Many months later a friend suggested that I had been a bit wet in not just going there. So, one damp Friday night, having already bought a ticket online and attempted to groove myself up a little (orange trainers and a sad surf shirt), I managed to talk my way through the army of doormen and security guards, who were perplexed by this off-the-age-scale single man. They didn't dare to be brutally ageist about it and simply turn me away, but instead warned me of a 'very heavy drum'n'bass night' in the forlorn hope that I might just disappear. Once in I felt a bit like a potholer must feel when he's not sure which way is safe. Marky and Friends were playing in one ... Continue reading →
The Banksy biographer is faced with a tricky dilemma. Should he or she delve into the street artist's background and destroy the anonymity on which his art, and his legend, depend? Or is it better to honour Banksy's desire to remain in the shadows, but be unable to tell the whole story? Will Ellsworth-Jones, in what is carefully described as "the first book to follow Banksy's career", plumps for the latter option. Thus he is sketchy on the artist's personal history, beyond telling us that Banksy was raised in Bristol and, having been public school-educated, isn't quite the working-class hoodlum that many accounts would have us believe.From there on, the author is more forthcoming, charting Banksy's rise from a graffiti enthusiast at a Bristol youth ... Continue reading →
We just sat and looked at those cheeseburger as if they were pieces of a Warhol sculpture.’ Richards, of course, would fail in his resolve to 'just take it when you get it. 'Well, if you’ve got the money...’ Booth says with a shrug. While Rock Scully’s inspired suggestion would result in the scenes of mayhem, violence and ultimately murder that would lead to the Altamont festival assuming an almost symbolic importance as the moment when the Edenic dream of the Sixties came to an end. First published in 1984, and now republished to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones. 'True Adventures’ is one of the great books about rock and roll, an enthralling insider’s account of the Stones’ surreal procession through cavernous ... Continue reading →
