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For anyone in or around Montreal this weekend, be sure to hit-up Concordia’s 5th Annual International Symposium on Hiphop Culture. While hip hop heads will feel at home here, I would particularly urge those of you who are naive about the history and significance of the art form to attend. If you think that hip hop is only about angry gangsters promoting violence, then this is the place for you to be re-educated. With films, performances, discussion panels and lectures given by experts in the field, it promises to be a significant event.
 Canadian Floor Masters. Image/canadianfloormasters.com JoC picks
All of it. Seriously. The lectures and screenings are free! Pack a lunch and make it an all day affair. I tried to pick highlights to list but they were too numerous. But…
If you do anything, make it the keynote speech (Sunday@6).
Entitled “BluePrint for Life: Social Work through Hiphop” the lecture will be given by Stephen Leafloor of the Canadian Floor Masters (Canada’s oldest Bboy crew, and my first introduction to breaking over a decade ago), and will discuss BluePrint for Life, the CFM’s creative consultancy which develops “programs throughout Canada’s north and in Canada’s inner cities specialized in the education, guidance, and development of youth through the positive elements of HipHop.” (Check the news reel below).
Other lectures include: “Youth and ‘Cultural Citizenship’: From Islam to Rap;” “Towards a critical Hiphop Pedagogy: The Challenge of Interpretation;” “The Oral Tradition Trail: from Africa to the Caribbean to Rap,” and “The 6th Element: Hip Hop Cinema.”
Check it out!
Symposium Website
Facebook Event
Mondays are dull and mundane. To spice it up, JoC is launching a Pick of the Week feature for our readers. Be it a must-have item, a must-see event, or a cause to watch; our picks are guaranteed to be ‘cool with a conscience!’
Our first pick….. 
Beyond Skin vegan shoes proves to fashion skeptics that fashionistas don’t have to compromise style to be conscientious.
Launched in 2001 in East London with a tiny collection of made-to-order boots and shoes, Beyond Skin now boasts a global reputation with retailers across Europe, Asia and North America stocking their designs.
Working closely with their production houses in India, Spain and the UK, Beyond Skin chooses environmentally-friendly, locally sourced materials, and ensures that their employees are not being exploited. They are also committed to donating a proportion of their revenue to fund environmental and social projects. Want more?
JoC AW09 picks:
 Opal £140 (available in 5 colours)  Serpent £159 (available in 2 colours) This is one of the first AW seasons in years that bright colour are to be embraced! Add a little spice to your classic Fall palette. It’s the easiest way to keep your wardrobe updated without breaking the bank!
However, quality does come with a price tag. For our readers on a budget, Beyond Skin’s Online Boutique is having a sale! Hurry, Sale ends tonight! Stock up!
Check Out London’s Pop-up Vintage Circuit
Take a break from the hum-drum of Sunday markets. The Affordable Vintage Fair and the New To You Vintage and Craft Fair (both on only today), are sure to satisfy!
What: The Affordable Vintage Fair
“By no means a rag and bone jumble sale but a popular and un-missable fashion event that picks only the best vintage retailers and traders from around the UK and gathers them together under one roof…”(more?)
Who: For style-and-eco-conscience fashionistas (with the stamina to sustain the crowds that this event will surely attract).
Where: Sustainable Studios, 65- 71 Scrutton St. (EC2A)
When: October 25th (T0day), 12-5
*entry: 2 pounds
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What: New To You Vintage and Craft Fair
“Clothing, Crafts, Books, Mags & Zines, Bric-brac, Records, Cakes…And all manner of other covetable cast-offs and collectibles…”(more?)
Who: Laid-back treasure hunters—on a budget.
Where: The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, (N7)
When: October 25th (Today), 1-4:30
*entry: Can of non-perishable food for the London Food Bank
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The BIG Why: Because style isn’t only found on the Runway. Vintage is not only more affordable, but you can stick it to sweatshops and reduce your carbon footprint by saving goods from a lifetime in a landfill!
 Nick Griffin on Question Time/ Image: NewsPics Ltd/BBC The aftermath of Thursday night’s Question Time, BBC1’s flagship current affairs show, is everywhere; from tabloids to broadsheets, Facebook to Twitter, blogs to bus stops. As I type, the BBC Trust is busy setting up ad-hoc committees to deal with appeals made against Griffin appearing on the show. But I’m left wondering why the uproar even began, and continues today.
The whole scenario is a storm in a teacup, starting with Peter Hain’s and Alan Johnson’s opposition to the BBC’s decision to allow Nick Griffin to partake in the ‘debate’. Are not some of the fundamental pillars of democracy freedom of expression, speech and unrestricted debate? On this issue, I agree with Mark Thompson: denying Griffin’s presence on QT would have not only gone against the entire premise of liberal democracy, but would have also harked back to the Thatcherian broadcasting ban of the 1980s that firmly belongs back in that decade and not in 2009.
The show did not tell us anything we did not already know or were not expecting. Of course Griffin was going to be controversial and air his hollow policies and historically-incorrect data (I would like to find a definition and evidence of ‘indigenous Briton’). Bravo, Gordon Brown, for having the foresight to predict that all the hour-long session would do was expose Griffin’s racism and bigotry.
This was also thanks to the tasteless level of debate throughout the show. Jack Straw’s circumvention of audience questions regarding the BNP’s rise to power being correlated with Labour’s failings in immigration policy, and perpetual cornering of Griffin and his policies turned QT into nothing more than a repetitive witch-hunt. It highlighted Straw’s inability to take responsibility for his party’s failings and to admit the entire reason Griffin became an MEP and guest on the show is thanks to the work of Labour, as Gary Younge earlier commented on in much depth.
The whole programme only reminded us of the stagnant and bleak nature of British politics today. It’s an autumnal Friday, but we remain frustrated, discontented, and still no closer to healing the vulnerability and cynicism the Labour Party’s deception and failures have plunged us into.
For highlights and transcripts of the show click here.
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October 30th, 2009 |
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