FIRST INTERNATIONAL

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.....AoF.....Scritti Politti.....Field Trip Report: London 12/96-1/97.....

THE PATHETIC NAME CALL CONTRA-SCRIT FROM RIGHT TO LEFT:

Graham White, BBC -- "Here!"
James Lawrence, UK Unofficial SP -- "Present"
Erika Chang, AoF -- "Ugh! Green's LATE!"

Well, you've heard it first from Graham; then James got his out in the second issue of his Scritti fanzine. And finally, a third opinion. In Scritto's Republic, it's gents first!

Of course I wouldn't have a clue where the pub we met was, so I'll just have to go by Graham's word: "The Cock Tavern", Great Portland Street, that's just a block off the left top edge of the Soho map. Full of afterwork crowd in suits etc. Lovely. Really! Afterward, I was given the personal tour of another working class destination: Burger King. Whew! I needed that, before being shipped off to barbaric West Ireland, with no junky fast food chains in sight for miles on end, just the greatest pint of Guinness there ever was! ;-)

UhHum, but to resume...

To show our solidarity with the working class, Graham and I had beer; but PC James had lemonade -- he had to drive home, which from what I gather during the meeting, is sort of the suburb of London, not really part of it -- kind of like where I live, one of the outer boroughs of NYC, except in my case I know more about the city -- i.e. Manhattan -- than I do about the local hangouts. Anyhoo, in the end we were a well behaved bunch.

And yes, it's true, gifts were given. And with that one act I managed to guilt James into giving me his extra copy of 4-A-Sides for free even though we had agree he'd be reimbursed.

Green, of course, stood us up. What the **** did I fly all the way from NYC -- on Virgin Air no less (and suffered for it, the bureaucratic incompetence in crisis management was just amazing, they did make up for it on my homebound journey with multiple tv sets to myself -- no cigar though, nope, no Scritti videos) -- for if not the chance to 'happen' upon Monsieur Gartside? I even have a tome of flattery as thick as anything Green can come up with prepared. But, oh no, no sight of Green at all. Not at the conference, not on the streets -- but then, I don't pay much attention on the streets :-) Anyway, NADA!

Graham chickened out as well. No cover of I don't Know Why I Love You. I was tempted to croon out loud with my broken screech from Skank to Woman after a beer or two but for fear of embarrassing my properly brought up Brit hosts. Unfortunately, it proved to be our only meeting and not only no covers, no rarefied Peel Sessions either. My life has been ruined!

As Graham said it first, James does have a knack -- or is that what's called luck -- for stumbling upon treasures: Fourteen articles in one day from a (ex-?) Scritti fan, some from the 70's no less! My jaw was on the floor. He did point me out to The Singles Bar (see Camden Town). The only snag: Being an 'out of towner' he couldn't remember the streets clearly and his map, and subsequently the address listed in the phone book, sent me walking up way past Chalk Farm Road Tube station twice before finally calling up and getting the proper location. Even when armed with the street number, I couldn't find it. 200a? What 200a? The numbers stopped at 100! It turns out that these Brits like abruptly changing road names and sending the rest of the numbers down the other side of the street. Just take a peek at any of the three maps I've provided and you'd see streets which suddenly become something else. Is this what Green was nostalgically referring to when he complained about Manhattan's grid layout?

James, the organized one, popped the central question: What we'd like to see happening this year. Need the answer be repeated? I think we all know. What are the chances though? Of course, we've all heard the rumors about possible Virgin compilation release later this year and the Green + Heaven 17 sightings -- latest rumor spread by Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory no less, that Green's got his lip pierced(!!!) though I've heard reports to the contrary, that he's comfortably settled down. The Green God only knows.

And sacrilegious me said something to the effect "I wouldn't mind if he doesn't come out with another song, what's done is done. Great songs thus far. If he'd enjoy being in the limelight again, great; if he's happier in retirement, lovely too!" But, really, of course I'd love as much as any other Scrit scholar to hear new works, even if they'd be radically different from or similar to what he's done before. Great voice. Great sense of the groove! And I'm still pining for that seminal 1980 tome that will never see the day of light -- as if it'll change my life! As IF!

Lastly, our souls were indeed stolen and photographs taken. Up above. And Jame's got some I guess he's not sharing. While Graham did not actually get "caught in compromising situations with the pub barmaid", he did supply photos for your enjoyment and I've promised to publish them, so here. Have fun! Oh, and e-mail him to let him know which you prefer, short or long?

TA TA!

Erika Chang
24.3.97
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