January is no one’s favourite month. Christmas has been and gone and emptied the bank account, Oxford’s biting winter cold shows no sign of relenting – and the summer festival season seems centuries away. Which is where Equitruck comes in. Exactly half a year away from the summer’s Truck festival, this all-day event showcased some of Oxfordshire’s most exciting local talent, keeping fans of live music ticking over until the sunnier months arrive. For under a tenner, less than twelve hours upstairs at the Jericho Tavern saw fourteen local bands take to the stage and perform to an audience more than happy to dance and drink their winter blues away. The first real highlight of the day was Space Heroes Of The People, an exciting, irresistibly danceable outfit comprising drumkit, laptop-enhanced samples and a weird-looking electric double bass played by a barefoot girl in a short denim skirt. SHOTP seemed a little nervous, but this was completely unwarranted: the bluesy bass melody and video game noises of ‘Tesco Disco’ went down a treat, ‘Shiny Shiny’ recalled Ladytron’s layers of icecool vocals and beats and new song ‘Roger Bacon vs. Gillian McKeith’ was a bass-heavy musical rant against the ‘evil, evil, evil woman’ – which could surely never be a bad thing. Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element (left) followed. They were clearly having a total blast on stage, playing songs like ‘Techno Self- Harm’, which apparently centred around Spiderman’s wife. Played on bass and guitar, the merry sound of all kinds of Warpish, industrial beats was supplied by a drum machine in the corner. Their sound was a genuinely new take on the marriage between rock and dance that’s been brewing for the last 20 years, with impressive heavy rock riffs that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Sonic Youth or Shellac record never far from their electro noise-making. One of the tightest, most joyful and simply the most fun performances of the day came from Truck favourites Morrison Steam Fayre. Their breezy, toe-tapping bluesy pop songs took their main influence from country and American 60s rock and roll, and their cute love songs and charismatic stage presence had several couples in the crowd boogying along non-stop. Gracing the stage later in the evening, Witches were a real treat. This was soaring indie post-rock, with intricate layers of guitars accompanied by a glockenspiel, a trumpet and even some maracas. Their powerful, slowly building sound and driving drums were complimented by beautiful, subtle vocal melodies and downbeat lyrics about heartbreak. And so the day went on, with an enthusiastic, energised crowd for every act and a warm and friendly atmosphere in contrast to the drizzle outside. Summer’s not so far away after all. by Helena Zaba
Students unaware as fire blazes at Keble
Concerns have been raised at Keble after a blaze in a college washroom initially failed to trigger the fire alarm.The fire broke out last Friday night in a third-floor washroom above the Hall in Liddon Quad, which was uninhabited due to building works. Residents in adjacent staircases had to be alerted to the danger by a knock on their doors, and fire alarms only went off after everyone had been evacuated.Sanna Waseem, a 2nd year medical student who lives on adjacent staircase L5, was asleep when the fire started. “Someone was going round knocking on all the doors – it was a bit surreal, since I had just woken up I assumed it was a drill,” she said.When you left the building you could smell the smoke. The evacuation happened quite quickly, but then we had to wait for over an hour in the JCR and the bar, because it was raining outside.Once I left the building I heard an alarm. I thought, ‘Wait – there’s an alarm; but why didn’t it wake me up?’” she added.Keble JCR President, John Maher, claimed that while there was some delay in the fire alarms sounding, they had not failed.“The fire alarm is triggered by an automated system rather than by fire or smoke: if a sensor triggers for a long time, alarms are progressively sounded in nearby buildings.“The computer system itself may be too slow but it’s not an issue of the fire alarms failing.”The fire was apparently caused by an electrical failure in a dishwasher heating element in the washroom.Two fire engines and a police car arrived at Keble at approximately 9.10 pm, minutes after being alerted of the incident. They extinguished the blaze soon after their arrival.Averil Cameron, Warden of Keble, said in a statement, “Our fire detection system operated as designed and called for the evacuation of the immediate vicinity including the adjacent residential building of staircases L4 and L5. Fortunately there were no staff or students in the Hall or adjacent service areas and those in L5 were evacuated until the all clear was given.All damage is covered by our insurance. The Domestic Bursar has already investigated the possible causes and our Health and Safety Committee will review this incident thoroughly at its next meeting. We are thankful that the damage was relatively minor and are very grateful to the Fire Brigade and to the College staff who acted so promptly to give the alarm.”by Jack Farchy
Wiseguys at the Wheatsheaf
What makes a pub funny? There may be an occasional funny sign above the bar: Beware of the Mother In Law, Beware of the Wife, and so on. Yet the pub itself is usually but a vessel, empty of mirth after closing time. There is one pub, however, which contains comedy in its very mortar. The Wheatsheaf is unassuming, tucked away, served by its beard-sporting, Sepultura T-shirt-wearing landlord. Strangely, for all this pub’s attempt to ward deathly students off with the garlic and crucifix of gruffness and obscurity, it is the hub of Oxford’s burgeoning comedy scene. The Oxford Imps, the undisputed masters of improvisation in Oxford, have been doing a weekly show at the Wheatsheaf for four years now. The Imps were not to have the limelight to themselves for long, however, as their Monday night show was soon joined by Ministy of Mirth’s somewhat more stationary stand-up comedy. The Ministry of Mirth are an ever-changing collective of aspiring standups who appear on Tuesday to carry out their own devious and subversive ends. In the sweaty, cramped upstairs of the Wheatsheaf the audience can hang off the bar and gaze up at the small box that constitutes the stage. They heckle or marvel at the (t)wits of Oxford’s coolest comedy scene and embrace the expectant clamminess of the moment. The student crowd tends to be a more hospitable dry run than lonely nights in front of disinterested Londoners whose heckling skills have been honed through years belching obscenities at the contestants on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. But for now, you’re safe, you’re in the Wheatsheaf. For the audience too the Wheatsheaf is the ideal venue, the principal advantages being the drink, obviously, as well as the value for money. Tickets at the OFS and the Playhouse tend to cost £7-8. But for only £3-4 you’ve got an Imps show – a damn sight more entertaining than, say, an a cappella group. The twinkly-eyed grandpa of Oxford comedy, the sketch group The Oxford Revue, is the latest addition to the Wheatsheaf’s diary, starting out last term with one-night shows called ‘Write Offs’. The Revue has previously been accustomed to week-long runs in theatres, with a term to prepare material and a healthy cut of the receipts at the end. By contrast, a ‘Write Off’ is written and rehearsed in two weeks and a barely any budget. But it can be a great night. The somewhat shambolic nature of the night makes the whole thing more precarious, but more fun, too. In the end, it’s that precariousness, that need for a real juicy comedy atmosphere, for proximity to the audience (and to the bar) which has driven Oxford comedians underground, or rather upstairs. Comedy in Oxford is very much alive, feeding off that funny pub down Wheatsheaf Yard.
By Kieran Hodgson
The Revue (left) are looking for sketches and inviting auditions for one of three guest performer slots in their shows. Sign up for auditions or send sketches to [email protected]
Old Stagers
‘A kingdom for a stage,’ proclaims the Chorus in Henry V, ‘princes to act, and monarchs to behold the swelling scene!’ This ‘swelling scene’ is Shakespeare’s description of what we unimaginative types might call the play. And what better way to introduce a play than with a swift-spoken Chorus? Singing, dancing masked men who intervene can only make the play more interesting, surely?The Chorus is a dusty old device, and has been around since the era of Classical Greek theatre. In ancient Greek drama, particularly tragedy, the Chorus were masked men who explained and commented on the events of the play, advising audience and actors alike. In Greek theatre one actor could be playing three or four different roles, which meant that the action could get quite confusing. The Chorus navigated this chaos. It explained the drama to the audience and make suggestions to the play’s characters, becoming both commentator and character all at once. It appeared in full force in plays like Euripides’ Hippolytus, where they enhance the tragic ending and mime Phaedra hanging herself.The tradition of the Chorus seems to have faded over the centuries, but has been revived perennially. Shakespeare occasionally used the Chorus as an introduction; in Romeo and Juliet the Chorus is like a gypsy fortune- teller, prophesying a tragic ending: ‘a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life’. In Henry V the Chorus acts as a bridge between audience and theatre, encouraging the audience to suspend disbelief and imagine that the mighty wars and kings depicted ‘within this wooden O’ are actually real. However, Shakespeare dismissed the Chorus as soon as the action began, preferring not to use them as a narrator in the way that the Greeks did.Modern theatre has not been very keen to resuscitate the Chorus, but Brecht is one of the few modern playwrights who very much liked the device. He included the Chorus in his vision of Epic Theatre and used it as a narrator who directs the reader’s interpretation of the story being portrayed on stage. A Brechtian Chorus preaches moral messages and occasionally bursts into song, but does not don the masks of Ancient Greek tragedy. The Chorus has been snubbed by modern playwrights, but it actually might make heavy drama more palatable and provide a bridge between the audience and the characters in the play. It played an important role in Classical Greek tragedy, and I think jazzing up modern plays with singing, dancing masked men would make them a lot more fun. It’s worth a try, anyway.
By Elen Griffiths
The Local: Matt Carter (Eclectic DJ)
Matt was just a punter, not a performer for his most memorable rave. It was at Fabric when he was just sixteen. ‘I wanted to get into the booth with Phil Kay; I was smashed and thought that was a good idea. I wandered up and there was a massive bouncer standing in front.’ Naturally he was stopped. ‘I don’t know where the idea or the confidence came from, but I just looked him straight in the eye and said: “what’re you talking about, I’m Donnie C!”’ The mythical Donnie C was enough to get Matt into the DJ booth, and that was enough to make him always want to return. This summer he got the chance when he played Fabric himself. ‘To go back with the right to be there was quite a nice end to the story.’
Matt is resident DJ for Eclectric, Oxford’s premier techno night. ‘It’s completely different to something like Park End. Those kind of cheese nights doesn’t have the same kind of fun atmosphere you get at the bottom of Love Bar with about fifty people crammed in’. He calls the Oxford dance scene ‘quite poor generally’, but plans to stay on after his degree to try and work on that. ‘This sounds really pumped up and pretentious’, he says, ‘but it’s all about the same kind of psychological process that goes on in meditation’. While the front part of the brain is concentrating on the beat, the subconscious can open up ‘I solve a lot of my biggest life issues on the dancefloor; that’s why you get everyone so happy and friendly. I suppose the drugs help quite a lot as well.’ Clubbing as meditation is a very Oxford analysis, I suggest. ‘True’, he concedes. ‘Ask a typical Scouser waving glow sticks around and he’ll probably give you a different analysis – ‘cos its fucking mental!’ by Michael Bennett
Wadham dean dies of heart attack
Dr Robin McCleery, Dean of Wadham College, died on Wednesday morning from a suspected heart attack.
The Warden of Wadham, Neil Chalmers, said, “Clearly this is a deep shock to us all. We shall, of course, do all we can, as a college, to support Robin’s family and his students at this very difficult time.”
This summer was to be the fortieth anniversary of Professor McCleery’s arrival in Oxford as an undergraduate to study Zoology.Professor Bill Sheldon, Director of the Edward Grey Institute (EGI) and a colleague of Dr McCleery’s, said, “We don’t know too much about what happened. We were told by the police. He didn’t turn up for a lecture. “It’s completely out of the blue. He was at work [on Tuesday] so it’s completely surprising. Anyone who interacted with him would say that he was incredibly dedicated to teaching, teaching at all levels in the University and college. He was someone who gave an incredible amount to teaching and everyone will remember him for that.”
He added, “He was a very well-rounded man, with lots of interests outside of the university. He was very interested in politics, a very interesting man to talk to.”Referring to Dr McCleery’s upcoming anniversary, he added, “Typically of him, he didn’t make a song and a dance about it.” Professor Sheldon also praised Dr McCleery’s work with the EGI. He said, “He was very involved in running the long-term project on bird populations. It is a very well-known project world-wide, in which Robin has been a central figure.”
On his EGI profile, Dr McCleery writes, “After a post graduate Diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science, I decided that doing science was more interesting than talking about it, and joined David McFarland’s group in the Oxford Psychology department for a DPhil on behavioural measurement of hunger and thirst in rats and other laboratory animals.
“In 1975 I moved with David McFarland to the Animal Behaviour Research Group, and worked on an Optimality analysis of incubation behaviour in the Herring gull at Walney Island, Cumbria. In 1978, I joined the EGI, initially with the task of constructing a computerised database of the Wytham Great tit study.”
Dr McCleery had been working with EGI for 30 years and was a Departmental Research Fellow in Biology and a Fellow and Tutor in Biological Sciences at Wadham College.
His main research interests were listed as the population biology of birds, life history trade offs, effects of predation, environmental heterogeneity and endemicity on individual survival.
Outside of university and college life, Dr McCleery had diverse interests, particularly in politics and music. As part of Wadstock in May 2007, he played saxophone on stage with the band ‘Cop on the Edge’ of which his daughter Anna is a member.by Rob Pomfret
Renewed doubts over college funding reform
Plans to overhaul Oxford’s wealth redistribution mechanism have faced criticism this week as the first stage of discussions draws to a close.oday is the deadline for individual colleges to voice reservations about proposals for the College Contribution Scheme (CCF) – a system for equalising the wealth gap between Oxford colleges – that were first announced in 2005. Deliberations are set to be taken to the Conference of Colleges in the coming weeks.
Some figures have voiced fears over the fairness of the scheme, and one College Warden has said he does not believe the plans will result in any action.OUSU President Martin McCluskey has expressed concern that new constraints placed on the allocation of funding could restrict poorer colleges, preventing them from diverting money to where it is most needed.
The proposed changes would mean that poorer colleges have to apply for money from the Fund in one of five categories, such as library expenditure and housing allowances, in an attempt to make the scheme more accountable, rather than just a single grant. McCluskey said, “Even if the committee accepted that a new category should be included, it would take a year for the change to come into effect and would delay a college’s ability to apply for funding in that area,” he explained.
“The idea behind such a system is sound in theory – they see it as ensuring that all colleges can apply by the same criteria – but it maybe isn’t so good in practice,” he added.Reforms to the CCF, which redistributes wealth from richer to poorer colleges, are intended to increase its accountability by allowing more control over cash allocation. There are also plans to to provide a ‘boost’ to the Fund with an extra £11 million to be injected by the University into the ailing scheme.But Alan Ryan, Warden of New College, was sceptical about any long-term increase in contributions made by richer colleges, and said that he was uncertain that the reforms would even go ahead.
He said, “Having doubled it for 5 years, the colleges that contribute most – St John’s, All Souls, Christ Church, Merton, Nuffield – would be eager to have a proposal that had a time limit for stopping contributions or [to] go back to the old rates, which were not too harsh.” “I think the end of the period of consultation will not result in anything,” Ryan concluded.Sir Derek Morris, Provost of Oriel College and Chair of the Colleges Contributions Committee, author of the report, denied that the planned reforms would force applicant colleges to comply to their donors’ wishes. He said, “The Committee cannot dictate how a recipient college should act; but, over time, grants will be dependant on how efficiently Colleges utilise their resources.”Sir Morris said that the Fund’s purpose was not to bail out less wealthy colleges. “The CCF is not an emergency fund, it is designed to build up the long term ability of all colleges to provide the academic infrastructure that’s required,” he said.om Lowe, former JCR President of Hertford and proponent of the college contributions reform motion in OUSU last year, said that any redistribution of funds would be cancelled out by the introduction of the new Joint Resource Allocation Mechanism (JRAM). JRAM is set to hugely benefit richer colleges such as St. John’s and Christ Church, while cutting funding to smaller colleges such as Pembroke and Keble.“The University’s interest in increasing poor colleges’ endowments is very welcome,” Lowe said, “However, if the new Joint Resource Allocation Mechanism proposal comes into effect, would the University not simply be giving back some of the money it’s already planning to take away?” St. John’s, Oxford’s richest college, has assets of over quarter of a billion pounds, over twenty times that of Mansfield, the undergraduate college with the fewest assets.by James Stafford
Flood Warning for Oxford
The Environment Agency issued a flood warning Wednesday night on the River Thames through Oxford, raising flooding alert levels from flood watch earlier this week. A second flood warning is also in place on the Thame from Eynsham Lock in Eynsham to Sandford Lock in Sandford-on-Thames alongside one on the River Ray covering Islip, Ludgershall and Blackthorn, as well as Murcott, Wendlebury and Odington. Flooding of the River Thames could affect Dorchester, Moreton, Wasterstock and Wheatley, Chippinghurst and Drayton St. Leonard.
The second highest state of alert, which means that flooding is expected, has called for a move-in of water pumps and emergency flood defenses into the city. Residents of the Botley and Osney areas in west Oxford have particularly been warned to be risk areas for the night. Tim Sandler, Oxford City Council ’s interim executive told the Oxford Mail that the flood threat could spread to south Oxford by later Thursday or Friday. “The situation is changeable and we will be monitoring the situation throughout the night. We should encourage residents to monitor the situation as well and be responsible for their own properties,” he said.
Dave Etheridge, assistant chief fire officer has assured the current threat of floods to be “more predictable” than the devastating floods of July 2007.
“Following the close working and advice from the Environment Agency concerning flood prediction and further rainfall we are clearly, at this stage, dealing with a more predictable set of circumstances that we had in July 2007,” he told the Oxford Mail.
“There is a fantastic team effort under way to ensure that the properties which may be flooded are being personally contacted and face to face advice given concerning their protection,” he added.
However, residents out of Oxford city fear a more grave threat and have raised their voices for the Environment Agency ’s lack of prior warning and preparation. The River Ock breaking its banks early Thursday morning is threatening Abingdon residents and Ascott-under-wychwood, a small parish town in west Oxfordshire has already flooded leaving residents up to their knees in floodwater. Road A417 has also been closed both ways between Lechlade on Thames and Buscot.
For more flooding advice, see the Environment Agency , Oxford County Council and Oxford City Council websites or call 0845 988 1188.
St Anne’s student arrested
The battle of Bonn Square continues this week, following news that a student from St Anne’s was arrested for littering. Jonathon Leighton threw a bottle of water to Gabriel Chamberlain, living in a tree in Bonn square. His throw however missed, leading the police to arrest him for littering.
The student was handcuffed and taken to St Aldate’s Police station where he was held for three hours. He was questioned and had his fingerprints, DNA and photograph taken. Leighton was eventually released without charge at 5.15am, but he told the Oxford Mail that he was seeking legal advice as he felt the police had “abused their powers”.
He said in his internet blog that he was angry about the principle of “arrest first, ask questions later” that the police had appeared to operate under.The situation may have been resolved with no charges been pressed, but it illustrates the ongoing controversy surrounding the Westgate redevelopment project. Leighton wrote in his blog, “this won’t be the last protest over the council’s desire to turn Oxford into a more characterless, consumerist city.”
By Sian Cox-Brooker
Spot the difference
Telegraph blogger Harry de Quetteville’s post on Holocaust denier Sylvia Stolz’s conviction this week gives the impression that German Neo-Nazis are not on the same level as the ‘real things’. He thinks
The behaviour of these Neo-Nazis – signed up to groups with names like Blood and Honour, Hammerskins, and Aryan White Pride – may be inexcusable, but there seems little denying that they flourish where they do because it's from there that both the jobs and the young women have fled … When I met members of Germany's far-right NPD party last year, they mostly banged on about economic issues, and moaned about immigrants.
Of course they did. But they do that precisely to give a better image of their faction to the public and portray themselves as a mainstream party focussed on normal grievances. As the Guardian reported in an in-depth expose of the BNP a year or so ago:
BNP activists are also now discouraged from using any racist or anti-semitic language in public, in order to avoid possible prosecution. In a BNP rulebook, issued only to activists and organisers, they are instructed that they should avoid acting in a way which fits stereotypes of the far right, and "act only in a way that reflects credit on the Party".
It’s just a front – there’s not much difference in truth.
PS Check out the comments at the bottom of Quetteville’s post. Some tasty rubbish flying around there.
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