PIERS, what’s on your mind?
P: ok well let’s just start, you say what’s on your mind D: yeah i think just wing it, they’re good, they’ve never been boring. anyway, piers, so what’s on your mind? P: OK, what’s on my mind…I’ve been wondering whether that question should lead me to a big answer than the one I usually give, but at the moment what’s on my mind, I have to say, is fragility and its cousin, resilience. At Portobello Radio, for the first time ever, Greg Weir, my partner, was sick with COVID, he wasn’t that sick, but he had COVID, and as a response (indistinguishable) we stayed away, which left the rest of us to pick up the pieces and put the tech together. It went surprisingly well actually, we, without sounding like the Oscars, I can thank Amir for coming and stepping in on the mixing desk. Um, Qalid and Faye for, uh, Qalid didn’t come on the air, but Faye for coming on the air, and Qalid for being all around morale booster. It got me thinking also about resilience, of course, because how do you build the resilience to be able to withstand these shocks. Yeah, it’s obviously, it’s a word thats played around a lot, particularly, in, uh, reference to the North Kensington community, our resilience, we have, I suppose, been pretty resilient in the face of all sorts of things coming our way. Be it the threat of regeneration, the, uh, leaping gentrification of the last few years. The fire, of course. Um, so I suppose the community has built quite a resilience, although I was out in the country at the moment, and was unable to uh, attend on Sunday. But a lot of the community got together for supporting a video for Low-key. Low-key of course is the- Spotify has been petitioned by some Pro-Israel lobby group to remove Low-key from Spotify.
www.portobelloradio.com P: And, particularly, even the last episode, Cecilia, who was exhibiting at the Muse at the time, remarked “Oh, that was really weird, all the interviewees today were women.” And we said, “Its been like that all month.” And a big smile crossed her face D: Job done. And if I can ask, although this is going to change, obviously... monthly, what’s your vision for Portobello Radio for the rest of 2022? P: Um, the vision is, well right now, funnily enough, the vision is to build more resilience. We already have one young person, Tierman, who picked up the rhythm studios, he engineers our show the Irish Cultural Centre, but we obviously need more of those. I mean, you know, its fabulous to have people like Amir who by chance happen to be minding the gallery on the day that we needed him. Um, but we cant expect that serendipity to happen every day of the week. D: Well, you might be able to, if we have anything to do with it. P: Yeah, well hopefully.
D: Right. Um, why? P: Uh, sorry, um, Low-key is a very strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, often plays on stage with rappers from Palestine, Syria and so on and so forth, um, you know he’s, at his wedding I sat next to a guy who had seen his father shot 5 times in the belly as he got out of his car in Syria by Asaad’s regime, so, um, you know, Low-key is quite deep in those causes, and nevertheless, part of our resilience surely is to have everyone turn their voice up.Yup. and I was, well we have, my partner Greg, the one with COVID, he has a few tin hat theories which every know and then he spouses them on the radio and I feel slightly uncomfortable, uh, as a child of the mainstream media that we shouldn’t be indulging some of these crazier flights of fancy. Um.. D: It’s all part of the same minestrone, though, isn’t it, at the end of the day… P: It is is all part of the same minestrone, exactly. Anyway, just to finish of we are very pleased with our work during International Woman’s Month, we had, uh, an array of fabulous women, most of them local, who came on, uh, ISIS played mainly music from or celebrating women. D: Yup.
Live, hosted by Isis Amlak, Greg Wier and Piers Thompson, is a vibrant 120 minutes of current affairs, community banter and local music. This Youtube live stream boasts a symposium of human rights, philosophy and chaos; all supporting human rights, the planet and of course an abundance of local talent, representing a counter-culture of north Kensington – the birth place of some of the best of British culture and armchair revolutionaries. Watch every Friday between 16:00 – 18:00 at: https://bit.ly/37TmmML or check socials at www.portobelloradio.com for live links, playlists and trivia. 21
