‘Portraits of a Player’ January 16, 2012

An encounter with gift economy on the street of Thornton Heath: a review of ‘Portraits of a Player’

Crook Street Gang's new CD

Thornton Heath obviously does not have the extreme cruelty and oppression of apartheid – different cultures happily swim together in the same pool and share the same schools. That can feel good. But the cultural groups of The Heath still mostly lead separate lives; meeting fleetingly in school drop-offs and children’s parties. So it was refreshing when a older white man like me, trudging up the hill from shopping, was approached by a young black man with an offer to gift me a copy of his latest CD. I get approached to embrace Jesus often enough, but this is a rarer and realer opportunity. The man introduced himself as Art Daley. I got home and put it straight on. He describes it as having a Seventies soul vibe, to me it’s articulate and often lyrical urban rap. ‘Portraits of a Player’ is nicely presented with ten well-produced tracks from the local Crook Street Gang.

A long sample from the namesake Arthur Daley bridges the b/w and generational cultural gap and reminds me of our shared cultural experience. At the same time corny rap words add to the gulf between us that still prickles out of this beautiful package of creativity. “RU a fag or summat?” and plentiful use of ‘Bitch’ means, I hate to say so bluntly but, it won’t get played easily to my young daughter or some of my friends. It’s these thorny taboo words can mark out the territory of our separation. How can we represent our whole multi-cultural community when such simple jags of difference and markers of oppression, can get in the way so easily? How are we going to get through this abrasive surface and get down to sharing culture and our different experiences as human beings?

The final track ‘Setting Sun’ to me seems to say it all for Thornton Heath and many other poor suburbs: “Guns don’t kill, people do”; “I wanna face up to my fears”; “I’m a mountain”; “Your raps worth more, than the waiting crack”. Listen to this track above all.

This is why Thornton Heath older folks like me should get behind the creative force of their sons and daughters – Art Daley, lead us into the future man!

See more on:
Facebook.com/artdaley
Youtube.com/crookstreet
arturdales@gmail.com

The writer of this review has recently published ‘Agit Disco’ with Mute Books:

September 7, 2011

Here is a slide show of the amazing new play structures on the green at the top of Spa Hill. Beautifully designed and made.

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Congratulations to whoever got this together! I love this trend to use trees for play purposes. We had just visited BeWILDerwood playpark in Norfolk, which is a good source of ideas.
Could do with a bit of work to clear the rubbish that’s accumulated around it.

April 11, 2011

Altho ARIWA are part of South London and Thornton Heath music history without doubt, it can’t be said that they add much to the architectural quality of Heath life.

The Grangewood Big Lunch: Picnic in the Park July 17, 2010

The Grangewood Big Lunch: Picnic in the Park

Sunday 18 July 11am – 3pm

Timetable

11am Fun Run
11.30 Monkey Music
12.00 Nature Walk
12 – 1pm Facepainting
12.30 Drumming Workshop
1.00 LUNCH
1.30 Drumming Workshop
2pm Storytelling
2pm History Walk
2 – 3pm Facepainting
2 – 3pm Basketball
2.30 Boogie Mites
3pm Dog Show
3pm end of event

Ongoing sessions:

Art Activity
Little Kickers
Dog Grooming

http://www.grangewood.btik.com/

New Library is Open! June 28, 2010

This is a really wonderful new building that keeps the best of the old library and upgrades everything else about it. A building of this quality in terms of space, design and materials has never been seen in Thornton Heath, at least in modern times.
You need to go inside to appreciate it. And its not easy to photograph as it is about how the spaces all fit together and how the old features

Andy Pag arrested in India!! Free Andy Pag Now! January 18, 2010

Andy Pag is well into his marathon bio diesel trans continental journey by now. But has been arrested in India for having a satellite phone – a terrorism charge! He was traveling on an Italian passport. Please send messages of support.
see Croydon Guardian
See his blog on:
Andy Pag Blog</a

Traditional Sunday Roast £5.50 December 2, 2009

Trad jazz from 1pm with a good Sunday roast for £5.50 from 2 – 4pm. Only at the Lord Napier.

The Paving Stones of Thornton Heath – A Plea November 23, 2009

“If you can tell a man by his shoes, you can tell a city by its pavements” goes the corny old saying but de-cluttering, better quality surfaces, less barriers, more freedom of movement, X-crossings as in Oxford Circus and the junction outside Balham Station, better thought out planting, focal points. really do make a big difference to the environment and how we feel about a place. The pavements, from the Pond and soon to be FAB new library to the station and on past the venerable Clocktower down the old High Street, could all really do with a redesign and

Heath ‘eritage – as it got any? November 8, 2009

The word ‘heritage’ usually refers to buildings that were once owned by aristocrats. I’ve been thinking about what it might mean to ‘ordinary’ people around here. I think heritage is anything that we think has artistic merit and deserves to be kept and maintained if at all possible. I’ve taken some photos of aspects of our environment in Thornton Heath that I think its worth valuing. You can see a few of them at the end of this article. The rest are a set on Flickr. I have tagged all the photos that relate positively or negatively to this idea of heritage with the word ‘heritage’ so you can bring them all up as a group.

Heritage suggests something old that is worth saving. Much of the Heath is Edwardian and about 100 years old. Most of the fabric of our houses needs

Off Grid anyone? September 18, 2009

Is anyone out there in Thornton Heath area interested in off-grid energy?

I’ve got Solar hot water which has been working very well for over a year. The benefits are as much the slightly indefinable ones of being in touch with the sun (!) as much as saving on the bills.