Myself and key spar Isaac Fergusson feature alongside fellow reggae specialists on this Peter Tosh documentary for BBC Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00w1yzy/Arise_Black_Man_The_Peter_Tosh_Story/

.... here is a Guardian review of the show....

...http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/nov/24/arise-black-man-peter-tosh-review
See More

BBC iPlayer - Arise Black Man: The Peter Tosh Story
www.bbc.co.uk
Grammy Award winning film maker Don Letts explores the life of reggae singer Peter Tosh.

The Slits' Ari Up flies away home....

The loss of Ari-Up of the Slits is devastating not only for those like me who got to frolic and skank with her for three decades plus, but for music. A genuinely original free spirit, Arri at 14 showed us how to be a punk. In many ways, she was the soul of the movement, specially the Punky Reggae Party people. An incredible songwriter, lyricist, style innovator and a conscious hurricane onstage.

The footage of me singing Dennis Brown's Revolution onstage with Ari and the Slits in Williamsburg four years ago (approx!) is here on the site -- thanks to Joly of punkcast.com for shooting it. I've also added a shot by Janette Beckman of when Ari came in to my punk class at NYU, five years ago. I look pretty different now, thinner and with red hair -- but Arri just kept looking like this, amazingly lithe and limber throughout her life's journey... Actually, this shot was staged for a story, hence the lack of students! But she enthralled those we coralled for the pic. I LIVICATED my last Punk class to her... so many students were excited about her, and clearly felt the loss of an inspirational punk icon.
Miss you, sister.

I was privileged to honour her in quote form in the New York Times and Daily Telegraph UK

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/arts/music/22ariup.html?src=twrhp

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8081556/Ari-Up.html

....and to talk about her on BBC Radio's Woman's Hour (this link doesn't last forever so contact me if you really want to hear it and it's vanished...)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vcqw5#p00br0mg


As one mutual sistr'en observed -- Life's going to be much more boring now.

Chris Blackwell a living legend

Watch what Moby and Vivien Goldman had to say about the living legend Chris Blackwell and his book "Keep on running"

The Return of the NYU Punk Sessions

For the third time I am teaching Punk at NYU's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, Tisch School of the Arts.
As always, the Sessions have been amazing... Perhaps best known as Patti Smith's guitarist, Lenny Kaye, gone of rock's few gentlemen and intellectuals, author of You Call It Madness, the Sensuous Song of the Croon, gave a spirited talk to us last week. Next we'll be meeting the Bad Brains' bassie, Daryl Jenifer, whose intriguing new solo CD is called In Search of Black Judas... both artists well equipped to discuss how music and culture help propel society forward... Viva Punk!

Rammelzee R.I.P. Fast Company

This link leads you to my Fast Company piece on the late hiphop artist/visionary RAMMELZEE... thanks to Fab 5 Freddy for the insights...

El Pais Punky Reggae Party VG article

Diego Manrique wrote this article about me in El Pais after I gave a multi-media lecture at the Museum of Modern Art in Leon, Spain. Even if you can't read Spanish, if you speak English you can probably get a sense of what he's saying... anyway thanks Diego, and the Leon experience was terrific. The lecture theatre is super-chic, paneled in glossy black, and the place was packed. The lecture was Fairytale In The Supermarket: How Punk Freed Females. Let me know if you want me to bring the show to your town.

If you have any trouble finding this l Pais article, let me know.

DON'T JUDGE ME BY MY WEBSITE! It is about to have a fab facelift!

Remember the old saying about the shoemaker's kids? The ones with very chilly tootsies 'cos they have no shoes? Well, dear clients, friends and family, I'm afraid my site is suffering from that syndrome. I have been so busy writing other people's sites, bios and articles that my own internet presence could do with a polish that it will get very soon. Watch this space.

Just so you know what's happening Chez Vivien:

I am teaching my Classic Punk & Beyond course at NYU's Clive Davis Dept. of Recorded Music for the third time later this year.

There's a lot of interest in "Afrobeat Art," the book I am developing with "Fela's Artist" LEMI GHARIOKWU. Thanks to Ammo Talwar at Punch Records in Birmingham for all the faith and support.

MESSAGES OF HOPE, a track I co-wrote with my bred'ren in kinky combo Grasshopper, (the golden-voiced ANDY CAINE and producer ALEX MARSH,) was recently selected for the UK Street Beatz compilation. And of course, the songs like "Is It Love" that I co-wrote with Adriana Kaegi's TAG project, have been seriously acclaimed by the electro crowd.

We are about to send out the package for I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby, the musical I have co-written with August Darnell of Kid Creole & the Coconuts. Our director is the fabulous JAY SCHEIB -- yes, the hunky, funky feller who was just named one of the 25 people most likely to change the face of American Theatre by American Theatre magazine. He has plays coming up at the Kitchen in Manhattan and later this year, at BAM's New Wave Festival. We are lucky to have GREG GUNTER as our Dramaturg. He helped develop many of the Disney musicals that have become an institution, such as The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, as well as having helped shape up the original Rent.

There's plenty more, too but I will save those goodies for later.

Send me a message and I will be sure to tell you when this site is re-vamped.

We'll Keep Holding On.