaen-y-Llyn is a failed project. In Wild Abandon it is ordinary human weaknesses that comically undermine ideology - notably Don’s gargantuan ego and his will to lead.

As well as being a novelist Joe Dunthorne is an accomplished poet. When poets turn their hand to prose it can sometimes go a bit purple. Not so, here. Dunthorne’s poetic eye lends to his writing a crisp precision. His choice of words is often toothsome. An abundance of foodie diction suggests a frustrated chef at work. Wild Abandon is certainly a novel that is well worth getting your teeth into.

*Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne is out now and it’s v funny.

New Welsh Review

2011-08-19T14:16:00.002+01:00

Wales’s leading literary magazine the New Welsh Review has a new editor, Gwen Davies. It’s always interesting to observe subtle shifts in emphases and direction whenever a new hand takes the helm of an established journal. Having just read the latest issue of NWR I have to say I’m vibed.

In the past I think NWR has been overly preoccupied with being seen to be ‘intelligent’ whilst quite often forgetting to be ‘entertaining’. This attitude was probably born out of a perfectly understandable editorial desire for Welsh literature to be taken seriously. All too often, however, pomposity has prevailed.

There’s certainly nothing pompous about the current issue of NWR, nor is there any skimping on intellect. I detect, though, a more relaxed tone along with a broader and more adventurous interpretation of what constitutes Welsh literary culture.

The magazine opens with an interesting article by Tyler Keevil on soundtracks in coming-of-age films; and is immediately followed by Liz Jones’s analysis of Richard Ayoade’s debut flick, Submarine. There are short stories by Cynan Jones; Richard Gwyn’s piece on Michel de Montaigne is compelling; and there are high quality book reviews.

There’s poetry, too, if that’s your bag. I find most contemporary Welsh poetry to be as relevant to modern life as, say, bell-ringing, so I just tend to read the bits where they have their epiphanies. You, however, might be a poetry connoisseur in which case fill your boots.

Gwen Davies has also upped the digital ante. The NWR website now carries additional content that doesn’t appear in the magazine. This includes interviews, reviews, and contributions from guest bloggers. So, if you fancy yourself as a bit of a culture vulture, why not give the revamped NWR a blast.

Peter Harvey

2011-08-17T13:37:00.006+01:00

Whatever happened to Peter Harvey? He was a vocalist from Splott, Cardiff, who released a handful of singles between 1962-64 on the Columbia record label. Harvey's is an unusual story. At the age of 3 he fell off a milk cart and broke a hip. Due to complications he would be hospitalised for 9 years. His left leg was shorter than his right and later in life he would have to wear a built up shoe. In hospital he learned to play the harmonica.

Harvey grew up to be a genial fellow and had a fine singing voice. By day he was a draughtsman for Glamorgan County Council but at night he was a singer in a nightclub. He was spotted by musical entrepreneur Norrie Paramour who in 1962 invited him to London to cut a disc. At the time Harvey said that he didn't want any sympathy or to make capital from having a damaged leg.

Retrospectively it seems likely, though, that he was being exploited precisely for being lame. He was a singer with a limp and it was used as a kind of gimmick. His record company/management made him sing melancholy songs. His singles were: Rainin' In My Heart / Please Don't Tell Joe (1962); Wishing You The Best Of Luck My Friend / Lovin' Can Be Lonesome (1963); Heart Of Ice / Trace Of A Heartache (1964); Big Man In A Big House / Date With Heartache (1964).

I've not heard any of these tunes but apparently he had a Pat Boone-like voice and the numbers had orchestral backing. Upon the release of his first record Peter Harvey gave up his office job and became a professional singer. Sadly, none of his singles would become hits so presumably he went back to the drawing board and resumed his career as a draughtsman. Any further info on Peter Harvey would be much appreciated.

South Wales Chip Crisis

2011-08-16T13:47:00.004+01:00

And while we’re on the subject of Gwyn Thomas here he is being interviewed by Alan Whicker about the South Wales Chip Crisis. This short TV item from the 1960s examines the consequences of a potato shortage on the chip-loving Welsh. With tongue planted firmly in cheek Thomas explains that, amongst other things, the Welsh picked up their knowledge of culture and politics from reading the newspapers which enveloped their chips. I think it is quite an amusing piece but you could argue that Thomas is playing the professional Welshman (something he was occasionally accused of) and perpetuating stereotypes for the amusement of a largely English audience. What do you think?

Gwyn Thomas in New York

2011-08-15T17:23:00.003+01:00

I like the crisp black and white aesthetic of this YouTube, its sharp angularity, its jazzy score, its dark suits and skinny ties, its raincoats and thick spectacles. It comes from those innocent days - 1964 - when you didn’t have to look like a model to present TV shows. You just had to have something interesting to say. Valleys product Gwyn Thomas, broadcaster and novelist, wordsmiths his way around New York like your favourite schoolmaster gone AWOL. As a wit and raconteur he was an absolute natural for television. Pity it’s such a short clip – I would love to see the entire programme. As well as Fifth Avenue he was also filmed at the top of the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, Grand Central Station, Central Park, the UN building, Harlem, ‘Skid Row’, Greenwich Village, the White Horse Tavern and, for the finale, Broadway. Gwyn Thomas in New York was made by TWW which was a precursor to ITV Wales. There are lots of other Gwyn Thomas clips on YouTube which are worthy of investigation. Listen to him, for instance, vibing on Cardiff Docks, Barry Island, the Vale of Neath and Llanwonno.

Richey Edwards - Japanese Interview

2011-08-06T10:33:00.005+01:00

For no other reason that it’s an interesting interview and that it’s always good to remind oneself of just how cool and articulate Richey Edwards was (and perhaps still is). And I didn’t realise that he could actually understand Japanese. I jest, of course.

Was The Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers the most outstanding piece of culture to emerge from Wales during the twentieth century? Discuss. Whenever I sit around compiling my 10 Greatest Welsh Cultural Artefacts of the Twentieth Century list (which is quite often) it always gets in my top 3.

Paraphilia Magazine

2011-07-28T12:06:00.009+01:00

David M Mitchell from Swansea is co-editor of Paraphilia Magazine which happens to be one of the best online journals around. Its main focus is on left field, experimental and transgressive culture but it’s not one of those shock for shock’s sake efforts. There is real literary and artistic substance here. Within its impressively produced electronic pages you’ll find thoughtful, in-depth interviews with such underground luminaries as Michael Gira (The Swans), (Genesis) Breyer P-Orridge, Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) and James Williamson (The Stooges). There are various contributions from Stewart Home, Alan Moore, Steve Severin, Nick Tosches and Lydia Lunch. Often, though, it’s just encountering interesting new voices that makes Paraphilia Magazine such an essential read. From a purely selfish Welsh point of view I loved the Lewis Carroll-like magical pin-hole photography of Ffion Nolwenn; and the darkly comic and sometimes sinister writings of Chris Madoch (aka The Queer Messiah). Kerry Evans's tattoo-influenced artwork is also terrific. But this is a transatlantic enterprise (co-editor Dire McCain works out of the US), so it’s a cosmopolitan mixture of interviews, short stories, art and photography that awaits you. In addition DM Mitchell runs Oneiros Books which specialises in reprinting SF, Fantasy and Occult volumes, as well as publishing new writing. He was also once in the band Photographed by Lightning which released a 7" single, Sleeps Terminator/Winter Trees, on the fabulously subversive Fierce Records.

Cindy Williams Press Photo

2011-07-21T10:21:00.005+01:00

Here’s a splendid press photograph of Swansea songstress Cindy Williams from 1967. She is at Marble Arch, Swinging London, promoting her rather cool single They Talk About Us. What great hair she has. I’ve mentioned Cindy before on this blog and wondered whatever became of her. One of her relatives subsequently contacted me to let me know that she is alive and well and now living in the Uplands area of Swansea. It transpires that she married entertainer Dave Swan (RIP) and resided for many years in Las Vegas.

*Thanks to Lee Hughes for this info.

Burton and Taylor's Double LP

2011-07-18T17:15:00.006+01:00

It's a shame that such a gifted actor as Richard Burton will be better remembered for his matrimonial antics than for the corpus of cinematic work that he produced. For the most part 'Mr Elizabeth Taylor' sleep-walked his way through a quagmire of lucrative but artistically unrewarding Hollywood fodder. Fortunately there were a handful of cinematic roles worthy of his talent. His performance opposite the missus in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), in particular, was outstanding.

The celluloid version of Edward Albee's play marked the creative highpoint of the whole Burton and Taylor franchise. Fans will be familiar with the extended slanging match performed with obvious relish by the volatile couple. The presumed echoes of their own turbulent relationship lending extra spice to proceedings. Despite his brilliant turn as hen-pecked George, Burton missed out on an Oscar. A deliciously slattern Taylor on the other hand deservedly picked up an Academy Award for her portrayal of Martha.

It's a great film but what of the soundtrack? Or to be more precise, what of the soundtracks - because, unusually, there were two of them. The music from the flick was issued as a single LP comprising 11 tracks taken from Alex North’s score. So far, so conventional. However, released separately, was a gatefold double LP (see pic) consisting of the film’s entire dialogue. This spoken word double album is actually shorter than the film as long pauses were excised. The double LP is quite rare and highly sought after by film buffs. I can only imagine that it was released for study purposes, as chilling out to a 2 hour argument is not most people’s idea of a fun night in.

Pauline Wynne Jones

2011-07-15T16:34:00.010+01:00

Pauline Wynne Jones is something of a forgotten Welsh fashion designer. Even in her heyday – the ‘70s and ‘80s – she often went under the radar. The Times referred to her as, “One of the best and least recognised of British designers” and “one of the most consistent and yet consistently unsung talents in the country.”

She hailed from Halkyn, Flintshire, and went to Holywell Grammar School. She did her pre-diploma design training at a local technical college before attending Liverpool College of Art. Even at this early stage of her career she favoured relatively simple designs with close attention to detail over extravagant way-out sartorial concoctions.

Upon leaving college she married her long-term boyfriend (also from Halkyn) and together they set off for London to seek their fortunes. After doing a variety of jobs in the rag trade Pauline Wynne Jones met and began working for esteemed fashion designer Jean Muir, with whom she shared a similar aesthetic outlook.

In 1970 she went into partnership with Claire Gale. They sold clothes to private clients mostly in the showbiz world. Pauline Wynne Jones chose to shun the mass market preferring instead to sell to a select number of stockists. Her designs could be purchased at such exclusive establishments as, Lucienne Phillips of Knightsbridge; Chic of Hampstead; Henry Bendels of New York; and DH Holmes of New Orleans.

Pauline Wynne Jones also had an interest in interior design and in the early ‘70s she and her hubby bought a semi-derelict manor house near Halkyn. They set about doing it up. Later she would move into the academic world where she taught fashion. These days the Pauline Wynne Jones label occasionally turns up at vintage fashion outlets, so it’s still possible to acquire her gear. Be warned though fashionistas - quality doesn't come cheap. Even a second-hand PWJ design will set you back a fair few quid.

Sophie Dee on Being Welsh

2011-07-08T10:15:00.006+01:00

Here’s Sophie Dee nailing her colours to the Welsh mast, albeit in a very American accent. She is unquestionably the most successful Welsh porn star of all time and deserves wider recognition within Wales. If I were a documentary commissioner over at BBC Wales The Sophie Dee Story would be at the top of my programmes that ought to be made list. It would take precedence, for instance, over Rolf on Welsh Art.

Robert Mapplethorpe in Powys

2011-07-06T12:14:00.007+01:00

Alexis de la Falaise had an enviable life. His mother, Maxime, was a famous English model and celebrated cook; his father was a well-heeled European aristo. The family had impeccable connections in the arts and fashion worlds. Andy Warhol was a friend of the family. Alexis himself appeared in Tub Girls, one of Warhol's more inspired films. It featured Viva in a bathtub with various individuals - one of whom was Alexis. But Alexis got fed up with the beau monde and decided instead to go and live on a sheep farm in a remote part of Powys.

One day in 1971 Alexis's step-father John McKendry showed up at the farm with a friend from New York. At the time McKendry was curator of prints and photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The young man he had in tow was none other than photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Mapplethorpe was in London for a short stay but had decided to extend his visit by a couple of weeks. His jaunt to Wales isn't especially well documented but at the farm he apparently took a snap of McKendry in the bathtub. Beyond that, little is known. The photographer’s trip to Wales is briefly mentioned in Patricia Morrisroe’s biog: Mapplethorpe.

As for Alexis de la Falaise he brought up two children in Wales. His daughter Lucie is now a model. His son Daniel is a successful chef and model. He was photographed with Madonna in her infamous 1992 book, Sex.

Erotica

2011-07-04T13:53:00.005+01:00

It’s the Welsh Je T’Aime. Actually Welsh rock band Man’s steamy Erotica (1968) single was released a year before the infamous Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin tune. Erotica would appear on Man’s debut LP Revelation but was banned from being played on UK radio as it was deemed too saucy. However, in less sexually repressed countries – France, Germany, Holland, Portugal and Angola - it was released as a 7" single and did well, apparently. Enjoy.

Gore and Perversion

2011-07-01T10:49:00.006+01:00

What's the most shocking and controversial album by a Welsh act ever? No, it’s not Harry Secombe’s kooky I’ll Walk With God LP, but Gore and Perversion by Desecration. This unsavoury debut was spawned in Newport in 1995. Newport at that time was the most pop culturally fertile place in Wales and was even mirthfully dubbed 'the new Seattle'. Desecration, though, stood somewhat apart from the town's burgeoning rock/indie scene. They were (and still are) a death metal band to be reckoned with.

Why was Gore and Perversion so reviled? Mainly because of its cover artwork which would test the freedom of expression principles of even the most dedicated libertarian. In fact, so unpleasant is the album’s cartoon graphic that I am unable to reproduce it here for fear of upsetting the fragile sensibilities of my, ahem, readership. The curious, however, can find it easily enough online – just do an image search for “Gore and Perversion”.

The company who printed the original cover (after pocketing the band’s money) was so disgusted by it that they contacted Gwent police. The fuzz deemed the recording obscene and all available copies were seized and destroyed. Members of the band had their homes raided and legal proceedings ensued. The upshot being that Desecration were ordered to tone down their content or quit the business altogether.

The other disturbing facet of the album was its lyrical content. Nobody would expect a death metal outfit to sing about puppies and kittens but Gore and Perversion’s remorseless and graphic focus on sexual violence and nether-region mutilation, shocked even hardened devotees of the genre. Songs on the album included, Raping the Corpse, Penile Dissection, Mutilated Genitalia and the distinctly less than charming Dead Bitch in the Skip. That Ollie Jones, the band’s singer and songwriter, was an actual mortician only added to Desecration’s notoriety.

Gore and Perversion would eventually be released with a black printed sticker over the original artwork apologising for the censorship (see pic). The whole album was re-recorded and re-released in 2003 as Gore and Perversion 2. In spite of – or perhaps benefitting from – their early notoriety Desecration have continued merrily down the death metal highway, producing many albums along the way, the last of which was Forensix. You can see a YouTube interview with two members of the band here, of which the only shocking thing is how terribly nice they appear to be.

Alan, the Welsh Sailor

2011-06-28T11:57:00.008+01:00

Back in the 1940s/50s the practice of bodybuilding really took off. Muscle magazines such as Male Model Monthly and Physique Pictorial gradually emerged to cater for this new cult of the physical. Obviously such publications were hugely popular with a homosexual audience but most of the models who appeared in the bodybuilding press were actually heterosexual. Some were enthusiasts looking to boost their bodybuilding profile, others were guys down on their luck, hoping to earn a few quid modelling. Pin-ups soon developed their own following amongst fans. These included Tibor Noszaky, a Hungarian refugee, and Alan, a tattooed sailor from Wales. If readers liked the model on view they could send off for uncensored studio shots of their idols. Two photographers in the UK who pioneered this kind of homo-erotic material were John S Barrington and Basil Clavering – both of whom used Alan, the matelot from Wales, as a model. The above photograph of Alan was taken circa 1959 by John S Barrington.

The Irascibles in Newport

2011-06-20T15:49:00.003+01:00

Wales’s most underrated band The Irascibles will be performing at the Meze Lounge in downtown Newport, Gwent, on June 25 at 7.30 pm. It will be an evening of bluesabilly, rock’n’roll and burlesque. So if you’re going don’t forget your basque.

Shoulder to Shoulder

2011-06-20T15:28:00.008+01:00

I’m not jazzed on male voice choirs. It’s all a bit naff, isn’t it? A kitsch cliché: arteriosclerotic men in matching blazers hymning their way through Cwm Rhondda, or some other chestnut from the exhausted repertoire of Wales’s moribund industrial and Nonconformist past. The musical equivalent of one of those traditional Welsh ladies made out of coal that you find in gift shops.

The recent success of Only Men Aloud in a UK-networked televised choir competition has been an unmitigated disaster. It has given BBC Wales (Only Men Aloud TV) carte blanche to foist yet more choral tripe on an already long-suffering Welsh public. To the cultural powers that be I guess OMA are viewed as giving a noble Welsh tradition a youthful injection of blood, but to many of us it’s just the same old stereotypical dross dressed up in Armani.

There’s no need either to go into the servile implications of requiring an English TV show (Last Choir Standing) to validate your own (supposed) culture. I remember a similar grovelling response when the London music press became briefly enamoured with Welsh bands in the ‘90s. It was the same also when Rhys Ifans landed the supporting role of stinking Celt to Hugh Grant’s hygienic Englishman in the egregious Notting Hill. Instead of crying Uncle Tom as they should have done large sections of the Welsh media practically came in their own mephitic pants.

For Welsh male voice choirs to have any real relevance they need new songs that reflect the concerns of contemporary Welsh life. They really ought to be singing about heroin addiction and unemployment in the Valleys; wind farms; the Welsh Assembly; and the media tribulations of Ryan Giggs, rather than churning out lame versions of Men of Harlech and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

The great missed opportunity for Welsh male voice choirs occurred during the miners’ strike of 1984. Here was the perfect moment to marry the collective vocal unit with the collective dissent of striking Welsh mineworkers. What was required was a fresh repertoire of radical political songs to articulate the struggle but unfortunately there was no modern day secular equivalent of Joseph Parry to write them.

One band who saw the potential in a politicised choir were London-based industrial noiseniks Test Dept. Their collaboration with the hastily assembled South Wales Striking Miners Choir, Shoulder to Shoulder, provides a tantalising glimpse of what might have been. Clearly besotted with industrial iconography (as you can see from the LP cover) Test Dept characteristically Sovietised their material with songs such as Comrades in Arms, Comrades, Fuel to Fight and Gdansk. Other tunes included Roman War Song and Myfanwy! The recording has long-since been deleted but it’s well worth tracking down a copy. After a few listens I promise you’ll be scribbling down 5 year plans and setting about your ironing with Stakhanovite zeal.

Data Kill and Hoax! Magazine

2011-06-16T10:12:00.004+01:00

Data Kill (or is it Datakill?) was a fanzine that came out of Brecon in the late ‘80s. As you can see from the cover of Issue 1 it heavily, but not exclusively, featured Welsh bands such as the mighty Datblygu and Colwyn Bay punksters 4Q. It was approximately 20 pages in length and A5 in size. The editor of this impressively produced mag with its chopped up graphics and tiny print went by the moniker Johnny Datakill.

In the early ‘90s the mysterious Johnny Datakill changed his editorial name to John C S Quel and began producing another Brecon-based magazine, Hoax!. Hoax! was more subversive in outlook than its predecessor covering stuff like KLF, Robert Anton Wilson and Church of the Subgenius. I’m told that it was militantly anti-work and advocated office-based sabotage. It became something of a pranksters’ bible.

According to a snippet on the internet Quel was once implicated by a Sunday newspaper as a prime suspect in the Mardi Gra bombing campaign. He sounds like an interesting chap – any more info on Hoax! would be much appreciated.

*Data Kill has also been causing a fanzine-related frisson over at Y Twll.

Sophie Dee Skateboard

2011-06-04T14:23:00.005+01:00

About a year ago LA-based Welsh porn star Sophie Dee (originally from Llanelli) had her image immortalised on some customised skateboards (see pic). Fans could purchase them from her online HQ, Club Sophie Dee. I notice there is just one skateboard left for sale. Surely the Welsh National History Museum at St Fagans ought to be snapping up this kind of cultural artefact?

Stanley Baker and Wonder Woman

2011-06-02T17:32:00.002+01:00

This picture shows Welsh actor Stanley Baker with a couple of Miss World contestants in London back in 1972. They appear to be doing the hokey cokey. On the left is Miss Portugal and on the right is Miss USA, an unknown Lynda Carter. Lynda was eliminated at the semi-final stage of the competition. Soon afterwards she ditched the whole outdated beauty pageant thing and in 1976 transmogrified into kick-ass feminist pop-cultural TV icon, Wonder Woman.

Roxy Music's Anglesey Album Cover

2011-06-01T11:51:00.005+01:00

A while back on this blog I wondered aloud about the Welsh location used for the cover of Roxy Music's 1975 album Siren. Where exactly was it? I had three separate email responses all naming a different place. The above video provides the definitive answer: South Stack, Ynys Môn (Anglesey).

*Thanks to Dyl Mei for the YouTube tip.

TV Licence Oversight

2011-06-01T11:18:00.003+01:00

It may be an unpleasant task but we all have to shell out for a TV licence… even iconic supermodels. Back in 1972 Jean Shrimpton was up before Builth Wells magistrates for having "forgotten" to stump up for one. A few months previously The Shrimp had moved into her new Welsh home (Golf House, Llangammarch Wells) with her then boyfriend, writer Malcolm Richey. In all of the confusion she had totally blanked on a television licence. Well, that was her excuse anyway. She pleaded guilty and despite having once been 'the face of the Sixties' was forced to cough-up a £7 fine. After two years in Wales she moved back to London.

John Travolta You Are A Superstar

2011-05-18T17:29:00.003+01:00

I’ve mentioned deceased Tiger Bay singer Gene Latter previously on this blog. He released about a dozen singles in a variety of musical styles during the ‘60s and ‘70s but never quite cracked the big time. There are always plenty of his records on YouTube, some of which are quite collectable, particularly amongst Northern Soul and Mod aficionados. I’ve even heard talk that a Gene Latter compilation album is in the pipeline though, as yet, I’ve seen no actual evidence of this. Latter also ‘discovered’ and managed Britain’s first mixed-race band The Equals, featuring a teenage Eddy Grant. They had a monster smash hit with Baby Come Back. Anyway, the above YouTube is his last single (that I’m aware of), a novelty disco record from 1978 called John Travolta You Are A Superstar. Despite the title it’s not completely crap. Actually it is not at all bad and his voice was obviously still in fine fettle at the time of this recording.

Swansea Fruit Flies on Acid

2011-05-18T15:32:00.003+01:00

At the University of Wales, Swansea, in 1972 strange experiments involving LSD and fruit flies were carried out. Basically scientists were trying to discover whether taking acid caused long-term genetic damage. They were particularly interested in the potentially harmful effects of LSD on the children of addicts.

Obviously testing human beings was a complete non-starter so fruit flies, with their simple genetic make-up and conveniently short life cycles, were used instead. The insects were fed sugar and porridge, heavily spiked with pure LSD. They were also injected with the drug via micro-syringes. Apparently the hallucinogenic didn’t prevent the fruit flies from flying but they had “wandered around quite stoned”.

The results? Scientists found that there was some evidence of long-term genetic damage in the fruit flies. However the doses they had received were massive compared to what your average hippie would ingest. Humans, they concluded, wouldn’t suffer any genetic defects whatsoever. Taking acid, therefore, is not going to result in you having mutant children.

*If you were involved in the LSD experiments at the genetics department of Swansea University in 1972 under the direction of Professor J A Beardmore get in touch - I would love to know more.

Wales Visitation

2011-05-16T12:55:00.005+01:00

Previously on this blog I have mentioned Allen Ginsberg's trip (I use the term advisedly) to Capel-y-Ffin, in 1967. It was there that the Beat poet-turned-hippie guru ingested LSD and under its influence wrote the poem: Wales Visitation. In this YouTube he reads it out on American telly.

*Note: this poem is sometimes referred to as Wales, A Visitation.

Gladys Frost v Howard Hughes

2011-05-12T11:10:00.001+01:00

Gladys Thomas Frost from Swansea had a bone to pick with Howard Hughes - he owed her about £10m quid. Mrs Frost believed that she had been cheated out of a family inheritance in the form of a trust fund set up by her great grandfather David Thomas. He had emigrated to the US from Neath in 1839 and amassed a vast fortune in the iron industry.

Mrs Frost reckoned her share of the fortune had gone to Howard Hughes who was also a descendent of the Iron King. So convinced was she of her claim that in 1959 she sold her Swansea home and moved to New York to fight her case in the courts. US lawyers were paid to investigate the Hughes connection but trustees of the fund would not allow her claim. After three years she returned to Wales completely penniless.

In 1973 it was reported that multi-millionaire Hughes, now a neurotic, unkempt, long-fingernailed recluse, had moved into the Inn on the Park Hotel in London. Gladys, along with her steelworker husband, travelled to London from Swansea to picket the hotel. She carried a placard bearing the message: 'HOWARD IF YOU REPUDIATE MY STATEMENT THEN SUE ME AND THE TRUTH WILL OUT (see pic).

She wrote letters to Hughes. In one she said: "Please see me. I have come all the way from Swansea." But hotel staff denied that he was even on the premises (he was actually in a suite on the ninth floor). In the end they promised to forward her notes to Hughes's bankers. Mrs Frost said: "I'm obviously disappointed not to have met him face to face and given him a piece of my mind. But the trip wasn't wasted. I am hoping now that he will be so shaken he will be shamed into getting in touch." He didn't.

Howard Hughes died in 1976. Inevitably there was a great deal of interest in who would be the beneficiaries of his will. Mrs Frost unfortunately didn't receive a single penny. She died in 1982. A year later the much contested $2.5 billion Hughes estate was split between 22 of his cousins.

Sŵn Magazine

2011-05-09T16:54:00.004+01:00

This is the cover of a Welsh-language music magazine called Sŵn (Noise). It ran from 1972-74. Other notable defunct Welsh-language music zines are Asbri (Vivacity) (1969-78) and Sgrech (Scream) (1978-85). All are rich sources of musical info and contain some great pictures. Sgrech for example has some fine shots of Geraint Jarman looking an absolute dead ringer for Brian May; and an extremely young Gruff Rhys balancing a cymbal on his head in a band called Machlud. Many thanks to Huw Jones for the Sŵn scan.

Ifor Thomas

2011-05-09T10:43:00.004+01:00

Ever heard of Welsh photographer Ifor Thomas? Me neither. It transpires, though, that he was a key figure in the post-war history of British photography. Thomas, along with his wife Joy, established the influential Guildford School of Photography in 1946. That establishment was renowned for its innovative teaching methods, and it was there that Thomas pioneered the notion of photography as a fine art. Amongst the students that he inspired was brilliant Observer snapper Jane Bown. Thomas's approach to photography can be traced back to the Bauhaus. Before WW2 he had taught at the Riemann School in London which had had its first incarnation in Berlin, where it was staffed by former Bauhaus teachers. Former pupils of Ifor Thomas - Rita and Jack Tait - are currently archiving his work with the assistance of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. A major Ifor Thomas exhibition is planned, with potentially, a documentary film and book to follow. If you have any info, anecdotes, etc relating to the life of Ifor Thomas you can contact Rita Tait at 'bronyddrt at btconnect.com'. The above photo is the copyright of Rita Tait.

Cerith Wyn Evans and Kenneth Anger

2011-05-04T17:27:00.004+01:00

You can count the number of avant-garde artists from Llanelli on the fingers of one finger. Cerith Wyn Evans is the sui generis individual in question. Here, he is pictured with bad boy underground filmmaker and author of Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger.

Cedric Morris

2011-05-04T14:48:00.003+01:00

I must confess the main reason I like Swansea artist Cedric Morris is because he was a fop with cool hair. He was certainly no stylistic innovator. Nor was he a genius with a prodigious talent. In fact he ended up becoming an artist after attempts to join the army, and later to become a singer, failed. He even endured stints as a dishwasher and bellboy in New York.

In 1918 he met Arthur Lett-Haines who would become his lifelong companion and lover. Lett-Haines was married at the time but he soon ditched the missus and the two young gentlemen went to live in Cornwall. In 1920 they re-located to Paris where they mixed in the same circles as Hemmingway, Marcel Duchamp, Nancy Cunard and Man Ray. For the next 5 years Morris learnt to become a painter studying at the Academies Moderne and La Grande Chaumiere. Before long he had established his own painting style.

Following successful exhibitions in London in 1925 and 1927, Morris and Lett-Haines moved back to the English capital, setting up a studio in Great Ormond Street. They became a fixture on the London arts scene and were famous for hosting dazzling parties. However, Morris hankered after the country life, as he wanted to pursue his keen interest in horticulture. In 1929 he and Lett-Haines leased Pond Farm in Suffolk, giving up their London studio altogether a year later.

Morris turned Pound Farm into a rural idyll, developing the gardens in spectacular fashion. He would soon attain an international reputation as a plantsman and would even have flowers named after him. But Morris never forgot his own roots. In the thirties he regularly visited Wales on painting trips; initiated a touring exhibition of Welsh art; and taught at an arts centre in Merthyr Tydfil. He also joined the Labour party, moved by the plight of the people in the south Wales Valleys during the Depression.

In 1937 Morris and Lett-Haines opened the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, at Dedham. When the building burned down two years later the school was re-established at Benton End. Its two most noted students were Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling. No house-style prevailed at Benton End - artists were instead encouraged to pursue their own vision. Lessons took place outdoors amongst the wandering peacocks and cockatoos. There was also much dancing to Latin-American gramophone records.

Cedric Morris died in 1982. He is most remembered for his flower paintings and portraits. Above is his portrait of the artist Lucian Freud completed in 1940 and which is now in the Tate collection.

Folk the Royal Wedding

2011-04-28T16:46:00.005+01:00

I would feel morally and spiritually unclean if I didn’t post something anti-monarchist before the – pass the sick bag – big day. Thankfully alt.folkie types Gareth Bonello and Richard James have come up trumps with their Royal Wedding Protest Song. Great work. And exemplary in its use of swear words. You can download it for free, via here.

X-Ray Spex in Cardiff

2011-04-27T15:42:00.003+01:00

How sad to read of the demise of Poly Styrene, lead singer of X-Ray Spex - what a great band they were. Songs about youthful alienation and the horrors of living in a consumer society have seldom sounded so urgent, so visceral, as when PS was in full flow. Away from the heat of the zeitgeist the work of some punk bands can sound a bit insipid, but X-Ray Spex’s oeuvre has stood the test of time remarkably well. The above newspaper advert (complete with obligatory misspelling of the band's name) is for a gig at the Top Rank, Cardiff, in 1977. Also on the bill were Pontypridd punkers, the Tax Exiles. RIP Poly Styrene.

Hywel Ffiaidd

2011-04-21T13:16:00.005+01:00

I'm quite curious about Hywel Ffiaidd, a Welsh punk/theatrical rock band from the late '70s, early '80s. Ffiaidd by the way, is Welsh for loathsome. Judging from their song titles they seem to have been politically motivated. On this cassette their tunes are Croeso Diana, Plismon and Bobby Sands. They also did a number called Can i John Jenkins. Their line-up changed at various points but singer Dyfed Thomas - who was also responsible for their lyrics - seems to have been a constant. I've seen some good shots of him in the Welsh-language music fanzine of the day, Sgrech (Scream), looking somewhat Boris Karloff-like. He's an actor now, apparently. Were they any good?

UPDATE: Here is some fabulous background information on Hywel Ffiaidd kindly sent to me by ‘Dean Dwl’. Cheers Dean:

Dyfed Thomas acted in both Welsh & English - in the early ‘80s he appeared alongside Dennis Waterman in the TV film The World Cup: A Captain's Tale.

The bass player Dafydd Saer is the son of Roy Saer, collector of Welsh folk songs at St Fagans.

The guitarist Dafydd Pearce was from Penrhyndeudraeth. In the late ‘60s he met up with the Mick Jagger who was in the area partying with Lord Harlech's kids, I think. Mick introduced Dafydd to his brother Chris. Dafydd joined Chris's band and jetted off to the States to do a couple of albums with Chris, returning to Wales in the late ‘70s with enough money to set up his own studio, Stiwdio 123, in Cardiff, where this tape was recorded. He now lives in west Wales, working as a freelance TV sound recordist. In his house there's a nice portrait of Yul Brynner, presented to Dafydd by Brynner's son from when Daf was living in LA in the ‘70s.

BTW Dafydd's uncle was in the legendary early ‘60s north Wales band Dino & the Wildfires, active on the Merseybeat scene. Legend has it his uncle, Eurwyn Pierce AKA 'Dino', taught Gerry Marsden (& the Pacemakers) the chords to You'll Never Walk Alone - the rest is history. Dino played alongside the Beatles too, amongst other Merseybeat groups. Although all members were Welsh speakers from the Penrhyndeudraeth/Porthmadoc area, they were told to pretend they were from Liverpool because being Welsh wasn't cool - like they did back then. They changed their name to The Wackers and released one single, which was not a hit.

The Vagabond's Breakfast

2011-04-21T10:08:00.006+01:00

Richard Gwyn's memoir, The Vagabond's Breakfast, is a compelling account of the author's lost years of vagrancy in Greece, France and Spain, as well as his ongoing battles with alcoholism, insomnia and viral hepatitis. Given a year to live by medics and writing through the fog of hepatic encephalopathy Gwyn picks through his past life with commendable objectivity.

Sun-kissed anecdotes of Keroucian wanderlust and Bukowskian drunkenness provide the reader with vicarious thrills yet Gwyn himself is keen to de-romanticise his former lifestyle. He bemoans, for example, the immense tedium of being down and out: "the hours spent outside cafes nursing a single drink, of rendezvous with potential employers who never turned up, of having to listen to the interminably tedious advice of a certain breed of seasoned world-traveller, of the inane chatter of junkies and petty criminals..."

We learn that Gwyn eked out a living doing seasonal agricultural work, picking tomatoes, melons and oranges. Drunken escapades - often barely remembered - result in frequent hospitalisations or lead to temporary incarceration in a range of continental slammers. Sporadic relationships offer potential avenues of escape from his lowlife existence but as he says himself: "the level of my social dereliction took me to zones where the few available women were either incontinent or permanently brain-damaged."

Underpinning Gwyn’s aimless but colourful meanderings is a strong philosophical dimension. He ruminates on the haphazard, unplanned nature of existence. How those seemingly small choices we make can have a profound influence on the direction that our lives ultimately take – those ‘sliding door’ moments. The memoirist also questions the reliability and veracity of memory. And, as a fictioneer, he is aware of the artifice of shaping those memories into some coherent form. The dynamic between reality and imagination is important to Gwyn both ontologically and as a writer.

Given such musings it's no surprise that The Vagabond’s Breakfast doesn’t follow a linear narrative. Instead this is a weave of anecdotes and memories inspired to some degree by the process of writing itself. Certain of his recollections have the self-contained quality of short stories. A Grangetown youth who rescues the author from a difficult situation at an all night garage, for example, turns out to be a Somali refugee whom he once taught to speak English. Other tales serve to lighten the narrative, notably his stint as a "milkman of ill repute".

Although primarily a memoir The Vagabond's Breakfast reads like a travelogue. By that I don't mean that it's merely a lowlife trek through the sunlit landscapes of southern Europe, but rather a negotiation of the darker and more difficult terrain of illness. It's an inner journey that ends in redemption and hard won self-knowledge, so one that was worth embarking upon - for the reader, certainly.

*The Vagabond's Breakfast by Richard Gwyn is published by Alcemi.

Sue Packer's Pets

2011-04-14T18:34:00.009+01:00

Just bought a second-hand copy of Pets by Sue Packer, an amusing collection of photographs featuring animals and their owners. The photobook was originally published in hardback in 2003. Fear not, this isn't one of those twee assemblages of soft-focus shots of kittens and puppies. Instead what you’ll find here is a wide-range of subjects including a young girl covered in snails; a tattooed lady and her pet lizard (see pic); and one man and his ferret, amongst many others. Packer, from Abergavenny, has carried out some interesting photographic experiments in the past including documenting the offspring of seven of her closest friends in The Babies. In Tintern Portraits she went around knocking on strangers' doors asking if she could photograph the occupants of the house. She'd just moved into the Gwent village and thought it would be an ideal way of getting to know her new neighbours. Her Pets images have been exhibited throughout the UK.

*The above photograph is copyright of Sue Packer.

Gruff Rhys's Toilet Art

2011-04-13T15:21:00.006+01:00

This amazing picture from 1992 shows a pre-Super Furry Animals Gruff Rhys engaging in a bit of playful art terrorism. The future Welsh music legend was draping toilet paper down the steps of the National Museum in Cardiff as a protest against that institution’s lack of innovation and also its lack of contemporary Welsh art. Rhys said that the lines of toilet paper on the museum steps represented the Nod Cyfrin or the Secret Symbol of the Gorsedd of Bards. He cheerfully admitted that he often used lavatorial materials in his artworks, including multicoloured toilet brushes which he liked to stick on walls. He’s holding three toilet brushes in the above picture. Fans of Gruff Rhys will recognise that there has always been a strong conceptual dimension to his musical output as well as an employment of art prankster tactics, such as purchasing a tank or constructing a model hotel out of shampoo bottles. As he said himself back in 1992: “seduce the eye first, then get into the political message afterwards.” How about letting him represent Wales at a future Venice Biennale?

*Hotel Shampoo, which is just about the best thing he has ever done in my humble opinion, is out now on Ovni/Turnstile records.

John Cale's Warholian LP Sleeve

2011-04-07T12:11:00.003+01:00

Andy Warhol, famously, designed the first two iconic Velvet Underground album covers. One of his lesser known record designs, however, was for John Cale’s proggy The Academy in Peril (1972) LP. Obviously the two knew each other from their Velvet Underground associations so they came to an arrangement over the sleeve. Warhol would design the album cover in exchange for being able to use one of the album tracks, Days of Steam, for the soundtrack of his film, Heat. The sleeve turned out to be characteristically Warholian with its use of Kodachrome transparencies in series. The actual photographs were taken by Ed Thrasher. The back of the album bears Warhol’s studio signature (see pic).

Psychedelic Plaid Cymru

2011-04-06T13:35:00.003+01:00

Looks like Plaid Cymru were attempting to win over the psychedelic vote with this lysergically toned election poster from back in the day. Judging by the caricatures of Harold Wilson and Ted Heath in the top right-hand corner I'm guessing it must have been printed in either 1970 or 1974. Today's political imagery (from all the main parties) tends to be drearily corporate so it's interesting to view an example of an unconventionally designed election poster. Wonder if the acid demographic turned out and voted Plaid that year? I’m indebted to Huw Jones for sending me the pristine scan.

Absolute by Scritti Politti

2011-04-01T10:26:00.004+01:00

When, in the early 1980s, Scritti Politti shifted from earnest agitprop politicos to purveyors of hyper-commercial pop, heads were scratched. Was former squat-dwelling Communist Green Gartside intent on subverting the genre or had he been wholly seduced by it? Who knows? What became increasingly clear is that soul, funk, reggae and hip-hop would be the vital components that would inform and inflect Scritti Politti's future pop musical output.

Absolute is a timely reminder of what a fine songwriter Green Gartside actually became. I'd forgotten just how good songs like Asylums in Jerusalem, The Word Girl and Tinseltown to the Boogiedown are. Jacques Derrida (always my favourite SP track) sounds nothing less than extraordinary today. Name dropping a hip French philosopher and an Italian Socialist newspaper (Avanti!) into a ditty that veers from Simon and Garfunkel sweetness to bolshy hip-hop is indeed bravura.

Other tracks sound better than ever. Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry for Loverboy) - much loved, as I recall, by shop girls and hairdressers - left me completely cold at the time of its release, but how wrong I was. It's a pop masterpiece. Shop girls and hairdressers, of course, have always been THE most discerning and astute of pop musical critics. Another revelation is Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder, a finely polished soulful ballad which Michael Jackson himself would have been proud of.

Green's voice on this collection is fascinating. Skank Bloc Bologna, the only relic here of Scritti Politti's pre-pop incarnation, has him singing in an angsty David Bowie-style mockney accent. It demonstrates that his later Americanised and feminised vocal delivery was certainly an entirely calculated choice. At times Green sounds uncannily like Michael Jackson, including on the two new tracks, A Day Late and A Dollar Short, and A Place We Both Belong - both excellent by the way.

Other high points include meaningful cameos from Robert Wyatt on The "Sweetest Girl" and Miles Davis on Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry for Loverboy). Absolute - a collection of the words and music of Scritti Politti – is an excellent summation of Green Gartside’s musical career and is out now on Virgin Records.

The Shaky Game

2011-03-29T10:57:00.008+01:00

If you bought the cassette version of Shakin' Stevens’s 1983 album The Bop Won’t Stop (I didn't, by the way) you might have wondered what those strange sounds were at the end of the recording. The blips and beeps represented code for a game which could be loaded on to a ZX Spectrum 48K. It was called the Shaky Game. Basically you had to drive Shakin' Stevens’s car to the centre of a maze where you would find his ole house. In the process you had to avoid being bitten by bats. Heck, I’ll let the Welsh Elvis explain it all himself, here. Love the way he says “compuder”.

Ernest

2011-03-25T20:31:00.003Z

Over the past eighteen months Gideon Koppel’s beautifully shot documentary film, Sleep Furiously, has been delighting audiences across the land with its meditative portrayal of life in rural Trefeurig. The small concerns of everyday living set against the majesty and permanence of the landscape proved absolutely compelling. It’s an elegy for a passing way of life, of course, but ultimately a celebration of ordinary humanity, too. And it has got a great soundtrack.

In light of this I’m quite curious about a programme Koppel made for S4C back in 1994, entitled Ernest (see pic). It was, apparently, a docu-drama about Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones – chum of Sigmund Freud and his chief propagandist. Richard Lynch starred as Jones and Philip Madoc as Freud. It was shot in b/w; had a Welsh-language narrative; and the drama was intercut with archive footage. The programme lasted an hour.

In creating his characters Koppel drew upon Jones’s autobiographical writings, as well as his correspondence with Freud. He also employed psychoanalytic techniques within the drama itself. At the time Koppel said of the programme: “I am intrigued by the idea of a Welshman becoming a leading light of psychoanalysis at a time when it was the exclusive preserve of Eastern European jews.” Koppel also wanted his programme to be given subtitles and shown to a wider audience.

Sounds like my cup of entertainment. It’d be cool if S4C repeated Ernest at some point or even made it available to view online.

Alan Jenkins and Broken Arrow

2011-03-17T22:10:00.002Z

Alan Jenkins, from Bridgend, was an early member of the Neil Young Appreciation Society. In 1984 he took over as editor of the society's floundering magazine, Broken Arrow. He would remain at the helm for the next 17 years (Issues 16 - 82), turning it into one of the best music fanzines around, enjoyed by a worldwide readership.

Jenkins became a fan of Neil Young in 1972 after hearing After the Goldrush. He then went out and bought every Neil Young record he could lay his hands on. As well as concert bootlegs, posters, tour t-shirts etc. The modest terraced house he shared with his wife in Bridgend became a shrine to the man. Even his cat, Zuma, was named after an album by guess who?

Not that one copy of a Neil Young disc was ever enough for Alan. "I must have had about 15 copies of Deja Vu," he said, "because the French version came out on a white sleeve, the Israeli one with a single sleeve with a rare photo on the back, and the Czechoslovakian version came in a completely different sleeve again!"

You can understand why Jenkins was soon acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on Young. For many magazine editors and radio DJs seeking info on the cult Canadian singer, he was their first port of call. Highlights of his Broken Arrow tenure included an interview with Young himself; and having the NYAS address printed in sleevenotes on his idol's albums Freedom and Arc.

Sadly, in 2001 Jenkins gave up his editorship of Broken Arrow and the whole Neil Young thing as it was all getting a bit much for him. He had been suffering health problems and decided to make a totally clean break. These days he prefers to concentrate on his other great musical love, opera.

*Neil Young and Broken Arrow: On a Journey Through the Past (see pic), is a collection of Broken Arrow articles compiled by Alan Jenkins. The book also includes a discography, set lists, and a list of cover versions. Published in 1994, only 2,000 copies were ever printed and it has now become a much sought after item of Young memorabilia.

Christian Slater in Tenby

2011-03-16T11:06:00.002Z

It’s Christian Slater sitting on a wall in Tenby in 1997. The Hollywood actor was taking time out from filming entirely forgettable costume drama, Basil, based on a Wilkie Collins novel. Over the years Slater has acquired something of a reputation for hell-raising. He has criminal convictions for drink driving, assault, and attempting to board a commercial plane with a gun in his luggage. One wonders what he made of Tenby’s colourful nightlife.

Julie Roberts

2011-03-16T10:56:00.001Z

This is a painting of Jean Cocteau on his deathbed. The artist is Julie Roberts who is originally from Fflint. She studied at Wrexham School of Art, St Martin’s, and Glasgow School of Art. Her distinctive work is always worth keeping an eye out for. I can recall some interesting wallpaper she designed featuring sculptress Barbara Hepworth, for instance. She also sketched Jack the Ripper’s mutilated victims using original police photos as her starting point. Her successful exhibition, Child, consisted of an unsettling collection of drawings and paintings of children under duress. It was influenced, in part, by her own experiences growing up in children’s homes and foster care. Her works can be found in galleries everywhere from Washington DC to the Tate.

Taking the Mickey

2011-03-14T22:37:00.003Z

In 1993 former Wrexham and Wales footballing enfant terrible, Mickey Thomas, was given an 18 month jail term for his role in a money forging scam. Instead of setting a good example to youngsters “the Pied Piper of football” was busy supplying them with counterfeit banknotes. Football apprentices being the chief recipients. At the time of his arrest spoof tenners began circulating in north Wales. They showed Mickey Thomas’s face superimposed over that of the queen (see pic). Don’t know about you but, given a choice, I know whose mug I’d prefer to see on my money.

Obsolete Nirvana Tickets

2011-03-14T22:28:00.003Z

When Kurt Cobain blew his own brains out on April 5, 1994, he left his Welsh fans on the horns of a dilemma. Should they ask for a refund (£12) on their tickets for Nirvana's forthcoming show at the Cardiff International Arena (scheduled for May 9), or keep them as macabre souvenirs? Many people chose the latter option (see pic), viewing their now useless tickets as pop cultural memento mori. Nirvana's UK tour had already been postponed once after Cobain had gone into a coma triggered by an overdose of champagne and rohypnol in Rome. Welsh fans, however, were optimistic that he'd get his shit together before May 9. Unfortunately that optimism proved to be entirely misplaced.

John Lennon's Welsh Sketch

2011-03-07T21:55:00.003Z

This sketch entitled His Beerness Keith (A Welsh) was drawn by an 18 year-old (ish) John Lennon in 1957. At the time Lennon was living with his aunt Mimi at 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool. Lennon’s aunt used to take in lodgers, one of whom was Keith Capron, a veterinary student from Wales who was studying at Liverpool University. He is the beer-bellied subject of Lennon's drawing. Capron would spend three years lodging with the family with whom he became very friendly. Lennon was an art student at the time but was also in the process of becoming a musician. John, Paul, George and Pete Best used to practice at the house. Although he got on well with Lennon, Capron wasn’t especially fond of the incipient Beatles: “I used to shout at them to stop playing while I was trying to work,” he said. The house is now owned by the National Trust and Keith Capron’s recollections form part of the audio commentary for visitors. After gaining his degree Capron returned to Wales and set up a veterinary practice in Pontypridd.

John Cale Sings Myfanwy

2011-02-24T18:37:00.004Z

The above YouTube shows John Cale singing a pared-down, de-kitsched version of Myfanwy and, in the process, getting back to his Cymric roots. It demonstrates that even a traditional Welsh hymn can acquire a certain coolness when sung by a former member of the Velvet Underground. This live performance was recorded in 1992 for Heno, a TV programme on S4C. Wonder if they have any more gems like this in their archive?

*Thanks to Gari Melville for the tip.

Bloody Hell!

2011-02-19T13:41:00.003Z

Bloody Hell! was a well appointed horror fanzine that came out of Cardiff in the early ‘90s. Subtitled ‘the flesh and blood fanzine with a brain in its head’ it was edited and mostly written by local boy David Prothero. Prothero - an old acquaintance – put his zine together in a flat in Pen Y Waun Road, Roath. His abode was adorned with pictures of horror greats but taking pride of place was his signed photograph of Peter Cushing.

Prothero, a former pupil of Whitchurch High School, acquired a taste for horror films from watching late night bills at the Monico cinema. Being a bright boy, he ended up going to Oxford University where he studied English Lit. Whilst doing his MA on William Blake he became increasingly interested in penny dreadfuls and the darker, gothic side of the Romantic movement.

His knowledge of horror films and fiction was encyclopaedic - he wrote numerous entries in the BFI Companion to Horror as well as articles for Sight and Sound magazine. As you can see from the cover of Bloody Hell! (issue 3), Prothero was a fan of Dario Argento. He was an even bigger fan of Alejandro Jodorowsky whom he interviewed on several occasions. Amongst his other cinematic favourites were the films Driller Killer and Henry – Portrait of a Serial Killer. Dave committed suicide in 2001.

Paul Peter Piech

2011-02-17T16:37:00.003Z

Graphic artist Paul Peter Piech was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1920. World War 2 brought him to the UK, where he served in the US Air Force. In 1947 he married a Welsh nurse. Piech enrolled at Chelsea Art College and after graduating found work as a graphic designer in the advertising industry. In 1968 he went freelance. He supplemented his income by teaching at various UK art colleges. He mostly worked using linocut and woodcut techniques. His striking combination of images and text often reflected his liberal/left political outlook. Piech hated war and was a staunch pacifist and advocate of human rights. If you do an internet image search you will find many of his anti-war poster designs for groups like Amnesty International. He was also a big fan of jazz. In 1986 Piech settled in Porthcawl where he lived until his death in 1996. Whilst here, he immersed himself in Welsh culture and produced many brilliant works in both English and Welsh (see above pics). There is an archive of his artwork at the Yale College in Wrexham, donated by his family.

*On the subject of graphic design this new website dedicated to showcasing music flyers/posters in the Cardiff area is worth a look.

Shay Hendrix and Loz Lorrimar

2011-02-14T12:21:00.003Z

Not one, but two north Walian porn stars (is this a record Norris?) torment some poor guy in spectacles. Shay Hendrix and Loz Lorrimar are the Welsh underwear-clad termagants dishing out the treatment. You must be 18-years-old or over to view this YouTube.

Gadael yr Ugeinfed Ganrif

2011-02-08T22:21:00.004Z

Gareth Potter’s theatrical monologue, Gadael yr Ugeinfed Ganrif, opens this month at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, before going on tour around Wales. Potter, a veteran of the Welsh-language music scene, will interweave autobiography with pop cultural elements spanning the last two decades of the Twentieth Century. From the Sex Pistols’ visit to Caerphilly (where Potter hails from) to the opening of the Senedd, it promises to be a fascinating journey. Hopefully it will also inspire other Welsh artists to investigate their pop cultural heritage which is just as relevant and ripe for creative exploitation as, say, the stories in the Mabinogion. On a more terrifying note, I'm informed that a beery conversation in the Vulcan pub, of which I was a drunken participant, forms part of the opening scene. I always knew I'd, vicariously, end up on the stage.

*The production is in Welsh and will run at Chapter from 16-19 Feb.

The Big Roar

2011-02-08T22:08:00.003Z

Some of the songs on the The Big Roar have been floating around for so long that it has the curious feel of a debut album and greatest hits record rolled into one. The Joy Formidable may have signed up to Atlantic but, thankfully, they haven't compromised their indie sound in a bid to broaden commercial appeal. If anything the production on the Big Roar gives it an, unexpectedly, hard edge. The swooning melodies and multiple crescendos most evident on old favourites Whirring and Cradle are still prevalent but be prepared for a sonic onslaught. Newer tunes such as The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie, The Magnifying Glass and A Heavy Abacus have a heavier, less immediate, appeal reminiscent of the more insidious strain in the Smashing Pumpkins. There are quieter moments here too. Maruyama and Llaw = Wall, temporarily halt the guitar tsunami and offer welcome textural variety. The album ends triumphantly with two of its strongest songs Chapter 2 and live favourite The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade. The Big Roar is an assured debut and well worth the extended incubation period.

Village Person in Newport

2011-02-01T22:04:00.002Z

Victor Willis, lead singer, chief songwriter and the only straight member of legendary gay musical outfit, the Village People, is currently residing in Newport. To clarify - that's Newport, Gwent. Apparently his new wife, Karen, is from the area. The couple met in the States while Victor was in police custody on drugs and gun charges - no doubt trumped up by the local rozzers. He even appeared on America’s Most Wanted which is ironic because in the Village People he was the one dressed as a cop. Happily Willis managed to evade a prison term and on release in 2007 married Karen (a lawyer), before relocating to sunny Newport. This has to be good news for the Welsh music scene. Newport punk bands, alt.folkies from West Wales, Valleys noise merchants, north Walian electro noodlers and sensitive torch singers from Cardiff ought to be beating a path to his door to collaborate with the man who penned such classics as Y.M.C.A and In the Navy. If you want to find out more about Victor Willis visit Victor Willis World.

Mapping the Territory

2011-02-01T21:51:00.002Z

In recent years the Library of Wales has been reprinting forgotten or overlooked Welsh literary works. Previously, on this blog, I have stated that this forms part of a wider process of cultural reclamation - a phenomenon that occurred (and continues to do so) in the aftermath of Devolution. A kind of Welsh cultural stock take. In addition, I suggested that the next stage of the process would inevitably focus on what has been unearthed - ie the 'critical phase'.

With this in mind, Mapping the Territory (edited by Katie Gramich), may well be a milestone publication in the re-evaluation of our literary heritage. It is a collection of essays that specifically dissects works taken from Wales's new literary canon (in English). This broadening of the canon is, I think, a great leap forward for Welsh literary criticism. Too often in the past the critical focus in Wales has been overly narrow, concentrating on too few writers - Dylan and RS Thomas, in particular.

Writers covered in Mapping the Territory include Rhys Davies, Bernice Rubens, Dorothy Edwards, Alun Lewis and Ron Berry, amongst others. Landscapes range from Porthcawl to perennially overlooked north east Wales. Approaches vary from postcolonial viewpoints to body-centred analyses. In Laura Wainwright's essay, A Hell of a Howl, the distorted Rhondda milieu evident in Gwyn Thomas's The Dark Philosophers is imaginatively compared to German Expressionist art.

I would like to see much more of this kind of cross-medium cultural criticism in Wales. Song lyrics, television programmes, YouTube clips etc should all be up for critical grabs as part of an even wider, invigorated Welsh cultural discourse. This, I believe, is the future. Mapping the Territory, however, is an exciting and significant development in the world of Welsh literary criticism, and worth investigating if you have a broader interest in Welsh culture

Steve Strange and Jack Nicholson

2011-01-25T10:34:00.006Z

It may be an unfashionable view but I like Steve Strange. His journey from working-class skinhead kid to Wigan Casino attendee, to Welsh punk, to New Romantic supremo is, I think, an interesting one. Yet whenever I suggest that his autobiography, Blitzed!, is a great read and a really good insight into ‘80s club culture, people just scoff. You see, there’s something about him that seems to (unfairly) invite ridicule. Perhaps it was the sartorial excesses of the 1980s; or the now infamous teletubby shoplifting incident, that is to blame. I quite admire the way that he edged his way into the showbiz limelight through sheer hard work and natural chutzpah. He had always been resourceful. In Newbridge he would arrange punk rock gigs by the likes of Generation X from the public telephone box down the road, because he didn’t have a phone at his council home. In London he slept on friends’ sofas or moved around various squats. He was always one step away from homelessness but still somehow managed to have a packed social calendar. There were brief stints working for Malcolm McLaren’s Glitterbest company; and a short-lived musical collaboration with Chrissie Hynde. His breakthrough came when he detected that punk was on the wane. Sensing that people wanted to dress up again after the aesthetic constraints of punk he began – along with Rusty Egan – to host club nights for ex-punks and residual Bowie fans. Billy’s, Blitz, Hell, Club for Heroes, and the Camden Palace were his most famous haunts. Entrance could only be gained if you had made a proper effort with your threads. It was a snobbery of sorts but not one based upon wealth or class. Basically, if you were a dab hand with a needle and thread you were in. Consequently, at Blitz, working-class kids rubbed padded shoulders with the likes of Bowie and other celebs. Of course, everything eventually came apart at the seams for Steve Strange, with the inevitable slide into drug abuse and a nervous breakdown. He has recently, however, bounced back by doing some TV work - so good luck to him.

There’s an excellent YouTube clip of Steve Strange hosting his 21st birthday bash on the Circle Line of the London Underground in the early ‘80s, that's worth investigating. The above picture is one that I stumbled across online and shows him with Jack Nicholson, no doubt pondering whether the Hollywood actor is actually cool enough to enter his club.

Victor Spinetti in Pink Orgasm

2011-01-22T14:38:00.002Z

Having appeared in A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965) and Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Victor Spinetti is perhaps best known for being a veteran Beatles associate. But he has done plenty of other cool stuff too, including performing at the Arts Lab in Jane Arden's radical feminist play, Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven (1969). Another interesting (well, it interests me anyway) phase of his career saw him turning up in various British sex films. For instance, there was the eye-popping and actually quite watchable psychedelic romp This, That and the Other! (1969). In 1977 he even starred alongside Fiona Richmond in Hardcore. My favourite, though, was his appearance in the unfinished sexploitation flick Pink Orgasm (1975). Only a few sequences were ever filmed and a mere 15 minutes worth of footage ended up in the can. Co-starring were Heather Deeley and porn superstar Harry Reems, who in 1972 had appeared in the most famous hardcore movie ever made, Deep Throat. Amazingly there is a snippet of Pink Orgasm on Youtube in which the Cwm actor makes a fruity phone call.

Jon Langford in Newport

2011-01-19T16:52:00.007Z

Jon Langford formerly of Newport, now residing in Chicago, will be performing a hometown gig on February 5, 2011. This intimate yet tumultuous acoustic event will take place at the Barnabas Arts House, New Ruperra Street, downtown Newport. Tel: 01633 264581 for ticketing details. Also, check out Jon’s website for all kinds of interesting stuff including, I notice, a really fascinating TV interview for ABC.