Notting Hill Diary

  

If the arch looked like this we’d all be happy

How do you feel about it?
I’m in about 6 minds about it. My main one is that it’s sad that it’s had to come to this.

The police have come a very long way in their understanding of how to manage the second biggest street party in the world without appearing intrusive and without unwittingly provoking the sort of trouble we’ve seen in the past, so I do hope that they can implement these checks without making people feel uncomfortable.

So where’s the problem with the detectors
Actually I’m not sure whether it’s a problem or not. Most of us are grown ups and know how to behave. Why anyone would set out to Carnival to cause trouble is completely beyond my comprehension, but the rest of us tend not to like being treated like kids. That said, I’m totally down with the whole not-being-stabbed thing.

Morons
By the way I first picked up this nugget of information from some white supremacists’ forum (believe me I wasn’t looking, it just came up as a google alert!), presumably clutching at straws in an effort to denigrate an tradition that’s really hard for them to come to terms with.

   

Almost certainly not the steel band I can hear outside right now

lWhat’s that then?
Well I just put my head outside (to change the cat litter, since you ask) and I can hear the sound of a steel band rehearsing for Carnival. It’s a lovely sunny evening in Notting Hill the week leading up to Carnival and there’s a steel band playing somewhere in the area. It doesn’t get better than this!

Where are the floats?
Yes I know Carnival is supposed to be all about the floats, but let’s face it, we mostly go wandering from sound system to sound system don’t we?

Um true. So what’s sound systems are playing this year?
This is the most up to date list we could find. It’s subject to change, plus you always get those wonderful “impromptu” sound systems that will never feature in any official list.

I’d actually be hard pressed to tell the difference between this year and last year. Anyway, here we go.

Gaz’s Rockin Blues
103 Talbot Road
Classic Ska, Revival, New Orleans R&B

If you’ve been following you’ll already know that Gaz’s theme this year is Around the World in 80 Days and that at 3:30pm on Monday you can see Rotten Hill Gang in full Dickensian flow.

Good Times
West Row j/w Southern Row
Funky House, Good Times classics

Norman Jay MBE shows us why he’s MBE

Channel One
Leamington Road Villas
Strictly Roots and Culture

Stand in front of the stacks to relieve any constipation from Carnival street food.

4 Play
West Row near j/w Kensal Road
R&B, Old Skool, Soul, Rap, Bashment, Funky House, Sexy Soul Garage

Aba Shanti-I
East Row j/w Southern Row
Roots Rock Reggae, Dub

Confusion
St Lukes Road facing Lancaster Road
Soulful House and Garage

CMC/Matrix
All Saints Road opposite The Pelican
Drum n Bass

Disya Jeneration
12 Powis Terrace
R&B, Hip Hop, Bashment, Soca, Calypso and Old Skool

The Fun Bunch
Talot road at junction with Sutherland place
R&B, Hip-Hop, garrage, boogie

GI Roadshow
Adela Street
Reggae, Bashment, Salsa and R&B

Gladdy Wax Roadshow
304/306 Portobello Road
Roots, Reggae old & new, Ska, Rocksteady and Dub

GT FleX Roadshow/Mayhem Crew
St Stephens Gardens/Westbourne Park Villas
R&B, Soul, Ragga, Revival, Old Skool

High on Hope
Bonchurch Road j/w Portobello Road
R&B, Reggae, Hip Hop and Classic Garage

Jah Observer
Ledbury Road with junction Of Talbot Road
Roots and Culture

KCC & The Rocking Crew
Wornington Road
US House (Old & New), House Anthams

Killerwatt
St Lukes Road outside Metro Club
Across the board, no discrimination

King Tubby’s
Clydesdale Road, outside Clydesdale House
Reggae with regular guests from the Reggae Hall of Fame!

Latin Rave Street Jam
318 Portobello Road
Pure Latin and Salsa

Level Vibes
18 Oxford Gardens facing St Lawrence Terrace
Uplifting House and 70s/80s Soul and Funk

Lord Gellys
47 Cambridge Gardens
Reggae, R&B and Soca

Love TKO (RamJam Radio)
Golborne Gardens j/w Hazelwood Crescent
Reggae, R&B, Hip Hop, Revival and Soca

Mastermind Roadshow
Canal Way/Canalside House
Upfront R&B, Hip Hop, Soul, Old Skool and Reggae

Mellotone
Telford Road near j/w Lionel Mews
Soul, Ragga, R&B, Revival

Metro Glory
Ledbury Road j/w Westbourne Park Road
Ragga, R&B, Hip Hop, House, Garage, Jungle and Roots

Midnight Express 747
Corner of Middle Row and Southern Row
Reggae, Soca and Soul

Nasty Love Mixing Lab
Colville Gardens (Middle)
Ragga, Dancehall, R&B and Hip Hop

People’s Sound Featuring Sufferer
Opposite the Walmer Castle Public House
Ragga, R&B, Hip Hop and Soca

Pineapple Tribe
Junction of Ledbury and Lonsdale Road W11, opposite the Walmer Castle Public House
Techno, Breaks and Beats

Rampage
1 Colville Square, Colville Gardens
Across the Board

Rapattack
23 All Saints Road
Soul, Funk, R&B, Hip Hop, Garage, Old Skool and Rare Groove

Rough But Sweet
Conlon Street j/w East Row
Reggae, R&B, Revival, Lovers, Garage

Sancho Panza
Middle Row facing Conlan Street
Funky House

Saxon Sounds
St Lawrence Terrace North of j/w Chesterton Road
Ragga and Reggae

Sir Lloyd
54 Leamington Road Villas, Tavistock Road
R&B and Reggae

Sir Valdez
Golborne Road
R&B, Hip Hop and Ragga

Studio One Sound
Powis Square (East side)
R&B, Reggae, Hip Hop, Dancehall, Garage and Soca

Virgo International
Outside People’s Theatre, Oxford Gardens
Reggae, Bashment, Soca, Hip Hop, R&B and Garage

Notting Hill Carnival wil be apon us in a little over two weeks. Here we present our top 10 tips as to how to enjoy it to the fullest.

1. Don’t like crowds?
   Probably best to avoid the W11, W10 and W2 post codes that weekend! Seriously though if you want to soak up carnival without getting totally trampled, go on the Sunday, so called Children’s day. All the same attractions, but it’s far more relaxed than the “main day” on Monday.
2. Oh you were serious about not liking crowds?
   Visit pubs around the periphery. Pretty much any pub within half a mile of the edges of he Carnival area will have some sort of Carnival theme going on. Better still, try to gatecrash a friendly local’s party on the Sunday night, which can be a lot of fun. With luck they’ll still remember you the next day should you decide to venture out for real and you’ll have a toilet to use. If you really strike it lucky they’ll have a roof terrace too.
3. Befriend someone who lives there
   Believe me, the toilet situation at Carnival is no joke! They do their very best, it’s true, but with several hundred thousand people all needing to go at some time during the day lines can get very long. Men have it somewhat easier due to the large number of plastic urinals that are erected for the weekend (you might think twice about who you’re shaking hands with though) and as mentioned elsewhere, some residents encourage desperate revelleres to contribute to the local encourage economy by allowing them to relieve themselves in the comfort of their own homes.
4. Buy a property in the area with a roof terrace
   Or more realistically make friends with someone who has one. It’s the best way of seeing the procession short of being on one of the floats.
5. LEAVE YOUR VALUABLES AT HOME!!!
   Yes I know it should be number 1, but it’s number 1 in everybody else’s list and anyway it’s bloody obvious. 

6. Arrange to meet your friends first, then dive in
   If you try to do it the other way round, you will never, ever find them. Plus it’s too noisy to hear your mobile phone and in any case, almost impossible to get a signal with so many other phones competing for bandwidth. So ..
7. … if you have to use your phone, text instead of calling. That way as long as you get a weak signal while you’re sending and your friend gets one while they’re trying to receive you’l get some sort of communication.
8. To avoid getting crushed, stear clear of Ladroke Grove and Portobello Road where they pass under the Westway. They’re a lot better than they used to be wheb there was a stage under the covered section of the market (just next to Portobello), but it can stil take you 45 minutes to travel 50 yards. 

   As an aside, while making my way North up Portobello one year noticed I was kicking an expensive camera that someone had dropped. I picked it up and handed it into the Police, which makes me just the sort of speccy teacher’s pet you hated at school.

9. Don’t panic if you do find yourself stuck in a crowd
   Nearly everyone is going somewhere and you will get through it eventually. It’s just a question of following the right stream of people.
10. Carry a map
    If you want to know where you are, this is the one day of the year when the last thing you should do is to ask a policeman. They’ll be perefectly friendly, but at Notting Hill Carnival they’re all from out of town, so they’re just as confused as you are.

Please feel free to add your own tips and have a happy Carnival!

In an update to my earlier post (Rotten Hill Gang to play at Notting Hill Carnival), I can now confirm that we will be playing on the Monday, August 25. The stage is Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues outside the Globe on Talbot road. Time to be confirmed probably later today, but it’ll be mid afternoon.

Even if you miss us it’ll still be worth coming down later because you’ll catch the magnificent Trojans turning Talbot Road into the best damned street party going.

We do love our London mayors to be characters don’t we? We elect people into one the most important offices in the land who we wouldn’t give a second glance if we thought they were going to be, say, Chancellor of the Exchequer and we forgive them all sort of quirks (saying strange things about Liverpudlians for example).

They don’t come much more eccentric than Boris Johnson though; citing his experience as a youngster watching carnival from outside his family’s Ladbroke Grove home (no I didn’t know either), he explained that this year’s carnival is going to be “Better, bigger and generally more funkapolitan”.

A large screen is to be erected in Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park on which will be shown other parts of Carnival, but also the handover of the Olympic flag (in Beijing, but symbolically from Beijing to London), which as luck would have it, takes place on the Sunday and is, of course, the inspiration behind my slightly cynical post on the subject.

Anyway, we’re all behind Boris on this one, if only because he’s ditched Ken Livingstone’s I’ll-spend-your-money-asking-you-what-you-want-and-then-do-the-exact-opposite “Carribean Showcase” that’s been taking place in Hyde Park on the same day for the last couple of of year and, many say, diluting Carnival.

Notting Hill Carnival is, and always will be, a street party in the streets of Notting Hill (the clue is in the name Ken!). Don’t futz with it! Boris knows that. And Boris, I think we’d even forgive you if you appeared on a float out William Hague style, wearing an ill judged baseball hat!

In a “You couldn’t make it up” moment, the forthcoming 2008 Notting Hill Carnival is scheduled to have a 2012 theme. It seems it is to be called “Welcoming the World” and “has been chosen to reflect the multicultural nature of visitors to the Olympics”.

Now I’m all for a promotional idea to boost the appeal of Carnival, but a) isn’t that what Carnival has always been about anyway and b) given that 2012 is only four years away, couldn’t we just wait till then? I mean it was all very exciting back in, say, the 60’s predicting that by the year 2000 we’d have cars hovering 3 metres above ground (still waiting) and miniature communication video devices (sort of true, but no one really uses them for that), but predicting what the future holds four years hence seems more than a little banal.

So I’m happy to invite comment. Just how much to you think the world will change during the next four years?

An upshot of bumping into Gaz last week was that he told us the theme for Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues sound system at Carnival is Jules Vernes’ (apostrophe usage - discuss) Around the World in 80 Days and as luck would have it we were planning on pushing the boundaries of our Dickensian thing to include Jules Verne as well. I mentioned this to Gaz, who said we should play on his stage because we’ll fit in perfectly. Well - apart from the fact that we don’t play ska.

In other news, we’re off to play in Moscow in October. More details later, but more to the point, the story of the kitchen renovation will continue soon. Probably.