what do we want? movies for hackney! when do we want it?
Those Baroque readers who also frequent Temperama will know that my neighbours at the other end of "Murder Mile" have had a job on their hands lately to close down a notorious gangster nightclub that stands on a busy and prominent intersection in Clapton. It's an excellent spot: right near the pond, of course, but also right by the bus stop, the new(ish) Cuban coffee place, and Jimac, one of the oldest and best local minicab firms. Their drivers are gentlemen and philosophers.
So this nightclub that's been closed down, the building it was in is actually not so bad, once you get the riffraff off it. Dave has very helpfully alerted a group of us Hackney bloggers (including the increasingly remiss Hackney Lookout) that there are plans afoot - that is, a campaign - to use the premises for - wait for it - Frank O'Hara would be so happy - a CINEMA! Come ON! come on people now, we can DO this thing.
We have to get organised, though, because there is a counter-campaign to tear the whole place down and probably make something really ugly and useless.
Click on the link to Dave's post, and then to Julia who has an e-petition. Sorry. I've been at my first day back at work and Ms B is comatose, but I can handle the idea of a new community cinema nestled right in the armpit of the borough.
Let's sing:
Oh! Come on you people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Come on you people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
11 comments:
"Love is but a song we sing..."
Oh, we're not doing the verses?
Sorry.
Good luck with your cinema.
I live nowhere near Hackney but I'm now so very jealous. If only there was something like that nearer to me. I could happily become very involved. It's like living the dream of 'The Smallest Show On Earth' or 'The Majestic'.
Maht, go on, do the verses!
Chippy, I know. I also wish it were near you, because I have neither the time nor the energy - especially if tonight is anything to go by because I have been absolutely comatose since going back to work today - so once again I will have to leave it to my more civically-active neighbours.... And it'll be gutting if it fails and there's no cinema.
Actually, I've had a sudden vision of a charity benefit thongfest... Yes... a guest striptease... Come on, don't you have a thong with Clark Gable on it?
Maht can sing the accompaniment.
Ms. B: It is customary where I come from to ask the singer if he'd like to accompany a male striptease before committing his services.
Now I'm not at all sure that you deserve a cinema.
Also: Phbbbt!
Aw, Maht. I'm sorry. I was so full of my fundraising vision that I completely neglected any thoughts of artistic pride or even, I confess it, free will.
Of course you're used to being in a band, which is itself the main gig, no strippers involved. I can just imagine the thongs getting caught in the microphone stands, to say nothing of the distraction, and the confusion for the fans.
On the plus side, though - you'd probably get to wear something pretty nifty!
'probably make something really ugly and useless'
Like a mini Millenium Dome?
Ms. B: Just so long as you try to remember that I am not merely your unwitting puppet.
And I would look, I suspect, atrocious in a thong if that's what you're suggesting.
Are you a fan of Tom Lehrer? I'm sure he'd have a song for this - maybe a variant on National Brotherhood Week or the Folk Song Army.
The Folk Song Army, by Tom Lehrer
(Intro: One type of song that has come into increasing prominence in recent months is the folk song of protest. You have to admire people who sing these songs. It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on. But the nicest thing about a protest song is that it makes you feel so good. I have a song here which, I realize, should be accompanied on a folk instrument, in which category the piano does not, alas, qualify. So imagine, if you will, that I am playing an 88-string guitar!)
We are the folk song army,
Every one of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice
Unlike the rest of you squares.
There are innocuous folk songs, yeah,
But we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience,
Why, they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.
If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.
The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a couple extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English
And it don't even gotta rhyme... (excuse me: rhyne!)
Remember the war against Franco?*
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs!
So join in the folk song army!
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready, aim, sing!
National Brotherhood Week
(Intro: One week of every year is designated National Brotherhood Week. This is just one of many such weeks honoring various worthy causes. One of my favorites is National Make-Fun-Of-The-Handicapped Week, which Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis are in charge of as you know. During National Brotherhood Week various special events are arranged to drive home the message of brotherhood - this year, for example, on the first day of the week, Malcolm X was killed,* which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is.
I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another, and I know there are people in the world who do not love their fellow human beings, and I hate people like that! Here's a song about National Brotherhood Week.)
Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.
But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne** and Sheriff Clark*** are dancing cheek to cheek.
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise
As long as you don't let 'em in your school.
Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.
But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans 'cause it's very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand,
You can tolerate him if you try!
Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.
But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-Smile-At-One-Another-Hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear;
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!
No thong though, I've got chicken pox.
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