running a kickstarter in a time of plague and panic

So a while back I had an idea, which was a GOOD idea.

Which was to bring together some of the people who fashioned the UK music press into the thing it was in the 70s & 80s, and talk about what they were responding to, what they had in mind, and how they went about this. Their ideals and utopias; the feel of the scene, the practicalities of making it happen.

And a little over a year ago, I achieved step one: a two-day conference at Birkbeck in Central London, at which some 30-odd of these characters did just this, to discuss (among other things) the links between the music trade press and the underground press, the inherited politics, explicit and implicit, the thrust of the rhetorics deployed — and where else people were trying to take things. I had the great Val Wilmer talk about covering free jazz at the Melody Maker and elsewhere in the 60s, and being a conduit for profoundly radical black politics (“Black politics,” as she will always insist on writing it). Penny Reel discussed being a working-class writer in a world that was always more middle class than it let on; and being an advocate of black musics — especially ska and reggae — in a context which reserved space and argumentative focus for rock (or later punk). Countering what he called the “white bromantic mythology” of the previous day’s self-celebration, Paul Gilroy talked about the how the shared physical spaces at clubs and shows and festivals created a genuine cross-racial political sense of togetherness, a deep politics of significant consequence. And so on — as is generally the case at such events, much more was touched on and skated over than properly talked out.

And so I moved on to part two of the project, which would be a book that collected some of the discussions from the conference, with additional essays that pushed deeper into some of the topics. I found an interested publisher — Strange Attractor — and the legendary Savage Pencil was keen to provide suitable illustrations (as Edwin Pouncey he had contributed to one of the panels, but he far prefers art to talking or writing). In a world where far too many people are expected to write for no recompense, I was determined that everyone involved would be paid: the only way I could think to do this was to run a kickstarter, a subscription projection which gathered a fund upfront.

And so I put one together, liaising with the various writers who were interested. An excellent list: some well known, others less so — all (to me) important voices who deserved to be heard and would have fascinating things to say.

I planned the kickstarter to run a year after the conference. (I have other work, and all the time I’ve put into this — which is quite a lot now — has been unpaid…) So ideally it would have run from mid-May to mid-June. But there was a lot to get think about and get ready, and the deadline slipped a little. Rather than clash with Brexit week — which I knew would be quite noisy — I decided on Monday 27 June to start a 30-day pitch.

And meanwhile the world came apart. Relentlessly dreadful news from Europe, America and — after Jo Cox’s murder — the UK also. Deep social divisions — long present, long papered over, increasingly inadequately — emerged with increasing, horrible force. War and rumours of war, day after day after day. Less and less holding together to protect against the worst of what seemed to be being let loose everywhere: colleagues arguing, families torn apart, communities rooted in trust unable to find where trust is anymore located…

I’m not by nature a pessimist: or perhaps more accurately, I dislike myself most when pessimistic. I’m stubborn and I’m cautious. I don’t give up on things easily, even when I choose not to make a big noise fighting for them. This is a project that asks people to think about the past and the future at a time when the present is clearly on fire: and that’s a very tough ask. No one has said (to me directly, I mean ) that it’s a mere frivolous distraction at such a moment: friends have been supportive, insisting there’s value in a relief from the torrent of everything ruthlessly negative and frightening. And I’ve clung to that reading too: that this is a (yes, small) re-excavation of something valuable long ago, something that people I admired committed to, people of very different perspectives and backgrounds coming together to create a space for themselves and others that stood against the rest of that world at that time. Small but not quite private. This was a space that once resonated widely; that was a strength and an escape route and a communal node of conversation and encounter, plenty of flirting, indeed plenty of fighting, but centred on a half-spoken ideal that is, I believed and believe, worth celebrating, re-exploring, talking out, reigniting. Not the beacon itself, but maybe a finger pointing somewhere towards the beacon, or several fingers…

See what you think, ilxors. The kickstarter is here and has a few days left to run (BUT NOT MANY!): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/253164519/a-hidden-landscape-once-a-week-an-anthology

relevant twitter account: @HiddenLandsc8pe
relevant facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HiddenLandscape/

bcz my people are these days scattered i guess

chronicles of unjust frustration:

i: LIKES or FAVES that aren't SHARES
ii: SHARES that aren't yet PLEDGES

any signal boost is good and i am grateful! but this project will be so TERRIFIC if if happens…

Possibly a few of those people are weighing up which donation tier they can afford? That fanzine package is v attractive to me but I'm prob gonna dither right up to the deadline (& quite prob will just pledge the book amount), I imagine others will do the same. There does seem to be an upsurge right at the end of the average crowdfunding campaign...

i know, i am just venting foolishly tbh

A freaky trigger report on the conference which turns into a long thread discussion about various aspects of 70s and 80s rockwrite (including, towards the end, frank kogan's enthusiastic discovery of paul morley, and matters arising…

Added to The Freelance Mentalists post, along w this thread---haven't been on twitter yet today, but please continue adding links there (and maybe email), thanks.

(via lively discussion of Kind of Blue in xpost freakytrigger comments, slipped you into Rolling Jazz)

haha cool :)

“To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize ‘how it really was’. It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger… The only writer of history with the gift of setting alight the sparks of hope in the past, is the one who is convinced of this: that not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious.” <-- w.benjamin

"Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment that was known/As Camelot" <-- lerner/loewe

also this was one of my favourite books as a kid (abt sustaining a space for good when everything has turn to stupid chaos war and blood):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b7/Lantern_Bearers_cover.jpg/220px-Lantern_Bearers_cover.jpg

chronicles of internet beef: https://vimeo.com/69155

the coyote is me

three related pieces by me:
1: http://dubdobdee.co.uk/2015/06/02/whalers-on-the-moon-curious-despatches-from-an-old-dream/
2: http://dubdobdee.co.uk/2016/07/10/re-litigating-the-70s-what-we-wanted-what-went-right-what-went-wrong-where-do-we-go-from-here/
3: http://dubdobdee.co.uk/2016/07/25/dont-let-it-be-forgotthat-once-there-was-a-spot/

third is a piece i tried unsuccessfully to place variously in the last few days, to get actual print interest in the kickstarter -- somewhat confusingly topped and tailed by gloomy but oblique rumination on why all projects ultimately fail

anyway, today is the second-last day -- only 27 hours now!

feeling faintly hmmm abt piggybacking various music mag tweets to promote this UNTIL it struck me that i was worried abt the feelings of rival ad-promo feeds

(w/faint possibility the actual human running them may be interested, after all)

yesterday evening was busy and exciting! today has been sluggish so far (with nice surprises now and then)

get Ned and J0|-|N D to tweet links to it. (Not retweets, original tweets to their own accounts). and/or Facebook link posts.

lol naturally the month i picked to launch is the first month since IRL creation that new picked to take OFF the internet

he'll make an exception for you! it'll make waves!!

xp

NED i mean, not new -- his absence must have caused that to auto-correct

REMINDER: for anyone on the us west coast that this kickstarter closes at 4.26pm BST tomorrow, which is like 8.26am PST i think? anyway breakfast time unless you rise super-early!

so if you're planning to pledge, set yr alarm -- or maybe do it tonight!

it's here, for convenience: http://bit.ly/HiddenLandscape

FINAL PUSH (less than six hours) and then I'm out of yr hair :D

all those ppl hanging fire till the last moment, now's yr time to shine

this is why some people watch sport isn't it? 93% funded w/two and half hours to go

omg

YASSSS

ok it is now the following morning and i have an ANTHOLOGY to edit apparently

anyway many thanks and many apologies in all the relevant directions

(quick shout-out to thread-title: i was pretty much certain for most of the last three weeks that this ordinarily somewhat fundable project was not going to prosper in this month of all months so i am even more delighted to have bucked my own pessimism, and even more grateful to ppl for supporting it, when other more important matters were seriously looming)

get to editing! i'm watching my mailbox