Tricky Bizznizz

"It's Tricky" was a song by Run DMC released 86 

"Tricky Disco" by Tricky Disco (GTO) was a hardcore rave tune released on the warp label in 90 

I have blogged briefly about the graffiti artist "Banksy " before ,He formed part of a group of graffiti artists including "Goldie", "Inkie", "3D" who are all associated with the Bristol hip hop scene.   On more than one occasion as a teenager my friends and  I arrived at the Barton Hill youth Club mini ramp and to our frustration find it unusable as its being painted with their latest piece (I suppose today we would ask them for their autographs)

"Inkie" used to go to school with my brother.

 "3.D." (who produced Neneh Cherrie's "Man Child" ) seemed at the time the epitome of cool, However over the years I remember meeting the various members of Massive Attack and despite loving their music, I was disappointed to discover they were in reality just flawed human beings like the rest of us. So it didn't surprise me to read about the very public falling out over the years of the various members, To be fair their first album "Blue Lines" was always going to be an impossibly a hard act to follow. The pressures must have been immense.Today I read the latest episode in that "Massive Attack" saga "Tricky's" attack on "3.D."

It was Massive Attacks "Tricky" who has most triggered me. An undeniable musical talent I first met "Tricky" in my local pub which for some reason he visited just after the release of the first album.At the time I was on a date with "hot" young lady he made a b line for her and began to chat her up ignoring completely. He quickly asked her to go with him  and she paused (too long) to think before eventually declining,  to which his response was "If you go home with me I'll give you some massive attack t-shirts" again she gave it some thought before declining.

I almost forgot about "Tricky" (to my mind he never repeated the quality of his work on blue lines) until a few years later when he had an encounter with another "girl of mine" we weren't actually in a relationship, but she was staying with me and I was keen on the idea so imagine my annoyance when she came home one night excited telling me she had met Tricky at a party and he had autographed her underwear ! - suffice to say that friendship was short-lived.

So it seems Tricky has the habit of exposing my deepest fears and insecurities and so I wasn't surprised when his attack on "3.D." evoked similar emotions about what it is to be "pretentious" "self confident" , "cool" , "a white guy"...

Reading about Trickys life I realise how privileged I have been . Life has dealt him some hard knocks but despite that he managed to use his talent to make a successful career where others might have fallen by the way .

The Black Dog

While I've touched on the subject of Black Dogs & White Wolves before but I've been evading a detailed blog on the subject. Perhaps I've been too lazy or embarrassed to explain the connections, however the recent 20th anniversary of Jeff Noons cyberpunk novel "Vurt" (with an interesting take on "dog" symbolism) and the fact I have experienced a sync flap on the subject has prompted me to rewrite this post.

I started noticing the Black Dog when I first moved to London and our local students union was visited by a stage hypnotist whose gimmick was a black Labrador "The Hypno Dog" I was studying hypnotism at the time as part of a Psychology degree so took the opportunity to be hypnotised as research.

During the long hot summer that followed more Black Dogs came my way ;Dog Town (L.A. /Skateboards), Dead Dog Mountain (UK PUNK REGGAE), Snoop Dogg (LA Hip Hop). The Black Dog (uk techno ), Bark Psychosis (uk extreme noise/ambient ) ,Dogs on Acid (UK Drum and Bass).

For a while one of my flat mates (a Jamaican guy) owned a Black Doberman. It was the first time I had ever lived with a dog in the house. Another interesting experience was when I met the black dogs owned by the boss of the temping agency that I had been working for since finishing uni. She offered me a lift home in her sports car after a Christmas party. She and her partner (who was driving ) were in the front seats. I was expected to share the back seat with two Dobermans!

I started thinking about the Egyptian symbolism of the Black Dog when I went to see the techno act "The Black Dog" play at a club called vapour space, for some reason it surprised me to see two statues of Black Dogs (Anubis) mounted on the computer.

The Egyptian God Anubis depicted with the body of a men and head of a Jackal/Wolf  is often associated with travel between the worlds and as the guardian of dreams.

Slowly courtesy of Robert Anton Wilson, Spiral Tribe, TOPY, Robert Temple & much later J.K. Rowling  (Sirius Black) it all clicked into place

The Dogon ,The Dog Star (Sirius), The Dog Days ,

Arrowsmith explains much of the symbolism well at his Blog The Black Dog Star

Click the links for more Bull Dogs, Pig Dogs or Strange Dogs