Retro Man Blog: Music Exhibitions

Showing posts with label Music Exhibitions. Show all posts

Thursday, 23 October 2025

Picture This: A Public Image - Punk, New Wave & 2-Tone in L.A. 1978-80 - Exhibition and Book featuring the photos of Spike Waltzer

We went down to Brighton to catch the last day of the excellent exhibition of Garageland promoter Spike Waltzer's music photography at Gallery 40. Originally from Brooklyn in New York, Spike moved to L.A. in 1975 where he studied photography and got snapped up by a photo agency, ending up working as a paparazzo. His direction was to change after a neighbour introduced him to Punk via The Clash's "Give 'em Enough Rope" album in 1978 and he was hooked. He started going to gigs at now legendary Hollywood venues such as the Whisky A Go Go, Roxy and The Starwood, seeing early shows by local bands such as X, Fear and The Go-Go's alongside other touring acts like Blondie and The Cramps. Spike also captured lots of British and Irish bands touring the States often for the first time, and he has some superb onstage and candid offstage photos of The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, Public Image Ltd, The Specials, The Selecter and Madness. Spike's photos of these bands are superb, really capturing the excitement of the live scene in L.A. at the time and it's great to see so many previously unseen pics of some of my favourite acts.

Spike has collated the best of his photos in a brillant book "Picture This: A Public Image" which is well worth getting hold of. Please note that the exhibition has now closed but the good news is, due to the demand, they will be back at Gallery 40 from December 9th-13th, ideal for picking up some Xmas presents for those friends and family members with good taste in music and photography! There are plans for more showings in London, Manchester and hopefully more locations will be added in due course. In the meantime, the book, postcards and prints (framed or unframed) are still available to order, so for more information you can message Spike at the Garageland Facebook page here or email to jasebick at gmail.com

Thursday, 13 March 2025

Mick Jones Rock & Roll Public Library - Exhibition of The Clash & Big Audio Dynamite Legend's Memorabilia

It was great to visit the Rock & Roll Public Library which is just part of Mick Jones' collection of memorabilia and 20th century pop culture now on display courtesy of former Subway Sect and JoBoxers drummer Sean McLusky and his team at the excellent Farsight Gallery. We'd been to the two previous Rock & Roll Public Library exhibitions at the Chelsea Space and Subway Gallery and it's always a huge pleasure to marvel at the hundreds of nostalgic and evocative items on display that include books, comics, fanzines, games, posters, clothes, electrical equipment along with tons of music, movie and football memorabilia. Of course there are many items that will be familiar to fans of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite including handwritten lyrics, posters, guitar cases, T-shirts and clothing, record covers and even a ticket and poster from The Clash's very first London show. Here's a walk-through of the exhibition...

The exhibition is being held at the Farsight Gallery at 4 Flitcroft Street WC2H 8DJ (just off London's legendary Denmark Street) and has just been extended to March 22nd due to popular demand. Don't be surprised if you bump into some famous faces if you visit, Bobby Gillespie, Ian Brown, Clare Grogan, Phil Jupitus, Glen Matlock, Neal X and Steve Diggle are just some of the celebrities to have popped in. There's a fantastic magazine/programme to go with the exhibition too and issue 1 is available to buy at the gallery or via mail-order after the closing date. The magazine is beautifully produced on high-quality paper with some stunning photographs by one of Retro Man Blog's favourite photographers Jeff Pitcher, and there are plans to publish more issues which will hopefully be available at Rough Trade Records and other outlets in the future. Here's a few words from the organisers.

"The Rock & Roll Public Library (RRPL) is a large, material archive of 20th century pop culture, collected over a lifetime by British musician and songwriter Mick Jones. An archive encompassing many varied items, including books, comics, magazines, musical equipment, literature, art, clothing, ephemera, as well as music and film in every format, revealing a wide network of influences. The most comprehensive and in-depth exhibition of the RRPL to date, showcasing previously unseen material and artefacts and featuring new installations created from the unique collection and personal items from Mick’s life and times as an art student, to The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite. The show celebrates the physical pop culture history of the 20th century and beyond - the aim being to inspire others to create, make connections and remember. Visitors are invited to interact with the exhibition: relax in the recreation of a living room and use items from the archive including Mick’s home recorded VHS tapes, books, comics and newspapers from another time; browse through and listen to a selection of his record collection in the recreation of a 1970’s listening booth; or visit the RRPL Kiosk to shop for new merch. The exhibition marks the launch of Issue #1 of the RRPL Magazine. A portable exhibition in itself, it invites the reader to find their own connections and inspirations from the Library’s wide-ranging artefacts. Edited by the RRPL team and featuring three different covers, the first issue focuses on DIY culture - from punk rock fanzines to fashion, art school to dole queues, four-track home cassette demos to high-tech studios - a ragged map to aid further exploration and, hopefully, to inspire yet more creation. The exhibition and magazine are made up entirely of items sourced from the Rock & Roll Public Library that have been selected by Mick Jones & The RRPL Team."

"The magazine to me is like a record, with each article a separate track and it tells a story - my story and by extension through our shared culture, all of our stories. I hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it." - Mick Jones

The Rock & Roll Public Library exhibition has been extended due to popular demand. The show is open every day including weekends from 12 noon-7pm. Now ending at 7pm on 22nd March 2025, it's free to enter and no pre-booking required. Farsight Gallery, 4 Flitcroft Street, London WC2H 8DJ

Check out the RRPL site here for further details. You can also see our features on the previous exhibitions at Chelsea Space here and Subway Gallery here.

Sunday, 19 March 2023

David Arnoff "Shot In The Dark" Book Resurrection Party at The Dublin Castle, Camden, Sunday March 19th 2023

Here are some photos from a thoroughly entertaining afternoon at the legendary music venue and pub The Dublin Castle in Camden, a suitably Rock 'n' Roll setting for the re-launch (or resurrection...) party to celebrate the new edition of "Shot In The Dark - The Collected Photography of David Arnoff" which is out now on Red Planet Books. David was there to sign copies and chat about his work, and there was a selection of iconic shots taken from the book on display, including superb photos of The Gun Club, Ramones, The Damned, Blondie, The Fuzztones, Thee Hypnotics, Television, The Cramps and many more. There was a DJ providing an excellent soundtrack to the book with loads of great CBGB's era-Punk Rock and classic tracks by some of David's many photographic subjects. I spotted some familiar faces in the crowd too, including members of Jim Jones All Stars, The Phobics, The Priscillas, The Charity Case and Gaye (Advert) Black among others. The new edition of "Shot In The Dark", which includes 16 extra images and a deluxe slipcase, is available to buy from Red Planet Books here. For more information on David and his photography, please check out his Instagram page here or his official web-site here.

All photos copyright Retro Man Blog, 2023

Sunday, 9 October 2022

Paul Simonon "Two Years: London and Mallorca" & Caroline Coon "Love of Place" Art Exhibitions

Caroline Coon at Paul Simonon's exhibition

We went along to two Clash-related Art exhibitions on one afternoon in London recently. Firstly, it was to the John Martin Gallery to see "Two Years: London and Mallorca" which bought together an excellent collection of oil-colours painted by Paul Simonon during the pandemic from two very contrasting locations. There's the area around Paul's Paddington studio which is dimly lit by street lamps and exudes an almost Victorian-era atmosphere and then S'Estaca, a remote fishing village on the island of Mallorca which Paul has painted not only as the sun-kissed idyll you might expect but also grey and overcast, or bathed in moonlight. Both sets of pantings in their different ways, perfectly capture a slightly ominous sense of solitude and isolation felt during the various lockdowns. There's also a selection of wood carvings, something I've never seen at any of Paul's exhibitions before. By chance I noticed that former Clash manager, Melody Maker journalist, author and artist Caroline Coon was at the gallery too so I said hello and had a brief and pleasant chat. I mentioned that the first book I ever bought about Punk (and still one of my favourites) was her excellent "1988 The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion" although I forgot to ask her just what 1988 had to do with it, given that the book was published in 1982 and most of the action was from 1976 and 1977, anyway, that's a mystery that remains unsolved! Caroline mentioned that she also had a exhibition of her own art at the Stephen Friedman Gallery just round the corner so we popped in to check that out too. In complete contrast to Paul's paintings of isolation, Caroline's "Love of Place" exhibition is full of huge canvasses packed with people. The paintings are a joyous celebration of the multi-cultural community of Ladbroke Grove in West London, a place also of course synonymous with The Clash and are bursting with vibrant colour.