Monthly Archives: August 2010

augustus pablo swaby paints

kingston, 1976, photographer unknown. Overtaken by a weakness to bludgeon the house senseless with a royal flush of dubs, the bleachers echo with the whisper of melodica. From 10PM to 5AM, its disinfected concrete steps slump tiredly. A stomach emptied. Hosed down with cobalt blue.  Tubular rails faintly thrumming.  A late August cough nudging silverContinue reading “augustus pablo swaby paints”

a sanitary riot

On threading our rented trolleybetween the aisles of a supermarket,we acquired a bottle of bath oil. As one does.“Revive & Restore“, the label advises.Very calming. Very restive.When one is prone, susceptible.It prompts the smoke detector to howleverytime we pour a bath.It triggers a bout of anxious scrabbling.The effect is less than therapeutic.Sandalwood, surely, is quiteContinue reading “a sanitary riot”

the ponderosa and the ark of the weak heart

Twenty-two floors above, the green JCBs resemble not so much a rise of the machines as their last bronchial rattle. Scrabbling in the dirt for purchase. Listing drunkly like a man with motor neuron disease. Clinging to employment. The blueprints for fuel efficient housing will be rolled out where they are needed least, I suspect.Continue reading “the ponderosa and the ark of the weak heart”

royal dub pretender, phase ii

One more dub from Kingston 11. “His Majesty’s Dub” – produced and arranged by Jah Woosh – was variously recorded at Channel 1, Joe Gibbs and Randy’s with The Revolutionaries before the reels were taxied over to Tubby’s for mixing. On the back of a motorcycle. Dillinger was far from uptight. At Black Ark, itContinue reading “royal dub pretender, phase ii”

banksy may, or may not, have been here

Well. The origin of this post – the inclusion of this one song here, at least – is convoluted and curious. A matter of chance. Straightened roots. Jonderneathica – from Underneathica – certainly provoked, in part, this latest slide into phase 2 of the dub. With timely intervention and nod to Ari Up’s mischievous associationContinue reading “banksy may, or may not, have been here”

on the route of the 19 bus, again | a detour

Recorded sometime in the 1980s, the rythym track behind this dub appears to have been laid down by either the Midnight Rock Crew or Roots Radics; at Channel 1, Harry J’s, or Dynamic Sound in Kingston, W1. The precise location is not so much shrouded in mystery, as clouded – I suspect – by amnesia. ProducedContinue reading “on the route of the 19 bus, again | a detour”

out of the fish, a dark crocus emerges

According to those annals curated by Ubu Projex, Proto Pere stole under the wire into what was soon to become Ubuttoir De Facto in the city of South Euclid, Ohio sometime in late 1975. Therein seeding the earliest documented shoots of their “Heart of Darkness“. While drummer, Scott Krauss shares writing credit on its definitiveContinue reading “out of the fish, a dark crocus emerges”

white socks | lost in laundry

Just over a year ago, you may recall, I featured a still from photographer, Wayzata Camerone‘s ‘Glendale Series’ after stumbling on an enlightening piece on Nothin’ Says Somethin’.  Most people, I suspect – passing familiar with Camerone – will remember him as feverish vocalist and player with white L.A. rioters, The Braniacs. Nathan Nothin’ alsoContinue reading “white socks | lost in laundry”

a cruel and incontinent punishment

If I did not know it for the broken crock of shit it almost certainly is, I might hazard that my game is cursed. For some time now, my son has been fond of golf.  What began simply enough as idle simulation on a games console quickly gravitated to genuine curiosity on the green. Junior clubsContinue reading “a cruel and incontinent punishment”