EAST LONDON RENAISSANCE PRESENT A CHILD OF THE JAGO - THURSDAY 20th MARCH 2014, E17

People of the capital, the East London Renaisance’s A Child Of The Jago event is almost upon us. Thursday 20^th March 2014 is the date. Put it in your diary, scrawl it on the kitchen calendar, key  a reminder in your phone, insert a new page in your Filofax, tattoo it to the forehead of a family pet, just don’t forget it.

The Orford House Social Club in Walthamstow will be transformed into a hotbed of underground culture including poetry, art, music, dancing and jellied eels.

There’ll be readings for ears by local boy made good/bad/ugly, Joseph Ridgwell, launching his new A Child Of The Jago collection; soul poet Tim Wells will testify from his Keep The Faith; editor of PUSH Joe England will stir the word pot; and one of the most exciting literary talents out there, Michael Kennaghan, will twist your melon. Your eyes will be agog at art work by Martin Ridgwell, Jose Arroyo and Lisa Crudduck; glamorous retro adult cabaret and vaudeville films. Your gastronomic senses will burst at a cockney buffet supplied by the legendary Manze's Pie and Mash Shop (now given listed-status on Walthamstow High Street where its stood – almost untouched by the modern world – since 1929) and, of course, there is a bar stocked with booze at social club prices. And finally, Lord Monkey Picks and His Super Sounds (that’ll be me then) will be spinning the platters the matter to add some soulful strut to proceedings.

All this gaiety starts at 7pm. Get down there as early as you can as I think most of the “event” kinda stuff is scheduled for the first half of the evening before the night descends into total debauchery. Disregard the flyer where it says admission is four quid, it's FREE.

It'll be a literary event like no other. Don't forget.  

See also Monkey Picks interview with Joseph Ridgwell.

KEEP ON PUSHING: PUSH NINE HITS THE STREETS

Last March I wrote about the launch of litzine PUSH, edited by West Ham United sufferer Joe England. Since then the issues have appeared quicker than Andy Carroll at the bar and vanished faster than Rio Ferdinand at a drugs test. Produced as strictly limited editions they’ve sold up almost immediately via England hawking them outside the Boleyn and to an eager mob of postal purchasers. There are no back copies to be found of a now collectable series.

Issue nine is out now with an increased print run, so if you look lively there may yet be time to bag a copy. And you should, it’s very good. A stable line-up of regular contributors – including England, Joseph Ridgwell, Michael Keenaghan and Carlton Burns – lay the foundations with a blend of literary tough tackling and deft poetic touches. They’re supplemented this time by a couple of familiar renegades and mavericks: Dan Fante and Adelle Stripe. A natter with Primal Scream biographer, Sham 69 narrator and street-smart factotum, Grant Fleming, provides accompaniment to the half-time pint.

Sixty pages bristling with sex, drugs and punk rock ‘n’ roll. And Trevor Brooking. Sign up here. 

THE NEW WORD ON THE STREET: PUSH – ISSUE ONE

New literary fanzine PUSH might better be called KICK or WHACK such is the impact of its writing. Across 42 simply presented pages it features previously unknown writers like Jeff North, Carlton Burns, Ian Scanlon and some character Dirty Boozy Bastard, alongside names familiar to followers of the underground lit scene: Joseph Ridgwell, Michael Kennaghan, That Petrol Emotion’s Raymond Gorman and editor Joe England.

Sold at a giveaway price of £1.50 on the streets, outside football grounds and at gigs, the uncompromising prose isn’t for the faint hearted. Amalgamating pop culture, drug paranoia, rushed sex, football hooligans, and the threat of violence, it is just one glance away from a character in a John King novel. In the way football matches offer a valve to release pressure and tension, these writers hammer their words. By way of balance, the poems offer quieter contemplation and snatches of respite from the onslaught of tough fiction. I asked Joe England about his inspiration for launching a new mag.  

“I suppose PUSH had its origins for me when I recently discovered the wonderful world of the small press, firstly through Blackheath Books which I found out about through back-reading Monkey Picks, and then other doors opened up courtesy of Joseph Ridgwell. I love the whole approach of the small press, the limited print runs and the amazing quality in look and writing. I have a great appreciation of online litzine’s like Melissa Mann’s Beat The Dust, but online/e-reading just isn’t the same as holding a publication in your hands. Same reason why the experience of vinyl still cannot be beaten. What kicked this in motion was four weeks ago when I managed to get my hands on an issue of Kevin Williamson’s Rebel Inc. mag from 1993 and in an email conversation I mentioned to Joseph Ridgwell how the world needs a street lit fanzine right now as much as it did back then. ‘Do one then’, he said and within three weeks I was selling PUSH on the street and posting it to various parts of England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and Germany. At a football match the other week, witnessing a complete stranger engrossed in issue one was mind-blowing. If the same chap was reading a PDF file of PUSH on a Kindle the impact would have been soul-burning.”

Such is England’s rush of enthusiasm that issue two is already nearing completion. These things tend to succeed or fail on the strength of their editor. Despite making his name and being championed by the small press, Charles Bukowski constantly bitched against them in his letters, claiming they only lasted a couple of decent issues until editors lost their bite and accepted poor quality submissions from their mates or famous poets (even himself). If PUSH can keep the standard of its first issue (Keenaghan’s “Bent” is worth the cover price alone) there’ll be no complaints here and besides, it’s a heck of a lot better than reading the excuses from Sam Allardyce or Harry Redknapp in the match day programme.

Contact pushmag@email.com for ordering details or visit Joe England Books.

West Ham United legend Julian Dicks models PUSH.