Night of the living Dead

Well hello there blog mates. It's been a while but the bear is back. And what news does the orsine one have for y'all. 
Well last Saturday night he went up to Central London, to an unprepossessing upstairs room at The Perseverence pub in Marylebone, where along with perhaps 40 other people, he and his old trip-mate Sir John of Warren wigged out big-time to a band called the Cosmic Charlies. 
Wot? Never heard of them? Well. neither had the bear until recommended by said JW and Agg. So what are these galactic geezers all about?
Well as befits their name, perhaps, they are a Grateful Dead tribute band. 
So, any readers who are not old enough to remember when horses were invented, might be wondering; who is Grateful Dead. 
Well kids, they were a band of San Francisco hippies who spent much of the 1960s and 70s living on an entirely different planet to the rest of humanity. Occasionally popping into 'our world' to play open ended hallucinogen-fired gigs that were known to last for several hours at a stretch. 
But since their leader Jerry Garcia shuffled off his 'mortal', several thousand tie-dyed t-shirts ago, 'ver Dead' are no longer a live concern. So if you want the visceral Dead experience it is up to tribute troopers such as the CCs to purvey it for you. 
The bear admits that initially he was wary about attending this event, because although he had occasionally thrilled to the delights of tracks such as Casey Jones, Turn on Your Love Light and Dark Star, he had never been the greatest fan of the Dead. In short he could take 'em or leave 'em.
So it is a tribute to the tributers themselves that by the end of the evening the bear was a firm fan of Les Charlies.
So what did they do right?
Everything, that's what.
Right from the start it was clear that these five chaps, as scruffy and low-profile a bunch of blokes as you could ever wish to see, were right on the ball and were well versed in every psychedelic, acid-soaked note and nuance necessary to purvey the ultimate Dead experience.
Just like the Dead themselves they were seasoned and excellent musicians who, despite appearing at times as if they were all ploughing their own distinct and apparently unco-ordinated, loose-limbed, furrow, managed to pull together strands from such disparate sources as the blues, Country, rock and even soul, and weave them into a loose strung but tough as spider- silk web of ultimate faroutness, strewn with time changes, discords and surprises (the bear was particularly taken and surprised by their boundary bustin' version of Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing in the Street). 
The playing from all (sorry can't name check everyone as I don't know all the band members) concerned was fluid and at times utterly transcendant. Lead guitarist, vocalist and Jerry Garcia surrogate Brian Keneally effortlessly firing off mellifluous peals of chiming guitar work which dipped 'n' dived soared and stuttered around solid lolloping bass, chunky piano and crisp batterie.
At times they rocked like rocking was going out of fashion, elsewhere they were variously, tender, melancholy and trip-roaringly raucous. 
Not knowing the Dead's back-catalogue all that well I can't say what tracks were played, but what I can say is every, stretched-out, jammed-up, improvised minute was superb.
In short it was a perfect shambles.  
Jerry would be proud. 
So if you're a fan of psychedelia and you get a chance to see this band, take it. They are well worth seven of your British pounds. Who knows you might even get a 'contact high'.

World of Streetcomber - #3 the mighty Kenwood Chef

What we have in WOS this week is a Kenwood Chef A701. This,as all kitchen buffs will know, is the creme de la creme of the mixer world. Forget the Kitchenaid, forget the Sunbeam, forget the Moulinex; the Kenwood is where it's at. Well having said that it's really the older ones made between 1950 and the mid 70s - the 700, 701 and 901 series-that are the desirable models. These were built before the idea of planned obsolesence was developed and so were overengineered to the nth degree making them pretty much indestructable.And thus they are sought after and almost immortal .

So why is this in WOS, you are asking. Surely it couldn't have been streetcombed? 
But you would be wrong mon copain de cuisine.Because it was. And even more amazingly, you might be staggered to know, it was found with a twin.Yes,that's right;  two Kenwood Chefs sitting in the middle of a pavement in the municipal district of Tooting. 
Obviously they had been fly tipped by some unscrupulous house clearer who had no idea how truly versatile and long lived they are. Luckily I came across them before any sharp suited modernist who might have despatched them to a dark and oily fate in a landfill site, and having brought them home to the stately house of bear,I got them up and running in no time.And since then they have made many cakes, batters and, thanks to the wonder of the dough hook, breads and chapatis.Long live the Kenwood!

Bear and the @rt of rafting

Ahoy there blogmates! This week Homepride man, his sons Homey and Maloney and their little pal Piglet decided to take a rafting holiday on Tooting Common pond. 
When I saw them off they were cruising happily on their way to the bird sanctuary in the middle of the lake. But then, disaster! The wind turned sou' westerly and blew them off course into a remote and inaccessible part of the lake. There they were grounded, on a spit of land that I could not reach. Imagine my agony knowing that my mates were so near and yet so far. In need of help that I could not give them.
The last time I looked, about three days later, there was no sign of Homepride man or piglet or Maloney, but Homey was looking fat and healthy. Could it be dear reader, no don't think it....could it be that in his delirium and distress Homey had killed and eaten his shipmates? Or could it be that the three matelots had staggered off in search of help and are now wandering blind and exposed around the mud-slathed middens of the Common, searching in vain for a friendly face or someone who at least speaks their language - Finnish. 

We may never know. All I can wish for is that one day I will open my kitchen cupboard doors and there will be their smiling, flour and dirt splattered faces beaming up at me and asking 'When can we go again?'.And I shall wish reader, I shall wish with all my heart.

Due to secret public demand (i.e. nobody has asked for it but I know that secretly they want to see more) I am posting further examples of bear art.Again all these things were 'installed' on Tooting Common. 
The bags contain figures of Homepride man (which pic 1 shows was left on the floor of a glade)and Wallace of Aardman animation fame (which pic 2 shows was hung from
a tree). As we can see from the photos they were each holding a banner stating their predicament.

There is also an old Swiss bell telephone that was nailed to a tree (later smashed to pieces by some Swissophobe) and a Mickey Mouse novelty number, which was left at the side of a popular jogging path with a banner urging the 'citizens' to 'keep on rollin''.

The log with the mirror inserted was hung from a leaf shrouded branch where it twirled with the wind and flashed occasionally as the sun reflected off the mirror (so attracting the inquisitive mind, who later took it home with them).The wood bore the message 'there you are' because if you were looking into it you were,indeed, 'there'. 
I nailed several clocks to several trees - each of the clocks bore a different label identifying them - one was Todd, one was Obama, one was Scott and another one was Randy - each label carried a personal message from the bear. 
Todd, who was screwed to a Silver Birch - remained in position for well over a year - something of a record for bear@rt and Obama was later smuggled into Tate Modern where he was slipped into one of the installations (the one with all the beds and books).

Bear art

Over the past couple of years the Bear has been leaving, or 'installing' if you will, random objects on Tooting Common and other places in London. 
Sometimes as you will see from the picture it's a little man with a message. At other times, things - clocks, old telephones, wooden penguins, paintings, etc have been attached to trees and other art 'stations'. The aim of Bear @rt is to take people by surprise by leaving something that causes them to look twice. The intention is that it will amuse (or irritate, if they're so uptight that they can't take a joke) people and maybe inspire them to install some art of their own in a public space.

Bear becomes priest

Hi everybody. Just to let you all know that today I was officially ordained as a Dude-ist priest - a representative of The Church of the Latter Day Dude (if you're confused ref The Coen Brothers' The Big Liebowski or enter Dudeism in Google). So if any of you want any advice about slackerism or wish to get married in 'certain US states -and other parts of the world', I'm your man. Remember the Dude's code 'Take it easy. Do nothing'.

World of Streetcomber #2

Oi, who nicked my Lucida font?Don't like this one as much but seems that choice has been limited now to six or seven. Boo. Not happy. 
Anyway, more from the Streetcomber archives. I recently found this nifty little tiled table ( made in Denmark so could be G-Plan style fans) lingering in a lonely and lost fashion at the entrance to an industrial estate in Tooting. So whisked it up and brought it home. It has now become a beast of burden (as is the fate of all tables) and supports our Cornish pottery lamp through thick and thin. What a team they are.

So there you go freegans, keep 'em peeled and who knows what you might find. 
By the way. That figure in the mirror? That's my evil twin. He must never be released from the mirror. Never. Do you understand? NEVER!