CUB Issue 532 by Kaz Gander

532

CUB

Steph Pickerill editor Tal Davies london Tom Stevenson and Anna Matheson features Amelia Jefferies and Lauryn Murdoch arts Keeren Flora and Bethia Stone photography Angel Lambo and Ryan Ramgobin music Amy Bowles and Lucinda Turner fashion Mark Birrell and Kamilla Baiden film Colette Yapp-Davis qupid Maria D’Amico cartoon Cover image by Teppo (Flikr)

@cubmagazine.co.uk “The aim of this new cinema experience is to adhere to the theory that we are all affected by what surrounds us” p. 12

1 London Loathes 2 COVER: Down & Out In London 3 What Can Big Money Really Buy? 4 Frieze Art Fair

The Regent’s Park art event in its ninth year

4-5 Russell Howard on Students 6-7 CUB’s EYE: ‘Spook’

8-9 New Cross

CUB Music brings you the best of the New Cross music scene

“£100 for a new passport, a bit too much for a man who can’t afford breakfast” p. 2

10 Style Icon: Annie Lennox “And it was just so beautiful, seeing him there in his pants, holding a clothes horse” p. 4-5

Eurythmics legend Annie Lennox and her unique fashion status

11 Isabella Blow at the National Portrait Gallery: The Ultimate Muse McQueen and his muse...

“Not just a style icon for the sake of looking good” p. 10

12-13 Rocky Horror ‘Queenies’ and Halloween ‘Screamings’ 13 CUB Film recommends: Horror Movies 14 Qupid

You should be working for us! To get involved with writing, photography, interviews or cartoons email editor@cubmagazine.co.uk

The latest lovebirds to be struck by Qupid’s arrow...

Devawn Wilkinson

London Loathes “Artist Michael Landy wants your stories of kindness on the Tube” beams the advertisement, while below it, the carriage doors open and a down-trodden looking woman struggles to get her pushchair onto the a ready over-crowded train. I sneak surreptitious glances through the mass of other vaguely guilty looking iPod-plugged commuters. I mean, she’s not going to get on. Everybody knows she’s not going to get on. But no-one quite knows what to do about it. “Mind the doors” remonstrates the driver, which the woman takes painfully personally. She yanks her pushchair back onto the platform and through the glass I see her mouth some unmistakably filthy words. The train pulls away and everyone forgets about it because now there’s a dog on the train. A dog. Look at that. On the tube. Look at it, yawning and being too hot. Hey, remember when that woman with a baby – aw, look its ears have all flattened down now. Look at that little dog. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s not funny because it’s true. And yet these instances of massive apathy are so common that Michael Landy should probably face the facts and seek out “stories of habitual and unrepentant disregard for others on the Tube.” He’d undoubtedly get a much better response, or at least a more realistic one. Okay, now I’ve severely depressed myself. Let’s all think about that dog again. At the risk of making a hugely illinformed generalisation, I propose that London is a city where standing on the wrong side of the escalator will garner you equal, if not more, resentment than if you kicked that little dog right in the face. In fact, I’m going to go right ahead and declare it because, as a statement, it isn’t quite so generalised or ill-informed as you might like to think. If you disagree, go stand on the wrong side of the escalator. Go on, do it. Why haven’t you gone? Because you’re scared. You’re scared of the back-lash, the inevitable angry mob. This level of disproportional aggression is all a part of the general absurdity now inextricably absorbed into day-to-day city life. Having thought about it for a very, very long time I’ve developed the odd suspicion that I might be living in a dystopian novel. Somewhere a GCSE English student is writing a mediocre analytical essay on that time I got the entirety of my jumper stuck on the Velcro of that man’s coat on the Piccadilly Line, and managed to detach myself from him without the exchange of language or eye contact. Of course, this is all well-trodden ground, but I

sincerely believe that it has got to the point where, if there were ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs you could stick on your forehead that people had to seriously acknowledge, well, almost everyone would buy one. I would buy one. Do you roll your eyes when an affectionate couple canoodle in the seats opposite you? Maybe it’s because you’re a Londoner. And your heart has been replaced with an Oyster card. That you refuse to top up because you think that means TfL will have won. Let’s face it, they’ve definitely won; TfL is like a step-father that no-one really wants, but he’s moved in now and he does make great lasagne, the bastard. Let us consider the District line. Being laughably slower than other lines and therefore emptier, you might safely assume that the lower the chance of suffocation, the higher the possibility of actual humanity. Surprisingly, I’d agree. I was recently on board a District line train as it crawled in characteristic slow motion through the busier stations of Westminster and Tower Hill. Another woman with another monster of a pram hauled it, with admirable finesse, onto the train. In a rare show of heroism, I, and those around me, became consumed in a bizarre sort of kindness orgy. At least five of us leapt up to offer her what, collectively, would have been enough room to bed down nicely for the entire journey. Unfortunately, this mass act of super-selflessness went unnoticed as the woman wasn’t actually looking at us. She continued to not look at us for quite a long time. Perhaps she had become inured to the hardships of the pram-on-the-Tube problem, but we all had to endure long minutes of smiling and shuffling l i k e shifty crack a d -

dicts before a man (immediately appointed as our leader, partly because of his confidence but mainly for his moustache) ventured forth with a good oldfashioned “Please, have my seat.” The woman looked at the man. The woman looked at the seat. We all prepared to bask in the reflected glory of this good deed. “No, it’s fine” came her withering reply. A little taken aback, but not one to be easily dissuaded from his courtesy-crusade, he repeated, “No, it’s fine” back to her in what unfortunately sounded a bit like a pisstake. “I’d really rather stand.” she insisted, with less warmth than that Robbie Williams/Take That reunion. Wow. Was this happening? This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. What would Michael Landy do? Because no-one really knows who or where Michael Landy is, we had little choice but to sit down again, and as we re-took our places in now distinctly less comfortable seats, a strange new form of guilt lapped about the carriage like disconcertingly warm water. The humiliating possibility of rejection. A whole new reason to avoid the eye of every single person you meet. I wish this was the part where I offered a simple and

is like a “ TfL stepfather that no

one really wants, but he’s moved in now and he does make great lasagne, the bastard.

”

effective solution to this gloomy problem, and we all had a big laugh and went to see the Michael Landy exhibition together. But it isn’t. And the Michael Landy exhibition has been cancelled because he hasn’t got enough material to scrape together for even one of those tiny novelty canvases you see in gift shops. Okay, so that Michael Landy cancellation thing was a lie, perhaps indicative of my total pessimism and all-consuming inner misery. I mean, hey, if you see me, maybe we could discuss it, work it out, talk it through. Or not. Because this is London. We won’t speak. Or look at each other. Unless you’re standing on the wrong side of the escalator, in which case, I will take you down. Devawn Wilkinson is a second year English and Drama student. If you want to be the next LQMDONer then email the editor Natalia Davies at london@ cubmagazine.co.uk

FEATURES

Image by Stian Skistad

Down And Out In London

riel Gorsli is a Polish man in a hall mainly populated by Polish and Lithuanian men. Yet, with his long brown dreadlocks and a baseball cap that almost seems to be glued to his head, he stands out from the crowd. With unwavering regularity, every Thursday morning Ariel joins dozens of others - mainly Eastern European men – for the breakfast in the main hall of Emmanuel Parish Church in Forest Gate, East London. Unfortunately, this weekly habit is not one he adheres to as part of a group - at least not one that any of them would have chosen to be part of - or any other kind of sociable activity. It is all

about necessity. On other days he’ll travel to other parts of Newham, and as far as Bow in Tower Hamlets, to get something to eat in the morning. Ariel is one of many Eastern Europeans who has suffered in recent years as work has become more scarce, though he’s actually one of the lucky ones. Ariel won the job lottery – a poorly paid job at a sushi factory in Walthamstow, and a space on his sister’s sofa at night. But last time I spoke to him, even the sofa was at risk because of a rise in rent his sister isn’t sure she’ll be able to meet. He doesn’t fit the stereotype of the money-grabbing, benefit stealing, badly behaved immigrant that is so fondly portrayed by the Right. He can’t get benefits and avoids drinking whenever he can. “If I come here and see other Polish group, I’m not going with them because they just drinking and who knows, even worse at night,” says Ariel in between spoons of hot porridge. “So I stay only with one person I can trust. One day I see them, they look fine. Another time they have black eye.” Ariel had been in the army in Poland, and came to England when he finished his service. At first he found work as a builder, but that soon dried up, leaving

him with the sushi packing day job that he has come to rely on. He works legally but struggles to keep up with the changing laws affecting immigration and the different bits of paper he needs to navigate to get by. “I work legally for one year, I have pay slips, I have tax papers but now I know I don’t have insurance number,” he says, as he moves on to his favourite topic of papers and his general lack of the ones he needs. “Now I know the first insurance number they give you is temporary,” he tells me, “but I didn’t even know I didn’t have this.” Ariel clearly has difficulties with British bureaucracy. Despite not relying on the state, he admits that he has often had to rely on the kindness of others to get by, and that in the past he’s had to squat to avoid sleeping on the streets. He says he has always been treated well by neighbours. “When I was on Upton Lane, the other neighbours always ask if I need food,” he says, “there was one black family, after they make their Sunday meal, they bring some to us.” Even with the local help, he is quite capable of quickly reeling off lists of problems that he is constantly confronted with; lack of paperwork, the threat of homelessness and lack of food

Words By Kaamil Ahmed

are among them. He tells me that he has been arrested for sleeping on a public bench, and says that one of the main concerns for him, especially when he has nowhere to sleep, is the lack of safety. “If I go somewhere at night or something and there are other people outside, I feel scared that police won’t do anything,” he says, “I think it’s better if they spend less money on this stupid monitoring [CCTV] and more on training police officers.” Ariel says that it’s normal for others at the breakfast club to tell him stories about homeless people who have been beaten up by young kids at night. I ask him whether it is even worth him staying in England any longer, and he doesn’t seem sure that it is anymore. “Maybe if things not getting better, I go back to Poland,” he says. But even going back to Poland is a problem for him. In one of his many fights with paperwork, Ariel found that his passport had expired as well. It costs £100 for a new passport - a bit too much for a man who can’t afford breakfast The Department for Communities reported that, in 2010 alone, 11000 people slept rough - a 17% yearly rise.

What Can Big Money Really Buy? Words by Omer Hamid

invitation “ wasEachsprinkled with

“

Swarovski crystals, with only the crème de la crème of high society invited to attend the event

Gatsby’s mansion in East Egg of New York was the setting for the lavish parties in the novel, but surely we 21st century moguls can do better? We certainly aren’t strapped for choice. Mukesh Ambani, the fourth richest man in the world, simply had his $1 billion home constructed – twenty seven storeys of pure extravagance, with a total floor space larger than the Palace of Versailles reaching towards the sky. But for Jay Gatsby, I think we could

do even better than that. In fact, for the location of our hypothetical highsociety brawl, I’d like to follow the lead of Mr. Sol Kerzner. The South African hotelier threw a party for the Dubai Atlantis hotel opening in November of 2008 that was extravagant from the get go. Each invitation was sprinkled with Swarovski crystals, with only the crème de la crème of high society invited to attend the event staged on the private, man-made island built for the Atlantis. The island is visible from space, a paradise made-to-order. But that wasn’t enough for Mr. Kerzner, who shelled out a further $4 million for Kylie Minogue to perform and $6.58 million for a firework display, that was similarly large enough to be seen

far more to “ lifeThere’s than a chocolate F1 car and your own island

“

I like large parties,” mused Miss Jordan Baker in the timeless novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy”; such is the dilemma of a woman with too many parties to go to. Us little people would probably sell a kidney for an invitation to any of Miss Baker’s small parties. Gatsby is a tale of the rich’s high-rolling, plush, lifestyle. More than a novel, Gatsby offers a social commentary in turbulent times, when the Roaring Twenties were brought to a halt with a whimper. In the current climate, that sounds eerily familiar. But I’m sure you’ve read enough about our economy to be sick of the bleak, the dreary and the distressed. I’d like to take a different tack. If Fitzgerald had wanted to apply his commentary to our century, what might it look like? If there existed a man with the titular character’s lavish tastes and extravagant social gatherings (known to us common folk as “parties”) then how far could he go? Phrased in a way that I find infinitely more interesting: just what can money buy? Ok, so you are the modern day Jay Gatsby. With your vast sums of money and desire to be a lightning rod for social activity, the first question is where do you hold it?

by orbiting astronauts with nothing better to do. Move aside, Mr. Gatsby. That’s a location that real money can provide. Next, because the modern social calendar has become more than a little party heavy, there needs to be something on the programme that will turn heads. We need a party favour, fit for a Gatsby bash. Bearing in mind the crystal-studded invitations, we need to dismiss the phrase “within reason” as mindless superstition for lesser mortals. It so happens that I have just the thing. Our friends at M&M teamed up with Scuderia Ferrari Club Napoli to present us with a life-size model of the F2008 Formula One racing car, made entirely of Belgian chocolate. The centrepiece was in production for over a year and required 4, 405 lbs of the finest chocolate. After the party, it was dissembled and handed out to guests as mementos of the time Ferrari reduced Weight Watchers members to tears. The cost of this delicious undertaking in dessert history? Upwards of $23,000. The Beatles assured us that money can’t buy us love; clearly nobody ever told them about life-size chocolate vehicles. And finally, there is the outstanding question that Fitzgerald deals with in the novel: who? Who is Jay Gatsby?

Gatsby is ultimately a misleading character who dreams of a lost love, and has little time for the shallow upper echelons. But we’re looking for the host to end all hosts, the host who can attract from far and wide by reputation and stature. Of course, we’ve had a recent example of just how elaborate a 21st century party can get. Who better to teach us than the Royal Family of Monaco? The wedding of Prince Albert II to Charlene Wittstock was a bash right out of Fitzgerald’s book, although on a scale for modern theatrics. The estimated cost of the entire event approached $70 million. The three-day event had a guest list including Sir Roger Moore, Giorgio Armani and Gerard Butler, to name just a few, and spanned the length of the principality. A showcase of the very highest calibre in the French Rivera… it’s difficult to imagine anything quite so diamondstudded. Our modern day Gatsby is a worldwide, absurdly expensive royal wedding in a tax haven. Jordan Baker would find more privacy than she could ever imagine at a party of that size. Perhaps the greatest thing about Fitzgerald’s novel was the sense of detachment that wealth brought with it. Through his characters, he was able to show us how it felt near the top, because none of us can imagine how little an impact wealth has to heart; Gatsby stood alone as a man who knew that. If there’s one thing to take from a modern retelling, it was his original, serious message. “What foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.” Simply put, there’s far more to life than a chocolate F1 car and your own island. I suppose that’s my message too. But then again, it would be damn cool. Images by`Stian Skistad & Images of Money (Flickr)

Yet again the Frieze Art Fair has taken up residence in Regent’s Park this week, bringing with it a tent equivalent in size to an inWords & Images d u s t r i al wareHarry Thorne h o u s e , £ 2 2 5 million worth of art work and the anticipation of over 60,000 visitors. Amidst the economic slowdown in China, a country that has previously instilled confidence in the ever-fluctuating art market, the event is seen to be under some pressure to somewhat “test the waters”. However, on visiting the fair, it seems that confidence amongst galleries, curators and artists alike has by no means faltered. Or if it has, they are in no rush to share those fears with the public. A yearly event staged by the editors of Frieze magazine, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, the fair focuses on both selling art and promoting contemporary art and living artists. Since its arrival in 2003 the fair has grown in various ways, from the number of visitors to the number of galleries, and it remains one of the most highly anticipated events in the arts calendar. Each year Frieze manages to present a number of standalone highlights: 2010 saw Swedish Artist Annika Ström’s installation “Ten Embarrassed Men” which, unsurprisingly, involved ten men walking around the tent in a constantly embarrassed state; Simon Fujiwara’s work “Frozen” featured a fictional archaeological dig that could be viewed throughout the Fair; and in 2009 Stephanie Syjuco produced an on-site warehouse in order to replicate other works being shown at the fair that year. 2011 has proved itself no exception. A personal favourite is Pierre Huyghe’s contribution, “Recollection”, in which a hermit crab stars in a solitarily walk around a fish tank with a hand crafted bronze replica of Brancusi’s famous sculptural work, “Sleeping Muse”, perched on its back as a home. The presence of these individual highlights does not mean, however, that the fair does not provide a constant level of quality; the standard at Regent’s Park

is always very high, a fact that is clearer than ever this year. It seems that, due to the current economic climate, galleries and artists alike have had to really think about what to present and sell. The direct result of this is an extremely diverse collection that manages to retain its quality throughout, despite where it is from, which gallery it is shown in, and which medium it is created in. Frieze Art Fair 2011 brings us paintings from Jacqueline Humphries to Chuck Close, photography from Helena Almeida and sculpture from Will Ryman to Anish Kapoor. To summarise the Frieze Art Fair simply, it is a spectacle. A vast tent that houses artwork from across the globe and draws a crowd comparable to the population of a small country. It is an easily accessible event and one that will remain popular among many. There will always be critics that question how much Frieze actually makes from sales at the fair, but these can be silenced by the fact that next year the magazine will present Frieze New York, the first art fair of this size to be held overseas. Gallery sales may not be what they used to, but from the enjoyment that people take in it, and from its imminent American counterpart, Frieze must be doing something right.

Russell Howard on Students Lauryn Murdoch and Millie Jefferies talk to comedian Russell Howard about his recent projects, students and economics.

o, you’ve had a busy old year then! How has it been with the tour and the DVD and everything? I did [the tour] in January and February, that’s when I did the like massive gigs and then I did some small ones and then recorded the DVD. Then went to Australia and America which was slightly different, pretty cool… I’ll be glad to finish it! It’s really, really fun but it’s nice to start again, you know? You do it for a year and you think it’s funny, after a while you just kind of wanna do something a bit new. How was the reception abroad? They’re a pretty different crowd over there… Yeah pretty good, actually, it was alright. I played some smaller gigs to prepare for Montreal, I did the comedy festival over there and that went really cool, really well, and then I did the Sydney Opera House in Australia and... That was cool! The tour finishes at the o2 in December, looking forward to it? Basically, it’s the last time I’ll ever do this show. So, if you came to see the show in January or February and you enjoyed it then come along… But it will be the same show. And if you’ve never seen it before, come along anyway!

And the new season of Good News is out now as well, still enjoying it after five series? I really like it, it’s cool. When I’m working on my own stand-up, I spend a lot of time wandering around city centres, in Scarborough or somewhere like that, twiddling my thumbs. When I do Good News, I write it with three of my mates who are also stand-ups, so it’s fun to go to work and hang out with creative people and have a laugh! It’s really nice to come up with this stuff. Thinking ahead, can we look forward to a season 6? Yeah I think so, we’re sort of trying to negotiate that at the minute. Hopefully. Yeah. On a completely unrelated note, what do you think of students nowadays? I was a lot more conservative than students are now. There seems to be more of a need to shock than I remember; all I remember was being an absolutely filthy bastard. They seem a lot cooler

“

We did it in the back of a pub...

”

than I ever was. I’m amazed at how cool and tall the students seem to be. Tall? Obviously they’re fucking massive! Really kind of together and really, you know, not fazed. Whereas I was just like nervous and fucking awkward and didn’t know who I was.

Arts

Gallery • Dance • Comedy • Campus • Drama Events • Art • Poetry • Photography • Print

used to rock up. So we had to come up with new material every week. Bizarrely, that became what helped us because we couldn’t use the same jokes every time.

So you studied Economics – how did you get from one of the least funny degree subjects to comedy? The problem is I really didn’t give a shit. I chose Economics because all my mates did when we were filling in our UCAS forms and because I wasn’t really interested, so I ended up at university and it was just like “Ah, fuck it!” But I’d always wanted to do comedy. It was just a side thing, so I could just sneak away when I was at uni. I did these small, open spot gigs without telling anyone throughout my three years and I really enjoyed that. And that was something I really wanted to do and it just happened alongside university. So

it wasn’t so much what I did at university, but what I had the opportunity to do. You know, I’d never been to a city before and I’d never had this sort of access to things by walking to them. At home, if I wanted anything, I had to plan it for about a week beforehand. It was like, you know, “we’re gonna go to town this Saturday”; everything had to have a schedule. Whereas when you live in a city you can go to different places and see different things… So is there much of a comedy circuit near UWE? In terms of Bristol, weirdly, there is. There was a really tiny, mini-circuit be-

Any outstandingly funny memories from university? One of my favourite memories from university… I remember I broke into my mates’ house. Their window was open and I thought “that will be a laugh!” And I broke in. So, I jumped through the window and I made myself a cup of tea and started playing on the computer and I heard kind of a rustling outside the door - because I was in the front room and they were obviously coming to confront the burglar - and the door suddenly opened and there was about four of them, my friends Andy, Nicky, Paul and someone else and Andy was standing there going “YEEAAHH Image courtesy of Avalon UK MOTHERFUCKERRR!” But he had a clothes horse in his hand? You know, what you hang clothes cause I met my friend Mark Olver, who on? And I went “what are you doing with is a comic now. We set up a gig togeththat?” and he said “I just picked it up on er, we used to do it in a pub at the back the way”. And I was like… “Well what of the room, then Jon Richardson was are you gonna do? Fucking fold me to part of our group. We started doing gigs death?” And it was just so beautiful, seearound Bristol, like, two years later. And ing him there in his pants, holding a another guy called Will Hodgson. Out clothes horse, whereas the others had of us four, three of us have been nomilike knives and someone else had a basenated for the top awards at Edinburgh. ball bat… And he had a clothes horse. But from that time we were like a little, weird set. From these small gigs in BrisRussell Howard’s Good News, BBC tol we sort of learnt how to do comedy. Three, Thursdays, 10.30pm. Pre-orThe other thing is that we’d never really der his stand-up DVD, Right Here, have big audiences. We’d probably have Right Now and catch Russell on his about thirty people who would turn up extended arena tour this December: every week, and it was always the same www.russell-howard.co.uk/ people. There were these jugglers that

CUB’S EYE: “Spook” With Halloween happenings occurring across campus keep a watchful eye on the graveyard, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the UK. Between Bancroft’s spooky foundations and students going ‘bump’ in the night, there’s sure to be some upset ghouls and ghosties! Carve your pumpkins, pop into your Poundland vamp teeth and make the most of the opportunity to dress like a slag! Image by Duncan Carter

New Cross Inn: Tributes and Tribulations Guns 2 Roses - the “biggest GNR tribute in history” - honoured the New Cross Inn with their presence. Good spirits from imitation Axl, a disappointingly uncharismatic Slash and the other two that no one notices must have been perfect, because I didn’t notice them at all. What’s really important here is that they chose to cover a great band. Am I right? The interesting highlight of my evening was, unexpectedly enough, the warmup band: Kitty Lips. Get it? Think of a synonym of “kitty” that has lips. Now read the bands description and feel a little less dirty-minded: “angry, sarcastic, complex, has shit loads of venom behind it and most of all just wants to fuck!”. They also really want an enthusiastic audience, but couldn’t quite achieve it through music. Vocalist Jackie Rogue used forceful language (“You guys are being kinda shit”), appealed to our sympathy (“It’s my birthday, you know?”) and performed a face-heel turn at the last minute, finishing with a peace sign and uttering the word “respect”. Where that last bit fits into the evening’s audience/band relationship, I’m not sure. Perhaps he was being ironic. Some audience members enjoyed his attempt at pole dancing, but in general, they tried to focus on their drinks and didn’t appreciate the interruptions.The mood definitely lifted at the coming of G2R. “It’s so easy”, the opening number pretty much summarised the immediacy of the crowd’s reaction to familiar tunes, even when squeezed through an awful, vocalist-hating PA system. Afterwards, I went home on the last tube and put on “November Rain”. It sounded a lot better on my iPod. Victor Støle

NEW CROSS

Like the pilgrims escaping their motherland and setting sail for the Americas, east London has packed up its paintbrushes, strapped on its custom made guitar and skinny cycled itself across the Thames. With the increase in yuppies, tourists, shop prices and “private galleries”, East London is fast losing its crown as the alternative arts and music capital of the capital. Fortunately for us all, New Cross has stepped into those worn-out boots and now boasts an amazingly unique pub-gig scene that draws artists from all over the country to play to cool audiences that care more for content than context. So, stir in a hippie-wagon load of tribute artists, independent shops, enviro-friendly cafes, hidden discos, flamboyant musicians and aimless students and you need never leave. Here’s what your very own Cub Music writers have to say. . . Images by Lloyd Ramos

Goldsmiths: Art Central Friday night in New Cross. Dingy pubs, greasy take-aways, a Guns and Roses tribute band... and a guy in purple skinny jeans carrying a lute. That’s right, this is student-land, or more specifically, Goldsmiths-land. Boasting amongst its alumni over 20 Turner Prize nominees, Blur and James Blake, Goldsmiths has helped transform the New Cross area, with graduates often staying after their studies finish to run gig-filled pubs, cafes, boutiques and studios. Along with official uni events, like this weekend’s “Big Draw” for local children, and the “Convergence of Cultures Through Design” workshop series, students run underground gigs and events only advertised through flyers, giving a secretive mystique to the “scene”. It’s not only about pop music, either. Classical concerts and recitals are run every couple of days; next week alone you can hear two pianists, an ethnomusicologist and a violinist. (And yes, I just had to google “ethnomusicologist” too). If vintage is your thing there are several student-run shops, notably “rubbish and nasty” and “prangsta”, and for all you lovely vegans out there, try Cafe Crema for some guilt free coffee that hasn’t upset any cows. So if you’re reading this over the sad remnants of some Dixie Chicken, thinking how bored you are with beautiful Tower Hamlets, why not pop on the overground to New Cross and fill yourself with soya milk, post-dubstep and lute music instead? Ruth Irwin

New Rave: Birth of a Genre The musical genre New Rave, sometimes spelt Nu Rave, describes a mix of dance electronica and indie rock music. The New Rave movement climaxed in 20052007 and then proceeded to fade out, like most genres of music that cater to the ADD generation of teeny boppers. However, as I listen to the Klaxons, one of the major fixtures of the New Rave genre, I wonder if we have cycled back to it once again. As a frequent visitor to Hype Machine, I couldn’t help but notice popular DJs such as MSTRKRFT, SebastiAn, and Steve Aoki, to name a few, creating remixes of Klaxon songs. The vague lyrics and synthy background is a perfect specimen for DJs of today to grow in their Petri dishes of robot noises, mutate and transform into Top 40 hits. Indeed, New Rave bands like Klaxons originated from the New Cross area, and the New Young Pony Club are making a reppearance on Hype Machine in the form of DJ remixes. Another interesting characteristic of the New Rave movement is the use of glow sticks, neon lights, and other psychedelic visual effects during the shows. Sounds increasingly familiar doesn’t it? The evidence suggests the New Rave movement is not dead, but is coming back. Remixed. Vivian Wang

Amersham Arms: First Line of Defence One of the joys of student life is being able to spend every evening that isn’t spent franticly thrashing out assignments in the pub. While I have been around a selection of the pubs within walking (and occasionally staggering) distance of Queen Mary, a visit to the Amersham Arms was part of my first expedition to New Cross. The Amersham Arms is just a couple of minutes walk from New Cross tube station. The pub is connected to a 300 capacity gig venue which hosts a mix of club nights and live bands, although I didn’t actually see it so can’t comment on quality. If you don’t like what’s playing there, you don’t have to walk far in New Cross to find some kind of live music.The Amersham Arms does stick reasonably close to the concept of a traditional pub: a comfy place where you can drink with friends or wander down to on Sunday for an awesome lunch. Drinks prices are reasonable (as far as London goes) and, if you can get a table, it’s a pretty good place to just chill out for an evening. I have heard rumours that this is pretty much the centre of hipster activity in London, but don’t worry, there’s space to sip your drink un-ironically if you prefer.If you’re hoping for some neon lit vodka bar, this is not the place for you. However, if you want a nice pub with a better atmosphere than most I’ve been to so far, then the Amersham Arms is an excellent place to start. Nick Cleeve

MUSIC

Style Icon: Annie Lennox

ver the last few decades, the Eurhythmics hit “Right by your as one half of the Eurhyth- side”. mics, and as a platinum Lennox has worked with some of the selling singer, songwrit- most influential members of the fasher and campaigner, Annie ion world. The House of Annie LenLennox has established herself as one of nox includes beautiful photographs Britain’s of Lennox taken by renowned Japag r e a t - nese fashion photographer, Satoshi Lottie Kingdon est style Saikusa, who has worked with some i c o n s . of the best fashion publications in the This title world, shot prestigious ad campaigns is reinforced with the launch of a new and photographed huge names in the exhibition, The House of Annie Len- fashion world. Lennox also collabonox, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, rated with the prominent fashion dewhich pays tribute to the star with a col- signer, Alice Temperley, to raise monlection of her costumes and belongings ey to support women in West Africa. spanning 40 years. Temperley created images of 16 icons The collection at the V&A includes po- she deemed to define true British style tentially the most iconic of Lennox’s en- and glamour and Lennox was one of sembles; the Union Jack print suit that them, alongside Yasmin Le Bon, Erin she wore to the Brit Awards in 1999. O’Connor and other stylish names. The Alongside this is the fabulous black se- resulting photograph of Lennox wearquin print dress she wore in the 1992 ing a gorgeous Temperley white silk “Little Bird” video while six months blouse with ruffles down the sleeves pregnant and the perfect pair of tan and and at the neck, and a black fan-like leopard print brogues (the exact style headpiece, has been printed life size I have been searching for over the last on canvas, hand embroidered and emfew months). with sequins. Emilie Kronhaug, a first-year Businessbellished Management student, wears While Lennox is renowned for her Annie Lennox is not just a style icon Zara jacket, Oasis jeans, boots and shirt from Norway. unique sense of style, what is less known for the sake of looking good. She also about her is the fact that she also de- uses fashion to extraordinary effect in signs many of her own outfits. So many her charity work. Lennox is known as style icons have a team of stylists engi- much for her humanitarian projects as neering every aspect of every look they she is for her music and style. She has step out of the house in. Lennox works won heaps of awards for the difference closely with designers to create her own she has made to HIV and AIDS awarelook. One of her creations, a gold lamé ness. In 2007, Lennox set up the SING corset and fingerless gloves with purple campaign, which aims to prevent the tinsel fringing, is accompanied with a spread of HIV in South Africa, imnote from Lennox that reads, “this was prove awareness around the world and a beginner’s attempt at pop costume increase global action to support inirony… What was I thinking?” While fected and affected women and chilthis probably wasn’t her most stylish dren. Lennox is also an ambassador moment, she did design the incredibly for UNAIDS, Oxfam, Nelson Mandechic beige suit with matching leopard la’s 46664 Campaign, Amnesty Interprint hat, stole and shoes that she wore national and the British Red Cross, as for the video and live performance of well as supporting numerous other or-

Image courstey of the V&A

Image by Satoshi Saikusa, courtesy of the V&A

ganisations. She is often photographed in clothes chosen to support her charitable work. Lennox frequently wears a T-shirt with the slogan, “HIV positive” in support of those with the disease and to raise awareness. This T-shirt is displayed as part of the V&A exhibition, alongside another top she is often seen wearing - her “46664 Foundation” Tshirt. The 46664 Foundation is Nelson Mandela’s foundation for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, named after his prisoner number 466 and date he began his sentence – 1964 – at the Robben Island prison in South Africa. What sets Lennox apart in terms of style is her individuality and the way that she is constantly changing her look. While she is known for her androgynous style and sharp tailoring, she does not adhere to any particular trend, wearing a plain black T-shirt with simple white letters one day, and a tartan and zebra print suit the next. In photographs, especially during her

time in the Eurhythmics, she is portrayed as a very masculine figure, wearing men’s suits, very short hair and little make-up. At other times she looks very feminine. In photographs from her “No More I Love You” video she is shown with her hair swept back and pinned with lace and flowers, smoky eye make-up and red lipstick, and a heavily embroidered Victorian-style burgundy dress. At 56, Lennox shows no sign of slowing down. She is still very active as a campaigner, musician and style icon. Earlier this month she won the very much deserved lifetime achievement award at the “Inspiration Awards for Women,” which were set up to celebrate the UK’s “most inspirational, aspirational and stylish women.” We look forward to seeing what she does next. The House of Annie Lennox exhibition runs until 15 January 2011

FASHION

Isabella Blow at the National Portrait Gallery: The Ultimate Muse

he new addition to the National Portrait Gallery, entitled ‘Burning Down the House’, provides an insight into the fascinating relationship between Alexander McQueen and his muse and mentor Isabella Blow. The photo, taken Flora Bartlett by David LaChapelle, features the creative pair outside the burning Hedingham House in Essex, dressed in fantasy McQueen and Philip Treacy. The photo was taken in December 1996, the year in which McQueen was offered the job of Head Designer at Givenchy; an event which would lead to Blow’s status as mentor then muse to McQueen changing dramatically. Their relationship began when McQueen graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; his graduate collection sparking Blow’s interest so much that she immediately asked to buy the entire collection. Blow’s instant faith in McQueen’s designs has secured her with the credit for discovering the designer, and her fantastical and sometimes outrageous style influenced his work throughout his career.

sion. Despite this evidence of strain in the later years of their friendship, Blow was buried in McQueen after committing suicide in 2007, and in 2008 McQueen dedicated his S/S collection to his former muse. The modern example of a muse, such as Isabella Blow, usually consists of a woman who inspires the creativity of an artist. This idea has not changed significantly since the origins of the muse from Greek mythology, where the nine Muses represented science, the arts and literature and thus inspired others to create it. The notion of a muse is addressed in many different pieces of literature throughout history, and often the

muse is appealed to directly. For example, Dante’s Inferno features the plea “O Muses, O high genius, aid me now!”, and Homer’s The Odyssey features the line “sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns”. The exact number in mythology varies, as with Homer appealing to one muse whilst Dante and also Plato call to Muses as a group. Over the years, the term muse still holds many of the connotations of the Greek mythological Muses, yet now it is a term used to describe a real woman who significantly influences an artist’s work. The term also traditionally refers to a single woman; an artist usually does not have multiple muses, but one with

whom he works closely for a long period of time. Italian Painter Andrea del Sarto, whose muse was his wife Lucrezia, created all his paintings using her likeness, as he believed her to be perfect. Interestingly, although an artist would usually have only one muse, a woman could be a muse for more than one artist at the same time. Isabella Blow was not just a muse for Alexander McQueen, but also for milliner Philip Treacy’s hat designs, including the one she is wearing in the portrait. The David LaChapelle picture arrived at the National Portrait Gallery on 14th October 2011

“ Blow was buried

in McQueen after committing suicide in 2007, and in 2008 McQueen dedicated his S/S collection to his former muse

“

When, however, she accompanied him to Paris in 1996, he did not offer her a job within Givenchy and again failed to do so when he made a deal with Gucci in 2000. This caused strain Blow’s relationship with McQueen, especially as she was already suffering from depres-

“Burning Down the House”, 1996 by David LaChapelle John Galliano Spring Summer 2012. Image courtesy of John Galliano. © David LaChapelle Studio

Rocky Horror ‘Queenings’ &

Words and images by Tamsin Vincent

weet transvestites from transsexual Transylvania graced the big screen at Zippo’s Circus, for the screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. From the creators of The Queen of Hoxton’s Rooftop Film Club comes Experience Cinema.The aim of this new cinema experience is to adhere to the theory that we are all affected by what surrounds us as an audience, and by experiencing film in a unique location, viewing enjoyment is taken to a new level - the big top setting in this case was certainly novel. “A jump to the left” saw us collect our tickets from girls in full Rocky Horror face paint, corsets, and stockings no less, whilst a “step to the right” took us to the bar to purchase beverages from charming men in drag.

So as costumed Rocky Horror fanatics took to their seats, Patricia Quinn, who starred as Magenta in the original stage and film production, took to the stage to kick off the evening. As she uttered the infamous phrase, “Let there be lips”, viewers cheered as the 20th Century Fox theme drummed from the speakers. Audience participation in the form of dancing, singing and chanting was rife from the beginning, so if you favour a quiet cinematic experience, this perhaps isn’t for you. A number of enthusiasts turned up with props in tow to mimic scenes as they unfolded on screen; the circus atmosphere had clearly been soaked up by all involved. A half time interval gave us a chance to look at the array of costumes donned by the aficionados - a

cracking Eddie costume (a character played by Meatloaf in the film) complete with wig and face paint, and several sexy maid outfits to replicate the ever so saucy Magenta. It was fun to see people had gone above and beyond for the occasion, aptly contributing to the lively and light hearted nature of the event. Sporting red lipstick was probably the closest I came to a Rocky Horror inspired look. As the credits rolled, Patricia reappeared for a short Q&A session, sharing with us that she indeed has been part of a circus for over thirty years: The Rocky Horror Circus, something she holds dear to her heart. After the roaring success of the showing, Experience Cinema will be screen-

ing The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the second time in Zippo’s “heated” big top when it relocates to Richmond on 6 November. So if you’re an avid fan of this seventies hit and fancy a rather alternative movie experience, then “let madness take its toll” and book your tickets! But if you’re looking for some real horror to make you scream rather than sing, Experience Cinema is taking to The Round Chapel in Hackney this Halloween. Exclusive church screenings of The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, The Omen, and Halloween will air from the 28th to the 31st October, and yes even the staff will be dressing to scare, so get your fangs on, grab your cape, or just come as yourself. It looks like you’ll be in for a chill.

CUB Film Recommends: Horror Movies The Shining With awe-inspiring acting, music and cinematography, The Shining is an absolute masterpiece of modern horror. Combining Jack Nicholson’s deranged performance and Kubrick’s masterful grasp of the uncanny, this is a film that ranks among the best, not just in the often crude realms of horror, but within the illustrious world of modern cinema. Despite offering little in the way of a Halloween costume, The Shining does offer us a spine-chillingly realistic insight into the nature of murderous madness... Will Tucker

A Nightmare on Elm Street Even though today we may consider A Nightmare on Elm Street to be quite conventional and silly, it remains for me one the most frightening premises for a horror film. The visual effects and death scenes are memorable – a girl thrown around her bedroom and a boy sucked into his bed and churned out onto the ceiling being two examples. A Nightmare on Elm Street is a great film and a terrific idea, and though it is now dated, Craven’s original is a real classic. Shahid Malik

FILM

& Halloween ‘Screamings’

Words by Elle Pountney Image courtesy of Compass International Pictures

“This faceless killer has gone down in horror movie history as one of its best villains

some true scares, but there is also no disguising the fact that it is incredibly subtle and tame in terms of violence when compared with horror films of today. But it is Halloween’s subtlety that makes it so brilliant. The deaths are so few and far between that when they do occur, they are doubly scary as a result, while the lack of visible blood leaves us with imagined brutality rather than that which is spelt out for us

Insidious This vastly popular paranormal horror film tells the story of one boy and his family as they find themselves in a demonic battle for the boy’s body. This movie combines all basic horror movie techniques: intense suspense, pop-out scares, the classic freaky possessed child, grotesque and frightening images, and most significantly, the fear of that which cannot be explained. For someone who wants more than a gore-fest this Halloween, Insidious will leave you up all night with the lights on. Maggie Schroeder

on screen.The faceless and predatory killer Michael Myers has gone down in horror movie history as one of the best villains, and part of this probably stems from the fact that there is no clear motive for his murderous actions throughout the film. We find ourselves growing accustomed to the idea that both movie villains and real life psychos kill out of revenge or during bouts of passion, not because they seem to have an innate urge to kill and are fol-

“ Don’t be surprised

if you find yourself unable to stop checking behind you

“

budget summer movie that stood as the highest grossing independent film of all time, until the Blair Witch project came along 15 years later. Halloween is terrifying and delivers

“

or all the gore-filled Saws and Hostels of the world, there will always be something incredibly effective about a subtle yet viscerally terrifying horror film like Halloween. Most probably the inspiration for 80% of horror films made since its release in 1978, John Carpenter’s Halloween is truly a landmark of contemporary cinema. From its musical score to the fact that, like the finned antagonist of Jaws, Halloween’s masked killer Michael Myers is seldom revealed in full except as a blank face looming out of shadow, Halloween has all the components that make up a classic piece of horror. The plot is one which has become the default of many a slasher movie - masked killer stalks small American town, brutally murdering sexually active teenagers. It’s such a common trope of horror films these days that it is sometimes easy to forget that the entire sub-genre stems from this low

lowing this urge like guiltless animals rather than reasonable human beings. In Halloween someone is always watching, and what is so clever about

the film is that we are forced to be voyeurs as well, sharing Michael’s gaze as he obsessively follows young Laurie and her fresh-faced friends. Whilst watching the film don’t be surprised if you find yourself unable to stop furtively checking behind you, peering into dark corners and out of locked windows, wondering just how safe you are behind the comfort of your own four walls. When Dr. Loomis peers out of his own window at the end of the film, to see that Michael has once again disappeared without injury, the look on his face is not surprise or shock but rather resignation. Perhaps this is an acknowledgement that Michael is representative of the very nature of evil - invasive and utterly elusive until the very end. Halloween presents us with real and relevant truths, making it one of the most effective and scariest horror films of all time.

The Last Exorcism It’s interesting for a number of reasons: it’s one of the few exorcism films that uses the documentary camera style and it’s the first exorcism film that really isn’t about exorcism at all. The tension is skillfully built up to the finale - while we gradually come to realise what will occur, it will take the wildest of imaginations to see what exactly arises. I felt it was let down by the acting, however, and more than that there is a hint of slap-dash to the hectic conclusion. Definitely one to watch on DVD. Kwasi Hall Appiah

Qupid

Ilona Malinen

Politics with Business Managment 1st year “Cheerful. Honest. Impatient.”

I’d barely been at uni for two days when my friend took it upon herself to sign me up for a blind date. Having dinner with a random stranger did not particularly appeal to me, and I dreaded the thought of what I was about to experience. What if it was super awkward?! On the ¨big day¨ I arrived at The Fat Cat and was positively surprised to find my date already there (unlike some previous blind daters). I had been informed that having our photos taken

Cal Stannard

Comparative Literature 3rd year “Easy. Lucky. Free.”

Walking into this blind date thing I couldn’t help worrying that Qupid was sending me into a lion’s den. What if she’s boring? What if she’s crazy? What if she’s a vegetarian?! But Ilona just turned out to be really cool. Obviously, the beginning was a little shaky; she turned up with a friend so I kind of felt like I should have brought some back-up too. The expectedly awkward photo-taking bit was actually fine, apart from the embarrassing “look at us at the table about to tuck

together acted like some sort of icebreaker, but as I hate having my picture taken, I found it to be quite the opposite. Callum was very sweet and (thank god) talkative, which put me at ease right away. I have to mention though, with the chance that I sound completely shallow, that from the start the date felt more like hanging out with a friend instead of a romantic dinner. This was down to the fact that although he was cute, I was quite a bit taller, which to me is usually a bit of a deal breaker. However, we had lots to talk about - although I’m afraid I might have been a bit too chatty, asking loads of pointless questions. We had some things in common, like similar music tastes and the random fact that our mums are both French teachers. I loved listening to him talk about his band, his on-campus job and his Queen Mary experiences. Hopefully I didn’t bore him with my stories about Finland! All in all, I had a really good time. I got a fantastic meal and a possible new friend out of it, if I’m lucky I might even get a discount coffee from Ground! in” shot. Once the entourage had disappeared, we spent a while trying to figure out the most expensive wine on the list we could get away with and agreed to swap meals if the other looked better. We got talking and I found Ilona really interesting. We’ve both got French speaking mothers and we chatted about France for a while which is always nice. I was really into her Finnish background, which she said was synonymous with being shy, but she kept eye contact with me all through the conversation which was good. Ilona recommended me a band (Bagraiders) which I checked out today and she was spot on, which rarely happens with recommendations. Her accent meant she pronounced Tottenham ‘Toe-ten-haym’ which I thought was cute and I felt slightly bad poking fun at her about it. We talked about London a lot - places to go out, meeting new people, etc. I guess you could say one of us was at the end of the beginning, and the other at the beginning of the end. I don’t really see us going out again but doll, if you’re reading this – I’m around.

Do you want to be the next student struck by Qupid’s wandering arrow? You won’t only meet your potential soulmate, but you’ll get a free meal and bottle of wine at the rather lovely Fat Cat Cafe. If you’re interested email Collette Yapp-Davis at qupid@cubmagazine.co.uk

Image by Bethia Stone

Qupid’s verdict From the start this date felt a bit dence and that Ilona was quite atmore positive than the other two; tracted to Cal in general. I may be no extreme weather and every- reading a bit too much between one was on time! the lines here but a lot of eye conCallum was already patiently tact is always a good sign (wink waiting and informed me that he wink). The banter about Ilona’s had been there for quite a while. pronunciation of certain words (“This guy’s good”, I thought to shows that they were both conmyself.) He told me that he’d fident with each other and got strode confidently into the adja- on well. It’s a credit to Ilona that cent dog-grooming shop thinking she wasn’t offended by this and it that it was Fat Cat, only to hasti- makes me feel all warm inside to ly have to turn around and wait hear that Cal thought that this was outside. “cute”. Maybe for the first time I Apart from the height differ- created a successful match? ence, they looked good together. Well, yet again something Nature was on our side for this wasn’t quite right. It seems like date! So with a whisper of “Wow, the fact that this is a blind date these two are photogenic”, we acts as a block to number exleft five minutes before the date changing, second date arranging was even meant to start! I felt re- and all the other formalities that ally good about the match that I come at the end of date one. They had created and I hoped they felt seemed to get on well and were at the same. least semi-attracted to each other, Callum and Ilona talked about so why are they content with simsome really cool things, I’m glad ply bumping into each other now that I’ve managed to find people and again on campus?! Surely who have things in common. At Cal’s good looks and great personleast I’ve avoided setting up dates ality should make up for what he where they sit awkwardly in si- lacks in height! I hope these two lence looking at their watches! have second thoughts about each It looks to me that Cal was quite other, so that next time they meet, attracted to Ilona’s quiet confi- they act on the potential.