Port Eliot Festival.

I will not bore you with details of the journey down through sometimes torrential rain. Nor will I bore you with tales of camping; not an activity I relish.

Port Eliot was fantastic, the setting is perfect and the slightly decaying house appears more of a rocky outcrop than a man made structure. I was welcomed, and looked after, by some lovely people most notably Shelly, Rick and Marlon; thank you for that!

The Times described the festival as 'Notting Hill on sea' and there certainly did appear to be a large number of my neighbours down there... The Blue bar tent became the Port Eliot 'Cow' for the duration.

There were some great acts; I'll discuss those in a later blog, and some real surprises; most notably Lana Citron's 'lecture' on kissing... Not to be missed.

Something of a cloud hovered over our weekend due to a broken down car but our bacon was well and truly saved by Charlie Dancey and 'Tugger'. Charlie you are a star!

The atmosphere throughout the weekend was extremely happy... The whole thing was a joy.

I'll write about my 'gig' at a later date!

Copping out.

I hate to have to say this but tonight I had intended to write at length but I am so tired I'm copping out. Tomorrow is another day.

Grayson Perry Arrives at Port Eliot.

I'd been sitting outside the bar tent when a strange apparition rumbled into view, a small crowd gathered, including a BBC camera. I wandered over to take a look:



I met Grayson briefly later at the performers party where he was more formally dressed and again the following day sitting out on the grass in a summer frock and red shoes. He didn't come to hear my poems though. Never mind.  

Road trip and Port Eliot festival

I could do with a break, things have been hectic just lately. I'm leaving the laptop behind for a few days; I'll take a notebook of course.

I'm performing in the Walled Garden at Port Eliot at 7.30 pm on Friday... Look forward to seeing you there! I'll report back on Sunday

.http://www.porteliotfestival.com/

Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water Original Version

Peace, love and, oh yeah: Rape! Lattitude Festival.

I heard about this in the pub tonight... two young girls raped at Lattitude last weekend.

Maybe the nice middle class people there were too drugged up to hear the cries. Maybe. Maybe it didn't matter because it wasn't one of them. Maybe. Maybe the girls dressed inappropriately; ie no designer labels. Maybe.

If Hendrix were alive today he'd shoot himself with Curt's gun!

Scuse me while I kiss the sky!

Overheard in a Notting Hill pub: One lady who lunches on cocaine to another - 'Yes but they were only local girls, and you know what they are like'. I did not make this up!

Agony Aunt.

I was thinking about dysfunctional families.

You know, planet Earth, dysfunctional family or what?

I wanted to write to some-one about it and looked for an agony aunt.

Agony Aunt... Excuse me but that is an oxymoron surely... Thus:

Dear Auntie

I'm in agony

I've fallen in love

with the mum of my cousin

yeah the twin of my mother

and then to cap that

so has my brother

he's fallen in love

before you get thinking

that that can't be too bad

I've just discovered

that so has my dad

he's fallen in love

Dear auntie

it's agony falling in love.

they're now always fighting

my pop and my mother

when they're doing that

I'm fighting my brother

We say we are all doing it

for the sake of our aunt

our maxim our mantra

our scientologists chant

Dear auntie

I'm in agony

And i'm no longer in love.

Pop up Cinema in Portobello Road.

I'd heard about it then sort of forgot about it with all the other stuff going on; a pop up digital microplex cinema has been set up under the westway opposite Portobello Green.

There are some interesting films lined up, sadly I will miss 'Performance' on Saturday the 24th but hope to get down there for 'Withnail and I' on the 30th.

Check it out online at: http://www.portobellopopup.com/

An open letter to Mr Kee Scott.

Fraser, I am in no way criticising your religious views or indeed your right to chose your particular brand of 'religion'. I have every right to criticise scientology though and I don't think I'm alone in wanting to do so. The concerns I have are as follows:

1. When it emerged that You had accepted money From Warren Todd and the Tabernacle event was cancelled/postponed the blame was laid on the Tabernacle. You said at the time that you would hand the money back, disassociate Mr Todd from the Portobello Rocks event and issue a statement to that effect. To date no such statement has been issued and no-one is any the wiser. I only attempted to explain to the community the full reasons for the cancellation.

2. I do not understand how you feel you have the right to appoint yourself to the role of arbitrator or mediator and then set up a forum without serious consultation with the community... As you were told at the Tabernacle meeting you could only be perceived as a 'lobbyist' for Mr Todd (having accepted his money) and therefore definitely not Neutral. It is with respect to the 'forum' that I harbour my concerns ( concerns that were already being aired by other members of the community) about the Scientology link.

3. I received unpleasant 'phone calls from supporters of the Church of Scientology which is the bullying I referred to... I was certainly not bullied by any of your associates.

I have always supported the Portobello Rocks concert and continue to do so. I wish you all well in that endeavour. However I cannot support the hijacking of the Portobello Road cause in the manner proposed by yourself. Please issue a statement regarding your position with Mr Todd as it certainly does impact on the proposed 'forum'.

It would also help, in future, if you could spell my name right.

Regards

Scientology, Portobello and um yes scientology.

When I blogged about Potobello Rocks being cancelled I mentioned scientology.

I got a lot of shit back for mentioning religion... I was pressurised into taking the scientology reference out of the blog. And you know, I bowed to the pressure. I was bullied!

That is what scientologists do; they bully!

The fact is that there was a rather dodgy element to the Portobello Rocks agenda... From my point of view the whole thing was being hijacked by dodgy geezers.

Look at this before we go any further:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23397709-scientology-sect-using-british-art-as-a-front.do

Fraser Kee Scott is the man who had decided to be the self appointed spokesperson for Portobello Road, backed by, and here is the funny bit, NOT WarrenTodd, but by Scientology!

Scientology is not about religion, scientology is about bullying... Crass bullying at that.

If god existed I can assure you he would not be a scientologist. And if god existed he would not want scientologists holding a forum on the future of Portobello Road.

If god existed he would be buying a couple of silver spoons on the Portobello and then going for a beer in the Gold, meeting us and then talking about how we are going to sort this shit out!

Warren Todd would be sitting at his feet.

Jimmy Page, Jimmy Page and Mary Cigarettes.

Picture this.

In the Westbourne with the professor of Irish Rock n Roll, admiring his sunglasses, discussing his book, shooting the breeze, catching up.

Led Zeppelin playing in the speakers.... Cool.

Who the fuck turns up but Jimmy Page. True story, he says did they put this on for me? No it was just one of life's happy coincidences.

So OK. I got to say hello to god and I didn't have to die to do it.

The professor had his eyepod with him so played 'Jimmy Page' by Mary Cigarettes while Jimmy drank his coffee.

Jimmy then cleared up an old bit of confusion regarding 'The Them' and his involvement in a long disputed argument... The professor has the rights to that story.

I started today (absolutely true but I didn't know why) thinking that days like this happen so very rarely ... I then go and meet the most important man in my life musically... scuse me while I kiss the sky.

And now I'm cranking up Kashmir and cracking open a beer... Eat my fucking shorts John Bon Jovi.

I'll leave the last word to Mary Cigarettes on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5_AnTMmhuE

Why was Portobello Rocks at the Tabernacle cancelled.

Why was the 'Portobello Rocks' gig at the Tabernacle cancelled?

It was cancelled firstly because at the last minute, after a number of concerns were raised by a number of parties, it was disclosed that 'Portobello Rocks' was being part funded by Warren Todd!

This is the letter sent out to various people in the neighbourhood, I was given it by a pissed off market trader friend:

Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to you, in what are hard and challenging times, to try and help find a realistic solution to maintain the unique charm of Portobello Road.
I understand that the last thing people want on Portobello is commercialisation – what’s best is if it can stay like it is in so many ways. But there are problems with keeping it the same and I want to confront them with you.
I have sponsored Portobello Rocks – an arts event at The Tabernacle designed to start a dialogue about what we are all facing on our road.
Portobello Rocks is hosting a forum for traders, councillors and residents at The Tabernacle on Wednesday 28th July at 2pm. At this forum we will confront all of the problems we face in keeping Portobello unique and charming, so that we can find a solution that actually works. I would like to invite you to attend that forum and give your view.
Please email [illegible] or call 07954 051 458 to reserve your space at the forum on the 28th July at the Tabernacle, 34-35 Powis Square, W11 2AY. Refreshments will be served and your opinion will be sincerely listened to.
Yours sincerely,
Warren Todd
Portobello Group

Secondly the 'Rocks' boys seemed to think that they had a remit to organise some kind of forum at the Tabernacle whether the community or Tabernacle liked it or not!

For those not in the know Warren Todd is the property developer behind the All Saints intrusion as well as owner of a number of other 'prime' sites on the road. For the 'Rocks' boys to get into bed with Warren was the final straw... Portobello Rocks had become advocates of the very person they claimed they were fighting.

The management at the Tabernacle had no choice but to cancel the gig... Acts were already beginning to jump ship before it foundered on... Portobello rocks.

The Tabernacle has had a reputation in the past for being difficult (it is a difficult collection of balls to juggle) but in this instance the management acted in the only way they could in order to maintain some integrity. The Tabernacle after all has to sleep easily with the whole community, not just Warren Todd.

For Portobello Rocks to say on their Web site: 'Who needs the Tabernacle' beggars the question; Who needs a Warren Todd funded 'save portobello' event anywhere.

It would have been right for the 'Rocks' boys to put their hands up and say: 'We got it so completely wrong. Not the Tab's fault... Sorry!'

Having said that the Event is going ahead at the Drawing room in Portobello Road on Saturday night and I shall be there to support them... Let's hope they leave the politics at home.

And no! I do not work for the Tabernacle... The Tabernacle works for me!

Ray Roughler - Jones. Drowning on dry land.

I bought a copy of this with my own money - cash - I put the crispy tenner into Rays hand and told him that it allowed me to write an unbiased review.

'Warts and all.' He said... He even wrote that on the title page.

I have always been drawn to the 'Picaresque' over the picturesque; and Ray does picaresque well!

An unadorned tale of a scallywags journey through life (or lets hope, part way through life) from his Swansea roots via trouble, boozers, alternative journalism, pantomime, girls and scrapes to Notting Hill today.

As a local resident this book was essential reading, not a great work of literature (nor ever pretending to be) but a damn sight better written than a lot of so called literature. Ray is a natural storyteller and his voice resonates throughout.

I wasn't here in the Eighties... Ray has filled in a lot of the gaps!