Photo: S I D N E Y

It might be lazy to compare South London’s S.C.U.M to The Horrors, but often cliché originates in certain home truths. With their brand of synthy neo-psychedelia, the quintet’s sound draws clear parallels with the current darlings of the British indie music scene. Unfortunately, it sounded better the first time around. Hearing them headline at Tuesday night’s gig at The Green Door Store, and trying in vain to distinguish one impossibly overblown anthem from the next, it quickly became apparent that S.C.U.M are as of yet lacking the killer tunes any such act requires to make it big.

  Perhaps more worryingly, they seem to share the lacklustre stage presence often levelled as a criticism at their aforementioned peers. Although the musicians seemed well-rehearsed, their performance felt mechanical. If one thinks of the acts from the past who’ve had success at mixing emotion with post-punk sounds, most notably Joy Division, they’ve always sought to invest their live shows with a dimension of self-revelation bordering on performance art. S.C.U.M, on the other hand, felt detached throughout from the music they were making, as if covering another artist’s songs.

 Thomas Cohen, lead singer and fiancé of socialite Peaches Geldof, also comes across as overly mannered live. Gesturing regally and gazing off into the distance like a poor man’s hybrid of Jim Morrison and Nick Cave, he presumably meant to hammer home the music’s ethereal quality. Sadly, hammering the ethereal is somewhat of a contradiction in terms.

  By comparison, the warm-up act Bo Ningen were something close to remarkable. Hailing from Japan and based in London, they melded the unholy racket of punk rock with 70s avant-garde acts like Can. Culminating their set with an extended jam, guitars and drums crashing against one another in a maelstrom somewhere between funk and white noise, they laid down a formidable gauntlet for S.C.U.M and ultimately stole the gig out from under their noses. Score that as a victory for the underdogs.

Thousands took part in last Sunday’s Brighton Half Marathon including celebrities such as Norman Cook and Katie Price but all had to run further than originally planned.

Over 7400 participants who entered the race were prepared to run the 13.1 miles but a misplaced signal between mile 4 and 5, attributed to human error, meant that those that finished had actually ran 13.42 miles.

Race director Becky Stevens apologised on the official Brighton Half Marathon website adding “We will be implementing some new additional measures ready for the 2013 race to prevent this from happening again.”

Despite the error, the 22^nd Brighton Half Marathon was deemed to be a great success by those taking part.  Geraldine Waring, 61, from London said: “It’s been absolutely fantastic, the spectators were so encouraging and they really kept me going throughout.” When asked if she thought it was well organised she added: “Extremely well organised and well done to whoever organised the weather!”

Race Organisers The Sussex Beacon confirmed that Matthew Dumigan of the Swansea Harriers Athletics Club took the official fastest race time at 01:08:41.

Licence forfeited for breach of conditions

Hove shop owner has his license revoked after being found guilty for selling fake wine.

Salvatore Capuano, found guilty of selling fake Jacob’s Creek wine in December last year, was back in court last week on two counts of breaching licence conditions and had his licence taken away.

Magistrates ordered Mr Capuano, 34, of Palmeira Avenue, Hove, to pay £750 in fines and £650 costs, plus £15 victim surcharge.

He also forfeited his personal licence which prevents him from being a designated premises supervisor (DPS) from now on.

In December, Brighton Magistrates found Mr Capuano and his company Always 4 U Ltd., guilty on four counts of breaking trademarking and food safety laws by selling 60 bottles of fake Jacobs Creek wine following an operation by trading standards and customs officers. Although found guilty, he kept his licence on that occasion.

Councillor Lizzie Deane, chair of the city’s Licensing Committee said: “We are pleased that magistrates forfeited the licence as it sends a strong message that anyone selling fake alcohol risks losing their licence. As well as the health risk to the public, it really isn’t worth the damage it can do to a business. 

“The council works with owners of licensed premises and our trading standards officers advise them not to buy wines or spirits from an unofficial supplier. We also work in partnership with wine companies, Sussex Police and HM Revenue & Customs to crack down on counterfeit and illegal alcohol sales.”

Sussex Police licensing officer Lara Baldwin said: “I am very happy with this decision. It sends a clear message to anyone not taking their responsibilities in the licensing trade seriously or who may consciously be flouting the law that any transgressions will be robustly dealt with. Potentially, they can wave goodbye to a business or a career.”

By Peter Clarke, via Wikimedia Commons

Conservative and Labour parties will try to stop the Greens’ proposed  tax hike at today’s budget meeting.

All 54 councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council will convene to agree the revenue budget and council tax for the upcoming two years.

The Greens have asked for support from the opposition, but they are unlikely to receive it. Even if the Conservative amendments are outvoted in favour of the Greens, they are willing to back Labour’s amendments in order to secure a council tax freeze.

Coun Jason Kitkat – the council’s cabinet member for finance – insisted that the Green budget proposals must not be taken out of context.

The Greens argue that accepting a tax freeze would not be in-keeping with the government’s national austerity policy; similarly, accepting the offered £3 million central subsidy would be harmful in the long run.

Party leader, MP Caroline Lucas, said: “If councils accept Mr Pickles’ [Local Government minister] tax freeze this year, they will have to make much bigger cuts next year – and the year after.”

The Tory and Labour parties are opposed to the Greens’ suggested budget cuts, which range from closing some pubic toilets to the controversial rise in allotment fees. The Argus has raised protest within the local community, resulting in a recent poll which concluded that 68% of 7000 people who voted online supported the tax freeze.

Conservative leader Coun Geoffrey Theobald added that an under spend of £3.2 million was projected, so the tax hike was unnecessary.

However savings of over £80 million are forecast to be needed over the next four years and an increase in council tax of 3.5% could provide a more viable budget option for the future as well as minimising the pressure placed on vital public services.

The budget meeting will be held at 4.30pm this afternoon at Brighton Town Hall.

Check back at Brighton Lite on Friday for a full report of the meeting.

credit Warren christmas

Brighton’s FA cup run is over, with their defeat last Sunday at Anfield by Liverpool which I was delighted to attend. The fixture  ended in a forgettable 6-1 scoreline.

The away support was fantastic as always. And despite conceding after only 4 minutes, the game promised much when Brighton drew level on 16 minutes with a 25 yard free kick shot by Kazenga LuaLua. Liverpool were busier in the goal area though and  Brighton succumbed to a Glen Johnson header shortly before half time.  Further chances looked likely at half time, and Brighton were certainly in with a shout.