Trip Into Realism Punk Mark Miwurdz shared with thanks
Poison Girls, Chumbawamba, Mark Miwurdz, and Toxic Shock reviewed live in Whitby zine Trip Into Realism, number 1, 1984.Thornton View Benefit Gig
Poison Girls, Toxic Shock, Mark Miwurdz + Chumbawamba
Thornton View is an hospital in Bradford which provides special care for geriatric patients. Due to the tory health cuts this hospital and a nearby hospital in Shipley are due to be closed. The Regional Health Authority claim that even if these two hospitals close there will still be enough geriatric beds in the area.
The workers at Thornton View have not accepted this and claim that when the St. Benedicts geriatric hospital closed down and the patients were moved, nearly 1 in 3 died in the first 6 months. There may be adequate beds in the area but Thornton View provides specialist care and an atmosphere that will not be created in crammed wards or a different type of hospital. Moving the patients will directly kill quite a high percentage of those now at Thornton View.
This is another blatant example of how this (or any) government puts the mechanism of war and mass death before the general welfare of its citizens, as the woman who spoke on behalf of the hospital said, even those citizens who had participated and lived through two wars, and countless others conveniently forgotten with time.
These loyal subjects to previous governments have now to face the thanks for this loyalty. Let this be an example to future generations who would consider going to war for any government, the gratitude lasts only as long as it lasts in the general public’s memories.
The staff at Thornton View have decided to do all in their power to stop the closure of the hospital and are now holding a work-in at the hospital. 24 hour pickets are now being held outside the hospital, however, money and support is desperately needed so they can continue this vigil. The Poison Girls took a break from their recent tour ‘The Poison Girls Package’ for a financial boost to the hospital. The gig was at Bradford University.
First on were Chumbawamba who have to be one of the best bands around today, not only for their music but the way they approach getting it across.
Despite bad sound quality they were as interesting as ever. The set started as usual with ‘King Arthur’ and followed with the best of their stuff, including: ‘Work’, ‘Lies,’ and ‘No’. After much swapping of instruments and theatrics they went off much too soon in my opinion.
1. Fences 2.54 2. Always Lying 2.26 3. Poison Embrace 6.33 4. Dancing in the Park 3.04 5. Separate Cages 1.35 6. Resistance 6.33 7. Just Another Day 8. The Enemy’s Face 9. Inside Cover
I think Toxic Shock were on next, though it might have been Mark Miwurdz. Toxic Shock also approach their set in an original way, consisting of Al on bass and Heff on sax. Best songs, for me anyway were ‘Rape Report’, ‘Spue Off’ and ‘Remote Control’. Most of their songs seemed to deal with womens issues.
Mark Miwurdz you may have seen before as he appears regularly on The Tube.
He started off on how the Poison Girls Package Tour had gone so far, best bit for me was when he mentioned the Newcastle gig and Val made a Roo of herself by shouting out ‘Hooray’ (Cos we were there as Max Boyce would say) and the hall went quiet.
Impersonations of Duran Duran and Bauhaus were followed by a bit of heckling by some feminists at the back. Despite Mark offering them the stage (“If you have got something to say let’s all here it”) they didn’t take up the offer but continued to shout from the back of the hall, safe in their elitist group.
Poison Girls rounded up the gig with their usual style. Their early records, while being good, were only an introduction to their full potential. The last album ‘Where’s The Pleasure?’, was too well thought out but when they play live they seem to get things spot on.
I can’t say much more than that except a mention of the best songs which I thought were: ‘Rio Tinto Zinc’, ‘Old Tarts Song’, and ‘State Control’ which concluded the set, except for the encore which we had to miss to catch the train.
The Free 