Viva Brighton magazine on page 53

vivabrighton
Issue 16. May 2014
editorial
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If you’ve ever lived in London you might well be aware of the road-tothe-local-pub-is-paved-with-more-ambitious-intentions syndrome, which
goes hand-in-hand with reading Time Out Magazine. You earmark all the
wonderful things you can do, then don’t end up doing any of them, instead
meeting the same old friends round the Magpie and Stump. In May, suddenly
and gloriously, Brighton gets a London-sized dose of activities to attend as no fewer than five
festivals hit town: Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe, House, Artists Open Houses and The
Great Escape. Of course, much of the content of this issue is geared towards these events, each
of which has its own brochure and website which we urge you to explore. We believe there is no
excuse not to get involved in the activities. Too skint? There’s plenty of stuff that’s put on for free,
including everything in the Artists Open Houses trails, and loads of Fringe stuff, too. Too lazy?
For 75% of Brightonians, there is a venue within 50 metres of your front door.* Too busy with
the kids? Brighton Fringe have, for the second year running, extended into a fourth week in order
to incorporate half-term, and there’s plenty of stuff for youngsters to do. Worried about missing
your favourite TV shows? Get a grip… and anyway, what do you think iPlayer is for? So here at
Viva we’re all vowing to do at least one festival-related thing every day, and urge you, if you possibly can, make a similar pledge, even if it’s only of the once-a-week variety. In the meantime, as
ever, enjoy the issue… *invented statistic, but it’s got to be something like that.
The Team
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EDITOR: Alex Leith [email protected]
DEPUTY EDITOR: Steve Ramsey [email protected]
SUB EDITOR: David Jarman
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman [email protected]
PHOTOGRAPHER AT LARGE: Adam Bronkhorst
ADVERTISING manager: Nick Metcalf [email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS: Joanna Baumann, Rebecca Hattersley, Antonia Gabassi, Kuen-Wah Cheung, Black Mustard
PUBLISHER: Nick Williams [email protected]
Viva Magazines is based at 28 Foundry Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4AT
For advertising enquiries call 01273 434 573 / 434 572
Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content.
We cannot be held responsible for any omissions, errors or alterations.
contents
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Bits and Bobs.
9-19. A pint in The Rock Inn, LA vs
Brighton with Adam Freeland, Jamie
McCartney’s Brighton (and Hove,
obviously), Phoebe Hessel and plenty
more besides.
Festival interviews.
21-33. Chewing the fat with Ben
Watt, Lynn Barber, AC Grayling,
John Hegley, Tony Parsons, Jack
Photo by JJ Waller
Barnett from These Young Puritans
and Viv Albertine.
Art.
34-39. Yinka Shonibare MBE, RA, he
of fourth-plinth fame, and Jerwood-
We meet…
winning Sally Kindberg.
46-49. An erudite conversation with
Brighton Festival Guest Director
Food.
Hofesh Schechter, and three pints
41-45. Authentic South Indian food
in the Evening Star with Attila the
at the newly opened Curry Leaf Café,
Stockbroker.
a bring-your-own-booze cocktail
speakeasy in the Lanes, and a new
Features.
creperie.
51-61. The lowdown on hit men;
former Brighton manager Jimmy
Melia; we try our hands out at life
drawing and pottery; the Moulin
Rouge spiegeltent, Trade secrets
from Dave ‘Big Balls’ Samuel.
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst
Inside Left.
66. Pookiesnackenburger in 1981,
by Peter Chrisp.
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5....
this month’s cover art
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Supporting Brighton Festival this May
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We asked Tim from North Laine t-shirt design
company Tee Pony (as well as creating the tshirts he sells them from his shop on Gloucester Road) if he’d be interested in collaborating
on a cover a few months ago. The purity of the
concept was a joy: could he create a design that
worked as well on the cover of the magazine as
on the front of a t-shirt? “The way we work at
Tee Pony is to work with very simple designs,
often just patterns of basic shapes, using interesting and vibrant colour combinations. So the
notion of applying this to a Viva cover immediately appealed to me,” he says. He then came
up with a solid idea – of using triangles and rectangles for the letters of Viva – and was fairly
aghast when April’s cover artist, Steve Hyland
of Hold, used the same symbols in his masthead. “I would have been pretty disappointed
to have had to go back to square one,” he says,
“so we decided to embrace the idea and run
....
with it instead, making it the basis of the whole
design.” At Viva we’re delighted with the result,
which we hope has a stand-alone factor, in that
someone could sport the t-shirt as a tribute to
the city, without even knowing of the existence
of our magazine, like a modern version of the
‘I Heart New York’ brand. Neatly enough,
we’re collaborating with Tee Pony to produce
a t-shirt version of the cover, too, which will be
on sale in the shop in May. There’ll be a limited edition one featuring the cover image, plus
a range of others using different colour combinations. The classic yellow-blue combo was
inspired by Tim watching his two-year-old son
picking bluebells and daffodils in the yard of his
shop: other possibilities were violet and gold,
and pink and green. Alongside the picture of
the cover, you can see a couple of examples of
other Tee Pony designs. Check out their website teepony.com.
7....
Jazz fM PResents
“tHey May Have InventeD tHe
BRItIsH Jazz woRlD’s glastonBuRy”
bits and bobs
fRIDay late
cluB nIgHt
hhhh tHe guaRDIan
...............................
funky
sensatIon
viva brighton /tee pony Tee
We are collaborating with Tee Pony, the North Laine-based
t-shirt designers, to create a special limited-edition run of Viva
Brighton t-shirts replicating this month’s cover, designed by
TP’s Tim Shaw. We will only create 20 of these, which will cost
£29, or £25 if you bring a copy of this magazine to the shop,
and be available from May 8th. When they sell out, Tee Pony
will start printing up other, non-limited-edition Viva Brighton
t-shirts. These will retail at £27, or £25 with a copy of the mag.
satuRDay
The beauty of the whole concept is that you don’t need to even
sunDay
JaMIe culluM
De la soul
lauRa Mvula
IMelDa May
sPecIal guest gRegoRy PoRteR
IncognIto
soul II soul
know about the magazine for the slogan to have resonance.
Watch this space for more information.
(wItH full
lIve BanD)
Dave HollanD’s PRIsM // snaRky
cHRIstIan McBRIDe tRIo
PuPPy // Melt youRself Down couRtney PIne // cuRtIs stIgeRs
DeRRIck HoDge // PHRonesIs
Jose JaMes // alIce Russell
nIkkI yanofsky
HIDDen oRcHestRa // PolaR BeaR
five minutes with... B en E dmonds , clown
Many people know you as Mr Pineapple Head, a children’s entertainer. But your show at the Fringe, with
the Not Easy Company, isn’t for kids… I’m co-directing
Losing It with my ex, Sian, and performing it with Meesh,
Elena and Ezra, to music by Jake Rousham. It’s very much
aimed at adults. Though not, I want to make it clear, in any
burlesque sense.
Is kids’ humour much different from adult humour?
Some forms of humour are universal and appeal to everybody. Others can be aimed at specific cultures or ages. This
is aimed at people who are grown up in the sense that it
appeals to the intellect in a way that might go over children’s heads.
JaIMeo BRown // MattHew Halsall // JaMes toRMe // cecIlIa stalIn
natalIe wIllIaMs’ soul faMIly // takuya kuRoDa // cHloe cHaRles // ReuBen JaMes tRIo
tHe coMPuteRs // ollIe Howell QuIntet // lauRa JuRD // slowly RollIng caMeRa
MaMMal HanDs // Jazz RooMs sounDsysteM
Plus DJ’s anD BanDstanD PRogRaMMeD By tHe veRDIct Jazz cluB
Can non-verbal humour be intellectually complex? Of course it can. Just think of Jacques Tati or Laurel and Hardy. Music, for example, is non-verbal, and there’s a big difference between the Bob the Builder
theme and Bach.
And your aim is to make people laugh? Definitely. And to be moved.
And how do you go about achieving that? The most important thing is to connect with the audience.
You can do that by making the stage an intimate place, like the audience’s living room, where your breath-
at
ing patterns and body language create a system of trust.
glynDe Place neaR BRIgHton
Breathing patterns? Body language? Groups of humans tend to synchronise their breathing. If the per-
3 Days of Jazz anD soul In tHe sussex countRysIDe
former is breathing tensely, this will be picked up subconsciously by the audience who will then feel tense.
tIckets staRt fRoM £55
your arms by your side. This allows you to be vulnerable, and gets the audience on your side. Once you’ve
Don’t create any barriers by, for example, crossing your arms. Open yourself to the audience by keeping
established trust, you can start with the visual gags. Losing It, The Warren, May 2nd and 25th
caMPIng, vIP, JunIoR & faMIly oPtIons avaIlaBle
lovesuPReMefest
foR tIckets vIsIt lovesuPReMefestIval.coM
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9....
bits and bobs
...............................
permanent painting # 1 2 : MIS S G WE ND O L INE CLEAVER
On first impression, Miss Gwendoline Cleaver is a somewhat
morose figure, swathed in black from neck to wrist, her grey skin
revealing just the slightest hint of pink. Yet her ample jewellery,
red nails, and shoulders fashionably exposed suggest a thoroughly modern woman. It’s interesting to note her sullen expression,
not dissimilar to that seen in Acrobats Waiting to Rehearse, also by
Glyn Warren Philpot (1884-1937).
Philpot was an artist who only partially cooperated with convention. His persistent fascination with drawing black people and
male nudes was met with much hostility throughout his career.
Coupled with his own homosexuality and devout Catholic faith,
it is not surprising that Philpot felt trapped between two worlds,
with a desire for artistic experiment, both publicly and privately.
The 1930s saw a move from London to Paris and a renouncement of his earlier method as a society portrait painter. Miss Gwendoline Cleaver is an example of Philpot’s
eventual shift to greater emotional freedom, with a lighter palette and more stylised composition.
Rebecca Hattersley Miss Gwendoline Cleaver, 1933, by Glyn Warren Philpot. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
buried in brighton : phoebe hessel
“Even if half of it’s true, it’s a pretty remarkable story, isn’t it?” says Royal Pavilion
guide Louise Hume. “I think the bit about her dressing as a man and being in the
army must be true. All the accounts seem to agree on that.”
Phoebe Hessel apparently “managed to serve in the army unnoticed for 17 years,”
which she did because “her boyfriend, Samuel Golding, was a soldier; he was about
to be posted to the West Indies, and she couldn’t bear to be parted from him.” Her
gender was eventually discovered, either because she received a bayonet wound or
because she admitted it when Golding was injured and sent home. “Her life had its
share of sadness, with losing nine or ten children and two husbands, and spending any amount of time in the
workhouse,” says Hume. In old age, “for a time she was able to support herself by peddling various things
around Brighton,” becoming a local celebrity, and being granted a pension by the future George IV. She was
apparently 108 when she died in 1821.
Some writers have wondered how much of Hessel’s story can be true. “I think the bare bones of it is remarkable enough,” Hume says. “Especially when you see the opportunities and lifestyles that women led when
she was alive, how narrow those opportunities were. What she managed to achieve was… she must have
been quite a startling character.”
Tel 01273 477071 | 3 Bell Lane | Lewes | East Sussex | BN7 1JU
Louise Hume runs two tours during Brighton Fringe: Notorious Women of Brighton and Notorious Women
of Kemptown. See historywomenbrighton.com
....
10....
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First there was the Rock Inn, then there was Kemp-
the cellar. “I’ve been told it was once a mortuary,”
town. The pub, just off Sussex Square, was origi-
says Josh. “There were a lot of shipwrecks out to
nally a coaching inn, built in 1727, as a stopping
sea, because of the rocks. And when the bodies were
point for the South Coast stage coaches. It used to
washed ashore this is where they were stored. Ap-
stand alone, in the midst of clifftop fields. Thomas
parently they couldn’t have a Christian burial unless
Kemp built the district around it – apparently this is
all the parts were intact.”
where he paid his men at the end of each week.
The Rock Inn became a pub in 1787, and has kept
I pop in on a Friday evening, and the place is
the same name since then. There’s a snug and a
already buzzing with colourful locals of all genera-
two-level main bar with a function room upstairs
tions. Landlord Josh, who runs it with his cousin
as well as the cellar. Josh and Ben serve Harveys
Ben, gives me a quick tour. The most interesting bit
as well a range of ales and lagers; they also serve
is the cellar, which is now split in two. The smaller
their own-brand coffee, behind which there is a
part is where the beer is kept, the larger, with a well
story. “Ben and I are cousins,” says Josh, “and a
in the corner, is a function room .
third cousin of ours went out to Nicaragua in the
“When we took on the place we found the Brighton
80s to fight for the Sandinistas. He found he wasn’t
Explorers Club on Google, and they sent a frogman
cut out for war... so he started a famers’ collective
down the well,” he tells me. “They found out that
instead. He’s still out there, and he supplies us our
sixty feet down there was a false bottom, made of
coffee beans.”
wood. We don’t know what’s underneath.” Perhaps
Finally, the ghosts. There are many stories, inevita-
the body of a customs and excise man, rumoured
bly that the place is haunted. “I’ve heard them all,”
to have been thrown down the well by a bunch of
says Josh, “strange energy and sightings of figures
smugglers? Or maybe not.
and suchlike. But in four years here... I haven’t seen
There’s another gruesome chapter to the history of
a thing.” AG
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13....
bits and bobs
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J J Waller ’ s B righton
We asked JJ Waller to send us a few pictures that summed up the Festival spirit, and this was, among a good
number of contenders, our favourite. Punch and Judy positively scurrying across Kings Road, with Baby (it
never gets a name, does it?) in tow. “Right time right place,” he tells us, before revealing a little bit about his
modus operandi. “Well kind of. I had watched the excellent Red Herring Theatre do a show the day before
and saw them heading to the Grand afterwards. Knowing they were doing a repeat performance the following
afternoon I waited for them to leave the hotel. Bingo. Spontaneous but ‘planned’ if that makes sense.” It does
indeed. A well planned manner of seizing the moment: Henri Cartier-Bresson would have been proud.
stick up e x hibition
Following the success of last year’s show, former VB cover designers Petting Zoo
Prints & Collectables are again curating a gig poster exhibition in conjunction with
The Great Escape. It’s called ‘Stick Up’ and it involves posters being, well, stuck
up in many of the venues used over the GE weekend (May 8, 9, 10). No wristbands
are required to see the work, and if you want to buy any of these unique and stylish
pieces of commissioned memorabilia, you can do so at the Stick Up Shop at Create
Studios in New England House.
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15....
bits and bobs
...............................
brighton v s... #3 Los Angeles
Adam Freeland, DJ, producer, musician in The Acid
You’re from Brighton, right? I’m originally from North of
London but I moved here in my early twenties. Even though
I’ve spent a lot of time abroad in the last years I’ve always kept
on my flat in Marine Parade and it’s psychologically remained
my roots. I’ve got a lot of friends here.
A lot of those years were spent in LA. What’s it got over
Brighton, and vice versa? The obvious thing is that LA has
got a lot more sunshine and that does make a big difference to
your headspace. I’m a sun junkie. What I really like about LA is
that everyone has gone there to make shit happen, and there’s
an energy of ‘let’s do it’.
So it’s more creatively exciting? Yeah, although LA can get
a bit flighty and overwhelming. Brighton is more grounding.
I love it that I can fall out of my flat and into the sea or spend
time in the Downs. You need some gaps between the madness.
You have to drive a lot to get anywhere in LA... Actually
I used to live in an area called Silverlake where you can walk
around and I used to get around on my bicycle. It’s the artistic
centre. But generally LA is a big sprawl and you have to drive, yeah. I hardly ever drive when I’m in Brighton.
What about creativity here? The thing I used to struggle with about living in Brighton was people talking
about making things happen, and then not doing anything. It used to have a bit of a small town mentality. But
I think that is starting to change and you get a lot more high-level artists doing things now in Brighton.
Has Brighton got better or worse since you first came? It used to get me down that everything closed
early and you couldn’t get any nice food, but obviously all that is changing now. But everything comes at a
cost... when I moved here in ’98 there was a real renegade, activist, rebellious spirit to the place, and that seems
to have been quashed. A lot of the free thinkers have been priced out of the place. The food’s better, but the
activism’s gone. The Acid’s LP Liminal is out on June 2nd, the band play The Haunt on June 3rd
nex t month’s issue
June might appear a bit ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ round these parts as the Brighton and Hove entertainment industry hits something of a hiatus, but we are already chasing next month’s quarry; all going well
expect interviews with ‘British Queen of Blues’ Elkie Brooks, Reykjavik-resident muso John Grant and
‘Funk Factory’ DJ Norman Jay, as well as a look at ‘Farmageddon’ (the real cost of cheap meat) and our
usual mix of history and culture, art and interview, photographs and illustration, colour and black and white.
Advertisers please contact [email protected] or [email protected].
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17....
interview
..........................................
mybrighton: Jamie McCartney
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst
Breaking out of the mould
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18....
How did you come to live in Brighton? My
restaurants, wide streets, it’s near the sea... and I can
grandmother lived in Brighton so I’ve known it all
walk to work. I used to be stuck out in Hangleton –
my life. I remember fishing from the Marina when
if you’ve never been, my advice is keep it that way!
it had just been built – that shows my age! About
Recommend a pub. I’ve just discovered Hove
fifteen years ago my mother moved here, so I got
Place. Last weekend I watched a horse I’d backed
to know it all over again, as an adult. In 2006 a big
win the Grand National there, and then got picked
sculpture job came up and I needed to hire a bigger
up by four women, so I really warmed to the place!
studio. London was driving me nuts and Brighton
They have a huge garden and they sell Leffe on tap.
was a lot cheaper so I moved the business down here
Beer, in a wine glass. What’s not to like?
and I never left. It was a couple of years before I got
And a restaurant? I’m a real foodie. At home I’m
a flat here though so I house sat, stayed with friends,
veggie but when I go out I’ll eat anything. I love
slept in the studio and sometimes in my car on
Marroccos: great fish, fantastic service in a family-
Madeira Drive. It was a beaten up old Jag – leather
run place. Also Aguadulce. I was one of their first
and walnut furniture and direct sea views!
customers and I’ve been going ever since. Carlos
You’re best known for your artwork ‘The Great
never lets you leave: it’s always ‘have another orujo’.
Wall of Vagina’, made up of hundreds of plaster
What gets your goat about the city? I don’t like
casts of women’s vulvas. Has this in a way
to gripe, but I think what’s happened to the West
typecast you? I have a complicated relationship
Pier is shameful. They should have torn it down and
with that piece. It took me five years and was my
built another one instead of borrowing 36 million
breakthrough piece. People do still refer to me as
quid to build the monstrous erection that will be
‘the fanny man’ but that’s fine. Best to be famous for
thrusting into the skyline there soon. Another great
something! It’s hilarious when I get called a ‘pervert’
shame was losing the Frank Gehry building, which
though. If a man who likes vaginas is a pervert then
would have put Brighton on the architectural map.
the world’s gone mad! If it had been dog vaginas or
What do you do for exercise? I cycle everywhere.
camel vaginas then fair enough! Anyway, the bread
And I kayak – I once kayaked under the West Pier
and butter side of my business is Brighton Body
and found a pheasant sitting on a strut; that was
Casting but I also do a lot of other stuff like the legs
quite something. I also play softball for Brighton
at the Duke of York’s at Komedia. I’m exhibiting
Beachcombers. We practice on Wednesday and play
life-sized steel animals in the Nuffield Hospital dur-
tournaments some weekends. We usually end up in
ing Artists Open Houses, so Brighton will be able to
the pub as an antidote to all that exercise though.
see another side of my work. Bashing hot metal on
Jamie is one of a group of artists exhibiting at the
an anvil makes me feel like a real artist!
Nuffield Heath Brighton Hospital, Warren Road,
Where’s your studio? I’ve just moved to a huge
Woodingdean from May 3-25. Other artists include
new studio near Hove station and into a flat nearby.
Jon Mills, Joanna Keeling, Maddy McLellan, Dawn
I’m in love with the area. It’s got great bars and
Stacey, Vanessa Rattray and Geoff Bailey. AL
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19....
l i t e r at u r e
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Ben Watt
Everything about the parents
While still part of the 80s duo Everything But the
Girl, Ben Watt wrote Patient, a witty and philosophical rumination on the impact on his life of the rare
autoimmune syndrome that nearly killed him. Nearly
twenty years on he publishes a second memoir,
Romany and Tom, which tells the story of his parents’
marriage. It has been described as ‘closely observed,
brilliantly written and unsparing.’
Everyone thinks of you as a musician. How come
you’re such a good prose writer? Did you keep a
diary, write poems or read buckets of books as a
child? I am afraid I have to answer no to all of those.
I’ve never written poems, only songs in my other life
as a songwriter. Nor am I a particularly avid reader.
I struggle to finish most books I start. Once I have
Your Chartered Accountants
www.lucrafts.co.uk
grasped the mood and tone after eighty pages or so I
‘Hendra’ for me, is more a state of mind, where the
often move on. I have a strong visual memory, quite
white noise stops, and the light is clear.
photographic at times. But I also did a lot of research
Most writers perceive the novel as the ultimate
while writing the book to back up my memories -
challenge. Have you thought of writing fiction?
examining photographs and revisiting locations.
Yes. It is a challenge that lies ahead. We’ll have to see
Your new album Hendra has been heralded as
if I can meet it.
‘endearingly honest and moving’. Hendra is an
Rolling on a few years…is it likely one of your
old Cornish word meaning home or hearth. Your
children will write a memoir -Tracey & Ben?
parents came from very different backgrounds –
[Ben is married to Tracey Thorn, the other half of
your father was a working-class Glaswegian jazz
EBTG] I’m not so sure. Our lives have, as have many
musician and your mother a privately educated
others these days, been well documented. There is
RADA actress and journalist. Where is ‘Hendra’
less to unearth. One of the cornerstones of Romany
for you? Hendra was the name of the road on which
and Tom is the element of it being a detective story,
a house sat, that my late half-sister used to visit to
uncovering the human scale of one’s parents’ lives -
escape her claustrophobic life as a village shopkeeper.
the thwarted ambitions, the mistakes. People will be
I loved the word. It was mysterious. I wondered if it
bored of hearing about me and Tracey by then.
was mythological. She always talked of getting away
You’ve succeeded as a musician, a DJ, a song-
to Hendra. When she died, unexpectedly, in 2012
writer and an author. What’s next? I never second-
I looked it up. As you say, it is an old Cornish word
guess the future. I wait for it to come. Ideas emerge.
meaning ‘home’. For all these reasons it seemed like
That’s all I believe. Interview by Black Mustard.
the right title for the album - odd, lyrical, impres-
Ben Watt appears at The Brighton Dome’s Studio
sionistic, personal. I live in London. I like it here. But
Theatre on Weds 7th May, 8pm. (Brighton Festival)
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21....
interview
..........................................
Lynn Barber
The Barber and Savile
“I think the press has sort of gone
a bit mad, on the basis that now he
has been revealed to be a paedophile,
that everything he did was considered
wicked, whereas in fact it remains
Here’s an ethical dilemma. What do you do if an
face. Do you think that? I know this all sounds
interviewee invites you to their house and happily
mad – well, it is mad – but I do judge people to
talks to you for 80 minutes, and is charming and
some extent by their faces. Cameron’s got far too
interesting and open, and offers you a hot drink
small a mouth; that’s the trouble with him [laughs].
and a cigarette, and tells off their cat for clawing
“I wouldn’t go in thinking: ‘You’ve got a small
at your trousers, and spends almost the whole
mouth, I know you’re mean’. Looking at photo-
interview being reasonable and sensible, but then
graphs before, like reading cuttings before, is really
says a couple of things which are really quite odd?
just a way of musing about the person. That will
What if those quotes seemed too good to leave
suggest some lines of questioning. They can often
out, though they’d make the interviewee look
be demolished the moment I ask the questions.
weirder than they actually are? And what if that
I’ve often built up a whole theory about somebody
interviewee is one of Britain’s best interviewers,
and then almost immediately realised that it’s
nicknamed the Demon Barber for her occasional
completely wrong.”
hatchet jobs?
Have her articles ever badly misjudged someone?
***
“Yes, once or twice; not very badly,” she says, men-
“It is stupid to call me the Demon Barber, because
tioning “a fairly hostile piece about Ben Elton,”
I’m often very nice about people,” Lynn Barber
which “I was told off about a lot”.
says. Though she did release a book with that
In a 1990 interview with Jimmy Savile, Barber
title in 1998; one of her two excellent interview
depicted him as rather odd, and did ask about the
anthologies.
rumours ‘that you like little girls’. But she felt ‘the
In Demon Barber, she writes that before interview-
fact that the tabloids have never come up with a
ing someone, as well as doing normal research,
scintilla of evidence against Jimmy Savile is as near
she will have ‘studied their photograph’. Why? “I
proof as you can ever get’. She even told Savile
wouldn’t say that’s always true now. It’s a bit mad,
‘you do seem to be almost saintly’. He suggested
but I do think you can tell quite a lot about people
he was merely ‘totally practical’, and Barber con-
from their faces, actually. Or at any rate, there are
cluded: ‘Perhaps that is true of saints, too’.
types of faces that mean types of things to me.
I nervously start asking about the ‘saintly’ com-
“This might not be borne out by the interview,
ment, and she completes my question: “Was I
but if somebody had a very small pinched mouth
completely wrong about him? Well, I’d say on that
I might expect them to be mean with money,” and
point that I suspect a saint is not somebody that
if they had certain lines on their forehead, Barber
you or I would want to meet anyway. I think saints
might suspect they’re a depressive.
often were quite sort of peculiar people. Obviously
“I think people do it more than they think; you
I misjudged him in that I didn’t establish that he
think of somebody having an open face or a closed
liked little girls, although I threw the suggestion in.
....
22....
the case that he raised an awful lot
of money and got MRI scanners for
Stoke Mandeville and all the rest of
it, so his life was not totally evil from
start to finish. I think I did as well
with Jimmy Savile as could have been
done at the time, because nobody else
found out that he was a paedophile
either.”
This feels like making excuses for a
rare moment of gullibility. As a teenager, Barber had a relationship with ‘a
middle-aged con man’ (the Telegraph’s
phrase), and now feels she’s generally
“too distrustful of other people. I find
it hard to accept simple niceness or
simple kindness. My antenna is saying: ‘What is wrong with this person,
why are they being so nice to me?’
To some extent I’ve over the years
cooled that down. It’s a good thing in
an interviewer because you need that
While discussing her age, she points to a text-painting on
scepticism, but it’s not a very nice
her wall which says something like: ‘I want to die in my late
thing to have as a person.”
60s or early 70s, preferably of a heart attack’.
Barber says her greatest weak-
“I hope I’m there for the Brighton Festival,” she says. “It’s
ness is “impatience, certainly”. Her
just that because my parents lived to 92 I’m not as enam-
strengths are that “I am very honest
oured of the idea [of longevity]. People say we might all
and frank, and until recently very
live to be 100. I think: ‘Oh god, what a really bad idea’. We
hard-working; maybe not so much
should sort of sign off at some point.”
now. And I don’t moan; I’m not a
Interveiw by Steve Ramsey
grumbly person.”
Her work ethic is fading “just because
Lynn Barber gives the New Writing South Annual Lecture
I’m coming up to seventy, I slightly
at Brighton Festival, Sat 24, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre,
feel I can afford to slack off a bit.”
6pm, £10
....
23....
l i t e r at u r e
..........................................
A C Grayling
Big-haired Sussex Universtiy alumnus
tion he loses his fondness for
sophical topics of one kind or
baffling technical discussion, and
another with friends in the pub,
is entertaining, charming, and
all of you getting much smarter
occasionally even funny.
and more emphatic as the eve-
Grayling grew up in Zambia, and
ning goes on no doubt,” says the
his first experience of living in
philosopher and prolific writer
the UK was as an undergraduate
AC Grayling, with a restrained
at Sussex University. “It was a
chuckle.
great refreshment to be among
“Philosophy is a much more
the Downs, and to walk across
serious issues at stake, like the
general and pervasive thing than
from Falmer to Stanmer in those
Vietnam War, and other times it
people think. Any question about
woods above Stanmer. I hugely
was just wrangling over words.
matters of ethics or politics or
enjoyed my time at Sussex. It was
My fellow undergraduates and I
how we live our lives or whether
at that time a really interest-
also partied a lot, so there’s a kind
abortion or stem cell research or
ing and varied course of study,
of mosaic of a memory of people
whatever is right or wrong, or
premised on the idea that a more
being very activist, and people
whether Putin is entitled to take
general kind of higher education
being very drunk. Yes, it was quite
over the Crimea; questions like
was desirable.”
an exciting time.”
that are either philosophical or
He returned to Sussex for a mas-
Grayling was never a keen
have philosophical dimensions to
ters, and “when I was doing my
drinker, though, having “discov-
them. Philosophy is the conversa-
further graduate work at Oxford,
ered very early on” that alcoholic
tion that humanity has with itself
I used to come down one day a
drinks “give me a terrible head-
about anything that matters.”
week and do a little bit of part-
ache; even in small quantities they
Grayling is coming to Brighton
time teaching at Sussex too.”
give me a headache. One result
Festival to discuss his latest book,
Does he remember the univer-
is that it gives me so much more
The God Argument. A philosophi-
sity’s political scene? “It was very
time for work. Sometimes people
cal critique of religious belief
political, yes, and there were
say: ‘How do you manage to write
and a manifesto for humanism,
lots of different factions. It was
so much?’ I puzzled over it, and
it’s hard work at times. One
a bit like the Life of Brian: the
then I realised that most people
sentence reads: ‘So there is a
Liberation Front of Palestine and
sort of shut down after about six
problem with the Anselm type of
the Palestine Liberation Front.
in the evening because they’ve
ontological argument which relies
It was quite exciting in one way,
had a couple of pints, you know?”
on an existing something’s being
and in another way it was sort of
The God Argument, Sun 18,
more perfect than a non-existing
comical. Every now and then you
Brighton Dome Corn Exchange,
perfect thing.’ But in conversa-
realised that there were really
2pm, £10 (Brighton Festival) SR
....
25....
Photo by Mykel Nicolaou / Rex Features
“You’ll very often discuss philo-
comedy
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John Hegley
Potato-loving poet
“I often dream of trains, and Ba-sing-stoke and Read-
ing to the Independent, ‘eking out his grant by working
ing!” John Hegley sings, misquoting a Robyn Hitch-
part-time at a day-care unit for troubled teenagers.’
cock song, after I admit I was born in Basingstoke.
When one of these youths told him a limerick about
He’d been quizzing me, before I’d even asked any
a woman from Leeds who swallowed some seeds, it
questions, about where I was originally from. But why
turned out to be ‘quite an important moment,’ teach-
was he interested? Does he think where he’s originally
ing him ‘that poetry can appeal to everybody,’ he told
from is an important part of his identity?
the Guardian.
“Well, there’s lots of triangulation points in one’s ori-
“Everyone’s at home with a limerick,” he says now.
gin. My father’s Frenchness, my upbringing in Luton,
“You don’t think: ‘Oh that’s poetry, that’s a bit weird.’
my father’s love of painting, inspiring us to draw and
So I suppose I was taking on the inspiration of the
keep our pictures, and the kind of hearth life that we
limerick to some extent, and trying to take it off to
had around the fire together. And also Catholicism,
something maybe basic, like the potato.”
and good schooling.
Hegley suggests his perspective is “domestic”, rather
“I was born in London. I’ve come back to Lon-
than particularly political or social. The Independent
don, and I did choose somewhere near where I was
once called him ‘awesomely mundane’, a verdict he
brought up at the very beginning, where mum used
liked enough to put on his website. “Yes, it’s to do
to push me round in the pram. When I go to mass, I
with taking seemingly a belittled thing and
go to the church I went to when I was a baby, where I
trying to big it up; big up the
was baptised.”
belittled.”
I clumsily ask if he’s ‘practicing religious’. “Yeah, I
So potatoes are a fit
go. I don’t go as often as one is supposed to, but I do
subject for poetry? “Of
go. There were lovely singers at the mass on Sunday.
course.”
I like the hand-shaking bit; I love the gospels. It’s
Is there anything
one of the community aspects of my life, like the
which isn’t? “Well…”
library. I’m a member of loads of libraries, including
(Long pause) “…per-
Brighton.” He goes to libraries to use their comput-
haps cauliflowers.” SR
ers, because he doesn’t have one.
Hegley performs
Why? “I’m not very organised, and I’d probably do
twice at this year’s
something wrong; spill something on it, or just press
Fringe. New and
the wrong button and make everything go, or some-
Selected Potatoes,
thing. And I like being in the library to do stuff; I like
Wed 30, Komedia,
being in a public space.”
7.30pm, £12/10;
Before he was a comic poet and Perrier-nominated
I am a Poetato,
member of the 80s alternative-comedy scene, Hegley
Thurs 31, Ko-
‘did A-levels, worked as a bus conductor and then a
media, 1.30pm,
DSS clerk, and went to Bradford University,’ accord-
£8.50/£6.50
....
27....
l i t e r at u r e
..........................................
Gigs In Brighton...
Tony Parsons
Hip old gunslinger
Bitter ruin
Sunday 4th May
The Green Door Store
Bear’S den
Monday 12th May
“It was a shocking place to be, because the people
Concorde 2
there, they hadn’t just taken heroin at the weekend,
roBert FranCiS
they’d taken heroin with Keith Richards, and they
Monday 12th May
hadn’t just smoked dope at the weekend, they’d
The Hope
smoked dope with Bob Marley. You were suddenly
thrown into this world, and it was very much like
pure love
Tuesday 13th May
Alice stepping through the Looking Glass.”
The Haunt
So says Tony Parsons, of writing for the NME. He’d
the Wonder YearS
left school at 16 and done “low-paid, menial jobs for
The Haunt
five or six years”, dreaming of being a writer, and
to “the real flaw with the stuff I produced there. It
‘devouring’ the NME every week. He got a novel
wasn’t objective at all; these people were my friends
published, and sent it to the magazine when they
and the people I hung out with.
advertised for ‘hip young gunslingers’ to cover punk.
“I saw the first date of the Anarchy in the UK tour,
He and Julie Burchill were hired.
in Leeds. There’s no way that aged 22 I could go and
‘Soon enough they became an item, and their ro-
watch that and not be caught up in the excitement of
mance speedily turned into one of those classic “you
it. It was good at the time, and probably it wouldn’t
and me against the world” kamikaze affairs,’ NME
have worked so well if I’d been cool and objective
star Nick Kent writes. Though he didn’t personally
and mature and grown up and all that stuff.
recall this, Kent was told the couple once ‘decorated
Two musicians he was close to, Johnny Thunders
their combined desk space with barbed wire, dubbed
and Phil Lynott, were clearly destroying themselves
the area “the Kinderbunker” and then basically
with drugs, Parsons says. “I was aware at the time
declared war on the rest of the paper.’
that I wasn’t prepared to devote my life to this, there
“That sounds like the kind of thing we would have
was absolutely no way I was going to sacrifice myself
done,” Parsons tells me. “I don’t know that we de-
to some rock and roll lifestyle. It was great, I had a
clared war on the rest of the paper, and I can’t quite
fantastic time, but I never felt remotely nostalgic or
see how you’d get hold of barbed wire in SE1, but
sentimental about it, because it was also a very dark
our office was called the Kinderbunker, and we did
time. Not just musicians, but plenty of people on the
try to add a few interior design flourishes to it. It’s a
NME, were wrecking themselves with it. So I did it
slightly exaggerated version of the truth, I think.”
and enjoyed it, but was glad to see the back of it too.”
His three years at the NME “didn’t turn me into
Steve Ramsey
a writer. My great boast was really the access that
Tony Parsons discusses The Murder Bag, his first
I had. I was on intimate terms with a lot of people
crime novel, Sat 24, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre,
that the world was interested in.” This intimacy led
9pm, £10. (Brighton Festival)
Thursday 15th May
Charlie SimpSon
Saturday 17th May
Glynde Place
Concorde 2
Benjamin Booker
Sunday 18th May
The Green Door Store
thumperS
Wednesday 21st May
The Green Door Store
dean Wareham
Wednesday 21st May
The Prince Albert
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Wednesday 4th June
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....
29....
festival
..........................................
These New Puritans
More fun than the old ones?
“In France they find it impossible to pronounce,” says
‘the Field of Reeds’. This really struck me. I loved
Jack Barnett, of the name of his band, These New
the title and wrote it down. A place where things are
Puritans, chosen years ago when he was a teenager.
preserved, and normal life goes on forever. So it’s
“That one just stuck, but it was lots of things before.
about preserving things.”
For a while it was China Pig, named after a Captain
Barnett carries a notebook and a dictaphone around
Beefheart song, also for a while it was Kings in Yellow
with him to note down ‘musical ideas, phrases that
which refers to the book [by Robert W Chambers]
make sense, little drawings, lots of titles, dreams, that
which True Detective referenced... It’s funny because
kind of stuff.’ Dreams? “A few years ago I dreamt
after a while it almost disappears in your head and
several pieces of music in quick succession. I trained
it takes on its own kind of significance and… yeah.
myself to wake up and get to the dictaphone. And I’ve
Um… yeah.”
had dreams where I’ve got to the dictaphone, but I
This trailing off of sentences is a typical and rather
didn’t in real life.”
disarming conversational trait of Barnett, whose band,
As we speak, he’s trying to subdue the creative process
currently an eleven piece, are headlining the Great
you feel must constantly be churning in that mind
Escape, with a performance at the Dome which will
of his, so as to prepare properly for his tour. “I keep
be the last leg of their latest tour. “It will also be the
trying to stop myself from thinking of new pieces of
full stop for this version of the band and the full stop
music to give everything I’ve got to this bit of arrang-
for the Field of Reeds album, so it’ll be something of a
ing,” he says. He wants to ‘tap in a bit of good service
goodbye.”
to the Field of Dreams project’.” Then we’ve got a few
Field of Reeds is These New Puritans’ third album, a
things that we’re itching to do.”
remarkably haunting, unconventional affair, recorded
We get to talking about how his hard-to-access style
over twelve months in three different studios, and it’s
of music must necessarily limit his audience, and how
very much Barnett’s iconoclastic creativity that’s be-
the band needs international acclaim to make him
hind it. While we’re on nomenclature, I ask him how
any real money. “I’d never say no to riches,” he says,
revealing the band have quite a following in Spain
he named the album. “It comes from the Egyp-
and France. So how do the French
tian Book of the Dead,” he reveals. “I
pronounce the name of
went to the British Museum
Jake’s band?
Exhibition a few years
“Zis Noo Pruritans”, he
ago, [featuring] books
mimics, and chuckles
that individuals had
commissioned to
for the first time.
take to the after-
Then a pause.
life. And I saw
“Um... yeah”. AL
these incredible
9th May, Brighton
images of this
Dome, Great
paradise called
Escape Festival
....
31....
www.qsalesandlettings.co.uk
01273 622664
i n cov e r s at i o n
[email protected]
....................................
Viv Albertine
The Slit girl
“The 70s was a very violent time, actually,” says
Viv Albertine, former guitarist with female punk
band the Slits. “That obviously translated to gigs.
People, skinheads especially, would come and cause
Selling Homes With Style
problems. Almost every gig someone tried to pull
Ari [Up, lead singer] off stage, and we’d stop playing
and hit them with guitars.
“Quite often people were hauled out with blood on
their faces. Nowadays you’d be done for assault, but
Trading Standards
Approved Agent
Contact us to arrange a free, no obligation
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it was such a violent culture that you didn’t get sued
“It was about going against everything that had
or taken to court for defending yourself, or even
come before and saying: ‘We’re looking at this dif-
getting in a fight and smashing someone to pieces. It
ferently, we’re looking at the whole of our lives dif-
was just lawless then, compared to now. An ordinary
ferently. What we’ve been taught up till now; we’re
girly girl had the normal problems of sexual harass-
going to pull it apart and see what works and what
ment or rape or whatever, but if you looked a bit
doesn’t, and we’re not going to accept what we’ve
different you also had the problems of being beaten
been told anymore.’
up as if you were a boy, or stabbed. Ari was stabbed a
“The 70s - it’s hard to believe how bloody backwards
couple of times.”
it was then, and how men in bowler hats ruled the
And the band was gobbed at regularly. “It was hor-
world and you never would question a doctor or a
rible. The Pistols - John wouldn’t have it, he’d just
headmaster or a teacher, a dentist. Anyone male in
stop playing and walk off. We thought ‘no, we’re not
any position of authority would not be questioned.
going to do that’, because it’s different being girls;
“So for punks to even dare to get up on stage when
you mustn’t look like you’re having a tantrum and
they couldn’t really play; it was a huge mental leap,
storming off. We were doing so many things for the
to even imagine that you could be somewhere that
first time for girls… we thought we were break-
you weren’t allowed. As a woman it’s like saying:
ing new ground, and therefore we had to be very
‘We’re going to the moon, we’re going to take over
conscious of every response and decision we made.
this rocket and fly it’.
Punk was like that anyway: we scrutinised every little
“In my daughter’s school, the Slits are apparently
aspect of our lives.”
mentioned in history A-level as part of the feminist
So it’s a misconception that punks liked doing things
section, and in the music A-level syllabus as well.
recklessly, without thinking them through? “Totally.
I think that’s quite hilarious; that’s something we
It was very conscious. A lot of the ways of think-
never would have anticipated. I think the ripples
ing came from Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm
from what we’ve done are beginning to be noticed.”
McLaren, who were very thoughtful, well-educated
Viv Albertine, in conversation with Simon Price, Sun
and well-read people. It was very thought-about.
4, The Old Market, 4pm, £10 (Brighton Festival) JB
....
33....
Detail from Yinka Shonibare’s British Library (see overleaf)
.............................................................................................................
art
.................................
focus on:
British Library



 



 




by Yinka Shonibare, MBE
What, exactly, is ‘British Library’? It’s a site-
debate about immigration which goes further than
specific conceptual installation in the old reference
the restrained debate that takes place on the radio
library of Brighton Museum. There’ll be between
or in publications. I want to make people who
15,000 and 17,000 books covered by African-style
oppose immigration think about why they oppose
fabric with real names of immigrants to this coun-
it, and people who support it, why they support it.
try [and their offspring] written on their spines.
As an artist I can’t say I am for or against as I see
Names like Helen Mirren and Mick Jagger.
everything relatively.
Helen Mirren and Mick Jagger? Immigration
You were honoured in 2010 with an MBE.
isn’t as simple as it seems. Helen Mirren is of Rus-
Why do you use that at the end of your profes-
sian ancestry. Mick Jagger’s mother is Australian.
sional title? Using the title shows the conflict
You were born in London and spent much of
within me: I am a rebel, but I want to be a rebel
your childhood in Nigeria, where your parents
from within. I want to be subversive but I want to
were from... I have a mixed ancestry, an ‘isolated
be accepted.
identity’ like many people here. A lot of my work
Has your disability affected the way you work?
is about questioning fixed ideas about identity,
[Yinka suffers from transverse myelitis and one
exploring the eclectic nature of identity in the
side of his body is paralysed]. My art is an exten-
21st century. People travel a lot; their parents
sion of myself. The concept is just the start of
might come from a different part of the world
it. Even though other people perform a lot of
though they live in London; they may indeed be
the craftsmanship, this doesn’t change the ethics
indigenous British but they have interest in other
behind the work. I always look for the best people
cultures, even if it’s just when they eat a curry.
to do things, and I don’t accept work that is badly
The African-style fabric you’ve used is com-
made. An architect might not do his own plaster-
mon to your work, isn’t it? It is. It is often used
ing but it doesn’t stop him from being proud of his

in Africa but is in fact Indonesian influenced and
walls when the building is completed.
industrially produced by the Dutch and in English
Your Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle was on the Fourth


factories. For me the fabric is a metaphor for the
Plinth recently. What do you think of the
complexity of globalisation. I like playing with
plinth as a showcase? It is revolutionary. It pro-
perception, and perceptions are often contradicted
vides art for the people; art which everybody has
by reality when you look into matters.
an opinion of, including those who would never go
What sort of reaction are you hoping for, to
inside the Tate. Alex Leith
the work? I hope it will create a platform for
Sat 3 – Sun 25 May, Brighton Museum



....
37....
art
.........................
focus on:
Sally Kindberg
Camembert
What made you do oil paintings of fifteen dif-
work? Bucketloads of them! I’m fascinated by the
ferent cheeses? I started painting cheese as a side
viewer and what connections they make with the
project, while thinking about other ideas. I love
work, because every person sees something dif-
cheese, and I eat a lot of cheese, and the more
ferent. For example some people say my work is
I painted the more I became obsessed because
dark, but I don’t see that, I think of them as funny
cheese has so many qualities: when I think of
crazy. I think the darkness is coming from inside
cheese I think of texture, reflection, shape, all
the viewer.
sorts of things. Cheese has a mysterious quality
Do you ever watch people watching your
about it.
work? Absolutely, and I like to do this incognito.
Each cheese is like a different personality? Yes,
I find their behaviour fascinating, whether they
and so each of my paintings becomes a portrait.
spend ages in front of a painting trying to work it
I’m actually currently painting a series of charac-
out, or whether they spend ages on someone else’s
ters with interesting hairdos and faces of cheese,
next to mine then pass mine by without giving it a
but that’s a different project.
second glance.
The cheese paintings seem fairly representa-
What’s your favourite cheese? In Sweden we
tional, but looking through your website a lot
have a cheese called Heer Gards Ost cheese. It’s
of your work has surreal elements to it. Mag-
like a hard Swiss cheese. It is important in Sweden
ritte is definitely one of my favourite artists and
to slice such cheese with a cheese slicer. Of the
he makes a lot of word associations, which I find
English cheeses my favourite was the Lancashire
very interesting, because I do too. I like to play
bomb, which comes in a kind of black casing. I
with words and alliterations and the differences
ate it with my father, drinking champagne, it was
between the two languages I speak.
delicious.
Give me an example… It’s funny, in England
Take me to see a painting in a gallery... I’d take
when you want people to smile in a portrait you
you straight to the National to see Velazquez’
say ‘say cheese’. In Swedish the word for cheese is
Christ in the House of Margaret and Mary. I can’t
‘ost’ which we pronounce ‘oost’ so if you said ‘say
wait until they put a David Shrigley sculpture on
oost’ to people, their faces would look like bird
the Fouth Plinth. AG
houses. So we say ‘smile’, in English.
Sally’s paintings will be on show in the Tichbourne
Are there subconscious elements to your
Gallery from May 3rd
....
39....
food
food
...........................................
.......................................
Curry Leaf Café
Little Fish Market
Great food, well lit
Indian Restaurant
‘The food of India
not justchaulas
Indian food’
2-3 Little East Street
Brighton
BN1 1HT
01273771661
Eastgate House
6 Eastgate Street
Lewes
BN7 2LP
01273 476707
Website: www.chaulas.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
Succulent pollock, perfectly cooked
leaves, mustard seeds, and a
Here’s the backstory of Curry
ventional curry experience as our
Leaf Café. A Scottish guy splits
super-pleasant and authentically
up with his girlfriend, and finds
South Indian waiter brings us
an Indian flatmate on Gum-
dish after dish, each of them
tree. They discover a shared
accompanied by an interesting
obsession with food and spend
array of sauces and chutneys in
much of their free time watching
little silver pots, the memory of
Masterchef and experimenting in
which will certainly be luring me
the kitchen. Soon they decide to
this way again.
go into business together. The
We order three starters to follow
result: Curry Leaf Café, a South-
the poppadoms, and a main each,
Indian-style restaurant/café with
and we’re both happy to mix and
an extensive range of interna-
match so that makes a total of six
tamarind-and-tomato sauce, and
tional craft beers on offer.
different taste experiences. This
served in an earthenware dish on
I miss the press launch (a col-
washed down with interesting
a plate otherwise containing a
league went, and told me that
ale: though starting with a 6.3%
neat pile of rice, and a pot full of
story) so, in the spirit of this
Brooklyn Indian Pale Ale might
coconut chutney. Antonia goes
magazine’s policy of exploring
be a mistake as its strong hoppy
for my gut choice – she gets in
what’s new in town, I go with my
taste rather competes with the
first – a Keralan pork curry, with
girlfriend, Antonia, a week later,
subtlety of the food on offer.
a ginger chutney.
having booked for 8pm on a
Our starters consist of little
It’s all very delicious, and all very
Saturday night. We’re shown to
potato balls, lamb kebabs and
different from the traditional
a table on the mezzanine level of
pan-fried fishcakes, all of which
cook-it-by-numbers High Street
the place, overlooking the other
are tasty, but as I said earlier the
curryhouse experience and, at
tables, about a third of which –
real stars of the show are the
£56 the lot, reasonably priced,
early days, remember – are full.
imaginative accompaniments,
too. It’s certainly going to give
First impressions: the lighting
including tamarind chutney,
nearby Indian Summer, who
is far too bright; I’m not sure
pickled ginger dip, and beetroot
have similar serve-it-authentic
about choosing orange as a
chutney. We’re told these are all
values, a real run for their
major part of the colour scheme;
home-made with fresh ingredi-
money. But, guys, I know you’re
I’m not a fan of tinkly Indian lift
ents, and you can taste it.
open from midday and want to
music, but is an indie album ap-
Having ordered a more neutral-
give off a café-like atmosphere
propriate? Second impressions:
tasting beer – a 5% Czech
(there’s also a ‘street food’ menu
Hey, those poppadoms look
pilsner – I embark on my main, a
for lunchtimes) but dim the
interesting...
‘Nellore Chapala Pulusu’ or sea
lights a bit at night, would you?
What follows feels much more
bream fillet-based fish stew, sour
Alex Leith
like a taster menu than a con-
and spicy, flavoured with curry
60 Ship Street, 01273 207070
.. .. .. ..
34 51 .. .. .. ..
For all your
Embroidery & Printed
Workwear, Sportswear &
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Great Quality and Great Prices
Call 01273 646680
BLONDE BEER
The Creperie
Every day is pancake day
I arrange to meet my lunch date, Viva ad manager
Nick, outside The Creperie, on the sea-end of Ship
Street in Brighton, at 12.15pm, ‘to avoid the rush’.
When we get there, on a cold, rainy Tuesday late in
March we realise there was no rush. There’s a downstairs section I hadn’t noticed on their website, and
we’ve pretty much got the whole place to ourselves.
There’s a 50s Scandi look about the place, with
sanded wooden panels brightened up by orange-
Brewed with the aptly named ‘Sussex Hop’ - originally
discovered growing wild in a hedgerow in Sussex but now
cultivated as a variety in its own right. It is supplemented
with Cascade hops grown in the UK.
painted metal fittings, and wallpaper decorated with
neat images of pre-blender cooking utensils. We try
out three tables for size, but find that none of them
comfortably accommodates two six-foot-plus men.
I go for the ‘mushroom medley’ [£5.95] and Nick
Beautifully balanced but a bit on the wild side ‘Sussex Born and Bred!’
tries the ‘galette du maison’ [£6.95]. The French
waitress gives me the option of having the roast
vegetable part of my Mediterranean side salad warm,
and when I say ‘yes’ she seems genuinely excited.
We mix and match our pancakes, and both agree
that the mushroom one is better. Crêpes being
crêpes, they are over in seconds. It actually takes
me a lot longer to eat my side salad; thankfully they
throw in a little ramikin of coleslaw, too.
I bet The Creperie does well: being positioned
where it is it’ll drag in tourists looking for a quick
lunch fix, and they do take-aways too, which should
fly out. It’s a bit too heavy on the chic minimalism
and light on portion size to count on me as a regular,
though. Tant pis. Alex Leith
....
43....
BYO... cocktail
Speakeasy-style den
WEDDINGS / RESTAURANT / BEDROOMS / MEETINGS
An unexpected call from a PR company in London:
are you free tomorrow night? Do you want to try out
a speakeasy-type cocktail bar? Tell me more, I say.
It’s called BYOC, apparently, for ‘bring your own
cocktail’ and you have to take a bottle of spirits to
their location in a windowless cellar-type room in
the Lanes, and their specialist mixologist will turn it,
with the benefit of his flair, panache and wide range
bottle of brandy and Joseph does his thing, and
of mixers, into cocktails. Normal cost? £20 a head,
pretty soon we’re drinking smashing cocktails using
for two hours, plus the booze.
all sorts of ingredients including fresh ginger, and
24 hours later and I’m knocking on the door of the
various herbs that he’s turned into cocktail bitters by
Juice Bar in Meeting House Lane with a bottle in my
infusing them in alcohol for long periods of time.
hand. A girl appears, ushers me through the shop,
It’s a Thursday night, and there are some other
and down a couple of stairs, and I’m introduced to
journalists there and we have a bit of their vodka and
Joseph, a confident young man in a white shirt stand-
they have a bit of our tequila and pretty soon we’re
ing in front of a bar full of glass jars. “What did you
all pretty sloshed and Joseph tells us that it’s heaving
bring,” he asks. “Oh... cherry brandy.”
at the weekend, but they’re trying to increase their
He sends his assistant out for real spirits, and she
trade in midweek. A great idea: I’ll be back, next time
comes back with a half bottle of tequila and a quarter
with gin. AG BYOC, 41, Meeting House Lane
Come and visit us for our delicious
lunch and early evening set menu.
£15 for 2 courses ~ 12.oo to 15.00 and 17.30 to 19.00 ~ Monday to Friday.
We also serve: great afternoon teas; a more elaborate restaurant menu for the full
dining experience; and the Gallery menu of simple and classic bar food.
To book,
please contact
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Pelham House:
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p:
@pelhamhouse.com
....
45....
interview
..........................................
Hofesh Shechter
Dancing in the dark
“Hello, Shechter?” I blurt, when a voice answers
engaging, really crazy, really sexy. It can be so
the phone. “I mean... hello, Hofesh?”
many different things and it’s always surprising.”
It’s a daft mistake, mixing up the guy’s surname
In one interview with Hofesh I read before our
and first name, but in my defence, I hadn’t heard
chat, in the Guardian, he is quoted as saying that
of him until I was told he was to be the latest guest
contemporary dance is ‘boring’; I ask if he feels he
director of the Brighton Festival... had you?
was misquoted. “It was taken out of context,” he
And the internet hasn’t been that helpful when
says. “My point was that there is a lot of contem-
it comes to researching him. Even though the
porary dance out there that I find boring. A lot
Jerusalem-born choreographer has been based in
of choreographers were no longer interested in
Brighton for some years – his company was for
actually communicating or engaging with the
some time artist-in-residence at Brighton Dome -
audience but only in indulging themselves, so the
the only Wiki entry I can find for him is in French.
whole ceremony of spectacle and performance and
After big-name appointments like Anish Kapoor,
exchange and sharing sometimes felt pointless and
Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Rosen and Brian Eno,
boring... My approach to art in general is that it’s
I suggest that it was a bold move on the part of the
a form of communication and therefore it’s not
Brighton Festival administration to have chosen
a rude thing or a bad thing to be aware of your
val started to present itself,” he says. “What we
work: between making his living as a dancer and
someone so... so anti-mainstream as him. “I think
audience and to be trying to share the experience
realised is that I like underdogs... people who are
taking up choreography, he studied percussion,
contemporary dance is a bit of an underground
with them. So, you know, they took all that and put
a little bit rough and a little bit broken and there
and this, he says, is very evident in his style. “I
culture,” he says. “And I think Brighton Festival
it into one sentence.”
is a sense of displacement.” Some of the artists
wanted to go back to the basics of music – to
were looking to do something a little bit different.
I ask him if he sees the Festival as an opportunity
on that list – such as William Forsythe, Wim
timing, and energy. It’s a very rhythmic experi-
They wanted something that was unpredictable
to get more people to appreciate the genre. “I
Vanderkeybus, Dmitri Krymov and Zimoun –
ence. I breathe with it.”
and exciting and these are qualities of contem-
don’t see myself as some sort of an ambassador
have made it onto the schedule. Others proved
I tell him I suspect that Sun isn’t as sunny a work
porary dance. When [Festival Director] Andrew
with a mission to convert people,” he says. “My
impossible to get, including Tom Waits. “He
as the name might suggest. “Absolutely not,” he
Comben asked me if I would consider it, a couple
life mission is to create art from my experiences...
said he doesn’t like Festivals,” explains Hofesh.
says. “But it is fine with me if someone walks
of years ago, I jumped at the chance, because I
if anyone gets to appreciate contemporary dance
We get to talking about cultural identity, and hit
in with that feeling because they will only be
hoped that we could give the Festival that atmos-
because of that, then that is a good bi-product.”
emotive territory. “The question of identity is
punched harder. Sun is very beautiful visually,
phere of the unpredictable.”
I don’t know how involved most guest directors
pretty hot in Israel,” he says, revealing that two
full of colours, full of light but it’s dealing with
“I think when people fall in love with contempo-
are with the themes and content of the festival,
of his grandparents were from Germany, one
something dark and horrible, that we’re all
rary dance they really feel that they have a dirty
but it sounds like Hofesh has been hard at work
from the Ukraine and one from Romania. “You
complicit in... the futility of our social structures;
secret,” he says, when we get to talking about how
for some time. The first thing he did was to write
try to understand who you are and where you
the patheticness of our actions. There is a lot of
few people are into the scene, compared with
down a list, across a number of art forms, of
are from and you realise that it’s just a mess.”
darkness and a lot of humour and the humour
other art forms. “They might be working in an
performers and artists that interested him, then he
He says that his struggle with the issue has
only makes the darkness more dark.” Alex Leith
office in the day but in the evening they are watch-
discussed the contents with Andrew Comben and
been translated ‘into the emotional terrain’ of
Hofesh Schecter Co perform Sun at Brighton
ing something which can be really exciting, really
the team. “Gradually the atmosphere of the Festi-
his work. His latest piece, Sun, is typical of his
Dome on Sat 3 - Sun 4 May (Brighton Festival)
....
46....
Photo by Victor Frankowski
....
47....
shouted word
..........................................
Attila the Stockbroker
“Perceptive... and puerile”
“It was a deliberate
“That doesn’t mean in
choice. I went into
the slightest that I’ve
stockbroking like
mellowed or become
Kim Philby went
less angry, or less com-
into MI6,” says John
mitted to my politics.
Baine, aka Attila the
“I write what I feel,
Stockbroker, of his
and a lot of what I
11 months working
feel now has got to do
as a translator at a
with my family, with
stockbroking firm.
personal issues, as
“I’ve been an active,
well as with the great
conscious Marxist since I was about 16. I thought:
political issues. That’s good; I want to be a rounded
‘I’m talking about all this stuff, let’s actually go and
person, and to some degree in earlier times I prob-
see how it works.’ It was disgusting.”
ably wasn’t. I was identified as a loud, rude, angry,
Baine calls himself “a Marxist-Leninist-surrealist
stroppy, confrontational, ranting poet, and that’s
ranting and yet very intense people-loving family-
exactly what I was, and to a very large degree still
oriented performance poet”. A Southwick resident,
am, but there’s a whole lot of other stuff in there as
he’s following a “beer and cycling” diet, and cycled
well, which is really important.
to our interview at the Evening Star in Brighton,
“One of the reasons I’ve never got more famous - I
where he drank three pints and talked articulately
don’t give a fuck about it, and I really mean that - is
and relentlessly.
that you’re supposed to fit into boxes; to be a come-
Aged nine, Baine and a friend wrote a rock opera,
dian, or a serious commentator, or whatever. I will,
which “was considered at the time to be a work of
immediately after the poem about my mother, do a
genius by nine year olds. Actually it was a pile of
poem which has got about 17 knob-cheese gags in
wank, but fairly ambitious wank, given our age.”
it. I do that quite deliberately, because I don’t want
His father died of a brain tumour when Baine was
ever to be pigeonholed about anything.
10. Obeying “my father’s dying wish,” he went to
“Someone said to me: ‘How can you be so percep-
boarding school. “I can’t begin to describe what
tive and so puerile in the same hour and a half?’
it’s like to watch your dad die in front of you and
Because that’s me. I’m fired up about the world, I’m
then a few months later being ripped away from
so angry about the injustices that are happening,
everything you know and being sent to a ridiculous
I’m so full of love and commitment and wonderful
place where people dressed in frocks.”
memories of my mum, and I love a good knob gag,
He started performing as Attila in 1980. Though
and you’re going to get the lot, there’s no way that’s
known for his political poetry, Baine has recently
ever going to change. That’s me.” Joanna Baumann
been writing more personal pieces, including one
Attila the Stockbroker: Local and Vocal, Mon 19,
about his mother’s six-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
Komedia Studio, 8pm, £10
....
49....
the lowdown on...
..........................................
Hitmen
Prof David Wilson, criminologist
I think the media often presents the hitman in a
to hit. A number of hitmen left their fingerprints at
very fetishized and sexual way. They wear gloves
the scene of the crime. One hitman started to talk
and a suit; they seem incredibly professional. But
to the person he was supposed to kill, and she was
this image of competence is quite different to the
able to talk him out of it.
often incompetent British hitman in reality.
Two hitmen, working as a pair, did get access to
We found four different types of hitmen. The
firearms, which jammed; they didn’t know how to
Novice, who’s committing a hit for the first time,
use them. The people that they were supposed to
but who comes from an offending background, a
kill overpowered them and took the firearms away
criminal lifestyle. The Dilettante, who’s also doing a
from them, and then shot them.
hit for the first time, but who doesn’t seem to come
Is their incompetence reassuring? Absolutely.
from an offending background. Then we identi-
Though it is ultimately depressing that somebody
fied the Journeyman, who has committed several
as young as 15 could be commissioned to commit
hits, but has managed to evade capture, though he
a hit, and for as little as £200 - with which, by the
will tend to kill within a limited geographical area.
way, he bought a fake Gucci hat.
Finally, we identified the Master Hitman, who has
The popular image of contract killing is that
not been caught within our sample. They tend to
it takes place in smoky bars or casinos in an
enter into the area, commit the hit, and then leave
underworld. Whereas when we looked at where
the area - thus there’s no local intelligence which is
these hits were taking place, it was in the suburban
going to bring the hitman to justice.
overworld, often when people were walking their
The Dilettante was often committing a hit be-
dog, or going shopping, returning home from hav-
cause they had reached some kind of personal
ing had a meal, from being at the gym.
crisis, often financial. It was almost as if they had
We didn’t uncover many of the people who’d
fallen into doing this, had gone down the pub, said
commissioned the hits, so it would be difficult
they were in financial difficulties, and somebody
to say too much about what might have motivated
said: ‘Well I’ll give you three grand if you kill my
them. But the motivations aren’t about state secu-
wife, or my business partner’.
rity, or multinational corporations ensuring that
The Dilettantes often couldn’t get access to
they’ve got control of a market. It’s about people
firearms. Therefore they tried to commit their hits
falling out with one another. As told to JB
by strangulation, or by stabbing. That involved be-
The British Hitman 1970-2014, Wed 28, Asa Briggs
ing up much closer to the person they were going
Lecture Theatre, Sussex University, 6pm, free
....
51....
football
...........................................
Jimmy
Melia
So near but yet so far
He is most famous for leading
pointed Brighton’s chief scout,
Brighton to Wembley in 1983.
having learned his trade as coach
Now aged 76, the ebullient Jimmy
and manager with Aldershot,
Melia coaches at youth level with
Crewe and Southport, as well as
Liverpool FC America.
posts in the Middle East and USA.
When we spoke, Jimmy was in
He got his big chance when Mike
Merseyside with eight coaches
Bailey left in December 1982.
to study Liverpool’s first team
George Aitken and Jimmy Melia
in training, chat with manager
had a heartwarming start as joint
ing all the supporters at Wembley
Brendan Rogers, and catch the
acting managers. It came in a pul-
was tremendous. We should have
Reds’ enthralling 3-2 victory over
sating 3-0 victory over Norwich.
won the Final. Gordon Smith
Manchester City.
Jimmy said: “I switched Jimmy
had the opportunity and Bailey
Aged 18, Jimmy’s Liverpool debut
Case from winger to centre-
saved it.”
against Nottingham Forest came
midfield which made a huge dif-
Jimmy laments the exodus of play-
way back in December 1955. The
ference. We played a lot of terrific,
ers following relegation in 1983:
inside-forward even got on the
passing football, particularly in
“It’s a pity we didn’t stabilise and
scoresheet: “We’ve just been on
in the FA Cup. We went on this
leave things alone for about three
the pitch. I told the coaches: ‘This
run. It created a big buzz in the
years because I could have built
is the spot where I scored my first
town. Having been at Liverpool
the club up.” As it was, a conflict
goal.’ From a Billy Liddell cross, I
for so very long, beating them at
with new coach Chris Cattlin led
crashed it in with my left foot.”
Anfield was wonderful.”
to the Liverpudlian resigning.
Melia’s scheming play helped Bill
On the final whistle, you seemed
Not that Melia was gone for long.
Shankly’s side win the Second
to be telling your players to go
In Cattlin’s first match in charge,
Division championship in 1962
towards the Kop before changing
with Sheffield Wednesday in Oc-
and then the First Division in
your mind. What was all that
tober 1983, Jimmy made a bizarre
1964. He also featured twice
about? “I didn’t know who I was!
appearance in the North Terrace,
for Alf Ramsey in 1963, scoring
I was so delighted at winning
carried by supporters chanting:
in England’s 8-1 demolition of
there that I thought I was back as
‘Melia in, Bamber out!’
Switzerland. Other renowned
a Liverpool player! Normally they
He says: “I was at home. I thought
managers the future Brighton
applaud a team that has managed
I can’t be here doing nothing. I
boss played for include Stan Cullis
to win there. I wasn’t trying to do
thought I’d go to the Goldstone
at Wolves and Ted Bates at South-
anything untoward.”
and just watch the game and
ampton. Could their influence
After overcoming Norwich in
no one would know! Everyone
have inspired Jimmy to succeed in
a nerve-racking Quarter-Final,
started looking at where I was,
management?
Brighton beat Sheffield Wednes-
and not watching the game!
In April 1980, Jimmy was ap-
day to progress to the Final: “See-
Kuen-Wah Cheung
....
53....
A wonderful South
Downs walk to a great
Lewes pub!
Ditchling Beacon to Lewes
is only 5.5 miles,
where you can
enjoy a relaxed
drink or
meal at the
Pelham
Arms.
w e t r y o u t. . .
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Ditchling
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Old Steine,
Brighton
The Pelham Arms,
High Street, Lewes,
East Sussex, BN7 1XL.
Tel: 01273 476149
www.thepelhamarms.co.uk
Runner up in the 10th Observer Food Monthly Award.
For more information on how to get to us see our website.
The naked and the ed
I am among the last to arrive at Jake Spicer’s
has a unintentional cartoonish quality to it and
Wednesday night life drawing session, and the small
looks more like Cher than Michela. When the tea
room, built as an office but looking every bit like
break is called – how quickly an hour and a half has
a bohemian atelier, is full of eager-looking artists,
passed – I’m disappointed, because I feel that I’m
sat on folding chairs, or stood at easels, waiting for
learning fast.
the object of their artistic scrutiny tonight (a young
Having three quarters of an hour really gives me
model who turns out to be called Michela) to take
time to get into trying to capture Michela’s last
off her dressing gown.
pose with the 3B pencil I’ve opted to use. I start
Jake runs Draw Brighton, offering classes and
with her feet and by the time I get to the crown of
courses and £8 drop-in evenings like tonight where
her head I realise I’ve made the school-
all ages and abilities are welcome. About three
boy error of not allowing enough
quarters of those there are in their twenties, though
room, so I have to cut her off from
there are a couple of grey tops too.
the forehead up. In a way it’s just as
I grab some pencils and a board, find a chair to
well, as it takes the eye away from
the left of Michela, and wait. Jake announces that
her eyes: why are faces so hard to
she’s going to do a series of four three-minute
capture?
poses, then two twenty-minute ones, then there’ll
No matter. I can see a whole
be a coffee break, then finally there’ll be a long,
lot of problems with the end
45-minute pose. Michela disrobes.
result (nobody’s going to
It doesn’t take long to get over the fact that I am
recognise Michela from my
being encouraged to take in and record every detail
rendition of her, right) but I
of a naked stranger. Michela eases herself into a
can see some positives, too,
number of poses, and soon it all becomes about
and afterwards I’m offered
trying to capture the different shapes that are cre-
another tip from Jake, name-
ated, and the different shadows that are thrown by
ly: ‘smudging is all very well
them, in my amateurish, utterly rusty hand. I was
as a shading device. But my
fairly ‘good at art’ at school, but never took it up in
advice is ‘don’t.’ ‘Next time,
a meaningful way as an adult.
I won’t,’ I say, and realise I
It’s a crowded class tonight and it’s hard for Jake to
might just be hooked.
get round everyone, but during the first twenty-
Drop-in Life Drawing Class-
minute pose he’s by my side, offering advice:
es, Level 5, New England
namely to trust my instinct and try to draw surer
House, 7.30-10pm. Jake will
lines, rather than using myriad tentative strokes.
also be offering life drawing
My first twenty-minute drawing is a disaster, my
classes in the Spiegeltent
second, post advice, I’m pleased with, though it
during Fringe. AL
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w e t r y o u t. . .
...................................
Pottery
Joanna Baumann’s all thumbs
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just a jewellers . . .
a unique shopping experience.
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It’s probably lucky the editor turned down my sug-
thumb in the middle and burrow down, then drag the
gestion of ‘Acting and Creating a Character’ when we
thumb from the centre outwards till it starts looking
were browsing the list of Fringe workshops looking
pot-like, and delicately pull its sides upwards.
for a ‘We try out’ idea. I hated drama lessons at school,
There are a few ways you can mess up: failing to get
and became known for always killing off my character
the pot centred, or putting your thumb all the way
at the first possible opportunity; ie, within five seconds
through the base, for example. I seemingly avoid both
of the scene starting. ‘Creative Sewing’ was another
of these, though at one point I demonstrate impres-
option, but during school sewing lessons, my creativity
sive incompetence by shoving my blob till it comes
stretched to impaling my finger on the machine. How
unstuck from the wheel.
about ‘Learn to throw a pot’?
The most precarious stage is the forming of the walls;
The Painting Pottery Café in North Road does, of
the clay is so thin and fluid it feels like the slight-
course, do pottery-painting sessions. But also, down-
est jolt would bring the whole structure down. This
stairs, a professional potter called Kate runs these
thankfully doesn’t happen to me, and my two finished
taster classes, and a regular evening course.
pots actually look surprisingly nice, largely thanks to
Kate begins by making a pot herself, while talking
Kate, who stepped in at key moments to prevent mis-
us through the process. She says it’s easy, and makes
takes. My second pot ends up a bit wonky; thankfully
it look that way, but does admit later that even she
I had the sense to stop while it was still upright, rather
messes up occasionally: “I just squash them quickly
than risk trying to correct it.
and move on.”
Once finished, we detach the pots from the wheel by
There are two pottery wheels for four students. A
‘floating’. Delicate as this sounds, it actually involves
motorbike mechanic with a whole-forearm tattoo,
wrapping cheese-wire round your hands and garrot-
who laughingly says he’s never done anything like this
ting the base of the pot.
before, volunteers to go first, as does the woman he’s
I enjoyed the lesson, and in about two weeks’ time,
come with, seemingly on a date. He’s much better at it
apparently, I can collect the dried and kilned pots.
than her, probably to both of their disappointment.
As Kate says: “There’s no reason why a wonky pot
They make two each, and then it’s my turn. Hav-
wouldn’t work. But it’s very much about enjoying the
ing stuck the fist-sized blob of clay to the wheel, the
process. It’s incredibly relaxing, and therapeutic.”
process is to push it quite forcefully downwards and
The Painting Pottery Café runs several taster sessions
towards the centre of the wheel, to make sure it’s
on Sat 10-Sun 11 and Sat 17-Sun 18. Contact 01273
perfectly central, and stuck on properly. Next, stick a
628952 or [email protected]
....
57....
JUDGE US BY
WHAT WE DO.
bricks and mortar
...........................................
Pop-up Theatre of Dreams
The ‘Moulin Rouge’ Spiegeltent returns to town
When it comes to
4000 component parts,
tracing the history of
shipped around the world
spiegeltents, a great
in containers. It takes
deal of myth gets
four staff a day to put
woven into the story,
up, and to take down the
but if you believe the
tent. Most performances
hype we’re very lucky
take place, circus-like,
the ‘Moulin Rouge’,
in the centre of the tent,
originally constructed
with the audience sitting
round, though there is
in 1910, is still in
CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION AND RESTORATION.
Nutshell
www.nutshellconstruction.com
Middle Yard Barn, Lambleys Lane, Sompting,West Sussex, BN14 9JX
Telephone: 01903 217 900 Telephone: 01273 622 191
email: [email protected]
Nutshell Construction
existence at all. The Nazis, it seems, in retribution
a front stage, too. The structure of the place – all
for an act of sabotage by the Belgian resistance in
wooden floorboards and red-velveteen and brocade
WW2, built a bonfire of its wooden components
interiors, with gas-lit private booths, lends itself to
and set them alight.
the world of cabaret and burlesque.
There are about 100 spiegeltents – or travelling
Remarkably, the Moulin Rouge (as well as seven
pop-up cabaret theatres – in the world and most
sister tents with names like Le Palais Nostalgique
of them travel around the world to festivals and
and Tivoli) is still run by the same family – the
fairs in what the promoters liken to a ‘global game
Klessens – that originally built it. Willem Klessens
of chess’. The Moulin Rouge, coming to Brighton
was an organ-playing carpenter who played at fairs
Fringe for a second year running, is one of the few
in a much smaller tent he had bought as a job lot
originals, which used to tour the pre-WW1 fields
when he purchased his instrument; his act became
of Flanders to provide entertainment spaces during
so successful he decided to build a much bigger
town and village festivals. Though, it appears, not
portable performance space, and the notion of the
many of the component parts will have survived –
spiegeltent was born. His son Gust carried on the
such structures require a great deal of year-on-year
business and it is now run by a third and fourth
maintenance. The tent used in Brighton Fringe
generation, namely Willem and Johnny Klessens.
between 2004 and 2007, by the way, was a different
As you enter the tent, you might recognise who the
one, ‘The Famous Spiegeltent’, another original.
portrait of the burlesque dancer to the left of the
‘Spiegeltent’ is Flemish for ‘mirror tent’ as the
door represents – it’s Nicole Kidman, in her role
interior is lined with mirrors and stained glass,
as Satine in the musical Moulin Rouge. The latest
apparently so that amorous audience members
major refurbishment of the structure took place
can cast discreet glances at one another during the
before a glamorous assignment for the Moulin
performances. Here are some specs: it’s 29 feet
Rouge in 2001. It was used for a private party for
tall, 211 feet in circumference, it holds an average
the cast of Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-winning movie
audience of 300, plus cast. The tent is made up of
at the Cannes Festival. AG
....
59....
Trade Secrets
...................................
David Samuel
Organiser of Paddle Round The Pier
and Brighton Big Balls
Describe the business. I set up David Samuel Associates three years ago to run events in Brighton,
but I’ve been active in the city since 1996 when I put
on the first Paddle Round The Pier. The aim of the
event was to raise awareness of the increasing problem of sewage in the seas through the environmental
action group ‘Surfers Against Sewage’, and to create a
social gathering for water sports enthusiasts. Over the
years, it’s organically grown into a large celebration
it started last year, and is a fundraiser for Cancer Re-
of the sea and beach life.
search, specifically male cancers such as prostate and
Where are you based? My office is in Southwick
testicular cancer. It came about after I had a cancer
but my meetings are in the best coffee shops in town.
scare myself. It turned out to be nothing but got me
What is your role? It’s my job to come up with new
thinking about raising awareness. In the end, I opted
event ideas, and to implement them, of course. I’m
for silliness…
the only full-time employee, but I also have many
How does the event work? Participants have to
dedicated volunteers, and a small, highly skilled team
carry two large red balls on a 3km course from Hove
who are there to help out with key events. They even
Lagoon to the King Alfred’s and back. Along the way
get paid occasionally!
are obstacles to overcome, as well as comedy ninjas
How has Paddle Round The Pier grown? From
trying to knock the balls out of your hands. Many of
70 people in 1996, to a weekend long event visited by
the obstacles are sponsored – one by Brewers involv-
over 55,000 people in 2013. I’m incredibly proud of
ing wallpaper paste and feathers, another by City
its place on the Brighton calendar of events.
Cabs requiring you to climb through a taxi. It’s a fun
So you’ve witnessed the sad decline of the West
event for a serious cause.
Pier? We have, but despite its current state, it’s still
Is it too late to enter? No, but the sooner you enter,
an iconic symbol of the city and we will continue to
via brightonbigballs.com the better. This year it takes
hold the festival around it regardless of how much of
place on May 11th and starts at 9am.
it remains standing.
What’s the best thing about being in Brighton?
What other projects are you involved with? I
I’ve lived and worked all over the world, working in
organised the recent Sports Relief activity for the
ballet, theatre, radio and production, but I’m always
Brighton & Hove Council, handled the funding for
happiest back home. You’re allowed to be yourself
the skate park development on the Level and also
here - whatever that may be.
help set up and run the Brighton Surf Lifesaving club
Interview by Nick Williams.
to train Lifeguards. We currently have 35 nippers and
You can find out more about David Samuel
25 juniors in the scheme.
Associates, by visiting the website at
And it’s the Brighton Big Balls event in May? Yes,
davidsamuelassociates.com
....
61....
DIRECTORY
Brighton
Business Extra
Three Brighton Business Networking Opportunities in May
May is Festival time of course, but alongside the
lively event, with plenty of time to network before
hundreds of potential nights out, there’s also plenty
during and after breakfast. Costs £16.
of opportunity to network for new business to pay for
For details of both these opportunities, and all other
them all. We’ve selected three of them. The first two
Chamber events and how to book, visit businessin-
are organised by the Brighton & Hove Chamber of
brighton.org.uk.
Commerce:
15 May – Let’s Do Business. If you prefer a larger-
2 May Chamber Brunch at Terre a Terre. As well as
scale event, the folks from Let’s Do Business are
eating in one of the most stylish restaurants in the city,
returning to Brighton Racecourse on Thursday 15th
you also get to network with around 100 of Brighton’s
May with their B2B exhibition. It’s the fifth year run-
business people, whilst also hearing all about how you
ning for the event, and the organisers have announced
could get involved with the annual Brighton & Hove
that there will be in excess of 125 exhibitors and in the
Business Awards (BHABA’s). Costs £16.
region of 1000 business owners to mingle with. Admis-
23 May Chamber Breakfast. This one is held at Car-
sion is free, but if you want to register in advance to
luccios and the guest speaker is Richard from National
take advantage of fast track entry, you can do so by
Community Wood Recycling Project. It’s usually a
visiting letsdobusiness.org
Please note that though we aim to only take advertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee
the quality of any work undertaken, and accept no responsibility or liability for any issues arising.
To advertise in Viva Brighton please call Nick on 01273 434567 or email [email protected]
Cranial and
PaediatriC OsteOPathy
vivabrighton
magazine
simon Murray
vertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee
no responsibility or liability for any issues arising.
n 01273 434567 or email [email protected]
We are currently looking for an
experienced salesperson
with active contacts to join our
expanding sales team.
Desk Space available on second floor of light
and airy open-plan building shared by creative
types in the North Laines.
If you’re interested in
discovering more about this
exciting opportunity, email
your CV to:
Space available for 2/3 pod sharing or as single desks
(which are provided).
• Kitchenette, sofas, Sky TV, own phone line
• Photocopier, fax, postage equipment
• Access to board room with presentation facilities
• Reception area
• Opposite great pub
• 5 mins from station
[email protected]
dyke road Clinic
Tel: 01273 561844
dolphin house Clinic
Tel: 01273 324790
emergency/Out of hours appts
07726 239340
[email protected]
....
63....
GEERT SWAANS
Bathrooms
Kitchens
Plumbing
Joinery
07746 933125
www.swaans.co.uk
“Geert was fantastic from start to
finish, the work he did was flawless
and always with a smile, would
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Call for a free consultation
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Plus all associated building work
01273
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Space for all your storage needs - ideal for de-cluttering,
moving home, home improvements & business storage.
Over 100 storage units - from lockers to 300 sq ft rooms.
We offer packaging, boxes, bubblewrap, gloves & padlocks.
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For a free estimate just pop in or call 01273 470000
....
65....
p
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z
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r
b
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w
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to the D
Now every
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77
inside left: Pookiesnackenburger, 1981
...........................................................................................
This picture was taken on Royal Wedding Day, July 29th 1981, by Peter Chrisp, who can say that for sure
because he consulted his diary of the era to double check. This isn’t the July issue of Viva Brighton, clearly,
but we thought it looked ‘festivally’ and who ever wanted month-relevance to get in the way of showing a
great picture as soon as we find it?
“This was a street performance by Pookiesnackenburger outside The Belvedere on the sea front,” he
ze’
‘Bree details
e
e
s
–
or
ets f
leafl
remembers. “This was when busking bands just started up, before that period buskers were all one-man affairs singing Streets of London and suchlike. John Hegley’s band The Popticians were doing a similar thing.
It was also a time when there was a lot of back-to-roots music as a reaction to all that synthesiser stuff.
The Pookies played King of the Swingers, Just One Cornetto, and a song called Happy Cajun that was on the
Country & Western jukebox in the Belvedere.”
Pookiesnackenburger were a stepping stone between two great Brighton success stories. Band members
included Johnny Helmer, previously of the Piranhas (left, on guitar) as well as Luke Creswell (centre,
drums) and Steve McNicholas, who both went on to form Stomp. Nick Dwyer, in the pink socks and
the time was ‘Luke Streetwalker’,” remembers Peter.
Peter’s diary revealed that he had quite a Royal Wedding day; it was a Bank Holiday, and pubs had been
given special dispensation to stay open all day. “I went to the Charles Napier, then saw the Ammonites at
the Kensington, then Pookiesnackenburger,” he says. Though still able to operate his camera, he ended
up as drunk or drunker than the patriotically dressed dancer and his bearded chum. “The day’s diary entry
ends ‘very drunk on knees in kitchen.’”
....
66....
For times, fares, leaflets and walk ideas:
Visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/breezebuses
Phone (01273) 292480
Or visit www.traveline.info to plan
any bus or train journey – anywhere!
5021
former front man of Vaultage band Nicky & the Dots, was also involved in Stomp. “Luke’s band name at
...at Devil’s Dyke, Ditchling Beacon
and Stanmer Park by bus.