Letter from the Editor Nico tells me that there are an awful lot of car insurance adverts appearing at the moment. I think it’s probably a sign of age. I’m sure I started noticing those a good five years ago, but then he does watch a lot of TV and maybe he knows better than I do. So watching the TV all of a sudden I notice car insurance advert after car insurance advert. The one that cropped up on a constant basis, ‘I’m confused.com’ are you. What happened when you went to the hairdressers? Did they say do you want me to do a number four all over then put a bowl around the crown of your head and do the rest with a bic razor? ‘As long as (grinning and looking pretty stupid) it comes with cheaper car insurance!’ You’ll be glad to know though that even with our increase in size The Other Side is car insurance-less. It is however packed to the brim with some rather good fillings. It actually turned out that 40 pages wasn’t enough to fit everything in, but that’s a good thing right? Everything from the BFI festival to the Credit Crunch and back round to some new music is crammed inside this peanut butter and jam sandwich of a magazine.
Online Over the last month our website has gone fully functional. This means that we are even more accessible to new writers, artists and other creative minds. If you set up a blog or an art site through our webpage anything that you put up will be displayed through the feed on our homepage. It’s an ideal place for bloggers and artists alike, even bands can set up pages and upload tracks through seeqpod. I guess you could think of us as a hub for creative Londoners. And that’s what we want to be. The magazine is being put together by people who have stemmed from this hub and can only go from strength to strength. Read the mag, see what you reckon and then join us in our quest for decent literature on the underground. ed.x
Put together analytically by Sam, Becca, Richmond, Vincent, Matt, Jamie, Josh, Nathan, Ed, Chiara, Murdoch, Helena © The Other Side. No reprinting anything without the publishers permission.
3 Radio Guide 4 Credit Crunchies 7 Art Crawl 10 Secret Wars 14 Bruised 16 Matt Littler 18 DIY Dinner 22 Seven Stops 24 Music 28 Film 34 Shine a Light 36 Can't Buy me Love 39 Aunt Helena
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www.theothersidemag.co.uk info@tosmag.co.uk
A guide to . . . . . the radio Sick of the Bill and other crud that comes out of your Skyplus. Well we’ve handpicked the best radio for your spanking new digibox.
Adam and Joe
BBC 6 Music, Saturday 9am - Midday What’s better than waking up to breakfast in bed? Waking up to breakfast in bed with Adam and Joe in the Big British Castle. With three hours worth of pointless conversation, songwars, (In Joe’s words, ‘It’s a bit like Star Wars, only with songs instead of the stars’.) text the nation (text, text, text the nation. But what if I don’t want to?) and more, Adam and Joe really are the best thing about Saturday morning. Recent highlights include pitching shows for BBC3, we like Finding Emo.
Test Match Special
Radio 4 LW, 720MW – whenever there is a test You don’t have to like cricket to enjoy listening to Blowers talk about days out in India, or trips to the West Indies. Journalists and excricketers unite to create one of the finest teams on radio. They watch the cricket and dissect it like it was a frog in Science class, they are also exceptionally one sided and really do support the English cricket team.
Russell Brand
Radio 2, Saturday 9pm - 11pm Coming in for the kind of stick reserved for John Leslie and Gary Glitter (don’t believe me? Read the Daily Mail some time), Brand is far too easy to dismiss as a goth, ex drug addict sex addict, navel gazing and disappearing up his own arse at regular intervals. Of course, that’s all bollocks, and anyone who listens to his always funny BBC radio 2 show can testify. This is largely thanks to his best friend Matt Morgan, who co-hosts the show and is on hand to puncture Brand’s self involvement at every turn. You see, because it’s all an act, the outrageousness and the rudeness, and Brand is never better when he sends himself up and subverts whatever you think of him.
Robert Elms
BBC London , Mon to Fri Midday - 3pm This show revels in whatever London has to throw at them. Daily guests talk about hidden gems, memories and characters of Lunnun Town. The show follows bus routes from start to finish recounting stories of times gone by and what’s there now. You can always go home with a new fact about jellied eel shops or bookstalls in some hidden alley south of the river, add that to music that you don’t hear on the comme’ stations to make a great mix.
Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive Radio 4, Saturday 12.30pm
A panel show, and no, it’s not utter tripe like 8 and out 10 Cats, or an excuse for stand up routines like Mock the Week, or well past its best, like Have I Got News For You... no. It’s headed by one of the major forces of the best British comedy of the past decade (Alan Partridge, The Day to Day, Brass Eye, The Thick of It) and weaves mindless banter and smart satire effortlessly.
Have we missed your favourite radio station. Let us know where we should be tuning our wireless at www.theothersidemag.co.uk
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Credit Crunch • Pah
There are a lot of words being bandied around by less responsible parts of the media in the current climate of impending economic doom – words that you wouldn’t want to repeat in front of your mum, like ‘Liquidity Bust’, ‘Fannie Mae’ and ‘Dick Fuld.’ People are scared. My granddad’s shitting himself. But what does it all mean? I seem to remember this kind of thing happening about 20 years ago, and it wasn’t so bad, right? I was only five, and despite our house being repossessed, my dad losing his job and the subsequent breakdown of my family, it was all a bit of a laugh – I just pretended I was a World War II evacuee and that food rationing and living in a bed and breakfast were happening to everyone. So keep your chin up, yeah? What do a bunch of city bankers and politicians know, the bunch of spoilt cry-babies? Before we know it, this’ll all be over and we’ll be back to sipping pina coladas and laughing at the poor. St o p going t o t he pub a nd e mbr ac e Instead Parisian of buyin café cult g u DVDs o Instead right he re r re going to o f in Lond on t h b e u c ying an in Go em by drin kin go o n w a , ex pens t o t he ou tdoo g w w. ive r s . N on interne big fuck , su per m tarchive n a med -o arket b . r o r g a nd newspa ff last thin b e e r s , w a nd s o f p er g in downlo a t t he on a S u spirits c es and ad liter nday all an h u nd re weeken afterno at a frac be had d s of ou y d, just o n . T he tion of to fc c ollect t o p t shelves yright fi he cost in he free lms w Ne for free o ne s t h empt y y ill be so a n d co r w s a g e n t s - totally a t ou’ll thin ne legally. h a nd e d a re t h at H u k street fu r shops, and As well to rricane a r s n s o m e re iture lik through you Gustav b in a e l s o g a e u nd p ms ’s o like ‘Th week, d t the way, bu n his make fo ost boxes e Cabin o n t signifi r et of Dr C them an ’t read can savings to rest ideal sur faces aligari’, d a re t o b t y o ‘T he H o u togethe tie them e m ad e o on. Add ur drink se o n r with t n t he h t o H w a t his the unt ed T he n o eavil r e d u ce d no n - ex n a Sun ine. istent s produc y and ‘M Hill’ d a y m mok orning, ts t h at do b a n a nd etr make y re the fasc ing there a opolis,’ a o urself lo Also, th main. in vely cup convers re e ations y ating p a a nd uninten enough b a c sit o of com challenge k in u t t e io will o re vitably bin hilariou nally Osbour ad about Kelly random ing other r have with s curios ne a nd evellers in like ‘Inv Rh latest e (once I like ext gredients was off asion o xploits, ys Ifans’ r ae r f e t d h as well e B ee G a p s r ig e m a t u re d n v is ie ifi co u n t o a w c ch ‘Teenag irls,’ n Italian ant you’v s of rubbish g s tarama eddar, marble ers from igs that e just m solata a fl o is O o se d ring b u t er S p save mo nd a gr a pe comple ace’ and ney, bu . You will fru te str an y a ‘No, N t b r g a e make y it will d in o r r , inking n while and sou will feel your N a ne t t ou feel e t e l x o ’ m t m elting w t li o a bin), ake s ke a ithin yo co n t e s t and you u. a nt on ’ll ask y need ne ure you Ready o S t e ad y u w rself hy you ve Cook . n Blockbu r go to it befor ever did s t er a g a e . in.
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Let’s be honest. No one really knows what the credit crunch is - at least I don’t. I just know that it’s probably a bad thing, but that I’m not really that bothered about it. I know that some of you might be though, so for you, here are some handy tips for keeping the wolf from the door - unless you actually live somewhere with a population of wolves, in which case I can’t help you. You should probably buy a gun or something.
If P re t e nd you’re to be an ill. You’l l animal find tha t lover, b friends, e creative p a r t ne r sa a bou t h o u se m n d at e s get ting will be a ex t r pet . Do n ice, and aLibrarie gs maybe s a nd c a t even bu G e t so m a re g re s a re y you e at . e time - co x things a t r a pocket Despite ns n d co o k mo and exp uming you stu by takin ney t he mod ensive, ff, as lo g e ng a s w h e re a you don clinical par t in t e nd e n c r n s r at s a ’t t a d k r e u y re g t low-ma h s p e t is r s ia . All yo S u re , t h ls re b r a nd t o int ere wer . t he m a n d e x t e n a n ce do is lie u have to e t h as ‘Kno o se g u y re t h e re o w s ledge a n t he intellige mely sofa or c o u of year Shack s’ nt in s ago w ple or ‘Min E n co u r . close yo bed, halfh o fingers d se Mar ts,’ a ge ur st a so t he m b someon eyes when falling o r ted t he m ac me of y leavin e ’s lo ff oking a tu g you and half- op t heads s and their have bo ally still en st wole up ok s in t deodor op wearing of r ub b b a g s t they loo he m . il They ar ish an ked like l eu won’t h t . You outside just m a s co t t he warm, q sually ave to le your s o uie ave t he ho u h o u se , Division f Second the elde t and full of and in n se football r ly so yo o days, th for a few time yo tea ms , sleep in u er u’l but ca s them fo can money eby saving overrun l be h is r a go o fe ca sh a n on t r a n w with h o d urs befo s p or t a nd so c the love re anyo are you d who notices iali able ne t o b e so , makin you can sing, and disease g fucking them id places t -rid c at ch u pick y? A ea o po reading lit tle ba den t the ver hangov go and nurse a l or w at c n s t a rd s . y er after least yo hing Jeremy might g ah u the bins Kyle. et . Best o eav y night on paracet some free f a all, th n d e ven if y a mol ou ou’re o ey’re free, t of it . t h ro u g h nly flic t he D o rling Kin king of Pirat es, it st dersly B ill o doing v aluable feels like you’r ok e r e se a rc h.
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Rich Mix is having its big LAUNCH night Thursday on 9 October. The new cutting-edge arts venue Rich Mix is starting off with a BANG in October by bringing you its Highlights and Previews season. The official Launch is on Thursday 9 October from 7.00pm onwards. Rich Mix are bubbling with excitement about this major event and fortunate enough to welcome Jazzie B OBE (Soul2Soul) to the stage with an exclusive DJ set, followed by an eclectic line-up of artists featuring John Pandit, Errollyn Wallen, Jorge Crecis and Frederick Opoku-Addaie. This launch will kick off an entire season filled with cinema, theatre, live performance and more. The central theme is Highlights and Previews, showcasing previously-unseen or issue-based work that is new to London. This includes events such as Islam and Hip Hop, a young people’s debate; Happy and Married? from Freedom Studios; Filmmakers and Freedom Fighters featuring Emmanuel Jal; a film retrospective of Raj Kapoor; a new World Music programme and the popular continuing In Conversation events. For more details about these and all other events, visit www.richmix.org.uk or call the Box Office on 020 7613 7498 where you can also book tickets.
O
ur Northern Line is full of places to look at art, there’s that Big Gallery at Charing Cross and the little one next door, a little walk from London Bridge takes you to the one in the power station and so on all full of tourists who in the main (well the French, Spanish, German and Italian’s) know more about the art than we do. We’ve hand picked London’s better less known about galleries for you to spend the day at.
onth m o t Pho don Lon
Camden Arts Centre Wallace Berman & Allen Ruppersberg exhibitions 26 Sep - 23 Nov 2008, admission free Arkwright Road, London, NW3 6DG Hamstead Tube, www.camdenartscentre.org
Two new exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre reveal the art of Wallace Berman (1926-1976) and his lasting legacy to artists and poets emerging from the Beat Generation in the late 1950s and 60s. Berman’s interest in the Kabbalah, Tom will be displaying his work at the Maverick music and poetry made his art an intricate part Showroom, 68-72 Redchurch Street from of his everyday life. The exhibition includes 30th September until 21st October as part collages, sculptures, his mail-art publication of Photomonth. Photomonth is the only Semina and film photography festival in London and it focuses on ‘Aleph. Berman’s East London, the fastest developing area of the influence was city. Last year there were over 80 exhibitions and far-reaching, Peter events held in more than 50 galleries and spaces Blake included involving over 400 photographers. Berman’s portrait http://www.alternativearts.co.uk/photomonth on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Image, previous page: Tom Leighton: Times Aerial 2
Studio Voltaire
Forthcoming Exhibition - Nicholas Byrne 2 - 26 October 2008 1a Nelson’s Row, London, SW4 7JR Clapham Common, www.studiovoltaire.org
Studio Voltaire is an artist-led gallery and studio complex in Clapham. Established in 1994, the organisation has developed a reputation for supporting artists at a pivotal stage in their careers through an ambitious public programme of exhibitions, commissions, live events and offsite projects. The gallery is built in a church and offers a great space for exhibitions. The organisation is committed to widening access to contemporary practice and runs an innovative and wide reaching education programme producing artist-led projects and activities for individuals and communities within the local area. Studio Voltaire provides a much-needed resource of affordable studios to London-based artists. It is their key objective to create a supportive and critical atmosphere to develop diverse artistic practices and help provide career opportunities.
See a screening of ‘Easy Rider’ at Camden Arts Centre on 22 October at 7.00pm in which Berman has a cameo role. Allen Ruppersberg met and was deeply affected by Berman’s work, his new installation is based on ‘Literatura de cordels’, Brazilian booklets of folk stories, poems and songs. Hung from the ceiling over a giant poetry-inspired floor piece, he compels you to read aloud, forming your own rhythm and sounds. Join a tour of the Allen Ruppersberg installation on Wednesday 29 October at 7pm. The exhibitions are open late on Wednesdays until 9pm along with the Café serving snacks and a special beer offer of £2 for this night only.
Pure Evil http://www.pureevil.me 108 Leonard st, London EC2A 4XS Old Street Tube
Pure Evil near Old Street takes street art to new
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ny r To mbe and why e m t t o re of der s o ug h b a b l y u n a g a ller y u s t n e j ro o ld ve done ew u’ll p o ha u’re If yo then yo anted t ion have their n e w o t t, Har always Genera oved int they ar d e a v n m ’ e a e g d ( w s in .I y f fice own , hav our nd now inning o r odysse a a w e t y a d th ea awar ), a 20 he I d t R I B A n i ce t o o , 8 t he l 20 0 ver y r... Apri wcases opular e h v t d o 9 o p h is s d r at e on he d G a ll e r y y a r t a n t io n s cu c n u i r b La ra io n e x hi er at mpo G e n n c o n t e e a t u r i n g f. i f f best graphy, and sta s o t t n o e h i p cl ot h by b
, llery a G tioonndon E2 7JB a r e Gen Street, L Idea11 Chance Proud Galleries (Chalk Farm)
levels, in fact we’re not completely sure quite what is going on so we asked the boss. An Interview via the power of email. “In October I am doing a collection show of all the artists who have exhibited here in the past year. As it is the first year anniversary I am going to celebrate all the artists who have passed through the doors of the gallery. I am also going to set up a recording studio in the gallery where we will work on music to accompany the artwork. All other info is at http://www.pureevil.me drop by anytime, I’m always here, drinking coffee and getting cabin fever.”
Situated at the good end of Camden. Proud Galleries could be seen as more of a bar than a gallery. But during the day the walls are covered in semi-decent band photography which with a beer in hand is a nice opportunity to look at and say “imagine being that photographer,” however poorly mounted the art is. We like the fact that you can wander about with a beer and relax in the comfy chairs. Next door is great during the day with wifi and places to plug your ipod into. Showing now Forever 27 is a portrait of the much mythologised ‘27 Club’, the group of illfated rock stars whose lives have been tragically cut short at the age of 27. Featuring iconic images from a collaboration of world-renowned rock photographers, Proud Camden will present a definitive look at Rock & Roll’s most infamous member’s club. Join our art revolution ! www.theothersidemag.co.uk/artspace
W
ith so called ‘urban’ artists like Banksy demanding 6 figure sums at auction houses across London, we invited co-founder of the now popular street art and graffiti website, ukstreetart.co.uk, to cover ‘Secret Wars’, a project with a slightly more grassroots focus. To fill the void left by bygone graffiti-inspired agencies such as the ‘Theymademedoit’ crew, the ever entrepreneurial Terry Guy started the Monorex agency back in 2006. From its infancy he strove to build a team of talented, driven artists with the collective desire to actually make something of their skills with a fat-nib marker and spray can.
So, by day the likes of Jimi Crayon, Chu, Teck1, Mr K, Inkie and others began to ply their trade under the Monorex label for brands such as Nike, Reebok, Swatch, Tiger Beer, Xbox and Ecko. By night however (apart from the obvious nocturnal artistic past time) there was nowhere to express their passion. Enter Secret Wars. It’s a simple premise, find a bar willing to donate a wall, laden everyone with drinks, play some tunes and invite two of the UK’s finest young illustrators to do battle. Armed with an arsenal of artistic tools and illustrative retorts, the contestants have just 90 minutes to create a masterpiece under the critical eyes of two judges and the bustling crowd. As the time runs down and the walls are left creatively defaced, both the judges and
The contrasting styles of Hicks (left) and Conzo (right) left the judges with a difficult decision, but it was Hicks crowned winner on the night.
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Remaining 1st round battles at Juno Shoreditch; Wen Vs. Mr Penfold - 4th October Drunk Park Vs. Jason Atomic - 18th October Elfin Vs. Tizer - 1st November Quarter final dates TBC
the cheering spectators cast their vote, although not before entertainment from some of the London’s hottest new musical talents such as east-end beatboxer ‘MC - Reeps ne’. This week Shoreditch’s Juno bar saw artist Hicks snatch the win from under the nose of Conzo’s looming grandmother, and will return in the near future to battle again in the next round.
“
It’s a simple premise; find a bar, laden everyone with drinks, play some tunes and invite two of the UK’s finest young illustrators to do battle
”
Europe as well as the UK, from Birmingham to Barcelona and everywhere in between, so if you fancy seeing some cutting edge artistic skills, go and seek out your next nearest fix, you won’t be disappointed. For more information check out; www.monorex.blogspot.com www.ukstreetart.co.uk
Sound up your street? Well, every week there are now Secret Wars events taking place all over
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Come and party with us.
We love doing what we do and chances are we’ll keep doing it. But we need your support to make it happen. We take community to new boundaries; the aim is to be a fully functioning community within a few months.
You are what makes this happen
(along with a bit of work from us). This is an opportunity for Londoners to do something about the free rubbish we gaze at on a daily basis. Whether you are a writer, an artist, or a designer we want you involved. Simply sign up to our site and start displaying your work. It’s simple as that. Visit www.theothersidemag.co.uk/artspace to go to our template page and then follow the instructions. That becomes your page and you can start writing, drawing, taking pictures, putting up design ideas. Anything you put up shows up on our home page we come and ďŹ nd you and before you know it your work is being published...........
big time!
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Subscribe The mag costs a fair bit to produce each month but we’re pretty sure that with the help of some fine Londoners we can make it happen. All you gotta do to play your part is subscribe to the mag. We’ll post you a copy once a month in a nice envelope, making you feel special and loved. 100 subscribers per month would help us keep the adverts to a minimum and the adverts that we do have, well they’ve been specially selected, no estate agents or supermarkets in here thanks. Please fill in the form and return it with a cheque made payable to the Other Side Magazine
£12 for 6 Issues
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£20 for 12 issues
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Return to: The Other Side Magazine PO Box 39437 London, N10 3XH
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Join our street team... We make the mag and we hand it out ourselves. We’re looking for some Other Siders to get their mitts dirty and hand out some magazines. We’ll reward you with whatever we can get our hands on, gig tickets, recipe books, hats, milk tokens.... maybe even some cold meats! email info@tosmag.co.uk for more info.
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MATT LITTLER
To see more of Matt’s work or to contact him visit www.zikotown.com
INSPIRATION: ‘Humour plays a big part. I'm inspired a lot by things like telly, music, and films. I do admire a lot of fine art but I'm more likely to be inspired by something I've seen in the Sun or on the lesser known cable TV channels.’ ADMIRATION ‘Currently I'm having a look back over comic book artist Bill Sienkiewicz and it is amazing to see what he was doing illustratively before Photoshop came on the scene. I also love Dawn Mellors new series of portraits’
Show. I Muppet bit of e th y b d dd fascinate nd the o of being awing stories a animation or is y r o em dr like for me.’ arliest m dels and rojects ral path T: ‘My e kid, making mo for long-term p U tu O a n G a IN s START tive as a d the discipline ation wa o illustr a ays crea was alw e never really h re hit-and-run s I'v a bit mo graffiti. ics. I'm m o c g drawin
Submit your weird and work and feature in the next issue! Just visit our website theothersidemag.co.uk
Bruiser
DAN Murdoch Deserves A SmacK In The Eye
Illustration by Matt Hollings www.patternsofreason.com
D
IDN’T even see it coming. Guess if I did, I could have bobbed and weaved. Not that I wasn’t doing my own pale, involuntary mockery of the Ali shuffle keeping my hands low as the great man once did. Perhaps the stance was accidentally aggressive. Perhaps it bore resemblance to a frightening mockery of the drunken monkey. But I planned no violent altercation, just a happy inebriation. I know there was a group of them, lads in their mid-20s, making their way home. And I can guess from the bruising that my attacker was left handed, which rules out 88% of the population and suggests a lead guitarist, dyslexic or opening batsman. I was in Brighton, and although Matt Prior bears me a grudge, I looked him up and he’s a righty. Like I say, I didn’t see it coming. One minute I was standing, balancing carefully on the pavement, then an explosion of bright white like an express train, an Adam West Kapow! and jeeps Batman I’m reclining on cold paving. Then there’s this homeless chap standing over me offering that involuntary, ridiculous but unavoidable: “You alright mate?” Um, no, I’ve just been pole-axed by a passerby, but thanks for asking. Being helped up by a man of no fixed abode must rate towards the bottom of the low-o-meter. The lads carried on walking, I didn’t get a second look at them, and I’m not ashamed to say that I cried. Not at the
pain, that was none too great, nor the embarrassment, I was way beyond that, but at the sheer unfairness of it all. Why do that? More importantly, why do that to me? But as my sodden synapses flashed and uncurled, the memorial banner of my mind unfurled, and it occurred to me in a flash – I’m owed by the world. Now that I’m a quarter of a century in, the Universe may owe me a one-off thumping. There hasn’t been anything heinous. Mostly casual, victimless stuff like bunking trains, entering clubs through fire exits and sneaking into gigs through girls’ toilet windows. Harmless, minor everyday offences. I guess there are a few other moments. I was ejected from the acoustic tent at the Strawberry Fair for clambering on stage and using my socks as maracas. I once climbed into the rafters of a barn at an 18th birthday party and, before the frightened hostess
and her assembled family, dropped my trousers to my ankles, delivered a rousing diatribe on the state of the nation, then suicide flopped into the waiting bouncers. I’ve been a bit part player in the rustling of a sheep, and I don’t even want to talk about Matt Prior. Of course I’ve had my share of good luck. Early that very day I found a pound. In fact I was giving it to the homeless chap when the Universe struck. What a strange moment to choose for my comeuppance. The eye is now thick with rings of purple that fade and develop into rickets yellow and gangrenous green, like a surrealist version of a kaleidoscopic eye socket. The reaction of friends has been interesting. ‘So what did you say?’ is a common question, and to my recollection there was no preamble. It would’ve been a hell of quip to illicit such an instant and violent response. Others put on that pained, sympathetic look and, after hearing the randomness of the assault,
shake their heads, scrunch their faces and mutter at the violence and breakdown of it all. The act is somehow lumped in with the rash of teen stabbings, the tales of mindless yobbishness and the anti-social element, the scourge of our age and symbol of the decline of us all. What is the world coming to? But this is no new evil, no devilry of our days. This is humankind pissed, and it has been always. Since the first fig fermented, the first beer brewed, man, woman and plonker, when overcome by the mood, will lash out in violence, their restraint abort, because deep down life can be nasty, brutish and short. Even if no one saw it coming, I should have known that I, for past misdemeanours, deserved a smack in the eye. For more Dan Murdoch go to www.theothersidemag.co.uk. He's also got a book out, so go buy it.
PROMOTION Go to www.theothersidemag.co.uk
Marcel Lucont is France’s premier misanthropist and lover. A self-published, self-award winning author of several books, including his own European travelogue, ‘Ménage À Cinq’, his account of loose executive women of London, 'Whores D'Oeuvre' and his LA travelogue, ‘Diagnosis: Merde’. Marcel will be residing in London for as long as he is able to put up with your moaning. >> See Marcel at 93 Feet East on Sunday 12th Ocotber at 5pm www.myspace.com/marcellucont
The Lamb
The Tatties
£15 should cover six tummies easy. Pierce it with rosemary, douse it with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper. In the oven for as long as it takes for the lamb to fall off the bone. Baste it with wine every now and then. Remove the lamb from the oven and let it rest for ten minutes before serving on a big board for people to devour it.
Peel and slice a wodge of potatoes. Beautiful orangey sweet ones and some Maris Piper’s. Boil them up separately, Taking the sweeties out after 10 mins and the proper ones out after 12. Line them up in a big deep dish, one layer of white, one layer of orange, sprinkling sea salt and pepper over every other layer. When you reach the middle add a finely sliced onion and a few cloves of whole garlic (these will be lovely and soft by the time this is cooked) When everything is neatly assembled heat a big pot of double cream, some milk and a big knob of butter (enough to cover the tatties). When it’s lovely and runny and yellowy pour it over, place the dish in the oven for just over an hour.
No messin’, shoulder of lamb, the good stuff , from the good organic butchers.
Apple Crumble
Apples, crumble & measures (because you need to know!) 300g plain flour, sieved 175g caster sugar 200g unsalted butter, cubed Chop and peel 10 apples of different varieties (one or two cooking ones) and throw them in a pan with some brown sugar. Let them cook until they are soft. Meanwhile, in a bowl combine the softened butter, flour and sugar and mix with your hands until they resemble bread crumbs. Place the apple in a deep ovenproof dish and cover generously with the crumble mix. Cook in a hot oven until crispy on the top (25mins).
Custard
Laziness never came so easy. 1 pint milk 55ml single cream 1 vanilla pod 4 eggs, yolks only 30g caster sugar
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Easy to prepare and even easier to eat!
On the side
For your lazy mate Fresh autumn veg steamed. Purple sprouting broccoli, Broad Beans and peas.
DIY Dinner : number 2 Summer seems to have gone (although I’m not sure it ever arrived) and thoughts of Autumnal evenings by the fire with a warming plate of food start doing the hamster around my head. Think Sausage and Mash, Hot Pot and Apple Crumbles and tell me that you’re not excited by the prospect. So how better to share a rainy October evening than with friends? Better still share the load! Melt in your mouth Lamb with Sweet Potato Gratin Apple Crumble You don’t need to be a clever clogs to muster up this menu, extra hands help and so does a glass of red. Split this fairly between six and you are in for a no fuss treat.
If you want, go buy some from the supermarket, but you’ll be considered a hero if you turn up with these ingredients and make this a la carte. Bring the milk, cream and vanilla pod to simmering point slowly over a low heat.
Remove the vanilla pod. Whisk the yolks and sugar together in a bowl until well blended. Then pour the hot milk and cream on to the eggs and sugar, whisking all the time. Return to the pan, and over a low heat gently stir with a wooden spatula until thickened. Serve on top of the crumble at once.
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Still hungry? Visit www.theothersidemag. co.uk/food for more yummy treats.
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The London Revue A new musical. London. Mighty metropolis. Hub of history. Cradle of culture. Nexus of nightlife. It’s a love-and-occasionally-hate relationship. Join us on a musical celebration of London with original songs inspired by features and landmarks from our beloved capital. Sep 30 - Oct 18 Tue - Sat @ 7.30pm The Hen & Chicken Theatre, Highbury Corner enjoy delicious food at St Johns on Junction Road Archway before jumping on the bus up Holloway Road Tickets £11 adults, £9 concessions. www.unrestrictedview.co.uk to book tix.
East Finchley
Archway
Highgate Brent Cross
Chapel Market
I don’t ever want to see you in Burg King again. Angel is full of great plac to eat, not least The Naked Sausage a cheeky little bangers and mash sta in Chapel Market. Don’t be put off b its modest exterior, the food is seco to none and even though it comes in plastic takeaway tray, it would give top restaurant a run for its money. burgers are also quite impressive. Open: Tue-Wed, Fri - Sat : 09:00-15:30 & Thu, Sun: 09:00-13:00, closed Mon
Tufnell Park
Old Street
Kings Cross
Kentish Town Camden Town
Chalk Hampstead Farm
Golders Green
The Naked Sausage
Belsize Park
Mornington Crescent
Seu Jorge Roundhouse, £22 30 October The guy who played the Soundtrack to the Life Aquatic, all those Bowie songs with a Spanish guitar is back in London with a bit more oomph and a samba band to boot. Don’t miss this.
Euston
Angel Warren Street
Moorgate Tottenham Court Road Goodge Street
Leice
The Free Art Fair is an art fair wh the work is given away at the end. Peop have the chance to own pieces by artists have exhibited at some of the world’s be known galleries.
Instead of art going to the highest bidde someone who really loves an artwork w to have it for free. On the Sunday when finishes people will be able to take one p art away on a first come first served bas
GET THERE EARLY...MAYBE THE NIGHT
If you would like to advertise something in 7stops then please contact us at : info@tosmag.co.uk 20
14,19, 21 New Quebec Street & 5,8,16 Seymour Place Portman Village, W
THE FREE ART FAIR 2008 13 to 19 October
The art fair where all the work is given
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Sophie Hunger, Hit Me TV and Hal Flavin
Unbelievable Swiss songstress comes to London a week before a support slot with Camille. It’s more than just music, also Comedy from Marcel Lucont, the Brick Lane Market comes inside and there will be party games galore
Free Entry! 93 Feet East
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Sunday 12th Ocotber from 3pm
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The Norman Conquests, The Old Vic
London Bridge
Charing Cross
Leicester Square
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Waterloo
Stockwell Oval
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Banged up for blowing a good tune. Dance of the Falcon was the tune that got me sent to prison. It was interpreted in a political way because I was playing a Turkish tune…” so says Ivo Papasov, who on that occasion in the bad old days of Bulgarian Communism was whisked away from a wedding in full flow and spent 15 days in the nick. Papasov, with his thug-like build and gold tooth, could probably do serious GBH, but it was his musical power that led to producer Joe Boyd (Floyd, Clapton, REM, Nike Drake….) to sign him for Hannibal. Papasov brings his famed Wedding Band to Cargo on Mon 20th Oct. wegottickets.com £15
Alan Ayckbourn’s comic masterpieces, The Norman Conquests come to the London stage for the first time in 34 years. Clapham Commonfor this Especially production The Old Clapham North Vic auditorium will be transformed into ‘The CQS Space’ to recreate the intimate ‘theatre-in-the-round’ experience that the plays were originally written for. The interconnecting triptych of plays, Round and Round the Garden, Table Manners and Living Together follow the same six characters, Norman, his inlaws and the local vet over a summer weekend, in an English Country house. Running nightly from now until Crimbo
Credit: Benoit Peverelli
P
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SOPHIE HUNGER “everything that is good about pop music beautifully blended” myspace.com/sophiehunger plus special guests:
HIT ME TV
“walking the line between rock and pop” myspace.com/hitmetv
“heavy rock guitars fused with electronic funk...like D’Angelo dragging old Kraftwerk records into the 21st Century” www.halflavin.net
Ryan Koriya
“melodic, acoustic and string-laden with emotive vocals” www.ryankoriya.com
illegalmoveman “fighting a never-ending battle with Super Flying Monkey Boy for the supremacy of Norfolk” myspace.com/illegalmoveman
From 3pm Sunday 12th October
FREE
@93 FEET EAST
(brick lane)
More details at www.theothersidemag.co.uk
Processed beats.
© Nick Kiehl Photography
Nathan may reviews the latest from cold war kids and celebrates a four year success story
Mumford and Sons For the last four years, there has been more to Sunday nights in west London than the Antiques Roadshow and a mug of hot cocoa. Blue Flowers, an acoustic live music night, has been filling a room at the back of The George IV in Chiswick with stripped down indie bands playing to a lucky few. This month saw Blue Flowers have its fourth birthday party, and they marked the occasion in some style: Cameo appearances from big names like Jamie T, Laura Marling and Charlie Fink were particular highlights, as they took time out from world domination/appearing on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, to come and play. Headlining on the night were indie-folk newcomers Mumford & Sons. And regardless of the names that had graced the stage before them, I am pleased to announce they didn’t spoil the party. Heartfelt lyrics, belted out over rousing guitars, with a banjo thrown in for good measure- it must be said their sound is astoundingly self-assured, considering Mumford & Sons were only conceived in December last year. Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums) had been plying his trade as a backing musician for fellow nu-folker and Mercury-nominated
ALBUM REVIEW:
LEON_ _KINGS_OF_
ShortList SAID:
“Another bout of polished melancholic ma jesty”
THE OTHER SIDE’S
MUSIC HEAD SAID:
“KoL just sneeze out albums...after hearing the first track on the album I cried like a little girl it was so bad”
T EEN
HINKING
Laura Marling, but it was not until he met Ted Dwayne (double bass), that Mumford & Sons were realised. Alongside Mumford and Dwayne, Winston Marshall (banjo, dobro) and Ben Lovett (keyboards, organ) make up the foursome. The band is currently touring with Marling and folk-friends Noah and the Whale in the States, but will be back on familiar shores in early November in time for an EP release and a live show (more details to follow). For the time being, we will have to make do with a selection of tunes on their myspace site (www.myspace. com/mumfordandsons). Look out for Sister and Hold on for what you believe, and especially White blank page which is the pick of a pretty impressive bunch.
Cold War Kids
Somewhere in between Arcade Fire’s masterpiece Funeral, and the Kings of Leon’s grandiose live shows, Cold War Kids popped up on the UK’s music radar from across the Atlantic a few years back, with the much-hyped and almost-brilliant Robbers & Cowards in 2006. Remember Hospital Beds? What a song! Now they are back and have a new album to boot. Fans of their first offering will be pleased “Which one of you mugs bought frozen burgers?”
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_KINGS_OF_LEON_ COLD W A R K I DS
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to hear that the Long Beach, California 4-piece has served up more of the same on Loyalty to Loyalty. Nathan Willett’s bluesy vocals are the focal point, and after tackling the rather touchy subjects of rape, suicide and crime on the last record, his lyrics this time aren’t exactly lighthearted. Suffice to say, Golden Gate Jumpers isn’t about Willet’s favourite cardigan. There is some evidence that Cold War Kids have tried to expand their musical horizons, lead single Something Is Not Right With Me is the stand out track, with a faster tempo and a rousing chorus. But by and large, Loyalty to Loyalty serves up more of the same textured indie-blues with which we are familiar. Mexican Dogs and I’ve Seen Enough being particular highlights. Loyalty to Loyalty may not win over any fencesitters, but will certainly help cement in the already sizeable Robbers & Cowards fan base. Whether that will be enough to keep these kids from dropping out of school and hanging around outside Woolies, remains to be seen. • Live: November 7th @ The Astoria
The joys in London
Don’t be put off by Lamacq’s hype or buzz from the NME, The Joy Formidable’s dreamy indie pop demands your attention. And they’re really nice to boot. They show us their London... We’re lucky enough to be stood on a sofa at the back of the room as The Joy Formidable blow the ears of just about everyone in venue. They are playing a secret gig in a garage by some woods in North London. In October the band is going on their first UK tour supporting White Lies through Norwich, Newcastle and Southampton via a few other British towns, including right here in London where they play a sold out show at the rather lovely ICA. We took Ritzy, Rhydian and Justin plus manager Joel De’ath (it’s Belgian he claims) and girlfriend to Hyde Park for a muffin, some swan feeding and an argument with a deck chair boy. So, money and tiredness is no object, we want to know how The Joy Formidable would spend a day out in London... Wake up in our attic/studio in Souff Laandan’s West Norwood Head for breakfast at our local cafe, which is originally named CAFE (they thought long and hard about that one) on West Norwood High Road. They do the best tea and poached eggs in the country. We like the simple life, so a stroll to Brockwell Park to take in the scenery and the panoramic view of London followed by a cheeky ride on the miniature railway before feeding the ducks with left over breakie. Pay special attention to the grebe who lives there. We like grebes.
Hop on a train at Herne Hill and disembark at Blackfriars, stroll over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern. We’ve only been in London seven months, so we’re still allowed to be tourists. Level two is great at the moment because it’s got surrealist paintings, The Elephant of Celebes and lewd poem. Around the back of the Tate is CRUSSH where we restock our energies with a multi vitamin extravaganza. Ritzy feels like spewing after a Green Goddess, but the tuna nicoise salad is delicious and counter balances the weird stuff in the drink. Walk along the Thames in the direction of Westminster. Love love love the Royal Festival Hall, so if money was no object we’d have a box in there to see Verdi’s Requiem. Continue on past the mime artists and street entertainers near the eye. Put money in all boxes so they’re all moving at once, that would be great. A trip on the Eye, one of those special trips, where you get the box to yourself and champagne. Good for calming Justin’s nerves (who’s claustrophobic). Probably late afternoon by now, so time for a few drinks. Wander over to the Phoenix Theatre Bar on Charing Cross Road for a few atmospheric drinks and nibbles, then onto a gig at the Borderline. Followed by pudding at Mario’s on Brewers St, Soho and a cigar in Hyde Park.
Suck and see the epic, jangly pop on our website... www.theothersidemag.co.uk/joy
webjam
HOW THE MAINSTREAM’S EYE FOR SOMETHInG Shiny robbed indie of its independence. By MATT MCLEAN
nyone familiar with the career of Noel Gallagher will long ago have noticed a pattern emerging in his media utterances. With a new album imminent, Noel will be goaded by the press into denouncing the current crop of popular musicians as worse than him and his band, using unsophisticated, yet frequently amusing, terms. The latest episode of this bile-fuelled pantomime involved the frowning millionaire comparing Amy Winehouse to a horse (because she looks a bit like a horse) and suggesting that acclaimed DJ/ producer Mark Ronson “learn three chords on the guitar and write some songs of his own” (As
Ronson’s hit album contains a number of cover versions). He also said the Kaiser Chiefs were shit. All valid points, if a little rich coming from a man who hasn’t made a relevant musical statement for well over ten years. But Noel’s recurring criticism of the latest bunch of chart-botherers is suspect for other reasons. Not least because pop music is much closer to Noel’s musical template now than in 1994, it is just that it is copying better bands than Oasis managed to. The musical climate when Noel made his breakthough into the world of pop was so bad, it made Oasis’s stodgy output look revolutionary. And in a way it was, because thanks to Noel’s back-to-basics songwriting and the band’s back-to-basics playing, the authenticity of ‘indie’ music was suddenly within reach of any pop band that wanted to learn three chords on the guitar. Robbie Williams, frustrated with his life as a member of camp disco act Take That, took one look at Oasis and thought,‘I can do that’. And he could, only slightly worse; or better, depending on whether you thought Oasis were a bit ‘rocky’ and had foreheads that jutted out a bit too much for them to be conventionally attractive. Evidently many did, and so began the emasculation of Indie Rock for the pleasure of millions. Indie’s narrowing horizons, and broadening audience, is big business. This summer’s V Festival showed just how far pop has come. Because pop bands are now doing their very best impressions of rock bands, they now play live, with real instruments, and so the outdoor music festival is now rendered appealing to swathes of the musicbuying population for whom standing in a puddle in a field in Reading watching Sebadoh sounds like something someone with a piercing would do, yet standing in a puddle in a field in Chelmsford jumping up and down to my favourite tune of the summer with all my mates in my new wellies, sounds like a jolly nice time and look at my photos on facebook LOL!!! The vast majority of V’s acts – Muse, Stereophonics, Pigeon Detectives, The Feeling, The Zutons, Scouting for Girls – attract huge pop audiences. They are indebted to alternative rock for their sound and attitude, yet don’t seem too troubled by attempting to avoid the most basic of musical clichés, prioritising art over commerce, and retaining any semblance of individuality in the face of a quick-fix hungry record industry. Even
Muse, probably the most well-respected band at V, and one that used to cover ‘Dracula Mountain’ by Lighting Bolt as a nod to their noise rock leanings, struck on a sound three album’s ago that filled stadiums and have continued to plough the same increasingly hackneyed forrow ever since. Clearly, real independent music is far from dead, or even wounded. As always, there are more than enough people creating genuinely exciting art out there if you are willing to look for it. Pop music’s co-option of the various tropes of indie rock has done little to dampen the creativity of artists outside the mainstream. In much the same way that the adoption of Che Guevara as the all-purpose face of rebellion by everyone from Virgin Cola to Millets did little to compromise Cuba’s political agenda, so Newton Faulkner is not in danger of usurping Will Oldham. It is a testament to ‘new’ pop’s relentless banality, that genuinely independent music creativity is rarely troubled by it at all. So what is the problem? People who have always loved alternative music can continue to love it, and seek it out through the internet’s ever-increasing distribution channels, and pop lovers who like a bit of grit in their vaseline can jump around to the Kooks instead of M People. But, for those of us who see the notion of an alternative music culture that stands outside the mainstream as something to be protected, the sight of this territory being encroached upon, and cheapened, by a parade of ersatz indie chancers is something to stand against. Although genuine musical creation is still in plentiful supply, it is harder for major record labels to justify signing a Wave Pictures when they have a Fratellis cash cow all ready to be milked; and that means more and more bands will be pushed into abandoning principles and ideas that won’t make T4 prick their ears up, in the vain hope of doing something they enjoy for a living. But, that being the case, independent music will just have to do what it has always done when the mainstream makes a ham-fisted grab at its idea store and runs off to the bank – it will have to think of something new.
For more music reviews, debates and frothy–mouthed ranting, visit: www.theothersidemag.co.uk
Fire walk with me
A
ri Folman’s grim, stark and strangely beautiful animated documentary is not just a film about war. Folman draws on his experience in military service and takes on the events leading up 1982 Sabra & Shatila massacre by Israeli troops during
Waltz with Bashir blew Cannes away and is set to do the same at the London Film Festival. Adam RichmonD Falls under the speLL
the conflict in Beirut. Struggling with the ethereal nature of memory and the role he played during one of Israel’s darkest hours. Haunted by hallucinatory and nightmarish visions from the conflict, Folman visits the men he fought with in an attempt to piece together the fragments of his bloody past and come to
terms with the awful things he may have done. the madness and futility of war that is hammered Based on a 90-page script and shot on video, home with each tale, something that ensures the film was then shot in a sound studio and cut the film transcends the usual war cliches. It also as a video film. This was then storyboarded, and leaves you hungry for the whys and the hows of illustrated and animated from scratch (rather the terrible massacre. I was clueless to it and than rotoscoped, where the animators draw have always being fairly sketchy about the ins and directly on the film – an effect seen in A Scanner outs of the Israel/Palestine conflict, but Waltz Darkly). the result is nothing short of astounding with Bashir elegantly forces your interest in what as Folman pieces together experiences to bring a is a seemingly inexplicable (and inextricable) mournful whole to the madness that went on. conflict. Written and directed with verve and This is a solemn and beautiful film that dares understatement, Folman never takes sides, to take a weighty subject and transcend the boginstead he mines for scarred and disaffected standard documentary framework, creating a rich stories and brings them to brilliant life... world filled with colour and darkness, stark lines ... troops tread softly through aisles of trees, and foreboding imagery. It thrusts the audience shafts of sun driving through the foliage. the quiet into a world of blood, death and remorse, where of the moment exploding in a second by the hiss young boys have machine guns thrust in the hands and shock of a rocket launcher. Blood spills and in and a faceless enemy to take on, and it never puts the chaos a soldier’s shaking gun finds his target a foot wrong. - two boys no older than 15, hastily readying don’t be put off by the dark subject matter, another rocket. the soldier’s bullets tear through it may be bleak, but there’s a warmth, richness them, leaving them bloodied and spastic on the and honesty that is quite rare in films. Waltz with floor. Nothing is said. They move on. Bashir is a staggering achievement and a vision of ... a tank trundles over muddy paths as the war you simply must expose yourself to. fresh-faced soldiers machine gun thousands of rounds into the surrounding gloom. do they hit Waltz with Bashir is on general anything? Who knows, but the unknown and release at the end of november unseen damage is truly chilling. ... a troop recalls the slaughter of his tank unit, For more film related shenanigans go leaving him alone and afraid behind enemy lines. to www.theothersidemag.co.uk His journey back to safety, over land and sea, is nothing short of riveting. It is these personal cou ld d battles ma ssacre u n fi re a nc a mps. On the la snapshots that build a g ti f a o h d S n u so ra & when om the The S a b hea rd fr ) ptember, spectacular monument irut, 1982 ntl y elec ted be ird d a y, 16 Se men s wa rmed e B st e o e (W to the intimate the recLeba non a nd tha n ic-stricken w ps outside the W he n a nder p e Israeli troo clea r Ch ristia n t of m n e m d o si c e r tragedies of war - the P sen ior refugee b e c a me ristia n th pre v ious ha la ng ists’ Chel was c a mps, it d m assacred a ll women, loss, the memories a ‘P , y h a n e e s m e th e M c r G f o Bash ir n, w er e cupa nts. plosive fo m il itia, y a m assive ex s m ade c a mp ocrl y a nd ch ild re cr uelty. and the helplessness of e e b ic c ld r if d e r fo le r t e o il k a nd th w ith h ha la ng is cked the people at the hands cha rge, Pa y to the Sabraefugee a ll k il led e m assacre sho u nd reds r th h w f f o o s n ir t e w ia s e n th of events too large Pa lesti rced the d a prote ofou nd N Shati la d riven by a pr r the world a n nds of Israelis fo off icia l e n a to fathom. s a ft s, a u p o te a m e th e a g f r c estigate f r e v en leader. o ent to c sense o f their re vered of the govern m om m ittee to invpolitic a l explanations are k il li ng o a red objec tive pu rge inqu ir y c ity of Israeli thin as they are all T he decln forces was tocombat the liabila r y authorities. Ch ristia s of Pa lesti n ia n a ys the a nd m il it but irrelevant – rather it is d mp hole the c a For two w fig hters.
Screen burn
Adam richmond lines up the best of the 52nd BFI London film festival
A
nother year another film festival to get your chops around. The latest London film festival has an impressive array of films from around the world on offer... but what to see? Opening the festivities is Ron Howard’s adaptation of the hit play Frost/Nixon, using the stars of the stage version Michael Sheen and Frank Langella bodes well and all the signs suggest Howard has done a bang up job transferring this electrifying play to the screen. The festival closes with the European premiere of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, a film that is already gathering buzz aplenty and while it may not have the gritty appeal of Trainspotting or sci-fi vision of Sunshine, it looks set to win people over with its rags-to-riches tale of an Indian boy who wins Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Not only that but the festival will also have the first public screening of the latest Bond film Quantum of Solace (just a quantum), immediately following the film’s world premiere on 29 October. Directed by Marc Forster and promising to live up to the thrill, action and depths of Casino Royale, Quantum will hopefully break the duck of serious director does Bond film (I’m thinking Michael Apted and Lee Tamahori here even if you’re not and don’t know what the hell I’m talking about) and serve up not just a good Bond film, but a good film full stop. Cannes Palme d’Or winner, The Class also gets an airing and if you’re impressed by that sort of thing (which you should be you bloody philistine) then this certainly demands your attention. The plot may sound formulaic (teacher wins over rough and ready ragamuffins) but this is not tripe like Dangerous Minds or Freedom Writers, this is French and therefore will pack a wit, subtlety and realism lacking in the usual
Hollywood fare. Bush baiting may be older than your mum, but when it’s iconoclaust Oliver Stone who’s sticking the boot in it’s hard to ignore. W. hopefully sees Stone back to his cage rattling best, after a flag waving World Trade Centre and epic mess that was Alexander. It’s a bold move and is likely to please no one, liberals will be pissed off and anything less than a hatchet job, and right wing cowboys will resent a leftie like Stone getting his dirty fingers on their good ole boy Bush. Nevertheless with an impressive all-star cast this could be something of a surprise. Steven Soderbergh’s epic two part four hour Che Guevara film called, not surprisingly, Che, split the Cannes audience right down the middle. Some heralded the biopic as a staggering work of heart breaking genius, others dismissed it as an tiresome work of arse numbing self indulgence. This could be your only chance to see it as intended, as it is likely to be split for us dumb action-fed audiences when it’s finally released. The Brothers Bloom will enjoy a gala screening. Directed by Rian Johnson, who’s impressive debut Brick has ensured high expectations for his follow up, starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz. Expect a healthy supply of genre subversion, quality acting and dreamy visuals. Woody Allen may be well off his best, certainly his last batch of films have been either ignored or panned to buggery. Vicky Christina Barcelona has been received more warmly, not least because of the promise of Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson lezzing up. Ignore the tabloid hacks prurient interest in women getting off with each other, and focus on the stellar cast and hope this is a return to form for Allen. Hunger, directed by owner of the best name since Steve Mcqueen, Steve McQueen, represents
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the standout Brit flick. A searing portrayal of Irish republican Bobby Sand’s 1981 prison hunger strike, this has to be the film of the festival. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist may look a bit soft, but follows the furrow ploughed by Juno of edgy but not really teen film, with lots of hip dialogue and relationships you can root for. That it stars the masterful Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) is surely enough reason to catch this. Another comedic surprise comes in the guise of Hamlet 2, starring the always good even if the film is bad Steve Coogan. Word on the street is this high school satire is spot on and could finally seal Coogan’s Hollywood credentials. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck impressed everyone with their debut Half Nelson and follow that up with Sugar, which follows Miguel Santos, a Dominican baseball player struggling to make it to the big leagues and pull his family out of poverty. Expect downbeat drama and spot on characterisations. If you want to learn something give Alex Gibney’s Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson a go. It is one of 19 documentary features at the festival and if it manages to capture the nutso spirit of the journalist and writer’s it should be a treat. It’s not just films either, there are myriad masterclasses to sign up to –most notably Frost/ Nixon screenwriter Peter Morgan and writerdirector Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman’s talk is a rare treat and will hopefully open a Malcovichsized door into the genius mind that brought us Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the soon to be released mindfuck Synecdoche New York. Robert Carlyle is also on hand for one of the Screen Talks series of career interviews. There’s an impressive 189 features to choose from and the best thing about the festival is stumbling across something new. Fill your boots.
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The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival runs from 15 October – 30 October. Tickets can be booked online at www.bfi. org.uk/lff or by telephone on 020 7928 3232
COMPETITION! We have a cracking line up of DVDs courtesy of cdWow for you to win. Just log on to our website theothersidemag.co.uk and leave a message on the film page Robot Chicken: Star Wars stop motion animation (think Adam and Joe) with spot on spoofs of everyone’s favourite sci-fi film. Iron Man solid comic book fun with a stand out turn from Downey Jr. P.S I love You featuring a shocking Irish accent, but then it’s a chick flick, so will you care? In Bruges darkly comic, in shockingly bad taste. A absolute treat. and er, Sex and the City The Movie woman hating celebration of consumerism and needless profanity, climb onboard! CD WOW! have fantastic prices on the latest New and Pre Releases CDs, DVDs and Games. You’ll also benefit from Free Delivery Worldwide and Award Winning Customer Service. Check them out at www.cdwow.com For more film reviews and comment go to www.theothersidemag.co.uk. Log on and let us know what films you think need seeing
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Shine a
Cardorowksi falls in love with London Town all over again
unnunn Town, I have to say is a great City. Great to leave sometimes, but greater still to come home to all ways. Having spent the month of August traipsing round the southern coast of this fair isle in this the greyest of summers, the piercing of the orbital and circular roads as the sun broke cover and we headed home brought nothing but smiles. I re-entered our abode with gladness and Pavlovian salivation. Blessing that it is to have the time and readies necessary to wander the white cliffs and sandy beaches of our coast, thrash about in the Cornish surf, eat fresh fish and clotted cream from the source and generally misbehave, at leisure, to remind yourself that this is NOT all there is to our United Kingdom. We, you, accommodate those who choose to rush and stumble without much comment, stop and go when asked and generally abide with each other when it is probably yer first and easiest inclination not to. Not without the occasional mutter, stutter or flutter I grant, BUT… this is civilisation in action compared with those who choose to abandon humanity
on its own terms for humanity on theirs in an idealised, remote rural idyll. Life is pointless if practised in isolation and with the limitations of our own impoverished immaginations. We need each other to be compassionate and provocative, to be supportive and combative, to be amusing and difficult. This great, sprawling Urb demands of us faith, hope and charity. And in our grumpy, lumpy, jumpy state we practice all of them. Not as well as we might to be sure, but certainly not as badly as the organs of Untruth surrounding you suggest. Go on, count ‘em, how many Daily Fail’s can you see? Crimes’? Scums? Excesses and Daily Scars? All of them shouting how appallingly everyone’s behaving, how someone else is to blame, that ‘They’ are letting us down and that you have every right to moan and bicker. And furthermore, weren’t we so much better off in some halcyon ‘Before/Golden Age’. When exactly? When the Kray’s ran the East End and most of the Coppers were bent? When Rackham was the Landlord and Lucan’s cronies ran free? When the Class system was rigidly upheld and Racism was openly practised, barely concealed apartheid a fact of our life. Of course, there are those for whom the outlying countryside is not a retreat from the smog and grime, but the place of their birth, their heritage and their home and they are not running from anything. They’re just resolutely not
stepping in. My experience of such people is of their admiration for the strength of your constitutions and characters is beyond their understanding. They wonder how you do it, how you put up with the push and shove and keep going come rain or shine. They seem to stand in awe and incredulity, (that is cunningly masked as disparagement, but still remains) wonder. It is said that we Lunnuners are blest/cursed with The Blitz Spirit. That we take the worst fate can offer up with a shrug and a laugh and just get on with it. Can I offer an alternate take; we see, despite our sometimes moronic behaviour, the best in each other and choose, at best, to dwell on that. Brushing up against ourselves in such intimacy is too much for many and so they escape or don’t come in the first place. But you who do… You reap the rewards. You live in a gorgeous City that provides so much life, variety, opportunity, culture, tradition, history, geography, employment, entertaining, visibility and invisibility, we can hardly help but be improved! Which is not to say that we City-folk are intrinsically better than them yokels out there in the place of flowers and trees, but it may be that our city dwelling makes us more aware and ready to accept each other, forgive each other the bollox and get on with the good stuff. You couldn’ put a finger on it as it happens of course, but doncha sometimes catch a gaze going up the down escalator as you rise? Get offered a seat when you’re plum tuckered out? Open a door to a smile? We could brag, us ‘townies’, but what’d be the point? ‘cause what are we really, we proud City-folk? We are merely a bunch o’ bumkins that’ve been lured and dazzled by the bright lights and stayed. Whether we strayed from furthest Land’s
End, the blighted North or the vapidity of Sub-Urbia, we spend our many hours in the heart of each others pockets and dig the bustle, for the most part, without pulling a blade or a piece, without mouthing slanders and character assassination and being careful to allow the ebb and flow of all humanity to pass along with us. This, I offer up, is civilisation in action and you should be proud of your participation. Even as you pull your sensitive cheek from the flapping, flatulent arse of a Farter, extricate your bruised delicates from the wanderin’ hand of a Pervy Groper or pinch your offended organ of all things Olfactory from some over-eager, under experienced Indulger in the Smelly-stuff. Such selfcontrol in this time of over-emotive and ceaseless self-expression, the shrieking demand for Rights against perceived wrongs and the flapping genitalia of all things commercial is not Nothing. Although few pass comment, let alone encouragement, let me put it to you; this restraint on your behalves is tantamount to the loving of neighbours that is upheld as such an unattainable and sacred ideal. That we could practice it all a whole lot better is never in doubt, but, as you sit among the farters and gropers, know this; your restraint, nay Love, has not gone unnoticed. I, for one, commend you and encourage you to give fuller vent to the practicing of such progressive Love . Who knows, perhaps this fine Urb can yet grow finer and we along with it. Here’s hoping. n
For more Cardorowksi madness go to www.theothersidemag.co.uk
Can’t buy me love…
The Other Side’s Off Side – Prepared to make Mike Ashley an offer he can’t refuse
In the good old days, if you wanted to buy a football club then all you needed was a sharp suit, a winning smile and a small oil-based fortune. Failing this, fabulous wealth amassed from dealings as crooked as your smile and a few human rights violations (allegedly) would do just fine. But this is 2008, and if you don’t have the backing of an entire country you’d best leave your cheque book in the drawer. Under the new ownership of the succinctly named Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited (aka ‘Them Arab Lot’), Manchester City suddenly command vast millions, possibly billions, possibly even squillions were they actually to exist. Robinho you say? How much? Oh, go on then (but only if we can tell him he’s really signing for Chelsea...). So that’s it then, they’ve gone and changed the face of football in the UK overnight. Or have they? Cast your mind back to 1995. A little brass nameplate in 10 Downing Street reads ‘John Major, Prime Minister’, Weezer top the charts with their ‘alternative rock’, and up in the North of England a self-made steel magnate (that’s the powerful businessman type, not metallic-attracting type) celebrates the fulfilment of a dream. Yes, Jack Walker’s cheque book has bankrolled Blackburn Rovers to the Premier League title, with British transfer records broken on both Shearer and Sutton (making the SAS famous long before Andy McNab) and heavy cash splashed on talent such as Graeme Le Saux, Tim Flowers and, er, Stuart Ripley. Pundits might have
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told you that ‘you can’t buy success’, but that’s exactly what Walker did. All records are there to be broken, and stung by the success of a bunch of upstarts from their suburbs, Manchester United set about destroying the transfer record on a pair of boots for Andy (nee Andrew) Cole, a return flight to Argentina for Juan Sebastian Veron and a decent lawyer for Rio Ferdinand. The result? You’ve guessed it champions again. Fast forward a few years and a huge luxury yacht moors itself in the middle of Kensington. Out pops a funny-looking Russian chap who sets about scattering Rubles along the length of the Kings Road. Chelsea pensioners are trampled in the rush by Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Didier Drogba, Andrei Shevchenko et al to grab them. He waves an enticing looking Matalan coat in the direction of Portugal and the next thing you know, Chelsea are the champions of England. Twice. Question is, is this a bad thing? Back in ‘95, the idea of a relatively small club rising two divisions to win the league was seen as something wondrous. Even Abramovich’s Chelski weren’t as roundly criticised as they could have been, because suddenly a two horse race between United and Arsenal had a third sweaty nag coming up the outside. ‘Good for the league, good for competition!’ cry the pundits now. Why then the vitriol aimed at City? Whether we like it or not, football has become dominated by money. It has been since the day that Richard Keys did his werewolf
impression on live TV for the first time. There is no going back - retiring players no longer buy a pub, they buy entire breweries. The big four have become somewhat of a cliché (not the Arsenal left back…), and if other clubs can start to make a regular challenge to their hegemony then shouldn’t everyone else be pleased? It may be silly money, but in a league in which Kevin Keegan can be installed as the favourite to replace himself as manager, anything is possible. What worries fans and pundits alike is no longer the money itself, but the danger that it might run out. Sustainability is the key, because when Jack Walker’s money ran out it didn’t take long for Blackburn to slip back out of the Premier League (though they did make it back). What would happen to Chelsea if Roman ran out of gas? Even they couldn’t appeal to the FA over that one. If City’s new owners have their heads turned by a ‘bigger project’, will they take their dirhams and run? For a lesson on the perils of spending beyond your means, City fans need look no further than a quick hop across the M62 to
Leeds - from the Mestalla to Millwall faster than you can say ‘£9m for Seth Johnson’. So the reality is that money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you a trophy or two (and a very big car) and even create stability in the long term. Rather than make jealous eyes at City, let’s be excited about the prospect of another club competing at the very top. City’s new owners probably think the credit crunch is a type of cereal, so will they show patience with Mark Hughes or give him the chop if City fail to show immediate progress and break into the Champions League this season? Will they continue to invest in their fantastic youth system that has churned out the likes of Shaun WrightPhillips, Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards? Will any of this money make its way back into the community, or down to grass roots level? Have we seen the last of Thaksin? If the answer to all of these is ‘yes’, then perhaps the future is as bright as Chelsea’s away kit. If the answer is ‘no’, then we’d better enjoy it while we can… www.theothersidemag.co.uk/football
mic, e d y na m . h t is ism ais l Ju da r n Ju d Liber a ge of mode values d e he hile cutting o preser ve t p a s t w r ce . t e s h k t e f e o y fo m It s Judais ontempor ar of the c them giving
Get a Passport to all Liberal Judaism communities, High Holy Day services and special events. *Join ‘tent: the meeting place’* for a Friday night experience like no other: participative, candle-lit spiritual experience complete with a mix of modern and traditional music, open discussion and socialising.
www.liberaljudaism.org/passport - inclusive, welcoming, enriching 37
T H E F R E E A R T FA I R 13–19 October 2008, http://freeartfair.com The art fair where all the work is given away. Artists Anonymous, Centre of Attention, Matthew Collings, Jimmy Conway-Dyer, Sacha Craddock, Stuart Cumberland, Adam Dant, Stephen Farthing, Rose Gibbs, Luke Gottelier, Alex Hamilton, Peter Harris, Pablo Helguera, Saron Hughes, Lee Johnson, Sayshun Jay, James Jessop, Chantal Joffe, Jasper Joffe, Peter Lamb, Cathy Lomax, Amanda Loomes, Marta Marce, Bruce McLean, Alex Gene Morrison, Stephen Nelson, House of O’Dwyer, Harry Pye, Danny Rolph, Martin Sexton, Bob & Roberta Smith, Terry Smith, Geraldine Swayne, Chris Tosic, Gavin Turk, Markus Vater, Stella Vine, Michael Ward, Douglas White, Charlie Woolley. With performances by: Daniel Lehan, Laura Wilson, Rebecca Birch, Peter Bond, Adrian Lee, Jenny Baines, Frog Morris, Alex Staiger, Marc Quinn, Charlotte Young, Victoria Melody, Jordan McKenzie, Dora Wade, Lee Campbell. 14, 19, 21 New Quebec Street and 5, 8, 16 Seymour Place, Portman Village, London W1H (nearest Tubes: Marble Arch, Edgware Road) +44 (0)7957 136 066, Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm
AGONY AUNT AGONY AUNT
Q. I have recently started a new job which I have now realised is very different from the original description I was provided with when applying for the position. I am making tea and re-filling staplers for my boss when I was supposed to be going for pub lunches meeting with clients and skiving off attending conferences. What should I do? A. The art of tea-making is severely under-rated. Frequently, one is faced with the dilemma of what should go in first; the milk or the tea leaves and how much sugar is really too much sugar? It is a therapeutic and privileged procedure that should not be taken for granted. As for the stapler issue, a few examples of workplace accident lawsuits placed strategically on your bosses’ desk will ensure you will never come into contact with office stationary again.
Q. I am looking to move house but everywhere in London seems to cost the equivalent of a premier football club. Would you say that blackmail is an acceptable method of persuasion when the subject of price range is raised? A. I say who needs blackmail when you have an imagination and alcohol. Just think back to the last time you came home slightly worse for wear, where did you fall asleep – in the bath? On the kitchen floor? In the shed? These are all acceptable and cost-effective living spaces and should definitely be considered when house-hunting. By using this method, you could easily fit 4 or 5 people into a one bedroom flat. by Helena Abel
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