To coincide with the night at the ICA, there's another event which sounds much more interesting - a talk plus Q A session covering the original 14-Hour Technicolor Dream event with people key to it.
These include Joe Boyd, producer of the likes of The Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention and author of the must-read , Miles - founder of the UK's first underground newspaper (International Times) and the Indica bookstore, Hoppy Hopkins - man behind the resurrection of the Notting Hill carnival, UFO Club and original 14-Hour Technicolor Dream and John Dunbar - founder of the Indica art gallery.
Tickets are £10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members or you can bag a joint one for this and the night.
Colin MacInnes' tale of the teenager at the turn of the sixties - Absolute Beginners - has already been a novel and a (widely panned) film. And now it's set to be a play, debuting at London's Lyric Theatre.
Details are so far quite sparse, but according to web sources:
Roy Williams, Soweto Kinch and dance theatre director Liam Steel join forces to create an explosively physical evocation of sexual liberalism, gang culture and racial tension, based on Colin MacInnes' bestseller Absolute Beginners.
Set in the summer of 1958 that ends with the Notting Hill race riots, Absolute Beginners paints a vivid picture of London's changing society and the emergence of a style-conscious youth culture, as teenagers blow away the cobwebs of post-war life and create the world anew.
It's down for a run from 26th April 2007 to 26th May 2007 (with an official opening on 3rd May 2007). We'll let you know more as soon as we receive further information.
In the meantime, if you haven't read the book, add it to your wants list - it's an essential read.
Thanks to Greg for the tip off!
If you're on the look out for a mod-related book, the archive of titles is now back on the books section.
Just follow the links to each category from the books index page:
It got lost during a recent update, but is now back for good. I think there's 110 book titles there. However, it's not been updated for some time, with some titles just the book cover and some info on publisher and availability.
I'll be working on this in the nearer future - and even in its current state, it's still the best reading guide you'll find.
If you see any errors, omissions etc, please . Or if you can help with a quick 2 paragraph review for any of the titles, even better.
The Look covers fashion from the 50s to the present day - so any question from any era (not just the sixties) is welcome. It starts at 7pm, admission is free.
When that's over, it's just a short walk to the Piccadilly Blues Club (93 Dean Street, W1), where you can catch Long Tall Shorty live, plus DJ support from Dave Edwards and Mickee. Entry is a bargain £3. More on that on the .
As you may have noticed, the Modculture news section is update virtually every day with anything from fashion finds to gigs, clubs, events, music releases, upcoming TV and competitions. And it's all down to you.
If you want anything featuring in the news section (and on the site frontpage), you just need to email it across.
If it's interesting/relevant, we'll put it up and it'll be read by thousands of people every single day.
Just email your news or anything you think interesting to:
- and we'll do our best to spread it around!
After the phenomenal success of his last reading in London, Richard Barnes, author of Mods, along with the excellent Maximum Who, is returning for another reading, plus question and answer session.
The date is Sunday 1st October at The Gladstone (now a Filthy's pub), 64 Lant Street London SE1.
Richard will be reading extracts from his books, as well as taking questions on 60s Mods, The Who, Pete Townshend, Guy Stephens, Pete Meaden and much more. He doesn't do these things often, so make an effort to get down if you can.
Admission is free, the event is hosted Dave Edwards and your nearest tube is Borough (2 minute walk). Richard will be talking from around 7pm onwards, but you're encouraged to arrive early, particularly if you're on a scooter as places are limited.
More information:
Phone: 0207 407 3962
Web:
One for your diaries if you happen to be up north on Saturday September 16th is a Mod record fair, music and discussion event in Liverpool under the name It'll Never Be Over For Me.
It's a free event that starts at 12 noon and runs until late. There's a specialist record fair (Mod, 60s, R B, Motown, soul, northern, ska), along with a discussion based around Mod. Guest speakers for the discussion include The Look author Paul Gorman, Paolo Hewitt, Katie Milestone, John Gore and from today's Mod scene, Dave Edwards and Neil Lee.
And if that's not enough, there's a live appearance from one of the best bands on today's scene, Glasgow's The Five Aces.
If you want to pop along, the address is:
A Foundation Building
Greenland St, City Centre,
Liverpool
L1 0BY (opposite Cain¹s Brewery)
For more information or if you want a record stall on the event, contact Hilary Thorn on 0151 709 4180 or email
Those of you in Brighton for the NUTS weekend had the opportunity to attend a promo at Borders Bookshop for The Look a recently published book all about post-war fashion with a great section on that beloved 60s decade. Guests included the author, Paul Gorman, with Lloyd Johnson and Jeff Dexter, both of whom feature in the book.
The talk started off with some reminisces from both Jeff (a pal of Marc Feld, later Bolan and the DJ at the legendary Tiles) and Lloyd (a South Coast modernist and the owner of Johnson’s store, the King’s Road’s coolest outfitters from the 70s to the 90s).
Jeff recalled his job teaching the cast of Quadrophenia how to dance in an authentic 60s style – they were all dancing like John Travolta, ‘shooting the moon’ before he took charge – and amazed us all with his fond memories of the young Marc Bolan, done up to the nines and ruling the fashion roost at the tender age of twelve (can you credit it?).
It seems hard to believe that a place like Tiles ever existed – a subterranean fashion store in Oxford Street, where music played and kids danced in their lunch hours, every working day, to the latest sounds. If only such a place existed today.
If you didn't pick up a copy of the Sunday Times this week, you will have missed quite an interesting article on the sixties by Dominic Sandbrook.
It was taken from his new book called White Heat: A History Of Britain In The Swinging Sixties, which was released at the start of this month. I've yet to pick up a copy, but if you have, please add your comment below.
The Times article focuses on the flipside of Carnaby Street and Kings Road - the poverty and prejudice that affected a far bigger number than the swinging few.
Luckily, it's online and well worth a read if you have five minutes:
The book is available now from Amazon. You can find out more by .
I've yet to pick up The Look by Paul Gorman, which is much to my embarassment, as it's been described as pretty much essential and easily one of the best books ever written on the development of mid to late 20th century UK style and fashion and its influences.
If you've not got a copy, it's been reissued and enhanced and available to buy from most bookshops - or failing that, Amazon. To celebrate the reissue, author Paul Gorman has organised an event over August bank holiday weekend in Brighton.
Under the title The Look presents.
..bank holiday Modrophenia, Borders Books in Brighton will host readings, interviews and a Q A featuring himself and two true originals:
Jeff Dexter
Marc Bolan's best mate back when they were Soho movers in the early 60s, Jeff was THE mod DJ, spinning at Tiles, the Oxford Street club immortalised in Tom Wolfe's The Noonday Underground, and went on to DJ at such landmark clubs as UFO and Middle Earth.
Jeff was asked by Pete Townshend to provide the tracklisting for the Quadrophenia soundtrack and also choreograph the cast's dance moves. He can be spotted in the movie in a cameo DJing at the dance-up at the Brighton ballroom.
Lloyd Johnson
A teenage member of the exclusive south coast modernist scene from the late 50s, Lloyd went on to run the Johnson's shops, whose customers ranged from Paul Weller, Bob Dylan, The Who and the Rolling Stones to David Bowie, The Specials, Madness, The Clash and the Sex Pistols.
Lloyd provided original clothing designs for many of the cast members for Quadrophenia and his designs are available to this day in Japan and via Liberty's.
It all kicks off at 4pm on Saturday August 26th. Needless to say, signed copies of the book will be available.
Many aren't taken on the football pitch - and that's the really fascinating thing. Five main chapters are packed with pictures from the regional stages, then onto the knockout matches and the final.
It's amazingly quirky - from Nobby Stiles buying records, Pele in the pouring rain of Bolton, the North Koreans watching Laurel and Hardy through to the Italians doing the full-on rat pack in Durham, the Germans in really cool knitted sports tops and all manner of strange locals to scare the players.
Expect a full review soon - certainly one to browse in your local bookshop.
The full title is White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s by Joe Boyd - and if you have an interest in the 60s music scene, particularly the later 60s British scene, this forthcoming book looks like being pretty much essential.
Joe Boyd was a music promoter, record producer and a man at the heart of the 60s underground. He was co-founder of the UFO Club, the focal point of British psychedelia, alongside John Hopkins before getting involved with the rapidly-growing British folk scene, taking charge of acts such as the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and Nick Drake.
This book is his story.
And there's seems plenty to call upon. It's out on May 25th through Serpent's Tail.
By now, you might well have picked up a copy of the David Lines book, , and enjoyed it every bit as much as I did.
If you didn't, you can meet the man himself in Leeds and get yourself a signed copy.
The author will be at Waterstones in Leeds on the 18th April at 7pm for an event . Not sure what that entails, but you usually get a free drink and some nibbles at these things and the admission price (£3) is redeemable against the book on the night.
The address is:
Waterstones
93-7 Albion Street
Leeds LS1 5AP
- contact the store for more details.
Take your pick from a selection of mod, 60s, vintage books at the following page:
Needless to say, much more stock will be filtered in as and when I get chance (including copies of Quadrophenia, Paint House, Glasgow Gang Observed etc). Magazines too.
All prices are low, payment ideally by Paypal and yes, I do ship worldwide. I'll also source any of your wants too.
We told you just before Christmas about a new book - The Modfather (My Life With Paul Weller) by David Lines, a tale of growing up in Leeds with a Paul Weller obsession on the 80s.
Well, I've finished the book and published a review of it online. It's not giving too much away to say I realy enjoyed it. Check out the review at:
The book is available to buy from early February, but you can order it now (discounted) from Amazon - link on review page.
Essential Retro: The Vintage Technology Guide by James Graham presents classic electronics, vintage gadgets, and magnificent machines.
The book covers cameras, audio, televisions, computers, video games, vehicles, toys, musical instruments and allsorts of other mechanical gadgets.
There's also hundreds of photographs and reproductions of classic ads scattered through the book as ewell.
There will hopefully be a review on Modculture in the new year, but in the meantime, you can find out more or order a signed copy from the US for just $17.95 by .
According to the cover blurb:
Things were picking up for me.
I made three brilliant new friends - Paul, Bruce and Rick...
Paul especially knew what it was like to be me. We shared the sense that something quite right between us and the rest of the world and listening to Paul's take on this made it much easier for me.
Yes, it sounds like a Nick Hornby-esque nostalgic take on growing up as a Jam (and Weller) fan.
It's on top of the reading pile, so expect a full review in the not-too-distant future.
The book available to buy from February 2006, pubished by William Heinemann.
So if you want to find the best retro shops in a short space of time, you need a guide.
Rather than dragging a local around with you, why not pick up a copy of Clive Dunkley's Essential Guide To London's Retro Shops ?
To save you browsing a copy in your lunch hour at Waterstones, we've gone through it thoroughly at modculture.
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