As someone who has been running a small weekly music club (max capacity 100) for the past four years I thought i’d list some tips for young bands who are looking for gigs and starting off on the circuit. It’s an incredibly hard job getting started and even harder to sustain, taking a lot of graft, will power and perseverence. Much of what I’ve listed here is the thankless work that noone wants to do, wants to avoid, wants someone else to do for them. However, with no manager, agent, company a small band simply has to do it for themselves, get it done. For this reason I thought I’d make a list in the small hope that it may help somone, somewhere, just a little, in getting out there and giving it a go. It is by no means comprehensive so if anyone has anything to add please post it in the comments section at the bottom of this post. So to start:

• Make sure you have your latest mp3s online and that they’re easily accessible and downloadable
• Make sure you have an up to date biog; something that is well written, succinct and makes you stand out a bit. Don’t be lazy about it. Quotes are always good
• Make sure you have good quality 300dpi (print quality) photos online and that they’re easily downloadable
• Ideally you want a good simple website that you can update all the time. Be sure to update. Don’t be lazy. A little a week is better than alot occasionally
• Research suitable venues and get the email and phone number of the right person to talk to in that venue. Email and then follow up with a call
• Don’t over reach and don’t oversell yourself in terms of audience numbers. Remember that venues are relying on bar sales to make a profit so if you over sell yourself and noone turns up you won’t be asked back  
• Make sure you get some well designed posters printed and be sure to get them out. Don’t rely on venues to do it for you – ring your mates get them to help. More hands make light work
• Be sure to get your gig onto every online forum, events database, events listings site, facebook and twitter 
• Be early for your soundcheck to allow for last minute mishaps. They do happen. It’s good practice and makes for a calmer and better atmosphere for everyone
• Know what you want from the sound engineer and get the job done, with no fussing and messing, as there’s usually less time than you think
• Treat the staff of the venue with respect and try and help out. Staff always remember the good ones and the bad ones
• Don’t fret or stress or be a prima donna it doesn’t get anyone anywhere
• If you’re getting your own support be sure to get someone who is going to:
  1. Get their own audience in. This is especially important if you’re touring
  2. Will appeal to your audience
  3. Help sell the gig for you so if you are touring research local bands carefully
  4. Remember that you will get walk ins – people are always looking for live music – so if you have a bad support act you’re screwed before you even start
• Be careful not to overbook in your hometown. People will get tired of you
• When it comes to guaranteed money gigs that are free vs ticket at the door gigs be very careful. The money is always tempting but  noone is going to pay in to see you if they know they can see you for free at another venue. Guaranteed money gigs are often in bars where you’re just employed as background music for a big piss up. A smaller audience that care is always a better bet in the long run
• Don’t be greedy about money. What’s more important is that you build up an audience
• If you have an EP,  album, t-shirts, etc to sell be sure to bring them with you. I would suggest that you announce, from the stage, that you’ve got merchandise to sell and that you’re going to sell everything at a discount because you love the audience, they’re fantastic, etc. I guarantee you’ll sell more and make more money in the end – lets face it your merchandise is probably sitting gathering dust anyway – better to get rid of it and make a few quid.
• Getting your music out should be your prime motivation
• Have a mailing list at the gig so that people can sign up for band and touring updates. Be sure to push it. The following day send your new signees a ‘thanks for signing up’ email and list all your future dates, links to your website, social networks, etc. Remember not to forget about your signees. Decide on how often you’re going to send out updates and then be sure to stick to it    
• If you want to get onto the festival circuit you need to research the festivals carefully. Look at their previous programmes, check out their music line up and see where you fit in. Get a list of all the relevent festivals and get the name of the artistic director/programmer and send them an email with your details, links, etc or send a press pack including a DVD, CD. Be sure to do this at least 6 – 8 months in advance of the festival. Follow it up with a call. Persevere –  you won’t be the only one at it 
• When contacting the festival by email or phone make sure you’ve done your research on the festival i.e. who the staff are, the background of the festival, previous programmes, events, etc. In other words get as much particular information as you can. It always makes people feel good when they think they’re important  
• Have a look to see if there are any connections between festivals and their music programmes. Often festivals cut costs by sharing programming and production costs with similar festivals. If you find a connection see where you can fit in
• Don’t overprice yourself. Festivals are constantly struggling to survive so if you have a great deal, an imaginative deal, performance, etc you’ll have a better chance of getting on the programme
• If you know someone, who knows someone, then use that contact. Ultimately it’s all about networking. Always network. Take numbers, emails, remember names, etc    

I think that’s about it. It’s a start. I’ll probably come back to it. Hope it helps and as I said if you have any tips send them on
By the way the weekly club I run is The Roundy Room Sessions, Cork, Ireland. It’s on every Thursday from 9pm. Good mixture of music, good vibe and going strong. I also programme music for festivals, The Trash Culture Revue through mutantspace.ie and various outdoor events throughout the year

EDITH PIAF: At Carnegie Hall 1957 ( Future Noise )

Here is a cd for fans of Edith Piaf, the legend that was. For the First time on CD, this release includes extensive biographical notes and track-by-track commentary by Spencer Leigh, acclaimed BBC radio presenter and journalist. Unusually for concert recordings, it features Piaf speaking and singing in English on occasion. There is a memorable photograph of Edith Piaf performing at Carnegie Hall in January 1957. She is a tiny figure, not five foot tall and perhaps seven stone, wearing a simple, dark dress on a vast stage and we can see hundreds of people intently watching her.

Lets face it, her records were great, still are, but it was on stage that she truly revealed her compelling personality. Piaf’s concert at the Manhattan venue was a triumph on a par with her famed concerts at the Paris Olympia. She was working with her regular conductor, Robert Chauvigny, and Piaf could choose from over 100 of his arrangements for orchestra and choir.  This cd is staggeringly a stunning spectacle of Frances little sparrow spreading her wings EAGLE-LIKE.
 
Sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally, her songs often reflected the tragedies in her life and Piaf poured her feelings into them. No other performer, not even Billie Holiday, Judy Garland or Shirley Bassey, has performed with such intensity. You can appreciate the feelings in her songs even if you don’t know the language, but for this concert Piaf speaks and sings in English on occasion, making this album (first released in 1977) one that is particularly cherished by her many fans worldwide. Now, for the first time, the entire album can be purchased on this CD. Surely a MUST buy for appreciators of music and avid fans of Piaf. Vastly beautiful and capturing of her unhinged talent.
10/10

FREEBASS: It’s a beautiful life ( Hacienda Records)

It is not very often you get to see artists from several great groups perform together; three of possibly the most influential bass players, from arguably some of the most influential UK groups, spanning over 3 decades of post punk, indie, electro and dance are combined in this bass lovers, super group. The collaborative project between the triumvirate of celebrated Mancunian bassists Peter “Hooky” Hook (Joy Division / New Order), Gary “Mani” Mounfield (The Stone Roses / Primal Scream), Andy “Rourkie” Rourke (The Smith) and lead singer Gary Briggs (Haven / Strays), the Freebass album finally arrives some five years after first being mooted by its bass guitar hero members. In short: Three bass players with a wonderful collection of works between them all linked by the city of Manchester, The infamous Hacienda night club and the “Madchester” revolution, which they all in their own way, laid the foundations for. About 4 years after forming the idea, the group have finally released an EP, titled, ‘Two Worlds Collide’ and an LP, ‘Its A Beautiful Life’. The group have also teamed up with a lead vocalist in the shape of Garry Briggs of Haven and The Strays. And lets be honest there is the immediate and quite obvious expectation from a group, who have all played their part in such tracks as ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Fools Gold’ and ‘This Charming Man’, to name, but a few, so what did we think of the album???

There are flawless bass lines, overlapping bass lines… upbeat, quick tempo rhythms – all that you would envision. Hook’s familiar high sporadic bass lines are a ‘joy’ to the ears with his octave pieces right down the neck of his six string bass. Mani’s upbeat “Roses” bass rhythm, doesn’t disappoint either. It is not a new or revolutionary sound, more a sound of effortless musicianship. Adapting the illustrious members styles and decades of experience into an innovative and dramatic album “It’s A Beautiful Life” varies its mood throughout, throwing in lighter, delicate, more melodic numbers, “It’s Not Too Late”, “The Only One’s Alone” and “Secrets And Lies”  offset against some anthemically brooding, darker-edged tracks, including “Plan B”, “Kill Switch Pt 101” and “Lady Violence” with rock-ier indie tracks such as “She Said” and “The God Machine” rounding off the original album.

For all you ‘Bass’ loving junkies- this is something you will cherish. 7/10

ELEANOR MCEVOY: I’d Rather Go Blonde
I must start by saying that I am already a fan of McEvoys… and this absolutely stunning album, did not disappoint. She is, to me, one of the most compelling female singer-songwriters Ireland has to offer. Album opener, ‘Look Like Me’, is a real gem too and starts the album off as a perfect introduction to a harmonious listening experience. A relentlessly charming song with simplistic plucked violins and strong driving rhythm. It details the importance of being oneself and refusing to be homogeneous or adaptive towards a standard set by societies perfect people! Surely this album should be added to School curriculums and played to teenage girls who feel the need to look like celebs.

Its mixed by Ruadhri Cushnan who did the breakthrough Mumford & Sons record of this year and has a certain contemporary relevance, without loosing that McEvoy organic sound. One of the endearing things about Eleanor McEvoy is that throughout her career she has never tried to change her vocal style. She sings rhetorically and has ability to write honest lyrics make her songs ‘real and relevant’. One of the many standout tracks is ‘Take You Home’, subtle string section, great rhythms, and a fantastic honest vocal delivery that seems to lay McEvoy’s soul bare for all to see. In one word: Sublime.

I’d Rather Go Blonde is McEvoy’s eighth album in which she tackles issues like alienation, hypocrisy, recent Irish history and romance. The title track I’d Rather Go Blonde is an uplifting medley of  frantic vocals & string sections that show off that McEvoy is not only a voice but a supreme musician. Very clever production on this album highlights her musicianship and surely hails her a master at her craft.

Key tracks:  Look Like Me, I’d Rather Go Blonde & the beautiful delicate HARBOUR.

10/10

Eggs Benedict
A dish that consists of an English muffin, cut in half, topped with bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I believe it to be an American dish, although there are arguments from the French that they created it.  However, France is a country that has a baguette with no butter on its for breakfast, America is the home of eggs sunny side up; sounds much more likely right?

This luxurious meal cannot only be eaten at breakfast, but for lunch and dinner too! My love of Eggs Benedict has sent me on a search for the best places to get it, as it’s not a meal one should make for oneself – it must be enjoyed in relaxation. As a result, I keep going back to 4 restaurants to get my fix listed below in no particular order:

Pilgrim’s Rest, Rosscarbery, Co.Cork
Cucina, Kinsale, Co.Cork
Liberty Grill, Cork City
My Mum’s

Pilgrim’s is probably the best, not only is Pilgrim’s the place of my favourite meal, it is  also where I got my very first job at 14, doing wash up in their teeny tiny kitchen.
Cucina in Kinsale, was wonderful when I lived there, nothing better than a night out on the town, waking up and being a 5 minute walk away from the blue and white interior that held my favourite breakfast and coffee. 
The Liberty Grill is particularly special to me and I’m sure you’re wondering why? After staying in Cork City overnight – as I had been running an event – I woke up ravenous in an apartment with zero food in the fridge!  I decided to go to the Liberty Grill for brunch and waited 20 minutes for a table, which when you’re hungry and pregnant is quite a feat! When I got to my table I refused the menu and ordered “‘Eggs Benedict with a fresh orange juice ” and no sooner had the words come out of my mouth than I felt the first kick of my baby, a sure sign that he will have good taste and love good food! 

If all else fails I resort to begging my wonderful mother to cook Eggs Benedict for me… It starts off with calling into my parents at a time in the day when there will be a meal being made and… “Mum… would you make me poached eggs (I cannot make them myself)… could I have some bacon with them… any chance you feel like making hollandaise sauce… Plllleeeeease?????”  Her Eggs Benedict are the best of them all, perfect eggs, perfect yolk, perfect crispy bacon, lemony fresh hollandaise and muffins or bagels.  Unfortunately, she is not open for business, but if you sit outside her door for long enough she might cook you some?  Or else call the dogs on you!

Romain Duris
Romain Duris is a god-created actor.  He was found on the street by a casting director and offered a part in Le Peril Jeune, (I have not seen this yet).  I strongly recommend you watch Moliere, a period movie, in which he plays the famous playwright during the years where he went off the scene and ’De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté’  (The Beat My Heart My Skipped), in which he plays a Parisian thug. the two roles show up his versatility. He is truly amazing.  I have a big long list of films by him that I want to watch, but have not gotten round to getting them yet. But if there’s a day when I’m at home and I want to watch a film, an inspiring film, he is always in the movie I choose to watch, just for the pleasure of watching a great actor who happened into his career by chance!

Manifestation
I’m not sure if this is something that I come back to or it comes back to me?  But it certainly is something that has become more, and more, clear to me, especially over the past year. We manifest our own paths/future/present.  I work for myself, running a management and marketing company for the arts called Dandielion and an agency with a group of circus and street performers called SPACAspace.  For pretty much all my teen years, I said I wanted to work for myself, not for a company, or for someone.  And, a number of times before I got here I would be like “why I am doing this job?” Or “why did I do that acting course?” It all makes sense now.  The Universe delivers what you ask for.  I think, however, I forget and then when I look back I see it.  Wow, I got what I asked for! So I keep going back, but hopefully now I will remain present in the fact that if I keep writing the lists, asking for what I would like or need, it will be delivered.

The beach
Best place to go back to whether you’re in a good mood, bad mood, want a walk, want to chill out, want to scream or shout, want to hang out.  Nothing better! My favourite little one is Novhal Cove, we came across here on a family drive, when I was very young and I returned to this spot years later by chance and I was feeling quite freaked as I had this feeling of being there before. I called my Dad and he calmed me down explaining it wasn’t a past life memory, but that we had come across it by accident a number of years ago.  Also, Long Strand, Owenahincha, The Warren, Rosscarbery & Garretstown, Kinsale are all beautiful too!

Paris
I have not been back to Paris for a number of years, but it is somewhere I will always return. The first time I went to France I was 8.  My parents took me, my brother and sister and Aoife, our amazing babysitter who is shortly to be married! (By the time this article is online she will be married). We went to Brittany, where it rained like Ireland for the whole week and then my Mum said to my Dad Disneyland Paris was only ( _?_ ) this far away on the map and we travelled there by car. 

The next time we went to France, it was to the South for a wedding in Toulouse, which was held in the most beautiful chateau I have ever seen, with the loveliest people running it; it was a wonderful trip.

Then I got to Paris for an Art trip in Secondary School and got my first taste of Parisian life with The Louvre, The Pompidou Centre and the dreadful Flunches, somewhere I will most definitely not be going back to! The next time I went was with my Mum for my eighteenth birthday, we stayed in a lovely hotel in the centre of Paris, used the metro, went to The Moulin Rouge, all the musees and galleries, got portraits done and returned to Disneyland, another place I want to go back to, we’re all just big kids really, and went to some lovely shops and met some wonderful and friendly people. 

It is always my plan every year to return, but I get distracted by work or a trip somewhere else, but I have decided that I will be back there within the next two years. Just to wander around and marvel at the sights, sounds and smells of Paris.

Dandielion Management & Marketing
This is the bit where I plug my company.  Dandielion is a management & marketing company for the arts, we supply theatre, music, workshops to a number of theatres, events agencies, festivals around Ireland and as time goes on across the globe.  Dandielion also provides PR for events, launches, and promotion for artists. 

SPACAspace
A street performing and circus arts agency, SPACAspace is the agency that takes the high end acts created in Circus Square, Camden Quay, Cork and we send them to events, festivals, theatres, clubs around Ireland & Europe! www.spacaspace.com (currently under construction)

Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972 by LR Lippard

This work documents the network of ideas that has been labelled conceptual art. Including texts by and taped discussions among and with the artists involved, the book is arranged as an annotated chronology.

You are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katharine Harmon

Mapmaking fulfills one of our most ancient and deep seated desires understanding the world around us and our place in it. However the maps in this book do not only show oceans and continents but realms even outside our comprehension. What they all have in common is the creator’s desire to go beyond the boundaries of geography.

Aesthetics and Its Discontents by Jacques Ranciere 

Only yesterday aesthetics stood accused of concealing cultural games of social distinction. Now it is considered a parasitic discourse from which artistic practices must be freed.

But aesthetics is not a discourse. It is an historical regime of the identification of art. This regime is paradoxical, because it founds the autonomy of art only at the price of suppressing the boundaries separating its practices and its objects from those of everyday life and of making free aesthetic play into the promise of a new revolution.

Aesthetics is not a politics by accident but in essence. But this politics operates in the unresolved tension between two opposed forms of politics: the first consists in transforming art into forms of collective life, the second in preserving from all forms of militant or commercial compromise the autonomy that makes it a promise of emancipation.

This constitutive tension sheds light on the paradoxes and transformations of critical art. It also makes it possible to understand why today’s calls to free art from aesthetics are misguided and lead to a smothering of both aesthetics and politics in ethics.

“Riveting. In short compass, Rancière provides a razor–sharp critique of the anti–aesthetics of postmodernism. His ear for the substitution of political substance by empty moralism call it: the sublime, the unpresentable, the other, the Shoah is unerring. His dissections of Badiou, Lyotard, von Trier’s Dogville, and a Christian Boltanski installation are pitch–perfect. For a pointed defense of the role of aesthetics for a radical politics: begin here.”
Jay Bernstein, New School for Social Research

“Jacques Rancière’s Aesthetics and its Discontents mounts a subtle and spirited defense of modern aesthetic thought, from Schiller to Adorno. Aesthetics is not philosophy seeking to dominate art, as its modish detractors claim. Rather, it is the attempt to think through the artwork’s paradoxes and contradictions. In a forceful critique of rival thinkers such as Lyotard and Badiou, Rancière shows that abandoning aesthetic discourse does not mean respecting the integrity of art. Instead, art ends up being reduced to the vehicle of a remorseless ethical demand, or to the cipher of a transcendent truth.”
Peter Dews, University of Essex

The university is under pressure to adapt. Existing degrees and departments are considered less relevant, less valuable, in a competitive economy. At the same time the role of the university is considered greater than ever as innovation, research and technology are presented as the engines of economic growth. We can see this ‘adaptation’ happening through the prioritisation of research outputs over teaching, the subordination of this research to pre-determined ends set by state and corporate agencies and in the limitation of spaces for participative learning such as tutorials.

The questions of role and relevance are at the heart of how the university is represented by its spokespeople. These questions amount to a struggle over knowledge and its proper place, knowledge and its proper function. But in these struggles there is an absence: the students on which the university ultimately depends.

We understand “student” in its broadest sense. Although today the university is a hard to access space, in many cases expensive and unaffordable, we think that it should operate on an egalitarian basis, i.e. it should be opened up to every interested individual, independently from their social status/ qualifications/ skills. Autonomous education obliterates the spatial separation of inside and outside by breaking the ‘policed’ boundaries that increasingly separate campuses from the rest of society and the world.  

Autonomous education is a movement that is centred in the activity of study, and whose aim is to take this activity back to its root, i.e. to desire – studere in Latin means “to desire”.

At the university knowledge and pedagogic organization are, by their nature, never definitely fixed. They are open to infinite subjective interpretations, uses and articulations– independent from bureaucratic and economic circumstances. The principle that elevates the university to a ‘universal’ institution is an egalitarian one, corresponding to what Ranciere defines as the “generic human capacity to think”.

Today the independent and egalitarian dimensions of study are under attack. This attack is not limited to the university. It echoes wherever people act independently of market objectives and, in particular, act on the basis of equality (e.g. community development, public health care…).

Nor is this attack limited to the present. In the 18th century the English colonial apparatus sought to subordinate the Irish people to its political and economic objectives. This meant an education system prescribed according to what was deemed appropriate to the Irish subject. In resistance to this, and staying true to a desire for learning, autonomous hedge schools emerged.

Autonomous education imagines what a hedge school could be today. The creation of an institution which confronts a university-as-bureaucracy with a university expressing our desires and potentials.

To begin this re-invention we want to initiate gatherings- events, screenings, talks, readings- with the intention of reaching a point where we can construct our own ‘course’. 

What is to be done? Potential lines of experimentation:

The participation of interested people not necessarily part of the institution; the production of documents not ‘normalized’ according to academic/bureaucratic criteria, documents which might circulate outside the hierarchical self-referential academic publishing circuit; the collective re-conversion of  institutional spaces into the ‘public spaces’ they are supposed to be; the subtraction of study time from disciplinary forms of ritual performance and the valorisation of the collective components of this activity. These are just a few possible examples of AE’s pedagogic and political organisation.

wearetheuniversity@gmail.com

Over the next three issues of  themutation.com we will be presenting interviews with activists from three social centres from the Barcelona area and Madrid: El Ateneu Candela in Terressa, Exit in Barcelona and Centro Social Seco in Madrid. All three, in different ways, are concerned with reworking the politics of autonomous social centres.

What’s most remarkable about these projects is their ability to recognise the exhaustion of the classic forms of radical organising while insisting that the urgency of transforming capitalism is as clear as ever. How do we create new forms of resistance, of organisation and of intervention that can deliver social change in today’s world? This is the question several social centres across Spain have been asking over the last decade or so, and have been answering through a series of political experiments. They’ve sought to explore the potentials of social centres, not just as a resource for movements or as an alternative cultural space, but as a key weapon in combating advanced capitalism. They wanted to reinvent the social centre for the 21st century.

But this desire immediately brought into focus some of the limitations of the squatted social centre model prevalent in Spain in the 80s and 90s. The price of squatting  (evictions, conflict with the police, legal trials) often preculed a stable political project capable of transforming the city. Social centres are always going to have a relationship with the authorities and with the institutions of power. The question was, how to change this relationship into one which works for social movements rather than against them? How can we change this situation into one which opens up the possibility for politics rather than drowning that very possibility under an avalanche of legal processes and evictions. The social centres discussed here have all confronted and attempted to overcome this problem.  In two cases by pressuring the city council into granting them a permenant self-managed space and in one case by renting, these social centres have achieved the creation of more permanent and open ‘citizen controlled public spaces’.

A further limitation that characterised the squat movement was the inability to intervene in their area and, as a consequence, ghettoisation and isolation from social conflicts. This was partly a result of state repression and partly due to an identitarian aesthetic code and a preoccupation with political issues which were unrelated to the problems faced by those around them. Inspired by the Zapatistas and the alter-globalisation slogan ‘act local, think global’, the social centres interviewed here recognised the need to create a new form of organisation which would open the social centre to the world around it. In doing so they’ve created spaces for the cross-contamination of different communities, the de-individualisation of social problems, and the creation of hybrid political movements capable of responding to the complexity of contemporary capitalism.

Central to this has been the development of Social Rights Centres . SRCs become a hub of social conflicts by providing information and support in relation to issues like housing, migration and precarious work; in them you meet an array of people from all over the world and confronting a variety of forms of oppression and exclusion; precarious workers, undocumented and documented migrants, or people who can’t access decent housing. More importantly, they act as a machine for the formation of communities of resistance which can respond to the problems they face and achieve concrete victories. These issues represent some of the most significant conflicts in our political present, which is why it’s vital for social movements to find ways of inserting themselves into these conflicts. The question is, how? And this question can only be answered through political experimentation: through a recognition of the redundancy of the old ways and an ability to create new ones.

El Ateneu Candela, Terressa, Barcelona: Impossible is Nothing!

El Ateneu Candela began in 1999 with a rented space in the small city of Terrassa, about an hour from Barcelona. Since then they have acquired a larger space following a campaign against the city council, which brought the question of self-managed public space onto the streets. El Ateneu Candela has been primarily involved in organising in relation to migration, free cultural and knowledge production and precarity. In addition they have a bar, a radio station and a free shop. I spoke to Xavi about the development of the social centre over the last number of years.

Mick: Like many other social centres, in recent years El Candela has moved away from squatting and created a new form of social centre. How did this change come about?

Xavi: El Ateneu Candela has never been a squatted Social Centre. However, some of the people who began the project came from the squatters movement. In 1999 those people decided to get together with people who’d been working in different projects (university, around social exclusion, development etc.) to start a new project which differed from squatting.

The squat movement has many interesting elements, but also many negative elements. For example, the ghettoisation of social centres, the need to continually defend social centres and constant evictions, permanent campaigns against repression, and trials and fines which undermine all the other aspects of activism. We thought that these negative elements of squatting could be largely overcome by creating a social centre in a rented space.

M: How did you get your current space and what are the conditions?

X: El Ateneu Candela began in 1999 in a very small rented building in the centre of Terrassa, which we paid €360 a month for. The rent was covered by voluntary contributions from members of the collective. We were there until 2004, but the space was too small for the large number of activities and projects which we wanted to develop. This caused us to consider shifting the project up a gear and looking for a bigger space, one which could hold all types of activities and one in which the social centre could become a reference point in the city and in the metropolitan area.

In order to make this jump we needed money which we didn’t have, so we came up with two ways of getting the money; by getting 30 members who would contribute €300 in a period of 6 months or by negotiating with the city council, demanding the money and arguing that as citizens we had a right to a social centre. We achieved both and we found an old textile factory which is 400m2 and which had a rent of €1200 per month. After a year of work on the building, work which was done by those involved in the project and others who worked in solidarity with the project, we managed to inaugurate the current Ateneu Candela.

M: Was it difficult to go into negotiations with the city council?

X: Actually, it wasn’t particularly complicated, for three reasons. Firstly, it was the only way of really developing the project. Secondly, everyone in the collective was clear that it was a question of pressuring the city council. Thirdly, it allowed us to bring the issues in to the open; the lack of spaces in the city, especially autonomous spaces which create alternative forms of socialisation, where different groups working on different projects can get together, where ‘free culture’ can be created, with wifi and free software and so on. We were able to demand the social centre as a new type of social right.

M: How does the organisation of the social centre work?

X: We have an ‘organisational assembly’ which meets up every two weeks. These are kind of functional meetings. We try to make sure that there is the right number of people and that we don’t get into political discussions, because we have other spaces for that. The issues are usually; the programme of activities; proposals for activities, workshops, courses, parties and so on; finances and expenses; and other issues related to the day to day of the social centre.

M: What kind of projects and activities go on in the social centre at the moment?

X: The projects at the social centre are organised around four principal themes:

1) Social Rights/ Migration: As part of this theme we have the Social Rights Centre which provides information on residency documents and migrant detentions, workplace rights and housing. Rather than simply providing information to individuals, the objective is that people who come along to the Social Rights Centre unite and transform their individual problems into collective ones. We also have Catalan and Spanish classes for migrants and there are associations of migrants which are independent but also form part of the Social Rights Office.

2) Free culture and free software: This involves a stable programme of cultural activities which guarantee access to culture for everyone and which empower forms of culture which are suffocated by the official cultural circuits. At the same time we work to distribute free culture through non-property based licenses (copyleft/creative commons). In terms of free software, we try to let people know about alternatives to property-based systems. All of our computers have free software as do our radio programmes. We also offer help with installing GNU/LINUX.

3) Communication: This involves a whole system of communication to let people know about everything we do in El Ateneu Candela and the different campaigns we run. We use Communia (http://www.communia.org/), which is an internet based tool, our website (http://www.communia.info/candelaup/), our pirate radio station (Post Scriptum Radio) and the internet.

4) Autonomous Education: Talks, seminars and discussion groups which are an alternative form of education to that which is imposed by the business-university model. This is also an attempt to bring together thought and action.

M: What is the role of the wide variety of cultural activities in the social centre?

X: As I was saying earlier, cultural events play a key role for us. We think that precarity affects all artists and creators very profoundly. We also think it is necessary to organise in order to fight and in order to make a living from creative work, while at the same time breaking with the logic of the artist as ‘individual genius’ and recognising that culture is a social and collective creation. Here the big problem isn’t the artists and creators but the music industry. We think that in the ‘network society’, industry is preventing people from freely accessing culture. This is were we come in, and in our own small way we value and create space for culture which is underground and based on an alternative logic, for example using licences such as those of Copyleft and Creative Commons.

M: For quite some time now the question of migration has been important for your project. Could you explain how your social centre came to consider this issue and organise around it?

X: The reality is that migration is something that is completely changing our cities. Terrassa, a kind of satellite city of Barcelona, for example, is one which was created thanks to migrants. First were those internal migrants in the 60s and 70s, especially people from Andalucía, and afterwards migration from other countries from the 90s on. In 1999, in one of the neighbourhoods were many of the newer migrants lived, there were some serious attacks on the Maghreb population. This has had an important impact on the perception of the city in relation to migration.

It has meant that in spite of the large number of migrants in our city there has been very little interaction between the different communities. In the face of this, we decided to create a collective which we called Colectivo Intercultural (intercultural collective) whose only objective was to create space were different communities of our community could come together and get to know each other. In 2005, the government initiated a one-off mass regularisation of undocumented migrants. However, because of the impossibility for many migrants of demonstrating eligibility for regularisation, a cycle of struggles began, involving lock-ins and hunger strikes. One of these lock-ins was organised here in Terrasa, and Colectivo Intercultural was part of the network supporting the lock-in. The lock-in lasted 20 days, it began in the premises of one of the big trade unions and later moved to Terressa’s Institute of Technology. Through these actions the regularisation of almost 60 undocumented migrants was achieved.

M: The Social Rights Centre is an important and innovative element of El Ateneu Candela. Can you explain a little but what a Social Rights Centre is and what its relation to the social centre is?

X: Basically, Social Rights Centres are self-organised spaces offering assistance and information for people affected by precarity. The Social Rights Centre tries to combine different levels of politics in order to turn problems experienced by isolated individuals into processes of social self-organisation, creation of networks of mutual support and strategies to achieve concrete victories in the face of the landlord or the boss, and in the face of the severe limitations of the system of social protection or welfare.

The basic idea which drove us to consider Social Rights Centres as a political project was the collective need to begin communicating our daily problems and, above all, to find collective answers and solutions to the problems of housing, work and residency documents which effect us.
In this sense, what is at stake is an attempt to discover what kind of institutions and infrastructures social movements can create in order to combat the precarity of our own lives and to experiment with a new model of social syndicalism which can intervene in processes of ‘precaritisation’. These processes increasingly go beyond the question of labour relations to include all the elements of life. 

People who come along to the Social Rights Centre see that we’re organised, we fight for our rights, we’re not alone, and that their problems are also ours. This leads to people participating in different initiatives and ensures that it’s not just a case of ‘us helping them’.

In terms of the relationship with the social centre, the SRO itself is situated in El Ateneu Candela. The language classes also take place there. At the same time it means that everyone who comes along to the language classes or who drops into the Social Rights Centre can also enjoy all the resources on offer at the social centre (internet, radio, the migrant associations, cultural activities etc.) At the same time the social centre plays one of its basic roles as a kind of ‘public square’, a space of encounter and socialisation.

M: What do you mean by precarity?

X: We use the word precarity to describe the situation of permanent instability and uncertainty which penetrates us right down to our bodies. This situation of generalised precarity establishes a general culture of fear: the fear of loosing our job; the fear of not being ably to pay our mortgage; the fear of not being able to pay the bills and so on. The fear of feeling excluded in the society of consumption has resulted in precarity extending from work to all other areas of our lives. This is social precarity, no longer only work related, in which all the forms of oppression and control which capitalism has historically used in terms of people’s relationship with work, can be found today in every area of our lives. 

M: Often precarity means we feel impotent in relation to contemporary conditions. In what way does the Social Rights Centre allow us to escape this paralysis?

X: In the context of social precarity any kind of individual response tends to be invisibilised, repressed or excluded. As a result, the challenge which confronts us today is that of collectivity, ‘community’, a common space from which we can respond to precarity. Society today is liquid, financially and ideologically, and as such it contains innumerable points of escape. That’s why the forms of collective opposition to social precarity can be rich and diverse, and can become incontrollable.

The Social Rights Centre is our form of opposition. It’s a collective experience which helps us to escape from the culture of fear, to create our own spaces in which social precarity is not the dominant form of social relation. We don’t think of this ‘escape’ as fleeing, but as the establishment of conflict in order to defend social relations and new forms of life .

M: Coming back to migration, what type of work do you do?

X: Well, at the moment it’s one of the most important dimensions of our work in El Ateneu Candela. As I was saying earlier, this is because our city and the metropolitan area of Barcelona have experienced a significant transformation in recent years, and as a result there is an important new component which is our migrant neighbours.

We work toward ensuring that everyone in our town has the same rights as we do, that they have residency documents and can have a decent life. But while this is not immediately possible, we try to take small steps.

At the moment we:

1) have Catalan and Spanish classes for migrants. These classes are a form of self defence. They’re not only about language but also about knowing your rights or what to do in case of detention;

2) give legal aid in relation to getting residency documents and take cases against deportations and charges of ‘crimes against intellectual property’ ;

3) organise workshops in bars and in neighbourhoods where lots of migrants live, on what do to if you are detained by the police;

4) are preparing a campaign against police raids on migrants;

5) participate in a national campaign for the decriminalisation of those selling pirate products on the street;

6) support the creation of migrant associations.

M: Could you say some more about the experiences of the migrant associations you’ve just mentioned?

X: There are two associations, so I’ll talk about each of them.

Terressa Association of Undocumented Migrants came about as a result of police persecution of migrant street traders. These are senegalese guys who work as ‘top manta’, selling stuff on the streets. We decided to go and talk to some of the street sellers and invite them to the Social Centre in order to know more about their situation.

At that meeting they told us about their need to learn Catalan and Spanish. So we organised the language classes and at the same time we supported them in the creation and public presentation of the association that they formed. By forming an association they were able to make visible their situation and to demonstrate to the city council that they weren’t alone.

Following all of this there has been a decrease of police pressure as well as an increase in support from citizens. It has lead to the street sellers having the social centre as a reference point for when they encounter all sorts of problems. It has also led to mobilisations on the streets for the decriminalisation of ‘top manta’. This was the first association of ‘top manta’ in Spain and since then associations have been formed in Madrid, Seville and Zaragoza. These various associations are in contact and coordinate there activities.

‘We Fight for Our Rights’ was started by Moroccans who had been active in student struggles in Morocco and who decided to create an association in order to bring more people together and to fight for the rights of migrants. Their work has mainly focused on publicly criticising the current laws around migration and on education. They organise workshops in different neighbourhoods about basic rights. Today the association is formed by Moroccans, people from Terrasa and some Latin Americans.

M: Is the recession affecting the people who drop into the Social Rights Centre?

X: The crisis is affecting everyone, and particularly those who are most vulnerable as they have fewer rights. The Social Rights Centre is an important mechanism for detecting social changes and antagonisms. A fair bit before people started talking about an economic crisis in the media, we had an idea something was happening because people who came along to the Social Rights Centre had new types of problems.

For example, many people worked in construction and after the property bubble burst they were left with no work, they’ve been fired with no rights in terms of redundancy payments or social welfare and often they’re owed money for several months work. Others have been coming along to the Social Rights Centre who are in danger of loosing their residency permits because they haven’t been able to pay 6 months tax per year, which is a requirement of the Immigration Bill.

People are buying less and less CDs or DVDs so the ‘Top manta’ street sellers have to spend more time on the streets, where they are vulnerable to police persecution.  Many women domestic workers have also lost their jobs. We also encounter cases of people who are in danger of loosing their houses because they can’t pay the rent or mortgage. There also those who are having difficulties to meet the basic need of having something to eat.

M: How are you responding to the recession and its effects?

X: We can respond by continuing to organise and fight for the right to residency documents and citizenship, the right to an income, to food, to decent housing. At the same time we put pressure on the city council to try and make it fulfil its role and meet the needs of the citizens. We’re also exploring projects which can generate income for those involved in the associations.
 
Michael O’Broin is part of Better Questions and the provisional university

You can find more info on El Ateneu Candela @ http://communia.info/candelaup612/

Have you ever wondered what the famous cooks of the world eat at home? Do they really spend hours every day preparing food on the lines of their recipes or, like you and me, do they sometimes snuggle down happily to a boiled egg and toast?  Now, let us be honest. I am an unrepentant foodie and I suspect I spend more time than most deciding what I am going to eat, shopping for the ingredients and then preparing the dish of choice. I am eternally combing magazines and newspapers for new recipes, even though my kitchen shelves groan under the weight of cookery books of all descriptions. When travelling abroad, there is nothing I like more than visiting the local shops and supermarkets on the hunt for new and interesting ingredients and, when the humour is on me, I can happily spend hours in the kitchen preparing food.

As I have told you before, I live alone. That would present particular problems in determining what to eat, were it not for the freezer. When so moved, I cook large quantities of whatever and pack it into small, plastic containers before storing them in serried ranks in the drawers of my upright freezer. I also always have items like fresh vegetables, steaks, chops or fish fillets to hand. Indeed, my eldest son has been known to say that I am in eternal readiness to withstand a prolonged siege! Be that as it may, the biggest decision of my day centres on the choice of food for the evening meal. In making that all-important decision, I exclude all instant or processed food.
It is not that I am disdainful of such fare; it is simply the case – and I often feel disgruntled about this – that I have never found a fast or pre-prepared product that I actually liked. Thus, the option facing me is either to cook some meat or fish from the fridge or freezer together with a starch and vegetables or, to consume one of my own frozen meals. However, very occasionally, I simply do not feel like cooking and then, if I am also not particularly hungry, I eat nothing at all. This is what I call my favourite supper and I jest not. If you cook for yourself every day, it is strangely liberating simply to forego all food and pass an evening without it. Apart from giving you an extra hour or so – remember there is a fallout in the form of no wash up – a mini-fast also gives one’s digestive system a rest and purges the body a little for twelve hours or so. This must be to one’s good. Do try it sometime. You will find it works.

But what happens if I don’t feel like cooking and am hungry? No, I don’t rush out to the nearest restaurant. I might have an omelette and salad, but just recently, I have been having bean soup with a large wedge of my own bread, followed by fried eggs. I am a devotee of the humble egg (particularly when it comes from a happy run-around hen, as do mine for most of the year) and especially in its fried form. For a change, try frying your eggs in butter or in olive oil with a generous quantity of freshly ground pepper on top. If you have not been there before, a culinary experience awaits you! But what of the bean soup? It, of course, comes out of the freezer and all I have to do is heat it, something I can just about manage to pull off when in non-cooking mode. Now that the chill of autumn is tightening its grip, I felt this would be a good time to share with you my recipe for this tasty and nutritious dish.

500g butter beans
2 onions chopped
2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 large lemon, juiced
4 tbsp olive oil
A large bunch of parsley, chopped
2l strong vegetable or beef stock*
Freshly ground black pepper and salt

*I sometimes use ham water if I have any. Alternatively, I recommend Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon

Steep the beans in water overnight and then cook them in a generous amount of water for about an hour or until they are soft. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and throw in the chopped onions, potatoes and carrot. Sweat for about 20 minutes and then stir in the cumin. Add the beans and stock and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Throw in the chopped parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and simmer for a few more minutes or until the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Allow to cool a little and then blend until smooth. (I have only recently acquired a hand blender and what a boon this piece of equipment is for making soups; my life has been transformed.) I like to serve with a little virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

Joseph

The atmosphere suited his mood, sombre. He sat alone sipping his unsweetened black coffee, staring out in to the desolate street. The dancing leaves seemed to be the only life. The rain drops becoming attracted to the window pane, and he had forgotten his umbrella. “Never mind” he whispered to himself, it’s not as though it could ruin his mood. He ordered another coffee, he had become a regular in this restaurant and the staff would always greet him with a smile. This made him feel wanted, but he would never strike up a conversation with the staff. He would just sit and sip his cold black unsweetened coffee, staring out in to the windy desolate world.

One time during the early hours of a Sunday morning Roger awoke. He sat up babbling something, something about the end of humanity. And he was soaked to the skin with sweat. He went to the bathroom and dried himself off with a towel. Parking himself on the toilet seat resting his head in his hands, Roger began to wonder .He began to wonder, first of all how could he tell anybody? Secondly, if he somehow managed to string together a complete sentence, whom should he tell? “Maybe the staff at my favorite restaurant” he thought. But Roger had his doubts about those people, he didn’t truly know those people. And was certain, that when he left, they would make fun of him.

Roger pondered as to why he was given this information. So for the first few days he ignored the premonition. Even as he sipped his cold, black, unsweetened coffee, he mumbled to himself “must forget”, “must not remember catastrophe”. The waitress asked did he say anything and Roger nodded negatively. The waitress went to the other staff and whispered something.

Then one of them said out loudly, so loudly that everyone in the restaurant would hear. “I KNEW HE WAS A WEIRDO”! “Shhh Roberta”, said one of them. It was too late by then, the entire restaurant was in an uproar of laughter. Roger’s pale face became scarlet, he stood up and made a beeline for the exit. Roger would’ve made it, if it weren’t for the cop. The cop grabbed Roger by the scruff of the neck. Now roger was a slim man, the cop wasn’t. The cop was a donut munching, coffee slurping, dolt. And his body odour went unchecked for weeks upon end. “Get your skinny ass back here”, roared the cop. Roger tried to fight, but ended up flailing, the cop saw the opportunity and let Roger go. Roger hurtled toward the counter, smashing into it and flipped right over. People stood around with bellyaches of laughter, the cop was crying, tears were streaming down his blubbered cheeks.

Roger stood up, but he could barely stand, he was dizzy, everyone was in so much pain that they ignored Roger. Roger finally made it to the exit. He definitely wasn’t going to warn those jerks. The premonitions were persistent, they even tormented poor Roger during the daylight. Roger hadn’t shaved in a week, his hair was unkempt and there were pizza boxes all over his apartment. He even started to drink, that made things worse. Roger finally gave into the premonitions. It was decided, Roger would set up a religious sect. He would advertise in a local news paper.

At first no one even cared, but one day Roger got a visit from a pair of rather strange men. At first he assumed they were there about the ad, he was partially correct. The pair entered his apartment before Roger even asked them in, he then gestured at the sofa.
“Come in gentlemen” he said, “may I take your hats?“
then the ugliest of the two Theodore, told him that Mr. Bridalvice was adamant that they never took their hats off.
“Yeah” said Algernon in a deep tone
“Oh“, Roger said inquisitively, “who may I ask is Mr. Bridalvice”?
“None o’ your beeswax” said Algernon.
Theodore then started to rise slowly from his seat, approaching Roger calmly, staring in to his eyes. He reached for his inner breast pocket, Roger asked them would they like a cool beverage “No thanks” they both mumbled, then Theodore produced a white envelope.
“What’s this” Roger asked his tone now braver.
“Read it Mr. Pollam” said Algernon “it’s addressed to you”.
Roger unwillingly snapped it from his colossal hand, then the odd couple left as they had first entered his world. No that doesn’t work, they just left, without uttering a single word.

Roger didn’t know what to make of the letter, but finally curiosity got the better of him, tearing the envelope being careful not to tear the letter. Unfolding the letter slowly, his eyes darted up and down, left, then right . He began reading the letter to himself.

Dear Mr. Pollam, I hope this intrusion does not upset you, and that Theodore and Algernon behaved in the utmost manner. If not, I assure you that they will be severely punished. Now I would like to introduce myself, my name is Alexander Harmonious Bridalvice and you of course are Mr. Roger Pollam. I know all about you Roger, about your family, yes Roger, your poor mother Alberta on her death bed. And your brother Gream, he is filled with rage Roger. He wishes to see you dead, for leaving your poor sick mother on her own. Don’t try to figure out how I know these things, let’s just say you and I have a similar gift. Mine of course being far superior, actually you just got a taste of the most scrumptious, sumptuous fruit.

Do you see what I am doing Roger?, I’m insulting the bible, bloody thing ,it’s not even good for toilet paper. Now about these premonitions you’ve been having, ignore them post haste Roger, heed my advice, please, for your own good. I promise that they will soon cease to torment you. But you must not act on them, tell any of your fellow beings, and not to bother about this ridiculous sect. You and I both know that people don’t care for you Roger. I was there Roger, there at the restaurant, when everybody laughed at you. I did not laugh Roger, I am not a foolish imbecile, I would never laugh at a man of your calibre, a fine intuitive genius like you. Remember that old man sitting on his own Roger, remember. Always in the same seat, the female staff would call me a lecherous old pervert. Me, Alexander Harmonious Bridalvice A PERVERT!, please forgive me for shouting, I sometimes forget myself. You see Roger, all of your life you did the right thing, isolation was the correct choice Roger. Believe it or not, that is the very thing that kept you sane all of these years. You and I are more alike than I wish to admit.

And I Alexander Harmonious Bridalvice, yes I know Roger, I like saying my full title, but you have to admit, it does roll off of the tongue. You see Roger I am destined for greatness, that’s why you must not interfere with my plans. I don’t blame you, but those premonitions are a curse, a filthy, despicable, diseased pox.

Now for your cooperation, you will be handsomely rewarded, that I can assure you. My two darlings are sitting outside your apartment, in a black nineteen sixty six Cadillac. Please do not be alarmed, they are merely awaiting your response. All you have to do is, go outside and nod yes or no. If you choose to nod yes, my slavish servants will take you to me, if no, then, I wish to cause you no harm, but you have no choice in the matter Roger. I could not be there in person, it’s the sunlight you see, it is very sensitive to my eyes and skin, and I have important business to take care of during the night.

That’s why I ordered my two darlings to act as mailmen, I could not depend on them to tell you. I can’t take any risks Roger, I wish there was another way. This pains me, but I must take control of the situation , it is my destiny Roger and whether you like it or not, you are part of my preordained future. Some unforeseeable force believed you could somehow interfere in my plans, but the time is right. In my past, my fate was taken from me, now I am back with a vengeance. My wrath will only magnify my reign of terror, hah hah hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ahah, cough, cough. Forgive me my dearest Roger, now please approach my darlings, there is no need for any possessions, I have all that a man needs.

So Roger approached the two men sitting in the black silent automobile, climbing in, a single tear trailed down his cheek. Roger will miss sitting alone, sipping his cold, black, unsweetened coffee. “Hey cheer up Roger, Mr. Bridalvice ain’t that bad” smiled Theodore as he tried to reassure Roger. Then the two darlings and one reluctant accountant’s clerk sped toward their destination. Roger had a look of terror smeared on his face then Theodore popped a compact disc in to its player, telling Roger that this might help.

Alexander’s voice started playing, “testing, one, two, three, testing. “Mary had a little lamb”, “little lamb”, “little lamb”, “Mary had a little lamb”, “its fleece was as white as snow”. “That image bothers me somewhat”.
“Boss”, boss”
”What is it now Algernon? Don’t you see that I’m busy”
“Boss, I’m trapped in the bathroom again“
“Algernon”
“Yes boss”
“Did you twist the handle?”
“Uh, no boss“
“Well then
“Thanks boss”
“Why did I choose such a moron?”
“The boss likes me more” said Theodore
“No he doesn’t” replied Algernon the two of them bickering like children.
“Quiet! The both of you, or there will be no ice cream”.
The two darlings said sorry, Roger couldn’t believe they were having a conversation with a recorded c.d.
“Now as for our new associate”
“Who’s that boss?” Theodore asked scratching his head.
“Algernon”
“Yes boss?”
“Would you please strike Theodore please”
“Sure thing boss“
“Now Roger, again forgive me for the rude interruption, you see my darlings are still learning”
“Em that’s okay” Roger said
“Now please don’t be frightened, I wish to not to harm you. Now in approximately one hour, my handsome darlings and you shall stop for lunch and please don’t think about alarming the public for assistance Roger. I assure you, my slavish ogre’s are well equipped to deal with them, if you make any attempts to escape, you will upset my darlings. And I promise you Roger, you will not like that. Now I shall leave you but later on before you arrive, I will talk to you again. Theodore! Theodore!”
“Yes boss”
“How do you turn this contraption off?”
“Uh“, “Um, I’m not sure boss, how did you turn it on boss?”
“I don’t know, I just pressed some buttons. It mightn’t even have recorded, now I’ll really look stupid, oh blasted technology, give me a good old fashioned gramophone any time, now that’s what I call an audio recording device”
“I think I got it boss”
“You heard the boss Algernon” shouted Theodore, “we pull over in exactly one hour”
“Ya but I’m driving Theodore and when I drive I’m the boss”
“No you’re not” shouted Theodore.
“Look fellows” said Roger, “I know just let me go, you can tell Mr. Bridalvice that I gave you the slip”
“I don’t know Roger” said Theodore, “the boss will punish us”
“Ya” interrupted Algernon, “one time I forgot his brain medicine and he locked me in the freezer”, “I was there all night long and I didn’t even have Mr. Cuddles with me”
Then Roger asked who Mr. Cuddles was.
“Oh he’s my best friend, he’s a monkey who wears a top hat and he takes me on adventures sometimes”
“No he doesn’t”, said Theodore “you’re just a big fat liar”
“No I’m not, your just jealous” cried Algernon.
The two darlings were bickering again. Roger had to take advantage of the situation somehow.
“Hey guys lets pull over for some ice cream okay” said Roger.
“Yeah” Algernon and Theodore both cried, “Mr. Bridalvice never lets us have ice cream” said Algernon. “He says we’ll only spill it and ruin the upholstery”
“You can have any flavour guys”, Roger said smirking.
“Really?” said Algernon and Theodore, “even chocolate rum raisin and strawberry vanilla surprise?”
“Sure you can have seconds too” Roger continued
“You’re the best Roger” Theodore said
“Ya you’re much nicer than Mr. Bridalvice”, said Algernon. “Whenever we gets ice cream, he puts pepper and gravel in it. He thinks we don’t know, but we have to act dumb”
“Ya” agreed Theodore, then the two men started to weep. As they told him this Roger felt guilty, he was just using them, he had doubts about trying to escape.
What if I did get away? he thought to himself, imagine what Alexander would do to them.
“Hey guys, cheer up, I have a plan”

“Its great to get this finally done and out there’ says front man Liam ‘we have so many new tunes demoed just waiting to record the next album”.
“It’s an exciting time and we are looking forward to the tour in September”.
After 5 years indie band The Grunts from Cork have finally finished their debut album titled ‘Reflections in my mirror shades’
Formed in 2005 The band has previously released 3 EPs.
Every Strange Trip in 2008, Crawl right back 2009 and more recently Party Weirdo in Jan 2010.

The band; Liam O Shea, Vocals and Lead Guitar, Audrey Barrett, Bass Guitar and Backing Vocals and James Spillane Drums. 
The album of 11 songs includes 6 brand new tracks and some of the main EP releases re-mastered.
The album was recorded at BPM, Studios, Douglas Cork by Finny Corcoran of Belsonic Sound fame through Jan to July and while some mastering was done initially by Stan from Super Stanley 800 the band decided to go for full re mastering with Richard Dowling of Wav Mastering in Limerick who has previously done work with. The Frank and Walters, Director, Sinead O Connor, Matchbox Twenty and Foo Fighters EP
The band takes its influences from early U2 , Echo and the Bunnymen , The Cure , Throwing muses and Blue in Heaven.
Liam and James are originally Highfield Ave , College road , while Audrey hails from Blarney Street.
The Grunts have had their previous EP’s played on Ashley , Colm and Dave Mac on Ref FM, Neil Prenderville and Michael Carr on 96 FM, Alison Curtis and Dave Couse Today FM, Alan Jacques Limerick 95 FM and on Dublin’s Phantom FM Icon Show, recently Mike at XFM in London have all played the EP’s.
The album is available in all good record stores and on download. Play loud and Enjoy

Check out their new single  – it’s on our mutation radio player in the sidebar of this ezine

A hopeful star attracts more publicity than acting work.

The Moth features people telling true, engaging, funny, touching and eye-opening stories from their lives. Hailed as “New York’s hottest and hippest literary ticket” by the Wall Street Journal, The Moth has been producing sold-out storytelling shows for over ten years. Stories are told without notes to a live audience by a wide range of people.
[To hear this story you’ll need to have flash installed on your computer - go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ to get free download]