EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING; THE CATALOGUE:AN INDEX OF POSSIBILITIES

 

This article was published in  19 Magazine on May 5^th 1973.

Text is by Mick Brown and photos by Jean Kisch and John Tibera

EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING

If you're the slightest bit interested in yourself, your body, the planet you inhabit and anything connected with it, you should be interested in a publication scheduled to appear in October. Titled The Catalogue: An Index Of Possibilities, it is basically a reference work on everything you ever wanted to know. The publishers responsible for collating 'the whole extent of human knowledge' (their words, not mine) into the five volumes which constitute The Catalogue were all formerly connected with the late, lamented underground paper Frendz. John May was editor, John Trux business man-ager and Mike Marten and John Chesterman were occasional contributors.

INSPIRATION

The Catalogue's inspiration was the American Whole Earth Catalogue (the last volume of which is available here in Penguin), which established itself as an indispensable aid to Americans on a back-to-the-land kick, giving practical advice on everything from where to buy specific tools to methods of growing food organically or building geodesic domes:

 The Whole Earth Catalogue was fine, for America; but, because there isn't the land here to get back to, and most of the tools listed were only available in the States anyway, the book was of little practical use to British readers. The Catalogue, claims Mike Marten, is more concerned with information than tools, and is part of a more radical philosophy than frontiersmanship alone.

"It comes down to the fact that the information you need to change anything, even your immediate environment—where you live, what you do—is very difficult to get hold of in this country, and it's made more difficult because, although we're only a small country, there seems to be greater resistance by people who have in-formation to disseminate it.

 "If you take societies, such as the British Astronomical Association, everything is very tight — it's old colonels, old astronomers and the like, all sitting fuddy duddily together in Piccadilly, watching the skies. If you ring them up or write to them they regard you as an intruder —it's almost a closed shop.

"In the States, on the other hand, where it's a part of their philosophy to be as outward about everything as possible, a similar institution would probably deluge you with piles of information —the opposite extreme."

INFORMATION

"What The Catalogue will do is give as much information on the subjects we cover as is practically possible. We'll review books on the subject, and organisations devoted to it—ranging from governmental to the cranky to the alternative; we'll list films and video-cassettes which can be bought or hired, on the subject, details of further education classes readers could take." The Catalogue will be published in five parts over three years.

 The first volume concentrates on power and energy systems, also dynamics and forces —both physical and metaphysical. The volume progresses from the theory of relativity and nuclear physics, through the power and energy systems of the earth and body to those of the mind and, finally, to God and the numerous religious interpretations.

"As The Catalogue is intended as a working book wherever possible, practical information will be listed —the open days at Jodrell Bank Research Station, techniques of dowsing, how to construct water wheels, even how to cast astrological charts."

Volume Two deals with structures. "Social structures, business structures. We're going to examine very closely just what organisations, such as The National Health Service, do and how people can get the most from them . . ." Volume Three deals with communication, knowledge and dialogue. Volume Four is Down To Earth—"farming, flowers and beasts".  Volume Five is inventions, discoveries, explorations and games.

As well as serving to broaden people’s interests The Catalogue will act as a sort of information pool, firstly generating interest in subjects, making reader’s aware of their own possibilities for further involvement and finally, listing the facilities by which they can do so.

ESSENCE

“We’ll explain the essence of a subject first,” says John May, and then examining it in a number of different ways, all the time leading from the theoretical to the practical, so you get people involved in the ideas of the subject, capture their imagination, then they turn over the page  and there’s the address and phone number of people who are actually doing it. It places the onus on the reader so if they want to find out more they can actually do it themselves.”

“The real hope,” says John Trux is that people will use The Catalogue as a tool for getting into all types of a radical activity. A lot of good thins are happening with small groups of people but the only media outlet for hem at the moment is the Alternative Press and the occasional piece in other publications. A lot of radical ideas are feasible if enough people are into them. At the moment, there is either scattered groups of people or not enough people aware of what's happening. We're going to say 'This is happening; if you're interested these are the people to contact."

The American Whole Earth Catalogue started out with a minority, predominantly freak readership, and finished up as one of America's best-selling paperback books in years. John May hopes much the same thing will happen with the British Catalogue. "We're not just aiming at young people, or people in communes, or whatever. We hope our audience will be as varied as our contributors who are a strange mixture —old-age pensioners, lecturers, students, people in mundane jobs who have information on interest-ing subjects to pass on."

By making The Catalogue factual and accurate he aims to set a precedent, which other 'alternative' publications will follow, and also break down the prejudices people have against the underground Press in general.

"Up until now, the whole alternative underground Press scene has been very much 'Wow, man, that's really far out' — all rhetoric and no facts, no careful, critical examination of things."

RHETORIC

 "The Catalogue will have the minimum of rhetoric and will examine things such as gurus and psychic phenomena —or any of those sort of fashionable things —carefully and says, 'These are the facts'; not 'Wow, isn't it freaky?'

"As long as people dismiss information and ideas as hippy bull-shit, the longer it'll take to change things. At the moment, it's when The Sunday Times does an article on drugs that people read it and say, 'Yes, that must be the truth'. If they read it in IT they just say, 'Oh, that's them hippies . . .'

 We aim to establish ourselves in such a position that when we come up with something startling about, say, social structures, it will be credible, people will believe us. Above all, we aim to make The Catalogue as interesting as possible, so that people do respond and get involved. I don't know how many will actually use it. We hope a lot."

Work on volume one of The Catalogue has already begun, but John May needs information and people willing to recycle it for subsequent volumes. Anybody with anything to offer—even if only help in the office — should contact John May at 2 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 (01-727 4712). •

MICK FARREN

 

Mick was one of the most prominent figures of the British counter-culture. A poet, author, musician, activist. In the late 60s Mick headed the protopunk band The Deviants and later released solo material under his own name. he is the author of more than 30 books both non-fiction and fiction. Here are some of them.
A biography and a chunky collection of his lifetime work.

This highly illustrated book  with design and layout by Edward Barker is a counter-culture classic. That's Ed and Mick with me just behind them. Cover by David Wills

ALLEN GINSBERG DAY

 Monday 15th May: Spotted  a hardback copy of 'The Letters of Allen Ginsberg' in the window of the Bow Windows  bookshop in Lewes. Edited by Bill Morgan who was Ginsberg's  literary archivist for many years. The letters are lengthy and full of thoughtful topics which make great reading. He is described as one of the most prolific letter writers of the 20th century. letters to Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady and Carolyn Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, e.e. cummings, Peter Orlovsky, Herbert Hunke, Bob Dylan, Timothy Leary, Jimmy Carter, Paul Bowles, Bill Clinton and many more. He travels extensively and the reader is carried into a wide variety of adventures and countries. When searching for a possible extract I settled on his letter to President Jimmy Carter on October 26th 1979.

'It has recently been brought to my attention that no writer currently sits on the National Council on the Arts. Although the performing and visual arts have their own lobbying groups, there's not a commercial market for poetry large enough to support a heavy pressure group. Some assistance is open to writers within the National Endowment for the Arts, but Literature has the smallest budget in the N.E.A.

'Poetry practices control awareness and purification of the language, it makes up penetratingly communicative word pictures. Because poetry is like the central nervous system of the body politic, poetic projection of image has a compelling role in the history of human actions. That's why Shelly said, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World". That's why someone representing poetry and prose word arts should sit on the National Council on the Arts and have some say in national arts monies. Maybe it would be better to give no money to art at all, see what happens, if arts have been brought up by national patronage, and made lethargic to the pain of America's present history, politics etc. Painters have an industry with vast slush funds flowing up and down Madison Avenue. Because poetry comes out in little magazines, non commercial, it would be best to beef up the least fat-cat art. If we are going to have subsidiz- ation at all, put a poet to buffer it from commerce, censorship, and government interference. You need somebody with brains on top to figure out how to do it right - namely some writers on the National Council on the Arts.' Sincerely Allen Ginsberg.

I asked Jonathan if he had any other Ginsberg work and, within minutes I held in my hand a rare and wonderful book 'The Riverside Interviews 1: Allen Ginsberg' published by the Binnacle Press in 1980. First Edition 1/600 copies.:https//en.everybodywiki.com/Gavin_Selerie

This was the first of a series conducted by Gavin Selerie - a prolific poet and teacher in his own right. see https://en.everybodywiki.com/Gavin_Selerie

The other Riverside Interviews  2: Lawrence Ferlinghetti; 3: Gregory Corso; 4: Jerome Rothenberg [with Eric Mottram]; 6: Tom McGrath [Binnacle Press, produced between 1980 and 1984]

The text is produced on a typewriter. This interview was conducted at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, before Ginsberg's reading on 4th November 1979, and at Miles' flat in the West End after Ginsberg's reading at Battersea Arts Centre. Some additional material was supplied in a conversation which took place after the reading at the Round House on 17th November 1979.

There is a 5 -page intro: Selerie writes on page iv: 'In conversation with Ginsberg, I found that I was dealing with a mind continually alert to new situations and ready to absorb new information.....

'On meeting Ginsberg, I was struck first of all by the authority of his bearings; here was a man who knew things from experience and who could muster facts and examples to support his argument. Then, gradually, the confident assertion of beliefs or opinions seemed to be counterbalances by a certain humility....Ginsberg's knowledge of literature commands respect. The ease with which he quoted from other people's writing underlined his sensitivity to language.'

The follows 42 pages of interview. Ginsberg talks in great depth about making poems, the rhythm of poems and his own experiences in life. I like this extract:

'Ezra Pound was the one who pointed out long ago that poetry, music and dance were one. His proposition was that at one time word, movement and melody were one art or parts of one performance...

'The person who comes nearest to that in pronouncing language aloud is Mick Jagger; or some other rock or popular musicians and ballet people. OK, so just to be classical about it: let us be reminded that in the immemorial mists of history poetry and music and even dance were allied and that this combination is nothing new.'

The book comes complete with photographs by Chris Schwarz. The cover is Ginsberg outside the front of William Blake's cottage at Felpham. November 1979.

One other is the Ginsberg and three others in front of the Public House Bookshop in Brighton  - Richard Cupidi who owned and ran the bookshop, Lee Harwood and Peter Orlovsky.

CHINA DOMINATES ELECTRIC VEHICLES & RARE EARTH METALS

 Back in January/February 2020 I wrote an extensive groups of Climate Crisis posts on the Greening of Transport: Aviation/Shipping/Railways and three posts on cars -Global Overview, Hydrogen Fuel cars and the Fall and rise of SUVs. 

This new post concentrates on Electric Vehicles, battery development  Rare Earth Metals and China's domination of all three.

CHINA/RARE EARTH METALS

      This is a  vital and important book. 

      China has a global hold on most of the world's Rare Earth metals.

      These have to be mined and this will create a new level of pollution.                                                           Pitron reveals that by breaking free of fossil fuels we are in fact                                                                 setting ourselves up for a new dependence on rare earths.

      These are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels                                                         as well as smartphones, computers, tablets and other technologies.

30th January 2021: China controls 95%of the rare earth metals market, making between 80% and 90% of the batteries for electric vehicles and more than half the magnets in wind turbines and electric motors. The production of rare metals will double every 15 years in order to satisfy demand from non-ferrous magnets and lithium-ion batteries. [The Rare Metals War' by Guillaume Pitron (New Scientist)

20th February 2021: Copper demand from renewables and electric vehicles is expected to grow more than seven times by the 2050s. [Financial Times]

3rd March 2021: Three North American companies are setting up a rare earths supply chain to cut dependence on China for the vital metals used in weapons, electric vehicles and other advanced technologies. New Performance Materials of Canada and Energy Fuels of US have found an efficient way to produce rare metals from radioactive monazite sands, a by-product produced from mining sircon, titanium and other, supplied by US based chemicals group Chermours. Energy Fuels has developed a method of extracting the radioactive element to use in nuclear fuel. Monzanite contains about 50% rare earths  and 0.3% natural uranium. It also contains 15 of the 17 of the rare earths. Fighter jets rely heavily on rare earths. A  Lockheed Martin aircraft contains 417kg of rare-earth materials and a nuclear submarine more than 4 tonnes. [FT]

24th December 2021: Three of the leading rare-earth companies in China have merged to form the China Rare Earth Group. It will control 70% of China's rare earth output of 17 minerals. [FT]

JAPAN]

7th July 2022: China's BYD ("build your dreams") overtakes the world's most popular battery car maker outpacing Tesla - a goal that Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors were aiming to do. BYD delivered  641,000 cars in six months, 300% higher than in 2021 and ahead of Tesla's 564,000. 

BYD began as manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and expanded into the car business in 2000. The fact that they make the batteries means they own the crucial supply chain. The company now has around 10 % of global capacity for EV battery production. They also have energy storage divisions and a computer chip unit. Sales are mainly in the domestic market but they have international ambitions. Half the cars they sell are plug-in hybrids which count as "new energy vehicles" [NEVs] as well as pure battery and hydrogen powered models [FT]

1 November 2022: BYD is backed by Warren Buffett and is one of a dozen Chinese brands preparing to storm Europe's markets. One in 20 electric vehicles sold in the region in the first six months of 2002 was a Chinese-owned brand. BYD will begin selling its three models before the end of the year. It is expected that the Chinese share of this market will be one in six cars by the middle of the decade. Nio, a premium brand was launched in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands with Norway to follow. It claims to have orders for 10,000 vehicles. [FT]

 

7 December 2022: China battery makers' clout raises fears in European motor industry.

China is turning itself into the battery workshop of the world. Europe is the second biggest market for EVs and it is predicted that China will have 322 gigawatt hours of production capacity there by 2031 than any other country. Some 40 % of the value of the electric vehicle is in its battery. In the new world, says  Volkswagen's tech head, the electric vehicle world will be defined clearly by battery costs. South Korea will be second largest with 192GWh followed by France and Sweden. the US is 5th thanks to a Tesla plant in Berlin, 6th is Germany, 7th is Norway and the UK is eighth with 20GWh,

VW is leading European manufacturers with plans for five factories in Europe and one in North America. Meanwhile it has a supply deal with China's CATL, the largest battery maker. Europe is planning to end the sale of combustion engines by 2035. 

Rising metal prices hinder car affordability

The price of lithium ion batteries rose for the first time in more than a decade. The car industry has long believed that a $100 per kWH battery pack was the point at which electric cars would be competitive price wise with combustion engine vehicles. However lithium prices have  increased 10-fold since the start of  2021, nickel has gone up 75 % and cobalt prices have doubled their 2020 average. Battery prices would have been higher if the Chinese industry had not switched to  cheaper lithium iron  phosphate (LFP) batteries These don't use  cobalt or nickel but have a shorter range.

Un 2022 there were 603 gigawatt hours of demand for lithium iron batteries, double that of the previous year. Supply chains are struggling to keep up. The world's largest lithium producers have warned about the difficulties of increasing production to cope with rocketing demand. Europe, US and other countries are making efforts to reduce their dependence on China.[FT]

2023 BYD and peers make their marque as Chinese car sector comes of age.

Chinese consumers will buy 8mn to10mn EVs in 2023 up from 6.5mn in 2022 and 3.5mn in 2021. Sales in Europe are projected to be3mn and 2mn in US. China had the largest sales with a 35% year-on-year rise of rapid growth. So 7 out of  every10 electric vehicles are now sold in China. The pace of growth means China is on the cusp of hitting 50 % of car sales being EVs by the end of 2025 - the first major economy to do so.

This would be far ahead of Europe,  The market share of battery cars is rising slowly. A third of sales in the final months of 2022 were fully electric or plug-in hybrid.

BYD  is spearheading a wave of overseas expansion. Exports are forecast to grow six fold to 300,000 units this year. Further plans to build factories in Asia, Europe and |South America. 

The US unveiled restrictions to stop US companies selling technology to China. It followed with state support in the US and Europe to counter China's rise. [FT]

30.3.2023: Tesla loses ground in China after price war.

 In the first two months BYD sold more than five times the number of units that Tesla did in China.

In 2022 Chinese car makers accounted for 47 % of total passenger sales volume. BYD's vertically integrated  structure - from mines to  batteries and chips has given it an advantage as the world transitions away from the combustion engine. BYD chair said he expected first quarter sales to jump   80 % year on year. The company reported a 400% surge in net profit for 2022. However sales are generally down as the country emerges from the pandemic. [FT]

GENERALIST ARCHIVE: NEW ADDITIONS

 Three valuable new additions to the Generalist Archive:

'Photography of Protest and Community' by Noni Stacey [2020]

Noni Stacey's valuable highly detailed academic source documenting street photography of radical collective photo groups in the 1970s, like the Hackney Flashers, pioneering Half Moon Gallery and The Photographer's Gallery and mag Camerawork.

Whole World In An Uproar: Music Rebellion and Repression 1955-1972 by Aaron J. Leonard [2023] Xcellent book . Deeply researched. Musicians' FBI files revealed. Sets the music into the background of Black Power, anti-Vietnam events, festivals, riots, Lots of busts. Valuable source.

GRAFFITI: 'Two Thousand Years of Wall Writing' [1971] by the late jazz writer Robert Reisner. 'They express the beliefs, hopes, aspirations, hang-ups, angers and obsessions of the common folk through the ages.' A great pub read.

HAIL SISTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

 It seems totally appropriate that a copy of 'Hail Sisters of the Revolution' by my dear friend writer/poet/musician Caroline Gilfillan with photographer Andrew Scott should arrive in the post on International Women's Day. They met in the 1970s when squatting was a big thing In London and shared a squat in Stepney.

During this period Caroline joined one of the very early women-only band The Stepney Sisters and subsequently went on to play with Sisterhood of Spit, Hi Jinx, The Ponytails and Crikey Aphrodite.

She writes the story of the squats and the band in poetic form and the excellent black and white shots by Andrew bring that world to life. This wonderful book is published by Cowslip Press at 9 Casson Street, Ulverston LA12 7JQ. The Poetry Society recommended it as one of the Books of the Year.

In 2001 The Stepney Sisters reassembled and made their first ever recorded album. Excellent article on all this here: www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/08/feminist-musical-trailblazers-the-stepney-sisters-we-changed-what-happened-next

Nebra Sky Disc

 

This is the Nebra Sky disc, believed to be the oldest surviving representation of the cosmos. It was buried 3,600 years ago and was illegally excavated by two metal detectorists in Germany and is now in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle. It is crafted in bronze and gold which originated in Cornwall.

It is the most valuable artefact yet discovered from the Únětice civilization, a large group of early Bronze Age communities in central Europe - especially Bohemia, Bavaria, south-eastern Germany and western Poland - which is believed to have survived from 2,300BC to around1600 BC. 

The dots are thought to represent stars with the cluster being the Pleiades with the circle and crescent being the Sun and Moon.

There are various theories as the purpose of the disc - an astronomical clock, a religious symbol or a work of art.

LONDON ARTS LAB

 

.

'London's Arts Labs and the 60s Avant-Garde' by David Curtis.

The Worthing Workshop is mentioned in the list of Arts Labs across the regions. This an excellent book, fully illustrated, and deeply researched. It gives valuable picture of a time and a space when all the arts were able to intermingle. Reading it one feels that a new network of Arts Labs would be very valuable in the times we live in.

 

THE MARQUEE CLUB

 

 Harold Pendleton who died at the age of 93 in 2017 is perhaps a name not known to the general public but as this book shows he was a key figure in the development of music in the UK. A huge jazz fan he got the bug for promoting and staging bands in various venues leading to his establishment of the Marquee in 1958 which he ran for 30 years. The venue itself may have been pretty scuzzy but it became the place that every band wanted to play. In the prologue to the book his son explains why.

'A gig at the Marquee announced that a band has left the orbit of the suburban pub circuit and was on its way up. It was the place where agents managers and journalists went to check out new talent: contracts could be signed before the stage was cleared and a memorable performance could land a band their first notices in the music weeklies. It was the gateway to the big time.'

This classy book written by Robert Sellers is highly detailed and manages to give the reader a fantastic picture of this remarkable club that played host to literally thousands of bands of all types and styles. A Timeline at the end of the book highlights the standout nights and the most frequent performers. There is also a list of live recordings. The main text is peppered throughout with quotes from fresh interviews with leading figures in all the streams of music. 

To give some idea of the intensity of the task of compiling this history take the year 1977. Sellers writes: 'It saw first gigs for the Jam, Ultravox!, the Only Ones, the Motors, Generation X, the Vibrators, X-Ray Spex, The Police, Squeeze, the Boomtown Rats, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett, the Damned, the Buzzcocks, Wire, Tom Robinson, Japan, Sham 69, Adam and the Ants, and XTC.

The catholic booking policy meant that the in the same year there were appearances from 'the influential folkster Bert Jansch, the reformed Pink Fairies, Medieval progsters Gryphon, the old school rock of Edgar Broughton and Wishbone Ash and a nostalgic two-nighter in the company of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. Not to mention what was supposed to be a farewell concert by Motorhead.'

Lemmy is quoted at the front of the book: 'The reason I liked the Marquee was because it was scruffy and a hellhole, and your feet stuck to the floor, and that's exactly what a rock and roll club should be like'

The book as a whole is beautifully put together with some great photos starting with a fab shot of Guns and Roses on their first gig in the UK. A valuable addition to the history of British music.

MUSIC PRESS HISTORY

 This was the launch party on November 1st 2001 for Rock's Back Pages and Paul Gorman's oral history 'In Their Own Write'. Pictured are three of the very best music writers namely Charles Shaar Murray [with Anna Chen], Vivien Goldman and Chris Salewicz. I wasn't interviewed for the book but I was mentioned twice. There was Jonathon Green talking about Frendz :'Dick Lawson was the rock 'n' roll editor... and there was people like John May, who later worked for NME and was a real journalist, writing lots of very informed and radical stuff.' Chris said; 'John was very good as Dick Tracy. He started the film section with what was called Silver Screen and he was quite instrumental in changing the paper'.

Paul Gorman has returned to the subject with a 360 page whopper of a book that traces the whole history of music papers, magazines and fanzines starting with Melody Maker which was first launched in 1926. New Musical Express  came in 1952 and within a couple of years it had a circulation of 100,000 while MM was selling 97,000. They were soon joined by two other weeklies Record Mirror and Disc. All had a different take on the pop scene. MM was jazz, blues and folk and they were not interested in the new rock 'n' roll.

In the States there were two trade papers -Billboard and Cashbox and the jazz journal Downbeat which had been founded in 1934. In the 40s and 50s these were joined with a string of teen mags - Seventeen, Dig, 16 and Hit Parade, which switched from pop to rock 'n' roll.

By the 1960s there was a dozen weeklies aimed at the 5 million teenagers in Britain that made up 15% of the population who were using their spending power to buy records and record players.

In the States apart from the teen mags a new kind of music mag was emerging  which was more concerned with the aesthetics of rock. Paul Williams' Crawdaddy  lit the touch paper, says Gorman, 'for a cerebral strand of music criticism that was to play out for decades in the American press'. This led to Rolling Stone  which marked a real sea change with writers like Greil Marcus, Lenny Kaye, Lester Bangs, Ben Fong-Torres alongside the new journalism of Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson.

The underground press that emerged in the '60s in the US and the UK provided another platform for music journalism and record company advertising kept many of them in business. For a brief time there was a British edition of Rolling Stone which morphed into Friends then Frendz. Gorman judges it to be the best when it comes to music coverage. In the early '70s when most  of these papers closed down Nick Kent and photographer Pennie Smith left Frendz, Charles Shaar Murray left OZ, and all joined the NME to be followed by Mick Farren  from International Times and myself. Those were great times to be around. 

The great late Ian MacDonald said NME had most of the best writers and photographers, the best layouts, a sense of style and human and the feeling of real adventure. Mick Farren (now also no longer with us) said 'NME had an incredible pass-on rate. We could claim 900,000 readers at the peak'. 

NME ignored punk for a while but fanzines flourished and Sounds was on it with the great Jon Savage alongside Vivien Goldman on dub. Gorman is good on the subject of the women journalists who had to fight to hold their own in a very male driven atmosphere, Penny Valentine  being one of the pathfinders.

The inky papers were always in competition with each other as sales fluctuated and music styles evolved. But in 1978 when Nick Logan left the editorship of the NME he created the first of new kind of music mag which was a bigger threat to their survival.  Smash Hits  was a colourful magazine which combined glossy star shots with the actual lyrics of the new releases. Within a short time it was selling 100,000 copies, just 35,000 less than the NME and 10,000 more than the MM.

Post-punk had arrived and with that came Neil Spencer as the new editor of the NME and what Peter York called the'pale boys' a new generation of writers like Paul Morley and Ian Penman who used a style of literary criticism to write about experimental bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Joy Division and others. Readership figures fell by some 40,000.

Meantime Nick Logan used family money to launch The Face  a completely new styled mag combining music and fashion for the New Romantics. It's huge success marked a decisive shift away the previous music papers.

 In 1984 Smash Hits was selling 500,000, NME 120,000. Sounds 80,000, Record Mirror 70,000 and Melody Maker 68,000. 

Smash Hits was edited by David Hepworth who hired Mark Ellen as his Features Editor. This duo went on to create a string of successful titles including Q, (which lasted for 34 years) Mojo, Heat and The Word. They felt the post-punk bands had an inflated sense of their own importance and that pop stars were absurd.

Hard on their heels came a string of others: Blitz  was a challenge to The Face; Kerrang was the bible for metal heads, Collusion was for world music lovers. From the US came Details, Wet and Andy Warhol's Interview amongst many others.

The golden days of music papers has passed although my local newsagent still carries Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector and expensive definitive magazines on major bands like Led Zep as well as punk and heavy metal titles. In his Epilogue Gorman writes: 'Despite the substantial odds stacked against them over the course of the 2000s and 2010s, music magazines continued to emerge, albeit on a micro level'.

This review can only skim the surface of this very large and detailed history which is a definitive work that will stand the test of time.

Visit the Generalist Archive and click on the Dick Tracy banner to see many of the stories I wrote for the NME     http://www.generalistarchive.co.uk/dick-tracy

Rock's Diamond Year

 

This the fourth new book I have reviewed recently which documents the history of the pioneering musical venues, largely clustered around the Thames and South West London and Soho, which were to introduce electrified fock and blues music into Britain. This includes Eel Pie Island and other venues in Richmond, the string of Ricky-Tick clubs on London's outskirts and, most importantly, The Ealing Club where 60 years ago Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies began the British R & B scene with a band called Blues Incorporated on the 17th March 1962.The make-up of the band was fluid and many of its members went on to create other influential bands. Ronnie Wood is quoted as saying: 'The Ealing Club and Blues Incorporated were heavy influences of just about everybody, but especially of Fleetwood Mac, Cream, the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, John Mayall and the Pretty Things.'

'Rock's Diamond Year' is a condensed and valuable collection of profiles and personal reminiscences about the venues and bands. This is the territory and the time when the Rolling Stones not only came into being but also played a huge number of gigs. The Crawdaddy Club in Richmond was particularly important in these early days as was Giorgio Gomelsky who had worked in the music industry in the UK Europe and the US and helped the band find their feet and build an audience. There's a really good profile of him here which adds fresh information to the story of the Stones rise to fame.

The Bull's Head in Barnes was another significate venue which was I was unaware of. It is described as 'a magnet to the cream of the British folk movcment' as well as R&B bands. The book ends with essays on the Ricky-Tick Clubs, The Marquee and the 100 Club. Illustrated throughout with some good black and white photos from the period, this is readable and valuable addition to the ongoing investigation into Britain's musical history.

2001/Rob Godwin/Space and Music

 Here at The Generalist Archive we love things like this email which arrived out of the blue from Rob Godwin in Toronto.

Hello John,

'Just watched your talk at the Printing conference on Youtube. Really interesting. It made me decide to reach out to you.[I didn't know at that time that a talk I'd given at the University of Westminster about mimeograph printers and the Underground Press had been filmed.]

'We have a few things in common. I briefly worked with Lucasfilm, ran Hawkwind's record label in the USA for five years, I have a pretty good collection of Friends/Frendz going way back to my misspent youth. I write and edit for a living, including books on science, spaceflight, science fiction and music. I'm also a historian on various aerospace history committees.

'About two years ago I decided to start writing a paper (not a newspaper, but a "paper" to submit at a conference) about the crossover between the Space Race and rock music in the 60s and 70s. The limit for such a paper was only 15 pages, and by the time I got to 50 pages I knew it would likely never see the light of day. However, I can't give it up because it has become too much fun. It roams around between primitive astronomy, pirate radio, underground press, alternative clubs, Kubrick, Ginsberg, Stockhausen and of course Hawkwind.

'I've drilled down to the point where I realised that Space Ritual was the nexus for all of this stuff and it has become the focal point of my essay. I believe you were on the road (and the stage) for some of the early shows.  I read about you in a copy of The Snail (I think) from the start of the tour. I missed the Space Ritual tour by a few weeks (I was at a show in Southampton the previous August). I wondered if you might share any anecdotes about those nights?'
All the best
Rob Godwin
(Toronto/Canada) 

***

 A day or so later we had at least a two-hour phone conversation which was followed by an exchange of further messages over the following weeks.

First stop was Rob Godwin's Wikipedia entry which is impressive and extensive and complete with References and numerous External Links. Rob set up his own music business and publishing operation and produced a large number of books and publications on space and music.

Between 1987 and 1998 Collector's Guide Publishing released books on many different rock artists including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Kate Bush, Alice Cooper, Wishbone Ash and Kiss.

In 1998, at the invitation of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Godwin would begin his imprint Apogee Books.

Between 1998 and 2018 Apogee Books published over 150 book titles about space flight with contributions from Buzz Aldrin, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, David R. Scott, Harrison Schmitt and Wernher von Braun

In addition vintage science fiction and 40 NASA Mission reports

Action on TV/Video and web

***

Rob promised to send me two books both entitled '2001: The Lost Science'. Some while later a large package arrived from C.G. Publishing, 2045  Niagara Falls Blvd containing the two oversized books.

You can purchase copies here:

https://www.cgpublishing.com/prime/bookpages/9781926837352.html

2001:The Lost Science/Introduction

 

INTRODUCTION 

Adam K. Johnson

In January 1965, while staying at the Harvard Club in Manhattan. Frederick I. Ordway Ill arranged a social meeting with his 'old friend' Arthur C. Clarke. The next day, at Clarke's insistence. Ordway. and his associate Harry Lange, met with famed film director Stanley Kubrick who quickly invited Ordway to be the Senior Science advisor on his proposed new science fiction epic provisionally entitled 'Journey to the Stars'. Within two days. the project that would eventually evolve into the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' emerged from the meeting between the four men.

 In the following 2 I/2 years spent working on the film, Stanley and Frederick worked painstakingly on a daily basis to ensure scientific realism. Working at the zenith of the 'space race' their efforts drew upon the most current space travel 'hard science' available. 

Between January and August 1965, working from Stanley's New York Office "Hawk Films" (also known to the contractors as Polaris Industries). Fred contacted a multitude of companies known to be on the forefront of aerospace technology and asked for their assistance on the film. By Early 1966, over one hundred companies had submitted engineering and design proposals to aid the vision of Kubrick and Clarke. 

This book is intended as a companion to viewing the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as a resource for modern day aerospace engineers interested in how the proposed 21st century technologies might have worked if so implemented. 

Creating the designs for the film involved over 2400 detailed schematics that were drawn 4 x 6 feet or 3 x 5 feet. These drawings were saved as blue-line prints using ammonia based blue ink that replaced the original pencil or ink lines. Over time. this blue ink fades, and if exposed to light, completely vanishes. The U.S. SPACE & ROCKET CENTER archives still possess about 100 of the known existing 200 blue-line prints (in various states of condition) created for 2001. 

 

2001: THE LOST SCIENCE/Scientists, Influences and Designs from the Ordway Estate

  

(From Left)Harry Lange: Spacecraft designer and Set designer

Arthur C. Clarke: Writer and researcher

Fredrick I Ordway III: Scientific consultant

Volume 2 of material from The Ordway archives profiles the space flight pioneers and the long history of space craft imagined if not built over many years. This book is packed with blueprints, backstage photos. Kubrick spent two years researching everything he could on the subjects of space flight and alien intelligence decided to have the top scientific minds interviewed for his film. He examined all past science fiction movies.

In this book's Introduction Adam K. Johnson writes:

Ordway and Lange bought a massive collection of rocket and space science data from the Future Projects office (Marshall Space Flight Center) in Huntsville, Alabama to Borehamwood studios. This was later referred to as 'NASA East' by the Kubrick team. Even after arriving in England, during the preproduction stages, the team continued to collect aerospace data from all of the British contractors. Much of the concept information is here in this second volume of 2001: The Last Science. It is important to know that the best scientific minds on earth contributed to these designs.

Fred Ordway created and sustained relationships and correspondence with all all the individuals described in this book. Through these connections he was able to document the history of rocketry and space travel accurately in his writings.

Fred Ordway's collection is extensive and has taken many years to collate, identify and catalog. For example, his 'pulp' science fiction and fantasy stories collection (over 900 editions) were donated to Harvard University. His 2001 collection went to the USSEC and the remainder...stayed hidden in his private residence until his passing in July of 2014. This book represents a glimpse into his private work, research and studies into the history of space travel. It has been a joy and honour to 'discover' all these well-hidden artefacts waiting for their stories to be told. Most importantly, it was an honor to spend time with Fred. Our similar backgrounds in aerospace and out interest in science  fiction made our relationship wonderful.'