With its home in Coventry, its roots in reggae and its multiracial bands, 2-Tone was a British musical phenomenon. As part of Black History Month, this Your Local Arena special screens Rudies Come Back, the energetic 1980 BBC Arena film made by Jeff Perks right at the moment that 2-Tone was emerging, capturing its unique blend of 1960s blue beat and ska with 1970s reggae, soul and punk. The film will be followed by a panel discussion. Guests include: legendary reggae musician and producer Dennis Bovell, drummer June Miles-Kingston from the Mo-dettes and Fun Boy Three, author, artist and music expert Zoë Howe, and filmmaker Jeff Perks. It promises to be an unforgettable evening highlighting the racial unity sparked by the 2-Tone movement, which stood in direct opposition to the Far Right in the late 1970s and early 80s.
Born in Barbados in 1953, Dennis Bovell MBE is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, sound engineer, composer, band leader and producer. He came to London when he was twelve and has been in bands since his schooldays. He formed Matumbi in 1970, whose songs include the top ten hit ‘Point of View,‘ and produced Janet Kay‘s huge single ‘Silly Games.’ He has worked with artists as diverse as I Roy, Steel Pulse, Bananarama, Fela Kuti and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Dennis continues to release his own music.
In the Summer of 1976, while working as a production assistant on The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle, June Miles-Kingston bought an old red and sparkly drum kit from Paul Cook. She met guitarist Kate in the Glitterbest office and moved into her Daventry Street squat, where Strummer lived too. They formed the Mo-dettes in the basement there. Their first gig supporting the Clash, followed by Madness, the Specials, The Selecter and others. Touring for around five years, the Mo-dettes only recorded one album, produced by Roger Lomas in Coventry, June’s second home for a while. June then worked with Rhoda Dakar and Pauline Black on various projects and went on to play drums and sing for the Funboy 3, Everything But the Girl, the Communards and many more. In the Summer 2024, June is still a session drummer/singer, songwriter and filmmaker. She is currently working on an autobiographical musical about being a female drummer in the Eighties.
Jeff Perks wears two hats – artist and filmmaker. He graduated from the National Film and Television School in 1978. He has produced and directed films for the BBC’s Omnibus and Arena programmes on artists, cartoonists, punk bands and women comediennes. When Channel Four started, he formed Riverfront Pictures and went on to make over forty films for the new channel. As an artist, his work has appeared at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Battersea Arts Centre and his first one-man show was at Stockport Art Gallery. His current exhibition John Bull, a collaboration with Michael Rosen, is running at The Green Man Gallery.
Author, visual artist and sometime musician Zoë Howe has produced acclaimed biographies of The Slits, Poly Styrene, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Wilko Johnson, Stevie Nicks, Florence + The Machine, Lee Brilleaux and others. Zoë was part of the founding team behind the award-winning documentary Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché, and she has made radio programmes for Absolute Radio, Resonance FM and Soho Radio amongst others; she currently presents the Rock ’n’ Roll Witch show on Soho Radio. Musically, Zoë has worked with Viv Albertine, Helen McCookery Book, Steve Beresford, Mick Jones & others. Zoë is a Royal Literary Fund writing Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge, and her debut novel Shine On, Marquee Moon was shortlisted for the Virginia Prize for Fiction in 2016. Her next book Witchful Thinking (a handbook for the modern Wise Woman) was published by Llewellyn in 2022.
Your Local Arena is a unique project featuring iconic films from the archives of BBC TV’s Arena, the pioneering cultural documentary series. It includes new poems inspired by the Arena films and panel talks to explore the continuing relevance of the Arena archives today. The Your Local Arena concept was developed by Lucy Hannah and Speaking Volumes, with Arena’s award-winning director/editor Anthony Wall as creative consultant, and funded by Arts Council England.
Your Local Arena is a Lucy Hannah & Speaking Volumes co-production
featuring BBC Arena’s film archive. Funded by Arts Council England.
Tickets: £5
Venue: British Music Experience
Doors: 7.00pm
Date: October 17, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm
Ends: 9:30 pm
Black Music Exhibitions Collection Available to View Throughout October as part of Liverpool’s Black History Month Celebrations - Monday to Wednesday and Saturdays
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WoW have been invited to deliver The National Archives impact seminar and to present WoW’s unique Creative Heritage model and approach to curating archives.
Date: October 3, 2024
1:00 pm
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The Great War to Race Riots tour, delivered since our first Black History Month festival in 2016, explores anti-black race riots that occurred in Liverpool and other seaports across the country in 1919.
Date: October 6, 2024
11:00 am
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The Dorothy Kuya Walking Tour explores the impact of Dorothy Kuya's anti-racist activism in modern Britain as we explore the Liverpool and the L8 area.
Date: October 13, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us in Black History Month for a powerful event featuring a documentary by local filmmaker Bea Freeman, exploring the causes and aftermath of the 1981 Toxteth Riots.
Date: October 16, 2024
7:00 pm
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Your Local Arena special screens Rudies Come Back, the energetic 1980 BBC Arena film made by Jeff Perks right at the moment that 2-Tone was emerging, capturing its unique blend of 1960s blue beat and ska with 1970s reggae, soul and punk.
Date: October 17, 2024
7:30 pm
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The L8 Activism Walking Tour invites you to take a stroll down the beautiful tree-lined Victorian Boulevard and explore the history of Liverpool 8, the traditional home of the black community since the mid 20th century.
Date: October 19, 2024
11:00 am
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The George Garrett Walking Tour explores the life, writings and activism of George Garrett a 'militant advocate of tolerance' who travelled the world and whose work explored the poverty and struggle of the working class in the 1920's and 1930's.
Date: October 20, 2024
11:00 am
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We're thrilled to welcome Diane Abbott and Gary Younge to BHM 24 to discuss Diane's new book: A Woman Like Me
Date: October 23, 2024
7:00 pm
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In Babylon’s Burning author and activist Rick Blackman explores impact and connections between three musical movements
Date: October 24, 2024
7:00 pm
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Join us in remembering and celebrating the impact and legacy of sound system culture in Liverpool, with an evening of discussion, deejays and dancing. Featuring music from the original Strugglers' Sound System, from the days of The Frontline.
Date: October 26, 2024
6:30 pm
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The Liverpool & Slavery Walking Tour was developed and inspired by our Dorothy Kuya Archive Project, in collaboration with National Museums Liverpool. The Tour explores the many sites with direct links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Liverpool city centre
Date: October 27, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the fourth session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! IMPORTANT: Please do not turn up to a Writer’s Bloc session without registering and being invited. Numbers are limited and session attendance is by invite only. We are unable to allow entry if you have not been accepted onto the session.
Date: September 6, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the fourth session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! IMPORTANT: Please do not turn up to a Writer’s Bloc session without registering and being invited. Numbers are limited and session attendance is by invite only. We are unable to allow entry if you have not been accepted onto the session.
Date: August 16, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the second session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! We are thrilled to welcome acclaimed Liverpool novelist and poet, Ashleigh Nugent. Ashleigh will be talking about his debut novel, Locks and sharing his journey of turning personal experiences into compelling stories. The session will take place on Friday 14th June at Toxteth Library. Please sign …
Date: June 14, 2024
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Date: May 13, 2024
11:00 am
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Tony Wailey's latest book, Lights Bearing West, is about memory, place and distance, messages sent, delivered, picked up, put down, kept or discarded. Going away, having adventures and coming home, whether these adventures are first hand or tenth hand, is part of everyone’s trilogy in Liverpool – even for those who have never left the river.
Date: May 22, 2024
7:00 pm
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Date: May 23, 2024
7:00 pm
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