Archive for August 2011

Bill Cosby: NKU

Friday, 26 August 2011 Comments Off


Now, the Converses didn’t happen until you hit maybe your teens, because Converses cost a lot.
But if you were running track and field, you weren’t anything unless you had adidas. 
But they were so expensive that you didn’t get them unless you had it in writing that you were going to the Olympics.
...While I was doing I Spy, I began to wear the adidas. 
My reason for wearing them with everything except a suit was the other stuff that Bob Culp and I did  - so much walking all over the place. 
But the uniform also comes from my background, I guess. 
In the projects, you just wore sneakers - the ones without the brand names - with everything but your best suit.


Never Knowingly Underdressed: 
Bill Cosby, interviewed in Playboy Magazine by Maury Z Levy, circa 1980-81.

Another Summer To Remember

Tuesday, 23 August 2011 Comments Off

This first Summer Of Hate got me thinking about the first Summers of Love - when acid house and rave took hold of virtually everyone I knew...except me. 
Almost  all my mates were spending their hard earned cash on Es. I was spending my money on madras shorts and penny loafers. Predictable, I know.
One thing that I couldn't have predicted was when Weller gave me a cassette of some demos he'd been working on. He'd been going to places like Norman Jays' High On Hope and had caught the bug for house music, big time. Fortunately, it was house of the soulful, deep variety.
A little while later The Style Council debuted this new sound at the Royal Albert Hall.  It was to be their last ever gig. I remember Marco Nelson, Gee Bello and of course Mick Talbot and Steve White were in the band. I thought it was amazing. All those pot-bellied Mods however, who seemed to attend all their gigs, calling for Jam songs, were horrified. Maybe they'd forgotten that the original Mod soundtrack was r'n'b, jazz and soul. It was the eeriest atmosphere when, in virtual silence, the shocked Mods shuffled out of the auditorium after the gig. 
But they weren't the only people who were shocked. The bosses at Wellers' label refused to release the LP. 
Maybe the powers that be assumed the spirit so evident during those first few summers would fade away just as quickly as it had arrived. How wrong could they be.



This video is of the Style Council, final line-up, performing one of the songs from the aborted LP Modernism, A New Decade. The performance was recorded in London for a music show broadcast in Japan. The songs were later released as part of a Style Council box set in the UK. A nine track LP was released in Japan some years later.

The Prince and The Politicians

Saturday, 20 August 2011 Comments Off

Given his position and background, you might expect Prince Charles to be as condemning and as self-righteous as our elected leaders, Cameron, Clegg, Johnson and Lammy. You might expect him to wring his wrists and demand an Official Enquiry in much the same way as Labours’ Ed Miliband. 
But somehow Charles and Camilla went off-script when they visited North East London last week and failed to appear outraged,  brandishing broomsticks or thirsty to hunt down anyone (and their families) for taking part in the riots.  
No, their approach was conciliatory. They listened. They shared and showed compassion - for those who lost their business and homes, for the police and for those now defined as thugs, gang members and looters. They even expressed empathy with todays' disaffected youth.

While the Conservatives want to brand a generation of people criminals and the Labour leader is willing to wait months to discover what many people in Tottenham and Hackney already know, it’s obvious that Charles not only has more style than all of them put together , but he also makes way more sense.
Last week the Conservatives announced a multimillion pound enterprise scheme to support and stimulate businesses in the affected areas. I'd say that's about as constructive as putting a plaster on a broken leg.- Charles, meanwhile, through his Princes Trust is giving 2.5 million pounds to support disaffected young people in some of those same areas. What Prince Charles sees as a symptomatic 'cry for help', the Government see as a call for a 'low tax, low regulation' stimulus strategy. 

A history lesson

Thursday, 11 August 2011 Comments Off


There are a lot of dumb people around ruining things for everyone else - complete idiots who have no real awareness of the consequences which the rest of us suffer as a result of their actions.

The chairman of the Police Federation warned them last year. Bob Crowe warned them last year. Many of us knew way before then.

It’s been building up for some time and like a pressure cooker, inevitably things had to explode.

Unfortunately, the politicians, the idiots in question, still refuse to take any responsibility for their actions.

This guy is saying what anyone with common sense has been thinking for some time.




And for those who don't happen to know what takes place on an everyday basis for so many young people of every racial description in the UK, here's a quick glimpse.




To quote the Financial Times on May 19 last year:

The chairman of the Police Federation, which represents thousands of rank-and-file officers, warned on Wednesday of mass 1970s-style social disorder were Britain to suffer a similar crisis to the one that has hit Greece.
Pointing to the recent violence in Athens, Paul McKeever said he was worried that the UK could suffer race riots and industrial unrest over the next few years.“We could have that sort of distress on the streets again,” he told officers at the federation’s annual conference in Bournemouth....
“I have real fears we might go back to something like that … history tells us it happens again and again,” he said.

Today Prime Minister Cameron said, in his landmark House of Commons speech:The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and thieving.
Obviously history isn't one of his strong points.
For the record, I completely disagree with violence & civil disobedience of any kind. Recognising the roots of an action does not excuse that action. Standard.

Radical. Under. Statement.

Friday, 5 August 2011 Comments Off


Underwear.
Ever wondered why so many men leave one of the most important and intimate elements of their wardrobe to family, friends and even total strangers? Me too. It's a baffler.
Sure, in some ways it's a minor detail, but it's one with potentially major implications. Simply put, it isn't something that can be left to chance or to anyone you'd prefer not to imagine you naked.
Women figured this out years ago; underwear should never be considered an afterthought. Maybe that's why Under, a new brand from a creative crew based in Amsterdam but originally from London seems so radical.
Under is about luxury, fit, detail and the kind of stuff we're often deprived of when it comes to the seasonal gift of pants.
Inspired by vintage Americana - from periods like the Gold Rush and the 50's - their collection of cottons (waffle and mercerised) and marl jersey answers all those modern demands - fit retention, durability, comfort and simplicity - with plenty of functional detailing sewn in.With no gimmicks, no gadgets and not a mankini in sight, if true denimheads made underwear they'd probably look something like Under.



Don't wait for Christmas; check 'em out: Folk / UK...Le Bon Marche / France...Spoiled / Holland...Cris / Amsterdam...Utrecht & Fresh Cotton / online.



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