Friday 19 July 2019

Owl 'n' Mad Morris's

While I was growing up my parents both owned Morris Minors. My dad's "traveller" had the registration "MAD..."while my mother's "saloon" had the letters "OWL..." on its registration plate.
I only recently realised the connection to Howlin Mad Murdoch from the A Team.
In the eighties there was a novelty record taking a nod from the Beastie boys "No sleep till B..... by a band called The Morris Minors and the Majors.
As a surfer I'm not sure Morris Minors were ever cool in the same way that VW Beetles were, but there's a classical English vintage to them which has stood the test of time.
Similarly Morris dancing is not very cool in comparison to Eskrima/Kali (Phillipines) or MaculelĂȘ (Brazil). Apparently the name "Morris dance"  comes from "Moorish dance" The earliest dances being performed by vising troups for the aristocracy , the earliest forms used swords. What was once "exotic" and potentially dangerous became "mimicry"
Another English eccentricity was the ambient scene of the early nineties which was spearheaded by The DJ Mix Master Morris/The Irresistible Force) alongside the likes of  Dream FishThe Orb, The KLF, Coldcut and  Jedi Knights/Global Communications , Morris had a few releases on Rising High but I never quite got over the fact some friends of mine who invited me to dj at their house party replaced me on the line up with Morris a fact he was probably blissfully unaware of.



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