Another wicked pamphlet chocka full of pulpy violence, occulture and psychogeography (with emphasis on the 'psycho') - there's a really weird feel to the whole thing. Cops and rival occultists battle it out across the UK as sacred sites get napalmed and some serious drinking, violence and shagging goes down.
There is also vastly improbable footnote which consists of a several hundred word text message (!) that gets sent to one of the characters relating the botched Nordic invasion of Israel! Plus the usual slew of bizarre fringe politco groups, this time ably represented by the Class Repatriation Front who seek to forcibly return people into their 'rightful' place in the social hierarchy. All that and some Finnish Punk rock and jibes at Power Electronics. Lots of cool ideas in there - the 'London Zodiac' is a great plot device as is the cross referencing with Khartoum.
A bit of a disjointed read, creating a dreamlike quality as the storyline progresses. Well worth getting hold of if you like Stewart's stuff. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that Stewart himself disavows any knowledge of it, as do AK Press! Eh?
No idea where you get this - if you do, let me know and I'll put it in here!
We went to the Donkey Show at the Hanover Grand last week and had a very good time. For people who don't know it's loosely based on Midsummer Night's Dream except it's set in a Studio 54-ish nightclub and instead of dialogue there's various routines built around classic disco tracks. It's not like watching a play, the action moves around/above/beyond the dancefloor and most people in the crowd are dancing throughout (see http://www.thedonkeyshow.com).
Despite loving the music, I'm generally ambivalent about retro-disco nights - there's often a lowest common denominator office party/ students in afro wigs feel, but the Donkey Show just about steers clear of this. One thing that really strikes me is the contrast between the reality of the disco period, at least for most people and the far more appealing fantasy.
The fantasy - as seen in the Donkey Show - glam, glitter, cross dressing, polymorphously perverse, roller skating druggy disco liberated zone; The reality - youth club, church hall, shandy, talk from the priest at St Joe's, worrying what will happen when the music gets slow. I used to think that I just missed out on it all because I was an adolescent in Luton at the time, and I'm sure there was a real Boogie Wonderland somewhere (over the rainbow), but even when you see photos of Studio 54 it's full of dull looking suits and the only ones who look to be really living the life are being paid to do so.
Down with nostalgia - the nineties were more like the 'seventies' (fantasy version) than the seventies ever were.
[Neil Gordon]