Brockwell Park
Here's my pics of the Save Our World fest, as held in Brixton's Brockwell Park. When I showed them to a couple I know in a band called the 'Bizarre Love Triangle', Jairo (the group's main songwriter) commented that the pics "were v.hippyish, Lawrence." Decide for yourself below and over the next few pages. I left Tottenham around 1p.m. and pedalled towards Seven Sisters' tube suitably dressed for what was at the time the hottest day of the year so far (I had on a Hawaiian shirt, a colourful sarong I got from the Kingston Green Fair and a fleece jacket just in case it got cold coming back later - some hope, as it turned out). I got a few stares from less open-minded people on the train, but blow them, I'll wear what I like! Getting off at Brixton, I bought a paper from a newsstall and got a 4-pack of Stellas from the Iceland on the high street before catching a bus to Brockwell Park. Unfortunately, I missed my stop and had to walk a fair distance to the park. Once I got there, the festival seemed to be getting into full swing and here's the first pair of pics that I took. I came a across a stage that had its energy supplied by pedal powered generators. Making use of the energy supplied by kindly pedal pushers (myself included) was an ethno-folk ensemble accompanied on the stage by a jelly-hipped lady doing a spot of belly dancing. A little girl came on stage later to perform and was asked by the compere for the day what her name was. "I'm Elsie, the belly dancer's daughter," she replied, to mass chuckles from the crowd ( and soon to be the title of Jacqueline Wilson's next kiddie blockbuster novel). Take a peek at young Elsie's ma in action below.
From belly dancing we go now to a little bit of performance art on a summer's day. I only came across the two ladies you see in the pic as beforehand, I'd been chatting to two young Spanish ladies whom I'd spoken to the previous day at the stall they'd set up on Upper St. during my lunch hour at work (they had some v.nice latino jewellery that they'd made for sale on display). Walking around, as you do at festies like this, I came across two ladies decked out in grey dresses with what looked like dolls hanging above the hem and who were wearing very elaborate hats in the summer sun. Looking up at the sky through opera viewer's binoculars, the pair of them did a v.arty sort of dance (think of swaying arms in the air, unexpected hip movements and over mildly peculiar actions and you're halfway there as far as imagining it for yourself goes), here they are for you to check out below.
Here's a couple of pics I took at a part of the park that had a sound system with some v.large speakers blasting out some choice drum and bass when I was there. The ravers below were definitely putting the exercise in, and so was I too!
While I was having a bit of a shimmy on the dancefloor, I noticed two v.intriguing mobiles dangling in a tree next to where the d.j.'s spun the discs (or c.d.'s, if they were posey like that). Have a gawp at the pic I took of them.
More dancefloor motion in the Brixton sun.
I got this last pic while perched precariously from the edge of the speakers (so as well as the risk of falling and hurting myself, I was in grave danger of getting deafened too!). A kindly female raver helped me clamber down after taking my snap (the perils of climbing in a sarong when you're a bloke!)
