Into the grooves of the lost musical metropolis
7.00pm Thursday 24th October 2024
Admission: Tickets £10.00 in advance only HERE 
From shellac shops in the early 20th Century through vinyl dealers in the rock and roll '50s to CD megastores in the '90s and back to the vinyl renaissance of today, record shops have played a crucial role in the culture of the city for well over a hundred years. Join oral historian ALAN DEIN and Record Shop archivist LEON PARKER as they spin stories of some of the legendary and the lost emporiums - East and West - that have sold Londoners the music they loved.
SIDE A: ALAN DEIN explores the rich musical landscape of the East End, where market stalls and family businesses became vital communal haunts, and the inspiration for generations of to-be -famous musicians, songwriters, and impresarios. Alan will chart the remarkable story of Yiddisher jazz and in particular Levy's Record Shop which evolved from a pitch in Petticoat Lane Market, to becoming the proprietor of major recording studios and one of the UK's leading independent record labels.
--
SIDE B: The West End and Soho once boasted the largest concentration of record retailers in the UK - from humble street market stalls to grand department stores with a huge range of specialists dealers and outles in-between.
They were havens and gathering places for young people and locuses for the city's growing youth culture in the 50s' and 60s. LEON PARKER, curator of the British Record Shop Archive, takes us on a tour of some of the legendary, lost, and best-loved stores including Chappells (a department store selling classical/pop and sheet music), Dobells (a specialist in jazz, folk & blues), Lees Record Stall (selling 60's soul) and Maroons (selling Funk, Soul and Reggae). ---------------------------------------------
ALAN DEIN is an oral historian and radio broadcaster for, among others, the BBC, the British Library, the Museum of London, English Heritage, the Jewish Museum, the Royal Parks, the Guardian, and numerous community-based groups. He has been presenting documentary features for BBC Radio 4 since the mid-1990s, and has received several major radio awards including the Prix Italia, the Prix Europa, and the Sony Radio Academy. He is currently consultant to the exhibition 'Cockney Rebels - Popular Music in Tower Hamlets 1624-2003'
LEON PARKER has been collecting and dealing in music formats since the 1980’s when he started to collect old record shop bags. In 2012 he created the British Record Shop Archive to commemorate those (now totaling 4697) that are gone. In the years since the archive has provided the material for several books on record shops and one on shop bags along with curating several exhibitions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our home,
THE HORSE HOSPITAL,
is a unique Grade II listed not for profit, independent arts venue within the only existing unspoilt example of a two-floor, purpose-built stable with public access in London.
Built in 1797 by James Burton. the shell is constructed with London Stocks whilst the interior features a mock cobbled re-inforced concrete floor and ramps with slats to prevent the horses from slipping. Each floor has 5 cast iron pillars and several original iron tethering rings.
