Cezanne - Tate Modern - December 2022

 Beautiful show is worth the money

We managed to book tickets for this stupendous show the day before our visit. Tickets costing £22 each may have something to do with it, but that’s average nowadays. On arrival at Tate Modern, we followed the signs to enter the Turbine Hall and then descend to basement level. There was no search or checking of bookings to enter as had happened to me 6 months ago. This route takes you passed the cloakroom, which we regretted not using, as it was extremely hot in the exhibition space on level 3.

The crowds were heavy but bearable. You just had to wait a minute or two and the groups would move off and you generally could have the painting to yourself. This was a top class show, the text at the entrance to each room was informative, as were the labels besides many of the 60 or so pictures. They included quotes from contemporaries of Cezanne, and comments from those who had owned the pictures. The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke was quoted several times, as was Picasso, Monet and various others. These quotes were often fascinating. One relating to the picture of his mother spoke of the movements he perceived, but left me baffled. Another related how Monet had taken encouragement from the picture, during a 35 year period of ownership. These quotes were deeply pretentious on the whole, but they still pointed to ways of relating to a picture which is different to one's own. In this respect they are valuable.

The paintings were organized in thematic rooms, as the career progressed from 1860 when Cezanne moved to Paris to join his boyhood friend Zola. Cezanne soon fell in with with the Impressionists who were a laughing stock for much of their early years. Cezanne got hammered in the press like the rest, and it took years before he finally had a painting accepted by the salon. Despite admiration from famous contemporaries, it wasn’t until Vollard put on a show in 1895 that his fortunes finally began to turn. In the meantime he had to hide a relationship and marriage and child from his father, on whose monthly allowance he relied.

 

The paintings are utterly beautiful. Being surrounded by so many Cezannes increased the power and gorgeous colours he used in his unequalled still lifes, landscapes and unique portraits. The landscapes never have people in them, but still manage to convey the atmosphere of heat on the rocks, trees on looking at Mont Ste Victoire, and water at L’Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille he frequently spent time at.

Seeing these lovely pictures up close, the influence of Van Gogh became clear, as the quick dabs of the brush showed the confidence he must have felt as time went by. There  is a strange, artificial quality to much of the work. Perspective is frequently flattened. The blocky style of some of the later work showed he was progressing in ambition, to portray something that was not just an image of what he could see. The group of Still Lifes with apples, water jug, ginger pot were the same objects from different angles. The rooftops were equally stunning. One room is dedicated to The Bathers series which increased his reputation. "The Eternal Feminine" is a curious picture, which appears to be a making a point about men lusting . A nude is surrounded by men from different ends of the social spectrum, all focusing on the red eyed woman in the centre. "The Gardener Vallier" is another image not appearing to follow the usual style or deep colour palate of his most striking paintings, but the accompanying text includes a quote which places it at the peak of Cezanne's oeuvre. 

This is a must see show. The panels showing his sketch books, letters, and another with materials like watercolour sets, all added to the experience. If I gave marks, this show would get Full.

 

Clerkenwell Festival 2022

Clerkenwell Festival 28 08 22  - Jim Jones All Stars rock the Casbah

Why do we – those born in the 50s and 60s – love the 70s so much? Yes, it was the best of our time, our prime, when we were young and brash and had the easy targets of older hippys to take the piss out of. But its more than that, the 70s were the last decade when the music scene had new lands to discover, led by a bona fide genius like David Bowie. (OK, Apart from the 80s ).Walking into Spa Field on Sunday was to feel the vibe of 1976 again. The smell of patchouli took me back to Camden , or Kensington Market, the HQ of bohemia in the days of change. In 1977/78 you could pick up NME or Time Out and stare in wonder at the gigs section. There was a choice of new  exciting punk and new wave acts playing every night. All you had to do was decide which to go to and find a couple of quid to get in. Most people were under age, so what?

Once you got there, you would have fun. There was a great feeling of liberation, everyone was there to enjoy the music and beer. The skinheads were around, but it didn’t get really nasty for a while, at least until The Jam split up and the boot boys took over the asylum (aka the Rainbow). The posing didn’t get serious until the eighties, which is what this terrific little festival reminded me of. The bands were surprisingly good, ending with the Jim Jones All Stars. I was amazed when their cover of the Velvets Run Run Run pricked a memory so buried in my back brain, I thought it was by the Byrds. Looking round, everyone was in their 50s or 60s at least, but no-one gave a shit. It was the same people, liking the same music, talking to the same people they had done 40 years ago. When Jim Jones’ admirable second song was Human Fly, first single released by ultra eighties act The Cramps, it felt like 1981 was yesterday. The Large Plants had already performed an enjoyable set of rocking tunes the like I haven’t enjoyed foe decades. Nostalgia is overated, its not as good as it used to be.

The best thing about the event, apart from the weather, good sound, stalls and food and beverages with no queues, meeting and seeing those you had presumed lost, and being free to enter,  the best thing was I wasn’t the oldest person there. To quote the kings of the early 70s Steely Dan, Do It Again !

Montague Arms news - is it to rise again

 

The Rise and Fall of The Montague Arms – By Kevin Mullan ©July 2022

 

The Montague Arms is to rise again! I say ‘rise’, but the truth is somewhat more complicated. This May (2022), a second planning application was submitted to Lewisham Council by CMT Construction. The first – a proposal to completely demolish the existing building and build flats, with a token small ground-floor premise to accommodate the provision to maintain an A4-Class element (i.e. a licensed establishment) – was withdrawn in 2021 after much opposition, including from local councillors. Having taken the time to register local residents’ objections to the lack of a realistic public bar and live music space for the community, the developers have come back with a plan that they hope is more amicable.

 Now, the proposal is to retain the core building and extend the property. Additional rooms will be constructed upstairs, lengthening the existing storeys. The flat-roof area, that once housed the Mont’s famous stage back in the glory days, will be incorporated into a new two-storey residential block. The rest of the ground floor will remain as a fulfilment of the A4 stipulation, but obviously that means a much-reduced pub area. So what about any capacity for live music events, I hear you ask? That’s where it gets interesting.

The Monty is not so much rising as falling. Under the new application, the cellar is to be dug out to create a subterranean gig space with appropriate headroom for audiences and performers alike. The space will extend under the whole of the existing property. It will host underground music – in a very literal sense! This works for the developers in a two-fold way: those who were concerned about the previous disregard for a viable pub/music venue are perhaps now more likely to be placated; new residents in the redeveloped ground floor and upstairs, plus those who live in close proximity to the pub, will be insulated from performance noise due to the underfloor location.

 The question now is how, in reality, do local residents feel about the revised plans? Are they appeased? On 17^th July, a meeting of local residents was called by a young local couple, James and Agatha, who posted flyers in letterboxes along Queens Road and knocked on residents’ doors in an attempt to mobilise and canvass local opinion. Under the heading ‘Would you like to save the Montague Arms together? Let’s do it!’, the flyer invited residents to gather outside the pub to discuss ‘…ideas for the space and to start actions towards reclaiming it!’

 

Curious to find out who and how many would attend and what the local sentiment was, I strolled up to the premises at the meeting time of 2pm on a roasting hot Sunday afternoon. I was fearful that the extreme weather would drastically affect turnout, but gradually more and more people joined along the Kender Street side until there were approximately 14 of us; a diverse group in terms of age, sex and race with a surprise guest, Martin, who older readers may remember from the days when Peter Hoyle was the pub’s owner (think stuffed zebras, a horse carriage and various nautical artefacts).

 I soon established that James and Agatha were the organisers of the rather anonymous group, themselvesonline, that had printed and distributed the flyers. I introduced myself as a member of a small group of local residents, self-styled as the Montague Arms Restoration Society (MARS). Our activities had been limited to keeping an eye on planning applications and research into ownership. The pub was not up for sale or lease and, as the first application had actually proposed full-scale demolition, any ideas that the MARS group had along the lines of raising money towards a community-owned leasehold had long ago been written off by us all as being pipe dreams.

 While congratulating James and Agatha on their proactive work in mobilising the natives, I discovered that not only had they put flyers in local doors, they had also pinned meeting notices to the boards on the Montague’s windows. Disturbingly, these had been removed and replaced by laminated posters from the developers. In an attempt to defuse hostility and combat misunderstanding ahead of the gathering, the posters stated in block capitals ‘WE ARE NOT DEMOLISHING THE MONTAGUE ARMS’ followed by a series of bulleted messages summarising the developers’ new plans, including, as the third bullet, ‘The entertainment space is moving to the basement where noise can be better contained.’

 

This seemed to me like an aggressive-defensive move by the developers. Not all former frequenters of the pub live along Queens Road, myself included, and it was by sheer luck that a friend who had received a flyer alerted MARS to the planned discussion. Attendance was no doubt affected both by the weather and the ignorance caused by the tearing down of publicly visible notices. Were the owners in fear of us? Well, we were soon to find out.

 Suddenly, as we were all busy introducing ourselves to each other and reminiscing about good old times, a tall man appeared and announced that he was the owners’ representative, Eddie, and that he “looks after” the property. He reiterated the message on the posters: there are no plans to demolish the pub, any suggestions or rumours to the contrary were – in his words – “fake news”. He claimed the intentions are to renovate, build an extension and allow for a lease on the pub and cellar space. Apparently, he understands about commercial viability as he has “a meze restaurant in Clapham”.

 Eddie explained to us that the building needs urgent work, that the interior is in a state of disrepair and decay and that any further hold-ups to the application could prove costly. The Council was already dragging its heels and, with emphasis, he added that local objections would make things worse. Then, to our enormous surprise, he produced a bunch of keys and said “Come, I will show you inside.”

 What could we do, but file inside in a single line through the residents’ door entrance? Once inside, we were met with cobblestones and the old fireplace – hidden from public view ever since a recent owner built a new partition. The musty smell of a building that has been missing the presence of humans regularly opening and closing doors and windows wafted up our nostrils. “Be careful!” warned Eddie. We followed him up the uncarpeted staircase.

 It became apparent that the whole of the upstairs had been stripped of carpets, wallpaper and furniture. The communal kitchen was an empty space, as were the bedrooms. Everything looked like an attempt had been made to start an upgrade from scratch, but that work had been abandoned before any improvements could be made. “As you can see, the place is unfit for human habitation,” said Eddie. It was difficult to disagree.

We moved back downstairs, onwards to the ground floor and into what used to be the bar area. In rather messy surroundings, it was hard to recognise it as the place in which I have both enjoyed and endured music of all types and styles over several pints. The bar was minus its copper sheeting panels; the spirit shelves had lost their mirrors; the raised seating area no longer had its benches; the antique ceiling fans that kept punters cool on stuffy summer nights were nowhere to be seen.

Once again, Eddie pointed out that much work needs to be done and illustrated where the new end wall to the pub would be by standing close to the main entrance doors and spreading out his arms. At one point he gazed upwards and exclaimed “There are holes in the roof!” One of the group attendees retorted “Yes, mate. Those holes are where the fan system was screwed in!” The cellar was not included as part of the show.

Following the tour, the residents filed back outside and reconvened to share their thoughts. I think it’s fair to say that opinion was divided. There were those who couldn’t contemplate anything other than a return of the ground-floor stage and even the fan system – the idealists – and those who accepted that the new application is probably the best we can hope for, all things considered – the realists.

Personally, like one of my fellow MARS members in attendance, I fall into the latter category. It’s not what we dreamed about, but it’s the only offer in town for a return to a pub and live music venue. My concern is that the basement space will, by necessity, have to include room for the pub’s beer cellar and toilets – what impact will that have on the entertainment space and maximum audience capacity? There are yet-to-be-resolved issues, relating to disabled access and Health & Safety inspection. Also, will the asking price for a lease be set at a realistic level?

It’s likely to be several years before we know all of the answers to the above questions – that’s if Lewisham Council Planning Committee approve the development, of course. 

 

Raphael at the National Gallery

 

Raphael -  National Gallery May 2022

The ticket price of £24 for eight rooms of the boy wonder from Urbino, may seem steep. It is steep, I know because you can pick and choose the entry time that suits. Theres no queuing, no children running around, no craning the neck to see the detail.  This is an adults only kind of a show.  One of the rooms contains nothing but a succession of Madonna and Child themed paintings. Laugh a minute it aint.

Raphael is a surprising artist. The School Of Athens in the Vatican has to be one of the most stunning walls of art Ive ever seen. It is reproduced here, with useful information provided to help you pick out Euclid from Plato. The huge murals’ colours looks bland compared to some of the stunning oil paintings you have previously encountered. Not least in room 1, containing a joyous row of small but bright and joyous early works, from 1502 - 1506. He was spotted in his teens and was moving on towards Rome and the patronage of the Pope in his twenties. Arriving in time to contribute massive tapestries designed to hang below Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Some of the designs are here, as is a cartoon and tapestry.

There are a host of gorgeous pictures throughout. King Arthur standing on a monster in a bizarre tableau inspired by Dante. A fabulous, albeit corny, depiction of earths’ music being defeated by the sound of heaven. Instruments lie smashed on the ground in front of a few musicians, in the hand of a woman the pipes of a small organ fall to earth. The portraits of some of his girlfriends, such as La Fornarina above, glow in an incredible light, with fabulous blues and oranges used to give the clothing material a super sheen.

There is an informative film showing his architectural prowess in Rome, starting with a chapel in Piazza del Popolo, and progressing to ever more incredible designs as the budgets ballooned.

He was struck down at just 37, but boy did he get through a lot. If you haven’t been to the Raphael Rooms at the Vatican, this sober but perfectly pitched show, may inspire you to go.

 Airbnb ! Holidays from Hell part 3  - April 2021

Did you know the lockdown started on 21 March 2020. Thats over a year ago ! No wonder so many of us booked holidays on the second week of April; the moment  the rules were relaxed we were off. We even tried to go before the end of lockdown but the lady we had booked our Airbnb break with refused. We went to the Mendips, so we risked traffic hell for starters. But we sailed through Vauxhall, Battersea and Chelsea, down the Westway to the M4. We were driving passed the Ark after a mere hour of driving; like getting a green light all the way from Lewisham to Heathrow.

Things were going so well. Too well. 4 hours later we found the cottage in deep Somerset. G, the host, met us and was charming and cheerful throughout. The cottage bore no resemblance to the place we had booked on the website. How do these things happen? We entered through double doors at the back of the extension, into a small room containing a table and sofa. We followed G into the main part of the house, well, I call it a house. The sink was under the stairs, which were as close to vertical as its possible to make. A bathroom had been squeezed in to the left. The bedroom was up the stairs, with the TV on a table. Cats could not be swung, anywhere. We bust and spilt things with monotonous regularity. Every time you filled the kettle a cup would crash to the ground, squeezed onto a drying rack directly where your arm needed to be to work the tap.  

The heating was by an air pump of some sort. The radiators wouldn’t feel hot to the touch we were told. True, because they didn’t give out heat after sundown, which meant the place felt like you were in a tent on the way to the pole in midwinter. It was 1 centigrade outside, and the same inside. I awoke at 3 am with blocks of ice on the end of my legs. What the hell? Oh , they used to be my feet. I went downstairs to warm up, but that was even colder than upstairs. I shivered in the bed, praying I would make it through the night.

Next day I was stiff, but a live stiff at least. We set out for Glastonbury. I followed JK’s directions and we drew up in the town square. We got out and looked around. I wondered where we were out loud, and two chaps replied  “Shepton Mallet”. Oh well, the prison is remarkable. A huge wall used to keep the Krays locked up before they were famous. Suddenly I realized my back hurt. Then the pain kicked in proper. That dern bed in the icehouse had done for me. Next day I needed my partner to put my socks and shoes on, having walked through another pool of spilt tea. The pain, the wet and freezing feet, and all for £50 a night.

Walking round Glastonbury Tor was a highlight. There’s so much to see, so many species of birds, sheep and hippies in the fields near and far. Burnham on Sea has a beautiful beach that stretches away to Breen where its so flat there is regular land yachting to watch. The Cheddar Gorge is a haunt of yet another type of biped, the petrolhead, who sit about and watch the  peace and quiet disappear into a haze of exhaust smoke and V6 roar. Christ knows what the sheep make of us. There’s something therapeutic about listening to the rip and munch of grass by the wooly quadrupeds. I wonder if they get cold feet at night, especially when walking down the cheddar gorge.

Montague News

 

Montague news - its open! ahem

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Good news – The Monty is open!

Bad news – its selling plants and xmas trees! Oh and mini Santa Claus for £26 a pop. Large xmas trees are promised next week, so beat a path to Queens Rd , New Cross, SE14 asap and get yourself some stuff. Green stuff, not the amber nectar or black with white top Irish concoction lots of you seem to adore. You can gaze at the bar, taps and lists, wallow in nostalgia. The young lady told me its 3 years since it closed. Really?

The new shop is called Temple Essence. They have a shop in Clapham High St and a website called Plantstoday.co.uk. But I reckon you know all you need to already friends. Read it and weep...

Lewisham Council announce changes to LTN measures

 But is it enough? Why is it all in Hither Green?

Lewisham Council announce changes to LTN plan – on November 9

 After weeks of chaos and carnage on Loampit Vale, Lee High Rd and Thurston Road, changes are coming to Lewisham. The new traffic black hole of south London. It comes into effect in over two weeks time. In the meantime, the traffic can carry on backing up the hill.On one wet evening last week, the jam went all the way to the Old Kent Road.  What confuses me about these changes is they are nowhere near the main point of trouble; the junction in the middle of Lewisham. You know the one; where buses, lorries and all other vehicles try to cross each other to go down Lee High Road or Lewisham Road, having come from Loampit Vale (from New Cross) or Molesworth St (from Catford). The changes outlined below are all in the Hither Green area, way south of where the traffic grinds to a halt. Its not enough, and I cannot see how it will change things much.

 

The changes will be;

 

• In Manor Lane, the existing camera will be adjusted to allow vehicles to pass through in both directions, except heavy goods vehicles
• In Manor Park, the existing camera will be adjusted to allow vehicles to travel northbound (towards Lee High Road). The camera will continue to enforce vehicles who try to travel southbound
• The existing cameras in Ennersdale Road and Dermody Road will be adjusted to allow vehicles to travel one-way west to east (from Hither Green towards Lee Green). The camera will continue to enforce vehicles who try to travel east to west (from Lee Green towards Hither Green)
• In Leahurst Road, a physical barrier will be moved to allow vehicles to travel west to east (from Hither Green towards Lee Green). A new camera will enforce this. A physical barrier will remain in place that will prevent vehicles travelling east to west (from Lee Green towards Hither Green).

 

Tremendous it is not. It’s a start I suppose. The people who are responsible for these measures should be held to account, preferably on a Friday night. Stand outside the police station and tell the passers by how its good for the air pollution and cyclists. Lets have a calm debate. Well, its worth a try.