ARCHIVED NEWS: 2000  

 

Genius and Junkie: Burroughs in Britain Here, Mark, together with author Iain Sinclair and broadcaster Tim Marlow immerse themselves in the work of William Burroughs and explore his impact on the  underground arts scene in London in the 1960's and 70's. This event will include screenings of two films, The Cut - Ups (1963) and Towers Open Fire (1967),  on which Burroughs collaborated with British film maker Antony Balch. Mark will be introducing the films and Iain Sinclair will be reading from William Burroughs' diaries. Wednesday 14 March, 6.30pm, Clore Auditorium, Tate Britain. Tickets cost £6 (£3 conc.) and the Box Office number is 020 7887 8888.  Latest news is that there was a full house - good luck in Paris Mark! Mark will be in Paris the following weekend to introduce the films at a conference on Burroughs. The event starts at 2pm and Mark's bit is at 8pm. 18th March, Galerie Les filles du calvaire, 17 rue des Filles du calvaire,  75003 Paris. Day tickets cost 40 F. Tel 01 42 74 47 05  (8/02)
THEY LOVE US Yes! The NME gave us a mention in their guide to official band sites in last week's mag [p13]. "Superbly eclectic" eh? Very nice considering how often we slag them off. Thanks guys! No need to type in the lengthy url they printed though, just use pulponline.com. 
Jarvis cropped up in a recent NME, as one of the stars polled for their "most influential performers in rock and roll today" piece 'Under the Influence'. And guess who Jarvis nominated? Scott Walker.  Mind you in a chart that features Scott Walker at 13 and Eminem at 8, who's gonna take a lot of notice? Not me.
Pulp at Reading on ITV, 2/11. Thanks to those of you who pointed out that Pulp WERE on this show after all....they showed 'Minnie', 'Sorted For E's and Wizz', 'The Fear' and  'This is Hardcore'. I have a feeling it varied according to which ITV region you come under - some people will have seen it, some won't. So if you missed out, you'll have to keep setting your video until they appear, and sadly I don't know when that will be!
VENINI NEWS New single arrived, sounding like the ingredient that was taken out of Pulp when Russell left, with some very early Pulp thrown in...Three track limited edition CD: Unshaker / Exotic Night / Hoboken. Check it out to see what Russell is up to these days (except he isn't any more, having left).  There is an exclusive unreleased track, 'Postcard', downloadable from the official site. There are also short RealAudio excerpts so you can check out that Venini sound before splashing out hard cash on the real thing.
There is an interview with MARK WEBBER in the summer issue of "Filmwaves" magazine (Issue 12, Summer 2000, ISSN 1460-4051). Mark talks about "Little Stabs at Happiness" and his other work in the film world. This issue also features an article about British expanded cinema by Little Stabber Gregory Kurcewicz.
http://www.filmwaves.co.uk More Marky Mark news soon. 
PULP LIVE We're back! Yes, the Pulp People tour bicycle has just pedaled back into town after a week and over 1100 miles spent traipsing around after Pulp. The overall response to the live shows, and the new songs in particular, has shocked even me, it's been that good. Sorry we couldn't post reviews on the the site immediately after every concert but we don't have the technology...so (for once) thanks to nme.com for keeping everyone up to date. 

Thanks to everyone who has sent in accounts of what seems to have been "the best night of my life" / "the best Pulp concert ever", especially to those of you who took the time to complete and return the Vox Pop fliers I left at the Garage concert. Some will go up on this site, others I will save for the next issue of Pulp People. The photos of Jarvis come across as a sort of catalogue of his extensive collection of woolly jumpers...Click on a concert to see what people said about the new Pulp...Fan Club Concert   Edinburgh Corn Exchange Reading     Leeds  
RADIO 1 broadcast Jarvis-approved & edited highlights of the Leeds concert - Something Changed, Minnie, Help The Aged, Sorted, F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E., The Fear, I Love Life, Hardcore, and Sunrise.  Sunrise wasn't the same without the amazing video backdrop of a jet-plane's-eye-view through the clouds into the sun....but you get the idea. I can hear those bootleg machines whizzing into action already...
THE WILD SIDE OF PULP Pulp have contributed music to the feature film "Wild Side". The movie was made by Donald Cammell (legendary director of "Performance", "Demon Seed" and "The White Of The Eye") but before it was finished the producers took the film out of his hands, recut it as soft porn and released it direct to video. (It's still available in the USA in this version.) After Donald Cammell committed suicide in 1996 his wife and friends started work on reassembling his last film the way he intended it to be, and this new edit, with some Pulp music on the soundtrack, will be released to cinemas soon. It stars Christopher Walken and Annie Heche and it's completely bonkers. NME gave it two out of ten, which just proves how ace it is. Mark saw a preview at the NFT, at which point the soundtrack was incomplete, and there was only one short piece of the Pulp music included. Apparently Sakamoto (the original choice for composer & musical director) had become available again and added some more music, eclipsing the efforts of our heroes. We don't know at this stage how much of what Pulp did will be left in the final cut, but Mark, Jarvis and Steve did get a big credit for additional music at the end of the film. The film has recently been released on video (October 2000)
MORE CHOCOLATE LAYERS The NME have just picked up on this piece of news (which has been on this site for positively AGES), so I thought I'd bring it back up to the top of the list.  Steve & Jarvis donned their DJ remix hats once again for two remixes: The first of these is "Dirge" by Death In Vegas, which was done for Levis. The original track is the one used on the "Twisted" ad campaign, and the remix is available on the  recent 12" on Concrete Records (Dirge 5).

The second remix is of Black Box Recorder's "The Facts Of Life", which emerged as an extra (and the best by far) track on their "The Art Of Driving" single. It is also available on the 'free' CD included with the October 2000 issue of Select Magazine. I would strongly recommend you save yourself £1.61 and simply buy the single - at least then you won't feel obliged to either read the magazine or listen to the other tracks on the giveaway (I certainly wouldn't pay for it) CD.... 

The Add N to (X) website contains a piece in their news section about a record label "set up by Barry 7 and Jarvis Cocker" - Ceercle Records. Can I just say that  Jarvis has no connection with this other than the occasional bit of DJ-ing...shame mind you - we like Add N to (X) here at Pulp HQ.
click hereSOUNDTRACKING: POP MUSIC IN FILM

On the weekend of 24th-26th November, the lovely Showroom Cinema in Sheffield (opposite the National Centre for Popular Music) presented its annual celebration of pop music in film festival. This year they invited Mark Webber to present two programmes, which you can read about by clicking on Mark's mug or by checking either the Showroom site or the dedicated Soundtracking site, where you will find info on the rest of this interesting festival. 

Ken Jacobs - Nervous System So this is why the Pulp album is taking so long! Mark is so busy with his cinematic activities he's never at home! Send me an sae (at Pulp People, PO Box 87, Sheffield, S11 8WJ) for a leaflet on the Ken Jacobs retrospective - it is a touring programme and films are showing in Glasgow, Hull, London, Sheffield and Manchester. Not only is Mark touring the  country with Ken Jacobs, he's also found the time to start a website dedicated to "good film"...check out Secret Cinema  to find out more. 

In October The Titanic Film Festival in Budapest featured two evenings of films and videos by popular directors. This included A Little Soul and Help the Aged. Just so you know we haven't forgotten about our Hungarian fan (s) 
WATCH OUT FOR....In Canada and America, there is an advert currently running for a Volkswagen Passat, featuring the song 'Stars on Sunday' by the All Seeing I, which as you know Jarvis wrote. 
EXPANDED CINEMA SCREENING AT THE LONDON LUX CENTRE - OCT 20
As part of "DNet", the Lux Centre's 3 day distribution networks event, Mark will present screenings in the Lux Gallery from 7:30pm on October 20th. The programme will start with several expanded cinema works followed by a film programme. The screenings are a taster for a large film series about the first decade of the London Filmmakers' Co-operative (1966-76), which Mark is currently putting together with Gregory Kurcewicz. The series will hopefully make an international tour of cinemas and museums starting in New York in October 2001. This screening at the Lux is free to the public. 
LEEDS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Mark has again been invited to present programmes at the Leeds International Film Festival, to follow on from last years "Introduction to American Experimental Films". This year there will be several varied screenings and a "Little Stabs At Happiness" club night. The festival takes place at venues across the city from 5th-20th October 2000. Click here to view Mark's selections. 

Wanna find out what Mark gets up to when he's not rehearsing? Jarvis and Steve aren't the only DJ's for hire - Mark played his records at the opening party for an exhibition of works by Factory photographer Nat Finkelstein. The exhibition, at The Photographer's Gallery, London WC2, runs from  August 9 to September 24. Definitely worth checking out if you're in town.
SITE OF THE WEEK Check out this crazy woman's anti- Pulp rantings....
SPITTING IMAGE JARVIS PUPPET FOR SALE Any of you with $900 to spare might be interested in the following....a 36" Cocker, made of moulded foam latex with part moulded/part wig hair, eyes with air operated blink, fully clothed foam torso with wooden arms and foam hands controlled by rods...LATEST NEWS - Apparently it fetched £755!
NME INTERVIEW There was an exclusive interview - the only one Jarvis did - in last week's NME - nice pics, very obviously still the best looking group in the business, but it didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. There's bits of it on the site but I'll attempt a full transcription if anyone's interested.
DJ COCKER & MC SMACKEY We didn't know about this until this it was almost too late, for which I can only apologize. If I'd known I could have told you about the Jarvis webcast DJ experience, available via sonicnet on Friday July 21st. Jarvis was on at dotmusic's monthly club night, Transit, with Barry 7 of Add N To (X) and JP Buckle of AllSeeing I at London's Plastic People, from 9pm until 3.30am. The event was webcast live on dotmusic and offers those logging on a chance to have a chat with the DJs online.....let me know if anyone did!
warm up gig at Edinburgh Corn Exchange Pulp played a special warm up date for Reading and Leeds at the 2500 capacity venue on August 24th.  Tickets cost £15, available through Edinburgh Festival outlets and Edinburgh Virgin Records...on sale now.  Support will come from Clearlake and JJ72  who are also playing at the Reading / Leeds weekend on the Evening Session stage, both days. Doors open at 7.30pm and the rough schedule for the evening is Clearlake  8.00,  JJ72 8.45, and Pulp at 10.00-ish - but I must emphasize, these are subject to change!
READING AND LEEDS  CARLING WEEKEND Pulp will headline both festivals on the Bank Holiday weekend of August 25-28.  They will play the main stage at Reading on Saturday 26th (on stage 10.15pm), after which they will jet up to Leeds to play the main stage the next day (on stage 9.45pm).  The line up includes such horrors as Stereophonics, Oasis, Foo Fighters and Placebo, but remember, these sites are big and you can always go stand in another field (or another town if you prefer) during their sets. The Mean Fiddler website will be broadcasting the Oasis, Beck, Pulp and Stereophonics  shows live.

MeltdownA Touch Of Glass

The thrilling debut at Meltdown last Sunday 25 July was a triumph of strange musical instruments if nothing else. Omnichord battled with Glass Harmonica for centre stage, I thought it was great but I'm informed that I was in the minority!! They were joined on stage by The Swingle Singers for a version of My Body May Die and finished the set with a cover of Scott Walker's "On Your Own Again".

Full reviews plus an interview with The Swingles will appear in the next issue of Pulp People - full info & listing on news archive page.

EMAIL OF THE WEEK MONTH

"Why the fuck are Pulp playing at the Reading festival,  I thought the Reading festival is a rock festival, why don't Pulp fuck off and get replaced with a talented band such as Metallica! Please can u not play at Reading, Pulp are so poor! Please reply."
programmeTHE DAY OF RECKONING - DEATH SHORTS

Mark's programme of films for the Matters of Life and Death event at Battersea Arts Centre on Sunday 2 July was slightly less well attended than anticipated, probably because it clashed with the Football. Full reviews will appear in the next issue of Pulp People - full info & listing on news archive page. The films, despite their disturbing subject matter, were surprisingly peaceful and moving, especially Bruce Conner's Crossroads, compiled from US Government footage of the first underwater A-Bomb tests in 1946.

FOR YOUR SCRAPBOOKS The July issue of U.S. Vogue, contains a small photo of Jarvis with stylist Camille Bidault Waddington at the Tate Modern's opening.  Next to the photo is a snap of John Currin and Rachel Feinstein.  
The "Help The Aged" video is showing daily at The British School in Rome (Via Gramsci 61), as part of their exhibition "Video Vibe : Art, Music and Video in the UK". The show includes pop videos, artists' videos and video installations by Chris Cunningham, Throbbing Gristle, John Maybury, Georgina Starr and many others in an all day long programme. The gallery is open Tuesdays to Saturday between 3pm and 7:30pm until 3rd July.

Matters of  Life and Death Sunday 2nd July 2000 Confront your mortal soul at an evening of visionary cinema. A selection of ten films on life, death and the after-life. Mortuaries, cemeteries, slaughterhouses, safaris, nuclear testing, Vietnam, extinction, assassination and the Bardo Thodal. The imagery of adversity will be complemented by maudlin music from the collection of Mark Webber.
If the persistent images of suffering overwhelm then drown your sorrows in the adjacent bar. Please feel at liberty to come and go of your own free will. Admission may be cheap, but the memories will remain with you to the Beyond.

The programme: 

Reindeer Slaughter at Lake Kruttvattret (Louise O’Konoe), b/w, silent, 6 min
Le Sang Des Betes (Georges Franju), b/w, 20 min
Unsere Afrikareise (Peter Kubelka), colour, 12.5 min
Diploteratology, or, Bardo Follies (Owen Land), colour, silent, 20 min or 7 min
The Act Of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes (Stan Brakhage), colour, silent, 32 min
The Dead (Stan Brakhage), colour, silent, 11 min
 Time Of The Locust (Peter Gessner), b/w, sound, 12 min
Mass (For The Dakota Sioux) (Bruce Baillie), b/w, sound, 24 min
A Report (Bruce Conner), b/w, sound, 13 min
Crossroads (Bruce Conner), b/w, sound, 36 min

MELTDOWN SUNDAY 25 JUNE (WHO NEEDS GLASTO?)

"A Touch of Glass" (Jarvis Cocker, Steve Mackey and glass harmonica player Alisdair Malloy) will perform in the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday June 25th as part of Scott Walker's Meltdown Festival. Doors open at 7.00pm and the running order is as follows: 

7.30pm Fuck Heads (who I am reliably informed are an Austrian naturist band, who - yes, believe it - do actually play in the nude.  And yes, they were chosen by Scott Walker.

8.30pm A Touch of Glass The set will be similar to the one at the 333 Club last year 

9.15pm Smog (this has moved from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)

PLEASE NOTE: The Royal Festival Hall were selling the tickets for Jarvis & pals for £15 each and Smog tickets for £12, but now the entire nights entertainment will be available for just £12.  Slightly annoyingly, due to the RFH's methods of booking tickets, if you have already bought tickets at £15, you will need to drop in or call the RFH, get these £15 tickets refunded, and then purchase new £12 ones for the concert. Apparently this is the only way of getting around their computer system.... The ticket line is 020 7960 4242. 

SWINGLE SINGERS

The Swingle Singers will be appearing with Jarvis at Meltdown  for a performance of "My Body May Die" from the Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) soundtrack - scroll down for more info on the evening and check the Swingles website for more info on these fantastic people...

IN YOUR FACE Jarvis, along with fifty-nine others, contributed a 20th birthday 'thing' to the birthday issue of The Face, whose airbrushed cover is vaguely reminiscent of the artwork of His n Hers....Jarvis' piece is what could be described as an ornithological montage...
MORE SOUNDTRACKS FROM PULP

Pulp contributed a song to the soundtrack of the Vic & Bob remake of ancient TV series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased).  I never really got it myself, some old gumph about a pair of super sleuths, one of whom was a ghost, which obviously created some hilarious situations...like The Saint, but with a dead matey helping Simon Templar solve the crimes. This looks a bit better though. Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer's series started on Saturday 18th March on BBC 1, and I am told that you get to hear the Pulp contribution "millions of times". The soundtrack is available now. The Pulp song is called "My Body Will Die", and it's absolutely beautiful - you can hear a short clip of it on the TV previews.
Ali G meets Jarvi C

Jarvis appeared in the final episode of Ali G's series on 5 May on C4. Jarvis sang (or tried to sing)  'Help the Aged', accompanied by Ali's unique style of rap. Actually it was pretty good. What I want to know is how does Jarvis look so young??? What are his beauty secrets? Pulp People will endeavor to find out...

Mark to be Judge & Jury Mark was asked to be on a panel of judges at the prestigious Oberhausen International Film Festival in northern Germany, from 4 - 9 May.   The Festival presents hundreds of short films and videos in competitions and special programmes, as well as the world’s biggest short film market. Oberhausen will become the centre of the international short film scene – filmmakers, guests, journalists and the audience are going to meet, discuss, and gain an overview over current trends and developments. Mark will present a programme called "Came The Loop Before The Sample" which will include films chosen "to demonstrate how the invention of the sampler has led to the partial downfall of popular music by allowing laziness and unoriginal creativity".  As well as that Mark will be playing some records on the Friday night for a couple of hours at a bar called "Brulot".  Click here for more information on what Mark will be showing and judging...

Just in - Mark says he had a great time in Oberhausen and the screenings went really well.

MORE OUTSIDER ART

A journalist contacted me recently regarding an article she was writing on Outsider Art for the Sunday Times Culture section. She was particularly keen to find out about Jarvis' interest and involvement. I don't know how successful she was in getting anything out of Jarvis as it
coincided with the start of Pulp recording, but I'm sure it'd be an interesting article regardless. Due to appear on the 30 April. 
As mentioned last year on this page, Jarvis is on the panel of judges for the Becks Futures Exhibition at the ICA, London. The awards showcase Britain's best young contemporary artists, it's a new prize especially for younger artists, with a special film and video prize. The exhibition is on from March 17 - May 17, and the awards ceremony takes place on April 18.
NME quote of the day: "[Jarvis'] band mate, bassist Mark Webber, also hosts a regular club at the [ICA] called 'Little Stabs Of Happiness' which often features Jarvis as a DJ".....three mistakes in one sentence, not bad going!!!!
XFM DJ's Jarvis and Steve guested as DJ's on XFM today, 6 March, on 'London Express', where they were supposed to play "the best underground dance music". They managed to successfully fuse old German electronica with Nirvana, The Fall, Elastica, Happy Mondays and the All Seeing I, plus lots of French stuff...thanks to Pulp Person Toby Langley for that.
Pulp on TV

UK Play, Monday 13th March, 12:30pm (repeated at 8pm and 3am) - Pulp's best live performances.

M2, Saturday 11th March, 1pm - Directors Cut: Hammer & Tongs talk about videos they made for Bentley Rhythm Ace and Pulp.
Interior Worlds: The Year 2000

This months' World Of Interiors magazine comes with a special supplement full of pieces written by the current art world elite (and Jarvis) on what has inspired them. Jarvis contributed three articles, one of which, The Rivers Porter and Don, was featured in The Guardian recently. The other two describe Conisbrough Viaduct and The Hole In The Road, Sheffield. All three articles are imbued with Jarvis' sense of the ordinary as extraordinary, and are quite revealing, not to mention well written and interesting. Photocopies available with A4 sae.
Nick in the News

An interview Nick did last September about being a parent in the crazy world of Rock was aired on Monday 7th Feb at 11.15pm on Steve Lamacq's Radio 1 show. Also featured were Billy Bragg, Mel B, Ian Brodie and some bloke from Delakota (?) - as if we care!!! Nick's contribution was very short - click here to read his wise words on the subject of parenthood.

MARK ENTERS THE WHITNEY MUSEUM

Mark is currently working as a guest curator for the film and video department of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He has been asked to advise on the film programmes for the forthcoming American Century Part 2 (1950 - 2000) exhibition that opens to the public on Monday 27th September 1999 and runs through to February 2000. It's a huge show covering all aspects of American art and culture over the last 50 years. Each month the Film & Video Gallery will be dedicated the one particular decade. Mark is involved with the film programmes  for the 50s, 60s and 70s which will run from October through December. It will soon be possible to take a virtual tour of the exhibition via the Whitney website and a link to that page will miraculously appear here when the site goes online. And here it is!  Mark wrote the peices on Videotape Study no. 3 by Jud Yalkut, Ken Jacobs' Little Stabs At Happiness, and Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures. They are informative &  interesting so make sure you check them out.

MTV2: Pulp Choose; Monday 17th January, 7pm-8pm.

Jarvis and Candida appeared on MTV2 yesterday (it may have been a repeat), selecting their favourite videos. Amongst others, they showed Disco 2000, Daft Punk - Da Funk, Blondie - Rapture, Underworld - Born Slippy; Bjork - Oh So Quiet; Devo - Satisfaction, and The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds. Fantastic.
The Big Issue In the Jan 10 -16 issue of the 'Issue, there's a feature called "Pop Goes 2000 - Britain's best writers on music's biggest names".  This includes a piece on Pulp, or rather, Jarvis, written by Gordon Burn, whose previous literary claim to fame is a biography of Fred and Rosemary West called "Happy Like Murderers". Hmm. Anyway, if anyone wants a copy, send me a sae.
Little Stabs at Happiness news

There was a "minor Stabs" the weekend of Saturday January 15th - no flyers or any big promotion.  Mark suggested that instead of a proper one they just play some quiet music in the bar while people have a drink. The feature (Silent Running, USA, 1968) will be shown in the cinema after 11pm, and the short films listed on the ICA site will be shown next month with the Parallax View.

More exciting is the news that Little Stabs at Happiness is on the move again, taking it's special brand of entertainment to Bologna, Italy on January 29th. The club where it will be held is called Link, which I am told is a kind of avant garde music club complex (a bit like the ICA).

Mark reports: "Bologna was great. The club was a disaster though, people watched the films and then just left and no one danced (except me). Our excuse is that there was so much going on in the building such as the very popular asian/English dj Pathaan from Anoka that people just dispersed. Also, since we were added so late we were on hardly any of the publicity and people didn't come to see us, nor were able to understand us. The venue was great though, i want one for myself. And the city and food were beautiful".