Robder

Erykah Badu ruled Brixton on Saturday. Fierce.

Headed for the Ministry afterwards for Babs Tucker, Julie McKnight and Candi Staton. (…and surprise appearance from Incognito’s Imaani - happy as Larry!)

Great to see the Ministry used in this way - full live band on stage (drummers, guitarists, backing singers, keyboards etc etc) and Candi’s ‘young hearts’ was enough to make me go all bleary eyed.

Seconds later - fast forward from 1976 loveliness to 2006 DOOM (Bob Sinclar - World hold on) and an overpriced large vodka was necessary to get me through.

It’s the first time I’ve been to the Ministry on a non roadblock MAW type night in recent years.

Crowd was TERRIBLE - like the worst type of fallout from a bio engineering experiment. Horrendous and needless to say, on this occasion I can’t be found evangelising about all things Elephant and Castle.

Spent some of the eve protecting this (extremely hot looking) tranny from viscious abuse from a group of nasty girlies in the bar area (all hideous and wearing short skirts with fat thighs on show - estrogen envy perhaps?)

Thought I was going to get a slap but funnily enough after a few sharp words they retreated in fear.  Good job really. :-))

Transphobia = can’t bear.

I think so.

Last time I was there was 2004 and I caught the end of the resurgence of the superclub boom. (similar to what happened in the UK when Ministry/Cream/Gatecrasher/Godskitchen cashed in during the mid 90s)

Since then, Crobar, Spirit (Sound Factory/Twilo), Avalon (Limelight), Plaid and loads more have all closed down due to the no-fun Giuliani administration and deputy mayor Rudy Washington’s derision of dance clubs as ‘buckets of blood’. 

Anyways - I’m glad to say the black downtown and Brooklyn scenes appear to be finding their feet again (yay) as I experienced something really special of the like you could only ever find in NYC.

1. Libation = Thursday nights at the Sullivan Room
More of a venue of self expression than a club. To call the style ‘breakdancing’ almost degrades it as this place is quite literally an orgy of the sort you’d only find at a trance-dance workshop. Naturally, a lot of them are professionals but to watch them writhe around all over the floor and shadow each other is quite an experience (& something I only ever used to read about in the golden era). So this midweeker was an excellent find!

Check it out but ‘scuse the esoteric (imo loveable) way these American’s refer to their dancefloors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxwLlfMcXfo

2. Danny Krivit’s 718 sessions = Sundays at Santos
Well worth the trip. I’ve heard a lot of this guy’s recent remix efforts and they were clearly made with the 718 crowd in mind as he played them all!
Amazing mixed crowd of ages and backgrounds, sexual persuations and genders (at least three )…also loads of dance floor interaction, singalongs and an eclectic music policy from the last 40 years which was as upfront as it was retrospective.
Inspired and very impressed.
You just don’t find this in London because of the arrogance that comes with genre compartments, drug overuse and DJ ego-ism.
(except at the Loft but that’s hardly a home grown event is it?)

I think I want to move - hoping this is a passing moment as I do still adore Londres! 

So - great weekend all in all and thought I’d share.

Oooh first blog!

Boys Own DJ History book = Fascinating stuff!

For music history geeks this is as essential reading as Tim Laurence’s - Love Saves the Day. ;-)

It’s got really laddy undertones with tonnes of footie references and bitter quips at fashion pretenders etc.

The thing that sticks out most however is the cultural shift that’s happened since. This lot were really highly politicised and it was acceptable to be a bit of an idealist without having your bubble burst by armchair conformist yawnsome types that are so symptomatic of the last decade.

It also starts in 86 which provides a really nice lead up to the acid explosion from soul boys and the latest must have trainers to the classless exclusivity that evolved with acid teds (complete with post acid house try-hard moans)

…and with the advent of blogs, web 2.0 (and the reeeeeally exciting recession) one can only hope that people use new technology in similar ways to these lads with their spray mount and scissors.

Bring on the next decade with hopefully less minimal styley fads and more revolutionary lyrics (and buy that annual immediately)…

Which brings me onto this closing statement from Cosmo’s Darkstarr blog…

…

So where does that leave us today? Things still ain’t perfect and socio-political awareness just needs to shift its gaze. We still live in a time of war and global recession. Is dance culture once again ready to face the music? Krivit hopes “as the money rapidly disappears from the music industry, it might just reopen the door [to socio-political conscious dance music].” Gilbert is also optimistic. “Right now we’re in becalmed waters politically, as the cycle of greed and over-consumption which characterised the past 15 years has obviously ground to a halt, but nobody has yet quite figured out what can come after it and it’s becoming obvious that we need something much more radical than Obama getting elected to make it happen. That won’t go on forever, and once things start to move, the dance will move too. Whether we’ll be dancing alone to our iPods or making joyful noise in the streets will be for us to decide. Just by keeping open spaces where people can come together, especially spaces that aren’t entirely controlled by the search for profits, we’re keeping open little enclaves of freedom.”

…

Waffle over *hic* off for a nap.