All hopped up and ready to go (Klub Kakofanney Lockdown Letter)

All hopped up and ready to go

Its the first Friday of the month again and that means only one thing, its Klub Kakofanney night,.... or at least it would be if live musc wasn't a casualty of this terrible disease. This Sunday was set to be the Cowley Road Carnival, an important date on the Oxford music calendar which many of us will miss, along with the many small local summer festivals which were often a great chance to introduce home-grows talents and the atmosphere of real music to a wider family audience.

Healing through music

We'll be back one day but for those of you suffering withdrawl symptoms, here is a flashback to this month in 2018 when local folk band Firegazer were on the Klub Kakofanney stage at the Wheatsheaf playing tracks from their upcoming album, Healing.

Rocking with a punk Sheena

The pubs re-open this weekend, although live music is still forbidden, and once again I am hearing mixed messages in the media. On the one hand the government is telling us that the re-opening of the bars and boozers is showing that we are getting the economy back on its feet, and are praising the "heroic efforts" of pub operators, but on the other hand, they are suggesting we be sensible and stay at home. I'm afraid I'll be staying at home, and enjoying a cold tin from the fridge, (that's a tin of beer, not a tin of tomatoes), but I expect a lot of you are all hopped up and ready to go. Yes, that was just a shameless segway to introduce you to a favourite punk song of mine, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, covered by the Swedish duo, Shebang.

The flamboyant Margarita Prachatan

It was with sadness last week that I read of the death of the marvellously flamboyant Cuban-born singer, Margarita Pracatan. She came to fame in the 1990s when Clive James used to feature her each week performing during the closing credits of his TV show. Clive James was himself a brilliantly funny and insightful man in a business suit who brought us the term "information superhighway" long before any of us had heard of the internet, and who would describe Margarita as a singer who never lets the lyrics, or the melody, get in the way of a song. There was a quite genuine warmth between them. Here is a youtube montage of some of her performances, with Clive James in the background, animated in his excitement. Sometimes the guests join in with the fun, but not always. Stephen Fry looks decidely uncomfortable, and Tom Jones's face is a picture as she sings his song, "Its not unusual", and he struggles to maintain his smile. Enjoy.

So much fun, and an antidote to taking yourself too seriously. They just don't make them like that any more.

3rd July 2020
The Lockdown Letters
Klub Kakofanney