[Archived] 28th November – Live from Alexandra Nurseries…

Being compelled to share GREAT music is how Drumz Of The South began; -then, posting photos and words about music that was getting right into my system led me to organise events at Brixton’s Plan B, a tent at Antic Banquet festival and many, many events in and outside of Crystal Palace’s Antenna Studios. I am now taking up the baton from Katherine & Charlie Hannah (Itchy Teeth) and organising the next Live from Alexandra Nurseries event on the 28th of November.

It will feature talented friends Breezy Lee & The Spaceshipman, Duke Bradley (and band of more fantastic musicians) & Alain McLean (Moine Dubh), playing Blues, Soul & Rock n Roll.

 

Alexandra Nurseries is a family-run & community oriented garden & vintage home-wares shop & cafe in Penge, South London.  This year it was deservedly featured in both Vogue and Time Out.  The music will play outside, under the canopy, framed by plants, pots & fairy lights. It’s a magical and unique space in which to listen to music and socialise and I am proud to organise an event there.

For further information – contact me via hello@georginacook.net

 

*MUSIC HISTORY FOR YOUR WALLS*- Limited Edition prints

SHOP: www.georginacook.net/store

*MUSIC HISTORY FOR YOUR WALLS* Limited Edition prints – Dubstep & Grime 2004-2005 now available to purchase

 

I put up a few of my early Dubstep and Grime images on my store to make it easier for people who request prints. They’re all from around 2004-2005, all taken in London on Digital camera – at Plastic People except for the one of the lathe, which was captured at Transition Mastering Studios, on film.

Photography shows the passage of time…

©GC Lathe

Smoking is now banned in UK clubs; Plastic People is now closed; DMZ, who feature in one of the pictures minus Coki celebrate 10 years this year; Wiley enjoyed big success, retired then broke his retirement; Skepta and Boy Better Know are leading a Grime renaissance – the genre never went anywhere, but it’s seemingly in a new chapter, as highlighted by Skepta and BBK on stage with Kanye West at The Brit Awards earlier this year.

YUNXFRAMEMOUNT

Transition Mastering Studios is still in Forest Hill, still captained by Jason. I visited him last year as part of a photo series about Mastering Houses for FACT – he’s still as busy as ever, still trusted by hundreds of producers and DJ’s to produce weightly, soulful low-end; what HAS changed for him and most of the other studios I visited however, is that engineers are increasingly working alone, without the producer or DJ next to them. Also, bedroom producers are now often trying to master music on their own, with sonically disastrous consequences. It’s the internet age.

As for my work – it’s evolved, as it should; I don’t blog as much and have started working with film (fruits of labour, will ripen soon). I still love anything to with cities, am still moved by London and it’s layers of narratives and history, my work is published frequently and increasingly appears in documentaries; commissions are building up and I enjoy researching new publications to work with, especially print media as it is King. For stills, I use the same digital camera that I have used for a few years, updating it with new lenses- it’s battered to the point where the staff in Jessops were cooing over it last week – too many photographer’s in their opinion are obsessed with the latest technology. More than anything else, I love that people collect my images for their walls, it’s the most satisfying feeling. Lastly, I have a new website… www.georginacook.net

Today is the 100th birthday anniversary Billie Holiday

Happy belated birthday, Billie.

Fans in a Flashbulb

leonard_herman_2007_90_65
Herman Leonard, Billie Holiday, NYC, 1949, (2007.90.65)

(c) Herman Leonard Photography, LLC

Today is the 100th birthday anniversary of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 and died on July 17, 1959 in New York City.

Herman Leonard website.
Great Fansinaflashbulb post on Herman Leonard.
A week long centennial broadcast can be heard on WKCR, here.
#BillieAt100

From “Forget If You Can” (Len Joy, Kay Upham, Jack Manus) recorded by Billie Holiday on May 11, 1938:

Don’t you remember
All the silly things we used to do
The way we laughed
When we were photographed
As Handsome Hal and his tintype gal

The Teddy Wilson led recordings, starting in July 1935, continuing with the recordings made under Billie Holiday’s leadership, and, starting in 1937, all of the recordings with Lester Young, (including songs like “Twenty-Four Hours a Day,” “Eeny, Meeny, Miny…

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More Music History in photos… Acid House Ravers + More

Photos of very happy ravers during the Second Summer of Love (1988-1990), by David Swindells, via Mashable http://mashable.com/2014/11/15/acid-house-raves.

Wonder if they knew how influential that music would be, or how much people that were too young to be there, wish they were older!

The photos led me to PYMCA (Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive)… I got lost there for a while. They’ve contributed all of the images in an exhibition named Breaking The Mould at The Southbank this weekend… I’ll be there.

Teds in Croydon copyright Chris Steele-Perkins

On  similar tip is a small exhibition in the Print Sales room at The Photographer’s Gallery, which includes Chris Steele-Perkins photo of Ted’s in Croydon…it’s also free. London’s kind to us.