Good morning and welcome back to the blog. For this morning’s post I encourage you to jump back a few days and read part one for it all to make sense. Guest writer Stuart Warwick was kind enough to share his experiences of the Breaking Rocks event on Oct 1st and explain his artwork. With that said I’ll hand you back to Stuart for part 2.

Entering the Stables Market on Chalk Farm Road, not far from the legendary Roundhouse and the first person I spot, lounging on a bench is………………….Pete Stevens, photographer extraordinaire and regular contributor to this site. He’s got more denim on him than the Status Quo tour bus. We say ‘Hi’ and he introduces us to his close friend and muse, Michelle, to whom he affectionately refers to as his ‘scruffy bird’. He then shows us his latest purchase – a white denim jacket. I’m not sure, but I think Michelle stifles a giggle. He tells us he’s just bought it for only twenty quid….“They saw you coming” think the three of us in unison.

Photographer Pete !!!

“That’s a bargain, I nearly bought one earlier” I lie. Over Pete’s shoulder I spot Johnny Green looking very dapper and strolling around his old stomping ground. He was probably looking for a new denim jacket. We talk for a bit and decide it’s time to wander up to the gallery, only then noticing the end of the queue is now suddenly ten feet away and about three people wide ! Here we go, this’ll be fun, I thought. Anyway – we join it and bid Pete, Michelle and the new denim jacket farewell as they walk up the queue to get in. Pete was there in a semi-official capacity and part of the crew list.

“I don’t expect we’ll see them again tonight” I remark “He’s going to be pretty busy”..  Two minutes later… Pete, Michelle and the jacket have jumped in the queue with us. They’re not letting any guest lists/crew in – they have to wait in line like the rest of us. We then see Johnny Green and his entourage, now including Clash associate Robin Banks, walk up the queue and like Pete get sent back down – they don’t look very happy about it and rightly so.

The line of people move really slowly towards the door and it becomes apparent the security to get in is well over the top. There’s someone to check your ticket, queue a bit more -  someone to rip it – queue a bit more – and finally someone to check it again and show you into the gallery. We finally get in, bid farewell again to the God of denim (he’s in next door with the famous people) and get seats and settle down for the film. It’s quite late starting as it takes ages to get everyone in and seated.

Billy Bragg and Stuart's art

Well the film’s great, very thought provoking, even funny in places and explains the whole Jail Guitar Doors project better than I can, so I won’t try. For me it was really beneficial to see the film. I’ve had quite a few friends who for one reason or another ended up in prison and to a man they’re not bad people. They’re just guys who made a wrong turn at that time in their lives or a stupid decision in a split second that cost them dear. I was kind of doing the paintings with them in mind. But when I’d explained why I was doing the paintings to other people the reaction was kind of raised eyebrows and an unenthusiastic “Hmmmm, Guitars for prisoners ehhh?” kind of thing. To be honest it was beginning to make me wonder. I mean, put like that, it’s not exactly BBC Children in Need or Live Aid is it ?

Alan Miles’ film cleared any doubts that I or anyone else in the hall may have had and finished to a standing ovation. This ovation wasn’t contrived, because Billy Bragg and co were somewhere in the building. It felt like a genuine expression of “well done” from everyone in the hall to all those involved in this excellent project. Alan’s dedication to producing this film was incredible. We could genuinely see the difference the project has  made to the lives of the prisoners.

Anyway – that’s the serious bit. In Part 3 I’ll be single-handedly tackling a reduction of the European gin lake, saying hello to Billy Bragg, trying to steal some of Johnny Green’s Ju Ju and you can find out how Esty adds another name to her ‘allowed’ list…..

Thanks once more Stuart…I’ll look forward to the 3rd piece. – Tim