‘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
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