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June 19th - 21st

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aTe-Robert La Roche ist meine Reise, die Flamme die in mir brennt. Es ist das Leben, das die aspekte jedes Einzelnen prägt. Momente die unsere sichtweise verändern spiegeln sich in Formen wieder, die wir aus Erlebnissen ableiten. daraus entstandene Formen vermögen Geschichten zu erzählen und können träger einer Robert La Roche Brille in neuen kontext setzen. Er funktioniert sowohl als akteur, als auch als Bühne. Ein neues Bewusstsein wird geschaffen, das mit voll-kommenem selbstverständnis und -bewusstsein in die aussenwelt getragen wird.

die neue kollektion erweckt in mir große Gefühle. ich fühle die wunderbar geschwungenen Linien. die durchgängigkeit des konzepts ist überzeugend stim-mig. Man kann die hochwertigkeit stärker als je zuvor spüren.

Robert La Roche hat sich gefunden und ist erwachsener geworden. die Erfahrung findet sich in den details wieder, die in mühevoller arbeit in die Brillen einge-arbeitet werden. sie ver leihen der kollektion einen mondänen, jedoch bewusst zurück haltenden touch, den Robert La Roche träger so sehr schätzen. indi vi-duelle und stilsichere Formengebung gepaart mit Materialien die den Fingerspitzen schmeicheln. Eine vielseitige Farbenwelt mit kombinierten tönen gibt dem programm einen vollendeten charakter. das herz dieser Welt schlägt in diesen Fassungen. in meiner heimat, hier in Österreich, sowie in Japan wird ihnen der Lebens impuls in mühevoller kleinproduktion ein -gehaucht.

Michael pachleitner, Geschäftsführer

Moments that change our view are mirrored in shapes that we derive from experiences we have had. And the shapes thus evolved have stories to tell and will place the wearers of Robert La Roche glasses in a new context. And that makes them function simultaneously as the actors and as the stage. A new awareness is being created fully in tune with the bearer and worn with complete matter-of-factness and self-confidence to the outside world.

The new collection brings out great sentiments. I can sense the wonderfully curved lines. The consistency of the concept behind it is convincingly coherent. You can now feel the superior quality even more strongly than before.

It is as though Robert La Roche has found itself, has grown up. It has reached a maturity that can be seen from each detail that has been incorporated into the glasses with the utmost care. And it is this love of detail that lends the collection a touch of the mundane while discretely signalling a subtle understatement - a reservation so highly esteemed by lovers of Robert La Roche glasses. A most individual and stylish shape, coupled with materials that flatter the sense of touch. A diverse world of colours and shades rounds off the perfect character of the range. One can feel the pulse of the world in these frames. It is in my own country, Austria, and in Japan where new life has been breathed into them in the course of a lengthy small-scale production.

Michael pachleitner, cEo

prefaceRobert La Roche is my journey. It is the flame that burns inside. It is life which coins the aspects of each of us.

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Foggy London kann ja so nebelfrei sein wie man sich das nur vorstellen kann. Gorillas aus dem nebel in der hippen Metropole an der dirty themse sozusagen. in diesem Fall waren wir die tiere, die bei sonnenschein in Graz einen Jet bestiegen um über den mittelgroßen teich zur verdammt großen insel rüber zufliegen. Wie üblich befinden wir um 07:00 bereits hoch in der Luft, damit wir den tag auch noch schön ausnützen können. das programm ist schließlich dicht gedrängt. auch das Ziel des Wochenendtrips haben wir völlig unver-nebelt vor augen. teambuilding als ob es kein Morgen gäbe. kultureller austausch, Gespräche mit optikern, Feedback über unsere arbeit einholen und British connections knüpfen. Und ein punkt war da noch... wenn das Licht stimmt... einfach abdrücken. in London gibts ja so viele extravagante Menschen, da hat man praktisch immer was vor der Linse. dem Londoner hipster oder hipsterin einfach noch schnell eine schicke Robert La Roche Brille aufsetzen, Formular ausfüllen lassen, damit die kompletten Bildrechte an uns abge-treten werden und dann fett in szene setzen. damit machen wir dann ein Buch. Eigentlich sogar dieses hier, welches du gerade liest. Wie gesagt Gruppen-dynamik war ja ein grosser punkt. dazu nehmen wir uns eine familiäre absteige in kings cross und dazu Random Room Rumble, also bei mir zumindest. der name der hotels trifft unsere corporate culture direkt ins herz. Elegantes retrotrash interieur im Luxus- kontext mit schelmischer Leichtigkeit inszeniert, die einen sofort fesselt. kurze Lagebesprechung im innen-hof des Rough Luxe hotels. Wir treffen auf unsere Freunde aus der schweiz und italien. aufteilung in Gruppen, teambuilding, ein paar schmähs und gleich gehts wieder runter in die tube. Von Elephant & castle in den picadilly circus, durch die Bond street in die White chapel. Von camden town in die White city. du hältst die dokumentation dieser drei tage in händen; wir haben fast ganz London durchforstet, shops er-kundet, kultur ein geatmet, kulinarische hochgenüsse erlebt und dazu auch noch viel spaß miteinander gehabt.

As usual, we are already high up in the air by 7 am so that we can make the best use of the day. After all, our programme is chock a block. The objective of our weekend trip is clear before our very eyes. To explore london as much as possible, observe the people and absorb the special vibes as if there were no tomorrow. Cultural exchange, talks with opticians, feedback concerning our working activities, establishing and nurturing british connections. And one more thing... when the light is right... press the button. There are so many extravagant people in London that you have almost always something worthwhile before the lense. Simply add fancy Robert La Roche glasses to the outfit of the london hipsters, get them to fill in a form through which they cede all photo rights to us, and then let’s play to the gallery. Or make a book out of it. In fact, this one here, the one you are looking at. Group dynamics was a major point. Simply choose a cheap little hotel in Kings Cross and a random room rumble, at least in my case. The name of the hotel strikes at the heart of our corporate culture. Elegant retrotrash interieur in a luxury context, mise-en scène with spirited ease that leaves you spell-bound. A short analysis of the situation in the courtyard of the Rough Luxe Hotel. Meeting up with our friends from Switzerland and Italy. A few jokes, and back down onto the underground. We start from Elephant & Castle, pass by Piccadilly Circus and Bond Street before end-ing up in Whitechapel. Further, from Camden Town to White City. What you are holding in your hands is no less than the entire documentation of our three days in London. We almost did a concise version of the a to z, scrolling through shops, full cultural immersion, enjoying culinary highlights and—to top it all—have a lot of fun together.

introductionFoggy London can be freer from fog and clearer than you can possibly imagine. Gorillas away from the fog in a hip metropolis by the dirty thames so to speak. In our case, we were the animals, boarding our jet in graz in sunny weather in order to cross over the channel and reach our destination, the damn big island.

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this is exactly what starting the day off ought to look like: fantastic sunrise at graz airport. an atmosphere that has to be captured forever.

so muss ein start in den tag aussehen. traumhafter sonnenaufgang am grazer flughafen. so eine stimmung muss festgehalten werden.

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security check: compared to the graz customs officials, scotland yard is an infant’s birthday party.

security check: scotland yard ist gegen die grazer zöllner ein mädchen-kindergeburtstag

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heathrow’s trolley paradise. full steam ahead to the exit! fuck, where’s my right back wheel?

das trolley paradise in heathrow. volle schubkraft richtung exit! shit, wo ist mein rechter hinterreifen?

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Every race, colour, nation and religion on earth. London can lay claim to being the most diverse city ever. People here don‘t know their own

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neighbours, and they‘re like that their whole life. When I meet English people, which is not very often round here, my experience is that they are lost,

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nreally miserable people, sometimes with emotional problems. They don‘t know how to speak to you. They are surprised you are open and nice to them.

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London is uncharted territory. Never have so many different kinds of people tried living together in the same place before. What some people see as

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kings cross tube station. sieht verdammt vertrauenswürdig aus die 100-jährige decken-stahlkontruktion.

kings cross tube station. looks pretty damn solid, the 100-year-old iron structure at the ceiling.

the great experiment of multiculturalism will triumph or fail here. New York and Toronto would contest the cosmopolitan crown, but London‘s case is

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nstrong. According to the last census, in 2001, 30% of London residents had been born outside England - that‘s 2.2 million people, to which we can

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add the unknown tens of thousands who didn‘t complete a census form. And even this total takes no account of the contribution of the city‘s second-

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and third-generation immigrants, many of whom have inherited the traditions of their parents and grandparents. Throughout the 1990s, Greater

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London was the fastest growing part of the UK - and yet the white population in that time actually fell. Altogether, more than 300 languages are

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spoken by the people of London, and the city has at least 50 non-indigenous communities with populations of 10,000 or more. Virtually every race,

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nation, culture and religion in the world can claim at least a handful of Londoners. Yet life in the capital is hardly one great coffee-coloured carnival.

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Few lofty social ideals can be observed in Victoria station at 8am. Indeed, as this girl remarked, Londoners are notable for their lack of warmth. Their

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blau ist halt einfach trés chique.

londoner cops im partner-look auf der suche nach etwas essbarem.

blue – is trés chique, isn’t it?

bobbies on the beat looking for the ultimate lunch hot spot.

city is a place of business; they have the fewest public holidays in Europe and work by far the longest hours. But London‘s decade of prosperity has

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pulled in hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world and started a great convection current within the UK, sucking youth and energy in

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from the provinces and leaking spent fortysomethings back out into the countryside. On the whole, people come to London for the money. But money

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is not why they stay. Language is one reason; fluency in English is a great gift for one‘s children. Then there are the many refugees, who arrive

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expecting to return home, but find, over time, that home has come with them. „People don‘t treat you as a foreigner, but you feel it yourself,“ said one

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Somali man of his first trip back after 15 years in London. „You see things like spiders and snakes that used to be normal, but when you go back you

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are scared. You become westernised, although you don‘t realise it.“ But there is another, more surprising reason why people make their homes in

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London: Londoners themselves. Bilsen, a 40-year-old Turkish woman, couldn‘t understand the frosty atmosphere when she first arrived. „When you‘re

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oh the mud splattered victimshave to pay out all along the ancient highwaytorn between half truth and victimisationFighting back with counter attacks

it’s when that rough God goes ridingWhen the rough God goes glidingand then rough God goes ridingRiding on in

on the underground, people don‘t talk,“ she explained with horror. „They don‘t even make eye contact.“ Quickly, however, the benefits of being left

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alone began to become apparent. „Like the English say, ‚Mind your own business‘,“ Bilsen remarked with approval. In fact, London‘s haughty

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denizens have been waiting for their new neighbours for centuries. This is because of one traditional feature of English life: not something it offers,

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but something it lacks. It is the great need which has left every Londoner stickyfingered for life. It is food. New immigrants often find that food is the

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first thing they miss from back home. Thus a parade of good restaurants - usually on high streets, usually with patriotic signage - is the focus around

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which most new communities begin to express themselves. This is true all over the world, but the British seem to have a unique affinity for foreign

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food of every kind - so much so that, like tea, they quickly adopt it as their own. The ersatz exoticism of a chicken tikka masala is unmistakably

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English, and the ubiquitous doner column, a respectable dinner in Istanbul reduced to little more than binge fuel in London, now scarcely registers

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as foreign. Londoners‘ enthusiasm for foreign food creates thousands of jobs for immigrants and makes the establishment of new communities that

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the devil wears prada but the people wear £5 pimsoles. get your pimsoles and jog on!

der teufel trägt vielleicht prada, aber das fußvolk trägt £5 schlapfen. hol dir schnell welche!

much easier. Every big city in the world has its Chinatown, but in London, one can dine on food from more than 70 different countries - and then buy

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the ingredients to make it all again at home. (There are many north Africans in France, but have you ever tried finding coriander in a Carrefour?)

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There is a good reason for all this. Other European nations have their own strong culinary traditions; the British don‘t. We have our own simple

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recipes, of course, but few people these days care to make them. Even our words for places to eat - restaurant and cafe - had to be borrowed from

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French in the 19th century. In fact, the mongrel English, fissured with post-imperial self-doubt, neither American nor fully European - nor even

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barefooted down there in the underground? no problem at all in london! and there is a shoe collection on the overhead cables of the underground stations.

barfuss im untergrund? in london kein problem.schuhcollection auf der oberleitung vor der tube station.

Welsh, Irish or Scots - have a rather thin national identity all round. We are proud of our country, but we can‘t remember why. In Londoners - who

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seldom have a word of praise for the great city of their birth - this is especially pronounced. The private English also seem less susceptible to big

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ideas. Our national religion is perhaps the weakest in the world, and in the 2001 census almost 16% of Londoners said they had „no religion“ at all

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zum frühstück gibts natürlich kraftnahrung für alle. dazu empfiehlt die küche heute marmite, ein wunderbar duftendes malzextrakt, das man sich aufs brot streichen kann.

for breakfast, of course, there is a power food for all. the recommendation for today is marmite, a strikingly flavoured malt extract spread.

- more than all the Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists put together. Londoners resent immigrants less than they might, in short, because they have

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so few values left to be threatened. Some, like the Queen in her Christmas message, call this tolerance. I‘m not so sure. Having asked everyone I met

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in the course of this investigation how they got along with their „English“ neighbours, I have few problems to report. The picture that emerges is of a

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00broadly tolerant city, but toleration is about as far as it goes. Indifference might be a better description. The days when a man in a turban could stop

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00traffic are behind us, but the days when the average Londoner knows why he wears it are yet to come. And we will not get there if we forget that

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Uthousands of Londoners persecuted immigrants enthusiastically throughout the 20th century. Jews and Germans were early targets, followed by

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at the tube stations, some of them in the open, angelo has to take out his sun shades. it’s all too understandable, against this dazzling glare.

in den nach oben offenen stationen muss angelo gleich seine sonnenbrille rausholen. bei dem grellen licht verständlich.

Afro-Caribbeans, whose homes were besieged and petrol-bombed by white mobs throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s. And then we come to the

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wonderful vegetables, all arranged by colour. or have i mixed up my holiday photos from france by mistake? and who is this nice old gentleman?

toll farblich sortiertes gemüse. oder sind das jetzt doch meine urlaubsfotos aus frankreich? und wer ist jetzt der nette alte herr?

skinheads and paki-bashers, many of whom now call themselves the BNP - a party that is still represented on Barking and Dagenham council today.

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So when hostility is the usual alternative, perhaps indifference is not such a bad thing. Taxi-drivers do not become multiculturalists overnight, just as

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migrants do not magically turn into Englishmen at baggage reclaim. Indeed, almost every naturalised immigrant I met referred quite comfortably to

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native Londoners of all races as „English people“. White liberals would throw up their hands at this; white nationalists would heartily approve. This

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reveals the insidiousness of the Tebbit test, which insinuates that a person‘s sporting allegiance betrays their national allegiance. Every person I

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prosciutto crudo. supplied by the camorra since there happened to be some space left on the lorry, right next to the cocaine.

prosciutto crudo. von der camorra mitgeliefert, da im lkw neben dem koks noch platz war.

asked, when forced to choose, said they would prefer their country of birth to win against England in the World Cup final, but only just. One

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the fellow restaurant. i suppose that what we had came under nouvelle cuisine. that is, you take good old english food and serve it in a totally stylish way.

the fellow restaurant. ich glaube das war nouvelle cuisine. also das ist, wenn man ur-englische speisen total stylish anrichtet oder so.

Portuguese man I spoke to said he was very upset when England and Portugal were drawn against each other in Euro 2004 because then he knew one

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of his teams would be knocked out. The real lesson here is that you cannot erase a person‘s attachment to their country of birth, but nor should you

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try. This, combined with the availability of work, is the source of London‘s great appeal. People do not come here to become English, in the way that

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they go to New York to become Americans. People come to London to be themselves - their children and grandchildren can be English if they want.

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Londoners don‘t tolerate our city‘s diversity so much as ignore it. And where there is ignorance, intolerance can quickly be fomented. In fact, this

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happens all the time. One of the most unpleasant facts that arose from this investigation was that every community had a story of media

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misrepresentation to tell. Lurid falsehoods, it seems, are still the best way of getting Londoners to take any interest in the qat-chewing, dog-eating,

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chinatown is very dangerous. i almost got arrested there as a dealer in sunshades and glasses!

chinatown ist sehr gefährlich. ich bin dort zum beispiel fast als brillendealer verhaftet worden.

drug-running family of terrorists next door. Somehow, it is only when foreigners are problematic that we want to read about them. The following

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articles are based on brief visits and should not form the basis of any new generalisations; instead, it is hoped that they will help to undermine some

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of the old ones. One principle, however, was confirmed and reconfirmed by every encounter. Vietnamese, Somalis, Congolese, Koreans, Portuguese,

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kensington. london’s very last place where you can meet londoners: and the last place, too, that does without fast food.

kensington. london‘s letzter ort wo man londoner treffen kann, und wo es kein fast food gibt.

Nigerians, Turks and Poles are really just the same as everybody else - they work hard, love their kids and move to the suburbs when they can afford

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it.

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Jafaican and Tikkiny drown out the East End‘s Cockney twang. Cor blimey. Not since Dick Van Dyke first brandished a chimney brush has the

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cockney accent been in such peril. New academic research has found that young people born within earshot of Bow Bells are more likely to speak

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two genuine londoners.

with a blend of Jamaican, Bengali, Turkish or even Brazilian than they are with the twang of the traditional East End. The fading call of the old

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cockney sparrow is due in part to immigration to an area synonymous with new arrivals to Britain, according to Sue Fox of London University‘s Queen

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Mary College. It is also caused by the post-war exodus from east London of the traditional white working-class to the lush green pastures of Basildon

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the london moral imperative seems to be “work hard, and be nice to people”. – they must have copied it from Robert La Roche!

das londoner motto: work hard, be nice to people. das müssen sie von Robert La Roche abgeschaut haben.

and Harlow. The result is the growing influence of words like nang, nuff and diss, which while they may leave the average middle-class observer

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baffled, are forming an accepted code among the new generation of real-life East Enders. It is also causing the virtual disappearance among London

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teenagers of speech patterns dating back to the Victorian period and before. The phenomenon, which has been variously described as „Jafaican“ - a

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combination of Caribbean and African - or Tikkiny, in honour of the influence of Bengali in areas such as Tower Hamlets, is more properly referred

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at camden lock you won’t find any londoners, but shrieking colours and sexy tights.

beim camden lock gibts zwar keine einheimischen, dafür grelle farben und knackige strumpfhosen

to as „multicultural London English“. „We have got young people from many different ethnic backgrounds and have found that it is this blend that

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is responsible for the change. It is a move away from the traditional cockney speech form which was previously used by working-class Londoners,“

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said Ms Fox. But far from being an affectation by white children emulating what they regard as their „cooler“ ethnic minority friends, or a response to

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the speech patterns used by popular television characters, such as Ali G, pictured above, it is a genuine linguistic trend. „There is a certain amount

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of affectation in terms of vocabulary but in terms of accent we cannot claim the media has any influence. What we are finding is an accent used

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by people of all ethnic backgrounds,“ she said. Ms Fox gathered evidence of the new accent during interviews and observation of 16- to 19-year-

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olds, many of them second or third-generation immigrants, at a further education college in east London. She believes the findings have important

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ramifications not just for the accent in the capital but for the supposed „levelling“ of traditional accents around Britain. The key change in east

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we have hidden a pair of Robert La Roche glasses somewhere in this picture, so take your time when you look at it!

wir haben für dich eine la roche brille in diesem bild versteckt. also ganz genau hinschauen!

London is the disappearance of the diphthong - a long vowel sound which changes mid pronunciation from an „a“ to an „i‘‘, for example - as in the

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cockney „faice“ for face. It has been replaced by a shorter vowel sound producing a word sounding like „fehs“. „T-glottaling“ - the swallowing of the

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„t“ sound in words such as butter is less pronounced, the research found. The dropping of „h“ - a common sign of what some have seen as a growing

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trend towards so-called „Estuary English“ was also not as prevalent as expected. Intriguingly it is boys rather than girls who are leading the change.

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The children are thought to be picking up the new way of speaking after they have left the direct influence of the family, starting at secondary school.

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Ms Fox plans to continue her research by observing the way that the youngsters‘ accents change over time as they leave school and go to work, and

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on the influence that American rap music is having on speech patterns. David Roberts of the Queen‘s English Society said the move was part of the

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general development of language and should not be regarded as inferior to other codes so long as it was readily understandable to others. „The only

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purpose of language is to convey thoughts from inside one person‘s head to another as accurately and comprehensively as possible. Language must

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be able to adapt. If it hadn‘t we would all be addressing each other as thou and thee. You cannot put constraints on the development of language.“

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And as for that other celebrated East End linguistic export - cockney rhyming slang, Ms Fox believes that it is distinctly less authentic than the new

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beim pakistani. das essen brennt echt ordentlich. ach, endlich brot in sicht... oh mein gott, sogar da ist chili drin. dafür kann man sich getränke selber mitnehmen.

having pakistani food. hot hot. not spicy hot. here comes the rescue in the form of bread. unfortunately, it is flavoured with chilli! and the drinks? - you bring them along yourself.

multicultural code. „I‘m not sure it ever was in everyday use - a lot of it came from the music hall.“

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Music in South London. South London has always been at the cutting edge of the capital‘s underground and cosmopolitan culture. It‘s tradition of

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villainy was well established by medieval times, when Southwark and the South Bank were under the authority of the Bishop of Southwark, and

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crossing to the Southside was a favourite escape route from the City Constabulary. The tavern culture grew up around the docks, from Woolwich, to

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Greenwich and Deptford; from where the ships of the British Empire sailed out to plunder the world. Merchant ships arrived from around the globe

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giving their crews the chance to take in the local hospitality. The combination of exotic cosmopolitan and bohemian was probably well established by

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it is just like we have assumed for some time now: this woman is highly dangerous.

wir haben es ja schon länger vermutet. diese frau ist wirklich gefährlich.

the time that Christopher Marlowe was murdered in a Deptford pub in the 17th Century. After the war, South London‘s boundaries were extended into

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what had previously been countryside; as a means of housing all those from the East End and Docklands whose homes had been flattened by Nazi

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bombs. In the southside inner city many of the old back to backs were replaced with housing estates of blocks up to twenty stories high, connected by

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paths and walkways. Of course, instead of being replaced eventually by proper housing as promised originally, they were used to house the long term

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unemployed, ‚problem‘ tenants, and immigrant families. Most South London Councils imposed covert racist housing policies; separating black, poor

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white, and middle-class white into different areas with all the predictable consequences for policing and local economies. The need for workers to aid

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reconstruction caused the Government to encourage people from those countries which had previously been regarded as colonies of the Empire, such

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as the West Indies, and the Indian sub continent to take up their rights to British citizenship, and move here with their families. However, one of the

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legacies of Empire is that the natives of the „home country“ have to be indoctrinated with some sort of feeling of superiority to foreigners, to justify the

How to speak Jafaican:

creps training shoesYard homeYoot child/childrenBlud/bredren/bruv matenang good (as in: „Rah, das nuff nang!“ meaning „Wow, that‘s really good!“)Ends areaLow batties low-slung trousersskets „loose“ girlsBitch girlfriendsick goodBare very, a lot (as in: „I‘m bare hungry“)Jamming hanging aroundBegging chatting rubbishchat talk back/contradict (as in: „Don‘t chat to me!“)nuff really, verydiss to disrespect

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conquest of fellow human beings and the consequent destruction of their culture. This meant that when the first families arrived in London, they soon

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realised that they had to overcome the resentment and prejudice of their fellow citizens, despite the fact that many of the new arrivals had fought to

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protect this country in the recent World War. This resulted in the Riots in Notting Hill in the 1950‘s, the area in North London, which like Brixton in

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South London, became the main concentration of the black communities until the 60‘s. The children of these immigrants were almost automatically

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condemned to the estates, along with their poor white counterparts. Ironically, it was this policy which undermined the efforts of the racist parties of

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the 70‘s. There is a unity in poverty which can defeat ignorance and defy hatred; which does not justify poverty, but gives it‘s victims a potential

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street art gallery. this basement is home to banksy and his rats.

street art gallery. in diesem keller sind banksy und seine ratten zuhause.

strength which is incomprehensible to those who have always lived amongst the comfortable. One of the main focuses of the anarchistic punk

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„movement“ of the 70‘s was through the Anti-Nazi League, which along with Ken Livingstone‘s Greater London Council (GLC), promoted many of the

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urban festivals and gigs. This gave bands who had previously only played to an „underground“ audience the chance to play to thousands. South

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London‘s pub culture also gave rise to at least two mega-pub bands; Dire Straits, and Squeeze, (in the same way that the early Seventies produced

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Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks from South London blues band Vinegar Joe, and the Sixties had produced Manfred Mann and The Rolling Stones).

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Because of the availability at the time of cheap housing on the council estates and endless rows of squatted houses from whence the owners had long

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rough (de)luxe hotel impressions.

eindrücke aus dem rough luxe hotel.

since fled to the suburbs, to escape the dereliction; areas such as New Cross and Deptford contained an intriguing mixture of culture and character.

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People attracted by the bright lights, who hadn‘t quite made it, or hadn‘t yet made it, or never would make it over the river to the pot of gold; and either

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musetta was just on her way to her studio in order to make a dress out of the cage when we bumped into her.

musetta war gerade am weg in ihr atelier um aus dem käfig ein kleid zu machen, als wir sie trafen.

didn‘t care, or cared too much to ever get there in one piece; all ended up in the squats, the shortlife, and on the estates. In 1976 the movement which

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became known as punk started to emerge from the Teflon claustrophobia of 70‘s British culture, and was taken from the art schools and clubs of the

p133

West End and transformed into an urban anarchy which drew in both hippy survivors, squatters and disillusioned youth from the sink estates

p134

suburban tedium. Despite its short lifespan - PUNK defined an attitude and world view which still informs the underground. In the 1976 the seminal

p135

punk rock fanzine Sniffin‘ Glue set the tone for the inner city Punk ethic, championing both the rough vitality of punk and the political danceability of

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reggae and dub. The cutting edge was exemplified by radical punk groups such as Alternative TV; along with the suburban art school punk of bands

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such as Siouxie and the Banshees from Bromley and X-Ray Spex from Brixton. South London has always been the poor sister of the northern side; it

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was traditionally a separate area of control. When punk arrived, many of these people suddenly found a focus for their artistic activity in different

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areas. Record labels, such as Miles Copeland and Mark Perry‘s Deptford Fun City/Step Forward featured a mixture of bands such as The Police (old

p140

hacks), Squeeze (souped up R&B pop) and Alternative TV (punk). The ideals of Sniffin‘ Glue provided the template for the populist deconstruction of

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Bullshit, and do it yourself Art. (Heres one chord, here‘s another, and there‘s a third. Now go out and form a band.) Alongside all this was the Sound

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System Dub Culture featured in Franco Rossi‘s film Babylon. Sound Systems such as Jah Shaka, Sir Coxsone, and Saxon Sound were all based

p143

around the Brixton/ Peckham area; and would often be found in the Moonshot Club or The Crypt, Deptford, pounding out the beat and the bassline

p144

well into the early hours of Sunday morning. Many of the youth who had checked the sound systems, but also grown up surrounded by the adrenaline

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rush, and attitude of punk went on to make the first ragga and jungle, which later mutated into what‘s known now as drum‘n bass. In the early Eighties

p146

these two cultures began to fuse in the wharehouse parties and at clubs like the Film Flam, where DJs such as Ori Birch and Jonathan Moore would

p147

14 bike company, brick lane. handcrafted fixed gear shop. very nice.

14 bike company, brick lane. handcarfted fixed gear laden. sehr nett.

play eclectic sounds cut up with rare groove, Funkadelic, DJ Chuck Chillout, Fela Kuti, Dillinger, you think of it . . . Some of the Film Flam DJs/

p148

organisers went on to set up Kiss FM (the original pirate later licensed) and work as part of the Coldcut crew. By the end of the Eighties, the scene

p149

had become fragmented by a combination of Thatcherism and bad drugs, and apart from various alternative collectives (like the South London Music

p150

Collective and the Brixton Music Collective the ‚underground‘ had been dispersed. However, in the early Nineties there was a fresh injection of energy

p151

into the area from many of the travelers who had been forced off the road by the draconian approach of the Tory regime to itinerant communities.

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Many of the people now active in the underground culture of South London met through a squatted building in Peckham. Based in what had ironically

p153

been Welfare H.Q. for the area, the Dole House Crew put on some of the best parties of the early 90‘s, with bands such as Back to the Planet, Ruff

p154

Ruff and Ready (who later mutated into The Co Creators), the Seven Kevins, the Tottenham AK/47‘s, Arriba, and the Dave Howard Singers playing

p155

there. Downstairs, in the signing on office where the booths still lined the far wall, would be a selection of DJs playing everything from ambient dub to

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banging Techno, and upstairs would be the live area, followed at about 3 or 4 a.m. by dance floor DJ‘s. The venue acted as a catalyst for the many

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diverse elements of urban and traveling culture under threat from the Tory laws on everything from squatting to free assembly. After it was closed

p158

down by the bailiffs, the crew moved to a succession of new venues, most notably the Lady Flo‘s on Deptford Green, but none lasted as long as the

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Dole House. The new squatting laws combined with old licensing laws and the ever present repression of the local constabulary meant that by the end

p160

of the Nineties underground venues in South London had virtually disappeared. The Dole House Crew/Green Circus crew went on to put on the

p161

Fordham Park Free Festivals until 1996. The fusion of dub Techno and the pirate sounds of London‘s Southside have also been reflected in the music

p162

of such groups as Digidub, Audio Pancake, and LS Diesel.

p163

The London SOHO Scene. For decades Soho attracted generations of talented artists like a magnet, and from the 40‘s music hall times to recent

p164

times, it became the real epicenter of the whole music spectrum. During the 17th century, the central neighborhood of Soho became the spot for

p165

European emigrants and people exiled for their religion from Italy, Russia, Poland, Germany, and especially Protestants and Huguenots from France.

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Most of them were Greek Christians who ran away from the Ottoman persecution who are remembered now by the presence of Greek Street. Most of

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the emigrant collective was formed by craftsmen such as furniture makers, tailors and silversmiths. In 1854 a serious outbreak of cholera hit the area

p168

and many residents moved out to save their life. During the 18th century, Soho became an important spot in the city for entertainment and became the

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most cosmopolitan neighbourhood of London. Many prostitutes moved in to open brothels around the whole area and the prostitution business reached

p170

it‘s peak when Hooper‘s Hotel, located on Soho Square, started offering private rooms for pleasure. At the same time new theatres, music halls and

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good restaurants were opened in the neighborhood, which was followed by a considerable increase of resident artists in the area. A nine year old

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W.A. Mozart was a resident at 20 Frith Street in 1764 while he was touring with his father around Europe offering demonstrations of their virtuoso

p173

music skills with his sister. Landscape painter John Constable lived also on Frith Street during the early 19th century. Italian painter Canaletto lived

p174

in Soho until he returned to Venice in 1756. Casanova, the famous Italian lover, used to live on Greek Street during his stay in London. German

p175

philosopher and revolutionary Karl Marx lived with his family at 28 Dean Street. Also, the infamous romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley lived on

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18 Great Marlborough Street, a plaque and a mural of the English poet commemorate his stay. William Blake, the visionary artist and poet, was

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born in 1957 in the now dissapeared house at 8 Marshall Street. Another eminent neighbor was the Hungarian composer Frank Listz, who lived at

p178

18 Great Marlborough Street in1840 and 1841. In 1840, the music-hall phenomena took over London and by 1866 there were about 33 halls in the

p179

city and this musical and leisure trend would grow bigger until the first decades of the 20th century. During the 30‘s, venues like the Café de Paris,

p180

The Casino and the Romano‘s were established as the most important music hall spots in Soho‘s night life. These venues became the foundation for

p181

the importation of jazz music from the U.S. during the upcoming years. The first American jazz act to cross the sea right from New Orleans was the

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Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who performed at the Hippodrome located at Charing Cross Road. Louis Armstrong played at the London Palladium,

p183

it was pure chance that we managed to take a photo of this absconder before he was once more put behind bars.

durch zufall konnten wir diesen freigänger noch ablichten, bevor er wieder hinter schloss und riegel marschierte.

located at 7-8 Argyll Street, in 1932 and a year later Duke Ellington did also. The legendary Ronnie Scott‘s Jazz club opened it‘s doors in 47 Frith

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Street in 1959. The same year a ban on street prostitution was enforced, provoking the move of the activities to the first floor apartments, which

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walk through this gloomy looking, medieval gate, and find yourself in modernity. after all, this hotel has an extra to offer: it hosts a collection of contemporary art.

durchschreite diese dunkle mittelalterlich- wirkende tür und du bist in der moderne. dieses hotel beinhaltet gleichzeitg eine sammlung zeitgenössischer kunst.

still can be seen today announced with neon signs. By 1981 there were no less than 164 sex establishments working in the area. During the 50‘s

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Soho was definitively the place for artists to live. The Colony Room Coterie of artists, including Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, spent their nights

p187

dancing and drinking heavily at the Colony Room in no 41 Dean Street. In July 1956, Wally Whyton played at the second annual Soho Fair to start

p188

the skiffle scene in London that would change the whole map of the music in the UK and by extension in the rest of Europe. The Soho Fair of 1956

p189

meant the confirmation of the birth of pop music in the UK, with the singular British mix of folk and blues called skiffle. This pre-rock ‚n‘ roll scene

p190

was established throughout the 50‘s in clubs such as the London Jazz Club, the Round House pub, the Skiffle Cellar, the 2 I‘s, and the Cave. At

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the same time, the 50‘s were witness to a growing club scene in Soho spinning around jazz music and new clubs were opened around the area. The

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series of music gigs, hosted by crisis, the national charity for single homeless people. concert venues will remain ‘hidden’ until 24 hours before the gig.

crisis veranstalten konzerte für einsame obdachlose menschen. die veranstaltungsorte werden erst 24 stunden vorher bekanntgegeben.

http://www.crisis.org.uk/hidden/

Flamingo club opened it‘s doors in 1952 in Wardour St., originally called „Jazz at the Mapleton“. In 1958, when the first Marquee club was opened

p193

at 165 Oxford street, the city was ready to live through the blossoming of a new generation of artists and new forms of music that would portray the

p194

culture of the 20th century. During the 30‘s, Wardour St became the place for film companies to become established which has remained until today.

p195

Eventually Soho grew during the 60‘s and 70‘s as the place where everything happened. Recording studios such as Regent Sound in Denmark Street,

p196

since the austrian airline walked out on us in vienna, we now have to go on foot back to graz. at least our luggage has been checked through.

nachdem die aua uns in wien hat sitzen lassen, müssen wir zu fuß heim nach graz gehen. wenigstens war unser gepäck durchgecheckt

where the Rolling Stones first recorded, and Trident studios at 17 St. Annes Court, where Genesis and David Bowie recorded some of their master

p197

works, where right there. Denmark St. was nicknamed the British Tin Pan Alley for being the spot where all of the musicians would buy and rent their

p198

instruments and gear. Cafes like La Giaconda would host an army of rock star aspirers who would spend the hours just looking through the windows

p199

waiting for a famous rocker to pass by or just imagining themselves heading the bill at the Marquee club. The Ship pub in Wardour street would serve

p200

pints of beer to all the rock artists before their shows and during the intermisions at the Marquee when the club was not licensed to serve alcohol yet.

p201

Just a few numbers from there, from 11 o‘clock just after the daily Marquee shows, La Chasse club would extend the music nights for the musicians to

p202

have a drink and listen to some good music in the company of everybody else in the music business. This was a time when everyone knew each other

p203

in the music business and musicians and future rock stars would hang around with a diversity of managers, fans, students and tourists.

01. Alexandra Giselbrecht design

02. Klaus Huber design

03. Sandra Garms sales

04. Kerstin Buchholz office

05. Verena Lam new Markets

06. Geri Liebminger photographer

07. Roland Bischel, Kai Müller, opticians Vienna, Zurich

08. Carina Hochetlinger trip coordinator

09. Michi Pachleitner, Denise Semlitsch owner01. Alexandra Giselbrecht design

10. Roland Bischel, optician Vienna

11. Alexandra Giselbrecht design

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12. Klaus Huber design

13. Angelo Filosa optician naples, italy

14. Leo Rabelo our host, Rough Luxe hotel

15. Angelo Filosa optician naples, italy

16. Valeria Spiniello, Markus Moser RLR distribution switzerland, creative director RLR

17. Karin Lernbeiß, our star-photographer on duty

18. Valeria Spiniello RLR distribution switzerland

19. Karin Lernbeiß our star-photographer

20. Roland Bischel, Markus Moser, optician Vienna, creative director RLR

21. Alfried Borkenstein Graphic design

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ipPhotographyKarin Lernbeiss lupispuma.comGerald Liebminger geraldliebminger.comClemens Borkenstein, Kerstin Buchholz, Michael Pachleitner, Kai Müller, Klaus Huber, Alexandra Giselbrecht, Carina Hochetlinger

Graphic Design, TextAlfried Borkenstein luffup.com

PublisherRobert La Roche GmbHKastellfeldgasse 248010 Graz, Austriawww.robert-laroche.com

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