just got back from the rhythm riot!
we had a great time too, met so many good people there, a real sense of community(except for the odd square!), excellent music and style!
thursday night, and i'm packing of course... i never prepare for anything until the last minute(that way you only take the stuff you actually need!), this time i had a major wardrobe malfunction, in that our new built-in wardrobe system decided to infect some vintage jackets with mould(thereby restricting me from taking any woolrich coats!).
not to worry, we are soon on the train to camber sands(on the way i keep seeing the man behind rockaphonic, although you cant really miss a 6-foot bloke with a black quiff!, and ironically we catch a taxi from the station to pontins there AND back with him and his missus!).
friday afternoon is spent walking around the campsite, getting to know where everything is, catching-up with fiona+paul from notorious kitsch we hung around their stall, which was as well as good company, was a good vantage point to watch the people and the bands(plus the fact that we buy a lot of stuff from them, so it was like sitting in our house, with bands and a big crowd!)... but they're both veterans of the rockin' scene and weekenders, so it was great to hear their stories of previous events and chew the fat about music.
of course, we frequented the vintage stalls rather too often, but many good items were bought or perused, and i feel at home thumbing through racks of good vintage anyway(H. bought vintage hats and new knitted jumpers), i found some of my favourite films on dvd too!
saturday mornin' comes around too soon, and no one wants to leave the warm bed, to walk around a cold holiday flat(well, these buildings are designed to be lived in during HOT weather!), despite the double-glazing(must have been the gap under the door that H. could stick her hand through!
we dropped-in the surf exhibition, and i regaled anyone who would listen(as in H. again) with my own tales of derring-do on a wooden skateboard, back in the dark days of the 70's, when skateboards were nowhere near as good as they are now!
the evening entertainment kicked-off with carmen ghia & the hotrods, one band we were both anticipating, having seen them play birmingham before - sounding like a ramped-up wanda jackson, one of our favourites of the weekend.
we'd both spruced ourselves up, for a photo session with gordon ayres, the master to be honest. i do a similar style of portrait work, and this man is an influence, so it was fascinating to watch him work(another highlight of the weekend!), and i even got to lug his kit for him on sunday(being a fanboy, for a change!).
sunday morning, like saturday came round too soon, and this time it was even more difficult to get out of bed, thanks to double-duvets and hot-water bottles, but somehow we made it to the car cruise at 2 pm!
some excellent cars on show, enough to make you slightly jealous when you see them all heading off in a cloud of blue smoke(if you forget about the amount of work that goes into running a classic car!).
with the car-cruise over, most people headed off to the beach for a refreshing walk on camber sands(unless you run were running a stall!), where we visited the berlin-esquely named kit kat cafe, which sadly wasn't run by stern east german lesbians in bowler hats, but by two fat blokes with dirty mullets... although they made a cracking cup of tea!
i also enjoyed nico and his rhythm dudes, but the big surprise of the night was top shelf jazz, whom we'd squeezed into the small queen vic bar to see... a taster for the forthcoming chap event we're going to in the next few weeks.
more photos here!
can i just say - the staff at pontins were great - they made us feel welcome, even when we were being dense, tired tourists who wasted time at the tills!
nice people.
so until the next one, cheers!
