Crappy's Corner | 
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Crappy and Dyani are spending about six months overseas, mainly in the UK, and will probably come back around January 2002. This page will keep you up to date with their adventures (well the ones they want to reveal). Hopefully we'll see some reviews of gigs they go to and whatever else they want to let us know about. MarkH.|
5 November 2001
It's been a while since the last update so it's time for a new one I guess.
To sum up, Selecter - Fantastic. Like Bad Manners but not as good. But still
fantastic. Citizen fish - by the time they came on at the punk all dayer for
the kiddies all the kiddies had done a St Ives, in other words, been picked
up by Mummy or Daddy. So we had Citizen Fish to ourselves and a few other
people who had passed out. They played in this massive auditorium which Dick
called a fishbowl. Haha. nice one Dick. Still great to see - pity they saved
my favourite songs for the encore which even us two couldn't convince them
to play. Oh well.
| Slackers were fucking brilliant. When i sent in that review i was running out of time like now so i fixed it up later but Jez has forgotten or didn't understand. But hey. Brilliant anyway. That was the end of the gig front - we then started going out to Dj nights and stuff which was pretty fun and just before we left we got in with the in crowd and invited to lots of fun ska things and told what pubs to drink at. So we drank at the pubs and saw loads of fights but kept low and didn't get any. Cos we got a new job in the cuntry and are now making loads of money off stupid rich toff hunters who give us large tips for being australian. Oh well. no time left for any more explanation. Ruffy, don't know what you are talking about. See ya later.
3 October 2001
| The Slackers, Live in Islington UK The Slackers are probably one of the most talked about New York Ska bands around and if you've heard any of their stuff you know why. We were lucky enough to catch them on the 27th of September up at the Garage in Islington, and they didn't disappoint. First a little about English gigs. Venues close at 11 for a start (despite the tube being so extensive it stops between 11:30 at 12:30 so your fucked if you miss it - nightrides are hell expensive and don't go anywhere you want to go). And drinking is EXPENSIVE. And a lot of these types of venues don't have passouts, so you have to go in with a lot of money (i learnt that alright.... ). After Brighton the other week where every punter was wearing at least one peice of traditional skinhead gear (if not 5) we were thinking, right, the Slackers, gonna see a few familiar faces, but think again! Cos London is different, very different. For a start, most of the supporting bands were pop-punk/ska punk with the exception of Fat Jabba, who were a sort of souly/rocky ska bunch from Manchester. So in accord the whole crowd was a like what you might expect at say a Less than Jake gig. Weird, after Brighton I mean. Anyway, the headlining band goes on at 9:30 and the place pretty much erupted to the sound of "I Still Love You". Vic Ruggiero is on stage in commisaire gear having just got off a flight from New York "where all the shit's going down" to join his band in Europe and he's still going crazy, using the keyboard like a machine gun.... They played almost all the crowd favourites (save Keep Him Away which was a bit of a disappointment, but the only one...) and chucked in a few new ones as well. "Manuel," "Cooking for Tommy (with lyrics)", "Married Girl", "Have the Time", "Feed My Girl", they ran through them all, going from bouncing ska to serious dub. Q-Maxx may appear a bit of a wanker to some people but he was on form this night and kept the crowd entertained... the musicianship of these guys is incredible. What can I Say? fantastic
19 September 2001
Well it's been a good few weeks, a lot better than the ones before it
anyway. Quitting a shitty job is always fun especially when it leaves a
shitty boss in the shit. But before we did that we made it along to the
Notting Hill Carnival twice in the same day. Imagine Reclaim the Streets if
a million more people turned up and they had sound systems on all the
corners. Easy to pretend you were in Orange St for the day especially when
you are around Gaz's Rockin Blues where they are pumping out some of Riot
Citys favourite tunes... We also managed to catch the Trojans and the Top
Cats play. Pretty good stuff but that melodica makes me feel like i should
be dancing a jig or something sometimes (perfect sound for a harbour cruise
definately).
| After we quit work we popped off to Holland for a few days as you do. Everything you have ever heard about Amsterdam is true. Plus we ran into more punks and skins than in the whole time we'd been in England. (unless you count the guys handing out flyers for a peircing pace in Camden town but they're punks in uniform so i wouldn't) But that was before we got back and decided to go to Brighton. A gig on the seafront is almost as good as a harbour cruise really - but imagine a hall just filled with ska people. A real hall too, a big thing with a wooden floor and all. So we saw the Special Effects from Belgium, 2tone (hey now that's original), the Mistakes (don't know how right this is but I seem to remember that a guy from the Business left them to form this band and they were pretty good - best ska punk I've heard in a long time) - Too Many Crooks and then the big one - Mark Foggo! (and his skasters). Man, what can I say? Brilliant. A completely normal guy backstage transformed into an extroverted Mr Bean on stage. I have to say I think the songs go on for a bit too long sometimes and don't change a lot but when you are there watching Mr Foggo jump around like a lunatic popping his eyes a few metres in front of his head they can't go on for too long. The night wasn't over, we also saw the Riffs and the Hotknives but we were there for the Skasters and that's all I'll remember. This week been walking around trying not to but records and finding out where stuff is like the 100 club etc (trendy jazz club now although UK Subs were there last night). Coming up we've got the Selecter on friday, Citizen Fish saturday and The Slackers Monday. Haha. I just wish we had more than a week and a half off, imagine who else we might see. Top 5 for the week
Bumpy Airlines - Mark Foggo's Skasters Crappys Favourite Place for the week We were stumbling through Soho and passed some sounds coming out a doorway so went down a tiny staircase (this is not what you think) and discovered a record store filled with loads and loads of ... well, records. Anyway, had loads of Trojan stuff, the walls are covered in 7"s and there is just heaps and heaps and heaps of it, so much you don't know where to start looking. This is the shop where Suggs still goes record shopping I'm told, and where the Clash and the Sex Pistols used to come for theirs. My only problem is you can't carry LPs in my backpack and singles none too safely so I'm gonna have to wait till just before we go. Crappys shithole of the week Camden Town might once have been the home of Madness, the Clash and our very own Mental Martin, but jesus.... and I thought Newtwon could be bad sometimes. It wasn't that bad last time we went but on weekends the place is just packed with trendy young goth kids looking in the punk shops for trendy things to wear and trendy young yuppies looking in the restaurants for trendy things to eat. Made me almost spew.
21 August 2001
Well we've arrived in London and are living and working in a hole in far
north london, deep in tottenham/arsenal territory for all you squids. Not
for much longer though, we're going to holland for a bit where we'll be
seeing Mark Foggo in the ancestral home of yours truly, that is Rosendaal.
And then hey, why not, we'll see him again in Brighton a week later with the
Riffs and a few others... looking forward to it all.
| It's weird so far to be walking around the places of so many songs. Don't know why its not as weird to be 'walking down King st' as it is to be 'walking down the westway', or looking for car shops in Primrose hill or guns in Brixton (a bit harder to find than dope in Brixton but that's not too hard at all) or chemist shops in Camden Town or shops called 'sex' on the Kings Rd but there you go. Funny to be in a place where ska is much more in the minds of the public, where in every market stall there is a sound system, where businessmen in their 50's and 60s come in to the pub where we work for their lunchbreak and talk about the songs of their childhood - liquidator, double barrel and the guns of navarone. Where i could go into a record store in Brixton and come out with 7"s of most of the Riot City set list!!! So far though we're doing a bit of a Lister and in our first couple of weeks have not made it along to anything - but we will soon. How i wish for a 9 - 5 job 5 days a week! but we'll be getting some time off for a few weeks soon where we'll be fitting in anything and everything. Still to check out all the clubs and stuff - picked up a flyer in Carnaby st the other day for a fortnightly one with Jerry Dammers as a guest DJ. So who knows. I certainly don't.
Songs of the Week/Month (however long it is till i update it)
31 July 2001
If you’re flying Egypt Air then don’t forget your smokes cos you’ll feel left out otherwise. Probably a good idea to sneak aboard some grog too, I forgot Islam says smoking is fine but drinking is a nono. And 9 hours is a long time especially when they wake you up at 1 in the morning to give you sandwiches.
| Still in Singapore and only just getting used to the heat. It’s been 8 years since I was living in weather like this and I’m just not used to it anymore. In Malaysia up Malacca way they have buses out to Ska City, no joke. So we’re looking at a yard full of buses all with the destination “Ska City” and in the background there’s this tower with “SHC” written on the top. The afternoon before there was a massive police crackdown on “Black Metal” kids – they detained hundreds of them in shopping malls all across the country – that’ll teach you for listening to Limp Bizkit I say but still pretty mental. In a market stall there’s Bob Marley pumping and on a window “Punk was Dead” is scrawled in the dust. Dodgy vespas everywhere. Fucking weird. Halfway between Sydney and London we weren’t expecting any of that…. Back in Singapore, I’m beginning to notice that it is practically just one big apartment block. You can’t find a place that is not in sight of one. Some of them may as well be gold plated and others are on the verge of collapse or look as though they’re about to rot away. Hasn’t stopped us getting into the expat thing and knocking ourselves around with gin and tonics, but won’t go to raffles again, that place is a ripoff although they do have free peanuts and you’re allowed to throw the shells at people and on the floor. Most other things are cheap though, we found Fred Perrys for around 8 bucks. Oh, if you ever come to this crazy town mind your P’s and Q’s or you’ll get done big time. Fines are dished out here like nothing else, for littering, not flushing the toilet, carrying an unlit cigarette in your hand and being under 18 (actually I think you can go to gaol for that one if you do it again), spitting…. Hey, if you’re white though you might just get away with it… (unless you’re American in which case they thrash you with a whip).
Songs of the Week
Album of the Week
Movie of the Week
27 July 2001
Here's some pics Tom sent from Malacca. He said the song of the week was "Too Hot" .... just wait 'til they get to London it'll be "Freeze Up".
|  Bus Depot... I can see why they took the Photo  ...good to see a bit of TLH promotion being done |
Last updated at 15:17 on Thursday 15 November 2001 |