I am going to Benidorm - a writing ‘assignment’ for @thehommeplusmag - the result of staring at this postcard I’ve kept pinned above my desk for a decade.
Me & Iris had a day trip to Cambridge - I’ve always ‘loved’ Cambridge - though have only been there four times … and what I really love is ‘the idea of Cambridge’: a fantasy caught somewhere between Evelyn Waugh and Peter Cook —— it’s a cruel injustice that I ended up at Humberside Polytechnic, when - really - I should have been reading classics at Cambridge: punting on the river and picnicking in meadows —- other parents’ would have been walking round the city saying to their teenage daughter, “If you work hard enough, you could maybe come here” - I didn’t - I just kept thinking, “I should have been President of Footlights, 1991”.
I hate using exclamation marks (!) - I get embarrassed, and always end up deleting them. However, because so many people now use exclamation marks as freely as - or even instead of - full stops (.), it’s hard not to come across as negative and lifeless if you don’t use them:
“It was great so see you last night!”
“It was great to see you too”
“Thank you so much!!!!”
“That’s ok”
You see what I mean? Other people’s excessive use of exclamation marks makes YOU look like a depressive for not using them.
There should be a middle-ground —- If we can have a semi-colon (;), surely we could also have a semi-exclamation mark? —— something more passionate than a full stop, but less psychotically enthusiastic than a ‘full’ exclamation mark.
I realise there is more pressing news #2 … and continuing the Mojo Man / Manchester theme:
Joy Division were – as much as a ‘rock group’ can be – original – i.e. they betrayed no single influence, so obvious, that they could easily be categorised as the latest installment in an already approved ‘rock’ lineage – BUT – like any ‘artist’ they MUST have had one primary influence; and I’d argue that it could have been this: ‘The World at War’.
First broadcast in late 1973, ‘The World at War’ was an epic 26-part television series that proved so popular – and was considered so important – that 10 million people, across the UK, sat down to watch it, every week — and — the similarities between ‘The World at War’ and Joy Division are quite striking:
‘The World at War’ is: narrated, by Laurence Olivier, in a magisterial baritone — ‘The World at War’ is built around grainy black and white footage of ‘human on human’ horror that is heavily punctuated by ‘sonic terror’ — and, perhaps most importantly of all (to my theory, at least): the episode titles are - almost all - so brutally minimal that any one of them could be the title of a Joy Division song: ‘Alone’
‘Barbarossa’
‘The Desert’
‘Wolf Pack’
‘Red Star’
‘Occupation’
‘Pincers’
‘Stalingrad’
‘The Bomb’
‘Reckoning’
‘Nemesis’
‘Remember’
PS - I admit that I’ve omitted some episode titles – e.g. ‘On Our Way’ (because it sounds like an England World Cup song) … but you get the idea.
I know there is perhaps more pressing news, but: after obsessively watching Ian Brown play Glastonbury 2005 (on YouTube); I have come to think that ‘Sally Cinnamon’ – the Stone Roses song, recorded in 1987 – is perhaps the single strongest link between (what became known as) ‘C86’ and (what became known as) ‘Madchester’. ‘Sally Cinnamon’ is such a drippy song (with its C86-style lyrics: “I pop, pop, pop, blow, blow bubble gum. You taste of cherryade”), that it makes The June Brides sound like the Electric Eels and The Pastels sound like GG Allin – BUT – (and this is my theory): it’s Ian Brown’s heavily Manc-accented and ‘laddish’ vocals that stop ‘Sally Cinnamon’ from being ‘indie’ (as we knew it) and – instead – lay the foundation for the ‘rock’ strain of ‘Madchester’ – AND – it is this ‘rock’ (rather than funk/house-influenced strain of ‘Madchester’) that would eventually lead to the formation (and huge success) of Oasis – i.e. – it’s Ian Brown’s vocals on this song that ‘opened the door’ and first introduced ‘lads’ to the previously becardiganed/’student only’ world of ‘indie’ … the ultimate result of which is: 100,000 middle-aged men, wandering aimlessly around Aldi car parks across Britain, sporting bucket hats and Adidas Samba’s.
Was happy to contribute a (largely) true story to this publication - ‘Sedimental Works’ for Carhartt ——alongside some very good company - each contributor was asked to write about a year (or a particular event in that year) - I did 1977 ——- a story about ‘joining in’, holiday camps and comedy T-shirts … thanks @calumgordon_
It is truly strange to find joy through sticking a dead tree in the corner of your living room and covering in it crap from the ‘pound shop’; but I have. I love Christmas. Not the ‘real stuff’; just the decorations and the music. It’s nostalgia for Woolworths, essentially… I think.
Thanks to: @frontrose.global for inviting me to read The New Space in Berlin - to all who came - to @_m0rna_ for the Q&A - to @manriquepablo for the (very flattering) portrait and to Michael Bracewell for reviewing the book in Artforum —— after a (painfully) slow start, this book is now almost sold out; so while I’m thanking everybody: thanks to all who bought.
Only about 50 copies left —- see ‘shop’ in links above.
#thenewspace #theirspace
