Well it’s 23/8/2017 and as promised The KLF aka The JAMS aka The K Foundation aka K2 Plant Hire and whatever – are back back back. I’m not on the scene but apparently Drummond and Cauty pulled up in – yes – an Ice Cream Van on Bold Street, Liverpool about an hour ago. If you’ve not ‘across’ this story, basically 400 ‘volunteers’ have each paid £100 each to participate in a 3 day happening which starts now. It’s been pretty clear there will be no musical performance, this absolutely isn’t a KLF reunion gig and it certainly isn’t a music festival. I don’t know what the F**K is going on and nobody knows for sure.
The first event – by all accounts, is basically a book signing – although they’re rubber stamping books rather than signing and, amusingly, participants have been warned that anyone bringing any other memorabilia to be signed will have it confiscated and destroyed. (How about that Roger Waters and Ringo?)
Tomorrow, those paying volunteers will be given ‘jobs’ to do followed by participating in various interventions and rites around various locations in Liverpool over the next 3 days. Apparently strong swimmers, guitarists and make-up artists are required tomorrow -as well as someone who is “strong and exactly 5’5” – As comebacks go, The Stone Roses at Heaton Park this ain’t.
If I was being really cynical and withering – I’d say it initially seems like something of a cash grab. Once you’ve paid your £100 for an unspecified 3 days at the service of The JAMS- none of which is guaranteed to provide any sort of entertainment – you’re then given the chance to buy a book, and a range of mugs, T-shirts, posters and…intriguingly…a Starbucks coffee cup subverted by the group to say “War is Over”… all of which is priced at £20.23 each.
Then again, if you’re a huge fan of all things KLF/JAMS related you’ve got probably the one and only chance to be a part of of their story (and scoop up some souvenirs). I suspect all concerned will have an unforgettable experience which Drummond and Cauty have no doubt recognised is currency these days and I’m kind of intrigued to see what goes down.
Ultimately, It’s a good scoop for Liverpool – and the itinerary would appear to be supporting lots of local venues and organisations that are forces for good and add to the sum of human happiness – tonight’s event for instance was at News from Nowhere which is one of those proper old-school radical bookshops (this one dates from 1974) that are becoming very scarce these days.
If you’re interesting in following what’s going on @BidoLito (Liverpool music mag and promoters) appear to have the unenviable task of sorting logistics, and although they promised there would be no press passes Peter Robinson @popjustice is in Mu Mu Land, presumably having paid his own way, and is documenting what’s happening.
Sniffity says
A friend of mine is one of the “volunteers” – told me selling an autographed Bob Marley LP paid his airfares.
Gatz says
A former member of the Massive is involved from the book trade end of things and has put some pictures of their list of demands on Facebook. I have to say they look like they’re trying ever so hard to be witty and subversive.
metal mickey says
I really hope this is great, not least for the “volunteers”, and I will be keeping an eye on developments, though like Gatz above, can’t help feeling they’re trying a bit hard, and that the ultimate art statement might just have been a storming new record, rather than the philosophical situationist stuff…
Mind you, all of the art-wank-bollocks was what set the KLF apart from everyone else, so we have to take both sides of the coin…
minibreakfast says
The ebook was released at 23 seconds past midnight. Anyone here buy it?
Leicester Bangs says
Mine is apparently ‘out for delivery’.
I’m not sure why I’m buying it, really — I think in an attempt to understand why people fawn over them.
The Good Doctor says
I’ve not read it but I’m pretty sure won’t find the answer there.
Leicester Bangs says
It’s just arrived! I’m not sure what I expected but it’s certainly not going to enlighten me as to their appeal. it takes the form of a pretend book ‘by someone calling themselves George Orwell which is in turn the pen name of Roberta Antonia Wilson’. The pretend-book itself seems to be a series of disjointed satirical passages written by somebody who fancies themselves as Douglas Adams. It’s all very meta.
I’ll never read it, but hopefully it’ll be worth something one day.
NigelT says
I’m obviously seriously out of touch – and threatening to confiscate others property and destroy it is probably criminal! I’ll be interested to see what this really all means….
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Dr V, in a well balanced OP. The ice cream van is a wonderful touch.
The first few seconds of this clip look like an episode of Dr Who. (After that it gets a little dull due to wonky camerawork).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKLJWgWC_kM
They coud not be dull if they tried.
Leicester Bangs says
Is that a coffin in the back? It looks like a hipster version of Princess Di’s funeral.
bricameron says
I’ll take a 99 please.
count jim moriarty says
Annoying pair of chancers. I’ll set my defaults to ‘ignore’ on this one.
Lando Cakes says
Ah, that explains why http://penkilnburn.com is “suspended”, I guess.
Sniffity says
The friend has posted this to Facebook…
“In the past few days I have, helped give away 400 pound coins, met people from all over the world, eaten soup, been involved in acts of public destruction, made a presentation in front of 400 people including the KLF, got my book stamped, discovered that English food (so far) is dreadful, walked a lot, been on a group scavenger hunt/quest with people I had never met, marvelled at the creative spirit, ingenuity, bravado, humour and joy in collective endeavour, watched some terrible TV, slept badly…. It has been simply amazing. I look forward to today’s activities which involve The Great Pull North, including several acts of public confrontation, a funeral pyre, Graduation Ball, the world debt of Badger Kull, and a movie and dance club. Having a ball.”
The Good Doctor says
I’ve been dipping in and out of the Outernet to make sense of what’s occurring but basically those involved have been expected to carry out various tasks and create their own happenings. A sort of a cross between a bizarre cult, an impromptu situationist movement, an episode of The Prisoner and a Team Building exercise.
Some have been recruited to form a band ‘Badger Kull’ who would play one song at tonight’s finale -(The Toxteth Day of the Dead) and the rest of the 400 have been advised to worship them and generate social media fandom etc (rather prosaically Pete Wylie was roped in a musical director!).
There has been much gathering of Ragwort, bonfires, processions and stuff involving dead fish, bagpipes, people with traffic cones on their heads and the towing of an Ice Cream Van by hooded figures in facepaint.
Mostly seems to have gone off without incident – but Liverpool is Party Central and nobody bats an eyelid at people in daft costumes doing far weirder, more unpleasant and disruptive things on Hen and Stag do’s on a daily basis.
The really weird bit is it appears one enterprising fan hired and customised a vintage US police car in the style of Ford Timelord and had it parked up outside the events. (Social) Media reports assumed this was provided by the JAMS and was part of the ‘show’ but apparently not. Jimmy and Bill didn’t take kindly to this and there is footage of them on Twitter whitewashing the car before the owner turns up to drive it away – so unless that’s some elaborate double bluff they didn’t welcome this perhaps rather over-enthusiastic contribution.
The Rites of Mu are now all done and seems the long term plan is they’re going to build a 23 foot high pyramid in Toxteth made of bricks formed from the ashes of the dead. You can put your name down now to have your ashes to form one of the bricks for £99.
https://mumufication.com/
(Doesn’t mention if they’ve got planning permission from Liverpool City Council who are also Justified and Ancient in a very real, legal sense but hey…)
So there it is. I’m sure The Quietus will write it up and make some sense of it. I get the general gist of what’s gone down. Lots of references to stuff in Bill Drummond’s previous work (ragwort for instance and the Tower thing reminds me why I own a piece of ‘A Smell of Sulphur in the Wind’ by Richard Long ) – I suspect Cauty brings in a darker, gnarlier more political element into these things (interesting that that still sort of makes them ‘a band’ as opposed to solo projects) but I could be wrong.
A quick Recap – I remember buying ”What Time is Love’ on cassette single in 1992 cos it was a cool rave tune. Now I’m trying to explain their current situationist happenings to irritable Little Feat fans on something called ‘The Internet’. Pretty sure that’s not the case with Oceanic and Altern-8.
Anyway, the only bit I guessed was that they’d arrive in Bold Street in an Ice Cream Van but I couldn’t have made the rest of it up – and certainly not this: