The oldest record store in the world, Spillers Records in Cardiff, is under threat as the landlord looks set to hike the rent to unaffordable levels.

It's a great shop and an important musical landmark in the Principality.

Check out my mini-feature here - Spillers Records and please sign the petition here.

Labels: cardiff

Ace historian Chris Roberts kindly agreed to take a gaggle of urbanites on a short walk of the Thames, with a focus on ghost tales and mysterious happenings.



More photos here

Labels: london, photos, walk

Blimey. Yesterday was a bit of a strange one.



I woke up in Cardiff after coming up the night before for my grandmother's funeral.

It was a crisp and sunny winter's morning which soon cleared the hangover from the previous night's family drink.

The preacher taking the service had one of those rich, deep and expressive Welsh accents that nearly managed to summon up a few religious feelings in me (trust me, normally that's a near impossible task).

We sang 'Bread of Heaven' - a beautifully passionate song firmly linked with Wales - and 'Morning is Broken' which always makes me think of Cat Stevens and school assemblies.



We followed the funeral cortège up to the crematorium and waited outside in the bitter cold. I wished I hadn't looked up to see a puff of dark smoke coming out of the chimney.

The ceremony of commitment was short and nicely handed. The Welsh choir played at the end added a poignant touch. RIP Linda.

After an hour or so in Pantmawr pub caught the train back to London and straight up to JAMM for Offline.



I was worried that it would be a really quiet one, but there was a healthy crowd there and the acts were fantastic.



Of special note was Joe Cairo's poetry set - hilarious, dark and throwaway at the same time - and two blinding performances by Parisian jazz outfit Kings Cross Hot Club and hi energy ska band, Big Hand.

Fantastic fun.

See the photos

OK, it's hardly 'white-out' stuff, but snow is such a rare treat in London, I still get excited by the lightest of dustings.

Here's the view from my window this morning.



Brixton photos

Labels: brixton, photos, snow

Still clinging to life despite many eviction attempts are these incredible mosaics of South Street in Philadelphia.

Photos: Magic Gardens, Philadelphia

Labels: philadelphia, photos

Armed with my camera, I went for a lone amble around London on Saturday, starting off at Borough market, and then walking along the Southbank to the Tate Modern and then across the river to Victoria Embankment, up Charing Cross Road, along Oxford Street, down Regent Street, into Mayfair and then headed home to Green Park tube.


Borough Market, London


Tate Modern, Bankside, London


Southbank, London


York Watergate


Brydges Place - London's narrowest alley


The Singing Handyman, London

Labels: london, photos

Last night's Offline was another heap of fun. Being January, I was expecting a quiet crowd, but they were most certainly up for it!

I got to play a load of old vinyl, including one of my fave tunes which went down a storm (see above!).

More Offline photos

*Coming up next Thurs (25th) we've got an incredible bill, including the fantastic Kings Cross Hot Club - a sort of Parisian 1940s jazz outfit, a jumping Ska band, Big Hand and a full cabaret bill - and all for free!

Check out the Offline club website

Labels: brixton, offline

Now closed, DUMBA was a queer arts collective which played a pivotal role in the queer, riotgrrl, punk, and independent film scene in Brooklyn, New York.



The venue for Le Tigre's first ever gig, we managed to visit it just before it closed its doors for good in December 2006.

Here's our tribute: DUMBA in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY

FA Cup 3rd Round replay: Tottenham Hotspur 4 Cardiff 0.

Yowch! That was a thumping! We were rubbish for all but the first 20 mins, but at least the Cardiff crowd were in fine voice throughout the game.



The evening was somewhat marred by a mass of riot cops giving it large and pushing people around at the end.



After being escorted on an hour-long tour of Tottenham against our wishes (we wanted to get the train/tube but were made to roam around with fans getting coaches back to Cardiff) we were told to wait on the pavement.

Then a few minutes later, a load of burly, ready-for-fisticuffs riot cops starting pushing us around saying we had to stand somewhere else.

Once they finished manhandling us, they pointed us in the direction of the train station and left us to walk through the estate unaccompanied.

Luckily there was no one about, but it could have been well dicey.

More photos

Save Smithfield!



Pictured above is the old General Market at Smithfields Market, part of a complex of fine Victorian buildings scheduled for demolition.



Despite much local campaigning and appeals from English Heritage, developers want to smash it down and replace it with a bland 7-storey office block.

» General Market, Smithfields Market photos

A walk around Clerkenwell



Clerkenwell's a great area to walk about (even if it is pissing down), full of nooks and crannies and quirky old buildings. I'll be doing another walk soon.

» A walk around Clerkenwell

The Mystery of Red Cow Yard



There's not a lot to look at here, but what is the red cow that this Clerkenwell street is named after?

» Red Cow Yard, Clerkenwell, EC1

Secret St Pancras



Urban explorer extraordinaire Paul Holmes has managed to sneak his camera into sealed off areas of the marvellous St Pancras/Midland Hotel, which is currently undergoing restoration.

Check out the photos and story here: Mission #17: 'Meet me at St Pancras'

Return of the Penny Dreadful



Chris Roberts leads the revival of these damned Victorian novels!

Return of the Penny Dreadful

Labels: london, photos

An afternoon at the British Library



There's a great exhibition at the British Library at the moment - London: A Life In Maps, featuring lots of amazing old maps.



There's some huge copper-plate panoramas of London, revealing incredibly intricate sketching, as well as wall-filling street maps.

British Library photos

Lost at the Barbican



In the evening, we went to a friend's party at the Barbican, which was as baffling to navigate as ever, with the names on street signs appearing only to disappear again.



My friend's flat was lovely, but the Barbican really is spectacularly ugly.

Heck it makes our block look positively charming!

Barbican photos

And here's some more!

70s Man goes to London

70s Man gets a job

Inter City Traveller

Labels: cartoons, ccfc

Ah, it seems sooo long ago now, but I'm slowly adding strips from my old Bluebird Jones footie comic (described as "painfully right on" by nu-football mag 4-4-2!).

Here's a strip of the main character, Bluebird Jones, from 1993.

Any similarity to real events taking place in my life at the time is (cough) entirely accidental!
Bluebird Jones gets hassle off the dole

And here's another one:

Bluebird Jones goes to art school

Labels: cartoons, ccfc, comics

According to the BBC, Morrissey is considering representing the UK at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.

After posting the news on a thread on urban75, several wags offered suggestions for potential songs for Mozzer:

Eastern European Ruffians
This CAP Reform Proposal Has Opened My Eyes
Girlfriend In A Skoda
Frankly Mr.Shanksi
That Immigration Policy Isn't Funny Anymore
Brussels On The Guillotine
This Charming EU Mandate.
Subsidisers of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU Unite
Hand in Handschuh.
Brussels is bigger than Aachen.

Labels: music

It's taken me over six months to sort 'em out, but the photos from our fabulous stay at the Middle Ninfa Bunkhouse, near Abergavenny, south Wales are finally on the site.



And what a great holiday that was!

Wales walking holiday, June 2006

Also new on the site:


Is Crystal Palace crap? The debate!



FA Cup: Cardiff 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0

A walk around the rain drenched streets of central London with my new Canon Ixus 850IS camera.


Trafalgar Square in the rain.


No takers at the funfair at Leicester Square.



Sheltering from the rain in the National Portrait Gallery.

» A rainy day in London Town, January 2007

Labels: london, photos, rain

Just posted up a review of the Fujifilm FinePix F31fd camera.

In fact, I'd only bought the thing as my beloved Ricoh GRD (only the finest digital compact ever!) had to go in for repair, and I needed something to for New Year's Eve.

I figured that it taking a GR out for a night on the piss looked a bit like overkill, so I wanted something a little more pocketable.



I liked the F31fd, but after being spoilt by the comprehensive, hands-on controls of the GR, the interface seemed well fiddly.

As with all Fujifilm cameras, the low light performance was excellent though, even if it isn't the most attractive camera around.

Fujifilm Finepix F31fd Review

Unfortunately, I had some problems with the camera (it lost some photos - grr), so I had to take it back to the Tottenham Court Road store* I bought it from after just four days.

(*I normally avoid these stores like the plague, but it was the only place that had the camera in stock at the time.)

Needless to say, it took a 15 minute heated argument to get the dodgy fuckers to agree to exchange the camera, but I eventually left with a shiny new Canon Ixus 850IS. Expect a review soon!

Labels: cameras, photos

Sorry it's taken so long, but here's my blog from our trip to New York, 1st-14th December last year.

As ever, I'll be posting up lots of photos from the trip to supplement the huge New York Photo Gallery already online.

Anyway, I'll start off with my blog - and it's a big 'un!

Sat 2nd Dec:

Walk down to 14th/Union Square and caught the L train to Williamsburg for lunch at the Read Cafe.

Great to be back in Williamsburg, even if the terrifying rate of gentrification means that it's going to well and truly fucked soon.

Already neighbourhood shops are being replaced by Realtors (that's "estate agents" to us Brits), with other local business likely to get the elbow when their rents comes up for renewal.

Checked out the excellent City Reliquary which has moved to 370 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg and added a 'museum-type space,' staffed by friendly folks.

Grabbed a coffee at the Atlas Cafe (great bagels and free wi-fi) before heading back uptown.

With our favourite Lower East Side pub, the Raven, still a burnt out shell (and unlikely to ever return to business), we met friends at the Drop Off Service, Ave A 13th/14th - a bit bland and faceless - and then moved on to the bar with no name (ex Brownies) on Avenue A and E13th which was far more fun.

Got happily pissed on cans of the $3 Cerveza Tecate beer, a lovely Mexican number which was served with a bit of lemon shoved into the opening - rather a sophisticated touch I thought.

Earlier, I faced the unbelievable situation of being refused entry to several bars despite looking nowhere remotely, vaguely, not-in-your-wildest dreams-on-drugs under 21 - even in a thick fog with cloudy glasses - so I was forced to drag my passport out with me every bloody night from then on.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that some bars have been known to refuse non-US ID cards, so even a British passport isn't enough (although we never had this problem, to be honest).

It is, in effect, a way of forcing some people to carry ID out with them, whether they want to or not, and it stinks.

Good job the bars are worth the hassle!

Sunday 3rd December





Walked again from 50th down to 14th and then on the L train back to the Read Cafe in Williamsburg.
Walked through the Polish neighbourhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn to a small Craft Fair at the 'Grumpy Cafe' on Meserole Avenue at Diamond Street.

The cafe was nice enough but seemed more than a shade too slick and sleek for the neighbourhood.

Much nicer was the Eat Records cafe a short way up the road, which was suitably down to earth, stuffed full of good records and served up a marvellous soup.

In the evening, we walked the 36 blocks back down to E14th (we did a lot of walking on this trip!) to meet our old chum and drinking partner Jim (aka DJ DandySex) at the Beauty Bar.
The DJ knocked out some ace punk rock tunes, but in the back room there was a woefully ill-advised 'Asian vodka' promotion going on which failed spectacularly to garner any interest from drinkers - maybe they also found the vodka's strap line, 'an elegant taste of rebellion,' as shite as us.

Monday 4th December

Gorgeous sunny day, but very very cold. Brrrr!

Walked down 6th Ave and took a trip up the Rockefeller Tower - incredible views across Manhattan and somehow more striking than the view from the Empire State because, well, you can see the Empire State!

There's several levels to explore too although it was unbelievably cold and windy at the top.




Suitably refreshed, we walked into SoHo and grabbed a late lunch at old fave Cafe Cafe on Greene Street, Soho. It's still one of the better cafes in the area, but the prices had hiked up a bit.

As ever, checked out the excellent Pearl Paints on Canal Street.

Ambled around midtown while Em looked at a load of knitting places and I took pics on my shiny new Nikon D80.

Manhattan remains extraordinarily safe, although I did have some character come up to me on Broadway and whisper, "Psst! Wanna buy some pepper spray?," which made a change from the usual, "Skunk! Skunk! Weed! Crack!" I hear in Brixton.

Walked up to Dave's (6th Ave/between 16th and 17th) for some fantastically cheap Carhartt clobber (and with the pound worth nearly two dollars, the prices were even keener!).

In eve went for a Mexican at Blockheads 2nd Ave / 50th and 51st
Cheap and cheerful, but great food, fast service, truly enormous portions and colossal margaritas for just $3.50.

Tuesday 5th December

Walked up to York Ave in the morning to take photos of Sotheby's Institute of Art for a web job.

The brief was to find arty boho types hanging out around the building looking cool and hip, and maybe grab some photos of nearby cool cafes and hangouts.



Sadly, the adjacent hospital - and the freezing cold weather - meant that all I could see was a parade of old people in wheelchairs, people wrapped up for a South Pole expedition and a few odd folks clutching plastic bags and wandering around erratically.



And there wasn't a decent cafe/bar in sight. Oh well...


Walked up to the Met Museum to grab some more photos and then took a trip through Central Park to meet Jim on 6th Ave for lunch.
Then on to the Folk Art Museum and Design Museum, walked through the BladeRunner-esque video displays of Times Square, passed the bonkers Macy's Christmas displays and then on to some knitting shop called School Products on Broadway/E29th (I got to see a lot of craft shops on the trip thanks to Em!.
Coffee at Barnes and Noble on E23rd (annoyingly, it was yet another of those Starbucks in disguise jobbies, but we were too knackered to go looking for a proper, independent cafe this time).

In eve got cab with Davina to Otto's Shrunken Head, a fabulously quirky bar on E14th, albeit one with a strange, lingering smell.

Checked out a rock'n'roll band playing to an, err, 'intimate' crowd and enjoyed the DJ rocking out to Iron Maiden afterwards..

Wednesday 6th December

Walked uptown to 63rd St - checking out the quirky Tender Buttons store on the way - to catch the F train to 15th/Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

Walked through the pretty and surpringly empty Prospect Park - described as a '585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn' - to the impressive Brooklyn Museum

Saw the amazing Ron Mueck exhibition of super-realistic, massive people, as well as the work of ace photographer, Annie Liebovitz.

On to meet Matt at 54th/10th Ave to be in TV audience for the politcal satire show, The Colbert Report.

We'd never heard of the fella but he's apparently big news in the States so some people had flown in from miles away just to be part of the audience.

The audience were treated like cattle before filming (just like when I was a guest on the Jenny Jones Show), but the show was good fun to watch and Colbert came over as a likeable sort.

Naturally, we couldn't reach the required level of near-hysterical 'whoopage' before the show started, neither could we raise even the slightest titter for the dreadful warm-up guy, but we got most of the jokes in the actual show.

Afterwards, we caught a cab to the Sidewalk Cafe (94 Ave. A) for beers and dinner with Matt.

The cafe has been giving it the big one about it being the 'Home of AntiFolk,' but the first act didn't impress: a young bloke aiming to be the next Springsteen but only succeeding to sound like a wannabe rock strutter sans le band.

If it's a movement, there doesn't seem much solidarity between the fans either, with audiences emptying as soon as their friend had stopped playing.

More interesting was another solo act, the Friend Factory. We rather warmed to his outsider songs, even if the melody occasionally got lost amongst all the angst occasionally. But we like angst.

Thurs 7th December
Caught the V train from 53rd/Lex to 2nd Ave and then walked to Ludlow Ave and had lunch at the Cake Shop on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side.

It's a lovely cafe-cum-record store-cum gig. The bagels and coffee were cheap and tasty, while the dude on the decks played some great old vinyl.

Went on to the Tenement Museum on Orchard St for a fascinating tour and talk in an old tenement block.

Slightly odd - but in the end rather interesting - cookies'n'juice 'debrief' afterwards with a 'facilitator' (a what?!) who invited the visitors to talk to each other about the experience. Once we'd all ignored her 'rules of engagement' we all had a good natter together.

In eve walked to Lark Theatre to see Davina perform in the 'Bleeding Brown' and then off to trendy Vynl Diner (Hell's Kitchen) on 9th/51st

Fri 8th December
Really cold today!
Subway to 2nd Ave for lunch at the Cake Shop and some free wi-fi action.
Then walked to Battery Park and the Skyscraper museum which was - it has to be said - a tad underwhelming.
Took some snaps across the river in the icy blasts and grabbed a coffee at Borders before heading home.

In eve had a couple of beers at Davina's party before getting the V/F line to York St in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

On to DUMBA queer arts collective for Green Scare benefit with hilarious drunken hillbilly band, followed by the 20-strong Rude Mechanical Orchestra, featuring our chum Matt on tuba.
The gig was great and had a bit of a knockabout, grassroots DIY Cooltan vibe to it - an increasingly rare thing to find these days, sadly.

Back to Davina's to catch the end of the party and turf out uninvited slumberer on our bed.

Sat 9th December

Another crisp, sunny, cold morning saw us walking down 1st Ave past the United Nations building.

L train to Williamsburg for bagels and waffles at Read Cafe and on to Warsaw venue for Bust Holiday Craftacular on Driggs Ave.

The venue (The Warsaw) was an amazing place - I'd love to put on an Offline night there - but inside it was so jam-packed with craft-toting types that it was hard to see everything on offer.

Took the subway back to 1st Ave and walked down to Ludlow St for coffee and cake at the Cake Shop.

In eve met Jim on 1st Ave/L train and on to the Boulevard Tavern, in the bleak outskirts of Greenpoint for Offline in NY!


Jim and George also DJ'd and Clare, Matt and loads of chums turned up. Much drinking, much fun!
Home around 4.30am.

Sun 10th December

Eek! What a hangover!
Met Matt, Jen and l'il Oscar for brunch at the Coffee Bar, Union Square. Loooong wait but the food was good and helped revive my booze-addled spirits.

Later on caught the PATH train to the squeaky-clean suburb of Hoboken in New Jersey.

Wandered about, took some pics and Em checked out craft stuff at Patricia's Yarns.

Back into Manhatten for a coffee and then up to E32nd to meet Davina at Hangawai for lovely Korean vegetarian meal.

Monday 11th December - off to Philadelphia!

Headed down to East Broadway in the morning to catch midday New Century Travel express bus to Philadelphia.

It's a remarkably cheap and cheerful service - just ten bucks either wsay - known to one and all as the Chinese Bus, and it whisked us past through the incredibly bleak industrual wastelands of New Jersey quick enough.

Met M at the coach stop and went on mighty wander around the town before going to their super-slimline 3-storey house and cracking open a few beers with S.

Walked to Gnocchi Restaurant on E Passyunk Ave/S 5th St for Italian and then more beers at the friendly For Pete's Sake neighbourhood pub for a few pints of Yards.

Tuesday 12th December
Got up a bit grumpy after a terrible sleep interspersed with whirring heaters and a dawn powertool chorus from the hideously early-rising workforce in the street outside.

Walked to the docks and checked out some of the architecture around the town.

Enjoyed some tasty bagels and coffee at The Bean cafe on 615, South Street - it's a really nice laid back place which had a lolling labrador, an old hippy artist at work, free drawings on a pinboard, and a bloke knitting when were there. Cool!

Came across the astonishing Magic Gardens, a massive mirrored, tiled and mosaiced set of buildings, walls - and even a garden shed - around South Street.

The inspiration of Philly artist Isaiah Zagar and his wife, they've managed to successfully fight off a raft of eviction and demolition threats.

Trucked miles up South St to visit Loop Knitting (another chosen Em destination, natch) and then met S at the town centre.

Walked to the Mütter Museum (in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia) to see an interesting but fairly gruesome exhibition of Victorian diseases and the bits of poor souls before catching the 4:30pm bus back to NYC.

In eve, headed downtown to Ludlow/Rivington on the Lower East Side. Couple of $2 Blue Ribands at the lively Johnsons bar (styled like a suburban family front room) and grooved to the blast of Brit rock sounds (Who, Sabbath, Smiths etc).


Popped into an unfeasibly quiet Living Room to see a dreadful band play to an audience of one (we quickly retired to an equally empty bar.

Wed 13th December - last day
Pissing down - our first rainy day this trip! Subway down to 2nd Ave and then a long brunch at the Cake Shop on Ludlow. Checked my mail and wolfed down bagels and coffee.

Wandered around SoHo in the afternoon taking pictures. Saw Michael Stipe wandering by (I resisted the urge to invite him to play Offline).

Another coffee at the Housing Works Bookshop and then home.

In the evening, we met up with a shedload of chums for our farewell drink at the bar without a name bar on E13th and Ave A.

Many $3 Tacatas were swilled down with relish before we cabbed back late, already dreading our 5am wake up call for the airport....

Labels: new york, philadelphia, photos

The Offline New Year's Eve Party at the Albert was fantastic fun last night.



The place was absolutely rammed all night, the DJs played some great sets and I even managed get the all-important playing of the Big Ben chimes successfully lined up with the stroke of midnight! (more by luck than anything else, truth to be told).

I even threw in a punky version of Auld Lang Syne straight after the chimes to keep the traditionalists happy.



In a piece of Live Aid-esque planning, both Offline and the How Does It Feel To Be Loved party up the road at the Brixton Windmill undertook a synchronised song playback, ensuring that Brixton was dancing to Martha and the Vandellas, 'Heatwave' as the second song of 2007.

Offline NYE photos

After the Albert, I stumbled down to Camberwell to the Unsound 30hr party which was as messy as you might expect, although I can't remember too much of it. I got in around 8am and have felt suitably wobbly all day. That'll teach me!

Happy New Year everyone!