red rag 20p Red Rag, Box 79, 17, Chatham Street Reading Berks:- 5th-18th June. fortnightly. Red Rag Outlets * Acorn Bookshop * Harvest Wholefoods (Harris Arcade) * UB Cycles (London Street) * Moon (Harris Arcade) * Hargun Cash & Carry (Cholmeley Road) * Women's Centre * Reading Univ. SU (Ken's Shop) * Bulmershe S.U. * Pop Records (Yield Hall Place) * Cholmeley Rd newsagent. Next issue: Copy deadline 6pm Sat 13 June. Typed copy to 8cm width & single spaced. Published by the Red Rag Collective. Printed by Acorn Bookshop. Advertising Rates £3 for 10 by 6cm £6 for 10 by 12cm "Small ads" are still free 4 ads in consecutive issues are £2:50 / £5 each. - - - FOLK 4th Thurs: * Maidenhead folk club at the Rose, King St, Maidenhead: The Holme Valley Tradition - traditional vocal trio. 6th Sat: * Bracknell folk club, South Hill Park Cellar Bar: Blowzabella - internationalist 5 piece with funny instruments and danceable tunes. Music for rootsie tootsies. Possibility of lifts try Liz 53437. 7th Sun: * Readifolk, George Hotel, Broad St - Phil Hare & Annie Wise - him on voice and guitar, her on fiddle - Concessions. 8th Mon: * Nettlebed Folk Club, The Bull, Nettlebed - Wayland Smithy - Irish and Northumbrian tunes & songs - very deft. 9th Tues: * Turks Bottom at the Boozy Blues Bar, London Rd - see details elsewhere: Ministry Of Humour - very popular trio, left and lyrical. More moving than the name suggests, & much better live than on tape. £1. * Hexagon, by the Butts Centre - Robert Cray Band, with Dave Kelly. Electric big name contemporary blues. It'll cost ya! 10th Weds: * British Telecom Social Club, London Rd, (between Kendrick Rd and Crown Place)... The Journeymen, tuneful local duo, & Bent Penny, now a foursome with atmospheric fiddle. Details 587606. 8pm, £2.00, UB40 £1 * Eversley Cross, at the Toad & Stumps... Knowe O'Deil, from The Orkneys. 14th Thurs: * Aldershot, West End Centre, Queens Rd: - the way to forget the horrors of what passes for politics: Fingers & Co - local trio with banjo Rory McLeod - what can I say? guitar, harmonica, voice, feet and lyrics all at once - a real showman. And Dadekrama, an African ensemble with trad roots and vitality (it sez). £3:50, 8.30pm. 13th Sat: * Bracknell - Gordon Tyrral. Dunno 14th Sun: * Readifolk - Michael Chapman - guitar, singer songwriter. Richard Cox - Smith's idol, they tell me, & that's a recommendation. 15th Mon: * Nettlebed: Bill Zorn, ex Arizona Smoke Review. 16th Tues: * Turk's Bottom - Onan Brothers: £1. Electric trio with style and heart, good lyrics & arrangements, young and cute. Forthcomings: * Tues 23 June: Andy Hepburn with Tim Hogg at Turk's Bottom, 50p * Tues 30 June: Leon Rosselson, + Liz Hodgson support. £2 * July 11, 12, 13: Bracknell Folk Festival, incl Martin Simpson + band, Taxi Pata Pata, Brass Monkey, Patrick Street, Billy Bragg, Slim Panatella and the Mellow Virginians, The Deighton Family, Alistair Anderson, Kathryn Tickell. At South Hill Park. 1/2 price UB40's and students. P.S. The Turk's Bottom Club on Tuesdays has left the Cap & Gown, & moved back to its old haunt in London rd, now called the Boozy Blues Bar. Tall performers need no longer worry about hitting their heads on the ceiling. - - - FARM SPIRIT Reading Community Farm Project The "Reading Community Farm Project" is a new group, but the idea of a city farm in Reading is an old one. A previous group laboured for 4 years; with success on paper, but no tangible results! A city farm is recreating the countryside in the town. It provides education and recreation for people of all ages through activities such as gardening, animal husbandry and rural crafts; and access to a natural environment for people, who are unable to travel into the country. A City Farm in Reading can work, but You are needed to make this happen. Public support is the most vital ingredient of a project such as this. If you want to help in any way, please contact The Reading Community Farm Project at: 20 School Terrace, Newtown, Reading. - - - FIRST WINDSOR FESTIVAL OF MIND BODY & SPIRIT. 17th, 18th, 19th July The Festival is being held at the Windsor Arts Centre and will take over the whole building for the weekend. The Festival will consist of stalls lectures and workshops as well as music and dance performances and film shows in the evening. There will be representatives of all fields from Wholefoods to Alternative medicine, including Acupuncture, Tai Chi, Yoga, Meditation, Clairvoyants, Natural Cosmetics and Homeopaths. A music installation will take place in the gallery. *** If anybody is interested in taking part, please contact the Festival Organiser, Justine Gorratty, at Windsor Arts Centre, The Old Court, St Leonards Road, Windsor, Berks. (Windsor 859336) - - - LIVE AND DIRECT Hi ho here we go with live and direct for most of June. Lots of music promoters/venues seem to be doing less at the moment, no more gigs at the Polish Club til September, Pressgang at the Cap & Gown in suspension and little on there the rest of the time, the new look Paradise getting quiet too, with gigs there beset by PA problems and small audiences/unworkable costs... few promoters seem able to even cover costs at the moment. So here's to the few who are keeping on at it. As Levi, the month of prophesy, approaches, lots of people in big boots, ripped and unwashed combat trousers and Brew'n'Bong habits funded by the DHSS, prepare for the "Festival Season". Highpoint of this is the solstice bash at Stonehenge, as you may have seen on TV. The pilgrimage to the Stones will have set off by the time you read this, and groups of Stoners along the route are busy preparing parties for their friends. Locally, even the Evening Post seems to think that something will happen at Silchester this coming Saturday (6th June), and indeed it shall. There are also lots of posters about saying a Free Party will happen at Soke Rd, Aldermaston, on Friday 5th, with UK Subs and The Shamen spoiling what would otherwise be a whizz dub party with Military Surplus, The Revelationaries and a sound system. A great idea, even if you don't like the music or the "I'm an anarchist so gizza Brew Maaan" lifestyle... why shouldn't people be allowed to party wherever they like if they are going to be responsible about it? One reservation about the two events on 5th & 6th is that they clash, and wouldn't it be more sensible to pool stages, pa's and people and have one Thames Valley bash? But as an outsider I really can't criticise. Good luck to everyone, anyway, and I hope you don't get trashed by the guardians of law and order... So to business... "Well it ain't written in the papers, But it's written on the walls. The way this country is dividing to fall. So the cranes are moving on the skyline - trying to knock down - this old town - But the stains on the heartland, can never be removed, from this country that's sick sad and confused..." "This is the 51st State of the USA..." Weds 3: * Happy birthday to my Auntie. * Ninos, Duke St - Hookline and Silverfish 3pm and free. Good to see local bands being presented for free. * Cartoons - local bands, 8pm, free. * Rock nite at Sloppy Joes, £2:50 and worth it for the smoke machine. Thurs 4: * Majestic - hey lads, giz me flares back and let the hair grease flow freely... it's 210 "rock jock" (sic) doing a 'ard'n'ewy disco. Stick to the telly. Fri 5: * Itinerant dayglo troubadours of the outer cosmos Webcore are not playing at the Paradise tonight. But will they be at tomorrow's Silchester bash?? * Aldermaston free party, Soke Rd, with water wood and camping and people and bands (see intro). * Gay disco at Sloppy Joes, opposite BR; £2/£1 for ub40 etc. 1/2 price booze before 10.30, & it 's very well attended it seems. A regular Friday night slot too, * SHP - charity blues night, 8pm, £2:50/£3:50. 8pm in the Cellar Bar. * Cap & Gown - disco Sat 6: * Silchester party for the Stonehenge lot. * Basingstoke Caribbean Assoc, Priestley Rd ... a joint promotion with 999 and the Skrews, and reputedly UK Subs too... * Cap & Gown - nowt. Tues 9: * Happy birthday to Howard. And to me too... * Cartoons - usual free local bands evening at 8pm. * Majestic - Cardiacs and Jo Jo Namoza. * Hex - The Robert Cray band (blues) and Dave Kelly, band in support. * SHP jazz in the Wilde Theatre with Trombonist Chris Warber. 8pm, £4:50. Weds 10: * Usual Wednesday night stuff at ninos, cartoons and at sloppy joes... * Paradise - an anti YTS benefit - (sounds like the Labore party young socialites), with Mighty Ballistics, Pressgang and Falling Trees. Tickets £2/£1 ub40 from Listen etc, or £2:50 on the door. Thurs 11: * More of the same at the Majestic, yep it's Freebird time again..... Fri 12: * Sloppy Joes gay disco, £2, £1 for ub40's and students. * Hex - The Pogues + support, which they'll certainly need if they're as pissed as usual. * Cap & Gown - Blues Cruise, £2, in by 10.30 please. Blues! Sat 13: * Red Rag copy deadline. No copy means no red rag, so it's up to you. There are lots of people who claim to work in a collective way, so it's startling that so few seem to apply this to their fortnightly Rag. Copy to Box 79, 17 Chatham Street. * Cap & Gown - something. * Slough Orchard Youth Club - animal rights benefit with The Company, Urgh Leave It Out, and sounds from the Disque Co. £1:50 adv/£2 on ye doore. Sun 14: * Hex - Ben E King. Mon 15: * Red Rag pasteup. As I said in the last Rag you don't need to be El Lissitsky to do this... and there's nothing else on in Reading... Tues 16: * As yesterday. Weds 16: * After all your hard work, Red Rag finally makes it onto the streets of Reading. Good innit? * Happy Birthday to Geraldine! xxx * Majestic - Gaye Bykers On Acid. * Ninos & Cartaons - local bands night. * Sloppy Joes rock nite. Thurs 18: * Hexagon - finals of the evening post talent contest , which would be really draggy except that Reading reggae singer Aqua Levi is in the final. Worth going just to hear him. Best of luck! Fri 19 - Mon 22: * Nothing except my Mum's birthday on the 22nd. Happy Birthday Mum !! Tues 23: * Majestic - the Fields Of The Nephilim. * Univ - Reading's Gay Collective Pride disco in the Mandela Bar, 8.15pm, tickets £1:50 in advance from Acorn. Sat 27: * Montforts Wine Bar, 29 Market Place - Womanzone, a women only night. Sun 28: * Hex - Tom Robinson. - - - THEATRE "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" by Dario Fo. Performed by by the Faculty of Letters Theatre 16/5/87. If an actor has to play the part of a policeman, he should have to have been a policeman to do it well, according to certain schools of thought to do with method acting. But how many actors have been policemen? How many actors have been in situations with police, similar that in Dario Fo's "Accidental Death of an Anarchist"? I believe that many Rag readers will have been in such situations. Although the production at the University was a slapstick version of the play by students enjoying themselves, they managed to make the police into slapstick caricatures, with the anarchist and the journalist almost believable. So, this unpretentious play became a bit of a joke in its attempt to be right on. That should be left to the playwrights, or to actors who have been policemen or interrogated by the police. I enjoyed the play, but only for its simple entertainment value. The Hexagon: The Rocky Horror Show, 1st - 6th June. 7.30pm. Tickets £6:50/£4. Studio Theatre South Hill Park: Bright Red Theatre Company present A Gothic Triple Bill, 4th and 5th June. 7.30pm. Tickets £3/£2. Includes Howard Brenton's "Gum and Goo", and Steven Berkoff's "The Fall of the House of Usher". Theatre Royal Windsor: Veronica's Room, by Ira Levin. 19 - 27th June. Starts at 7.30pm. £12 - £2:50. Wilde Theatre South Hill Park: The Tuesday Group present "Oedipus", adapted by Ted Hughes. 12 June 7.30pm. Tickets are £3/£2. Apollo Theatre Oxford: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. 15 - 20th June at 7pm. Tickets £7:50 - E2. Mill At Sonning: Hotel Arusha by Bob Sherman. From June 16th - 18th July 6:30pm. Tickets £17 - £9:20 including free meal. - - - BENEFIT Local animal rights groups are on the move again with a benefit gig in deepest Stoke Poges on June 13th. Playing will be The Company, who have a new 12" out, "Prairies on Fire", and Urgh, Leave It Out who are a veritable barrage of percussion, doing a half-hour set based around rainforest destruction. The gig, which is at the Orchard Youth Club, Stoke Poges, Slough, will raise funds for the ALF and Hunt Saboteurs. There will be stalls full of leaflets and books plus recipe books, hot off the press from Slough Wholefood Co-op, who will be providing food for the evening. Slide shows and hopefully the Animals film will provide visual entertainment. Everything starts to happen at about 7pm-ish and winds down around 1am, with sounds from the Disque Co., a 2.2K PA and lightshow. Hopefully not only money, but awareness will be raised. We must act and encourage others to do the same rather than just join an: anti-vivisection charity and think that's that. Come along and enjoy yourself on Sat 13 and help raise fundraise at the same time. Tickets are £2 on the door, but only £1:50 in advance so harangue Acorn Books, 17, Chatham Street. Reading. - - - ROUTES June 27th is National "Marking The Routes Day" when people all over the country will mark the routes of nuclear convoys. In June 1985 there was little public awareness of nuclear warhead convoys and the reporting of accidents was limited to the local press. By January 1987 public awareness of the convoys and what they carry had dramatically increased and the accident in Wiltshire in January this year was headline news in most of the national media. The government continues to look ridiculous by failing to confirm or deny the existence of nuclear warhead convoys. June 27th was chosen - as the nearest convenient date to the anniversary of a crash at Helensburgh in June 1985 - to continue the campaign of public awareness. BANC will be highlighting the route along the A4 outside the SavaCentre near Junction 12 between 2pm and 5pm as we did last winter. Your support is needed. For more details contact Debbie on 690924. - - - ADS Room for rent in country cottage - Cholsey, Oxfordshire. £110/month plus bills. 4 mins from train station. Large garden with fields all around. Not far from village shops. Tel Cholsey 652166. For Sale: unused bed 4ft6 by 6ft3. Firm mattress. 4 drawers in base. £60 or offers Box 400, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St Reading. Wanted - can anyone help by giving or selling me a copy recording of the original "Laughing Policeman" song. If so please contact via Box 99, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading, RG1 7JF - - - FULL MOON FUTONS We make Japanese style mattresses (single, double, king size, cot size), cushions, pillows, yoga/massage/Shiatsu mats, to individual orders. All 100% cotton, range of colours. Pine bases. Deliveries arranged. Competitive prices. Send sae for leaflet and swatches to: 20 Bulmershe Road, Reading RG1 5RJ. Reading (0734) 65648. - - - FILM & VIDEO Well after a suitable breathing space the Rag's guide to what's good (& bad) in audio-visual entertainment in Reading is back. Notable is the entrance of the Hexagon as a venue for film. Their first few offerings are worth a look. They boast dolby sound & Reading's biggest screen, now read on: - thur 4 june The life & times of Rosie the Riviter. SHP free US 1980 dir. Connie Field 65min. 7.45 One of the best & most persuasive feminist films. Focuses on US women war workers. fri 5 Round Midnight. SHP. (15) FR/US 1986 133m dir Bertrand Tavernier. Paris, 1959, seedy Jazz filled romanticism, of the fifties, with a saxophonist bent on self destruction. 7.45 & 10.30 sat6 Round midnight as 5 Sound recording for video course, SHP. (£50) & concs details the Media Dept. sun 7 Round midnight 7.45 only sound course as sat mon 8 Kangeroo (PG) SHP aus 1986 110m dir Tim Burstall 7.45 Based on D.H. Lawrence novel & beutifully filmed. It follows a thinly disguised character of Lawrence himself seeking recognition away from his native shores. The Golden Age of cinema. The Hexagon opens its doors to the film going public with a trip down memory lane, it will also feature early film footage of Reading sounds intriguing. 8pm £2:50 - 3:50 tues 9 Kangeroo SHP wed 10 Hannah & her Sisters Hex (15) Woody Allen's excellent comedy plus Dead on Time (PG) 8pm £2:60 Kangeroo SHP The Year of the Dragon (18) RFT Cop thriller set in Chinatown. USA 1985 dir Micheal Cimino 134m thur 11 Otello Hex. (U) Franco Zefferelli directs Placido Domingo in the classic opera film 88m £2:60 Andrei Rublev SHP (15) USSR 1966 180m dir Andrei Tarkovsky 8.45 Powerful film of the life of the painter, set in 15th century Russia. Definately worth a visit, after all there'll only be election stuff on the box. Remember to vote, I don't think Thatcher does the film industry or the rest of us any good at all. fri 12 The Mission (PG) Hex 8pm. Roland Joffe expensive epic set in S. America. Desert Hearts (18) RFT. USA 1985 dir Donna Deitch 93m. Recent portrayal of a lesbian relationship set against the country music of 1950's Reno. When the wind blows(PG) SHP Br 1986 180m. 85m dir Jimmy Murakami. Animated feature of Raymond Brigg's anti nuclear jaunt. I didn't like the book, so make up your own mind! Video Box. 12 noon - 3. In the Reading Festival Marquee, your chance to express your views on video; and to have a go with the equipment. Organised in collaboration with Real Time Video. nr Abbey ruins. sat 13 The Mission Hex When the Wind blows SHP Video Box Reading Festival Introductory video course SHP (50 quid, concs available) also sun 3 machine editing course SHP (£125) also sun. sun 14 When the wind blows Video courses continued from sat. mon 15 Round Midnight Hex. 8pm see SHP fri 5 for details. When the wind blows SHP tues 16 When the wind still blows wed 17 Alchemists of the Surreal RFT members only 5 animated shorts. The wind still blowing SHP thur 18 Framed Youth. SHP free video screening (Revenge of the teenage perverts) 1983 made by the Lesbian & gay youth group, uses music & video to good effect to give an excellent impression of being young and homosexual in Britain today. Ginger & Fred (15) RFT. 8pm 1986 dir Federico Fellini. A satire of the grossness & banality of Italian TV. That's what deregulation could do to us, if Her nibs gets her way. I may emigrate on June 12. fri 19 The Sacrifice (15) SHP Swe Fr 1986 145m dir Tarkovsky His final film brings the nuclear reality to the coast of Sweden also sat. & sun. Key Hex... the Hexagon, Queens walk, Reading tel 591591. SHP... South Hill park arts centre, Bracknell tel484123 RFT... Reading film theatre, Palmer bld. University. - - - ANIMAL LIBERATION A Brief Condemnation Of Animal Abuse Daily, in this so-called animal loving country of ours, our fellow creatures are abused on a massive scale. Animals suffer extreme pain in useless experiments and 'safety' tests, and are needlessly killed for such trivial purposes as the satisfaction of our palates. Vivisection Vivisection is nothing but medical fraud. The very idea that results gained from experiments on animals can be extrapolated to human beings is ludicrous, and has been proven so on countless occasions. The endless list of drug casualties is proof enough that vivisection is a fraud. Take for example the following: Epaldin, a heart drug given to patients for 4 years before the horrific effects were identified, including blindness, stomach troubles, joint pains and growths. Opren, an anti arthritis drug, withdrawn in 1982 after more than 70 deaths and 3,500 others with serious side effects, including damage to skin, eyes, circulation, liver and kidneys. Chloramphenicol, an antibiotic which caused fatal blood disorders. Thalidomide, a sedative used for morning sickness, which caused about 10,000 birth defects worldwide. Clioquinol, marketed as entero-vioforn, caused 30,000 cases of blindness and/or paralysis and thousands of deaths in Japan; caused a new disease called SM0N. All the above listed were thoroughly tested on animals and passed as safe for human use. If this were not evidence enough, consider this: Penicillin, which is a useful antibiotic for people, kills guinea pigs; Morphine, which calms people and rats, cause maniacal excitement in cats and mice; Aspirin cause birth defects in rats, mice, monkeys, guinea pigs, cats and dogs... but not in women. Animal experimentation is basically a matter of pot luck, and rather than enhancing the progress of medicine, has held it in check. The medical establishment will often claim that it was their wonder drugs and vaccines that put an end to the great epidemics of previous centuries, but this claim simply does not stand up to investigation. The deaths of children under 15 years from scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough and measles had decreased from about 6,500 deaths per year in the middle of the last century to about 400 deaths by the time vaccines and antibiotics were introduced, due mainly to better sanitation, nutrition and living conditions. According to studies carried out at Boston University: "In general, medical measures (both chemotherapeutic and prophylactic) appear to have contributed little to the overall decline in mortality in the United States since about 1900 - having in many instances been introduced several decades after a marked decline had already set in, and having no detectable influence in most instances". The only conclusion that can be drawn is that vivisection is a financial issue and not a medical one, and all the suffering involved is not a sacrifice to the greater good of mankind, but to the great god Money, and the profits of the drug industry. Meat Meat eating is the largest form of animal abuse, and one of the least justifiable. The meat eater has no other defence for his actions other than the fact that he considers his palate to be of greater importance than an animals life. Meat, far from being the essential part of the human diet that it was once thought to be, is being proven again and again to be positively harmful to health. Recent studies have shown very strong connections between the consumption of meat and the incidences of many forms of cancer, and heart disease, Britain's number one killer. Surely there can be no justification for the continued consumption of a food proven to be unnecessary, when the process of obtaining this food causes so much suffering, misery and death. Ask yourselves - are your taetebuds really more important than the lives of the 450 million animals that are killed for meat in Britain alone every year? - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1987/1987-06-02.txt#3 $