Got to be the most ragga car I've seen in a while. Its all about the primaries. With those colours it could even be the Back2Life mascot...
On a Friday night when Mr Falafel has packed up and gone home, our man Harry steps up to keep the city full of colour. Start the week with a little bit of Plant Pot Pride London, courtesy of Harry.
fill up me portion
Go download his mixtape "GhettoBlaster" for free at http://www.myspace.com/toddlat
Adizone
crack heads and teen binge drinkers are about to benefit from obesity and the arrival of the olympics. Adidas has just opened the first of 5 planned "Adizones" that are in line with the olympic objective of creating a sporting legacy for future GB athletes, giving resources to people who traditionally find them hard to access and providing a catalyst to battle growing obesity rates amongst the young.
It's a big step-up from council seesaws and swings. Its actually a really nice idea, creating outdoor gym zones within the olympic boroughs that directly aim to benefit the young people within the communities surrounding the olympic area. The design is pretty amazing and its supposed to last 20 odd years although I'm not sure if its crack head proof.
These parks have got everything and in theory will provide the surrounding area with a place to go and start their work towards Olympic success. But the reality is when good ol' London youths get hold, it's gonna be a futuristic hangout with plenty of seating to binge drink and smoke weed.
Big up Adidas for getting civic though!
Next time you find yourself at Oxford Street with 15 minutes to spare skip Topshop or Nike Town and go for a picturesque trip through bygone London. Time Out and Getty Images have partnered to create 'London Through a Lens'. Although there are a couple of seen before twee shots in there of Blitz Babies and Post War Tea parties, the exhibition is by and large a pretty fresh picture of London public life from the past 100 years.
Many of yesterday's ordinary moments seem extra-ordinary today. Sheep being herded by Policemen to graze in Hyde Park- (who would believe this was common practice less than 80 years ago?) Dancing Bears, school kids power napping in sacks. The exhibition also reflects on London's ever changing in the landscape, with pics of the Westway being built, and of the first China town, which was actually in Limehouse.
Don't just check the book, it's well worth taking a look at these pics in the flesh, and with their central spot you've no excuse not to. Plus you get to stroll through Getty Offices as the exhibition spills into there.
London Through A Lens runs till Sept 27th.
Getty Images Gallery, 46 Eastcastle Street, Near Marketplace
www.gettyimagesgallery.com
Dogs haven't always sat around doing nothing you know. Back in the day Husky's like this were working for a living, infact they were kind of like the pre historic Ice Road Truckers. They saved peoples lives. Back in 1925 a team of 20 Siberian Husky's saved the town of Nome, Alaska, from an outbreak of Diptheria when the sled team transported a vaccination to prevent an epidemic 674 miles across the icy landscape.
That's What Tigers Do
Lesbian Jail Wedding
I'm pretty picky when it comes to artists, but this week I stumbled across one worth some serious props. Matthew Palladino is
a 22 year old from San Francisco . His hometown is known for being a breeding ground for illustrators and artists but this guy stands out from the rest.
He's inspired by everything from news events close to home 'The Tiger attack at San Francisco Zoo' to late night TV shows 'Lesbian Jailhouse Wedding'. If you did paintings like this when you were 5 at Primary School your teacher would refer you to a social worker.
What I like about his images, apart from the fact that they look damn great, is that they're just like painting back in the olden days when it was all about the world around you and reflecting that, with your own twist. Even though there's some macabre stuff in his subject matter, the paintings seem fresh and genuine, not drenched in irony or driven by a desire to shock.
Put's the Hoxton school of faux naif illustrators to shame.
Wiley - Summertime
Why is one of the most forward thinking UK artists in recent memory moving backwards with his visuals? I'm sorry to inform you but the halcyon days of early Hip Hop happened. it was an aesthetic i loved but that was America and this is blighty and that was the early nineties and this is the new millennium, Jammy jams don't work here!
Now I love a throwback as much as anyone but not when its got no significance of where we come from. Kid N Play is the most overdone style sheet there is going bar Yo MTV Raps, so what does the Director do? He swipes the style of both.
I'm a big fan of Wiley- the way he's pushed his sound out, but wish he would start pushing his visuals in the same way and not be persuaded to use lazy nostalgia of an era that his target audience have no memory or knowledge of. He keeps it UK with his music so why not keep it UK with his visuals?
Made 20 years ago it would of looked fresh and maybe today it looks fresh to a few heads who don't know their style history but i say bring back the Brit institution Eski-Boy in sound & vision.
outside
inside
the sweetshop man
Tevin Cambell - Can We Talk
Your man Sweetboy is back, pairing up lonely sweetmans, sweetshops & slowjams. This time I'm up in West London with sore eyes. Everytime I spot them neon cards in the window it fucks with my senses. A big wall of booze discount colour beaming out into the street, bright enough to catch the eye of even the most skagged out tramp. On walking in they live up to the promise with shelve upon shelve of the cheapest booze youre gonna find. But it's also the saddest little sweetshop/off licence i've ever seen. This spot is always quiet, you might find an elderly gentlemen counting his coins outside or browsing the wall of colour but thats about it.
It's another prime example of a sweetshop having his shop front right but paying no attention to the inside. I ,Sweetboy charge this sweetman with false advertisment. He gives the impression he's a colourful fun guy, with bright interesting stock but its all brown bottles inside and dusty cans.
He ain't even got enough refrigeration to keep his wine and beer cool. And as for the sweets, mans game is week. he looks after the pissheads with Doritos and Wheat Crunchies but what about the confectionary? Where the sweets at?
This guy need some help so I'm teaming him with a big slowjam, maybe Tevin can talk to this dude and force him into making some sweetshop improvements.
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You've probably seen about million carnival photos by now, big wide angle crowd shots, pissed revelers blowing horns, wild costumed dancing girls and rude boys firing their fingers up in the air. But here on the Back 2 Life Blogosphere we do it a little different.
Taken on the MASH Sound system float these pics are from a selection of photos celebrating the bystander.
Dantes Fried Chicken V Styleslut
so my mate Fatima started telling me about a mystical character called Dante on the way home on the central line last night. About how this dude likes to cook food for party crowds, putting on really good nights with really good cookouts. Serving up his infamous fried chicken, mac and cheese and other soul food greats along to a sound track of good music, good people and good vibes. Now we got celebrity chefs by the bucket load here, usually found on Richard & Judy giving out budget cooking tips for single mums with little time but Dante sounds like the kind of chef that day time telly can't handle.
This Sunday he's teamed up with Styleslut to bring you the Suckerfree Dance Off and Cookout in East London. Chicken cottage, Morleys, HFC and Dixie are shitting it.
learn more by using these links
http://styleslut.blogspot.com/
http://www.dantefriedchicken.com/
This years Portobello Film Festival kicks off this Thursday true to its roots with a LDN banger, 'Babylon'.
Set in the 80's the film tells the story of 'Toaster' Blue (played by Brinsley Forde from Aswad) and his crew in their bid to become hero's of the Sound System Clash.
Expect racial tension 80's style, set against the authentic backdrop of London from way back when you were just a twinkle in your daddy's eyes. (if you're the right side of 30 that is)
The film is due for DVD Re-release in the UK this October, it got an X rating back when it was made and is finally legal. With its focus on what was a predominantly male working class subculture the film has been likened by some to a 'Reggae' Quadrophenia.
If you go up the grimey end of Portobello Road on a Friday afternoon you see what looks just like the cast skanking out like it were 1981 all over again.
www.portobellofilmfestival.com/
The ultimate show is coming back as a movie according to the amazing news source that is The Sun. According to Steven Moffat the original shows creator "I got drunk at a party, then woke up and I'd successfully pitched it to the BBC Head of Drama. I'd love to do it".
so hold tight for more info
a load of this.....
and a load of this.....
In the words of Aston who runs the Audio Shop (number one local spot for sound system equipment) on the Uxbridge Road "Bank holidays are like Christmas round here"
2 icons
It's Carnival time.......
With Carnival upon us and with all eyes looking West, we have a got a special treat. An interview with a genuine West of town Legend. Mr Norman Jay MBE, a music man through and through and a true pioneer and catalyst in the growth of Black British music. It's guys like Norman who have laid down the foundations for todays youth culture as we know it, pushing music and people into the mainstream through his legendary parties, radio shows and alliances.
All these heads doing their thing today, MC's, singers, DJ's, promoters whatever needed a door opener, needed someone to be the first, needed someone to push things forward and show the rest the way. And all here at The Back2Life Blog we salute the man that made it happen.
Not forgetting the fact he is a Carnival demi-god, who runs the Good Times Sound System with his brother Joey. The best Cul de sac in carnival. Get up and go see a living legend this weekend doing his thing at his annual local.
click read more to see the full interview where u talks about being a man on a mission and why in his eyes West is best.
As part of Channel 4's new talent season 'Generation Next', last night I had one of them rare moments where something really special happened as i sat staring at my TV. As soon as I saw the first 10 seconds, I knew it was gonna be good and I wasn't disappointed. It was one of those moments where you're excited that you're watching but at the same time pissed off that it wasn't you that made it.
'Kings of London' followed the fortunes of two brothers, both named Aristotle. The elder called Totes, is struggling to get his life on track, whereas younger Aristotle who despite his social abnormalities, is pretty much set. He is the undisputed champion of the Ghetto Riders, a group of inner city yoots from London's estates who have transformed themselves into urban cowboys. Dude don't speak, wears a long blonde wig and rides his horse through the city. What more u want? When Totes gets into trouble with the local mobster, he asks Little Aristotle to help him by throwing a race.
Yo this was a really nice little film, shot really well with pace and imagination. Full of good ideas, executed well. There should be more stuff on TV like this. Nice to see a strong story with strong characters set in an urban london that is not full of lazy cliches. Go find it and watch it and keep an eye out for Sean Conway who is definitely one to watch.
So a report from the Tory Think Tank 'Policy Exchange' says towns in the north like Liverpool and Sunderland are 'beyond revival' and millions of Northerners should move down South. I thought Liverpool was meant to be the Capital of Culture 2008? Forget that.
I think us Southern Pansies (I speak for myself) should take a leaf from the book of the great Mark E Smith and HIT THE NORTH. They make videos like this up there. BIG.
I just found out they sell the DVD of US mag FEDS (Finally Every Dimension Of The Streets) in WH Smith. Big news. You gotta read it to believe it. Jamhot is trying to track downAntoine Clark Feds Founder for the insider scoop. More Soon.
