Secret Cinema puts on classic films in unconventional venues, then themes the night around the film. The audience does not know what the film is until they arrive at the venue. The film that was screened last weekend was Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders, set in Berlin in 1987, it follows a couple of angels that watch over some troubled characters. It’s all rather dreamy, and not a lot happens, but it’s a very beautiful film to watch.

The venue was a disused theatre on Shepherds Bush Green, right beside the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Inside the main hall where the film was being screened, there were some circus acts and a trapeze artist, which fitted in well with the contents of the film. They also had Fyfe Dangerfield playing a few deliciously romantic numbers before the film began, swamped in natural reverb and backed by a viola and fiddle player, “faster than a setting sun…”, the soundtrack to the weekend, I melt in recollection.

Outside of the main hall, Secret Cinema created a small Berlin night club called the Metropole, with a few rooms mocked up in 1980s German decor. I was to host this area, as the owner of the club, play with my house band, and introduce a few other acts. The other main act was This Is Laura, which were possibly the most appropriate act to put on, other than Nick Cave himself.

Well with 4 screenings, that meant music either side, making it a very intense 48 hours. Matinees and evening shows on Saturday and Sunday. The crowd would walk past us to get to the main theatre, or leave the venue. Thankfully, many would stay for a drink and watch and listen to me spitting about throbbing tumours and the like, and by the end of it they were screaming and hollering and dancing and leaping around.

Certainly a weekend to remember, plenty of camaraderie between my own band and This Is Laura. I now feel very toned, like a musical equivalent of Dolph Lundgren.

There will be plenty of post promotion of this event, which I’ll post up as I receive the links to it. Though you can see a slideshow of the event here to get an idea.

There aren’t many things world leaders do which can be seen as a positive and progressive step forward for humanity, but this is certainly one of them. Whether it was intended this way or not, is another matter. The solution to all of Earth’s ills already exists on this planet. No amount of money ploughed into research centres for space exploration is needed in order to mitigate the effects of climate change and peak oil, bring about peace in the middle east, greater social cohesion within nations, and to raise the standard of living for those already living on earth.

We’ve had the answers to all the manmade evils and inequalities for millennia and passed them up to inflate our collective ego to an even more monstrous size. Like a pissing stream of urine, drunk on our phantom triumphs over nature, we aim for an unmarked goal, an ill defined objective. Somewhere out there, in the breadth of one careless sweep of the arm, across the unimaginable expanse of the universe is our old friend Progress.

Any old friends of mine would no doubt be splitting their sides hearing me speak like this today. As a teenager the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson captured my imagination like no other work of fiction at the time. I still find the concept of colonising and terraforming another planet incredibly fascinating, as well as the technical details involved in space travel. This stems more from my breeding however, than from any form of rational self interest.

These days I’m more likely to be swooning over the cycle of phosphorous, the basics of barbering, or the art of origami, than some form of state funded national escapism. How dull, but how bloody useful.

Practical material objects and tangible skills are all humanity needs in order to create a world in which it can live a fulfilling life. With Obama’s retreat from the race to put a man back on the moon, this should only be seen as a small but symbolic step forward for mankind.

Paying homage to Guiseppe Verdi’s opera, Un Ballo In Maschera (A Masked Ball), we welcome you to our very own masked ball. The opera’s first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome on 17th February 1859 and 151 years later, we bring in the old and the new to give you a unique, unforgettable evening!

Expect to hear the likes of: Fever Ray/Antonín Dvo?ák/Klaus Nomi/Alboth/Dead Can Dance/Richard Wagner/Goblin/Cocteau Twins/Danny Elfman/Mikhail Glinka/Air/Mediaeval Baebes/Algebra Suicide/Manisch Depressiv/Silver Abuse/OMD/Lydia Lunch/The Knife/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Squarepusher/Edith Piaf/Hubert Kah/Jonny Greenwood/Under Byen/Suicide/Q Lazzarus/The Pixies/Mew/
The Birthday Party/Nina Hagen/Mazzy Star/Bjork/The Organ/Nilsson

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5TH 2010
8PM-2AM
THE GEORGE TAVERN
373 COMMERCIAL ROAD
E1 0LA

ENTRY £5 IN ADV/£7 ON THE DOOR

****ALL GUESTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO WEAR MASKS****

It is with great sadness and much irritation that I bring you news that the Islington Arts Factory, Power Down’s birth place and home, may be forced to closed. The fire brigade dropped in on them before Christmas and told them that unless they upgrade their fire safety stuff, doors, alarms, who knows what, then they’ll shut them down. The work comes to a staggering £12k, which has brought the Factory to their knees as I’m sure you can imagine.

So of course, there will be a special Power Down organised to help raise as much as possible. The date will be Saturday, February 20^th, 2010, and so far the line-up under candlelight will be:

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

http://www.myspace.com/theboywhotrappedthesun

Wry, alt-folkish singer-songwriter from the Isle of Lewis with new EP out on Rough Trade now.

Monooka

http://www.myspace.com/monooka

Romanian folk singer that swallowed an aviary.

Chancery Blame

http://www.myspace.com/thegadjoclub

The virtuoso gypsy violinist from the Gadjo Club.

Marmaduke Dando

www.myspace.com/marmadukedando

Shameless, I know, but why the hell not? I’ve not played one of my own nights in years now.

These fantastic musicians are playing entirely for free, so all money from the door and bar will go directly to the Islington Arts Factory. If you’ve been to a Power Down before, then I hope you’ll agree the night is worth much more than the meagre sum of £5 that it’s usually priced at. With this in mind, I’ve set up a two tiered pricing system for the tickets this time. For those of you that can afford it and want to help keep the Arts Factory open, I urge you to purchase a ticket for £10 here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/71075

And if you’re lacking in funds for whatever reason, of course, we’d still love you to come, you can buy a ticket for £5 here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/71076

I leave it entirely to your discretion. If you’re not able to make the concert on February 20^th, but would like to donate some money to the Islington Arts Factory, you can do so here:

http://www.islingtonartsfactory.org/about/donate/

And now onto some other news for this weekend. My band and I are playing Radio Gagarin at Passing Clouds in Dalston this Friday, Jan 29^th. It’s £5 with a flyer that you can get from me, or £7 before 11pm, and £10 after. I believe we’re on about 10pm, and the brilliant Chancery Blame and the Gadjo club are also playing. Here are the details:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=263743769499&ref=ts

Have a grand weekend all, and hope to see you soon,

Marmaduke

When one looks at the alternative to individual expression, it’s herd mentality, do nothing original, raise no objection to the status quo, to follow others blindly. Not the most attractive of ideas, nor realistic. It works as a successful meme for some if not most animals, but humans have evolved to question, to analyse, to adapt based on ideas, which are all examples of individuality. So, essentially human, and not much we can do about it unless you can drug a population to act as a herd of animals.

Under that assumption, the negative effects of individualism can’t be completely eradicated, but they can be mitigated. As Huxley points out, pride, hatred and anger, are individual expressions that deny others freedom, whereas greed and lust necessarily don’t.

With this in mind, one can reject the former set entirely from one’s self without the need for constant proof. With greed and lust however, it will take analysis and judgement at every instance on the part of the individual to determine whether they are denying another of any freedom.

Admirable, but is it realistic?

Happy new year to you, what potential lies ahead!

Firstly I must say a quick thank you to those of you who came to any shows last year, it is always much appreciated, and I do hope you continue to enjoy this gloomy cabaret I put on. Should you wish to read a short review of last year, I have written one up on my site.

The last performance of 2009 proved to be quite a belter, the band on staggering form considering it was their debut in this incarnation. If you’d like to see what we look like now, have a look at this video of Give Me Detumescence.

You may have heard me muttering something about album launches in the last few weeks. It’s true, there will be one, in late March, that’s the aim. I’m currently looking for an appropriate venue, if anyone has any suggestions, I’d be most grateful.

Before all that comes along though, I’ve two shows to tell you about. The first is for Radio Gagarin at Passing Clouds in Dalston, on Friday, January 29^th. The brilliant Chancery Blame and the Gadjo Club will be headlining too, so certainly more than one reason to come. Doors at 10pm, £7 before 11, £10 after.

The second will be at a masked ball at The George Tavern in Whitechapel, Friday, February 5^th. The night is called Blackchapel and organised by the Decasia people. Masks not obligatory, but certainly encouraged. For inspiration, watch the masked ball scene from Labyrinth, where Bowie overwhelms Jennifer Connelly. You can buy tickets in advance for just £5. There will be a limited number of £7 tickets on the door.

I do hope to see you soon.

Yours slushily,

Marmaduke

“Evil is the accentuation of division; good, whatever makes for unity with other lives and other beings. Pride, hatred, anger – the essentially evil sentiments are essentially evil because they are all intensifications of the given reality of separateness, because they insist upon division and uniqueness, because they reject and deny other lives and beings. Lust and greed are also insistences upon uniqueness, but insistences which do not entail any negative awareness of others from whom the unique being is divided. Lust only says, ‘I must have pleasure’, not ‘You must have pain’. Greed in its pure state is merely a demand for my satisfaction, not for your exclusion from satisfaction. They are wrong in emphasizing the separate self; but less wrong than pride or hatred or anger, because their self-emphasis is not accompanied by denial of others.”

“Civilzation and sexuality…there’s a definite correlation. The higher the one, the intenser the other…

“Civilization means food and literature all round. Beefsteaks and fiction magazines for all. First class proteins for the body, fourth class love-stories for the spirit. And this in a safe urban world where there are no risks, no physical fatigues. In a town like this, for example, one can live for years at a time without being made aware that there’s such a thing as nature. Everything’s man-made and punctual and convenient. But people can have too much of convenience; they want excitement, they want risks and surprises. Where are they going to find them under our dispensation? In money-making, in politics, in occasional war, in sport, and finally in sex. But most people can’t be speculators or active politicians, and war’s getting too much of a good thing; and the more elaborate and dangerous sports are only for the rich. So that sex is all that’s left. As material civilization rises the intensity and importance of sexuality also rises. Must rise, inevitably.”