It's been a bit of a weekend in Brixton.

There was 'nuff aggro outside my block on Friday afternoon.

And then a bloke was tragically shot dead in Rushcroft Road the same night.

Saturday afternoon saw a "mini riot" kicking off after a kid stole a scooter, hit a car, ran off and then managed to get hit by a police car in pursuit. Bystanders only saw the police car hitting him and a major scuffle ensued.





And tonight there's a massive fire on Brixton Hill with the tyre shop going up in flames.

What's next? A plague of locusts?

Labels: brixton

This was a whole heap of fun, with the skies around Streatham Common Kite Day being peppered with kites of every shape, size, design and colour.



I flew this triplane kite for a while (but I wasn't very good!).

Streatham Common Kite Day

Labels: london, photos

Went to see the mighty Cardiff City play like a bunch of disinterested park walkers at QPR on Saturday and was rather baffled by their curious reference to "industrial language" in the match programme.

Is it something like: "Oy You! Conveyor Belt face!"
Or: "Are you a Mechanised Steel Grinder in disguise"?


The only real excitement came after the final whistle when the teams decided to go for a mutual shirt-pulling and push'n'shove session.



Being a Cardiff game, there was the usual full gang of police dogs, mounted cops and aggressive uniformed types on hand to add to the misery of the result.

QPR 1 Cardiff, 0 match report

Labels: cardiff, photos

Went to a friend's birthday at the Charterhouse Bar last night (oh, all right, he owns the place) and first impressions weren't good: the upstairs bar was jammed with extraordinarily drunk people grooving to some horrible funk groove thing, so we thought we'd have the one pint and make our excuses.

But then Dexys came on as the DJ switched to let's "play anything that makes people smile" mode, and we began to warm to the joint.

A few beers later and we were drunkenly getting down to the Psychedelic Furs, Billy Idol, Michael Jackson and all manner of cheesy tunes from the Great Vault of Stilton like the rest of them.

It was fantastic fun: no burly doormen, no attitude, a good mix of people and a really, really friendly crowd with no one taking it too seriously - a bit like a really good PROD on full tilt. It's well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Oh, and the DJs call themselves Rubbish which was a bit worrying because they looked to be far more in control of the decks than me at an average Offline.

But, eeeugh. My 'ead today. Biiiig hangover.


PS Expect an Offline club there soon - and don't forget our big night on Thursday this week. We've got great bands galore!

Labels: club, london

It's nearly a year since the legendary Alfie died.
Read his remarkable story here: Remembering Alfie Howard

Some wintery photos from Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Labels: brooklyn, photos

I'm slowly getting through my pics from December's trip!



Here's some more from Midtown Manhattan

Labels: new york, photos

The park was built on the site of an old market garden in late Victorian times and is well worth a visit.
Myatt's Fields Park, London SE5

This remarkable nuclear sub-like structure sits in the middle of a fairly quiet road in south London.




Deep below the ground, boilers provide heat for local council estates, with the 'submarine' acting as ventilation.



I was lucky enough to be invited to take a look deep inside. Here's the photos: Camberwell Submarine

Here's a view from my desk back in the 1980s when I was working for a horrendous company called Farmiloe & Farmiloe in Smithfield, central London.

The company was stuck in a Victorian time-warp, full of oversized ledgers, antiquated work practices and a Dickensian attitude towards workers.

The two Farmiloes brothers who owned the company wouldn't allow people to differentiate them by calling them by their first names (Heaven forbid!) so - get this - we were supposed to call them Mr Tim and Mr Graham! WTF?!

Read the full story here: My Job Hell

While rummaging around in my woefully disorganised pile of old photos, I came across this one of me in full cycling regalia.



I used to do a lot of cycling and regularly did a London-Windsor return in the mornings before cycling off to east London to rehearse with my band and bash drums for a few hours (where the fuck did I find the energy for that?!)

Note for bike fans: the frame is made of Raleigh Reynolds 653 lightweight tubing, Shimano 600 brakes, chainset and front/rear derailleur and the wheels were the fantastic Mavic MA40 rims with Shimano 105 hubs - I did thousands of miles on those puppies!

Labels: bicycle, photos

It's not as well known as its high profile neighbour Brockwell Park but Ruskin Park is well worth a visit.




Here's all that remains of a once grand Georgian mansion.

Ruskin Park photo feature

Labels: brixton, photos

Had a fine night tonight drinking in two fine old Brixton boozers:

The Effra



First stop was the Effra Tavern, a traditional boozer in Kellet Road that often puts on live jazz bands. It's a great venue that deserves the support of locals.

Prince Albert



The Albert was having a full on punk rock night, with several impressive mohicans (that's "Mohawks" to you US folks) on display.

Anyhow, you can read more about Brixton pubs here or see the pub locations on my new beta Brixton pub map here

Oh, and sorry for the crap quality of the pics (they were taken on my otherwise fabuous Treo 650 phone).

Labels: brixton, photos

I haven't been to Speakers' Corner for years but popped over last Sunday and had a hoot. And I even saw an Offline performer giving it some on a soap box!



Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park

That was fun. Lots of chums turned up.

I drank loads. And more besides. And now I feel rubbish!

More pics

Yep, it's my birthday today and I'm about to hotfoot it down to the pub for a feast of beer with some chums.

I suspect I'll be a tad hungover tomorrow, so here's some pics from the last few days:


On Saturday night, we ventured south to Antenna Studios in Crystal Palace to see the superb Salt and Blue, featuring our friend on accordion, mandolin and hurdy gurdy.

The music was beautiful and it felt like we were at some underground 1970s folk happening.

We wandered over to the Alma boozer afterwards (expect an Offline club there soon!) and then back into Brixton for the People's Republic of Disco at the Canterbury Arms.


I had to be up early next morning to be whisked off to BBC White City for an interview on Radio Five Live.

It was fun: the studio was really high tech, but they still needed to use paper cups to lift the 'On Air' sign high enough so people could see it over the computer monitors.


The weather was glorious, so I took a walk through Hyde Park and listened to some of the characters shouting away at Speaker's Corner. I heard someone calling my name and it turned out that one of the speakers was a mate who I'd put on at my Offline Club!


Last night, I visited the Notting Hill Arts Club for some Crafts Club action. I'd not been there before and liked the layout of the place bit - eek! - the sound system was painfully bad.

Anyhow, beer is calling... :)