NUTRIENT: LATE SUMMER
Nutrient: (noun) a substance that provides nourishment essential for the maintenance of life & growth.
Here are ours for this quarter -
Jolene:
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind
When I had to go to London on important HRT gathering business a couple of months ago, I decided that some artistic nourishment was in order and went to Tate Modern to see Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind (which is on until 1st September 2024)
My art buddy was Carrie aka @notthekind who had a migraine coming on, so that, combined with my hormonal anxiety / brain fog mean although we really LOVED it, our recall of details are not the clearest…. and we didn't even manage to take a picture of the fact we were wearing amazing matching shoes.
Like most people of a certain age, the two things I know about Yoko Ono are 1) she was married to John Lennon and 2) her performance art Cut Piece
I'm not going to attempt any kind of review, because you can read that elsewhere, but I particularly loved the images of the events she held in her New York loft in 1961 - many just digitised and hitherto unseen - of the “Chambers Street Loft Series”.that were attended by people like John Cage, Peggy Guggenheim, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp....
What's super inspiring is that the show spans seven decades of Ono’s multidisciplinary work - still creative, political, hopeful and passionate in her 90s.
If you can’t make it in person, the book is beautiful.
Shakti Mat
The algorithm heard about my hormone issues and marketed me a shakti mat. sometimes when you are exhausted or strung out it is really hard to do yoga or meditation even when you know you’d feel the benefits. Enter the shakti mat. you roll it out onto your bed, then lie on it for twenty minutes while the tension drains from your body. Mil and I have done that every night since it arrived. Nourishing (in a very slightly painful way) indeed…. We got ours here (ethically + responsibly made)
Mil:
Tramps!
This 2022 feature length documentary by Canadian film maker Kevin Hegge is a fascinating story of the circumstances and key players in the counter-cultural scene, labelled by the press as New Romantic. which emerged in late 1970’s/early ‘80s London following the equally impactful Punk movement a few years earlier.
Although the big celebrities who represented NR in the mainstream media are present anecdotally and in archive - Boy George, Steve Strange, David Bowie etc - the joy of Hegge’s film is in the bringing together of the many less visible creative figures whose collaborations were a central part of the story. Taking advantage of the many abandoned Georgian properties scattered throughout a still depressed inner-city to forge large scale squatter communities, those drawn to the scene inevitably included ‘outsiders’ with a thirst for creative exploration, collaboration and freedom of expression: their spirit of subversive iconoclasm matched with a DIY resourcefulness.
With a chronology that builds from Andrew Logan’s ‘Alternative Miss World’ events through the emergence of ‘alternative’ club nights such as the Roxy, Blitz etc, we are introduced to a fascinating cast of characters whose creative output took in fashion, art, film, music and dance… it wasn’t so much about making money (they didnt have any!) as an opportunity to create something new: an expression of defiant optimism in the face of economic depression and rising unemployment.
Candid and warm interviews are intercut with wonderful archive footage to give a great sense of the dynamic energy underpinning the scene, and lovely to see the interconnectedness between important figures such as John Maybury, Derek Jarman, Judy Blame, Leigh Bowery, dancer Michael Clark, fashion label BodyMap etc, rubbing shoulders with DJs, club organisers and musicians such as Mark ’S’Express’ Moore who I wouldn’t have placed in that scene at all, but having seen the film it all makes sense.
the irrepressible Judy Blame (RIP)
No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin
Meshell Ndegeocello
I first discovered Meshell Ndegeocello on the release of her solo album Plantation Lullabies back in the '90s (the first signing to Madonna's record label 'Maverick, fact fans!) a bad'ass neo-soul/hip-hop singer/awesome bassplayer with a queer political agenda, and have followed her career ever since, which has evolved in interesting directions, both as a great bass-player, composer and musical director (though she doesnt like that term!).
She signed with the legendary Blue Note record label to release her 2023 album 'The Omnichord Real Book', which won the grammy that year for Best Alternative Jazz Album, and features a guest appearance from our favourite Joan (...as Policewoman!), so it was perhaps not that great a surprise to hear that Meshell is taking on bass duties for Joan As Policewoman's new album, due later this year, following in the footsteps of Dave Okumu who performed alongside Joan and Tony Allen for the mesmerising 'The Solution Is Restless' (our Barbarian print is named after the opening track)
Meshell Ndegeocello
Anyway.... a project several years in the making, Meshell's latest album - 'No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin' - was released to coincide with the centenary of the birth of legendary american author/activist James Baldwin on 2nd August, and is as stirring, passionate, angry and beautiful as you'd expect. (We intended posting this sooner, so sorry that we missed the boat on this important literary milestone: read his books obviously!)
James Baldwin
Contrast the video for her 'hit' "Boyfriend" to this great clip of her playing a live version of "Cool Water" from the Omnichord album... growing older and happy to share the spotlight, but still totally in control. Love her!
Interesting interview with the New York Times here...
