Viv Albertine

Today was a very special one for me as I got to meet one of the people who had a profound influence on my adolescence!

The wonderful Viv Albertine played guitar in The Slits - a band which, along with many of their punk and post-punk peers, helped me survive my secondary school years in the late '70s and early '80s during the dark days of The Winter of Discontent and then the long slog of Thatcherism...

So much about that time shaped who I am today and The Slits were amongst those who showed me that there were many ways to be a girl and that 'difference' can be a liberating and powerful thing.

Since those days, Viv's done a whole bunch of stuff, including becoming a film director, starring in the recent film Exhibition and returning to making music..

She's now written a memoir called 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys' and she was in town today for an interview/reading/Q&A at Leaf - which was terrific!

However, even more excitingly, she popped into News From Nowhere (where Spokes works) before her evening appearance. Spokes gave me the tip-off so I was able to rush over and meet her!

She was absolutely lovely.

I was a gibbering idiot!

Three cheers for Viv and The Slits! All together now... Don't create! Don't rebel!