Bureau of Lost Culture

Sunshine and Love, Beats and Drugs How did a sleepy island off the coast of Spain, metamorphose from an arty countercultural haven into a commercial mass-market party hub that became the global epicentre of electronic dance music? Alexis Petridis, chief music writer for The Guardian, and Dean Chalkley, one of the UK’s leading photographers of British subculture (both seasoned clubbers), documented its extraordinary life and times at Mixmag, the clubbers’ bible, and in the years since. Alexis takes us on a trip through the island’s bohemian past and tells how its unique combination of natural beauty, 60s underground culture and 70s glamour set the scene for the extraordinary pop cultural explosion of the 80s and 90s that resonated through the Western world. The photographs in Dean’s new book ‘Back in Ibiza 1998 - 2003’ evoke the golden age of happy, all-in-it-together, 24 hour party people, bacchanalian excess and sunkissed beach life the island offered before the corporate monster of superstar DJs, brands and VIP lounges swallowed it whole. For more on Dean Alexis on music Alexis on Club Culture #BureauOfLostCulture, #IbizaClubCulture, #Rave, #BalearicBeats, #90sClubScene, #80sClubScene, #IbizaHistory, #AcidHouse #CultureUnderground, #Dancemusic, #LostCultureFound,#mdma, #pasha, #nickyholloway, #superstardjs

The Bearded Lady, Zip the Pinhead, Major Tom Thumb, The Elephant Man, The Hottentot Venus - we delve into one of the more controversial corners of popular entertainment: the world of Victorian freak shows — where the abnormal, the extraordinary, and the misunderstood were paraded as spectacle and sold as wonder. But who were these so-called “freaks” - vulnerable human oddities driven to make a living the only way they could, cictims of exploitation, or pioneers of performance who found power in their difference? We’re joined by Dr. John Jacob Woolf, historian and author of 'The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age', a book that offers a deeply researched, empathetic, and eye-opening look at the lives behind the wonderful posters, at the performers who captivated crowds and challenged Victorian notions of normality. We explore Freakery and ask who are the modern freaks? Who do we gawp, marvel and laugh at? More on John and hs work #counterculture #bureauoflostculture #lostculture #freaks #freakshow #victorian freakshow #davidlynch #elephantman #ptbarnum #josephmerrick

"I was never going to be a nice little white girl" she says. Instead, she became an underground star, had hit records with the 2-Tone band The Selector, became a style-icon, an actor, a TV Presenter - and author. Whilst Margaret Thatcher was reshaping Britain and promoting her very own particular vision of what it meant to be British, in the urban jungle of Coventry, a young woman whose image couldn't be more different than Maggie's, was presenting a radically different vision of what it meant to be British Belinda Magnus, born on 23 October 1953 was given away as the baby of a white unmarried mother and an unknown black father. She was adopted by a white family and re-named Pauline Vickers. Growing up in a completely white neighbourhood as the only person of colour, she experienced first-hand the often racist attitudes of the time. She came to the Bureau to talk about all that, how she overcame it, her life as a star of the 2-tone musical scene with her band Selecter, and how, along the way, she became Pauline Black For more on Pauline Image by Dean Chalkley #PaulineBlack #2ToneRevolution #BureauOfLostCulture #SkaPunkHistory #TheSelecter #WomenInMusic #PunkAndPolitics #CulturalResistance #BlackBritishVoices #MusicAsProtest

Alan Moore first gained recognition in the 1980s with his work for the comic 2000 AD, and DC Comic's Swamp Thing. He went on to create Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, From Hell, an extraordinary take on the Jack the Ripper story, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. He's often been at odds with publishers and with Hollywood, and in recent years has removed himself from the mainstream, focusing on writing novels, esoteric pursuits, and the practice of a particular kind of Magic. This is a slightly unusual episode. It's a recording of an event we held last October as part of our London Month of the Dead festival. It features, Alan in conversation with the writer Gary Lachman and the artist John Coulthard. The occasion was the publication of 'The Bumper Book of Magic'. a kind of modern grimoire, which Alan had written with his friend the late Steve Moore (no relation), another writer of comics and fellow magic practitioner. It is a book that took 20 years to come to publication. John Coulthard was the main artist and designer of the book. Alan is somewhat of a recluse these days so it was great to have him with us to talk about the book, about his friend Steve Moore, about his practice of Magic, and about the unconscious, dreams, consciousness and creativity. Gary Lachman, a previous guest on this show, was once the bass player for Blondie before he put down the plectrum and picked up the pen, gave up rock and roll for writing, and in the years since has become the U.K.'s foremost writer on the Esoteric John Coulthard is a wonderful graphic artist who worked with Alan on many projects and is a cultural phenomenon in his own right We also hear from the audience with questions to Alan about his practice of magic. Our previous episode with Alan on Counterculture #counterculture, #alanmoore, #johncoulthard, #garylachman, #dreams, #magic, #magick, #magik, #paracelsus, #glycon, #stevemoore, #2000AD, #grimoire

The evolutionary leap from ape to human was precipitated by primates eating psychoactive fungi, there is an ancient shamanic lineage of psychedelic plant use in the West, mushrooms have their own consciousness, drinking Reindeer piss can get you high.. there are many myths about magic mushrooms. Meanwhile, we are living through a kind of psychedelic renaissance: psilocybin is often in the press, hailed as a potential treatment, for depression, addiction, grief, psychosis - and a way to be more productive and well-adjusted. What to make of it all? Has the counterculture gone mainstream? Never mind The Age of Aquarius, is this The Age of the Mushroom? Andy Letcher is a British scholar, author, activist and musician. His work explores the intersections of psychedelics, culture, paganism and folk traditions, and 20 years ago he published 'Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom'. He came to the Bureau to discuss it, how things have changed since he wrote it - and the myths behind the magic. For more on Andy #bureauoflostculture #magicmushroom #psilocybin #terencemckenna #psychedelic #grahamwasson #mariasabina #libertycaps #tripping #psychoactive

The giant stone heads of the fantastically remote Easter Island have gazed out mysterioustly for a 1000 years, fascinating the world since Dutch sailors came across them in the 18th century. They were created by some lost civilisation it was said, or perhaps they may not have been made by humans at all, but by extra-terrestrial visitors. Most commonly the story has been that the original people who made them brought about their own complete destruction in a kind of deluded unintentional eco-suicide - a narrative that acts as a moral fable, a warning against our own selfish destruction of the planet's resources. But is that really true? James Grant Peterkin, historian, author and educator lived on Easter Island amongst its people for 20 years. He is one of the very few outsiders to speak their language of Rapanui and to be accepted in their community. He came to the Bureau to talk about how he came there, why he stayed and to dispel some of the myths, tell some of the truths about a very particular, and very peculiar lost culture. James's thoughts on the Easter Island statue in the Btisih Museum #easterisland, #rapanui, #stoneage #polynesia #earthmystery #esoteric #archaeology #statues #island

Tangier was a magnet for artists, writers, musicians, and political exiles throughout the mid-20th century, amongst them the writers Paul Bowles and William Burroughs From 1924 to 1956 the city operated as an international zone under the joint administration of several European powers. This status created an environment of legal ambiguity, which, combined with the city’s strategic location at the crossroads of Africa and Europe, made it a haven for those seeking escape from the constraints of conventional society The zone had a sense of lawlessness and freedom, attracting a diverse mix of expatriates, spies, smugglers, and avant-garde intellectuals. The city’s permissive attitude towards drugs, homosexuality,and radical political thought made it a particularly alluring destination for members of the counterculture. Composer and writer Paul Bowles, settled there and drew members of the Beat Generation to the city to be inspired, to complete their projects and to live the Moroccan dream. Few lived in human dialogue with the locals, operating rather as economically priveleged colonial bohemians William Burroughs' time in Tangier in the 1950s deeply influenced his novel Naked Lunch. Burroughs saw the city as a place where the constraints of Western morality could be discarded in favor of a more experimental and uninhibited lifestyle. He christened it THE INTERZONE Although the Tnagier International Zone officially ceased to exist in 1956, its mythos lived on in literature, music, and the enduring image of Tangier as a place where the world’s outsiders could find a home Multimedia artist and curator Abdul Aziz Taleb, director of The Arab Media Lab Project has taken a deep dive into the Interzone - both its reality and its myth, exploring the blurred line between the two. He came to the Bureau to talk about it, the often untold influence of Moroccans on the Beats, and the mystery of Tangier. For more on Aziz and the Interzone Project and Here #counterculture, #thebeatgeneration, #thebeats, #tangier, #thetangierinternationalzone, #thetangierinterzone, #interzone, #burroughs, #bowles, #williamburroughs, #paulbowles, #heroin, #nakedlunch, #thearabmediaproject, #allenginsberg, #jakckerouac,#mohammedchakri, #bryingyson, #brianjones, #joujouka,#morocco

Teddy Boys (and Teddy Girls)emerged in Britain in the early 1950s, becoming the UK's first distinct youth subculture. Born in the aftermath of World War II, these working-class teenagers rejected post-war austerity and embraced a bold, rebellious style of dandyish suits, long drape jackets, narrow trousers, velvet collars, patterned waistcoats - and of course pomaded quiffed hair for the boys and equally sharp threads for the girls. Musican and writer Max Decharne, author of 'Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution’, came to the Bureau to talk about the Teddys - and about Mods, Punk, the masssive influence of Bill Haley's Rock Around the Clock and of the impact the working class have had on British fashion. The Teds became notorious in the media - associated with violence, for clashes with rival gangs and for their alleged involvement in the 1958 Notting Hill riots. But was that really the case? Or was it because, as working class upstarts they rattled the middle and upper class establishment? Embracing American rock'n'roll, they became the foundation for future youth movements, proving that teenagers could form their own cultural identity, shaping Britain’s rock and roll scene and inspiring later subcultures like the Mods and Rockers. For More on Max For his music For more on the book #teddy #teddyboys #teddygirls #quiff #rock'n'roll #billhaley #rockaroundtheclock #streetstyle #youthculture

Scar-faced, ex-jailbird Frank Norman was part of the '50s and '60s Soho bohemian set and friends with Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, Dylan Thomas and other habitues of the infamous Colony Room club. After being abandoned as a child, growing up in institutions, and working as a fairground worker, he landed in Soho, became a petty criminal and spent time in prison where he learned to paint and write. Back in Soho on leaving jail, astonishingly he became a succesful author, writer of the smash hit cockney musical 'Fings Aint What They Used To Be’, the acclaimed prison memoir Bang to Rights, and several novels - but never painted again. In the early '60s he penned 'Soho Night and Day', a evocative survey of the area in its seedy, cosmopolitan prime, with photographs by his pal Jeffrey Bernard (later to become the most famous alcoholic in London). Frank's grandson, Joe Daniel, came to talk Bureau to talk about him and about the bohemian low-life of Soho in the '50s and '60s. If you are listening to this in early 2025, and can be in London, we have curated an exhibtion in Soho of Frank's never before shown prison paintings: See BEHIND BARS- Frank Norman’s Prison Paintings for details The republished wonderful Frank Norman and Jeffrey Bernard book Soho Night and Day #soho #london #bohemian #colonyclub #colonyroom #Lucien Freud, #FrancisBacon #DylanThomas #FrankNorman #JeffreyBernard #murielbelcher #outsiderart

The Waterboys' MIKE SCOTT grew up in the '60s in Edinburgh and said: “I accepted the incredible happenings of that decade — with all its rapid evolution, colour, revelations and magic — as the normal order of things." At the age of 4 he had his first mystical experience and remembers that from the minute he bought "Last Night in Soho" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich in 1968 he knew he had to live a life in music. In the years since he has toured the world with his band The Waterboys and as a solo artist, had hit records with The Whole of the Moon, This is the Sea and Fishermans Blues, has released 15 albums. The Waterboys have a new one - a song cycle revolving around the life of legendary actor and countercultural polymath Dennis Hopper - featuring Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple - about to drop. Mike has been unashamedly open about the importance of spirituality in his life - even when that has been deeply unfashionable in the mainstream culture. He came to the Bureau to talk about all of that, his time at the Findhorn Foundation, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper - and much more. For Mike and his work, music and adventures #thewaterboys #mikescott #brucespringsteen #findhorn #findhornfoundation #steveearle #fionaapple #ladbrokegrove #thewholeofthemoon #dennishopper

She says: ‘I was reared Catholic but got over it, was born male but got over it, stopped sleeping with boys about the time I stopped being one and am much happier than I was when I was younger'. ROZ KAVENY is a poet, a novelist, a writer of science fiction, a reviewer, a cultural critic, a literary journalist and a celebrated activist. She has also been a sex worker - a hustler - as she would say, and has been both celebrated and denigrated. She was born a boy in 1949, became a woman all the way back in 1982 and has led a very countercultural life indeed. This is part of her story. It's a wild and at times shocking ride. It gives an insight into what it was like to come of age as trans in an era before even being gay was legalised in the UK. Note: contains descriptions of sexualabuse. #trans #transgender #rozkaveney #sexchange #genderdismorphia #gender #hustlers #gendersurgery

This morning I sat in my house, took a twenty pound note from my wallet, lit a match and set the note on fire. Why? How did I feel as I watched it burn? Was it a waste, an immoral or stupid thing to do - or was it a deeply countercultural act? Jon Harris, came to the Bureau to talk about his life - as a pornographer, as a rock 'n' roll tour manager, as a bankrupt - and, most importantly, as The High Priest of The Church of Burn. We try to understand what money is, what it might be and what burning it can mean. We hear of Jon's own history of burning money and of the rites of The Church of Burn. Of course The KLF get a mention, as does Serge Gainsbourg and Youth of Killing Joke as we explore the history of the intentional sacrificial destruction of somethign that mainstream culture seems built around and compleltey obsessed with. The Church of Burn Jon's substack ---- I have often been asked about the music that plays during the Bureau episodes. Most of it is from two albums by The Real Tuesday Weld: 'Junskshop Melodies' (which will be released in 2025) and 'Songs For Crow' which has just been released. Detaisl HERE #money #moneyburning #cash #currency #churchofburn #daisycampbell #johnhiggs #youth #killingjoke #klf #theklf #thekfoundation #sergegainsbourg

What is a mystic, what is mysticism, what is the mystical? Many of us have sense that there is something mystical, or at least mysterious, underpinning things, some countercultural force that defies explanation but survives even in our 24/7 social-media drenched, junked up internet world of money, career and self promotion. Philosophy, along much modern science and many formal religions, poo-poos the mystical - relegating it to the woo-woo, of interest only to the less sophisticated, the superstitious - or the deluded. Yet our guest Simon Critchely is a Professor of Philosophy. He came to the Bureau to suggest that modern philosophy has got it wrong, that mystical experiences offer a practical way to deepen the sense of our lives, whether through mainstream spiritual connection, by taking part in mind-altering experiences - or just by opening to the mystical in ordinary life. We hear about some of the extraordinary mystics of the past, talk about how the arts can point to the mystic, and digress into ecstasy, sex, drugs and rock and roll, Jesus’s foreskin, William Blake, the covid pandemic, Nick Cave and Wim Wenders, More on Simon and the book On Mysticism, the Experience of Ecstasy #counterculture #mysticism #nickcave #philosophy #mysticalexperience #relics #saints #heretics #consciousness #truth #madness

Genesis P-Orridge was a performance artist, neo Pagan, Industrial music innovator, the co-founder of COUM, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV and an arch provocateur. He was variously described as a wrecker of civilisation, transgressive and blasphemous, accused of being a Satanist and of sexually abusing his children (a lie - in fact he was a loving father and grandfather), and claimed to be a threat to society. He could be both very alarming and very kind. In later life Genesis became infamous with attempts to unite as a “pandrogyne”, a single entity, with partner Lady Jaye through the use of extreme surgical body modification intended to make them physically resemble one another Filmaker David Charles Rodrigues, director of S/HE IS STILL HERE an extraordinary, moving film based around interviews made in the last months of Genesis's life, came to the Bureau to talk about the Cut Up technique, William Burroughs, Bryon Gysin, The Exploding Galaxy, industrial music, the Satanic Panic and much more in the life and death of a deeply countercultural artist. #genesis p-orridge #throbbinggristle #coum #psychictv #thetempleofpsychicyouth #industrialmusic #templeofpsychicyouth #pandrogyne #coseyfannitutti #chrisandcosey #williamburroughs #bryongysin #cutup #thecutuptechnique #ica #censorship #transgressive #satanicpanic #ladyjaye #thexxplodinggalaxy

In the turbulent late 1970s, six-year-old Susanna Crossman moved with her mother and siblings from a suburban terrace to a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside. They would share their new home with over fifty other residents - idealists from all over the world - armed with worn paperbacks on ecology, Marx and radical feminism and drawn together by utopian dreams of remaking the world. They did not leave for fifteen years. This was not a hippie commune or a new age retreat but a community run on radical socialist Marxist principles. Yet, however noble the intentions of the adults, was this suitable place - a suitable home - for a child to grow up? Susanna wrote a book to try to answer that question and came to the Bureau to tell us all about it - and about the pleasures and perils of growing up in the fallout of the Utopian Dream. More on Susanna More on her book Home Is Where We Start More on British Intentional Communities #communes #counterculture #punk #radical #utopia #alternativecommunities #intentionalcommunities #esoteric #hippie #marxist

The Joy of Sex was published in 1972 and for years, was rarely out of the bestseller lists, generating sequels, revised editions and a lot of imitators - so how could it be countercultural? For two reasons: firstly that Dr Alex Comfort who wrote it was a deeply countercultural figure, and second, because its publication represents the moment when the sexual revolution of the countercultural years of the late '50s and ‘60s, threw off its remaining clothes and dived naked into the bourgeous middle class mainstream. And it changed a lot of peoples’ live - well their sex lives at any rate. Social justice journalist activist and anarchist Eric Laursen, author of Polymath: The Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort, came to The Bureau to tell of the poet, novelist, doctor, biologist, gerontologist, anarchist, scientific humanist, public intellectual, pacifist and activist who also happened to write the world’s most famous guide to lovemaking.. For More on Eric For More on Polymath: The Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort #sex #sexguide #thejoyofsex #alexcomfort #thesexualrevolution #counterculture #sexmanual #sandstone

*Every society is a high society. Getting high has been a pursuit of civilisations throughout time. *Every day, people drink coffee in European cafes, chew betel nut in Indonesian markets, nibble coca leaf on Andean mountainsides and smoke tobacco in every nation on earth. *Mind-altering drugs have been part of virtually every human culture that has ever existed - from prehistory to the present day. They have shaped cultures, kick-started global trade, transformed our understanding of the mind, built empires and threatened the fabric of society. *Cultural historian and writer on the psychoactive Mike Jay returned to the Bureau to tell us why For more on Mike and his book High Society #drugs #drugwar #opiumwars #psychoactive #opium #heroin #mescaline #lsd #cocaine #khat #betel #psychedelics #highsociety #gettinghigh #addiction #cartels

“Ima­gin­a­tion thrives in dark­ness” We talk about The Undergound often at the Bureau - not London’s subterranean rail sytem, but the countercultural alternative society of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. But that is just one of the undergrounds - the underworlds - that are the subject of this episode Dizzying ossuaries, freakish creatures of the deep sea, astounding colors of agates, lava and crystals, mind bending organic structures of mycorrhizal fungi, caverns, crevices, burrows, bunkers, burial chambers, ghistly shipwrecks, religous hellscapes and surrealist dreamscapes, natural and constructed subterranean realms and the imagined and unconscious worlds of dreams and the human psyche. Image Alchemist Stephen Ellcock came to take us on a deep dive journey down under with his truly astonishing, visually stunning guide book Underworlds, a volume in five sections covering both the real and the imaginary, moving between continents and time periods and disciplines such as philosophy, biology, art history and literature. We talk of how the actual physical world beneath us has fed our fears, visions and imagination – and conversely, provoked us to imagine a mythic, esoteric, mysterious underground - the afterworld of the dead, of the fairies and of the psychogical unconscious. For more on Stephen and his amazing work

*In 1918, Billie Carleton, a West End actress, came off stage, went partying with friends, returned to her flat and was found dead the next morning - apparently of a cocaine overdose. A few years later, Frieda Kimpton, a dancer in Soho bars, committed suicide - with cocaine. These events blew up into a huge media dope drama - with a cast of characters includes villians - Brilliant Chang, a Chinese restaurant proprietor and Edgar Manning, a black jazz drummer - and victims, Billie, Frieda and the other 'Dope Girls'. *Around them, in the Soho streets off Shaftesbury Avenue, there swirled a raffish group of seedy and entitled hedonists. Britain was horrified and fascinated, and so the drug underground and the moral panic about it, was born amid a gush of exotic tabloid detail. *MAREK KOHN whose newly revised cult classic Dope Girls has inspired an upcoming BBC TV series, came to the Bureau to tell us how the panic about drugs that kicked off on the 1920s (bringing in drug laws that are still with us today), was more about the fear of newly emancipated women in society and an imagined menace of foreigners bound on enslaving them, than about any damage done by the drugs themselves. *More about Dope Girls HERE *More about Marek HERE *More about the upcoming BBC series Dope Girl #drugs #psychedelics #cocaine #opium #morphine #druglaws #counterculture #drugculture #drugunderground #soho #overdose #dopegirls #dope #drugunderground

In 1964 he was a working class hippie student crossing Haight Street, a road in San Francscso, when hit by a vision - and life as he knew it was over In 1994, he was a multi-millionaire new-age entrepeneur crossing Wilshire Boulevard, a road in Los Angeles, when hit by a car - and life as he knew it was over. In the years in between, along with the co-founder of The Yippies Abbie Hoffman, counter-culture icon, anti-war activist, new age/self-help proponent, social-networking pioneer and all round troublemaker JERRY RUBIN helped articulate the voice of young America in the '60s and early '70s. He was arrested countless times, carried out many extrardinary protests that used performance art, pranks and provocation including an attempt to levitate The Pentagon and regularly hung out with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York. Unlike Hoffman, who lived off grid for several years following a drug bust, died by suicide in 1989 and was canonized as a countercultural saint, Rubin was accused by many of “selling out" - the worst thing a 1960s radical could do - and as a consequence got written out of the hippie history books. Well that is until our guest for this episode wrote the biography, 'Did It! From Yippie To Yuppie: Jerry Rubin, An American Revolutionary' PAT THOMAS, archivist, uber re-issue producer, countercultral author and music journalist returned for the third timr to the Bureau. Previously he was here to talk about The Black Panthers and Allen Ginsberg,and this time, he traced Jerry Rubin's journey from high school journalist to stoned political freak and multi-millionaire entrepeneur. Along the way, we hear about The Yippies(the Youth International Party), The Chicago 8, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the early 70s, EST training - and selling out And we debate the question: 'Once a revolutionary always a revolutionary?' Pat's book: 'Did It! From Yippie To Yuppie: Jerry Rubin, An American Revolutionary' Check out this Rubin related playlist #jerryrubin #abbiehoffman #theblackpanthers #blackpower #yippies #theyippies #thebeats #allenginsberg #timothyleary #activism #socialism #revolution #levitatethepentagon #eldridgecleaver #bobdylan #nixon #johnandyoko #vietnam #anti-war #protest #johnlennon #haightashbury #thechicago8