Strangers On A Train:Meeting a 60's Legend (at least to me!)

Just goes to show you never know who's sitting opposite you on public transport! On a recent train journey from Peterborough to London, I had an interesting experience. Firstly, feeding your baby means you're automatically more likely to have people start talking to you..."ah! isn't he cute" etc...secondly, as I was to find out these folks didn't live in the UK and believe it or not in other contries people actually talk to one another...thirdly, we're talking outside of London, where it has been known for people to talk to strangers, not like on the tube, where people get worried that you're a weirdo. Anyway, one stop into our journey and this family get on, now we were kinda spread out, coz when we got on the train was fairly empty and we had the pushchair and all the baby stuff with us. So we were taking up 2 of those table spaces, one on either side of the aisle with 2 seats on either side of each table, so we figured we'd better compact a little and let some folks sit down. This middle aged couple, whose kids have sat down at the back of the carriage, in the seats behind us, are like "do you mind if we sit here", so I say sure no problem. I've just started feeding my 9 month old son, Taylor, who is incredibly cute, according to objective opinion, not just ours! The guy's saying like isn't he cute, how old is he, is he your first, etc. So we chat about fatherhood and all that jazz for a bit and I'm thinking this guy looks like he's got that edge, like artist/poet/musician, hard partyer, or ex-hard partying type, on the boho tip. His missus looks like she was probably a right cracker back in the day but they've both been living the life, so I start telling them that I'm taking him to his 1st festival (Lovebox) the next day and he's asking whose playing etc and I think, I knew it, they're like music heads and whatever. We chat about festivals, they mention a couple that they're going to (not realising he means to play at!!) and when we get onto Glastonbury, he's telling me they were their in 2005 and he was at the 1st one in '71. Now the coin still hasn't dropped, despite the fact that the wife is American, former glamourpuss stylee, I figure they're some eccentric old school festival going types. Eventually in telling a story about the mud in 2005, he tells me he was struggling to get to the Avalon Stage to play a set, so I'm like, "oh you play, in a band what are they called", thinking Avalon Stage, the age he is, could well be some 60's/70's hippy outfit I'm familiar with but probably not. He says "I'm Terry Reid", I say "No way, yeah I know you, I've got 2 of your records, River and The Most of Terry Reid, at home!" I think he was quite chuffed that I knew him, I guess most folks of my age wouldn't have a clue. I'd heard his wife call him Terry but he looked pretty different, 30 odd years on from the last picture i'd seen of him, so i never would've guessed. I was in my element chatting to him for the rest of the journey, hearing abour recording with David Lindley and Willie Bobo and remembering the story where many, who haven't actually heard him, are familiar with his name from, I ask him, "If I remember rightly weren't you Jimmy Page's 1st choice to front Led Zeppelin?", he says yeah and he couldn't do it at the time but told Jimmy, "I've just been working with these 2 guys in The Band of Joy, Robert and John, you should check 'em out", the rest as they say is history!!...bet he must be a bit gutted really, he tells me he saw Jimmy last time he was over, he came to a gig he was playing at Ronnie Scotts. Lovely bloke and I promise to see him again at one of his future gigs, next time he's in the country and hopefully I can bring the boy and he can meet him when he's a bit older.

DAN WITZ AT STOLEN SPACE GALLERY

On our recent trip to London we checked out the exhibition at the Stolen Space Gallery, paintings by Dan Witz. Don't know too much about the artist but the paintings are certainly impressive. As you can see from the photos, the technical expertise of these photo realist works, in oil on canvas is astounding. That said photo realism generally leaves me a bit dry, it always seems a bit pointless, like a clever, parlor trick and makes you think why not just take a photograph but with Dan Witz's work there seems to be something else present which raises them above this. Whether its the more contemporary subject matter, which we have not really seen before as in the Mosh Pit Yankees, or the Girl/Girl Pictures or the Edward Hopperesque late night isolation of the more urban pieces. Whatever it is they have an intriguing quality of otherness that is hard to put your finger on. As we were leaving we bumped into DFace who runs the gallery and curates the shows; allowing us to congratulate him of the birth of his daughter.

This show has since finished but you can pretty much guarantee a good show at Stolen Space so check out the latest exhibition which is 'RackGaki' 10th May - 20th May. The exhibition accompanies the publication of the first book on Japanese graffiti, RackGaki, by Ryo Sanda and Suridh Hassan. For more information check www.stolenspace.com

All bodes well: Mark Bode in London

At the end of April, Evil From The Needle, tattoo parlour in Camden, played host to a visit to London by Mark Bode. Now a resident of San Francisco, the US Underground Comics illustrator turned tattooist is the son of underground legend Vaughn Bode; creator of "Cheech Wizard" and a deeply imaginative mystical cartoon universe of characters. Mark carries on his father's work, upholding the legacy of genius and bringing wider attention to the cornucopia of comic character classics, that deserve far more recognition within the mainstream cultural consciousness. Most are familiar with the work through it's use as the character accompaniment to Graffiti pieces the world over and through the annual Bode Jams, Mark hopes to bring greater appreciation of where these images come from. Always popular with his tattoo clients, he is also involved in creating new projects to bring the characters back into the limelight. The recently published Cheech graphic novel "The Lizard of Oz" was the full realisation of the last project that Vaughn was working on before his untimely death in 1975. The last month has seen a fever to snap up the highly collectable Limited Edition collaboration with Puma; a Cheech Wizard star patterned colourway pair of Puma Clydes and zip through hoody, released to mark the 50th anniversary of Cheech's creation. Then there is the live action "Cobalt 60" movie in production with Universal Pictures.




In honour of our son, Taylor (aka "Amore", aka "Son 101") meeting Mark Bode, we got busy with the applique and knocked up our own one off Cheech Wizard baby hoody (as seen in the pics).

To further add to the family affair my brother DJ Ollie Teeba, of Ninja Tune recording artists "The Herbaliser", was in the house for his 2nd Bode tattoo, having sat under his needle on his 1st visit back in 2004. Mark Bode is a fantastic guy, ever amiable and humble he made time for everyone in attendance, which included; Graff heads, Tattoo heads and Graphotism Magazine



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We all got super hyped hearing about projects on the horizon, so here's to Bode and Cheech Wizard becoming household names in the future. More will be revealed in our in depth interview with the man himself, watch this space and if you want to find out more about both generations of Bode, check out www.markbode.com

SEEMOREBEMORE

Welcome to the SeemoreBemore Blog, please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of stealth and taste, my name is Seemore, I am the head of the I-Saw Family and your humble host. This is my beautiful wife, Bemore and our gorgeous new son Amore (so called because he was made with love!)

We run the I-Saw Brand and the centre of operations/HQ The I-Saw Curiosity Shop. Meanwhile here at "SeemoreBemore" we will both be reporting to you about what we find interesting, inspiring and insightful (you see all the best things start with an "I"). The tasty feasts our hungry eyes find to feed our "I's", our innerselves, our identities and our individuality.

"The more you see, the more you'll be!"