PVC

Saturday 19 November 2016

"No Xmas for Lou Knees" all day at The Montague Arms - December 11th

‘What do you mean- there ain’t no sanity clause?’

No Xmas for Lou Knees

MAD PRIDE - ANTI XMAS PARTY

SUNDAY 11TH DECEMBER

The Montague Arms

289 Queens Road, New X   SE15

3 – 10pm

Admission by donation

Suggested minimum donation -£5 waged / £2 unwaged


YOUR HETEROSEXUAL VIOLENCE / THE BULBOUS SKUNK CABBAGES /THE BALLOONS /VOODOO CiTi / DIRTY VIV / DRIFT/ REPETITIVE JOHN / DAVE RUSSELL/ FRANK BANGAY / TARA FLEUR  

MC’s RAZZ & JASON WHY?


The commercial hype that surrounds Xmas can make it a miserable and depressing period for people living with poverty and people that are lonely and isolated.

Suicide rates go up dramatically around Xmas and New Year alcohol related deaths and accidents rocket and more people end up with alcohol dependency problems or alcohol related health problems following the holiday binge period whilst corporations milk huge profits out of a manufactured artificial ‘happiness’.
MAD PRIDE the grass roots campaigning organisation which aims to challenge prejudice against people given negative ‘mental health’ labels mainly via the vehicle of music and the arts are coming back to South East London after a long hiatus – (the last SE London MAD PRIDE event being the ‘Celebration of Creative Lunacy’ for World Mental Health Week for World Mental Health Week – an established MAD PRIDE tradition- at the IVY HOUSE in Nunhead several years ago)- to bring to those who might feel inclined to say ‘bah humbug’ to the traditional Xmas hype a ‘party’ for those who might seek an alternative and an antidote to this.
We want to bring Xmas back to its original pagan traditions of rebirth and regeneration at the winter solstice- we want to bring back the true Xmas spirit of peace and love and mutual support and caring. MAD PRIDE are of the belief that if we had a more caring and sharing society there would be less people suffering from mental and emotional distress.
We will be staging our ANTI XMAS party – which we have dubbed ‘No Xmas for Lou Knees’ in a tip of the hat to the much loved and respected alternative music favourites the Fall and their famous ‘No Xmas for John Quays’ – album (and we are sure that Mr Mark E Smith is no stranger to mental health issues)- on

Sunday 11th December-

at the Montague Arms in New X 


- an old ‘stomping ground’ for the MAD PRIDE posse with us having staged a number of successful and popular events there in the past. The venue has a suitably quirky and eccentric decor and is a venue with a long history of staging music events.
The event also carries a by line of

‘What do you mean- there ain’t no sanity clause?’-  

The opportunity to stage this event comes to us courtesy of Steve Elwell who has been running regular alternative music events at the Montague Arms (a popular local venue) for many years and a long time MAD PRIDE supporter who has given over one of his dates booked there in support of the event happening.
We have also invited El to invite some acts from his extensive contacts list to perform and various activists from MAD PRIDE have suggested other acts, some of which have performed at previous MAD PRIDE events, some entirely new to the MAD PRIDE stage.
MAD PRIDE has a reputation for staging original, eccentric, quirky and unusual acts of the highest quality. You can pretty much be sure of some interesting and original music and performance poetry you will likely to see anywhere, even if you have never heard of some of some of these somewhat ‘obscure’ acts you are sure to find something of interest to you.
All acts perform at MAD PRIDE events without charging a fee in support of what we are about- many even waive basic expenses. MAD PRIDE is a strictly not for profit organisation, we have no funding or resources but rely entirely on the good will of artists, event promoters, venue managements and sound and lighting technicians and graphic designers- who offer uses of skills and resources without charge to make our events possible.
Some of the artist who perform have had personal experience of mental distress and poor mental health – others are people sympathetic to our cause. Creative artists recognise the importance of ‘creative lunacy’ -MAD PRIDE say what’s wrong with being ‘mad’ some of the most creative people in history have been considered ‘mad’.
MAD PRIDE events provide ‘survivor’ artists a platform to reach a broader audience and increase public awareness about mental health issues. The events also provide a ‘safe space’ for people who may have felt stigma about being given a negative mental health label the mix with people from the ‘mainstream’ community where they can feel sure they will not experience discrimination or judgement.
MAD PRIDE has survived and thrived over a number of years through building, developing and maintaining a spirit of co-operation and good will for a mutual interest in support of a shared cause.
Some volunteer activists involved in organising staging and promoting MAD PRIDE events do it without claiming any out of pocket expenses because they believe in our cause, although MAD PRIDE does seek to cover basic expenses for artist and volunteers who need it and wish to claim it.
Admission to this event will be by donation with all monies raised going back in to cover organising and staging costs. Any monies raised over and above costs will be donated to other mental health or disability rights campaigning groups.  
The first act will kick off shortly after 3pm – and the event will run until 10pm – the venue is ‘family friendly’ and escorted children are welcome until about  8pm- (although we must give a parental guidance warning that some acts might have ‘adult content’). And good reasonably priced food is available.


The Acts we have invited to perform are-

YOUR HETEROSEXUAL VIOLENCE- 

A band which originally formed out of the Greenwich Performance Collective back in the 1980’s and then after a period of inactivity reformed to play at the ‘Not Weird Enough’ GPC re union gig at the Amersham Arms in New X several years ago – and have been gigging sporadically since  (recently at one of Elwell’s events at the Montague Arms) and are aiming to record and market their music soon (watch this space) – The band established something of a cult status back in the 80’s – playing support to the likes of The Poison Girls, The Mekons, The Three Johns and Five Go Down to the Sea- and maintain something of that cult status to day, with people who are always keen to catch their relatively rare appearances
Possibly best described as a sort of post punk, jazz, funk, pop band – with incisive and cynical lyrics, tight jazz influenced beats and hooks and melodic catchy tunes, the band are always a treat to see. Although this band have been long time supporters of MAD PRIDE this marks their first appearance at a MAD PRIDE event

THE BALLOONS

Another long established S.E. London band who were a part of the original ‘Deptford Fun City’ scene- and have gigged consistently over the years and have established themselves as firm favourites with local audiences-
A guitar based band heavily influenced by the legendary Captain Beefheart – with his unique poly rhythmic ‘shuffle’ -made possible by a highly dexterous drummer and some seriously funked up bass lines-
The Balloons have been long time MAD PRIDE supporters and have played on many MAD PRIDE events in the past the last one being at the last ‘Celebration of Creative Lunacy’ event at the Ivy House –
We are always pleased to invite the Balloons back to perform at our events as they always provide excellent ‘value for money’-

THE BULBOUS SKUNK CABBAGES

The band fronted by local legend and well known eccentric R. Nib– the founder of the legendary Replaceable Hedz- which morphed into the Bulbous Skunk Cabbages during the period they too were involved in the Greenwich Performance Collective before also going into Limbo for a while to be resurrected for the GPC reunion gig at the Amersham Arms and continuing to gig on an infrequent basis ever since – with their last gig also being at one of Elwell’s events at the Montague Arms recently-
Another act with local cult status who had featured on the first ever MAD PRIDE gig in S.E. London the first ‘Celebration of Creative Lunacy’ at the Ivy House back in October 2004- R. Nib has also played at MAD PRIDE events previously fronting various other outfits including Draincover 330 – who performed at the last ‘Celebration of Creative Lunacy’-
Performing largely ‘without a safety net’ – with pure improvisation and inventiveness this band eschew the concept of rehearsals- but they have been playing together so long that they have developed a kind of telepathy (well at least this what they claim)-
We are pleased that the Cabbages were able to accept our invitation to perform at this event – they are always a treat-

VOODOO CiTi

Another artist who has performed at many MAD PRIDE events and is a firm MAD PRIDE supporter is eccentric and exotic singer / songwriter Cam Ringel – otherwise known as Cam Tan or CT hence the name of her floating band of back up musicians Voodoo CiTi-Well known for staging her own events in venues around London and an established name on the London small gigs circuit, she is also known for running RAW poetry workshops in various venues around London. 

She has an evocative and haunting voice and writes deeply melodic songs about surviving through struggles – she herself having wrestled with many difficult issues in her life- she has an infectious spirit of hope and optimism and is just the kind of uplifting stuff we need to get us through those Xmas and New Year blues-

We are always pleased and privileged to have her grace the stage at our events, she is very much a part of the MAD PRIDE extended family-

Acts Elwell has invited are –

DRIFT

An off the wall duo formerly involved with local cult act The Probing Cranks- new to the MAD PRIDE stage – but sounds appropriate to us.

DIRTY VIV

A locally based punk pop rock band with a strong local following also performing for the first time at a MAD PRIDE event.

REPETITIVE JOHN

Singer songwriter John Irvine- performs solo accompanying himself with a sythesiser and self recorded backing tracks- strong melodic tunes – another performer new to the MAD PRIDE stage but having performed at the Montague Arms before.

We very much welcome the support of these artists and once again thank Elwell for his support in making this event possible.

MAD PRIDE activist Debbie McNamara has also been closely involved with MAD PRIDE’s ‘sister’ organisation Survivor’s Poetry she has invited along artists who have had links with Survivor’s Poetry, some of who have previously appeared at various MAD PRIDE events over the years.
These are-

FRANK BANGAY 

A powerful and evocative well respected and much loved performance poet who has been published, put out several recordings of his poetry with musical accompaniments and is a well known figure in the performance poetry scene. Frank was a founder member of ‘Survivor’s Poetry’, he is a long time MAD PRIDE supporter having performed at the first ever MAD PRIDE events in the late 1990s – and having performed at numerous MAD PRIDE events over the years – he is always a firm favourite.

DAVE RUSSELL 

Eccentric singer songwriter Dave Russell has been the musician in residence at the regular monthly ‘Survivor’s Poetry’ events at the Poetry Place cafe in Covent Garden for many years. He too appeared at the early MAD PRIDE gigs and has also played at many other MAD PRIDE events since then. Another firm MAD PRIDE favourite- his quirky tunes and distinctive style of delivery never fails to astonish audiences who have never seen him before. 

TARA FLEUR 

AKA –‘The Woman of Bones’- A strong experienced and popular ‘survivor’ poet- her first performance at a MAD PRIDE event in S.E.London-

We have also invited long term Survivor’s Poetry events organiser and MC –

RAZZ 

a well respected and much loved poet and singer / songwriter in his own right- to be one of the MC’s for this event and we are sure that he will treat us to some of his heartfelt and uplifting poetry as well. Razz has been a Survivor through a lot of adversity in his life and he remains an inspiration to us all. He is a much loved part of the MAD PRIDE extended family.
Assisting Razz with the MC chores for the day will be regular MAD PRIDE MC

JASON WHY?

Oh why, oh why? Also well known for organising and MCing his own events around London he edited and compiled the ‘Mad About Poetry’ published by the mental health publishing organisation Chipamunka – who had been the publishers of Robert Dellar’s compilation of ‘mad’ writing ‘Mad Pride – a Celebration of Mad Culture’ (which also features a piece by Frank Bangay) and is much loved for performing his ‘psychic poetry’ at various venues around London over many years. He is sure to treat us to some of this on the day (not to be missed)-    

All in all an eclectic mixed bag of unusual and eccentric mixed bag of musical acts, poets and performers- where could you get so much value for money and see such an array of original and off the wall acts?
It would be good to see people who are new to the MAD PRIDE experience as well as to welcome back those who have attended and enjoyed MAD PRIDE events before and have missed their presence in S.E. London over the past years- were back and were proud.
These events carry a warning that they will seriously de- normalise people, we aim to alter your perceptions. We are ‘out’ to change people’s minds.
The Montague Arms is located nearby to Queens Road Peckham and New Cross Gate railway stations and New Cross bus garage with many bus routes going there, it is also a short bus ride from Deptford Bridge DLR station.


For more information contact Dave Skull on 07948419865