I was delighted to see the corrugated steel had finally been removed from the entrance to the old Art College building in Newport, revealing a brand new doorway and altogether making it look a far brighter building after decades of dilapidation and destruction. Here’s a closer look at the door itself: And if you’re wondering … More New lease of life for Newport Art College
I pass this Police Box several times a day and have often thought about the way it was once pretty much the only form of mobile phone communication. The more modern phone box next to it is already passing into its own form of obsolescence as smartphones like my iPhone become ubiquitous. I’ve also thought … More Three Generations of mobile(ish) communication
Finally I’ve got around to uploading some new pages with material I’ve been intending to put on this blog for ages. On this page is my documentary on Newport’s Art College. And on this is one of the essays I wrote for the Raconteur magazine, this one on Jay Gatsby and Don Draper. I hope … More New Pages
Last week I was playing some of my old favourites which I only own in the form of 7″ singles. The one I most wanted to hear was Fatal Charm’s Summer Spies. Back in 1984 I had to wait three or four weeks to listen to it after placing an order with Rockaway, the record … More Fatal Charm: Summer Spies
Back in June I posted about the Banksy-style stencilled graffiti appearing around Newport over the course of last year and included all the photos I’d managed to snap since March. But there’s a far fuller photographic record by my ITV Wales colleague Lee Smith which is also much more recent.
In the last few months some Banksy-esque graffiti has appeared at locations around Newport. I wrote about it here but more have appeared since then. Every other city has its Banksy imitators, so why not Newport? Does it mean that Newport is becoming middle class? Or is it just vandalism? And why can’t the graffitist … More Newport Graffiti
Could Banksy have crossed the Bristol channel and moved to Newport? Almost certainly not. Even so this graffito has appeared beneath the flyover on the way into Newport in the last couple of days so maybe he has an admirer here. Will Newport art gallery host a special exhibition. Again, probably not. In the meantime … More The Newport Banksy?
