The Notting Hill Report
This is going to be a very long review. So much to tell en share. You might want to put on a Leroy Burgess compilation as a soundtrack to this. For me that’s the ideal companion to my memories of those 5 days in London last weekend. The joy it oozes brings me back every time.
But let’s tell this story chronological. The Belgian bunch going to Notting Hill Carnival was smaller than usual. Not the 20+ group like for Southport but just the 5 of us. Nina, Karl, Lieve, my fellow dj / organiser Yoeri and myself. And we weren’t all together all the time. I had some time for myself on Friday, due to taking the Eurostar early in the morning contrary to the rest. Gave me some time to check out Tate Modern. Which was for the architect and modern art lover in me just as much a must as visiting carnival was for the music lover in me. The power station designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (see also Battersea Power station and Liverpool Cathedral), reconverted to a museum by Swiss top duo Herzog & de Meuron (Beijing Olympic stadium, Allianz Arena in Munich), itself is well worth a visit for it’s grand architecture. On top of that there was an exhibition on ten global dynamic cities. And that’s a real eye-opener even for somebody with some knowledge about the topic.
The own collection of the museum is top too. Which would have been somewhat of a surprise if it hadn’t been. Loved all the Joan Miro en Alexander Calder works on display. The resemblance between the work of Miro and that of Dutch graphic designer Parra struck me. Both got a very specific way of disforming reality, the way of using colours is comparable and the work of both has quite some humour. Discovered some artists previously only vaguely or not known to me, like Len Lye and Sol Le Witt. Lye’s video projection was really impressive. Watched through the near epileptic film a couple of times.
Didn’t check the temporary exhibitions like that on Dali. Wanted to visit the City first. Never really took the time to walk around in that part of London. And because it’s one of the main centers of architectural activity in London the last few years another must. Finally saw Richard Rogers first Lloyd’s headquarters. Still remarkable after 25 years and easily one of the main monuments in London. I’m not completely convinced by his theories but this work is, as an icon like centre Pompidou, a very strong design with plenty of qualities that make the flaws so much less important. After some more works from Rogers and Norman Foster had my first plate of fish & chips together with a pint of best bitter. Before the others arrived.
Yoeri and Lieve got in London just in time to drop their luggage and head for Phil Asher and Patrick Forge’s Inspiration Information night. There are plenty of good nights in London but we chose this one for 2 reasons. Firstly because it was high on my global to do list (like I published many posts ago) and also because it was only a couple of blocks away from our hotel. When we arrived it was one of the "ladies first" playing. Not sure which one. A lady dj always opens the party after which Phil or Patrick take over. This time a band played in between the 2 sets. They sounded good but we were still getting accustomed to the place which reminded us a bit of our own venue, JH Eenders. Nowhere near being posh or too fancy but still a great spot to have a quality party. Loved the conscious choice of beers at first (but revised that opinion a little the morning after). We went after a tasting round for the Peruvian one, supporting children over there in the boozing process. When Phil Asher took over the party really started. Heard lots of great boogie, disco, broken beat and more. We need more parties like that here. Deeper music, more friendly people, more dj’s like Phil Asher. Rarely seen somebody with a long career like his as enthusiast about music and dj’ing - as if he was playing for the first time ever. Never met a dj who asked me if I had any requests neither. He made us feel welcome to say the least. Inspiring evening indeed and a good forebode of what was to come.
Needed to visit Starbucks for a tall coffee (still the smallest size if I understood it all right) and some breakfast. We need Starbucks over here. Maybe not every 10 houses like in London but more places to drink coffee would be nice. After that we did a little diggin’ session at Sounds of the Unverse. And met with Nina and Karl. When we finally got out of the pub, we headed for our next pre-carnival party. A BBE Music night at neighbourhood. This time we chose the night mainly because it was in walking distance from the hotel, it was free before a certain hour and we like BBE records a lot. The opening dj wasn’t all that bad playing mainly Ame-esque house, but it wasn’t something we hadn’t seen or heard before. When Pete Adarkwah took over it only looked for a very short time like it would get funky. But it didn’t and he provided us with the biggest bummer of the weekend. He played pop house. All others in the club digged it but he went Bob Sinclar on our asses and apart from having a laugh with the testosteron fueled locals it wasn’t much fun. Left early so with could kick start our carnival the day after.
First walked around in the carnival area seeing the sound systems building up and barbecues starting to prepare the Caribbean food. A joy for ear and nose. Made our first decent stop at Norman Jay’s Good Times Soundsystem. And stayed there for a long while. It was the Southport afternoon spirit. Soul Jazz, Rare Groove, Funky Reggae and Jazz building up to a euphoric frenzy which made us like even the somewhat too main room House he played. That together with lots of cans of Red Stripe provided the first high of the carnival. Left the square for Sancho Panza (not all my cup of tea at that particular moment), Aba Shanti I and some more sounds. Ended the outdoor festivities at Rapattack with some more Rare Groove goodies. A bit tired from all the beer and dancing ended out night at a local pub and went for an early sleep.
On Monday we headed straight for Norman Jay’s Sound System. Providing us again Good Times plenty. Being there among the first we slowly saw it getting crowded and slowly getting to another euphoria. Enjoyed the music and the friendly people around us. After Karl and Nina left us heading back to Brussels, we decided to go to the Famalam Jamalam party at the Fat Badger. Because Benji B was playing there. He played at Electric Souls too, so what finally convinced us was that Phil Asher being on the bill too. We didn’t see Benji (problems with his car apparently) but we saw an ace Phil Asher (again) behind the CDJ’s. Phil Asher introduced us to Aaron Ross, I had a nice talk with Simbad and with one of the guys from Small Arms Fiya. Those last two played good sets (Aaron Ross was just chilling there). Nice party. Returned home just before the end, broke, drunk and tired in degrees I haven’t experienced in years. Saw some live Catherine Tate show alike madness on the way to the hotel which was dead funny. At least I thought it was. Could be the booze working too, I guess.
I had the best four days of heavy partying since Southport, met tons of nice people, heard sounds that put everything you have ever heard in Belgium to shame, danced ’till I could stand no more, … in short had a blast of a weekend. It fueled me, inspired me and teached me a lot. i’m back next year. And I think I can speak for the 5 of us on this.
Tuesday Yoeri, Lieve and I did a little tour of Notting Hill to do some last shopping for sneakers and vinyl. We did Honest Jons and Dub Vendor. After that we crashed on the first bench we saw in Hyde Park. To film some pigeons, observe dogs fighting with sticks twice their size and having an absurd encounter with a funny Spanish kid. Stuff you only find cool when you’re tired.
Up to next weekend for Benji B and some Belgian party madness.
