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monkeypicks.bsky.social
Monkey
@monkeypicks.bsky.social
1.5K followers 970 following 5.7K posts
soul - fuzz - funk - punk - jazz - garage - gospel - gigs - hats - cats - beatniks - berets - books - booze - mags - mavericks - films - telly - vintage - art - words - pictures - sounds - style - shoes - sunshine - socialism
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monkeypicks.bsky.social
La Caja (2021). Mexican kid goes to collect remains of his dad and ends up with a harsh lesson about the brutality of labour in a capitalist society. Really good. Available on MUBI, mis compañeros.
Blue poster for Lorenzo Vigas’ film La Caja (The Box).
November 23, 2025 at 10:04 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Big up BlueSky. Thanks to a @michaeldaly64.bsky.social post, transpires @johnbaldy.bsky.social I are old school friends. Our interests grew from Spider-Man (primary school) to The Prisoners (secondary). Lovely surprise & wonderful to reconnect after all these years. Here we are, front row rascals.
Primary school class photo. 9 years old. I’m third from left looking like a right scruffy herbert with jumper sleeves rolled up, John is two along with a sophisticated red turtleneck under grey v-neck sweater. We both have marvellous fringes.
November 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Queen’s Park Rangers 3
Hull City 2

This is what we do for kicks on a rainy cold November afternoon
Miserable dark foreboding scene outside QPR’s Loftus Road Stadium at 2.45 today.
November 22, 2025 at 4:54 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Spending an inordinate amount of time compiling favourite albums of the year. So much really good stuff ain’t gonna make the cut, however much keep expanding the list.
Marlene Dietrich at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo (1956). Wearing white shirt, black trousers, smoking a fag and listening to records sat on the floor. Photo by Willy Rizzo.
November 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Like my new mug?
A white bone china handleless cup featuring a detail - single line illustration of a bull’s head - from Pablo Picasso’s lithograph series, Le Taureau, 1945-6.
November 22, 2025 at 8:08 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Emma-Jean Thackray at Koko last nite. Big fan of her Weirdo album. “Really groovy music but depressing as fuck - that’s what I’m all about.” ❤️
EJT playing guitar (left handed) in Camden last night
November 21, 2025 at 7:49 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Some album covers collected by Raimond Chaves displayed in Tate Modern (wonderful surprise).
“In 2002, Raimond Chaves stumbled across a vinyl record at a flea market in Lima, Peru. An image of his family featured on the record sleeve. The album was produced in the late 1960s by Discos Chaves, a label owned by Chaves’ uncle in the city of Pasto, Colombia. The discovery prompted an ongoing search for second-hand records at markets across Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. On his choice of albums, Chaves notes that he is ‘more interested in what appears on the covers than in the music they contain’. In El Toque Criollo, ‘The “Criollo” Touch’, Chaves displays these collected record sleeves together with his own commentaries and excerpts of lyrics and political speeches. Arranged in 19 groupings, the artist creates a narrative that addresses subjects including migration, social inequality, gender politics, drug trafficking, guerrilla conflict, art history and the impact of globalisation. ‘Most of the images don’t explicitly tell these stories’, the artist notes, ‘but still let them be inferred.’”
November 20, 2025 at 10:53 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Makaya McCraven at Koko last nite. Sublime demonstration of the art of jazz improvisation as a vibrant communication method. Incredible quartet.
Trumpet, guitar, bass and drums quartet at Koko in Camden last night.
November 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Uncanny portrait of Monkey Snr in the Tate Modern. Given the fam much merriment.
Jean Dubuffet 1901-1985 Born and worked France Monsieur Plume with Creases in his Trousers (Portrait of Henri Michaux) 1947 Monsieur Plume plis au pantalon (Portrait d'Henri Michaux) Oil paint and grit on canvas In this work the outline of the figure is roughly gouged into the thick paint, the face and body scarred and crumpled. The title identifies it as a caricature of the poet-painter Henri Michaux, whose writings featured 'Monsieur Plume, a semi-autobiographical comic character. It belongs to a group of unconventional portraits of Dubuffet's artistic and literary friends. The series was exhibited under the title 'Portraits with extracted Likeness, with Likeness cooked and confected in the Memory, with Likeness exploded in the Memory of Mr Jean Dubuffet. Purchased 1980 T03080
November 19, 2025 at 6:18 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Delighted for Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Englishman Rod Stewart with Scotland rosette and beer
November 18, 2025 at 10:14 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Never listened to this before. Actually enjoyed it.
Meddle lp by Pink Floyd (1971)
November 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Forgot to attach photo! 😃
November 18, 2025 at 10:39 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Mulatu Astatke at Here/Outernet last nite. Music truly magical. Shame audience largely didn’t seem to appreciate how special it was. Made me wonder why they were all there.
Ethio-jazz godfather Astatke playing vibes in London last nite.
November 18, 2025 at 7:48 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Babyshambles at Brixton Academy last nite. “The all-new dependable, capable Babyshambles,” according to their ringmaster, and they were. Pete had “a hell of afternoon” apparently, something to do with a dog, so chaos not totally eliminated from his life, although unlikely to make the front page. 🐶
Babyshambles on stage in front of background paying tribute to recently deceased guitarist Patrick Walden.
November 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Laurie Wright.
November 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Fair play to this urchins, Laurie Wright, setting up opposite Brixton Academy to tear through 200 mph Clash meets Dr Feelgood race to the death.
Young lads bass, guitar, drums, harmonica playing guerrilla gig on Stockwell Road, SW9
November 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Jonny Halifax Invocation pumped two sets of heavy duty swampy psychedelic blues directly into the blood of patrons of Walthamstow Trades Hall last nite. Souls were shaken, spirits risen. 🪇
JHI performing “in the round”. Sax, couple of drummers, lots of harmonicas, percussion, organ, planks of wood with strings on etc.
November 16, 2025 at 10:48 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Gutted to be missing the Primitives in town tonite. Sticking this on hasn’t helped! Glorious.
Prims double album Lets Go Round Again
November 15, 2025 at 7:06 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Disco del día

The Horace Silver Quintet Doin’ The Thing at the Village Gate (1961)
Fiery album recorded live in New York and released by Blue Note Records. My favourite Silver album with opening track Filthy McNasty a total killer.
November 14, 2025 at 4:43 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
This week I watched that Richard Burton doc on the BBC, listened to the Manics, and read this. I’m practically Welsh. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Penguin Classics 2025 paperback edition of Dylan Thomas collection, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, sat on Manic Street Preachers album Critical Thinking (2025).
November 14, 2025 at 10:52 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Soweto Kinch and the London Symphony Orchestra last nite. Premiered a 75-minute suite, Soundtrack To The Apocalypse, for their homies at the Barbican. If that is the last piece of music at the end of world I won’t complain.
View from the Barbican balcony of London saxophonist/rapper Soweto Kinch with his band and the LSO taking a standing ovation for their jazz/rap/orchestral/video mash up from large white middle aged audience.
November 14, 2025 at 7:36 AM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Volver (2006). Today Penélope Cruz has been helping me with my Spanish. Mucho más divertido que el búho verde de Duolingo.
Penélope Cruz - black hair piled on head, heavy black makeup around eyes, slightly mardy red lips.
November 13, 2025 at 5:02 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Earlybird tickets available if quick. Don’t come crying to me in January…
Flyer for Brandee Younger at the 229 Club London next 26/27 January.
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Read this mostly on public transport as a performative act to pull women. Not even a nibble of interest on that score but was such a ripping yarn it wasn’t time wasted.
A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry. 2024 paperback on seat of a District Line tube.
November 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM
monkeypicks.bsky.social
Now this is a front cover.
Tate Etc magazine, Autumn 2025. Text reads Through the eyes of Lee Miller and features her 1941 photograph, Fire Masks, of a couple sitting in their back garden of their Hampstead home during the Blitz. They are both looking at the camera wearing metal fire masks.
November 11, 2025 at 9:08 AM