Dennis the Menace

This week I have experienced a minor sync flap in relation to black and red horizontal stripes.prompting me to recall a reoccuring dream I used to have as a child in which I was somehow stuck in a war between two opposing tribes one of whom wore red and the other wore blue. My sync flap began on tuesday evening as I sat down with my family to watch the World Cup Semi final.We were surprised to see Germany turn out in a strip consisting of Red and Black horizontal stripes. Germany usually play predominantly in white .It is however not unusual to watch footballers in Brazil playing in Red and Black horizontal stripes because one of the biggest Brazilian club teams "Flamengo" from Rio have the exact same strip. much of my family in Brazil are Flamengista's and I have supported them ever since I first went to Brazil.Flamengo are often use as their mascot Black Urubu (a kind of vulture).

I first became aware of black and red horizontal stripes as a young child as the colours of the comic book character "Dennis the Menace" from the Beano. Apart from Dennis the Menace I didn't much care for comics much and forget all about them until my teens when as a skater I became interested in punk music and was introduced to characters like Tank Girl & Judge Dredd from 2000AD. I was mostly into American hardcore punk bands ,but I dipped my toe into the British punk scene and during my UK punk phase my favourite t-shirts were perhaps those of "conflict" or the "uk subs" I tended to wear my Kronstadt Klub or Class War anti poll tax tshirt with  my black and red stripped "Dennis the Menace" jumper (given to me by my mum of all people). 

Captain Sensible- The Dammed

In the late eighties I discovered the acid house culture. I remember The Shamen of "Ebeneezer Goode" fame holding one of their early Synergy events in Bristol not long after that I was baptised by the Dub of hardcore jungle drum and bass at Warehouse Raves and free party movement of the early nineties, where Dennis the Menace was a regular on the scene. I further explored the techno punk aesthetic at Sabresonic , which I always associated red and black tartan ( the sabrettes in the punk threads of  Viviene Westood.

During these years I became aware of Japanese anime/manga , "Akira" which resonated some of these revolutionary themes for me.

Clink the link for more on  red and black 

The Elephant in The Room

Yesterday I read a post about how one of the largest elephants in India was killed by Poachers, and this morning I was reminded of the exhibition by the Graffiti artist Banksy

Elephants entered my awareness as a child with the Disney Movie Dumbo and around the same time my dad made an elephant "hat" for me out of papier mache which I used when my brothers and I won 1st prize in a carnival we entered. as Noah , his ark and the animals.
At age 11. My old secondary school was named Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (QEH) which kids from other rival schools  referred to as "Queer Elephants House" to tease us.

At about the age of twenty three I threw a joint birthday party at the infamous Clays Lane Housing cooperative on the site of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park & Olympic village. The main symbolism in the flyer that my friend and I designed was a "smurf", which was intended to represent "Earth/Smurf consciousness" however we also incorporated an sacred chao/yin yang and at the insistence of my friend an elephant .

The preservation of elephants, tigers, rhinos, etc like the rainforests and environmental protection more generally seems to me to be one of the most critical goal facing humankind.

I have blogged elsehere about elephants in the cartoon "Horton hears a who"

The final resonance of the elephant that seems worth mentioning is in the imagery often used to represent in the Hindu/ Buddhist deity Ganesh.

J.I.M.

Every Shrove Tuesday/ Pancake Day marks the last day before lent in the uk, ( in the UK many people eat simple pancakes with just a dash  of butter and a squeeze of lemon juice." In Brazil they have Carnival.

Carnevale is an Italian word derived from the Latin carnem (meat) and levare (remove), corresponding to English "carnival". It is a traditional Christian celebration which marks the beginning of Lent,the period of 40 days before Easter during which no meat is eaten.

 I remember the early 90's  for my ecstatic awakening to the "Cult of Lemon Tango" . This was depicted in a seldom remembered series of television adverts that depicted a spoof cult, the members of which had left their mundane 9-5 jobs to wear yellow robes practise rituals including "the cutting of the lemon" , drinking lemon tango and following  JIM. (Juice in me)
This advert had particular resonance for me because around the same time  my mother who was devout Catholic/Christian and a member the Charismatic Renewal Movement had told me about J.I.M the acronym meaning "Jesus in Me" .This had apparently been propagated by an Ecumenical  Christian group as part of a Lentern /Easter advertising campaign.

 "JIM" resonated with my Buddhist leanings and the concept of Christos or Christ Conciousness that I had heard about while travelling in the U.S.A.

The Cult of yellow Tango became evermore relevant when as chance would have it, I moved rather suddenly out of the rather infamous "Clays Lane Housing Cooperative" and found my self out of necessity sleeping in the floor of the Buddhist Temple of my Tai Chi Gung Fu Teacher. His school was named in honour of the meeting between Buddhist Monk Yellow Dragon and a Taoist Monk named Loi Dong Bung . (members of this Buddhist Sect have also been known to wear yellow robes just as in the Cult of Yellow Tango ;-) , I lived and slept on the wooden floor in the Temple for just over a year and left almost as suddenly as I moved in. To this day I remember it as a very special time in my life and am grateful to my teacher for his support.

Dance Stylez I've tried

1. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
2. The Birdy Song
3. The Time Warp
4. Barn Dancing
5. Disco
6. Breakdancing,( Popping, Locking, The Windmill, The Caterpillar ,Freezes, Top Rocking/ Up Rocking etc)
7. The Moonwalk (Michael Jackson)
8. Slamming, Moshing
9. The Running man (MC Hammer)
10. Rave
11. The Macarena
12. Salsa, Merengue, Cha Cha Cha
13. Lion dance
14. Line dancing
15. Capoeira , Maculele , Forro , Funk
16. The Electric Slide (Cameo - Candy Song)
17. Superman (Souljah Boy)
18. Zumba and Kizumba
19. Passinho
20. Shuffling (Cutting Shapes), (LMFAO)

Dungeons and Dragons

The first Dragon I ever encountered was Puff the Magic Dragon as featured in the song by Peter Paul and Mary which was also amongst the first 7 inch vinyl records I played.

Next were probably the Dragons in the legends of King Arthur and St George.
Dungeons and Dragons (the American fighting fantasy role playing game) was introduced to me and many of my generation by the Stephen Spielberg Film "E.T.".  (The film E.T. also introduced many of my generation to Extra Terrestrials, BMX bikes and the American Halloween custom of “Trick or Treat”. )

When my mother learned I had become interested in the game Dungeons and Dragons she was somewhat concerned. A friend of hers from church, had told her it was "Satanic" in the sense that it introduced innocent children to "occult" concepts. My Mother was a devout Christian and made it clear to me she didn't want me involved in the "occult" but she never forbid me to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Glenn Danzig lead singer of the American punk rock band "the Misfits" who I became a fan of a few years later,  Was the first to  introduce me to "occult literature" in the form of the Nag Hamandi scrolls . One of my favourite Misfits tracks was London Dungeon , written about the time he spent the night in a cell while the Misfits were touring the UK supporting "The Dammed"

Lately I been watching "Stranger Things" with my family which like ET features both Halloween, Dungeon and Dragons and Psychic abilities.

As I grew older my interest in fighting fantasy games waned, I became interested in Skateboarding, Computers, Music, Girls ,Surfing, Rave Culture ,Science, Mysticism.

Through exposure to the hardcore scenes of the late eighties I became aware of what it  meant to "Chase the Dragon".

While at University I had a friend who paid her course fee with money she earned as a dominatrix , I was told stories of Dungeons & BDSM. 

Meanwhile the activities of  Spiral Tribe sign posted a way to the more the experimental work  of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV  and the  magickal activities of Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth who performed at another T.G. (Torture Garden)

The concept of a "Dungeon Master" was central to Dungeons and Dragons. I probably first encountered  "The Master"  in "Dr Who" or "Star Wars" with its Jedi Masters and Sith Lords.

 The Master became relevant again when I began learning Martial Arts and entered into a Master/student relationship with my Kung Fu teacher. Over time I have come to see martial arts as a "mind, body and spirit" discipline, with the aim of achieving a knowledge of self and a level of self mastery over ones behaviour, thoughts, emotions etc. My Kung Fu style "Yellow Dragon Fist" also reintroduced me to the concept of the Dragon. In some Secret Societies and quasi Masonic orders e.g KKK the Grand Master is referred to as Grand Dragon. 

Both Masters and Dragons are strong/powerful. The Dragon also symbolises wealth & knowledge it is a magical figure often feared & persecuted (They can be good or evil)  often hunted and locked up or forced to hide in underground caverns like the Dragon in the vaults at Camelot that taught Merlin. 

I see the path of the martial artist as one of self development, learning to transform energy , learning to navigate the Labyrinth of the mind. Over coming both physical and psychological challenges. The Dungeons and Dragons of our own lives.

Click the links for more on  Dragons , Dungeons and Dragons , Dragon Dice and Puff the Magic Dragon

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, 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), Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg (LA Hip Hop), Dead Dog Mountain (UK Punk/Reggae), The Black Dog (UK Techno ), Bark Psychosis (UK Extreme noise/Ambient ), Dogs on Acid (UK Jungle/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