PEPPERMINT IGUANA WEBSITE: on line at last!

http://www.peppermintiguana.co.uk/

Enough talk, here it is, the PEPPERMINT IGUANA WEBSITE on line at last

It still aint finished, it will always be a work in progress with new updates coming all the time, but at the moment there are some MAJOR gaps in the site. Ultimately though, we are the only ones that know what those gaps are because at the end of the day the only completed version of the site exists in our head so nobody else knows what is missing. Rest assured there are a lot of funkalicious things to come.

However, we have decided to chuck it online as it is so you can see what we have done. Cos the current site editor is a bit of an amature, depending on which browser you use the bloody pages will look different whcih is a right pain, but there you go, its more proffesional looking than 'Sniffing Glue' was! Hopefully the site being on-line will act as a motivation to us to finish decorating before too many visitors arrive. Please do come back regularly because now it be here, we will be adding things every night… unless we are out doing something else! Mind the wet paint!

DAIL M FOR MEDIA MALARKEY: First gathering of alternative media collectives

A small bunch of discontented scruffs based in Brighton, armed only with a PC and a photocopier have managed to become a household name in the last thirteen years. SchNEWS have been banging out a weekly newssheet, running a website and of late putting together videos bringing us news that the main stream media ignores.

Over recent years people all over the world are taking advantage of the availability of technology to ‘reclaim the media’. In the UK the likes of the Indymedia website, Undercurrents videos and SchNEWS are all household names to many on the activist scene, but there are dozens, if not hundreds, of regional and national news outlets. Freedom, Reel Vidoes, The Porkbolter, Bristle and of course South Wales Anarchists very own ‘Gagged’ are just a few of the sources for grass roots news. Some of these people know eachother, whilst some are publishing in a complete vacuum.

This weekend SchNEWS got together with their new landlords at The Cowley Club Social Centre in Brighton for the UK’s first ‘Alternative Media Gathering’.

There were workshops on things like photography, desk top publishing, how to up load videos to the net and how to do investigative journalism; together with discussions around the way forward for alternative media and how to reach out to the wider community.

Much organic beer and vegan food was consumed and lots of new friends made. Many of the independent media sources throughout the country are not quite as lonely as they were before the gathering and a lot of new communications lines have been set up. Personal Highlights for the Iguana Crew were the presentation by a video activist that goes deep undercover to uncover animal rights abuses, including spending two years working in a circus, and an evening sat around talking to the legendary festival/protest photographer Tash.

The Anti-Murdoch

Plans are afoot to repeat the event next year, possibly hosted by another collective. In the mean time there is the little matter of getting out there and making sure things are done and people know about it!

NOBODY WON! But somebody got elected

53.6% of the electorate of Wales last week voted for nobody, yet somebody got elected. Where’s the democracy there? Nobody went down to the assembly but was not allowed in :-( check out vote nobody

BLOWOUT: like an out door festival, only indoors

The bigger an event, the more there is to miss and with an event of the quality of this years Blowout, there were plenty of opportunities to miss things because of time table clashes. Arriving late does not help matters; we missed Captain Paranoid and the Delusions, The Physicists, Midasuno, Kilnaboy and The Dreadzone Soundsystem. A slightly messed up running order meant we managed to catch a few bands we did not want to see, but we did catch.....

Sick Note rocking da house,

Cosmoboy (Cosmo meets Kilnaboy) rocking the tent and

an on form Ozric Tentacles… although it would have been better if they had the lightshow that was being used in the techno area. The whole event was superb, and hats off to the Blowout posse for putting it together.

TRIBAN SPRING GATHERING: First festival of the year

Triban, a posse of hippies, groovers and lovers of planet earth held a gathering today down at Coed Hills Rural Art Space. People chilled, danced, walked around the sculpture garden, climbed in a giant bird cage, ran around a giant maypole, ate vegan chocolate cake and generally had an incredibly laid back time.

A host of bands were at hand to entertain on the solar powered PA, including old pals Kilnaboy, Tat Syrup and Cosmo. Nice