SUIT YOURSELF MAGAZINE #37 SPRING 2010 by SUIT YOURSELF MAGAZINE

friday 30 april rokia traoré and sweet billy pilgrim

an artist pushing musical her boundaries while keeping front malian traditions at the fore bluesy of her guitar-driven and t music. ‘arguably the mos exciting, most thrilling live nd.’ african music show arou time out

saturday 1 may lee ‘scratch’ perry

man genius, innovator, mad most – lee perry is reggae’s and influential father figure rare musical trailblazer. his the live shows are some of lling most eccentric and thri le around. catch him whi he’s still touring. doors 8.30pm, tickets: £25

tickets: £17.50

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friday 7 may the passion of joan of arc

hall in this unique colston y commission adrian utle ory (portishead) and will greg (goldfrapp) plus special guest musicians per form their new score for the . classic 1928 silent film 8pm, tickets: £17, £5

Friendly Faces ello ello – you look familiar. Have I seen you before? Skipping through Brandon Hill; Trailing your hand in the water on a harbour ferry; Dreamily gazing at that hot air balloon while as you sunbath in Queen’s Square; Slowly making your way through a coffee and a paperback in a Whiteladies’ café; Racing down St Michael’s Hill on your bike with a wide grin; grooving and grinding you booty in the small hours on a Gloucester Road rooftop? Cool, keep up the good work. Suit Yourself Magazine is an independent Bristol publication, a voice for all those young at heart, those interested in music, fashion, adventure, the arts, their environment and everything in between. A magazine which investigates, uncovers and promotes everything that makes Bristol such a fun, vibrant and altogether amazing place to live! This is our quarterly edition and so expect articles, in-depth features, interviews,

cartoons, illustrations and photos, all in the creation of an altogether fantabulous read which you can dip and in and out of during the three month period. Those of you who still want your monthly fix of SY, log on to the website and read our monthly, online, sister publication ‘SY - On The Sly’ which is chock-ablock with previews and reviews of all sorts of events happening across Bristol and don’t forget to check out our contestably updated blog, all found at: www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk The fabulous sections waiting to enlighten you are: Involve Yourself – think green, act keen Treat Yourself – think time for the credit card Hurt Yourself – think getting active Spoil Yourself – think indulgence Enjoy Yourself – think about getting out there Prepare Yourself – think about shakin’ that ass www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

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Enjoy a measure of Sailor Jerry Rum with a mixer for only £1.00 Present this voucher at the bar. Enjoy Sailor Jerry Rum responsibly. Offer ends 31/1/2010. Offer only open to over 18s. One voucher per person per night.

3/ Friendly Faces 7/ The Paperless Revolution 10/ Stomping The Streets – Canon’s Marsh 17/ The History of The Llandoger Trow 22/ Cartoon – What is to be Found under Bristol’s Floating Harbour? 26/ RANT! Manufactured Bands 29/ Alternative Views of Bristol 38/ SY Creation Station Separate listings can be found under all the separate section header pages.

41/ Involve Yourself 56/ Treat Yourself 78/ Hurt Yourself 92/ Spoil Yourself 106/ Enjoy Yourself 124/ Prepare Yourself For those of you pretending to work, you can also read the magazine online at www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

SY On The Sly is our sister publication, sharing exactly the same ideals as Suit Yourself Magazine but it’s a monthly, online mag, chock-a-block with previews and reviews of all the amazing events constantly going on in Bristol. There’s no better place to catch up on every thing you missed of Bristol’s best gigs, art, clubs, stage and cinema from a month gone by and at the same time get excited about everything that’s coming up, along with a smattering of Suit Yourself Magazine’s much loved articles and long time favourites like Auntie Harper and Mystic Ginger’s horoscopes. Log on to www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk now to read this month’s SY On The Sly.

The Paperless Revolution: Is The Printed Word Dead? A paperless publishing industry has been creeping up on us for a while, trailing along behind the growing might of the internet. Like eating a chocolate bar everyday, putting on your jeans at the end of the month to discover they don’t fit, we might be finding ourselves at the stage where technology has out grown the printed word. The internet is undoubtedly the greatest invention of our time, connecting people all over the world in a free flow of ideas and information. Our initial amazement at the World Wide Web’s offerings has morphed into recognising free information as a human right…and maybe we’re not wrong; all people deserve the truth about what’s happening in the world, regardless of their finances. You can’t help thinking newspapers have shot themselves in the foot however, putting their content online and then expecting people to buy a paper version. Of course their sales are going to go down! With the web changing every second, a daily paper is old news by the time it’s printed and if they now try to charge online they will merely send their readership to pastures new. If there’s one thing the

internet has taught us, it’s that people like to share. Who knew cold, hard technology could be so heart warming? But reading from technology is still cold and hard. There is no substitute for holding a beautifully printed book or magazine in your hands, the smell of it and the weight of knowledge as you turn a page feeling that you’ve achieved something. Is it just me that likes to tilt a book up to see how much I’ve read; to see the time I’ve invested in the plot so far, quantified in the space between my fingers and thumb? I don’t think Amazon’s Kindle and its eBooks are going to tempt me into a clinical age. With diminishing rainforests approaching I might be convinced, but out of necessity not desire. With reading in mind, there’s no question that a magazine or newspaper’s design is worlds apart from its younger sibling, the website, which is limited with its one long webpage of scrolling text. As with all sibling rivalries, both sides have their strengths and

the interactive website comes with video and links taking you on a never-ending expansive journey. You might ask, as my Mum used to say to me and my brothers when she caught us ready to use the remote control as a weapon; “Why can’t you all just get along?” and the good news is they can. Apple’s recently launched iPad (the one that looks like a giant iPhone) lends itself to apps that have incestuously combined a newspaper/magazine’s design and a website’s interaction. Unlike the Kindle, which is designed for unillustrated text, the iPad tries to give you the whole magazine experience but if my finances are anything to go by, it’s unlikely that people have got over £300 to spend on reading a magazine or newspaper. When it comes to technology and the printed word living in harmony, the website and the magazine are doing quite nicely already: The website for video, digesting chunks of information and one-off articles and the transportable magazine for your reading and visual pleasure, curled up on the sofa or taking you through a boring train journey. As long as both digital and physical options continue to exist then we’ll be happy customers. However, with magazine, newspaper and book sales diminishing, they are all in danger

of being eclipsed by the internet. It’s hard to imagine that the bright lights of technology will completely replace reading a good old-fashioned book, something your unstrained eyes will surely thank you for, but if sales continue to fall, the printing process will become increasingly more expensive until we’re left with a hard-drive library and a bill from our opticians. Heed my warning, if you want the printed word to be a balanced part of your future, you better start buying it now, otherwise you might find that you don’t have a choice. Let’s just hope that if the paperless revolution is triumphant, we still have some retinas left to admire the rainforests we have saved. Kathryn Evans Suit Yourself Magazine publishes all its old issues online for people to read for free, they have been running an exclusive online-only monthly magazine, SY On The Sly, for over a year now, previewing and reviewing everything that’s going on in Bristol, and there is also a comprehensive blog where every article and review written by people involved in the mag is blogged. www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

Stomping The Streets Canonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marsh

Canon’s Marsh is one square kilometre of new development in central Bristol: is it an area struggling businesses and ill fated tourist attractions, or the heart of Bristol’s much planned new café culture? The summer of 2010 will decide its fate. Canon’s Marsh is situated on the north side of Floating Harbour, immediately to the west of the River Frome spur (St Augustine’s Reach) The area borders Hotwells to the west, Clifton to the north and the city centre to the north east. Historically it was a shipbuilding area until the last yard closed in 1904, incorporating two of Teast’s Docks and including J&W Peters shipyard. Canon’s Wharf was once one of the busiest quays in the docks, with its own branch of the Bristol Harbour Railway, cranes and a goods shed. The area was also the location of the city gas works. With the decline of industry throughout the 20th century, Canon’s Marsh was cleared to make way for urban renewal plans.

Long referred to as the wasteland behind the much debated Waterfront strip, 2008-09 saw a surge in activity and planning in this much forgotten corner of town. Sure we had a ludicrously expensive and seldom visited rainforest attraction and the IMAX was worth a once in a lifetime trip, but it seemed as if noone below the age of 40 and above the age of 11 ever ventured past the glass corridor dividing millennium square firmly in two. Today Canon’s Marsh houses some of Bristol’s finest and most glamorous properties that are far removed from the drunken nonsense the Waterfront has become renown for. This area of town is set to become a jewel in the crown for Bristol’s café culture, so much so that recent non too quiet rumblings and mass closing of bars along the front would seem to support the fact that Bristol City Council has big plans for this place.

If 2018 sees Bristol’s successful campaign to host games for the World Cup, Millennium Square in front of the giant TV screen and enclosed on both sides by bronze mementos of Bristol’s fabulous and inspirational past coupled with water features, then more people will be spending time in this forgotten quarter of Bristol’s heritage. But 2018 is a long way off, hell the Mayans predict the end of the world before then (or a change in global consciousness…whatever) so let us shuffle off down there way before that and I’ll tell you what I like best; the grub!!

Seldom businesses seem to have as done as well from startup as The Living Room. I love it. It’s glamorous, well looked after, has great food and even greater cocktails. If the hundreds of patrons at 7pm on a Saturday night are anything to go by, then long may they reign. This venture brings a different audience to the area as do the other restaurants on its doorstep. Sat right next door to The Living Room, is a Bristol staple and one which has weathered the recent and all encompassing financial storm fantastically; ZEN. Easily Bristol’s finest Chinese restaurant and one which attract praise from all corners of the South West with fresh, well thought out menus, an inspiring chef and first rate service. It is a special treat restaurant, not an all you can eat buffet. These are an indication of where Canon’s Marsh wants to be, and why not?

We love the statues, commemorating Bristol finest and most proud sons, the post-modern water features and the signpost pointing to the stars. All in all it’s a beautiful area. Why don’t people use it? What is the glass wall preventing people from stepping over that boundary?

What do you think? Are you ready for it, do you embrace it? If not, why not? Do you love the area? Like what they are doing with it? Think it needs something more? Seriously we want to know, log on to www.suityourselfmagazine.co.uk and give us some feedback.

Businesses are opening thick and fast but its an entirely different clientele from the beer swilling loons the Waterfront used to be renowned for, but take a walk down there. That area is changing, bars and clubs are closing; the time for the Waterfront as a pub crawl destination are long gone. Bristol has plans for this area, café culture here we come!

Photos by Ian Bradley www.ianbradleyphotography.com

Llandoger Trow: 350 Years of Bristol History

The Llandoger Trow is one of the most famous pubs in Bristol. The name comes from Llandogo, a coastal town in Wales, and from a trow, a flat bottomed barge, typical of the sort that used to moor up on the Welshback. Situated on the cobbled section of King Street, the pub is a striking building with black beamed gables and its interior has hardly changed since it came into being in 1664. The Llandoger Trow oozes history but it is also particularly renowned for its literary connectionsâ&#x20AC;Ś The Llandoger was supposedly the inspiration for the Admiral Benbow alehouse in Robert Louis Stevensonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic 1883 pirating novel, Treasure Island. Stevenson lived in Bournemouth and was by trade, a travel writer; seeing as Bristol features in the book, he surely would have visited at some point and could easily have found inspiration in a pub like The Llandoger Trow. Not only that, but Stevenson used real characters from The Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1720) in the book and notably, local Bristol boy done bad, Edward Teach more commonly known as Blackbeard! Teach was born in Bristol around 1680 and, after no doubt many late nights at the Llandoger, was a privateer off the

Spanish coast. Privateers were allowed to attack any foreign ships their country was as war with and so Teach ransacked many a vessel during Spanish War of Succession. When the war ended though, he turned to outright piracy. Renowned across the seas, Blackbeard died in battle in 1718, hunted down by the Governor of Virginia. The other literary allusion to The Llandoger Trow is that it is where Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk, his inspiration for Robinson Crusoe published in 1719. In 1703, Selkirk sailed on explorer William Dampier’s second circumnavigation of the globe. Selkirk was on the second ship, argued with the captain and was left on an island in the South Pacific. On Dampier’s third circumnavigation six years later, Selkirk was rescued and subsequently stayed in Bristol for some time before eventually returning to Scotland. A little research finds Defoe did come to Bristol several times and it seems that he did meet Selkirk at his home in St James’ Square, but there is no real reference to the Llandoger.

Another aside is that the captain who rescued Selkirk, William Dampier, lived in Queen’s Square during the 1690s and because he was the first person to circumnavigate the globe thee times, he is considered by some to be Jonathan Swift’s inspiration for Gulliver’s Travels. So I can’t say for certain that those literary anecdotes actually took place in The Llandoger Trow but get yourself down there, me hearties, there’s certainly enough going on to make for interesting conversation over some dark ales! Mike Clarke Photos by Mike Clarke Illustrations by Kyle Brown

R A N T ! R A N T ! R A N T ! 26

Manufactured Bands First off, who the hell likes Jedward? If you’re nodding your head in utter excitement, then already I’m concerned for you mentally (and physically if you’ve got the There’s Something About Mary-idea on how to keep your hair vertical, all-day, everyday). The Monkees started it all off but today we are subjected to this crap too much and too often, the scurge of manufactured bands. These little devils are created by the music industry for teeny boppers, and are the current title holders of screetching pop (making Chuckie seems like a heaven) there simply to be bought into as a commodity. They jump up and down, I think it’s called dancing, like they’re on a strict Red Bull-only diet whilst their musical abilities are ignored; they can polish any old turd in the music studio and then when they are apparently “live”, it’s just a parody of miming frenzies, like watching the drunk at the work Christmas karaoke doo wailing through a Whitney Houston track.

Manufactured bands are pumped through the music industry machine in two ways: Either they’re branded as shy or cute and given strings of gut wrenching ballads to stutter their way through, or the use of stylists and Photoshop builds them up as huge sex symbols – anything to cover the bland reality of their boring lives and boring faces. Each tactic is pursued hammer and tong to manipulate and sucker in as many people in as possible; it’s all part of the sick game. Manufactured bands are there to delude fragile minds with clichés, acting as puppets for businessmen; as you’re nodding your head along to some sickeningly inappropriate cover of a classic song, they reach around and empty your wallet. Do yourself a favour, by some Led Zeppelin, put it on louder than you can imagine and air guitar and head-bang to your heart’s content. Skye Portman

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Alternative Views of Bristol

Alex Nicholson

Elena Goodrum

Ian Bradley

Heidi Gough

Elena Goodrum

Mike Clarke

Ian Bradley

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Suit Yourself Magazine Creation Station We all know how much you lovely people of Bristol like to draw, doodle and design, sketch, scribble and squiggle and so here’s your chance! The page opposite is your official, designated creation station for you to illustrate and imagine to your heart’s content.

your design as a magazine front cover or put it on a T-shirt! You lucky people might even receive the odd prize back to say thanks! It’s an unrestricted, organic competition and we’re completely open to anything and everything you’ve got. Let’s see what you’re made of Bristol!

It’s literally a blank canvas; perhaps create a T-shirt design? Or design a front cover for the magazine? Maybe sketch the faces and places of Bristol? Anything goes.

Post any designs along with your name and contact details to:

If you’re proud of your creation then send it over to us at SY Towers and the best doodles every month will get showcased on our website for the world to see! If we really like it we could even use

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Information and musings on the important things in life. The environment, local issues, social responsibility, organic farming, charities and other community issues To advertise in this section at a reduced rate please contact advertise@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

42/ Why Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Important to Get Involved 45/ Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Happening Down at Windmill Hill City Farm? 49/ The Great Fly-Poster Debate 51/ The Fabulous SOFA Project

Getting Involved-Why? Everyone knows being green has environmental protection as a core value. What is a little less well known is the high emphasis greens put on grassroots democracy and participation. Participation at its best, is all about the open exchange of ideas, mutual understanding, effective and timely information, promoting trust, highlighting decision-making processes, dealing with complex and possibly controversial issues, unique insights, and serving each other. It ideally develops a common view, a sense of purpose and allows communities to take control and set agendas. This is the way to learn to live better lives. Inputs and involvement from people in their neighbourhood, community and society is really important for policy-making that is effective and responsive. Participation provides vital feedback on the performance of institutions, decision-making and decision makers, including MPs and Councillors – less of it means they may well perform poorly.

People have first-hand knowledge that contributes to the understanding of what works and what needs improvement. If we want to help people out locally, change our workplaces, change our country, shape local national or global policy, leave our mark, then we have to be active, engaged and take opportunities to be involved. Getting involved has a positive influence on young lives, helps older individuals remain independent in their own homes, cleans up the environment, offers professional skills to local non-profit groups and lends talents and experience to strengthening our communities. You could: join a political party or a pressure group; get involved in health and care services; become a parish town, district, borough, or city councilor – or seek election at national or EU level; become magistrate; take part in or start up a Neighbourhood Watch; participate in or start up a Residents’ Association; get elected as a school governor; take on the role of a special constable…

There are many opportunities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just take a look on the web, through your local paper or in your local library. Talk to your neighbours or local shopkeeper. Community roles are dependent on the ongoing involvement and enthusiasm of committed people of all sorts. They are crucial to achieving and maintaining safe, prosperous and sustainable communities that can be enjoyed by all. Think about some key questions. What are your interests? What are your skills? Do you have particular needs? Do you have a method of transportation? How many hours a week do you have free? Why exactly do you want to be involved? Your answers will help you focus on the most appropriate venues.

one person can make a difference is improved. People of different backgrounds, abilities, ethnicities, ages, education and income levels are brought together. Diverse individuals can be united by common values. Job skills can be gained - learning to work as a team member, taking on leadership roles, setting project goals - and future careers built. Get involved! Glenn Vowles http://vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com

Being involved feels good, it strengthens your community, can strengthen your family when you do things together, and it builds a sense of responsibility. It boosts the case for authorities to improve all methods of participation and then the extent to which

More Than Just A Farm It’s on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon that I find myself passing the busy nail salons and gold chain filled windows of East Street, Bedminster. Under the green glow of Asda, I skirt around the pavement patrons of the Barley Mow and turn right to be faced with an eccentric cider house and an industrial estate beyond. I pause, unsure. I am looking for Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol’s oldest city farm, whose funding struggles reached a head in 2009 when they appealed to the public to help raise £50,000 to remain open. This goal was achieved at Christmas through the Save Our Farm appeal which included a huge launch event followed by a myriad of fundraising activities including cake making, farm calendars, art auctions, music nights and the massive generosity of online pledges. However, this was an emergency cash plug and the farm is still in need of great support. In January, the farm appealed for help to improve the animal shed and with animal feed alone costing £3000 a year, it is clear they need continued help to survive.

So far, so Evening Post - for many people (especially those who are buggy free and bacon sandwich eating) there is limited appeal in propping up the fortunes of a few swines (Animal Farm was not good PR). However, there is so much more going on there. The WHCF has aspirational objectives for this site, from providing opportunities for social interaction to empowerment of local people. They aim to achieve this through several projects currently running at the farm. ‘Make It Yours’ uses a combination of photography, writing and ICT to allow adults with mental health issues to share their stories. There is also the Healthy Eating Project which uses gardening and cooking as a medium for developing basic numeracy and literacy skills. There are also self-help groups, arts events, day-care for older people and an OFSTED nursery. On top of this there’s a computer centre, pitch for hire and even an adventure playground. This broad and surprising range of amenities and activities demonstrates the WHCF’s commitment to improving the local community and makes a strong case for continued financial support. It is a surprising amount to be going on at a relatively small site and the heart of it is still the working farm, which I would highly recommend checking out.

Although the entrance is slightly forbidding and the yard slightly dilapidated, the animals are super well and fabulous. There are beautiful stinky young goats, handsome ducks, fearsome geese and chickens so plumptious and groomed if they ever remake The Wizard of Oz, I expect the farm to get a casting call. Special mention also needs to go to the pigs, Rosie and Patricia. They both rolled out of their sties with the grunting attitude of Mariah in Precious and were the star turn of a rainy day. From my visit and subsequent research into all that the farm provides, it is clear that they are worthy of the continued support they have received. It would be a terrible loss to the service users, care recipients and the community as a whole if Windmill Hill City farm were unable to stay open. As Carolyn Hecker (Head of the Save Our Farm Committee) says; â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is not the end of the fundraising road - it is only the beginning.â&#x20AC;? So get down there, have a cake, put some money in the collection box and grunt eight octaves with Rosie and Patricia and help keep this farm open. www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Morgan Matthews Illustrations by Gemma Randall

Fly-Posters Will Be Persecuted Wouldn’t it be strange to walk through Stokes Croft, St Pauls and even parts of Bristol like Redland without that shock of a neon coloured poster pinned against the muted urban landscape? Punctuating your vision with a rebellious secret, fly-posters are a touchy subject: an urban Morse code to the city’s partiers and conversely, the focus of fierce distain for the seven-day a week breakfast eaters. Fly-posters are arguably the best way for promoters to advertise their events. An invitation that doesn’t follow the usual commercial and controlled avenues of publicity, they gallop freely in the liberated fields of neon green, pink and yellow. Over the BRIGHT backgrounds, massive black letters scream line-ups, times and locations, beckoning the partiers to consider an evening of revelry. Furthermore, their supporters will say they are a given characteristic of the city: They signify life, vibrancy and a youth culture that is constantly progressing independently, both in music and style. Aspects of an enthused and evolving society everyone can enjoy.

However, of course, fly-posting is illegal and Bristol’s Environmental Service decided just before Christmas to “target” St Pauls, Cotham and the city centre in a serious bid to stop people fly-posting. Councilor Gary Hopkins said; “The posters cause criminal damage and cost public money to remove. Bill posting is illegal. We want to get that message across.” Moreover, Keep Britain Tidy say fly-posters are; “difficult and expensive to remove and can create a feeling of unease and fear. In many cases, areas with fly-posting feel abandoned and can very soon fall into decline.” The law permits a maximum fine for fly-posting of up to £2,500 and the council has also considered using ASBO type procedures. Just the other day a local ‘fly-posterer’ was fined £459 at Bristol Magistrates’ Court after he was caught putting up a poster illegally on Park Street, however the council is finding it very difficult to prosecute fly-posters and their employers. Club directors are able to claim that they had no knowledge of the fly posting and often require their promoters to sign disclaimers stating they were not sent to post illegally.

In an effort to compromise, the Council’s Streetscene Enforcement Manager recently said they were going to develop legal fly-posting sites so that events can be “advertised in a coordinated way which will not ruin the appearance of the preselected and designated areas,” opposition would state that going to a specific area to see ‘What’s on!’ is pretty pointless and alien to the ideology of fly-posting. He might as well use his budget to produce a ‘Brochure of Forthcoming Underground Events’. The hard line Bristol Council take on fly-posting is pretty hard to swallow, especially when you consider their revised attitude to graffiti. Street art was once “threatening”, but now people of all demographics queue up for hours to see graffiti artists taking over Bristol’s prestigious art galleries; I don’t think my Granny was feeling “uneasy” and “fearful” when she gave me that Banksy mug for Christmas… The fact is that fly-posters, like graffiti, have become incorporated into our society and are an important element of the vibrant underground culture that Bristol is famed around the world for. They make this city what it is. If you don’t like them, move to the countryside. There you can isolate yourself completely and live in a perfect bubble, not having to interact with or acknowledge the existence of anyone who expresses themselves culturally in a different way from you at all. Given time, Bristol City Council could warm to fly-posters like they have graffiti but in the meantime, they will still use the taxes we pay to remove them. However, if they were completely legal, that would take away half the fun of it, wouldn’t it? Helen Martin

The SOFA Project

As I walk around the modest Old Market HQ of the Bristol SOFA Project, a volunteer politely asks if I need any help. Surrounded by settees of all colours and cloths, an array of dining tables and chairs and rows upon rows of white goods, I’m momentarily stumped. It dawns on me how epic a task organising Shifting Old Furniture Around (SOFA, y’see...) must be, not to mention the back-into-work volunteer schemes, two showrooms and the numerous environmental awareness campaigns connected. SOFA (soon approaching the big 3-0 years old) assists the unemployed, ex-offenders and people with learning difficulties by showing them how to re-invent the donated items, which are then sold back to the public at a comparatively low price, handily reducing waste in hazardous landfill sites. Ian Rowlands is a volunteer in charge of Retail and Support. His approachable, easy nature says more than any press release ever could; “People sometimes forget we’re a charity run by people who donate their time or unwanted goods and we’re dependent on that. Things are tough

at the moment for everybody, but the public have never wavered in their generosity and we’re incredibly grateful for that.” The mantra ‘Re-think, Re-use, Re-generate’ permeates the company’s every move and has seen their expansion with a store in Weston-Super-Mare. However, Ian thinks this isn’t enough; “We’d really like to go back into Bath. We had an outlet there but ran into property issues. People assume Bath is affluent but there were people who really benefited from our help and support. We’d like to get Bath City Council involved but any organisation or benefactor wanting to help us to help other people would be a welcome contact.” Unassuming, dedicated and steadfast, the SOFA Project looks set to conquer the South West one cushion at a time. www.sofaproject.org.uk Heather McKay

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To submit information for this section please email to: involve@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

Information and musings on the beautiful, sexy and scrumptious things in life. Fashion, beauty, health and style To advertise in this section at a reduced rate please contact advertise@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

57/ Bristol Street Fashion 61/ Where Did All These New Independent Galleries Come From? 66/ Make-up trends 68/Spring fashion 69/ Stay Healthy: Fast Food Bites 73/ Local Artist Profile â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Simon Mills 57

Bristol Street Fashion

Name: Emily Style: Casual Elegance Shop: Zara

Name: Richard Style: Rugged Shop: Leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Name: Laura Style: La Mode Noire Shop: RePsycho

By Rich Entwistle

Name: Jon Style: Utilitarian Shop: Republic

Name: Eamonn Style: Street Shop: Cooshti

Name: Julia Style: Classic Shop: Urban Outfitters

Friday 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday 16 May 2010 The Passenger Shed Temple Meads, Bristol

Contemporary art under ÂŁ3,000 55 galleries exhibiting Tickets: 0870 777 2255 and affordableartfair.co.uk

Bristol

Independent Art in Bristol: Revolution or Evolution? As 2010 swings into action, Bristol’s independent art scene starts the new decade in rude health. Away from establishments like the Arnolfini and Spike Island, there has been a marked growth in the kind of community work previously only found at places like the Trinity Centre. Although it’s merely the tip of the iceberg where the entire city is concerned, these

days a walk down Stokes Croft is a sensory blur of colour and texture. Between the great waves of Hillgrove Street and the murals that skirt the derelict front of Westmoreland House, you find Turbo Island’s bold font, a tiny medieval Apothecary and countless tiny oddities that reveal themselves only with careful inspection.

And that’s only on the street. Over the course of last summer the Peoples’ Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) held several auctions of work from local artists in their gallery on Jamaica Street. The Here Gallery on the corner of Ashley Road regularly hosts tiny exhibitions from both local and national artists and further down, both The Junction and The Wonder Club put on regular events. Beyond this small stretch of road the same pattern fans outward and new gallery spaces seem to appear on a surprisingly regular basis: Friend & Co, Weapon of Choice, The Nails Gallery, Room212, View, Centrespace and The Arts House are but a few of the others that are to be found.

But what has prompted this seemingly sudden explosion in number and popularity? The city has always been home to a vibrant artistic community. The rise of the ‘Bristol Sound’ to national status during the early nineties, heralded by the success of artists like Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead, had a strongly defined visual counterpart. Their genre-bending musical aesthetic, taking in aspects of punk, reggae, hip-hop and soul, gave birth to an equally colourful graffiti and street art movement to match.

This same crossover still exists, and while the music scene’s heath has never been in dispute, the artistic element that went with it shifted gradually out of mainstream consciousness. Two years ago Sam and Cheba began hosting Weapon Of Choice at Mr.Wolfs, a night that places as much emphasis on live graffiti art as on music. They have since expanded the night into something far larger, inhabiting a gallery at the bottom of St. Michael’s Hill and producing a regular magazine to showcase others’ work. Since opening its doors ten months ago, the WOC gallery has seen its profile grow impressively in stature, putting on exhibitions by artists ranging from local street writers to long-term Radiohead associate Stanley Donwood.

And all from something typically perceived as a social nuisance. Yet in Banksy’s wake, the doors have been opened for a wider public acceptance of street art. “‘In the last two years graffiti has been brought more to the forefront. People are starting to accept that it is a form of art,” says Sam, “Some people are good with pencils, some people are good with pens – some people are good with a spray can.” The unprecedented success of Banksy’s exhibition at Bristol City Museum renewed interest in a culture that has existed, in one way or another, since it first arrived with hip-hop in the late seventies. It’s brought some surprising developments. “‘We get kids from the school coming in and saying “I want to be a graffiti artist.” We even get their mums coming in to say “I want to get my son into graffiti!”’

The brains behind Mr. Wolf’s have recently taken over the Stokes Croft venue The Junction, and since its renovation have provided a space for regular events that blur the lines between art, music and community gathering. It wasn’t intentional, says Steph Wolff. “With The Junction, it felt like it came very naturally. We wanted to keep the live music element when we took over but once we arrived, we found that the space was beautiful and naturally shaped to display art.” Ending up with collaborators keen to follow that premise, she says, happened instantly but not on purpose; “The first few promoters we spoke to were interested in incorporating both art and music elements.”

One of the main factors in Stokes Croft’s renewed vitality has been the tirelessly inventive work of the PRSC, transforming an area typically seen as run down into a living and breathing work of art. Along with Coexist, one of several organisations in the area that offers studio space, it seems to provide a focal point to draw an already present community closer together. The defining factor seems to be the need for a central space for previously unconnected people to gather. Local artist and musician Hal Camplin emphasises this point; “When I moved here in 2001, I felt there wasn’t enough going on and because I had no connections with the art community, I set up Kangaroo Kourt - my lounge in the house I was renting. It brought out all these artists from everywhere and became a great social scene.”

This presence of a central hub creates a space for the sharing of ideas – something that has a knock-on effect on surrounding areas. Ultimately though, it may be that the city itself is as responsible as those in it, says Sam. “It couldn’t have happened somewhere like London. In Bristol, it’s so small that it has to cross over. You can’t choose to avoid it. The city is so small that you can’t help but know that things are going on.” Rory Gibb

Make-up trends Once upon a time when the wind was bitter and the sun was scarce, people adorned themselves with lashings of layers. They found comfort in coffee shops where they would pay the world for a single cup of coffee that when tailor made reassured their identity. Semi-skimmed would be the choice of razortongued businesswoman while soya would be for the softly spoken longhaired ones. Now, as the sun starts to seep through, layers are shed, revealing vampire-esque skin. Pessimistic thoughts are banished, the new season is optimistic and brings new characters for the city cliques to play with. Hopeless romantics fall under the spell of all things floral whereas heroic types can’t help but reach into their tribal roots, lavishing their bodies with an armour of paint. Sleeping beauties need not bother in the mornings as the no make-up look is back.

For those of us not born into fairytales but instead struggling through our own biographies, look for a foundation with a medium coverage and luminous finish; such as Bobbi Brown’s skin foundation. Finish the look with a touch of dewy cream blush, lip gloss and a generous helping of mascara for that innocent finish. There is a strong focus on the body this season as St Tropez tan featured heavily in several shows. Mario Schwab’s girls sported an ethereal blue whereas Louise Goldin kept it subtle with a healthy bronze. I suggest taking this theme more lightly, MAC face and body foundation combines these two trends into one. There are two options for eyes this season; purple is definitely the colour of choice. Prada showed us that lilac and mauve sugars are the shades that should be applied neat to the lid and under the lash line.

A more heroic statement can be made with bold eyeliner, opt for black if you want to keep it classic. Although many bright colours are popular this season, why not try white for a fresh look as seen at Marc Jacobs? Their key make-up artist Francois Nars was given the brief of “gothic, graphic ballet dancers who have just left the stage”.

Maroon stained lips were also dominating the runway at Bottega Veneta, translating last season’s gothic lips into spring. If both the above trends are too much for you, nice girl nudes are holding strong this season too. Hair is all about texture whether it’s that ‘just off the beach’ look or two-toned texture that mixes crimping and curling with that slicked back look. This was shown to great effect at the Louise Goldin show where model’s hair was slicked back on top and tousled at the back to combine both romance and heroism, living happily ever after in the fairytales of spring. The End.

Lips are of a peachy hue as seen at Vivienne Westwood, this works well teamed with smudged smokey eyes and false lashes. I recommend wispies by Ardell for that endearing tangled lash effect. Charley Brunskill

Spring Fashion There you are Ophelia, lolloping over the dewy green grass with your clogs on and what looks like, yes, your lacy Rigby & Peller nightie and a green army bag, warbling songs of enchantment and verses of poetry. Oh happy, happy Spring! You have just updated your wardrobe to include some beautiful nymphetic see-through and sheer fabrics, and ultra-feminine lace like we saw at Ellie Saab, Valentino and Julien MacDonald. I always get so excited about Spring/Summer fashion, as it is a great opportunity to have a good old clear-out, ditch the blacks and dark greys and introduce the pastels, the feminineonce again. My favourite tones from the the colour palette for this SP/SUMMER is dusky shadows – think dusk or early evening, with sand-washed silks and linen, and romantic watercolours, pink-champagne and chalk-like pastels, peaches, pinks and greens. Work to create a casual, sensual look with light and airy fabrics, creating loose silhouettes and soft shapes. For those of you who love to cause a riot, take your inspiration from JeanPaul Gautier by painting tropical islands in the sun with your wild and voodoo eclectic prints and flowery fabrics. Freshen up an existing outfit by adding a floral print scarf – with a white blouse and a boyfriend blazer, or a Violet, coral or Amparo Blue knotted bag with an bold 70’s style dress to clash a few saucepans. Have fun, the dawn of Spring is your blank canvas.

Annette Sloly

Fast Food Bites You’re out in town, you’ve had a few drinks, it’s late, you’re walking back home...you have a CRAVING! You’re in at home, it’s been a long day, the fridge is empty, you’re warm and cosy watching a film… you have a CRAVING! There’s no point skipping around it, on occasion, we all love fast food. That naughty treat, that indulgent snack; when you’ve got that craving it really hits the spot. We know we shouldn’t. We know it’s bad for us…or do we? Just how bad is the question!

!Burger!

Calories: 540 Factoids: The cheaper the burger, the less meat content – who knows what else is put in them to make up the numbers. Alternative: Good quality burgers made with fresh ingredients are much better for you and much more satisfying.

!Pizza!

Calories: 200-400 per slice Factoids: Fried and stuffed crusts and latherings of fatty cheese are completely Americanised mutati ons. Alternative: Real Italian pizza has thin, dried crusts and fresh, light toppings. Much better.

!Chicken Nuggets! !Fala fel! Calories: 485 for a 10-piece box them not Factoids: Lawsuits against these outlets urging en” “chick as ts nugge their of ts conten to describe the might not be a complete myth. n is your Alternative: Real, organic, well reared chicke best bet.

Calories: 350 per piece Factoids: Beware the unknown quality of ingredients in fast-food shops and the suspicious frying oil. Alternative: The salad bar - you’re just eating vegetables and pulses anyway aren’t you? They might as well not be fried.

!Chips!

Calories: 530 (plus fatty, sugary toppings!) ary, often in Factoids: Deep-fried more times than necess imagine you help to me need don’t You oil. multiply used the effect on your cholesterol. less oil that Alternative: Make French fries at home, using places offer food fast some Or once. use only will you burgers which salads as accompaniments to kebabs and are often not as awful as they sound.

!Kebab!

Calories: Between 500-800 Factoids: The wide variation in calories mainly stems from the fact that many different types of meat of not great quality are used and oily bad stuff is added. Alternative: If you replace the pitta and chips with salads and have less heavy and fatty types of meat you will feel the difference quite quickly. Or if that doesn’t convince you, just try looking intently at the donner machine turning and try to imagine how that meat was prepared. Then go home and have an apple.

So there it is; the simple, ugly, fatty truth. The benefits of reducing your fast food intake and going for lighter, non-fried, home-made, fresh food will make such a difference to your body, your taste-buds, your physical condition and significantly, your wallet too! Anna Leon Illustrations by Tina Golubeva

!Chinese!

spring roll Calories: 300-400 for most mains and 50 per China. It is a Factoids: Fast food “Chinese” is not from really unhealthy Westernised version. to China any Alternative: Although no-one’s going to go Chinese time soon just to taste the real thing, good quality more accurate restaurants are out there offering a much and cook it and healthy alternative. Or find a recipe yourself!

Local Artist Profile Simon Mills You may not be familiar with the name Simon Mills, but if you live in Bristol and engage in any way with its artistic subculture - and if you’re reading this, you probably do - you’ll have almost certainly seen his work. Simon is a prolific artist who has displayed work in exhibitions and galleries from Bristol to New York; not bad for an unassuming young man who grew up in Nailsea You won’t see his work on the sides of prominent buildings, nor will you see his name in lights emblazoned across the front of the Bristol Museum - well, not yet anyway. This art is definitely for the people, and that doesn’t imply some sort of militant political agenda, just that it is art that does not distance itself from ordinary folk. There’s no pretension attached, just a clear sense of a schoolboy love of drawing that can’t help but escape onto any object that lies in his path. He’ll draw on anything, literally, from discarded 3-legged chairs, bits of wood and broken skateboards - the unloved flotsam and jetsam the city provides. This subversion of the intended use of objects, and the ability to see creative potential in things that are ignored by others, is likely the influence of a life of skating where the subversive use of architecture is the primary canvas for expression. A way of looking at things and seeing possibilities.

He is the resident artist for the Drawn Collective, contributing content for the Drawn-zine, creating or managing all the art and managing the live drawing wall at the gigs. He is part of the Inkygoodness collective, creating t-shirt designs for Mild West Heroes (market stall in St Nic’s) and he’s an artist at Start The Bus. He has provided illustrations for this very magazine, as well as others, and recently was commissioned to design a t-shirt for the band The Egg. He also runs Cloud Neuf, a creative company offering artistic, design and web services. Simon’s art has a very distinctive look, being hugely influenced by the ‘doodle’ movement. He likes to create characters and figures which populate his work, staring out inquiringly from the usually thronged scenes of which they are a part. His work often has a childlike charm which can belie the deeper strands of meaning that can be found upon closer analysis. Influences include: Ed Templeton, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Picasso, Miro, Futura and John Burgerman. www.simonmills.blogspot.com Gustave Savey

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0117 9445353 208 Cheltenham Road Colourful range of retro clothes. High quality clothes. 0117 9249959 A massive collection of beads from around the world. We run classes also, just give us a call. www.bambabeads.com 0117 9428200 224 Cheltenham Rd Bristolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most famous Gert famous T-Shirts.

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Information and musings on the cool things in life, skating, surfing, baggy pants and die hard sports bods To advertise in this section at a reduced rate please contact advertise@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

78/ Bristolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bicycle Rental Scheme â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hour Bike 81/ Why I Love To Skateboard 85/ Park Olympics!

Hour Bike Picture this; I have just arrived into Parkway Train Station and I am looking to travel into the centre of town. It’s too far to walk, trains are too infrequent, the bus is unreliable and cramped, driving myself or in a taxi is too expensive and hardly eco-friendly, and it’s probably unrealistic to fly – what I need is a bicycle! Thank the lord then for Hour Bike, a new bicycle rent scheme to help you propel yourself across Bristol at your whim in a cheap, efficient and environmentally friendly way. Parkway Station is just one of the eight locations where Hour Bike has installed bicycle ports, the others being on the Frenchay and St Matt’s UWE campuses and scattered across the centre of town (one outside the BRI, one by the fountains, one at the very top of Corn Street and one behind the Harbourside).

The idea is you pick a bike up from one port location and then leave it at another, costing your £1 an hour for the privilege apart from the first hour, which is free. It all sounds wonderful but be warned, you must pre register: it costs a tenner to register initially and you can’t just shove your money in a machine at the ports, you have to do it all online and wait until your Hour Bike Smartcard is delivered (don’t lose this; it costs £5 to reissue!). Once you’ve cleared that hurdle, the bike’s themselves aren’t all that bad; taking a look at their Dawes sit up and beg style, I do wonder if these little beauties would cope with the Bristol hills. The Sturmey Archer 5 speed gears could cope with a few ups and downs perfect to slope along the side of the river, or a jaunt accross the city, but they are not intended as a replacement for your high speed road bike.

You can in fact use them for up to 24 hours, but if you exceed 48 hours, you’ll be thrown in Horfield Prison – only kidding! – it’s a £200 fine. The last problem is that 8 ports might sound a lot but is actually quite limiting. The scheme is still in its infancy, a pilot that is currently in discussions with Bristol City Council as to whether to continue or expand. Similar schemes have worked wonders in Paris where 16,000 bikes and 1,200 hubs have been installed but it is clear that for Hour Bike to work in Bristol, many new ports are needed. The top of Gloucester Road would be an ideal location; commuters could cycle downhill into town and leave the bike there. The bus could then take them back up the hill if they didn’t want to cycle. That would surely encourage many more people to use them as much as anything else?

The Hour Bike project is a good idea and if expanded properly, could be one part in really giving Bristol the cycling infrastructure it deserves. Since acquiring Cycling City status, the councils of Bristol and South Gloucestershire have deliberated on how to spend the £20-odd million pounds in their aim to double the amount of cyclists on our streets and this could be one massively positive step in doing so. www.hourbike.com Lizzie Woodall

I Skateboarding I came to skateboarding quite late really at 18; most people have already given up by that age. At that time I lived in north Devon as and Bristol was the desired destination for skate missions Eric it had a status in the national skateboarding community If Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Dressen lists it in his top 5 cities to skate - enough said! I honest, I felt slightly intimidated by the place at first because I had associated it with the upper echelons of skateboarding. the a sort of childish fear that I would be a really bad skater in company of some the best skaters in the country and they would all stand in a ring, taunting me.

A However, one day I bit the bullet and I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t looked back since: stayed with and Carnival Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St the for Bristol to up come had us of group an afternoon someone in Bedminster. The day after the Carnival and with just down to burn, the guy whose house it was told me of a skatepark had a Santa the road. I had no board with me but the bloke downstairs directions, I Cruz Everslick, so I borrowed that. Armed with a vague set of headed out to find the park. I was scared and completely lost within minutes, being the wide-eyed country boy that I am, but amazingly I eventually walked through the gates of the old Dame Emily Skatepark. It is now the Dean Lane Skatepark and has a completely different setup, but back then it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.

There were a few kids on boards rolling around, not the scary crew of punks and pros that I was expecting, and I started to skate around, hitting the bank with trepidation but feeling OK and not making a fool of myself. Shortly afterwards a few people started to arrive, older and better - much better. One of them was the legendary Spex! Ask anyone associated with skating in Bristol who he is and you’ll get the same answer: LEGEND! I started skating with them but like I’d feared, no-one made me feel bad. In

fact, I felt good. I started to copy some of their lines and found a bit of flow. I did a kick-flip out of the bowl and I got a “Yeah!” from everyone. I will never forget that feeling. It’s still as vivid a memory now as it was the day after it happened, 16 years on. I spent the entire day skating and chatting with the people I met there, hearing stories about the place and exploits of various characters in the city. It was one of the best days of my life.

I learned a secret that day and it’s a secret every skater should know: Skating is a very exclusive club but it’s easy to join. All you have to do is skate. Seriously, that’s it. No matter what your level is, as long as you’re skating you’re in and automatically accepted by everyone else. You should never feel embarrassed to skate because you don’t think you’re good enough or whatever, the fact that you do it is all that matters.

I now live in Bristol and skate at this city’s many lovely skateparks and spots. I’ve met tons of people through skating and these days I take my son and his mates with me. We roll around with smiles on our faces because we all know the secret. We love skateboarding! Gustave Savy

Feetteelr

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!Park Olympics! Summer might not be here just quite yet but it’s damn close and until it is, there’s nothing like those rare, warm afternoons in the park to give you a taste of things to come. It’s not quite hot enough for sun-sunbathing and reading so you’ve got to keep active out there; here’s our super spring, active outdoor game: Gather up, get yourselves to a large green space, assign countries to represent and prepare for Park Olympics! Event 1: Sprint Set a distance, use the park’s screaming youngsters as the kick-off gunshot and then sprint it backwards, on piggyback, with bushhurdles, relaying an open coke can between team runners.

Event 2: Gymnastics Find a grassy hill in the park and roll down! Award points for distance covered, number of rolls, quality of rolls, straightness of trajectory and how quickly you can stand steady on your feet afterwards.

Event 3: Long Jump Tie each competitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legs up, mid-calf, and get leaping! Event 4: Marathon Picking a hyperactive child playing in the park and follow its movements exactly until all but one player gives up exhausted. To avoid angry mothers though, alternatively just run round and round and round and round the park, once jogging, once hopping, once skipping, once juggling.

Event 5: Weightlifting Every competitor lifts every other. He who lasts longest wins! More elaborate holding poses get bonus points too. Event 6: Archery No arrows here, just use this event as an excuse to lob water bombs at each other! Event 7: Wrestling An all on all fight to the death with each competitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arms tied behind their back.

Event 8: Shot-Put Avoid lobbing anything too dangerous or too heavy, that takes the fun out, try throwing your shoes. Grab them by the laces, swing and release! Obviously the further the shoe lands the better, unless in knocks over a jogger and their dog. Then instant win!

Awards Ceremony Wrap the afternoon’s games up with medal giving ceremony. The losers have to get down on all fours and the winners stand on their backs, lording it up on the impromptu podiums. Forage for some twigs to use as winners’ laurels and ice-creams will do as edible medals. Just make sure you’ve got a big bottle of lemonade to froth up and spray all in attendance and plenty of food and beer to enjoy afterwards - not too much though, the muscles to show-off athletic achievements are now closer than you think! Anna Leon Illustrations by Ben Goodman

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To submit information for this section please email to: hurt@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

Information and musings on the decadent, glorious, special and splendid things in life To advertise in this section at a reduced rate please contact advertise@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

90/ Style File: Seven 92/ Bristol City College: The City Restaurant 96/ Avalaan Clothing

Style File: From edgy, embellished, vintage style to cutting-edge American sportswear, Seven is the place to go if you want to stand out from the crowd. Who? Zena Jones runs Seven with her partner Dominic under the label: Stylist’s Own, while Dom runs a printing label called Relax. Having studied fashion and textiles at Bristol’s very own Bower Ashton campus, Zena shunned the bright lights of London for a spot designing and customising her own unique brand of clothing at the small but perfectly formed Seven.

“I was very influenced by my aunties,” she explains, “my mum has five sisters, so I got a lot of hand-me-down clothes - lots of unusual pieces, like handmade stuff from Hong Kong and Africa. So I have always customised and re-hashed to make my clothes into something different.” What? Seven offers the discerning Bristolian the opportunity to pick out key vintage pieces that have been given the Zena treatment, so expect bejewelled embellishments, lots of fringing and a good bit of bling to boot. Seven also offer a great line in American sportswear for those who favour the laid back approach.

Why? “At the time we decided to set up Seven, there was no one really selling clothes that we liked. We were having to go to London, so we started making our own stuff,” explains Zena. The two-strong team have also collaborated with local designers and offer a screen printing service that sees them creating works of sartorial art for promotional drum and bass nights. Where? Neatly tucked up on Park St Avenue, right next to The Woods bar, you can’t miss it thanks to the excellent graff splashed across the walls of Seven courtesy of Bristol’s very own Paris.

Describe your style: “It’s quite an eclectic style and we tend to cater to all different ages from 16 to 40 because they all have their own style, it’s always been that way. We do have key collections running because they are from the States and we like their stuff, but we also like to mix up vintage pieces with sportswear,” she says. “It is a mix of eras ranging from the 1920s, lots of Art Nouveau, Art Deco; I’m really into Arts and Crafts - the Seven customer likes to mash it up a lot and blend it all together.” What next? “We are hopefully going to be putting a focus on manufacturing so you’ll be seeing more of a capsule collection from us: key pieces like coats, jackets, jeans, and dresses and skirts for the girls – really creating what we have at the moment but on a bigger scale,” says Zena. And what about the Bristol fashion scene? “Well it’s getting there,” she laughs. “It’s taken a while. People don’t want to spend a lot of money but they are willing to be more creative and want to wear more exclusive clothing. I reckon it’s actually better than London at the moment.” You heard it here first. www.sevenstorebristol.co.uk Verity Gough and Elena Goodrum

The City Restaurant Nestled in the middle of Bristol’s heart, between the fantastic central library and the brand spanking Harbourside developments, is a restaurant with a menu so diverse on a day to day basis you would be forgiven for thinking the chef was Michelin starred. With themed and gourmet evenings, it’s natural to assume that Bristol has sired a new soon-tobe celebrity chef. On closer inspection, The City Restaurant - The City of Bristol College’s restaurant - is the breeding ground for many a great chef; a training ground for all our aspiring chefs, maîtrede and front of house staff. The setting is contemporary and modern, with high ceilings and a sense of occasion.

You are fully briefed that the staff are trainees but I have had a great deal slower service in some of the city’s most exclusive restaurants; to my mind the service was punctual, friendly and professional.

The set lunchtime menu was a three course delight. I personally chose a fabulous scallop dish with a pea puree and bacon, served with the flair and presentation of top class restaurant. Bristol is obviously training up the next class of top class chefs; fabulous! For my main course I opted for a delicious roast breast of duck, cooked perfectly (my partner had some mouth-watering salmon), followed by an incredible pecan pie. It was all cooked by the college’s studying chefs and was utterly delicious. The best news was that it was all for a staggeringly cheap £7.50! Yes, £7.50!! An absolutely scrumptious steal.

It’s fantastic that the City of Bristol have the means to train their catering staff in an entirely real environment so that their chefs and front of house staff already have significant experience under their belts before they head out to find work.

A 3-year catering qualification is a solid foundation in the restaurant trade and one which all-aspiring top class chefs would massively benefit from. The students are learning from the very best, from the kitchen to the front of house; the teaching staff have taught at the city’s very best restaurants and bring with them a wealth of considerable experience to impart to their students. If the food we tasted was anything to go by, these trainee chefs are ready to take the city by storm.

Lunch: Two course £5.95 Three course £7.50 Thursday Gourmet Lunch £9.95 (three courses, cooked by NVQ Level 3) Dinner: 3 courses and coffee from £19.95 Look out for special gourmet and themed evenings throughout the year Loyalty card available - come for lunch five times and get you’re sixth lunch free To reserve your table call 0117 312 5000 or email cityrestaurantcg@cityofbristol.ac.uk www.cityofbristol.ac.uk

Bristol premier Lifestyle brand ‘Young’ and ‘dynamic’ are buzzwords too often associated with any brand that’s heard of Banksy or a kickflip, but for the painfully cool Avalaan, they’ve never been more applicable. Nestled amongst the independent community of Gloucester Road, Avalaan’s urban sportswear plunges you deep into a lo-slung world of hip-hop, street art and all things skate and snow. Sweet sneaks are on sale next to ski goggles and cans of spray paint, and the walls burst with the work of local graffiti artists. And then there’s the rainbow collection of t-shirts, scarves and hoodies.

Now approaching their fifth birthday, it hasn’t always been a smooth ride for founders Logan and Windy, who’ve put themselves through day jobs delivering pizza and pulling pints to get the brand to where it is today. After meeting in ski resort, Val D’Isere, around seven years ago, the duo came up with the idea of giving fresh, young artists the exposure they deserved by printing their work on clothing, and Avalaan was born. Despite, or more likely because of, a lack of traditional business backgrounds, they wanted to give their community something back, so the unique Avalaan Familia was born. This spirited urban collective of artists, musicians and sporty types (such as the incredible 45RPM, Amelia Horne and Justin Norman) are supported creatively, with Avalaan at the very hub. “We’re really gathering momentum now,” says Logan, “we’d like to be moving forward with promotion – putting on more gigs and exhibitions in here.” For a brand with such an international appeal, what, I wonder, is keeping them in Bristol? “Bristol is an amazing, creative base – it’s here that you can talk about something, and it’ll actually get done”, he grins. And he’s not wrong. I can’t imagine Avalaan having taken off with such innovative force from anywhere else. www.avalaan.com Heather McKay

Glamorous People Conrad at Jamesons

Kitchens

Fresh and Wild

Creme and Chrome

0117 9276565 30 – 32 Upper Maudlin Street. Traditional wonderful food. 0117 9105930 Clifton Pavilion 85 Queens Road Bristol’s premier organic supermarket.

SNAP Gallery

0117 9739614 167 Whiteladies Road Superior kitchen utensils and craft Amazing Retro Furniture and fabulous gifts St Nic’s Market Market Glass Arcade

The Boutique

0117 3763564 Unique, beautiful artwork by a great cooperative 20 - 21 Lower Park Row

0117 9739570 33 Regent St, Clifton. Ranges of limited manufacture clothing, perfect for any occasion

Rosebud Florists

Allure Fashions

0117 9241460 184 Gloucester Rd Flowers for all occasions and beautiful gifts.

0117 9743882 17 Regent St, Clifton. Beautifully crafted clothing, perfect for glamorous occasions.

To submit information for this section please email to: spoil@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

Information and musings on the fun, musical, visual and entertaining things in life To advertise in this section at a reduced rate please contact advertise@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

100/ Artspace Lifespace – 2 Years at The Island 104/ DJ Profile: DJ Parker 108/ SY Meets…The Cube Cinema 112/ What’s Cooking at The Canteen? 114/ Twee Twee Music 99

2 Years of Artspace Lifespace At Bridewell Island The Old Firestation – Bridewell Island – The Island – Whatever you call it, the red windowed beauty of a building on Silver Street in the very heart of town has truly come to life over the past 20-odd months and has provided Bristol with more alternative culture and nights to remember than we could have ever dreamt of. In the summer of 2008, the fabulous arts initiative that are Artspace Lifespace took over its labyrinth of rooms and the dramatic courtyard. They have travelled across Bristol for years now, inhabiting disused buildings and breathing new life into them, regenerating and reviving through culture and their ability to throw a damn good party and these days, Bridewell Island is always the first port of call when looking for something inspirational and fun to do with your spare evening.

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Since they took over, we’ve been spoilt with everything that’s gone on there and now we thought it would be a good a time as any to relive some of those moments and look back at nearly 2 years of Artspace Lifespace at Bridewell Island. Long may it continue! The driving force behind many of Artspace Lifespace’s ambitious projects has been The Invisible Circus and during their time at Bridewell Island they have brought us: Carny-Ville (Sept 08 & May 09): An anarchic circus and pantomime of degradation and delight. The Day of The Dead Ball (Nov 09): A masked ball of Latino skulls, with music, dancing and puppetry to match. The Heavy Metal Acid Panto (Dec 09): Their own twisted take on the Christmas pantomime with leather jackets, mullets and a struggle between good and evil. The St Valentine’s Day Massaquerade (Feb 10): Their very own shotgun wedding; a night of heart-breaking, soul-shaking and rip-roaring circus, theatre and spectacle. Also, having been truly reborn as a community arts space, in between The Invisible Circus’ antics, Bridewell Island has brought us: Of All The People In All The World (May 09): A fascinating performance/art instillation as part of Mayfest, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre.

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UpFest (June 09): It was just one of the many venues full of graffiti artists and fans for the Urban Paint Festival. Micro Raves (Throughout 09): A fantastic club night based around a computer game where you can “level-up” and have dance-offs with end-of-level boses. Bristol Design Festival (June 09): Here was the main venue for the week-long festival, hosting multiple events, exhibits and the entrants of the GrafIkea competition. Circus 2 Gaza (Nov 09): Another circus and music filled party with all the money made going to charity. The Skins House Parties (Feb 10): A series of club night’s and gigs jammed with local talent to promote the new series of Bristol’s famous, tearaway teen telly programme. The building won’t remain in this capacity for ever (there’s currently talk of it being developed into a youth centre and thankfully not another eye-rolling apartment complex) but do not fear, that is the magic that Artspace Lifespace spread; it’s never meant to be permanent. Just as they did with the car showroom on Cheltenham Road, the Pro-Cathedral in Clifton, Horfield Police Station and now Bridewell Island, they will move on, find another disused building and completely revive and reinvent it, throwing in some fantastic parties as they do. www.artspacelifespace.com www.invisiblecircus.co.uk Sophie Collard& Matt Whittle

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Parker Roni Size kicked off the New Year with a tune most people had never heard before that every moment but one which every single person at ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ started whispering about immediately. ‘Where’s my monkey’ was an instant hit, having been aired on Radio 1 subsequently, it’s pretty fair to say that DJ Parker, Bristol’s very favorite son, has well and truly arrived! Since launching his debut album To Eternity in 2008 Parker has been ‘the one to watch’ on the national Nu Funk scene, so it was only a matter of time until he reached the same level of critical acclaim as DJ Yoda, who we believe is a massive fan, alongside our very own Massive Attack who have also come out in support of our favorite DJ, not bad eh? We decided to catch up with ole Peter Parker to find out what the beef is, (now we chatted incessantly for hours so its pretty hard to transpose that all here so we have edited a few cheeky highlights), :

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Faye: So what started this thing off? Parker: Umm well Dad is a big music fan so I was constantly surrounded by music, when I was younger I tried out learning the piano but mixing was just way cooler, that’s what I thought. After that I spent a lot of time with a top notch piano player who taught me a lot about music, he had a totally different approach, sort of taught the music behind mixing,

Faye: So you had the skill, what then? Parker: I witnessed Sir Beans OBE perform a scratch set before Portishead called ‘the road trip’. This blew me away, not only did he have mad skills but his set also showed me that and it was possible to integrate all kinds of music into one set not simply rocking one genre. Then it all clicked when I went to Lakota for the first time, it just put the whole thing in context. Lakota was amazing, is amazing, it just made me think, I want that, I can do that!

Faye: So that’s the beginning of the love affair, what skills does someone need? Parker: A tendency to be OCD, being short helps, well I don’t think it helps but most DJs are short, that’s not mathematically and statistically proven but I think they are.

Faye: I know a few tall ones. Parker: Ok well maybe just the breaks scene attracts short people

Faye: well I’m pretty short and I love it! Parker: There you go then, point proved… sort of, the OCD things true though!

Faye: So what happened next? Parker: Well I got a few gigs, picked up a stalker…

Faye: A stalker? Parker: Yep you know you’ve made it then! It was a bit freaky to be honest, he worked in Subway so I got loads of killer free sandwiches! After a good few years as resident for Bristol and Cardiff club night Hustler Showcase I decided to get into the studio to start actually making tunes, I think I had a great run of it and I just thought that I wanted more.

Faye: Fair enough, what makes you so successful when so many others have tried and failed? Parker: I just think that you can do anything you want if you set your mind to it

Faye: Hear hear! Parker: I worked hard whilst building up my discography to push myself outside of Bristol playing clubs across the country and Europe and random events like the Urban Music Festival, and The Clothes Show, and I just wanted more.

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Faye: Is that why you left Bristol? Parker: I haven’t moved from Bristol I still live here, but as far as dj’ing I have moved on.I love this place, and it has a great scene but it’s just too easy to settle with what you are doing here, its easy to be a big fish and to make it, as cliché as it is, you need to hit London and beyond. But then at the same time Bristol is at the forefront in certain areas of music and its a place with the most open minded crowds you can drop almost anything and it will work. In that respect the Bristol scene is much better than anywhere else, I mean the people are, but to get connected and the spread your reach beyond the west country you need to look to places like London.

Faye: Why do you reckon? Parker: Well look at us chatting hr in the Watershed, in London the guy on the next table would be a producer, the other a radio DJ, you are just a bit closer to the action.

Faye: So when are you coming back? Parker: I make sure I play here regularly but just not all

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the time, I want to keep my sound fresh here as well as spread the Parker word beyond the cities boundaries. But I love it here, its still my home, I’m firmly rooted here; I and have a Bristol City season ticket so I can go whenever I’m not away!

Faye: Whats your top club? Parker: In Bristol at the moment for me it’s probably LAB, but I did love Native. Also I hold Dojo close to my heart as that’s where I went on my first date with the Mrs.

Faye: What’s next? Parker: Well I’m working on new solo releases right now and an album with Boca45. Dj wise I’m working with the Finger Lickin DJ Agency who are now pushing me internationally.

Faye: World domination is next! With a second album in production and a boatload of killer collaborations with top producers underway, Parker’s star is on the ascendant. SY adored him, above his incredible talent and sheer determination he is a lovely bloke. It honestly could not happen to a nicer person!

www.chrisbianchi.co.uk

Illustration by Chris Bianchi

Big Chill Bristol 15 Small Street, Bristol BS1 1DE Enquiries 0117 930 4217 Join the mailing list www.bigchill.net/bristol

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SY Meets… The Cube Cinema The Cube is a volunteer-run cinema and arts venue that has been a Bristol landmark for the last 10 years. A look through their eye-catching monthly programmes will have you spoilt for choice, be it sublimely intimate gigs, showings of good recent releases, art-house cinema, re-runs of classic films, themed cinema marathons, community events, documentaries put on by Bristol Indymedia, or performances from the Cube Orchestra. Suit Yourself goes behind the scenes to discover who some of these volunteers are and what they love about The Cube…

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Ed Siebert aka Punksi Event Manager, Promotions Manager, Bar Manager How did you get involved with the Cube? A number of friends were involved. What do you like most about the cube? I have never encountered anywhere else quite like it. Everyone who works here is here because they WANT to be, not hired or feeling obliged.

What do you do here in Bristol? By day I’m an admin manager at a sixth form college. By night, I run the production, technical and programming sides of various music festivals.

Polly Pocket Programme Co-ordinator, Banker, Front of House Manager

Richard Thomas Video & Film Projectionist, Programme Distribution Coordinator, Bar Manager

How did you get involved with the Cube? I thought the music programming was really exciting and signed up to volunteer.

How did you get involved with the Cube? I spent two months in India and had been thinking what are some of the things I’d really miss in Bristol if they weren’t there when I came back - The Cube was one of them so that, plus curiosity about how the place operated (or managed to survive!).

What do you like most about the Cube? It’s openness, which can be a mixed blessing, but anyone can get involved. The Cube is what its volunteers make it. What do you do here in Bristol? I now work at the BBC in the natural history unit radio department. When I started work at the Cube I was a student.

What do you like most about the Cube? That wonderful feeling to be had by pressing a button in the projection room and watching the red velvet curtains magically rolling back from the screen. What do you do here in Bristol? I’m a professional geek - working in a small company designing audio amplifier chips. Away from that I play the sax.

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Elena Goodrum Music Press Officer, DJ, Photographer, Bartender How did you get involved with the Cube? I was new to Bristol and thought it would be a great way of meeting people. What do you like most about the Cube? The building itself and the cinema, but mainly the laidback atmosphere and the crazy, random conversations with strangers. What do you do here in Bristol? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a photographer and a community manager and consultant for online communities.

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www.cubecinema.com Elena Goodrum www.trillbilly.tumblr.com

The Canteen

Until very recent it was an ugly, derelict building in the heart of Stokes Croft and, fenced off from the public, it was showing very little signs of life. However, after a major renovation it opened its doors this summer and The Canteen has since miraculously become the epicentre of Bristol’s cultural quarter and is now one of the city’s most popular gastro-bar-venues. In a nutshell, The Canteen’s success is down to the fact it caters for all; every type of person imaginable can be seen in there throughout the days and nights enjoying everything it has to offer. There’s the wide variety of drinks available including many local ales. There’s the excellent food - an excellent seasonal menu that’s put up on the kitchen’s blackboard everyday offering anything from a scrumptious fish pie to a delicious Thai curry, and all for a fiver (and don’t forget the free soup with every order)!

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There’s the art and music six days a week - always local and lively. And, most importantly, there’s the great atmosphere - always inviting, friendly and unpretentious, it becomes progressively more energetic the later into the evening it gets or the closer you creep to the dancefloor. Growing through word-of-mouth alone, The Canteen’s popularity is mega, as the queues show every night; a tasty, chilled, cheerful, hearty and happening Mecca – it’s a wonder how we ever did without it! What’s important to remember though, is that The Canteen is just one part of the thriving urban regeneration project that is Hamilton House. In the multiple floors and rooms above and behind The Canteen you will find a wealth of studios, offices and workshops full of artists, performers and musicians, generating a hub of local creativity, enterprise and innovation. The scheme is all run by Coexist and you owe it to yourself to get down there and get involved! www.coexistuk.org Richard Entwistle

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Twee Time Tea is a hot beverage Westerners hijacked and added milk too.

Twee is a musical genre dance floors jive too. Tea describes a stomach gurgling time of the evening: tea time. Twee is associated with small things, cute or sweetâ&#x20AC;Śtweet tweet! Twee music is the honest display of emotion in the gentle wining vocalists tend to use and then the well placed pop which comes behind it. The general tempo and uplifting power of a twee song, with their pappy drum arrangements and jangling guitars, can turn any graveyard into a dancefloor. 114

Sounds like indie-pop you might say? Twee-pop and indie-pop - alike in name, alike in nature – but with twee holding a smaller lasso over its followers. There is a slight difference between indie-pop and twee music but that is an ongoing musical conversation. The general consensus seems to be that being called ‘twee’ is a bit of an insult, somehow insinuating that you’re too sugary, with style over substance. Popular current indie-pop bands like Los Campesinos have distanced themselves from their twee roots releasing an album called Romance Is Boring, and Slow Club, the hottest new indie-pop outfit out there and about as twee as it gets, refuse to perform at a night with the four letter word in the title! It seems the sweet and honest nature of the twee scene is starting to make people feel quite sick. However, as comes with any form of musical derision, it inevitably creates an underground cultural backlash and twee is starting its revival! The twee scene is already thriving overseas like in the States, with the Slumberland and K record labels 115

being just two egg shells, and Bristol also has its own twee link through the record label, Sarah Records. Now defunct, Sarah Records which existed in a small flat up in Clifton between 1987 and 1995. With cult twee bands like Talulah Gosh, Another Sunny Day, Blue Boy and St Christopher being just some of the bands to fill the Sarah sandwich, co-founders Matt Haynes and Claire Wadd were the sugar gliders of the music world, scattering their fine fragrances across the Bristolian bars and managing to tickle the noses of neighbouring countries who liked what they could smell. And what could they smell? Pure twee, lofi indie! Twee is an entire culture of its own, music and personality go side by side, like conjoined twins, both simultaneously enlightening, why not wear a cute, fluffy cardigan with a parrot brooch on it if you like to listen to lyrics about foxes in the 116

snow and girls who never knew you existed? It’s unlikely that you will ever see a heavy metal artist gracing the stage with loafers and a colourful cardigan because he also wears the clothes that express himself. The point is, like a peacock we attract our mates through our presentation and if you honestly wear something because you truly like and enjoy it, then who needs match dot com, speed dating or facebook? Just do the things you like to do and the right person will come to you. That is the twee ethos. Twee: a sweet, cute synonym for a style of music one shouldn’t be afraid of. Grab your anorak, take off your pretension and, in the words of Stephen Merit; “Let’s pretend we’re bunny rabbits until we pass away”. Kayleigh Cassidy Illustrations by Tina Golubeva

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118/ Mystic Gingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Horoscopes 120/ Auntie Harper Fields your Questions

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Aries: There’s a lot going on under the surface for you this Spring. Mostly scabies. Outside your epidermis there is nothing happening at all. You should really get out more.

everything around you is real. Run your hands over everything, especially people who are speaking to you. Still there? Okay then, carry on.

Taurus: With Saturn, planet of man-boobs, ruling your work chart this Spring, cold nipples could spell danger at work. Warm your own and keep protective goggles handy, that’s all Mystic can say.

Scorpio: Reading is horribly dangerous for you this Spring. Be especially cautious of helpful, pocketsized publications. Seriously, it’s too horrible. That part where your eyes...urgh! Mystic has made herself feel sick.

Gemini: Spring is a time of fresh starts and new beginnings, Gemini. Keep telling yourself that because none of them will talk to you again. Your lucky place to cry: the office loo.

Sagittarius: Romantic trouble in your chart, Sagittarius, when Daisy breaks out of her pen. You should have complimented her on how curly her wool was looking. Your lucky pie: lamb and rosemary.

Cancer: Romance may arrive through the post, probably from Thailand, although your chart looks lucky for Indonesia as well. Mystic doesn’t blame you – you’re probably going to die alone otherwise.

Capricorn: Just stop and think for a minute, Capricorn. You don’t have to open the mysterious door and embark on a magical quest. It’s just not you. Go back to bed, go to work in the morning.

Leo: You may be feeling caught in a rut this Spring. It’s all eat, sleep, get up, eat, scratch yourself, eat, sleep etc. but soon you won’t have to do any of that stuff anymore, which makes a nice change.

Aquarius: With Jupiter, planet of military invasion, threatening to rule your chart, stay well away from oil of all kinds. Grill your food. Scrub your face. Don’t even think about driving.

Virgo: Basin haircuts are lucky for you this Spring, but basins themselves could be deadly. Just to be safe, steer clear of soup bowls as well. Your lucky teaspoon: there is no spoon. Libra: With Mars, planet of illusion, coming into your brain-chart this Spring, you need to check that

Pisces: Lucky Pisces, your wish comes true this Spring! No, not that wish, the one you made when you were very, very angry. You’d better hope they don’t trace it back to you. No one deserves this.

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Auntie Harper

SY’s Agony Aunt answers your questions…

1. Someone told me the brain the most erotic muscle? Is it really?! My head really hurts after a long night out on the lash but as far as it being erotic, I haven’t got a bloody clue. However, your girlfriend told me the other day that her head really hurts at the thought of ever having to share the same bed with you again. 2. When do you know you’re too old to go Easter Egg Hunting? When the mothers of the children you are hunting with are actually the same women you are sleeping with. I think then is a good time to give up the hunt. 3. I think I’m in love with my cousin - what should I do?? I don’t blame you mate. She is well fit! To put your queries to Auntie Harper’s sympathetic ear just email: info@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk

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Editor: Matt Whittle / matt@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk Executive Editor: Faye Penfold / faye@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk Design and Illustration: James Penfold & Louisa Christadoulou / penfold@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk Front Cover: Heidi Gough All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of Suit Yourself Magazine. Suit Yourself Magazine is an independent publication distributed throughout Bristol. Advertising Enquiries: faye@suityourselfmagazine.co.uk Contributors for Issue 37: Ian Bradley, Kyle Von Brown, Kayleigh Cassidy, Mike Clarke, Sophie Collard, Richard Entwistle, Kathryn Evans, Anna Freeman, Rory Gibb, Tina Golubeva, Ben Goodman, Elena Goodrum, Heidi Gough, James Harper, Anna Leon, Helen Martin, Morgan Matthews, Heather McKay, Simon Mills, Alex Nicholson, Faye Penfold, Skye Portman, Gemma Randall, Gustave Savy, Annette Sloly, Glenn Vowles, Matt Whittle, Lizzie Woodall

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