NEXT SHOWS: - JOHN COOPER CLARKE & DON LETTS // BLACKBERRY WOOD

John Cooper Clarke/Don Letts/ Helen McCookerybook - Friday 11th June @ The Blue Rooms, Hereford

With the recent death of Malcolm McLaren there has been a lot of reminiscing by people in the media about the significance of punk rock and how it enabled many people of my generation to find their voice.  This Wild Hare Club night celebrates three diverse artists who all stepped out during that fertile period when every night listening to John Peel yielded unexpected sounds.

Punk poet John Cooper Clarke has had something of a renaissance in recent years.  I remember seeing him open for Ian Dury way back when and have been hoping ever since that I may hear more of  ‘Tadpoles - a poor man’s caviar’ as promised then…. This hope hasn’t been fulfilled as yet but I have caught a couple of recent festival performances and can vouch that the poems still deliver and that his razor wit  has been honed even more over the intervening years.

Don Letts’ has a burgeoning CV and there’s a remarkably full entry on Wikipedia.  Suffice to say he has built up a substantial body of work both in music and film starting in the late 70's and continuing to the present day. His work has been exhibited in The Kitchen N.Y.C, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The N.F.T in London and was honored at Brooklyn’s BAM festival. In March 2003 he won a Grammy for his documentary ‘Westway To The World’.  He came to notoriety in the late 70's as the DJ that single handedly turned a whole generation of punks onto reggae. It was whilst as a d.j at the first punk club 'The Roxy' in 1977, that Don adopted the punk D.I.Y ethic and begun to make his first film 'The Punk Rock Movie'. Shot on Super-8mm it is the only documentary on the U.K punk scene with the Sex Pistols, The Clash and many others. This led to a period directing over 300 music videos for a diverse range of artists.  Wanna know more?  Go read his autobiography  ‘Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers’ or better still listen to one of the superb reggae compilations that he’s responsible for.   For the WHC he’ll be putting together a DJ set that will have you movin’ until the small hours.

Opening the show is the winning Helen McCookerybook.  She’s another performer that has remained true to the trail. Helen's musical life started in 1976 as bass-player in punk band Joby and the Hooligans, dubbed 'the worst band in Brighton'. I first saw her with Helen and the Horns, a band championed by Peel and one that once supported John Cooper Clarke at Ronnie Scott’s.  Fast forward, twenty years, and after a long break to raise a family and work in higher education, a chance offer of a gig led to her resuming her career, this time as a solo artist. Her self-released CD 'Suburban Pastoral' in 2006 led to a deal with Voiceprint, who released 'Poetry and Rhyme' in 2008 and a co-release 'Hamilton Square' with her partner, Martin Stephenson in 2009. She continues to record both solo and with Martin, and in the last few years has played everywhere from North Carolina to an allotment in Cheshire, which clearly indicates that she was bound to end up at the WHC.

This show is On Friday 11th June at the Blue Rooms, Hereford  www.blueroomshereford.co.uk from 8pm until late.  Tickets are £15 each and available now via www.ticketweb.co.uk

Blackberry Wood/ Heed the Thunder/ Misha & Jenna – Thursday 13th May @ The Green Dragon, Hereford

Trumpet the good news - Canadian raggle taggle troubadours, Blackberry Wood are rolling into town on the rather convoluted path that leads to Glastonbury. I missed it when they caused an outbreak of contagious jigging and grinning at the Barrels last year but my spies were suitably impressed. Support will come from the latest incarnation of Heed the Thunder. I haven’t heard them live yet, but expect lots of semi-acoustic goodness, for they come with a good pedigree. The band is fronted by Alex Gordon who used to be in my favourite local band Lincoln when I lived in Stoke Newington many years ago.  Now he plays music with friends Kate and Mark lives in Canon Frome – talk about small world. 

For some added zest, we also have vibrant tribal street dancers Misha and Jenna on the bill.  I am not quite sure what to expect but hey, it’s bound to be entertaining.  This show will be at the Green Dragon, Hereford on Thursday 13th May and will be co-hosted by the lovely Bella Thomas.  Tickets will be £5 on the door which opens at 8pm.  The show will start promptly and finish before the witching hour given it’s a weekday.

Go out more?  Of course you should.

Richard MC of the WHC

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