THE ORB ELECTRIC BRIXTON 2016

Still recovering from a brilliant Brixton night seeing THE ORB!!!

We were there for the 25th Anniversary of their seminal album ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ULTRAWORLD, which they were actually performing in full for the very first time.

It would take me weeks to explain how wonderful THE ORB are, but lets just say, with this album, they totally changed dance and electronic music forever. 1991 and all that, was full-on rave culture days and THE ORB brought us the post-rave chill-out of Ambient House. Multiple samples and layers and layers of chilled out tones aligned with a wicked sense of humour, was an unheard-of original mix.
But they could also rock! Thumping beats and crushing basslines gave you another dimension to their sound.

So in Brixton we were all there to celebrate and embrace a landmark point in British music. 
Chief protagonist Alex Patterson was joined by the original cast of sonic creators that got together all those years ago, including Youth, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy plus a special appearance by Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook.

The whole night was an absolute joy, I'm still too stunned to explain further!!!!!
So here are a few piccies instead ...

Youth on the double bass.

Electronic giants Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy.

Love this shot of the crowd illuminated in dots!

Unfortunately we'd plonked ourselves in front of the double bass, so we only saw fleeting appearances of Alex Patterson, here on the right!!!

Really chuffed to see Paul Cook, a legend, but also an a really cool and understated guy. Hadn't seen him since the mad Sex Pistols reunion gig at Finsbury Park in 1996!

Psychedelic scene, and yes, that pesky double bass!!

The ever cool Thomas Fehlmann.

Great visuals throughout the night, including these vintage Japanese films.

Youth has acquired a friend!

Great finale with all the line-up.

RETRO LEICESTER CITY

This weekend I rooted around the ArtPix Archives to find all the Leicester City stuff I could find!
I'll be doing a fabulously retro collage of the flying Foxes!

If you are a fan of the Premier League Champions, then you'll love this homage to all things vintage Leicester. If you are curious to see what it was all like before Claudio's marauders turned up, then keep in touch here and wait until it's unveiled!

As with all my Retro Football collages, I'll be keeping it truly retro with a cut off date of 1989. So you'll see the likes of Gary Lineker and Foxes legends like Frank Worthington and Steve Whitworth.

Having completed the searching, scanning and photographing of everything, now to get to work on the actual collage....!

Here is a tiny taster below....

That bloke on the left looks familiar!

The charismatic Frank Worthington during his 70s pomp.

Steve Whitworth sporting a cool retro kit in 1978!

ARTPIX UNIT AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE

As you know, I have a unit at the splendid Customs House in West Bay, down in Dorset.
So I thought I'd give you all an update on how its looking!

If you venture down to West Bay at the moment, they are currently filming the next series of the hit TV drama BROADCHURCH. So you are more than likely to bump into Olivia Colman or David Tennant!!! Once you've mixed with the stars, pop into the beautiful antiques and art quarter that is the CUSTOMS HOUSE!

Have a coffee at one of the groovy cafés and then start to wander around the 200-year-old buildings. Go up the outside staircase and you'll find the ArtPix unit on the 2nd floor!

I share it with the amazing Arcane Publishing, and together we present a great mixture of vintage items, original designs and artworks and a great selection of vintage and new books.

Have a peep and find that perfect thing you've always wanted for yourself or as a pressie for someone else.

As I'm having a break from doing the many vintage fairs I used to do, including the famous Spitalfields Market and Ally Pally in London, this is your only chance to see our stuff in the flesh!
I do hope to have an online shop up and running one day though!

Here is a selection of piccies of the unit and some brand new stock that I put in recently. I'll be back there next Tuesday as well to bung a few more things in there, so do have a look if you are down that way.

Here it is, the lovely unit! Check out Bertie and Gertie in the background, sorry, but they aren't for sale though!

A closer inspection, where you'll find vintage ceramics, maps and cinema posters.

A brand new idea, putting my classic DAZZLING DECADES and RETRO FOOTBALL designs onto A3 laminates.

Here is the Arcane Publishing corner! With hard-to-find vintage books on all sorts of subjects.

And also find amazing new novels by the legendary Johnny Navarro and Arcane's very own author Carya Gish.

I've printed and framed my popular Fabulous Fifties collage onto a 21" x 17" wooden frame.

Another new venture here, a fantastic pack of retro Liverpool programmes, with a great selection from the 1960s to the 1980s.

I've also put together a pack of retro Tottenham programmes.

I've raided the ArtPix Archives again to find some great Matchbox Models of Yesteryear from the 70s and 80s. This is a great 1936 Jaguar SS.100 made in 1977.

Here is a very regal looking 1912 Rolls-Royce.

And a 1927 Talbot Van, there are other cars and vans in the unit as well.

A fabulously retro 1968 Annual from the cult kids TV show Joe 90.

And a brilliant Bugs Bunny Annual from 1970!

STEREO MCs at VILLAGE GREEN

Still buzzing from a fabulous set by STEREO MCs!!

The hip-hop electronic legends were down in Chalkwell in Essex to get everyone grooving. I'd been looking forward to seeing them ever since I saw the line-up for this year's Village Green festival. Hadn't seen them play live since 1993!!!

And they didn't disappoint. The eclectic crowd were really up for it as well, creating a great vibe. The sight of seeing tiny kids on dad's shoulders, dancing away with huge smiles on their faces, during the set was just brilliant! 

Veteran singer Rob Birch bounced around the stage and added energy to their classy and perfectly crafted tunes. With the energetic dancers and percussion, you can't stop yourself getting carried away with it all.

We should celebrate these bands more, we Brits have a good habit of producing people who create original and groundbreaking music and are able to sustain careers lasting decades. The MCs have carried on after their huge success in the 90s, to bubble along in the underground, starting labels, collaborating and staying true to their beliefs.

Go and see them if you can and get CONNECTED!

* There appears to be a little mystery concerning the apostrophe in their name, sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't!! So I've copied their logo type for the photos and not put it in on the text, just to confuse you even more!

BATTLE OF THE SOMME

1st July will see the 100th anniversary of one of the most cataclysmic events in our history. 

The first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 ... 

To this day it is still seared into the nation's psyche. The people who were there are now all gone, we only have the photographs, the words and the films, but its resonance and legacy never stops. We can trace many seismic changes in our society back to this day.

The battle was an attempt to break the stranglehold of trench warfare and give much needed relief for the French at Verdun. 
This was to be the baptism of fire for the enthusiastic volunteers of 1914, the Kitchener's Army.

A massive bombardment of the German front lines that was supposed to destroy the thick belts of barbed wire and their trenches mostly failed, leaving the soldiers exposed to terrible machine gun fire once they left their trenches. The rigidness of the plans and timetables laid out, left no room for manoevre and common sense. More and more waves of soldiers were sent forward, despite the obvious situation unfolding before them. A senseless waste of life.

Modern day historians are reassessing what happens, but are now of the opinion that all was not so bad, seemingly just to oppose the common 'Lions led by donkeys' view. It's true, lessons were learnt and the eventual victory in 1918 perhaps came from them, but is it really worth acknowledging the new and easier ways to kill more people that were discovered?? And why was the battle not stopped earlier, when it was so obvious it was an impossible situation. They were fighting a Victorian war, they still wanted to use cavalry! To me one word sums up the arrogance of the High Command and the fact they DIDN'T learn enough from it....... PASSCHENDAELE. The unerring obedience of the Edwardian people to their betters died on 1st July 1916, Britain would never be the same again.

If anything can sum up the silent, stoic legacy of those who were there it might be this ...

Years ago a friend of mine saw an old chap with a stick limping along a street in Fulham. He asked if he was ok and the man simply patted the side of his leg and said, "Somme".

Serre Road Cemetery No.1, on the Somme. Notice how close together the gravestones in the front row are. Shows you the sheer number of graves needed.

In the 1990s I twice went to the Somme with my Dad, visiting every one of the significant sites and some of the hidden away ones too. We travelled around the beautiful rolling countryside and barely saw anyone all day. The only clues to what had happened there were the regular cemeteries that dot the landscape. You could easily be completely unaware as to the traumatic events that had taken place.
However, if you took a closer look at the ground, you were never far from a metal shard, a shrapnel ball or a broken shell, the Somme's hidden 'Iron Harvest' ...

Shrapnel balls, found on Redan Ridge.

A piece of the infamous Somme barbed wire, picked up near the Lochnager Crater.

A lump of a high explosive shell, note how thick it is. Found at Hawthorn Ridge.

A long curved piece of a shell found on the German front line at the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval.

A curious hook shaped piece of metal found near Thistle Dump, site of the senseless cavalry charge on High Wood in 1916.

You can still see the thread on this curved piece of shell. I found it at the place where Geoffrey Malins filmed his famous shot of the mine exploding at Hawthorn Ridge, to signal the start of the battle. It remains the most iconic piece of actual war footage of the First World War.

LOTS ROAD POWER STATION

Here we have my new little tribute to one of London's forgotten icons....

Lots Road Power Station

This gem has been left behind in history to its more glamorous sister up the river at Battersea.
It was actually there before her though, having first powered up in 1905. It did sterling service down by the river at Chelsea for the next 97 years, providing electricity to the London Underground network.

So although it has closed down, it still provides a tangible link to Chelsea's past. A stone's throw from the fashion-conscious King's Road, it was a world away from the riches and the famous faces, a rough and ready area of workers houses and pubs.

But hurry up and check it all out as work has already started on turning it into flats. Yep, here we go again, like Battersea the area will soon disappear into bland, shiny towers and soulless streets. The power station is now a shell and will soon lose all its identity as the money talks.

For now though, here she is......

COME ON ENGLAND!!!

Here we go for Euro 2016, and let's get behind Roy's Boys!!!

This time we have a slightly different feel coming into this tournament, with a genuinely promising young crop of players, there could be a glimmer of hope for a decent run. We all have an understated optimism that even if it isn't to be this time, it could happen in the future.

Here at ArtPix Towers I've got the flags out, especially as the ArtPix clan has a very special family link to someone who brought the World Cup home in 1966. 

So come on England, do us proud!!!

Check out my fabulous retro 1970s England shirt below, can't quite get into it now though!!