August 23, 2004
CLP video, out now!
Mike Cupcake has remixed and produced a rather groovy video from a pile of footage shot by Sophie. It's at Mike's CLP site (.mov). Fantastic!
As ever, we continue to be excited about folks sending us news about their pics, vids, audio, and donations of quality chocolate :-)
August 09, 2004
Circle Line Party 3
After a false start back in April when the Madrid Bombings occurred CLP3 was postponed 'til the summer. And so... Friday 6th August 2004. The Circle Line Party, or rather the Circle Line Parties happened!
An incredible night: multiple Circle Line Party trains, an impromptu street carnival in Sloane Square, dozens singing Hokey Cokey in Spitalfields, an outdoor live serenade in Whitechapel, and a whole pile of happy people!
19:30 the CLP crew leave the pub in Farringdon and wonder whether the delays on the Circle Line tonight might've been "accidently on purpose" to make arriving at Liverpool St at 19:54 a little tricky...
CLP crew
Apparently not though as a Circle Line train rolls up at Farringdon. We all board and start setting up equipment. Most of us had been pretty wired on excitement and adrenaline and this was it - CLP was on!
As we approached Liverpool St we'd had SMS reports of "quite a lot" of people. The doors opened and the train was instantly flooded with Circle Line Partyers. The second-from-back carriage where I was setting up the sound system was rammed with smiling and cheering faces. Almost immediately a tequila bar materialised and the shots were passed out. You guys are heroes!
Cameras everywhere...
Made-to-measure replacement "ads", marshmallows, bubble machines, chocolates, streamers, light gels, tinsel, whisky, ... all freely shared in the hugely inclusive and frenetic atmosphere.
New friends made, commuters joined in, and the occasional beer spilt...
The lights go out...
It's Friday!
Packed train
More revellers
It was pretty clear the train was ridiculously overloaded and we'd have to stop. Sure enough at Sloane Sq (thirteen stops of party action) the train came to an extended halt. Over a period of about ten minutes de-trained and then people of their own accord left the station (not much else to do except cheer at the confused District Liners who passed right through the station).
"What are all those people doing?"
Party passengers crowding Sloane Sq platform
British Transport Police were out in force, many of them amused by what was happening. I spoke to one officer and apparently the entire BTP was deployed to Sloane Sq. Wow.
BTP in Sloane Square
What happened next was truly a victory for London and the free public party scene: hundreds of passengers gathered in the Sloane Square (Ken would surely approve) and, led by the unstoppable Samba Band, partied for hours later. (The police apparently left after about forty minutes satisfied nothing untoward would happen. The half dozen or so BTP I spoke to were very pleasant indeed. I think secretly some of them wished they were off duty...)
Sloane Square parties
A secret mission to back to Liverpool St and then Spitz Bar in Spitalfields Market was on, via the Circle Line of course. A breakaway crew was gathering at Victoria, west-bound. After a couple of stops we gathered our fledging CLP3 v2 into the back carriage. Big thanks to Manic whose Unofficial Circle Line Party Songsheet provided an entertaining experience (more so than the system I was carrying...).
Preparing CLP v2
Party train!
CLP3 v2 in progress
No interruptions and in seemingly no time we were at Liverpool St. On to Spitz bar the party restarted once again. More singing, sharing stories, photos, a fantastic pink wig doing the rounds, climbing around the market and some epic sing-a-longs including dozens doing the Hokey Cokey.
CLP v3 folks arrive at Spitz
Afterparty at Spitalfields
After an hour or so more revellers showed up. Another CLP had just finished! Toward closing time we headed down Brick Lane to the park and camped up there. Some live singing and plenty of DJing into the night. It was still going at 01:00 when most of the core CLP crew left.
Pole Dance Platform in the park
Huge thanks to everyone who came, enjoyed themselves, invited commuters into the party, brought entertainment, shared goodies, had fun, created the love, showed respect, and had an amazing time!
CLP has a blog!
The Circle Line Party now has its own blog! It's open comments so please feel free to post your thoughts, memories, ideas, experiences, photos, videos, and whatever else.
We're all recovering from what was the best CLP ever. Watch this space for reports...
If you're an XHTML/Movable Type/graphics hotshot and fancy having your name in lights we definitely would be delighted to hear from you...