Entertainment For Lively Minds
Mick Jones’ Rock & Roll Public Library
Posted by Paul Thompson on 22 March 2009 - 10:01am.
You've seen it on Zoomify now see it in real life. Mick’s detritus is well worth a visit, his collecting habit far surpasses anything I had imagined, from obscure fifties toys to Linn drums, from his Mums scrapbook to the BAD sticks of dynamite.
A few bits of trivia for fact fans;
- he stalked Jagger and Richards in his teenage years,
- he has 10,000 books and 5,000 films in the library,
- his third band was called ‘Schoolgirls Undies’ (as noted in his mums scrapbook),
- his favourite Dylan tune is ‘Sign On The Window.’ (because it contains the meaning of life…),
- And the Clash had the ultimate accolade of having a New York pizza delivery box with their photo on it.
Thank goodness he horded all this stuff, it’s wonderful to see. OK it's not really a public library but it is a great day out for an old Clash fan.
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Thanks Paul
brilliant stuff. it looks like the inside of my head.
where about's is it?
refreshing to see your allowed to take pictures in art space too!
'tis here ->
http://www.chelseaspace.org/visit.html
It's very cool...
...and what's especially nice is that you can actually treat it like a library (except for the borrowing part!). You can just sit there & read the books & magazines that are on the shelves while listening to a tape of Mick introducing some of his favourite tunes, including "Stay Free", the Cadets' "Stranded In The Jungle", "Miss Judy's Farm" and Mick Ronson's "Slaughter On 10th Avenue". I spent a happy ten minutes leafing through the novelisation of "if..." for example.
They've also made the effort to make it look as much like Mick's studio/warehouse as possible, so you enter through an area dressed to look like the studio, with a slide show & so on, and then move into the "warehouse" space with the same shelving & so on.
I especially liked the vintage trunk, which has drawer compartments on one side & a wardrobe on the other, all full of stage wear & so on, and the "Zulu" model soldier set, all lovingly arranged on a Rourke's Drift landscape!
Tres Proustian all of it...
that looks ace
i'd love to see it first hand. thanks so much for the pics, Paul - really enjoyed them :)
The Rock and Roll Public Library
Jonsey's non linear cultural history is well worth a visit and a valid alternative to the blatantly commercial O2 exhibition.
Also nice to see some of the shirts I made back in the day is such good conditon! Albeit with the odd missing button!
Alex Michon
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