As self-evident from the title Stephen Drennan’s little book is a collection of descriptions of charity shop finds from around Brighton and Hove. The entries are beautifully written matched with luscious monochrome illustrations by Erica Smith (of GirlFrenzy).
The dinky book is a simple concept executed with heaps of style and it manages to make an eloquent consumerist statement about the present, whilst taking an affectionate stroll through the consumerist foibles of the past.
Stephen’s Little Book of Charity Shopping
ISBN 0952072327
Stephen’s second Little Book of Charity Shopping
ISBN 0952072335
Priced £1 each, available from :
PO BOX 2927
Brighton,
BN1 3SX, UK
Calibre auto recording
Unearthed in Blatchington Road’s Red Cross shop, on the final day of April ’98, this one- sided seven brought back memories of Catholic boy gangster Pinkie and the young-and-in-love waitress Rose, in the cinema adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock. Recorded in a make-your-own booth, perhaps on one of my hometown’s piers, what can actually be heard of My Sweet Lorraine through the numerous skips and scuffs is rendered with genuine zest by…well, who knows? Such is the allure of record booth discs – the total lack of raised expectations, of prejudices for or against artists, of belief in clever advertising and music weekly hype. These are (extra-) ordinary folk, day trippers or longer-stay holiday makers enjoying themselves, momentary stars creating a vinyl souvenir, with background passers-by and shrieking kids adding flavour. I’ve since discovered a second auto recording, and would like to find enough of these audio snapshots to release a C90 compilation – the aural equivalent of Dick Jewell’s handsome volume of found photo booth portraits.