I’m not sure I accept the need for actual “slums”, but I definitely agree with the general proposal that cities need to “age in place”, both the people and the buildings. Gentrification has it’s place, but only when nothing else … Continue reading Cities Need Slums?
Again, skirting around the election, whenever the topic of guns in America comes up, usually after yet-another-mass-shooting, I simply don’t understand. I have no context. I recently had the chance to hear Guardian journalist Gary Younge discuss his new book “Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives” (via @amazon), with BBC Radio London, broadcaster and journalist, Robert Elms. So much rang true. It was great hearing two people discuss guns and the bizarre attitudes towards them in the USA. Among the qoutes, and the serious discussions about 10 kids being killed by guns, the … Continue reading What’s the deal with guns?
Thursdays Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London discussed and took submissions from the listeners on their top-3 British Youth Culture films featuring music. I’d not heard of many of them, so I hit the BBC iPlayer pause button and made a list of all those mentioned. The films are listed as they came up on the show. The most popular films mentioned, including by Robert were Quadraphenia, Take it or Leave It, and Babylon. Quadraphenia (1979) features one Gordon Sumner aka Sting, as we as Phil Daniels and is set in London in 1965. The music is predominantly American acts, … Continue reading British Youth Culture Films featuring Music
Sometime contact and innovative UK Dj/Producer Greg Wilson has a 33-minute interview, I assume based on his Living to music series that he has been running for a couple of years now. Greg talks about actually sitting and actually listening to the music, while not doing anything else. Greg makes a good point about being able to focus while listening. Which reminds me of being about 14, and converting my clothes cuboard in my bedroom into a mini-recording, listening booth. I had a small stool, papered the walls in music newpaper and magazines, wired up a small red light, and … Continue reading Listening to music
I was struck by the similarity of the plight and treatment of the BRYANT & MAY MATCHWOMEN in the East End of London, in the 1880’s, and the hi-tech assembly workers at the FoxConn factories in China. I heard an interview with Louise Raw, Historian and Author, on this mornings Robert Elms, BBC Radio London show, talking about her new book, Striking a Light. The comparison was really only around the plight of the workers than anything else. Thinking about it afterwards the scale of the hi-tech workers is staggering, Wired estimates 1-million workers working on the iPhone alone, which … Continue reading East End Match Girls and Apple/FoxCon